Reading in February 2010

[SusF]

Reading Blood Cross by Faith Hunter, sequel to Skinwalker. Contemp fantasy.

 

[MattNY]

I finished Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke and Lost Horizon by James Hilton today. I was pleasantly surprised by JS&MN, after reading the incredibly mixed reaction in some threads at this site. I found that the tale quite enthralled me and that I had a level of interest in every character and subplot thread (which there were many) throughout the novel. Most people seemed to struggle with the beginning, but I will say that my main issues were with the ending. Despite it being a long winded tale, I felt the ending changed the pace set in the majority of the book prior to it. Was it exciting, yes, but it lost a little of the magic I felt when reading it. I will also say that the ending was certainly different than I was expecting, but that in of itself is not a bad thing. I felt there was enough resolution there to be satisfying and it certainly did not change my feelings on the book as a whole.

Lost Horizon is a book I have read several times before and always find myself returning to. It is filled with a sense of wonderment, discovery and hope that I cannot ignore the enchantment it seems to have cast over me since I first read it for the first time just five years ago. I have yet to lose that feeling with each return visit to Shangri-La. It is most definitely a credit to Mr. Hilton and the tale he crafted.

Tonight, I will be starting the Dark Tower series finally, beginning of course with The Gunslinger. This actually will be the first Stephen King novel I have read, as I have always had a bit of a bias against his stories for one reason or another. The continued praise for this series though finally led me to properly research it and I have now been quite excited to start it for some time. I hope my expectations will be met.

 

[Gilgamesh]

200 or so pages into Paul Hoffman's The Left Hand of God. There has been mixed reviews for this one. I've enjoyed it so far.

 

[Loerwyn]

Tonight, I will be starting the Dark Tower series finally, beginning of course with The Gunslinger. This actually will be the first Stephen King novel I have read, as I have always had a bit of a bias against his stories for one reason or another. The continued praise for this series though finally led me to properly research it and I have now been quite excited to start it for some time. I hope my expectations will be met.

Advice: If you find it a bit strange, keep going. The Gunslinger is made up of short stories that King roped together into a novel. The second book (The Drawing of The Three") is the first one in the series written as a novel, so it flows a bit better and makes a little more sense. The Gunslinger's certainly a good read though.

 

[Bastard]

Well, I didn't last long from my Brust break. So I decided to leave Salute the Dark at home, which I will read while I'm there, and brought with me Jhegaala to work. So at the moment I'm reading two books.

Well that was quick, already finished Jhegaala. Only Iorich left to in the Vlad Taltos series... though I still need to read the Khaavren Romances series and Brokedown Palace.

 

[DurzoBlint]

Finished Shadow and Betrayal by Abraham. I didn't care for the first book but, the second book hooked me. I have the second omnibus but will get a few other books under my belt before I read it.

I am a few chapters into The Castle omnibus by Steph Swainston, don't really know what to make of it. It seems like it is going in one direction but then meanders and goes in circles. Kind of wondering if it finally gets on course. Anybody have thoughts on this series? I hear it is good but I am getting frustrated with it. It needs to start moving forward.

In other news, Bookdepository has emailed me to know that my book A Hundred Thousand Kingdoms will be shipped out on Monday. Now, I just have to wait 10 or so days to get it.

 

[SusF]

I am reading Ink and Steel by Elisabeth Bear. This is the second book of her's I've read, the other being Undertow. I really like her writing and will be seeking more of her books out.

 

[beniowa]

I made quick work of Paths Not Taken by Simon R. Green. The fifth Nightside book is the first one in the series to have two plotlines. The first is a minor detective case that gets wrapped up fairly quickly while the second continues the overall story arc begun in the early books about the main character's mother and the creation of the Nightside. I'm certainly curious to see where Green is going to go with this.

This morning I started Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett.

 

[Hellions]

I closed the final page of Child Of The Prophecy by Juliet Marillier which concludes the (first?) Sevenwaters trilogy.

While not as good as the previous two volumes, I still greatly enjoyed the author's prose, characters and sincere romantic inclinations. I found the ending to this generational saga to be unconventional, in a good way. I guess my disappointment came with the final confrontation which turned out to be a very badly choreographed scene with no natural flow and left me oddly detached and uncaring with the tragic events unfolding.

All in all, a minor gripe given how much I loved the trilogy as a whole. Juliet Marillier is now among my "top 5 favorite fantasy authors".

 

[BrightStar]

I closed the final page of Child Of The Prophecy by Juliet Marillier which concludes the (first?) Sevenwaters trilogy.

I ordered that from Amazon a couple of days back. It's been ages since I read the first two books, but I remember enjoying them (though the first is still my favorite). I'm hoping the third book will be a fun read, though I'm not expecting anything too fantastic.

I just finished reading Summers at Castle Auburn yesterday. It was a good read. Now I'm thinking of ordering some more books by that author (and wondering why I haven't done so before now!)

Reading Pillars of the World by Anne Bishop at the moment. It's okay so far, but not terribly un-putdownable yet.

