Third Quarter 2020 Reading is a Joy

[Peadar]

I'm starting into The Trials of Koli by M. R. Carey. The first book was tremendous, so really looking forward to this.

[Plessiez]

Reread This Is How You Lose The Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.

I mentioned in the dedicated thread that I felt vaguely disappointed when I read this last year, but couldn't really articulate why.  I wanted to reread and see if my impression changed.  It did, but not for the better: the second time around I actively disliked this.  (And I don't think that's just because I read it while waiting in with increasing impatience for a delivery that never arrived, though honestly that can't have helped.)

Gone back to slowly reading J. V. Jones' A Sword From Red Ice, though I'm really just passing time until my local bookshop lets me know my order of Unconquerable Sun is in.  I decided not to go for the US edition in the end, and there's still a couple of weeks to go until the UK edition is published.

 

[hauberk]

On 9/14/2020 at 11:10 AM, Peadar said:

Delighted you're enjoying Knaves, although I think Three Kings came together very well too

Forgive me if I've been being dense, but does that mean that you are that Paedar?  I'm looking forward to reading more of Badb... a genuinely terrifying character of a scale with Ti Malice.  

[Peadar]

3 hours ago, hauberk said:

Forgive me if I've been being dense, but does that mean that you are that Paedar?  I'm looking forward to reading more of Badb... a genuinely terrifying character of a scale with Ti Malice.  

I am indeed and thank you for your kind words!  Badb has a rather large part to play in Three Kings.

[LongRider]

This month I read WORLD WAR Z by Max Brooks.  I’m not much for zombies but enjoyed this book as it was formatted as interviews with many different people involved in various ways with the zombies. 

It starts with the discovery of the sickness and how it’s spread, and then the realization that the zombie virus kills its host and then reanimates the body.

It was like COVID, came outa China, denial all around, development and use of a useless vaccine ... it was all there. 

Pretty good yarn, I enjoyed it.  The concentration on the stories of the survivors instead of the zombies worked for me. 
 

 

[LongRider]

I also read just over half of THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH by Ken Follett.  It’s described as an historical novel, but I found very little history, it takes place in 12th Century England, and a lot more soap opera. 

I finally decided I had enough of that and returned it to the library.  It’s a 3 book series but I won’t be back. 
 

 

[williamjm]

I finished Andrzej Sapkowski's The Last Wish. I picked this up after having seen the Witcher TV series and while the series may have made a number of changes to various plots I think overall it did a good job of capturing the feel of the stories. One difference is that rather than the switching between timelines in the series the book has a simpler structure with a framing story interspersed between flashbacks to the individual stories in the collection. I thought that was effective at making them feel like a single narrative that is gradually filling in details of Geralt's backstory and the world he lives in. I feel that I've read a lot of stories in recent years that are revisionist versions of traditional fairy tales so I wonder if the book might have felt a bit fresher if I'd read it closer to when it originally came out, but I think it does have some interesting retellings of various myths. I think the Beauty and the Beast-inspired tale and The Lesser Evil were probably the best of the stories.

There are times when the writing might have lost something in translation and feels a bit clunky. There's a line in The Last Wish where Geralt looks into Yennifer's eyes and realises she has the eyes of a hunchback which felt particularly silly.

Overall, I'd say I have read better stories based on updating mythology such as Naomi Novik's Spinning Silver or Leigh Bardugo's The Language of Thorns, but I still liked this and will probably pick up the next book at some point.

I've now started Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane which has been excellent so far.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Half way through 11/22/63 by King. Very enjoyable book, but depressing. 

[HoodedCrow]

Yup, a lot of soap in pillars of the Earth:) I still like getting historyfiction with more freedom for characters. I stuck with it. I liked Edward Rutherford s Soap books like London or Sarum. It gives a good feeling of how families prosper or fall over time.

