September '18 Reading - A Labor of Love

[ljkeane]

I finished Chris Wooding's The Ember Blade.  It's not particularly surprising since I've enjoyed everything of his I've read but I really enjoyed it. It's got enough of the trappings of a traditional fantasy book there's a bit of a nostalgic feel to it but it's really well written and there are enough twists to keep it interesting.

[Iskaral Pust]

I've lost track of which books I've posted here.  I think it has been a while since my last update.

I just finished a historical fiction The Long Sword by Christian Cameron, who wrote the fantasy Red Knight series under the name Miles Cameron.  This is set in the 1365 Crusade to Alexandria.  It wasn't great. 

First of all, I messed up and bought what proved to be the second in a series thinking it was the first, so I did not have the connection to the character that is developed in his origin story.  The series follows the military exploits of William Gold (an actual historical figure) through the late fourteenth century, including the hundred years war, wars between city states in northern Italy, this Crusade and presumably some more ahead.

The style here has some similarity to his fantasy work in tone, details, language, characterization (the hero is a gary stu and everyone else is a one-dimensional side-kick or dishonorable enemy), etc, but it lacks narrative impetus, structure or any sense of drama.  More than half the book is spent traveling back and forth as the crusading army is gradually raised -- which is consistent with history, but is largely pointless to this narrative -- before a pretty dull recounting of the sack of Alexandria.  Bernard Cornwell could give him a lot of pointers on how to write battles and sieges.  Also the narrator style -- an elderly POV telling the story in the first person to his biographer (Chaucer) -- is a bit tired and removes a lot of potential dialogue.

After enjoying his fantasy series I was looking forward to his historical fiction, but this does not make me want to read any further.

[Peadar]

18 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said:

.

After enjoying his fantasy series I was looking forward to his historical fiction, but this does not make me want to read any further.

Before you give up on him entirely, I would recommend "Tyrant". It has a plot and the research felt pretty deep to me.

[Iskaral Pust]

On 9/26/2018 at 11:01 AM, Peadar said:

Before you give up on him entirely, I would recommend "Tyrant". It has a plot and the research felt pretty deep to me.

Thanks Peadar, I'll give that a try.

 

[williamjm]

I finished Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver, which I thought was very good. While it clearly takes a lot of inspiration from various faerie tales (most obviously Rumpelstiltskin), it does weave an original story out of them, with some unexpected turns along the way. I liked the characterisation, all three of the main protagonists were interesting, and the book did a good job of making even characters who initially look like antagonists turn out to be somewhat sympathetic (with a couple of notable exceptions). I thought the setting was also done well, the beautiful but deadly realm of the Staryk was particularly atmospheric. I really liked Novik's Uprooted as well, this is probably similar in quality.

Next up I'm going to read Peter F. Hamilton's Salvation.

[brunhilda]

The latest CJBox/Joe Pickett. I can't even remember the name. I liked it. One of the brighter of the later Pickett books despite the presence of Psychopath buddy, mostly due to Father/Daughter bonding. Fun. Forgettable. Perfect vacation reading.

The first two Murderbot diaries. Liked them a lot. They're like the McDonald's fast food version of Ancillary. Nowhere near as good as number 1 but amusing. Very short and, also, quite forgettable. Great characterization by Wells but not one for the ages.

Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons. Lyrically beautiful but ugly story that ultimately boils down to political triteness. It could have been so much better than it was. Swing and a miss.

[Garett Hornwood]

A quick update on what I've gotten through since my last post.  I'm approximately halfway through Michael F. Holt's The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party, not surprising since it's 1296 pages long but only 985 is actual text.

Yesterday I finished a weekend read of The Bluebirds and Their Neighbors by Neil Wayne Northey.  Honestly this was a children's book, but given the detail of Holt it was a nice change of pace that was much needed (for a few days at least).

I only completed 5 books this month, which is my lowest total of the year but oh well.