Second Quarter 2021 Reading

[Kyll.Ing.]

On 6/9/2021 at 11:59 AM, Kyll.Ing. said:

Just started The Galaxy, and the Grounds Within by Becky Chambers, the fourth installment in the Wayfarers series. I would have posted this in the dedicated thread, but in yet another example of this forum having some of the stupidest technical policies I've ever had the misfortune to come across on the Internet, that thread is archived and locked because it hasn't seen a post in a while. It was never the most active of threads, but I'd rather add activity to it than creating another barely active thread to cover the exact same subject. This also makes it a lot harder to refer to earlier posts about the subject, requiring me to repeat things already said. 

Oh well, rant over. 

As I said in that thread, I really liked the premise of the series and the two first books are great, but I didn't like the third installment in the series. It went all in on the characters, and all out on the plot. It was a "slice of life" tale of five characters whose stories barely interact, or for that matter, happen at all.  The only character whose story has any sort of arc in it is killed in an accident halfway through the book. All in all, "Wayfarers 3" was a sci-fi book about job satisfaction on a colony ship. It didn't help either that the strongest bits of the first two books - exploring the conflicting needs and views of aliens of many different species and cultural backgrounds - were largely omitted. All the characters were humans who have lived on the same ship for all their lives.

So I went into "Wayfarers 4" with mixed expectations. Would Chambers bring together interesting and highly different personalities like in the first two books, or continue with the meandering "nobody does anything and there's no plot at all" style of the third book? Fortunately, it seems to be the former. In the first few chapters, we're introduced to six characters of four different species, none of them human but all known from small roles in previous books, and an event happens that traps them together in what is essentially a small-business roadside motel along an interstellar highway. As is usual for these books, most of the characters are new (although we know one from a small role in one previous book), which lets them start with fresh character arcs to explore. The arcs seem interesting too. There's a lone mother with a business, but no mention of a mate or what happened to him (assuming that species even mates for life, of course), a teenager whose species doesn't manifest a gender until puberty, an exiled outcast of a species previously only seen in a villain role, facing a deadline he's willing to sell all his belongings to meet, a poor scavenger separated from her close-knit sibling relationship for the first time ever, and a freighter pilot facing an enormous cultural taboo in the way of the love of her life. In short, there are all sorts of knots to untie here.

So far, the book is playing on all the strengths of the earlier books. I had to put the book down after reading the first few chapters over breakfast today (gotta go to work, after all), but I'm intrigued to pick it back up this afternoon. 

I finished the book now. I really liked it. It lived up to my expectations, to the point that what I wrote above really describes the entire book well enough, but I don't call it a bad thing that I could glean the entire plot from reading the first few chapters. This series has never been about the plot (maybe except the second book?) but about the characters and the problems they face. I said the books had all sorts of knots to untie, but as is typical for this series the knots don't all come untied at the end of the story. Some issues are too complicated to solve over the course of a story that takes up only a few days in the lives of the characters. But they are thoroughly discussed from several points of view, and you leave the book feeling that the characters are a little better off for having discussed the uncomfortable issues even if they haven't been solved. The series has been more about facing the uncomfortable than creating a permanent fix-it-all.

I was a little surprised and sad to see that this was the final book in the series, however. I feel that the Galactic Commons still has the potential for lots more stories. But I guess the author might have picked up a wholly new idea she'd like to explore instead, and decided to focus her career on that story from now on. I hope she hasn't grown tired of the series and may be open to picking it back up one day.

I guess that makes the Wayfarers series a completed work. I really would have liked to revive the existing thread to discuss the series, as it might be too obscure to warrant much discussion in a new thread, and I think it's better to have one thread with two half-discussions than two threads that both fail to get off the ground.

Oh, and just because I like pointing it out, it's charming that Chambers has this once-a-book moment where she lets through that the "sci" part of sci-fi isn't her strongest suit (it's no detriment to the story, but it's a little fun to notice). The first book has ships running on algae grown within the ship - not quite in accordance with the laws of thermodynamics or mass balance. The second presents the idea that a human body gains energy from moving about. I don't quite remember anything that qualifies in the third book, but in this one it's mentioned that Aeulon women rarely get more than one chance in their life to birth one child. Not sure how a population could be sustained under circumstances where each generation is half the size of the previous one.

