Book Review of "Mistborn #7 - The Lost Metal"

"It was entirely too easy to make things worse while trying to make them better."

“The Lost Metal” has everything that I love about the Mistborn series - amazing action set pieces, crisp dialogues, logical character evolutions, and a final showdown that neatly ties up all the loose ends with a thunderous, satisfying bang! Even though you can see the “twist” coming from miles away, the execution is beautiful and you can’t help but appreciate the simplicity and elegance of the story created. This book wraps up the “Mistborn Era 2” and as far as I can tell - it more than sets up the next Era. It's going to be fun! 

One caveat though - unlike the previous 6 books, this one isn’t completely “disconnected” from the rest of the “Cosmere” Universe. It was a bit off-putting that the reader is expected to accept - at face value - at least a couple of new magical systems - when in the past, the rules of the Metal-based magic system that is used throughout the Mistborn series - were very clearly laid out and explained. 

That being said, for someone like me, who hasn’t read anything apart from the Mistborn series from the “Cosmere” universe, this isn’t a deal-breaker. If anything, it motivates you to read the other Cosmere stuff as soon as you can. Maybe that was the Endgame Sanderson had in mind anyway. All in all, a perfect holiday read.

"But that’s what friends were about. Making you look a little silly when you were together so that you didn’t look really stupid when you were apart."

Book Review of "V for Vendetta"

Politically charged and heavily metaphorical - “V for Vendetta” is one of those “must-read” graphic novels. To me, the writing, character development, and the overall unraveling of the plot were top notch but I didn’t particularly enjoy the artwork - hence the 4 stars. 

This is also one of the few times where I had seen the movie adaptation before reading the source material. Even though I liked the movie and would rate it as above average, I can see now, why the writer, Alan Moore, preferred not to be associated with the movie publicly. The book is about juxtapositioning fascism and anarchy blaming society for inaction whereas the movie puts a definite hopeful spin at the end. Nevertheless, this is a thought-provoking read - especially if you like action and drama taking place with a socio-political backdrop.

Book Review of "Upgrade"

“No one teaches you how to handle the death of a dream.”

I was really looking forward to “Upgrade” - Blake Crouch’s latest novel. Having thoroughly enjoyed his last two books, I had high hopes. Now I wouldn’t call “Upgrade” disappointing - it is just plainly underwhelming. I look at Blake Crouch’s novels as “escapist SciFi” - superbly entertaining & thrilling and not necessarily anything more - which I am totally fine with. In “Upgrade” however, the story is way too outlandish and sometimes bordering on illogical that I couldn’t
just turn a blind eye anymore and focus on the “entertainment”. Giving it 3 stars because it is still definitely enjoyable - especially if you dive in with adjusted expectations.

Book Review of "Childhood's End"

“And besides, no one of intelligence ever resents the inevitable.”

Arthur C. Clarke was truly a masterful storyteller. Published in 1953, “The Childhood’s End” starts out with aliens arriving on Earth and creating a utopia for mankind - removing all social,  political,
and economic obstacles. So mankind should be happy now, right? Well, not quite.

The story has quite a few metaphorical themes. One can notice the deep influence of the early post-colonialism world and the cold war geopolitics. That being said, this book is definitely a “slow burn” and not necessarily for the impatient. The best part IMO was the execution of the final act - which surprisingly left me in a melancholy state. Be wary of the fact that this is published almost 7 decades ago and isn’t “politically correct” per today’s standards.

Overall, a definite recommendation for the Sci-Fi/philosophy nerd. 

Book Review of "The Ink Black Heart"

"He said nothing because he was enduring the always-humiliating experience of facing his own hypocrisy and delusion"

Clocking in at a little over 1000 pages, the “Ink Black Heart” - the 6th (and the latest) novel in the Cormoran Strike series is a meticulously crafted mystery with a plethora of intertwined characters that ends with a satisfying bang! As is the case with all Strike novels, the character development of both Strike and Robin is top-notch here. Even though I wish this book was better edited and could have been at least 100 pages shorter, I still felt a bit melancholy when it finally ended and was left wanting more of the “Strike and Robin” story. Overall, the second-best Strike novel so far for me (Troubled Blood gets the top spot IMO). The end felt a bit rushed and for the first time in the Strike series, not all loose ends pertaining to the case are tied up. In spite of that, a solid 4/5. 

