Barbarius finished reading Amazing Screw-On Head by Mike Mignola
Classic.
Reviews and Comments
Mostly reading sci-fi, fantasy, and comics/graphic novels, but occasionally some other stuff too.
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Barbarius reviewed Pwning Tomorrow by Charlie Jane Anders
As part of EFF’s 25th Anniversary celebrations, we are releasing “Pwning Tomorrow: Stories from the …
Mostly excellent
5 stars
This free collection of futurism/dystopian fiction was pretty much excellent from start to finish. For the most part, each author/story takes a current issue, idea, or topic (e.g.: copyright law, patent trolls, crowd sourcing, etc.) and extrapolates it into a possible future whereby it was left to go unchecked and how that would possibly look, giving you a Wellesian warning of why these seemingly innocuous issues are important to consider and/or deal with in our present here-and-now. The stories are excellent, and the list of included authors are top-quality!
...and then there's the final story... which has nothing to do with any of the aforementioned issues at all, and is mostly a fantasy erotic romp. It has no futurism, dystopian, or tech themes at all, except that one of the two main characters is a hacker, apparently, and it's mentioned (twice, in a completely unconnected fashion) that he has a …
This free collection of futurism/dystopian fiction was pretty much excellent from start to finish. For the most part, each author/story takes a current issue, idea, or topic (e.g.: copyright law, patent trolls, crowd sourcing, etc.) and extrapolates it into a possible future whereby it was left to go unchecked and how that would possibly look, giving you a Wellesian warning of why these seemingly innocuous issues are important to consider and/or deal with in our present here-and-now. The stories are excellent, and the list of included authors are top-quality!
...and then there's the final story... which has nothing to do with any of the aforementioned issues at all, and is mostly a fantasy erotic romp. It has no futurism, dystopian, or tech themes at all, except that one of the two main characters is a hacker, apparently, and it's mentioned (twice, in a completely unconnected fashion) that he has a server room in his house. It honestly feels like it's the author equivalent of "I'm a bunny, duh!":
Editor: Hey! Yeah, thanks for your submission. Umm... We're not quite sure it aligns with the theme of the collection though... Author: He's a hacker, duh!
Barbarius rated Frog and Toad: The Complete Collection: 5 stars
Frog and Toad: The Complete Collection by Arnold Lobel
Once upon a time there were two good friends, a frog and a toad...
Whether they're writing letters or flying …
Barbarius reviewed Horus Rising (The Horus Heresy) by Dan Abnett
A Horus Heresy Novel - Book 1
After thousands of years of expansion and conquest, …
The beginning? Of what, I'm not sure...
3 stars
I know this is nothing revelatory to say of the first book in a 50-something volume series, but it felt like it was just the start of a bigger story, without a lot of resolution. Which is fine, and I guess I expected.
Having NO prior knowledge of the Warhammer 40k universe, I felt like a lot was going over my head. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I didn't like the story, I just felt that a lot of it was referencing things the significance of which I wasn't aware of.
I've read that the first 3-5 stories should be read together as one arc. They're cheap and short enough that I will probably get the second one at some point soon.
Barbarius commented on The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
The Last Unicorn is a fantasy novel by American author Peter S. Beagle and published …
Bought this because I saw it here on Bookwyrm. My wife read it yesterday in one day and now tells me I have to read it next so we can talk about it.
Barbarius reviewed Fables by Bill Willingham
Fables Compendium Two starts with the story “Arabian Nights (and Days)”, when foreigners start showing …
Still excellent
5 stars
This series is incredible, but now I have NO IDEA where the story is headed!
Barbarius finished reading Fables by Bill Willingham
Fables Compendium Two starts with the story “Arabian Nights (and Days)”, when foreigners start showing …
Okay, that was excellent (as usual) but now I'm so unsure as to what's going to happen! What I thought was going to be the end/final climax of the entire series happened about two-thirds of the way through this compendium... And there's still two more to go! Where are we going with this!? So much unknown! So exciting!
Barbarius started reading Horus Rising (The Horus Heresy) by Dan Abnett
A Horus Heresy Novel - Book 1
After thousands of years of expansion and conquest, …
I might regret this... Friends of mine rave about this series. But even they caution against starting it, given that it's over 50 books long, not including the expanded stories...
Barbarius started reading Pwning Tomorrow by Charlie Jane Anders
As part of EFF’s 25th Anniversary celebrations, we are releasing “Pwning Tomorrow: Stories from the …
I got halfway through this a while ago, but have just picked it up again. It's great. Right up my alley. Really enjoying it (again).
Barbarius rated Cerebus (Cerebus, #1): 3 stars
Barbarius finished reading Cerebus (Cerebus, #1) by Dave Sim
Interesting start. I'm interested to see where it goes.
Barbarius finished reading Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables, #3) by Lucy Maud Montgomery
HOORAY FOR LOVE!
Barbarius started reading Anne of the Island (Anne of Green Gables, #3) by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Public Service Announcement: If you ever need to remember the order of Lucy Maude Montgomery's classic Anne series, just remember the place where Anne is "of" just gets bigger each time: Anne of Green Gables Anne of Avonlea Anne of the Island Anne of Canada Anne of the Americas Anne of Earth Anne of the Solar System Anne of the Milky Way Anne of the Local Group Anne of the Universe Anne of the Multiverse
Barbarius reviewed Fables by Bill Willingham
When a savage creature, known only as the Adversary, conquered the fabled lands of legends …
Award-winning for a reason
5 stars
Fables is one of the best ongoing comic series, in my opinion (although it did stop... And then has started again? This is the first compendium of four, which covers the original run of 150 issues).
Essentially, all your fairy tale characters are real, and have fled into the mundane world, living in New York. The reason for their departure from their various "Homelands" is due to an enemy known only as "The Adversary", who's swept over the various fable lands, killing and conquering.
What I think is really good, and the real strength of this series, is the sheer amount of depth that is allowed and explored in what are very familiar characters, and then how they fit in with each other and as a community.
I would, and do, thoroughly recommend this series to anyone.
Barbarius finished reading Fables by Bill Willingham
When a savage creature, known only as the Adversary, conquered the fabled lands of legends …
I was right thinking that I had already read all these stories, but they were still great fun in revisiting!