[mushroomshirt]

I finished the 3rd wild cards book a few days ago (Joker's Wild).  I think I liked the second book best.  This 3rd one had waaaaay too much Fortunato for me.  He wasn't in the 2nd book (Aces High) very much, but where he was he was pretty manageable (apart from homophobic slurs tossed around like they are nothing).  I enjoyed his chapter about Eileen in that book & think that actually gave some extra dimensions to the character.  In the 3rd book it seems like he's returned to form as some 2-dimensional Penthouse Letters idea of a super hero.

Spoiler

Thankfully it seems like we've seen the last of Fortunato!

Roulette also didn't do much for me.  There was a lot of potential there with her.  I liked the conflict in her about whether she should complete her mission or not.  But there was an awful lot of it.  I suppose it was meant to be a bit suspenseful, but it got repetitive after a while.  I continue not to be a big fan of Tachyon, he just seems so weepy and his infatuation with Roulette seemed hard to understand - at least the intensity of it - what is it about her that attracted him so much?

Spoiler

He loves her after one day?  And during that day she tried to kill him at least once?  I don't get it.

On the good side, I liked the Hiram chapters a whole lot.  I really like that character and feel like he was maybe the most relatable in the book.  An ace, but not really a superhero like most of the others.  I would take a whole book of Hiram obliquely interacting with aces and jokers & occasionally getting into jams.

I also really liked Demise's chapters.  I thought his motivations were realistic - he's definitely a bad guy, but very interesting to read, especially since he hates the other bad guys so much.  Not sure how much this kind of thing is thanks to GRRM, but it's the thing I love most about his books.  The bad guys don't always get along with each other and the good guys don't always get along with each other.  Sometimes the bad guys are the good guys and vice versa.

I liked ghost girl too, but wish Yeoman had a little more characterization in this book.  Yeoman was one of my favorites from book 1 and 2, but he got a bit of the short end of the stick here, I think.

I actually didn't mind the Sewer Jack / Bagabond chapters until the very end.  Although the whole plot about Rosemary and the mafia seemed like a complete 180 from where that character was in the previous books.  The thing that really and truly irked me about Sewer Jack / Bagabond was

Spoiler

When Bagabond finally found out that Sewer Jack was gay, of course he helps her shop for her big date.  Because gay guys love clothes and shopping.  Where did this come from?  At no point in any of the other books or even this one were these kind of stereotypical gay qualities hinted at.  For a guy that lives in the sewers to love shopping and fancy clothes? give me a break!  I know this is not super fair to a 30+ year old book which was probably pretty progressive at the time, but it really grated on me, a lot like Fortunato did in book 1.

Bottom line is I'm interested enough to continue with the series, but I'm sort of hot and cold on it depending on the characters.  Hopefully as I get into the more contemporary books some of the anachronistic qualities will fade away and it will be less jarring for me.

Spoiler

Oh and I forgot to mention I thought the death of Kid Dinosaur was brilliant.  Horrible but brilliant & excellently written.  It showed that even kids don't have plot armor in this series.  Anyone can go at any time.

 

[Peadar]

The Trials of Koli was as good as I had expected. I am sad that I will have to wait until March for the third book. But nevermind! Up next is Joe Abercrombie's The Trouble With Peace.

[Inkdaub]

On 9/16/2020 at 6:38 PM, LongRider said:

The concentration on the stories of the survivors instead of the zombies worked for me. 

Great book. 

Spoiler

The dachshunds made me cry.

 

I have begun Firstborn as I continue my West re-read.

[williamjm]

I finished Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which I thought it was very good. Gaiman comments in the afterword that it started off a short story and then expanded into a (fairly short) novel and I think that might explain why it's a bit more focused than some of Gaiman's other work which sometimes has a tendency to ramble a bit (such as American Gods. I thought it did a good job of capturing the perspective of a 7 year old boy to whom the world is full of wonders and terrors even before he encounter genuine examples of both.

I've now started Joe Abercrombie's The Trouble With Peace.

[Ormond]

I just now finished The Judging Eye by R. Scott Bakker, first book in his "The Aspect Emperor" series.

