Reading in October 2009

I've been reading mostly non-genre stuff so I haven't had a lot to add to this thread lately, BUT:

suciul said:
the sff reads were not great, just good (Nyphron Rising/Sullivan, Geas/Webb) to meh (Ars Memoriae/Bernobich) to bad (Vigilante/Reeve) , but I got a copy of the final draft of City Ruin/Newton (sequel to Nights Villjamur and due next June) and it's exactly what I needed to get back into a sff mood since it's just superb about 2/3 in; partly sequel, partly big time expansion of Nights this will be a major release of 2010.

I also got an arc of Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. Jeimisin and it starts great too, hope it keeps up; soon I hope to get an arc of Spellwright since that one sounds good
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I hope you'll have time to elaborate on your thoughts either here or at FBC in the near future since I've been interested in a bunch of these books and haven't seen much mention of them elsewhere. Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and Spellwright seem to be on the slate for big high-fantasy releases for next year so I'd like to know more about those, and if City of Ruin marks an improvement over NoV I'd like to know that too, since it might finally push me off the ledge of indecision on that one.
 
Cranky Hamster said:
I hope you'll have time to elaborate on your thoughts either here or at FBC in the near future since I've been interested in a bunch of these books and haven't seen much mention of them elsewhere. Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and Spellwright seem to be on the slate for big high-fantasy releases for next year so I'd like to know more about those, and if City of Ruin marks an improvement over NoV I'd like to know that too, since it might finally push me off the ledge of indecision on that one.
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Definitely - the moment I finish either of the above, I will put a mini-review here - I plan to do full reviews on FBC but closer to publication dates.

Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is a first person novel, narrated by a princess/queen of a minor kingdom whose just deceased mother was the (disinherited for a mis-marriage with a minor forest "king") daughter of the big kahuna who lords it semi-democratically but firmly on the "100 k kingdoms" of the title - not sure how many are in fact - from the "sky palace" with strange magic/tech that only his blood family (marked on the forehead with signs denoting rank within it) has access to/is safe from.

The grandfather is getting old so the girl is summoned and named full blood of the family and heir alongside two older twin cousins/uncles (m/f) who are the surviving children of her grandfather's brother; there were two older children, one dead in an "accident" and one executed for underage seduction of a noble girl, while the resulting offspring is only a half-blood (there was no legal marriage) and is the trusted aide of the lord and assigned to guide the young princess in the ways of her family; only one of the three will survive to take power when the old lord dies and the older heirs are quite experienced in the "kill/disgrace the other" game so the young princess has her work cut out for her so to speak...

I like the style from the first 10-15 pages and it promises a lot, but first I will finish City of Ruin of course and then get seriously into Ms. Jeimisin book.

Spellwright - I have seen only the excerpt so far and Robert's review (tbp later on FBC) but I like the style so I will read it when I get it, hopefully in a week or two.

City of Ruin is just going all out with lots of cool stuff, though it's much more sf-nal with high tech (relics), other dimensions, strange beings (spider-shifters, vampyrs and more I would not want to spoil) ... I still have a little to go though I should finish it tonight after work but it's excellent so far; as writing goes, I have a draft so there is stuff that will change and there will be closer editing and tightening, but overall it's comparable with Nights and I am enjoying it tremendously, while the series is taken to a higher level by all this big-time expansion in its universe
 
Carol Berg seems like she's getting some attention this month. I have her Lighthouse Duet (which won this year's Mythopoeic award) so I've started on the first book, Flesh and Spirit, and intend to follow up directly with Breath and Bone. It's a bit heavy on the world building, but has a very engaging first person narrator. I'm content so far.
 
After taking several months off from reading sff, I jumped back in with My Dead Body by Charlie Huston. It was a nice ending to the Joe Pitt books and it was great to see a series get completed in a timely fashion (4 yrs, IIRC).

Just finished Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson. The book was sitting on my bookshelf for months, waiting for me to work up enough energy to tackle this beast. It was nice to get back into the world of the Malazan however I think it will be a while yet before I dare start Toll the Hounds.
 
Recently read The Red Wold Conspiracy by Robert VS Redick. I liked this one quite a lot and thought the setting, especially the Chathrand, was very impressive. The first half set up the story well while the second half introduced a few things I wasn't quite expecting, but worked well to give the novel a good build up to a decent ending. It's got me eager to read The Rats and the Ruling Sea, which is on the shelf, but first to finish some sci-fi (Mirror Space, the great new book in the Sentients of Orion series).
 
I really like Carol Berg. Everything I have read by her is good. I am waiting for her Spirit Lens to come out in paperback. Red Wolf Conspiracy gets a thumbs up from me too. Right now I am reading the Moontide Magic Rise series by Sean Russell and really enjoying it. I had never heard of him before and I looked on Amazon and saw two other series of his that I thought looked good but for some reason Amazon only offers book one of the series. Anyone else here read anything by Russell?
 
