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January Reads: Setting the Tone for 2016!


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45 minutes ago, Jo498 said:

Are the sequels (Green Pearl, Madouc) as good as this first one?

If you liked the first Lyonesse volume, you'll like them all. They're pretty consistent in tone.

Vance's style is very unique - if you want to see more of it, try out his Dying Earth books.

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Thanks for your comments!  Strange, that they are commented on so rarely in the forum (I found positive comments but very few and nothing detailed). They are not that old (about 30 years).

I have them on my radar, also Dying Earth. But first I have to finish another Nero Wolfe or two and then maybe the second book of "The Black Company".

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Finished Wolf's Brother by Megan Lindholm, the sequel to the Reindeer People. I absolutely loved this book, the characters were just so compelling, the herder society so well thought out, the writing simple but engaging. Definitely my favourite of Hobb's older works that i have read thus far, though I still have the Harpy's Flight books to read. And my god, even back when she was writing as Megan Lindholm she knew how to deliver emotional gut punches :( 

Its a shame these older works by her seem to get so little attention

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On 1/26/2016 at 9:23 AM, AncalagonTheBlack said:

But before i begin with the Vlad books,i'm going be reading City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett.

I'm 30% done with City of Blades and unfortunately i'm not finding it as gripping/enjoyable as the previous book in the series.Most of this is due to really bland secondary characters. Mulaghesh as the main protag has been carrying the bulk of the narrative so far and i don't find her that interesting.She was much better as a secondary character in book #1.The story could really use Sigurd right about now to liven stuff up and maybe a couple more interesting secondary characters.

Also,where in hell are the antagonists ? Not even one has turned up so far.Who am i supposed to root against ? :P

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24 minutes ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

I'm 30% done with City of Blades and unfortunately i'm not finding it as gripping/enjoyable as the previous book in the series.Most of this is due to really bland secondary characters. Mulaghesh as the main protag has been carrying the bulk of the narrative so far and i don't find her that interesting.She was much better as a secondary character in book #1.The story could really use Sigurd right about now to liven stuff up and maybe a couple more interesting secondary characters.

Also,where in hell are the antagonists ? Not even one has turned up so far.Who am i supposed to root against ? :P

The antagonist is pretty interesting when the book gets there.  I thought it was a great book, but it didn't grip me near as much as the first did either.

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I finished Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel. I enjoyed it a lot and would recommend highly. Just like Wolf Hall, it uses a distinctive style that feels like the recollection of each situation by the POV. There are no colorful descriptions. The background is only described when the POV is paying attention to it. Mostly it tells us key snippets of dialogue and the internal musing on it -- exactly as you might remember a conversation, where you recall the general but only a couple of most significant utterances can be specifically recalled.

Next, with no successor planned, I started Harmony Black -- one of the free Kindle books this month for Prime members. It's an urban fantasy mixed with FBI procedural and so far everyone's a cliche badass. It's only ok. It did motivate me to go and buy a few more books.

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19 hours ago, TheRevanchist said:

Finished Mistborn: Bands of Mourning and found it a bit crap. Shame, because the Shadow of Self was good, on pair with the original trilogy.

Now started Mistborn: Secret History novella, and:
 

Hidden Content

 

That's a shame. Read Shadow of Self a few weeks ago and enjoyed it.

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1 hour ago, lessthanluke said:

That's a shame. Read Shadow of Self a few weeks ago and enjoyed it.

Yep, Shadows of Self was excellent.

On the bright side, Sanderson released a new Mistborn novella (same day as Bands of Mourning) which takes place during the events of the original trilogy. It is quite good, far better than Bands of Mourning. However, it has a large spoiler for Bands of Mourning.

Would recommend to read it. It is really interesting.

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Some very solid experiences with new stuff from 2015 recently:

 

Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho: This is very very fun, and I am a little mystified as to why it isn't more of a thing. Very absorbing characters, and a delightful [if this is your thing, if not it may be somewhat annoying] faux-nineteenth century British pastiche prose style that allows Cho to keep things light and comedic much of the time while still slipping in cutting observation and going for the gut occasionally. The book is close to being out-and-out comedy a lot of the time, but definitely acknowledges the grimness of the situation and the backstory; I found it very affecting in places. It is very much a British regency fantasy pastiche, and there are one or two moments in the plot that may only ring true as jokes / commentary if the reader's at least marginally familiar [I'd categorize myself around this "marginally" level] with this kind of story -- or Wodehouse; Wodehouse would help with getting the joke with one of the big twists, I think. Wonderful stuff.

