August 2016 Reads

[Peadar]

Now reading Salamis by Christian Cameron. Greek bubblegum violence.

[First of My Name]

I'm plowing through IT by Stephen King and enjoying it more than I thought I would. It's not really scaring me but the characters and writing are worth it even without the horror aspect. It's as long-winded as I thought it'd be, but that somehow works in it's favor, it's part of the charm of getting immersed in the setting, which I think King is really good at.

I also finished Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company. I liked it, it had a great middle but I thought the ending was too clichéd. I thought the author did well with a main cast that consists of exclusively new characters, which is pretty rare in Star Wars, and I liked the characters of Namir and Chalis a lot. The writing was pretty good too, it's just that the story itself needed more work.

[beniowa]

I read Penric and the Shaman.  I'm not sure the two extra points of view were quite necessary, but it was good.  Nice to see Penric a few years down the road after he's had time to get used to things.

Also finished Deep Navigation by Alastair Reynolds, which was pretty good.  Except for one entry, all the stories in the this collection were not set in the Revelation Space universe so it was nice to see some of the other ideas Reynolds has come up with. 

Also finished The Obelisk Gate.  Liked seeing a different side of Essun from her daughter's perspective, though overall I think I liked the first book more.

 

Now reading Peter Beagle's Summerlong, which I snag a month early at MACII.  Whoo! 

[Spockydog]

I've just started The Fireman by Joe Hill. You don't get Spontaneous Human Combustion like you used to, back in the day. So I'm really looking forward to this one.

 

 

[polishgenius]

I'm reading Seveneves. So far it's pretty awesome.

[unJon]

3 hours ago, polishgenius said:

I'm reading Seveneves. So far it's pretty awesome.

It gets better. And then worse. 

[Durckad]

3 hours ago, unJon said:

It gets better. And then worse. 

This is very, very, unfortunately true.

[Jo498]

I am about 2/3 through Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" omnibus (close to the end of "Cugel's saga). It is quite good and Vance's imagination and sense for grotesque and satire is amazing and I really like the cynical fun. But I think his "Lyonesse" is better because the Dying Earth, especially Cugel's stories almost all depend on similar plot devices and twists whereas Lyonesse managed to combine the "twisted fairy tale" elements with genuine heroic fantasy and a "longer range plot". The original "Dying Earth" are somewhat different, more "heroic" but mostly isolated episodes. Interestingly, the "old Earth/dying sun" is only relevant in very few episodes; overall it is a more general backdrop.

[The Marquis de Leech]

1 hour ago, Jo498 said:

I am about 2/3 through Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" omnibus (close to the end of "Cugel's saga). It is quite good and Vance's imagination and sense for grotesque and satire is amazing and I really like the cynical fun. But I think his "Lyonesse" is better because the Dying Earth, especially Cugel's stories almost all depend on similar plot devices and twists whereas Lyonesse managed to combine the "twisted fairy tale" elements with genuine heroic fantasy and a "longer range plot". The original "Dying Earth" are somewhat different, more "heroic" but mostly isolated episodes. Interestingly, the "old Earth/dying sun" is only relevant in very few episodes; overall it is a more general backdrop.

Yep. The most important thing about Vance's Dying Earth is that no-one is actually bothered by it. The end of the world a fact of life from the day you're born - why worry?

I personally prefer the first book (with its delightful Clark Ashton Smith meets Lord Dunsany flavour). Cugel's OK, but as you say, it lacks a bit of variety. It's an old-school picaresque.

[Jo498]

The first book is more "poetic" and I can see the traces of the authors you mention (although I am only familiar with a story or two each by Dunsany and Smith - I really should revisit them). But as Dying Earth appeared in 1950 its influence on all kinds of fantasy since then can hardly be overestimated. I really wonder why Vance wrote two belated sequels in the 1980s, almost parallel to Lyonesse (he should rather have spent a little more time and effort on the 2nd and 3rd volumes of Lyonesse..).

