Note to all you writer-types and would-be writer-types out there: if you’re going to make your public wait 20 years or so for a sequel, don’t phone it in.

Not that I, for one, was particularly itching for a sequel to The Eight, which I quite enjoyed when it came out but found complete and satisfying in itself.

All The Fire does is call attention to the flaws that were there but forgiven in The Eight.

And really, really, really—having a character who consciously speaks in cliches for any reason is no excuse to use all those cliches.

George Orwell is retching in his grave.