Reviews and Comments

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Sergeant Cat

sergeant_cat@bookwyrm.social

Joined 3 years, 8 months ago

Favorite Books:

Mostly post-apocalyptic, dystopian, horror, sci-fi, history, books that explore religion and spirituality, manga, comics, and graphic novels.

About Me

US Army Veteran. MA in History, BA in History & Jewish Studies from the City College of the City University of New York.

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reviewed The Last Watch by J. S. Dewes

J. S. Dewes: The Last Watch (Paperback, 2021, Tor Books)

The Divide.

It’s the edge of the universe.

Now it’s collapsing—and taking everyone and everything …

Review of 'The Last Watch' on 'GoodReads'

This book is a fun mix between The Expanse and Game of Thrones (think Ring Builders + the Night's Watch) with a little Star Trek thrown in for good measure. The characters are two-dimensional but entertaining. I wasn't expecting a lot from the series because it sounded like it was really derivative, but it comes together in a way that is highly entertaining and wound up being a page-turner that I had a hard time putting down.

Two drawbacks in the story that really jumped out at me are that I had guessed the plot by about 65% of my way through the story and that Cavalon Mercer is too handy a character, by which I mean that he always knows exactly what needs to be known to make a situation work. It comes off as a little too perfect. But again, if you go into the story with the …

reviewed Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

Charles Yu: Interior Chinatown (2020, Pantheon Books)

Willis Wu doesn’t perceive himself as a protagonist even in his own life: he’s merely …

Review of 'Interior Chinatown' on 'GoodReads'

This was decent. The humorous angle made it entertaining while tackling an important issue.

Sometimes, I couldn't quite follow what the author was alluding to, like with the stolen car in the last chapter.

There are definitely more informative books out there about the subject but this one is a good place to start.

Also, the crime show he keeps referencing, I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be Cold Case.

reviewed Brief History of Japan : Samurai, Shogun and Zen by Jonathan Clements

Jonathan Clements: Brief History of Japan : Samurai, Shogun and Zen (2017, Tuttle Publishing)

Review of 'Brief History of Japan : Samurai, Shogun and Zen' on 'GoodReads'

It was pretty good and covered a lot of topics for a brief history. What I found the most interesting was the recent history of Japan, but the book was a little light in that regard. But, I guess reading a brief history is more about getting an overview and figuring out what interests you, so I suppose it served its purpose well.

reviewed In search of Buddha's daughters by Christine Toomey

No cover

Christine Toomey: In search of Buddha's daughters (2015)

An award-winning journalist vividly reports her two-year, 60,000-mile global odyssey in the company of exceptional …

Review of "In search of Buddha's daughters" on 'GoodReads'

I really enjoyed this book. There's a difference between ideology and lived reality in religions and this book clearly explores the experiences of women in various Buddhist traditions.

It was really quite disappointing to see how poorly women have been and are treated overall in most Buddhist traditions, but heartening to see that progress is being made.

reviewed Cynical Theories by Lindsay, James

Helen Pluckrose, Lindsay, James: Cynical Theories (2020, Pitchstone Publishing)

Review of 'Cynical Theories' on 'GoodReads'

This is the best book I've read that tackles the issues related to postmodernism and social justice activist politics, and it clearly expresses a lot of ideas that I've had myself but didn't take the time to really research or fully articulate.

This should be required reading to graduate college. When I was in college, a lot of the courses I took relied heavily on postmodernism, identity politics, and social justice ideology, but I didn't realize it because I didn't have a name for it. Also, it was taught as fact and reality rather than just as a theory, or as the authors would say, as Theory, and it was part of everything from classes on sociology to government to history. At some point, I realized that things weren't quite right, but you have to go along with what the professor is advocating if you want to be assured of …

reviewed The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson

Rick Atkinson: The British Are Coming (Hardcover, 2019, Henry Holt and Co.)

Review of 'The British Are Coming' on 'GoodReads'

This book has a real depth of detail that I both appreciated and found distracting. Read this book (and the rest in the series) if you're looking for the minutiae of the Revolutionary War, but not if you're looking for a broad overview or interpretive account of the war.

Not having much of a background in US history beyond high school (I've mostly studied Middle Eastern and Asian histories at the college level), I felt like I got lost in a forest of factoids. But, if I were to reread this again in a few years after having read another 7-8 books on the subject, I think it would really help me in forming a good, clear picture in my mind of the first few years of the Revolutionary War.