September 2016 Reads

[Spaßvogel]

 Just finished High Stakes, the new Wild Cards mosaic-novel.  I thought the Fort Freak/Lowdown/High Stakes trilogy was one of the best, but everything I liked about it (the Jokertown setting, the cop stories, etc) was kinda undone in the third entry.  (Things get apocalyptic in a hurry). 

Is there a Wild Cards general thread somewhere on here?

[AncalagonTheBlack]

2 hours ago, Spaßvogel said:

 Is there a Wild Cards general thread somewhere on here?

Archived topic

Active topic

[aceluby]

12 hours ago, Let's Get Kraken said:

Can't recall, but never this far. I think the first time I got two chapters in and ditched when I discovered Robin Hobb. Second time I got almost to where I'm at now. I'm forcing myself to at least finish the first book this time. I mean the prose is excellent, but the story just hasn't grabbed me yet.

It really picks up once C'naiur and Kellus get together.  Not sure how far in that is, but after that the tension really comes out.

[Tinker Tanner]

I've just picked up Alan Moore's Jerusalem and I'll be starting it at the weekend. Tbh I'm a bit daunted by it because its an absolute behemoth of a book.

[unJon]

20 hours ago, Jo498 said:

I am about 1/3 through Cryptonomicon and so far I am not really getting the point. So far about three tales are told in a nice, very leisurely fashion, not bad, not brilliant either, sometimes funny, and apparently they are going to connect themselves somehow but overall it is not very exciting. Compared to the wild ride of "Snow crash" this reads almost like some of those James Michener doorstops ("Hawaii", "Alaska",...) , only with briefer episodes in each story and only two time periods (cryptographers and marines in WW II, and some of their grandchildren? doing start up IT business in the late 1990s).

The Captain Crunch scene is amazeballs.

 

The leisure is part of the journey in this one. If you aren't enjoying it may not be the novel for you. Much more of this in the Baroque Cycle. 

[Jo498]

at page 340/910 I am apparently not at Cpt. Crunch yet. The funniest scene was quite early when Randy tries to set a few postmodernist academic friends of his girlfriend right about the "information superhighway". But this is not at all important to the plot; in fact the whole "modern" plot is quite boring so far. The wartime plot is better but also meandering.

[mushroomshirt]

On 9/15/2016 at 8:54 AM, aceluby said:

It really picks up once C'naiur and Kellus get together.  Not sure how far in that is, but after that the tension really comes out.

Well I'm not there yet (I still don't know what happened to Kellhus after the second chapter!) but still really enjoying Bakker The Darkness That Comes Before.  Lots of characters to keep track of and locations too.  But I'm not too lost (I think).  Similar to The Blade Itself, or A Game of Thrones in the number of characters and settings.  Maybe the names are a bit harder than either, but probably not any big deal for anyone who is on this board.

[Durckad]

20 hours ago, Jo498 said:

at page 340/910 I am apparently not at Cpt. Crunch yet. The funniest scene was quite early when Randy tries to set a few postmodernist academic friends of his girlfriend right about the "information superhighway". But this is not at all important to the plot; in fact the whole "modern" plot is quite boring so far. The wartime plot is better but also meandering.

When I read the Cryptonomicon (which was probably more than 10 years ago? holy shit), I actually found the Lawrence chapters to be the toughest to get through. They were the most jargony, the most meandering, and I found Lawrence himself to be a character that I just struggled to care about or identify with at all. The modern story and Shaftoe chapters were fine, they all meandered way too much, but that's kind of the name of the game with Cryptonomicon.

Most of my favorite parts about Cryptonomicon usually were all the random and irreverent tangents that the book would go on that had nothing to do with the main plot. The main plot was, honestly, the least interesting part of the book. It was just... there, a thing that existed to occasionally propel events very slowly in a direction.

[brunhilda]

On September 14, 2016 at 7:31 PM, Lily Valley said:

BLASPEMY!  Lyanna, don't listen.  You're going to love them.

