April '08 Reading Thread

[Daeric]

Finally gotten around to starting Memoirs of a Geisha, I saw the film when it first came out so I may as well read what it was based on.

[ThRiNiDiR]

[size=3][font="century gothic"][b]@Trin[/b] read [/size][color="#006400"][b]Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover[/b][/color] and she was utterly blown away. I haven't yet read the book, but the review more than peaked my interest in the book!

[size=2]excerpt from the review ([url="http://sf-fantasy-books.blogspot.com/2008/04/matthew-woodring-stover-heroes-die-book.html"]link[/url]):[/font][/size]
[font="book antiqua"][color="#FFFFFF"]---[/color][i][color="#006400"]"I've read a lot of books that entail wannabe devious and twisted plots in the last couple of months and I'm glad that this holds true for [b][color="#006400"]Heroes Die[/color][/b] as well...only without the wannabe part. This book makes up for all the others that I've read lately and somehow failed to impress me - but here the reader witnesses plans within plans, plots hidden behind plots, until it makes no more sense and makes your head dizzy from trying to figure everything out. I was being outsmarted on every single page and the humbling experience did wonders for my ego. I gradually realized that it's better to just go with the flow and enjoy the ride as everything slowly unravels in the most pleasing fashion."[/color][/i][/font]

[gyrehead]

Breezed through [i]Sly Mongoose[/i] by Tobias S. Buckell due out this August. Another impressive entry and I have to admit, I was very underwhelmed by the first book and am not a huge science fiction fan overall. But the second book and now this have really hooked me. Some new developments that I found interesting and Buckell is still able to keep the ties to the first book despite some rather spectacular leaps focus wise in his creation. It's hard to recommend a series when I still have issues with the first book, simply because the recommendation has to warn readers that the second book is a huge leap from the first in many ways. For me quality as well as aplot. So do you recommend the series with the caveat that they have to read the second book to really "get it"? That if someone else dislikes the first book, they really won't experience what Buckell can do if they don't stick through to book two? I guess it is sort of like many fans of Erikson and Gardens of the Moon.

Still I do think Buckell is worth checking out. And I do think that if the first book didn't grab you plotwise or writing quality wise, the second book could still be to taste.

Now jumping into Katharine Kerr's [i]The Shadow Isle[/i] and then I have hopes for an early copy of Gordon Dahlquist's [i]The Dark Volume[/i] to head my way. Though David Weber's [i]By Schism Rent Asunder[/i] may have to take precedence.

[Werthead]

[i]Shadow Gate[/i] is a very superior sequel to [i]Spirit Gate[/i] which actually explains half the unexplained stuff from the first volume, sort of a slightly-less-deft version of Erikson's story technique. Still got 150 pages to go, so I'll withold final judgement for now.

I was interrupted by Dave Gorman's non-fiction [b][i]America Unchained[/i][/b], which I decided to read as he's appearing at the local theatre on Sunday to do a book launch and I'll probably attend. Gorman is a very funny guy and his previous books, [i]Are You Dave Gorman?[/i] (in which he tries to find 52 people with the same name as him: which pre-Facebook was a hell of a lot more difficult than it is now) and [i]Googlewhack[/i] were brilliantly funny. [i]America Unchained[/i] is even better. The idea is that Gorman must drive from LA to New York without using any chain establishments at all. No stopping at Starbucks for coffee, no stopping at McDonald's for a snack, no sleeping in chain hotels, not even filling up from a chain petrol station (doing the latter in the UK, for example, would be 100% impossible). The result is a barmy road trip into the heart of small-town, family-run America and it's great. Funny, life-affirming and rather uplifting.

The best bit so far is the guy who runs a treehouse hotel-and-activity-centre in Takilma, Oregon. Since it's illegal to rent out a treehouse to someone, the owner gets round it by selling T-shirts which just happen to cost the same as a hotel -room-plue-a-T-shirt. The purchaser is under no obligation to stay in the treehouse after buying a T-shirt, but if he stays in the treehouse, the owner will sign the T-shirt :lol: Awesome. I also learned it is illegal to fill up your own car with petrol in Oregon and New Jersey. A book that is educational [i]and [/i]fun.

[bossfan2000]

[quote name='Werthead' post='1327103' date='Apr 23 2008, 15.05'][i]Shadow Gate[/i] is a very superior sequel to [i]Spirit Gate[/i] which actually explains half the unexplained stuff from the first volume, sort of a slightly-less-deft version of Erikson's story technique. Still got 150 pages to go, so I'll withold final judgement for now.[/quote]

Let us know if the book ends with a big cliffhanger..wondering if I can safely read the first 2, or if I need to wait for book 3. I know middle books often leave loose ends, but some lately seem to end rather abruptly.

[Werthead]

Yes, there is a cliffhanger. If it's any consolation though, Book 3, [i]Traitor's Gate[/i], should be out this time next year.

[DrBloodmoney]

Finished up [b]The Shadow Year[/b] by Jeff Ford. Great book, quick read. Really did a great job capturing suburbia.

Starting [b]In the Cities of Coin and Spice[/b] by Valente.

[bossfan2000]

[quote name='Werthead' post='1327143' date='Apr 23 2008, 15.23']Yes, there is a cliffhanger. If it's any consolation though, Book 3, [i]Traitor's Gate[/i], should be out this time next year.[/quote]

thanks wert. Guess I will wait until next spring, then. Maybe there will be ebook versions of the series by that time.

