Reading in June 2009
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DarthV
Sith Lord
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Finished Hobb's Renegade's Magic and I'm glad the series is over. I'm not sure what didn't work, but I definitely didn't get sucked into the characters or storyline for some reason. I'm a huge fan of her previous works, so I'm at a loss to explain the apathy I felt for this one.
Now on to something very different, Dan Simmons' Illium. This is going to be a wild and crazy ride!
Now on to something very different, Dan Simmons' Illium. This is going to be a wild and crazy ride!
beniowa
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I finished Green by Jay Lake. The book is pretty well written, but it suffers from a couple of problems, namely uneven plotting. The main character also comes off as a bit of a Mary Sue. I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have liked but I still thought it was a good book.
I need a break from fantasy before starting Warbreaker so I'm going to read Helliconia Spring by Brian Aldiss.
I need a break from fantasy before starting Warbreaker so I'm going to read Helliconia Spring by Brian Aldiss.
Evil Agent
Saturn Comes Back Around
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Let us know what you think! I loved the Hyperion books, and a friend recently recommended Illium to me. I've been thinking about buying it.Now on to something very different, Dan Simmons' Illium. This is going to be a wild and crazy ride!
Corporal Blues
I like to rock the party
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I read the first book of this series a couple years ago, and the first few chapters grabbed me too, and I liked the book, just didn't like it enough, and by the end I had no desire to read the rest of the series. I'll be interested to see what you think...do you think you'll write a review?
Slack Bladder
Lost in translation
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Currently 250 pages into The Scar by China Mieville. Very enjoyable read so far. Will post more when I've finished.
Okay, so I've finished The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks. Apparently it's something of a sensation in the fantasy-influenced thriller category. I can ... um ...sort of see why, I guess, but it doesn't seem terribly special to me.
The basic premise is extrapolative: Twelve Hawks posits that, based on the current surveillance-heavy state of society, a time will come soon when privacy will become a complete fiction, and people will be constantly under surveillance. A conspiratorial network of control-freaks called the Tabula uses this surveillance data to move the world closer and closer to becoming a fully regulated society similar to that seen in Orwell's 1984. They are opposed by sword-'n-shotgun-packing warriors known as Harlequins, and threatened by a near-extinct subset of humans called Travelers, who can send their "light" out of their bodies to learn deep stuff from other dimensions. Sounds like an interesting premise, with some pointed allegory buried not too deep down.
This is where problem number one rears its head: The allegory isn't buried deeply enough. The characters in the book are paranoid about security and the possibility of being found and rightly so, -- this gives their story a constant sense of danger. But so frequent are the little speeches reminding us of this that the book starts to feel a bit preachy. The narration takes itself very seriously, keeping a square jaw and straight face even when introducing magical katanas into the story. Strange as it sounds, I actually think I might have been able to take the allegorical aspects of the story more seriously if Twelve Hawks had shown himself willing to have a little more fun. I mean, this is a story in which people take on genetically engineered mutant killer hyenas with swords and shotguns, -- fun is obviously involved. But there's a bit more high bombast than I would have appreciated. The huge world-wide computer surveillance network thing is referred to by the characters as "the Vast Machine". And, ... well, maybe this is just me, but whenever one of them started brooding on the evils of the Vast Machine, I imagined Stewie Griffin, the talking baby from the terrible animated comedy Family Guy, sitting up straight in his highchair and demanding: "How do you know about the Machine?!" [And there's another of the book's crimes: it made me think about Family Guy.] It is just plain too serious.
The loaded moral arguments and preachy elements almost feel Goodkindian, though the book's not quite that extreme. The writing also lacks some of the snap one might wish to see in a thriller, -- if one was me, at least, -- and feels oddly formal. For instance, characters never refer to "the net", instead people find information "through the internet". Everyday slang and colloquialism is never used, and the one or two times it does show up it feels very strained. A quibble, I know, but I found the prose somewhat detached and that's a problem in a pulse-pounder.
The baldness of the allegory leads to problem number two: The alternate realms to which the Travelers project themselves are initially quite interesting but pall very quickly. Admittedly we don't see very much of them in this first novel, -- this is a trilogy, -- but I was not exactly fired with curiosity. The reason, I think, is that the alternate realms have nothing to them beyond their allegorical significance. They are devices whereby the Travelers may learn things, symbols for themes the author wants to drive home and nothing more. If the imagined realms had a more robust mythology of their own I would find them very interesting, and would take the allegorical elements more to heart. As it is, though, it's just bloodless symbolism and quite dull. [To be fair this may very well fix itself in sequels.]
