Fourth Quarter 2020 Reading

[Plessiez]

I enjoyed Dispersion, though as @Luzifer's right hand said it's very mainstream by Egan's standards.  The main characters talk a lot about trigonometry and twelve-dimensional space, but there's not a single diagram or formula shown.  And in fact, unlike some of Egan's other work, I'm not even convinced there's any substance to the mathematics that the characters discuss.  This felt like a story where the strange physics was less of the focus than is usual for Egan (so closer to Perihelion Summer than The Clockwork Rocket).

It definitely feels like something written in 2020: there's a mysterious plague, and arguments about how to respond to it, and in an early chapter the central character wanders through a (seemingly) deserted town.  But yeah, mostly enjoyed it (though I thought the ending was a little abrupt).   Feeling motivated to go and read some more Egan now, anyway, which isn't a bad thing.

On 10/24/2020 at 9:40 PM, Gigei said:

Just finished Fonda Lee's Jade City. It won the World Fantasy Award and was a finalist for the Nebula and Locus Awards. I can see why. It's very good.

Heard quite a few good things about this.  Haven't read your spoilers, but your description of Hilo's POV reminds me of what Chakraborty did with Ali's POV in the Daevabad trilogy, which I was definitely a fan of.  

I think I'm going to try to pick it up soon.

Fantasy crime fiction feels like it should be a sizeable subgenre, but the only examples I can think of right now are Steve Brust's early Vlad Taltos books.

[Astromech]

Enjoyed Anthony Clayton's Paths of Glory: The French Army, 1914-18. My only complaint was it being a bit short.  A very good examination of the morale of the Army throughout the 4 years of the Great  War, highlighting the various campaigns and theaters of operation.

[Gigei]

3 hours ago, Plessiez said:

Heard quite a few good things about this.  Haven't read your spoilers, but your description of Hilo's POV reminds me of what Chakraborty did with Ali's POV in the Daevabad trilogy, which I was definitely a fan of.  

I think I'm going to try to pick it up soon.

Fantasy crime fiction feels like it should be a sizeable subgenre, but the only examples I can think of right now are Steve Brust's early Vlad Taltos books.

Yeah, I do recommend it since it's pretty good especially if you like crime/mafia fiction.

The concept is post-WWII fantasy martial arts with a "The Godfather"-style storyline with all Asian characters. However, although the concept is that "everybody was (superpowered) kung-fu fighting" the story is more of a slow, character study type of thing rather than jam-packed action.

I feel that the setting is very fresh and original.

You're right, there aren't a lot of fantasy organized crime fiction that I remember reading. There's Brust's Taltos, The Lies of Locke Lamora, and.. uh... Myth Adventures by Robert Lynn Asprin? IDK if that counts.

[Kyll.Ing.]

On 10/22/2020 at 2:31 PM, Luzifer's right hand said:

I find his characters interesting. They are not always likeable I guess. He is not K. J. Parker.

Funny you should say that, because I just finished Parker's How to Rule an Empire (and Get Away With It), the sequel to Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City. I found it an interesting read overall, if a little less tense than the first book. That one ended rather abruptly just as the titular city was being stormed. Cue the sequel seven years later, where the siege is still going on. Our new main character doesn't have a military background, and his problems aren't directly related to the defense of the city ... at first, at least. The book got a bit more exciting when he got involved in that, but I couldn't help but notice how he essentially turned into an expy of the main character of the first book towards the end. I mean, suddenly he's a grand strategist despite only having experience from the theater stage?

As for characters being likable ... yeah, that's absolutely a valid concern. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to say that the main leads are total bungholes. It's an interesting read, though, and I wonder if there are any plans for a second sequel. The way this one ended, I wouldn't consider it likely, but I'd read it if it arrived one day.

[ljkeane]

I just read Masquerade in Lodi too. The Penric and Desdemona novellas are pretty consistently entertaining easy reads and this one was no different.

Next up I think I'm going to read Andy Weir's Artemis. I liked the film of The Martian but I've never read any of his books so I'll have to see how it goes.

[unJon]

On 10/26/2020 at 9:12 AM, Plessiez said:

 Fantasy crime fiction feels like it should be a sizeable subgenre, but the only examples I can think of right now are Steve Brust's early Vlad Taltos books.

[unJon]

That was weird. Was typing the Luna books by McDonald is basically The Godfather set on the Moon. 

