Likest thou jelly within thy doughnut?

Oh, Hugh Howey! I loved this book. And this time the author's note did not stop me from turning another page to find the epilogue. I can't wait for Dust to see how it all ends. Following Jimmy's story and how he turned into Solo was amazing. I felt so bad for that kid. And also Donny's path was great. I can't wait to see how it all comes together in the last book of the series. Please, hurry up :)

I received a free copy of Tooned Out in exchange for an honest review. Tooned Out is a short story about a group of cartoon characters, who get “laid off” as their show gets cancelled. Written in a documentary style I actually had the characters come to life in my head as they were being interviewed in front of cameras regarding their lives and the events after their last episode. It is a cute story. Part of the writing seems repetitive but over all I think the characters are well created and fleshed out, and I think it was a good execution of a what-if-cartoon-characters-were-real scenario. What I liked best was the idea of cartoon characters that stay kids physically but grow up mentally. Had the Simpsons pop up in my head almost immediately. Poor Maggie :D All in all I’d recommend this story. It is a fun and very quick read.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I'm not sure how to write this review. I did not like the book for various reasons. A) Definitely not my cup of tea. The whole romance/relationship-drama stuff turned out to be a bigger part of the story than I had initially thought.B) I did not like the characters. I did not like Cass. I think she was exactly the crazy bitch one of the soldiers called her. She cares about no one but herself. she kind of reminds me of Bella from Twilight. I have no real opinion of Julian, nor Jeamon for that matter. They were there. I simply did not care about any of them. The relationship between Cass and Julian reminded me a lot of "got together young, at some point realized their relationship has been over for years but stayed together anyway because it was convenient, and they were used to it." Not the sort of angsty stuff I wanna read about in a scifi novel. C) The writing itself. I often have a hard time pinning down what exactly is bugging me about writing styles when it's not quite obviously bad writing. There were a bunch of typos in this book. The style was very descriptive at times She inhaled, pinned by his bright, indigo eyes and his dilating, catlike pupils. With his pale, sharp features she recognized him as humanoid but not human, though unbearably beautiful. - that was the first sentence where I stumbled over it, and that style was repeated often enough. Sometimes I was not really sure what the author was trying to say: Pride welled within Jeamon's breast, causing his heart to feel as the night wind in the trees.or His breath hitched, hardening in his lungs, and alien males' arguing receded to a great distance. How does the night wind feel in the trees? Happy? Sad? Excited? And how does breath harden in someone's lungs? What exactly am I supposed to picture here? Maybe I'm unimaginative but sentences like that did sound really nice but my brain went all errwut on me. I could write more but the book frustrated me so much, I would stray from my keep-it-polite-policy.

Wow, I think I can see the awesomeness that is Neil Gaiman.

How have I not read this earlier? Such a great book. Pure language porn

Damn you, Hugh Howey, damn you! Damn you for writing such great books. Damn you for making me feel with these characters. And damn you for the cliffhanger - GRRRRR!!!!! But I love how the lines between right and wrong, good and bad blur so much that one can barely tell which is which. I tip my hat to you, and cannot wait for the next book.

A collection of short stories each separate in itself but part of a bigger story. Still, again I am astonished how even Bradbury wasn't able to include strong women in his concept. Yes, it was written in the 50s but while there is much technological changes in the story about the future, there is absolutely none regarding the role of women. Still a good book especially with regards to humanity as a whole and the impact we would have on a newly discovered world.

not Drew's best writing IMHO but Bane is definitely a bad-ass character.

Jeez, Freudian theory much. I'm not sure what to think of this book. It's quite short and a quick read really but still took me two days to finish. I understand it's a scifi classic, and Bester certainly does a good job at painting a fantastic future. Still, some things bugged me. For a novel that is supposed to be ahead of its time, it completely lacks any feminism. The women in the book are never really called women. The term most used is girls, almost all the time in connection with the word pretty. Especially the relationship between Powell and Barbara was creepy. "his girl" "daddy" all that kind of crap. Paints a classic picture of many men liking their "girls" young, innocent, damsell-in-distress-ish, obediant and submissive. Yes, that bugs me. Sue me. The whole Ben killing his father resolution was foreseeable. I had the feeling pretty early on where this was going, and who the man without a face was. Mostly, the book was making me anxious because of Ben's frantic and psychotic actions and personality. Besides that, he was a real jerk. So was Powell. Well actually all male characters in that book were either jerks or some spineless cowards that got yanked around by either Ben or Lincoln. The idea itself of a world where there are many telepaths was interesting nonetheless. I liked that. Also the whole moral analysis of mankind raising themselves above such things as death sentence etc. was pretty good. Still, a book I have read and probably won't pick up again.

