Just like a toddler understands another toddler and a drunk understands another drunk, a crazy person understands another crazy person. The author obviously wasn’t too sane when he wrote it, so, if you think yourself as sane, don’t read it. But if you think you’re (more than a little) crazy, like sci-fi and like to laugh, you’ll love it.
It has no point, for the most part makes no sense and the things depicted in it are only likely to happen if you have the Improbability Drive on… But it’s great. As I said, unless you think of yourselves as being sane, it’s a great read.
Rating: 9/10
Looked at it because it promised vampires. Of course, my definition of vampire being Anne Rice‘s, it didn’t offer quite that, but then again I didn’t expect it to either.
“I Am Legend” is odd for horror. Normally horror has absolutely no point, leaves you with exactly nothing except maybe a little shaking and a few nightmares, which is why I don’t read it. This is different. It has a message, and the end is worth everything…
The ten short stories that follow it in the book are rather regular horror. No message, and sometimes not even scary… So I will have to say I’d give “I Am Legend” an 8, but “officially” I have to rate the whole book, so…
Rating: 6/10
I hate people who see survival as a goal in itself and death as a defeat and an end…
That is all…
Fantasy set in “reality” and written well. The world is completely new, but created so well it is believable from the very beginning.
I remember saying I hated one character from “Crystal Sage” because she kept being down-to-earth and wouldn’t accept that what was going on around her was really happening. Of course, the amount of unexplainable things and their scale were lower than in “Weaveworld“, but nevertheless I really liked the fact that every character in this book accepts the unexplained and gets involved, even down-to-earth, unbelieving Hobart, after pulling fire out of Shadwell’s coat.
And Shadwell… He’s an excellent character, seems to symbolize the entire humankind if you ask me, all the sweet talk and hidden intentions, all the greed and deceit, all the dreams and fears, all its searching, all its guilt and, ultimately, its own undoing. In spite of Cal and Suzanna being the main characters, I think Shadwell is the best built one.
But there were a few things that happened to save the main characters that would have been very unlikely even in that unlikely world. Things that made me think “aw, come on, next you’ll tell me the aliens appeared and beamed them out of harm’s way”.
Also, I didn’t like the lack of a relationship between Cal and Suzanna. What do you mean they share so much they’re much more than lovers, so they can’t be just that? What is more than love? I’d say sharing all that would make a relationship with anyone not involved impossible. At least Suzanna had Jerichau there for a while; she got the better deal.
And… I still didn’t quite understand exactly what was with The Scourge/Uriel. Little comfort in the fact that it didn’t either until the end.
Rating: 4/5
Women’s actions caused by their hormones: not accepting anyone around them, crying for any or no reason, rejecting any attempt of communication, sometimes even becoming violent, in “that time of the month” or at menopause, plus the more-or-less permanent activities like looking at everything in every shop and buying all sorts of crap.
Men’s actions caused by their hormones: wanting to have sex often and with many women, looking after women and making the necessary rankings, becoming violent sometimes, watching sex (if not live then at least in movies) and being very interested in various sports and risky activities.
The list is of course nowhere near complete. Anyway, the idea is that generally those actions are accepted for women, but not for men. What’s the difference?
We could have some… areas for calming down in public places, with punching bags and computers with violent games installed (contrary to opinions often voiced lately, violent games are calming… at least as long as there’s still something working right in your head). Problems with looking after women, watching porn (or “live” sex acts) and being interested in sports and risky activities are things that are about mentalities and mostly affect the couple and not the society in general, therefore being the easiest to solve theoretically, but the hardest practically. And about the sex part, it could be a long talk, but as a first solution I really can’t see why prostitution is not legalized and regulated in a way that would ensure the satisfaction of both parties involved…
I condemn for the most part, though not completely, the actions from both lists above. But I think that everyone should do what they want and we should find ways for these actions to not disturb the ones who don’t want them. And when I see similar things relatively accepted from one side and relatively not accepted from the other, I’m among the ones who plead for accepting all, not for forbidding all.
Hm… I was thinking for some 2 weeks now how to write about choosing death (suicide and euthanasia) and look what I found myself writing about after all…
