November Reads 2015 2.0

[Maester Llama]

Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson's new novel about the challenges and limitations of the idea of spreading humanity to other planets in general and of the notion of the generation ship in particular, is an interesting beast and I'm glad I read it. The narrative voice and writing style tend toward long information-rich explanations of things, and while these can get pretty skimmable in places after they've gone on for a while I think they work really well for this story, in which the minutia of how things work is of life-or-death importance at every moment of every day. Long stretches of the plot are told in summary rather than scene, from a kind of overview perspective, and while I think this is a more serious problem in terms of engagement where it goes on for quite a while I think that the ... plot device that dictates large parts of the book be told this way also yields some major benefits [being vague on purpose here, as I'm not sure whether this is on the back cover or not.] Most of the fairly large cast of characters are cardboard cutouts or talking heads, unfortunately, but the main half-dozen or so are quite a bit more intricately put together and the two protagonists are especially great; there are a few very powerful character beats to be found if you can get round the understated way this novel handles characterization. The writing is, again, deceptively dry-seeming at first, and I never found that it ever achieved -- or attempted -- any moments of wondrously awe-inspiring space poetry of the kind Robinson's earlier novel 2312 occasionally punctuates itself with, but, within the context of its mostly more restrained writing style, and the very occasional breaks from that style, Aurora contains moments at crucial turning points in the story that I find remarkably beautiful. The novel is textbook and infodumpy and listy in places, but I found it really compelling in its exploration of human consciousness and questions surrounding how we define selfhood, as well as the issues clustered around whether attempting interstellar colonization is a good idea -- the book holds pretty strongly-stated opinions on this point that I suspect might come off dogmatic if you're, I dunno, somebody who believes passionately that humanity has a future around other stars, I guess? If all the fiction I read was written in this semi-withdrawn, info-heavy style I think I'd get pretty bummed, but it's a perfect register for this particular book, lumpy and tough to digest though that book can sometimes be, and I'm glad I had the experience and would recommend it to other people who enjoy space books and process-heavy sf about people working to accomplish science-heavy tasks.

 

Almost two thirds through the new Galbraith mystery Career of Evil. I have some pretty mixed feelings -- some of the stuff going on with this villain is evocatively put across but really pretty old -- but can't stop reading.

[maarsen]

Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson's new novel about the challenges and limitations of the idea of spreading humanity to other planets in general and of the notion of the generation ship in particular, is an interesting beast and I'm glad I read it. The narrative voice and writing style tend toward long information-rich explanations of things, and while these can get pretty skimmable in places after they've gone on for a while I think they work really well for this story, in which the minutia of how things work is of life-or-death importance at every moment of every day. Long stretches of the plot are told in summary rather than scene, from a kind of overview perspective, and while I think this is a more serious problem in terms of engagement where it goes on for quite a while I think that the ... plot device that dictates large parts of the book be told this way also yields some major benefits [being vague on purpose here, as I'm not sure whether this is on the back cover or not.] Most of the fairly large cast of characters are cardboard cutouts or talking heads, unfortunately, but the main half-dozen or so are quite a bit more intricately put together and the two protagonists are especially great; there are a few very powerful character beats to be found if you can get round the understated way this novel handles characterization. The writing is, again, deceptively dry-seeming at first, and I never found that it ever achieved -- or attempted -- any moments of wondrously awe-inspiring space poetry of the kind Robinson's earlier novel 2312 occasionally punctuates itself with, but, within the context of its mostly more restrained writing style, and the very occasional breaks from that style, Aurora contains moments at crucial turning points in the story that I find remarkably beautiful. The novel is textbook and infodumpy and listy in places, but I found it really compelling in its exploration of human consciousness and questions surrounding how we define selfhood, as well as the issues clustered around whether attempting interstellar colonization is a good idea -- the book holds pretty strongly-stated opinions on this point that I suspect might come off dogmatic if you're, I dunno, somebody who believes passionately that humanity has a future around other stars, I guess? If all the fiction I read was written in this semi-withdrawn, info-heavy style I think I'd get pretty bummed, but it's a perfect register for this particular book, lumpy and tough to digest though that book can sometimes be, and I'm glad I had the experience and would recommend it to other people who enjoy space books and process-heavy sf about people working to accomplish science-heavy tasks.

