Second Quarter 2020 reading

[williamjm]

7 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

I am wrapping up Ian C. Esslemont's Dancer's Lament and finding it to be quite coherent and enjoyable.  His Malazan books written earlier (but happening later in the timeline of the world) frustrated me because they seemed very opaque, but this one follows a reasonable set of story lines and has characters for whom I care.  Hooray!

I've read all of Esslemont's books and I think this is probably the best he's written so far.

[Zorral]

    . . . . Son of Ishtar was such a successful distraction from the here and now, I resolved to give one of Gordon Doherty's previous works a try. 

The Strategos Trilogy: Born in the Border Lands, Vol. 1. (2011)

This trilogy's chronological location is the 11th century A.D., opening in 1046.  A weak and corrupt Palaiologan 'empire' facing off against the energetic incursions of the Seljuk Turks to take the Emperor's throne, or at least dominate Anatolia.  I've been able to read only a few pages, but it appears Christian Apion (Greek Christian, not Roman),  born low, but also born a natural warrior, is the serial protagonist.  His is the era of Alp Arslan and the Battle of Manzikert, so there shall be battles and war, blood and cruelty, abounding, with detailed descriptions of the weaponry and strategies, the moves and counter moves, and at least, surely, from the Byzantine side, utter desperation.

It seems Doherty does repeat himself.  Many of the elements present in his latest, third trilogy of which Son of Ishtar is the first installment, appear already in the first pages of Born in the Border Lands. Among these are a mysterious female figure who appears and disappears, almost magical birds, portents and prophesies. But these are are the ages in which the supernatural abounds, and entrail reading is probably as accurate as polling and marketing surveys.

However, over the last 3 or 4 years, maybe more? I've been attempting to fill the gap in my historical knowledge, of varieties of the Turks in the Middle East and "Turkey", the fierce people who kicked out the Arabs -- as the Mongols attempted to do with the Turks in the 13th century. The tribe(s) who became the Ottoman empire were not the first Turkimen to invade the Middle East from the upper steppes (many under pressure of Mongolian expansion).  I don't know anywhere near as much about the Seljuks as I do about the Ottomans' origins and ascension to both Empire and the (Sunni) Caliphate.

Of course, here, the Seljuks are the villains who must be defeated while Byzantium must be defended, preserved and expanded.  Good luck with that ... the 1204 Sack of Constantinople, which constituted the 4th Crusade isn't that far off from 1046, and, helped along by the Genoese, the Pisans and the Venetians, there will be an infinity of corruption, pillage, murder, poison, intrigue and failure in Byzantium in those years -- all ending up with 1453, and the Ottoman establishment thereafter of the Caliphate in Constantinople. 

Which rather causes one to wonder what was the point of it all? But the point of these book is solid distraction so I'm all in.

After finishing Son of Ishtar last night, I went to the second Quillifer novel.  Iread the first in the Quillifer fantasy series when it came out back when? which was mildly distracting, though not engaging, due, it seemed to this reader, the tone of the first person narrator-protag. This second one though, ye gods and little fishes, is irritating and dull,  vainglorious voice of the narrator-protag ever more foregrounded. The first chapters are all HIM, on a ship in a storm,showing him smarter and braver than everyone else, instrumental in the shiop's survival, despite HIM never having been the captain of a big merchant ship or crewed on one. there is no reason, no set-up, provided for a reader to give a damn about HIM or his damned ship.  Sometimes opening media res is a very bad choice. That he is SO attractive to the most beautiful women is annoying also, so reminiscent of you all know whom. Dumping this.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Finished off Aristotle's Physics.

There is something awe-inspiring about the elaborate edifice Aristotle built. Sure, it's wrong and everything, but the sheer scope (and detail) of what he did is incredible. The irony is that if he had simply limited himself to the Organon, he'd be celebrated as the Bloke Who Invented Logic... it's the fact that he went beyond that which is the source of the reputational problem. Since he basically defined Western thought for centuries, the Middle Ages went wild with him, and we've now spent centuries running away from him (understandably). Today, we simply remember him for being the Bloke Who Was Wrong, which is really unfair.

[Reny of Storms End]

Finished Hunters and Collectors by M Suddain. A book that I just loved, it's got so many elements that are just right up my alley. I would recommend it to anyone that likes SF in the vein of I guess Adams. This book is just so imaginative and fun, even a touch of horror, he might be my favorite author. His other work Theatre of the Gods is also a great read. 