I read The Prince of Nothing series quite a few years ago. Certainly women characters are much more prominent in The Judging Eye than they were in those books. Bakker is usually an excellent writer (though every once in a while he has a sentence or word choice that just seems wrong to me) but for most of the book I found his world of Earwa to be irredeemably bleak. One thing he just hardly ever does is any "comic relief" --the only bit of that being bantering insults among the Skin Eaters, a mercenary band -- and there are no memorable moments of joy or happiness for the characters. This book also introduces one of the creepiest and most horrific child characters I've ever read, and when he's on scene you are seeing things through his sickening viewpoint. 

I must say though that the very last full chapter of the book, which has the Skin Eaters along with the wizard Achamian and his foster daughter Mimara in battle with hundreds of nonhuman Sranc in an abandoned subterranean city, was among the most compelling pieces of writing I've found in all of the fantasy I've read. Until that final chapter I wasn't sure I would be happy I had read this book, but after that I am amazed at how well he pulled that off. Even though it's obviously influenced by Tolkien, I loved that chapter, and I am not usually someone who likes battle scenes of any kind. 

Makes me wonder if I should read the Bakker thread here, though that might contain too many spoilers for later volumes. 

 

[hauberk]

On 9/15/2020 at 3:45 PM, Peadar said:

I am indeed and thank you for your kind words!  Badb has a rather large part to play in Three Kings.

Wrapped up Knaves over Queens last night, so I completely see what you're saying.  Again, I see some strong parallels to Ti Malice in the earlier books, in an overall creepy, megaboss villain with legs sort of way.  

My but the end of the book was pretty bleak between Badb, Stonemaiden and the Visitor.  

[Peadar]

9 hours ago, Ormond said:

I must say though that the very last full chapter of the book, which has the Skin Eaters along with the wizard Achamian and his foster daughter Mimara in battle with hundreds of nonhuman Sranc in an abandoned subterranean city, was among the most compelling pieces of writing I've found in all of the fantasy I've read. Until that final chapter I wasn't sure I would be happy I had read this book, but after that I am amazed at how well he pulled that off. Even though it's obviously influenced by Tolkien, I loved that chapter, and I am not usually someone who likes battle scenes of any kind. 

 

It's absolutely meant to be his take on Moria and it is genuinely brilliant. That whole sequence is the highpoint of his work for me.

 

9 hours ago, hauberk said:

My but the end of the book was pretty bleak between Badb, Stonemaiden and the Visitor.  

That ending *is* exceedingly bleak, all right! Thanks again for reading, though.

[The Wolves]

Just started reading Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow by David Gemmell. 
 

I really like Greek stories with the gods and goddesses but I feel their stories were always brutal especially the Trojan war. But I have heard nothing but good things about this series so I will give it a try. 

[hauberk]

On 9/16/2020 at 8:46 PM, LongRider said:

I also read just over half of THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH by Ken Follett.  It’s described as an historical novel, but I found very little history, it takes place in 12th Century England, and a lot more soap opera. 

I finally decided I had enough of that and returned it to the library.  It’s a 3 book series but I won’t be back. 
 

 

Definitely some soap in there, but the cathedral... might be that Master of Buildings thing but that was enough to keep me engaged. 

[hauberk]

On 9/18/2020 at 8:50 PM, mushroomshirt said:

I finished the 3rd wild cards book a few days ago (Joker's Wild).  I think I liked the second book best.  This 3rd one had waaaaay too much Fortunato for me.  He wasn't in the 2nd book (Aces High) very much, but where he was he was pretty manageable (apart from homophobic slurs tossed around like they are nothing).  I enjoyed his chapter about Eileen in that book & think that actually gave some extra dimensions to the character.  In the 3rd book it seems like he's returned to form as some 2-dimensional Penthouse Letters idea of a super hero.

  Hide contents

Thankfully it seems like we've seen the last of Fortunato!

 

I would remind that not only is it a 30+ year old book, but also that Fortunato is/was a man, not only of his time, but of his profession.  His enlightment is lacking.

