reviews: megamind; agatha christie; man who was thursday; atomsk
Megamind: Fairly predictable, but much funnier and less sophomoric than I expected. Roxanne Ritchie totally rocks, and Minion is pretty much the awesomest minion ever--piranha in a robotic gorilla suit ftw!
Passenger to Frankfurt: Someone's trying to TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Some other people are trying to stop them. But it's not clear how anything actually fits together or who the main (let alone minor!) characters are or much of anything. There are some very good character sketches and individual scenes, but overall the plot doesn't hold together. Probably would have made a better short story.
They Came to Baghdad: Someone's trying to TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Some other people are trying to stop them. And this time we know exactly how everything fits together, who the main characters are, and why we want them to succeed (or fail, in one case). The protagonist is a cheerful and habitual liar, the minor characters (even the dead ones) sparkle with individuality, and when there's True Love at the end, we're rooting for it instead of left scratching our heads, wondering where it came from. An excellent summer vacation read.
The Man Who Was Thursday: In which policemen (sort of) chase anarchists (sort of) and everyone, including the reader, winds up confused, but not unpleasantly so. The subtitle to this is "a nightmare", and that's fairly accurate, though for the characters and the not reader. It's labeled as a 'metaphysical thriller'; I'm not sure what that means, but I can't think of anything else that would be accurate.
Atomsk: In which the Russians are trying to build nuclear weapons, the Americans are trying to stop them, and their best chance lies with a single spy. The main character reminds me a bit of Michael Weston, as I imagine he was out in the field and without the support of Sam & Fiona--only with a very different personality and upbringing. So ... pretty much the only similarity is extreme (and slightly crazy) competence. A well-paced page-turner that holds up well despite the passage of time.
Passenger to Frankfurt: Someone's trying to TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Some other people are trying to stop them. But it's not clear how anything actually fits together or who the main (let alone minor!) characters are or much of anything. There are some very good character sketches and individual scenes, but overall the plot doesn't hold together. Probably would have made a better short story.
They Came to Baghdad: Someone's trying to TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Some other people are trying to stop them. And this time we know exactly how everything fits together, who the main characters are, and why we want them to succeed (or fail, in one case). The protagonist is a cheerful and habitual liar, the minor characters (even the dead ones) sparkle with individuality, and when there's True Love at the end, we're rooting for it instead of left scratching our heads, wondering where it came from. An excellent summer vacation read.
The Man Who Was Thursday: In which policemen (sort of) chase anarchists (sort of) and everyone, including the reader, winds up confused, but not unpleasantly so. The subtitle to this is "a nightmare", and that's fairly accurate, though for the characters and the not reader. It's labeled as a 'metaphysical thriller'; I'm not sure what that means, but I can't think of anything else that would be accurate.
Atomsk: In which the Russians are trying to build nuclear weapons, the Americans are trying to stop them, and their best chance lies with a single spy. The main character reminds me a bit of Michael Weston, as I imagine he was out in the field and without the support of Sam & Fiona--only with a very different personality and upbringing. So ... pretty much the only similarity is extreme (and slightly crazy) competence. A well-paced page-turner that holds up well despite the passage of time.
Guess that means I need to re-read it few more times. :P