[mix_masta_micah]

Really eyeing Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward since it has been getting a lot of ASOIF comparisons (I know, I know, every book has this tag) but this is from some goodreads reviews I generally vibe with. 

 

Anyone read this or can vouch for it? 

[End of Disc One]

1 hour ago, mix_masta_micah said:

Really eyeing Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward since it has been getting a lot of ASOIF comparisons (I know, I know, every book has this tag) but this is from some goodreads reviews I generally vibe with. 

 

Anyone read this or can vouch for it? 

I haven't read it but its on my radar as well.  One person I follow on Goodreads said "It scratched an itch that I genuinely don’t think I’ve satisfied since A Song of Ice and Fire".  

I've also been eyeing Forgetting Moon by Brian Lee Durfee.  Looks like another doorstop epic fantasy, which it seems like we don't get much of anymore.

[Peadar]

10 hours ago, unJon said:

 

Six of Crows, anybody? For a fantasy crime caper, I mean...

[mix_masta_micah]

11 hours ago, End of Disc One said:

I haven't read it but its on my radar as well.  One person I follow on Goodreads said "It scratched an itch that I genuinely don’t think I’ve satisfied since A Song of Ice and Fire".  

I've also been eyeing Forgetting Moon by Brian Lee Durfee.  Looks like another doorstop epic fantasy, which it seems like we don't get much of anymore.

I've actually read Forgetting Moon. It was fine. Nothing really noteworthy imo; kind of like Malice by John Gwynne. :/

[Makk]

On 10/28/2020 at 5:01 AM, ljkeane said:

Next up I think I'm going to read Andy Weir's Artemis. I liked the film of The Martian but I've never read any of his books so I'll have to see how it goes.

Artemis is pretty good but I would very strongly suggest you read the book version of the The Martian. The movie was decent, the book was absolutely superb. 

[JGP]

16 hours ago, mix_masta_micah said:

Really eyeing Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward since it has been getting a lot of ASOIF comparisons (I know, I know, every book has this tag) but this is from some goodreads reviews I generally vibe with. 

 

Anyone read this or can vouch for it? 

Something about this title rang a bell, so I looked in my kindle library and yeah, I'd read it. I managed to finish it after all so it's couldn't have been bad. I'm just not sure if it was so bland to be that forgettable or if it's my generally foggy reading experiences during the plague. 

I can't pull up a single character's name. :/   

[Inkdaub]

8 hours ago, JEORDHl said:

Something about this title rang a bell, so I looked in my kindle library and yeah, I'd read it. I managed to finish it after all so it's couldn't have been bad. I'm just not sure if it was so bland to be that forgettable or if it's my generally foggy reading experiences during the plague. 

I can't pull up a single character's name. :/   

I just bought the kindle version for $2.99.  It looks like a decent risk.  We'll see when I get around to it.

[williamjm]

I've started Stuart Turton's The Devil and the Dark Water. I enjoyed his The Seven and a Half Lives of Evelyn Hardcastle, this also seems like it has potential as a mystery with some apparently fantastical elements even if it's more of Holmes-inspired story rather than the time loops of the other book.

20 hours ago, Makk said:

Artemis is pretty good but I would very strongly suggest you read the book version of the The Martian. The movie was decent, the book was absolutely superb. 

I also thought The Martian was a lot better than Artemis. Other than Mark Watney I think characterisation isn't really Andy Weir's strong point.

 

[Iskaral Pust]

Finished Norwegian By Night by Derek B. Miller.  The plot sounds thriller-ish but it’s really a literary novel in the increasingly common vein of an old person decamping as they reject their confines and narrow expectations, and entertain us with their reflections and wise musings.  But the author wants the reader to fully buy into the dubious worldview of the octogenarian protagonist.  His paranoia and survivor guilt and perception of omnipresent anti-Semitism are exhausting and self-indulgent.  I just sympathized with his granddaughter and especially her husband.  Family patriarchs (or matriarchs) who create constant narcissistic melodrama for decades should be called out for their BS.  I didn’t really enjoy it.

