May 2016 reads

[polishgenius]

8 hours ago, SkynJay said:

We each have our own thoughts of course.  And I miss the thread that had our thoughts lined up.  But what me mad was..

  Reveal hidden contents

I felt the out of left field ending was an insult to the reader due to the nature of the narrative.  At every point in the story we had access to Baru's thoughts; including times where she was feeling betrayed despite it being part of the plan she was hatching when all is said and done. This isn't the case of things she said out-loud were misleading; every thought in her head was misleading the reader.

Some people said there was some foreshadowing.  I never saw it and it didn't excuse that fact that in order for the whole story to work Baru's own thoughts were lying to us.  Not in a unreliable narrator fashion, but in a 'oh just kidding now I am thinking about this completely differently' kind of style.  It wasn't subtle and in my mind wasn't done with any craft.  

 

Yeah, see, that was the thing:

I can't remember exactly the reasons why I came to it but I expected the betrayal, and it was at least in part because of the way she was thinking. Yeah, it was a bit cheap never to have her think about it at all, but there were points where she seemed clearly to be thinking

around something, like, refusing to acknowledge it even in her mind.

[Darth Richard II]

I'll just link this, it says pretty much what I want to say

https://fozmeadows.wordpress.com/2015/07/17/the-traitor-baru-cormorant-early-thoughts/

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I liked Abaddon's Gate, but I missed Bobbie Draper.  I have never have been a big fan of the Alamo kind of shoot-em, last man standing gunfights so the climax was just OK for me.  The religious theme was more interesting than I thought it would be.

I have to admit, I really want to know more of Amos' and Naomi's past.

I finished Letter of Marque by Patrick O'Brian.  I was another good installment in the series.

Now trying to finish off Mistress of the Empire, now that I got most of the electronic library books off my queue.  And I also have just started Red Rising by Pierce Brown. 

[End of Disc One]

9 minutes ago, Guinevere Seaworth said:

I have to admit, I really want to know more of Amos' and Naomi's past.

You can read The Churn.  It was released between books 3 and 4 so now is the perfect time.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

5 hours ago, End of Disc One said:

You can read The Churn.  It was released between books 3 and 4 so now is the perfect time.

Thanks!  Will do.

[Astromech]

Diarmaid MacCulloch's, The Reformation: A History. It wasn't a light read, but was very informative and interesting. I felt the narrative suffered at points due to the amount of information thrown at the reader, but expected it since it covered the Reformation, Counter-Reformation and everything in-between.

[Jo498]

I finished Steven Brust: Taltos which is good, but more a novella than a novel and I am not sure I get the reputation of the series yet.

Also The Light Fantastic and I again I am not quite sure whether I read this almost 25 years ago in German translation or not... It has already more of the discworld feeling than the first book although still relying heavily on making fun of fantasy clichees (rather than making fun of human society). And the Unseen University became a considerably more civilized place in the later books...

[Iskaral Pust]

I haven't posted in a while.  Last week I finally finished the Book Of The New Sun reread, and actually completed it this go 'round.  I'll discuss it more in the specific thread but overall I think it's very over-rated and wouldn't recommend it.  I'm still mystified by its status as a genre classic. 

Now I'm half way through Necessary Evil, the conclusion of Tregillis' Milkweed trilogy.  So far it's ok but not great.  It's a step backward from the second book and I'm feeling jaded by the constant tone of anger, loss and resentment. And I don't think it's just because I've had a tiring week.  I find it hard to embrace books where every POV is depressive and emotionally tortured.  I can accept it in one or two POVs, even in the sole POV, but when it stretches to every POV it becomes unrealistic and over-wrought.  Most people deal with challenges and disappointments with some level of resilience and/or equanimity.  Perhaps that doesn't provide the emo drama sought by the author, but it feels like teenage goth self-absorption to portray everyone as anguished. 

I'll stick with it and finish the trilogy but I'm really hoping my next read is more engaging. 

[mashiara]

A Good Marriage by Stephen King was a decent read, two good stories.

Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman, a collection of stories and poetry. I'm unsure about this. I liked the longer stories , I didn't care for the poetry much, I wish he had developed the shorter stories more.

I also read Gaiman's Fortunately, the Milk and I thought it was a little gem. I understand it is a kids' book and I read it to my own boys, who are a bit too young to appreciate all of it, but I had fun reading it, and would gladly read it again -and that's more than I can say for many of the kids' books I get to read on a daily basis.

