Lee Hunts

I just finished reading The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. This is a military science fiction book that was written in 1974 by a Vietnam war veteran. This "Forever War" is essentially a conflict between the human race and an alien species that they know nothing about. They are essentially clueless as they plunge into what could potentially be an existential conflict, but this is the only thing that can be done. More importantly, there is a special focus on the return to life after war, as the soldiers try to adapt to their new life after being abroad for so long. This is where some interesting scifi spin involving relativity comes into play. So what did I think? Let's see. No Spoilers Core Premise Right from the outset, it is worth commenting on the key scifi element that was added to the story. As I mentioned above, the story tries to focus on the characters having to return home from war, as much as the war itself. And Haldeman has a genuinely fascinating way of exploring

I just finished reading Lord Foul's Bane, which is the first book in the Thomas Covenant series by Stephen R. Donaldson. I decided to pick up this series because I particularly enjoyed Donaldson's Gap Cycle, which I have already reviewed in full. You can find the playlist in the description below. This series started to come out in 1977, so I was very interested in what Donaldson had to say about fantasy in that time. Let's get started. No Spoilers The Basic Premise The only reason I decided to check out this series is because I read The Gap beforehand. In many respects, I would say that the marketing of the book is particularly poor. Here is an example from the back of the book edition that I own: "He called himself Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, because he dared not believe in this strange alternate world on which he suddenly found himself. Yet the Land tempted him. He had been sick; now he seemed better than ever before. Through no fault of his own, he had been out

For this post, I want to talk about some of the habits and tricks that I use to read books quicker and more effectively. I am a terribly slow reader. I have always had trouble reading books and especially staying committed to them when they are non-fiction. I haven't actually fixed the problem of reading slowly, as speed reading just damages your ability to comprehend what you are reading. What I have done is tweaked my own habits such that I actually get things done. These are not universal tips, but rather habits that I have adopted because they work for me. Will they work for you? Well, I don't care. You're a faceless nobody. I was motivated to write this after watching Better Than Food's video about the topic. I have additional commentary, namely because he focuses on fiction, and I often read non-fiction, too. I will link his video in the description; I suggest checking him out. Finally, I want to quickly explain some terms that I will be using throughout. When I w

This Day All Gods Die: Book Review and Discussion I just finished reading This Day All Gods Die, which is the fifth and final entry in Stephen R. Donaldson's The Gap Cycle. Finally, we have reached the climax of the series and get to see the resolution of the plotlines that have been built up from the beginning of the story. Things have escalated in terms of scale and tension to a stunning degree, especially in relation to the isolated, but interesting, first entry of the series. So, what did I think of it, and the series as a whole? Let's get started. No Spoilers There were good things, and there were bad things, but fortunately I found that the positives outweighed the negatives for this entry, and especially the series overall. Story Structure I found that I really appreciated how the whole series fit together. The Gap Cycle starts out very quick and simple. The Real Story was a compelling vision all on its own. The world, the atmosphere, the grim nature of the story—all of