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February Reading 2017


Garett Hornwood

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Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly.  Debut of the year, mark it down.  Kinda of like KJ Parker in that it is fantasy only because the world is not our own (and because as the book is about the rise of a fascist state everything kinda sucks).  Finished it and now started Kings of the Wyld (yes with a 'y').  Supposed to be kinda of a funny grimdark last ride of old friends kind of book.  Looks fun.

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On 2/9/2017 at 9:32 PM, Darth Richard II said:

I still think Warbreaker is his best by far.

I liked it enough but just like Elantris bothered me with the people in eternal pain, Warbreaker bothered me by the people voluntarily allowing their life force to be stripped. Warbreaker  did a good job of deconstructing the hero story (especially the decadent god's backstory) and my expectations (the relationship between princess girl and head god), while providing some really cool world building. I think I need to give it a second look now that I know it spoilers with spoilers and spoilers shows up in spoilers. (If you know what I mean.) 

Is there a big difference between book I read and the revised version that appeared later?

9 hours ago, Triskan said:

I'm about 150 pages into Grossman's The Magicians and bored to tears.  Still going to try to finish this first book in the series though.

I was ready to throw it against the wall at that point: unlikeable people doing unlikeable things when there was all this glorious magic around them. I stuck through all three books, am glad I did, but I tell you book two is a total downer. If you make it through the end of book one, there's significant rewards in the telling. The Magicians is a trilogy I admired more than loved.

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4 hours ago, SkynJay said:

Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly.  Debut of the year, mark it down.  Kinda of like KJ Parker in that it is fantasy only because the world is not our own (and because as the book is about the rise of a fascist state everything kinda sucks).  Finished it and now started Kings of the Wyld (yes with a 'y').  Supposed to be kinda of a funny grimdark last ride of old friends kind of book.  Looks fun.

Certainly the cover does give that impression :D Also,i don't think i've ever seen a KJ Parker blurb on a book before! Will def. be reading this.:)

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On 11/02/2017 at 2:13 PM, williamjm said:

Although it's a ten book series overall the initial plotlines do largely get resolved in the fourth book, Salute The Dark. I think Blood of the Mantis is perhaps the weakest in the series and the one that stands on its own the least. After that there are three semi-standalones each featuring a subset of the characters from the early books and largely set in new parts of the world before a closing trilogy that wraps up the major plotlines. I'd also agree with Andorion's comment that the series generally gets better as it goes along.

I agree that Blood of the Mantis is the weakest by far. I'd have given up if book 4 hadn't been a major step up again. I also agree that the book's become stronger in terms of writing as they go along and books 5-7 have a nice stand-alone focus to them. It's definitely a world that could be further explored - I picked up a collection of short stories set in the world but have yet to read it.

 

I've just started Robin Hobb's Liveship series - whichever the first one is. Interesting to get different POVs from that of Fitz. I also like how a similar concept to that of the dragons has been used for the liveships and wizardwood - i actually think it's better and a little less wacky here. Currently struck at how 3 dimensional the characters are. All of them are capable of flaws, mood swings and different behaviours depending on the context. Kennet is a great example of this but so was the chapter with Ronica and the trader who lost his wife several years ago. The scene starts with us thinking the trader is out to make money out of Ronica's plight and leaves the scene as someone you feel sorry for. The same with the family politics of who the captain should be - all the arguments seem reasonable when presented by the POVs championing said view.

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I started reading Steve Erickson's Arc d'X. Very weird book, starts off being about Thomas Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemmings (from her view) but then shoots off into all sorts of sf corners using time-travel-by-murder and other such things. Not quite sure where it's going yet, but it's interesting at least, and very well written. It has that early Ian-Banks-no-M thing going on where he's writing to shock and disturb more than he perhaps needs to, but, well, maybe it'll come to something.

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6 hours ago, red snow said:

I agree that Blood of the Mantis is the weakest by far. I'd have given up if book 4 hadn't been a major step up again. I also agree that the book's become stronger in terms of writing as they go along and books 5-7 have a nice stand-alone focus to them. It's definitely a world that could be further explored - I picked up a collection of short stories set in the world but have yet to read it.

 

I've just started Robin Hobb's Liveship series - whichever the first one is. Interesting to get different POVs from that of Fitz. I also like how a similar concept to that of the dragons has been used for the liveships and wizardwood - i actually think it's better and a little less wacky here. Currently struck at how 3 dimensional the characters are. All of them are capable of flaws, mood swings and different behaviours depending on the context. Kennet is a great example of this but so was the chapter with Ronica and the trader who lost his wife several years ago. The scene starts with us thinking the trader is out to make money out of Ronica's plight and leaves the scene as someone you feel sorry for. The same with the family politics of who the captain should be - all the arguments seem reasonable when presented by the POVs championing said view.

Just finished my Liveships reread. Such as rollercoaster, and I suggest you revisit this comment when you finish :) You'll understand why. You have only read The Farseer trilogy so far right?

Anyway, as mentioned above I finished Ship of Destiny to conclude my Liveships reread. Moved straight into the Tawny Man Trilogy since May is approaching much quicker than I thought.

