Reading in February 2010

[beniowa]

On Saturday I finished Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon. The plot is pretty straightforward: a young woman called Paks wants to be more than than a sheepfarmer so she runs off to join a mercenary company. Life for Paks is pretty typical for a mercenary until a power-hungry rival interferes and Paks' company swears vengeance. The book is pretty standard military fantasy, but I quite enjoyed it. I liked how the book starts off slowly then begins to build up to bigger, broader scope. I also liked Paks and didn't find her to be much a Mary Sue at all. In fact, the author seems to go out of her way avoid the usual pitfalls of the cliche. I've heard more good things about the next two books so I definitely plan to pick them up sometime.

I also finished Magic for Beginners, a collection of short stories by Kelly Link. Her stories are full of magical realism and are as varied as an entire town that fits inside a purse, a man who wants a divorce from his dead wife, and a family that movies into a house and finds all their things gradually become haunted. The stories were good, non-linear, and more than a little weird. I don't mind magical realism, but I felt that Link sometimes went too far and did weird for it's own sake instead of for the story. Her stories are better when she focuses on the characters. Still, it was more than worth it to read the collection at least once.

I'm already 75 pages into Yellow Blue Tibia by Adam Roberts. For my next story collection, I'm going to read Return of the Sorcerer by Clark Ashton Smith

Talking of ARCs (sorry, Nickee!) I've finished MD Lachlan's WolfAngel (mentioned above) and quite enjoyed it. Impressive debut, much more than the Sam Sykes Tombs of the Undergarments which I couldn't get on with.

Mark

I'm a bit of a werewolf fan and I'm looking forward to this one. Glad to hear you liked it, Hobbit.

 

[AuntiePam]

suciul, except for the reviewer's comment about the "sham debate on global warming", I didn't see a political bent to the review, but then I'm not particularly political so sometimes these things go right over my head.

Here's an excerpt from another review that sums up nicely my problems with the book:

"I think this could have been a book about a psychic Native American who was unwillingly haunted by a famous killer of his people, and how their relationship changed over the one man’s life. Alternatively, Simmons could have written a book about a man’s search for peace after he lost his only son to a foreign war, in which the son fought for those who had brutalized his people and culture. OR a book about a Native American who helped build (and plotted to destroy) Mount Rushmore in the heart of the land his people held most sacred, and the racism he faced every day. OR a book about Custer’s very interesting wife and their relationship, including how they got it on, and then what his ghost might have thought if he had visited his faithful widow many decades later.

I’ve read enough of Dan Simmons and think highly enough of him that I believe he could have written any of the above books and given them the emotional depth and time they needed to be excellent. I think his main fault here is in trying to do too many things at once and as a result not doing a great job with any."

ETA: It's from this website.

 

[NickeeCoco]

I'll soon be starting Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon.

Oo! I cannot read anything about it until I read it myself. I want nothing spoiled. I'm excited. Not too far away.

 

[suciul]

suciul, except for the reviewer's comment about the "sham debate on global warming", I didn't see a political bent to the review, but then I'm not particularly political so sometimes these things go right over my head.

The CSM review has lots of loaded words like "genocide"... To me it read very "political", sort of like the author did not follow the party line and the reviewer was hired to trash him...

The other quote above is fair - again I do not disagree about the multiple-threads/multiple-spacetime mixing as being not for everyone, but even there I disagree about some of the specifics

Spoiler

for example Robert thought himself as American first, as did his mother, he died after the war in the Spanish Flu outbreak, he married a Flemish/Jewish girl and their so Paha Sapa's descendants inherited some of his "powers" and specifically contributed to teh creation of the future which Paha Sapa experiences through his descendants, the way he experiences the past through his ancestors; so things are not that simple - and of course the whole Gutzon Borglum thread where the architect is revealed as another one like Paha Sapa as psychic powers go needs to be read carefully to be fully understood imho

I think that trying to pigeonhole this novel is pointless - it is the story of a remarkable (though very quiet and understated in his actions) man caught in a crucial period of his land's history, with a panoramic view of that history spanning millenniums...

At least this is how I read it and it came as a big positive surprise since from the blurb I expected more of what the above quoted reviewer expected and I wasn't that excited about that

 

[NickeeCoco]

I started reading C.J. Cherryh's Fortress in the Eye of Time. This is my first foray into Cherryh's work. I'm only about fifty pages in.

The first chapter intrigued me, but at the same time I was kind of bored. It wasn't until chapter three that I began to be interested in Tristen. I could care less about Mauryl at the moment. He just seems to be a crochety wizard. Let's hope he either gets more interesting or he goes away.

 

[Hobbit]

Another great read that I'm really enjoying dipping into: The Vampire Archive edited by Otto Penzler. A huge 1000+ pages of great stories and authors. Much better than the cover might suggest:

Eighty odd stories and poems, an Introduction by Kim Newman, a jawdroppingly-comprehensive 120+ pages of other books and stories to look at, at the back.