In regard to the Ancillary books, I'm going to courteously disagree. I hear a lot of defense of books 2 and 3, which are just fine -- readable, enjoyable, lots of tea and tea services and a particular alien society that's mindblowing -- but I think overpraise of 2 and 3 diminishes the genius of book one.

Book one has the journey. That journey isn't just for the main character who re-connects emotionally with a past, a mystery, a loss, and a quest in a way that character could not have without stumbling across the secondary character. It's also a journey for the reader, who is presented with one impossible thing after another.

It was outstanding: figuring out that world, those characters, the social nuances, the amazing backstory, and the source of the character's journey and the trip towards its resolution. Having all those threads rush together to that ultimate reveal told a powerful, emotional story.

Books two and three had some great setup but no payoff. In a way, I really wish the ambassador had her own book, her own story, because she was incredible and a bit wasted here. To me, books 2 and 3 just don't measure up.

[Peadar]

I enjoyed The Graces by Laure Eve. Teens, obsession and very subtle witchcraft.

Next up will be Jemisin's The Obelisk Gate. I've been holding off on this one, because I know right now I don't have the time to concentrate and if it's anything like the first, it both needs and rewards concentration... Ah well. Cover me, I'm going in!

[beniowa]

Read Guardians of the Galaxy: Castaways.  I never read tie-in fiction, but the author is a member of the BwB and a friend so I gave it a shot.  It was pretty good.  The writing was good and McDonald did a good job conveying the personalities of the characters to the page.  Also read 2016 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Novellas.

Now reading Everfair by Nisi Shawl. 

[Starkess]

Finished CJ Cherryh's Conspirator. It was good, middle of the road entry for the series. She tends to plot the series as trilogies within the overall arc, so I am planning to read all 3 of this section. Next up is Deceiver (#11).

[Andorion]

1 hour ago, Starkess said:

Finished CJ Cherryh's Conspirator. It was good, middle of the road entry for the series. She tends to plot the series as trilogies within the overall arc, so I am planning to read all 3 of this section. Next up is Deceiver (#11).

Could you recommend a good entry point into CJ Cherryh's work? I have been meaning to read her for ages but the sheer volume of her work is a bit intimidating. 

[Gormenghast]

On Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 7:08 PM, Tinker Tanner said:

I've just picked up Alan Moore's Jerusalem and I'll be starting it at the weekend. Tbh I'm a bit daunted by it because its an absolute behemoth of a book.

The fun thing is that Alan Moore's "behemoth" comes out the month it is BLOWN AWAY by another behemoth that truly deserves that word and is exponentially bigger and more completely batshit absurd compared to it:

Sizes: 14x10.8 inches, 1496 pages, 13 pounds

http://i.imgur.com/VrzfgV1.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CsqP91LXYAA-TU6.jpg:large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrSQO2RUMAAGwGF.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrPecAIUIAA4Y6q.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrPecAdVYAACBgE.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CrPecAaVMAMbd3Y.jpg:large
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CqeYtZmUAAAcrg7.jpg:large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CsaZR-_XYAAy8Eh.jpg:large

I have both on the way.

[Plessiez]

On 9/15/2016 at 6:54 AM, Lyanna Stark said:

So, Railsea by Mieville. Either I got smarter or is Railsea some sort of almost YA-attempt or something? I've only been baffled by words maybe three or four times, haven't felt much need to grind my Thesaurus to dust, and overall I can read it twice as fast as even The Scar.

If I remember correctly, Railsea is supposed to be Young Adult, yeah.  I'm not sure if it was originally written that way -- to me at least it didn't feel particularly accessible compared to, say, Kraken (which isn't YA, apparently) or Un Lun Dun (which is). 

2 hours ago, Andorion said:

Could you recommend a good entry point into CJ Cherryh's work? I have been meaning to read her for ages but the sheer volume of her work is a bit intimidating. 