The characters are also a lot more interesting in theory than in practice. Maya, the Harlequin protagonist, has led a very emotionally detached life and longs to be close to someone else while her training warns her against this. This fascinating internal struggle shines through now and then, but is tied down by the overly detached and descriptive prose. We are told what Maya is feeling rather than being shown, and so her displays of emotion later on feel a little forced. The conflict between the two protagonists, -- both potential Travelers, -- starts by being built up nicely but culminates in a shocking turn that the story wasn't ready for.
Interesting premise but in practice too focused on its allegory for my personal taste.
________
PAXIL SETTLEMENT INFO
The basic premise is extrapolative: Twelve Hawks posits that, based on the current surveillance-heavy state of society, a time will come soon when privacy will become a complete fiction, and people will be constantly under surveillance. A conspiratorial network of control-freaks called the Tabula uses this surveillance data to move the world closer and closer to becoming a fully regulated society similar to that seen in Orwell's 1984. They are opposed by sword-'n-shotgun-packing warriors known as Harlequins, and threatened by a near-extinct subset of humans called Travelers, who can send their "light" out of their bodies to learn deep stuff from other dimensions. Sounds like an interesting premise, with some pointed allegory buried not too deep down.
This is where problem number one rears its head: The allegory isn't buried deeply enough. The characters in the book are paranoid about security and the possibility of being found and rightly so, -- this gives their story a constant sense of danger. But so frequent are the little speeches reminding us of this that the book starts to feel a bit preachy. The narration takes itself very seriously, keeping a square jaw and straight face even when introducing magical katanas into the story. Strange as it sounds, I actually think I might have been able to take the allegorical aspects of the story more seriously if Twelve Hawks had shown himself willing to have a little more fun. I mean, this is a story in which people take on genetically engineered mutant killer hyenas with swords and shotguns, -- fun is obviously involved. But there's a bit more high bombast than I would have appreciated. The huge world-wide computer surveillance network thing is referred to by the characters as "the Vast Machine". And, ... well, maybe this is just me, but whenever one of them started brooding on the evils of the Vast Machine, I imagined Stewie Griffin, the talking baby from the terrible animated comedy Family Guy, sitting up straight in his highchair and demanding: "How do you know about the Machine?!" [And there's another of the book's crimes: it made me think about Family Guy.] It is just plain too serious.
The loaded moral arguments and preachy elements almost feel Goodkindian, though the book's not quite that extreme. The writing also lacks some of the snap one might wish to see in a thriller, -- if one was me, at least, -- and feels oddly formal. For instance, characters never refer to "the net", instead people find information "through the internet". Everyday slang and colloquialism is never used, and the one or two times it does show up it feels very strained. A quibble, I know, but I found the prose somewhat detached and that's a problem in a pulse-pounder.
The baldness of the allegory leads to problem number two: The alternate realms to which the Travelers project themselves are initially quite interesting but pall very quickly. Admittedly we don't see very much of them in this first novel, -- this is a trilogy, -- but I was not exactly fired with curiosity. The reason, I think, is that the alternate realms have nothing to them beyond their allegorical significance. They are devices whereby the Travelers may learn things, symbols for themes the author wants to drive home and nothing more. If the imagined realms had a more robust mythology of their own I would find them very interesting, and would take the allegorical elements more to heart. As it is, though, it's just bloodless symbolism and quite dull. [To be fair this may very well fix itself in sequels.]
The characters are also a lot more interesting in theory than in practice. Maya, the Harlequin protagonist, has led a very emotionally detached life and longs to be close to someone else while her training warns her against this. This fascinating internal struggle shines through now and then, but is tied down by the overly detached and descriptive prose. We are told what Maya is feeling rather than being shown, and so her displays of emotion later on feel a little forced. The conflict between the two protagonists, -- both potential Travelers, -- starts by being built up nicely but culminates in a shocking turn that the story wasn't ready for.
Interesting premise but in practice too focused on its allegory for my personal taste.