I'm currently reading The October Horse by Colleen McCullough, the 6th in the Masters of Rome series. It's long, very long but I knew that going in.

[Gormenghast]

For some reason a month ago I took in my hands my copy of IT, by Stephen King. I just suddenly felt the need to read the beginning, but then I continued and eventually reached the end.

I started reading that book 25 years ago. Literally. I finished today. (the reason is I stopped around page 600, it was the day of the TV show, split in two parts. I thought it was safe to see the first part, but then I couldn't hold back and watched the end of the 2nd part too. Then I decided to jump directly to the end of the book and read that. Having quenched curiosity, I never continued reading. Damn self-inflicted spoilers.) (six months later I bought LotR, I was 14. That's where my love for HUGE books began. IT & LotR)

Well, it's an amazing book anyway. A few years ago I read Under the Dome and, while not a masterpiece, I still liked it quite a bit. But in retrospective that book is just a retelling of IT, and IT is just way, way better from every point of view. So, if you read IT, there's no real reason to read Under the Dome too, unless you particularly enjoy the way Stephen King writes.

The other main aspect is that IT is a masterpiece that would still be a masterpiece if you pulled out all the horror/supernatural bits (and the first 20 pages are simply perfect). Ironically, Stephen King is an amazing writer as long he doesn't write horror (like Martin, as long he doesn't write fantasy). (Barker is better than King, at horror)

This time my attention was particularly focused on the "mythology", and it's really weak. There's not much worth salvaging there, beside a few clever lines. But that's it. Oddly, I never felt like King started to lose control toward the end. The end is bad, but it's deliberate. It's not like he tried to hit but missed, it's not a "wrong turn". The insight he has on the characters is not mirrored by an insight on the story mechanics and meaning and themes. But it's the nature of the book.

It's still a great book, but once again a case where the book strengths correspond to something Erikson wrote too, with a lot more power and inspiration, and in far less pages (This River Awakens, a very similar story, less showy and sure-footed, more intimate, but also a lot more "magical").

[Darth Richard II]

Ugh, Under the Dome made me stop reading king for years, and I had been reading every one of his books in release since the early nineties.

I also think It has one of Kings best endings.

Also damn dude, are you Erikson's publicist or something?

[Isildur's Mane]

Finished reading  Dangerous Women, by G.R.R.M and Gardner Dozois. 

Overall I liked it though sometimes I thought some of the stories didn't quite fit the requirements. It was  pretty good read overall though. 

[beniowa]

Finished The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend about a young woman from Sweden who visits a small town in Iowa, and decides to stay and opens a bookstore.  There's a lot of great stuff here for book lovers.  Unfortunately, this first novel is filled with stereotypes and cliches and never manages to rise above them.  Rather disappointing.

I will probably focus on Sharp Ends and not get into a new novel until Children of Earth and Sky and The Wolf in the Attic come out Tuesday.  

[williamjm]

I finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Tiger and the Wolf. I thought it was a very enjoyable read, I always seem to like Tchaikovsky's characterisation and I thought he did a good job again here with a nice variety of characters who tend to be more complex than they first appear to be. It felt like a more straightforward story than his previous novels, it's more of a classic coming-of-age Epic Fantasy story than his other fantasy stories and at times a bit predictable (I didn't anticipate every plot development before Maniye did, but I think I got most of them).

Next up I'll start on Guy Gavriel Kay's The Children of Earth and Sky (since bookshops here were selling it before the release date).

[Richard Writhen]

On ‎5‎/‎8‎/‎2016 at 0:50 AM, Gormenghast said:

The other main aspect is that IT is a masterpiece

I am also of this opinion. I also loved the Dark Tower books, but It is the best thing he ever did.

[RedEyedGhost]

I finished The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs a few days ago.  I wanted to give it a little time to settle before writing about it in order to confirm that I really did like it as much as I thought I did when first finishing it.  I do.  Just an awesome book.  Kind a Weird Western crossed with Horror and the Roman Empire never falling.  I was fun trying to determine which areas corresponded to our North America.  The central conflict is between a couple of mercenaries (one a half-dwarf that refuses to corrupt his soul by carrying Hellfire - demon powered - guns) and a group of indigenes - wicked elf-like creatures, but we also get the an extremely strong land based Ruman Empire on the verge or war with a powerful seafaring Medieran Empire (who I took to be Spain), and the Tchinee (China) who could be swayed to join either side (although that will be explored in book two apparently).  And we get a very intense demonic possession - seriously creepy stuff.  It's a great book that really packs in a surprising amount of story.  Will read Foreign Devils soon.

