Upon my recent acquisition of a Kobo eReader, I’ve been recreationally reading quite a lot lately. Two books I recently finished reading were Ender’s Game and Pirates Latitudes. Both were entertaining in their own right.
Ender’s Game
Ender’s Game is a classic Sci-Fi novel that I’ve heard referred to on multiple occasions. It seems to be a classic favorite amongst the geek crowd. I had high expectations of it and upon reading it, found it to be reasonably predictable. THAT said, I really quite enjoyed it. I often found myself thinking: “I knew they’d do that! .. huh, that’s STILL awesome”.
The novel is written in the form that I think makes for a good story – that is, in being a sci-fi, the ‘technology’ involved is only a plot device. The story is about people, perceptions and human nature. It’s a powerful commentary that I feel warrants at least a single read. I think I’ll find myself re-reading this book every few years.
I give Ender’s Game it a strong 4.7/5.
Pirate Latitudes
Pirate Latitudes is basically a mature version of Pirates of the Caribbean, kind of. The topic of pirates doesn’t generally interest me and there were some graphic moments that were both entertaining and distasteful. I was delighted to emerge from the early chapters with a much better notion of how a real-world pirate ship of the 1600s could have actually come to exist. I found the book to be fairly tense, easy to read and overall what I’d expect from a novel about pirates.
There were many twists and I found this one not especially predictable. Some of Crichton’s directions with the tale left me a bit confused as to why a certain sub-story was there at all. Nevertheless, if you’re interested in a fairly adult look in to the mechanics and politics of old world privateering, give this novel some consideration.
I give Pirate Latitudes a 3.7/5, perhaps a bit harsh as I’m not entirely keen regarding pirates in general.