Reviews and Comments

A very uneven book, and something of a disappointment after the excellent Semiosis. At times I was thrilled, especially when the narrator was one of the smart plants or the characters were exploring the unknown. At other times, the narrators were humans fighting for the Idiot Ball with such gusto that I'd like them all to have died in a fire. Yes, there was a plot point explaining why the human characters were so stupid, and it was brought up right away but still: when you have wondrous things to write about, and obviously the skill to do so, why would you waste your time with characters who are just so petty and annoying? Gaah.

Still, I did love parts of it. So, a compromise between two and four stars.

An excellent science fiction novel about an alien world and attempts to understand and adapt to it. I would have sort of hoped a more high tech take on the matter, but the raw, almost primitive approach certainly works too. The alien beings are quite brilliant as well. (I dislike the American common law approach to law and society, but that's a personal thing and will probably not be a problem for most people). A generational tale, but one where you never feel removed from the original characters and their intentions; Semiosis is highly recommended for fans of smart science fiction.

There's no way I was going to give this book four stars ... but maybe I still should have. Essentially a Daredevil story set in a fantasy city, and the fantasy feels like a flimsy cloth covering very generic superhero tropes. There's vengeance, there's street crime, there's a drug kingpin, there are superhuman powers and secret identites.

But you know what? I'm a superhero fan, and the Thorn of Dentonhill absolutely worked for me. I fully intend to read all the, um, eleven? sequels if they can keep up this level of intensive action. They'd better.

Hell, I'll give it four stars anyway. It's comfort reading, but I think I need it.

Going by themes and plot alone I should have loved this book, but the execution was all wrong. The format was clumsy, the characters were insufferable, the dialogue was annoying, the political details were unrealistic, and the sexism was straight out of 80s. (Practically the first thing said about the giant female-presenting robot was that it had "perky tits", seriously?) Even the translation was uninspired.

While I'm interested in seeing where the story goes, I hate the idea of spending any more time with these people trying to out-sass each other and prove that they can be oh-so-tough and not affected by anything that happens. Editors, what were you thinking?

Anyone can write a complicated story. It takes real skill to write a compelling, simple story.

The Luminous Dead is a very compelling, simple story.

A cave, an obsession, an unhealthy relationship, bizarre technology that seems almost haunted. This is a nightmare of a book that captures the feeling of being in a cave, and then twists it into the most relentless horror story I've read in ages.

Even though MJ-12: Inception wasn't a long book, it still took too long to get going. The last third or so I really enjoyed, but the parts before that were treading over familiar ground, a superhero/spy origin story that felt completely done to death.

Still, the end was good, the previously low stakes felt properly raised. If I could trust the story to keep up the pace it achieved, I'd probably be getting the sequels in a heartbeat.