Reading in December 2008

Well I just finished "Princeps' Fury" the latest in the Codex Alera series. I have to say I loved it. Now I have to wait a year for the last one in the series. Left a lot of hanging threads.
After going through my TBR pile I have decided to go with Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. At least it is a finished trilogy and I have only heard good things about this series.
 
finished "The Etched City" by K J "whatever" ,and it will definitely go into my "Best of 2008" list. This book made me wish to revisit Gabriel Garcia Marques, it's been a long time since I last picked up one of his books. I don't want to feed the flames of the controversy about hidden intensities, but I found one more similarity between Bishop and Parker, namely the presence of a fencer-at-law from both authors. must be an appealing concept.

I've also plowed through "The Way of Shadows" over the weekend, to see what all the buzz was about - it was entertaining, while not an eye opener, and with lots of plot holes and clunky style. But a good storyteller is not something to sneer at, and I see potential for improvement, once the author tones down the uber-skills of his main heroes. I'll continue with book two, as i need something not too taxing on my attention.
 
Aurian said:
(I also get the thought of you waiting years for a trilogy or series to finish, buy the lot and discover that you don't like the author. Oops).
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Why would I buy the lot? Just the first book. If I like it, then I order the second while I am in the middle of the first, etc. When I finish to read the first book, I don't have to wait an infinite amount of time for the next book...maybe 1 year, maybe 3...by then I would forget what happened in the first book...and this feeling, when you finish the first book and want to know what is going to happen ....and be denied this luxury for completely unpredictable period time...brrr...
 
I am half way through "The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 18" and I am liking it so far. I usually get a lot of mixed feelings when I read an anthology, but this one is well selected with a majority of interesting and good stories.
One of my favorite reads of this year is "The Warded Man" ("The Painted Man"). I had the opportunity to make an interview with Peter V. Brett which made me add his upcoming sequel high on my reading list for 2009.
I moved up in my TBR "Captain Alatriste". I saw the movie last night and it was quite good. Now, I read some of the novels of Arturo Perez-Reverte and he is a very good writer and I am convinced that his Alatriste novels must be better than the movie.
 
Finished Beyond the Shadows by Weeks. On the whole, I liked the series and found the finale to be fine. I would add any future offering by Weeks to the "buy" pile. Also finished Last Sword of Power, by Gemmell. Now I'm beginning Wolf in Shadow, Gemmell's first Jon Shannow book.

I think I'm going to move onto the Chronicles of Amber once I've finished the Sipstrassi/Stones of Power set by Gemmell.
 
The Painted/Warded Man by Peter V Brett. Nice take on out fear of night and darkness. Good writing, thoughtful story, engaging characters. MUCH better than The Way of Shadows.
 
Siberian said:
The Painted/Warded Man by Peter V Brett. Nice take on out fear of night and darkness. Good writing, thoughtful story, engaging characters. MUCH better than The Way of Shadows.
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Have it on pre-order with Amazon and am excited for it to be released (in the States).
 
I finished Gears of the City by F. Gilman. I put more impressions in the Thunderer thread, link below.

Gears of the City was a novel I had very high expectations about and not only delivered but surpassed them. There is a lot of sense of wonder in this novel and the pages turned on by themselves. I need to reread it at least once to fully savor it and it definitely stakes a claim at a top 09 novel for me.

Thunderer somehow marked a claim on the boundary of the New Weird and traditional epic, but this one goes in deep New Weird territory. Excellent novel.

More impressions including some (marginal - blurb like) spoilers here:

http://sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?p=500068#post500068
 
PeterWilliam said:
Have it on pre-order with Amazon and am excited for it to be released (in the States).
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Definitely is a recommendation. It is a very good book.
I am waiting for my copy of "The Way of the Shadows". The first one was lost by the postal service :(
 
suciul said:
Gears of the City was a novel I had very high expectations about and not only delivered but surpassed them. There is a lot of sense of wonder in this novel and the pages turned on by themselves. I need to reread it at least once to fully savor it and it definitely stakes a claim at a top 09 novel for me.[
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This is great news. Thunderer was my top fantasy read of 2008 and I can't wait to read Gears of the City.
 
Siberian said:
The Painted/Warded Man by Peter V Brett. Nice take on out fear of night and darkness. Good writing, thoughtful story, engaging characters. MUCH better than The Way of Shadows.
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I liked The Painted Man a lot too and I am looking forward to its 09 sequel Desert Spear, but it's a different kind of book than Way of Shadows, epic fantasy that goes to the New Weird border, so I am very curious how it will go forward, same, more traditional epic, more into New Weird...

