What are you reading? Second quarter 2024

[williamjm]

I read Josiah Bancroft's An Empyreal Retinue, a short story collection set in the world of his Babel series, although some of the stories are more like 'deleted scenes' from the series rather than stories in their own right. One of the fascinating things about the series was discovering new part of the titular tower and I think Into the Misanthropolis, which explores a dystopian ringdom of bureaucrats, was one of the highlights. The title story, which is the only one to be set after the events of the series, probably has the most interesting narrative. I think fans of the series should find this collection interesting, but it's not really essential.

I've now started Daniel Abraham's Blade of Dreams, the second book in his Kithimar trilogy. The biggest issue I had with the first book was that I didn't really like the characters that much, I think so far that this one might work better for me.

[ljkeane]

Christian Cameron's Treason of Sparta was pretty good. I like Cameron's books and he obviously likes writing about Greek history so something about the Peloponnesian War is the obvious thing he hasn't covered yet. He also obviously likes Arimnestos from his Long War series but I feel, a bit like Bernard Cornwell with his Uhtred books, that he's probably stretching the reasonable period you can cover with a character and maybe he should have just started a completely new series.

[Wilbur]

Many years ago (in the early 1990s?), one of the periodicals (Analog or The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction?) had an article about Jack Vance, and in it there was a reference to the writing of Clark Ashton Smith.  I duly wrote it down on the folded 3"x5" card that rode in my wallet with a list of suggested authors, and I bought a slim volume in a converted church in Inverness.  But I didn't read it until this week.

The book is The Double Shadow, and it is a collection of short stories, including the specific short story of The Double Shadow, as well as:

• The Devotee of Evil
• A Night in Malneant
• The Maze of the Enchanter
• The Willow Landscape
• The Voyage of King Euvoran

I draw your attention to Clark Ashton Smith, because this guy could WRITE.  I can absolutely see why he was referenced in an article about Jack Vance, as his use of the language is every bit as elevated and his worlds every bit as Baroque.  I have read Lovecraft and Howard, and yet this gaping hole in my experience that is the work of Clark Ashton Smith is quite embarrassing, as these stories are far more to my taste than the former two authors.  Excellent atmosphere, but even better stories.

From the Wikipedia article:

"The theme of much of his work is egotism and its supernatural punishment; his weird fiction is generally macabre in subject matter, gloatingly preoccupied with images of death, decay and abnormality."  And boy oh boy, is it ever.  The type of comeuppance that you find in the works of GRRM is absolutely prefigured in these stories.  Furthermore, several of the stories are infused with a sort of black humor that made me re-read them just to check that my burst of laughter wasn't inappropriate.  He apparently wrote in the genre of The Dying Earth, and indeed The Maze of the Enchanter in this volume is very much in that vein.  The story of The Willow Landscape could have taken place in The Wallet of Kai Lung by Ernest Bramah, if Bramah had possessed a strong interest in fantasy.  I can hardly express how good the writing and characterizations are.

You can also get a copy of the audiobook for a buck, should you be so inclined.  I am off to Librivox to see what other items might be available.

[hauberk]

Just started a coordinated reread for me and first read for my daughter of  The Tyrant’s Law by Daniel Abraham. 
 

I quite like this series. Abraham is someone I hold up as one of the best contemporary world builders. 

[Iskaral Pust]

The Forgotten Legion by Ben Kane is the first in a series of historical fiction about a Roman legion who, after defeat by the Parthians, are pressed into service on the eastern side of the Parthian empire.  This is told from the POV of slaves, and builds slowly to establish their backstory in Rome before joining the legion.  It’s pretty good but quite slow moving as it tries to cover a lot.  I enjoyed it.

Even Dogs In The Wild by Ian Rankin is one of the John Rebus novels in the series of gloomy-toned police detective novels set in Edinburgh.  These are very good and very well written.

Make Me by Lee Child is a Jack Reacher novel.  I won’t repeat all the problems with this character but these books are well written for a quick read.  It’s a bit grating how the author gives the POV near omniscience in-universe, but the deductions are generally logical.

[Iskaral Pust]

Midworld by Alan Dean Foster is a SciFi novel about an alien ecosystem.  I DNFed.  It felt like a sophomoric repeat of the Avatar story (which is itself a sophomoric repeat).

Broken Glass by Alexander Hartung is a police detective novel set in Germany.  I DNFed this too after only ~20%.  The  beige prose and tropey characterization did not hold my interest.  I object to a police character who beats up a minor criminal to enforce some personal agenda — I don’t want to support any longer this “maverick” police character trope who bullies and abuses power without consequences.