What I meant with relevant for the plot is e.g. the story where some (super)human intelligence had "cursed" a city because they did not heed his heritage properly (the factions cannot see each others and are unable to use most of the high tech of the earlier period). Or the last story in the original Dying Earth where a guy looks for the "museum of man" and its curator while tending to the collected (in some kind of computer) knowledge of aeons has completely lost the contact to the outside while the surrounding tribe sents young people as offerings to a demon who has infested the premises. Overall one frequent plot point is a fairly ridiculous (often religious or pseudoscientific, like "helping" the sun with focussing rays from a fire) tradition whose origins are completely lost.

And I like the picaresque. I think this aspect is sorely missing from most more recent fantasy, even something like Lies of Locke Lamora is not good enough with such pranks.

 

[Teng Ai Hui]

I recently finished The Spider's War (Dagger and Coin #5).  Currently, I'm reading biographies, one by David Spade and another by Bob Forsch (a pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals during the 70s and 80s).  Also, I'm planning to start rereading Leviathan Wakes in a couple of days after I finish the last 3 episodes of The Expanse.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Finished off Banewreaker. It is essentially Tolkien fanfiction with a perspective flip - an interesting enough idea, were it not for the Morgoth and Witch-King figures confusing being emo with being evil. Tolkien's Dark Lords *show* us their evil: claiming it's all down to evil propaganda is a bit silly (if you're looking for a Tolkien villain whom you could play this game with, I think Ar-Pharazon would be a better candidate). But it's good fun anyway, and I don't mind the ultraviolet prose.

Next up is the sequel, Godslayer.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

Anne of Windy Poplars by Lucy Maud Montgomery is a sweet and charming book.  Actually, the whole series is.

Read Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It had echoes of Lord of the Rings except for the ending which had a twist I sort of saw coming.  An interesting story.  I didn't like as much as other stories that Adrian has written.

Now reading a non-fiction book on Canadian history by Roch Carrier, Montcalm and Wolfe.

[C.T. Phipps]

Dead West Omnibus by Kenny Soward and Tim Marquitz.

Harrowed Ground by Savile and Wilson

 

[Iskaral Pust]

On August 26, 2016 at 4:41 PM, polishgenius said:

I'm reading Seveneves. So far it's pretty awesome.

I'm a big fan of Stephenson but thought this was his weakest novel.  The huge plot holes and characterization to serve the author's wish fulfillment for scientists/engineers as the noblest and greatest of humanity were even worse than the info dumps.  We had a specific thread to discuss this novel when it was published. 

[Jo498]

14 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I'm a big fan of Stephenson but thought this was his weakest novel.  The huge plot holes and characterization to serve the author's wish fulfillment for scientists/engineers as the noblest and greatest of humanity were even worse than the info dumps.  We had a specific thread to discuss this novel when it was published. 

Which one of Stephenson's would you recommend to start with?

[Peadar]

Moving on to Inish Carraig by Jo Zebedee. Aliens invade Belfast!

[aceluby]

Finished 1Q84 over the weekend and only thought it was ok.  The prose was good and it was far from cliche, but there were some serious flaws.  The ending wasn't great, some of the story is left completely unacknowledged, and literally every single female character is described by her boob size.  My gf and her best friend loved it, I skimmed the last 300 pages or so just to get through it.

I've now started Bakker's The Darkness That Comes Before and am already about halfway through it.  It's amazing so far, though I don't fully understand all of the inner political workings, I'm getting enough to keep me glued.  Spent almost all day yesterday reading.

[SkynJay]

I have read The Darkness that Comes Before three times and still can't follow the threads on this board devoted to the series.

I just finished the dinner party scene of A Civil Campaign and finally see what everyone has been talking about every time I mention Vorkosigan.  I am sad that I am closing in on the end of this series; it is been some enjoyable travel time listening to the series.  Cant believe I read Warrior's Apprentice so long ago and shelved the series for three years before picking it back up again.

I also on a whim picked back up The Name of the Wind.  Now I remember why I was waiting for that third book.  It isn't perfect, and I remember Wise Man's Fear being quite a step down, but it is one of the more engaging books I have read.  800 pages just flying by.

[unJon]

6 hours ago, Jo498 said:

Which one of Stephenson's would you recommend to start with?

Probably Snow Crash. That's the one I started with.