Profilo utente

“It’s the basic problem with religion, be it Jesus or Vishnu or God Emperors. Ideological purity never survives contact with the enemy.”

It's nice to take a look at what happens in places where the main novels haven't taken us. Here we've got yet another laconian governor trying not to be overwhelmed by the daunting task of ruling a conquered planet. He'll have to give up his silly ideological superiority and compromise with the local crimelord.
A great read as always when it comes to the Expanse universe.

Interesting take on quantum computing, its uses and misuses. Unfortunately, plot is rather shallow.

Another great read from author Becky Chambers. She's definitely become one of my favorite voices in contemporary Sci-Fi.
This time focus of the novel is space exploration. There's some very interesting ideas about gene modifications that could allow humans to be better suited to settle alien planets, but they're not the point here.
What's important is the spirit, the ideas, the ethics that move people that dedicate their entire life to space exploration, sacrificing everything else (literally).
And what can I say about the last few pages? Something must have got into my eyes, since they're all watery. Probably a grain of sand. Right.

Warning, spoilers for the previous novel in the saga!

Wow, this was a dark one.
It All looks like a 400-years-long, galactic chess game: on one side, the trisolarian fleet, that will reach earth in 400 years. On the opposite site, earth. Aware of the incoming enemy fleet, unable to make any scientific progress. Moreover, every single word said or written on earth Is intercepted by the trisolarians. No secrets are possibile.
An apparently unwinnable situation, and yet there's something hiding in the axioms of cosmic sociology that seem to scare the trisolarians...
That's a great plot right there, in case you had any doubts. Hiding an unexpected, dark answer to Fermi paradox. Alas, there's also the same issues that plagued "the three bodies": unappealing writing style and very weak characters. Still, the plot alone is enough to justify the read.

Chiang confirms himself as one of the best contemporary voices in sci-fi. There are some really brilliant ideas in these short stories. Personally, I loved "Omphalos", where he imagines an alterenative world where scientific proof of creation exist. This is what I look for in a short story, and Chiang never fails to deliver.

I wasn't really convinced about the idea of a comic book cookbook. And yet, it works. Recipes and techniques are easy to understand and accurate. It's essential, but it contains every info you need to start cooking ramen at home.

My only complain is about units of measurement. I'll never understand how someone can find comfortable cooking with the imperial system. Or those annoying "cups". Every cookbook that aims to appeal to a worldwide audience should in my opinion contain dosages in both metric and imperial system.

I love H.P. Lovecraft and I love Sherlock Holmes. This novel is a mix of these, so I thought "Why the hell not?".
This isn't a bad novel by any means, it's well written by someone who nows the original material very well. And yet, it somehow falls short. This simply felt like a Lovecraftian tale where the main characters happend to be Holmes and Watson. The whole is not greater than sum of the parts.

Another thing I didn't praticularly like. There's a (probably necessary) trick the author uses (a little too often) to have Lovecraft's and Conan Doyle's canons fit together: Watson at some point states something like "You know when in 'A study in red' I said that thing? Well, that's wasn't true. This is what really happened.". Well, it feels a little too much like cheating to me.

A fun, quick read alas populated by mono-dimensional characters and a not exactly original story. Nothing to write home about.