The Man Who died Twice by Richard Osman is the second in the Thursday Murder Club series of cosy British mysteries.  Amazingly, this was even cozier than the first, but still and enjoyable read. (My wife hates the stream of consciousness narration of Joyce’s journal entries; I’m just used to my mother sending long text messages in the very same style)

[Iskaral Pust]

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir is a hard SciFi that’s probably already very well known.  Similar to The Martian, a lone generalist scientist must improvise to survive and succeed in a space mission bombarded by a series of obstacles and perils.  This novel amps up the stakes and the situation but requires significantly more suspension of disbelief.  It’s still a very enjoyable read.

Chaos Of The Gods by Donovan Cook is the third in his Ormstrunga series of Viking historical fiction with some light fantasy elements (Norse gods in dreams).  The series is moving along well and completes the (initial?) cycle for this character and his band of companions as a trilogy, while leaving open the possibility of starting a new cycle with just the main POV character.  Solid series so far.

Never Go Back by Lee Child is another Jack Reacher novel.  I did not allow enough time to elapse since the last one because I mostly felt the character was too grating here.  I need to leave a few months at least between these books.

[Ser Not Appearing]

I just read Dune Messiah for the first time. I know this book has mixed reviews and my own feelings are somewhat mixed but I was overall happy with it. I do think it's less than the first book but it's not bad by any means. For me, one of the biggest challenges with the book is that it felt to suffer from a bit of the Harry Potter syndrome in that certain things from this book which were introduced for the first time ... should have impacted the first book.

Spoiler

Face dancers and reviving dead bodies, in particular, are troublesome introductions. But so is the idea that the guild is shielded from Paul's sight.

That bit of awkward reimagining aside, I thought it was an interesting example of a book that keeps you in the dark of main character motivations and goals as a means of adding suspense.

My other big takeaway, and this one is rather troubling, is that I expected to better understand the whole "Paul isn't a hero / Paul is a villain" talk I've seen in many places and ... I kinda still don't get it. Kind of a strange feeling to feel that I'm excusing his behavior when nobody else does but ... I kinda do.

Edited April 8 by Ser Not Appearing

[House Cambodia]

As someone who's been trying (and failing) to write a novel for the last five years, I've read hundreds of novels in an attempt to inspire myself. On balance, this has probably had the opposite effect - every book I read leaves me feeling, "Meh, it's not A Song of Ice and Fire' and I go back to that. Seriously, it is leagues above every other 'classic' of every genre in my estimation.

Yesterday I read a new release by Neel Mukharjee - 'Choice'. It's an intriguing tale of trying to be a good person in an ugly capitalist system, but it hopelessly smashes one golden rule of writing that I'm trying to reduce in my own efforts  -  'show don't tell'. In this novel people sit around a table and talk, go for a walk and talk, lie in bed and talk, walk a cow and talk ....

[Iskaral Pust]

9 hours ago, House Cambodia said:

As someone who's been trying (and failing) to write a novel for the last five years, I've read hundreds of novels in an attempt to inspire myself. On balance, this has probably had the opposite effect - every book I read leaves me feeling, "Meh, it's not A Song of Ice and Fire' and I go back to that. Seriously, it is leagues above every other 'classic' of every genre in my estimation.

Yesterday I read a new release by Neel Mukharjee - 'Choice'. It's an intriguing tale of trying to be a good person in an ugly capitalist system, but it hopelessly smashes one golden rule of writing that I'm trying to reduce in my own efforts  -  'show don't tell'. In this novel people sit around a table and talk, go for a walk and talk, lie in bed and talk, walk a cow and talk ....

I read a lot of novels too and have noticed that I’ve become more jaded over the years because eventually they feel repetitive in narrative structure, the middle-of-the-bell-curve quality of most prose, and in theme — there are only so many takes on the human condition, and most have been written many times.

[House Cambodia]

23 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

I read a lot of novels too and have noticed that I’ve become more jaded over the years because eventually they feel repetitive in narrative structure, the middle-of-the-bell-curve quality of most prose, and in theme — there are only so many takes on the human condition, and most have been written many times.

Ooh, funny you should say that. My initial intention was to subvert as many tropes as I could, and my outline/draft is full of that. I was delighted at how original it was lining up to be, but then I suddenly had a crisis of confidence. I stopped to 'educate' myself - reading a ton of books on how to write a novel, and watch a gazillion YouTubes on it. It was just today that the penny dropped. All these people telling me how to write are published writers - but where I've got hold of their books and read them, I find them third rate. It's exactly as you say - too many writers are sticking to tired formulae, and so of course you find yourself reading the same thing over and over. It will only get worse as writers turn to AI to assist them.

I'm now going back to my draft and ploughing on, doing it my way, but now with more confidence.

[unJon]

Just finished Disquiet Gods by Christopher Ruocchio, book 6 (of a planned 7) of the Sun Eater series. 
 

I almost gave up on this series, which I thought was going to be a trilogy when I started. The series got very bogged down in the middle, and the main character / narrator annoys me. 
 

