GenericMoniker started reading Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Starter Villain by John Scalzi
Inheriting your mysterious uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might imagine.
Sure, there are the things you'd …
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Inheriting your mysterious uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might imagine.
Sure, there are the things you'd …
Content warning Maybe spoilers?
After her brother is killed, and nearly dying herself, Monza claws her way back to life in order to bring retribution to those responsible and those just guilty by association.
On her quest for revenge, she recruits a Northman who wants to be a better man (but this journey does not help), a master poisoner who is flawed in so many ways, and even some old enemies.
The quest almost becomes inevitable, even after Monza herself has second thoughts about all the names on her "list".
I don't think I've ever read a book where the protagonist is so indifferent to his own survival. Fortunately luck, good timing and The Wonk conspire to keep Uncharles, valet robot, going. He just wants to arrange someone's wardrobe and travel plans but ends up on an epic journey through a collapsed society. I laughed out loud several times.
I don't think I've ever read a book where the protagonist is so indifferent to his own survival. Fortunately luck, good timing and The Wonk conspire to keep Uncharles, valet robot, going. He just wants to arrange someone's wardrobe and travel plans but ends up on an epic journey through a collapsed society. I laughed out loud several times.
Back to the rich world of The Divine Cities trilogy, this book follows Turyin Mulaghesh instead of Shara Komayd (the protagonist of the first book). Mulaghesh is called out of retirement to look into the disappearance of a Saypuri agent in the deceased war goddess' city.
The story is soberingly tragic despite some victories.
Back to the rich world of The Divine Cities trilogy, this book follows Turyin Mulaghesh instead of Shara Komayd (the protagonist of the first book). Mulaghesh is called out of retirement to look into the disappearance of a Saypuri agent in the deceased war goddess' city.
The story is soberingly tragic despite some victories.
A generally optimistic take on what could be: Generative AI won't destroy education, it will be how everyone will have their own personal tutor. Smart executives won't lay off all of their human workers seeking cost savings but will use the productivity gains of AI to allow their workforce to do so much more than they could have previously.
Mollick covers some history of AI, current capabilities and limitations, and guidelines for working with it. But even a future rushing at us so quickly is difficult to predict, as the author acknowledges.
The book could use an index -- it is pretty hard to go back and find things later. For example, the jagged frontier is an insightful idea -- that it is really hard to know what kinds of things an AI is good at and what kinds of things it is bad at -- but in …
A generally optimistic take on what could be: Generative AI won't destroy education, it will be how everyone will have their own personal tutor. Smart executives won't lay off all of their human workers seeking cost savings but will use the productivity gains of AI to allow their workforce to do so much more than they could have previously.
Mollick covers some history of AI, current capabilities and limitations, and guidelines for working with it. But even a future rushing at us so quickly is difficult to predict, as the author acknowledges.
The book could use an index -- it is pretty hard to go back and find things later. For example, the jagged frontier is an insightful idea -- that it is really hard to know what kinds of things an AI is good at and what kinds of things it is bad at -- but in wanting to refresh my memory of the idea, there's not much to do except scan the pages visually. Maybe I should have gotten an electronic edition.

Ethan Mollick, professeur à Wharton et auteur de la populaire newsletter One Useful Thing Substack, nous livre le guide ultime …

Dalinar Kholin challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions with the future of Roshar on the line. …
Content warning Things that happen... not so much plot
These were some things that I particularly enjoyed.

The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions—until its …

The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions—until its …

The city of Bulikov once wielded the powers of the gods to conquer the world, enslaving and brutalizing millions—until its …
Content warning Maybe spoilers?
100 boys walk until only one is left standing.
Early in my reading of this book I imagined Stephen King taking a bet that he couldn't write a whole book where nothing happens except for someone going on a walk. I also thought I'd be disappointed if there wasn't some kind of a plot twist or at least that things get better spelled out about the setting that makes the walk what it is. But the plot, like the walkers, just keeps going down the line.
Doing a little research, this is apparently the first novel Stephen King wrote (and it was published under a pseudonym), so there probably weren't any literary challenge bets going on.
Despite the simplicity of the plot there are a ton of unanswered questions that leave the reader to speculate.
Did I like it? It was brutal and gory at times, so not "enjoyable" but it made me think.