Reading in June 2009

[Loerwyn]

I'm currently plodding through "Wizard and Glass" by Stephen King.

I need to pick it back up sharpish, or I'll forget the plot.

 

[Cranky Hamster]

Well you can check for yourself since Element of Fire is available free online here and in various formats at ManyBooks:

http://www.marthawells.com/eof1-8.htm

I read this and it was ok, a light fast read but not more, while Death which is similar though taking place some hundred(s) years later, kind of bored me too, so I stopped after a while though I may get to it at some point; anyway if EoF is really for you, Death of a Necromancer will be too

Awesome, thanks for the link.

So far I've only read the prologue but it seems smooth and fast-paced. It's especially impressive considering she did this as a first novel when she was 26. Guess I'll be testing out my tolerance for how long I can read a book on a computer screen...

 

[Trinuviel]

I finished Jacqueline Carey's Santa Olivia, a post-apocalyptic Western that turned out to be very very good. Now, I'm well into her other new novel,Naamah's Kiss, which is set in the world of Terre d'Ange a couple of generations after the events of the Kushiel series. So far it is very good.

 

[BrightStar]

Still plodding my way through Death of the Necromancer at the moment, and at this point, I seem to spend more time working out how quickly I can get the thing read with. I still haven't been drawn into the world, its characters or the plot - much as I'd like to be.

There are some nice descriptive scenes, and a few places where things are a quick gruesome, but shock value doesn't really work well on me for very long, and the effect is already wearing off.

I don't really want to start a new book now. Whatever I read is going to end up being put on hold for a while come Saturday, and I know my reading habits well enough to know if that happens, I'll struggle to pick the book back up again. It is better if I can finish DotN, since I need to make about 5 chapters a day in order to finish it by Saturday - this is pretty doable. I'm just not sure whether I can bear to read that much more of it.

I guess I'll read at least chapter seven and eight, and hope that my opinion improves. There were a few minutes where I thought things were beginning to grab my interest, but always such interest seems to loose its grip on me after less than two or three pages.

I was expecting to be really drawn into this book, and am dissapointed that I haven't been.

 

[suciul]

I finished Naamah's Kiss by J. Carey and it was just superb; it has everything you want in a fantasy - great characters, superb world building and the prose just flows smoothly; it is probably the best novel I read in a while in terms of narrative flow and it is my number 1 genre fantasy so far in 2009.

Moirin of the "bear witch" people (the Alban magicians who had a tragic and brutal encounter with Imriel in Kushiel 5), great-grand daughter of Alais and half-Angeline on her father side to boot is sent by her Goddess to find her destiny.

The journey takes her first at the Angeline court. And while raised in the wild and not entering a house until age 12 or so, Moirin adapts well to the opulence of the Angelines as well as to the Naamah customs of which she partakes as it behooves a daughter of a priest of Naamah.

But she has magical powers, small by historical Alban standards but great by current Angeline ones so people with hidden agendas may draw her in.

Later much more happens but no spoilers...

The ending is excellent tying many threads and the book is almost a standalone though the ending is a clear beginning too. The next installment is another asap...

 

[BrightStar]

Decided to give up on Death of the Necromancer. Not too sure what to read next, so going for a change in genre with Time Lottery

 

[beniowa]

A few days ago I finished The City and the City by China Mieville. I'm not really sure how to classify it; fantasy, science fiction, mystery? It's kind of a blend of all three as a homage to mystery fiction in a fantastical setting. The nature of the setting is pretty interesting and thought-provoking.

Next up is Green by Jay Lake.

 

[Cranky Hamster]

So it turns out that the answer to the question "how much of a book do I feel like reading online?" is "about two chapters." I'm going to go ahead and order The Death of the Necromancer from Amazon because it's the cheapest of Wells' books. I like her writing style fine (though I do get the impression from those two chapters of The Element of Fire that the constant action scenes could get tiresome), so if there are other problems I guess I'll find out what those are once the book arrives.

It's weird that all her stuff is out of print, considering most of it's fairly recent and most comparable authors still have their backlists in print. Perhaps I'll have some insight into why this happened once I actually read the book, but for now it just seems very strange to me.

 

[Astra_]

A few days ago I finished The City and the City by China Mieville. I'm not really sure how to classify it; fantasy, science fiction, mystery? It's kind of a blend of all three as a homage to mystery fiction in a fantastical setting. The nature of the setting is pretty interesting and thought-provoking.

Does it have an ending? vs. PSS that had one of the worst?

 

[Luke_B]

Personally I seem to be in a minority here - I've found it hard to warm to this series, though many clearly love it.

Mark

Minority might be right, but you're not alone. Found it hard to warm to the series would be an understatement for me.

Does it have an ending? vs. PSS that had one of the worst?

Of course, that's matter of taste. I thought PSS had a great ending. It was a very noirish ending and made sense in the context of the story - and I can't say much more than that without giving too much away.

