2005 Releases Read

[Rob B]

Well, it is now 2005 and books are being released, like every other year. And like every other year-themed thread, this specific thread is for Fantasy books released Between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2005 nothing else. This is one of the few threads we like to keep close to the title.

With that said, yesterday I finished The Year of Our War by Steph Swainston, due to be publised by EOS books in a couple of weeks. I really liked it, here's a snippet from my review:

In the Fourlands, a world on the brink of being overrun by hordes of large Insects, salvation falls to the shoulders of a winged drug addict. This is the opening premise of Steph Swainston's epic, nothing-is-quite-what-it seems fantasy novel, The Year of Our War....Swainston has crafted a truly participatory novel, The Year of Our War is something you immerse yourself in, it is not a novel that will give you the answers.

 

[Grawgos]

Just finished Chernagor Pirates by Dan Chernenko. The second book in the Scepter of Mercy trilogy. The mass market just came out this feb. so I think it fits this topic. I thought the book was pretty good. It didn't really advance the quest for the scepter that much. The book did however, delve pretty deep into the lives of all the characters letting the reader get to them know them alot more. The kingdom of Avornis has to deal with two enemy states in this installment. The Chernagors in the north and the pawns of the Banished one in the south. A new wizard, Pterocles, is introduced to replace Alca the witch. I really liked this character and how he developed. King Lanius is finally get some power and respect and I didn't find myself feeling as sorry for him as I did while reading the Bastard King. I thought the Bastard King was just a bit better than this one, but I really liked the book and I am looking forward to the final installment which should be out in feb/march 05. I think things are really going to heat up in the third book.

 

[Spears&Buckler]

I just finished The Warrior Prophet by R. Scott Bakker last night, and it's going to be tough for another 2005 release to top this one. I think Mr. Bakker's style is very unique, and although he writes "epic fantasy", this is in no way like the typical fat fantasies that are saturating the shelves today. He has turned epics on their heads and, for me, has redefined what a great epic should be.

 

[Grawgos]

Just finished The Scepter Returns by Dan Chernenko. It was just released this month. I totally lucked out with this series. Bought the bastard king in January, the mass market Chernagor pirates came out in feb and the Scepter Returns came out in March. No waiting. How cool is that? It was a great book and a great series. I kind of saw some of the things that were comming toward the end, but somethings came out of left field. I will definetely buy any book that he comes out with. Very good author.

 

[Rob B]

The Mysteries

Over the weekend I finished and posted my review of Lisa Tuttle's The Mysteries. I liked it quite a bit and would read more of her work. Here's a snippet from the review:

Vanishings, disappearances, missing people and the Sidhe, or fairy folk - these things comprise the backdrop for Lisa Tuttle's engrossing and magically fine novel, The Mysteries.
.
.
This novel will probably draw comparisons to some recent novels touching upon similar themes. The first one, in my mind, is Neil Gaiman’s Neverhwhere.

 

[Rob B]

Finished and posted my *Official* review of Mike Stackpole's latest A Secret Atlas, the first novel in his Age of Discovery trilogy, which I enjoyed very much. I' m really looking forward to the second installment, Cartomancy, due in the fall of this year. Here's a snippet from my review:

Atlases or maps of the fantastic world, are one item many readers enjoy seeing in their fantasy novels and in this novel, Stackpole uses the map as one of the primary devices to set events in motion. Qiro Anturasi, The Royal Cartographer, and his family, have provided the land of Nalenyr with accurate maps of the known world for many years. By knowing the trade routes to follow and the dangerous routes to avoid, the nation of Nalenyr has grown and prospered greatly into one of the world's greatest nations. The prince of Nalenyr, Cyron is seeking to unite the Nine Principalities (also the same number of gods in the Nalenyr pantheon) into a single unified nation. In order to do this, Cyron enlists the aid of Qiro's grandsons, Jorim and Keles, to go on separate paths of discovery to chart untraveled lands. Few have returned from the places Jorim and Keles are sent, including their father. Jorim is sent to the uncharted lands where their father was last seen traveling to. This is what sets the ball rolling, and as the novel progresses, pages turn faster and faster...

