Ethan M.

This is a well-done, well-read science book that uses the periodic table as an excuse to wander off into various scientific tangents and stories. Think Bill Bryson or James Burke or similar sorts of scientific and historical storytelling. Many of these stories are really interesting (such as the tale of the boy scout who built his own nuclear reactor in a shed), and there is enough variety to keep anyone interested. I also need to applaud Mr. Kean for sticking very closely to the science, he is careful not to exaggerate where other writers might, and he is quick to call out "pathological science" when he sees it.

The real weakness of this book is that it plays very fast and loose with its premise. It uses the table as an excuse for stories, not as a prime motivator. Once Mr. Kean is done with Mendelev and related stories central to the discovery of new elements, he happily goes on to cover subjects like bubbles, international standards for the kilogram, and other topics; often making some sort of tenuous connection (see, the kilogram was made of iridium!) This is not a flaw in the stories, however, and the book remains interesting throughout. A great science read.

Empires of the Sea is a fascinating look at the struggle between Christianity and Islam in the middle of the last millennium, as played out in the fight between the Ottomans and the Hapsburg. Crowley magnifies one perspective on this conflict: the military clashes in the Mediterranean and the sieges of Rhodes and Malta, and uses that as a lens on the entire conflict. In doing so, he is able to cast light on a few of the most interesting characters of the age - Mehmet, Don Jon of Austria, the Barbarossas, and many others. The result is an engaging take on this relatively overlooked but important war to rule the sea "at the center of the world."

The books strengths can also be its occasional weakness. The sieges of Rhodes and Malta are described in very great detail, as unfolding narrative. Usually this is terrifically interesting, but some of the details drag a bit. The author's narrow focus on the war in the sea also somewhat limits the perspectives of the book, making it hard to understand how important it was relative to other events in the world. The critical siege of Vienna, the high water mark for for Ottoman expansion, is barely mentioned in passing.

All of the strengths and weaknesses come together in the grand climax of the whole fight, the battle of Lepanto, with hundreds of thousands of sailors and galley slaves involved. It is told epically, but brings the book to a bit of an abrupt conclusion, with relatively little reflection on what the whole conflict meant on the wider stage.

The criticisms are minor, however, and the reading is excellent. If you like military history or want to know more about this fascinating period in history, this is an excellent choice. The only real downside is that the author never included parts of the poem Lepanto, which would have been wonderful to hear John Lee read:

White founts falling in the Courts of the sun,
And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;
There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,
It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard;
It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips;
For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships.
They have dared the white republics up the capes of Italy,
They have dashed the Adriatic round the Lion of the Sea,
And the Pope has cast his arms abroad for agony and loss,
And called the kings of Christendom for swords about the Cross...

Max Barry writes a very unusual type of science fiction: they appear to be, from blurbs and a plot summary, thrillers set in the world of today, with a SF twist, along with a bit of farce and horror. This isn't wrong, of course, but it misses part of what makes the author so interesting. Barry somehow manages to combine propulsive plots with science fiction tropes in a way that is both really fun, but also offers insightful commentary on contemporary social issues. Jennifer Government pushed past the standard cyberpunk to satirize globalization and libertarianism, The Company goes beyond an Office Space-style parody of big business in interesting ways, and so on. I liked these, but I think Lexicon is his best book.

In this case, the less revealed about the actual plot, the better (though Google "Langford's Parrot" to get in the properly paranoid mood). However, the twists on the power of language are interesting, both for plotting and in thinking about our world in a time of Big Data, online personalization, and targeted advertising. It is hard to not come away from the book without thinking more about how language causes individuals to take action. The book also manages to throw in a bit of Harry Potter (if the Muggles were treated by Wizards in the way that you would expect) and a new take on the zombie apocalypse for good measure.

