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bums's reviews
213 reviews
Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson
challenging
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Swords Against Death by Fritz Leiber
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Finished Swords Against Death, the second Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser book/collection. Very fun, and I think Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser might be my new favourite sword and sorcery protagonists (Sorry Elric and Moonglum). I love the way they almost bumble their way through their adventures half the time, it's very fun to read, and those adventures felt very varied. Dark Gods, ancient ruins, multiversal madness, thieves' guild shenanigans, and deals with wordy wizards; they go through a lot over the stories.
The pace is fast as well, which I really appreciated. As much as I enjoy something like ASOIAF or Farseer/Liveship where chapters are spent traveling places with long introspection, sometimes I just want "and so Fafhrd and the Mouser adventured over many miles, cutting their way through the deep jungles of Klesh, evading pursuit across the great Mingol Steppe, and creeping fearfully past the City of Ghouls. But, in time, they reach the Shadowlands, where the ghosts which had plagued them for so many months lay, waiting."
The aspect that has aged very poorly is the way women are treated. They're all, without fail, evil and manipulative harpies who often cannot get over how hot the mcs are. It's aged worse than Conan and Elric have, and they're not good things to have aged worse than in that area. At least in the Conan stories some female characters had 1. some agency and 2. weren't universally evil/wildly attracted to Conan. It's probably on par with early (1960s/70s) Elric before Michael Moorcock learned how to write decent female characters in the late 1970s/early 80s, after taking the crazy step of talking to women and listening to their criticism. Anyway, apart from that they're very fun adventures stories, would highly recommend.
The pace is fast as well, which I really appreciated. As much as I enjoy something like ASOIAF or Farseer/Liveship where chapters are spent traveling places with long introspection, sometimes I just want "and so Fafhrd and the Mouser adventured over many miles, cutting their way through the deep jungles of Klesh, evading pursuit across the great Mingol Steppe, and creeping fearfully past the City of Ghouls. But, in time, they reach the Shadowlands, where the ghosts which had plagued them for so many months lay, waiting."
The aspect that has aged very poorly is the way women are treated. They're all, without fail, evil and manipulative harpies who often cannot get over how hot the mcs are. It's aged worse than Conan and Elric have, and they're not good things to have aged worse than in that area. At least in the Conan stories some female characters had 1. some agency and 2. weren't universally evil/wildly attracted to Conan. It's probably on par with early (1960s/70s) Elric before Michael Moorcock learned how to write decent female characters in the late 1970s/early 80s, after taking the crazy step of talking to women and listening to their criticism. Anyway, apart from that they're very fun adventures stories, would highly recommend.
Count Zero by William Gibson
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
So, finished ‘Count Zero’ by William Gibson. Really good book, although it feels a lot less risky or, I guess, “edgy” than ‘Neuromancer’ did. The 3 main plot threads follow Turner, detached corporate merc, Bobby Newmark (aka Count Zero), rookie console cowboy, and Marly Krushkova, disgraced gallery owner. The plot is fine, not really why you’re there, with a nice enough noir mystery at the centre, and the characters are fun enough. Turner’s story suffers from a bit of wheel spinning near the start but ends up being where most of the action is. I liked how Bobby felt like a light parody of standard cyberpunk characters, with him trying to be super cool and edgy seeming but it just coming across kinda silly and tryhard. I wish we’d got more time with Marly though. Her character was probably the most interesting of the 3 as she didn’t fall into as many of the cyberpunk/noir character tropes like the angsty merc or hacker characters of the other 2.
I felt this was easier to read than ‘Neuromancer’ was. That’s probably down to having read far more cyberpunk now than I had then, and knowing the terminology from the first book, but I was also more conscious of the noir style it was going for, having read/watched a lot more noir media since reading ‘Neuromancer’. A lot of the "bringing a new voice" to sci-fi was primarily bringing a good noir voice, and it works well. The writing still feels quite fresh though.
The tech… hasn’t aged as well. People will be zooming about cyberspace using data from cassettes and video tapes, everything is lit with neon reflections off chrome, everyone dressed in leather and latex (seriously, doesn’t that squeak?) etc. That’s always an issue for older sci-fi, we can never seem to predict tech quite right, but it adds a bit of charm to the world under all its grime, and the thematic core stays strong.
Those themes: transhuman ascendance, religion in the cyberspace, and the bleed over and difference (or lack thereof) between real space and cyberspace (surveillance, economic divides, etc. "The Matrix", it’s literally called that, before that was co-opted by shits). So, I felt it dealt with these themes well, digging into the nitty gritty how Gibson thought humans would project their fears and greed into the new technological reality and how the divide between the two worlds was in no way solid.
As for the religion, the choice for this book was Haitian Voodoo rather than the Jamaican Rastafarianism of the first one, although the Voodoo gets a lot more focus here. I can’t really comment on how accurately Gibson portrays the religion, same with the Rastas in the first book, but he managed to tie it into the themes of the book quite well.
Overall, I’d recommend it to fans of 'Neuromancer' and Cyberpunk. It’s not as good as book one in my opinion, a little slow with Turner and not as game changing in the way it feels, but it still a solid cyberpunk story with some great noir stylings. Far better than a lot of the cyberpunk that was flooding the book market as of the mid 1980s.
I felt this was easier to read than ‘Neuromancer’ was. That’s probably down to having read far more cyberpunk now than I had then, and knowing the terminology from the first book, but I was also more conscious of the noir style it was going for, having read/watched a lot more noir media since reading ‘Neuromancer’. A lot of the "bringing a new voice" to sci-fi was primarily bringing a good noir voice, and it works well. The writing still feels quite fresh though.
