wrenandpeter's reviews
103 reviews

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

3.25

The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson

adventurous challenging lighthearted

4.0

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds

2.5

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

0.25

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky

reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

Saturation Point by Adrian Tchaikovsky

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

Fun at times. Interesting concept. Boring and dull characters. Some god awful lines in this that completely break the immersion of this hard sci fi novel.

“We weren’t ever white enough for our white neighbors to be happy with us exercising our second amendment rights.” 

She is saying this in a setting with multiple planets where the USA doesn’t exist. The cherry on top is that she’s about to get murdered by green bioengineered human mutants as she is thinking this. 

This book has similarly bad line about “memes of the last century.” Author complains about people not wearing masks too. 

I can only imagine how bad the initial draft of this book was if all that stuff made it through lol. 

Again super cool concept with a well done hard sci fi approach. However the execution on this is badly wanting. If the concept interests you give it a shot just don’t expect greatness. Expect “kinda good. Mostly ok”.

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

4.25

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

adventurous dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle

3.0

The Ill-Made Knight by Christian Cameron

4.0