What Are You Reading? Second Quarter, 2023

[williamjm]

I finished Shannon Chakraborty's The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi. I liked the unusual historical setting - following a crew of pirates in the 12th Century Indian Ocean. As well as the historical elements there is also the fantasy side of the story, which is taking inspiration from the same myths as Chakraborty's Daevabad trilogy, but taking a somewhat different interpretation of some of them. Amina was an entertaining protagonist to read about and I also liked the other members of her crew. The main villain is largely unseen for most of the book and therefore doesn't really make too much of an impression. The mixture of heist novel and nautical adventure was enjoyable, although there's not a huge amount of depth to any of it - it's perhaps missing the complexity provided by the various different factions in the Daevabad books while this is a much more straightforward tale.

Next up I'm going to read Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Lords of Uncreation, the finale to his space opera trilogy.

[Wilbur]

Another of the "classics of the genre" that I got through this weekend was Edmond Hamilton's Citadel of the Star Lords.  Yowzah, look at that cover illustration!  Again, I chose this particular story because it is available on Librivox where the reader was the very good Mark Nelson.

Edmond Hamilton is one of those authors whose work I have seen in many used bookstores over the years, or I have read a story in an anthology, but I have not specifically read one of his novels.  And his novels are short and the softcovers often possess some lurid cover art.  So I loaded it up and listened to it.

And as a pulp SciFi it is...fine?  There isn't anything of real depth, and the plot "twists" are visible from a mile away.  The protagonist starts off as a skilled but unlucky chancer with several cool skills, but none of them really make any difference as the tale unfolds.  There is a "romance" that is obviously going to happen, but for no good reason other than tab A fits into slot B.  No social trend or moral issue is highlighted for critique, nor is any ethical question in the balance.  It also features the most uninteresting time travel I have ever encountered.

If this was the only SciFi book I had ever read as a teenager, I would start writing immediately, because I feel like I could have written a better story than this one in terms of interesting characters or plots.  Very bland.

 

[Mazzack]

I just got delivered my copy of Under My Skin, the new omnibus of short stories and novellas by K. J Parker, so am salivating at the thought of cracking that one open. I creeped out one of my colleagues today by repeatedly referring to it as my "treasure".

[Peadar]

I'm reading Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, as suggested by RhaenysBee. Very good so far.

[Gaston de Foix]

18 hours ago, williamjm said:

 

Next up I'm going to read Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Lords of Uncreation, the finale to his space opera trilogy.

I finished it and am going to write a (spoilerific) review.  Let's compare notes when you are done.  

[Wilbur]

Murray Leinster is an author I have read previously, as indeed the guy was so prolific that it would be difficult to avoid having read something he had written.  He lived quite a life, inventing movie special effect procedures, supporting government efforts in both World Wars, and inventing many SciFi tropes, and he wrote under so many pseudonyms and in so many genres that it is frankly astonishing.  Any used bookstore with a sizeable SciFi section will likely have a bunch of his books, and they often feature lively cover illustrations.

I listened to the Librivox version of Creatures of the Abyss for two reasons.  First, it is read by the excellent Mark Nelson, and second, because it takes place at sea with a technologist dealing with intelligent cephalopods.  One of my absolute favorite stories of all time is Jack Vance's The Gift of Gab, a story that shares those elements, so I hoped for a similar experience from Creatures.

Leinster's story is long enough, and well enough written, and includes enough action and excitement to place it well above the Edmond Hamilton story from the weekend.  The protagonist is drawn reluctantly into the exploration of the Luzon Straight in the Philippines, and the interplanetary discoveries that follow permit him to use his skills and intellectual curiosity to best effect.  The technology and politics are very much relics of the Eisenhower-era, as is the (unnecessary) romance that seems to be a required part of most Golden Age SciFi.  But this is a story that the reader can predict pretty accurately after the first chapter, although it is well told.

So the story is enjoyable enough, and has the necessary thrills for Zorral's 14-year-old boy to read with zest.  However, it contains all the logic of a 1960s B-movie, and depends mainly on wishful fantasy with regards to how the US Navy would operate an aircraft carrier as happens at the climax of the story.  The view of Philippines is anachronistic at best, since it appears to be administered and inhabited by Spaniards, which is a best 65 years out of date by the publishing date, and the placement of the Abyssal Deep described in the story is about one thousand miles away from its actual geographic location in the Pacific Ocean.  Also, no one who has ever been on board a boat will recognize some of the action in the plot.  No actual research was done prior to writing this story, which I guess isn't amazing given how fast Leinster churned out books.

But the biggest drawback for me was that this just isn't in the class of The Gift of Gab.  When Jack Vance writes a story, there will inevitably be a voyage by ship, and the reader is transported on board swiftly and totally.  And no reader has ever been able to predict anything whatsoever of the following plot after the first chapter of a Vance novel.  Finally, rather than Leinster's climactic battle and cliched marriage, Vance solves a mystery, discovers an economic solution, and offers up a means of communication between alien species, all of which is delightfully satisfying.  Go buy a copy of Chateau d'If and see what I mean.