Anyway, I really liked the Wayfarers series, the third book aside. I love its smaller-scope approach to sci-fi. The characters amble about without overthrowing empires or saving planets or stopping wars or ending galactic hunger (admittedly, that last part seems to be a largely solved issue already). It's just about people learning to live together and facing their own little issues and triumphs. Although it is hinted at the end that things are about to change massively for Akaraks because of the main characters' actions. That's about as grand as the story gets.

[williamjm]

4 hours ago, Kyll.Ing. said:

I was a little surprised and sad to see that this was the final book in the series, however. I feel that the Galactic Commons still has the potential for lots more stories. But I guess the author might have picked up a wholly new idea she'd like to explore instead, and decided to focus her career on that story from now on. I hope she hasn't grown tired of the series and may be open to picking it back up one day.

She does have a novella coming out next month (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40864002-a-psalm-for-the-wild-built) that is described as the first in a series.

I agree that there did seem to be scope for more books in the Wayfarer setting, maybe she will come back to it some day.

[Kyll.Ing.]

1 hour ago, williamjm said:

I agree that there did seem to be scope for more books in the Wayfarer setting, maybe she will come back to it some day.

I've tried to think a little contrarian, and could see one possible reason why she might consider the setting exhausted, at least in the broad strokes.

A central theme of the series is cultural sensitivity, and characters learning about the needs of other species and overcoming various stereotypes. As the characters learn, so do the readers. Facts about the species may come as a surprise as they are revealed.

However, the series has already featured the ins and outs of the ten species it describes. Readers are ultimately familiar with the biological and cultural intricacies of humans (which is why Record of a Spaceborn Few was such a snoozefest). We already know that Aandrisks require intimacy on the same level others need conversation; that Harmagians have problems moving around and are looked down upon because of their imperial past; the various ins and outs of Aeluon genders and fertility; and so on. Without introducing any new species, it's not like the series can do any more such reveals of funny alien biology/cultures, and it might be a little boring to learn it all again. Or, well, not boring per se, but it would require a different approach, which Chambers may not feel like trying. But hopefully, she'll have a sudden good idea one day, and we may return to the Galactic Commons to learn more about this intricately crafted world.

[williamjm]

I finished S.A. Chakraborty's The Empire of Gold which I thought was a good conclusion to the Daevabad trilogy. At the start of the book there are a lot of plot threads left to be resolved but I thought the book managed to tie them together well while at the same time providing a number of new revelations (some of which I was expecting and some of which I was not). I did like that although it ends fairly conclusively it's clear that the characters will still face plenty of challenges going forward and there's no suggestion that all of Daevabad's problems have gone away. One of the things the series did well was to show how all the different factions had agendas that made sense to them and how most of horrible things they sometimes did were the result of previous things done to them. This continues in the final book as we learn more about some of the more enigmatic players in the story, although the main villain did lose any subtlety and nuance as the book went along. I think the first two books might have had a better antagonist.

I do also like how the characters have developed since the first book, the first one did start of a fairly typical coming-of-age epic fantasy but I find the more mature Nahri of the second and third books to be more interesting. I thought the story arcs of the main characters also came to some good conclusions although some of the supporting characters get a little bit forgotten at times, it might have been interesting to see things from Zaynab's point-of-view, for example. The second book did take place almost entirely in Daevabad itself and venturing beyond that to human Cairo and the djinn community in Ta Ntry did bring something extra to the story. There are a lot of different types of magic being thrown around in this book and I think some of the details of how that all works got a bit confusing at times.

Overall, I enjoyed the trilogy a lot, it does sometimes use some familiar epic fantasy tropes but I think the Arabian Nights-inspired setting does bring something new.

I don't think any more books in the world are planned at the moment although the edition I read does have a bonus 'alternative epilogue' which could easily have served as the set-up for a possible sequel.

Next up I'm going to read Adrian Tchaikovsky's new space opera Shards of Earth, which I've heard good things about.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I finished Robert E. Lee and Me. I very much recommend this book to anyone that's interested in the American Civil War and getting a look at how the culture from that era still infects intelligent people to this day.

[TheLastWolf]

The latest Booker winner is surreal 

At Night All Blood Is Black 

Senegalese footsoldiers fighting for France in WW1

Written beautifully by David Diop and not list in translation by Anna Moschovakis

[A wilding]

Really have to wonder if that choice was not influenced by the thought of sticking two fingers up at Laurence Fox ...

[Zorral]

Well, despite what he might think, not everything is about Lawrence Fox. 

