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The use of the term serial killer should probably be considered anachronistic. The author, however, seems to be more interested in playing around with the genre than historical authenticity.

In this book,too, he refers to marshals as Marshalls (capitalized).

So this guy videochats with Mars without any light speed delay. That is just lazy.

I can't get past the atrocious copy editing. There are constant occurrences of words stuck together. Also, in the last story I read, something was compared to "the yoke of an egg". Really. I think I will give up on this book for now.

Last time I read this was in translation.Since I got Doctor Sleep, I thought I would revisit this one before it.

Think Like a Dinosaur: the premise of "balancing the equation" is bullshit in my opinion, even more so than "The Cold Equations" where it can be justified as an oversimplified thought experiment. The writing is fine. The names of the "dinosaurs" are Finnish words such as Linna (castle) and Silloin (then), which is funny for a Finnish speaker.

Halfway through, this seems like a mindless action movie, fun as long as you don't think too much.

I was afraid this would be a bleak story with slow time Earth hurtling to destruction by solar evolution, but towards the end the big ideas finally emerge. I see parallels with David Brin's Existence here, but perhaps with even a larger concept. (Plus I found out there are sequels when I looked up the author's bibliography.)

The titular plot device: cosmic timescales compressed into human lifetime. Invites to think about life in context.

Beauty belongs to the flowers: I suppose a cautionary tale about robots replacing human lovers and augmented reality crowding out unfiltered experience, in a Japanese cultural background. A vector alphabet of interstellar travel: one of those list stories describing alien cultures without plot or characters.

A Clean Sweep with All the Trimmings: sort of prohibition era hardboiled story with gun-toting cyborg spacemen. I imagined it read in a Tom Waits voice. Fun but not the greatest.

The Dala Horse: told in a deceptively simple style, a little girl's journey to her grandmother and encounter with a troll in post-Singularity Sweden. Loved it.

Six Months, Three Days: about two people dating. One can see the future, the other many possible futures. I kept thinking about the narration in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" while reading. Basically it is a comedy about free will (or lack thereof).

Saw that this book is part of the new Story Bundle, but I already have a paperback. Have read it ages ago and forgotten pretty much everything. Time for a reread?

Not bad at all, but I don't yet see the point of the supernatural elements; they feel somehow disconnected from the main plot and frankly unnecessary, but perhaps there will be some kind of revelation at the end.

Got this from the author. Wondering whether the use of the word "aggregator" is a Finnishism (from "aggregaatti") or would Americans actually use this word for an engine generator?

When I loaned this I did not know this was the one that was made into a Tom Cruise movie I haven't seen and don't really plan on seeing.

Not sure I should be reading this out of sequence. This is #11 of the series I lapsed out of reading at #6, so I am not current with the plot. For instance "Brightwell" must have made his appearance in the books I have missed.

A character claims sabot means boot and the word sabotage comes from kicking industrial equipment (with boots) . Not what I remember and what Wikipedia says, although the etymology is not certain.

I like these but not enough to spend money. This is a library book. The plot is different from the other Reacher novels I have read in that it is an undercover op rather than the typical neo-Western plot where the strong and silent stranger comes to town and rights wrongs.

I don't like the current zombie mania. I stopped watching The Walking Dead. This book seems to tick all the boxes of the zombie apocalypse trope as per current fashion, but at least it appears to be well written.