April 2009

[Arlingzen Bill]

I finished [i]Agincourt[/i] by Cornwell yesterday. I am currently reading EotW, but need to switch to [i]Omen[/i] by Christie Golden tonight. I forgot I had it and need to read it soon so I can review...

[RedEyedGhost]

I finished [b][u]The Judging Eye[/u] by R. Scott Bakker[/b] last week. I'm kind of conflicted on this one. Achamian's parts were very enjoyable, but I really hated what he did with Esmenet and I found her chapters extremely dull up until the end that is. The Yatwer and White Luck Warrior portions were interesting, but there was not enough of them. Sorweel's parts weren't very enjoyable until the end as well. I really liked the ending, but was disappointed because it was rather abrupt and I don't feel anything was resolved to any level of satisfaction. With the first trilogy I did not have any of the likability issues that seem to plague other readers because I found Kellhus, Cnaiur, and Esmenet fascinating (Achamian as well, but I did like him). In this one though, Esmenet and Sorweel and Kelmonas were just plain boring for 75% of the book. I think the book really missed Kellhus's POV and suffered from major pacing issues. With all that said, I did really like Akka's parts (although I did expect a scene with him... on a bridge... screaming... "you shall not pass!!"), and the ending all around was wonderful to the point that I'm salivating for more.

A very difficult book to grade because it was so uneven...

[b]7.5/10[/b]

Yesterday I finished [b][u]The Fade[/u] by Chris Wooding[/b]. This book was lots of fun, had an interesting narrative/chapter style, and the world building was top notch. It's told in 1st person detailing the life of Orna in divergent narratives: one details her story after a devastating loss at the battle of Korok, and the other details Orna's life before Korok in reverse. Orna is a Cadre, a warrior trained from a very early age to be brutally efficient, and I think Orna exemplifies what a lot of the new urban fantasy authors are trying to capture - a strong, passionate, brutal, [i]and[/i] feminine woman. While it's not a perfect book (there could have been more allusions to what happens in the second half of the book in the first half of the book, the emotion showed at one point rang a little false to me), I really enjoyed this one, and will definitely read more from Wooding in the future.

[b]8/10[/b]

[quote name='Arlington Bill' post='1753527' date='Apr 13 2009, 12.29']I finished [i]Agincourt[/i] by Cornwell yesterday. I am currently reading EotW, but need to switch to [i]Omen[/i] by Christie Golden tonight. I forgot I had it and need to read it soon so I can review...[/quote]

What did you think of [u]Agincourt[/u]

[gyrehead]

[i]Lowboy[/i] by John Wray

[i]Every Man Dies Alone[/i] by Hans Fallada. One of my favorite reads this year so far.

[i]Conspirator[/i] by C. J. Cherryh. Latest Atevi/Foreigner sequence novel. Really enjoyable but I'm a fan.

[Arlingzen Bill]

[quote name='RedEyedGhost' post='1753764' date='Apr 13 2009, 17.04']What did you think of [u]Agincourt[/u][/quote]

I enjoyed it. It was an easy read. It seemed to be fairly ocnsistent with some of Cornwells other stuff, most especially the Saxon Chronicals. There were some similarities to the Archer books as well. The book only has about 60 pages related to the actual battle. The historical notes and discussion of the source material that he chose to use was interesting. I hadn't realized there was such a huge disparity and disagreement on the number of soldiers involved.

[RedEyedGhost]

I forgot to mention that I'm currently reading [u]One Hundred Years of Solitude[/u] by Gabriel García Márquez. I'm not very far into it, but I predict I'll be getting lost in it very soon. It's just lovely so far.

[quote name='Arlington Bill' post='1754069' date='Apr 13 2009, 20.51']I enjoyed it. It was an easy read. It seemed to be fairly ocnsistent with some of Cornwells other stuff, most especially the Saxon Chronicals. There were some similarities to the Archer books as well. The book only has about 60 pages related to the actual battle. The historical notes and discussion of the source material that he chose to use was interesting. I hadn't realized there was such a huge disparity and disagreement on the number of soldiers involved.[/quote]

Thanks! I was planning on getting it anyways, but to hear that it is equivalent to [i]The Saxon Chronicles[/i] is great to hear.

[Larry.]

