To start I must disclose that this blog entry contains spoilers for all five of George R.R. Martin's currently published A Song of Ice and Fire books. I am also obliged to preface it by the full and frank admission that I am a spoiler junkie. Anywhere I can hunt them down, I will. For those of you who do not know, a slip up by Amazon meant that a handful of copies of A Dance with Dragons (hereafter ADwD) were shipped a week or so early to customers in Germany. The internet being what it is, full and explicit spoilers were therefore readily available well before publication, and I drank them all up like a parched woman who has not had a taste of A Song of Ice and Fire for six long years. Now, I also know that George R.R. Martin detests spoilers and pleaded with those fans who got early copies not to spoil the book for the rest, and for the rest of us to wait until we had the book (or freshly fed Kindle in my case) in our own two hot, sweaty, little hands. Did this stop my hunting down spoilers? I confess not….
To start I must disclose that this blog entry contains spoilers for all five of George R.R. Martin’s currently published A Song of Ice and Fire books. I am also obliged to preface it by the full and frank admission that I am a spoiler junkie. Anywhere I can hunt them down, I will. For those of you who do not know, a slip up by Amazon meant that a handful of copies of A Dance with Dragons (hereafter ADwD) were shipped a week or so early to customers in Germany. The internet being what it is, full and explicit spoilers were therefore readily available well before publication, and I drank them all up like a parched woman who has not had a taste of A Song of Ice and Fire for six long years. Now, I also know that George R.R. Martin detests spoilers and pleaded with those fans who got early copies not to spoil the book for the rest, and for the rest of us to wait until we had the book (or freshly fed Kindle in my case) in our own two hot, sweaty, little hands. Did this stop my hunting down spoilers? I confess not….
Spirit Gate is the first in Kate Elliott's Crossroads trilogy. I have to admit I struggled to finish reading this one. To give the book its due, I read it just after George R R Martin's A Dance With Dragons and any book would have suffered in comparison. (That reminds me; I probably should do a review of ADwD, too) As the first book in a trilogy, I had expected a lot of introductory backstory. However, I felt this book suffered from too much setup not enough payoff. For the first 80%* the main protagonists seem to be wandering around aimlessly. The last 20% of the book where all the storylines converge was fun, exciting and could have been kicked off earlier in the book. All in all, though, I will likely read the next book in the trilogy to find out what happens to the characters. What I liked: The worldbuilding: The world created by Ms Elliott is extremely rich and detailed. We are introduced to multiple cultures with varied religions, customs and mores and they all feel unique, real and believable. Some interesting premises, the Guardians for example, are introduced, and I look forward to reading more about them in…
Spirit Gate is the first in Kate Elliott’s Crossroads trilogy. I have to admit I struggled to finish reading this one. To give the book its due, I read it just after George R R Martin’s A Dance With Dragons and any book would have suffered in comparison. (That reminds me; I probably should do a review of ADwD, too) As the first book in a trilogy, I had expected a lot of introductory backstory. However, I felt this book suffered from too much setup not enough payoff. For the first 80%* the main protagonists seem to be wandering around aimlessly. The last 20% of the book where all the storylines converge was fun, exciting and could have been kicked off earlier in the book. All in all, though, I will likely read the next book in the trilogy to find out what happens to the characters. What I liked: The worldbuilding: The world created by Ms Elliott is extremely rich and detailed. We are introduced to multiple cultures with varied religions, customs and mores and they all feel unique, real and believable. Some interesting premises, the Guardians for example, are introduced, and I look forward to reading more about them in…
During a recent girls’ night out with some friends, the topic of discussion turned to the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series. Not having watched it when it was first broadcast, I decided it might be worth a look. I downloaded the initial mini series from iTunes and was immediately hooked. I watched the entire miniseries over two evenings and straight away begged my friend to lend me the rest. As of now, I have watched seasons one and two and am about to start on season three. I read an article today in The Telegraph how watching television for long periods of time shortens your life expectancy. In all honesty I can say I’d be happy to give up a year or two of my life to watch such quality programming as Battlestar Galactica, HBO’s Game of Thrones and Lost. Anyway, I digress. Battlestar Galactica. Well-written, well-acted and well produced, it makes for compelling viewing. I’ve already lost sleep by staying up too late to watch it. What I liked: Thought-provoking premise: BSG is a sci-fi show. The show’s premise is that humanity is struggling to survive after a devastating attack by man made machines gone bad. However, the writers use this premise to…
