September 2008 Reads

[dalThor]

I finished Harry Turtledove's, In at the Death the final book in the (3rd, continuing) alternate history series. A very good book. I liked the characters on both 'sides' of the war. I never read the first series dealing with the U.S. Civil War but the other two series were very, very good.

I just got around to starting [i]Red Seas Under Red Skies[/i] by Lynch. Really liked the first one, looking forward to this one.

[Eponine]

I just finished reading Wicked, after hearing it highly recommended by several (not extremely literary) friends.

To put it bluntly, I thought it sucked. Nothing about it was good or interesting to me, I had to force myself to finish it. The premise wasn't horrible, but the only thing it had going for it was how it contradicted the "known story" and where that was heading became obvious almost immediately.

[Serious Callers Only]

Finished reading the Chronicles of Chaos books - John C. Wright.

The guy is whacked, as if the Golden Age books wasn't proof enough. Quite like the sexual innuendo, very nice for a series that could be considered a youth series (yes i know, creepy, sigh) (but greek gods! Is topical. And don't forget about twilight).

Walter Jon Williams - Knight Moves. Even if the plot is not word for word identical, the main character is almost a carbon copy of Roger Zelazny This Immortal book, enough so that this blurb appears:

"Knight Moves is an engrossing and evocative read, a tale of immortality and love and death rendered in a style that reminds me more than a little of the early Roger Zelazny. Williams's people are intriguing and sympathetic, and his portrait of an Earth left transformed and empty by a humanity gone to the stars, where aliens dig among ancient ruins for old comic books while the creatures of legends stir and walk again, will linger in my memory for a long time. Williams is a writer to watch, and-more importantly-to read."

-”George R.R. Martin, author of Armageddon Rag"

This, of course, marks the book as a good laid back science fiction.

Sctually i read a lot more books between the last actualization, but can't be arsed to list them.

[IheartTesla]

I am rereading the Dune series currently. Specifically, Children of Dune. This is the book where I feel the Herbert train started to go off the rails. The original Dune was good in that it had a villian in the Baron and a kind-of hero in Paul, interspersed with a fair amount of action of philosophical musings. Children of Dune suffers with a surfeit of the latter, and no credible villian (apart from a cartoonish kind one). Even the philosophical digressions seem to me to be kind of meandering and heavily borrowed from Middle Eastern and Eastern standards.

Part of the problem is we dont see Leto II's plan in all its glory until the next book. I also dont like how Paul becomes essentially a failure in this book.

[makotohanabi]

Finished reading The Federalist Papers by Madison, Hamilton, and Jay. Slow reading since I would read a passage and look up the final result in a copy of the Constitution. Never realized how much the Judicary and I disagree on the phrase "The intent of the Founding Fathers".

Have lots of sitting and waiting in the next few days, not sure what I'll read next.

[Lightsnake]

Just finished Carlos Ruis Zafon's Shadow of the Wind and thought it was nothing short of incredible.

Granted, the little subplot with Clara really, really seemed like some...bitterness on the part of the author.

[dits]

I'm currently reading Charles Stross' Merchant Princes series. Currently on the third book and enjoying it so far. My only gripe is that the dialogue can get a bit hammy.

[Datepalm]

[quote name='dits' post='1510676' date='Sep 9 2008, 13.52']I'm currently reading Charles Stross' Merchant Princes series. Currently on the third book and enjoying it so far. My only gripe is that the dialogue can get a bit hammy.[/quote]

Just a bit? ;)

I started it, and thought it was pretty interesting take on the whole sub (sub, sub?) genre, but the dialogue was so thoroughly awful I never finished it.

[Gigei]

[quote name='Bastard of Godsgrace' post='1508232' date='Sep 7 2008, 03.47']I also liked Night of Knives. It may not be great literature, but it is nice enough story and quite essential addition to Malazan world.[/quote]

Finished it! It is pleasantly short. The new characters were nice, not my favorites in the whole of Malazan but still pretty good. :thumbsup: Temper, in particular, is a former companion of the Frst Sword (Dassem Ultor) and he is an all-around great guy. Through him we also get an idea of what happened with Dassem and Laseen.

I also like the Malaz island setting. :grouphug: We saw the place in the Bonehunters (main Malazan series) but in Night of Knives we really get to know more about it.

[beniowa]

I finished [i][b]The Ten Thousand[/b][/i] by Paul Kearney. Unlike the Monarchies of God or The Sea Beggars stories, this book is entirely military fantasy. The beginning was a little weak and the plot is straightforward, a mercenary army must fight their way out of enemy territory, but is as well written as Kearney's other work. This book is certainly among his most gritty (yes I know that word is overused lately). Kearney's characters are as complex as always though he spends less time focusing on it. Hopefully, he'll write more stories in this universe. Strongly recommended and [b]8/10[/b].

Next up is [i][b]Wild Cards Volume 1[/b][/i].

[duchess of malfi]

[quote name='beniowa' post='1510839' date='Sep 9 2008, 10.24']I finished [i][b]The Ten Thousand[/b][/i] by Paul Kearney. Unlike the Monarchies of God or The Sea Beggars stories, this book is entirely military fantasy. The beginning was a little weak and the plot is straightforward, a mercenary army must fight their way out of enemy territory, but is as well written as Kearney's other work. This book is certainly among his most gritty (yes I know that word is overused lately). Kearney's characters are as complex as always though he spends less time focusing on it. Hopefully, he'll write more stories in this universe. Strongly recommended and [b]8/10[/b].

