Category: Reviewed

Nasty: My Family And Other Glamorous Varmints — Simon Doonan

By 5t4n5

Nasty: My Family And Other Glamorous Varmints -- Simon DoonanThe book that spawned the TV sit com Beautiful People.   I don’t watch hardly any TV shows as 99% are utter crap: Beautiful People was well in the 1%.

So how did the book compare to the TV show?

Superbly.

I would definitely suggest to anyone thinking about reading this book to watch the TV show first, as i can’t see it being as good watching it afterwards.   The book has so much more of Simon’s life in it and there are so many more characters and escapades from his childhood that were left out of the TV show and if you read the book first you’ll probably end up getting grumpy that some of the characters and escapades in the book aren’t in the TV show.

That’s not to say the TV show is bad, it’s not, it’s superb, but in order to make a good sit-com out of this book there had to be a few characters left out and certain characters that were left in have been changed somewhat.

Anyways, enough of that, just go watch the TV show and have a good laugh knowing you’ve got a lot more to read about afterwards for desert.

My first Simon Doonan book, and it certainly won’t be my last.   He’s a really good writer.   Thanks for the giggles and laughs, Simon.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shortly after i wrote the above review i received James Clear’s The 3-2-1 Newsletter which had the following quote in it:

Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler Ross on how beautiful people are made:

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.   These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern.   Beautiful people do not just happen.

Source: Death: The Final Stage of Growth

PS.   Do consider signing up for The 3-2-1 Newsletter — it’s really good — and don’t forget to read James’ book, Atomic Habits.

Simon’s Page

#lgbtq #simondoonan

Sparrow Falling — Gaie Sebold

By 5t4n5

Sparrow Falling -- Gaie SeboldWhile i rather enjoyed Shanghai Sparrow with it’s steampunk silliness and, also, the growth of Evvie, this book has immediately become unenjoyable with Evvie just turning into some kind of idiot who doesn’t want anyone else’s help or advice, even when she’s up to her neck in problems.   It’s really like the Evvie we left off with at the end of Shanghai Sparrow has been replaced with some utter idiot who learned absolutely nothing from her earlier experiences.

I do believe this is the first book of Gaie’s that not only have i not liked, but just couldn’t continue reading it was annoying me that much.   I gave it until 27% but it just kept on getting worse and i quit.   I’ve got too many good books to read to waste my time on stuff like this.

But as i’ve said about other writers whose works i’ve totally enjoyed, at some point each is going to write a book that i just don’t like.   This is that book for Gaie.

Ho hum!

Gaie’s Page

#steampunk #gaiesebold

Shanghai Sparrow — Gaie Sebold

By 5t4n5

Shanghai Sparrow -- Gaie SeboldThis began the final couple of Gaie’s books that i haven’t read.

Admittedly, i picked this up with a fair few preconceptions and had them all dashed rather quickly.   The first thing is that i’ve put Gaie’s writing firmly in the fantasy-for-grown-ups genre, and this is anything but that.

So i was rather surprised to find myself reading some steampunk with a hint of fantasy aimed at teenage girls (at least that where i think it belongs).   I was even more surprised to find myself quite enjoying it, being a 57 year old man.   It’s very similar to Magnificent Devices by Shelley Adina, so if you enjoy that kind of “silly” then i’m sure you’ll enjoy this kind of “silly”.

I’m certainly enjoying a bit of “silly” at the moment, so i’m diving straight into the second book in the series, Sparrow Falling for some more.

Gaie’s Page

#steampunk #gaiesebold

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang — Ian Fleming

By 5t4n5

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang -- Ian FlemingOne of my favourite films, so favourite that i never bothered to read the book before.   I know, putting the cart before the horse is so unlike me.

Anyways, i’ve finally put things right and read the book, and guess what?   I totally enjoyed it.

Like the film, it’s aimed directly for young children, i’d say around 7 or 8 years old, but it’s also good for us Boomers who loved the film.

How do they compare?   Well the book only has some glimpses of the James Bond theme coming through, whereas the film, which was made well after Ian’s death, has all the Bond tropes shoehorned into it somewhere and is much more the James Bond for children thing.   Example would be that in the book Caractacus is married to Mimsie, but in the film they needed to work in the Bond girl trope somehow, so they killed off Mimsie and created Truly Scrumptious.   They also made the arch villain much more Bond like with the big castle, and all that, and gave him the Bond henchman in the Kiddy Catcher.

But the book is still good and well worth getting if you have young children to give them a good reading to before you make them sit and watch the film: i’m sure they’ll love it because Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is, without a doubt, the best James Bond film ever.

Enjoy.

Ian’s Page

#ianflemming

Galactic North — Alastair Reynolds

By 5t4n5

Galactic North -- Alastair ReynoldsThis is bizarre.   After three trilogy length novels — two spanning decades and one a few centuries — going into glorious detail and getting the reader really involved with the characters and their situations, we now have a story spanning tens of millennia that’s only a short: WTF?

It all feels extremely rushed, utterly lacking in depth and just seems like Alastair threw it together before breakfast to meet some publisher’s needs before he went on holiday.

Ho hum, we can’t really expect all of Alastair’s books to be excellent.   This one’s very disappointing.