During a recent girls’ night out with some friends, the topic of discussion turned to the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series. Not having watched it when it was first broadcast, I decided it might be worth a look. I downloaded the initial mini series from iTunes and was immediately hooked. I watched the entire miniseries over two evenings and straight away begged my friend to lend me the rest. As of now, I have watched seasons one and two and am about to start on season three. I read an article today in The Telegraph how watching television for long periods of time shortens your life expectancy. In all honesty I can say I’d be happy to give up a year or two of my life to watch such quality programming as Battlestar Galactica, HBO’s Game of Thrones and Lost. Anyway, I digress. Battlestar Galactica. Well-written, well-acted and well produced, it makes for compelling viewing. I’ve already lost sleep by staying up too late to watch it. What I liked: Thought-provoking premise: BSG is a sci-fi show. The show’s premise is that humanity is struggling to survive after a devastating attack by man made machines gone bad. However, the writers use this premise to…
So, this entry continues on my recent theme of Pottermore, JK Rowling’s latest website offering. Having worked many years on web projects myself, I’m rather bemused at how this project has been handled. Honestly, when the early entry beta was announced did the Pottermore team not realise that several hundred million Harry Potter fans would be screaming at the gates, clamouring for IMMEDIATE access? That means access now; not in October, not next week, now. Sometimes it seems as if the Pottermore team hasn’t quite realised that these beta testers are fans, not professional IT people. Fans don’t care about balancing server loads, ensuring a good cross section of users across all languages or across regions. They just want to access the new content from the brilliant mind of JK Rowling, to be chosen by a wand and to be Sorted into their Hogwarts House. The very low numbers (approximately 10,000 of the one million beta users) who have actually got to access the site since the beta started on the 31st of July appears to have left many people at worst angry and frustrated, at best apathetic about the new site. In a fan’s perfect world, access would have…
So, this entry continues on my recent theme of Pottermore, JK Rowling’s latest website offering. Having worked many years on web projects myself, I’m rather bemused at how this project has been handled. Honestly, when the early entry beta was announced did the Pottermore team not realise that several hundred million Harry Potter fans would be screaming at the gates, clamouring for IMMEDIATE access? That means access now; not in October, not next week, now. Sometimes it seems as if the Pottermore team hasn’t quite realised that these beta testers are fans, not professional IT people. Fans don’t care about balancing server loads, ensuring a good cross section of users across all languages or across regions. They just want to access the new content from the brilliant mind of JK Rowling, to be chosen by a wand and to be Sorted into their Hogwarts House. The very low numbers (approximately 10,000 of the one million beta users) who have actually got to access the site since the beta started on the 31st of July appears to have left many people at worst angry and frustrated, at best apathetic about the new site. In a fan’s perfect world, access would have…
So, today Amazon announced the Kindle web based cloud reader. Currently, it’s available for the Safari and Chrome browsers and the iPad. It is interesting to note that this is not yet available for the Microsoft browser Internet Explorer. This allows users to read and download their Kindle content directly from Amazon’s website without going through an app. Clearly, this is a hitback at Apple who last month forced Amazon to remove the link to the Kindle store from within the Kindle apps available on iOS and Mac. By developing their own web based app and bypassing the Apple Store apps, Amazon is effectively giving Apple notice that they will not be bullied. Personally, I say you go, Amazon! Now, I am a huge fan of both Apple and Amazon, but I really did not appreciate Apple’s tactics here, especially coming as it did after the e-book price fixing debacle several months ago. Apple and Amazon both have an intensely loyal customer base, and with good reason. I am very happy to see Amazon defending its territory in this manner. I am, and will remain, a loyal Amazon Kindle customer and look forward to see what innovations they come up…
So, today Amazon announced the Kindle web based cloud reader. Currently, it’s available for the Safari and Chrome browsers and the iPad. It is interesting to note that this is not yet available for the Microsoft browser Internet Explorer. This allows users to read and download their Kindle content directly from Amazon’s website without going through an app. Clearly, this is a hitback at Apple who last month forced Amazon to remove the link to the Kindle store from within the Kindle apps available on iOS and Mac. By developing their own web based app and bypassing the Apple Store apps, Amazon is effectively giving Apple notice that they will not be bullied. Personally, I say you go, Amazon! Now, I am a huge fan of both Apple and Amazon, but I really did not appreciate Apple’s tactics here, especially coming as it did after the e-book price fixing debacle several months ago. Apple and Amazon both have an intensely loyal customer base, and with good reason. I am very happy to see Amazon defending its territory in this manner. I am, and will remain, a loyal Amazon Kindle customer and look forward to see what innovations they come up…