Book review: Dungeon Crawler Carl
Book: Dungeon Crawler Carl
How to speak about this book without spoiling things... The Setting is: Carl just got out of his house to catch his cat, Princess Donut, when suddenly all buildings and structures in Earth collapse, killing everything inside. Then some alien voice announce that survivors must go through an intergalactic TV-show through a deadly 18-levels dungeon if they wish to survive. Oh, and the cat becomes "a crawler" and can speak.
If the argument left you thinking WTF, I know, it also did to me. But with the book being such a success, I decided to give it a go anyway. And I can say that now I'm hooked to it, I already began with the 2nd title. It is a very nerdy book: RPGs, videogames, superheroes, and lots of humour. Despite the absurd story, everything else connects not in a cohesive way, but in a very entertaining combination. The fancy cat has high intelligence and charisma, so you have her from charming NPCs to brush her, to shooting magic missiles to enemies and teleporting herself. Carl instead becomes mostly accidentally an unarmed melee tank, but also suitably good with explosives. The enemies, in a maybe distant nod to The Witcher, have their lives and feelings and points of view, so there might be a way to avoid having to fight with all those goblins... or perhaps not.
I really don't want to spoil anything because, at least for the first title, you easily align with the journey of discovery of the main character; He is as surprised as you of everything that is happening, and for the most part, he's just a regular guy lucky enough to survive the alien "attack" but unlucky to not have brought pants and boots to the dungeon.
If you enjoy either or both pen & paper and/or computer RPGS, grab the book and read it.
Book review: Artemis
Book: Artemis
Artemis was the last book from Andy Weir that I had pending to read. After enjoying both The Martian and Project Hail Mary, why not the book that was written in between?
It happens that this title is sub-par compared with the others. The setting is appealing: humanity has a big moon base, with people permanently living there; The protagonist, a young smuggler, gets into trouble; and, of course, things escalate, and the issues just keep multiplying and growing. The scientific pillar seems to be there (I'm not a scientist, but at least does not sound like pure bullshit), and I do not doubt the effort put in all of it.
But the truth is that the story is a bit silly, predictable, and very unoriginal. The smart-ass protagonist is as clever at times as apparently dumb then taking certain decisions. The events that unfold are not exciting enough to keep me awake "just for a few pages more", and most of the jokes this time land as bad. Maybe the author trying something different (female main character, Arabic, shady background instead of "a pure good guy" ...), perhaps the story was simply too normal, but it didn't hook me.
I finished the book mostly because I was already on it, and it is not bad, but ranks way lower than either of the other Andy Weir titles. There's plenty of better sci-fi literature to read instead.
PS: Long time since my last post. I have a few things stacked, so I'll now probably write a new entry every few days.
Book review: God Emperor of Dune
Book: God Emperor of Dune
How to start with this book... Well, first of all, beware the spoilers, as it is impossible to provide a review without speaking about the previous books and a bit of what happens in the current one.
So, on with it: At the end of the previous book, Leto Atreides fused with a sandworm. Thousands of years later (around 3500), he is a huge speaking worm, keeping only tiny arms and the face from his human past. He seems to have even more acute senses, be almost prescient of any future event, maybe even mind-reading, and apparently impervious to any damage (like laser weapons). He also seems to have become a despotic emperor, a strict ruler that maintains peace over the universe by fear as much as by being strategic.
Arrakis also has been terraformed, with the sandworms and thus the spice nowhere to be seen. It is now almost full of vegetation, and water is abundant, but the people seem not to be overly happy, although nobody would dare to mention it. "He who controls the spice controls the universe" (they say in the 1984's David Lynch movie adaptation), and indeed by keeping the remains hidden and deciding who gets how much, he now controls everyone: The Ixians, the Spacing Guild, the Bene Gesserit, and other houses (who have also become smaller and weak). Leto also has a special army of women soldiers, fanatically loyal to him. He also keeps asking for Duncan Idaho's new gholas (clones), and seems to be easily angered and dangerous when it happens.
