The Sword and Laser discussion

How's the pacing going for everyone so far? I'm finding it a little tedious, but then I'm only on page 35. Perhaps I've been reading too many fast-paced vampire books lately? :)

The Windup Girl
Paolo Bacigalupi

So slow that I haven't bought it yet...shame on me!

Yannis wrote: "So slow that I haven't bought it yet...shame on me!"

Hehe... here's the link ;)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASI...

I would love to read this but I am finding it hard to get it in the UK. Its not on kindle either which doesn't help me :(

It is a little slow. I am right there with you on about page 40. I just met The Windup Girl and am hoping that it really takes off from here. The writing style is very vivid. The world seems to jump off the page for me. Really enjoying it so far.

I found a link at http://io9.com/5457404/februrarys-io9... that had an email address to Night Shade Books. If you send them an email and ask nicely, they will send you a free ePub or PDF version of the book. Free! Free! Free!
I checked the web site and it seems to be legit.

I am finding it hard to get past the weak science at the beginning of the book. I don't mind suspending disbelief, but they are tossing the laws of thermodynamics out the window. Still only a few chapters in. Hoping the plot kicks in soon.

Just finished it today - the first hundred pages or so were fairly hard going, but the plot does kick in and it gets better. I don't know whether it would have been easier had I read any of Paolo's short stories based in this universe first - he does seem to drop you straight in with little prior context.

Which one is Tom?

Tamahome wrote: "Which one is Tom?"

I don't think Tom has signed up yet.. how embarrassing.

I found him. He has a mysterious skull cap on.

I just ordered my copy of TWG today. I can't wait to get started on it.

I am 5 chapters in and also feel it is slow. I think the writing is good, but I'm not quite sure what the plot is. Lots of loosely related characters introduced, but no grand quest to go on, mystery to solve, enemy to conquer, as of yet...Still plugging along, because I think it will be worth it in the end, but it's tough!

I went with the Audible.com option, and I'm really glad I did. So many names and titles I don't have to stumble through myself, and I can step back and enjoy the story telling a bit more. I definitely can see where it bogs down a bit, and were I reading it, I might have struggled against putting it down, but Audible is totally the way to go here.

I posted this in Ning, so I can repost it here.... the end of chapter 3 fueled me forward, and then around page 100 too. The common elements - the windup girl herself! It gets better after that point, in my mind.

It does feel like it's dragging a bit. It's good to hear that it picks up later. I was beginning to wonder if there was a windup girl in the novel. :)

I think Luke said the plot picks up around half way. Goodreads should have a little graph on how exciting each chapter is. :)

I think I'm right at page 30 and yes, it is a little slow. I hope it picks up soon.

I'm finding it engrossing because of the kind of lurid noir style it has going, but my reading has been slow for a technical reason. The free epub version doesn't play well with Stanza (pages are blank), so I've been trying to read the pdf version on my iPhone which is non-ideal for the eyes. I'll probably end up buying the print version.

Jlawrence, where did you get the epub version?

I'm listening on audible and so far I'm fairly confused. I get the story line but the springs and algae is confusing. I don't really understand the world. Maybe a good dictionary would help...or a spark notes.

I think it is also hard to read because of the tense, as if every described moment is happening just at that moment.

Rather like:
Jenny describes how the book feels, and reads the next page.

Vance, how to get it is mentioned at the end of this S&L blog post -- I *think* it's still available by that method.

Great, thanks!

Yannis wrote: "So slow that I haven't bought it yet...shame on me!"

You can get it at Baen Books http://www.webscription.net/chapters/...

Just starting the book. Tried this club thing a while back and didn't liked it much. Trying again.

So, what you do is first read the book and then discuss, right?

I will be listening from Audible this is my first book with the club. Hopefully this will help with the slow start.

Fahad wrote: "Just starting the book. Tried this club thing a while back and didn't liked it much. Trying again.

So, what you do is first read the book and then discuss, right?"

Yes. We're a bit different in that we have a podcast where we discuss the books as well. All the info is at swordandlaser.com!

I can verify that the io9 link works (I emailed them and I got a quick reply (within an hours) of an epub version and and pdf version of the book as an attachement. I am 24% into the book (reading on Stanza on my iPod Touch) and found it to pick up very quickly. I am looking forward to how the different character story-lines will eventually weave together.

As far as it being slow...I agree, the first 100 pages or so were very, very slow for me. I had a bit of an issue with figuring out who was who and what all of the various words and concepts were. But by page 100 all of that clicked and BAM! We're all good.

I had a bit of a hard time a first, but definitely stick with it. It really starts to come together and is worth the time.

I'm reading the ePub version that I bought at webscriptions.net using a firefox extension. No problems, technically speaking. I've read the first six chapters so far, and am interested. The slow going may be due to the fact that you have little to no backstory in the book. I like figuring things out as I go along, so it hasn't been dragging for me at all.

I've just finished the first 3 chapters of the Windup Girl and while it is a bit slow so far I do appreciate the fact that the author is trying to create meaningful characters in an interesting world. We have to feel something for the characters in the book before things start to happen to them. I hope this is the author's intent.

I just finished TWG and it never got beyond 'slow as molasses' for me. And the implausibility of a world where it's easier to genetically alter elephants to wind springs instead of building, oh I don't know, a WINDMILL didn't help.

The pro was Bacigalupi came up with fantastically visceral descriptions of the characters and their actions. The con was he then continued to use those descriptions like a club, whacking you repeatedly over the head with them. I kinda wanted to shout "We get it how the wind up girl walks, now please advance the plot!"

90% of the book felt like descriptions of people hiding their feelings, suppressing their anger, trying not to let fear/joy/weariness show on their face, so when something non-character related happened it telegraphed the ending as clear as crystal. It was disappointing to reach the last chapter and find it was exactly as I had imagined it. No surprises. No excitement. A bit like realizing who the killer was in a murder mystery by chapter 3.

I understand this book was more of a metaphor for global trade, disease, and the un-naturalness of modern life with the sci-fi element,and perhaps even the plot, thrown in as a container for all of those ideas but it didn't work for me. So sorry. Book got annoying. So sorry.

test returns