Anyways, this is the last story in the whole series for now.   Just a bit of a wait until Inhibitor Phase is released on 26th August 2021.

It’s certainly been a blast reading the whole series in one go, it was just under 3 months ago when i began Great Wall of Mars.   And no inbetweenies due to boredom: this is one of those series that you just want to keep on reading without any other books getting involved.

Available in the collection, Galactic North.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

Absolution Gap — Alastair Reynolds

By 5t4n5

Absolution Gap -- Alastair ReynoldsIf you’re not into reading a whole trilogy crammed into one book then i’d suggest staying away: this book is huge.   But if you’ve got this far you’ve just read two books of similar length so you’re used to it by now — dive right in.

My thoughts are that this book just doesn’t come up to the same level as the previous two.   I think it’s because everything in this universe that we’ve come to know is all getting torn apart into molecules by the Inhibitors and there’s not much left of life as we once knew it.   It’s all quite depressing really, as are some of the characters.   And while i like a writer who isn’t afraid to kill off a main character or several, i was a bit put out by one of them as i really wanted to hear more from them: i won’t say which one because it would spoil the whole book.

But, this is war, this is the threatened annihilation of the human race, so we can’t expect it to be all upbeat and fun — can we?

So yeah, straight into Galactic North now and then it’s a bit of a wait for Inhibitor Phase to be published on 26th August 2021.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

Redemption Ark — Alastair Reynolds

By 5t4n5

Redemption Ark -- Alastair ReynoldsOooh wow, now that was a really good read, extremely lengthy but really good.

This time we’re back in the Yellowstone system but our old friends (or enemies, depending on how you view them), the Conjoiners are back, along with a few blasts from the distant past: don’t worry, you’ll soon catch up with who’s who again.

When Ilia activated the cache weapons in the last book the Conjoiners, whose weapons they actually happen to be, received an alert that they’ve been activated and it’s not too long before they decide that they’re going to get them back.   But there’s rifts amongst the Conjoiners, who aren’t as conjoined as they might seem, and some want the weapons for a different reason.

And so it’s off to Resurgam, via Chasm City, in souped up lighthuggers that bend the laws of physics, in a crazy game of star-ship-chase-me as the different factions want to get there first and get the cache weapons — both gleefully trying to throw a spanner in the other’s works along the way.

And what a great time is going to be had when we get to Resurgam, what with the Inhibitors now unleashed by Sylveste’s previous shenanigans, running amok and making to destroy the whole solar system, and also Ilia having absolutely no desire to give up her weapons to anyone.

There’s also lots of other great story telling things and characters going on besides — like a whole planet to evacuate before the inhibitors burn it to death.   You won’t be bored.

Super good and now it’s straight into Absolution Gap.

Alastair’s Page

#scifi #alastairreynolds

Trident’s Forge — Patrick S Tomlinson

By 5t4n5

Trident's Forge -- Patrick S TomlinsonHumanity has finally begun to settle into their new home.   The new colony is coming along well with the ship locked in orbit at the end of an orbital lift providing all their needs, but Mei and the rest of the unbound have decided they don’t want to be any part of this new society and go off on their own across the ocean to meet the natives.

Then all hell breaks loose and Bryan, our illustrious detective from the first book (who is now the chief re-creation officer for the colony), ends up in the thick of it all on the other side of the planet.

All in all, a super good first-contact story, without none of that Star Trek first directive getting in anyone’s way: oh dear!

And now i’m really looking forward to Children of the Divide, the third book of this thoroughly enjoyable trilogy.

Patrick’s Page

#scifi #patrickstomlinson

Children of the Divide — Patrick S Tomlinson

By 5t4n5

Children of the Divide -- Patrick S TomlinsonI really couldn’t take any more of this story.   I gave up when Jian was about to crash into the orbital lift.

Yes folks, once again the last remaining humans manage to screw everything up.   Once again there’s a human faction trying to destroy everything.

Rinse, repeat, yawn, Zzzzzz.

Some people might like it, i suppose.

Patrick’s Page

#scifi #patrickstomlinson

Voice of the Whirlwind — Walter Jon Williams

By 5t4n5

Voice of the Whirlwind -- Walter Jon WilliamsThe third instalment in the Hardwired Series.

A super good story and certainly no complaints on that aspect of the book, but the telling of it leaves a bit to be desired.   As in Hardwired, we are told a tale without any explanation as to the background, only for that to be revealed later on.

At 6% i found myself suddenly realising what’s happening in this vagueness that i’d been reading which left me with no choice but to go back to the very beginning and begin again.   Why Walter can’t just tell you what you need to know before you read it instead of sometime afterwards i have no idea. There’s a few other places in the book that i was left feeling like i’m going back and forward in time and feeling like i’m not quite sure where i am any more.

It is rather annoying because he is certainly a great crafter of story, with great characters and world building, but then goes and lets it all down by writing things out of sequence and all over the place.

But, it is worth putting up with this downside to enjoy a really good story.

And this officially ends the trilogy, although i believe that Aristoi is kind of set in the same universe with a fair few references to Nero, one of our favourite characters from Solip:System: so i may just have to dive into that in the not too distant future.

Walter’s Page

#scifi #cyberpunk #walterjonwilliams