... I hope it wouldn’t be an insult to say the novel, while very good and entertaining, is not as great as works of writers like Tad Williams, George R. R. Martin, Greg Keyes and R. Scott Bakker, writers whom I (and a great deal of others) place at the very apex of Epic Fantasy, but Stackpole does deliver an entertaining story

 

[Nimea]

I have some books lying around here that were newly released but so far I only got to read one:

Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn

A group of six travels through the kingdom to look for trouble that seems to be brewing. They were sent by the King, two of them are of his personal guard, the Riders. The others are so-called Mystics - mages with different magical abilities. And the leader of the group, a woman called Senneth is probably the most powerful Mystic alive . . .
Thing is, the kingdom has twelve provinces, ruled by the Twelve Houses and in the southern Houses someone stirrs superstition and hatred against Mystics and one of the old godesses has regained lots of believers - but this godess is also against magic.
Looks like a civil war is brewing.

I always liked Sharon Shinn's novels and this is surely an entertaining book. It's also a bit different to her other novels because it is more like the "usual fantasy stuff" . But I can only rate it 3 out of 5 - which isn't too bad. Yet I thought her recent YA books (Safe-Keeper's Secret and Truth-Teller's Tale [which will be out this August]) were more interesting and better overall.

Not to forget that this is a "Novel of the Twelve Houses" which from the start lets you anticipate more books on that world. Yet also the ending leaves too much open and I am not sure if again the publisher left out the little detail that this is more of a trilgoy than not.
Since the group's travels come to an end - a little bit of a SPOILER ahead! - this book has kind of a closure but there are still new secrets hinted at in the end (about the King's wife) and the danger of civil war is not averted.


Okay, thinking about it, I did read another 2005 release: the already mentioned Truth-Teller's Tale by Sharon Shinn. For now all I say about this book can be found here.

That's it so far.

 

[DragonReader]

"Blades of the Tiger" by Chris Pierson.

If you are a fan of Dragonlance I recommend this book. It is the first novel that takes place on the continent of Taladas and is quite good.

 

[Ntschotschi]

Carol Berg The Soul Weaver
It's the third book of the series "The Bridge of D'Arnath".
Carol Berg is one of the few authors you can buy without getting disappointed.
So it is with her latest installment.
It's not the hit she landed with some of her RaKirai books, but still far better than average.
I can recommend this book if you're like me bored by waiting for the follow ups of your favorite series and want good solid reading stuff in the meantime.

 

[Rob B]

Nobody else is reading books released from this year? Here's some of the books I've read from this year, haven't been keeping up with this topic myself.

The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases edited by VanDerMeer & Roberts. Here's a review snippet:

The Lambshead Pocket Guide is one of the most interesting and unique pieces of fantastic fiction I have ever come across. The book has an air of bona fide medical integrity, and each disease sounds like something ill-reported from the 19th Century...should sit comfortably on the shelf of all practicing and would be doctors of the genre.

Wildwood Road by Christopher Golden:

Christopher Golden paints a realistic picture of a normal couple thrust into an unfortunate encounter with a dark and supernatural force in his latest page-turner...would recommend it without reservation.

Last, and certainly not least, I read the first two GemQuest books (The Twins and The Awakening) by our own Gary Wassner. I've remarked before how I enjoyed these two novels and it is definitely worth mentioning again. Gary does a lot of things right, and what he does best is twofold - he respects the tradition of the genre while crafting something his own, with his own voice. Very Good Traditional Epic Fantasy.

 

[Rob B]

Last week I finished Shaman's Crossing the new Robin Hobb novel, the first in her Soldier Son Trilogy

...Shaman's Crossing is a book many of her fans have been anticpating, and it is an important book for Ms. Hobb on two fronts. Firstly, this is new saga is completely unrelated the three previously mentioned trilogies, so many will undoubtably compare this to her previous works. Secondly, this is Ms. Hobb's first effort for her new US Publisher, Eos, an imprint of HarperCollins. With all of that said, how is the actual book? Very good. Very good indeed.

This novel is told through the eyes of soldier son Nevare Burville, in the first person, much like the Fitz novels, (Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies). Excluding Gene Wolfe, Hobb is probably the most adept writer when it comes to telling stories utilizing the first person narrative.

.....My initial reaction for this book was satisfaction. I think a great sign of how much I enjoyed this book was the lack of sleep on a few of the nights I was reading the book, I just didn't want to put it down. While Hobb's scenes were not the most action packed, they were gripping, emotionally charged, and extremely compelling. She has a knack for putting her protagonists through some tortuous situations, but she does this so wonderfully and exquisitely that reading them is something you just don't want to stop doing.

Nobody else is reading books published this year? JohnH?