Book Review of "The Undercover Economist"

When you read “The Undercover Economist”, the first thing you should know is that it was published in 2005 - before the 2008 financial meltdown, before the 12 years of unparalleled stock market growth seen from 2009 to 2021, before the 2020 pandemic and of course before the current market turmoil of 2022. So do not be alarmed by the unbridled optimism in the free market and the overall vibe of “this music will last forever”.

Once you are able to look past this, the Undercover Economist is actually an engaging and thought-provoking read. It explains various economic concepts like power of scarcity, externalities, comparative advantage, and price sensitivity in simplistic and sometimes elegant ways. Each chapter starts with an everyday question like why all restaurants in Times Square are highly likely to be bad, why Starbucks always optimizes for location, why WholeFoods appears more expensive than Safeway, and so on. The two chapters that were simply mind-boggling to me were the ones about US Health Care and about the economic growth of China.

That being said, the book does tend to meander in some parts and becomes somewhat repetitive in places. A major beef I have is the handwavy way they have talked about immigration and its positive and negative impact.

All in all, give it a go if you are ok to get your hands dirty a bit. Stay away if you looking for a Freakonomics kind of a read. 4 out of 5 from me.
 

Book Review of "To Be Taught, If Fortunate"

“When the world you know is out of reach, nothing is more welcome than a measurable reminder that it still exists.”

“To be taught, If fortunate” is a brilliantly woven love letter to science. Yes, the plot is threadbare and yes, the characters aren’t fleshed-out in the traditional sense. But in this case, it’s not supposed to! Becky Chambers has fused the metaphorical and the SciFi aspects with utmost precision. The discussions about philosophy, morality, and ethics of space exploration and scientific experimentation are center stage as opposed to the usual aliens and “adventures”. The prose is beautiful and the tone is heartfelt and hopeful. It explores some of the most creative and fascinating ideas about SciFi in biology, evolution, and space travel. 

If you are in the mood for a book that reads like sipping a smooth drink in a cozy room feeling philosophical, then this book right here; this is it!

“We have found nothing you can sell. We have found nothing you can put to practical use. We have found no worlds that could be easily or ethically settled, were that end desired. We have satisfied nothing but curiosity and gained nothing but knowledge.”

Book Review of "I, Robot"

First published in the early 1950s, “I, Robot” by the great Isaac Asimov is super-entertaining, thought-provoking & surprisingly prescient. It is a collection of SciFi stories and the movie from the early 2000s looks like was very loosely based on one or two of the stories from this book. 

Compared to the SciFi writings of the 90s and the 2000s, I have always found Asimov’s prose to be dry and somewhat unemotional. But what it lacks in sentimentality, it more than makes up for by having very unique, original, and interesting story premises and conflicts. “I, Robot” is not an exception. A definite 4/5. 

Book Review of "Mistborn #6 - Bands of Mourning"

“The Bands of Mourning” turned out to be a mixed bag of goods. On one hand, it follows the “Sanderson formula” to a T, a slow first act, a slightly better second act, and an insanely fast-paced, what-the-hell-is-happening-over-here third act! But on the other hand, the twists are slightly predictable and the character development isn’t super solid - with the exception of one character that I won’t spoil. What works and in my mind, makes this the best Mistborn Era-2 book so far is the perfectly executed ending. It ties up the story neatly and still ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger. Overall, if you have made it this far in the Mistborn Era-2, you won’t be disappointed. 4 out of 5.

"How could I have been so in control as a youth, yet often feel so helpless as an adult?” 

Book Review of "Mistborn #5 - Shadows of Self"

“Shadows of Self” - the fifth novel in the Mistborn series or the second novel in the “Mistborn Era 2” has everything that you would expect from a Brandon Sanderson novel - crisp storyline, well-executed action set-pieces, at least a couple of well-rounded characters and one or more unexpected twists. Compared to “The Alloy of Law”, this time the stakes are higher, the scope of the story is bigger and the antagonists are deadlier. All in all, entertaining & engaging, solid 4/5.

"That’s the thing about having an eternity, kid. It gets really easy to procrastinate."

Book Review of "Mistborn #4 - The Alloy of Law"

“The more alone you are, the more important it is to have someone you can rely upon.”