In the meantime though -- Omar Sy (actor who plays the protagonist in the Neflix Lupin}, 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/06/21/the-formidable-charm-of-omar-sy

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...recently optioned “At Night All Blood Is Black,” David Diop’s bloody, potent novel of Senegalese riflemen in the First World War, and plans to perform a one-man show adapted from it at the Avignon Festival this summer. (Diop won the International Booker Prize for the novel earlier this month.)...

 

[VigoTheCarpathian]

Finished “Be Love Now” by Ram Dass (interesting, but only if you’re into Ram Dass).  Also working my way through “The Rat Queens” GNs, up through #6 and it’s a really fun fantasy read. Also, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” - didn’t know much about Didion and hadn’t read anything by her before, very solid prose, and interesting voice.

Most of the way through:“The Immortality key” by Muraresku, based on a mention on a podcast, and am kind of meh about it.  The subject matter is interesting but the book could be half of the size, it feels like a padded college paper that references the same points in multiple non-interesting ways to get to 400 pages.  Also, “Wait Till I’m Dead” by Ginsberg (again, interesting but only if you like Ginsberg).

Just ordered “Killers of the Flower Moon”, “The Copenhagen Trilogy”, and “How Beautiful We Were” from the library.

 

[ljkeane]

The Girl and the Mountain was good if not quite the book I expected and it featured a more satisfying level of warrior nuns. I'm looking forward to the last book in the trilogy.

Now I'm reading Katherine Addison's The Angel of the Crows. It's sort of an alternative Sherlock Holmes in a supernatural 19th century London which also features several real murders from the period. It's a bit odd but I'm quite enjoying it so far.

[Ormond]

The three latest fiction books I read:

Waves edited by Ethan Mordden, an anthology of short stories about gay men published in 1994. The stories were generally well-written, though most of them were a bit depressing. I really liked the story by Mordden himself, though, which was quite funny, and also the one by John Weir, which was about a gay man taking a trip with his brother and his wife and their young sons.

A Vision of Light by Judith Merkle Riley. This was a historical novel set in 1355 in England, where the main character, Margaret, is a young woman who has powers of healing after the mystical vision referred to in the title. The book is often found on lists of fantasy novels because of Margaret's abilities, but they often aren't always focused on and instead a lot of the book deals with gender issues in medieval culture. I liked the characters though a couple of the plot points were a bit implausible. I'd give it an B+ as a novel.

Still Life by Louise Penny, the first book in her much-awarded mystery series about Inspector Armand Gamache of Quebec investigating murders in the largely Anglophone "Eastern Townships" area of rural Quebec. I can see why Penny is one of today's most popular mystery novelists with both readers and literary critics. Her characterization is excellent; she's able to make a large cast of both small town murder suspects and provincial police into recognizable individuals in a few sentences. Her characters seem like people one could really know. She's also able to make a conclusion where the murderer is someone you'd least suspect earlier in the story seem very plausible. My only quibble is that the gay male couple in the book were a little too stereotypical for my tastes. It was a great light read and I hope to be able to go on to some of the other books in the series some day. 

[Wilbur]

Every time I reload my iPod this year, I add an E.C. Tubb Dumarest of Earth space opera as a palate cleanser for some of the other more serious books I listen to during hikes, bike trips, etc.  Highly formulaic, not at all politically correct, and very much of their time, these books nevertheless have enough of the spark that satisfies.  Tubbs does a good job of making Earl Dumarest unlikeable yet empathize-able (is that a word?), and many of the characters in each book are unique, driven by their own flaws, and similar in nature to supporting characters of Jack Vance or GRRM or Michael Shea - rogues and self-interested cut-throats, but interesting.

Today I finished Zenya (1974), and in this one Tubbs actually adds a slight touch of mystery to the task at hand for Dumarest.  Dumarest is blackmailed to find the son of a warlord of one planet, and his search takes him to another planet where he poses as a mercenary in a war whose causes may not be what they seem.  Two different female relatives of the blackmailing warlord have competing political schemes that include giving Dumarest a good rogering, so there is that as well as the threat of the Cybers and the good works of the Church of Universal Brotherhood to give some relief from the otherwise unrelenting wickedness.

I have to say that this, the eleventh of apparently 33 total books, is good stuff in terms of Silver Age Space Opera.  I don't know why Audible selected these books to create audio books, but I am happy to discover and enjoy them.  Also kudos to the Overdrive/Library Loan folks for making so many of them available.

