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Taking a long time to read this one because just finding time for it is hard!

Been a while since I read any Stephenson. I loved his early work but much of the recent stuff (looking at you, DODO) has been too obscure and obtuse even for me. And my wife says they have a lot of in jokes which she gets because she reads them all and I don’t.

So let’s see how this goes. So far I’m enjoying the somtory about the queen landing a plane which is about to explode.

The weakest of the trilogy. Packed full of wonderful ideas and no time spent in any of them. It felt very rushed.

I’m glad I read it. I’m the trilogy was good, but fizzled out a bit.

Might try some other Scalzi books and see how they go.

Well that’s finished. Look it wasn’t terrible but it surely wasn’t the best. The ending had some nice wry humour, but wasn’t really all that great. It was rushed. Like “I’ve got three chapters of material and only ten pages left” rushed.

Certainly the weakest of the trilogy. I’m glad I read it, and I regret nothing. I’ll try some more Scalzi books in the future and see if this is an aberration or the rule for his writing style.

I’m halfway through and I’ve decided this book is nowhere near as good as the first two in the trilogy. This one is very repetitive, and constantly reminds us of things we already know. I’ve found myself grumbling “yes, you told us this already” a few times. And it’s not plot points, it’s reminding us of reminders we’ve had of reminders that were written to remind us of what happened previously in other books. Ok I’m exaggerating a bit there, but I made my point.

The politics and scheming and science are undermined by the recaps and reminders. I just don’t feel like very much has happened in this book.

The first hour of the audiobook. Well. Strong opening prologue and then the next hour was mostly expository recap. It doesn’t feel as tight as the previous two books, but it has made me laugh a few times. Keen to see if it gets better.

Been looking forward to this book - it’s started really well. By which I mean hilariously. I love Scalzi’s dripping sarcasm.

I don’t like that after setting up the Acting Duke of End for a redemption arc in the previous novel, we’ve skipped a few months and gone back to him being a dumbass, to the plan he had before talking to the Count. Ugh.

But Keva is always awesome.

Solid ending, exactly the same patterns as previous novels. But solid work and a great farewell to beloved characters. Well. Slightly underwhelming for some, but that’s ok, it follows the established logic.

Been hanging out to read this and now it’s out!

I wonder if it’ll follow the same narrative pattern. Such a pain that they build to a crescendo in every novel…and then skip two weeks later so we miss actually dealing with immediate consequences.

But they wrote fantastic characters for the most part. Except what they did to Naomi. That was poor. And I have opinions about authors who motivate female characters by playing with their relationship to men, and their offspring with men. It’s almost as bad as fridging.

But damn the sci fi is fun.

Time to read this classic hardboiled again. Been a few years and I'm keen to see if I pick up anything I missed last time.