Reviews and Comments

I liked it! The plot flies straight as an arrow with no side-plots that only become relevant 1,000 pages later. I really needed a book like this after some other recent reading!

I 100% agree with Zach's review about the shortcomings. Some basic questions about the Hoops are never explained. For example, each Hoop has two sides. With two Hoops on each world, that's four portals. But the worlds seem to be organized along a string, just one after the other. (Based on the cover and the single points of Sadema and Celema.) So I guess either both sides of a Hoop go to the same world, or both Hoops have one side for each of the next/previous worlds. There are scenes contradicting both possibilities. They definitely travel from Hoop to Hoop, as in Jierra. But they also travel a lot going round and round on the "ring road" around "the hill". They can even walk from world to world, so it sounds like using the same Hoop? (No idea how big the worlds are, but there are cities in them.)

If the ring road just loops around the same Hoop, why do you have to walk the long ring road around it? Why not circle it closer to the edge in two minutes? On the long way to Celema we have this conversation:

"If we stayed at this edge, and just circled it until we hit the nub ... ?" she joked.

"We could try the same measurements," Montano conceded. "And see if the gap was small enough to bridge. But that would be a lot of work, for no reward."

How is that a joke? I was wondering the same thing! And how is that an answer?

Greg Egan's web page with extra explanations doesn't help me on this either. The very first simple example is "if we ignore one of the Hoops and just consider the effects of a single one." It seems to describe pretty much what's in the novel. What does the other Hoop do?

Okay, enough complaining! I liked the characters. They are not very complex, but each of them is an individual and their personalities have interesting chemistry. There are a few evil-for-no-reason characters, but the people we get to know are all really smart and nice. We see a utopistic society in the vein of [b:News from Nowhere|189746|News from Nowhere|William Morris|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1172550120l/189746.SY75.jpg|13352231]. It also raises a lot of questions that are not answered, but I guess we're here to do topology, not sociology. (I wouldn't have minded.)

The plot has a number of awesome parts that I don't want to spoil. Like suddenly being stranded in an alien land. The ending is indeed abrupt. I kept trying to turn the page. There's not even a "The End" leaf at the end. I don't mind that too much. It's nearly impossible to make an ending satisfying.

PS: I actually figured it all out. It's not well explained in the book, but the worlds are not along a string. They are organized in a cobweb with four neighbors to each world. Hence navigation is pretty challenging. There are many nubs, but Celema is unique. It lies in a "straight line" from Sadema, which they correctly assume would lead them in a loop. Question on Stack Exchange

Oh no! This is Murderbot Diaries #6? I wanted to read #4.5. I mixed up the books. And I didn't even notice! So maybe nothing happens in #4.5 and #5? I'll find out soon.

Anyway, it was a nice read. A detective story, with a bit less action than the first four books. It still has its charm, particularly in how Murderbot interacts with a bit larger and less morally black and white cast.

The description of scenes and technologies was sometimes a bit too detailed to keep me interested. Okay, there's all that stuff there, but why do I have to know all this? Will any of this help me find the killer?

In the end I didn't find the killer. It can be totally my fault, but I naturally feel like the book failed at foreshadowing and leaving clues.

I see a missed world-building opportunity on the political side too. Will the slaver corporation be okay with Preservation supporting escaped slaves? Will Preservation be okay with the slavers assassinating people on their station? Where do we go from here?

This was surprisingly short and awesome! The main character thinks of themselves as an violent, unfriendly, selfish outsider, but they are actually the opposite. They love everyone around them and will sacrifice themselves any chance they get. That was a surprise.

So contrary to what I expected this is a really happy, hopeful book. It's also very exciting with continuous action. The main character's personality is the primary focus of the series and I think it's well done. I don't think you should look at it as an exploration of AI but rather as an exploration of real human neurodivergent experiences. And only good things happen to them. (Okay they get bitten, shot, and crashed, but that's not something they really mind.)

The book is rather light sci-fi. The AI aspect is not serious. The space aspect is not serious. Planetary exploration is not serious. But it's still fun and it makes good use of being set in the future. There are lots of digital systems (drones, cameras, updates) and a lot of "hacking". People can basically hack anything as the plot requires. I don't actually find this entirely unrealistic. Are computer systems today more secure than 20 years ago? I don't think so. It's not a stretch to expect they will be even less secure into the far future.

Another source of plot elements, fun, and commentary on the real world is the social structure of this future. Companies that try to cut costs anywhere they can. When you're exploring an alien planet. With the robots you were contractually obliged to rent.