I loved the reading, though, even as a non-Australian, I could tell that the female narrator was having some issues with the accent, though these didn't bother me. Ultimately, I found myself coming up with reasons to listen, since it was that compelling. I would definitely recommend this, especially to those who like near future and thoughtful science fiction (Charlie Stross, Neal Stephenson).

I have listened to a lot of history books on Audible, and I thought this would mostly cover ground I had heard before (in Guns, Germs, and Steel, for example). I was wrong.

To be fair, not all of the historical incidents themselves were entirely new, but the book managed to bring them together in a way that was a revelation. In one powerful section on Jamestown, for example, you see how alien the landscape was for Europeans arriving in Virginia - they couldn't even recognize tended fields, because they looked so different than European fields. And, in return, by bringing earthworms, draft animals, and malaria, the Europeans create an entirely different ecosystem themselves which destroys or merges with the American one. The idea of settlers transforming a landscape so utterly feels like a science fiction trope, but the historical account is excellent, here, as it is throughout the book.

Similarly fascinating are accounts of the way that Spanish silver destabilized China, the potato's role in European history, and the attempts to start a Confederate state in the Amazon. The history is not always pleasant, but it terrifically described. Along the way, Mann makes an argument that, since 1493, we are living in a new world, the Homogenocene, shaped by humans and globalization.

There are only a couple of minor caveats. First, the author works hard to make sure his views on the Colombian Exchange are asserted, and he overreaches occasionally in trying to tie much of world history to the Exchange. This is forgivable, but can make some sections feel like a bit of a stretch. Also, the reading is solid, but not terrific.

Reading reviews by historians, this seems to be well-regarded work, even though it wasn't by a historian. It is definitely gripping and occasionally revelatory. I recommend it very highly to those who like their history sweeping.

This book was originally a series of short stories released once a week, a format Scalzi will repeat again. Tellingly, in his announcement that he would be writing another Human Division novel, Scalzi said that he had been renewed for "Season 2." The metaphor of a science fiction television series exactly nails the good and bad of this novel.

The books are a loose story arc of self-contained episodes taking place in the Old Man's War universe. Some of the episodes- sorry, I mean stories - are very solid, some are pretty mediocre. The overarching plot is dished out in small doses, which makes the pacing feel uneven. At its best, it is like watching a great Star Trek episode. At its worst, it is like watching a bad one. There is never a moment where the novel breaks down, but it is rarely very compelling either.

I am a Scalzi fan, but, as much as I like his work, he can be extremely uneven. His most compelling work (Old Man's War, for example) is like a smarter, modern-day Heinlein, with wonderful characters and interesting settings. At his less-than-best (Redshirts, this novel) he is still entertaining, but the formula of witty, insubordinate characters and repeated low-grade mystery-solving becomes a little obvious. He is still one of the best writers of fun science fiction out there, but I keeping hoping for another home run. While a solid entertaining time, with occasional moments of brilliance, this is a base hit.

It took me awhile to put together the review for this novel. The plot can be summed up relatively quickly, for what it is worth: it is a story of a group of traveling companions heading to a marshal arts tournament, and the story of a group of mage/astronauts trying to appease an angry god. This doesn't help explain the book much, however, and the best way to give a sense of what the book really is involves comparison with other important works in SF and fantasy. This is, in part, because the audiobook manages to invoke many tropes and touchpoints in the best science fiction and fantasy novels while remaining entirely its own entity.

With its picaresque wanderings and mingling of science fiction elements (robots, space travel, orbiting weapons) and fantasy (gods, magic, potions) it invokes Vance's Dying Earth, Harrison's Virconium, and Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. There are lots of amazing wonders, an immense land full of history, and the sense of an ancient and tired world with its own rules. The book is more playful than these grim (but excellent) comparisons, though it does suffer a bit from their flaws: if the world is odd and the book involves travel, many of the events that happen seem random. There are moments in the book where things happen suddenly, and it is hard to know what to expect, or anticipate the consequences of the characters choices. At its best, this is wonderful; but it can also be tiring, as the characters wander from event to event.

