A year after the events of METRO 2033 the last few survivors of the apocalypse, …
Review of 'Metro 2034' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
This would be alright, if it was an offshoot, or a side-story of the trilogy. But as a second installment, it feels extremely out of place. There's way too much world building and the main character of the first book appears for about 3 scenes, only in passing. In terms of the actual writing, dialogue and psychology, it's actually better than the first book, but the plot didn't really grip me.
The eagerly awaited sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Way of Kings.
Six …
Review of 'Words of Radiance' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
An enjoyable read, but as someone that generally doesn't really read big fantasy series, I had some gripes with it. It makes it very hard to rate, but to name a few:
- A frustratingly long buildup, only for a fuck ton to happen in the end, at once - Recycling characters (reviving characters is my top pet peeve in any story...) - Bad guy plot armor - Prose is kinda plain, but it's fantasy, and not the focus of the book
The positives: - The cool moments are really fucking cool, Sanderson has a talent for one liners - The intrigue and world building hit a very juicy sweet spot between overly complex and oversimplified - Things are kinda thrown in your face, making it really easy to follow along on audio, I've never actually been able to follow fights so vividly before - Some really cool interludes (Taravangian …
An enjoyable read, but as someone that generally doesn't really read big fantasy series, I had some gripes with it. It makes it very hard to rate, but to name a few:
- A frustratingly long buildup, only for a fuck ton to happen in the end, at once - Recycling characters (reviving characters is my top pet peeve in any story...) - Bad guy plot armor - Prose is kinda plain, but it's fantasy, and not the focus of the book
The positives: - The cool moments are really fucking cool, Sanderson has a talent for one liners - The intrigue and world building hit a very juicy sweet spot between overly complex and oversimplified - Things are kinda thrown in your face, making it really easy to follow along on audio, I've never actually been able to follow fights so vividly before - Some really cool interludes (Taravangian comes to mind) and colorful side characters - Shallan finally gets some really good character development, Kaladin goes through some proper turmoil and Kaladin gets to be a badass some more
But the overall criticism I had of the previous book in this series still permeates through this one. I can't really word it properly, but I was never properly shocked. I felt like I was constantly pleased, never challenged. Very rarely was I at the edge of my seat, worrying that a beloved character might just die. It's a mostly upward trajectory with a few valleys. The whole thing feels carefully engineered, similar to a catchy pop song. You won't be googling lyrics, but you will often catch yourself singing it to yourself. But I've learned my lesson, I've learned to not see it as a bad thing anymore. That's why I rate is 4/5.
"The role of money-lenders in history was once aptly termed by many acute observers as …
Review of 'History of central banking and the enslavement of mankind' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Some very interesting stuff. The problem with central banking is very clearly described through multiple sources, multiple accounts, and historical bliss whenever it was replaced with state-controlled banks. The problem is the constant blips. An assassin was seen at a synagogue (unsourced), therefore it's safe to assume that he was controlled and sent by the Rothschilds. Gavrilo Princip was jewish (unsourced)! Pre-revolutionary Russia was great! Look at all these export numbers! Nazi Germany was forced into a war, they had no intentions of grabbing eastern Europe in their lebensraum fantasy!
There's passing mentions of non-jewish usurers, even the Catholic Church, but all of the focus is on the "international jew"? Can the author at least concede the fact, that this group of extremely greedy people (who admittedly happen to be overwhelmingly jewish) are just that? Greedy? And not just jewish? Greedy people, mixed with the seemingly common trait of nepotism. …
Some very interesting stuff. The problem with central banking is very clearly described through multiple sources, multiple accounts, and historical bliss whenever it was replaced with state-controlled banks. The problem is the constant blips. An assassin was seen at a synagogue (unsourced), therefore it's safe to assume that he was controlled and sent by the Rothschilds. Gavrilo Princip was jewish (unsourced)! Pre-revolutionary Russia was great! Look at all these export numbers! Nazi Germany was forced into a war, they had no intentions of grabbing eastern Europe in their lebensraum fantasy!
There's passing mentions of non-jewish usurers, even the Catholic Church, but all of the focus is on the "international jew"? Can the author at least concede the fact, that this group of extremely greedy people (who admittedly happen to be overwhelmingly jewish) are just that? Greedy? And not just jewish? Greedy people, mixed with the seemingly common trait of nepotism.
The good parts coincide with the parts where my knowledge of history is the weakest, but the argument is compelling. Especially talking about the very suspicious Libya, Iraq, Iran wars. Fits in with the theme that the parasitic worm that is central banking needs wars to stay sated.
But where I felt most convinced was when the modern world was brought into question. Why did so many industries and companies move to China? That's the concept of infinite growth. Even if I'm sure most financial people are aware of it, they're still expecting is, and it's bleeding everyone dry.
A very important book, soiled by the antisemitism, and baseless accusations.
What a catharsis. So many memorable moments. A character that might as well be alive today. I have nothing but praise for this book. It had me audibly curse at the character for being stupid. Had me teary-eyed at some points, happy and exalted at other points. The Christian sub-text, and the decently put out nihilistic arguments reminded me of Dostoevsky. The ending and the detailed and believable characters reminded me of Tolstoy.
Maybe sometimes a simple life is all one needs. We might spend our entire lives chasing our "rational" desires and goals, only to later find out that those goals were not our own, but put out by society. The beauty of this is, that I'm sure other people might come to wholly different conclusions.