Convoluted and Amazing
936050
This story is more than a wild ride. I kept wondering when all the wrongs would be made right, only to be hit with more wrongs. Lily & Ed should have hit the annulment button on their marriage; inheritance or not. Good thing they didn't, because then the story wouldn't have been nearly as good. The story of Ed, Lily, Carla, Joe & so many others gets so convoluted, it's better than a soap opera! All I know is that if I were Lily, I would have been a "widow" long  before the husband's Wife made me one.....
1441523
The computer to craft by rothfuss is stunning. This book hijacks your mind. You think like Auri does for hours after reading.
1950748
This is not a book to read a few minutes here and there. I found it difficult to follow at first, but I became so immersed in the scene and the feeling Woolf conveys that I was swept fully into her world. Woolf's stream of consciousness writing style is truly incredible. It is like reading thoughts. Her genius is in the absolute basic- she brings so much into a novel that only spans two days, transporting the reader into an entire lifetime's worth of emotional depth.
3978728
In order to describe just how incredible this book is i would need to be a gifted writer.unfortunately im not so i will keep it simple. Eon is so beautifully detailed and complex yet it neither confuses or loses the  reader as the plot gets deeper and more involved.dont get me wrong this is  not a book for those out there that get confused by technological garb as  the book is heavily laden with it. But the rewards of this book far outweigh  the one downside.do yourself a favour and get hold of a copy,it is probably  one of the best sci-fi novels you will ever read.
2824098
This was such an important period of recent history, but like many people, I was confused by the rapid fire of goings-on at the time they were happening. Mr. Eichenwald has done a tremendous job of bringing all the confusion together and making sense out of it, not least of all by bringing events to light and showing what was going on concurrently in the background. I know it's stated elsewhere, but this book really does read like a thriller. While reading, I would remember something from the events that weren't included in this book. Like, what about the details released in the media back then of President Bush allowing the Bin Laden family members (rumored to be his personal friends) fly out of the U.S.A. when all other planes were grounded? However, the author does state that there were literally many rooms full of material to go through, and he had to cut and edit wherever possible. All in all this was a tremendous lot of work for the author, and the reading of it is utterly thrilling.
4838856
The scale of this story is simply amazing. Watching everything as it comes together then falls apart and comes together again leaves you with a amazing feeling that seems to slip out of your hands the more you try to figure it out. You'd probably have to read this book several times over to get the most out of it. But it is amazing. Absolutely fabulous.
2993749
If I could summarize this book into one word, that word would be confusing (beautifully confusing)

Plenilune is an an amazingly-detailed world that I was sucked into and thrown around and battered, and awed, and swept away.
Margaret, our main character was a simple, English girl, plunged into a a strange new world (and that world was the moon). The war would eventually come after her capture and as she comes into contact with the magic that the world possesses, she eventually finds herself in a place of power, her mere presence swinging sides and determining fate.

Frietag's writing is incredibly detailed, and at times, confusing. There is an over-abundance of characters to keep up with (including horses), while at the same time, places, legends, and wars are brought up, and you're expected to be familiar enough with them all to have clarity going ahead. It is a long read, so she doesn't blaze through all the details; she takes her time constructing the world, but I feel as though a cast of characters and maybe places in an appendix would help by the end.

The way that magic is used in the book is interesting: it's like it didn't need an introduction, it's as though we all should have expected it, like strange and powerful forces are just an everyday occurence here in our Earth world. Maybe if I suspended my belief in the everyday non-magical view of things (which is the world I do live in), it would have been easier for me to grasp all the seemingly magical ties and string them all together. Eventually, that part I could do with ease.

One thing that I had the most trouble with was her jumping around the storyline. Frietag takes great leaps from one chapter to another, even sometimes within a chapter she jumps forward 2 weeks, or past a battle, or over a great event, and the characters look back and analyze it. Or in one instance, I thought Margaret was dreaming, and I had to go back to see that a battle was real and was happening around her in real-time. That threw me off the most. It might simply have been getting used to the author's writing style, but that was like 88% through the book.

The book is beautiful, you can see every detail, every strand of horsehair flying in the wind, the grit of battle dirt and the sting of blood in your nose. That, I give her. 5/5. Amazing.

Lastly, the emotional aspects of the book were interesting and nuanced and sometimes the feelings were plainly seen on faces, and at other times just felt and brewing and waiting. It was great, and the end was definitely tied all up in a bow. It seems to me the end was a bit abrupt, and it makes me wonder if there'll be another book coming.

I was enthralled enough to see it through til the end and am awaiting news of a possible sequel or maybe even just another book in this same world. The beautiful imagery in my mind is enough to keep me hoping.
4773412
This is a difficult book to review. It's so dense with ideas and I enjoyed it so thoroughly that trying to do it justice in a few hundred words is very intimidating.

It's an intensely intellectual, yet trippy, steampunk take on Shakespeare's The Tempest, but it's also a rumination on the uses and abuses of language - the inescapable power of words over perception and, paradoxically, their impotency.

When young protagonist Harold Winslow wins an invitation to the birthday party of Miranda, the sequestered and mysterious daughter of the city's most powerful man, inventor extraordinaire Prospero Taligent, his father tells him to write about the experience, advising the boy, "Write down what you think happened, or what you believe happened or something like what might have happened...all are true, in their own way." And when discussing true miracles versus contemporary inventions, Harold tells his father that his teacher knows nothing; that instead "...the books know everything for her." His sister, Astrid, is a conceptual/performance artist whose goal is, "...liberating language from the patriarchy." And much later, Prospero tells Harold that, "With faith in God comes faith in language," for God is like a great Author who brings a sense of order to the chaos of existence. Even the monstrous Caliban, a failed experiment of Taligent's, clings to superstitions about the power of words. Here he's depicted as a sort of Frankenstein's monster who spends every waking moment typing on a typewriter [surgically attached to his head], attempting to find a 72 letter name that will unlock the secret of humanity. There is even a neighborhood in the city, Picturetown, whose residents have rejected language entirely, opting instead to communicate by scrawling pictograms onto index cards. Dexter Palmer, the author himself, even makes a cameo appearance as a novelist, and a bit of a windbag, at a party attended by Harold and Astrid's artistic set.

Over time, Harold becomes more and more obsessed with Miranda and, as an adult, attempts to rescue her from the monolithic skyscraper where her father holds her prisoner. His harrowing quest ultimately leads him to discover the ghoulish truth about her existence and leaves him forever stranded, floating above the city in a dirigible, writing the memoir we are reading with no one but the frozen body of Prospero and the disembodied voice of his beloved for company.

This is a wonderful, wonderful book. It's filled with arresting imagery, it's kooky, weird, elaborate, thrilling, chilling, disturbing and thought-provoking. If you're looking for a challenging read, this is the one.
3675150
Stranger world has blown me away, while having amazing characters that one easily gets wrapped up in, there are amazing plots twists that could never in a million years guess would ever happen. I found myself totally immersed in the plight of the characters and questioning loyalties of others. This is truly a unique and awe inspiring experience that I won't ever forget. In a nutshell, just another Tuesday for Jack Castle.
3747930
This book put my brain to work . You cannot just read this book fast . You'll have to make sense out of every sentence but it's worth it .
1748747
Wow!  This is the first book in a long while that I  sat down and read straight through in one sitting, and then read it again the next day.  This book is layered and layered again, twisting through puzzles, puns and  wordgames that revolve back into itself.  It's wildly imaginative in its  style and content, and the over the top humor would suit fans of Pynchon  and Barthelme, but his control of the language and playfulness is even more  extreme once you allow yourself to dig in.  This is not a quick read for  the subway, but a novel that will challenge your expectations and ideas on  what a piece of fiction should and should not be.
2002546
A delightful, mesmerizing book; as easily convoluted and surprising as "The Lime twig". Using 'Whispersync' kept the "translation" going through long drives. Tom Weiner's reading was excellent.