And the stories: most obviously Dracula's Guest by Mr Stoker, but also a list of genre authors you'll recognise - MR James, Robert Bloch, Dan Simmons, Ray Bradbury, Roger Zelazny, Clive Barker, Edgar Allan Poe, Ed Gorman, Harlan Ellison....

....and many more you haven't, but are worth reading.

Another lovely surprise, the size of two housebricks...

Mark

 

[SusF]

OMG Hobbit! Vampires! I love the cover too! And the author list is pretty impressive. Lord Byron even. I'm going to look for that one.

 

[Rob B]

On Saturday I finished Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon. The plot is pretty straightforward: a young woman called Paks wants to be more than than a sheepfarmer so she runs off to join a mercenary company. Life for Paks is pretty typical for a mercenary until a power-hungry rival interferes and Paks' company swears vengeance. The book is pretty standard military fantasy, but I quite enjoyed it. I liked how the book starts off slowly then begins to build up to bigger, broader scope. I also liked Paks and didn't find her to be much a Mary Sue at all. In fact, the author seems to go out of her way avoid the usual pitfalls of the cliche. I've heard more good things about the next two books so I definitely plan to pick them up sometime.

I've heard and seen good things about these books for years and I got the omnibus containing the first trilogy for Christmas. I'm intentionally reading Oath of Fealty without reading the first books, but I may just have to go back read the omnibus (hear that PeterWilliam?) down the road.

 

[ObtusePunubiris]

I started reading C.J. Cherryh's Fortress in the Eye of Time. This is my first foray into Cherryh's work. I'm only about fifty pages in.

The first chapter intrigued me, but at the same time I was kind of bored. It wasn't until chapter three that I began to be interested in Tristen. I could care less about Mauryl at the moment. He just seems to be a crochety wizard. Let's hope he either gets more interesting or he goes away.

Don't worry, things will take off shortly.

 

[PeterWilliam]

I've heard and seen good things about these books for years and I got the omnibus containing the first trilogy for Christmas. I'm intentionally reading Oath of Fealty without reading the first books, but I may just have to go back read the omnibus (hear that PeterWilliam?) down the road.

Read the Omnibus. It contains the droids you're looking for. Read the omnibus and be about your business. Move along.

 

[SusF]

I'm on the third Mistborn: Hero of the Ages. It seems more depressing than the other two somehow. I'm very curious to see how this trilogy ends.

 

[Loerwyn]

~50 pages from the end of The Stolen Throne. It's a good book but I can foresee the ending being disappointing...

 

[BrightStar]

I started reading C.J. Cherryh's Fortress in the Eye of Time. This is my first foray into Cherryh's work. I'm only about fifty pages in.

The first chapter intrigued me, but at the same time I was kind of bored. It wasn't until chapter three that I began to be interested in Tristen. I could care less about Mauryl at the moment. He just seems to be a crochety wizard. Let's hope he either gets more interesting or he goes away.

Unfortunately for me, that series turned out to be a major dissapointment (and a foolish waste of money). Initially, I started out with a very high opinion of the book - I thought it was great, and was really excited to have found a great new series to read. But sadly, some chapters lately, I began to lose interest and eventually found myself giving up.

I don't want to say too much about why I disliked it for fear of spoilers, but what I will say is that after a certain event, I lost a lot of enjoyment of the book. I found the hero quickly became too "perfect" at everything, and this bothered me a lot.

I hope you enjoy it more than I did though. Because I loved the beginning of this book so much, I rushed off and brought the rest of the series. Only to find the haste to be a massive waste of money after I turned to disliking the series and could not bring myself to read more.

 

[sweetmartin]

here are my thoughts(especially totxshusker) about Fatal Revenant by Donaldson.i jsut finished it.

i dunno how mr donaldson can contrive such things,his imagination must be like oceans.really!i thought there cant be naythink that i dont know or heard before.

the first 200 pages there is Q&A time.i thought never that there were such questions before.but lol.i was wrong.he explains the questions like they need "real answers"

and with the growing story you sense that there is something comming,and it is not only the next sequel.

i cant wait,you should not too and jump headlong in the Land.

 

[Oce]

Hello everybody. I've been reading the comments on these forums for quite a while and thanks for some great recommendations. I've finally decided to register and this seems a good thread to introduce myself on.

So what have I been reading in February? I started with Russell Kirkpatrick's Path of Revenge which I picked up in my local library. The introduction about Husk showed promise and the first section about the Fisherman (I've already forgotten his name) was quite exciting. But then the story nose-dived with the introduction of the girl who saw the world as a series of numbers. Normally I try to finish a book once started, but I finally surrendered after following the runaway Queen Stellar along one of those interminably long river journeys. I will not be reading anything by this author in the near future.

Next was Jennifer Fallon's Wolfblade. Let's just say I completed it, but not sure I will continue the series. The human characters were okay, but I didn't care for the Harshini. Any thoughts on any other books by her would be appreciated.

Presently reading Under the Dome by Stephen King. This is a real page turner. Great King-type characters. Can't wait to find out who is responsible for the dome.