 

Almost two thirds through the new Galbraith mystery Career of Evil. I have some pretty mixed feelings -- some of the stuff going on with this villain is evocatively put across but really pretty old -- but can't stop reading.

Read it and enjoyed it. I just finished a new one by him called Shaman. It is about as far from Aurora as you can get, but with the same feeling of optimism towards the future of the human race. 

[HexMachina]

Still making my way through The Sunne in Splendour, which is living up to my high expectations. 

However, since it's such a large book (made more unwieldy by the fact I have a hardback edition) it doesn't really lend itself well to lugging about and reading on the tube, so I've also been turning my attention to the Shakespeare I downloaded to Kindle a while ago. Today I finished The Winter's Tale, which has been one of my favourites thus far. I'd probably place it up there with A Midsummer Nights Dream in terms of which play I've enjoyed reading the most. 

Going to continue reading Shakespeare during my commute. Next up will be As You Like It. I have Richard III to read too, but thinking of leaving that until I'm further into Sunne as it might be interesting to contrast the two.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Currently reading a book by Gideon Haigh on Shane Warne. It's not a biography at all, but more an analysis of his bowling over the course of his career. 

[peterbound]

I read the criticism regarding the slower pace of the middle section of TWoT (especially book 10, it seems it gets bashed everywhere I look). I´m hoping the books at least remain entertaining when I get deeper into the series, right now I´m having a blast!

I sometimes think that had I read the books back to back, I would have enjoyed it more.  However, having grown up with the books (started reading them when i was about 13), and the long waits between them made me dislike the middle, and fucking loath the end. 

[Starkess]

I finally finished The Naked God yesterday, and phew, I am never reading again! Okay, maybe not, but damn that was a long effort. 

Looking at the Goodreads reviews, a lot of people complained about the ending as a deus ex machina, but I did not find it to be so at all. Not every big, sudden ending is a DEM! Especially when the arc of searching for that solution, and the corresponding urgency of increasing problem requires a large solution, has been built up over several thousand pages. Anyway. It's a long-ass series and gets a little too bloated with unnecessary plot lines, but I enjoyed it for the most part.

I think next up I am going to read one of the random bookstore purchases that have been building up on my nightstand. Probably New Watch by Sergei Lunkayenko, although that makes me feel like I should go back and re-read the first four...and I don't have time for that! Sigh.

[Nicomo Cosca]

I sometimes think that had I read the books back to back, I would have enjoyed it more.  However, having grown up with the books (started reading them when i was about 13), and the long waits between them made me dislike the middle, and fucking loath the end. 

I´m still super optimistic about the series! I´m on page 421 of TSR and its just soo good! I love how everything is expanding and how the stakes are getting higher and higher! I hope I don´t have that big of a struggle towards the middle because I´m really enjoying this.

But so far I can´t say if this series is going to be one of my favorites, which sucks because its a pretty big series to just have it as a "very good one" instead of "one of the best". We´ll see hoe it plays out though

[Richard Writhen]

Finally started The Subtle Knife. Also started Queen of Sorcery by Eddings ...

[williamjm]

I finally finished The Naked God yesterday, and phew, I am never reading again! Okay, maybe not, but damn that was a long effort. 

Looking at the Goodreads reviews, a lot of people complained about the ending as a deus ex machina, but I did not find it to be so at all. Not every big, sudden ending is a DEM! Especially when the arc of searching for that solution, and the corresponding urgency of increasing problem requires a large solution, has been built up over several thousand pages. Anyway. It's a long-ass series and gets a little too bloated with unnecessary plot lines, but I enjoyed it for the most part.

While I'm not a huge fan of the ending of the trilogy (it felt a bit too neat the way everything worked out and some of the secondary plotlines has disappointing endings), I agree it isn't a deus ex machina when the eventual solution was introduced as far back as the first book.

Hamilton does tend to have a bit of a problem with meandering plotlines, which can get frustrating especially since he's written enough short fiction to show that he's capable of being concise if he wants to be. On the other hand, few authors can do space opera on such an epic scale as he does.

[Darth Richard II]

I´m still super optimistic about the series! I´m on page 421 of TSR and its just soo good! I love how everything is expanding and how the stakes are getting higher and higher! I hope I don´t have that big of a struggle towards the middle because I´m really enjoying this.

