Reading in May 2011

I think I'm about 70 pages from the end of Imager's Challenge. I have no doubt at all that almost nothing will be resolved by the end, and it's not bothering me. Firstly, I have Imager's Intrigue on pre-order (Paperback release, that is). Secondly, the plotlines cannot be resolved in 70 pages, even considering how packed the pages are. It's just too much and justice wouldn't be done. Thirdly, I want to see how it develops and continues. I'll admit that I even got a little teary-eyed on the bus when I was reading it (Both due to the story and me feeling a little ill) this morning, and very few books do that.

What needs to be resolved is, in a way, really only just starting to get speed at this point. Rhenn's dealing with his problems, and the Collegium's issues, but even though he's an 'established' adult, in a way he's still growing up.

I have a feeling The Imager Portfolio is going to continue to be a must-read series for me. Suppose I'd better pre-order Scholar when I get paid.
 
Eventine said:
Darksbane, you may want to look at (or contribute to) the book club discussion we had on it.
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Thanks for pointing that out. I left some more detailed impressions of the book there.

Next up for me is probably The Unrememberd by Peter Orullian. A debut novel that seems to be getting mixed reviews, but the biggest criticism being that it is quite derivative of the Wheel of Time series. Not something that generally bothers me about a book, but we'll see here.
 
Finished Carol Berg's The Soul Mirror yesterday. That was one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in a long while. It had everything: mystery, intrigue, twists and turns, magic, science, action, a teeny dash of romance. I highly recommend this series.

(And Erf, maybe you should bump it up on your to read pile. ;) )

Started One Hundred Thousand Kingdoms last night for the June Book Club discussion. I'm about six chapters in. It's different from what I expected. I thought it'd be more like epic high fantasy for some reason. I'm glad it isn't. It's very unique and intriguing.
 
NickeeCoco said:
(And Erf, maybe you should bump it up on your to read pile. ;) )
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It's already at the top. I'm just so tired this week with the 12 Hello, Dolly!s I have to play on top of my regular schedule that I'm only managing about 50 or so page a night. I'll get there.

I do agree with you that it's tough remembering the events of the last book a little bit. Either a little more back exposition or a short recap at the beginning would have been nice. Most of it's coming back, but other bits are vague still.
 
I finished the second Thursday Next book by Jasper Fforde : Lost in a Good Book. Not as tight plotting as in the debut but a really fun journey back and forth in time, in and out of books with numerous wordplays (meet Special Agents Kannon and Foder) and slapstick moments. I'm looking forward to picking up the next one.

Because I'm still not fully involved with The Way of Kings and it's one of those decent books that I like but can't read more than a couple of chapters at one time, I've also started Princeps Fury by Jim Butcher - but they are so similar in style that I don't really feel I'm changing pace. I might need to check something non-genre, too.
 
Finished Imager's Challenge on the bus home. Nothing more to add to it from my last post, except I'm surprised that Modesitt managed to end a major, major plot line and do so well.
 
Eddy Gemmell said:
Spoiler below - highlight to reveal ...if you give a cr*p what it says ...(!)

I'm sure we'll see Logan again. The Heroes is 4 years on from Best Served Cold and that was a few years after the conclusion of the FL Trilogy if I recall correctly, so Logan, if alive, is getting older ...so not much time to bring him back or give him a cameo at some point.
Joe teased the reader in The Heroes with suggestions that The Blo*dy Nine may still be around but we didn't see him. Maybe I'm wrong but the opening is there. Some may say it would be a bit naff to bring him back but I for one would love it however predictable it may be.
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I really liked the ending to The First Law trilogy. And as for Logen Nine Fingers:
I believe we actually see him in The Heroes. It's not stated in black and white, but the tall old fellow in the Dogman's crew who went undercover to scare the pants off their enemies with the voice of the Bloody Nine is probably supposed to be him.

BTW Bayaz is still the bastard he was.
 
Cheerwell said:
Finished Imager's Challenge on the bus home. Nothing more to add to it from my last post, except I'm surprised that Modesitt managed to end a major, major plot line and do so well.
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Book 3 starts some 4-5 years later and is pretty self-contained - builds of course on some of the stuff here (spoiler for books 1/2 here)
Rhenn is now an experienced police commander, his daughter is 3 or 4 and the book starts with his "normal" life - taking Seliora and his daughter to her place where she still works and the girl is cared by her family and then going to his precinct and the usual police work..
I would call it a fantasy thriller and the tension just ratchets and ratchets, while overall it was one of the best books of last year for me and really had all the world building in the first two books pay off.
 
