December Reads - Curl up with a good book this Christmas

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I was disappointed how little similarities exist between the movie and book, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.  I liked the movie better.

Now reading Soulblade by Lindsay Buroker, the last book in the Dragon Blood series.

[Sheep the Evicted]

Anyway, yesterday and Tuesday I binged through two Edge Chronicles books: 

The Nameless One

 and 

Doombringer

, and as an adult I'm struck once again by how awesome stories these are. Very laudable, too, in their depiction of environmentalism. Also amused at the criticisms of laissez-faire capitalism and glorification of communism. Loads of fun and really, genuinely, heart warming. 

The Edge Chronicles are the reason I learnt to love reading. While all the other kids were eagerly awaiting Prisoner of Azkabhan the only book I was desperate for as a kid was Midnight over Sanctaphrax. In my memory they both came out roughly the same time and i'd decided Midnight was better but a quick look at wikipedia shows me that there was almost a gap of a full year between the two. Anyway, so while its great to hear that the series lives up to your memories as an adult for me its far too precious to risk revisiting. I still deeply regret trying to re-read Earthsea; for me it was so awful I couldn't get past the first two chapters. 

So since I last posted i have read The Rising by Ian Trelligis. It is an improvement over The Mechanical in every way and that was a pretty strong book to begin with. The third in the series will probably be a release day read.

Then, in keeping with my 'Promising 2015 releases' theme, I went on to read Crashing Heaven by Al, Robertson. It proved to be exceptional in only two ways. Firstly the setting; the remnants of humanity live mainly on Station -a large asteroid - after the Earth is destroyed. Station is run by the Pantheon, six god-like AI, that compete and form alliances and patronize their worshippers; sometimes to the level of choosing mortal champions. Basically transposing the Greek gods into the future. Also the internet has evolved and merged with virtual reality so that life for the inhabitants of Station is kind of like a waking dream-state. Its all very cool and you can tell most of Robertson's resources as a writer have gone towards fleshing out this setting. Sadly, and as a consequence, the second thing that makes this novel exceptional is that it contains possibly the most boring main character in all of fiction. Seriously. Most Amazon reviews talk about it and they are all right. Ended up being a decent, but predictable, read. Which is a shame as it showed so much promise in the beginning and I was wondering why more people weren't talking about it.

Then I went on to read The Liars Key by Mark Lawrence. I had intended to The Vagrant but I rebelled at paying a tenner for a kindle edition of a book that wasn't even that strongly reviewed. Anyway, I feel like Lawerence has gotten better as an author; found myself laughing out loud on several occasions and the setting proves to be as tantalizing as ever. As entertaining as Prince Jalan's cowardly antics are however, i found myself missing Jorg's bloodthirsty approach to problems so I quickly brushed off Tales from the Broken Empire. Like most short story novella's it was a mixed bag, though i don't regret getting it.

Currently reading Dirk Gently's Hollistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. In the short while I have been reading it, it is has proved to be everything i thought it would be. Can't decide if I was idiot for waiting to read this for as long as I have or an idiot for reading it so soon; i have already finished with Prattchet, once i finish off Adam's bibliography where else will i go ? Once i'm done with that it will leave me with 52 books read in 2015 which is an even better number than 50. Don't think I have read so many since I first  discovered competitive multiplayer games.

[Astromech]

The Lions of Al-Rassan, another great read from Guy Gavriel Kay. The only part I wasn't entirely sold on was the ending. Tigana will probably be my next GGK read, but I'm still deciding what to pick up next. Part of my New Year's resolution is to read the books I already own, but I have a bad habit of hitting the bookstores weekly.

[Seasick Shrimp]

 So, this December I have finished The wise man's fear. It was not as bad as the first book in the series, but still sucked pretty hard. The part with; 

 

The Felurian was so terrible I could barely believe that Rothfuss was serious in his writing and not just having a laugh at the reader's expense. Seriously, How the f**k did that shitfest of extreme pretentiousness get through editing? It is beyond me. 

