Fourth Quarter 2020 Reading

[Derfel Cadarn]

On 11/10/2020 at 4:37 AM, Inkdaub said:

Delete, messed up quote

[Derfel Cadarn]

On 11/10/2020 at 4:37 AM, Inkdaub said:

I read Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic and enjoyed it for the most part.  Can't put my finger on it but something felt...missing from this book.  I don't know what.  Just left me cold at times.  Still a good book.

Next I read Craig's Resurrection Men.  I just finished this one last night.  Great story with good characters...some great who hopefully are still around as we continue.  Lore and society and intrigue...none of my guesses panned out.  None.  The end...the last few pages are an ass kicking that really thickens the plot to vastly understate the situation.  Good thing I already have Lord of the Hunt ready.

 

Thanks, @Inkdaub Hope you enjoy Lord of the Hunt. Always happy to take on board constructive criticism.  The final draft is very different from the initial plan, so I guess most of my guesses were initially wrong too

Lady Delaney has a bigger role, seen through the eyes of Kerry Knox, who’s role is substantialy increased. There’s one character who doesn’t appear, but they’ll return in Lucifer & Son.

[Plessiez]

On 11/10/2020 at 11:35 PM, Plessiez said:

This month I've promised myself that I'll finally finish A Sword from Red Ice.

... and now I have!

I'm not really sure why it took me so long (I think I started reading this in mid-September, if not earlier).  I think ultimately I just don't care much for some of the characters.   Sadly, this includes Raif who has really become the central protagonist by this point (maybe he always was, but at least in my memory he was much less central in the first book).   Also, and much like the previous installment, this really feels like the middle of an ongoing series -- some characters' arcs really don't progress much at all and there's the same problem I complained about earlier of the different POVs very rarely interacting.

I liked Raina's chapters a lot though, and once I got back into this I made it through the last third of the book pretty quickly, all things considered.  But I don't think I'll be picking up the fourth book for a while (especially since, as far as I'm aware, there's been little further updates from Jones on when or if the series will be completed).

[Paxter]

On 11/9/2020 at 12:44 PM, Astromech said:

I finished Fiona Mozley's Elmet. A slow burn with a reasonable payoff at the end. Nice, moody Yorkshire-set story. A different take on the rural noir I'm used to. Setting-wise at least.

Yeah, I hadn't read anything quite like it. I can see why it would be classified "rural noir", but in my own head it defied easy classification. 

[Astromech]

5 hours ago, Paxter said:

Yeah, I hadn't read anything quite like it. I can see why it would be classified "rural noir", but in my own head it defied easy classification. 

I suppose rural noir is the first sub-genre that came to mind, but that mostly has to do with the setting and some of the criminal or fringes of society elements in the story.

On 11/10/2020 at 2:30 AM, Isis said:

That was my favourite of the Booker short-list for that year. It's beautiful. 

The mood was fantastic. It reminded me slightly of William Gay's novels, but much less bleak.

I'm now reading Daniel Woodrell's The Death of Sweet Mister. I don't think this one will have a happy ending 

[Starkess]

11 hours ago, Plessiez said:

... and now I have!

I'm not really sure why it took me so long (I think I started reading this in mid-September, if not earlier).  I think ultimately I just don't care much for some of the characters.   Sadly, this includes Raif who has really become the central protagonist by this point (maybe he always was, but at least in my memory he was much less central in the first book).   Also, and much like the previous installment, this really feels like the middle of an ongoing series -- some characters' arcs really don't progress much at all and there's the same problem I complained about earlier of the different POVs very rarely interacting.

I liked Raina's chapters a lot though, and once I got back into this I made it through the last third of the book pretty quickly, all things considered.  But I don't think I'll be picking up the fourth book for a while (especially since, as far as I'm aware, there's been little further updates from Jones on when or if the series will be completed).

I think that was the last one I read from that series. It wasn't bad or anything, but from what I recall I was similarly unenthused about it and just never bothered to pick up the next book. The first half of the first book was the highlight of the series for me and after a certain point I think I had to realize it was just never going to be what I wanted it to be. Maybe I'll revisit it again someday.

[williamjm]

I finished Stuart Turton's The Devil and the Dark Water. I thought it was a great premise for a story, a locked-room murder mystery where there's a clear inspiration from Sherlock Holmes stories but almost entirely set on a 17th Century ship sailing from Indonesia to Amsterdam. One twist on the typical Holmes formula is that the genius detective has been accused of an unspecified crime and imprisoned onboard the ship meaning his bodyguard has to do most of the crime-solving himself after a series of threats to the ship and its passengers are made by a seemingly demonic figure. The claustrophobic setting works well for a mystery plot since the characters (who naturally all have mysteries in their past and hidden motivations) are all forced together in close quarters. I thought it moved at a reasonable pace, gradually developing the characters as the situation onboard steadily deteriorates. The mystery itself is quite cleverly constructed as well, although I did figure out some aspects of it there were a few surprises as well.