Hu, I don't really know what to think of this one. Rick Strong, what a jerk. I really hated that guy from the moment on his wife Cindy was introduced. I'm wondering if that was on purpose, but sure as hell did I shake my head the entire time I was reading this. The title certainly is fitting: Have virtual kids to see if you are ready to be parents. Sounds pretty simple but comes with all the negative things you'd expect: one partner being emotionally over-attached to the bits and bytes, while the other is rather annoyed at them. Cindy wants children, apparently suffers from depression because her husband, Rick, kept going out on missions, and then eventually dragged her along to Atopia, a floating colony platform in the open sea, where he works more than he is at home. He seems like the classic jerk-face guy who married the first chick he laid because marriage was something you'd do but was in no way ready for a relationship, let alone a marriage. Rick keeps flirting with other women, the PSSI that plays a centre-role in this story like it did in Blue Skies even takes sexual roleplays to a whole new level by allowing either partner to put on whatever "skin" they like. So, while he is some sexy guy named Julio, Cindy becomes some news chick with big boobs, which eventually didn't make Cindy happy because you know it's bound to happen that an emotionally unstable person has her self-esteem crushed the moment she's turned into someone who looks hotter than her. Throughout the entire story I kept thinking that those two people should not be married and just go their own ways. It was pretty clear early on that Cindy was not going to have any of that and eventually saw only one way out. Rick though realizes too late that he made a bunch of mistakes. The concept of the story itself is pretty neat, exploring conflicts between two people in an unhappy marriage who think that children are the only way to fix what's long been broken. Alas, the narrative rushes through the story, and even though the whole Atopia scenery served as a setting for the plot, there was too much going on there that kept me wondering if it was actually important to know that or not. All in all I'm a bit disappointed with this one, since I really liked Blue Skies a lot. But I will read the next in the series as well.

Not only the setting is a mindfuck but also the characters. Must read on!

Finally a book that gets me! “We’re gunters,” I said, trying to fill the awkward silence. “We live here, in the OASIS. For us, this is the only reality that has any meaning.” This is it, right there. If you understand this quote, if you ‘totally get it’, then you will most likely love this book. “I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn’t know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid, for all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.” But also this is most likely something you can relate to. I could. For the longest time, online reality has been a huge part of my life. Then I got to the point where I realized, this isn’t going to make me happy for the rest of my life. It might just be part of growing up, who knows, but eventually, virtual life didn’t make me happy either. Anyway, Ready Player One is a book for people like me. For people who obsess over things, have been or still are part of a fandom, and for people who rather live online because the real world around them doesn’t offer them any people who understand them. The book is not only packed with 80′s references – which just for that is all kinds of awesome – but it also references today’s geekdom rather well, so there is a Whedonverse, X-Wings, and Wade’s ship is called the Vonnegut. /commence the fangirlingIn the year 2044, OASIS is the virtual reality people escape to from their lives in the real world, a real world that is a place of poverty, hunger, and despair. Wade lives with his aunt in a stack, a trailer park where trailers are stocked on top of each other. Wade is 18 and spends most of his days in the OASIS, because that’s where he goes to school. But besides school, he loves hunting for the egg, which James Halliday, the creator of the OASIS has hidden inside the virtual world. But this isn’t your average easter egg. No, the egg’s finder will inherit Halliday’s fortune as well as Halliday’s OASIS avatar that is the virtual world’s super user. To find it, one has to solve three puzzles to find three keys, and Wade solves the first one. Suddenly, the hunt is on again, and turns into a fight for life or death, as a huge corporation sends in thousands of professional egg hunters with superior equipment and unlimited credits. Soon it becomes more than a game, and Wade quickly realizes that his life and the lives of his fellow ‘gunters’ are at risk, when his trailer park gets blown up, and one of his friends is killed. Within this hunt, Cline manages to write about the good and bad sides of virtual life, and how eventually, nothing is more important than reality itself.