 

[Hobbit]

Welcome Oce: thanks for joining in!

Your reaction to Russell Kirkpatrick is one I've heard a fair bit. I know Russell likes his maps and worldbuilding (he's a Geographer!) but quite a few people have felt the pace to be somewhat.... glacial.

I wish I could share your enthusiasm about the Stephen King. Really, really wanted to like it, but in the end... phhh. Sort've thought it started wrongly from the outset for me with his hero called Barbie. Majorly disappointed. But I do know others who love it.

And Peter: I've bought another copy of Paks. I've been meaning to reread it for ages. (And in trade paperback it is another doorstop.) But worth it.

Mark

 

[metalprof]

Presently reading Under the Dome by Stephen King. This is a real page turner. Great King-type characters. Can't wait to find out who is responsible for the dome.

Hello, Oce! Up to 2-3 weeks ago, I would not have been planning on or looking forward to reading this. But I decided to catch up on King after giving up on him because of From A Buick 8. The Cell was OK, but upon reading Duma Key, I decided the old man had some life left in him after all! So now I am looking forward to catching up on the rest, Lisey's Story, Just After Sunset (? cant remember the exact title of the short story collection), and ... Under the Dome.

Ken

 

[Aurian]

Well, finished Pendragon's Banner, was a nice enough read but it felt a bit slow and I suppose middle novels of the series usually suffer that fate. My mistake was that I didn't realize it was a trilogy and picked up the middle book by mistake. It was very strange starting a novel in what seemed to be in the middle of a plot line and halfway through I discovered why (it was book 2). I think some of that confusion also coloured my impression of the book.

Not sure if I'll go after the other books... I still feel like it was a bit slow paced and I didn't really like the characters much. I feel it was hypocritical of Arthur to almost be proud of the fact that he cheats a lot, while practically lopping off the heads of anyone who looked at Gwynhyfar. Arthur comes off as controlling and abusive (he hits Gwen a few times) and Gwenhyfar doesn't come off much better.

I had a series of failures in some other books as well. Of late, Wizards of the Coast has been producing some very enjoyable books for Magic the Gathering - I very much enjoyed Agents of Artifice by Ari Marmell and The Purifying Fire by Laura Resnick so I picked up some older books from a used bookstore that were published under the MTG umbrella. The quality level was quite bad... I have two more to try out, but I saved the two that got the most favourable reviews for last.

 

[Corporal Blues]

Read The Somnambulist, but I didn't think much of it.

Edward Moon was once the toast of high society in Victorian London, however, a few years have passed since his prime and now Moon's star is in decline. Moon is a mysterious conjurer of sorts who's "Theatre Of Marvels", a thrilling magic show he stars in, is his last source of pleasure...and that too is fading. Aided by his partner The Somnambulist, a silent, giant of a man, they perform their same time-worn routine for a dwindling, yet loyal crowd. The meat and potatoes of the performance is when Moon impales The Somnambulist with multiple swords, yet never drawing a drop of blood.

Moon is not just a simple conjurer though, he is also one of London's finest detectives. This freelance, extra curricular activity has gained him as much, if not more, glory as his magic act in London Society. Moon is dogged by his ever increasing boredom, and a hinted at recent failure in his detective work. All this has landed him in a rut, and he wishes for one more great mystery to solve. Cue a giant, hard to crack case full of lots of ins and outs, and a gristly murder or two and before you know it, Moon and The Somnambulist are on the case.

The book begins with a mysterious and creepy murder scene, and a handful of questions involving Moon's past and the secret of The Somnambulist's stabbing trick. The Somnambulist however for me, failed to deliver on a few fronts. The book's few fantasy elements were never really fleshed out, and served really only to create or move plot elements. I never did find out what went wrong on Moon's last case, and I never found out why the hell The Somnambulist didn't bleed, or die, when he was stabbed. This was a book, for me, that started out with some interesting fantasy and mystery novel elements, then faded down the stretch. Aside from Moon and The Somnambulist, the other characters felt like they were less caught up in the flow of events and more like they were vessels which moved the plot along.

So why did this book get finished rather than going into the Realm of Abandoned Tomes? Well, mainly for the questions I had that never got answered. The real mystery of the book was lukewarm for me, but I am admittedly not an avid mystery reader. I really wanted to know more about the two main characters, and I hung in there for their sake. They were compelling characters and this book had a very Bradybury-esque-Something Wicked This Way Comes feel to me. These things kept me going, but I ultimately felt disappointed in the end.

Being that this is a first novel, it is understandable that there were a few bumps in the road. Perhaps a mystery fan would find more pleasure here than I did, but I don't see myself recommending this one to anyone in the near future.

I'm about to start Lamentation by Ken Scoles...pretty excited for it.

 

[AuntiePam]

Despite the klutzy title and the boring cover art, I picked up Those Who Hunt the Night, a vampire story by Barbara Hambly. I'm really enjoying it. It's probably the best vampire novel I've read since Fevre Dream.