Reading in September 2007

Just finished Naomi Novik's upcoming Empire of Ivory.

Last year, Naomi Novik burst into the fantasy scene with three highly entertaining novels which earned her the John W. Campbell Award. Temeraire/His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade, and Black Powder War were a veritable breath of fresh air in an otherwise often stagnating genre, each installment showing more potential than its predecessor. Using the Napoleonic Wars as a backdrop, Novik revitalized the oldest cliché in fantasy -- the dragons. And in so doing, she created something fresh, hip and extremely original.

Hence, it was somewhat of a tall order to follow this up. Indeed, Empire of Ivory needed to live up to the high expectations generated by the first three volumes in the series. And once more, Naomi Novik, writing with the skills of a veteran and with remarkable panache, rose to the occasion!

A tragedy has struck His Majesty's Aerial Corps. An epidemic of unknown origin is decimating the dragons' fleet, forcing most of the survivors into quarantine. Which leaves England virtually defenseless against Bonaparte's encroaching armies. As France's sorties become bolder and more frequent with each passing day, it's up to Laurence and Temeraire, along with a few uninfected dragons, to find a cure to the deadly contagion. Their mission takes them to distant Africa, where they believe a cure might be discovered. Yet in the heart of that mysterious continent lies a secret which could change everything. . .

Once again, Novik builds on existing storylines and comes up with a number of fascinating new plotlines. In previous reviews I claimed that some facets of Novik's earlier Temeraire novels hinted at a lot more depth than meets the eye. And Empire of Ivory demonstrates that it is indeed the case, and no doubt about it.

Check out the blog for the full review! :)

Patrick
 
Finished Patrick Rothfuss The Name of the Wind
Coming of age story of the great hero, singer and magician. The book mostly about his time at the university. Somehow fresh tale, more gritty then common high fantasy, similar to Black magician by Trudi Canavan. The telling is slow sometimes. It would be OK read, but it ends with cliffhanger, no plot ends resolved.
 
Right now I am reading "Hades' Daughter" by Sara Douglass. It is the first book of four for the Troy Game. I have never read any of her work and am really liking this book so far. The fact that it starts in ancient Greece and Britain is interesting, and that all four books, although they have the same characters are set in subsequent time period in England. I think I will read her Wayfairer Redemption series next. I was able to pick up all 10 of these books pretty cheap at the used bookstore, so I have plenty to keep me busy for a while.
 
The Lies of Locke Lamora has been keeping me up late at night lately. I really like it. It's just plain fun and exciting to read. The Gentlemen Bastards are all pretty cool, and I'm just getting to the point where the Grey King is mentioned, and from what I understand, he plays a major role in the book.
I'm glad I have lots more Lamora to read. I'm totally savoring this book.
 
I have just finished reading the age of misrule by mark chadbourn, OMG it is absolutely fantastic! I could find no fault with the book at all. Definitely in my top five fave reads. Cannot wait to get stuck into the next set of books. At the mo reading the nimble man - a book of the menagerie by christopher golden, very good up to now! D x
 
I just finished the Riddle-Master Trilogy, by McKillip. I'm very impressed, as I'm sure I noted earlier. The language is lyrical in almost the same way as Guy Gavriel Kay's work. And what tragedy! I am so glad I read it, and I plan to catch up on other McKillip books in the future.

I picked up Sean Williams' The Crooked Letter, because it was chosen as book of the month. I'm not sure I'm fond, which is strange, because the comparisons to Gaiman's work are clear, and I love everything by that esteemed author. Perhaps it's just jarring to read a contemporary fanatasy right after reading a classic like McKillip's Riddle-Master Trilogy. And in a strange twist of fate, after a long wait in the library queue, I have finally managed to get my hands on Red Seas Under Red Skies, by Scott Lynch. In a contest between the heavy, life-or-death, gods-vs-man environment of The Crooked Letter and the light, easy banter, entertaining confidence games and generally roguishness of Red Seas Under Red Skies, I'm definitely leaning toward the latter. I still may get Williams' novel read in time for the book club, but I kind of doubt it.
 
I just finished Galveston by Sean Stewart, which had its ups and downs. I found myself easily distracted from it; yet, the author would do something that would pull me back in just as I was starting to feel a bit ho-hum about it. This isn't my favorite Stewart, maybe because it is 3rd person narrative and divides its time between two main characters. I loved Perfect Circle, which is 1st person narrative, and is a wonderful blend of poignancy and humor. To a lesser degree, I also enjoyed Mockingbird by him. I guess I just like the intimacy of his 1st person narratives better.

This morning... debating what to read next... I picked up Firethorn by Sarah Micklem. It's another 1st person narrative, which seems to pull me right in. I guess I have a weakness for these type of novels. Once I'm done with this, I'll read The Crooked Letter.
 
I've just finished Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan and while it had some great ideas and I loved the execution of the novel, the thriller/detective side of the story (meaning the plot itself) is not as intricate as I have hoped for. Good book, I quite enjoyed it, but it's not one of the great ones. Now I'm moving onto...

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I've read the prologue and first few chapters and thus far I like the style very much (it's overtly ironic with undercurrent sense of humour) but I hope the characters are not as clíched as they seem atm.
 
The Book of Joby by Mark Ferrari arrived yesterday. I'm about 50 pages in and liking it very much. Ferrari thanks lots of people in the intro, and he says he spent several years on the book -- it shows. Nicely polished, especially for a first novel. The characters feel real (even God and Lucifer) and they're quite engaging.