It's fine. I still love the story, the world, and the characters. I felt it lacked the momentum of the previous books.


We're just stuck in Urithiru for the whole book. Kaladin gets the usual treatment: suffer physically and mentally, then BOOM becomes a superhero at the end. While this kind of happened before, it's almost comical here.

Shallan was okay, and Shadesmar felt more interesting than last time. Though why disavow the Ghostbloods instead of double-crossing them?

Adolin's story was super awesome! Twists, fights, heroism, compassion, and huge plot progress! The best.

Navani and Raboniel were a good pair. The fabrial trickery was great and I would not have minded more of it. There was a lot of exposition along this storyline, but it's a bit dry. I care about tones of Roshar and hybrid lights, but not "edge of my seat"-care.

Venli's backstory was okay and revealed a few things. I still love how Gavilar's assassination is coming together. The conflicting motivations and all that. I didn't feel like the story had any strong moments, but I still appreciate the character development. How ambition drives her to betrayal then to the realization that she was used and as a result she is now disillusioned in ambition itself.

Dalinar wants to train as a bondsmith, but then doesn't. That resonates with my life experiences! Still it's not the best story. The revelation from Ishar is mind bending, but it would have been so much better to put it at the start and then investigate throughout the book!

Taravangian is super cool as always.


In the end I felt like the "Sanderson Avalanche" did not happen in this book. When Venli says "I know someone who could help" and goes to free Lift, I thought that was it! We're on! But then Kaladin just wakes up and goes, "what should we do? give up maybe? or just think this through a bit more?"

It's still a good book, but I liked Fall of Giants better in many ways:

I felt like Fall of Giants explained what caused the war. Those evil aristocrats! I mean a world war is surely never down to one cause, but Fall of Giants felt like a solid criticism of aristocracy. From 13-year-old miners to knocking up 17-year-old maids to hanging peasants to sending people to their deaths on the battlefield, it becomes 100% clear that aristocracy was a bad idea and had to be stamped out.

Fall of Giants also explained fairly well why the ideal of communism could not become reality. The infighting between communist factions is a good (tragic) story.

This thread continues in Winter of the World, and I liked the Spanish theater. What happens with Stalin is made less clear, but still okay I think.

But I felt like the story in Germany did not dig deep enough. The evil nazis just appeared out of nowhere! They spring up without explanation in London too, but in the (awesome) Battle of Cable Street they are beaten for good.

There is a bit of implication of capitalists betting on nazism as defense against communism. But while I got the impression from Fall of Giants that aristocracy was 90% responsible, in Winter of the World I felt like capitalists were maybe 10% responsible. But it doesn't offer an explanation for the other 90%.

In all I felt like Fall of Giants was fine with condemning aristocrats, since they are gone now. But Winter of the World pulls its punches when it comes to Americans or capitalism, since they are still here. No mention of internment camps for Japanese. No mention of fire bombing of Japan. The Wikipedia article on the Manhattan Project focuses more on the interesting parts than Winter of the World.

In general I feel like the book could have visited more interesting parts of the war. Millions starved in India. Japanese troops committed atrocities in China. Why not take a look. The book doesn't even visit nazi death camps. I feel like I read through a thousand pages and still missed all the vital organs of WW2.

What a unique book! The structure is so strange. Stuff happens, then more stuff and more stuff, but I had no idea where we were going basically up to the very end. Between the "stuff" happening, sometimes months pass and the characters settle into a new normal. They make decisions then end up doing the opposite.

Somehow all this adds up to a very life-like story. You may shout "WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT", but you shout at the character, not the writer. The characters are fantastic, with juicy inner lives. The way they work together is perfect.

Bianca is attractive and loves Sophie in her own aristocratic way. She appreciates Sophie's loyalty and kindness. So we can understand why Sophie is in love with her. But Sophie's love is more romantic and passionate. The kind of crazy young love. But she ignores the parts of Bianca that are outside of their room. She wants those to not exist.

Sophie wants Bianca. Bianca wants power. Mouth wants a purpose. Alyssa wants to "make it" maybe?

Even as a stage play it would be interesting. But all these characters are dropped on a tidally locked alien planet. Humanity can only live in the thin twilight zone between the boiling sun and freezing night. While the 21st century reader is used to living on the upward trajectory of human civilization, these folks are on the downward side. They've lost contact with the mothership that brought them here hundreds of years ago. They are losing technologies bit by bit.