 

Now I have started on of the most classic of all Russian classics,  that being Anna Karenina. I'm about 40 pages into the story, and so far not much has happened, so it's quite too early to tell if I like it or not. So far it is what I expected, slower than Slowpoke's slowest attack and extremely detailed, but it has had some amusing points and seems to have some of that old school wittiness that I love.

Edit: I don't know why but my spoiler box has seemingly turned into some thrice-locked chest... well well, I'm way too lazy to fix it, just click on it three times and it will reveal itself..

[Astromech]

Edit: I don't know why but my spoiler box has seemingly turned into some thrice-locked chest... well well, I'm way too lazy to fix it, just click on it three times and it will reveal itself..

Westeros.org knew you were reading Anna Karenina so it attempted to imitate a  matryoshka doll.

I've picked up Heroes Die. I'm only about 30 pages in so far.

 

 

[williamjm]

I'm about 3/4 of the way through the Rogues anthology. So far most of the stories have been entertaining although nothing has really blown me away. I think the Scott Lynch, Joe Abercrombie, Daniel Abraham and Gillian Flynn stories have been the best so far, the Matthew Hughes and Cherie Priest stories were also entertaining but the others have been a bit mediocre. The Joe Lansdale story was particularly bad.

[TheRevanchist]

Good God, The Heroes is as good as Best Served Cold.

I loved The First Law trilogy, but the standalones are even better. Why I waited so long to read them?!

[First of My Name]

 

Westeros.org knew you were reading Anna Karenina so it attempted to imitate a  matryoshka doll.

I've picked up Heroes Die. I'm only about 30 pages in so far.

 

I love Heroes Die, but I love the sequel even more.

Tigana, which you said you intended to read, is also really good.

Good God, The Heroes is as good as Best Served Cold.

I loved The First Law trilogy, but the standalones are even better. Why I waited so long to read them?!

I prefer The Heroes, BSC was a little predictable and should've been shorter IMO.

[Richard Writhen]

Dreams and Shadows by Cargill. Pretty durned entertaining

 

[TheRevanchist]

I love Heroes Die, but I love the sequel even more.

Tigana, which you said you intended to read, is also really good.

I prefer The Heroes, BSC was a little predictable and should've been shorter IMO.

I loved Best Served Cold because it has the most unique set of characters ever. All of them are total sociopaths.

The Heroes have probably a better story and definitely it is more realistic, but in addition has so many characters and bands in the North that makes impossible to keep track of all of them. I like Bayaz even more than before, and I'll celebrate the day he dies.

Both are damn good IMO. Probably better BSC, but very close.

I second Tigana. Fantastic novel.

[First of My Name]

I loved Best Served Cold because it has the most unique set of characters ever. All of them are total sociopaths.
The Heroes have probably a better story and definitely it is more realistic, but in addition has so many characters and bands in the North that makes impossible to keep track of all of them. I like Bayaz even more than before, and I'll celebrate the day he dies.

Both are damn good IMO. Probably better BSC, but very close.

I second Tigana. Fantastic novel.

The cast is certainly a highlight. Morveer and Cosca in the same book and you're guaranteed golden dialogues. And Friendly is awesome too.

As far as I recall I didn't have that problem. I'm with you on Bayaz though.

I want to read more GGK because of it, maybe The Lions of Al-Rassan.

[Richard Writhen]

Found Darker Shade of Magic at the library. Saw it on a few best of lists this season so ...

 

 

Still working on Blood Red Road and The Amber Spyglass.

[Peadar]

I'm reading The Serpent by Claire North. Excellent so far. I loved The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, but was underwhelmed by Touch. The next two in this series (The Gameshouse) are already available, so I'm going to binge on them over the next few days...

[Iskaral Pust]

For me, it's Heroes > Red Country > Best Served Cold, but all were good.

