August 2016 Reads

[Astromech]

11 hours ago, Lyanna Stark said:

Having issues with Kay's Sailing to Sarantium. It is very nicely written, lovely language, fascinating environments, yet constantly feels mildly disappointing. The POV swaps are not helping either, since it feels like it slows an already slow pace down to a crawl, and it doesn't really add anything of real value, apart from maybe something like "yes actually, that courier was a real arsehole", but is that really necessary to know? I don't know. Nearly 60% through and it feels like a struggle. At around the 30% mark of Lions of Al-Rassan I could not get enough of that novel, but I feel I ought to think the same about this one, but I really don't.

 

 

Sailing to Sarantium is a bit slow, but Lord of Emperors makes up for it. But I'll take GGK over most authors.

My feeling of disappointment was for The Last Unicorn. I had high expectations for it, but only really enjoyed some of Beagle's prose in it. I was bored through most of it and did not care for any of the characters.

[brunhilda]

On August 15, 2016 at 0:47 AM, Stubby said:

Currently reading The Martian.  Best new book I've read in a couple of years, IMO.

Best new book for me for a lot longer than that. What else have you read that's compared? Because I probably want to read those. I'm not finding a lot of "sense of wonder and adventure" books these days.

I'm looking at a bunch of potential reads on my table. I can't seem to get into Betrayals (Armstrong). I thought she finished with Book 3. Accepted that was the end. And now 4 shows up and then I buy it, and I'm just "Why am I reading this again?". I have the "Goblin Emperor" from the library and I just don't seem to like the main character's passivity.  

Also on my table, there's the "Sudden Appearance of Hope" whose cover I haven't cracked yet, and ditto "Fellside". I also have a few library nonfiction books sitting here. I'm perfectly willing to let them all sit longer if there's something exciting to replace them. I'm in the mood for something *fun*.

Just finished: Enid Blyton's Malory Towers I (meh), Waystation (ok), Dark Energy (ok), Rothfuss I and II (still love, still waiting). Stalled in Grisha book 2, don't think I'm going to finish.

[RedEyedGhost]

48 minutes ago, brunhilda said:

Best new book for me for a lot longer than that. What else have you read that's compared? Because I probably want to read those. I'm not finding a lot of "sense of wonder and adventure" books these days.

 

Have you heard of Admiral by Sean Danker? I read a really good review for it when it came out in May that compared it favorably to The Martian (especially the sense of urgency and danger). I haven't read it yet, but you might want to give it a look.

[The Marquis de Leech]

59 minutes ago, Leap said:

Anyway, now I'm reading Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, and already I'm a little blown away by how good a Sci-Fi writer he is; fairly simple and concise, but without going out of his way to explain things. Also, 50 years later, his vision of where humanity would be seems remarkably on track. Also, the second book in a row with a character called Myrna! 

Clarke on top of his game holds up like few other science-fiction authors of his era. Problem is, his last good stuff dates from the 1980s. Don't touch the Rama sequels.

[williamjm]

I finished Claire North's Touch. I thought it was a good book, perhaps not quite as good as North's The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August but not too far off. Having a protagonist who can jump between bodies at a single touch is something I haven't encountered before. I suppose the Denzel Washington film Fallen is similar, but in that case it is the villain who has that ability. I think a similar story could have been written where Kepler was the villain in this as well, he/she/it may not be the worst character in the story but he/she/it does do plenty of monstrous things himself and while they may try to follow their own moral code I think some of their self-justifications are a bit thin. The body-switching ability does allow for some memorable action scenes, and North's writing is excellent throughout, and does a great job of filling in the backstory as it goes along.  

Next up is Neal Stephenson's Seveneves. I do generally have mixed feelings with Stephenson's work but there are always good things in there along with stuff that frustrates me, I suspect this will end up being similar.

[unJon]

NK Jemisin The Obelisk Gate. Man really good middle book. Need spoiler thread for this stat. 

[brunhilda]

On August 19, 2016 at 2:59 PM, RedEyedGhost said:

 

Have you heard of Admiral by Sean Danker? I read a really good review for it when it came out in May that compared it favorably to The Martian (especially the sense of urgency and danger). I haven't read it yet, but you might want to give it a look.

Read it. Wasn't terribly impressed. There's an underlying mystery and it didn't play well with the actual plot. Some reviewers seem to compare it to the Stainless Steel Rat and while that might be a better comparison, it still wasn't great.

41 minutes ago, unJon said:

NK Jemisin The Obelisk Gate. Man really good middle book. Need spoiler thread for this stat. 

The only book of hers I've read was the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Didn't appeal to me (incest vibes). Is it worth trying another series?

[Darth Richard II]

4 minutes ago, brunhilda said:

.

The only book of hers I've read was the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Didn't appeal to me (incest vibes). Is it worth trying another series?

What?

[SkynJay]

17 hours ago, Roose Boltons Pet Leech said:

Clarke on top of his game holds up like few other science-fiction authors of his era. Problem is, his last good stuff dates from the 1980s. Don't touch the Rama sequels.

