September 2016 Reads

[aceluby]

New month, new thread!

 

Just finished The Darkness That Comes Before by Bakker last night, finished it in 5 days and it was AMAZING.  Starting The Warrior Prophet today.

[Garett Hornwood]

I'm continuing reading The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba (and Bryan Mealer).

If anyone has seen the meme about the young man who build a windmill out of junk and the media hasn't made him famous, William is that young man.  He wrote this book back in 2009 and got coverage in Time, Washington Post, Good Morning America because it became a NYT bestseller.

[Iskaral Pust]

I finished Jemisin's Obelisk Gate, a very good middle book for this trilogy.  I'll post a more detailed discussion in the thread for this series.  Definitely recommended. 

[Andorion]

Reading The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan. Really liking the world so far. 

[Jo498]

I am about 2/3 through Paladin of Souls. This is quite original and well written but it does not quite grab me the way the (more conventional) "Curse of Chalion" did. I also think that the supernatural element was handled better, more mysteriously in "Curse". Still, not a disappointment so far. The author is (which is clearly admitted in the first book) leaning heavily on the Iberic peninsula in late medieval times (although the important religion is made up or at least not similar to Catholicism) but in any case for me a more plausible and better developed "smallish" world than the Farseer's Six duchies.

[matt b]

Just finished up the first 2 books of Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy, Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. Both were very enjoyable, my first foray into Atwood and not my last. Now to try and track down a copy of MaddAddam so I can finish it off.

But in the meantime I found a copy of An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe at Half-Price Books so that'll be next up. It's not one of his I've heard a lot about but I always pick up any Wolfe I don't already own.

[aceluby]

37 minutes ago, matt b said:

Just finished up the first 2 books of Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy, Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. Both were very enjoyable, my first foray into Atwood and not my last. Now to try and track down a copy of MaddAddam so I can finish it off.

But in the meantime I found a copy of An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe at Half-Price Books so that'll be next up. It's not one of his I've heard a lot about but I always pick up any Wolfe I don't already own.

I've read those as well and will be finishing the series once I'm done w/ Bakker's first trilogy.  I enjoyed them as well.  Very well written, great world building, and I like how she tells some of the stories from different POV in the two books.

[RedEyedGhost]

On ‎9‎/‎1‎/‎2016 at 2:20 AM, Peadar said:

Thanks, REG! Hope you enjoy it

Official launch is tonight!

My pleasure!  I decided to order a hardback too, so that I can get it displayed on my bookshelves.  When I put it into my amazon cart on Wednesday, they had 11 copies remaining, and when I went to order it last night they had sold out.  So I hope that means it's been doing well everywhere  

I did see that you received your first 1-star review for the book too.  Maybe the blurb on the next book should be "Too gruesome for Grandma!"   

[Peadar]

13 minutes ago, RedEyedGhost said:

I did see that you received your first 1-star review for the book too.  Maybe the blurb on the next book should be "Too gruesome for Grandma!"   

Ha ha, yes. There have been a few reactions like that, but never from teens, funnily enough

 

Thanks a lot, yet again! I will buy a bar of chocolate

[beniowa]

Finished Summerlong.  It's a short, quiet novel about aging, relationships, and family with some Greek mythology thrown in.  Lyrical and beautifully written like Beagle can do.

Also read Peadar's new book, The Call.  A great, great read.  World-building, characters, and writing are all well done.  It's grim, grim book, almost a little too grim.  It's self-contained, but there better be a second book!

I'm currently most of the way through The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson. 

 

4 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

I did see that you received your first 1-star review for the book too.  Maybe the blurb on the next book should be "Too gruesome for Grandma!"   

 

[Guinevere Seaworth]

Montcolm and Wolfe by Roch Carrier was a very frustrating and a disappointing book.  It had rambling, awkward sentences and in some areas, poor transitions from Wolfe's point of view from Montcalm's point of view. I am not sure how much this is a translation issue, but it made for a difficult read. My biggest issue was an utter and complete lack of maps in my ebook version. Given that a lot of place names near the Great Lakes and St.Lawrence seaway have changed, except for those in Quebec, I had no context at all for any of the geography. Even major rivers names have changed. Ohio river was not known as the Ohio then. Pittsburgh was under a different name, so was Halifax to name a few key places. I was completely lost which made me utterly disinterested in the narrative. Even for the most famous battle, Plains of Abraham, I would've like to seen a map of Quebec City and region during 1750's to get a sense of how the battle looked like. (less)

Now reading The Widow's House by Daniel Abraham. Already enjoying being back in this world.  Can't wait to see what Cithrin, Marcus, Clara and Geder are up to!

