goodreads – Page 2 – Hakans Random Ramblings

Review: The Running of the Tyrannosaurs

December 9, 2014December 9, 2014 hakan Leave a comment

The Running of the Tyrannosaurs by Stant Litore

Stant did it again… The story is so tightly written that anything about it would be tantamount to spoilers, so I will just stay saying that I was blown away.

Just the right length to fill an extended lunch break, and just the right content to give you things to think about for the next hours. Let me just cite his dedicatation, “for the young women of this generation: no matter what a magazine cover may tell you, you are each more beautiful already than you know”. I can only stand amazed at the time and thoughts that must have went in the story.

Thank you Stant. Thank you so much.

View all my reviews

Review: Ahriman: Sorcerer

December 4, 2014December 4, 2014 hakan Leave a comment

Ahriman: Sorcerer by John French
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Another amazing book that goes over and beyond the usual bolter porn most Warhammer stories devolve into, instead showing Ahriman scheming and manipulating the mightiest of people over hundreds of years, just to… but that would be spoiling 🙂

By the way, this is my book #150 for 2014, fulfilling this years Reading Challenge with three weeks to spare 🙂

View all my reviews

Review: I, Zombie

August 1, 2014August 1, 2014 hakan Leave a comment

I, Zombie by Hugh Howey

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Imagine being in a coma. On a hospital bed, unable to move in any way you would want to. Unable to show the people around you that you are mind still aware of yourself and your surroundings.

Now imagine your body I not on that hospital bed but stumbling on the streets, following that smell of humans alive. Of BRAAAAAAAAAAINS.

Imagine being locked up in a body which pulls intestines from another human, bites pieces of their bodies off, which is at the same time shitting all that human meat out and I crawling with maggots which grow inside your body…

Imagine all that, described from the points of view of a dozen inmates locked up in their former bodies and minds…

And then try to sleep peacefully at night. That’s the powerful prose of Hugh Howey, which for this tale would deserve six stars if I could give them.

View all my reviews

Review: Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction

July 16, 2014July 16, 2014 hakan Leave a comment

Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans Will Survive a Mass Extinction by Annalee Newitz

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Read this if you like a bit of apocalyptic SCIENCE to go with your post-apocalyptic fiction 🙂

Instead of the run-of-the-mill “Oh my god, we’re gonna die in the next fifty years” essays, Annalee Newitz discusses in a very solid and scientific manner how many times in the history of our planet, life went through near-extinction events and flourished again. She also shows how our entire recorded history is nothing more than a blink of the eye compared to all the time earlier non-sentient species existed on our planet.

View all my reviews

Review: Vengeful Spirit

June 19, 2014June 19, 2014 hakan Leave a comment

Vengeful Spirit by Graham McNeill
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In a very refreshing change from other Black Library books, Vengeful Spirit actually has some traces of science fiction in it. Battles both in space and on the ground are well described, and for the first time, I did not have the feeling that the only use of space ships is to get Marines as fast as possible into hand-to-hand distance.

Also, even Space Marines can die in their dozens when fighting in the general vicinity of Titans, the description of which cuts those transhumans down to a bit more manageable scale.

Overall, well worth the admittedly steep price Black Library is asking for this volume.

View all my reviews

Review: Brotherhood of the Storm

May 21, 2014May 21, 2014 hakan Leave a comment

Brotherhood of the Storm by Chris Wraight

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An excellent novella which explains the beginnings and style of the White Scars. While not as long as some other books of the Horus Heresy, the story itself gains much from concentrating more on characters and less on bolter-porn..

Besides, for those slightly tired of faux-latin “Gothic” phrases, the old-turkish and mongol words here and there give a nice flair to the Scars… For this alone, they might become one of my favourite chapters 🙂

View all my reviews

Review: The Martian

February 27, 2014February 27, 2014 hakan Leave a comment

The Martian by Andy Weir
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

SCIENCE! HARD SCI-FI! MOAR SCIENCE! DON’T GO, RUN TO BUY AND READ THIS!

all-caps-words aside, this is easily the best hard-scifi book I have read in the last five years or more. Except of the beginning assumption that humanity somehow convinces itself to send humans to Mars, everything is so very plausible. Watneys speech / log entries have just the amount of black humour I encounter very often when one of our projects goes south.

I could gush more and more about this book, but other reviewers already have done so. Suffice to say that it cost be two consecutive days worth of sleep just so I would know what happens at the end.

View all my reviews