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January Reads: Setting the Tone for 2016!


Starkess

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Yep, I've been sitting about a third of the way through the last Generation V novel for almost three months, because I think they kick ass and when I finish it there's no more. Apparently the fourth and final book almost didn't happen and the writing was on the wall, so hopefully there's some bearable stopping point that's reached, but it still sucks. This is the first urban fantasy series in a while I've really, really dug.

 

Finished Wesley Chu's Time Salvager, the first book in his new series about a hypercorporatized future in which time travellers are sent back into previous eras to salvage resources to keep the crapped-out future civilization going. The concept's cool and the time travel's interesting, but I found the book a slog at times. The main character is a hypercompetent but psychologically wounded badass of a kind I'm not really feeling right now, but that's my fault and not the book's, because I think he is well brought off. My favourite character's the conflicted antagonist -- who shares the book with some villains who are absolute rat bastards lacking any interiority in and of themselves, but who are wonderfully hateable and help the conflicted guy achieve greater complexity. I quite liked him. There's some solid action and the touches of Chu's future history we get are cool, but I find the writing fairly expository and the book often felt like more of a chore than this kind of substantial-but-zippy sf novel probably should. That being said, I thought the novel ended in a good place. Half-way through I was thinking I wouldn't read the next one, and now I probably will.

 

Now about a third of the way through Zen Cho's Sorcerer to the Crown. It is delightful and the people who don't like it are all high.

 

SkynJay: Will be very interested to hear what you think of Truthwitch, which has gotten some good reviews and seems like it might be picking up some momentum.

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I finished Uprooted tonight and it was *happysigh* good. The kind of book that reminds me of why I fell in love with reading in the first place, that takes you to another place entirely and you don't need to nitpick it or tear it apart because it just is. That probably makes no sense but oh well. I greatly enjoyed it.

Next I want to tackle one of the books weighing down my nightstand, but I'm not sure which one yet.

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And now I shall "share" in hopes that eventually the series will continue.  I think it will but it may take a couple of years for it to actually shine in a bogged down genre.   I was real freak'n hesitant to pick it up.  I mean, slacker vampire - Generation V?  Sorry, that's me running for the door.  However, I do follow a couple posters around here and a couple other sites and they gave it great reviews and even then, I was hesitant.  Really glad I did cause it's definitely one of the best urban fantasy series around - I smoked Iron Nights yesterday and started Dark Ascension last night.

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Reading Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. It's pretty good so far. I have met Kennitt, Wintrow, Althea and (briefly) Brashen. I like that right away we have a group of characters from right across the moral and social spectrum. Should be very interesting. 

 

Hidden Content

None of those things you put in spoiler tags are spoilers.  

 

Are we that freaked out about silly spoiler shit that we are putting benign personality traits in spoiler tags?  

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On Generation V: that's an interesting and depressing link.  It's hard to believe that a well-written series with good word-of-mouth would provide so little income to the author.  I guess it hasn't sold as well as I thought.  I've read all four (purchased at full price on Kindle -- just to reassure the author) and will read further when available.  I can imagine that the description of the books would scare away Twilight-haters (it almost did for me) but it's a very fun series for a light, entertaining read. 

I think some kudos are due to the publisher.  There is a lot of self-published dreck out there (some gems too) and it's getting harder and harder for authors to find an audience and gain some critical mass amid the cacophony of self-promotion and untruthful promos.  A good publisher obviously makes a big difference in selecting quality and marketing it until it gets noticed.

I hope ML Brennan will return to the series soon.

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Reading Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. It's pretty good so far. I have met Kennitt, Wintrow, Althea and (briefly) Brashen. I like that right away we have a group of characters from right across the moral and social spectrum. Should be very interesting. 

 

Hidden Content

SoM is great but the two sequels are even better. It slowly builds up steam and sucks you further and further in as you read more.

(no spoilers in here for stuff you haven't read yet)

I agree about the scene in the cabin, really well done. Actually pretty much all of Kyle's scenes in this book are really well executed. The character interactions in Liveships are amazing. (Though it'll be a while before certain characters cross paths, Liveship is slow but oh so good).

Wintrow and Kennit were my favorite characters.  IIRC I liked Althea almost from the start. There's a bunch of characters I hated with the burning fury of a thousand sons though.

 

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I've just finished The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (I got completely sidetracked from my aim of mostly reading things published in 2015 towards the end of the year...)

I think I'm going to catch up on some short fiction until the end of the week, while I try to pick what's next on my to read pile of books.

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Finished The Buried Giant in which elderly couple go looking for their son in post-Roman Britain.  Characters spoke more formally than you would expect of the time period so I suspect that's just the writing style.  There's a bit of mythological aspect to the story with a quest and ties to the legend of King Arthur.  Ishiguro also plays around a bit with truth, memory, and the ability to give forgiveness.  Felt a little odd in places, but it's well written and quite good. 

Now reading On the Steel Breeze by Alastair Reynolds.

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SoM is great but the two sequels are even better. It slowly builds up steam and sucks you further and further in as you read more.
(no spoilers in here for stuff you haven't read yet)

Hidden Content

 

Kennit is right there with Fitz as Hobb's best character.

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I decided to read New Watch by Sergei Lunkayenko next. I had to read Wiki summaries of the first four books, which I read a few years ago now, but it wasn't too hard to get back into it. I enjoy this world and these characters and this one is a pretty slim book, so it should be a quick read.

Finished Part III of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power. May yet finish!

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Finished Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm. A curious little urban fantasy that's left me feeling as though a lot of it is very much open to reader interpretation. Overall I liked it, and I think once I've had time to reflect on it properly I may find my enjoyment of it increasing. At the moment though I'd say it's 3.5/5.

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