[Jo498]

3 hours ago, The Marquis de Leech said:

Finished off Aristotle's Physics.

There is something awe-inspiring about the elaborate edifice Aristotle built. Sure, it's wrong and everything, but the sheer scope (and detail) of what he did is incredible. The irony is that if he had simply limited himself to the Organon, he'd be celebrated as the Bloke Who Invented Logic... it's the fact that he went beyond that which is the source of the reputational problem. Since he basically defined Western thought for centuries, the Middle Ages went wild with him, and we've now spent centuries running away from him (understandably). Today, we simply remember him for being the Bloke Who Was Wrong, which is really unfair.

"bloke who was wrong" is Bertrand Russell to Sam Harris style whig history, not the stance of current (history of) philosophy. The (very little) physics contained in the "Physics" is largely wrong, the natural philosophy, ontology and metaphysics is mostly not wrong but a lot of this is either "true" (e.g. the arguments against Eleatism and the general analysis of change in book 1) or at least very much worth studying (and not only for historical reasons). But if you go through this stuff within three days when one usually takes a semester long seminar, the impression might be that it is either dry, irrelevant or plain wrong (which the little mechanics in the "Physics" mostly is, but this a small fraction of the content). For some reason nobody holds it against Empedokles that his four elements were also wrong because everyone understoods that the point is the way of systematic analysis of causation, constitution etc. of natural things, not a particular solution that is obviously faulty if held against modern science.

It is also worth considering why Aristotle was so hugely influential. He was very influential for 600+ years before the waning of Graeco-Roman antiquity (when his school was clearly not the only game in town) and it also was not by mere chance that when his writings became available in the West again in the 12th century that he dominated again.  The "East" did have Plato, Neoplatonists etc. but this did not really diminish Aristotle's stature that much.   And the christian philosophy of the middle ages was also strongly influenced by (neo)platonism long before their rediscovery of Aristotle. They did not hold A. in such high regard because they didn't have anything else or because they craved another authority because it was very good, both systematic and broad philosophizing, both in method and content.

[Peadar]

K.J. Parkers Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City was good. Back to trawling sample chapters.

[The Marquis de Leech]

14 hours ago, Jo498 said:

"bloke who was wrong" is Bertrand Russell to Sam Harris style whig history, not the stance of current (history of) philosophy. The (very little) physics contained in the "Physics" is largely wrong, the natural philosophy, ontology and metaphysics is mostly not wrong but a lot of this is either "true" (e.g. the arguments against Eleatism and the general analysis of change in book 1) or at least very much worth studying (and not only for historical reasons).

Naturally, Philosophy continues to hold him in high esteem, but from my understanding, most scientific fields rather treat him as the Ancestral Skeleton in the Closet (which, again, is unfair. His Logic is actually perfectly serviceable, albeit rarely used today since we now have Boolean).

For me, the most interesting part of the Physics was his consideration of the First Mover, and the sheer intellectual rigour with which he addresses these questions. As I've said,the edifice of his thought is awe-inspiring. He's dry, but strangely rewarding, and his tendency to sum up the arguments he's been making really helps with the comprehension.  

[Starkess]

I started on Becoming by Michelle Obama. A bit of a departure from my typical fare, and I am enjoying it. It doesn't hurt that I live about 2 blocks away from their house in Chicago, and it's fun seeing places I know pop up.

Actually, the book I'm listening to (Only Human) had a scene set in my neighborhood that totally surprised me by name dropping a restaurant while I was running on the block that restaurant is on. That was a weird piece of synergy! Ah, if only I could go to restaurants, they have a decent brunch there and really delicious Mexican mocha...

[Infidel]

On 4/22/2020 at 4:32 PM, williamjm said:

I've read all of Esslemont's books and I think this is probably the best he's written so far.

I enjoyed the recent Esslemont trilogy more than anything from Erikson, oddly enough. Probably the tighter focus and narrowed scope, with Dancer and Kellanved bouncing off the rest of the cast in delightful ways.

[ljkeane]

Over the last week or so I've read Michael Connelly's The Scarecrow, Brigantia by Adrian Goldsworthy and Wanderers by Chuck Wendig.

The Scarecrow is very much airport paperback style fare but pretty well done. The best bits were all the newsroom backstabbing which, given Connelly apparently was a crime reporter for the LA Times, feels like something he knows well. I might start his Bosch books at some point.

