What Are You Reading? Second Quarter 2022

[Mazzack]

7 hours ago, Starkess said:

Edith and Tom make me feel icky

Could you possibly elaborate on that? Simply because I do not recall having the same reaction.

I'm currently nearing the end of The Fall of Babel, book 4 of the series, and enjoying it immensely whenever I have time to read it.

[dog-days]

I still have the fourth book to read. When I switched to using the library instead of buying books,  Will have to get round to it soon though before I forget the first three completely, which were very good, but not amazingly, eternally-inscribed-in-the-memory-good. 

I was okay with Edith and Tom. I felt that their mutual attraction was sympathetic and non-icky given the circumstances - two decent people thrown together living in close confinement and going through so much danger. But one's icky-line varies! 

[Starkess]

10 hours ago, Mazzack said:

Could you possibly elaborate on that? Simply because I do not recall having the same reaction.

I'm currently nearing the end of The Fall of Babel, book 4 of the series, and enjoying it immensely whenever I have time to read it.

The elaboration was the next sentence, I feel like Edith is being set up as a love interest (I felt this way in book 1 as well but it was a more minor note obviously since now they're together 24/7) and I don't like that as the reunion of Tom and Marya is part of what got me invested in the series. I liked Edith and Tom as friends so the parts where it's setting up a possible romance angle feel icky.

That said, of course I could be wrong! I've still got 2+ books to go after all.

[williamjm]

I read Naomi Kritzer's Catfishing on CatNet. Despite some parts of the backstory being quite dark it was a fairly light read. The characters were likeable and there was some interesting near-future extrapolation of current technological trends. However, the ending did feel very neat and a bit too easy.

20 hours ago, Starkess said:

I'm still working on book 2 of the Babel series. It's not grabbing me as much as book 1 so far. We're getting a lot less of the Tower, no closer to Marya, Edith and Tom make me feel icky--I feel like the author is setting up a romance there and I really hope not because the Tom/Marya is what really pulled me into the first book. But we'll see!

I remember I felt the early bits of book 2 with Tom trying to be a pirate were not as compelling as the first book but it got stronger later on. There's definitely a lot more information about the Tower in the final section.

[dog-days]

Finished Deeplight by Frances Hardinge, having previously read and enjoyed The Lie Tree by the same author. In the former book, a tree that feeds on lies is the central conceit. In this book, it's a strange sub-level of the sea, the Undersea, once inhabited by divine sea monsters, or monstrous gods, where humans can breath, but the water is made of fear. 

Deeplight is aimed at children/teens, and this is visible inasmuch as sex and romance are barely mentioned.  Instead it's platonic ties that drive the story, and in particular the troubled friendship of the main protagonist, an orphaned petty trickster called Hark, and the tougher, confident Jelt. 

The fantastical setting of the Myriad, a long string of islands that are only just waking to the significance of the large continent beyond their territorial waters, felt real and colourful, even though it was invented to accommodate the plot of just one novel. 

The final pages did feel a little pat, but not infuriatingly so. 

eta: Forgot to mention that a number of the characters are deaf, and communicate through sign language. As a very amateur language enthusiast, the beauty of signing has largely escaped me, despite seeing occasional exclamations of delight related to it on my Twitter feed. But the descriptions of it here made me start to get it. 

[Wilbur]

I picked up Jack Vance's The Star King audiobook read by Stefan Rudnicki.  I like Rudnicki a lot, but I wouldn't have picked him to read the five The Demon Princes books by Jack Vance.

However, in this first of the five books, Rudnicki gets off to a fast start.  Usually his reading is very hard-edged, but he seems to have toned it back just a little in order to fit in with the subtler milieu and somewhat melancholy aura that Vance portrays in these works of galactic revenge.

The one aspect that fails to completely work are the chapter headers, which as customary for a Vance novel, can be pretty protracted.  Because they purport to be factual background, but are in fact humorous commentary on life's foibles and the action to come in the chapter, they might benefit from a reader with a slightly lighter touch - I never pictured Unspiek, Baron Bodissey as having such a menacing growl.

The area where Rudnicki's reading works best is in the actual storyline.  Since a lot of this book feels like it takes place in the space equivalent of a rough neighborhood in Rotterdam on a Tuesday night, his harsh tones fit the violence, social pressure, intimidation, and sleazy bars and back alleys of various planets perfectly.  I will be interested to see how it flows in the later novels of The Demon Princes, where the action slides over into humor in The Face or reflections on lost opportunities in The Palace of Love.

With respect to the plot of The Star King, it reminds me of an Allistair MacLean novel set in space, if Alistair MacLean was into humorous bureaucratic interactions, baroque revenge plots, and long descriptions of new-found, idyllic planets inhabited by bizarre life forms.  And Rudnicki pronouncing the Very Vancian names is excellent.

I don't rate the five The Demon Princes books as being on the same level as peak Jack Vance series (The Dying Earth, The Planet of Adventure, Cadwal, Lyonesse, etc.), but I do like them and regard them as excellent, top-shelf examples of Golden Age Space Opera with High Literary Quality.  It is terrific to have audio versions of these fun books, and Stefan Rudnicki's readings are always fine.  Go and get them - the first three are already available.

 

[williamjm]

I've started She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan.

[Underfoot]

On 4/27/2022 at 12:02 AM, Underfoot said:

Read The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams for the first time, and wow it really hit the spot for me. I wanted nothing more than to be swept up in an epic story without pretensions, and this did exactly that. 