The more you know about what's happening in and around Macondo, the more your heart might be broken by it, and re-reads do seem to increase that heartbreak, at least for me.

As for my own reads, finished five books today:

Cormac McCarthy, [i]No Country for Old Men[/i] - Brilliant.

Rikki Ducornet, [i]The One Marvelous Thing[/i] (re-read) - Very good, but in an odd-beat way that perhaps might not appeal to some here. For me, however, it was just what I wanted to read.

Dave Eggers, [i]You Shall Know Our Velocity![/i] - Can I not just read an Eggers book without alternating between marveling over his story and being heartbroken by elements of it? Author that needs more e-ink around these parts.

Neil Gaiman, [i]The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes[/i] (re-read) - Re-reading this and the others from the first four volumes for a mega-review I'll be posting in a week or so.

Hark Wagner, Christopher Golden, & Stephen R. Bisette, [i]Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman[/i] - helpful 2008 encyclopedia of Gaiman's various writings and projects. Will certainly use this as a reference sort for the mega-review I'm writing this weekend or next.

[Myshkin]

[quote name='Dylanfanatic' post='1754164' date='Apr 13 2009, 22.26']Dave Eggers, [i]You Shall Know Our Velocity![/i] - Can I not just read an Eggers book without alternating between marveling over his story and being heartbroken by elements of it? Author that needs more e-ink around these parts.[/quote]
Fine. Eggers is a great writer and YSKOV is a fantastic novel. But his memoir, [i]A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius[/i], is easily his best work.

[Mexal]

[quote name='Upjumped' post='1751586' date='Apr 10 2009, 12.51']Currently also reading [i]The Shadow of the Wind[/i], by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, which has been recommended to me by about half a dozen people. So far, it's great.[/quote]

It's a fantastic book. I'm doing a reread of it now as I'm heading to Barcelona this weekend and though it appropriate.

[Deornoth]

I've finished reading Matthew Sturges' 'Midwinter', a tale of secret missions, intrigue and betrayal in the world of Faerie. Certain stylistic choices make this a difficult book to get into but it's well worth sticking with. The ending hints at more to come and I'd love to see this happen. My full review is over [url="http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com"]Here[/url].
I've got Mark Newton's 'Nights of Villjamur', Anthony Reynolds 'Dark Disciple' and an ARC of Nate Kenyon's 'The Bone Factory' on the go right now. Don't know which one I'll finish first...

[gyrehead]

[i]Little Fingers[/i] by Filip Florian.

Short debut novel that takes place in rural Roumania. An interesting look at a society that probably hasn't been explored much in depth. Soemthing this book manages to capture despite its brevity.

[i]Johannes Cabal the Necromancer[/i] by Jonathan E. Howard

Funny horror is hard to acheive. Howard delivers in a way that might just have him surpassing Moore on my tongue-cheek fictionalist list. And if Max Barry doesn't produce soon, howard ma just go to the top.

[Larry.]

[quote name='Myshkin' post='1754183' date='Apr 14 2009, 00.48']Fine. Eggers is a great writer and YSKOV is a fantastic novel. But his memoir, [i]A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius[/i], is easily his best work.[/quote]

Much as I did like that work, my personal favorite is [i]What is the What[/i], even if all he did was connect the dots with that writing.

[pat5150]

Just finished China Miéville's [b]The City & The City[/b] and it's a very good read!

A great blend of murder mystery and speculative fiction that should appeal to most genre readers.

Check the blog for the full review. :)

Patrick

[MarkCN]

[quote name='pat5150' post='1754830' date='Apr 14 2009, 20.36']Just finished China Miéville's [b]The City & The City[/b] and it's a very good read!

A great blend of murder mystery and speculative fiction that should appeal to most genre readers.

Check the blog for the full review. :)

Patrick[/quote]

I really enjoyed this one too, Pat. A big change from his Bas-Lag books, certainly. I felt it came across like some arty-indie European film in many respects, especially the dialogue.

[Procrastimancer]

I just finished Half the Blood of Brooklyn... and fuck! I hate that I don't already have the next book so I can go straight into it. I hate even more that my library doesn't have it, which means I will be waiting a few weeks until I can so much as order it. Not sure what I am going to read next. Probably The Forever War.