I think the biggest negative is that all feels a bit far-fetched at times and the ending seems determined to tie things up a bit too neatly. Some character motivations also seem a bit under-explained at times. While I liked the setting I'm also not sure I really found the historical aspects to be particularly convincing. I still enjoyed it, but I think Turton's previous novel The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle was probably better overall.

I'm now just about to start Peter F. Hamilton's latest The Saints of Salvation.

[Gigei]

On 11/11/2020 at 5:30 AM, williamjm said:

The trilogy did get nominated for a Best Series Hugo a couple of years later.

I did really like the series, I agree the setting was fascinating. I also enjoyed the more recent Founders series, although I think the world is a bit less interesting than the earlier books.

Oh, that's good then.

On 11/11/2020 at 7:35 AM, Plessiez said:

I really liked the Divine Cities trilogy as well.  City of Blades is the best book, I think, but I thought the quality was fairly consistent throughout.  I've not tried any of Bennett's later work yet.

Yes, I agree that the second book is the best.

On 11/12/2020 at 1:54 AM, polishgenius said:

There was a weird mini-glut of books/series with similar settings to this around that time. I found Max Gladstone's Craft series to be the best of them (though it takes a slightly different, less epic-fantasy, more urban-fantasy/detective and more comic slant than the rest) alongside this one, but if you've not read them you may also enjoy Ben Peek's Godless (not read the sequels but I will) and Luke Scull's Grim Company (very enjoyable trilogy, an Abercrombie-ish attitude to the premise),

I will definitely have to check those out.

City of Blades, the second book in the Divine Cities was also really good. The main character Turyin, a retired general, is very interesting. The plot moved along very nicely, too. I enjoyed how the various countries are now moving on technologically.

Spoiler

I'm sad for Shana but it makes complete sense to me that her people wouldn't really want to spend time, money, and resources on their former owners. After all, most of her people still remember what it was like when they were treated as less-than-human slaves. People are selfish and wouldn't want to spend the equivalent of billions of dollars on improving the lives of people they don't know personally.

It took me a few days to finish City of Miracles (the last book in the Divine Cities series) by Robert Jackson Bennett. I'm afraid I don't like it as much as the other books. Sigurd was fine as an interesting side character but making him the main POV character did not work for me. I think the difference is that both Shana and Turyin are very driven, idealistic leaders while Sigurd is a depressed warrior who prefers to be lead.

It's still a good book, just not as good as the other ones, IMO.

Spoiler

You know what I would have liked? A Signe POV book, if she had survived.

I'm really glad I discovered this series.

[Inkdaub]

On 11/11/2020 at 11:29 AM, Derfel Cadarn said:

Lady Delaney has a bigger role

Delaney is the one I like the best so that's good news.  More about her is welcome. 

I am now reading Hickman's House of X / Powers of X trade.  My unread comic stack is getting obnoxious.  Pretty good so far.   I'm about half-way through.

[Peadar]

I have started Gareth Powell's Embers of War. *

 

*FYI: I always link to the books I'm reading in case anybody else is thinking of checking them out. From now on, my links will be to bookshop.org rather than amazon.

[Luzifer's right hand]

13 minutes ago, Peadar said:

I have started Gareth Powell's Embers of War. *

 

*FYI: I always link to the books I'm reading in case anybody else is thinking of checking them out. From now on, my links will be to bookshop.org rather than amazon.

Algorithms have recommended that book to me multiple times. Maybe I should give it a try but I'm trying to finish my backlog(most likely a vain attempt). 

[Wilbur]

20 minutes ago, Peadar said:

...I always link to the books I'm reading in case anybody else is thinking of checking them out. From now on, my links will be to bookshop.org rather than amazon.

That is a really cool idea.  I had never heard of Bookshop.org, so thank you for pointing us in that direction.

[Astromech]

I finished Daniel Woodrell's  The Death of Sweet Mister. This is the second Woodrell novel I've read (Tomato Red being the other) and both have been slow burns. The Death of Sweet Mister ended well( in a  WTF? fashion) but the novel felt rather dull until the last few chapters. Moody and atmospheric, but slow. I'm hoping the novels in Woodrell's Bayou Trilogy have  a tighter and quicker pace.

[Zorral]

On 11/15/2020 at 5:02 PM, Leap said:

Just finished The Haunting of Hill House, which I really liked. It was definitely a bit spooky, and that's with my reading it in a fairly lively and well-lit house. Took a chapter or two to really grab my interest, but after that I was hooked - I read most of it this afternoon. 

