Reading in December 2008

[mjolnir]

I finished Richard Morgan's The Steel Remains the other day. I was hoping to put together some extended impressions of the book, but they're taking too long to write out. Basically I enjoyed it very much. In fact, despite having dug Morgan's three Kovacs cyberthrillers and Black Man to a slightly lesser extent, I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed it. The plot combines a tight focus and an almost noire-esque feel, -- the main character spends much of the book trying to track down a missing person, -- with much broader events, and glimpses of even more wide-canvas struggles both past and to come. I found this mixture wonderfully successful; it gives us both tight character-driven goodness and vivid glimpses of world-building. The characters are quite well done as well, though one of the povs unavoidably enjoys the lion's share of development. They share some of the world-weary, cynical badassery to be found in characters in some other recent gritty alternate realm epics, but, [in my opinion, and this can certainly be disputed], stand on their own both in the gritty, weather-beaten department, and in the sense that some of them have an unexpectedly wide streak of genuine heroism running under all that grime. The novel plays with fantasy tropes in interesting ways, ranging from using certain genre staples as social commentary and or footballs for the vigorous kicks thereof, all the way to approaching some of fantasy's oldest borrowings from myth from what looks like a science-fictional tack. So far as the deep strain of cynicism running through the book, [the treatment of war, the piling of dirt on the notion of the knight-in-shining-armor, etc], The Steel Remains really did remind me of Joe Abercrombie's The First Law. There are certainly differences; [Morgan's world and plot is more overtly fantastical, for one, and grapples with / reshapes more of fantasy's standard species as a result]; but this is a bad place to parce those fascinating differences. Suffice to say that, while I do think that Morgan and Abercrombie are approaching epic fantasy in similar ways, I don't really see why that's a problem because they're both doing a cracking good job. Roll on The Cold Commands.

I'm also getting close to done with Gregory Frost's Lord Tophet, the second half of his novel Shadowbridge. Odd duology this: I think it's got enough flaws in pacing and prose to keep it off many best of year type lists, but it's ideas and the manner in which it glides, [or sometimes careens], from one sort of storytelling to another really do make it extraordinary.
________
FORD DEL RIO SPECIFICATIONS

 

[BrightStar]

WEAK! Too Weak! Many books take at least 50 pages to get good. Heroes Die is one of them. Strap yourself to that chair and read that if that is what it takes!

Ouch. You sure told me.
Seriously though, is Heroes Die part of a series or a standalone? I know 50 pages might not be entirely fair to the book, but I did feel that I aught to have developed an interest for the character and his cause by this point. I really found the concept to be quite interesting, sure, but I just didn't feel the execution was all that great.

... I'm reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and it's the first of yet another unfinished multiple-book series--Arrrrrrrrrgggggghh!!! I promised myself that after reading Asoiaf, Wot,and Donaldson in the last 18 months, I would stick ONLY ONLY ONLY to series that were finished.

I'm making an effort to do the same thing, too. For me, two to three years between a book is just TOO long to wait. I oftentimes forget completely about the series when the wait does finally end, and if I don't forget to pick up the next in the series when it does come out, I'm often struggling to remember what happened previously.

I appreciate the notion that it's important to support author's, but the point is that if the books end up being relleased so far apart from each other, then I'm not going to be supporting them anyways --- because I've forgotten the series even existed at all! I read Carol Berg's Lighthouse Duology as it was released, so I DO buy newly released book one's, but it was only under the knowledge that the publishers intended to release book two just over a year later (I think it was perhaps much less than that).

At the moment, I am eagerly awaiting book four of Tairen Soul to be released. I loved the first two, and already know that I'm getting book three for Christmas. But I probably won't finish up the series until book four is out (or at least a few days away from release. This is a series that I find to be a particular page-turner for me, and I just can't stand to become so engrossed in the world, only to reach the end and have to wait. Again. I can't wait to finish it, and the waiting (knowing that book three is out now!) is sometimes a bit maddening. Lucky I have so much else on my to-read list so I just keep myself occupied with other things for now.

I'm still reading Luck in the Shadows at the moment. And not particularly enjoying it very much. Got to page 90, just kinda finding it to be a bit dull. Liking the characters though, which is the only thing keeping me reading at this point, really. Not sure if I want to bother reading the rest of the series. Hoping it gets better, as I've been expecting to read and enjoy ALL of this series since I first heard about it a couple of years back.

 

[Gilgamesh]

I'm halfway through A Game Of Thrones and it's been awesome so far... I shouldn't have waited that long to read it...

 

[Apathy]

Ouch. You sure told me.
Seriously though, is Heroes Die part of a series or a standalone? I know 50 pages might not be entirely fair to the book

Heroes Die did take a little bit to get into. But judging the book from 50 pages is way too hasty. Finish it and if you still hate it, then there is nothing I can say. But I do not think you will.

There are three books of the Caine series out currently. I personally liked the second book of Caine the best so far (the Blade of Tyshalle).

