Reading in May 2010

I finished off the last 1/3 of Gardens of the Moon in one feverish night. An outstanding book. Erikson's writing style gets better as the story progresses. I especiallay dig how there's no "Bad Guy" or obvious antagonist (or really even an obvious protagonist).

I'm currently working on Karl Edward Wagner's Dark Crusade. This is the first of his novels I have read. So far it seems like a pretty dark story. The main character, Kane, comes across as much as a villain as he does a hero.

I've also taken to reading Richard Tierney's Simon of Gitta stories. I just read The Book of Thoth and The Ring of Set. Both were outstanding Sword & Sorcery stories based in a fantastical fictional Rome.
 
Interesting Dragon story

I've been reading Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. So far I have gotten through the first 3 books His Majesties Dragon, Throne of Jade and Black Powder War. Very fun read, I enjoy the characters personalities and I like reading about the war between France and Britain with dragons. I have the other 2 books of the series coming in the mail and plane on finishing them by the end of the month.
 
Finished up the Harry Potter series this weekend. Definitely better than I was expecting it to be. Think I'll be reading some Tom Clancy & Charles Stross for the rest of the month.
 
Just started reading Swords Against Death by Fritz Leiber. Haven't really read too much yet, but if it's anything like the first book, it should be highly entertaining.
 
Curse you, spontaneously-collapsing IE!!

Anyway: thanks for the thoughtful comments, mjolnir. I'm of the view that a little anchoring in reality is useful to accentuate and off-set the more magical aspects of fantasy (along the same lines as Stephen King's theory that grounding horror in the real world makes it more effective), so it's pretty cool to see that noted.

Most of my own recent reading has been nonfiction or non-genre, but not too long ago I finished, and was really impressed by, Robert Jackson Bennett's Mr. Shivers. It is a wonderfully creepy horror story set among the trains and hobo camps of the Dust Bowl, tinged with post-apocalyptic flourishes. The ending is perhaps not quite as strong as the build-up, but it's still a very, very good book.
 
I finished "Bite Me" by Christopher Moore. I had great fun with the adventures of Abby Normal, "emergency backup mistress of the Greater Bay Area night" although I should have checked out that this is the third installment in a loosely connected series. It can be read as a standalone, and i prefer this tongue-in-cheek approach to vampires over the serious Twilight or Anita Blake ilks.
I also read a short story by George R R Martin : "The Way of Cross and Dragon" - very good take on the sincerity of religious faith.
 
The Books of the South by Glen Cook. I am enjoying it. Some chapters seem to be hard to read because you are thrown into different episodes but overall a good read.
 
Finished Gardens of the Moon a few days ago. It was a solid series opener. I love a good magic laden world. I've been trying to decide what to read next and I finally settled on continuing with Erikson's Deadhouse Gates. There are just too many other books drawing my eye.
 
I'm really enjoying The Briar King. The action is great, the dialogue is well-written, and the descriptions of nature are top-notch.

One thing I am really enjoying is the authenticity of the medieval setting. I contrast this with the last book I read, The Name of the Wind, in which the world seems like a place with 21st century American values and sensibilities, somehow transplanted into a world of horsecarts and swords. In The Briar King, A kid tries to ride a man's horse, and "just loses a couple front teeth," causing much laughter all around. If the same thing had happened to a character in The Name of the Wind, it would have been a tragedy worth dozens of pages of description, and would have eventually become a legend worthy of children's rhymes. Keyes is great at creating a setting where everyone is tough, poor, superstitious, and ignorant, just like in the real Middle Ages...
 
Just finished The Blade Itself and thought it was fantastic. Great opening chapter to what I expect to be an excellent trilogy. Starting Before They Are Hanged today. I can't believe it's taken me this long to read some Abercrombie. Definitely my kind of writer. Two thumbs way up. I guess better late then never eh?
 