So far this month I have also read Othello and The Taming of the Shrew. Othello is good, but I feel the first Act and first few scenes of Act 2 are a bit clunky. Think there were a few minor contradictions too. In terms of Shakespeare I've read this year I'd so far rank them:

Measure for Measure > Merchant of Venice > Othello > Taming of the Shrew

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22 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I finished Bancroft's Senlin Ascends after lots of recs here.  It's an enjoyable steampunk odyssey in a creative setting, but suspend your disbelief on world-building. I'm a bit disappointed with the ending as I didn't realize it would be a series.  I've purchased the second but won't rush to it.  Although inventive and novel, the story drags a bit: the single POV felt a bit solipsistic as he shed his naivety and scrambled over everyone else in pursuit of his goal, his fears of being undeserving made me wonder if I should even want him to succeed, and almost everyone but the central POV and his love interest are portrayed as malicious and exploitative or just vapid and indolent (again with the solipsism because everyone else is not on his mission and is therefore worthless).  Overall, well written, creative and novel.  Definitely worth a read. 

In the second book the structure changes, so we get to see POVs from Senlin's four companions as well as Senlin himself (and occasional brief glimpses of other POVs). I think it made sense for the start of the first book to be from Senlin's perspective but I think expanding the story does make sense.

I agree that Blood of the Mantis is the weakest by far. I'd have given up if book 4 hadn't been a major step up again. I also agree that the book's become stronger in terms of writing as they go along and books 5-7 have a nice stand-alone focus to them. It's definitely a world that could be further explored - I picked up a collection of short stories set in the world but have yet to read it.

I read the Spoils of War short story collection a few months ago. I probably wouldn't say it was an essential read, but the stories were consistently entertaining and brought some new perspectives on bits of the world we didn't see much in the main series. I think he has a second short story collection in the world out this spring. Since the first collection only took things up to about the start of the first novel there's probably scope for several more collections and given his formidable writing space I could easily imagine one coming out annually.

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15 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Just finished my Liveships reread. Such as rollercoaster, and I suggest you revisit this comment when you finish :) You'll understand why. You have only read The Farseer trilogy so far right?

 

Yeah - only read the Farseer trilogy so far. It does feel a little bit like one character is already suffering from "Regal" syndrome in that he seems to be a dick who gets away with everything so that the only reason he is such a dick is because of others doing nothing.

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Just now, red snow said:

Yeah - only read the Farseer trilogy so far. It does feel a little bit like one character is already suffering from "Regal" syndrome in that he seems to be a dick who gets away with everything so that the only reason he is such a dick is because of others doing nothing.

Kyle?

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Finished October's Baby by Cook.  Didn't like it as much as the first Dread Empire novel.  I thought the smaller scale of that one meant more room for characterization.  October's Baby was a lot more sprawling, with a lot of pages devoted to a detached narration style throwing out a constant string of character and place names and troop movements.  So much going on, but not much emotional depth or dramatic flow. 

 

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In the last week or so I read all 3 books of the Hank Thompson series, Caught Stealing (which was my favorite), Six Bad Things (which brought to mind a whole set of different things because it was party set in mexico and the main character's behavior reminded me of a fictional character I love) and A Dangerous man (which brought the trilogy to a close and got harder and harder to read as it was nearing the end). I liked them. They were dark and brutal and violent and almost too much at times. When you find yourself cringing and stopping because you don't want to see what happens next, then you know you're really buying the story, even one as farfetched as this ended up being.

I'll be reading Ben Aaronovich's The Hanging Tree next. I'm also reading Anna Dressed In Blood  by Kendare Blake.

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I've had March, the graphic novel by John Lewis, on my tbr list for a long time now, and I finally made time for it last weekend. Even though the storytelling was not the best, the history within the story was very interesting. Now I've got to start looking for a copy of March: Book Two.

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Long overdue, but finally finished the Dagger & Coin series with Widow's House and The Spider's War. Another entertaining series from Daniel Abraham. Great characters, especially Geder and Clara. Very satisfying conclusion to the series.

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I've fallen way behind so I'll just mention my two most recent reads: The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley and In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle.  Both were very good. 

About to start reading Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer and the serial anthology Bookburners by Max Gladstone and a few others.

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Finished Ninefox Gambit which was amazing, if challenging, with using different calendars, mathematics, and troop formation to alter reality and be used as weapons and defense in battle.

Also read The Flame Bearer, the latest in the Saxon Chronicles, with Uthred making another attempt to win back his home that is complicated by mercenaries, politics and the damn Scots.

And also read the Wolf in the Attic which was excellent.  I knew nothing about it coming in, and was surprised where it went. 

Now reading Uprooted by Naomi Novik, almost done, and liking it as well.   Also just starting The Heart of What was Lost.

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2 hours ago, beniowa said:

I've fallen way behind so I'll just mention my two most recent reads: The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley and In Calabria by Peter S. Beagle.  Both were very good. 

About to start reading Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer and the serial anthology Bookburners by Max Gladstone and a few others.

I started The Stars are Legion on Sunday during a continuing education conference, and what I read was great.  Can't wait to finish my current physical book to get back to it.  I've terrible about listing what I've been reading here too.  Please be sure to let us know what you think about Too Like the Lightning; I've got my eye on that one.

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