I read and enjoyed the Moontide Magic Rise books as well. Parts of the story had a hard to describe spookiness about them, as if there were great and terrifying things happening just at the edge of the characters' perception. Definitely something different than most fantasy I've read.

I also read Russell's The Swans' War which wasn't as good. The first third or so of the first book was truly magical. It was a river voyage inspired by the one taken in Huckleberry Finn and it gave me high hopes for the series. Then the story took a turn into somewhat generic epic fantasy territory, which does not seem to be Russell's comfort zone, and really struggled for it. It was still a good read, but not exceptional.

He's still an author I want to read and that I would recommend. In fact I have his The Initiate Brother duology on my shelf right now and am quite looking forward to it.
 
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Obtuse, I had the same reaction to The Swan's War that you did. Started out well then just leveled out into something merely average.

Earlier this afternoon I finished Canticle by Ken Scholes. It has some of the same weaknesses as Lamentation, namely the characterization and world building, but on the whole it's an improvement over the first book. It was nice to see some of the intrigue and plot machinations being revealed with the promise of more to come. I'm looking forward to reading the next book.

Next up will be Nyphron Rising by Michael J. Sullivan.
 
Raule said:
Carol Berg seems like she's getting some attention this month. I have her Lighthouse Duet (which won this year's Mythopoeic award) so I've started on the first book, Flesh and Spirit, and intend to follow up directly with Breath and Bone. It's a bit heavy on the world building, but has a very engaging first person narrator. I'm content so far.
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I thought the Lighthouse Duet was perhaps the weakest series of those she's written. I do hope that this author isn't going downhill, because she's not written anything as good as Rai-kirah since that was released.

Still, her other books are good, though admittedly I did struggle through the second book of the Lighthouse Duet. The first book was pretty strong, though it took a while to get into, and I did have great hopes for the second book when I finished Flesh and Spirit. Unfortunately, I found it fairly forgettable and dissapointing; so much so that it spoilt the effect of the overal series for me.

I am looking forwards to her new series though. I don't know when it's out, but I'm certainly eagerly anticipating it. Of what I've read about it on her blog, it sounds really interesting.

I'm at about page 60 of Broken Links, Mended Lives at the moment. Overall, I guess the stories featured in it so far have been decent, although I've still not read anything of a quality that makes me think that the book was worth me spending my money on it.
 
I know I said I was starting Last Argument of Kings, but I couldn't resist picking up the Bonehunters the other day and now I can't stop. I've been completely addicted. It's so good, I'm loving it.
 
Finished Broken Links, Mended Lives earlier today. Overall, turned out to be a very average collection of short storis really. I can't help feeling that it was not worth my money, and I doubt any of the stories featured are going to be remembered past the end of today. Additionally, there were some rather obvious editing/formatting mistakes, which I thought were quite unforgivable --- because they should have been so easy to spot! Many of the stories left me with a feeling of "What was the point of that?" Definitely quite a dissapointment. I wouldn't recommend it.

Next up then is The Sword: A Novel of the Sons of Destiny. Oftentimes books of this genre don't really appeal to me, but I thought the book's description sounded interesting and I rather feel like reading fantasy with a "romance-ish" element.
 
It's been a busy work month for me, so not too much reading. Only three finished so far, I think (hard to remember back to the beginning of the month).

The first I finished up was not fantasy, but I'll mention it here, as it was darned fine. It was David Simon's Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, which became the basis for NBC's Homicide and laid the early groundwork for HBO's The Wire. Since it's not fantasy, I'll say no more about it other than that it was funny, informative, and very moving.

Next up was Duma Key by Stephen King. I'd been waiting to get my hands on a second-hand copy of this since it came out (if I bought every Stephen King book new, I'd be broke). I burned through this in just a few days. Really, really loved it. It's in turns spooky, touching, and meditative, I found it to be King's best work since finishing The Dark Tower. It has me really looking forward to Under the Dome. One of the things I found really good about it was the fact that it was told in first person and the narrator would often "spoil" later plot points. Even after doing that, King managed to tell those parts of the story so well that I was quite breathless reading through some of them. I had one little structural quibble with one aspect of the book, but to change it would have meant King would have had to have been inconsistent in his narration, so I easily forgive it.

Two other....not set in Maine. Also, as I was reading it, I tried to think of other King books told in 1st person throughout. I couldn't come up with any pre-accident books, though I can't help thinking there are some. Anybody have any to offer?
 