And then there are the aliens. I really don't want to give away anything here, but it's very original and just great.

The ending is unique too. It's not a full closure. I can't say I know the fate of the world. Everything is up in the air. A lot of characters have died, but the world is still too small for those that are alive. I would have gladly read more. But it works. The book has told the story it wanted to tell.

This was a great read! It's kind of long and for some reason I read three other books while reading it. That sounds like it failed to keep my attention, but it's the opposite. After finishing some more "urgent" readings I came back to Fall of Giants without fail.

It has excellent pacing. Makes it feel like these years (1911-1925) never had a moment without drama. The story focuses on half a dozen viewpoint characters and a cast of recurring characters around them. We visit Wales, London, the Western Front, Germany, the Eastern Front, Petersburg, Buffalo, and more.

The character plots are excellent. They would stand up just as well in a fantasy universe. Many of them are lovable. But even the negative characters have charisma, and by the end at least we understand their point of view, even if we don't sympathize with them.

What takes the book from good to great, though, is its historical setting. I know very little about history, and I'm willing to believe everything I read. It all looks super well researched, and I'm sure the book would not be so popular if it had glaring inaccuracies. I love the depictions of everyday life and economic differences between countries. How incredible German (Polish?) peasant houses looked to Russian soldiers, how even aristocrats in Germany went starving during the war, how children were put to work at 13 or earlier.

But what will stick with me the most is the condemnation of the aristocracy for everything that was wrong with the world. Fall of Giants smashed all romantic notions I may have had from watching Downton Abbey and showed how inherently evil this system of society was. The world has changed a lot in the hundred years since then and Fall of Giants has left me with a fresh perspective on these changes.

I haven't read much historic fiction but I can now certainly see it's appeal! It's just like a good fantasy novel. (Albeit in a very very low magic setting.) But when I rant about its world and its history my family is willing to hear me out!

I'm sure to read the other two books in the trilogy.

It's a devious crime setup! It's upsetting trying to imagine being in such a scenario. It's a great basis for a plot.

I felt like the delivery was maybe a bit formulaic. I liked that it was anchored hard in 2019 with Bitcoin, Instagram, Tor, Uber making appearances and using iPhones as flashlights with guns in the other hand. But other than that I don't think there are any surprises.

There is one plot twist (Marty's girlfriend being the mastermind) but its delivery felt botched to me. The reader learns it way before the characters, so some scenes (looking up Kylie's GPS trace) feel somewhat impotent. Also it's a bit random. The mastermind hooked up with Marty because he's just so handsome???

The characters obviously go through severe hardships and there is a good amount of writing devoted to examining their anguish and how they try to process the events. This has good potential, but I don't think I got much new out of it. They just grit their teeth, suffer, etc. But it's a bit flat I think. It doesn't manage to give real life to the characters. The main character is a professor of philosophy which is another opportunity that is a bit wasted. (There are no musings on philosophy.) She is also a woman. I think the (male) author did an okay job of writing women, but perhaps a female writer would have been able to make them more real.

But this is basically an action movie in a book form, so I'm not sure all this criticism is warranted. It has an awesome setup, a decent plot, and exciting action scenes. It's a quick read and entertaining. I'm not really complaining! If they make a movie out of it, I'll watch that too.

I wish I had this book in college! There was room to improve my bread, spam & pickles diet! It's so good for beginners. Let me show a few snippets from one of the recipes:

Cover the potatoes with water in a large pot with a lid. Bring the water to a boil over medium-high heat, then turn the heat down to medium and set the lid askew so that steam can escape.

To the point, but detailed.

If the fork pierces the potato easily, it’s fully cooked. If not, boil for 5 more minutes. It’s fine if they’re a little overcooked, but undercooked potatoes are awful.

That's always my question when I'm doing something new! I'm not going to be 100% accurate. Is it better to be wrong this way or that? What are the consequences? How important is this?

Add a generous amount of salt as you stir. Potatoes are very bland without salt!

Highlights pitfalls that are obvious to experienced chefs. Until you start cooking, you're used to using the salt shaker on your plate. You've never tasted unsalted potatoes!

These are from a simple (but novel) potato salad recipe. While the recipes are really practical and cover the basics, they are surprisingly creative and varied! "Chocolate Zucchini Muffins", "Filipino Chicken Adobo", "Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls", and so on. I'm no longer a beginner cook and don't have to eat super cheap, but I still plan to try some of these!