 

[DragonReader]

I read "Mystic Quest" by Tracy and Laura Hickman earlier thsi year and read "Harshini" by Jennifer Fallon last month (released in US this year but previously published in Australia).

Currently reading Harry Potter and the half Blood Prince

 

[Erfael]

I think I've read a book or two published in 2005, Fitz. I'll see if I can't bring myself to write about them here in the next few days.

 

[Eventine]

I'm on about 4 but struggling to get the time to read posts here let alone do a long write up.

And someone made Erf a mod???

 

[Mithfânion]

The only 2005 release I've read was Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb, first book in a new series set in a new world that never reached the heights of her previous work. It started off exceptionally poorly and took up until page 350 before it started rolling.

In the end I was disappointed that the second book wasn't lying next to me because she had managed to hook me as the story went on. Characterization (Hobb's selling point) is markedly weaker in this book than in Farseer (though better than Liveship) but there is great potential for books II and III to really hit off. Her magical race, the Specks, disappointingly absent in this book, are expected to come to the fore in next year's "Forest Mage". Undoubtedly Nevare, the main character, will journey to their lands at some point, hopefully soon, to get him away from Acadamy life. There is a small set of supporting characters that are fleshed out, and while not badly done, I'd hardly term it a grand achievement.

All said and done, 7 stars out of 10, but definitly looking forward to the rest of the series.

 

[DragonReader]

Finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

 

[Julian]

Finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

So did I... Still thinking about the ending. It's either extremely, extremely well thought out... or just darn disappointing... Or...

Well, we'll have to wait and see, I guess!

 

[Eleal]

Time to throw in my couple of 2005 reads.

I read Path of Honor by Diana Pharaoh Francis in June. I really liked the first volume Path of Fate but this book had an awkward beginning and an ending that leaves you hanging in the air. Not pleasant, even if you know there will be a third installment. I think I will still read the third but my expectations are somewhat lower.

In July I read three new releases.
The first was the brilliant Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde. Though it took some research into english nursery rhymes to understand all jibes it was great fun.

Next the omnipresent Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I liked it more than volume 5 although I think the plot was a bit insubstantial being only a preparation of facts for the final book.

Last but not least I read Brandon Sanderson's first Elantris.
This is one of my highlights of this years books. I loved the mixture of magic, political intrigue and religious fanatism and the fact that it is a stand-alone.
I definitely recomment this book.

Eleal

 

[Dallandra]

I read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince a couple of days ago. I was quite disappointed in it, I thought that all the events, apart from the ending, were really predictable. I had been hoping for some surprises... Hopefully the next book will be better!

 

[Eventine]

Midnight Tides, Stephen Erickson (MMPB Release, May 2005)
Yet another large book from one of my current favourite BFF authors, I was lucky enough to have this with me on a recent flight that got put in a holding pattern. i would have been liable to have finished anything else.
Like previous Malazan offerings from Erickson this book has a large, complex cast of characters intertwined in a grand scheme of events chronicled throughout the novels. Unfortunately for those of us reading these books as published it can be hard to keep track of who's who and what's happening to who (and when!) when there is sich an epic scale. Without making notes of my own, or reading someone else's I don't feel like I'm getting the best reading experience out of these books. They're too convoluted for their own good. That's not to say the story isn't enjoyable - it has interesting events and characters.However, subtle references to characters and events of other books undermine that enjoyment. I can see how there's great value in these books for fans willing to immerse themselves in the books enough to pick up on all of this information, but for someone reading the books as published and not re-reading the previous novels it can become a bit wearing.
All in all an enjoyable novel in a series I have trouble handling the scope of. 7.5/10.

Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde (MMPB B Format, June 2005)
The 4th offering in Fforde's Thursday Next series, this book wraps up several of the loose plot threads from the previous novels and is just as clever as its previous offerings. It doesn't require as much literary knowledge as its predecessor, The Well of Lost Plots.
The book details the return to the real world of Thursday Next and her ensuing adventures as she attempts to help Hamlet deal with his emotional issues, have her eradicated husband returned to her and prevent the Goliath corporation from taking over the world. There's plenty of good jokes to do with prophecy due to the return of a prophetic saint from the 16th century, who steals the show in his appearances during the novel.
Some of the previous plot lines seem a little glossed over in their handling here - I believe they probably should have been wrapped up in the novels they started in rather than here. As is though, Fforde has now set a stable base from which independant Next novels may now be written.

It's a quick, light, enjoyable read but I wonder if these books will lose their novelty. 7/10.