Brigantia is another Roman Legion based historical fiction. Apparently it's the third in the series but it's fairly standalone so it doesn't matter too much. I enjoyed this one more than the other Roman book by Ben Kane I read recently.

Wanderers is quite a good book and I really didn't enjoy it. The other apocalyptic pandemic book I've read since the lockdown began, Station Eleven, actually has a pretty optimistic feel to it, you know, as books in which the majority of the human race is wiped out go. This one definitely doesn't. I think I might give other pandemic based books a miss for a while.

Spoiler

So, at the start of the book I thought the maverick CDC doctor was going to save the day. Which sounds like a bit of fun at the moment. Instead he just basically gives in and accepts the dubious AI's word for it that there's no hope and follows along with the crowd of people who've basically been kidnapped by said AI using technology developed by experimenting on suicidal people. Then the President of the US is assassinated, a thinly veiled Trump stand in and a bunch of Nazi militias take over and almost everyone dies. Oh, and it turns out there actually was a viable treatment the CDC doctor could have been working on and the AI was behind the deadly outbreak all along.

What the fuck. That is definitely not the book I wanted to be reading right now.

I'm not sure what I'll read next. I did get The Boy on the Bridge when it was on sale on Amazon but I might leave that for a bit.

On 4/22/2020 at 1:32 PM, Inkdaub said:

Finished The Broken Crown and am continuing my West re-read with The Uncrowned King. 

Michelle West never seems to have caught on over here in the UK. I've thought of trying her books a few times though. I actually did try The Hidden City once, which was supposedly the start of a series but I had no idea what was going on. Is The Broken Crown a good place to start with her books?

[JGP]

On 4/23/2020 at 1:05 PM, Peadar said:

K.J. Parkers Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City was good. Back to trawling sample chapters.

Finished this last week and yes, it was.

Since, I've read The Suicide Motor Club by Christopher Buehlman which I also enjoyed but for different reasons. Really liked the female lead, though the book itself was not as scary as some of his earlier works, and [oddly] made me hanker for some Otsuichi rereading. Will likely do that soon.

Just started Robert Jackson Bennett's Shorefall, and I love how flip he is about skipping exposition. In the queue, got Lawrence's The Girl and the Stars, and Jemisin's The City We Became. Might flip a coin to decide which to read first, iono.

---

Getting a lot of reading done. Probably reading more than I'm writing myself, or even illustrating. Weird times.

 

edited for formatting and general bs

[Inkdaub]

21 hours ago, ljkeane said:

Michelle West never seems to have caught on over here in the UK. I've thought of trying her books a few times though. I actually did try The Hidden City once, which was supposedly the start of a series but I had no idea what was going on. Is The Broken Crown a good place to start with her books?

To answer in case you don't care about the below...The Broken Crown is a good place to start but you will encounter references that might be confusing.  These will primarily be references to the end of Hunter's Death/House Name.  

 

The West books are one big story told in three...two and a half...series that focus on mini-arcs or segments.  I think with West, publication order is best to understand everything that is happening.  

My re-read order is...first three House War - Sun Sword - last five House War.  I skipped Sacred Hunt this time around, though I kind of regret it as it's a good story.    

 

Sacred Hunt duology (The climactic events in Death are referred to often and are important...but the events are repeated later in another book.)

Hunter's Oath

Hunter's Death

 

Sun Sword series (This is prime West and shouldn't be skipped)

The Broken Crown

The Uncrowned King

The Shining Court

Sea of Sorrows

The Riven Shield

The Sun Sword

 

House War series (This also shouldn't be skipped...unless you dislike Sun Sword then it likely won't suit you.  House War's timeline bookends Sun Sword's timeline.)

The Hidden City

City of Night

House Name (This tells the events from the important climax of Hunter's Death from other perspectives, primarily from the character who is the main mover in this entire story.  This means Sacred Hunt can be skipped without missing too much information.  Some detail into certain characters is better in Sacred Hunt.)

Sun Sword events take place here.  After Sun Sword is complete we have...

Skirmish

Battle

Oracle

Firstborn

War

 

To make this TMI post more confusing...there is another series upcoming.  Also, you might like the Michelle Sagara Cast books if you don't like the West stuff.  It's fantasy but a different world and different tone overall.  Good, though.

 

 

[Peadar]

I'm starting The Hod King by Josiah Bancroft. I'd forgotten this was out, but am now looking forward to it.

[Starkess]

I finished Only Human, the final book in the Themis Files trilogy. I found it to be a bit disappointing--I wasn't really onboard with the direction the author decided to go in this volume. My least favorite character from book 2 is even more annoying and more prominent, an entire new planet of aliens is sadly flat and un-explored, and the ending was eh. I'd recommend book 1 for sure, and book 2 to get some conclusions to those characters and storylines (and apparently I think many people preferred 2 to 1), but IMO you could just not read book 3 at all and imagine a vague HEA that would work just as well as the actual book. Still, it's short and not bad, just underwhelming.

My next audiobook up is The Red Queen. I have zero clue what this is about, it came up while browsing audiobooks at the library, so we'll see!

Still working on reading Becoming by Michelle Obama. I'm about halfway done (just hit the 2008 Iowa caucuses) and enjoying it.

[ljkeane]

Over the last few days I've read The Wicked King the second book in Holly Black's YA sort of urban fantasy-ish trilogy and KJ Parker's Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City.

The Wicked King is pretty similar to the first book. It's quite well done, reasonably inventive and easy to read but it does have some of the flaws you usually get with a lot of YA books (overly melodramatic young adults mainly). I did enjoy the ending though.

Spoiler

The main character ending up sulking on her sister's couch because her love interest didn't do what she wanted felt fairly true to how YA experiences usually go.

As a few other people have said in this thread Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City is just a fun read. I enjoyed it.

Next up I think I'm going to read Anna Spark Smith's The Court of Broken Knives a try.

I also got Middlegame by Seanan McGuire and Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir fairly cheaply after Seli pointed out they were on offer in the deals thread. I was going to give Middlegame a miss after the reading the description (two main characters named Roger and Dodger sounds like it's going to be really annoying) but I noticed it's been nominated for best novel for the Hugo award so might as well give it a go.

[mix_masta_micah]

I finished up Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson. Good fun, much in the vein of an Avengers movie. While it had some great moments and fun characters, this was overlong and had a penchant for cheesiness. I'll definitely be continuing the series but this isn't a top 10/all-time series imo. 

I'm about 50% of the way through The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker. After an exciting start it flagged for a bit, setting the table, getting used to the prose, and understanding the political factions and, my word, the names! After that, we get thrust into the battle at the steppes and boy has it taken off. Certainly some visceral scenes and hints at horror but it doesn't strike me as darkness for darkness sake.... I think it reflects the violence of man throughout history.

I also finished up two short stories by Mark Lawrence, one in Unfettered III and the other in the gorgeous Red Queens War omnibus. Both were stellar and made me crave for more stories in the Broken Empire universe. Unfettered III also had a short story by Anna Smith Spark in her Empires of Dust trilogy... It was deathly poetic and I love her approach. Highly recommended.

[Iskaral Pust]

Finished Cold Iron by Miles Cameron, the start of a new Fantasy trilogy from him.  Not in the same world or era as the Traitor Son series.  This is set in the late Medieval (flintlock) era in a fantasy version of Byzantium.  It’s an enjoyable read.  The main character and his arc seems to me very similar to Kvothe, but I think this story will progress much further than Kvothe’s in the second book.

[JGP]

2 hours ago, ljkeane said:

Next up I think I'm going to read Anna Spark Smith's The Court of Broken Knives a try.

I finished the last book of this trilogy a month or two ago. Spark's prose took a little getting used to, but I loved these books and the perspective from which she views [figures like] Alexander the Great-- who was her direct historical inspiration for Marith.

Looking forward to see what she does next. Very talented writer. 

[mix_masta_micah]

2 hours ago, JEORDHl said:

I finished the last book of this trilogy a month or two ago. Spark's prose took a little getting used to, but I loved these books and the perspective from which she views [figures like] Alexander the Great-- who was her direct historical inspiration for Marith.

Looking forward to see what she does next. Very talented writer. 

See my above comment for more Anna Smith Spark. She's also in The Art of War anthology. I think she's brilliant and the prose is so epic and Homeric 

[Little Valkyrie]

3 hours ago, JEORDHl said:

I finished the last book of this trilogy a month or two ago. Spark's prose took a little getting used to, but I loved these books and the perspective from which she views [figures like] Alexander the Great-- who was her direct historical inspiration for Marith.

Looking forward to see what she does next. Very talented writer. 

I need to give this one another go--I found the prose and the people utterly alienating through the first book, but maybe with a reframing of perspective it will make more sense and not just be "I hate everyone involved here and I don't understand any of their motivations either."