Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
Characters you can care about. An interesting mix of fairy tale, love story and philosophical fable. 5 stars for the story. 1 star for the editing (or lack thereof) of the Kindle edition - strewn with typos.
An enjoyable story, but a little too preachy for my liking in some places. Basically seems like the author spent a lot of time staring at The Fool tarot card and turning the picture into a story, which is obvious in the epilogue. Interesting take on faerie folk. I’m definitely a cat like Blackjack.
Incredible debut fiction. What did I learn from this book? All of our lives are stories, mostly told by monkeys typing away in a room...
Whew. I got through it.
I should lead in with the fact that I do like Ruff's work. I read other books by him and enjoyed them quite a lot, which is why I was interested to read this - what I understand to be his first novel. I must say, had this been my introduction to him, I likely wouldn't have read anything more. This is a tiring, slightly confusing, very trite book. Ruff has lumped together several stories which are essentially the same (star-crossed lovers, battles between fairies and rats, wars/friendships between dogs and cats, conflicts between fraternities) , all basic retellings of other stories, and set them at his (obvious very beloved) Cornell University. This book *could* have been set anywhere, so why all the specific comments and locations other than the author having a deep love for his alma mater? Perhaps some people walk away from this with a desire to visit the campus and see how it matches up to Ruff's painted picture - I did not.
It isn't all bad -- there are some nice written bits and it is passingly interesting to see how many different ways one can tell the same story at the same time, but in the end I just didn't care for it. Honestly, had it not been the only book I had with me on a business trip, I likely wouldn't have finished it
I should lead in with the fact that I do like Ruff's work. I read other books by him and enjoyed them quite a lot, which is why I was interested to read this - what I understand to be his first novel. I must say, had this been my introduction to him, I likely wouldn't have read anything more. This is a tiring, slightly confusing, very trite book. Ruff has lumped together several stories which are essentially the same (star-crossed lovers, battles between fairies and rats, wars/friendships between dogs and cats, conflicts between fraternities) , all basic retellings of other stories, and set them at his (obvious very beloved) Cornell University. This book *could* have been set anywhere, so why all the specific comments and locations other than the author having a deep love for his alma mater? Perhaps some people walk away from this with a desire to visit the campus and see how it matches up to Ruff's painted picture - I did not.
It isn't all bad -- there are some nice written bits and it is passingly interesting to see how many different ways one can tell the same story at the same time, but in the end I just didn't care for it. Honestly, had it not been the only book I had with me on a business trip, I likely wouldn't have finished it
This book was recommended to me by a friend and I’m so glad I followed her recommendation. It is so much fun. It’s a delightful book about stories, storytellers and fairytales, with a nod to Shakespeare and a huge bow to Tolkien. I wasn’t sure about it at first, it definitely feels like the debut novel it is for the first 100 pages, but once he finds his stride Ruff knows how to entertain and pulls it off. I was never entirely convinced by George, his central character, but the supporting cast is superb - especially the Bohemians! I do wish his female characters were as well drawn as the male ones, but then I remind myself that this is a man writing fantasy in the 1980s and the females are generally pretty kick ass for that time, so I feel like I should give him a pass. All in all I enjoyed this hugely and would happily read something else written by him.
This was a sometimes strange, but always magical book about storytelling and how it feels to discover that you're part of someone else's story. My favorite characters included George, Aurora, Luther the dog, Blackjack the cat, and the sprites Puck and Zephyr.
Been a while since I've read any "contemporary fantasy" and it's pleasant to disappear into something so whimsical and pleasant, makes a nice change from reading about junkies, or people getting worms shoved in their ears.... it was strange to read something so lacking in snark... and I recommend reading this without any spoilers.
I'm certainly intrigued enough by this to read more of Matt Ruff's books, but how come they aren't available on Kindle? So annoying.
I'm certainly intrigued enough by this to read more of Matt Ruff's books, but how come they aren't available on Kindle? So annoying.
Ambitious and very well constructed. You can see what makes Ruff so good in his later books here. So weird and over complicated. It's sort of like a really elaborate doodle.
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Eines meiner absoluten Lieblingsbücher. Zauberhaft, intelligent, spaßig und voller Anspielungen. Matt Ruff in absoluter Bestform.