All Consuming : Hippopottoman

A review of "Rising Stars Volume 3: Fire And Ash (Rising Stars (Image Comics))" (rated 5 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:27:11 GMT

Rising Stars Volume 3: Fire And Ash (Rising Stars (Image Comics))

by J. Michael Straczynski

A high score based on the strength of the whole series. An interesting and uplifting story, not really providing tonnes of additional character insights, with one or two notable exceptions. The story proceeds quickly enough (maybe too quickly – a lot of time passes), with a number of tense and exciting moments.

Consumed "Rising Stars Volume 3: Fire And Ash (Rising Stars (Image Comics))"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 02:27:11 GMT

Rising Stars Volume 3: Fire And Ash (Rising Stars (Image Comics))

by J. Michael Straczynski

WORTH IT!

Consuming "Ravens"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 14:32:57 GMT

Ravens

by George Dawes Green

A review of "Arana Volume 2: In The Beginning Digest (Arana)" (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:05:50 GMT

Arana Volume 2: In The Beginning Digest (Arana)

by Fiona Avery

A continuation of the first volume, with not a whole lot of development, except a little bit of exposition about the Webcorps/Wasps backstory, and the relationship between the Hunter and the Mage.
I was happy to have seen a few of my “but, but, that just can’t continue on like this” points resolved (a little), but ultimately, I didn’t think there was much in this volume. The characters continue to leave me a little flat, so I think I’m going to leave the series for a while.

Consumed "Arana Volume 2: In The Beginning Digest (Arana)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 11:05:50 GMT

Arana Volume 2: In The Beginning Digest (Arana)

by Fiona Avery

WORTH IT!

A review of "Arana Vol. 1: Heart of the Spider" (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:59:31 GMT

Arana Vol. 1: Heart of the Spider

by Fiona Avery

A cute-ish beginning that introduces our heroine and a few of the major characters in her life. I like seeing Webcorps acgain, but am not entirely sure about Araña’s team, nor their interactions with one another. I think the problem is that the comic is written for teens, and as I close in on 40, the appeal of teen lit is fading. Or maybe it’s just teen comics.
The artwork is acceptable, although a tad exploitative. (Can you exploit a comics character?)
So, nothing earth-shattering, but there’s potential.

Consumed "Arana Vol. 1: Heart of the Spider"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:59:31 GMT

Arana Vol. 1: Heart of the Spider

by Fiona Avery

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Exit Music"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:52:30 GMT

Exit Music

by Ian Rankin

WORTH IT!

A review of "The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (Vintage)" (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:50:37 GMT

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (Vintage)

by Leonard Mlodinow

A decent introduction to probability and statistics with a few human interest stories about the mathematicians involved, just to add colour. The book is written in a pleasant, conversational style, and I really enjoyed the Shall We Dansu? reference. Oh, and a physically attractive book, with a really nice cover image and good texture.
Ultimately, I thought the book was trying to be too much for the space it had, and ended up being too little for any of the target audiences – not enough math for those interested in the science, and I’d suspect not enough human interest and/or business application for the rest of the readers. I’d’ve liked to have seen this book expanded, with greater depth in one direction or the other.

Consumed "The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (Vintage)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:50:37 GMT

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives (Vintage)

by Leonard Mlodinow

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Emma: Volume 4 (Emma)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:05:53 GMT

Emma: Volume 4 (Emma)

by Kaoru Mori

WORTH IT!

A review of "Emma: Volume 4 (Emma)" (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:05:53 GMT

Emma: Volume 4 (Emma)

by Kaoru Mori

This “review” isn’t really about volume 4 – I’m writing it after reading volumes 1-4 in a row, and my impressions have blurred together so much that I couldn’t distinguish one volume from the next if I wanted to.

A cute story. I’m not entirely sold on the character artwork (as usual for me, I have trouble distinguishing some of the characters, notably the minor ones – give me a panel with some of William’s sisters and a subset of their friends, and I’m completely lost), but the backgrounds and props are exquisitely done.
The maid + gentleman love story is not new, as has been noted, and feels a little fanciful to me, but still I root for Emma and William, even if I’m not as engaged as I was (for example) when yearning for Godai and Kyoko.

Kaoru clearly has a love of the subject matter and it comes through, but I was slightly thrown by what felt like an anachronism early on – William with a model airplane in 1895.

So, light and cute and entertaining, but nothing ground-breaking.

Consumed "Emma: Volume 3 (Emma)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:04:17 GMT

Emma: Volume 3 (Emma)

by Kaoru Mori

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Emma: Volume 2 (Emma)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:03:43 GMT

Emma: Volume 2 (Emma)

by Kaoru Mori

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Emma: Volume 1 (Emma)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:03:07 GMT

Emma: Volume 1 (Emma)

by Kaoru Mori

WORTH IT!

