July 2015 Reads

[ljkeane]

I just finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children Of Time. I enjoyed it and on it's own merits it's a pretty decent sci fi book but it does feel a bit like a not quite as good version of A Deepness in the Sky.

[Grayce Hornwood]

I'm reading Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus right now. After reading some damning reviews, I was a bit wary, but little more than a hundred pages in I'm really enjoying it. Not much in the way of plot has happened so far, but the writing is so lush and elegant that I don't really mind. There's a giant web being woven surrounding the central conflict, and I can't wait to see how all the strands come together.

[HexMachina]

I'm reading Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus right now. After reading some damning reviews, I was a bit wary, but little more than a hundred pages in I'm really enjoying it. Not much in the way of plot has happened so far, but the writing is so lush and elegant that I don't really mind. There's a giant web being woven surrounding the central conflict, and I can't wait to see how all the strands come together.

If you listen closely you can probably hear DR II gnashing his teeth right now :lol:

[Grayce Hornwood]

If you listen closely you can probably hear DR II gnashing his teeth right now :lol:

Haha, I'm not sure who that is, but I'm guessing he didn't like the book? :laugh:

[Darth Richard II]

That would be me. And uh, I did not. Honestly, everyone else in THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE loves that book, and as much as o, uh, dislike it, at least it's not offensive. You start reading outlander though and we're going to fave to have a duel. :p

[Grayce Hornwood]

That would be me. And uh, I did not. Honestly, everyone else in THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE loves that book, and as much as o, uh, dislike it, at least it's not offensive. You start reading outlander though and we're going to fave to have a duel. :p

I did read some scathing reviews on Goodreads, so I wouldn't say EVERYONE loves it. ;)

And Outlander is on my list. I've actually already read about a quarter of it, but put it on the back burner for a while when I got hooked on ASoIaF. Would that be another one you don't care for? :lol:

[Darth Richard II]

I could write an Outlander length novel about how much I hate Outlander.

[Grayce Hornwood]

:lol: :lol: :lol: Okay then I won't say anything after I read it.

[polishgenius]

I could write an Outlander length novel about how much I hate Outlander.

 

 

Is that the length of Outlander the novel, or the length of Outlander the whole series?


Just for my notes.

[Darth Richard II]

Just the novel.

[Whittyroar]

I'm currently reading An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon. Slowly making my way through the Outlander series. :)

[King Tyrion I]

I really did dig "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman.

 

Tad Williams - To Green Angel Tower, pt. 1

 

JJ Abrams, Doug Dorst - S

[RedEyedGhost]

Haha, now they're just taunting you, Darth. 

[Paxter]

Finally finished Dostoevesky's Crime and Punishment. It was a bit of a slog at times, but the descriptions of Raskolnikov's inner turmoil and the long, tense exchanges between Rask and Porfiry made it worthwhile. The supporting cast of Luzhin, Svidrigailov, Dunya, Razumikhin, Sonya and others was also a highlight.

 

Not sure what to tackle next, but it's likely to be Mieville's The City and The City. Or I may jump on the Uprooted bandwagon...

[Maester Llama]

Finished:

 

Alex Hawley's All True Not a Lie in It, historical fiction about the life of Daniel Boon narrated in first person by the same. A bit of a worthy slog sometimes, and I struggled to connect to most of the secondary personalities [this is partly just a function of the writing style, because it's a very internally focused book so everything is filtered through our guy Boon, and that's just a choice and often a good one.] But it's a frequently involving, muddy, grubby, violent evocation of settler-era America.

 

-- V. E. Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic, historical portal fantasy that takes place in multiple alternate Londons. Interdimensional travel, wannabe pirates, magical duals and fabulously dressed people. Takes a little while to get going and the "real" historical London doesn't feel remarkably vivid to me -- it's not bad, just doesn't really breathe in my opinion -- but there's some good swash and buckle here and there and the alternate Londons are interesting settings, plus the characters are solid. I'm not breathlessly anticipating the sequel but I'll totally read it. [A Darker Shade of Magic clearly has a sequel, but it stands well on its own.]

 

Brian Staveley's The Providence of Fire, second book in his epic fantasy The Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, which is an incredibly epic fantasy kind of title. Better than The Emperor's Blades. I really kinda dug it. It has some issues: Some of the characters do some really stupid shit in order to make the plot work [though based on feedback from the webs I was expecting this to be much worse.] Also ... I'm not quite sure how to phrase this, particularly round here where so many folks are fans of grimdark, but god damn a lot of the people in this series are assholes. I don't object to their ambiguity; I relish ambiguity; they're just such dicks. Why should I care what happens to them? [In a couple cases I think this works well into Staveley's tweeking of the epic fantasy formula.] Also Valyn is still a mopey little rage monster and he upsets me. Finally, [non-specific spoiler]:

 

[spoiler] I find the horse-riding tribesfolk who are kind of faux-Cossack or something who show up as major villains in this one play into the "bloodthirsty savage horde" stereotype fairly hard and it's kinda offensive. [/spoiler]

 

I think the book rises above these things for the most part, though, delivering some solid if unspectacular action-heavy epic fantasy. The giant hawks are still wicked. The world broadens and deepens and we learn more about the series' cosmic element and worldbuilding mysteries. The plot takes huge strides -- much more stuff of immediately demonstrable relevance to the series plot happens in this than in The Emperor's Blades, I'd say. If you were intrigued by the first one this one's better. Will read last one. Even kinda anticipating it a bit.

