February 2015 Reads

[Peadar]

I have started Joe Abercrombie's latest, Half the World. I expect to enjoy it.

I also pre-ordered Adrian Tchaikovsky's new one, Guns of the Dawn. I heard him reading from this at Titancon and had a very strong impression that it would deliver a whole variety of thrilling thrills.

[Iskaral Pust]

I'm in the middle of All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I gather this was a big seller and critically acclaimed. So far it's ok. Some saccherine sentimentality about innocence lost and potential wasted and how the little people are unwillingly drawn in and exploited/abused by the war. It tells us about a huge story (WWII) by showing us the effect on two very small personal stories. Werner's arc reminds me slightly of Peekay in The Power of One, although PoO was much better. The style, sentimentality and historical setting is reminiscent of some recent Booker reads.

So I finished All The Light We Cannot See yesterday. The sentimentality increased, plus an increasingly claustrophobic tone for both main POVs, peaking with some very literal claustrophobia for both just before the climax of their story. And then a very long epilogue with lots of ennui and world-weary acceptance of a dull existence.

Another impression I had was that the story is quite gentle toward the German people, who are largely portrayed as fearfully succumbing to a handful of bullies who force them to wreak devastation on Europe. For example, the worst behavior we see in the book is when Russian soldiers almost dutifully revenge-rape German women in Berlin. Is that really representative? And the only French collaborators were one token fat, greedy guy and a couple of prostitutes (the latter only briefly mentioned).

The whole novel feels very French in its outlook. Similar to how The Shadow Of The Wind felt very Spanish/French. But surprisingly the author is American rather than French.

Nicely written but overall I cannot see why it was such a big commercial and critical success.

For a change up, I have started Cycle of Violence by Colin Bateman. His dark Belfast humor is great, although I prefer his Mystery Man series to his alcoholic journalist characters.

[henderson]

I finished Crown of Renewal last night, the last book in the Paladin's Legacy series by Elizabeth Moon. I felt the concluding volume felt very rushed and anticlimactic. The villains that were hyped throughout the series died very quickly and almost comically. Despite that, It was a very good series overall and if you liked The Deed of Paksenarrion, then you will like this series too.

Now started What If? by Randall Monroe. It is quirky, fascinating and funny all at once.

I also recently read the entire Paladin's Legacy series, and I enjoyed the first four books. These were the first books written by Elizabeth Moon that I read. Her characters are believable and interesting, world-building is top notch, and plots are original. My opinion changed when I read Crown of Renewal. Rushed and anticlimactic are spot-on as a description of the fifth book in the series, and for that reason I cannot recommend this series.

[henderson]

I finished Crown of Renewal last night, the last book in the Paladin's Legacy series by Elizabeth Moon. I felt the concluding volume felt very rushed and anticlimactic. The villains that were hyped throughout the series died very quickly and almost comically. Despite that, It was a very good series overall and if you liked The Deed of Paksenarrion, then you will like this series too.

Now started What If? by Randall Monroe. It is quirky, fascinating and funny all at once.

I also recently read the entire Paladin's Legacy series, and I enjoyed the first four books. These were the first books written by Elizabeth Moon that I read. Her characters are believable and interesting, world-building is top notch, and plots are original. My opinion changed when I read Crown of Renewal. Rushed and anticlimactic are spot-on as a description of the fifth book in the series, and for that reason I cannot recommend this series.

[Sheep the Evicted]

So i'm in a bit of a reading funk at the moment and my usual remedies aren't working so I come to you for recommendations. I want a sci-fi book tightly focused on one character who has to be, for want of a better word, a bad-ass. The more ruthless and psychotic the main character and the more kinetic and fast paced the action the better; something like Kovac's in the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy (morgan is great for this i have read all his works) or Juno in the KOP series by Warren Hammad would be ideal but something like Zelzany's Lord of Light could work too. The one thing i wanna keep to a minimum is navel gazing and shitty inter-personal drama; all I want is to follow a badass around as he fucks shit up, like an entire book dedicated to the exploits of Karsa Orlong.

[End of Disc One]

So i'm in a bit of a reading funk at the moment and my usual remedies aren't working so I come to you for recommendations. I want a sci-fi book tightly focused on one character who has to be, for want of a better word, a bad-ass. The more ruthless and psychotic the main character and the more kinetic and fast paced the action the better; something like Kovac's in the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy (morgan is great for this i have read all his works) or Juno in the KOP series by Warren Hammad would be ideal but something like Zelzany's Lord of Light could work too. The one thing i wanna keep to a minimum is navel gazing and shitty inter-personal drama; all I want is to follow a badass around as he fucks shit up, like an entire book dedicated to the exploits of Karsa Orlong.

Heroes Die by Matthew Stover. It's a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, but it's totally what you're looking for. It's mostly focused on one character, who is easily among the biggest badasses I've read about. You fuck with him, you die.

[morticia]

Finished reading The Farseekers (obernewtyn chronicles #2) by Isobelle Carmody, a sci fi/fantasy/young adult novel set in a post apocalyptic setting.

A compelling follow-up to the first book, it continues with the adventures of a misfit named Elspeth, who has the abilities to 'mind-speak' to animals and other 'farseekers' and has coercing and healing powers. These powers are believed to be the result of a nuclear holocaust caused by 'weaponmachines' created by people.. Misfits are seen as dangerous freaks by 'normal' people and are burned alive if they are discovered, by the totalitarian council that rule the fictitous land. Sharing the rule is the corrupt religous group the 'Herder Faction'.