On the other hand, the attention to the inner lives of the flawed characters, along with their sharply observed interactions and the visceral attention to the physical nature of the characters (lots of blood, sex, and sweat here) invoke Joe Abercrombie, Richard Morgan, and the rest of the recent grimdark fantasy writers. There is plenty of fighting, coupling, lust and revenge to go around, and the novel also delves deeply into the motivations and histories of the main characters. This, too, can occasionally be over the top, and the reader seems to over-enunciate every body part being caressed or crushed, making the reading, which is mostly fine, seem a little awkward and even embarrassing at times.

So, there is a lot of brilliance here, and lots of novelty. It doesn't always feel like the parts of the novel fully connect, though there are potential sequels for that, but it is rarely less than interesting. The sheer intensity of the interactions, combined with the repeated unexpected plot twists, can make it hard to deeply engage the novel for too long at a time, but that might be me. Certainly, don't let these issues (and the mediocre reading) scare you away from an original, exciting debut.

This is a science fiction/post-apocalyptic/kung fu/romance/war novel/comedy/drama/horror/adventure story written by John le Carré's son. If the description is a bit exhausting, so is the book. It feels like Harkaway threw in the kitchen sink into the book, and then the remaining sinks in the house, and other plumbing, for good measure.

The book is often entertaining and exciting, with wry comments and some laugh-out lines. But it is also very discursive: wandering through flashbacks and asides, switching tone between satirical and emotional. It isn't hard to follow, exactly, but rather tiring. The plot is interrupted so frequently that you sometimes want to shout "Get on with it!" at your audio player.

For example, the story is framed in a fascinating post-apocalyptic setting. Within that story, there are flashbacks to the vaguely absurdist Gone Away War that led to the apocalypse. Part of the story of that war involves an epic escape. In the middle of the escape, a secondary character dies, and the author decides to tell you what is going through the mind of the character during its death, which includes a flashback of the character's entire life, for a full 10+ minutes. It was a funny flashback, but I really wanted to just keep the main plot going.

This problem is exacerbated by the fact that it is an audio book, so, suddenly realizing that you are now going to spend 10-30 minutes listening to a discursive discussion can be really annoying.

On the other hand, the book is really interesting, very imaginative, and well-read. If you are okay with the meandering plot and willful switches of tone, this is a good choice.

Wow, I hated this. And I feel bad for hating it, because The Return of King Lillian is trying very, very hard for you to like it. The language tries for charming, and, at its best, achieves it but much more often collapses into overwrought as adjective is piled upon adjective, . Take for example, this portion(!!) of a sentence from the prologue: "Fields upon fields upon fields of blinking, winking stars shooting, falling, twinkling, breathing beauty..." It is trying for mythic wonderfulness, and mostly ends up being painful - and the occasional rhyming verse just makes it more awkward.

The story feels similarly desperate to please (I couldn't finish it, so maybe it gets better), with lots of obvious parables, mythic elements, and cute touches combining to create a tale that is disjointed and not particularly compelling. The author/narrator reads with great verve, but to continue the theme, it all feels remarkably overwrought - the main character is read like she was Annie Oakley, every word is imbued with emotion, and it gets exhausting quickly.

But, you say, perhaps this book isn't for adults? Maybe it is for children? It is possible, though I think my daughter would be equally bored and confused by this tale. And I couldn't help compare this to the Graveyard Book by Neil Gamain - books of similar length, read by the author, aimed (perhaps) at the young as well as the old - which just makes the failings of this novel even clearer.

I hate to harshly review a book that is such an obvious labor of love, but I couldn't find any of the redeeming features of other reviewers who seemed quite uniform in their praise of the novel. Given that every other reviewer on Amazon and Audible gives the book five stars, I am not sure whether I am missing something obvious, or whether some other factor is driving positive reviews. I, for one, feel like this purchase was a complete waste; your view may vary.

