Consume

Another deep dive from Schreier, audiobook version narrated by Ray Chase. I’ve played a lot of Blizzard games over the years. Starcraft and Warcraft 3 in high school, Diablo and World of Warcraft in spurts over the years. Lots of Hearthstone while I was smoking. The company’s history is fascinating, from the origin through recent years of turmoil, and Schreier pulls it all together in a digestible format. Like his previous two books, it’s not flattering to the industry as a whole, executives in particular.

Damn, what an unlikeable protagonist. But very relatable at times, especially if the reader has ever held literary aspirations. It's the right length, I wouldn't have wanted to spend any more time in June's head.

Second time I’ve read this, probably been about a decade or more. Just a spectacular exercise in worldbuilding. Quick read, but the time spent in Sitka feels just as fleshed out and lived-in or more so than real world locations. Great setting for a hardboiled detective story. Great cast of characters. Most delightful part: Chabon’s killer use of metaphor.

I watched the first few seasons of the show a few years ago, never touched the books. Really enjoyed the first one in audiobook format. Knew a lot of what to expect but the narrative and characterization had a depth the show didn’t deliver. Crazy to start another long, ten book series after finally finishing Malazan? Maybe… But if I listen to the audiobooks, I can just mosey through it in parallel with whatever other books I’m reading.

It’s finally over. I didn’t really post the individual books on here as I was making my way through them. Some I really enjoyed, a few were a slog, and they’re are long as hell so there’s a bunch of details I don’t remember. The ending was really satisfying, a long series of battles and the fulfillment of a master plan so the good guys win in the end. At the end of it, I’ll reiterate I loved the scale. Elder gods and down-and-dirty marines get the same screen time, can have the same influence on world-altering events. Can’t give a blanket recommendation for anyone to buckle down and read all ten books, but I’m glad I did.

I liked this just as much as Blood, Sweat, and Pixels. A little more focus on individuals and their paths through the industry vs. development of specific games. Schreier has some ideas about the future of the industry and overall it’s a fascinating peek into how people function as game devs.

I’ve known about this book for a few years and finally got around to reading it. Fascinating details about the development of some big games, most of which I’ve played. I listened to the audiobook and Ray Chase is a fantastic narrator.

I liked The Martian and I liked this quite a bit too. There are some sections that are really math and science heavy but it never lasts too long, and there’s some great character work to balance it out. I love Rocky.

This it the first audiobook I’ve listened to in a long time. I liked it! Great for driving, a little more substantial than the podcasts I’m usually listening to. I enjoyed the insights into the early years at ID and all the history between Carmack and Romero. I kind of wish I had been alive/older during the shareware scene, early days of gaming.

Sometime last year I read the first two Malazan books and fell off hard. A few months ago I found out my brother was reading the series, and decided to give it another go. Book 3 regained my interest and I’ve been going strong since. I really like the scale to the worldbuilding. You’ve got your regular soldiers, ascendants, gods, elder gods, gods from another universe, soletaken, etc.

I read this when I was younger, can’t remember why I decided to revisit it now. It starts and ends well enough, but the middle third is a real slog. I should have read something else to scratch the King itch.

A satisfying conclusion to Spensa’s story. Lots of great character moments. Sanderson has left a lot of room to explore more of this universe and some big unsolved mysteries (where did Earth go?).

Book three of the Fault Lines trilogy. I wish I liked it more, and maybe the fault lies with me and not the book, but it was kind of a slog to read. I enjoyed Last Call and Expiration Date infinitely more. This one just felt a little unfocused, and the finale feels more like a conclusion for the new characters introduced (that I didn’t care about as much) than the cast from the first two books.

The final Year of Sanderson book. It’s a good read with a lot of cosmere connections, more than any of the other three except maybe Tress. My third favorite out of the four.

Not his best. Too small in scope I think, with a cast of not interesting enough characters. 19th century England is a wildly different vibe from 1990s Los Angeles, and I think I prefer the latter.

Many years after originally reading Last Call, I’m reading the second two books in the Fault Lines trilogy. Expiration Date shares more DNA with his newer Vickery and Castine books than with Last Call. Despite not being a continuation of the same tale, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and after reading the first few chapters of #3 (Earthquake Weather) I’m excited to see how he brings the two worlds together for the finale.

I first started hearing about this in relation to the gaming, since the main characters are developers and there are a lot of gaming references. There’s a lot in here about playing games, and making games, but the heart is two rich, layered characters, Sadie Green and Sam Masur, and the story flows from them and their relationship. I really liked it.

I’ve read a few books by Dan Simmons now, this might be my least favorite. It’s still interesting, but it’s long long long and peppered with less interesting subplots.

This is my favorite of Sanderson’s three secret projects thus far. Great characters and setting.