Reading in January 2012

I finished Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovich, one of the best supernatural urban mysteries I've read recently. Police Constable Peter Grant worked much better for me as the main character than the 2000 year old Iron Druid (the other debut from 2011 I read recently). His youth, his exotic ethnic background, his street smarts and computer literacy, coupled with his mostly unsuccesful attempts to woe the ladies made him easier to like than the uberpowerful gigolo I already mentioned. Other highlights of this first book in the series are the plot, a true mystery as opposed to a pitched battle with other superheroes, and the clear affection the author holds for the London metropolis, with its rich history, cultural diversity and vibrant night life.

Also finished Swan Song by Robert McCammon. Not as entertaining as The Wolf's Hour, probably due to the apocalytic setting that was extremely well rendered. His characterization may be unidimensional, but for me the author has confirmed his ability to keep the plot under control and to write gripping action sequences. Quite a fast read for such a bulky novel, and I believe at least as good as The Stand.

next in line, I think, Among Others by Jo Walton.
 
Rob B said:
I read this a few years back and thought it brilliant, emotional, powerful, sublime and disturbing. One of the better and more realistic fantasy novels I've ever read.
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Never heard of The Toothfairy - but going to put it on my TBR pile now - sounds interesting.
 
algernoninc said:
I finished Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovich, one of the best supernatural urban mysteries I've read recently. Police Constable Peter Grant worked much better for me as the main character than the 2000 year old Iron Druid (the other debut from 2011 I read recently). His youth, his exotic ethnic background, his street smarts and computer literacy, coupled with his mostly unsuccesful attempts to woe the ladies made him easier to like than the uberpowerful gigolo I already mentioned. Other highlights of this first book in the series are the plot, a true mystery as opposed to a pitched battle with other superheroes, and the clear affection the author holds for the London metropolis, with its rich history, cultural diversity and vibrant night life.
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Nice summary. I really liked this too, so much so that I voted for it in the 2011 Best Reads thread.
 
Finished Storm Front this afternoon. Here are a few quick thoughts on it:

- A fun, super easy read. Great for kicking back, relaxing out on the patio and devouring over the course of an afternoon.
- Butcher does a good job of mixing in the supernatural, while not losing the feeling that this is still happening in our current day and age. While Harry Potter technically mixed both, I feel Dresden easily trumps it in this regard.
- Characters could use a little work and become more likeable. I like Harry Dresden well enough I suppose, but a lot of the secondary characters lacked a lot of depth and the villian was both predictable and weak. I am hoping this improves as the series continues.
- There were times when I felt that either Butcher was intentionally crutching his own writing to be more universally appealing or is just a mediocre writer. Assuming it is the former, it is hard to be critical of the decision itself as obviously the series is pretty successful. Nothing wrong with just having a fun popcorn book anyhow.


algernoninc said:
I finished Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovich, one of the best supernatural urban mysteries I've read recently. Police Constable Peter Grant worked much better for me as the main character than the 2000 year old Iron Druid (the other debut from 2011 I read recently). His youth, his exotic ethnic background, his street smarts and computer literacy, coupled with his mostly unsuccesful attempts to woe the ladies made him easier to like than the uberpowerful gigolo I already mentioned. Other highlights of this first book in the series are the plot, a true mystery as opposed to a pitched battle with other superheroes, and the clear affection the author holds for the London metropolis, with its rich history, cultural diversity and vibrant night life.
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Sounds pretty sweet. Will give it a spin sometime.
 
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MattNY said:
Finished Storm Front this afternoon. Here are a few quick thoughts on it:

- A fun, super easy read. Great for kicking back, relaxing out on the patio and devouring over the course of an afternoon.
- Butcher does a good job of mixing in the supernatural, while not losing the feeling that this is still happening in our current day and age. While Harry Potter technically mixed both, I feel Dresden easily trumps it in this regard.
- Characters could use a little work and become more likeable. I like Harry Dresden well enough I suppose, but a lot of the secondary characters lacked a lot of depth and the villian was both predictable and weak. I am hoping this improves as the series continues.
- There were times when I felt that either Butcher was intentionally crutching his own writing to be more universally appealing or is just a mediocre writer. Assuming it is the former, it is hard to be critical of the decision itself as obviously the series is pretty successful. Nothing wrong with just having a fun popcorn book anyhow.
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They get progressively better as the series goes on too.
 
Going back to Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series with Dragonfly Falling.
 
I read The Tiger's Wife. Pretty impressive novel, especially for a debut. Obreht's prose is quite lovely, and I felt like all my senses were engaged on each page. She wove multiple narrative threads well, too. All in all, great stuff.

Can't wait to see what the future holds for this writer.
 
PeteMC said:
Currently reading Den of Thieves by David Chandler, who I will admit I've never heard of. In all honestly I only picked the book up in the first place because the cover is the same cool "parchment-with-stuff-on-it" design as the nicer Abercrombie editions but... it's really good!
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Nearly finished the second one of these now - daft but good fun. I've got to say though, it's been a long time since I've bought anything from a proper publisher that's had this many typos and misprints in it!
 