I finished The Short Drop. It was a quick, enjoyable thriller and a good break from fantasy. The central plot is a missing-person cold case, plus a sideline of hacking and minor political intrigue. The big plus is that it avoids the worst clichés, conspiracies and wish-fulfillment, badass protagonist of most thrillers. It's not guiltless on those scores but avoids the worst excesses (Dan Brown, Clive Cussler, etc). No particular depth to the prose, characters or plot, so only recommended as a quick, light read.

I started a reread of American Gods. I love this novel and have read it 3-4 times before. I wonder if I'll stick with a full reread of such a familiar story. I have other options waiting on my Kindle, but nothing that felt urgent just at this minute.

[HexMachina]

Finished Excalibur, and with it came to the end of The Warlord Chronicles. Very good, and can understand all of the (deserved) praise this series receives. This was probably my least favourite of the trilogy but I still found it very good and with some scenes that were among my favourite in the series. My main dislike was

after Arthur beat the Saxons, there was a bit of a slog to read through the following years and Arthur's exile in Siluria. Not a huge problem, but things felt like a bit of a let down after such a great first half. Picked up again though, once the Mordred plotting began.

I also found the very end slightly disappointing because it felt rushed. What happened to Nimue? Did she just get killed by Meurig's Christians or carry on making trouble? What happened to Morgan? To Argante? To Oengus?

Or maybe I just didn't want the series to end and feel bitter because it did  

[Guinevere Seaworth]

Soulblade by Lindsay Buroker was pretty good.

My last book of the year will be King Lear by William Shakespeare.

[Maester Llama]

Lost a big post about one of my last books of 2015, John Scalzi's The End of All Things [the latest in his Old Man's War space opera series and the conclusion of the current arc], and I'm too lazy to rewrite it all. Book was enjoyable and pleasant and had some cool ideas. Notably more goal-driven than its predecessor The Human Division, and made up of four novellas rather than that previous book's thirteen stories, sacrificing exploration and many different perspectives on the setting, but gaining focus at a moment where that felt like the right choice. End felt like it was in an awful hurry. Not Scalzi at his very best, for me -- I dug Lock In more -- but very entertaining in the Scalzi mode if that's something you like, and satisfying for a series fan.

 

Also finished Shadow Scale, by Rachel Hartman, the sequel to her novel Seraphina. This book had a ton more plot to get through than its predecessor, which sometimes made it feel less satisfying, and some of the first novel's most absorbing character relationships, while still crucial, get a lot, a lot, less page time here. The book went in directions I didn't expect and it took me a while to adjust, but I think ultimately that's good: Hartman had me thinking one kind of sequel was coming, and then I got something that certainly approaches the issues I knew the sequel would tackle, but does so in ways I did not expect. I don't feel as strongly about Shadow Scale as I do about Seraphina and I think it's ten pounds of story in a five pound bag, but I still really like it, and suspect that on reread I will like it more.

 

And I read Maria Dahvana Headley's ya novel Magonia, about a land above the clouds where people sail in bat and bird-powered ships. I was unsure at first, and the narrator's voice is trying awfully hard, but I ended up really loving this. Lots of details only hinted at, with lots more room to explore in future. Great fantastical concepts and imagery, and characters who felt a bit affected at first but who really grew on me.

 

Working on Wesley Chu's Time Salvager. It's fine I guess. On to 2016! Happy new year!

[Rorshach]

Finished Wore Negari (interesting, very much so, for someone interested in the Ethiopian revolution. However, quite a bit of background knowledge would be preferable) and Europe under Napoleon (quite interesting as well, but really dense on information. Needed to read it slowly not to get lost). 

Also, started and finished Shadows of Self. I quite like the Mistborn books - they aren't by any means deep or masterpieces, but they're fun reads. Don't take too long either.

Starting The Cost of Revolution and the Military Dictatorship in Ethiopia: the Case of Macca Oromo of Wallagga (1974-1991) by Etana Habte Dinka. Really don't know what to expect from that one, but it was cheap.