Been reading more YA books lately... which led me to Megan Whalen Turner's historical fantasy series, The Queen's Thief. Have just started the first book and seems like it will be a fun read. I think the 4th book in this series comes out later in March, so perhaps also a timely read.
Carol Berg - The Spirit Lens - Just finished it and liked it very much. Can't wait for the sequels. But now I'm faced with a choice. I have three books that I can start reading this month: Glen Cook - The Black Company (been skipping the series for years, no idea why) Mary Gentle - Ash (UK version, one book) Daniel Fox - Dragon In Chains Which one should I start with? Any suggestions?
Which one should I start with? Any suggestions? Ash-o-meter notes entry..... I love Glen Cook. I've met Daniel Fox a few times... Of course, it should be ASH. (Have a search for my comments about it, mentioned many, many, many times before.) A brilliant, visceral, mystifying book. Mark
I'm reading Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey at the moment. I made it through the first two last month and am a couple of hundred pages into this one. I am finding myself really enjoying these books. It took me a while to get into the first one as there were so many names to learn but after working that out I struggled to put them down. I'm enjoying Phedre's character and am quite fond of Joscelin too.
As part of my 2010 goal to read (or reread) everything I own by Roger Zelazny, I am rereading Zelazny's Amber books and George R.R. Martin's edited Wild Cards, which has a Zelazny story in it. NESFA's The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny Volumes 3 - 6 up next. I also just started Joe Hills Horns, which is excellent.
I finished two novels both debuts, both a mixture of sf and f, both excellent, though one was a fast, fun romp, while the other was just awesome and a top 10 sff novel for me most likely, though the competition is fierce with lots of great 2010 books already. City of Dreams & Nightmare by Ian Whates is the fun, fast romp and I will have a full review on FBC on March 7 most likely: "Very entertaining adventure set in the immense City of Thaiburley and featuring all that's expected from such and more, including aliens, strange weapons and devices, magical powers, blade fights, intrigue, assassins, various villains with diverse agendas, corrupt police.... Like The Bookman (another Angry Robot debut that I enjoyed a lot and with which this one resembles in approach while quite different in theme) threw everything steampunk in, City of Dreams and Nightmares throws everything "enclosed world" in and it worked beautifully While the main threads of the novel are solved so it can be read as a standalone, the announced sequel City of Hope and Despair will continue the tale of Thaiburley and its denizens A very strong A and a fun, page turning sff adventure that will enchant all fans of such" Today I just finished Bitter Seeds the April 13 debut of Ian Tregillis, so the review will be closer to the pub date and this was just awesome an A+ to A++ (gotta leave it a little to see how it settles); this one fits the "mainstream fantastic" category better than core-sf or core-fantasy since it's a sort of alternate history with a little bit of supernatural at the beginning that turns into a lot as the novel goes on, great, great characters, some action scenes that are just unbelievable - Nazi "supermen" and their support troops against British warlocks and their special troops - while the ending just left me wanting the next installment asap
I've been reading Julian May's Ironcrown Moon, but I picked up Shadowrise yesterday. Since I'm a Tad Williams freak, that one goes to the front of the bus, baby.
Finished Butchers Proven Guilty. Another good fun read. I downloaded samples of Cherryh(Fortress) and Wurts to my Kindle and was about to try them but got side tracked by seeing a cheap copy of Abraham's Shadow and Betrayal so I started that. I've finished Shadow and I can't believe that nothing really happened in that book. If it wasn't for the fact that I find his style easy to read I really don't think i'd continue as apart from a 1001 poses nothing has happened! Hopefully Betrayal has more action in it otherwise I may not have the will power to continue reading annoying names and poses.
Fred Saberhagen - Thorn, A Question of Time and A Sharpness on the Neck More in Saberhagen's Dracula series. Not amazing, but thoroughly enjoyable reads on average.
Just finished The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin. I thought it was a strong debut but not nearly as impressive as I was led to believe. However, I will stick with the series as it was well written and I want to see what direction she goes in. Up next is Sepulchral Earth by Tim Marquitz. Its only 50 pages so, I will finish it here shortly and then move on the the second book in Michael J. Sullivan's series Avempartha. If it is nearly as good as The Crown Conspiracy I will be quite happy.
Read Sepulchral Earth by Tim Marquitz early this morning and got myself on a roll as I also started and finished Avempartha by Michael J Sullivan as well. Both reads were very enjoyable. Moving on to Farlander by Col Buchanan.
Almost 2/3 through Guy Gavriel Kay's Under Heaven. Another very strong book from Kay. I'm greatly enjoying every word of it.
Read and liked Lamentation by Scholes. I thought it was a solid debut...more thoughts in the "Lamentation" thread.
Currently reading through Operation Chaos by Poul Anderson. It's okay so far. I'm only about a quarter of the way through, so plenty of time to improve...
Currently undertaking the entire James Bond series. Just picked up a copy of Casino Royale. Didn't know for the longest time Ian Fleming wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, it's a bit funnier that way.
Finished A Storm of Swords: 1 Steel and Snow today, much much better fare, tempo is kicking up a bit, views are being questioned and some interesting twists and turns. Gonna be a bugger while i wait for part 2 to come in the mail.
Polished off The Eldarn Sequence by finishing the 3rd book; The Larion Senators. It's not unreadable, although at times it comes close. They tried really hard, but just didn't hit the mark. If you'd like to read the full review you can find it here
I'm still trudging along at Cherryh's Fortress in the Eye of Time. I put it down for a bit. I have to say I was starting to get bored. There is a lot of politics in here. I'll be honest, I'd rather just have the story from Tristen's POV. Emuin and Cefwyn's story lines, for me, could be done without. I'd rather the innocence, confusion and growth of Tristen be the central thread. The story started to wander off towards Cefwyn there. I read a little over a hundred pages today and something is starting to happen. There was plenty of action and interest in the first hundred pages but then it drags. Hopefully, now that Tristen is finally seeming to go off on a quest of some sort, things will pick up the pace. While this might sound silly, I think that Tristen is the type of character you come up when you're daydreaming. Y'know, when you daydream about going off into a fantasy world, whether it be the one you're currently reading about or one you make up, but then you have to start creating all these reasons for how and why you're there, 'cos of course you have to be able to use a sword or ride a horse or know woodcraft. . . That's what Tristen's character reminds me of, which kind of makes him a Mary/Gary Sue. On the other hand, I don't mind that aspect. It just makes me grin whenever Tristen is able to bust something out.
