Review: The Long War

The Long War by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The second instalment of The Long Earth was a bit more enjoyable for me than the first. Since most of the characters were already established - and the setting as well - there was more room for real development and action. Nevertheless, I'm still fighting with the writing style at times. These are my two main qualms:
Imagine you're some kind of hostage, in a room with the people who've captured you and some of your friends. Would you expect your friends to openly talk about their interpretation of the other people's motives? Would you expect the others not reacting to that in any way? That was a very, very weird situation - or description of a situation.
My second problem is the lack of climax - at least that's what it still feels like for me. Suddenly, all the different story lines and problems are resolved. Sometimes with no real explanation I could see/understand, or a change of heart for no apparent reason. Then the book is over and I'm left wondering what it was that I read, hanging in limbo, so to speak. Not very satisfying.
Will it get better in the next book? We'll see...

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Review: The Long Earth

The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

"The Long Earth" was only OK to me, which at Goodreads means only two stars, although I would tend to three.

I bought the book because I love Terry Pratchett's work and my boyfriend likes SciFi. Also, I was curious - and the idea behind the book is really interesting and worth exploring. The problems I had all originated from the writing style.

I won't complain that it didn't sound like a TP book. It has two authors on the cover, so I didn't expect a typical Pratchett. I did, however, hope for some humour (which I didn't find). That alone is not a good reason for such a low rating, though. For this, I have two other reasons:
First, the dialogue. The characters are suddenly faced with a reality where a (probably) unlimited supply of parallel Earths becomes accessible to them. They can't explain it any more than the reader can, but of course they discuss this (and related phenomena) a lot. And of course I wanted to read what they had to say; only, there were road blocks. Someone would say something interesting, and before I could read an equally interesting answer, I had to figuratively climb over a "XY said,". Sometimes, this (traditional?) writing style really disrupted the flow of the story.
Secondly, there were multiple moments when the characters seemed to be extremely sure about what needed to be done and would just go ahead and do it - but I didn't know why this specific action was the only possible way (even if someone could get hurt). I'm not sure if it was my lack of experience with SciFi, or the way the book was written, but I had problems following the story, understanding the characters and motifs... Things that a reader should be able to do in a good book.
That justifies giving only two stars in my opinion.

Nevertheless, I will probably get the second book as well, and give the whole thing another try. As I said earlier, the concept is interesting, and I hope that somehow now that the stage is set it will get better.

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Review: The Last Guardian

The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I'm sorry to say was very disappointed by this book. It was neither entertaining, nor particularly funny, and certainly not "criminally good" as the cover of my version suggests.

Here's why I didn't like it:
The writing style - it felt loveless for, I guess, the following reasons:
1) While reading I was told quite often by the book that the things happening were ridiculous or unreal or unbelievable. It would have been nice to experience this while reading, so you wouldn't have to be told.
2) I was never very good at understanding the show-don't-tell, but I think this book is all what show-don't-tell isn't.
3) The story is about Armageddon and a breakdown of a lot of technology above and below the earth's crust. I wonder what that would feel like, because I certainly didn't feel it while reading.
And many other reasons I find hard to put into words.
Just one minor point: a good editor would have been nice. There was, somewhere at the beginning of the book, a really stupid word duplication which you don't expect to find in a professionally published book.
What vexed me the most (editor-wise), though, is that Opal re-creates herself without finger and toe nails, but is still able to grab someone's arm and dig her finger nails into that someone's skin. How?


I can tell you that Eoin Colfer hasn't lost his talent, though. There was a preview on the new series he's working on - W.A.R.P. - at the end of my book, and that was so much better! I guess he just didn't feel like writing that last Artemis Fowl novel...



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