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egumeny's review against another edition
4.0
So, in my ongoing revisitation of the older books while I finish the new book -- soon, I swear -- I finally got around to (more or less) objectively reading High Voltage. And... I liked it. The scavenger hunt plot was a nice change of pace, I liked the B plot possible more than the A plot, and I'm glad [redacted] made his return.
Definitely no writery baggage brought to this one, unlike Dead Presidents, so that's good -- I can just read the book for what it is. That said, HV doesn't stick with me the way the first book did, but I think that's because I didn't know what I was doing the first time around. Exponential Apocalypse was great because it wasn't written to be a book, and that manic, I'm-not-entirely-sure-this-is-going-to-work vibe comes through. That's probably not something I'll ever be able to recreate and I should probably come to terms with that.
Definitely no writery baggage brought to this one, unlike Dead Presidents, so that's good -- I can just read the book for what it is. That said, HV doesn't stick with me the way the first book did, but I think that's because I didn't know what I was doing the first time around. Exponential Apocalypse was great because it wasn't written to be a book, and that manic, I'm-not-entirely-sure-this-is-going-to-work vibe comes through. That's probably not something I'll ever be able to recreate and I should probably come to terms with that.
wilsontd's review against another edition
4.0
Twenty-six and a half apocalypses, so what's one more. This book is a wild and funny dark comedy with characters that are way out of left field. There's Thor, the Norse Thunder God, and Boudica IX, a cloned and cybernetically enhanced Celtic Queen, who are teamed up the likes of more cybernetically enhanced clones of Queen Victoria and President Chester A. Arthur. There is even a psychic cybernetic squirrel. Their mission (other to avoid boredom and occasional debauchery) is to fix the damage done to what was left of the North American power grid after a major solar event thrashes it.
The pacing of the story is quick and so are the insults. I really liked some of the chapter titles. It provided me with a good perspective of what whacked out situation or sociological ideal the characters were going to boldly address with as much in your face attitude you can stand.
I found myself trying to catch up a bit, probably since I haven't read the other two books of the series, but the author helps to bring you up to speed. My only issue really was the level of profanity and vulgarity he used. I think the story could have been just as fun and enjoyable if there were toned down.
Overall, it was a fun read. Just remember to watch out for strange German cloning factories churning out copies of famous people. It could be a trend in the future that might catch on.
The pacing of the story is quick and so are the insults. I really liked some of the chapter titles. It provided me with a good perspective of what whacked out situation or sociological ideal the characters were going to boldly address with as much in your face attitude you can stand.
I found myself trying to catch up a bit, probably since I haven't read the other two books of the series, but the author helps to bring you up to speed. My only issue really was the level of profanity and vulgarity he used. I think the story could have been just as fun and enjoyable if there were toned down.
Overall, it was a fun read. Just remember to watch out for strange German cloning factories churning out copies of famous people. It could be a trend in the future that might catch on.
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