December Reading Thread

[Ser Barry]

The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian

The 4th Aubrey/Matruin novel and by now I have overcome my difficulties in getting used to the style of writing and it was like settling into a story about old friends. Good job too because PO'B stuck close to the facts of the campaign and it made for something of a non-ending. Still 300 odd pages of such smooth, witty and insightful company is a pleasure and it makes up for the damp squib ending. Bring on book 5.

[Lawrence]

I finished Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind. It left me feeling disappointed to be honest. Well.. what can I say. I said this already, and I don't think I've a lot to add here. tNotW ended up being a mediocre traditional fantasy effort and wasn't spectacular compared to an Abercrombie or a Lynch (since he's compared to those quite a lot in these circles). The book had a lot of drawbacks, which annoyed the hell out of me, because I just wanted to enjoy the book. I couldn't much, sadly. Don't know what it happening to me, but apart from Altered Carbon I have not been enjoying many books these days. Maybe its just me being hypercritical and thus not allowing myself to fully enjoy the works ( I know I would have enjoyed this one maybe two years ago), or maybe I've just picked up the wrong books this period. Don't know, it is frustrating though because I read for fun. And I want to read fun books dammit! I did enjoy writing the review though, and (playfully) bashing the book around a tiny bit.

Hopefully Sapkowski's The Last Wish will prove to be fun. I don't know, we'll see. Right now I can't say that much since I am only 40 pages in.

[Gigei]

Just finished the first five books of The Runelords series by Farland. I like the first 4, the 5th is from the second series and is not as good.

Generelly, I found it to be quite entertaining. The "magic" system is rather creative but I don't quite believe it. When I do suspend my disbelief though, it has some interesting moral implications. Power is granted through "endowments" where a Dedicate has to willingly give up certain physical traits to a Runelord. For example, for a Runelord to remember everything and be more intelligent, a Dedicate's Wit must be endowed, leaving the Dedicate nothing but a vegetable as all his thinking skills have been given to the Runelord. If the Dedicate dies, his endowments are lost by the Runelord he gave it to and if the Runelord dies, the Dedicate gets his endowment back.

The first book "The Sum of All Men" refers to the supposed villian who has taken on the attributes of thousands of people, making him devastatingly handsome, persuasive, strong and practically unkillable. I liked the premise.

The first book is a bit weak and I didn't even like the main character but I do find him better in the next books. In my opinion, the third is actually the best even though it has very little action. It is the book that fleshed out the characters and readers really get to know that they are thinking and feeling.

A big plus to me is that it is NOT yet another shepard/baker's boy/farmer/street urchin/etc. turned king. The writing could be improved and it is quite trite sometimes, especially the romantic parts.

Still, when I picture it in my mind, I think it would make a good movie. I'd love to see the reaver war and all the various Runelords and wizards duke it out.

[Mr. X]

Finished up Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghost. I definitely recommend it to anyone looking for good short fiction. Some of the stories are throwaways, but the quality entries certainly make up for it. Hill is good with language as well -- even when I guess where the stories are going, I still enjoy the experience.

Continuing in the short fiction vein, I'm now reading The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories by Hemingway. It reminds me of watching old episodes of Who's Line Is It Anyway? when John Sessions would choose Hemingway for the authors game. His parody was dead-on.

[Amras]

The two last books I read and reviewed in 2007, are:

The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari. Full review here.

In a desperate attempt to read the most acclaimed new SFF books of the year, I decided to finally cave in and give “The Book of Joby†a chance. I had all but decided to not do that with this one, because I had sneaky feeling that it wasn’t my thing (whatever that is…). In the end it turns out that I probably should lend more trust to own brain - it would have served me well in this instance.

I wouldn't recommend this book, mainly due to an almost complete lack of characterization. How can you write a book that contains such characters as "God" and "Lucifer" and not manage to make them awesome is more than I can understand.

Today I managed to get through the short but thoroughly entertaining book, "Already Dead" by Charlie Huston. Full review here. Thanks to RedEyedGhost, who's been pimping this author so much that I just *had* to read something by him. I was initially a bit worried that it would be like Jim Butcher's "The Dresden Files", which I didn't like, but thankfully these books seem to be much better.

Now this - this! - was fun. Since I finished “The Book of Joby†only yesterday (see the review), I had all but resigned myself with the fact that 2007 wasn’t going out on a high note. That was until I decided to finally give “Already Dead†by Charlie Huston a chance.

Next up: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.