Just finished The One Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. It'll take me some time to put my thoughts about it together. A very complex book. Though I read it in a day, it'll take some more to fully understand it. In a good way.
 
Just finnished Yendi by Steven Brust. I find that I'm liking the Vlad Taltos novels more as I read more, though I think I liked Jhereg more. I only have one more left in my omnibus though--Teckla. Debating whether or not to read it now.
 
Nausikaa said:
Just finnished Yendi by Steven Brust. I find that I'm liking the Vlad Taltos novels more as I read more, though I think I liked Jhereg more. I only have one more left in my omnibus though--Teckla. Debating whether or not to read it now.
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Yep, and then buy the rest and read them too.
 
Right now I'm reading the YA novel Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride and enjoying it quite a bit, I'm halfway through. Plenty of fun and funny so far.
 
I've read the first few pages of the Unremembered and run into a personal pet peeve: exclamation marks. And lots of them. I don't expect this to continue throughout the book, as it starts off with a rather heated conversation, but it was enough to make me put the book down last night. I thought it was a pretty poor way to start off a book, even beyond the exclamation marks. I'm not sure this book is going to be of much interest to me, by the end.
 
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Darksbane said:
I've read the first few pages of the Unremembered and run into a personal pet peeve: exclamation marks. And lots of them. I don't expect this to continue throughout the book, as it starts off with a rather heated conversation, but it was enough to make me put the book down last night. I thought it was a pretty poor way to start off a book, even beyond the exclamation marks. I'm not sure this book is going to be of much interest to me, by the end.
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They put my off too. Personally, I've found the over use of exclamation marks to be coupled with poor writing. I treat them as a signifier and more often than not, set the book aside.
 
NickeeCoco said:
They put my off too. Personally, I've found the over use of exclamation marks to be coupled with poor writing. I treat them as a signifier and more often than not, set the book aside.
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I find that there is rarely a real need for exclamation marks. Especially when its followed by "he bellowed". Even worse is "he exclaimed". It just seems redundant, and it is one of the very few things that grates with me in writing. I don't expect it to follow through in later chapters of the book, but I wish he had started it off on a different note. I'm only about 10 pages in, so there is plenty of room for it to get better.
 
Started reading C. J. Cherryh's Paladin of Souls today. Only a few chapters in, but I'm enjoying it so far. I'm on a bit of a heroine kick at the moment. I'm enjoying the female perspective. I can really feel for Ista. She's a lot nicer than I would be if I were in her shoes.
 
Breaking the recent run of misfires in fantasy for me, Steelhands the 4th Mechanical Dragons novel by J. Jones and D. Bennett was very entertaining and enjoyable despite being pretty predictable from about half on; the main strength of the series is the continually changing cast:

Steelhands features four new narrators (only Thom and Rook featured twice as narrators in 1- Havemercy and 3-Soul Dragon so for now we are at 14) though two are old friends of ours - the former leader of the Dragon Corps, sergeant Adamo, now professor of strategy at the main Volkhov college - the Versity - and former Dragon Corps member Balfour, now a diplomat, who has the steelhands of the title - a fusion of magic and technology that replaced the hands he lost in the climax of the war with Ke Han in Havemercy.

We also see former POV's (margrave aka magician) Royston and his live-in boyfriend Hal (the fourth POV of Havemercy in addition to Roy, Thom and Rook), now an assistant professor of magic at the Versity, while as two new pov's there are country youngsters Laure(nce), a tomboyish girl with a boy's name and her "fiance", Toverre, a girlish boy with a crush on Hal, both just coming from the sticks on the Esar's (the leader of Volkhov) new scholarships to bring "new country blood" to the capital Thremedon

This book takes place mostly in Thremedon and starts with Adamo receiving Thom's letter informing him about the events in Dragon Soul, and that is something that has huge possible implications, so Adamo starts getting in touch with the survivors of the Dragon Corps, Roy, Hal... to discuss how to deal with the issues

Laure and Toverre in the meantime get used to the capital and college life and then things start happening and connect the two threads.

Like with the previous series books, this one was a fast page turner that depends on the characters rather than on action per se.
 
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