Markus Hell ( of Intergalaktisches Seemannsgarn)

Markus Hell rated a book liked it Soldados de Salamina by Javier Cercas	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Good, even great in parts, but the middle drags it down. I enjoyed the overall story as well as the style - the first-person narration and exploration of the past through investigation, the mix of the factual and the fictional, flowed easily and remi ...more
Oct 14, 2026 12:06PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Soldados de Salamina by Javier Cercas. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Soldados de Salamina by Javier Cercas <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Markus Hell rated a book it was amazing La Horde du Contrevent by Alain Damasio	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
What a novel! Difficult, often confusing, but one of the most linguistically inventive and engrossing epic fantasy/sci-fi novels I've read in quite a while. From the very first page, it throws you right into an unfamiliar world dominated by the winds, ...more
Sep 19, 2026 03:16AM · like · see review
Markus Hell and 1 other person liked Ariadna's review of Cien años de soledad: "¡Qué fantasía de libro! Se merece toda la fama que tiene y más. Es imposible terminar este libro y no desear con todas tus fuerzas que Macondo y todos los personajes existieran. La soledad es sin duda una constante a lo largo del libro. Sin embargo, " Read more of this review »
Sep 15, 2026 12:49AM · see review
Markus Hell and 1 other person liked Mike's review of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer: This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Sep 07, 2026 02:39AM · see review
Markus Hell and 1 other person liked Jimmy’s status update Jimmy is currently reading Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Aug 30, 2026 10:21AM
Markus Hell rated a book it was ok Zwischen neun und neun by Leo Perutz	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
More of a farce than the fantastical/psychological novel I was expecting. Honestly an easy and enjoyable read but I wasn't really sure what to take away from it? The first half presents various vignettes showcasing Stanislaus Demba's increasingly biz ...more
Aug 13, 2026 01:14PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Zwischen neun und neun by Leo Perutz. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Zwischen neun und neun by Leo Perutz <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Markus Hell rated a book liked it Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is one of those books that would be great if only it had gone through some rigorous editing. The opening chapters are genuinely fun and engaging, the introduction of Queequeg a delight, and Ishmael's search for a whaling vessel to join full of ex ...more
Aug 06, 2026 08:52AM · like · see review
Markus Hell rated a book really liked it The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #2) by Dan Simmons	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A grand, ambitious, impressive and imaginative sci-fi novel full of fascinating ideas, but ultimately not quite as good as Hyperion, the first novel in the series. Hyperion ends on a cliffhanger, and the sequel starts annoying the reader from the begi ...more
Jul 07, 2026 01:35PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Markus Hell rated a book it was amazing Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1) by Dan Simmons	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Really liked this novel, science fiction at its best for me - a sprawling, well-realised world full of dense history, politics, religion and culture, an intriguing plot and a host of characters that shed light on different aspects of the fascinating ...more
Jun 16, 2026 07:35AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Hyperion by Dan Simmons. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Hyperion by Dan Simmons <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Markus Hell rated a book really liked it The Midnight Library (The Midnight World, #1) by Matt Haig (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I actually liked this more than I expected. I'm very wary of self-help books masquerading as novels and fairly superficial insights being presented as some deep truth (see especially: The Alchemist, which I hated), and sure this book definitely is a ...more
May 26, 2026 09:34AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Midnight Library by Matt Haig <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

Markus Hell rated a book liked it

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Good, even great in parts, but the middle drags it down. I enjoyed the overall story as well as the style - the first-person narration and exploration of the past through investigation, the mix of the factual and the fictional, flowed easily and remi ...more

Markus Hell rated a book it was amazing

La Horde du Contrevent
by Alain Damasio

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What a novel! Difficult, often confusing, but one of the most linguistically inventive and engrossing epic fantasy/sci-fi novels I've read in quite a while.