I think Downbelow Station is a good entry point, at least for the Alliance/Union universe.

[Lyanna Stark]

4 hours ago, Plessiez said:

If I remember correctly, Railsea is supposed to be Young Adult, yeah.  I'm not sure if it was originally written that way -- to me at least it didn't feel particularly accessible compared to, say, Kraken (which isn't YA, apparently) or Un Lun Dun (which is).

It seems to have a fairly YA, almost fairy tale style of address, Railsea, while as you say, the content and the concept and whatever meta levels I have certainly not interpreted correctly are most certainly not YA. I agree with you that Kraken is more accessible (albeit I think a less well held-together and executed story than Railsea). I really liked Railsea after all. For Mieville, it holds a very nice pace and rarely gets ponderous and bogged down in six syllable words of which about a fifth are most likely made up. And you know, Mieville really does love his larger than life monsters. In Railsea he channels monsters that are a cross between the largest nastiest stuff you find in Star Wars (the pit Sarlacc among others) and a nightmare Thomas the Tank Engine.

It also seems he really, really likes trains. The last novel I read by Mieville was Iron Council, featuring...trains. And then The Scar, which features ships only, but in Railsea the trains are also ships, and then Perdido Street Station even says in its name that it heavily features a station, where trains run from. Perhaps he should just invest in a huge Märklin model railway set and be done with it.

 

Regarding the Ancillary debate, we shall just have to see how I feel! Ancillary Mercy and Ancillary Sword should arrive next week.

[Starkess]

10 hours ago, Andorion said:

Could you recommend a good entry point into CJ Cherryh's work? I have been meaning to read her for ages but the sheer volume of her work is a bit intimidating. 

I think Cyteen is one of my favorites, and it's essentially a standalone (it is set in the Alliance-Union universe, and there was a sequel but it was written almost 2 decades after and I don't think is necessary to enjoy the first book). I can't remember how much it might spoil of other A-U books, though. Plessiez is right that Downbelow Station is a good starter for A-U. Most of the A-U books are only loosely connected and so you can really just jump in with any one that grabs you. I think I read either Forty Thousand in Gehenna or Downbelow Station first? Long time ago!

For the Foreigner universe, those books are actually written in chronological order following a single character, so it's best just to start at the beginning with Foreigner. While there are a lot of books in the series, they are intended to work as individual trilogies, so I'd recommend just reading 1-3 to start so you don't get fatigued or intimidated by a 12+ book series.

Haven't read her Chanur stuff yet so can't say for that. But I definitely recommend Cherryh, she is one of my favorite authors in the field.

[polishgenius]

I read The Library at Mount Char. Rather good, although I did feel that whereas many individual scenes were cracking, and the overall broad story was good, some of the detailing fixing the two together was a bit wonky.

Also I think it grabbed the attention of a lot of people who don't normally read this kind of thing coz quite a few of the reviews I saw were all 'woah this is so refreshing and different' and while it was plenty weird in the ways I enjoy I can't say it was that far into the realms of 'never read anything like this before'.

Fun, though. Like I say, Hawkins clearly knows how to write an individual scene, like structuring action or dialogue, even when he's dealing with some out-there concepts. And I like how he handle the morality, which somehow managed to totally depart the normal plane of judgement and yet be convincing about it - that was unusual.

[Lily Valley]

I just finished Six of Crows and The Call.  On to an anthropology book Debt: The first 5000 years.  I'll be trading that one with JR Johanson's trilogy.  I'm starting on Insomnia tonight.  Sunday is not a day for non-fiction.

[LongRider]

7 minutes ago, Lily Valley said:

I just finished Six of Crows and The Call.  On to an anthropology book Debt: The first 5000 years.  I'll be trading that one with JR Johanson's trilogy.  I'm starting on Insomnia tonight.  Sunday is not a day for non-fiction.

I read Debt, it was very interesting  and accessible I thought.