The Rise of Ransom City

The Half-Made World, Book 2

De: Felix Gilman

Narrado por: Ramon De Ocampo, Gregory Itzin

Duración: 14 h y 54 m

Resumen del Editor

This is the story Harry Ransom. If you know his name it's most likely as the inventor of the Ransom Process, a stroke of genius that changed the world. Or you may have read about how he lost the battle of Jasper City, or won it, depending on where you stand in matters of politics. Friends called him Hal or Harry, or by one of a half-dozen aliases, of which he had more than any honest man should. He often went by Professor Harry Ransom, and though he never had anything you might call a formal education, he definitely earned it.

If you’re reading this in the future, Ransom City must be a great and glittering metropolis by now, with a big bronze statue of Harry Ransom in a park somewhere. You might be standing on its sidewalk and not wonder in the least of how it grew to its current glory. Well, here is its story, full of adventure and intrigue. And it all starts with the day that old Harry Ransom crossed paths with Liv Alverhyusen and John Creedmoor, two fugitives running from the Line, amidst a war with no end.

©2012 Felix Gilman (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Good but not as good as Half-Made World

Any additional comments?

I didn't love this book as much as the first one, Half-Made World, but I liked seeing things from the perspective of a very different character. Harry Ransom is a hapless hero for whom nothing really works out as he plans, except that he has invented this incredible apparatus over which everyone wants control. He spends the majority of the book keeping it out of the hands of both the Line and the Gun and in the end, well, in the end you have to decide for yourself if he achieves his ultimate goal.

I enjoyed being re-immersed in this world but I missed the perspective of the characters in alignment with the great powers as those powers crumbled.

An interesting biography of manifest destiny.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Rise of Ransom City to be better than the print version?

I'm not sure if The Rise of Ransom City is better in audio or print but I feel that the performance by the narrators makes it a worthy audio buy.

What other book might you compare The Rise of Ransom City to and why?

The Sisters Brothers and True Grit are both comparable to The Rise of Ransom city in their first person narrative and western themes In both The Sisters Brothers and The Rise of Ransom City the narrators take us through the story of their lives as they make their ways west for for fortune. However, in The Sisters Brothers they mean to make this fortune by killing and in The Rise of Ransom City Mr. Ransom means to make his fortune by virtue of his invention that he has dubbed the Ransom Process.

Which character – as performed by Ramon De Ocampo and Gregory Itzin – was your favorite?

Harry Ransom is my favorite character in The Rise of Ransom City.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Unfortunately I didn't have an extreme reaction to this book.

Felix Gilman is brilliant

Felix Gilman crafts a deep, enveloping narrative. Harry Ransom through his own eyes is an engaging hero, and I found myself in mourning for his losses and smiling at his triumphs, which happens to me rarely when I read anymore. The reading is perfect as well.