But a descentant from the Atreides, Siona, seems not to care at all, breaking as many rules as possible to try to find a way to end the reign of this god emperor.
As you can imagine from the previous paragraphs, this book is way more into science-fiction than previous Dune titles. And similarly happens with it being "Dune"... Same as the terraformed Arrakis, at times it feels like Dune, but mostly it is vastly different from the past (books). The emperor is so powerful and capable, everything is so transformed and under control, that everything is... different, lesser than it was before. From the Fremen, to the Bene Gesserit, they all look weak and a shadow of the past. And this is my main issue, that it is a curious science ficton reading, but not a good Dune book.
While I was intrigued about how all this crazy setting would end, I don't think that it is a good Dune book. But it does make for a very different sci-fi one!
Book review: Luther: First of the Fallen
Book: Luther: First of the Fallen
Luther has been one of those mysterious secondary Dark Angel characters, mentioned frequently but without much real background. This book comes to fill that gap, although with a narrative style and content that I'm not so sure it's the best...
Luther has being held captive in some secret jail deep inside the Rock, the Dark Angels flagship, for thousands of years. With the help of the Watchers in the Dark, they keep the prisoner in stasis, only letting him out to be interrogated over and over, by different grand masters and key characters from the chapter.
I don't want to dwell into details, as that's the main point of the novel, but it is really more of a collection of small stories about Luther's past, combined with the main interrogations arc. Remembering old times and certain key points and events sounds good, but when some of them are pretty generic sci-fi small tales... not so well executed. I am happy to learn something about the character's early days, but I'm not interested in too many great beast hunts with cheap morals/lessons. I can only imagine the interrogators falling asleep while their prisoner goes on an on giving precise details of useless information, instead of answering the simple asked question of "do you repent?".
It was not boring, but it felt a bit of lure into a generic sci-fi book. It does however contain some sparks of really interesting content, which I won't detail. So, a recommended reading only if you are a Dark Angels fan.
Book review: The Lion: Son of the Forest
Book: The Lion: Son of the Forest
As my Space Marines favourite chapter (and most miniatures) are Dark Angels, I picked The Lion: Son of the Forest out of curiosity to learn about the return of their primarch. I also have the miniature pending assembly and painting, but that's another story, let's focus on the novel.
One remark that I want to do is that I haven't read Arks of Omen: The Lion, but as far as I understood, the Son of the Forest novel happens before. The Lion awakes at The Rock, it is transported to the place where Son of the Forest begins, and I'm guessing that where the novel ends is more or less where the Lion "officially" reappears.
I also did not know about the Imperium Nihilus/Dark Imperium, caused by the Great Rift. It is a good trick by Games Workshop to make things advance at a different pace, by having half of the galaxy now blind to the Astronomican light.
With that out of the way, let's go with a small, spoiler-light review.
The Lion is back! I'm happy to see my beloved Dark Angels have their lore finally advance, both regarding having the primarch again, and his attitude towards The Fallen.
The novel is a decent read, with good amounts of action, and entertaining enough that I read it quickly. It didn't felt boring at any point, opens the right amount of plot threads and gracefully closes them (except a main question, as I'll mention), and it mostly feels appropriate of what you would expect from a super-human being that it's still disoriented after so much time "out".
Two points felt unsatisfactory to me. First, we are given zero reasoning as for why the Lion awakes, when it does and where it does - it simply happens, and it is what it is. And the second one is that I feel that the author went too far in giving so distinctive personalities to some of the fallen characters. I'm sorry but I don't buy the image of a Space Marine becoming a peaceful hermit, chasen by Dark Angels or not.
All in all, not a bad return, although neither a grandiose one. And the multiple open questions, like how he'll reintegrate in the Imperium, or what will happen regarding Luther or the mysterious Cypher, leave the door open for multiple future novels, which is always good.
- ← Newer Articles Page 1 / 18 Older Articles →