So in summary, Murray Leinster's Creatures from the Abyss is fine, if very much of its time.  It very much channels the ethos of Sealab 2020 and the interest in exploring the ocean, although without any of the actual science.  Leinster wrote a lot of other stories that are faster paced and frankly more to my taste, and for which I don't have a direct Vance comparo.

Edited May 2, 2023 by Wilbur
Go buy a book

[Fragile Bird]

I just finished Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey. I had tried once before and didn’t get into it, but I guess I was concentrating more this time. The world here, Chromatacia, an alternate UK, is full of people who can only see in certain colors, and a social hierarchy has evolved depending on what colors you can see. Those who can see only grey are at the bottom. Our male hero, Eddie Russett, is a red, second lowest above grey. The more strongly you can see your shade, the higher ranked you are in your color group. Ultra Violet is highest ranked. As is the case in many of his books, there once was a more advanced group of people who have disappeared, called “the Previous”, though physical ruins of their world remain. I guess that’s a common plot device these days.

The world is run by bureaucrats who follow and administer the laws of a universal religion. Over the centuries they determine numerous times that there has to be a “great leap backward”, where parts of technology are rejected and destroyed. All kinds of vehicles are now gone, telephones are gone, most books have been banned. Doctors are called Swatchmen, because they use swatches of color to heal people. A certain shade of green is used to soothe the dying, another is a powerful narcotic people become addicted to. There are lots of fascinating, complex ideas here. 

Fforde, in a after-comment, thanks his editors for being patient with him because he found writing the book much harder than he expected. I’m not surprised, building this totally believable world obviously took time. I strongly recommend the book for it’s unique world and likeable hero. It’s supposed to be the first book in a trilogy, but it came out in 2009 and nothing else has been published. Apparently Painting by Numbers and The Gordini Protocols are the next books, and Fforde tweeted that he had started writing the next volume, aiming to publish in 2022. Hopefully it happens this year, because as with the Kingfisher books I just read I’d like to see more of the characters and the worlds.

Speaking of Kingfisher, I tried reading The Hollow Places (a weird and dangerous world found behind the walls of the FL’s uncle’s odd-stuff museum) and found it uninteresting. DNF.

[Paxter]

On 4/22/2023 at 10:31 PM, IlyaP said:

Finished Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn: The Stone of Farewell, last night, and started To Green Angel Tower Part 1 this morning.

Gods but I hope it's a pacier book than Stone of Farewell. It took me four months to get through that damn book. 

Still not sure why he didn't just officially declare it a quartet instead of a trilogy, given that the publisher has a note *explaining* to readers that they had to divide the book into two parts. If you're going to do that, call it a quartet! 

I'm still slogging through TGAT Part 1. Sigh.

[Rhom]

Lawrence’s Book That Wouldn’t Burn showed up on the Amazon truck today.  I’m in the middle of Desert Prince and really struggling with it.  Hate to put it aside mid book… but really tempted so I can jump into this.

[Maia]

On 4/10/2023 at 5:57 PM, polishgenius said:

And also Left Hand of Darkness for the first time. What can I say, it's Left Hand of Darkness.

 

As chance would have it, I re-read it a few weeks ago and it did hold up well... mostly. I mean, Le Guin admits right out in the preface that her SF is a rumination on and critique of the present at the time of writing, rather than an actual attempt to envision a future. And as such, Genli Ai is obviously supposed to be a stand-in for a 60-ies era US SF reader. But still, the guy is

Spoiler

so incompetent - and raging prejudice is just part of it, that it brings the whole idea of Gethen joining the Ecumen being so very beneficial and world-changing in question. Also something like Orogreyn - which is clearly a nod at Stalinist USSR and the heavily curated tours through it given a few western intellectuals, versus what happened to the inconvenient, or the masses of merely maligned,  just doesn't at all fit the rest of the world-building. Since you can't have that without a cult of personality and a constantly ideologically exploited threat of war - something of which the gethenians have no idea of as yet. 

 

I have burned through non-fictional work of Ta-Nehisi Coates - "The Beautiful Struggle", which I picked up on a whim, then I grabbed "We Were Eight Years in Power" and "Between the World and Me". I have always considered myself reasonably informed about the treatment of Black Americans historically and currently, but  there are clearly still depths (lows?) to plumb.

In another coincidence with the thread, I also got into some Anthony Ryan - "Draconis Memoria" trilogy to be specific, which I enjoyed, on the whole. It offers a very interesting pseudo-late 19th century setting with massive corporations à la East India Company having mostly replaced nations and blood of drakes providing means for technological breakthroughs, as well as conferring superhero abilities on the tiny minority of population for short periods of time. Corporate espionage and colonial struggles ensue. The whole story didn't entirely live up to the intriguing premise IMHO, but I was mostly satisfied and would have liked to see where this world might go after the ending. The first book is "The Waking Fire".

Since many Ryan fans have been raving online about his earlier "Bloodsong", I also read that,  and it was... thoroughly average and  poorly edited. I guess it being from the PoV of a traditional male protagonist, who is a bad-ass fighter, and the whole story being about how he got to be that way, really appealed to certain demographics? Him and his circumstances being very much inspired by Jon Snow (IMHO), could have only helped, I guess.

