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The Waking Engine

2014-04-15 00:00

Cover for The Waking Engine

Review:

I re­al­ly want­ed to read this book, but some­thing just did­n't click for me. I sus­pect I now un­der­stand how those who dis­like Chi­na Miéville feel.

Al­so, some­times the au­thor us­es words strange­ly. He spent a chap­ter writ­ing "cate­nary chain­s". Cate­nary means ei­ther "chain-­like" or some­thing in a spe­cif­ic curve. Since these chains are just ly­ing on the ground he's say­ing "chain-­like chain­s" over and over again, and it just both­ered me way more than it should.

The con­cept of the uni­verse where the book takes place is cool. The pace picks up a lot in the sec­ond half, al­though some char­ac­ters seem to just dis­ap­pear.

Off to Be the Wizard (Magic 2.0, #1)

2014-03-27 00:00

Cover for Off to Be the Wizard (Magic 2.0, #1)

Review:

It's geek ful­fill­ment fan­ta­sy. But like with ev­ery­thing there's good geek ful­fill­ment fan­ta­sy and bad. This one is rather good!

It does have some­thing I love: the at­ti­tude. So, we are all sub­rou­tines in a pro­gram? Ok, so let's have fun with that, no need to get all glum­my and down­beat!

Al­so, good se­quel set­up at the end.

One bad thing: it de­scribes C64 text as white on blue. WTF Scott Mey­er???? That's CYAN on blue!!!!! ;-)

Three Princes

2014-03-19 00:00

Cover for Three Princes

Review:

Can a book have too much world build­ing? It's not that it's ex­pos­i­to­ry or any­thing, but the ac­tu­al plot seemed some­what su­per­fi­cial com­pared to ob­vi­ous love and care ap­plied in the char­ac­ters and the de­scrip­tion of the al­ter­nate his­to­ry.

Liked it any­way, I'd love to read a se­quel that was a bit more plot-­driv­en.

Nikola Logo Contest!

2014-03-11 13:14

So you ha­ve de­sign ski­ll­s? Want to make a li­ttle mo­ney whi­le doing a good thin­g? Then join the con­tes­t! the­re is a 200 US do­llars gua­ran­teed pri­ze, and the con­test wi­ll be ju­dged by a group of Niko­la de­ve­lo­per­s.

So­me gui­dan­ce:

  • The na­­me Niko­­­la co­­­mes from Niko­­­la Tes­­la, so thi­nk co­n­­ce­p­­ts co­n­­ne­c­ted to that

    • The Wa­­r­­­den­­­cl­­­y­­­ffe to­­­wer

    • Tes­­­la Coils

    • Li­­­gh­­­tning

    • Ele­­c­­­tri­­­ci­­­ty

    • Ea­­r­­­ly 20­­­th cen­­­tu­­­ry

  • I ho­­­pe the lo­­­go wo­­­rks we­­ll in a va­­rie­­ty of fo­r­­ma­­ts so, keep it si­m­­ple. B/W is good.

  • A drawing wi­­thout the word Niko­­­la is good, but a good de­­sign wi­­th the word in it could be good al­­so.

The con­test las­ts a week, you ha­ve 4 da­ys for the qua­li­fying roun­d.

And re­mem­be­r: it has to be be­tter than the­se

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