Consumed "Anathem"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:00:59 GMT

Anathem

by Neal Stephenson

WORTH IT!

A review of "Anathem" (rated 5 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:00:18 GMT

Anathem

by Neal Stephenson

The book isn’t perfect. A lot of people complain about the number of words that Stephenson coins, I can’t entirely disagree – they make the first few dozen pages rocky going. (Not The Name of the Rose difficult, but still a little work.) The thing that irked me most about the new words is that Stephenson makes a big deal about how he’ll call a root vegetable that has a role like a carrot a “carrot” even though it’s not really a carrot so as not to have to endlessly describe things, but…more The book isn’t perfect. A lot of people complain about the number of words that Stephenson coins, I can’t entirely disagree – they make the first few dozen pages rocky going. (Not The Name of the Rose difficult, but still a little work.) The thing that irked me most about the new words is that Stephenson makes a big deal about how he’ll call a root vegetable that has a role like a carrot a “carrot” even though it’s not really a carrot so as not to have to endlessly describe things, but then makes up a new word to mean “automobile”.
That being said, most of the new words made sense, and some of them are clever, blending two existing words so we get a new one with the sense of both.
In any event, the new words are quickly assimilated into our vocabulary and soon one begins not to notice them, so the reading gets easier.

And it’s good. Really good. Like I say, not perfect – the characters don’t quite come alive in the way that I’d like, but the world feels real, and the science feels like it’s working within a consistent framework. A few bits of the story drag a little, but the way that the world of Arbre is revealed to us, essentially peels back the layers of an onion from the inside, continually giving us a bigger and bigger picture to deal with. Stephenson’s clearly a bright guy who’s done his homework, and that really comes through in the work.

And ultimately, I enjoyed the story – mostly the pace was good, I liked the theoretical discussions and “calca”, and I loved the overall concept of the book. More deserving of the Hugo than The Graveyard Book, in my opinon. Highly recommended.

Consumed "The Book of Negroes (Canadian Edition)"

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:56:06 GMT

The Book of Negroes (Canadian Edition)

by Lawrence Hill

WORTH IT!

A review of "The Book of Negroes (Canadian Edition)" (rated 5 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:55:43 GMT

The Book of Negroes (Canadian Edition)

by Lawrence Hill

A really strong starter. I was immediately captivated by the voice the author used for Aminata, and the initial part of her journey is fascinating and packed with beauty, horrors, and intense emotion. The story remained interesting throughout and, assuming it’s an accurate representation of events, gave a good introduction to the various ways in which the slaves taken from Africa were treated and mistreated in the United States and Britain (Canada). Eventually, though, I became slightly less enamoured of the story – it was partly the fact that Aminata was a superwoman (although this is hardly an uncommon situation in books, and was perhaps the only way to present the story that Mr. Hill wanted to without resorting to following multiple main characters, which would’ve lessened the emotional impact – just for some reason I was really aware of her specialness) and I think partly due to the structure of the story. By presenting bits of the end first, then tracing us through her chronology, Aminata’s story became more and more constrained, funnelling down toward the end that we’d been led to expect. I found that this reduced the tension and anticipation somewhat, leading to a weaker finish than might’ve been. Still, a powerful book that tells a vital story. Recommended.

Hippopottoman

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:52:22 GMT

Exit Music

by Ian Rankin

Sad. Not a sad story, but sad that this is the end of the Rebus books.
The story was pretty good, but I mostly didn’t care about the whole Russian angle. We do get the usual coincidences and big web of connected people, which sometimes is fun, and sometimes grates. What makes this story, like many of the Rebuses, is the interactions of the characters we’ve come to love – watching Rebus, Siobhan, the other CID members, and even Cafferty deal with John’s impending retirement made for an excellent show.

A review of "The Composer Is Dead" (rated 3 stars)

nobody@allconsuming.net (Hippopottoman) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:49:06 GMT

The Composer Is Dead

by Lemony Snicket

Pretty good. I’m not entirely sold on the colour illustrations, but the black-and-white silhouettes are pretty good. The “story” is thin, aimed at giving a very brief overview of the instruments in an orchestra, but there are a few funny bits.

I saw the The Composer is Dead performed by the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony, read by Mr. Snicket, and even had Nathaniel Stookey sit next to me. The performance left the book by itself in the dust, and I’ll have to reread the book with the enclosed CD to see how that compares – I expect it’ll at least bump the rating up to 4 instead of 3