"On October 15 at 2:15 a.m. everyone on Earth vanished. Well, almost everyone. A scattered few woke alone in a world where there are no rules other than survival... at any cost. A journalist wanders the wretched reality of an empty New York, in search for his wife and son. A serial killer must hunt in a land where prey is now an endangered species. A mother shields her young daughter from danger, as every breath fills her with terror. A bullied teen is thrilled to find everyone gone. Until the knock on the door. A fugitive survives a fiery plane crash. Will he be redeemed, or return to what he's best at: the kill?An eight year old boy sets out on a journey to find his missing family. What he finds will change him forever. And there's a few people who aren't surprised that this happened at all. In fact, they've been dreaming about this for years. These survivors aren't alone...Someone or something is watching them. And waiting...Strangers unite. Sides are chosen. Will humanity survive what it never saw coming? The only certainty is that Yesterday's Gone."What a read. Episode 2 left me wanting more as much as Episode 1 did. I feel lucky I found this after all episodes were published. If you don't like a story being told from many points of view between which the narrative jumps back and forth, then you should not read this book. There isn't really much else to say. It's fascinating, interesting, it keeps me on the edge of my seat, and the last line of this episode made me gasp in terror. Must continue with next episode!

I don't know how many times I must have watched Vincent Price in "The Last Man On Earth", yet I've never got to read the book it was based on. Something I had to change, and wow did the book blow me away. I had thought Vincent Price's performance was great but it's nothing compared to the real Robert Neville. Watching Neville going from disbelief to despair and sadness to alcoholism definitely left an impact. Great book.

When I watched Starship Troopers for the first time, I could not get over Denise Richard's nose...or Casper van Dien's rather lousy acting abilities. The only thing that actually made the movie awesome was NPH, just back then he was "that Dougie Howser dude" to me, but all in all the reason I kept watching the movie a couple of times. I'm a fangirl...what can I say, I fangirl hard! Anyway, when I first got to read Starship Troopers I was rather surprised that movie and book have nearly nothing in common. Sure, the names are the same, the bugs and the war, but that's about it. And if you keep both separated from each other, not comparing them, there's a chance you might like both. It was the first Heinlein book I had read, and just re-reading it now I've come to appreciate some things I did not quite like during my first read, which was about 15 years ago. There is no action in this book but a lot of things to think about. Heinlein used his books to not only raise questions but also to give voice to his own thoughts and morals. Endless tirades about how spanking a child to raise it is the only way for it to become a good citizen? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? ... It is just like him. This book is a philosophical take on war, being a soldier, and society. It makes you appreciate more the things soldiers go through, put up with, give up, gain. It shows you why they feel pride. At the same time it is a swipe at modern society. Some of Heinlein's views might be outdated, but seeing that this book was written in the 1950s, his prediction of what was the downfall of many modern cultures seems to become more and more accurate. He puts the responsibility of upbringing and educating a child solely on parents or a guardian; accuses people have shouted for rights while neglecting their duty; defines the role of citizens within their own society; all things that - if you look at today's problems with younger generations - are relevant today. This book is one of the must-reads for everyone who likes controversy; who likes to ask questions; who likes to think. It isn't boring. It is quite interesting. And it certainly gets your brain going.

Only 200 something pages but those pages are full of despair. It's an endless wait for a happy ending that never comes. Like a zombie driven by hunger I kept turning the pages just to get my hopes crushed once again. This book does not so much live off the gore of which there is plenty but off a wide range of feelings and emotions. Ever felt sorry for a zombie? Ever wondered if there was still a thinking mind inside of that slowly shuffling, loudly moaning body? It isn't every day that I want to shoot something so badly while wanting to hug it at the same time and tell it that everything is going to be okay. This isn't a story about survivors. This is a story about people you wished they had survived. A story about zombies told from the other side of the fence. There is no real action. There is lots of things being human. There is hardcore swearing, gross tales of devouring the living, and many moments where I just held my breath until I realized once again: there is no hope! Good one, Hugh.