Reviews and Comments

If you've read Mountains of Madness, this is not really a retelling, but almost a continuation. An impossibly large mountain, a quest to conquer it, and things get weird. But unlike Lovecraft's novel, things are pretty much explained thoroughly by the end of Ascension. I struggle to think of a single loose thread now that I'm done with it. A little comic booky at the end.

Not bad. Definitely has some Hitchhiker's-esque scenes. But the end was a letdown.

This is a rough book. It's tough to believe that Britney endured all that was thrown at her. But I suppose this is the nature of abuse; it's a dynamic of the abuser's behavior and the abused's inability to find a way out.

I hope this encourages more victims to take action. And I hate that the onus is on them, as they don't deserve what's happening to them, but that's the only way things are going to improve.

This is a rough book. It's tough to believe that Britney endured all that was thrown at her. But I suppose this is the nature of abuse; it's a dynamic of the abuser's behavior and the abused's inability to find a way out.

I hope this encourages more victims to take action. And I hate that the onus is on them, as they don't deserve what's happening to them, but that's the only way things are going to improve.

25% through. Goes fast.

Just not my thing. Felt like an opening act, not a full story.

Best book I've read all year. If you like Andy Weir (The Martian, Hail Mary), you'll love this. I'll never look at the moon the same way again. I only wish the book didn't lose its sense of urgency in Act 3, but there was a lot of ground to cover.

Great start, but subsequent acts were interminable. This is a silly tale, but its silliness isn't strong enough to carry the work as a whole.

A three star book I'm bumping to four stars for its single-minded commitment to telling the story of a character with only one thing on his mind. The Old Man is very much like its protagonist. It's lean, fast, ready to change settings at a moment's notice, and has few real commitments. Now I'm ready to watch the show.

For better or for worse, Grendel was the comic I really latched on to as an adolescent. Hunter Rose, Christine Spar, Eppy, Orion Asante, I was there for all of them. Grendel Tales, however... It's a little all over the place. Grendel has been a... "Spirit" is perhaps the best word, but not in the spectre or ghost kind of way .. that chose its avatars carefully. In the post-Asante era, "Grendel" is a title that might as well be applied to anyone who can kill anyone without consequence. A license to kill, in a way. So you'll meet several Grendels in these stories, and many of them don't deserve the title in the spirit of the earlier works. The very word "Grendel" becomes diluted to mean anything.

Eh. Not amazing.

Best Batman story I've read.