 

-- Finders Keepers, by Stephen King, the second in his crime trilogy that started with Mr. Mercedes. Tense page-turning noire with that must-turn-page King magic; passed a couple days very pleasantly. Does an interesting thing where the series' central detective crew characters don't even appear until over a third of the way through, which I think works well to establish the book's new characters and make the reader care about them before the people we know step into their story. Said story is fine, with the same I-will-take-no-prisoners-with-my-noire-grime-while-playing-relative-softball-with-the-main-cast vibe that Mr. Mercedes has, with some bonus stuff about literary fan obsession, about which King should know something -- a deranged uberfan is the villain, but King is I think quite reasonable and measured here. This series' charming group of unlikely detectives make me very happy, and that continues in this one; maybe it is all a little bit Scooby-Doo, but it's engaging enough that I don't care. I'm a little weirded out by

 

[spoiler] the fairly strong hints that the third book in this trilogy will take this thus far resolutely non-mystical series and plunge it into unambiguous straight up supernatural horror [/spoiler]

 

but we will see how King handles this.

 

Now reading Jo Walton's The Just City. Troubling and absorbing.

[mashiara]

I loved reading Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. It flowed easily and kept me interested until the very end, while addressing a couple of very hard issues.

 

I then read the Wayward Pines trilogy, by Blake Crouch. Pines, Wayward and The Last Town. Overall, I liked them much better than I liked the TV show. I don't know how I would have reacted to them had I not known the basic premise but I was relieved to see some things were different and much better explained/depicted than on TV. Any TV adaptation is bound to change a lot of things, I liked the original book version better. The third book was the weakest of the three, which was a shame.

 

I'm hoping to start Mark Lawrence's Prince of Fools today.

[RedEyedGhost]

I read the first three⁺ chapters of Cold Iron by Stina Leicht today, and I've been incredibly burnt out on epic fantasy the past several year, but so far this has been a real treat.  It's book one of what I believe will be a trilogy.  Here's the synopsis (which covers stuff beyond what I've read):

 

 

 

Fraternal twins Nels and Suvi move beyond their royal heritage and into military and magical dominion in this flintlock epic fantasy debut from a two-time Campbell Award finalist.

Prince Nels is the scholarly runt of the ancient Kainen royal family of Eledore, disregarded as flawed by the king and many others. Only Suvi, his fraternal twin sister, supports him. When Nels is ambushed by an Acrasian scouting party, he does the forbidden for a member of the ruling family: He picks up a fallen sword and defends himself.

Disowned and dismissed to the military, Nels establishes himself as a leader as Eledore begins to shatter under the attack of the Acrasians, who the Kainen had previously dismissed as barbarians. But Nels knows differently, and with the aid of Suvi, who has allied with pirates, he mounts a military offensive with sword, canon, and what little magic is left in the world.

 

What the synopsis doesn't say is that the Kainen are an elf like race, and the Acrasians are humans that have invented muskets.  They're not standard elves though, because they do use steel, and that definitely has me wondering about the book's title.  Up through chapter four we've only been given the POV of Nels, and the humans being the antagonists is interesting as is the significant amount of worldbuilding hints that have been dropped.  

 

I loved her first two books, and am really looking forward to finishing this one.

[KiDisaster]

Just in time for the end of the month I finally finished 'American Gods'. I enjoyed it (in particular the 'Coming to America' chapters) but I felt it was pretty...anti-climactic? Like all the way to the very end I was hoping something "more" was going to happen, and then it just ended. Maybe it's just that I called all the twists (if you can call them that) well in advance...I dunno. Still, looking forward to seeing what Starz does with it on screen now. 

 

Now to decide if I want to reread The First Law trilogy or start something new...

[Mark Antony]

Just in time for the end of the month I finally finished 'American Gods'. I enjoyed it (in particular the 'Coming to America' chapters) but I felt it was pretty...anti-climactic? Like all the way to the very end I was hoping something "more" was going to happen, and then it just ended. Maybe it's just that I called all the twists (if you can call them that) well in advance...I dunno. Still, looking forward to seeing what Starz does with it on screen now. ...

I have a little bit left in the book. Definitely enjoying it. Hopefully I like the ending more than you did but I will say I think it's damn perfect for Bryan Fuller to adapt. Starz made a good choice involving him. Whoever they cast as the lead could make or break it though
Also reading Kings Ransom and Penman can even turn Richards captivity into an exciting/tense read. She's great.

[deleted01]

I loved reading Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. It flowed easily and kept me interested until the very end, while addressing a couple of very hard issues.
 
I then read the Wayward Pines trilogy, by Blake Crouch. Pines, Wayward and The Last Town. Overall, I liked them much better than I liked the TV show. I don't know how I would have reacted to them had I not known the basic premise but I was relieved to see some things were different and much better explained/depicted than on TV. Any TV adaptation is bound to change a lot of things, I liked the original book version better. The third book was the weakest of the three, which was a shame.
 
I'm hoping to start Mark Lawrence's Prince of Fools today.

I love Liane Moriarty. It's like reading Desperate Housewives.

I just started 'Salem's Lot. My friend warned me that it was a bit slow to start, which it is, but I'm enjoying it. King really loves to build up his characters.