But so far I can´t say if this series is going to be one of my favorites, which sucks because its a pretty big series to just have it as a "very good one" instead of "one of the best". We´ll see hoe it plays out though

Well, you kind of are at the high point.

[Starkess]

While I'm not a huge fan of the ending of the trilogy (it felt a bit too neat the way everything worked out and some of the secondary plotlines has disappointing endings), I agree it isn't a deus ex machina when the eventual solution was introduced as far back as the first book.

Hamilton does tend to have a bit of a problem with meandering plotlines, which can get frustrating especially since he's written enough short fiction to show that he's capable of being concise if he wants to be. On the other hand, few authors can do space opera on such an epic scale as he does.

It was a bit of a neat ending, but I admit to liking those (at least sometimes). This was the first Hamilton series I've read, I definitely am interested to read something else by him, but at the same time I feel like I need to take a really long breather.

[First of My Name]

Halfway through The Fall of Hyperion. Enjoyable for sure, but it feels like the plot could have been more resolved far quicker than it's being resolved, especially since so much of the story was told in the first book. I'm also surprised that we spend so much time away from Hyperion, but those chapters are pretty good anyway.

I'm also on the third volume of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic comic series. The art and quality are a bit uneven but good overall. I think I'll buy the next omnibus once Marvel releases it. One qualm I have is that the main hook for the story has been shoved aside in favor of different stories, but I'm sure they'll get around to it eventually, it's very clear that they haven't forgotten about it.

[Bastard of Godsgrace]

I really liked Between Two Fires, but I'm a sucker for stuff set in that time period. It is really weird. I'm still not sure what the hell it was actually about.

 

 

Another vote for Between Two Fires. Really weird take on the Hundred Years War. Those Across the River was OK, but I liked it less  - probably because the setting isn't really my thing.

[williamjm]

It was a bit of a neat ending, but I admit to liking those (at least sometimes). This was the first Hamilton series I've read, I definitely am interested to read something else by him, but at the same time I feel like I need to take a really long breather.

I can understand wanting a bit of a break. If you want something a bit shorter by him, the Greg Mandel SF detective series is reasonably good, although lacking the epic scope of most of his books. I really liked Great North Road, which is a standalone SF novel (although admittedly a really long one), I thought it was a good combination of mystery and exploration-of-the-unknown SF and without as much padding as most of his space opera.

[Richard Writhen]

Finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which was pretty great. Generally I think the story was better than The Man In The High Castle, the only other Philip K. Dick novel I've read - but the ending was less satisfying. They both had great premises, obviously.

Now starting The Martian, by Andy Weir.

 

 All that stuff with the weird videoscreen religion is awesome. As is all that much ado about the animal he buys. Very different from the film ...

Relating to DADOES. People who have seen the film will find the book is a different animal. Much like Let the Right One In ...

[Darth Richard II]

Another vote for Between Two Fires. Really weird take on the Hundred Years War. Those Across the River was OK, but I liked it less  - probably because the setting isn't really my thing.

Weird is right

 

I'm still not sure if

The whole book was just him hallucinating while being eaten by that giant snake

[Spockydog]

Weird is right

I'm still not sure if

Hidden Content

Ha! I couldn't be arsed to finish this. I might go back to it having read that.

 

[Maester Hodor]

I finished Dark Places by Gillian Flynn a few nights ago, and I really enjoyed it. Such a dark, twisted novel 

Now I will try to finish Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King. 

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I've been on a bit of a reading binge lately.  Raptor by Lindsay Buroker was pretty good, but it didn't feel it was close to the end of the series as the next and final book seems to have a lot of plot threads to close.

I tore through As you Wish by Cary Elwes.  This book deals with the in the behind scenes of the making of The Princess Bride movie.  I love that movie!

I felt John Scalzi's Agent to the Stars a little over the top in terms of the humour and plot, but it was a cute novel regardless.

Every now and then, I do get a pining for a romance novel, but it has to be about characters that I care about with a semi decent plot.  So I picked up Mercenary Instinct by Ruby Lionsdrake.  I love her fantasy novels in another pen name, so I'm hoping this will satisfy my craving.

[Guest]

I just finished Lawrence's Prince of Thorns, and I'm not sure if the author is mad or I am. 

Moving on to Cibola Burn...excited to get back into that before the show gets going soon.