When was the last time you read a fantasy novel that was not set in the usual Victorian slash dark-age era - the time of the Kings and the Knights and the houses and such. Well, here you have it! 

“The Alloy of Law” is a skillfully crafted, fast-paced, and above all - insanely entertaining novel that takes place in a world that has recently discovered electricity, a world that is getting used to steam engine trains. And Brandon Sanderson has managed to blend the magical and the fantastical elements superbly with this new “advanced” Mistborn world. 

I had read the Mistborn trilogy a little over a year ago and frankly, I was a little hesitant to read the next novels. I mean come on, the original Mistborn trilogy is a great work of fantasy writing. Well, no more hesitation - "Alloy of Law" was thoroughly enjoyable and I am surely up for the rest of the ride!

“The fact that most people are decent does not make their decency any less valuable to society.”

Book Review of "The Guest List"

Ok, sorry, but no! This was a snoozefest. I consider myself a fan of the ‘whodunit’ genre and of course I don’t expect every ‘whodunit’ story to be the next “And Then There Were None” caliber, but “The Guest List” just didn’t work for me. 

The first 20-25% of the book was engaging, the setting was sufficiently creepy, the characters just the right amount of quirky, but my interest started to wane as the plot took forever to get going, the characters and the story slowly became too campy. And don’t even get me started on the coincidences! Even a cheesy, sugary 90s romcom has fewer coincidences than this story. 

Maybe it is me. Maybe I shouldn’t have gone in with high expectations based on the reviews and I shouldn’t have been expecting the next “Gone Girl”. There’s definitely some good stuff here (and for sure a ‘racy’ low-budget Hollywood movie in near future). But if you want to dive in, then do so with lowered expectations - you have been warned.

Book Review of "Flash Boys"

“Every systemic market injustice arose from some loophole in a regulation created to correct some prior injustice.”

Being a fan of Michale Lewis’s past work, mainly “The Big Short” and “Moneyball”, I had super high expectations from the “Flash Boys” - a book about anything and everything HFT (High Frequency Trading). Unfortunately, though, the book is simply put - just all over the place.

It starts out taking a technical look at the fascinating world of High Frequency Trading but then stops short from getting into the real meat of the details and prefers to just be handwavy about it. It then embarks into portraying backstories and motivations of some of its characters (which are, by the way, all real people from the world of HFT) but then suddenly changes gears to go back to talking about HFT. I think the book has a serious identity crisis - it wants to be technical about HFT but not really, it wants to paint interesting character portraits but then prefers not to do it to completion.

Despite all of this, it’s an engaging read. On one hand, the sheer technological feat of running HFT at scale is fascinating but on the other hand, the monumentally immoral way in which it is being used - leaves one speechless. The “Flash Boys” gives an excellent peek into the inner workings of a stock exchange and interesting details around the IEX vs NYSE vs Nasdaq spiel. A fair 3.5/5 from me. 

Book Review of "The Anthropocene Reviewed"

“I can recall feeling that intense longing for the you to whom you can never return.”

“The Anthropocene Reviewed” is a collection of non-fictional essays about absolutely anything and everything “human” - from the origin story of “teddy bear” to “Halley's Comet”, from “Diet Dr. Pepper” to “Cave Paintings”. In the typical John Green fashion, the prose is simple yet profound, heartfelt yet humorous and even though one wouldn’t call this a literary masterpiece in any shape or form, it is still deeply moving and unabashedly hopeful in the face of today’s bleak pandemic-ridden present. 

"The challenge of personhood, is to recognize personhood in others—to listen to others’ pain and take it seriously, even when you yourself cannot feel it."

I have always been somewhat guarded when it comes to John Green’s books. On one hand, I am a fanboy of his CrashCourse YouTube channel but on the other hand, I found his fiction novels a bit saccharine & unauthentic. To me, in “The Anthropocene Reviewed”, John Green has managed to walk the tightrope - being hopeful and sweet without being profusely dramatic. 

That being said, the book is not without its faults. A couple of essays ramble on unnecessarily. But overall, it's guaranteed to have a net positive effect on your emotional well-being and bring a smile to your face, a solid 4/5.

"
It’s so easy to take refuge in the “just” of just kidding. It’s just a joke. We’re just doing it for the memes. But the preposterous and absurd can still shape our understanding of ourselves and one another."