That said, this book was my favorite of the series and a really pick up after the last couple. Things finally started to happen again and a lot of plot points finally came together. 
 

It’s still not a perfect series but I am excited for book 7 and the series conclusion. 
 

The books are sort of a Dune and Star Wars influenced sci fi series. 
 

ETA: this Reddit poster is pretty close to me on these books. 
 

Reddit page
 

 

Edited April 8 by unJon

[Alytha]

I'm reading the collected short-stories of Arthur C Clarke. (it was cheap on Kindle a while ago...).

Can't count how many times and in how many ways he's destroyed Earth (or at least humanity) so far. And once even Venus, too. Mars is doing OK so far.

Most of the stories are actually OK, despite sometimes showing their age. It must have been so challenging to write about space in the 40s and 50s, before science actually got a good idea about the conditions on the moon and our neighbouring planets. As far as I can tell, he consistently gets Venus wrong, but the moon seems to be reasonably realistic, apart from the plants in his stories.

And would it have killed him to have a female protagonist every once in a while? Interstellar travel, no big deal, but a woman outside the house, nah that would be too much.

Ok, to be fair, he does mention that there's female scientists even fairly early on, but they're never very visible.

 

 

[Zorral]

I'm finally going to begin Ponniyin Selvan Book 1 Fresh Floods, #01 in series by Kalki R Krishnamurthy.  This is a new translation into English, likely sparked by the 2022 film's popularity here. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponniyin_Selvan

I have it in audio format -- a great incentive to workout, as that's when I listen to books in audio format.

 

[Peadar]

I have started Adrian Tchaikovsky's Alien Clay. Enjoyable so far, as you might expect...

[Teng Ai Hui]

Last month, I finished Robin Sloan’s Sourdough and the short story that goes with it, called The Suitcase Clone.  I enjoy Sloan’s writing style, but he has added an element of magical realism into his Penumbra-verse.  Hopefully, this magical realism isn’t carried over into his next book.

Currently, I’m reading Starship for Rent by M.R. Forbes.

Some day I hope to complete one of those “read the Bible in one year” programs.  I started one during my winter break from work.  Unfortunately, I lasted only two weeks.  After an awful start, I was surprised that I made it that far.  The first day’s reading included Romans 1, which seems to be the beginning of homophobia.  Then, the second day’s reading included Genesis 3, which seems to be the beginning of misogyny.  I still want to finish this project, but the morality lessons need some major improvements.
 

Edited April 13 by Teng Ai Hui

[williamjm]

I finished Daniel Abraham's Blade of Dream, the second book in his Kithamar trilogy. I think that the trilogy's unusual structure, where each book is telling the story of the same year in the city of Kithamar, does have some strengths and some drawbacks. It does mean that for the first part of the book we know more than the characters do about some of the city's secrets, so some of the things they discover that are revelations to them are anticlimactic to the reader. On the other hand, seeing the events from a different perspective does add extra depth as we find out more about some of the events and also some things that were unknown in the first book. Seeing some of the conversations again from a different perspective also makes it clear that sometimes characters can take completely different conclusions from a conversation. The conclusion of the book is particularly strong, partly because the characters in the first book were ignorant about what happens at the end of this one.

While I thought the first book was interesting, I did struggle a bit with some of the characters, particularly Ash's storyline where it was hard to care too much about whether she succeeded or not since what she was trying to do was clearly a bad idea. I did like the characters more in this one, while Elaine and Garreth can be naive or foolish at times they can also be a lot more determined and capable than they appeared in their brief appearances in the first book. I thought there were also a number of good minor characters in this.

I've now started Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, which I am enjoying so far and I definitely already feel sorry for Fat Charles.

Edited April 14 by williamjm

[ljkeane]

I read Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly. Connelly's books are pretty consistently solidly ok reads, very airport read books. Which is actually what I intended this book for but I never got around to reading it while I was away. Anyway, another decent detective/lawyer thriller. Although Bosch is probably another character who the author obviously likes who's probably getting a bit too old for the kind of storylines he's being put in.

I also read The Blighted Stars by Megan O'Keefe which was another of the cheap kindle books I'm trying to see if I can find a new author I like. I didn't like this one. There's what's effectively a side plot about an alien fungus which also didn't really work for me but it's mostly two characters, both of which I found fairly irritating, doing a lot of naval gazing.

Next up I'm going to try another new author for me with Don Winslow's City on Fire.

[Wilbur]

8 hours ago, ljkeane said:

...plot about an alien fungus which also didn't really work for me...

I laughed aloud at the thought of the challenge a writer would have to make neutropenic precautions a gripping read.  "Quick, apply the antimycotic medical cream!"

[Jaxom 1974]

I stumbled upon the works of Walter Moers while looking for new things to read at the library...so I'm now starting The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear...