Rhythm of War is the fourth book in the Stormlight Archive. Congratulations if you’ve made it this far! I won’t go into very much detail about plot, since this is a fourth book, but we do get point-of-view chapters from Navani, Kaladin, Adolin, Shalan, Venli, Dalinar, and some other more minor characters. My brother tells …
Continue reading “Piper Reviews: Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson”
Out of the thirteen books that I’ve read so far in 2021, this one is the first (and so far only) one that I’ve given five-stars. I read this book just before the January 6th riots at the Capitol, where the lead-up to that event and the controversy surrounding the 2020 elections had acquired an …
Continue reading “Joe Reviews: The Folk of the Fringe by Orson Scott Card”
DNF after 50 pages. Here’s why: 1. The story is just too convoluted. It starts out with the main character leading an evacuation, and preparing to go down with his ship to lead the enemy away from the refugees… except then, he’s attacked by the mysterious Flying Dutchman, which appears out of nowhere… except, he …
Continue reading “Joe Reviews: Jerusalem Fire by R.M. Meluch”
This review is going to have spoilers for the first book. If you want to read my take on the series as a whole, read my review for All Systems Red. Of all of the Murderbot books, this one is my least favorite. It’s still pretty good, but not as good as the first. Thankfully, …
Continue reading “Joe Reviews: Artificial Condition by Martha Wells”
Ah, the Murderbot diaries. If you haven’t heard of these books yet, you’re in for a treat, because this is one of the best ongoing series currently in science fiction. This review will mostly just be for the first book, but since my reviews of the other books will probably contain spoilers, much of what …
Continue reading “Joe Reviews: All Systems Red by Martha Wells”
My first review! I very much enjoyed this book, which wasn’t too unexpected since I read the first book in the series and very much enjoyed that book as well. Of course, there was always a danger that I wouldn’t enjoy it since we ditch the main character from the previous book — or turn …
Continue reading “Piper Reviews: Half the World by Joe Abercrombie”
There were things that I really, really loved about this book, and things that I found extremely frustrating. Overall, though, I enjoyed it very much, and found that the story stuck with me long after finishing it. First off, the good parts. The science fiction elements are really amazing, especially the evolutionary world-building of the …
Continue reading “Review: Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky”
This the most important book I’ve read all year—quite possibly, the most important book I’ve read since graduating from university in 2010. In some ways, it’s the antithesis of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, or at least it provides a useful and practical counterpoint to it. In other ways, it’s a history of the parts …
[This review originally appeared on my writing blog in July 2009.] This book was incredible. Magnificent. It made me think, it made me cry–it made me want to be a better man. David Gemmell examines issues and themes such as life, death, and love in ways that are as meaningful and honest as they are …
DNF after the first chapter. Here’s why: Strike one: the book is aggressively atheistic. I’m fine with reading a book by an atheist or with an atheist’s general world view, but when the book explicitly states that there is no God and all religions are false, and beats you over the head with that message …
