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Kevin

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Probably the best 40k series

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-20-24

Silly pulp trash, but that's what 40k is for! This is not high brow, but it's fun and dumb. But Eisenhorn is the best of it. Looks at 40k from the perspective of an inquisitor, in a kind of "detective noir in 40k" mashup that works surprisingly well.

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Disposable but fun

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
3 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 11-23-23

It's fun to listen to stories about wokists getting what they deserve, and mister Pardoe seems to have a good grasp of the tired mental gymnastics that they play. Believability ridiculous phrases and justifications seem almost prescient.

But it's a popcorn story. Fun, but no deeper than the last Marvel movie.

I will fault the author for knowing very little about firearms. Also the reader for his terrible New Hampshire accent. As a bona-fide Free Stater, I was a little offended by it. We are the most intelligent state in the nation and he made us sound like bumbling hillbillies.

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One of PKDs least celebrated creations, still good

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 10-22-23

PKD is the master of creating detailed, intriguing sci fi dystopias, setting up some action, and then ending the story just as it gets good. Much like High Castle and Scanner Darkly, Simulacra feels unfinished. Like PKD got bored. If you want a satisfying story, look elsewhere.
But if you're okay with a story with no ending, Simulacra has brilliant ideas, great characters, and creates an interesting universe that leaves the reader wanting more. But there is no more. Sorry.

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Not as good as book 1, but better than 2

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 07-27-23

Book one was great because it was believable. But as the series goes, there are freak events like earthquakes in places not known for them, etc, which become important to the plot. It's not a bad book but lacks the punch of the first one, which feels like it could really happen.

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Amazingly well organized for the amount of topics

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-06-23

Didn't know Alex could write. He always came off as scatterbrained to me, but not in this book! Thorough, on-topic, and well-sourced, it's pretty convincing.

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Not as believable as the original, but still good

Overall
4 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
4 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 02-15-23

The great thing about the first novel was that it felt like it could happen. This one reads more like an action movie script. It's fun, but needs a bit of salt.

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Overrated

Overall
2 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 12-22-22

I've heard that this is widely considered the greatest novel of all time, and having read it, I think that's pseudointellectual midwit parroting of some professor who heard it from their professor who heard it from their professor...
I've asked people what's so great about it and haven't heard a convincing argument.
Here's my take: it's a bunch of poor Russians whining about their situation in life, gossiping in extremely unrealistic run-on monologues, unneccessary conversations, forced filler, overly emotional weak characters, and on top of all that, it isn't even particularly well written (though of course this is translated, so perhaps it's better in Russian).

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Exciting questions, no answers

Overall
2 out of 5 stars
Performance
3 out of 5 stars
Story
2 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-24-22

Spoiler Alert, but you should probably know before you begin that if you're expecting to understand all the mysteries that they tease you with constantly, you will be left wanting.

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Horrible boring long unscientific trash

Overall
1 out of 5 stars
Performance
4 out of 5 stars
Story
1 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 10-06-21

Nothing happens. I wanted a story about colonizing Mars. That's what the first book was about! Since then nothing happens! Skip books 2 and 3. Not worth your time. Also, I took physics at university for my engineering degree. I'm not some particle physicist, but a know enough to say with certainty that most of the science, perhaps except the geology, is wrong.
And the author uses it as a vessel for her backward affection for communism and irrational hatred of patriarchy. Just kinda crams it in there, making all the characters who agree with her intelligent, and all the characters who might be able to explain why political systems turned out as they did, dunces.
Weird feminist self validation fantasy. The only reason I finished it is because I'm OCD about all the books in my library being marked "finished" before i move on.
Oh and if you are reading because you're interested in Mars Sci Fi, be warned that a large portion of this book is like a bad romance novel on earth. Greece and France. With no sci fi elements at all. Taking walks in the olive terraces and Vineyards.

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The reality of communism...

Overall
5 out of 5 stars
Performance
5 out of 5 stars
Story
5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed: 04-03-21

... presented in the form of a children's story, albeit no less crushing when the characters go through the nightmarish dystopia that is communism. Nightmarish, except to the pigs anyway, but some animals are more equal than others, or so I've read on the barn wall.

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