10.10.2023
I’ve still been reading a lot, although I’ve been DNFing a lot of books in between the ones I’m finishing. I’m in a really specific mood right now, and most of the books I’m not finishing right now I’ll probably come back to later on when I’m in the mood to read them.
Utah Blaine, by Louis L’Amour. As you all can probably tell, L’Amour is one of my very favorite authors. My mother introduced me to his Hopalong Cassidy novels when I was 12, and reading Westerns was a special bonding experience between myself, my mother and her father, who loved them as well.
Utah Blaine is one of my favorites of L’Amour’s considerable body of work. I’ve read it dozens of times, and I still go back to it whenever I want something familiar. It follows the titular character, Utah Blaine, as he steps in to help a man save his ranch. It’s a story of determination and stubbornness as Utah battles to keep the human wolves who want to steal it all from winning.
Obviously 5/5, will definitely be rereading again.
The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton, was… something. I loved the first 90% of it, an epic medical plague thriller where the stakes were high, things were tense, and science was behind and trying to catch up. I loved The Hot Zone when I read it several years ago, and I’ll take a good medical thriller along those lines wherever I can find them. I had hoped this one would be the same… until I got to the ending.
Oh, boy, was I disappointed in the ending. It made me feel like none of the tension of the early part of the novel meant anything, that it didn’t matter what choice the scientists made, it was all going to be fine in the end without any of their help. It was even more disappointing because of how much I enjoyed the first 90%.
1/5. Will not be reading again. Not one of Crichton’s better ones.
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