Thoroughly enjoyed it, even the maybe controversial? first 160 pages, which I think captured the innocence of childhood so well, and established a nice beginning point for Simon to look back on with fondness given where I assume he'll end up. 

Nothing unexpected, no twists that we couldn't see coming, no upended tropes (so far) - it fully embraced the traditional epic fantasy genre and I love it for that. Looking forward to continuing the story!

 

Finally finished Stone of Farewell and To Green Angel Tower and was increasingly unimpressed as I went. To Green Angel Tower in particular was a slog. At least 400 pages too long, with side plots and characters that we could've done without for sure (Maegwin?? Why did she exist??)

I also don't think some of the lingering mysteries were explained very well, and the climax was confusing and a let down given the thousands of pages leading up to it. 

Might someday pick up the new trilogy in the world because I do like the worldbuilding and lore, but in no rush. 

Not sure what's next, I've placed a hold on Misrule by Heather Walter, but until then, not sure what I'm looking for. Something lighter, I think.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

The short story Quantum of Solace has zero resemblance to the movie. It's a sad story told to Bond about a failed marriage and how much one can withstand embarrassment from their spouse.

[WarGalley]

I started Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. So far interesting sci-fi premise and the first person prose feels fresh to me as I tend to read more “action” or noir novels even within science fiction. This feels like a thoughtful drama instead.

[Jaxom 1974]

About 75 pages into Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth...it's very much NOT what I was expecting...

[dog-days]

I didn't enjoy it at the time, but it's been growing on me in retrospect - I might end up reading Harrow the Ninth soon, despite not expecting that I would. It definitely feels like one of the most distinctive books to come out of the fantasy genre recently. It knows what its thing is, and does it full throttle. 

[TormundsWoman]

On 6/5/2022 at 1:53 PM, Tywin et al. said:

The short story Quantum of Solace has zero resemblance to the movie. It's a sad story told to Bond about a failed marriage and how much one can withstand embarrassment from their spouse.

Gotta say, now I’m interested to read it…

[Larry of the Lawn]

On 6/5/2022 at 2:53 PM, Tywin et al. said:

The short story Quantum of Solace has zero resemblance to the movie. It's a sad story told to Bond about a failed marriage and how much one can withstand embarrassment from their spouse.

For sure!  Have you read many of other 007 fiction?  I haven't read them or seen the older movies in 20 years but I remember Octopussy, the Man with The Golden Gun, and the Living Daylights(? I think, whichever one was Bond as a sniper in Berlin) being way different in book vs film.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 hour ago, Larry of the Lake said:

For sure!  Have you read many of other 007 fiction?  I haven't read them or seen the older movies in 20 years but I remember Octopussy, the Man with The Golden Gun, and the Living Daylights(? I think, whichever one was Bond as a sniper in Berlin) being way different in book vs film.

I ordered Casino Royale shortly after Craig's last movie came out in November and have been working through them ever since. Moonraker has probably been my favorite so far, though they've all been quite good. Some of the books are almost identical to the movies, like say From Russia With Love, while others have no resemblance, most notably Diamonds Are Forever, which is nothing like the book at all.

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Right now still eating my way through my library of books (mixed success in terms of enjoyment), I have picked up over the years.

Atm on the menu. Paul Auster Moon Palace this one is thus far more on the hit than on the miss side.

 

[Zorral]

Haigh, Jennifer (2022) Mercy Street.

First contemporary set novel I can stand in a long time. Something as counter to the awful sorts such as Julian May Jonas's Vladímír as one get.  Haigh has no trouble finding ‘something to write about,  as Jonas's novelist protagonist laments. I have no idea  if Haigh's drawing on details of her own life or not.  But this narrative is straight forward, no tricks, no structuralist maneuvers, no up author’s own ass interiority solipcist ponderous ponderings. Just a range of characters, particularly female characters born in poverty, who stay in poverty – often due to early pregnancy, around 2015, winter in Boston (we were there several times that winter!) and New England, abortion clinic staff, their lives, the people they know who aren’t the patients -- their all important weed dealers!, the patients, the antiabortionists.  It's real w/o being misery porn in the least. 

[sainttriple7]

Reading Fire and Blood.  A couple hundred pages in.  It reads like a history book mixed dragons. Political and religious drama, weddings, and conquering kingdoms are the events explored so far. Anticipating the history of The Dance of Dragons that make up the second half of the book.

[ljkeane]

Winter of the Witch was a solid finish to Katherine Arden's trilogy. I didn't think the real world stuff worked quite as well as the supernatural side but it was still decent.

After that I read What Abigail did that Summer by Ben Aaronovitch. I liked this novella better than October Man because it did feel like a bit more of a departure from the main Peter Grants novels. I wouldn't mind reading more Abigail stuff but the novellas are a bit steep and I don't really do graphic novels.

Spoiler

The phonetic alphabet used by the foxes was mentioned so often I looked it up and apparently it's an RAF one from the Second World War so I'm wondering what's going on with that.

After that I read Mark Lawrence's The Girl and the Moon. A very good conclusion to the trilogy although I am left with more questions.

Next up I'm reading Amongst Our Weopons.

[JGP]

Still working my way through the Black Company books. Currently into Water Sleeps, and Sleepy is as nice a change as Annalist as I remembered. I didn't remember the casual misogyny though. Not a lot, but there's been more than a few moments during this reread that got a hiss or a bit of sneer out of me.