[The Evil Hat]

Just finished Before They Are Hanged, as i was taking a break from Lovecraft/Martin short stories. I loved it, and read it in two days. Definitely an improvement over the first, and the first was damn awesome already. Once i read some more short stuff (for some reason i have trouble reading too many short stories straight through) i'm gonna either read The Thousandfold Thought or Last Argument of Kings. not totally sure which, at this point, as i'm looking forward to both conclusions.

[williamjm]

I'm currently about 2/3 of the way through Adrian Tchaichovsky's [i]Dragonfly Falling[/i]. I'm enjoying it a lot so far, I'd say overall it is stronger than the first book in the series. The battle scenes (and there are plenty of them) do seem to be well-thought out and clearly described and although the plot is occasionally predictable it also has a few unexpected twists in it. One concern I have is that the increasing number of characters and plot threads means that some previously signficant characters don't seem to be getting that much attention - Che was probably the lead character in [i]An Empire in Black and Gold[/i] but so far she's barely done anything significant in this book (and what progress there is in her plotline was mainly achieved by Achaeos). I'm also unenthusiastic about Totho's plotline since he is getting increasingly annoying.

[Deornoth]

Finished reading 'The Bone Factory', a tale of horror in a snowbound Canadian town...
'The Bone Factory' does suffer from the dreaded 'info-dump' every now and then but still managed to both scare the life out of me and keep me reading. I think Nate Kenyon could become a new favourite of mine, my full review is over [url="http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com"]Here[/url].
I'm now down to 'Dark Disciple' and 'Nights of Villjamur' and it looks like 'Dark Disciple' will be finished next...

[mashiara]

I read [i]Never let me go[/i] by Kazuo Ishiguro and fell in love with it. What a brilliant little book, so elegantly written and so thought-provoking in so many levels. It's been days since I finished it and I'm still thinking about it. I loved how we don't get told the truth right away but we get closer to it page by page and it's left to us to understand what's implied. A sad but beautiful book.

I also read [i]The Corrections [/i]by Jonathan Franzen. I can't make up my mind whether I liked it or not. There were times I admired how it did a perfect job in describing the relationships in dysfunctional family that felt very real and very typical. It was a depressing book talking about self-destructive people and I could detect a strong sense of irony at times. The language did not bother me. What I found at times to be unbearable was the story itself, the way the protagonists treated their parents, especially in their hours of need. Maybe it's because of the way I grew up in a big family that will do anything for its members and never abandon them to their fate. This book made me furious at times. I guess that means the story gripped me, right? I ended up half-liking it, half-loathing it.

Third book on the list a totally indifferent one, [i]The Last Secret of the Temple[/i] by Paul Sussman.

I saw Dylanfanatic's thread about Italo Calvino a few days ago and I've been trying to remember which book of his I've read, because I [i]know [/i]I've read one. That's the problem with reading translations sometimes, if you don't pay attention to the original title you tend to not always know what you read. Anyway, I picked up [i]Invisible Cities[/i] at the library a couple of days ago and that's what I'm reading now.

[burnt hound]

Finished [i]Darkly Dreaming Dexter[/i] by Jeff Lindsay yesterday. What a fun novel. I will order the sequels soon.

I'm currently reading [i]Matter [/i]by Iain M. Banks. And sometime this week I will get [i]Twelve [/i]by Jasper Kent, I novel I was quite intrigued by. Read about it on Pat's Fantasy Hotlist. Hopefully it will kick ass.

[AprilFool]

Just finished two good books. The first was [u]The Crown Conspiracy [/u]by Michael Sullivan. It was a nice quick read, and promises some interesting sequals (which have all been written and should arrive every six months or so!). The second was [u]Chindi[/u] by Jack McDevitt. He keeps surprising me. I read the blurb about the book and I am not sure I am really interested, but start the book because I have enjoyed his past stuff. Once I start I am sucked in immediatly and can't put it down.

Currently reading [u]Blood of Ambrose [/u]by James Enge. About halfway through and I am stil not sure. It has some interesting ideas and mixture of elements (Arthur myth mixed with folklore myths like golems) but the book seems choppy and is oddly constructed. We shall see.

Up next is either [u]Omega[/u] by Mcdevitt (while I am still on a positive kick about him) or [u]Turn Coat [/u]by Butcher. Or something else that cathes my eye.