I've gone back to try to finish The Warded Man. Almost puked on myself when:

Spoiler

Mery made her mad dash to the gates to tell Arlen how much she loved him, only to find that he had left the city hours earlier.

I've warmed to some of the Arlen chapters, but I'm still finding it hard to see why the book garnered so much favourable praise. I certainly think Brett writes better than Weeks - he's now reached the "meh" on my scale of bad to good. Very softserve vanilla.

 

[mjolnir]

Cranky Hamster Wrote:
Grugh. This fills me with foreboding and woe.

I've had The Way of Shadows sitting around on my TBR pile since forever ago (i.e., at the peak of its buzz when nobody was yet saying "wait a minute this
is really pretty mediocre, wtf"), and while I'd settled my expectations comfortably down to "turn off brain, expect cartoony good fun," now I'm wondering if I ought to go a notch below that.

Meh. I'll still read it -- eventually -- but I'll settle my expectations somewhere firmly south of Michael Bay first.

Personally, ... well, I hate to say it, but I think you might be right to make with that resettling of expectations. Even if not too far south of Michael Bay, -- and your mileage will vary on this point depending on what sorts of things annoy you and how much, -- then certainly in Michael Bay's general vicinity. I would say that the opening sample chapter to The Way of Shadows is fairly representative, though there is some slightly more down to earth stuff early on in the first book whilst our young hero is still a boy living on the streets, and before he meets all the uberfolks and becomes one himself.

Just a couple of the things that get to me:

You know that thing that Hollywood blockbusters do sometimes where they put in a joke that violates the tone and has no purpose and is stupid just because there hasn't been a joke in a while? [New Startrek had a couple.] Weeks does this. It totally flips the story off its groove, and the jokes often sound very modern. And, I mean, the series isn't going for arcane in particular, but still, the modern colloquial expressions stick out. The bad jokes about sex and/or secondary sexual characteristics are the worst but not the only offenders.

When Weeks puts in evil people, they must be the eeeeeevilest evil people, and when there is gore it must be the grimiest grime that ever was grimey. The principle villain in Shadow's Edge kills little girls for fun. He's so evil I bet he even kicks puppies, and we all know that not even Sauron kicked puppies. It's not the violence or the dark material that I object to, -- this is gritty epic and if it's relevant to the story it should be there, -- so much as it is the sense that it is there just to prove how badass the books and the people in them are. Weeks does not do subtle. This no subtlety approach extends to character development as well, which leads to some howlers of moral speeches about finding friendship and love and the true meaning of Christmas.

They're cartoony good fun, and I feel guilty heaping contempt upon them. Because I am not contemptuous of them: I think they're fun. But I think that without the above very significant flaws they would be more successful fun. [Also note that I do not truly *hate* very many books at all.]
________
WENDIE 99

 

[Draxinusom]

I finished Bitterwood a few days ago. I don't really know if it belongs into this section or rather into Sci-Fi, but I'd settle for this one as the fantasy part is more prevalent and the SciFi part rather backstory-ish (and non obvious at the start). I wrote earlier that the first chapter almost weirded me out and after reading the book at least some parts make sense now but still a lot of what is happening in the very first chapter is very disconnected, has no bearing at all to the characterisation (which overall is rather a bit on the weak side in the book but not overly so) and is just plain and simple weird. I liked the story and the setup of the world enough though that I'm going to finish the trilogy, as the final installment should be out next month or so.

Next I just finished Carey's The Devil you Know. Were it not for a hearty recommendation I would not have picked it up, so this is my first contemporary fantasy in a long time. It started rather slow but built up quite well past the middle and ended aptly for such a crime-type book. It also sports a very promising continuation based on the very last chapter and the setup therein. The prose threw me off a bit at the start, as english is not my first (nor second) language and it contains words or idioms I can only guess is localized slang that I saw, but couldn't interprete properly. Some were guessable but not all. This made it a bit harder to get into than was necessary, but in the end it also was part of the world-building. I will follow this series as well, but not right now.

Next up will be Jhereg, which finally arrived and to my surprise I ordered the first three omnibus edition and not the single book.

 

[beniowa]

Does it have an ending? vs. PSS that had one of the worst?

I can't speak for PSS as I haven't read it, but City and the City does have an ending.

Minority might be right, but you're not alone. Found
I've gone back to try to finish The Warded Man. Almost puked on myself when:

Spoiler

Mery made her mad dash to the gates to tell Arlen how much she loved him, only to find that he had left the city hours earlier.

I've warmed to some of the Arlen chapters, but I'm still finding it hard to see why the book garnered so much favourable praise. I certainly think Brett writes better than Weeks - he's now reached the "meh" on my scale of bad to good. Very softserve vanilla.

The book gets better after that. The second half has a bit of darker tone to it though the battle at the climax is a little cheesy.