Next up, The Three Musketeers (and this time I mean it). It's an absolute brick of a book, so hopefully I'm disciplined enough to put the hours in this week so that I can get going. Will probably be the second longest book of the year, after The Goldfinch, which feels like years ago already. 

If you read all the installments into the Three Musketeers group, it would be far far FAR longer than The Goldfinch -- or War and Peace.   

The Three Musketeers (1844) “All for one and one for all!” ...
Twenty Years After (1845) ...
The Vicomte de Bragelonne (1847) ...
Ten Years Later (1850) ...
Louise de la Valliere (1849) ...
The Man in the Iron Mask (1850)

AND The Red Sphinx, which only got into English a few years ago -- and which, for some reason, became my favorite Dumas.  Maybe though it is because of all the added matter editor and translator included.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/newly-translated-a-sequel-to-the-three-musketeers-is-as-fresh-as-ever/2017/01/04/d5deff7a-cc3f-11e6-b8a2-8c2a61b0436f_story.html

[Zorral]

3 hours ago, Leap said:

 What have I got myself into...

Have to say though, I am really enjoying it so far and making good progress - already about a quarter of the way through.  

Dumas is great, he really is.  I still enjoy Walter Scott's books too (Dumas's teacher), at least some of them.  Whereas James Fenimore Cooper, who thought he could do what Scott did so easily, I have a lot more trouble reading these days, other than for refreshing my knowledge of the content for a course or paper.

 

[Corvinus85]

Finally finished Children of Ruin. @LongRider

It took me a while because I'm a slow reader, but the story was very good and interesting. I wish a little more time had been spent at the end explaining the new status of the societies and how exactly the Nod lifeform fitted in with the rest. I greatly appreciate the optimistic ending, given all the drama and even horror in the story. Its predecessor finished on the same tone. It makes me think of these books as being highly complex Star Trek stories.

[Plessiez]

The discussion of Robert Jackson Bennett here a few days ago inspired me to start Foundryside, which I'm enjoying so far.

On 11/17/2020 at 9:50 PM, Zorral said:

If you read all the installments into the Three Musketeers group, it would be far far FAR longer than The Goldfinch -- or War and Peace.

I liked The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After (both of which I read many years ago), but I wasn't able to get into The Vicomte de Bragelonne at all.  I think I blamed the translation, at the time.  I can't remember who the translator of the book I read was, but if memory serves it was a fairly old physical volume even twenty years ago, so it definitely wasn't a modern one.   Is there any consensus on what the best English translation is?

Trying to work out the name of the translator of the Dumas I've read reminded me of Brust's Khaavren Romances.  The prose style of these (and the in-universe author: Paarfi of Roundwood) is meant to be a pastiche/parody of a particular translation of Dumas that Brust once read, and the books themselves are based on Dumas's D'Artagnan books (at least loosely, after the first) . 

I don't think that the translation of Dumas that Brust is referencing can be the same one that I first read.  But while googling I realised that Brust has another Paarfi book out this year, The Baron of Magister Valley.  Has anybody on this thread read it?  (And is it any good?)  As with the source material, I think I liked the first two installments of the Khaavren Romances a lot more than the final books.

[Inkdaub]

I finished Hickman's House of X / Powers of X and liked it. 

Now I'm on to Lethem's Gambler's Anatomy. 

[Iskaral Pust]

On 11/16/2020 at 11:43 AM, Astromech said:

I finished Daniel Woodrell's  The Death of Sweet Mister. This is the second Woodrell novel I've read (Tomato Red being the other) and both have been slow burns. The Death of Sweet Mister ended well( in a  WTF? fashion) but the novel felt rather dull until the last few chapters. Moody and atmospheric, but slow. I'm hoping the novels in Woodrell's Bayou Trilogy have  a tighter and quicker pace.

I read the first of his Bayou Trilogy.  Definitely atmospheric and well written, a slightly slow burn for the genre, but overall reasonably tight and the narrative and plot progressed.  I didn’t find it so compelling though that I returned to the trilogy yet, but it’s on my list for someday.

[Zorral]

Many translators of Dumas over the -- by now! yikes! -- centuries.

Most recent praised translator:

http://philipsturner.com/2018/03/17/a-rip-snorting-translation-the-musketeers-wall-st-journal/

http://philipsturner.com/2020/05/10/superb-profile-of-lawrence-ellsworth-translator-of-classic-dumas-novels/?doing_wp_cron=1600695137.8867189884185791015625

As for the one Brust used / uses? --

http://www.wjduquette.com/authors/adumas.html