[Isis]

The Scar - China Miéville

I actually liked this better than both PSS and Iron Council (and I liked them both a lot). The Scar didn't have a big flabby patch at the end that made me want to skim read the last 1/4 in the way PSS did. Characters, setting, plot, themes and so on were all interesting and thought-provoking.

Scar Night - Alan Campbell

Urgh. Okay, I can divide this quite neatly into thirds. 1/3: I liked the atmosphere and setting (slightly reminiscent of Gormenghast) and was curious which direction the story would go in; 2/3: struggling to maintain enthusiasm for characters and plot; 3/3: oh dear, had to skim parts here, way too many adverbs, plot no longer holding my interest, cringe-inducing dialogue, story veers into the land of Twee... It had a lot of potential but by the end of it I really didn't give a shit what happened to any of the characters in it. Won't be paying money to read a sequel.

Human Traces - Sebastian Faulks

Relieved to finish this. Just not my cup of tea at all. Some lovely prose, but erm, story, what story? Thanks for 'spoiling' this one for me, Barry. (Are we even now? I've lost count.)

The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss

Okay, where to start? Overrated? Definitely. But, did I enjoy reading it? I finished it in less than two days so I guess so. I agree with much of what Lawrence says above. But while I was disappointed that it wasn't a BRILLIANT book, it was still a GOOD book. And for me the good points outweigh the bad. Although I must say that using some quite modern turns of phrase in a medieval setting doesn't usually work for me unless you're Gene Wolfe. Rothfuss is a superb storyteller though and I look forward to reading more from him in the future.

[etcetera]

[Scar Night - Alan Campbell

Urgh. Okay, I can divide this quite neatly into thirds. 1/3: I liked the atmosphere and setting (slightly reminiscent of Gormenghast) and was curious which direction the story would go in; 2/3: struggling to maintain enthusiasm for characters and plot; 3/3: oh dear, had to skim parts here, way too many adverbs, plot no longer holding my interest, cringe-inducing dialogue, story veers into the land of Twee... It had a lot of potential but by the end of it I really didn't give a shit what happened to any of the characters in it. Won't be paying money to read a sequel.

Oh, good. Then it's not just me. That pretty much sums up my reaction to the book. I think what disappointed me most was that it did have a lot of potential. It's like someone who has been put in a position to guarantee he won't miss his target, and yet he misses the target anyway. And Ulcis gets my vote for one of the most pathetic gods put on paper. Why make someone a god when he behaves, thinks, and speaks like a mortal man? Lastly, authors shouldn't use dialogue to reveal important elements of character if they can't write convincing dialogue. The cool atmosphere can't save this one.

[Bellis]

Isis, your assessments of The Scar, Scar Night, and Name of the Wind match mine completely. (Well, Scar given considering my username and all )

Scar Night felt too much like a poor imitation of the new weirdists. The world just didn't ring true. A city suspended above hell. WTF? It could have been dark and deep in the hands of a more talented author (Mieville, Vandermeer, Jeff Ford have pulled off much stranger stuff), but instead it just felt silly.

[Isis]

Yay. Does that make me normal?

I hoped for good things from Scar Night, I really did. However, it seemed to me that the first 1/3 had been polished up but nobody ever got around to tidying up the final 2/3 and making the book a cohesive whole.

[beniowa]

Finished up The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers. It was a good book, but it felt a little bland. I just couldn't bring myself to care about the characters. Full review here.

Already halfway through I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. After that I'm going to read a another novella, The River Horses by Allen Steele.

[Jenna]

Just finished reading the three Dexter books, of which the Showtime series is based.

Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Dearly Devoted Dexter and Dexter in the Dark.

Much, much, much darker than the series. In fact, after the first book, the storyline and characters completely divulge from the series. Or maybe that's vice versa.

Anyway, I enjoyed it. Dexter's internal dialogue is quite witty and fun. The author likes using alliteration quite a bit. It is especially interesting how Dexter's darker side is almost a character in itself. Can't say more to avoid spoilers!

And I avidly watch the series.

[ithanos]

I've only read the first Dexter book and preferred that ending to the ending of the TV series' season 1.

Finished The Quincunx by Charles Palliser a couple days ago. It's pretty good and the revelations are sustained throughout it's length. The detail of early Victorian era England's high and low society is very thorough. The ending though wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped for perhaps because halfway into the book I was rooting for an Edmond Dantes style transformation from the main character but that is for another novel.

Next read is The Pillars of the Earth which has been booked at the library for over a month and I'm 26th in a queue of 91 for the 3 copies available! Why I ask? After checking online I see this book is Oprah's current read and recommendation. Good news for author Ken Follet as my library have ordered 6 new copies.

