Reviews and Comments

I loved this book, but I guess this is not to everyone's taste. First of all, you get thrown into a pretty confusing world, without much explanation. You learn more throughout the book, and as I discovered after finishing, there is also a glossary and explanation of some things attached.

Still, this was a wild ride through a space gothic necromantic sword wielding story with so much going on, you can barely catch a breath. You fumble along next to Gideon, who doesn't know much more than the reader.

Totally recommended for people who like a nice, confusing mix of Scifi, Fantasy and Gothic Horror Novels.

3.5 stars rounded up. A human colony is stranded on a faraway planet for about 600 years now and has to survive and deal with the primitive native folk. The storytelling is decent, but a bit dusty regarding e.g. gender roles. To be fair, it was written in 1966 and Le Guin was only in the process of becoming the huge success and forward thinker she later turned out to be.

The book is short and shouldn't be any longer for the given story. It's part of the loose canon of Hainish novels (although either I missed it, or they don't play any role in this one), so as a completionist, I just had to read it. I liked it a bit better than Rocannon's World, the first one.

The books from the Wayfarers series can be read standalone, but I recommend reading them in order so you get a feel for the universe and an introduction to the characters (ok, I've only read the first two right now). Things will make a little bit more sense.

Anyways, this was another really nice, character-driven book.

I must admit, this book didn't capture me as much as others. It is not long though, and you have to consider its age (published in 1966!).

Its ideas and story are therefore quite remarkable. I have not read the other, more famous stories from the Hainish novels, but I'm sure this is not the best.

It contains some landmarks of Scifi though (even though most of it is high fantasy), most remarkably the Ansible, which Le Guin invented here and which is a mainstay for so many other works from later authors.

A lovable and diverse spaceship crew on an adventure. What's not to like. The main plot almost fades into the background because there's a lot of focus on the different characters of the crew, their lives, emotions and character development throughout the book.

I'm looking forward to reading the other books from this series.

Das Buch hat mich nicht wirklich abgeholt. Es war nicht so schlecht dass ich aufgehört hätte es zu lesen, aber der Plot war teils sehr dünn. Verschiedene Ideen die eine größere Rolle spielen sind wenn man es freundlich formulieren will inspiriert von anderen Scifi-Autoren.

Letzteres finde ich nicht schlimm, die allerwenigsten Ideen sind wirklich grundlegend neu. Der Autor hat es aber zumindest für mich nicht wirklich geschafft diese Ideen zu etwas interessantem Neuen zu verarbeiten.

Insgesamt ein mittelmäßiger Sci-fi Thriller der versucht, eine Mischung aus Hard-boiled Detective Story mit diversen Charakteren und einer Near-Future Scifi Story zu verknüpfen.

Another wild ride through Undisclosed. I personally love the humour, but I guess it's not to everyone's taste. However, if you liked the previous installations, you can't go wrong with this one.

The book again keeps you on edge because the lines between "reality" (whatever that means in this series) and dreams / false memories is a blurry mess and you expect a new revelation with every turn of the page, only to be negated on the next. Nothing is ever as it seems. Sounds exhausting, but is extremely fun to read because the protagonists take it in stride, as always.

This book contains lovely little stories from Pratchett's earliest writings under Pseudonyms, only recently unearthed from newspaper archives by dedicated fans.

They give a hint into the later, more elaborately done writings, and read a bit like rough sketches of the intricate humour and intelligence of Pratchett's later works.

Recommended for Pratchett fans and people who like silly little stories.

Bad Religion has been around for literally ages and was/is a major influence on the punk scene starting in the late 80's. Graffin's academical background (he has a PhD in zoology) shines through in this memoir by means of his writing style and, yes, footnotes with source annotations scattered throughout the book.

The book is at times a bit lengthy and reads a bit like an academical paper, but I still liked it well enough. If you're interested in the rise of the late punk scene, from Black Flag to Blink-182 and the influence Bad Religion had on the scene, this book is for you.

Anne Leckie's world building and psychological insights into the different alien, AI and human races and factions are like no other. Sometimes it's hard to follow if you don't concentrate on the story, but it definitely never gets boring. If you liked the Ancillary books, this one is definitely for you.

"Und das Leben wohnt im Herzen."

Eines der schönsten Zitate aus diesem Klassiker, wie ich finde. Momo habe ich das letzte Mal als Kind gelesen und vieles schon wieder vergessen. Es hat aber nichts von seinem Zauber eingebüßt und ist im Gegenteil ein, und ja ich entschuldige mich für das Wortspiel, zeitloses Buch. Man kann es immer und immer wieder lesen um sich selbst daran zu erinnern, nicht nur durch das Leben durchzuhetzen.