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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
Real score 4.99. I’m not sure I liked the set up for the next book as an ending (Supposition your Honour! Sustained.) and hence the 0.01. My library discontinued the hard copy and I had to go audio. Twenty four hours of audio. But I 4.99 stars liked the audio. I have purchased the book too because I like quirky epistolary books and I want to see what looks like in the flesh. I thought this book was clever and entertaining and funny. I loved the dynamics and the rotten bureaucracy. I may even read the book when I get it again. (Big call). The 0.01 stars then will also encompass having the voices stuck in my mind. I actually recommend you read this book.
3.5 rounded down. Should probably have been two books. Grania may be the best character... At least she's the most creative.
The first part of this book (say the first 25-35%) is pretty good, I really enjoyed how the story progressed and the characters.
The rest of it is in-depth inner office memos which strive way too hard to be funny and more often than not, fail.
The only thing that kept me reading were the letters from Grainne, the only entertaining character in the last half of the book and
This was way too much book to be so disappointing. I've told myself that if I'm not enjoying a book it's ok to quit it but the first part of this was so good I kept hoping that it was going to improve.
The rest of it is in-depth inner office memos which strive way too hard to be funny and more often than not, fail.
The only thing that kept me reading were the letters from Grainne, the only entertaining character in the last half of the book and
Spoiler
they turned her into the "bad guy" in the end.This was way too much book to be so disappointing. I've told myself that if I'm not enjoying a book it's ok to quit it but the first part of this was so good I kept hoping that it was going to improve.
A solid 4.5 I think. Delightfully geeky throughout, with witches, time travel and the quantum nature of the universe ticking all kinds of (cat containing) boxes for me... I thought the parody (mirror image) of the spread of bureaucracy was both hilarious and scarily accurate. Reminded me a little of my own workplace. Also, surely we must have a variation on shiny hat...
As is now usual for Stephenson - you could defend yourself from quite a large animal with this book - such is its vast size. That said, it more than held my attention for the duration & was well written with great characters. I think Nicole Galland added a different depth to Stephenson's usual prose. All in all brilliant.
tl;dr
D.O.D.O FTW! LOLS
As is now usual for Stephenson - you could defend yourself from quite a large animal with this book - such is its vast size. That said, it more than held my attention for the duration & was well written with great characters. I think Nicole Galland added a different depth to Stephenson's usual prose. All in all brilliant.
tl;dr
D.O.D.O FTW! LOLS
Great book - initially intimidated by its size, it held my attention through all of its over 700 pages. Funny in places, a little mind bending, but definitely brilliant!
Fun time travel adventure. The audiobook has good voice acting.
This could have been so good! The first 100 pages or so really peaked my interest and this seemed like it was something new and original for a change.
Then there were hundreds of pages of unnecessary plot points that didn't go anywhere, characters that were not needed and humour(?) that did not hit it's mark. At times I found it difficult to deduce, whether something was meant as a joke or not. This was particularly problematic when there were parts that included sexual harrassment (or worse!), and it truly was unclear whether the writers thought reader should find this funny or not. The tone of the book is lighthearted, but clearly with some darker under tones. This is usually a good thing, but it has to be done well.
This could have been amazing book, if it had been edited properly. And possibly told mainly or even only from the perspective of Melissande. She was pretty kick ass. I liked her. I liked several other characters too, but by the end of the book, there were just too many of them.
This wasn't all bad, and perhaps 2,5 or even three stars might be in order, but the lack of wasted potential irks me more then anything, because like I said, this started off really good, but fell flat with mistakes that would have been easily fixed with proper editing.
Then there were hundreds of pages of unnecessary plot points that didn't go anywhere, characters that were not needed and humour(?) that did not hit it's mark. At times I found it difficult to deduce, whether something was meant as a joke or not. This was particularly problematic when there were parts that included sexual harrassment (or worse!), and it truly was unclear whether the writers thought reader should find this funny or not. The tone of the book is lighthearted, but clearly with some darker under tones. This is usually a good thing, but it has to be done well.
This could have been amazing book, if it had been edited properly. And possibly told mainly or even only from the perspective of Melissande. She was pretty kick ass. I liked her. I liked several other characters too, but by the end of the book, there were just too many of them.
This wasn't all bad, and perhaps 2,5 or even three stars might be in order, but the lack of wasted potential irks me more then anything, because like I said, this started off really good, but fell flat with mistakes that would have been easily fixed with proper editing.
Tried listening to the audiobook version and just could not get into the story (or the narration, mainly) 🤷🏾♂️