Reviews and Comments

This has been on my to-read list for some time.

It was difficult to not find myself comparing this to The Expanse, given just how much I enjoyed that staggering 9 book series. Sadly I didn't find this lived up to my expectations. I appreciated the imagination that clearly went into it, but I didn't find myself connecting with any of the characters in the same way that I did in The Expanse.

In theory this book starts out with a much much bigger scope than The Expanse but strangely feels much narrower and small. You don't really get the same sense of space or the worlds involved or the technologies.

I'm hopeful that it turns around and proves me very wrong in the subsequent books, and I think if I had read this without ever reading The Expanse I probably wouldn't be so critical. I did enjoy it, just not in the way I'd hoped to.

The meandering perspective at first annoyed me, then I settled into it. Once I fell into that rhythm, it felt like a solid read, and interesting to get a glimpse of South African life. Although I felt a bit irked to not get perspectives from Black characters a bit more.

A fascinating life revealed in a very open and honest manner. Definitely gave me a new perspective on the man and I look forward to delving into more of his films - I didn't realise quite how prolific he has been!

I was quite looking forward to this but came out disappointed. A lot more time seems to be spent on listing the places over which the ISS was currently flying, sometimes interspersed with some pleasing descriptions, but other times just feeling like a chore of describing yet another fly-over. The randomly jumping point of view and switching from one person's train of thought to another was also something I could have done without, and ultimately came out of it feeling like the characters were wholly undeveloped.

On the plus side there are some very nice passages scattered throughout, and some nice musings on life and meaning, but it just felt like the book was missing real substance to keep attention.

I often found myself semi-speed-reading through yet another listing of landmarks.

Your mileage may vary though as a lot of people seemed to like it!

I think I need a break from heavy non-fiction. Time to have a look at some recent Booker Prize winners. This sounds like an interesting premise 🤞

It truly beggars belief the woe and misery caused by the British and French in their Middle East machinations, and once things got bad they all just upped and left, and things have pretty much been a complete mess ever since.

Given the current situation in the Middle East, it feels like a good time to educate myself on the history a little better

Whilst I preferred Claire's following book, Monsters, this was still a good read. At times laugh-out-loud funny, at other times extremely saddening, it always felt incredibly honest and open.

I loved Claire's most recent book "Monsters" so am definitely looking forward to this

Fascinating look at the American continent prior to the disastrous arrival of Columbus et al