On 9/18/2020 at 8:50 PM, mushroomshirt said:

I finished the 3rd wild cards book a few days ago (Joker's Wild).  I think I liked the second book best.  This 3rd one had waaaaay too much Fortunato for me.  He wasn't in the 2nd book (Aces High) very much, but where he was he was pretty manageable (apart from homophobic slurs tossed around like they are nothing).  I enjoyed his chapter about Eileen in that book & think that actually gave some extra dimensions to the character.  In the 3rd book it seems like he's returned to form as some 2-dimensional Penthouse Letters idea of a super hero.

  Hide contents

Thankfully it seems like we've seen the last of Fortunato!

Roulette also didn't do much for me.  There was a lot of potential there with her.  I liked the conflict in her about whether she should complete her mission or not.  But there was an awful lot of it.  I suppose it was meant to be a bit suspenseful, but it got repetitive after a while.  I continue not to be a big fan of Tachyon, he just seems so weepy and his infatuation with Roulette seemed hard to understand - at least the intensity of it - what is it about her that attracted him so much?

  Hide contents

He loves her after one day?  And during that day she tried to kill him at least once?  I don't get it.

On the good side, I liked the Hiram chapters a whole lot.  I really like that character and feel like he was maybe the most relatable in the book.  An ace, but not really a superhero like most of the others.  I would take a whole book of Hiram obliquely interacting with aces and jokers & occasionally getting into jams.

I also really liked Demise's chapters.  I thought his motivations were realistic - he's definitely a bad guy, but very interesting to read, especially since he hates the other bad guys so much.  Not sure how much this kind of thing is thanks to GRRM, but it's the thing I love most about his books.  The bad guys don't always get along with each other and the good guys don't always get along with each other.  Sometimes the bad guys are the good guys and vice versa.

I liked ghost girl too, but wish Yeoman had a little more characterization in this book.  Yeoman was one of my favorites from book 1 and 2, but he got a bit of the short end of the stick here, I think.

I actually didn't mind the Sewer Jack / Bagabond chapters until the very end.  Although the whole plot about Rosemary and the mafia seemed like a complete 180 from where that character was in the previous books.  The thing that really and truly irked me about Sewer Jack / Bagabond was

  Hide contents

When Bagabond finally found out that Sewer Jack was gay, of course he helps her shop for her big date.  Because gay guys love clothes and shopping.  Where did this come from?  At no point in any of the other books or even this one were these kind of stereotypical gay qualities hinted at.  For a guy that lives in the sewers to love shopping and fancy clothes? give me a break!  I know this is not super fair to a 30+ year old book which was probably pretty progressive at the time, but it really grated on me, a lot like Fortunato did in book 1.

 

I also really dug Hiram, Demise and Yeoman.  Yeoman in particular - one of John J. Miller's creations - rock solid, though not as cool, in my opinion, as Billy "Carnifex" Ray.  I think you may have just met him in Joker's Wild.  

I think that you just have to write off some of the characterizations as of their time.  There will be more to come of those.  Sewer Jack and Bagabond were major obstacles to my momentum throughout the series.  

On 9/18/2020 at 8:50 PM, mushroomshirt said:

 

Bottom line is I'm interested enough to continue with the series, but I'm sort of hot and cold on it depending on the characters.  Hopefully as I get into the more contemporary books some of the anachronistic qualities will fade away and it will be less jarring for me.

  Hide contents

Oh and I forgot to mention I thought the death of Kid Dinosaur was brilliant.  Horrible but brilliant & excellently written.  It showed that even kids don't have plot armor in this series.  Anyone can go at any time.

 

Undoubtedly.  I'd expect that to continue throughout, though brace yourself.  IMO Aces Abroad is one of the weakest of the entire series - I've only gotten through it once and that was by sheer force of will.  

Spoiler

Indeed.  Don't get too attached to anyone. 

 

[Zorral]

Savoring so much Hilary Mantell's 3rd Thomas Cromwell novel, The Mirror and the Light. 

It is so beautifully written.  Sometimes she goes on rather too lengthily, and sometimes what she's saying doesn't quite ring the right tone, but those instances are few.  Particularly earlier into the book, she achieves what I honestly feel is that combination of language, character revelation (and insight) that really is the height of Shakespeare. I'm in awe.