The misfits take refuge at the mysterious safe house Obernewtyn, but then it faces a huge threat. They discover that the council plan to send soldierguards to investigate Obernewtyn. A group of the misfits join Elspeth to establish a safe house in the lowlands, to rescue a powerful misfit and to recover some books from the secret underground before-time library. During this quest, Elspeth also discovers she has been prophesised to be the one to destroy the before-time machines that caused the holocaust.

Overall, I gave the book 4/5 stars. I REALLY enjoyed it, yet wouldn't describe it as 'amazing'. The story is fast-paced and lots intersting things happen,yet I feel there could be more room for character development. I would definitely recommend reading if you like young-adult fantasy fiction though. I probably would have liked it a lot more if I had read it when I was younger.

[3CityApache]

I'm in the middle of Inherent Vice, my second Pynchon after The Crying of Lot 49, and I have to say it's touchingly incoherent. It's quite hard to follow the plot, given the hundreds of names, and brands and so on, but somehow this book makes me want to continue reading nevertheless. Intriguing.

[olenna123]

I've just finished Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. One of the best books I've read.

I'm about to start War and Peace by Tolstoi.

[Sheep the Evicted]

Heroes Die by Matthew Stover. It's a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, but it's totally what you're looking for. It's mostly focused on one character, who is easily among the biggest badasses I've read about. You fuck with him, you die.

Read it and the sequels. Found a goodreads thread where someone else asked basically the same question and I came across Deaths Head by David Gunn. Here's hoping its any good.

[deleted01]

Reading has slowed down since I discovered The O.C. is on Amazon Prime. Hello, teenage years! I finished Mothers and Daughters by Leah Fleming, and am halfway through Fairyland #2 by Catherynne Valente.

[Er Rn]

Finished Graveyard Child, the last book of the Black Sun's Daughter series. I really enjoyed it, there were several twists I never saw coming and it wrapped things up nicely.

Going back to Robin Hobb now and starting Ship of Magic.

[Buckwheat]

Going back to Robin Hobb now and starting Ship of Magic.

Enjoy! Liveships are my favourite Hobb's series of those that I have read.

I have started with Dragon Keeper (Rain Wild Chronicles I). So far quite good, I am most interested in Alise's storyline.

[Peadar]

Read it and the sequels. Found a goodreads thread where someone else asked basically the same question and I came across Deaths Head by David Gunn. Here's hoping its any good.

Yes, Death's Head is definitely in that vein. You might also like Half the Blood of Brooklyn by Charlie Huston. It's UF rather than SF, but, it basically consists of a badass loser kicking the crap out of people and getting the crap kicked out of him.

[RedEyedGhost]

Yes, Death's Head is definitely in that vein. You might also like Half the Blood of Brooklyn by Charlie Huston. It's UF rather than SF, but, it basically consists of a badass loser kicking the crap out of people and getting the crap kicked out of him.

But start with Already Dead.

[polishgenius]

man that was a lot darker than I expected a comic book to be.

It's fairly dark as far as mainstream superhero titles get (though Batman's not a stranger to being pretty grim), but if you're planning to venture into other stuff, you'll see it matched and more.

Also; totally read Kingdom Come soon.

[Mudguard]

Recently finished Red Rising and Golden Son by Pierce Brown. Both were quick, enjoyable reads. Really looking forward to the third novel in the series, which is due next year. The second book, Golden Son, ends on a big cliffhanger.

[The Drunkard]

Finished Red Mars and started on Green Mars. Enjoying the series very much so far, the world seems very detailed and believable (though the possibility of getting to Mars by 2030 seems to have dropped since the 90s, heh). The characters aren't particularly interesting but the story and setting make up for it.

I intend to renew my Terry Pratchett binge once I finish up with Blue Mars.

[RedEyedGhost]

The last books I've read have been:

The Naming of the Beasts by Mike Carey, the last book in his Felix Castor series. What a ride. Great book that wrapped up what I wanted wrapped up, but still left plenty open if he decides to write more here.

Messenger's Legacy by Peter V Brett, a novella in his Demon Cycle world. It follows a new character and the way he learned to survive in the open night, he'll be a POV in the forthcoming book, so I'm hoping this means we won't be getting 200 pages of his backstory in The Skull Throne. Surprisingly this one even went beyond the timeframe of the last book... but that does have me worried about how much the next book will actually progress the overall arc.

Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson - the first 40% had me wanting to have finally read his book Vortex instead, but then an "Interlude" made the book get much better and worse at the same time. The stakes were just drastically changed, but a bit later in another interlude they were upped quite a bit again, and I ended up really enjoying the book.

The Wolf's Hour by Robert McCammon - a historical fantasy novel about a werewolf secret agent in WWII. The writing itself wasn't that memorable, but I loved the plot, including the very compelling flashback sequences.

Now I'm reading Jade Man's Skin by Daniel Fox book two in the Moshui Trilogy.

[Jo498]

Max Gladstone: "Three parts dead"

It was mentioned a few times in the forum, usually positively, but hardly discussed in detail. While it was pretty good, well written, well paced, I think he fuses quite a bit too much together. Lots of things going on in a strange world between high fantasy with (mortal) gods and (almost) immortal lichkings on the one hand and quasi-modern steam (or god or magic) powered industries, seedy entertainment districts and complex magical contracts demanding "craftsmen" who are a cross between modern corporate lawyers and more traditional fantasy sorcerers.

Some twists and double dealings are very surprising but it feels like a bit of cheating because the reader can hardly understand what's feasible in this strange world and what is not.

The characters are somewhat flat, I think. Anyway it is original and smart, but I am not really running for the next book (as they are not really sequels anyway).