Just finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, I was quite surprised by how much I actually liked it. It was my third attempt at reading it and I'm glad I finally did. My next book will be Knife of Dreams, the 11th book in the WoT series by Robert Jordan, can't wait I love this series.
 
Bob Gray said:
Just finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, I was quite surprised by how much I actually liked it. It was my third attempt at reading it and I'm glad I finally did. My next book will be Knife of Dreams, the 11th book in the WoT series by Robert Jordan, can't wait I love this series.
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I am glad you kept with it and ended up finding so much value in it. I was quite taken with it when I read it a few years ago. I have been wanting to go back to it at some point, but I haven't made a good enough dent on my 'to read' list to justify going back to a long read such as 'Strange'.
 
Finished 11/22/63 over a period of a couple of days. I thought the "reset" concept was interesting but Ken Grimwood did it better in Replay, and with more heart (and fewer pages).

King just doesn't do it for me anymore.
 
MattNY said:
I am glad you kept with it and ended up finding so much value in it. I was quite taken with it when I read it a few years ago. I have been wanting to go back to it at some point, but I haven't made a good enough dent on my 'to read' list to justify going back to a long read such as 'Strange'.
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Me, too. I really enjoyed Clarke's leisurely but very thorough and rigorous approach to fantasy, and her prose worked wonders for me, as well.

Randy M.
 
Sometimes I think you just have to be in the right mood to read certain books. The first couple of times I tried to read it I had a hard time with the language and footnotes. This time around for some reason it just clicked with me, altering my mind helped a bit too.;)
 
Just finished The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker.

Considering this is the author’s debut novel, I was impressed with the organization of the chapters and how the story unfolded throughout the book. The novel is intelligently written and I was intrigued with the many psychological and philosophical themes present.

Nevertheless, I was not too crazy about this book. I found it boring at times with some scenes filled with too much exposition. I prefer to be shown what is happening as opposed to predominately being told. Although the characters felt real, I could not bring myself to care about what happens to any of them. This makes it difficult for me to enjoy a novel.

Furthermore, I was disappointed with the portrayal of women. I am not just referring to how the female characters were cast. Anything described as being derogatory, weak, scheming, and needy is frequently referred to as womanish, girlish, etc. It is Bakker’s book and he definitely has the right to build his world as he sees fit. Unfortunately, parts of it to me are disturbing.

Overall, I like Bakker’s prose and appreciate an intelligent read. I wish I could say the same for the story and its cast of characters.
 
Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow.

Any description of Sharp
Teeth sounds improbable, makes you think it should
not work.
But it does.

L.A.
Werewolves
Werewolves in packs
Pack warfare
A love story
A cop on the trail
A crime boss
All written in blank verse.

I’m amazed, but it held me to the end and delivered. When you get past the verse layout, it reads like a good crime novel by someone like Elmore Leonard or Lawrence Block. And what I found really appealing was how many of the characters, major and minor, Barlow gave interior lives – it’s not all about action, sometimes the characters think, and Barlow is very good at summarizing those thoughts in concise, memorable lines, and evocative images.


Randy
M.
 
I finished Among Thieves, I like it, it was a pretty cool read, not up there with something like Locke Lamora, but still pretty good. I'd like to see where it goes.
Started on the third Chathrand Voyage book, River of Shadows.

Oh man, I've noticed a ton of books on Amazon that I haven't seen or heard of. There's a new flood.
 
Well, I just got back from a non-genre reading venture. After reading a few non-fiction works, and The Man Who Knew Too Much by Chesterton, I'm back into the swing of things.

Started The Hedgewitch Queen by Lilith Saintcrow the other night. According to my Kobo I'm 38% of the way in. I'm enjoying it thus far. It reads like a fantastic romance, but it's a good one. I'm having a great time internally yelling at the heroine for being a thickheaded, blind moron at not noticing the obvious. At the same time, I think that her obliviousness fits her character and that the avenues of her thinking make sense within her context.
 
Randy M. said:
Sharp Teeth by Toby Barlow.

Any description of Sharp
Teeth sounds improbable, makes you think it should
not work.
But it does.

L.A.
Werewolves
Werewolves in packs
Pack warfare
A love story
A cop on the trail
A crime boss
All written in blank verse.

I’m amazed, but it held me to the end and delivered. When you get past the verse layout, it reads like a good crime novel by someone like Elmore Leonard or Lawrence Block. And what I found really appealing was how many of the characters, major and minor, Barlow gave interior lives – it’s not all about action, sometimes the characters think, and Barlow is very good at summarizing those thoughts in concise, memorable lines, and evocative images.


Randy
M.
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Sounds intriguing. I will have to look more into this.
 
I finished The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett. It was okay; a bit dated and not particularly funny, but not without some charm.

Moving onto a book I've had sitting around for a while: The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. It's funny; I read The Name of the Wind when it came out and loved it. My feelings about it have mellowed since I read it, but I was still really looking forward to this sequel. When TWMF came out I bought it almost immediately, but I put off reading it. I put this down to the size of the book; I just don't have the time read these doorstops since my daughter was born. However, all the end-of-year love TWMF has received, particularly from Rob and Mark in the end of year review, has rekindled my interest and I'm diving in.
 
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