[shortstark]

On 6/15/2021 at 4:21 AM, ljkeane said:

The Girl and the Mountain was good if not quite the book I expected and it featured a more satisfying level of warrior nuns. I'm looking forward to the last book in the trilogy.

 

Why do I keep bouncing off The Girl and the Stars?

This my second attempt at reading it and am finding it to be a slog..?

[C.T. Phipps]

I am currently reading the Golgotha series by R.S. Belcher. It's set in a Weird West sort of town that reminds me of Buffy's Sunnydale. I am listening to the graphic audiobook productions of SIX STRING TAROT and the SHOTGUN ARCANA.

Really enjoying it.

[Starkess]

Finished listening to Recursion by Blake Crouch. It was really good, took a bit of a different approach than I expected. Thought the treatment of time travel worked really well, something that's tricky to get right.

I also listened to Annihilation, the first in the Southern Reach trilogy. I had seen the movie a couple years ago without knowing anything about it and got absolutely terrified from the movie. So I was a little hesitant to try out the book, but it ended up going a much less direct horror-y route and more a puzzle/science/investigation aspect that made it a lot easier to deal with the disturbing aspects of the story. I enjoyed it, and have book 2 on hold.

Now I am listening to The Last Olympian, the final Percy Jackson book. These books have been fun. I missed them on release, as they came out during my college years when I wasn't reading much and was a bit old for them. I admit that, as of now, I am fully Team Rachel and just know I'm going to be disappointed. 

Spoiler

Don't get me wrong, I love Annabeth, but I like her and Percy as friends. Contrary to YA tropes, constantly fighting with someone does NOT mean you're actually destined to be in love. Rachel and Percy just have a way better vibe to me!

I also started my re-read of Babylon's Ashes, book 6 of The Expanse. I started this re-read of the series last year in preparation for Leviathan Falls, but didn't want to finish too soon so I took a long pause. BA is the last one that I've read before--I didn't read books 7 and 8 on release so that I could enjoy the series's conclusion arc all as one. I'm only a couple chapters in but I forgot how frustrating this book is. Spending time inside the heads of anyone that would support the largest mass murder event in human history is a struggle for me.

[Rorshach]

Okay, since I last posted I've read The Ressurectionist of Caligo, which was okay.

Now trying Gideon the ninth.

[Zorral]

Am really enjoying digging into Bret Devereaux's blog "Collection" called the Fremen Mirage -- particularly as early this winter I read for the first time the 14th Arabic historian, who spent time with the Mongols, Ibn Khaldun.  Ibn Khaldun, along with antiquity's Herodotus and Tacitus and other historians, fully inform his thoughts on Dune's Freeman, and the real history of the most manly and effective warriors -- as opposed to the manufactured mythologies.  I enjoy arguing with his ideas -- he's so well-informed and knowledgeable -- though mostly I agree with him. I admire this guy -- he must be an inspirational instructor. He also knows a lot more than I do.  A LOT MORE!

You all might enjoy these screeds too, and find them useful.

https://acoup.blog/category/collections/the-fremen-mirage/

[ljkeane]

I've had a few train journeys over the last few days so I bought a couple of novellas, Artificial Condition by Martha Wells and Hard Reboot, to read as they seemed the right sort of length. Since they were pretty quick reads I also read Rogue Protocol the next Murderbot novella. They were all fun quick reads.

Next up I'm reading The Assassins of Thasalon by Lois McMaster Bujold.

[Zorral]

There are many happy Bujold readers on this forum who have enjoyed The Curse of Chalion series, therefore they may enjoy this panel from 4th Street, available on Youtube:

 

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4th Street Fantasy

48 subscribers

 

In The Curse of Chalion by Minneapolis-based writer Lois McMaster Bujold, the gods set many unknowing people on the path to save the world, but only Cazaril stays the course and arrives able to do what’s needed. It isn’t extraordinary ability required of him, but extraordinary commitment to compassion: his training takes the shape of moments of unfailingly, continually choosing compassion as those acts build in scale of difficulty and significance. For the 20th anniversary of The Curse of Chalion’s publication, let’s discuss how Bujold pulls this off. How does she make this journey of disparate moments that are not “action-packed” so compelling, and why does this model of heroism in fantasy matter?

 

 

 

 

[TheLastWolf]

Harry Potter reread