Sunday, March 28, 2004
Books - One more down
After a brief bout of forgetfulness, I have finally finished Neil Gaiman's American Gods. I took it with me to read while I was in Florida and accidentally left it there, which is indicative of how I felt about the story - forgettable. I wasn't overly impressed with any aspect of the book - characters, plot, or style. It wasn't awful, by any means, but it was somewhat less that good. I thought the storyline - the deities of every culture losing power/strength because no one believes in them anymore seeking to do battle against the gods of modern culture: media, money, internet, etc. - was weak. The idea was a good one, the execution however was poor. Gaiman takes his plot, which could have been weaved into an excellent story, down a predictable road to mediocrity. The character development was virtually non-existent, thus the ultimate predictability of the story. There were a few moments that were very interesting however and those were what kept me going through the book. However, there were plenty more times when I found myself cringing as Gaiman took what could have been made into decent subtleties and spelled them out for what he must assume to be a moronic reader. The last sequence in the book was so boring, anti-climactic, and, did I mention highly predictable, that it is no wonder I forgot it at home and had to start another book on the plane trip back. Then, when I did it back through the mail, I found I wasn't all that interested in finishing - but I make a point of seeing things through to their conclusions, so I read the final 80 pages I was lacking. Now, thank goodness, I am done and can move on to -
Robert A. Metzger's Picoverse, a hardcore science-fiction tale of a small group of scientists who, in their search for new energy sources, stumble upon the ability to "create" new universes, but on the scale of a picometer (10-12; one step below nano-). Then, it seems, they discover a way to travel into their newly created universes, completely distorting time (one second in the "real" world corresponds to years in the "new" universe, making all sorts of weird stuff possible) and space (whole new universe to explore and discover). And, well, it wouldn't be a true science-fiction novel if there weren't some E.T.'s involved. They are scary.
So, I look forward to being able to continue this novel now, and enjoy reading it.
MASON and HUDD - this one is totally for both of you, but for different reasons.
-R
After a brief bout of forgetfulness, I have finally finished Neil Gaiman's American Gods. I took it with me to read while I was in Florida and accidentally left it there, which is indicative of how I felt about the story - forgettable. I wasn't overly impressed with any aspect of the book - characters, plot, or style. It wasn't awful, by any means, but it was somewhat less that good. I thought the storyline - the deities of every culture losing power/strength because no one believes in them anymore seeking to do battle against the gods of modern culture: media, money, internet, etc. - was weak. The idea was a good one, the execution however was poor. Gaiman takes his plot, which could have been weaved into an excellent story, down a predictable road to mediocrity. The character development was virtually non-existent, thus the ultimate predictability of the story. There were a few moments that were very interesting however and those were what kept me going through the book. However, there were plenty more times when I found myself cringing as Gaiman took what could have been made into decent subtleties and spelled them out for what he must assume to be a moronic reader. The last sequence in the book was so boring, anti-climactic, and, did I mention highly predictable, that it is no wonder I forgot it at home and had to start another book on the plane trip back. Then, when I did it back through the mail, I found I wasn't all that interested in finishing - but I make a point of seeing things through to their conclusions, so I read the final 80 pages I was lacking. Now, thank goodness, I am done and can move on to -
Robert A. Metzger's Picoverse, a hardcore science-fiction tale of a small group of scientists who, in their search for new energy sources, stumble upon the ability to "create" new universes, but on the scale of a picometer (10-12; one step below nano-). Then, it seems, they discover a way to travel into their newly created universes, completely distorting time (one second in the "real" world corresponds to years in the "new" universe, making all sorts of weird stuff possible) and space (whole new universe to explore and discover). And, well, it wouldn't be a true science-fiction novel if there weren't some E.T.'s involved. They are scary.
So, I look forward to being able to continue this novel now, and enjoy reading it.
MASON and HUDD - this one is totally for both of you, but for different reasons.
-R
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