"Tsalmoth" by Steven Brust came out very recently and I  stumbled on it and nabbed it. It depicts the events around Vlad's wedding to Cawti and as such is quite nostalgic and bitter-sweet. It may be a throwback, but I liked it. I really should re-read the whole series one of these days. And it turns out that Paarfi's riff on "Count of Monte-Cristo" came out in 2021?! How could I have missed it?

[TheLastWolf]

Sir Walter Scott's Peveril of the Peak and The Betrothed, 2 of the Waverley Novels (Ivanhoe among these). 

From grandfather's unreturned library collection circa late 1950's when he was studying law (or rather more of the other way around with him). 

The smell of the ruffled pages, aah.

[Gaston de Foix]

3 hours ago, TheLastWolf said:

Sir Walter Scott's Peveril of the Peak and The Betrothed, 2 of the Waverley Novels (Ivanhoe among these). 

From grandfather's unreturned library collection circa late 1950's when he was studying law (or rather more of the other way around with him). 

The law was studying him?

Ivanhoe is a hell of a read. 

In the last week I finished "The Traitor" by Anthony Ryan, "Storming Heaven" by Miles Cameron, and "the Final Architect" series by Adrian Tchaikovsky.  I've been procrastinating about reviewing them, but I enjoyed them all thoroughly. 

One (of many) pet peeves of mine is that fantasy novels are like buses - you wait for about a year, and as soon as one is about to be published, two or three appear (h/t Wendy Cope :https://www.dpmms.cam.ac.uk/~tf/cope.html).  Having finished these books, I'm not eagerly awaiting any new novels till Sep/Oct at the earliest.  

[Ser Not Appearing]

I'm reading (listening to) Foundryside at the suggestion of a friend.

I haven't researched the book at all but I suspect this is written for a younger audience. There's a lot more informal language, a lot more explaining and considerations and descriptions seem rather basic / childish. The explanations, especially, are jarring for me at the moment. There's a lot of tell and it's often unnecessary (for me).

It's actually kind of fascinating to see how different this is from what I'm used to. It makes sense if it's targeted at a younger audience but I've just rarely noticed things like this.

Edited May 10, 2023 by Ser Not Appearing

[TheLastWolf]

7 minutes ago, Gaston de Foix said:

The law was studying him?

Yeah, to say he was brilliant is an understatement. There were papers on his depositions and all. A man of principle. Passed on a magisterial position when they asked for a certain something. He'd do cases free for the uh...marginalized. Father, uncle and aunt never resented him not providing a luxurious existence. I'd be a spoilt ignorant brat if he'd made different choices. Nearing 90 now, healthy as a horse, d probably outlive his next generation. Needless to say I owe him a lot and hold him in high esteem. They just don't make 'em like they used to do. Sigh*

But Ivanhoe was something, deviation from the usual grey Scot setting.

 

[Buckwheat]

Leigh Bardugo's Siege and Storm (second book of the Grishaverse trilogy) was recently published in Slovene, and I finished reading it yesterday. I really like the trilogy so far, as I rarely have time to read something of that simple fantasy and it comes as a pleasant distraction when I can. I hope the third one comes out soon. (As far as I understand, Six of Crows also takes place in the same universe, but later in the timeline, so I would rather first read the trilogy and then start with Six of Crows, although that one is available already.)

EDIT TO ADD: I have discovered old threads on this board that say there are acknowledgements with a mention of the BWB in the English edition. I am not sure that is in the Slovene edition I read. Am going to check if it is there tomorrow in the library. If the acknowledgements were left out, that would be quite odd!

 

Now it's back to my required German reading - Moers' Der Schrecksenmeister. It is always Moers.

Edited May 10, 2023 by Buckwheat

[dog-days]

10 hours ago, Buckwheat said:

Now it's back to my required German reading - Moers' Der Schrecksenmeister. It is always Moers.

Not a fan? I've heard of him, never read him. 

[Buckwheat]

18 minutes ago, dog-days said:

Not a fan? I've heard of him, never read him. 

Oh, I love him. I am probably the most obsessed Moers' fan on this forum and am writing a dissertation about his novels. I recommend them to anybody and everybody.

[RhaenysBee]

I finished The Hobbit. I do appreciate it and the style has sort of grown on me, but I still stand by my previous statement that the ideal age to read this book for the first time is 10-14. What was interesting to me is the difference to the movies which I had seen ten years ago when they came out. At times it felt like the movies colored in the pages with details, other times it felt like “oh so that was fanfiction”. Either way, I do appreciate The Hobbit and if and when I have a child of my own, I will be sure to read it to/with them. 

[Buckwheat]

Update: The Slovene version of Siege and Storm does not have the shout out to the BWB in the acknowledgements. It only has the dedication (is that the right word?) to the author's mother and grandfather. Pity.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

20 hours ago, Gaston de Foix said:

 

In the last week I finished "The Traitor" by Anthony Ryan, "Storming Heaven" by Miles Cameron

I'm guessing these are advanced copies which are sent out for reviews. Lucky you. 

Cause my pre-orders will arrive in July!