Perlkönig

The books I read, the music I listen to, and the games I play

“Against a Dark Background” by Iain M. Banks

  Well I’m afraid this is it for me and Iain M. Banks. It’s so frustrating! The first two thirds were the best I’ve read of him yet. I loved the characters, the humour was effective, and the action was awesome. He uses flashbacks very effectively to reveal at just the right moment a character’s [...]

“State of the Art” by Iain M. Banks

  Well this book is more of a novella. It’s grouped with a number of short stories, not of all of which take place in the Culture universe. They do sort of belong together, though. The main story “The State of the Art” is a recounting of the Culture’s encounter with Earth.While I wish Banks [...]

“A Scanner Darkly” by Philip K. Dick

I studied Philip K. Dick’s (PDK) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (the inspiration for the movie Blade Runner) in a college English class and just loved it. I went out and read a bunch of PKD’s short stories. I had heard the title A Scanner Darkly many times but didn’t know anything about it. [...]

“Use of Weapons” by Iain M. Banks

Well this was a huge step up from Player of Games. The characters in this book are very well defined and engaging, the action is visceral, and the whole story just keeps you reading. The structure is challenging and requires careful attention while reading and takes some reflection after reading. Many people just go right [...]

“Magician: Apprentice” by Raymond E. Feist

  This book was profoundly disappointing. I finished it simply because I had started it, and I will not be reading the second installment, Magician: Master. To be fair, this was Feist’s first foray into novel writing (or so he admits in his foreword to this new edition), but why it continues to be published [...]

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  • Who am I?

    My name is Aaron Dalton. See the "About Me" link for more information. The name Perlkönig is a combination of my favourite programming language (Perl) and the title of one of Franz Schubert's most famous lied (Erlkönig).

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