[Starkess]

I started The Shadow of What Was Lost today. I'd never heard of it, but it was an Amazon recommendation and had good GR reviews, so I decided to give it a shot. I'm liking it so far! Feels like a very classic fantasy novel, but not in a bad way so far. I was reading on my lunch break and definitely felt reluctant to put it down, which is a good sign.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

8 minutes ago, Starkess said:

I started The Shadow of What Was Lost today. I'd never heard of it, but it was an Amazon recommendation and had good GR reviews, so I decided to give it a shot. I'm liking it so far! Feels like a very classic fantasy novel, but not in a bad way so far. I was reading on my lunch break and definitely felt reluctant to put it down, which is a good sign.

Did you get the Orbit reissue ? Or the self-pubbed version ?

I saw this too but wasn't convinced about buying, what with the blurb about " If you liked Wheel of Time..." haha

Do let us know how it turns out when you finish.

[Iskaral Pust]

13 hours ago, matt b said:

Just finished up the first 2 books of Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy, Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. Both were very enjoyable, my first foray into Atwood and not my last. Now to try and track down a copy of MaddAddam so I can finish it off.

Really good trilogy, I hope you enjoy the concluding volume. 

[Starkess]

20 hours ago, AncalagonTheBlack said:

Did you get the Orbit reissue ? Or the self-pubbed version ?

I saw this too but wasn't convinced about buying, what with the blurb about " If you liked Wheel of Time..." haha

Do let us know how it turns out when you finish.

I didn't realize there was a difference until I tried to shelve it on GR, but it looks like I have the Orbit version. I would say it is definitely in the vein of the traditional fantasy, which I actually don't read much now and so I am enjoying it a lot. Almost done with it, actually!

[Jo498]

Finished Paladin of Souls. After two books from each, I'd rate McMaster Bujold certainly higher than Robin Hobb. But I did not find this as good as Curse of Chalion (although it is probably more original with a very uncommon protagonist). The sorcery/demons/Gods aspects were handled more mysteriously in "Curse" and "Curse" is also more tragic (despite having a happy ending) whereas Paladin of Souls avoids desaster (the one mishap that could not be helped took place before the book starts). It's also a little long for the material, feels almost like a 200-page-novella blown up to 450+ pages.

[mushroomshirt]

On 9/2/2016 at 9:19 AM, RedEyedGhost said:

When I put it into my amazon cart on Wednesday, they had 11 copies remaining, and when I went to order it last night they had sold out.  

Wow you are right now amazon says "1 to 2 months" to receive.  I'm super intrigued since Peadar posts here.  I don't usually go for horror, but I have read a few YA books recently (Half a World and the Hunger Games books).  And a few years ago I accidentally read the Mortal Instruments series - the whole (sort of) incest thing really creeped me out.  Somehow it was worse than Cersei and Jaime.  But otherwise I kind of liked it.  (wouldn't read it again tho).

Anyway I will get the Kindle version of The Call.  Looking forward to a good read!

[Peadar]

27 minutes ago, mushroomshirt said:

 

Anyway I will get the Kindle version of The Call.  Looking forward to a good read!

Thanks a million, mushroomshirt! Each book bought represents a precious, precious bar of chocolate for me

 

As for me, I'm reading a book by another BwBer and really getting sucked in: Cut me Free by J.R. Johansson.

[Starkess]

I finished The Shadow of What Was Lost and I really enjoyed it. Compared to some other epic fantasy novels--things actually happen, it's amazing! Things I expected would be pushed off to the sequels were instead wrapped up in this one (while still leaving plenty to move forward), and there is an abundance of secrets/misdirections/etc, but they aren't predicated on characters just being idiots and not talking to each other. That was quite refreshing, and it was still able to be a source of intrigue and drama without the stupid, drawn-out misunderstandings. Weakest part was the characters didn't feel as developed or real as they could have, but they worked well enough to get me to care about the story. All in all, it was exactly what I want from epic fantasy, so now of course I get to play the waiting game for books 2 and 3...

[polishgenius]

So I had been planning to intersperse my read of Baxter's Xeelee omnibus with other books, but it turns out I'm not doing that; having blown through the first three I'm straight into the final book in the volume, and I believe the centerpiece of the series, Ring.

It's incredible how much better Baxter got as a storyteller over the course of the series: Raft and Timelike Infinity are fun but the former is very basic in its telling and the latter more ambitious but a little rushed, but the step up in Flux was huge and although I'm yet only a few pages into Ring, he's already displaying yet more new tricks.
And yet even from the start he apparently was aware enough not to jump into the big piece immediately when he might not necessarily have been able to handle it but both build himself up and set up the ideas he wanted to tackle beforehand. So credit there.


An odd one: Baxter is clearly a very successful author and regarded by SF press (British at least) as a big name on the genre, and he's also collaborated with Arthur C. Clarke and Terry Pratchett (and most recently Alastair Reynolds), but I never really see him talked about much. Wonder why.