D. Urquhart

Hard to stop listening!

Reviewed: 2020-07-12

While I read many reviews with the usual feedback about sequels, “it’s not as good as the first”, I do not agree. It seems to be popular to devalue a sequel and I’d like to actively push back here: this was a compelling story that I found myself listening to at every opportunity. I would advise reading Girl with All the Gifts first, for context, and to make the epilogue as neat and tidy as possible.
Strong recommendation for any fans of both zombies and hard science fiction (more biology and military here than space).

Short and as expected

Reviewed: 2020-04-08

As a die-hard Aliens fan, I had to listen and would recommend. To anyone not a fan, or looking for high-brow sci-fi I’d give a more qualified: It’s definitely an Alien story, with action and not too much depth, good for a quick listen; the formula works really well in action movies and reasonably well in this Audio dramatization. I think actually flushed out as a book, with more character depth and description, I could sink into this even more.

What I enjoyed the most was that some elements from this 1987 script clearly made appearances in Prometheus (origins of the Alien are hinted at).

Gets better and better

Reviewed: 2020-04-07

I admit that the first third of this book was decent, but maybe 4/5. However, as it progressed I found myself wanting to listen (audiobook) longer than longer. By the end, It felt complete and satisfying. It’s well done, and worth a read. 5/5.

Excellent overview of sport psychology

Reviewed: 2019-12-01

The content is mostly tailored to sport psychology, though has application outside of sport. In that context, this course provides a good balance of research findings, brief narrative examples, and practical recommendations for athletes or those who support them. Would recommend.

Some bright points

Reviewed: 2019-09-13

First, my reservations: My personal bias is in quantitative research and I do not share the author’s conclusion that faith (even in the open-ended sense described) is necessary for a good, while hearted life. As such, there were times I definitely balked at the content.
But all the bright points: I value the work that has gone in to this book. The author’s overall message, style of delivery, and leading by vulnerable example are refreshing. The outcome is that I am personally affected to want to live as more genuine version of myself; this has helped support those regular feelings of staying true to my own interests and idiosyncrasies in the face of ‘the norm’. It helped me embrace the many facets of my life as equally important to nurture and maintain in many small ways. So, in the end, this book has done what it was written to do. It is worth a read.

Enjoyable read

Reviewed: 2019-07-04

Love the characters, arcs, and flow. The audio read is amazing as always. 95% wonderful!

My only (minor) issue:the science of parallel universes is so far from anything I know that I feel no ability to comment, but.... it always seems excessively anthrocentric (eg. The points of divergence are significant relative to people, rather than any given other amount of matter on any other given scale from subatomic to galactic).

Timeless politics

Reviewed: 2019-06-17

As much or more of a political commentary than science fiction. Timeless, though. So many of the ‘classics’ from this era have cringeworthy passages, melodrama, and a writing style that takes serious getting used to. Not with Foundation, which has remained relevant, clever, and carries social messages that are decades ahead of its time. A good read for those who value intellect over ignorance, and nuance over force.

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Worthwhile

Reviewed: 2019-06-09

Worthwhile read. This book does indeed have good food for thought, and illustrates concepts clearly. I will adjust my approach.
The narrative style used may have been complemented with some of the current positive psychology research around mindset shift. For those of us trained in the sciences first, narrative alone is less convincing when not backed by actual research. But, overall, worth your time.

Conflicted on this one: enough redeeming qualities for me

Reviewed: 2019-05-17

This is seriously difficult to rate for so many reasons. The story contains elements that I really love, and others I wish had been left out. The humour was all over: about 1/3 of the humour attempts made me laugh out loud, 1/3 were neutral, and 1/3 made me felt like I was reading a book for toddlers. The violence was gratuitous, and I’m generally ok with that, but with the humour mismatch it’s hard to balance: toddlers definitely should not read this book. While I liked many of the characters, and enjoyed a protagonist who remains capable of deep-cutting insults under pressure, she did feel a little to stereotypical ‘weak link’; that being said, in the same hypothetical situations I can’t honestly imagine myself being more useful. I found myself actually caring whether characters lived or died, which is more than many ‘action’ novels can summon. Overall, I, almost stopped listening after the first half hour (toddler humour), but am still glad I finished this one.
The voice acting was generally good, but I seriously hope that our primary antagonist was never meant to sound like he was a constantly stoned hipster-millennial-surfer... however, now that I’ve made it through I can’t imagine what else he’d sound like.

Great hard sci-fi

Reviewed: 2019-04-16

The near-present science is amazing. As with all hard sci-fi, there is some trade off between character depth and science/plot, but totally worth the listen if you’re hoping to avoid ‘fantasy in space’/‘magic in space’ style soft sci-fi. Regardless the the trade off, the characters and plot were highly enjoyable and I found myself eating this book up.