Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

I liked The Name of The Wind, the first book of the Kingkiller Chronicles for the same reasons I like The Wise Man's Fear. It picks up the story right at the point when the previous book ends.

The author is very good in storytelling; I really enjoyed the way the book was written. (I listened to the audiobook, the voice narration added a lot to the pleasure.) Generally I enjoy more the fast paced stories. In this book the author took his time to build up the plot, and to explain the whys in detail, so I cannot say that the story flows quickly. But it didn't bother me at all. Moreover, I enjoyed that everything what happened had a well-established reason and explanation.

There were more adventures in this book, and they were more interesting. The trouble Kvothe got into were more serious, and the mood of the story grew darker.

The characters were well drawn, alive and believable. It was satisfying that Kvothe was not an undefeatable hero, who always won. He had his talent and also his flaws.

There is a well explained magic system, which makes the whole thing believable.

Sometimes the story got a little bit lengthy, I wouldn't say it was boring, but I could imagine some cuts.

All in all, it was an excellent book; I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.

Live Free or Die (Troy Rising, #1) by John Ringo

I listened to the audiobook version.

The story takes an interesting approach to alien contact. An advanced race, the Glatun places a space gate close to Earth, which makes possible to travel huge distances. Doing so, they connect the Earth to the other species. But instead of a big hype, they simply give a "phone notification" to the presidents of the most important countries, and then they leave.

Another unusual turn is that another race, the Horvath oppresses the Earth, taking our valuable metals.

Usually, in other books what comes next is a heroic fight for the freedom of the planet, but not in this one. Vernon takes small steps, first trading with the Glatun to get finance for other projects, and then he buys space ships to mine asteroids. Finally he builds a super asteroid-fortress to defend the Earth from the Horvath. This makes the story more "real", more believable.

Another point, which distinguishes this story from the tiresome hollywood plots is that people die in the fight. Whole cities are destroyed.

The one thing I found disturbing is that the author gave too much scientific details. While it could be compelling to someone working in the research or science field, sometimes it was boring for me.

I think the title really fits the story, because the main character, Tyler Vernon rather dies than let the aliens occupy the Earth. Vernon is not a hero like Superman. He is an ordinary man, but still he has strong values.

I enjoyed this audio book, and recommend for listening.

Redshirts by John Scalzi is out

Old Man's War is my favourite book. If you can get the audiobook version, don't hesitate, it's awesome.

His new book, Redshirts is out. First I was disappointed that the kindle version will come out on 15 November. Who can wait so long? Not me. Fortunately I could buy the Audible version, and I'm looking forward to listen to it.

Review: The sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut

Being a sci-fi fan, I don't really know why I haven't read this book earlier. It's a classic one.

The Sirens of Titan is very well written, I enjoyed the unmistakable style of Vonnegut. His satiric voice is famous, and is a trade mark of his stories. His choice of words is very good.

Using important subjects, for example religion, the book mocks at the human nature, which sometimes can take strange curves.

The story is funny, and often surprising. Vonnegut don't spare the characters, he gives them hard time.

I suspect that there were more hidden messages behind the front story, which I couldn't really grab. By one hand because I'm not good in deciphering symbols, sometimes I have trouble finding the hidden message between the lines. And by the other hand because the book was written in 1959, in a completely different era, with different problems, different world and all.

Still, there is something strange about the Sirens of Titan I cannot put my finger on - is it intentional? - so I gave four stars.