The story hits on many of the great issues and conundrums our specie: epistemology, spirituality, ethics, relationships, time and several more. The few inconsistencies are barely noticeable given the overall  vertigo inducing myriad shifts in time and space. Fun and thought provoking book.
3353059
This book is an astounding work. I listened to the audiobook (read by the incredibly talented Jamye Meri Grant) and was blown away by the scope and intricacy of the plot and the striking beauty of the prose. Brissett has built a complex puzzle that twists and doubles back on itself so that she can make seemingly innocuous phrases grow in power. By the end, her words can caress you and slap you and punch you at the same time. This is a demanding novel, but it's so rewarding if you can stand to be confused until it resolves itself perfectly. I am so greatful to Brissett for the obvious labor that went into crafting this masterpiece.
3858213
Gnomon is Nick Harkaway's latest masterpiece, a monstrosity of science fiction and history and humanity and the near future and the distant past. It is layers of stories, of questions, of faith and fiction,and of mysteries, starting in the UK in a utopian-like future that could happen sooner than we think.

Inspector Mielikki Neith is called in to investigate the death of Diana Hunter. Hunter was resistant to the state, hiding from all the technology that is being used to monitor every individual, to prevent crime, and to unite the citizenry in a fairly happy and democratic system. But Hunter, a 60-year-old divorced woman, living on her own in near-Luddite fashion, a writer and dissident, believes that any such system is bad for humanity and refused to comply. So she was called in for an investigation (basically, a mechanical mind-reading to scan for physical abnormalities or uncivil ideas), and the worst happens. She dies in the middle of the procedure. Normally the procedure is benevolent, leaving the witness feeling happier and more focused. But this time, it all went wrong. And now Inspector Neith has been called in to investigate what happened.

Neith's investigation starts with a download of Hunter's scan into her own brain. It's a thing that happens in this future. You can download another person's consciousness into your own. It's not the first time Neith has done this. She likes to explore the new consciousness slowly, unraveling it thread by thread over time.

And this is where the story takes a sharp sideways turn.

Hunter's story is not just her own. It takes Neith (and us) through time, through layers of stories and mystery upon mystery. But you can only find the true answer when you get to the very end. It's the strangest, most fascinating, mind-bending trip, and it's not for the feint of heart, or the feint of book. Gnomon is just under 700 pages, so it's not a journey to take lightly. You have to be hard-core to go on this ride. It's kind of like riding a roller coaster, but one where you aren't strapped in. You just have to hang on for dear life and hope you can hold on until the end.

I had not read any Nick Haraway before this, but I'd heard people I respect rave about his books, so he was on my radar. And I see why. The language of his story is beautiful, and I'm still trying to wrap my head about his plotting. I look forward to reading more of his books. Eventually. It will take awhile to recover from this one.

Galleys for Gnomon were provided by Random House through Firsttoread.com, with many thanks.
915270
I have no words to say the genius that is Holly Black, nor to describe the complexity (and awesomeness) of her Curse Workers series. I am in awe. "Red Glove" had so much content, so many things were going on that you'd think it'd be confusing and anticlimactic, but while it was a bit overwhelming, it felt right, all the pieces of the puzzle clicked together. I feel like someone took a hold of my heart, clenched it tight and now has left me barely breathing. I WANT THE NEXT BOOK NOW.
785507
Simply, this is a wonderful, clever work of modern weird fiction.  It is difficult to categorize the specifics that make this strange collection so special, but it is all about voice in the end.  Every scene unit is a surprise and a delightful journey.  This is the most unique material I have read in ten years, and a must read for anyone keeping track of those pushing the envelope.  Superior story lines, characterizations, descriptions, and pacing.
966140
I loved every long, intricate,  metaphysical,  freaky, odd twist and turn of this book.  If you like condensed reader's digest stories, back away from this book.  I want to read it again to catch all the nuances I missed.  I'm still not sure who the muderers were or even if they were all murders. If you like to climb into a complex mind, this is worth the trip.  Kudos to the translater who clearly added color and clarity to a masterful work.