‘Fun, But Not Paradoxes’

Score: 4/5

It’s strange, reading the opening of a book called ‘Paradox’, that the author readily admits what the book discusses won’t be actual paradoxes. They’re really quirks or counterintuitive aspects of physics.

And they’re interesting! And (of course) well explained.

But maybe there’s still space for a book on actual paradoxes...

‘Nicely Charactered, Beautifully Written’

Score: 5/5

I loved this. It’s maybe the best ‘unreliable narrator’ story I’ve ever read. It’s such fun at the beginning of this book to watch the scenes unfold and have a better understand of what’s going on than the narrator.

But even without that, the writing is just gorgeous. I may seek out more of this author’s works.

‘Interesting Scenario, Authentic Details’

Score: 5/5

I don’t know what I expected from this. Maybe some idealised picture of space travel with simplified explanations? Maybe the last word in locked-room mysteries, with the locked room being in orbit?

Whatever my low expectations, they were thoroughly exceeded by this novel. It’s a techno-thriller more akin to Clancy than a murder mystery, and it dwells enough on the technical details to describe it well but not enough that it dulls the plot. (Or I may just have a high threshold for these technical details.)

And the technical descriptions are maybe a bit more reliable than other authors, since this author actually is an astronaut.

Much more fun than I expected.

‘Fascinating Idea Of Anti-Memes’

Score: 5/5

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Memes are hard enough for me to wrap my head around, but anti-memes? The author took the concept and ran with it and came up with a fascinating setting and plot.

I’ve no idea who the author is or why he/she/they go by that name, but I did enjoy the book.

‘Fun Local Alien Invasion’

Score: 4/5

It’s always good to see a local angle on things, so a post-alien-invasion set in Norn Iron - and bits of it near where I grew up! - is fun to see.

Yeah, I’m still not convinced alien invasions would work like that in practice. But fun nonetheless.

‘Didn’t Enjoy At All’

Score: 2/5

Nope. Didn’t enjoy this. I finished it, but mostly out of stubbornness. It’s a boring court procedural drama that goes into seemingly-endless backstories of people I just didn’t care about.

Not my kind of thing.

‘Some Nicely Rounded Characters’

Score: 5/5

I still find it odd to care a bit about characters in books. I don’t have this problem with most books - I fully accept it’s me, not the books, but I do find it difficult to empathise with most protagonists. These books are a bit different. I’m still not convinced that they’re fully-fledged people (it’s very rare for me to think that) but at least I can accept that they might be.

‘Series Past Its Peak’

Score: 3/5

I like the Rebus character but even I think this series is past its peak.

It’s a bit worrying, I suppose, that we disproportionately reward successful authors for continuing series instead of branching out with new characters or new worlds. I suspect I could read a lot more of Ian Rankin’s output than I can read more Rebus stories.

‘Enjoyable - Beautiful And Mesmerising’

Score: 4/5

This is beautifully drawn. I do get the feeling I missed some important plot points by just staring at the pictures.

‘Not Like The Movie’

Score: 4/5

I have seen the movie, but it seemed quite forgettable. This book was better, and I enjoyed it more.