 

Shadowshaper, by Daniel Jose Older: Older's first ya fantasy. Simple, classic stop-the-bad-asshole-who-is-doing-the-thing plot, with enjoyable characters, interesting magic, and a nice quick pace. There's a real focus on family and inclusivity, especially as the book approaches its climax and gets more into the history of how magic's been used in this version of Brooklyn in the past, and the book really starts to sing and find its groove once it starts exploring these issues. Older is an excellent chronicler of and commentator on everyday racist American bullshit, and there are some cutting moments in this book, some of which are mixed with humour very well. The first fifty pages or so are just fine, with the book having fun introducing the characters and the setting, but a lot of confused "oh shit what is happening nobody will answer my clearly crucial questions about these obviously magical occurrences," which is a trope I don't do well with these days, but as soon as the protagonist starts getting just little scraps of information and outlining the stakes it perks right up into excellence and keeps on going. Very fun, very positive book.

 

Updraft, by Fran Wilde: Fantasy about a city of towers made of bone that have grown above the clouds, the entirely skybound society that lives there, and the grimly determined merchant's daughter who gets drawn into the heart of the city's corrupt government and starts shaking up its secrets. I dig it. The setting is wonderfully evocative and mysterious; we move through it very quickly and I could have done with somewhat more information about several things, but in a good way that recalls the feel of lived-in imaginary space evoked by stories like Star Wars Episode IV rather than a bad I-do-not-have-the-info-I-need-to-follow-this-current-story way. The protagonist takes a bit to distinguish herself, but, at least for me, her combination of morality and grim drive to succeed definitely does so. The other characters are sketched in wonderfully in quick, precise strokes -- Updraft moves fast, but packs in a fair bit of detail -- and, while several are most definitely antagonists who are positioned as being in the wrong, the book avoids mustache-twirling villains in favour of misguided [quite misguided, in some cases, but still misguided] people who believe at least to some degree that the horrific things they do are for the good of the city. Updraft's not being pitched as ya necessarily I don't think, but, with its young protagonist discovering the secrets of a wondrous world while battling institutionalized corruption in a semi-dystopia, and its fast-paced, energetic plot, it could definitely be satisfyingly read by people who dig a lot of recent ya, I think.

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So far this year I've started reading Dune and halfway through currently. Ive heard that it's a standard bearer of sci fi so I thought I'd give it a shot. So far it's been fairly predictable, nothing too extraordinary, but I'll see where it goes eventually.

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7 hours ago, red snow said:

Just started "The ocean at the end of the lane". It seems pretty short but 10% in and Gaiman has done so great setting up of characters. That kid had some sad moments.

Yeah, it's a short one, but definitely my favourite book by Gaiman. Thought it was beautifully written, very moving and had great characters. I think what I enjoyed most was the contrast between the way it's narrated in such a childish simplistic way (makes sense, given the narrator's age) and some of the things that he experiences. Hope you continue enjoying it!

5 hours ago, Maester Llama said:

Some very solid experiences with new stuff from 2015 recently:

 

Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho: This is very very fun, and I am a little mystified as to why it isn't more of a thing. Very absorbing characters, and a delightful [if this is your thing, if not it may be somewhat annoying] faux-nineteenth century British pastiche prose style that allows Cho to keep things light and comedic much of the time while still slipping in cutting observation and going for the gut occasionally. The book is close to being out-and-out comedy a lot of the time, but definitely acknowledges the grimness of the situation and the backstory; I found it very affecting in places. It is very much a British regency fantasy pastiche, and there are one or two moments in the plot that may only ring true as jokes / commentary if the reader's at least marginally familiar [I'd categorize myself around this "marginally" level] with this kind of story -- or Wodehouse; Wodehouse would help with getting the joke with one of the big twists, I think. Wonderful stuff.

 

Shadowshaper, by Daniel Jose Older: Older's first ya fantasy. Simple, classic stop-the-bad-asshole-who-is-doing-the-thing plot, with enjoyable characters, interesting magic, and a nice quick pace. There's a real focus on family and inclusivity, especially as the book approaches its climax and gets more into the history of how magic's been used in this version of Brooklyn in the past, and the book really starts to sing and find its groove once it starts exploring these issues. Older is an excellent chronicler of and commentator on everyday racist American bullshit, and there are some cutting moments in this book, some of which are mixed with humour very well. The first fifty pages or so are just fine, with the book having fun introducing the characters and the setting, but a lot of confused "oh shit what is happening nobody will answer my clearly crucial questions about these obviously magical occurrences," which is a trope I don't do well with these days, but as soon as the protagonist starts getting just little scraps of information and outlining the stakes it perks right up into excellence and keeps on going. Very fun, very positive book.

