The first part of this book was to say at the least dry dull and utterly a boring mess. There was little in the way of good writing;good writing being that witch conveys emotional responses or made you love, hate, or feel for in anyway, for the character. If this was truly a book worth its weight then any or all of those would have been present. The Saurs were not described in away to make you go "I can believe that". All you really get for the best of description is on pg4-5 when talking about Salasso for the first time. This was worse then some of the works I have read of high school freshmen. I'm not even sure you could call this a work of literature. I would more likely read a trashy romance novel then a book by this man ever again.
So before i get my self in anymore trouble because I know if I yell more about this book someone will yell and bitch back to me. So I will leave this first blog at this my thoughts.
Madwonderland's Ravings
So before i get my self in anymore trouble because I know if I yell more about this book someone will yell and bitch back to me. So I will leave this first blog at this my thoughts.
Madwonderland's Ravings
14 comments:
I almost have to totally agree with you. It amazes me on how long it took me to even get intrested in reading this book, and even now I am not looking forward to continue reading. I really wish he could explain more in certains areas (Saurs would have been nice) amd less in alot more places. We really don't even have much of a grab on the main chacters yet either.
I agree with you, mostly. I am not sure I think that good writing has to necessarily convey feelings, this is sci-fi, and if you notice, in the way he describes Jadey at times, it seems almost too one-dimensional, his attempt at making Elizabeth "girly" at the Clothing Store were at times laughable but not horrible, you can't really expect much emotional development from a guy who talks about code/programming in the majority of the "action" scenes.
Other than that though, I do agree with the mess part, he needs to clean his writing so it flows better.
agreed here, so far, the beginning is a muddy mess. but it does seem to be making more sense. hopefully at some point he will give us a clue as to what a "saur" actually is, not just some mysterious lizard man
if it does not convey feeling this why would you read it is not a textbook or any other kind or book that is meant to be for learning on a topic or person. also more to the point the man has to talk about programing just so he can keep what little readers he seem to be shotting for with his writings, programmers and ones with poor taste at that. so yes if you do not convey feeling then no one that is worth talking to will read this book. yes i'm being very critical but if your not that way then you will end up read stories like the Russian epics that were condemned by its people for being horrid. so yes i think feeling are a very important part of any book even if its just joy from reading it!
While I agree with your interpretation on the characters, I think the rest of your reaction is a bit rash. While it may not be your taste, which is understandable, you cannot expect to have every story neatly wrapped and handed to you in an easy to digest manner. Look, for instance, at Tolkien, or Herbert. Widely accepted as some of the greatest authors of fantasy and science fiction. They read like the Encyclopedia Britannia. But sometimes, the stories are worth the effort even if the writing is sub-par.
A repeated point, through these comments and the blogs themselves, is that Ken MacLeod didn't do a good job of describing the saurs. I actually respect the fact that he didn't go into depth over the saur's description - this allows your IMAGINATION to take over and create whatever image you choose, and it also allows for the saurs to be subtle aliens, not big-important-focal-in-yo-face aliens.
And the mess in the beginning...well, it was written the way it had to be written.
Dan only parts of there works read like that and this book does not even come close to reading like anything that they became famous in writing for. also if you choose to read the books they wrote that are like that you can go in to them think at that it will be like that. and I don't expect them to be gift wrapped for me i do expect them to be at least worth my time in reading them. this was not even a enjoyable read even with its difficulty that Tolkien or Herbert gave when you read them.
Joymaggot yes stuff being left for your imagination is wonderful but he did not even leave you all the information to let your imagination take you for that joy ride.
While the writing skill may be questionable, the ability to tell a story is indefinitely there i find it an entertaining read. oh and by the by whether you like it or not is a moot point you have to read it!
yes i did have to read it but i was done with it before i wrote this and did i ever said was was not going to read it sakura_fire no all i said was that before i read any more books by this man i would read a trashy romance novel
Wow, I was wondering when we'd get someone that hated this book. I'm sorry, but I really can't take you seriously though, how can I believe it when someone says that someone else is a bad writer when their own spelling and grammar is totally messed up? I will say this though, there are better things to read than this.
I certainly agree with just about everything you have to say on the subject. More definition would have been nice, but I am seeing this as an underlying theme for all of us. I think the non defintion of the saurs was a neat way to do it seeing as how the author seemed to want the reader to draw their own conclusions as to what they really look like. I mean what is reading if you can't escape reality and use your imagination?
A lot of stuff is defined near the end, but if the whole book was spent defining stuff in the first place it would've been much longer. This is a sci-fi book, not a sci-fi dictionary.
All of the spelling were correct, and for your info my grammar was as well. well at least it was correct in terms of book use. also it was just that one word that was wrong.
and im pretty sure i know what im talking about. i am going for a creative writing degree.
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