Night Angel/Way of Shadows is just a by the numbers epic and with some really cheesy writing here and there in the 2000+ pages, but it was such a page turner for me and in my opinion it has such a narrative pull that I can easily overlook tons of failings that otherwise would annoy me. I rarely can read 2000 pages of the same author in a short time, but Night Angel left me eager for more and I would have read 2000 pages more were they available.
 
suciul said:
I liked The Painted Man a lot too and I am looking forward to its 09 sequel Desert Spear, but it's a different kind of book than Way of Shadows, epic fantasy that goes to the New Weird border, so I am very curious how it will go forward, same, more traditional epic, more into New Weird...
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Can you tell me what 'New Weird' is?

suciul said:
Night Angel/Way of Shadows is just a by the numbers epic and with some really cheesy writing here and there in the 2000+ pages, but it was such a page turner for me and in my opinion it has such a narrative pull that I can easily overlook tons of failings that otherwise would annoy me. I rarely can read 2000 pages of the same author in a short time, but Night Angel left me eager for more and I would have read 2000 pages more were they available.
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Agreed. Will probably pick up his next additions. I saw an interview in which he states he will be venturing back into that world.
 
suciul said:
I liked The Painted Man a lot too and I am looking forward to its 09 sequel Desert Spear, but it's a different kind of book than Way of Shadows, epic fantasy that goes to the New Weird border, so I am very curious how it will go forward, same, more traditional epic, more into New Weird...

Night Angel/Way of Shadows is just a by the numbers epic and with some really cheesy writing here and there in the 2000+ pages, but it was such a page turner for me and in my opinion it has such a narrative pull that I can easily overlook tons of failings that otherwise would annoy me. I rarely can read 2000 pages of the same author in a short time, but Night Angel left me eager for more and I would have read 2000 pages more were they available.
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It was a page turner, if nothing else. It's just that there was absolutely nothing new for me in it so I'm not interested in continuing the series when there're so many more potentially better books out there just waiting for me :)

I compared The Way of the Shadows with The Painted Man because both books feature a coming of age story but I found Brett's to be a superior effort.
 
PeterWilliam said:
Can you tell me what 'New Weird' is?
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New Weird is China Mieville, KJ Bishop, F. Gilman, E Sedia - check the table of contents of the New Weird anthology by J/A Vandermeer and see more authors.


Alternate World Fantasy but more urban by and large or sometimes "western like setting, deserts or prairie", no castles, princes and such, more grotesque, more weirdness, more "phantasm" like quality, less straightforward plot, less b&W characters...

C. Mieville's commercial success made it into a fantasy subgenre.

While Painted Man was in some ways a traditional fantasy with coming of age, prophecies and such, it also had a definite New Weird vibe to me.
 
PeterWilliam said:
Can you tell me what 'New Weird' is?
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From Wikipedia:
Wikipedia said:
...despite this confusion, the introduction to the New Weird anthology edited by Jeff VanderMeer and Ann VanderMeer, published by Tachyon Publications in February 2008, claims a specific definition for New Weird that clarifies the issue considerably:
New Weird is a type of urban, secondary-world fiction that subverts the romanticized ideas about place found in traditional fantasy, largely by choosing realistic, complex real-world models as the jumping off point for creation of settings that may combine elements of both science fiction and fantasy. New Weird has a visceral, in-the-moment quality that often uses elements of surreal or transgressive horror for its tone, style, and effects — in combination with the stimulus of influence from New Wave writers or their proxies (including also such forebears as Mervyn Peake and the French/English Decadents). New Weird fictions are acutely aware of the modern world, even if in disguise, but not always overtly political. As part of this awareness of the modern world, New Weird relies for its visionary power on a "surrender to the weird" that isn't, for example, hermetically sealed in a haunted house on the moors or in a cave in Antarctica. The "surrender" (or "belief") of the writer can take many forms, some of them even involving the use of postmodern techniques that do not undermine the surface reality of the text.
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Part of this genre's roots derive from pulp horror authors, whose stories were sometimes described as "weird fiction".[citation needed] The "weird tale" label also evolved from the magazine Weird Tales; the stories therein stories often combined fantasy elements, existential and physical terror, and science fiction devices.
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Or, the Snarky answer.;)
 
LOL. I love the Snarky answer... I think we need that for a signature... if we allowed them, that is. :D

OK: Currently reading lots of SF. But liking some M R James for Christmas.

Mark / Hobbit
 
Finished reading The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies.

While I loved Lies, Red Seas was an absolute chore to read. The book just seemed to go nowhere so very, very slowly and only picked up again at the very end.
 
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Toma said:
Finished reading The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies.

While I loved Lies, Red Seas was an absolutely chore to read. The book just seemed to go nowhere so very, very slowly and only picked up again at the very end.
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I guess the same can be said here - I'm still halfway through red seas (for the last month and a half but my attention wanders- so many decent short stories out there.

Anyway, I'm on a Lovecraft phase at the mo. Currently being drawn into the mystery of Leiber's The Dealings of Daniel Kesserich http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dealings-Da...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229379784&sr=8-1http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dealings-Da...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229379784&sr=8-1.
 
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