________
PAXIL SETTLEMENT INFO
Last edited:
sic's mom
I want to be a princess
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Just finished Warbreaker today and must say that I loved it. Loved the characters, especially Lightsong. It was a little slow to start but at about 50 pages in it got to the point I couldn't put it down. I do and don't like the fact it is a standalone. You have the full story, but I would love to see some of these characters again. It has been a long time since I read Elantris so I believe I will read that one now. I love this man's writing, and even though the story isn't his, I am really wanting the new WOT story.
Sanderson has said that he wants to write a sequel to Warbreaker. It may be many years considering his current commitments though...
I greatly enjoyed the book. It was the first I've read from him and I found it enormously entertaining. Now I'm 2/3 though Mistborn: The Final Empire and loving that as well.
sic's mom
I want to be a princess
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That is good to know. It's not like he left the story open, but I can see where he could probably do more with it. I hope you enjoy the Mistborn trilogy. I absolutely loved it. I love Sanderson's unique magic systems. Allomancy and Breath were both very much on the cool side.
suciul
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I finished Jasmyn by Alex Bell and it was just a magical book; I read it twice in two days and for once I posted a full rv on FBC immediately after finishing the re-read and before posting here a mini-review since the book has been out since last week but I managed to get a copy only yesterday.
From my FBC rv:
"One the best debuts from last year was Alex Bell's The Ninth Circle (FBC Review HERE) which made my top five mainstream fantastic novels list and was a personal favorite too. Without knowing more than the title, Ms. Bell' second novel "Jasmyn" became one of my most expected books of 2009 since I really, really loved the style of her debut and I thought that she will only improve as a novelist as time passes.
After reading the novel twice in two days I have to say that the very high expectations I had of "Jasmyn" were not only met but surpassed and this one will be most likely a #1 or co-#1 mainstream fantastic for 2009. It is just a magical book, another fairy tale for adults in the vein of my top 08 book "Memoirs of a Master Forger", but this time with real princesses, knights and faeries.
....
In contemporary England, Jasmyn Gracey, 27 years old is burying her husband Liam. They were childhood friends since age 4, when the albino Jasmyn sent to kindergarten for the first time could not understand why her classmates were shunning her ("Is that girl a ghost, Mummy?"). But then a boy rolled a ball to her and asked "Are you a snow princess?"
Later they were engaged for several years and after a 10 month marriage, Liam died of a sudden cerebral aneurysm. And then at the funeral five black swans fell dead from the sky...
.....
First and foremost "Jasmyn" is another tale of clouded identities, though our narrator is convinced of who she is and has the house, the documents, the pictures and the relatives to prove it as opposed to Gabriel from "The Ninth Circle" whose true identity was a mystery almost to the end. There are some niggling details that do not quite add up, some whispers from her in-laws and from her friends, but they also can be the normal embarrassment of people encountering a truly bereaved widow like her, who cannot imagine how she will live without her life-partner.
..."
From my FBC rv:
"One the best debuts from last year was Alex Bell's The Ninth Circle (FBC Review HERE) which made my top five mainstream fantastic novels list and was a personal favorite too. Without knowing more than the title, Ms. Bell' second novel "Jasmyn" became one of my most expected books of 2009 since I really, really loved the style of her debut and I thought that she will only improve as a novelist as time passes.
After reading the novel twice in two days I have to say that the very high expectations I had of "Jasmyn" were not only met but surpassed and this one will be most likely a #1 or co-#1 mainstream fantastic for 2009. It is just a magical book, another fairy tale for adults in the vein of my top 08 book "Memoirs of a Master Forger", but this time with real princesses, knights and faeries.
....
In contemporary England, Jasmyn Gracey, 27 years old is burying her husband Liam. They were childhood friends since age 4, when the albino Jasmyn sent to kindergarten for the first time could not understand why her classmates were shunning her ("Is that girl a ghost, Mummy?"). But then a boy rolled a ball to her and asked "Are you a snow princess?"
Later they were engaged for several years and after a 10 month marriage, Liam died of a sudden cerebral aneurysm. And then at the funeral five black swans fell dead from the sky...
.....
First and foremost "Jasmyn" is another tale of clouded identities, though our narrator is convinced of who she is and has the house, the documents, the pictures and the relatives to prove it as opposed to Gabriel from "The Ninth Circle" whose true identity was a mystery almost to the end. There are some niggling details that do not quite add up, some whispers from her in-laws and from her friends, but they also can be the normal embarrassment of people encountering a truly bereaved widow like her, who cannot imagine how she will live without her life-partner.
