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vimcenzo's reviews
106 reviews
Brutal Kunnin by Mike Brooks
Did not finish book. Stopped at 31%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 31%.
Might come back. We'll see where my Warhammer pendulum swings. The Ork books are better than the unironic Starship Troopers fanfiction that the Space Marine/human books are.
Fire and Ice by Erin Hunter
Did not finish book. Stopped at 38%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 38%.
The long-lost sister plotline is dumb shit straight out of a soap opera and was my breaking point after the first book was already a bit of a disappointment ere the end.
The Black Widow Strikes Omnibus by
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 23%.
The hokey 60's speak started out as very charming, and the Black Widow was very sweet with her relationship to Hawkeye, but eventually the charm ran out, is all. The idea there was even more before I'd reach some fun modern-day shit was a little much...
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 44%.
This was a brilliant book for the first part. It was a horror that slowly built up to its conclusion, made you comfortable and took away small details and slowly revealed its darkness as you find out the purpose of the school.
Aaaaaaaand then it became a very accurate representation of what it's like to talk to your friends after high school , that pretention of people acting like smart-asses who know everything and you drifting apart from them. That was about the point I called it quits. I liked it better as a horror, it felt like it was what it was building up to and that's still there, but it just starts faffing about doing not much of anything after that twist.
Aaaaaaaand then it became a very accurate representation of what it's like to talk to your friends after high school , that pretention of people acting like smart-asses who know everything and you drifting apart from them. That was about the point I called it quits. I liked it better as a horror, it felt like it was what it was building up to and that's still there, but it just starts faffing about doing not much of anything after that twist.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility
Lives on the Boundary: A Moving Account of the Struggles and Achievements of America's Educationally Underprepared by Mike Rose
3.0
As a memoir, and even as a kind of aide for future instructors, this book functions perfectly well as both autobiographical reading material and as a pedagogical tool. It is Rose's ending thesis and call to action that rubs me the wrong way. I'm not sure that it's the solution to all the problems he necessarily outlined over the course of the book.
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
4.0
This book juxtaposes the fact that its heroes, asked to do something tremendously cruel, need to act like celebrities and preen themselves and act affable to survive. They need to be conventionally attractive and play into a romantic act to be entertainment to an audience safely watching behind a screen, which donates to them based on their whims and amusement. All on its own, it’s a Black Mirror episode with a happy ending.
Sure, it delivers itself through a Young Adult story of chosen-one type nonsense and a harem of men to project gooey feelings onto. But that doesn’t invalidate its more interesting concepts.
Sure, it delivers itself through a Young Adult story of chosen-one type nonsense and a harem of men to project gooey feelings onto. But that doesn’t invalidate its more interesting concepts.
Star Wars Trilogy: Collector's Edition IV - VI by Ryder Windham
3.0
I was maybe one out of like six people in the world whose first experience with the original trilogy was through this book and it was honestly pretty cool at the time. As a narrative it’s fun to hear events in the movies get internal monologues from the characters, or a few extra scenes. The pacing of O.G. Star Wars is more narrative- and character-focused, so it loans itself pretty well to a book adaptation.
Is it a work of high art? No. Do I recommend it? No. Does it have all the changes of the special editions? Unfortunately yes. Does seeing it referred to as a Borders-exclusive fill me with Alderaan-style pain that the store died? You bet! But when all’s said and done it’s not the worst thing to come out of Star Wars, and honestly it’s almost like a gateway into other Star Wars novels and expanded universe/legends junk.
Is it a work of high art? No. Do I recommend it? No. Does it have all the changes of the special editions? Unfortunately yes. Does seeing it referred to as a Borders-exclusive fill me with Alderaan-style pain that the store died? You bet! But when all’s said and done it’s not the worst thing to come out of Star Wars, and honestly it’s almost like a gateway into other Star Wars novels and expanded universe/legends junk.
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
2.0
The premise of the previous book had to be greatly twisted in order to make this one possible. It couldn't have been a new person undergoing the Hunger Games, and maybe they get further in subverting them, it was Katniss again in order to set up vague revenge against the Capitol. Moreover, this is where any salient points went to die as far as the last book. It is now a Twilight-esque deliberation of feelings between Katniss and Peeta/Gale, and everyone the reader may have liked is an unequivocal ally and everyone the book took no time to characterize is an automatic villain.