Next up is [i][b]Wild Cards Volume 1[/b][/i].[/quote]

A year or so ago I read [i]The Persian Expedition[/i] by Xenophon, which tells how a small army of Greek mercenaries gets trapped deep inside the Persian empire and has to fight their way home. This Kearney book sounds like it might have been inspired by the ancient Greek work? Had anyone read both? How do they stack up against each other?

[Deornoth]

I've just finished reading Tim Lebbon's 'The Everlasting', the tale of a quest for immortality from beyond the grave...
As a horror story it falls flat in that there's nothing really horrifying about it but it does work well as a ghost story. 'The Everlasting' does have a habit of dragging but makes up for it with some interesting characters and a world, outside ours, that I'd like to see expanded upon. My full review is over [url="http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com"]Here[/url].
I've now got a little bit of a book 'pile up' going on with finishing Michael Moorcock's 'To Rescue Tanelorn' as well as reading Sean McMullen's 'The Time Engine' and Glen Cook's 'A Cruel Wind'...

[beniowa]

[quote name='duchess of malfi' post='1511049' date='Sep 9 2008, 11.26']A year or so ago I read [i]The Persian Expedition[/i] by Xenophon, which tells how a small army of Greek mercenaries gets trapped deep inside the Persian empire and has to fight their way home. This Kearney book sounds like it might have been inspired by the ancient Greek work? Had anyone read both? How do they stack up against each other?[/quote]
I haven't read Xenophon but it does sound like the book might be based on that. The army in The Ten Thousand is a heavy infantry phalanx like the ancient Greek armies though the cultures and peoples are completely different. Werthead may know more about the background of Kearney's research.

[Amras]

Whenever John Scalzi releases a new book I pretty much devour it raw, which is just [url="http://natsecorma.net/theredundantblog/2008/09/08/zoes-tale-by-john-scalzi/"]what happened [/url]when "Zoe's Tale" arrived. This was the fourth book he's written in the OMW universe, and Wert & others will be glad that it won't be anywhere near the Hugo ballot. It's not that it's poorly written or anything - at least not any worse than his usual, non-YA book - but it adds nothing new save some useless background info that goes some way to justify a few mistakes of his in "The Last Colony". That being said, Scalzi's dialogue is as entertaining as ever and I never got bored with "Zoe's Tale", even if I'd rather have read anything [i]else[/i] by him than that. Let's all pray he's done cashing in on "Old Man's War" now and can move on with some new characters and worlds.

I'm reading a Norwegian book called "Hässelby" right now that features Albert Åberg (a famous Scandinavian children's book character) as a troubled adult. Nicely written so far, but it's still early days. Iain Banks' "The Wasp Factory" should also be wrapped up soon.

[kcf]

I finsihed up [i]Return of the Crimson Guard [/i]by Ian C. Esslemont. It's good and provides some fun entries in the Malazan world, but Esslemont still has some growth as an author. There are a few annoying habits there still, but it is an improvement in writing quality over [i]Night of Knives[/i]. [url="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2008/09/return-of-crimson-guard-by-ian-c.html"]Non-spoiler review[/url].

I'll be reading [i]Pandemonium [/i]by Daryl Gregory now.

[Thrashalla]

Now reading [i][b]A Wizard of Earthsea [/b][/i]by Ursula K. Le Guin. I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far, it reads like the Prose Edda.

[Dunhallym]

Finished [b]"La mort est mon métier"[/b]. Interesting book. Quite harsh since it shows the building of the extermination camp of Auschwitz from the POV of the guy who designed everything. It's rather frightening to see such a POV. As Merle says in the introduction, Hoess was not a sadist, just a man executing orders as best he could, and that's what makes him especially monstrous.

And I also finished Diderot's [b]"Jacques le Fataliste et son maître"[/b], which was a very pleasant read. Diderot has a style I really enjoy and it's a very nice book. It's apparently quite related/has been inspired by Sterne's "Tristram Shandy". I didn't read that book but if someone has I'd be interested to have an opinion on it.

I've started reading [b]"Before they are hanged"[/b] this morning.

[Deornoth]

I've just finished reading 'To Rescue Tanelorn', a collection of some of Michael Moorcock's 'Elric' stories. All the stories have appeared in other collections already so this is really only a book for people who are encountering Elric for the first time. The stories themselves are (for the most part) cool though and I'm a big fan of the cover! My full review is over [url="http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com"]Here[/url].
I'm now reading Sean McMullen's 'The Time Engine' and I've also got Glen Cook's 'A Cruel Wind' on the go at home...

[Werthead]

[quote name='beniowa' post='1511300' date='Sep 9 2008, 19.24']I haven't read Xenophon but it does sound like the book might be based on that. The army in The Ten Thousand is a heavy infantry phalanx like the ancient Greek armies though the cultures and peoples are completely different. Werthead may know more about the background of Kearney's research.[/quote]

That's right. [i]The Ten Thousand[/i] is a total straight-up mildly fantasised retelling of [i]The Anabasis[/i] by Xenophon with different and original characters.

[bossfan2000]

I just finishied [b]Dragon Bones[/b] by Patricia Briggs. While the writing, characters, and story were fine..something about it just didnt pull me in, leaving me feeling rather indifferent after finishing the book. Seems like the ingredients were there for me to like it more..but i just thought it was slightly above average ([url="http://fantasybookreviewer.blogspot.com/2008/09/review-dragon-bones-by-patricia-briggs.html"]review[/url]).

I am currently reading [b]Mistborn[/b], while waiting on review copies of [b]The Way of Shadows[/b] and [b]The Phoenix Endangered[/b] to arrive. I also read the first chapter of [b]In The Company of Ogres[/b] by A Lee Martinez. Looks like it has potential as a nice funny read, so it might get moved close to the top of the pile.