..."
Winter
Procrastimancer
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I do believe that I may just hate you, Suciul. While your review of The Ninth Circle was enough to make me interested, it was not quite enough for me to shill out the money to order it from the UK. After that review I have to order both of them. More money out the window to feed my addiction! 
Nickbjorn
Registered User
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- Jun 25, 2009
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Hi, this is my first post here. I thought this looked like a good topic to get started with as I've read quite a few books this month, primarily because I was on holiday.
The one that I enjoyed the most by a long measure was Thunderer by Felix Gilman. Reminded me quite a lot of China Mieville, but with a very distinct tone of it's own. A kind of meandering storyline that keeps you engrossed nonetheless and some very original conceptualisations of traditional fantasy 'gods'.
What I enjoyed less than I expected was Nights of Villjamur . The problem with it was that while all the ingredients of 'gritty,urban' fantasy were there they didn't really add up to a convincing world or story for me. It was as though he'd taken on too many characters. And to be perfectly honest I'm sick of albino warrior characters, two is more than enough.
I also read Night of Knives which was so so. Again, nice idea to set it all in one night where all these mysterious cosmological forces were at work, but I never really got a feel for the city and I hoped to get more out of the supernatural characters who seemed so interesting from the start.
Lastly, I read A Darkness Forged in Fire which I enjoyed a lot. Interesting lead character and supporting charactersall of whom were well developed, an original pseudo historical setting for elves and orcs type fantasy and a pretty good story.
Having ODed on fantasy I just read The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford and I'm currently reading Persuasion by Jane Austen. But i have Viroconium lined up to read next.
The one that I enjoyed the most by a long measure was Thunderer by Felix Gilman. Reminded me quite a lot of China Mieville, but with a very distinct tone of it's own. A kind of meandering storyline that keeps you engrossed nonetheless and some very original conceptualisations of traditional fantasy 'gods'.
What I enjoyed less than I expected was Nights of Villjamur . The problem with it was that while all the ingredients of 'gritty,urban' fantasy were there they didn't really add up to a convincing world or story for me. It was as though he'd taken on too many characters. And to be perfectly honest I'm sick of albino warrior characters, two is more than enough.
I also read Night of Knives which was so so. Again, nice idea to set it all in one night where all these mysterious cosmological forces were at work, but I never really got a feel for the city and I hoped to get more out of the supernatural characters who seemed so interesting from the start.
Lastly, I read A Darkness Forged in Fire which I enjoyed a lot. Interesting lead character and supporting charactersall of whom were well developed, an original pseudo historical setting for elves and orcs type fantasy and a pretty good story.
Having ODed on fantasy I just read The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford and I'm currently reading Persuasion by Jane Austen. But i have Viroconium lined up to read next.
Cranky Hamster
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After some discussion of the book up-thread, I went out and got a copy of Martha Wells' The Death of the Necromancer.
I'd been curious about Wells' work for a while, although this is the first of her novels I've tried. I ran across a short story of hers a while ago in... Black Gate? I think it was. Not 100% sure about that. It was one of the sword and sorcery magazines. Hers was a good story, one of the standouts in that issue, and while not mindblowingly groundbreaking or complicated, it was written with an eye for detail and plausibility that I don't often find (and am always delighted to come across) in high fantasy adventures.
Anyway, I'd heard that she was a consistently underrated author who never quite made it big despite writing very solid books. Her short fiction confirmed that impression, as did the fact that so much of her backlist is out of print on Amazon, despite its relative recency.
So when I read that suciul and BrightStar didn't love The Death of the Necromancer, I got really curious. Is Wells among those "underrated" authors who are really under the radar because they aren't very good or write difficult books, or is she the victim of some wacky market failure? For the most part I think SF/F fandom is pretty good at sorting out popular authors from non-commercial ones, at least over the course of a writer's career, but there are always those occasional fluke cases.
I'm only 40 pages into the book so it's far too early to tell how things are going to shake out, but so far I think it's very good. The characters are interesting, intelligent, and crisply drawn; the introductory scenario of a heist complicated by unforeseen magic and an unknown sorcerer with ulterior motives is compelling; I can't predict where the plot is going, but the author's given me confidence that it'll be well-reasoned and logical; and the prose is far better than genre-average.
