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Review Date: 1/21/2016
I had no idea what this book was about beyond its reputation as a quasi-science fiction classic, and it's not that often that a story completely blows my mind but holy hell! Or Jesus Christ! as it were.
This book is not for everybody, not by a long shot. It's probably not even for most people. But as someone long fascinated by religions and their origins, mythology, alternative histories and anything about time travel, this book was well within my wheelhouse.
It's short, blasphemous, sexually shocking, neurotic, at times unlikable and entirely unique.
The only other novel I can think of that has Christianity so encoded in its DNA is Walter W. Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz, so if you've read that you might want to try this. And if you end up like both novels and haven't go rent Jesus Christ Superstar, another great take on the Christ story.
Behold the Man gets 5 stars from this Agnostic but your milage my vary. A lot.
This book is not for everybody, not by a long shot. It's probably not even for most people. But as someone long fascinated by religions and their origins, mythology, alternative histories and anything about time travel, this book was well within my wheelhouse.
It's short, blasphemous, sexually shocking, neurotic, at times unlikable and entirely unique.
The only other novel I can think of that has Christianity so encoded in its DNA is Walter W. Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz, so if you've read that you might want to try this. And if you end up like both novels and haven't go rent Jesus Christ Superstar, another great take on the Christ story.
Behold the Man gets 5 stars from this Agnostic but your milage my vary. A lot.
Review Date: 2/28/2016
Best book I've read about the psychology of those playing at the absolute top-end of the poker world- the kind of people who can win or lose hundreds of thousands of dollars on the turn of a card without batting an eye.
Both exhilarating and depressing, The Biggest Game in Town is about a gritty Las Vegas of the late 70's and early 80's- before the rise of the shiny mega-casino- and the chain-smoking, overweight, bizarre personalities who are compelled to live in the desert to match wits with the best poker talent on the planet.
If you want a book on poker strategy you'll probably want to look elsewhere. If you're thinking about selling the house and moving to Las Vegas to make your fortune I'd recommend you read this first to know what you're getting into. And if you're just fascinated by stories from the richest poker tables in the world this is one of the best you'll find.
Both exhilarating and depressing, The Biggest Game in Town is about a gritty Las Vegas of the late 70's and early 80's- before the rise of the shiny mega-casino- and the chain-smoking, overweight, bizarre personalities who are compelled to live in the desert to match wits with the best poker talent on the planet.
If you want a book on poker strategy you'll probably want to look elsewhere. If you're thinking about selling the house and moving to Las Vegas to make your fortune I'd recommend you read this first to know what you're getting into. And if you're just fascinated by stories from the richest poker tables in the world this is one of the best you'll find.
Review Date: 1/22/2014
Helpful Score: 1
When your protagonist rapes a woman after destroying her village within the first few pages of a book, you better go to extraordinary lengths to make the character worth following for the next few hundred pages- let alone a multi-book series. Prince of Thornes, while well written and offering some intriguing twists on the fantasy genre, doesn't really do it.
Certainly not for lack of trying. Lawrence brings a cast of loathsome and often amusing characters and puts them in a pretty well imagined world that offers the possibility of secrets and adventures. But Jorg, the "hero" of the series, is hard to root for from the very beginning unless you like your anti-heroes very, very dark (and 14 for some reason). And at a slim 336 pages we really don't get deep enough into the world to care what's going on. Lawrence also relies on the deus ex machina to get his characters out of waaaay too many situations therefore bleeds the tension out of most of the book.
As to the physical book, while the cover art is really good- Ace seems to have blown their budget on the cover- the book itself is cheaply printed and the map in the front is too small and not detailed enough.
Overall can't really recommend Prince of Thorns.
Certainly not for lack of trying. Lawrence brings a cast of loathsome and often amusing characters and puts them in a pretty well imagined world that offers the possibility of secrets and adventures. But Jorg, the "hero" of the series, is hard to root for from the very beginning unless you like your anti-heroes very, very dark (and 14 for some reason). And at a slim 336 pages we really don't get deep enough into the world to care what's going on. Lawrence also relies on the deus ex machina to get his characters out of waaaay too many situations therefore bleeds the tension out of most of the book.
As to the physical book, while the cover art is really good- Ace seems to have blown their budget on the cover- the book itself is cheaply printed and the map in the front is too small and not detailed enough.
Overall can't really recommend Prince of Thorns.
Review Date: 2/15/2014
My first McDevitt novel and I don't know if I will return to him. The central mystery was interesting enough but I found his main character lacking in personality and his world-building left much to be desired. Gave up after 80 pages.
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