 

[Apathy]

Read Matthew Stover's Shatterpoint and the book is pretty damn awesome. I really liked the main character (not much of a surprise there), and how dissimilar and similar he is to Caine. I never expected to get into another Star Wars book after The Rule of Two series. Neither did I expect the quality of this one. Perhaps I should have because it is written by Matthew Stover. This one cannot be blown off as just another Star Wars book.

Instead of dwelling on the dark side of the force as many of these authors do, Stover instead dwells on what is right, or necessary, and which he should perform. I loved how the main character dwells on such things. The action scenes were great as well.

A very good book that left me satisfied, even though my satisfaction tinged sour, since I already know what happens later on in the timeline.


EDIT: Err. how can I delete a message? I posted this to the wrong section.

 

[Zsinj]

Couldn't make it through Naomi Novik's Temeraire Series. There was just something about it that didn't sit right with me.
Right now I am reading "Redwall" by Brian Jacques, which I can't seem to put down, and book one in Eric Nielsen's "Haakon Series", "Haakon and the Golden Axe."

 

[Gilgamesh]

I usually read a book half way through before deciding to stop or to carry on. Thanks to the online recommendations and a few friends, I haven't wasted much time. The last book I didn't finished, as far as I remember, was Ricardo Pinto's "The Chosen" and this was a few years ago. Thinking back, I was probably in a strange mood anyway, which didn't make it easier to read.

Edit: I just saw that Pinto is finally releasing the third instalment of his trilogy. The second book got much better reviews that the first one. I'll see how the third one does. How knows? I might just decide to read the whole trilogy later .

 

[Zsinj]

I usually read a book half way through before deciding to stop or to carry on.

Yeah, I reached the halfway point on "Temeraire: His Majesty's Dragon" before I quit. Call me unoriginal, but I guess I don't like the use of dragons in a non-medievalish setting.

 

[Gilgamesh]

Call me unoriginal, but I guess I don't like the use of dragons in a non-medievalish setting.

Heh hee! I'm probably similar. I don't like them if they're the master piece in a story. I don't mind them if they are accessories to embellish the story.

 

[blailock]

I just started Fevre Dream by GRRM. I've heard good things, so I'm looking forward to it.

 

[rsullivan9597]

Just finished

I just finished Mistborn - I liked it quite a bit though I thought the pacing could have been better -- It "wrapped" up really fast I wish it was a bit more even on that front. But I'm pretty critical on pacing so I'm probably just being hypersensative.

I'm reading StarDust now - my first Neil Gaiman - I'm having a bit of a problem "getting into" this one - we'll see how it goes.

I got Name of the Wind from the library - Need to start sinking my teeth into that one.

 

[suciul]

I finished The Devil in the Dust - Outremer 1/6 (US) or .5/3(UK) by Chaz Brenchley and I enjoyed it a lot so I am reading the second book (or second half if we go by the UK trilogy setup) The Tower of the King's Daughter.

More of a setup though it has some action too, it follows a Crusades like setting, with Outremer, the Ransomer brotherhood, desert and so on, but it has some interesting new elements like the Djinns, the magic Eye_of_the_King, the hidden principality of Surayon...

Marron is a farmer/soldier from the Mainland whose father died as a soldier in Outremer - so he enrolls in the ultra-strict Ransomer Brotherhood and sets sail for the Outrmeer. His first taste of how the things are truly there is set when his troop massacres an innocent village of "heretics" at the command of their Elder, Confessor Piet (!).

Stationed at the outpost fortress of Roq on the Northern border with the former masters of the land, the desert tribes of the Sharai, Marron falls in with the mysterious and seemingly disgraced high noble Sir Anton who is a knight of the Ransomers - the nobility of the Outremer not particularly fond of the strict Brotherhood discipline but envious of its reputation has a deal where they serve for a set time as Knights of the Order subject to a somewhat laxer discipline, allowed wine, entertainment, squires, servants, armor...

However Sir Anton has no squire so taking a shine at Marron's martial abilities he enrolls him as part time squire to the fury of Brother Piet who now seeks the smallest reason to punish Marron when participating in the Brotherhood duties.

Lady Julianne de Ranee is the 16 year old daughter of the King's Shadow, who runs the kingdom in his secluded master's name, though not being of an exalted rank as former squire of the Duke now King by right of conquest, he is despised by the high nobility.

Raised as a semi-hostage in Marasson the capital of the decadent neighboring Byzantine-like Empire, she is sent to marry a nobleman of the northern principality of Outremer, Elessi, where women are veiled and expected to be obedient property like in the Sharai culture, but she is forced to take shelter at Roq until her husband to be sends an escort for her. On her way there she meets a mysterious girl Elisande, seemingly noble too who helps her deal with a Djinn and attaches to her as "lady in waiting".

One atrocity too many for Marron and one Djinn encounter too many for the girls and their path is set to wildly diverge from expectations.

Highly entertaining series so far and a page turner to boot.

 

[Apathy]

Right now I am reading "Redwall" by Brian Jacques, which I can't seem to put down,

AH! I remembered reading a bunchload of those in Middle. I think his first one is his most original and best effort. Pretty much all the rest of the Redwall books are very similar. However, that did not stop me from reading all of them that I could get my hands on though...