Nothing bad has happened to Joby yet -- the wager's just been made -- but there were a couple parts where I was tearing up anyway, thinking about all the misery in the world. That was probably unintentional on Ferrari's part -- it's just that the news has been so bad lately.
 
I've got about 70 pages to go in Lies of Locke Lamora. Overall, I found this to be a very enjoyable read (so far). It takes some getting used to the frequent "Interludes" aka. flashbacks. I found myself trying to hurry through those so I could get back to the main story, especially where a cliffhanger chapter would be followed by an Interlude chapter. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to skip the flashbacks and come back to them after the cliffhanger was resolved.
 
Doggles--I'm just finishing 'Deadhouse Gates', and was going to take a break from Erikson, since this is such an emotional read, but I think I'll blast ahead with 'Memories' as well.

Man. 'Deadhouse' just drains me. But what a fine book.
 
Sigh. I read some of The Crooked Letter by Sean Williams for the bookclub. I'll save most of my rant, er thoughts, for the bookclub however. (Hurry up Oct, huuuurry up). :eek:

So now I've moved onto quality writing and am reading Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey (which is book four in Kushiel's Legacy, and the first book in the second trilogy featuring a new lead character). I'm only a teeny way into it, but already I'm captured. Her world, and characters, in Terre D'Ange are just marvellous.

Thoughts: Sadly, I think that her Kushiel's Legacy come attached with a permanent 'but'. For example: Her writing is really amazing but reader's need to be aware of the adult content. Or: 'despite the prevalence of sexual violence these are fine works etc etc.

Seriously, it's just not that much of an issue. I've always found that Phedre's (main character of the first three books) nature is sympathetic, and her prediliction for pain is just part of her nature. Eh, in our sex-fuelled world I suppose I can see how they caused a bit of a sensation. Because of this, the quality of Carey's writing, her world-building and character creation got lost for some amid the 'scandal.'
 
Awhile back I finished Holly Phillips' In the Palace of Repose, a collection of fantasies that linger on the edge of horror. Excellent stories, though I think she may like 'lady or tiger' endings a bit too much. There's nothing as obvious as lady or tiger in her endings, it's just that she seems to like leaving the story at the point where the main character must make a decision, while trusting the reader to know which decision the character will make. Anyway, Sean Stewart descibes her stories as, "In a world that felt too little, there lived a girl who saw too much." And that sums them up rather well. I strongly recommend this for short story readers.


Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop
Not just a solid fantasy novel, but a solid novel all around, well-written, insightful, warm and honest about the flaws in people otherwise admirable, and even of the better qualities of some people who are not admirable. The premise is that near the middle of America's engagement in WWII, after Franklin Delano Roosevelt has declared that we need to keep the baseball season alive for morale purposes, young Danny Boles, fresh from graduating from high school, joins the Highbridge Hellbenders in the CVL (Chattahoochee Valley League), what would now be considered a Class C league in Alabama. Boles, afflicted with an intermittant problem of not being able to speak, makes an observant viewer of his Hellbender's teammates and their season, and Bishop gives him an engaging voice that carried me along smoothly.

If this was a mainstream novel, that would be all you needed to know about the premise, but it's a fantasy and Danny's roommate turns out to be someone with a need for a friend, a need to atone for past behavior and a secret he needs to share. The book is well-enough known there may be no need to keep the roommate's identity secret, but I'll keep it to myself all the same, and just suggest that if you like non-epic fantasy, historical novels, books about baseball, novels that take their fantasy premise and use it consider contemporary issues like race, and character studies, or some combination of those, this is a book you would probably enjoy.


Randy M.
 
Randy M. said:
Awhile back I finished Holly Phillips' In the Palace of Repose, a collection of fantasies that linger on the edge of horror.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the mention of Holly Phillips. I've been curious about this collection as well as her novel, The Burning Girl. You haven't by chance read that one? I've been trying to decide whether I want to buy it now or wait.
 
I finished Softspoken, Lucius Shepard's new novel. Southern Gothic ghosty goodness!
 
intensityxx, wasn't it good? My daughter wasn't sure how to interpret the ending. I thought it was pretty clear, but maybe I missed something. Did you have any doubts about the ending?

Randy M., you have a real knack for reviewing. Thanks for taking the time to do it.
 
AuntiePam, the last sentence says it all, heh.

Since I'm on a ghosty kick (and darn there's a lot of new ghosty stuff out recently!), I'm going to begin Curfew (aka Crybbe), my first non-Merrily Watkins book from the very fun Phil Rickman. Recommended by Hobbit.
 
Rumo

I am reading a wonderfuly bizarre Book called RUMO & his miraculous adventures, by Walter Moers. It is translated from the original German. It is a Lewis Carrol type of reality coupled with a heros quest in a unique universe. If you are looking for something different, try this.
 
I read his Captin Bluebear book. It was a reasonably fun diversion.
 
So far this month:

The Knight & The Wizard by Gene Wolfe
This series features an intriguing juxtaposition of the modern and the twee. Well, more Lud-in-the-Mistesque than twee, I suppose. The second book took more effort to read than the first, but that might have been me rather than the writing itself. Nice enough story but it didn't really prompt any strong feelings in me...

Generation Loss by Liz Hand
A Liz Hand novel without reincarnated deities? THIS CANNOT BE! But it is though. Will I ever get bored of reading about the hippies, freaks, artists and drop-outs that populate her world? I don't think so!

Currently halfway through Gaiman's Fragile Things.

Other things which continue to be read in a snail-like fashion:
Winter's Tale
The System of the World
 
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