I also finished Kydd by Julian Stockwin, the first in a series of historical fiction set in the Royal Navy during the peak age of sail, say 1790-1820.  The character arc looks similar to Cornwell’s Sharpe as he starts as a pressed landsman but will reach able seaman and eventually captain of a ship of the line (and perhaps beyond? Sharpe became a bloody general by the end of his series).  I’m a fan of the genre and really enjoyed the Aubrey/Maturin series and the Hornblower series.  I’m unconvinced about this series though.  A novel about a pressed landsman brings a new angle but it sacrifices so much perspective.  A ship’s officer is a more common POV because they understand the big picture, the mission, the navigation of the ship, etc.  There is a lot of technical description of sailing: the reefing, clewing, belaying, and many other variations of hauling on diverse cordage; far more than Patrick O’Brien ever used.  You can decide whether that sounds appealing.  The actual narrative is choppy as the character experiences a series of disconnected events and stumbles through to the other side.  And makes a best friend along the way who is improbably equipped to accompany our hero as he progresses from before the mast to the quarter deck.  An OK read but I’m not rushing to the next.

[The Marquis de Leech]

OK, finished with The Book of Taliesin, The Book of Aneirin, and The Black Book of Carmarthen (so far as online translations will let me). I'll think I'll take a break from the Ancient Welsh stuff for now. I will say though, the image of Myrddin the madman (proto-Merlin) talking to trees and pigs about the impending wars against the Saxons and the Normans is quite entertaining.

[Plessiez]

On 10/26/2020 at 5:34 PM, Gigei said:

You're right, there aren't a lot of fantasy organized crime fiction that I remember reading. There's Brust's Taltos, The Lies of Locke Lamora, and.. uh... Myth Adventures by Robert Lynn Asprin? IDK if that counts.

Oh, The Lies of Locke Lamora, yeah.  Not sure why I forgot about that. 

While I was really thinking of pure secondary-world fantasy in my initial post, I guess there's quite a lot of organised crime in urban fantasy as well.  Peter Grant in Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series is a police officer, and Harry Dresden in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files is  (effectively?) a private detective, and organised criminal gangs play fairly large roles in both series.

On 10/28/2020 at 11:25 AM, unJon said:

That was weird. Was typing the Luna books by McDonald is basically The Godfather set on the Moon. 

I tried the first of the Luna books when it was released and couldn't really get into it -- I'm not sure why, as it definitely seems like the sort of thing I usually like.

[Gigei]

2 hours ago, Plessiez said:

Oh, The Lies of Locke Lamora, yeah.  Not sure why I forgot about that. 

While I was really thinking of pure secondary-world fantasy in my initial post, I guess there's quite a lot of organised crime in urban fantasy as well.  Peter Grant in Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series is a police officer, and Harry Dresden in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files is  (effectively?) a private detective, and organised criminal gangs play fairly large roles in both series.

I tried the first of the Luna books when it was released and couldn't really get into it -- I'm not sure why, as it definitely seems like the sort of thing I usually like.

Eh, a police officer/detective POV is the opposite of what I think of when I say/write "organized crime fiction." Unless we're talking an Infernal Affairs situation where the cop is a double agent. I mean, if we're gonna go down that route then Discworld would qualify since it has the Thieves, Assassins, and Seamstress' (ahem)*, etc. Guilds.

I mean more like a situation where the main character is a mafia member rather than just having the mafia exist in the setting. I'm talking likes stories about crime bosses, cartel drug runners, mob enforcers, etc. 

A little googling has some recommendations for Low Town by Daniel Polansky

*Discworld-type footnote: The seamstresses in the Seamstresses' Guild are, in the politically-correct language of the modern Ankh-Morpork, ladies of negotiable affection.

[polishgenius]

4 hours ago, Gigei said:

A little googling has some recommendations for Low Town by Daniel Polansky

I was just thinking of this as I read the discussion. Mind you, though I remember liking Low Town I didn't read the rest of the series.

Douglas Hulick's Among Thieves was another one I remember enjoying, and particularly appreciated that the main character realistically reflected the effects of total exhaustion throughout the story. but again, didn't read the rest of the series.

Sailor to a Siren and its sequel Wages of Sin by our own Zoë Sumra (aka The Author Formerly Known As Eliosa) involve organised crime in a sort of space fantasy almost-not-quite space opera scenario and they're excellent.

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett stars a thief, though I'm not sure it quite fits into being an organised crime book as such. Likewise Whitefire Crossing by Courntey Shafer stars a smuggler and organised crime does figure, but it isn't really about that (excellent book though, though I need to reread it, not read it for ages and don't remember it all that well)