From the very first page, it throws you right into an unfamiliar world dominated by the winds, What a novel! Difficult, often confusing, but one of the most linguistically inventive and engrossing epic fantasy/sci-fi novels I've read in quite a while.

From the very first page, it throws you right into an unfamiliar world dominated by the winds, it doesn't explain anything to you, but from the start it's a gripping adventure of the Horde in their quest to reach the source of the winds. The first chapter is an action-filled explosion, and it takes a while to get used to the amount of invented words, rapidly changing POVs, symbols to mark who's speaking instead of just the name, but it's thrilling immediately.

The pace stays high throughout. Each chapter is nearly a self-contained novella, sometimes with significant time jumps between chapters. This does mean some important events happen off-page, including major deaths and some hyped up obstacles, but it also means the novel constantly retains its immediacy and you feel like you're right there in the moment with the Horde.

The characters are well drawn, everyone having their defined role, and it really feels like a group of people knowing they can trust each other, knowing they need every one of them. Admittedly, this makes the later parts a bit less credible when missing key figures from earlier in the quest. Some characters are unsympathetic, foremost the sexist arsehole Golgoth, but as a reader you still feel a grudging respect for his leadership and tenacity. Some comments have pointed out some misogyny, and I get that as some of the female roles are definitely underwritten (especially Coriolis and the frequent references to how hot she is), but ultimately I still appreciated the portrayal of all major characters, with Caracole, Sov and Oroshi as standouts.

The ending is... A bit anticlimactic. I'm not even talking about the final few pages which, while predictable, fit well with the story and the themes, but more the final chapter, which spends too much time on dialogue-heavy exposition dump that could easily have been explained earlier in the book. Many questions remain unanswered. Ultimately though it fits, the whole point is that it's less about the destination than the journey.

I haven't talked about the language yet but it's a tour de force and a joy. Puns, neologisms and the very concept of storytelling are central to the novel, culminating in the troubadour duel around the middle of the novel. I'm not a native French speaker and probably missed at least half of the puns, but even so it's an impressive and unforgettable writing style.

Ultimately, one of the most memorable novels I've read in a long time, a gorgeous adventure and also a metaphor for human life in my interpretation. The relatively weak ending is a bit of a letdown but it took a grand, engrossing adventure to get there, and I enjoyed every part of it. ...more

Markus Hell and 1 other person liked Ariadna's review of Cien años de soledad:

Cien años de soledad by Gabriel García Márquez

"¡Qué fantasía de libro! Se merece toda la fama que tiene y más. Es imposible terminar este libro y no desear con todas tus fuerzas que Macondo y todos los personajes existieran.

La soledad es sin duda una constante a lo largo del libro. Sin embargo, " Read more of this review »

Markus Hell and 1 other person liked Mike's review of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Markus Hell and 1 other person liked Jimmy’s status update

Jimmy is currently reading Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Markus Hell rated a book it was ok

Zwischen neun und neun
by Leo Perutz

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More of a farce than the fantastical/psychological novel I was expecting. Honestly an easy and enjoyable read but I wasn't really sure what to take away from it? The first half presents various vignettes showcasing Stanislaus Demba's increasingly biz ...more

Markus Hell rated a book liked it

Moby-Dick or, The Whale
by Herman Melville

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This is one of those books that would be great if only it had gone through some rigorous editing.

The opening chapters are genuinely fun and engaging, the introduction of Queequeg a delight, and Ishmael's search for a whaling vessel to join full of ex This is one of those books that would be great if only it had gone through some rigorous editing.

The opening chapters are genuinely fun and engaging, the introduction of Queequeg a delight, and Ishmael's search for a whaling vessel to join full of excitement and foreboding. Similarly, the ending chapters, once Moby Dick is finally sighted, are fantastic and a dramatic climax to the whole novel.

