Taylor Smith Smith itibaren Skrybicze, بولندا
The other sophomore American lit class in high school read this, so I read it on my own later on. I didn't really get hooked into the story. I don't remember much of it either.
... and I was enjoying it up until too swift of a turn into Romancelandia. The popularity of Naked in Death is completely understandable to me. The attraction here is the same as in the most of urban fantasy IMO. Mystery-solving, some world-building (in this case, futuristic instead of paranormal) - it all is only background noise. What you are actually anticipating is the heroine's hookup with some handsome hunk. (That's what I read urban fantasy for anyway.) And the hunk here is something special - (1) he is drowning in money; (2) super hot; (3) has morals; (4) buys the heroine stuff; (5) feeds her; (6) he adores everything about the heroine from the get-go; (7), (8), (9) and (10) HE SPEAKS WITH AN IRISH ACCENT. What's not to like, right? Unfortunately, Roarke never managed to work his magic on me. I thought he was controlling, patronizing, stalkerish even, always forcing Eve out of her comfort zone and himself on her (in that signature way - I am going to make you have the most intense orgasm you've ever had, no matter if you want it or not, because I know what you need better than you ). Plus, as I've noted above, the switch from mystery to romance was too early in the book. Quarter in, second meeting, and already "her small, firm breast weighed gloriously in his palm" and "he wanted to forget the patience and control he'd taught himself to live by, and just ravage." This bodice-ripperish language totally killed my mood. At that point, I already knew how it would unfold, with "throbbing," "wetness," "I want you but I can't" and so on. Sorry ladies, but romance is not quite my thing.
A wonderful metaphor for the inherent irony of war. This book traverses large swaths of time; we're talking millennium, without losing track of the humanity of the central characters. A reluctant hero fighting a nameless enemy for centuries, each time returning to a new world with new rules and laws, which leaves him out of place and no choice but to return back in time to fight the ongoing fight. Truly a beautiful book made more unbelievable by the complexity of the characters, which because of underlying believability one is able to travel a landscape far different from our own. Not many science fiction books can pull this off. It's a great read and a wonderful intro to a medium that is usually so inaccessible to readers that usually remain grounded in this reality.
Great book, if lengthy. Tolstoy's treatise on war probably would've been a lot more fascinating 200 years ago... Right now, it's all rather obvious. That's pretty much the only part I didn't love about this book.