December Addendum - best and worst of 2003

[DrBloodmoney1]

I'm considering my choices as they stand. So far my top choices for the year are:
The Anvil of the World by Kage Baker
The Darkness that Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker
A Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque by Jeffrey Ford
The Etched City by KJ Bishop
The Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King
The Tain by China Mieville


that's off the top of my head.

I just picked up Knight by Gene Wolfe. It was supposed to be released in January, but it came out a little early. So it is going to fit into the 2003 category. Once I read it I might be forced to shelve all of the other choices.

I'll get back to this thread after I go over my list for the year.

DrB

 

[FicusFan]

Hobbit:

The Avengers were on TV here too in the 60's. Not sure the show was carried everywhere in the US, but it was enough to make Diana Rigg a star here. Her replacement never caught on.

I can't say Thursday ever reminded me of Emma Peel. TN seems a mousy doormat for the first book, though I loved it despite that flaw. she was better done in the next 2. But even though I am a fan I was not wild about The Well of Lost Plots : too much set up, for too little pay off (actual story). Still I am hopeful for the next one.


Dr. B:

I just finished The Knight , I have had an ARC hanging around for a couple of months. I found it to be very frustrating, and lacking in focus and a continuous story thread. I had to force myself to keep reading a few pages here and there. Then just past the mid point there is about 100 pages or so where it becomes a riveting and magnificent story, but then he (GW) wanders off again. Very stream of consciousness. Each chapter is almost like what the POV character, a medieval version of a super hero (but well characterized), did on his odd summer vaction.

Not sure if that style is what you were expecting from GW. I have read 6 of his books, but they were all from earlier in his career (1-4 of the New Sun, 2 Soldier books). I did notice a big improvement in his writing from those I read before. But am not wild about the flitting.

 

[FicusFan]

Well in answer to Hobbit's query:

I would have to say that nothing really jumps out at me as being as good as last year. I read several really memorable fantasy books in 2002: Bold as Love (UK) by Gwyneth Jones, The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman, The Standing Dead (UK) by Ricardo Pinto, Lost in a Good Book (UK) by Jasper Fforde.

Older books that were excellent reads in 2002:

The Year of the Warrior by Lars Walker, the first two books of George R.R. Martin's ASOIF , and Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

This year I dont really think anything I read, rose to the same level. Those that came close:

New in 2003:

Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure by Storm Constantine
Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley and John Dickinson

Older books that were good reads in 2003:

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling
The Mount by Carol Emshwiller

Funniest Book I read this year:

Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About by Mil Millington. Not a genre book, but very surreal and absolutely hysterical.

Books that I really disliked this year:

The Scar by China Mieville,
Faerie Tale by Raymond Feist
Dawnthief by James Barclay
Fat White Vampire Blues by Andrew Fox

In terms of what I am really looking forward to in 2004:

Ricardo Pinto to finish the last book of the Stone Dance of the Chameleons trilogy. Jasper Forde's next Thursday Next, LKH's next Anita Blake (so I can feel the joy equivalent to sticking a fork in my eyeball - but I can't help myself I must read them until the end). Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon going into PB - all my others are small and I refuse to get a large size one. The next George R.R. Martin
ASOIF , though I have to read the third one still.

I am sure there are other books I am waitng for in 2004, but that is all I remember for now.

 

[Homesick Alien]

Doc - I should have mentioned A Portrait of Mrs Charbuque which of course was only released in the UK and Commonwealth this year (but ordered to US edition in 2002). Probably would just pip Veniss Underground for me if I'd read it this year.

Ficus - Didn't like The Scar? I have to admit, I found the first part of the book somewhat weak structurally, but as the book went on, and Miéville's imagination took flight, the marvels presented for the reader were more than enough to overcome the earlier deficiencies. It would probably feature in my best books of 2002.

 

[FicusFan]

Originally posted by Homesick Alien
Ficus - Didn't like The Scar? I have to admit, I found the first part of the book somewhat weak structurally, but as the book went on, and Miéville's imagination took flight, the marvels presented for the reader were more than enough to overcome the earlier deficiencies. It would probably feature in my best books of 2002.

Alien -

No I thought the whole thing was pretty terrible. It was very badly paced: horribly slow. It was very uneven in terms of the flow of the story. You would get something interesting going on, and some story momentum, and then it would dissipate. Up and down, up and down.

Most of the characters were repellant, cliched, and very high school (or whatever the UK equivalent is to spoiled, self-absobed, know-it-all smug children pretending to be sophisticated world-weary adults: Bellis is not appalled that the lovers mutilate each other, because she is too sophisticated to be shocked, but she is appalled by the actual raw emotion they display, which is of course not cool, and cool is all that matters). Other than Tanner and Sheck (the kid who was his friend- can't remember his name) none of them had any juice in them. I didn't care about them, and didn't want to spend time with them.