Now I'm reading Benighted (Bareback) by Kit Whitfield.  The first 15% or so was a bit tough to get into, but it's picked up a lot now (I'm about 1/3 through).  The story follows a Lola May Galley, a bareback, in a world where 99% of the population are lycanthropes.  My main problem so far is that the world feels too similar to ours with such a dramatic difference, it seems as though it has been this way for a long time, back to the Dark Ages at least.  Maybe there will be more of an explanation about that later in the book.  The Kindle price was pretty damn ridiculous at $11.99 for a 10 year old book that is far from a Bestseller. 

My UK copy of Sharp Ends showed up today.  I'm thinking I might just slowly work through it with one story between other books, or maybe one per weekend.  If I can hold out like that.  The map is no easier to read on the physical copy.  I wonder if the US very is better...

[Maia]

Finished "Broken Monsters" by Lauren Beukes. It is mostly a contemporary thriller set in Detroit, spiced up by a little bit of supernatural. As predicted by fellow Beukes-fans, I adored it. One of the rare books where I didn't encounter stretches that took a bit of effort to get through nor had  characters that I was bored with. I don't entirely agree that it is her _best_  book - "Zoo City" is on the equal level for me, due to great worldbuilding, setting, etc. But yea, it's excellent. Beukes is a criminally underrated author, IMHO. Can't wait for her next book.

"A History of Love" by Nicole Krauss - it was, apparently, a sensation among the literary fiction circles a decade ago and it is, indeed, pretty good. Sags in the middle a bit, despite being a relatively short book by my doorstopper-habituated standards, but all the seemingly disparate threads come together to a very satisfying conclusion indeed, with some neat twists.  Deals with loss, loneliness, love, legacy, survivor's guilt "and yet" the ultimate beauty of life. Beautifully written.

Now, on to the often mentioned and reccommended here  "The Library at Mount Char" by Steve Hawkins!

 

[Peadar]

9 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

I finished The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs a few days ago.  I wanted to give it a little time to settle before writing about it in order to confirm that I really did like it as much as I thought I did when first finishing it.  I do.  Just an awesome book.  Kind a Weird Western crossed with Horror and the Roman Empire never falling.  I was fun trying to determine which areas corresponded to our North America.  The central conflict is between a couple of mercenaries (one a half-dwarf that refuses to corrupt his soul by carrying Hellfire - demon powered - guns) and a group of indigenes - wicked elf-like creatures, but we also get the an extremely strong land based Ruman Empire on the verge or war with a powerful seafaring Medieran Empire (who I took to be Spain), and the Tchinee (China) who could be swayed to join either side (although that will be explored in book two apparently).  And we get a very intense demonic possession - seriously creepy stuff.  It's a great book that really packs in a surprising amount of story.  Will read Foreign Devils soon.

 

Very tempted to give this a go when I finish with Sharp Ends...

[SkynJay]

10 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

I finished The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs a few days ago.  I wanted to give it a little time to settle before writing about it in order to confirm that I really did like it as much as I thought I did when first finishing it.  I do.  Just an awesome book.  Kind a Weird Western crossed with Horror and the Roman Empire never falling.  I was fun trying to determine which areas corresponded to our North America.  The central conflict is between a couple of mercenaries (one a half-dwarf that refuses to corrupt his soul by carrying Hellfire - demon powered - guns) and a group of indigenes - wicked elf-like creatures, but we also get the an extremely strong land based Ruman Empire on the verge or war with a powerful seafaring Medieran Empire (who I took to be Spain), and the Tchinee (China) who could be swayed to join either side (although that will be explored in book two apparently).  And we get a very intense demonic possession - seriously creepy stuff.  It's a great book that really packs in a surprising amount of story.  Will read Foreign Devils soon.

 

This sounds incredible.  I must have it.

4 hours ago, Maia said:

Now, on to the often mentioned and reccommended here  "The Library at Mount Char" by Steve Hawkins!

 

Scott Hawkins =)

[KiDisaster]

Stormlight Archive was a no-go. I just can't get into Sanderson. 

It's all about Sharp Ends right now.