2018 books: The Three-Body Problem, The Barn, Dominion, Custodians of the Cosmos
♪ Dashing through the books,
in a one open-source Kindle~ ♫
The Three-Body Problem by
Cixin Liu (Author), Ken Liu (Translator)
Traditional or self-published: Traditional
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
Translated from Chinese, the writing was off-putting to me. Not bad, just not right. Not radically different than expected, I think if it were I would have had an easier time reading it, but instead it was just slightly off, which was somehow more jarring. Is Uncanny Valley a thing for writing styles?
I read through the first chapter, about 2%, but I was too distracted with the writing style (and the book seemed more political than scifi), so I gave up.
The Barn by Avi
Traditional or self-published: Traditional
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
Not a bad book, but it was either very dated or written as if it were supposed to be. Also, it was written for younger-than-YA audiences. Either way, it was the writing, not the story, that made me drop the book.
The story followed a very smart kid, back in the 1800s or so. His father had a stroke or some kind of fit, and so the kid was pulled out of school to stay with his family. Even though I reached the 15% point, the book was so short that I learned very little of the story.
Dominion by Doug Goodman
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
A post-apocalyptic book. Something happens and all animals on the planet get larger, meaner, and become flesh-eating. All animals now eat meat, from biggest to smallest, and so people are being killed off left and right.
It was an interesting idea, and one I hadn't read about before, but somehow the story was actually boring and the writing was seriously bland... I stopped at the 5% point.
Custodians of the Cosmos by Drayton Alan
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Hated (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
So much about this book annoyed me. It was supposed to be funny, but the jokes actually made me angry instead, because they were (to me) stupid instead of funny. For example: The Klingon knockoff aliens liked to die in battle, because it's the most honorable thing they could do, while the [some other alien race] liked to dye in battle, because if they wore the same color shirts as their enemies, they'd blend in and be less likely to be killed.
A complete miss for me. Stopped at 4% point, but I should have abandoned it sooner.
Partial book credits:
Point reached in these books: 2% + 15% + 5% + 4% = 26%
Previous abandoned book total: 1,366%
New total: 1,392% (13 books, almost 14!)
in a one open-source Kindle~ ♫
The Three-Body Problem by
Cixin Liu (Author), Ken Liu (Translator)
Traditional or self-published: Traditional
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
Translated from Chinese, the writing was off-putting to me. Not bad, just not right. Not radically different than expected, I think if it were I would have had an easier time reading it, but instead it was just slightly off, which was somehow more jarring. Is Uncanny Valley a thing for writing styles?
I read through the first chapter, about 2%, but I was too distracted with the writing style (and the book seemed more political than scifi), so I gave up.
The Barn by Avi
Traditional or self-published: Traditional
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
Not a bad book, but it was either very dated or written as if it were supposed to be. Also, it was written for younger-than-YA audiences. Either way, it was the writing, not the story, that made me drop the book.
The story followed a very smart kid, back in the 1800s or so. His father had a stroke or some kind of fit, and so the kid was pulled out of school to stay with his family. Even though I reached the 15% point, the book was so short that I learned very little of the story.
Dominion by Doug Goodman
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Disliked (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
A post-apocalyptic book. Something happens and all animals on the planet get larger, meaner, and become flesh-eating. All animals now eat meat, from biggest to smallest, and so people are being killed off left and right.
It was an interesting idea, and one I hadn't read about before, but somehow the story was actually boring and the writing was seriously bland... I stopped at the 5% point.
Custodians of the Cosmos by Drayton Alan
Traditional or self-published: Self-published
Rating: Hated (Hated-Disliked-Okay-Liked-Loved)
So much about this book annoyed me. It was supposed to be funny, but the jokes actually made me angry instead, because they were (to me) stupid instead of funny. For example: The Klingon knockoff aliens liked to die in battle, because it's the most honorable thing they could do, while the [some other alien race] liked to dye in battle, because if they wore the same color shirts as their enemies, they'd blend in and be less likely to be killed.
A complete miss for me. Stopped at 4% point, but I should have abandoned it sooner.
Partial book credits:
Point reached in these books: 2% + 15% + 5% + 4% = 26%
Previous abandoned book total: 1,366%
New total: 1,392% (13 books, almost 14!)