It could be that everything falls off a cliff 50 pages down the road, but so far I really like this book.
I'd been curious about Wells' work for a while, although this is the first of her novels I've tried. I ran across a short story of hers a while ago in... Black Gate? I think it was. Not 100% sure about that. It was one of the sword and sorcery magazines. Hers was a good story, one of the standouts in that issue, and while not mindblowingly groundbreaking or complicated, it was written with an eye for detail and plausibility that I don't often find (and am always delighted to come across) in high fantasy adventures.
Anyway, I'd heard that she was a consistently underrated author who never quite made it big despite writing very solid books. Her short fiction confirmed that impression, as did the fact that so much of her backlist is out of print on Amazon, despite its relative recency.
So when I read that suciul and BrightStar didn't love The Death of the Necromancer, I got really curious. Is Wells among those "underrated" authors who are really under the radar because they aren't very good or write difficult books, or is she the victim of some wacky market failure? For the most part I think SF/F fandom is pretty good at sorting out popular authors from non-commercial ones, at least over the course of a writer's career, but there are always those occasional fluke cases.
I'm only 40 pages into the book so it's far too early to tell how things are going to shake out, but so far I think it's very good. The characters are interesting, intelligent, and crisply drawn; the introductory scenario of a heist complicated by unforeseen magic and an unknown sorcerer with ulterior motives is compelling; I can't predict where the plot is going, but the author's given me confidence that it'll be well-reasoned and logical; and the prose is far better than genre-average.
It could be that everything falls off a cliff 50 pages down the road, but so far I really like this book.
suciul
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I do believe that I may just hate you, Suciul. While your review of The Ninth Circle was enough to make me interested, it was not quite enough for me to shill out the money to order it from the UK. After that review I have to order both of them. More money out the window to feed my addiction!
I think there is a US edition on June 1 from Gollancz for Ninth Circle - had no idea Gollancz published in the US, though they are part of the same conglomerate as Orbit but saw this in Locus:
http://www.locusmag.com/Monitor/2009/Books06c.html
Jasmyn is magical (and this one like Ninth Circle I bought from the UK too btw) and I am on the 3rd read though I just got an (arc) copy of Wildfire (Micklem) yesterday and I want to read that too since Firethorn which I finished just before Jasmyn grabbed me also
suciul
Read interesting books
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For myself I would not put it quite that way - it just did not grabbed enough to read it asap but I am still thinking of reading it at some point
Elements of Fire was enjoyable enough to keep Martha Wells on my "to read" authors list; there are so many books out there that it's hard to decide sometimes to invest time in something that does not grab me fast
(now my immediate, this week/next wk reading list is like this: finish Jasmyn 3rd read, Wildifre (Micklem), Owl Killers (Maitland), Orbus (Asher), Best Served Cold (Abercrombie), Witcher 2 (Time of Anger, Spanish) with re-reads from Dream of Scipio (Pears, 7th read since 02) and Angel's Eye (Zafon, 3rd read, 1st English)
Winter
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What the hell? I just checked Amazon this morning to make sure and did not see that. Oh well, I ordered it from Ebay and it came out just a bit cheaper than ordering from Amazon and it is also new. So no real loss. Going to end up ordering Jasmyn from the UK though.
Nickbjorn
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That quote alone has persuaded me to give it a read. I think the fantasy genre has improved significantly this decade, but the whole 'grim/low' fantasy thing seems to be developing into a cliche itself. I'm finding that I'm bored of characters who are predictably 'against the norm'.
Cranky Hamster
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Well, that's why I said "didn't love" instead of "hated."
When you love a book it's pretty obvious (and infectious!) and honestly I find that unforced enthusiasm to be really refreshing, since I'm forever getting burned out on mediocre sludge. I didn't get the impression that either of you guys really disliked the Wells, just that neither of you were hooked by it.
Part of what I'm looking for as I read this book is some clue as to why Wells never broke out. I don't know if I'll find it in this novel, since the consensus seems to be that it's the best of her work, so it could be that it just never happened because the rest of her books aren't quite as strong. But the Inexplicably Underrated Author is sort of my white whale -- I really want to find one, because in all other cases I haven't had much trouble figuring out why someone didn't hit it big (figuring out why someone not-so-talented did is completely beyond my powers, alas -- don't ask me to explain Twilight!) -- so I'm wondering if Wells might finally be it.
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