The problem are the long, long middle stretches starting around when the Pequod leaves port. From then on, very few chapters actually advance the plot; the majority are either detailed descriptions of whales and whaling, or philosophical musings relating to human and whale natures. Some of them are genuinely interesting! Others are very tedious, though (did I really need to know Ishmael's thoughts on the concept of whiteness?), and after many of them in a row, I started to lose interest. Even some of the more plot-relevant chapters are so experimental linguistically, with uninterrupted dialogue, streams of consciousness or shifting points of view, that they require an effort to get through, and I'm sure didn't understand a lot of them. Ishmael nearly disappears as a character until the very end, functioning instead as an omniscient narrator.

Don't get me wrong, I do understand why it's a classic. The central adventure novel is thrilling and memorable, and the language is gorgeous and full of variation. It goes to great lengths to seem an accurate portrayal of whaling, and I especially liked that in the final chapters, Moby Dick is not a scary monster but simply a large whale wanting to survive; all the malice and deliberate planning ascribed to the whale comes from the humans' point of view. The whale itself behaves in a natural way, not supernatural; he tries to rest even while Ahab's boat is right behind him, and his attacks are on the boats bothering him not specifically the humans.

Ultimately, it's one of those classics that require effort to get through, and wading through lots of boring stretches; and for me, the excellent adventure and beautiful writing couldn't quite make up for the tedium of getting through the middle section. ...more

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The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #2)
by Dan Simmons

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A grand, ambitious, impressive and imaginative sci-fi novel full of fascinating ideas, but ultimately not quite as good as Hyperion, the first novel in the series.

Hyperion ends on a cliffhanger, and the sequel starts annoying the reader from the begi ...more

Markus Hell rated a book it was amazing

Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos, #1)
by Dan Simmons

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Really liked this novel, science fiction at its best for me - a sprawling, well-realised world full of dense history, politics, religion and culture, an intriguing plot and a host of characters that shed light on different aspects of the fascinating Really liked this novel, science fiction at its best for me - a sprawling, well-realised world full of dense history, politics, religion and culture, an intriguing plot and a host of characters that shed light on different aspects of the fascinating world. The novel throws you in the deep end from the start, full of references that mean nothing to the reader; but as you go on you find yourself discovering the world as a traveller or explorer would. I especially liked the thorough descriptions of Hyperion itself - a gorgeous, fascinating, and "real" place that we discover through the stories of the pilgrims.

With any book consisting of somewhat self-contained stories, some are bound to be better than others. My favourites were the priest's and the scholar's tales, while I wasn't a big fan of the soldier's and poet's tales. I was impressed, however, how well the seemingly disparate stories of widely different genres come together to build a consistent plot; starting from references to the same places or characters and building to major revelations that show the entire frame story in a new light.

Many sci-fi novels from the 80s suffer from presenting "futuristic" tech that seems horribly outdated now; Simmons largely manages to avoid that by not explaining too much about the various gadgets and therefore allowing the reader to form their own ideas. That said, it is impressive how modern much of the tech still seems; only the dataplane scenes are a bit too 80s/90s technobabble. Similarly, while there are suspiciously many cultural references to 20th century figures, the novel always tries to ensure that characters also refer to their own cultural reference points, and therefore comes across as fairly timeless rather than rooted in its publication date.

The ending is a cliffhanger, only setting up a sequel instead of a fulfilling conclusion. But even standalone, I find this novel one of the most fascinating sci-fi stories I've ever read. A true immersion in a plausible, richly realised future. ...more

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The Midnight Library (The Midnight World, #1)
by Matt Haig (Goodreads Author)

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I actually liked this more than I expected. I'm very wary of self-help books masquerading as novels and fairly superficial insights being presented as some deep truth (see especially: The Alchemist, which I hated), and sure this book definitely is a ...more

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	Intergalaktisches Seemannsgarn by Kerstin Schmidt, Gerald Friese, Kerstin McNichol really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2013 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Malen nach Zahlen: Prinzessinnen by Bai Soft, Markus Hell (Goodreads Author) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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