I made it through all but the last one in high school.  The second one was flat out boring and the third seemed interesting at the time but took all the wonder out of the series.  I agree, don't touch the sequel but forever love the original.  I reread it just last year again (doesn't hurt that it is so short).

1 hour ago, brunhilda said:

 

The only book of hers I've read was the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Didn't appeal to me (incest vibes). Is it worth trying another series?

 

I wasn't a fan of Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.  I only picked up Broken Empire (the second book in the same series) because it was sent to me.  It was far and away above the first book and so loosely connected that you don't even need a good memory to pick it up.  (Amanda Downum's series was the same, second book at least two stars better than the first).

The current series, starting with The Fifth Season, is even better.  It is worth continuing with the series you were iffy on, and damn sure worth reading her new one as well.

As for my own reading...  John Adams was a good biography but Adams himself is not near as interesting as a Hamilton or Jefferson.  The middle of the book dealt with his important trips to Europe but bored the hell out of me.  But the per-declaration chapters and those of his presidency were great to read.

I loved A Crown for Cold Silver but I am struggling mightily with the sequel.  Not sure if I will finish this one up; it is missing something that the first book had and I can't figure out what.

And I am still going through Vorkosigan audio-books.  Memory was great and I am halfway through Komarr.

[unJon]

1 hour ago, brunhilda said:

Read it. Wasn't terribly impressed. There's an underlying mystery and it didn't play well with the actual plot. Some reviewers seem to compare it to the Stainless Steel Rat and while that might be a better comparison, it still wasn't great.

The only book of hers I've read was the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Didn't appeal to me (incest vibes). Is it worth trying another series?

Yes. Go by Fifth Season right now. 

[Darth Richard II]

1 hour ago, unJon said:

Yes. Go by Fifth Season right now. 

It just won a Hugo!

[Starkess]

I finished Cibola Burn. It was okay, but I wasn't impressed. I expect more from The Expanse! I found it to be disjointed and didn't really seem to have a story to tell. And while multi-faceted antagonists have never been a strong suit of this series, this guy might really take the cake for just sheer mustache-twirling. Anyway, the epilogue at least made me feel like the series isn't a lost cause.

Not sure what is up next, might pick up something from the library. Or tackle one of the many books sitting around my room that I haven't gotten around to reading (mostly because they're paper books, which are much less convenient than my Kindle).

[Durckad]

Took a little break from reading over the past week or so and then ended up finishing Savages last night. It was good, but I didn't like it as much as The Folding Knife. I think the more compact and single-pov narrative worked far better in TFK than the more sprawling one used here. Also, the ending felt like a big anti-climax, but maybe it was more interesting for those people who've read more of his books set in this world as opposed to the two (counting this one) that I've read.

Question: Just confirming that this book is set in the same world as The Folding Knife. It's been a couple of years since I read it, so my memories of it are a bit hazy, but several of the kingdoms that are name-dropped sound suspiciously familiar to me.

Next up: Onward to Abbadon's Gate!

[RedEyedGhost]

11 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

It just won a Hugo!

If that doesn't say "Quality" then I don't know what does!

[RedEyedGhost]

13 hours ago, unJon said:

Yes. Go by Fifth Season right now. 

I think I walked buy it in the store the other day.

 

[ljkeane]

August has been a pretty good month on the reading front so far. I've read A Crown for Cold Silver, No Good Dragon Goes Unpunished and Spiderlight all of which have been very good. Now I'm just starting Guns of Empire by Django Wexler which should be pretty good as well.

[Darth Richard II]

2 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

If that doesn't say "Quality" then I don't know what does!

Hey, the Hugo went to a book I actually really life, let me have my moment damn it!

[Guinevere Seaworth]

Clarissa Oakes (#15 in the series) by Patrick O'Brian was OK.  I'm finding the later Aubrey/Maturin books that Stephen Maturin is a much more interesting character.  Jack Aubrey seems to be relatively stagnant as a character since Letter of Marque (#12 in the series).

I need something lighthearted to read and Anne of Windy Poplars by Lucy Maud Montgomery fits the bill perfectly.

[Iskaral Pust]

I finished The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.  Very enjoyable and well worth its Booker prize.  It feels a bit like an Indian version of Portnoy's Complaint: a narrative related in the first person with asides and tangents but overall in a fairly linear time fashion; part confession, part memoir, part examination of his ethnic culture.  I'm always wary of whether a novel like this is pandering to external perceptions.  I feel like I need to see how Indian people reacted to it.

Now starting The Obelisk Gate, Jemisin's sequel to The Fifth Season.  I'm excited for this.

 

williamjm - if you like characters body switching, then check out David Mitchell, especially the Bone Clocks.

[Peadar]

I enjoyed Adrian Tchaikovsky's Spiderlight. A D&D campaign story that starts out humerously and slowly, slowly turns dark.