I realize I didn't mention the third book (which was actually second). The second book I finished was Steven Brust's Phoenix. Since the book club read Jhereg earlier this year, I've been throwing in Taltos books every month or so. They're quick, easy reads that I find highly entertaining. Phoenix was the best of the bunch for me so far. There's not much else to say about them. Quick. Easy. Highly Entertaining. Think that covers Taltos for me.
 
I'm pleased to say that I'm enjoying my readthrough of The Sword: A Novel of the Sons of Destiny so far. It's hardly as good as the likes of Carol Berg and Robin Hobb, but it is enjoyable - writing is effective, though simplistic, characters fun and the conflict interesting enough. It's what I call a "trash read"-something I'll probably enjoy and finish quite quickly, but wouldn't care to return to again.

Although I think the book does work as a standalone, I just looked it up at Amazon and discovered that it's book one in a series of eight. It looks like the majority of the rest of the series also good positive reviews, though a few did seem to dissapoint fans. After my experiences with the Sword of Truth series, I'm a little weary of getting involved in a series that I may end up feeling obliged to see through to the bitter end, even if I hate it, so I think I'll take it one book at a time and see how it goes. So far, looks promising though. It'll give me something entertaining to read, though afterwards I'll probably be craving something with a higher standard of writing.
 
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BrightStar said:
I'm pleased to say that I'm enjoying my readthrough of The Sword: A Novel of the Sons of Destiny so far. It's hardly as good as the likes of Carol Berg and Robin Hobb, but it is enjoyable - writing is effective, though simplistic, characters fun and the conflict interesting enough. It's what I call a "trash read"-something I'll probably enjoy and finish quite quickly, but wouldn't care to return to again.

Although I think the book does work as a standalone, I just looked it up at Amazon and discovered that it's book one in a series of eight. It looks like the majority of the rest of the series also good positive reviews, though a few did seem to dissapoint fans. After my experiences with the Sword of Truth series, I'm a little weary of getting involved in a series that I may end up feeling obliged to see through to the bitter end, even if I hate it, so I think I'll take it one book at a time and see how it goes. So far, looks promising though. It'll give me something entertaining to read, though afterwards I'll probably be craving something with a higher standard of writing.
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Shouldn't be much of a problem if they're relatively short quick reads. Don't you feel like you're buying some gay porn with those covers?
 
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Bastard said:
Don't you feel like you're buying some gay porn with those covers?
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*shudders*

Unfortunately, you're right. Those covers are quite embarressing. :( Since I'm enjoying the book so far, I'd really love to be able to ask family and friends for them as gifts for Christmas, but with covers like that... well, I don't want people to get the wrong idea about what sort of thing I'm reading!! I guess publishers feature these kinds of covers because they think it helps to sell more copies, though it actually puts me off. It'll probably take me longer to complete the series (if I do decide to do so) simply because it'll be an expense that I'll end up paying for myself, rather than asking for it as a gift. I wonder how many other readers have the same "problem" with these sorts of covers as I do. I'm already a bit self conscious of being careful that my mum doesn't see the cover of the one I'm reading now if she comes into my room. And it's not like there's a different edition of any of the books from this series with a slightly better cover --- I already checked earlier today.
 
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BrightStar said:
*shudders*

Unfortunately, you're right. Those covers are quite embarressing. :( Since I'm enjoying the book so far, I'd really love to be able to ask family and friends for them as gifts for Christmas, but with covers like that... well, I don't want people to get the wrong idea about what sort of thing I'm reading!! I guess they feature these kinds of covers because they think it helps to sell more copies, though it actually puts me off. It'll probably take me longer to complete the series (if I do decide to do so) simply because it'll be an expense that I'll end up paying for myself, rather than asking for it as a gift. I'm already a bit self conscious of being careful that my mum doesn't see the cover of the one I'm reading now if she comes into my room.
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They might make good April Fool's presents.

Edit: Misunderstood... though you said to give them away as presents, not ask for them as presents. I guess it can work both ways.
 
BrightStar said:
*shudders*

Unfortunately, you're right. Those covers are quite embarressing. :( Since I'm enjoying the book so far, I'd really love to be able to ask family and friends for them as gifts for Christmas, but with covers like that... well, I don't want people to get the wrong idea about what sort of thing I'm reading!! I guess publishers feature these kinds of covers because they think it helps to sell more copies, though it actually puts me off. It'll probably take me longer to complete the series (if I do decide to do so) simply because it'll be an expense that I'll end up paying for myself, rather than asking for it as a gift. I wonder how many other readers have the same "problem" with these sorts of covers as I do. I'm already a bit self conscious of being careful that my mum doesn't see the cover of the one I'm reading now if she comes into my room. And it's not like there's a different edition of any of the books from this series with a slightly better cover --- I already checked earlier today.
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Get yourself ebook reader :)
 
Now it makes sense....

n223227.jpg
:D

Mark
 
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