Patrick Johanneson finished reading The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe
I love this book more each time I read it, and I notice more each time I read it, too.
Reviews and Comments
part-time prevaricator
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Patrick Johanneson reviewed System Collapse by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #7)
Everyone’s favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment in Martha Wells’s bestselling and …
That was fun
4 stars
If you've enjoyed the Murderbot saga so far, you'll almost certainly enjoy this one too.
If you've enjoyed the Murderbot saga so far, you'll almost certainly enjoy this one too.
Patrick Johanneson reviewed The Just City by Jo Walton
Created as an experiment by the time-traveling goddess Pallas Athene, the Just City is a …
Very good
4 stars
Athene sets up a city based on Plato's Republic and peoples it with freed slave children, worker robots, and men and women from up and down the timeline. About five years in, Socrates shows up and starts asking some difficult questions.
If you haven't read Plato, that's OK. I haven't, either, and I still understood the book.
One warning: there are a couple scenes of sexual violence, and Jo Walton doesn't shy away from it.
Now I need to read the sequels.
Athene sets up a city based on Plato's Republic and peoples it with freed slave children, worker robots, and men and women from up and down the timeline. About five years in, Socrates shows up and starts asking some difficult questions.
If you haven't read Plato, that's OK. I haven't, either, and I still understood the book.
One warning: there are a couple scenes of sexual violence, and Jo Walton doesn't shy away from it.
Now I need to read the sequels.
Patrick Johanneson finished reading Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (Shades of Grey, #1)
An astonishing, hotly anticipated new novel from the great literary fantasist and creator of Thursday …
This was my first Fforde book, and it's not gonna be the last.
This was my first Fforde book, and it's not gonna be the last.
Patrick Johanneson finished reading Network Effect by Martha Wells (The Murderbot Diaries, #5)
Winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus Awards
The first full-length novel in Martha …
Gad, I love Murderbot.
Patrick Johanneson stopped reading The Lightest Object in the Universe by Kimi Eisele
I got about 100 pages in but it just wasn't working for me.
I got about 100 pages in but it just wasn't working for me.
Patrick Johanneson commented on The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story …
I can't tell if all these comma splices slipped past the editor(s) or if they're an intentional part of the style.
I can't tell if all these comma splices slipped past the editor(s) or if they're an intentional part of the style.
Patrick Johanneson finished reading Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
"A daring post-apocalyptic novel from a powerful rising literary voice. With winter looming, a small …
A short novel with a lot to think about.
Patrick Johanneson reviewed Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #3)
Centuries after the last humans left Earth, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, a …
Optimistic slice-of-life space opera
5 stars
This was good. Great character development, interesting ideas, unforeseen consequences—Becky Chambers is a great writer.
Patrick Johanneson finished reading White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link
Finding seeds of inspiration in the Brothers Grimm, seventeenth-century French lore, and Scottish ballads, Kelly …
Very good. I think this is going to reward re-reads.
Patrick Johanneson started reading White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link
Finding seeds of inspiration in the Brothers Grimm, seventeenth-century French lore, and Scottish ballads, Kelly …
I'm just waiting on my pre-ordered copy to arrive.
I'm just waiting on my pre-ordered copy to arrive.
Patrick Johanneson commented on Latro in the mist by Gene Wolfe
Finished the first novel, Soldier of the Mist, last night. Time to start in on Book 2, Soldier of Arete.
Patrick Johanneson wants to read The Best of Gene Wolfe by Gene Wolfe
It's in the TBR pile; I bought a copy at Audrey's Books in Edmonton
It's in the TBR pile; I bought a copy at Audrey's Books in Edmonton
Patrick Johanneson wants to read Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers, #3)
Centuries after the last humans left Earth, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, a …
It's in the TBR pile; I bought a copy at Audrey's Books in Edmonton
It's in the TBR pile; I bought a copy at Audrey's Books in Edmonton
Patrick Johanneson reviewed The Land Across by Gene Wolfe
A Kafka-esque travelogue
There's a lot going on
4 stars
But then there's always a lot going on in a Gene Wolfe novel. This was my first read, and it's going to require additional read-throughs for me to pick up on some of the puzzles. But even on a surface level, this book is very "all things to all people".
Grafton, an American travel writer (well, that's what he claims to be, and why wouldn't we believe him?), travels to an unnamed country in Eastern Europe, the land across the mountains, intending to write the first travel book about the nation. Very quickly he becomes entangled in a Kafkaesque bureaucracy, a haunted house, at least one love triangle, a buried treasure, and a Satanic cult. Strange figures come and go—for example, was that Dracula?
To quote one of the police officers in the first chapter:
"All maps are wrong. If the [enemies] come, they will be …
But then there's always a lot going on in a Gene Wolfe novel. This was my first read, and it's going to require additional read-throughs for me to pick up on some of the puzzles. But even on a surface level, this book is very "all things to all people".
Grafton, an American travel writer (well, that's what he claims to be, and why wouldn't we believe him?), travels to an unnamed country in Eastern Europe, the land across the mountains, intending to write the first travel book about the nation. Very quickly he becomes entangled in a Kafkaesque bureaucracy, a haunted house, at least one love triangle, a buried treasure, and a Satanic cult. Strange figures come and go—for example, was that Dracula?
To quote one of the police officers in the first chapter:
"All maps are wrong. If the [enemies] come, they will be lost."