From the Bookshelf of What's the Name of That Book???…

Lexicon

Max Barry

Why we're reading this: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com …more
[close] https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

May 22, 2016 thefourthvine rated it it was ok

Shelves: sff, presentday

This is an action thriller with a science fiction veneer, and I think it will work much better for people who read a lot of action thrillers and not much science fiction. What I'm saying is that if you read this, you'd better be very interested in people running places and shooting other people and stealing planes, because that's what this book has to offer. On the science fiction front, uh, not much here.

It didn't work *badly* for me, exactly. I've just -- I've seen all this before. The MacGuf This is an action thriller with a science fiction veneer, and I think it will work much better for people who read a lot of action thrillers and not much science fiction. What I'm saying is that if you read this, you'd better be very interested in people running places and shooting other people and stealing planes, because that's what this book has to offer. On the science fiction front, uh, not much here.

It didn't work *badly* for me, exactly. I've just -- I've seen all this before. The MacGuffin, which is that language has power and neurolinguistic programming just hasn't gone quite far enough, is something I've seen in quite a few other books. The minor tweaks Barry made didn't really make it new or interesting enough. And the Shadowy Secret Organization That Controls Your Thoughts concept, with attached School of Imbuing Secret Powers -- I have seen this done before. Done better. Done worse. Done in every possible medium. Again, not new. Not different.

The two plots winding through this story are -- well. It's really easy to figure out who is who and where it's all going, so by the time I got to each reveal I had to suppress an eyeroll: yes, thank you, I know, can we get on with it? And the characters driving them are, well. I would have definitely enjoyed this book more if I'd been invested in them, or in their story, or in any of the multiple relationships you have to buy into for this book to work. Unfortunately, Barry is not nearly as good at writing people and relationships as he is at writing action sequences.

This book is competently written. But if you're going to retread ideas like this, you'd better do something great with them. Compare this to The Rook, which is covering this same ground but doing it differently and really, really well. There is no comparison, because that book is fun to read (or frustrating as hell, if it's not your thing, but it's gonna make you have a reaction) and this book is just a sort of space-filling exercise.

TL;DR: meh. This book is the essence of meh. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

May 02, 2013 Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides rated it it was ok

Shelves: thriller

I wobbled about what I thought about this as I was reading. At first I thought (somewhat uncharitably) "This is kind of a Neal Stephenson ripoff" (specifically of Snow Crash); then I thought it was a brilliant exploration of the ramification of having neurolinguistic hackers walking around; then I just got annoyed by the ending. (The ending itself and the failure to, well, cite sources.) I get that this is more of a thriller than straight up SF, but ... it's not right to not show your work and m ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2013 Melissa Rochelle rated it really liked it

Shelves: library, mystery-suspense, read-2013

Wil is kidnapped and Emily is recruited by the same clandestine organization. These are not your normal poets (unless all poets have the word skills of these folks and it is a well-guarded secret -- it's possible). As the book continues and you get to know Wil and Emily a bit better, you become more and more invested. There were a few moments that left me a bit confused (view spoiler), but overall it's fast-paced, cl ...more

Like · see review