 

[suciul]

I finished The Tower of the King's Daughter by C. Brenchley - Outremer 2 (US) or the second half of the book published under the same name in the UK.

I do not know why that splitting decision for the US Ace editions was made since each US book comes under 300 pages, and publishing the trilogy as originally done in the UK in 3 500+ mmpb's would have made more sense.

Anyway the book is fun and continues the adventures of Marron, Julianne, Elisande, sir Anton and the rest and the ending is great.

I am now reading books 3/4 US or the second book of the trilogy - UK/2nd half US Feast of the King's Shadow, while its first half in the US has been named A Dark Way to Glory, while books 5/6 are on their way.

 

[BrightStar]

Heroes Die did take a little bit to get into. But judging the book from 50 pages is way too hasty. Finish it and if you still hate it, then there is nothing I can say. But I do not think you will.

I know that by quitting so soon, there's always the chance that I could be missing out on something extremely good. But I guess I've just had one-too-many experiences of forcing myself to read something I didn't enjoy through to the end out of a fear that I might be "missing out on something" if I don't. Only to fnd my efforts unrewarded and wasted. I read 50 pages of Heroes Die, and realized that I didn't care about the character, or his conflict. Nor did I particularly desire to know what was going to happen next.

I know there are a lot that shudder at the thought of giving up on any title so easily, but I have to admit that I wasn't sorry to abandon Heroes Die to the "resell it at Amazon" pile.

That being said, I'm typically not quite as hasty to abandon a book so abruptly. If I'm at page 50, and not enjoying what I've read so far, then oftentimes I will go and do a bit of extra research on the title in question before "officially" giving up. Although I do rely on reviews and recommendations to help me decide the basis of most of my reading choices, if I'm in the middle of a book and not liking it, I do like to go back to the reviews and read over what those who had less positve things to say about the book have to say. If they note the same issues as I am having, and perhaps even reveal whether the issue improves with time or not, then I'll take their judgement into consideration and may well try to stick it out if I think it hopeful my opinion might change. No review score can be a completely reliable indication of whether the book is going to appeal to EVERY single person that might read it, and generally when I'm deciding on which book to read next, my decions are formed based on the overal opinion of reviewers and the basic concept of the book's storyline/characters/themes.

However. After a recent run of books that I've felt compelled to abandon before the 100th page, I'm currently still sticking it out with Luck in the Shadows. Even though I'm not enjoying it very much at all. And since I'm not really getting into the story all that much right now, my reading at the moment is pretty sparse. I haven't much cared to read more than a chapter or two of it at a time.

 

[PeterWilliam]

Just finished Wolf in Shadow and now onto The Last Guardian.

 

[WyrvenGuard]

if you haven't, read Jeffrey Overstreet. InCREDible! (pronounced in-cred-ee-blay)

 

[Tomau]

However. After a recent run of books that I've felt compelled to abandon before the 100th page, I'm currently still sticking it out with Luck in the Shadows. Even though I'm not enjoying it very much at all. And since I'm not really getting into the story all that much right now, my reading at the moment is pretty sparse. I haven't much cared to read more than a chapter or two of it at a time.

I wasn't that impressed with first book either, but book 2 Stalking Darkness is much better IMO. I prefer Tamir to Nightrunner. Stalking Darkness was easy and entertaining read, nothing that extraordinary, but fun. Book 2 is a lot more grimmer.

I've finished The Warrior-Prophet. I still found difficulty to care for the characters, cause most of them seem to lack any shred of humanity. And I'm constantly hoping for Holy War and Kellhus to fail, but on the other hand I also cheer for them when against Consult, so it's like choosing the lesser of the two evils. Still I think that this books are very good, so I'll pick up its sequel.

I've started Toll the Hounds, which I was waiting to read when I will have some more free time, cause with MBOTF that is sometimes more of a chore than it's a treat, but I'm hoping for the latter.

 

[BrightStar]

I wasn't that impressed with first book either, but book 2 Stalking Darkness is much better IMO. I prefer Tamir to Nightrunner. Stalking Darkness was easy and entertaining read, nothing that extraordinary, but fun. Book 2 is a lot more grimmer.

I really loved the Tamir series, so I'm pretty dissapointed so far with Luck in the Shadows. It just doesn't have the same sense of conflict and depth of characters that I so loved about Tamir.

I think the fact that the Nightrunner series was written by the same author as the Tamir series is the only reason, at this point, that I've been willing to stick with the book. I'm still not much enjoying it, although at least it's a light, easy enough read (perhaps another reason why I've not totally given up yet).

It seems like such a long time since I last read a book I enjoyed. I'm beginning to feel deprived.

 

[sic's mom]

Well I finished "Mistborn: The Final Empire" this morning. I really liked this book and actually gave it to a coworker to read. She has "Elantris" and really enjoyed that so is going to loan it to me. I'm going to start of "Well of Ascension" next and hope I enjoy that one as much as this. I'm just really glad that the trilogy is done so I don't have to wait to see how it will all turn out. I really enjoyed the magic system in this story. Something different and unique. Now I really am looking forward to "A Memory of Light". Although I see rereading that series is going to be my big project of next year