The tech… hasn’t aged as well. People will be zooming about cyberspace using data from cassettes and video tapes, everything is lit with neon reflections off chrome, everyone dressed in leather and latex (seriously, doesn’t that squeak?) etc. That’s always an issue for older sci-fi, we can never seem to predict tech quite right, but it adds a bit of charm to the world under all its grime, and the thematic core stays strong.
Those themes: transhuman ascendance, religion in the cyberspace, and the bleed over and difference (or lack thereof) between real space and cyberspace (surveillance, economic divides, etc. "The Matrix", it’s literally called that, before that was co-opted by shits). So, I felt it dealt with these themes well, digging into the nitty gritty how Gibson thought humans would project their fears and greed into the new technological reality and how the divide between the two worlds was in no way solid.
As for the religion, the choice for this book was Haitian Voodoo rather than the Jamaican Rastafarianism of the first one, although the Voodoo gets a lot more focus here. I can’t really comment on how accurately Gibson portrays the religion, same with the Rastas in the first book, but he managed to tie it into the themes of the book quite well.
Overall, I’d recommend it to fans of 'Neuromancer' and Cyberpunk. It’s not as good as book one in my opinion, a little slow with Turner and not as game changing in the way it feels, but it still a solid cyberpunk story with some great noir stylings. Far better than a lot of the cyberpunk that was flooding the book market as of the mid 1980s.
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
3.0
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
3.5 Stars
If this review had been written 2 'entries' into We I would've told you I hated everything about it, the way it was written, the countless unfinished sentences and the use of maths (ewwwwww!) and given it 1 star.
If you'd asked me halfway through the book I would've given you a solid 4 stars after getting used to the style and getting more interested in the plot and characters as well as getting over the maths and seeing and even appreciating the reason for the unfinished sentences.
However, after taking a small break from reading it and coming back and having to readapt to the book and not completely understanding what was going on during the books climax (which may have been the point) I knocked it down half a star.
This book is considered one of if not the first modern dystopian novel and inspired both 1984 and Brave New World. The plot is incredibly similar to 1984 although the world of We is more 'Sci-fiy' than 1984's post WWII feel and has an actual bonafide 1920's rocket ship and all the wacky science that makes it fly.
George Orwell admitted he lifted the plot for 1984 from We and you can tell although I do think 1984 is a better book (great artists steal) but that doesn't mean you shouldn't read this one.
Overall I'd recommend it to Dystopian and Political fiction fans who liked 1984, Brave New World and others.
3.5 Stars
If this review had been written 2 'entries' into We I would've told you I hated everything about it, the way it was written, the countless unfinished sentences and the use of maths (ewwwwww!) and given it 1 star.
If you'd asked me halfway through the book I would've given you a solid 4 stars after getting used to the style and getting more interested in the plot and characters as well as getting over the maths and seeing and even appreciating the reason for the unfinished sentences.
However, after taking a small break from reading it and coming back and having to readapt to the book and not completely understanding what was going on during the books climax (which may have been the point) I knocked it down half a star.
This book is considered one of if not the first modern dystopian novel and inspired both 1984 and Brave New World. The plot is incredibly similar to 1984 although the world of We is more 'Sci-fiy' than 1984's post WWII feel and has an actual bonafide 1920's rocket ship and all the wacky science that makes it fly.
George Orwell admitted he lifted the plot for 1984 from We and you can tell although I do think 1984 is a better book (great artists steal) but that doesn't mean you shouldn't read this one.
Overall I'd recommend it to Dystopian and Political fiction fans who liked 1984, Brave New World and others.
A Moment of War: A Memoir by Laurie Lee
4.0
A Moment of War - 4/5
Laurie Lee's memoir of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) which is, as the book often highlights, considered by some to be the prologue to the Second World War, though not to dismiss the impact and brutality of this conflict however.
This book is more removed from the political side of the conflict than [a:George Orwell's|3706|George Orwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1588856560p2/3706.jpg], [b:Homage to Catalonia|9646|Homage to Catalonia|George Orwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394868278l/9646._SY75_.jpg|2566499] but similarly covers the boredum, dirtiness and pointlessness felt by soldiers, only for it to be so quickly interupted by sudden action. It also covers some of the absurdity of the Republican side of the war, whose complete disorganisation, conflicting beliefs on Spain's future and their inablitiy to agree on a strategy to defeat Franco was one of the main causes of their eventual defeat.
The Spanish Civil War is still viewed by many as the first true fight back against the spread of European Fascism by not just Spainards, but the International Brigaders of which Laurie Lee was a part.
"Without recognition, often ridiculed, they saw what was coming, jumped the gun, and went into battle too soon."
Laurie Lee's memoir of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) which is, as the book often highlights, considered by some to be the prologue to the Second World War, though not to dismiss the impact and brutality of this conflict however.
This book is more removed from the political side of the conflict than [a:George Orwell's|3706|George Orwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1588856560p2/3706.jpg], [b:Homage to Catalonia|9646|Homage to Catalonia|George Orwell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394868278l/9646._SY75_.jpg|2566499] but similarly covers the boredum, dirtiness and pointlessness felt by soldiers, only for it to be so quickly interupted by sudden action. It also covers some of the absurdity of the Republican side of the war, whose complete disorganisation, conflicting beliefs on Spain's future and their inablitiy to agree on a strategy to defeat Franco was one of the main causes of their eventual defeat.
The Spanish Civil War is still viewed by many as the first true fight back against the spread of European Fascism by not just Spainards, but the International Brigaders of which Laurie Lee was a part.
"Without recognition, often ridiculed, they saw what was coming, jumped the gun, and went into battle too soon."