[Deornoth]

I've just finished Jeff Somers' 'The Digital Plague', the latest installment in his 'Avery Cates' sequence. It's an action packed ride through a hail of bullets, very much like Richard Morgan's sci-fi stuff but less heavy on the politics. I had a little issue in that I thought the plot lost it's focus at one point, a great read the rest of the time though! My full review is over [url="http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com"]Here[/url].
I fancied sticking with sci-fi for a little while longer (saving 'The Born Queen' for the weekend) so I'm now into Theodore Judson's 'The Martian General's Daughter'...

[TheHoundRules]

Just finished 'Deliverance.' Excellent book. Picked up 'No Country for Old Men.'

[Inigima]

Inigima has recently finished with Allen's [i]Getting Things Done[/i] and Bujold's [i]A Civil Campaign[/i].

[Larry.]

About to finish off my first re-read of [i]Dune[/i] in 6-7 years. After that, a few other books before I receive my review copy of Carlos Ruiz Zafón's [i]El juego del Ángel[/i], which I'll then shortly review around the May 13th release date.

[alsy]

Currently re-reading ACOK :thumbsup: :read:

[oneeye]

I'm reading some deep space 9 'season 8' books, pretty fun to see what happened post show, some of them are quite good

[Muttering Bill]

Finsihed off [i]Before They Are Hanged [/i]yesterday. I'm impressed. I found TBI to be lacking in story, but decidedly a set-up novel, and I was glad to see him start delivering on some of that in BTAH. It almost, but not quite, made up for how boring the first book was. I'm actually... looking forward to the next one. *gasp*

Now I've stared Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. I wouldn't have bothered with it, except that it was on the bargain rack at B&N, so I figured what the hell. I'm not sure if I like it yet. The story is interesting enough, so far, but the his writing style seems a little simple.

[Eponine]

Finished [i]Anansi Boys[/i]. I've heard a fair amount of people say it's not as good as American Gods, but I actually enjoyed it more. I consider both to be light reads, and Anansi Boys had the right tone of humor with a little bit of magic and mystery, like a story that someone is telling rather than literature in a book. In comparison, American Gods took itself rather seriously.

[bossfan2000]

I just finished [b]The Lure of the Basilisk[/b] by Lawrence Watt-Evans. I was in the mood for an older book (this was published in 1980) so I gave it a shot. I ended up [url="http://fantasybookreviewer.blogspot.com/2008/04/review-lure-of-basilisk-lawrence-watt.html"]liking it[/url] a lot, and would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a good, old-fashioned quest novel. Its really short, too, coming in around 200 pages.

Next up is Bloodheir. I started it last night, and it took me awhile to remember what happened in the last book (though Bloodheir does start with a recap from Winterbirth). Can't wait to get further into the story this weekend.

[Deornoth]

I've just finished reading Theodore Judson's 'The Martian General's Daughter', a tale of loyalty and an empire in decline (with a not very subtle Ancient Rome flavour to it). The big issue I had with this book is that while there's a lot of stirring stuff going on (epic battles, nano-plague and insane emperors) the narrator relates it like she's reading her shopping list... Once you get past this though, the story itself is well worth a look and I'm in awe of the way Judson makes the General such a sympathetic character when he's actually quite unlikeable. My full review is over [url="http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com"]Here[/url]. I'll be starting 'The Born Queen' (Greg Keyes) when I get home...

[Black Wizard]

I just started reading [i]A Darkness at Sethanon[/i] by Raymond E Feist. I got it yesterday about a month after I should have recieved it originally because Harper Collins have suddenly stopped printing it. All of Feists' other books are in stock at Amazon, Play, Borders and Waterstones, but I had to get this one second-hand (pretty decent condition for a 15 year old copy) from Amazon marketplace.

[gyrehead]

[quote name='Deornoth' post='1329399' date='Apr 25 2008, 10.56']I've just finished reading Theodore Judson's 'The Martian General's Daughter', a tale of loyalty and an empire in decline (with a not very subtle Ancient Rome flavour to it). The big issue I had with this book is that while there's a lot of stirring stuff going on (epic battles, nano-plague and insane emperors) the narrator relates it like she's reading her shopping list... Once you get past this though, the story itself is well worth a look and I'm in awe of the way Judson makes the General such a sympathetic character when he's actually quite unlikeable.[/quote]

Overall, you pretty much sum up my reaction to the book. However I didn't come away thinking the General was a sympathetic character. I didn't dislike him so much as found him too removed and flat to be anything but a bit apathetic.

To me the book read like some sort of over-detailed appendix, that with the right complex well-written novel I enjoy and in a bloated overdone world-building exercise at the expense of actual story I end up loathing. But it never felt like an actual story for the most part. There were a few moments in the narrative that the story seemed current and in the moment and that was when it worked best.

I think that while the chronological leaping back and forth saves the novel in part, I can't help but wonder how much of the flawed efforts by judson stem from his focus on just such a narrative. Not only does it take away from some of the possible tension as to what will happen -- it's hard to convey risk as a drama when you know the general and his daughter, just be her own narrative will make it through. For such to work, you need more of the how and why than Judson delivers.