 

[SusF]

Reading MythOS by Kelly McKullough.

 

[Johnny B]

I finished Under the Dome by Stephen King earlier in the month and found it to be ok but far from his best work.

I then read Silverthorn by Feist and thought it was ok but find Feist's writing to be mediocre at best.

I'm currently reading Ship of Magic by Hobb and am only about 70 pages in so I can't comment too much on it but I'm enjoying it so far probably because Hobb's writing is just superb.

 

[Twinner]

Just finished The Other Lands (Acacia Series) ... it was okay.
Edited to say: As I think back on this book I find myself liking it more than I realized. I will look forward to book three in the future!

Also just finished Under the Dome by King. As mentioned above, not his best by any means but also far from his worst. Even in the mediocre works I still enjoy his style and characters.

Just starting A Dark Matter by Peter Straub. I loved Ghost Story and The Talisman and have high hopes for this one.

Thanks to you folks here I will start The Lies of Lock Lamora right after, and am looking forward to it!
Good month!
Roy

 

[DurzoBlint]

Just finished the first book in The Castle omnibus The Year of Our War by Steph Swainston. It took way to long to read 260pgs. I just didn't like it. May have to give myself some more time before I tackle anything else by her.

There were a lot of great ideas presented she just never got around to tying them up.

Moving on to The Rats and the Ruling Seas by Redick. I enjoyed the first book in the series, I hope that the book continues in the same vein.

 

[Aurian]

Was unsuccessful in my recent foray into Sci-fi, and am back to fantasy with Obsidian and Blood. Interesting so far - it is a murder mystery set in an Aztec period (with fantasy elements via magic and gods).

 

[Scrambles]

Finished Best Served Cold. Now onto A Game of Thrones.

 

[beniowa]

I had the odd Sunday off yesterday and blazed through Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. I'm really beginning to love and enjoy the Discworld books with their combination of humor, satire, and social commentary. I also realized the other day that even if I read one book a month, that it will still take me a few years to read them all. At least they'll never go out of print.

For my next read I'm going to give Elizabeth Moon a try with The Sheepfarmer's Daughter.

I just finished reading Summers at Castle Auburn yesterday. It was a good read. Now I'm thinking of ordering some more books by that author (and wondering why I haven't done so before now!)

Years ago I read Shinn's Heart of Gold, which was a decent if not too subtle commentary on racism. I hear some of her other stuff, such as the Archangel books, are supposed to be quite good.

 

[PeterWilliam]

Finished Barclay's Shadowheart three days ago and am a little over halfway through Demonstorm. The two best Barclay books yet, that I've read. More if I can catch my breath and get a few moments in the coming days.

 

[BrightStar]

Was unsuccessful in my recent foray into Sci-fi, and am back to fantasy with Obsidian and Blood. Interesting so far - it is a murder mystery set in an Aztec period (with fantasy elements via magic and gods).

I was pleasantly surprised by the first book (hadn't heard a thing about it, so didn't know what to expect). I'm definitely looking forwards to the next book in the series. (Wish I knew when it was going to be released)

Years ago I read Shinn's Heart of Gold, which was a decent if not too subtle commentary on racism. I hear some of her other stuff, such as the Archangel books, are supposed to be quite good.

Her archangel series is the best she's written, but her other, more standalone works are also (of what I've read) pretty good, too. Although admittedly I've only read The Shape Changers wife (I think that was what it was called) and Summers at Castle Auburn. Most of her others (bar a few exceptions) have gotten decent reviews though, and I have my eye on a few of them as being upcoming purchases. I felt that Summers at Castle Auburn had a slightly rushed feeling to the ending (I felt I wanted an extra 50 or so pages leading up to it) but aside from that, it was a very enjoyable read.

 

[suciul]

I finished the 4th Apt book Salute the Dark by A. Tchaikovsky and it was all that i expected and more; though the series is supposed to go 10 and there are at least 2 more books in the 6 month interval pipeline, this book nicely rounds a lot of the main plots threads and concludes to some extent the story started in Empire and Gold;

The title is apt (so to speak) since this book is very dark - I saw some complaints how given all the war and violence in the first 3 volumes, most main characters escape; well, up to here since this book is merciless on them; I would not want to spoil some of the most powerful moments of the book but there are so many including personal combat, cavalry charges, mystic foretelling of the future, escape from crucifixions in the nick of time, weapons of mass destruction, land battles, air battles, intrigue and assassinations or tentative of such, but the prize goes to the gladiatorial combats and especially to the climactic one that has all the intensity of the best from Spartacus on...

Since the first part of the series sort of ends here, I really have no idea what will happen next so the fifth book due this summer jumped a notch on my asap list; Salute the Dark is an A+/A++ depending on rereads; if book 5 matches the intensity of book 4 and brings more twists and turns - here there some unexpected ones but mostly the sheer carnage of the war including withing the ranks of the main characters was the biggest surprise - they could jump to the top of my fantasy list for 2010

For "series completists" books 1-4 can be said to form sort of a complete series so go read them...