As must be true for so many others listening to this book, it is the conclusion of a series I started two decades ago. Fantasy was a bit of a different place then, and the WoT series was, to my teenage sensibilities, amazing. Giant fantasy novels featuring prophecy and magic and hidden identities. It was like reading Tolkein again! Or the Belgariad! Awesome!

A lot has changed in those decades, however, and much of what defined WoT (including lots of "borrowing" from Tolkein and other sources) in epic fantasy is now either completely out of fashion (think the grimdark worlds of George RR Martin), or else has been reconfigured by other writers (JK Rowling's take on prophecy and evil). So, in some ways, it is nice to get back to the intricate world-building, humble farmboys-turned-saviors, hideous Trollocs, and other fantasy staples. Besides, I have invested so much time over the years, including in some of the truly awful books in the middle of the series, that I had to finish this.

Given this context, this is a very satisfying book. After reading various Wikis to get up to speed, I found myself thrilled to see the old characters again, and to see most (if not all) of the many threads of the immense plot brought to a reasonably satisfying conclusion. Sanderson deserves credit for somehow managing to deal with the thousands of plots, viewings, and minor characters that Robert Jordan introduced, and he does it impressively, switching between nearly 100 points of view in various chapters. He also manages to slightly tone down Jordan's somewhat upsetting take on gender politics. Both of these are no mean feat, and I have to admit that I got somewhat emotional as some of the characters I had known for 20+ years met their various fates.

All of this (plus excellent reading) makes this a really worthwhile conclusion to an epic fantasy series. Not the best series, mind you, but one that deserves praise for both its ambition and its satisfying ending. I wouldn't start WoT from scratch, at this stage, but I am happy I experienced it.

The first 2/3 of this novel are pure fun. There are mysteries in an strange apartment complex to be unraveled, a winning cast of characters to do so, and a great reader to narrate the whole thing. The pacing is such that you are always listening for a few more minutes, just to see what the tenants will learn next about their mysterious building. There is lots of original ideas, and some old science fiction and horror concepts reused in fun ways.

Sadly, as the mysteries are finally revealed, much of the fun drains away, and the last 1/3 of the book, while by no means bad, just can't keep up the excitement and pace. The twists are more cliched, and the revelations surprisingly unsatisfying.

Despite that, this is still a fun novel, and a solid read, especially those into modern Lovecraftian horror (Atrocity Archives, for example)

This is, in essence, a very detailed history of science in the period between Newton and the dawn of modern science in the mid-1800s, with a particular focus on excitement of discovery and the lives of a few scientists. The book opens with Captain Cook's trip to Tahiti, and then swings through the discovery of Uranus, the birth of air travel (by balloon), and the rapid evolution of chemistry, among other topics. The biographies are quite detailed, covering the work, personal, and professional lives of the scientists involved. To that end, I would agree with the other reviewer - the title is misleading to the extent that the classic Romantics (Byron, Keats, Shelly, etc.) are covered only in passing, and art and literature is not the clear focus.

On the other hand, this book covers a fascinating period in science, one that is rarely written about, since it is less sexy than either the time of Newton or the birth of modern physics. In the stories in this book, you can see how science transitions from a period of pure discovery to an attempt to follow a scientific method. And this is told through engaging stories of life in Tahiti, the early experiments with electricity by genuine mad scientists, and the early days of flight (the President of the Royal Society's first thought when he heard about balloons was to tie them to carriages in order to make the load lighter for horses!) Additionally, for someone like me who doesn't usually like biographies, I found the coverage of the lives of the scientists compelling and the storytelling to be top notch.

A couple of things weigh the experience down. First, the book is a bit long, but there is a lot to keep you listening, though the detail does pile up. Also, the reader is mostly average, except when he tries to do American accents, which is outside his range.

Overall, though, if you like the history of science and want something different, or you are interested in the late 18th/early 19th century, this is a really great listen. For others, it may be a less compelling subject, but it is well written and full of new information.