 

[Luke_B]

I can't speak for PSS as I haven't read it, but City and the City does have an ending.


The book gets better after that. The second half has a bit of darker tone to it though the battle at the climax is a little cheesy.

yeah well I've read well past that. Arlen is now tatooing himself. When does it get better?

 

[NickeeCoco]

So, I finished Pyramid Power by Eric Flint and David Freer. It's a nice, comedic blend of sci-fi and fantasy. I laughed aloud many times.

I also just finished The Stolen Throne by David Gaider. First novel he's ever written. It's a prequel for a video game. It suits its purpose of giving background information about the game universe. Wouldn't call it masterful prose, but it was entertaining enough. . . but only if you're thinking of playing Dragon Age when it comes out.

Next, I'm off to read some sci-fi by Sheri Tepper. The Margarets.

 

[Cranky Hamster]

Arlen is now tatooing himself. When does it get better?

That's pretty much as good as it gets, so if you're not grabbed yet it's safe to say you won't be.

I think I'm going to reread this book before too long to see if it holds up now that I know how the story goes. First time through, the narrative pull totally hooked me. I was happy to overlook the flaws because the story got me so strongly, but on reflection they jumped out a lot more. I'm wondering what effect that'll have on a reread.

It really is an '80s Saturday matinee of a novel: good dumb fun with a lot of troubling subtexts that only (to me, at least) become fully apparent with time, distance, and a more critical eye than such an unabashedly entertainment-centric work perhaps warrants.

 

[Daddy Darth]

I am back to fantasy land though some would argue I spend all my time there. I finished Follett's World Without End last night. I was completely riveted from beginning to end.

But I cant linger b/w books so got back into Carrey's Sundering Duology. Started God Slayer right before bed. I am hoping it finishes strongly b/c I really enjoyed the first part.

 

[Matt_Hazlehurst]

I've recently found time to get back into my reading after several months hiatus due to one thing and another.

I finished Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch last week and I have to say I really enjoyed it. It took me a while to get into it, but I think by the time they finally hit the high seas (around page 250) the book became a real page turner. I really enjoy the way Lynch mixes chapters with interlude chapters looking back into the past, it breaks up the story well and keeps it interesting. Locke and Jean are two really good characters and the plot here is as good as in The Lies of Locke Lamora. The prose is simple and easy to read, its the dialogue that shines the most and it can be quite witty and humorous at times. I agree with what some people have said that the book is quickly wrapped up in the last 30 pages, it was quite a sudden ending. But none the less, it was a really enjoyable read, and I definitely want to carry on reading the series when The Republic of Thieves arrives next year.

Today I finished The Eyes of the Overworld by Jack Vance and I enjoyed this as much as I did the Dying Earth. Vance's prose and vocabulary is a joy to read, very rich and entertaining. I find Cugel very funny to follow, he is such a nasty, selfish person its amusing to see the trouble he gets himself into. Some of the events in the book are just plain bizarre. What really shines is the world building, the setting and the mood of the dying earth.

I am just about to start The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie, I've been meaning to read this book for ages.

 

[suciul]

I finished Interregnum by SJA Turney; great military fantasy and a superb indie debut. I will have my full rv on FBC next week (Fr most likely) but for now:

"set in a world similar with late Imperial Rome though with some notable differences, the novel takes place 20 years after the death of the last emperor Quintus who went mad, declared himself a God, was imprisoned by the Senate in his palace and died in an escape attempt engineered by his most loyal marshal Kiva Caerdin.

Later, General Caerdin shattered by the death of his Emperor and resting at his estates was caught in the war between the 3 remaining marshals and when his villa was burned with his wife and son inside, he died looking for vengeance.

At least this is the official story.
...

A very, very compelling page turner from the first page to its epilogue some 440 pages later, I could not put this novel down unless I *really needed* to. It has a combination of the expected and some twists and turns I did not see and the characters are well drawn and believable. It is a blood and guts novel, brutal at times with quite a lot of fighting and intrigue and as it behooves such, the main characters are men, most notably Kiva, Quintilianus, Sabianus and Darius with lots and lots of other important characters with serving maid Sathina who seizes her chance for a better life and helps our heroes, as the one woman featuring prominently."

 

[Luke_B]

I think I'm going to reread this book before too long to see if it holds up now that I know how the story goes. First time through, the narrative pull totally hooked me. I was happy to overlook the flaws because the story got me so strongly, but on reflection they jumped out a lot more. I'm wondering what effect that'll have on a reread.

I think if the book consisted entirely of Arlen's chapters then it might have had the same effect on me. I found struggling through the Leesha and Rojer chapters a chore. Why was every man a stupid, grunting, sex-crazed ox in Leesha's chapters (except for Erny)? Was this some kind a patronising uber-feminism or just a clusmy attempt to tell a story from a female perspective?