The armada and the ocean were pretty much empty and basically sterile. Once you leave the Kray city you might as well be in a desert. Think back to New Crobuzon and how packed with life and oddities it was. The underside of the Armada should have been encrusted with life and strange communities - but it was empty.

I thought the device the spy (can't remember his name) used to move around and be invisible everywhere was a massive cheat on the part of the author. It was a magic wand (deus ex machina) that allowed him to ignore the rules, without coming up with an actual plot that incorporated his behavior into the story.

Then there was the stuff he 'borrowed' from others:
I think he got some of his vampire stuff from Brian Lumley's vamps, and the 'possibility' angle was just one of the theories of the effects of time travel on reality, tailored for a fantasy setting. I realize most ideas are recycled, but he didn't do a good job, to me anyway, of blending it in, and removing his finger prints.

Some of this CM may have done on purpose, for some effect he was trying for, or point he was trying to make -- but because that was almost all there was to the novel: I didn't care what happened, or about the characters (Tanner and Sack (?) excepted) I just wanted it to end.

I will check out his next one, but if it doesn't grab me at the start like PSS did, I will give it a pass.

 

[Homesick Alien]

Originally posted by FicusFan


Alien -

No I thought the whole thing was pretty terrible. It was very badly paced: horribly slow. It was very uneven in terms of the flow of the story. You would get something interesting going on, and some story momentum, and then it would dissipate. Up and down, up and down.

Like I said Ficus, I thought it was big down at the start, but then up and up from there. I certainly don't rate it as highly as PSS, and though I find a lot of truth in a few of your criticisms, I totally disagree with you on many counts. But as that over-used adage goes, "each to their own." I'm disapointed that such a erudite reader of sff, as I know you are, feels like this about such a wonderful book, but I can see you're beyond convincing. Though, IMO, Miéville has yet to write his best book. Hopefully this will be The Iron Council.

 

[FicusFan]

I will check out Iron Council, but if it looks like another Scar I will leave it in the store.

Now reading the Fantasy Materwork compilation Virconium by M. John HArrison, since you were raving so much about Light (which I also have, but I wanted to read his earlier stuff first). Don't know if I will finish it in 2003, but if so will definitely add it to by best of 2003 in the Older books catagory.

I should also add a favorite that I missed the first time somehow:

New book (at least it went into TP in 2003)

Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn -- wonderful tale with unexpected twists, told in spare yet lyrical prose. Didn't think the second book was as good, not that it was awful, it just was so-so.

 

[Homesick Alien]

Originally posted by FicusFan
Now reading the Fantasy Materwork compilation Virconium(sic) by M. John HArrison, since you were raving so much about Light (which I also have, but I wanted to read his earlier stuff first). Don't know if I will finish it in 2003, but if so will definitely add it to by best of 2003 in the Older books catagory.

Viriconium Nights was one of my formative reading experiences during adolescence. In Viriconium is easily one of my top 10 favourite books of all time. The earlier novels, The Pastel City and A Storm of Wings have not aged well in my opinion, but still pretty good. M. John Harrison is one of my heroes -- how's that for raving? Glad you're enjoying them, Ficus...

 

[Iskaral Pust]

I have just finished The Standing Dead by Ricardo Pinto and have to say that, right at the end, I have a new favourite book of this year. It was simply awesome. The novel is horrifing and endearing in equal measures. Sometimes I literally had to pluck up the courage to read the next chapter, because I could guess what was going to happen, and didn't like it. It is shocking, not in the same way as Martin's casual brutality is, but on a much more profound level. It is also one of the most original and detailed fantasy worlds I have ever read. The finale of this trilogy is easily one of my most highly anticipated books.

Worst Book: Elder Gods by David Eddings

 

[FicusFan]

Originally posted by Iskaral Pust
I have just finished The Standing Dead by Ricardo Pinto and have to say that, right at the end, I have a new favourite book of this year. [snip] The finale of this trilogy is easily one of my most highly anticipated books.

We may be waiting a long time .Ricardo Pinto Web Site

He said something like he started the work for book 3 in April 2002. In June 2003 he had completed his roadmap for book 3, and then he could actually start the writing, which shouldn't take long. That was his last entry.

I also wanted to add a book that I disliked in 2003:

The Druid King by Norman Spinrad

I gave up 3/4 of the way through so it wasn't on my read list. I didn't like his writing, how he portrayed the main character, or mostof their world, and the end started to get disconnected and weird. I also couldn't face watching the POV character die, so I bagged the book.