Little Valkyrie Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 Just finished Kameron Hurley's The Mirror Empire. An interesting read, with some caveats: Much like the Bel Dame books, I ended up way more interested in the background of the world and the why everything is happening than the actual plot. I have some real reservations about the doubling thing unless there is, for instance, some uncanny metaphysical force controlling the two worlds we've seen so that everyone really does end up with a match. But I was also primed to be extremely irritated about this for other reasons more related to current comics. I don't normally notice prose too much on a first read--I'm more interested in what's going on then--but I felt like it was rather choppy and otherwise nondescript, and more fatally, the character voices didn't differentiate themselves that much for me, which leads into number three... You know how the joke goes, that every single New Yorker cartoon can easily be captioned "Christ, what an asshole?" Yeah, that's a running problem with Hurley. Again, having read earlier work, she has some very well-trod character types that come out again here. I think the gender roles inversion may shock more novice readers than it did me, I just kind of shrugged at it all. But hey, it probably goes a little way against all the complete dudefests out there. Now digging into Widow's House, awww yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted September 28, 2014 Share Posted September 28, 2014 I finished Joe Abercrombie's Half a King. I thought it was good, although not quite as great as his First Law books. Next up is Anne Leckie's Ancillary Sword which will hopefully live up to the first book (and maybe improve on some of the weaker points of it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maester Llama Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Finished Paul Cornell's The Severed Streets, second in his Shadow Police urban fantasy series after London Falling. I liked it quite a bit, as I did the first one. The plot feels a bit less urgent and driven than urban fantasies often do, to me, both because the police team investigating the supernatural in Cornell's series spends so much time groping in the dark, afraid and unsure about how to proceed, and also because there are several vital subplots in this one related to the ongoing series plot, but I see both of these things as features, not bugs. Cornell does looming dread and a sense of helplessness very well, and this makes those few breakthroughs that the characters do manage to scrabble their way towards all the more meaningful. Thematically, the book's got a nice line in meanings being repurposed / misapplied / co-opted, and this plays well into the sense of growing uncontrollable chaos that can be directed by malevolent forces -- though I could have done with these themes being called out in so many words perhaps a tiny bit less; it's really not too bad, and it's an important enough thematic line that I certainly appreciated having it gestured to, but it seemed to come up explicitly several times and this began to feel a little gratuitous. The book plays hardball with its characters in some ways that feel like they'll have real implications for the series going forward. Oh, also this series plays on similar turf as Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series in some ways, and it is really quite astonishing how different the two series are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SerArthurHeath Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Read the three available Locke Lamora books, Rogues and reread 100 years of solitude and son of a witch this month. Also just starting A Slip of the Keyboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SerArthurHeath Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Essentially sleep 6 hours in two nights to read A Republic of Thieves over a working weekend but felt a compulsion to get through and see what happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Just started Lenny Bruce's autobiography. How to talk dirty and influence people . I need to read more autobiographies. About a third of the way through The Blade of Tyshalle. Its seems s little bit slower than the first installment but I can tell its going to be a fast read.I've been shuffling Mason & Dixon to the bottom of my 'to read' stack for the last 6 weeks. So that'll be next. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Patrek Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Just finished Richard Morgan's The Dark Defiles. It was a bit better than the first two, with more revelations and an interesting ending. But A Land Fit for Heroes never managed to be the sort of work that was supposed to turn the fantasy genre on its head. . . And I'm happy that Morgan is under contract to write two science fiction novels next. You can read my full review here if you'd like to learn more. Cheers, Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Er Rn Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 I finished Mary Shelley's Frankenstein tonight. I had never read it before, and was looking for a classic and with Halloween coming up I thought I'd go with something scary. I was a little disappointed. I didn't care for Frankenstein and got sick of reading about him taking to the bed for months every other paragraph. Next I'll be reading Black Mountain Breakdown by Lee Smith, one of my favorite authors. It shouldn't take long, then it's time to start the creepy October books :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
First of My Name Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 About a third of the way through The Blade of Tyshalle. Its seems s little bit slower than the first installment but I can tell its going to be a fast read.My favorite book :cheers: It's indeed slower (though the ending is as action-packed as possible) but the sheer force of the prose more than makes up for that, IMO. Please let me know what you think after you've finished it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 Finished Broken Monsters. Excellent. If you imagine what True Detective would have been like if it had committed more to the supernatural stuff, you'd be in the ballpark. Now starting The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs. Early signs promising. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolverine Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 Just started Manchu by Robert Elegant. It is a historical fiction entailing the exploits of a European in China. It is really not grabbing me yet. The writing seems a little unnecessarily wordy and there is just something that seems a little too squeaky clean that I can't really describe very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rody Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Pretty much. And you haven't seen anything yet :D I finished Shogun finally in 15 days, and before exam period in college. What an awesome book, I recommend it to everyone. I really thought Anji-san and Mariko would be together, or after she died he would have gone back to England, guess not. I still don't know if I like Toronaga's idea of keeping Blackthorne or if Toronaga is a bitch for doing that. My feelings are so confused after finishing this book Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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