Anyway I got hold of the audiobook version and have been listening intently to it for the last couple days, great stuff, loving it. Just need to avoid listening to it in the car as it took a couple hours to drive 2minutes to the shop for some milk!

[Queequeg]

Finished Perdido Street Station a few days ago. I may very well be in the minority here, but the book didn't blow me away. Mieville certainly has created an interesting milieu to set his story in, and a a prose stylist he is above average, but I found his characterization to be rather dull and his plot too diffuse and unfocused, and - like so many fantasy writers - he feels the need to describe his world in excruciatingly unnecessary detail. Still, I won't give up on him yet. I've got The Scar and I'll get around to it eventually.

Just finishing up the third volume of Chaosium's Best Weird Tales of Arthur Machen. The first two volumes were hit and miss- this third one is mostly miss.

[Ser Barry]

Human Traces - Sebastian Faulks

Relieved to finish this. Just not my cup of tea at all. Some lovely prose, but erm, story, what story? Thanks for 'spoiling' this one for me, Barry. (Are we even now? I've lost count.)

How can I spoil a book with zero conflict?

[Isis]

Yes, that would appear to be true (how can you kill that which has no life?). But had you NOT told me that then I could have continued in the hope that some conflict might appear at some point in the novel instead of knowing in advance that it wouldn't.

It's over and done with now anyway. This must be just exactly how Frodo felt after the Ring went into Mount Doom.

[Slick Mongoose]

I got "Name of the Wind" for Christmas, and thought it was very enjoyable. But then, i'm a sucker for the "Young wizard goes to school" standard fantasy cliche (except Harry Potter, oddly enough).

[Muttering Bill]

Finished Sanderson's The Final Empire. I thought it was great - strong characterization, interesting magic system, good political intrigue. Full Review

Next up is Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez. I'm only about 50 pages in, but my initial impressions are not good.

Also working my way through Dreamsongs Volume I - though that one will take me a while as I'm only reading it one story at a time, dividing them up with whatever else.

[Bellis]

Finished The Quincunx by Charles Palliser a couple days ago. It's pretty good and the revelations are sustained throughout it's length. The detail of early Victorian era England's high and low society is very thorough. The ending though wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped for perhaps because halfway into the book I was rooting for an Edmond Dantes style transformation from the main character but that is for another novel.

I just finished this yesterday as well. I loved the first few hundred pages, nice immersion in the world, good Dickensian pastiche. I liked the depictions of class and class conflict. I was engrossed by the mystery and didn't know where the book was going (I hadn't read any spoilers or summaries). By the end I was pretty bored though - all the characters started to run together and Johnny's regular imprisonings and escapes got a bit too much. The ending also left me flat, it was out-of-place thematically with the rest of the book, too modern.

Next up - going to give The Dark Tower a try, starting with Gunslinger. If it doesn't blow me away, I won't continue with the series, since I'm not right now a huge King fan. But I am in the mood for reading a multi-book epic, so...

[beniowa]

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. Fairly short at only 160 pages, I Am Legend packs a lot of punch for a lightweight. As can only be expected of a book about grim survival, the novel has a very gritty and dark tone to it. The book’s strength is that Matheson really makes you feel Neville’s emotions, which run the gamut from utter despair to boundless hope. Definitely recommended. See here for the full review.

Next up The River Horses by Allen Steele, a novella set on Steele's Coyote.

[sologdin]

had mentioned that i was gonna reread malory's le morte d'arthur to see if it's as sweet as i remember it from college. have completed the first volume thusfar. am happy to report that it is awesomer than i had recalled. in fact, if its awesomeness is consistent through the second volume (book ii of tristan, sangraal stuff, denouement of the launce-gwen affair, and the morte proper), i'll be able to commend it as more or less the best book ever. (oddly, book iii of the ancient tristan is not rendered by malory, but is summarized parenthetically in the tale of sir urre just before the catastrophe. dunno if that will dissatisfy vel non.) readng through it again reveals just how bad the once and future king, as well as other modern arthurian books, happens to be. it's actualy amazing that sometimes white, for instance, takes reasonable liberties with the narratives (e.g., making launce a fugly motherfucker), but is at other times simply flat wrong (such as his description of who launcelot kills when rescuing gwen from the stake).

managed also to read perkins' confessions of an economic hitman. very slick. rehearses the personal perspective of an imperial shocktrooper that complements very nicely the more abstract macro-perspectives of hudson's superimperialism and philips' wealth and democracy.

now, on to maleore's second volume and nutall's shakespeare the thinker. w00t!