Reading in November 2008

I finished two books.

The Crown Conspiracy by M. Sullivan a series debut by an independent author that seems to have garnered a bit of a following. Two thieves/soldiers are embroiled in intrigue in a quasi-medieval setting.

Fun romp from beginning to end and an easy read, it reminded me of Martha Wells' fantasies or a pared down Scott Lynch. Nothing original or deep, but if you want a pleasant way to spend 2-3 hours this is for you. I am in for the next book in the series.

Facts of Life by Graham Joyce. After the extraordinary Memoirs of a Master Forger I bought 4 more books by Mr. Joyce and this is the first I read. World Fantasy award winner and very well written, it somehow did not fully gel with me. I enjoyed it overall, but far from Memoirs caliber and meandering and pointless to a large extent. A pure modern academic/literary novel - with a lot of the stuff I do not like about such - with a bit of the fantastic thrown in, it is worth reading for the style, but I did not care that much about its characters or the setting.
 
Finished Garden of The Moons last night and absolutely loved it, I didn't find it terribly difficult to read through and understand the book like alot of people claimed but then i did read 'The Night Of Knives' first. Onto Deadhouse Gates later tonight.
 
Nice as it is that Caine Black Knife is a great book, what an annoyance to see that Del Rey has allowed Blade of Tyshalle to go completely out of print and the market has caught up on that, with a secondhand book now trading for 35 bucks or more. I'll continue my search.
 
I finished the Assassins of Tamurin by S.D. Tower. I thought it was pretty good although there was too much romance and not many fantastical elements. Still, it was an interesting read.
 
I'm reading Son of the Shadows, the second book of Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters Trilogy. Marillier is an incredibly talented writer that I cannot recommend enough.
 
Just started Abercrombie's The Blade Itself.

Someone mentioned that the name Logen bugged him because it reminded him of Wolverine. Great, now I got that stuck in my head, made worse by the scene of Logen lighting up, just like his "namesake." :p
 
And there's a Logan in Brent Weeks's new series, which Rob mentioned in his review HERE.

Some of the names struck me as less than original. I doubt Weeks was aware of Joe Abercrombie’s novels which also feature a character by the name of Logen when he was writing The Night Angel trilogy. However, the name Logan is already very popular as the comic book character Wolverine. That said, Brent Weeks is off to a solid career as a fantasy novelist with The Way of Shadows, the most impressive debut novel I’ve read this year.
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Which also doesn't help. :)


Mark / Hobbit
 
Read Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box after loving his short story collection 20th Century Ghosts.

It's good. It's really good. It left me with the same impression that I had after reading his short stories: this is what you get when literary writing techniques are applied with a genre writer's sensibilities. Well-turned phrases and clever sentences in the service of a solid genre plot, archetypal characters, and a few really nice creepy moments.

Heart-Shaped Box is billed as horror but it's really not that scary, and although there are a couple of bloody scenes and passing references to disturbing events, there's not a ton of gore or explicit nastiness. I went in expecting some major shocks, and that never really materialized.

The two main characters tiptoe right up to the edge of cliche but, in my mind, didn't quite fall over -- they're true to their archetypes, but since they're the kind of people who consciously adopt artificial personas, this isn't really a flaw. The one tiny quibble I had with the book is that why these people chose to adopt those particular personas was a little trite. Speaking as an ex-Goth girl, we didn't all go that way because of horrible childhood traumas. ;)

Overall, a really solid book. Joe Hill's become a buy-on-publication author for me.
 
Hobbit said:
And there's a Logan in Brent Weeks's new series, which Rob mentioned in his review HERE.



Which also doesn't help. :)


Mark / Hobbit
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He he, yeah. One reason why its better to make up your own names than use one that is reletively contemporary.
 
Just got an arc of The Judging Eye by S. Bakker and it looks absolutely great so far. As interesting and more fun, less polemical as the PoN volumes.
 
Mithfânion said:
Nice as it is that Caine Black Knife is a great book, what an annoyance to see that Del Rey has allowed Blade of Tyshalle to go completely out of print and the market has caught up on that, with a secondhand book now trading for 35 bucks or more. I'll continue my search.
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Damn! $35?
 
I finished The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. I really loved the way it was written. Specifically, I like the atmosphere Wolfe creates. The whole thing is haunting and mysterious. It always felt like anything could happen and there was no way you could guess what that would be. I'm sure I still don't understand what a lot of the scenes mean, but I'm planning on reading it again sometime in the future.

I'm now reading Urth of the New Sun which is the sequel to BotNS. The setting is completely different, but just as well imagined and evocative so far.
 
I am finally about to finish The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany. Ugh! This book was so dull and pretentious, the characters so uninteresting, I found it very difficult to finish. I normally enjoy books that are considered "classics," but not in this case.
 
Hi, Miriamele. I was thinking of picking up a copy of The King of Elfland's Daughter at some point (when I've worked my way through my current towering to read pile) but I think I might reconsider now. I don't like dull books.

Currently, I am reading a book called Descent. I'm not sure of the genre, though I think it might be horror. I've only read two chapters so far, but currently I'm eager to read more. The pacing is reasonably fast and it's quite dark. The writing isn't anything special, but it works, and the dialogue is believable and interesting.
 
Lord Dunsany's writing is a very mannered style and definitely not for everyone. But his influence on the genre is quite strong. Arthur C Clarke was a big fan, dont'ya know?

Try the 'look through the pages' at Amazon, if you've not tried it:

The King of Elfland's Daughter

Time and the Gods

Myself?

I'm really enjoying a reread of Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot which I haven't read for a long while.

I'm also reading James Barclay's RavenSoul, which is very very good. Don't think the fans will be disappointed.

Mark / Hobbit
 
Hobbit said:
m really enjoying a reread of Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot which I haven't read for a long while.
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Nice.
I didn't expect to enjoy it on a re-read but unexpectedly I did. I re-read it after Wolves of Calla to update my background knowledge of father Callahan's history. Although it would be more fit to re-read it before Wolves of Calla.
 
I am reading The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I am 150 pages in and can already tell this one is special. I have heard so much about it and am glad that it isn't disappointing. My next reads will be The Well of Ascension and The Lies of Locke Lamora.
 
Finishing up Book 3 of the Dark Tower series, The Wastelands, by Stephen King..

Then I am onto either Blood Knight (Keyes, Book 3), that new Brent Weeks series, or Joe Abercrombie series, First law..

Not sure what yet..
 
Keyoke said:
Finishing up Book 3 of the Dark Tower series, The Wastelands, by Stephen King..

Then I am onto either Blood Knight (Keyes, Book 3), that new Brent Weeks series, or Joe Abercrombie series, First law..

Not sure what yet..
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My advice,
read Salem's Lot and Hearts in Atlantis before book 5 (The Wolves of Calla) :cool:
 
After reading some comments about Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt series here I picked the first one up at the library. It is different from anything that I have read really. Very tightly written and I am finding that I am really enjoying this first book, "Already Dead". Enough so that I will check out the others. The Dresden Files is one of my favorites and although I wouldn't say that these two series are a lot alike, they do remind me of the other. Joe is very sarcastic, tough and just doesn't want to take any crap off anyone. I like that.
 
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