Finious

Review: The Martian

The Martian by Andy Weir
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My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
First Published: 2011
Read from: August 4, 2014 to August 6, 2015
Awards: 2015 Seiun Award for Best Novel, 2015 John W. Campbell Memorial Award Nominee for Best Novel, 2015 ALA Alex Award

Legitimate science, edge of your seat action & suspense, and great humor; no wonder a movie is in the works.

I finished The Martian in very little time. The first 25% I read at a fairly normal pace and liked enough that it really grabbed my interest. Shortly there after it went from damn good, to… *AWESOME*!… I read the last 75% or so in one continuous reading, as I simply could NOT put it down. That ought to tell you something right there.
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Music: Listening to ‘Flake’ over my Cornflakes

Sigh… Ok, I’m not really eating corn flakes. But it is much too early to be thinking this “deep” and depressed about something so trivial. Driving to work this morning, this song — heard a hundred times previous — really punched me in the gut. It’s a great song, but…

Outwardly, the song’s about being “wishy washy”, a flake, unable to commit, tied up by life’s baggage, habit or laziness. But what it communicates to me is the frustration and exhaustion one gets over the inability to really communicate with someone you care for, either because of your own uncertainties, the other person’s, or both.
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Review: The Lies of Locke Lamora

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Gentleman Bastard series #2
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My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
First Published: June 27th, 2006
Read from: June 16, 2015 to July 8, 2015

LOVED. This. Book.

I liked this book quite a lot when I first started reading it. A little over half-way though that like became love.
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Review: Shift

Shift by Hugh Howey
Silo series #2
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My Rating: 3 out of 5 star
First Published: January 28, 2013
Read from: May 27 to June 13, 2015

Prequels to Post-Apocalypse Stories (Pre-Apocalypse?) Have No Suspense… You Know What’s Coming.

Shift is the second book in the Silo series, but is actually the chronological prequel to the Wool Omnibus, the first book in the series. But you should definetely read Wool first! Confused yet?
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Music: Map of the Problematique

The song “Map of the Problematique” by Muse gets me grooving and kicks my butt at the same time… every time.

I was very late discovering Muse but they have become my go to “muse” in so many ways. At least once a weak I put 3 to 4 albums of theirs in my queue and play them straight through in their intended track order — the songs are great individually but seem to carry even more weight when heard with their neighbors.

“Map of the Problematique” – by Muse on the album Black Holes and Revelations
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Rating: Mistborn – The Final Empire

Mistborn – The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
Mistborn series #1
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My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
First Published: July 25th, 2006
Read from: May 19 to May 27, 2015

Review: Sea-Kings of Mars

Sea-Kings of Mars by Leigh Brackett
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My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
First Published: June 1949
Read from: May10 to May 17, 2015

Also titled “The Sword of Rhiannon”, the novella “Sea-Kings of Mars” is from the 1940’s era of classic sci-fi / sword & sorcery pulp novels. I read this as a book club pick, and was looking forward to it as it sounded very similar to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars books from 20 years or more earlier, which I’ve always loved. Unfortunately I was very underwhelmed by the whole thing. The author, Leigh Brackett, is famous for her screenplays, (westerns, noir, and a first take on Star Wars “The Empire Strikes Back”, strangely enough,) but this story can be summed up in one word: meh.
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Rating: The Last Colony

The Last Colony by John Scalzi
Old Man’s War series #3
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My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
First Published: April 17th, 2007
Read from: May 11 to May 13, 2015
Awards: 2008 Hugo Award Nominee for Best Novel, 2010 Seiun Award for Best Foreign Novel

Rating: The Name of the Wind

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Kingkiller Chronicle series #1
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My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
First Published: March 27th, 2005
Read from: April 21 to May 10, 2015
Awards: 2008 ALA Alex Award, 2007 The Quill Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror

Review: Startide Rising

Startide Rising by David Brin
The Uplift Saga #2
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My Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
First Published: 1983
Read from: January 26 to February 2, 2015
Awards: 1984 Hugo Award for Best Novel , 1983 Nebula Award for Best Novel, 1984 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel

This Book Won HOW Many Awards?… Why?!

It’s not the first time I have discovered something similar, but this book (which won nearly every award a sci-fi novel could at the time,) pretty much sucked. Which is especially sad because I really liked the first in the series.
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