A cliffhanger is written for the sake of having one; this is not a complete story on its own, it is just further setup for the third of its installment. This book is all lather and no rinse, and was very frustrating to read.
A cliffhanger is written for the sake of having one; this is not a complete story on its own, it is just further setup for the third of its installment. This book is all lather and no rinse, and was very frustrating to read.
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
1.0
A colossal waste of the finite time I had on this Earth.
This book was pitched to me, really, as the gateway into a club of hipsters who managed to have the patience to suffer through this book's over-explanation and lack of editing so atrocious that new words are made around it to justify its unforgivable length and stupidity.
The death of the author does not make this a work of art. The individual parts that would make this funny or prophetic-the singer president, the garbage-launcher to Canada, people dying from a giant cheeseburger held by the Statue of Liberty, the Stand-By-Me Quebec wheelchair cult, and a movie so good people shit themselves to death watching it-are all buried in overexplanation and an utterly miserable slog of Hal's dad's ghost, weird criticism of Alcoholics Anonymous as a concept, addiction, and suicide. All of these are done much better in other books, but forcing them all in one place and watching it unfold is like looking into a madman's brain and hearing others proclaim it as genius.
There is no interpreting this book as a whole. At most, people can cite parts of it, stripped from their context in order to show off what they imagine are the few nuggets of intelligence this book has to offer. I argue it never had to be written this way. This book is the literary equivalent of running a marathon or losing your virginity: after so much hype, it happens and you think "Well, now what." Nothing changes. You will not change as a person, unless you're insufferable and begin writing "w/r/t" in emails, and in such a case I don't think the book changed anything so much as exacerbated it.
There is a chance you might like this book, that everything I've said could be appealing to you. If what I said sounds funny, go for it! But for the love of God, if what you were sold on was "it's a very long book and few people read it lol" then there is no promised land, there is no elite members club, there is no self-improvement to be found.
This book was pitched to me, really, as the gateway into a club of hipsters who managed to have the patience to suffer through this book's over-explanation and lack of editing so atrocious that new words are made around it to justify its unforgivable length and stupidity.
The death of the author does not make this a work of art. The individual parts that would make this funny or prophetic-the singer president, the garbage-launcher to Canada, people dying from a giant cheeseburger held by the Statue of Liberty, the Stand-By-Me Quebec wheelchair cult, and a movie so good people shit themselves to death watching it-are all buried in overexplanation and an utterly miserable slog of Hal's dad's ghost, weird criticism of Alcoholics Anonymous as a concept, addiction, and suicide. All of these are done much better in other books, but forcing them all in one place and watching it unfold is like looking into a madman's brain and hearing others proclaim it as genius.
There is no interpreting this book as a whole. At most, people can cite parts of it, stripped from their context in order to show off what they imagine are the few nuggets of intelligence this book has to offer. I argue it never had to be written this way. This book is the literary equivalent of running a marathon or losing your virginity: after so much hype, it happens and you think "Well, now what." Nothing changes. You will not change as a person, unless you're insufferable and begin writing "w/r/t" in emails, and in such a case I don't think the book changed anything so much as exacerbated it.
There is a chance you might like this book, that everything I've said could be appealing to you. If what I said sounds funny, go for it! But for the love of God, if what you were sold on was "it's a very long book and few people read it lol" then there is no promised land, there is no elite members club, there is no self-improvement to be found.
Blood Beast by Darren Shan
3.0
This is where the series started to make a return.
Of the three followups to Lord Loss, which was an amazing opening, Demon Thief was the least offensive. Kernel Fleck as a protagonist speaks really well to the experience of depressed, isolated, and bullied characters that readers might find comfort in relating to. Meanwhile, Slawter appears to be a bizarre what-if scenario that was born of whatever hell making the Cirque du Freak movie was, and Bec was just exhausting when you just wanted to get on with Grubbs fighting with Lord Loss again.
Of the three followups to Lord Loss, which was an amazing opening, Demon Thief was the least offensive. Kernel Fleck as a protagonist speaks really well to the experience of depressed, isolated, and bullied characters that readers might find comfort in relating to. Meanwhile, Slawter appears to be a bizarre what-if scenario that was born of whatever hell making the Cirque du Freak movie was, and Bec was just exhausting when you just wanted to get on with Grubbs fighting with Lord Loss again.