Pizop said:
I've been reading Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. So far I have gotten through the first 3 books His Majesties Dragon, Throne of Jade and Black Powder War. Very fun read, I enjoy the characters personalities and I like reading about the war between France and Britain with dragons. I have the other 2 books of the series coming in the mail and plane on finishing them by the end of the month.
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There is a sixth book The Tongue of Serpents as well for a total of six books in the series.
 
I'm still reading Elantris at the moment and am certainly enjoying it a great deal. Unlike many books I've read which have multiple point of view characters, I am actually finding that I like each of the three main characters in this book, and don't mind switching between them from chapter to chapter.

I very much intend to check out other books by the author once I've finished Elantris.
 
About 160 pages through Lyonesse now. Having to read it slowly because I'm extremely busy. Still really enjoying it.

Only criticism I have of it is that the relationship between Suldrun and Aillas was completely and utterly rushed and a little forced. Still, when it's someone as fantastic as Vance writing, the criticism fades into the background.
 
algernoninc said:
I also read a short story by George R R Martin : "The Way of Cross and Dragon" - very good take on the sincerity of religious faith.
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That's my favourite GRRM short story, mainly because of the brilliant alternative bible story that sounds like it would be an absolutely awesome fantasy novel.

I just finished Jade Man's Skin by Daniel Fox, the sequel to Dragon-In-Chains. While I loved the first book, this one was slightly less good, and I'm not really sure why. It was still very well done though. This is one of my favourite ongoing fantasy series and I can't wait to see where it goes next (although the final twist in the last sentence didn't excite me at all).
 
murf99 said:
Just finished The Blade Itself and thought it was fantastic. Great opening chapter to what I expect to be an excellent trilogy. Starting Before They Are Hanged today. I can't believe it's taken me this long to read some Abercrombie. Definitely my kind of writer. Two thumbs way up. I guess better late then never eh?
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I just finished the first book as well, and I think, if I listen closely, I can hear Logen say "s**t" again.

Now, I'm not a prude about profanity, and I'm not some kind of purist who doesn't think it belongs in fantasy. But I think Abercrombie's a little lazy in its use here, leaning on it a little too much as a quick and easy way to add "grit" to the story. Which really doesn't need it, because he does a really good job making his world a pretty grim place without Logen saying "s**t" seven times in the course of three pages. Then here comes Bayaz in the midst of a tense moment shouting, "What the **** is going on here?" Took all the tension out of the scene for me because it didn't sound like a powerful wizard who deals in dark magic, it sounded like a crook from a B action movie.
 
DailyRich said:
Then here comes Bayaz in the midst of a tense moment shouting, "What the **** is going on here?" Took all the tension out of the scene for me because it didn't sound like a powerful wizard who deals in dark magic, it sounded like a crook from a B action movie.
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I think that was done intentionally. All of the
a powerful wizard who deals in dark magic
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speaks in thee, thy etc., is BS and they are crooks, just a lot smarter than an average one.
Bayaz is a crook only very powerful one and it makes him even scarrier because he is ruthless and has no dignity, honour etc.
 
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But that moment doesn't make him seem ruthless to me. It's too comical, intentionally or not.
 
DailyRich said:
But that moment doesn't make him seem ruthless to me. It's too comical, intentionally or not.
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Oh no. I don't mean this particular moment. I mean it is just a part of a character. When he feels like swearing, then he does, doesn't matter what we think about Mages.
 
It still comes across as clumsy to me. Again, I'm not down on swearing in general, but I think it's more effective when used sparingly. It has more impact coming out of the blue than when it's used constantly. Like I said, it feels too much like a lazy way of saying, "See! I'm gritty!"

And I'm not saying this is a bad book by any stretch. Glokta is perhaps as finely drawn a character as I've read in a while, and there really isn't a POV character I find myself wishing I could skip.
 
DailyRich said:
because he does a really good job making his world a pretty grim place without Logen saying "s**t" seven times in the course of three pages
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For me, this is one of the strong sides of Abercrombie's characters. I love his characters because they feel real. I would expect someone like Logan to know and use mostly vulgarity, just like pirates, deckhands, prisoners, etc would.
 
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