pickI read a lot of reviews after this that thought it was halfassed but I had a good time with it. There is a bit of learning curve as there are no traditional chapter breaks and a fair bit of timeline jumping but once I settled into that I was engaged. I also really liked the Dwellers.
pickWritten in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam War, this starts out as good-guy-vs-evil-robot Heinleinian military sci-fi, but through flashbacks we quickly see that the human MC is a symbol for US imperialist aggression, & the "good guy" is as much a Killing Thing as the robot, which is reacting (albeit with overwhelming violence) to threats made to its existence.
There's a general styled on Curtis "bomb them back into the Stone Age" LeMay, who ⬇️
"There was the desert, glittering white sand that shifted like talcum when touched, cottony white sky, a quarter of it glaring with the white heat of the sun."
#FirstLineFridays @shybookowl
Although it's not a comedy or satire, this is hitting the same anti-militarisation vibe for the Vietnam War that Dr. Strangelove hit for the nuclear arms race and Mutually Assured Destruction. I'm about ⅓ through and really enjoying it so far.
Ok, here's hoping this classic sci-fi novel suits better than my last book, which I bailed on.
Man versus revenge-filled robot ??? As it's Kate Wilhelm, I expect there to be some nuance and underlying message, rather than just Space Opera "pew-pew" ??
Checked out once and discarded. Someone loved it enough to share it. After 25 years, it's cared for again.
Here is my #BookSpin list for August. It's almost entirely ebooks and audiobooks since I'll be moving in September and will have the majority of my books packed up before the end of August. The two physical books on the list (1 and 6) are small mass market paperbacks, so I don't mind not packing them if their numbers are picked.
pickThis is the first Banks book I‘ve read, and I am really glad I started with it. I didn‘t have to commit to the entire Culture series, but The Algebraist did give me a (prolonged, 500+ page) taste of his writing style, character arcs, world building etc.
pick65/100 Its been awhile since I've read any Frederik Pohl, I'd forgotten what a talented writer he was. This is a story of parallel worlds, of characters meeting various versions of themselves as the wall between the dimensions begins to falter. It is a little confusing at times, multiple POVs with the same name and all told in first person, but it's worth sticking with for the solid conclusion. 4 ⭐ #Read2025
so-soEmotional damage! Honestly if you want to get a flavour for what this book is going to do to you, just go to the two page author's note On Black Cats and Books at the back, you'll get a feel for the devastation.
There are still moments where what made the first book special to me reappears, but this is a second book in a trilogy? series? and while it ends one arc of conflict, it makes the book mostly about said conflict. 1/?
