Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline

I thoroughly enjoyed Ready Player One while I read it. But this book is right in my wheelhouse: I grew up playing Atari 2600 games, programming early Atari computers, and hanging out in dark arcades playing Tempest, Battlezone and Donkey Kong. The book tells the story of an Easter egg hunt in an elaborate multi-player game that has become an escape for millions in a dystopian future.

Wade Watts, known as Parzival while in the game, is the main character and is well fleshed out because we get to know his inner thoughts and concerns. Unfortunately, he's the only character that comes to life. But this story is primarily driven by the hunt for the Easter egg. The style is fairly pedestrian and relies mostly on telling with very little showing.

As for theme, Cline tries to bring in the idea that escaping reality through video games is problematic and that people should face their fears and learn to deal with people in the real world. But this comes too little, too late because the theme wasn't developed throughout the novel. For instance, if Wade had chosen earlier in the book to hide from reality and it created a set-back in his quest, the theme could have been better developed. But as it stands, the theme felt tacked on at the end.

However, as a whole, I enjoyed Ready Player One and it shows that an excellent concept with a compelling plot can carry modest characterization and an unexceptional style.

The Martian, by Andy Weir

I simply loved The Martian. But take heed: I'm a science geek and if you're not also one, you might hate this book. Some portions are elaborate math problems that Weir walks you through step by step. It sounds boring, but it was actually fascinating to me because solving these problems was the only way Mark Watney, a NASA astronaut stranded on Mars, could stay alive.

What I liked best about The Martian was Watney's sense of humor. Even though he was often in impossible situations, he kept his sense of humor and always met his challenges head on, using science and his ingenuity to save himself time and again.

The book also covers events at NASA as they work to save Watney and on board the Hermes where the rest of his crew escaped to after they accidentally left him alive on Mars. These parts are also good, but Watney on Mars are the best ones.

I went to see the movie the day after I finished reading the book, and I had high expectations. Perhaps too high because I liked the book a lot better. The movie version made Watney more dramatic and lost most of his sense of humor. However, the ending of the movie where both the captain and Watney are involved in the final rescue was better than the ending of the book. In fiction, the hero always needs to be the prime mover in the resolution of the story.

The Great Train Robbery, by Michael Crichton

The Great Train Robbery, one of Crichton's novels from the middle of his career, reads more like non-fiction than fiction with extensive research into an actual robbery that took place in 1855. Even though it wasn't told in a dramatized fashion, the story was still very interesting. I also enjoyed reading about 19th century life in London.

Most of the book involves the copying of four keys needed to unlock the safe carrying gold on the train. The last quarter of the book involves the actual robbery itself and all the last minute changes in plans make this part especially exciting. But the real payoff of the book is the ending, where the criminal mastermind behind the crime announces his escape during his trial and then actually pulls it off.

It's interesting that Crichton seems to be telling an un-embellished history of the actual train robbery but still markets it as a novel. Perhaps he just figured it would sell more copies that way.

Dark Watch, by Clive Cussler

I still don't understand the appeal of Clive Cussler (or his co-writers who are probably writing most of his books these days). There's plenty of action, but it's boring and tedious because the characters aren't well developed. It's odd. Even though we get background on the captain and learn some of his motivation, I still didn't care about him.

But perhaps what turned me off most in Dark Watch was that the bad guys plan was to corner the market on gold so they could mess with the world monetary supply (or something). But this is completely ridiculous because the world hasn't been on a gold standard since 1974! Once I'd read that, I lost all confidence in the authors and it made it difficult to continue.

I only made it about half way through, and it didn't get any better. I suppose this just isn't my type of fiction. But there are plenty of people who do enjoy it, and that's cool.

The Finale Silence, by Stuart Neville

This is book four in the Belfast novels, all apparently featuring Jack Lennon as the protagonist, but it's the first I read from this author. It was decent, but not great, and I likely won't read another book by this author. It kept me interested but I never got too attached to any of the characters. The main character, Jack Lennon, is a bit of a loser in his personal life. And in his professional life, I don't remember him doing anything very daring or clever to solve the case.

I read this book a few months ago and it's tough to remember much about it. I did enjoy the beginning and actually liked the character of Rea. Unfortunately, she didn't live very long in the book, and a lot of what got me interested in The Finale Silence died with her.

In general, I think it's a mistake to develop a character only to kill them off in the middle of the book. While it will be shocking to the reader in the short term, it's also not fair to the reader either, and destroys some of the trust between reader and author.