 

Updraft, by Fran Wilde: Fantasy about a city of towers made of bone that have grown above the clouds, the entirely skybound society that lives there, and the grimly determined merchant's daughter who gets drawn into the heart of the city's corrupt government and starts shaking up its secrets. I dig it. The setting is wonderfully evocative and mysterious; we move through it very quickly and I could have done with somewhat more information about several things, but in a good way that recalls the feel of lived-in imaginary space evoked by stories like Star Wars Episode IV rather than a bad I-do-not-have-the-info-I-need-to-follow-this-current-story way. The protagonist takes a bit to distinguish herself, but, at least for me, her combination of morality and grim drive to succeed definitely does so. The other characters are sketched in wonderfully in quick, precise strokes -- Updraft moves fast, but packs in a fair bit of detail -- and, while several are most definitely antagonists who are positioned as being in the wrong, the book avoids mustache-twirling villains in favour of misguided [quite misguided, in some cases, but still misguided] people who believe at least to some degree that the horrific things they do are for the good of the city. Updraft's not being pitched as ya necessarily I don't think, but, with its young protagonist discovering the secrets of a wondrous world while battling institutionalized corruption in a semi-dystopia, and its fast-paced, energetic plot, it could definitely be satisfyingly read by people who dig a lot of recent ya, I think.

Huzzah, one more for the Sorceror to the Crown crowd. I think that now makes us 3 :P 

ETA; so speaking of Zen Cho got me browsing to look at her short fiction and I learned that Sorceror to the Crown was first of a trilogy. Thats some welcome news anyway :) 

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4 hours ago, Maester Llama said:

Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho: This is very very fun, and I am a little mystified as to why it isn't more of a thing.. Wonderful stuff.

 

Shadowshaper, by Daniel Jose Older:Very fun, very positive book.

 

 

I agree with you on both books. In fact, I had recommended Shadowshaper yesterday in the thread asking for YA recommendations.

 

Daniel José Older writes in a style and from a perspective that is very non-traditional; his dialogue does exceptionally well in capturing a modern, "Brooklyn feel." Zen Cho, in Sorcerer to the Crown, writes on the other hand in a very traditional Regency style, that though not in the least modern, does a great job of ensnaring modern ideas. 

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2 hours ago, Ghjhero said:

So far this year I've started reading Dune and halfway through currently. Ive heard that it's a standard bearer of sci fi so I thought I'd give it a shot. So far it's been fairly predictable, nothing too extraordinary, but I'll see where it goes eventually.

I'm embarassed to say I still haven't read my copy but I think it's probably the case that so many other works have imitated it that it feels predictable. It's a shame when this happens as it's not the book's fault (besides being a victim of its own success). I read "neuromancer" last year and felt like it was a bit generic but knew that was mainly because I've seen other books/films play out that book.

 

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7 hours ago, Maester Llama said:

Some very solid experiences with new stuff from 2015 recently:

 

Sorcerer to the Crown, by Zen Cho:

Updraft, by Fran Wilde:

We often have similar taste.  I have Sorcerer to the Crown on my Kindle so I will make sure to actually give it a try.

Updraft was a nice little book that seemed to have gotten lost in the shuffle last year.  Tor pushed it along side Traitor Baru Cormorant and Last Song Before the Night. Ironically Updraft got the least attention but was the only book of the three I enjoyed.

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15 minutes ago, SkynJay said:

We often have similar taste.  I have Sorcerer to the Crown on my Kindle so I will make sure to actually give it a try.

Updraft was a nice little book that seemed to have gotten lost in the shuffle last year.  Tor pushed it along side Traitor Baru Cormorant and Last Song Before the Night. Ironically Updraft got the least attention but was the only book of the three I enjoyed.

Heh, yeah, I bought all three fo those, read Traitor(Well 60 pages or so), threw it into the donation pile, and have been terrified to touch the other two.

Sorcerer to the Crown, on the other hand, is one of my favorite books from last year. If you liked Soulless or His Majesties Dragon(which I think you did) you'll like it.

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