I’ve jumpstarted this thing a good number of times already, but I have to face the fact that it’s more difficult for me than I thought it would be to actually write reviews in English, especially when I try to be finicky. So screw this, I’m going to go easy and do the Q&A thing ! I don’t care if it’s simplistic, as long as it does the job for the moment.
So, what’s this book you’ve finished lately ?
Rule 34 by Charles Stross.
Did you like it ?
Yes.
What’s it about ?
It’s what we’d call “Anticipation” in my language, meaning it’s near-future, or “social” science-fiction. So near as a matter of fact that it looks like just around the corner. It’s about solving a crime spree disguised as a series of domestic accidents in Edinburgh, viewed through a series of different points of views, main protagonists and a few peripheral players, which get all knit together to give a picture that is at first somewhat loose, then gets tighter and tighter until of course, the main protagonist’s paths end up crossing in spectacularly fucked-up ways.
What does rule 34 stand for ?
Use your googly-fu and behold the definition-hellbeast that came from the belly of 4chan. Funny story, I just saw a coverage on the French Pharos platform (not an acronym, that’s the French cyber-criminal platform for you), and I joked to myself that it could be worse, they could be working in the Rule 34 section, THEN the man on the screen proceeded to explain they also dealt with that type of crime. So they do work in that section. I shouldn’t have joked. Sorry, Pharos. *is slightly ashamed*
Any particular things you liked about Rule 34 ?
Many things, in fact. Like the great diversity in the characters. The near-future picture really stuck with me, especially the extrapolations regarding the use of 3d printing (the rise of personal manufacturing), and the emergence of a type of rudimentary AI that we are actually beginning to see for real. Stross also injects a heavy dose of international financial shenanigans, which seems to be his thing (but not in all his series, fortunately for me, since it’s not exactly my cup of tea). On the whole, I wouldn’t qualify Rule 34 as a “major” novel, the basic story is a somewhat predictable crime procedural, but it’s the overall picture that’s pretty awesome and lifts it above average. It also appears to be a follow-up to a first novel, Halting State, which I found out after the fact, but the novel stands on it’s own. I’ll probably read this one too, since I’m pretty much a Stross fan, especially his Laundry Files series. (Totally different thing, though).
So, how many stars ?
Heh, I’m torn. As I said, it’s good, but only just above average for me. A 3,5 ? Can I do that ? Apparently not, so I’ll go for a 3.
(This review is cross-posted on my fledgling blog, Minted-Menthe.)
I think your Q&A style works just fine for a review. Congrats on getting your 1st review done. And this looks like an interesting book. I’ll put it on my “if I come across it” list.
Thanks Emmalita ! Yeah, I figured, since I have no problem posting at length in comments, I just had to change my approach and it worked ok. The book is a good quick read, I can recommend it. :)
I like this format – great job!
Thanks :)
Just out of interest – what is your first language, since English isn’t? I always love finding out where other Cannonballers are from. Also, I don’t think you need to worry about your writing ability – great review. It’s fun when not all reviews on the site follow the same format.
I used to be worried about writing reviews in English, but as I read almost exclusively in English now, and suspect I have a vocabulary more diverse and sizeable than that of many native speakers of the language, I now suspect that I would have a much harder time writing reviews in my native Norwegian. One of the books in my backlog is a Norwegian fantasy novel, and I’m struggling with figuring out how I’m going to translate some of the more unique Norwegian terms in it.
Sorry for the late answer Malin. I’m French, and I speak both English and Japanese fluently. I actually work as a Japanese-French translator, but the bulk of my recreational reading (or film and series viewing) is in English. I’ve had troubles at a point, a few years ago, with finding my words again in French when I was speaking or writing. I would loose the most simple words, especially the ability to find synonyms easily, because only the English or Japanese equivalents would come up, or I’d see the image in my mind and I would draw a blank for the word in French, but I’m mostly over that now (I think). My personal theory is that by reading and listening so much to English, I’ve rewired parts of my default basic vocabulary brain-database to bypass French and go directly to that language, but there is no way I’m going to stop what I’m doing, so I’ve stopped worrying about it, stopped panicking when it happens in conversation and use an excellent word-checker for my work.
What I do for word equivalence in translation when I have no idea about the equivalent, is to use wikipedia to find the word in my language and then go to the article in the target language if there’s one (I know, wiki, but it’s quite useful in that respect, actually). That’s a bit tedious, but it usually jump-starts my brain on the right track. Hope it helps for your review :)