September 2009 Reads, Potential Reads, and Abandoned Reads

[Rob B]

I finished Reaper's Gale yesterday and needed at least a day before I could really get into anything else. Next up will be E.E. Knight's Winter Duty (Vampire Earth #8) and Paolo Baciagalupi's The Wind-Up Girl, later in the month I plan on getting into Scott Westerfeld's latest Leviathan, maybe a WARHAMMER title (it'll be my first), maybe Iain M. Bank's latest Transitions, maybe Steven Boyett's Ariel. Really, I've got too much from which to choose. :read:

[Astra]

Cool. Hopefully you enjoy it as much as the rest of the board has (because I'm definitely the minority in not liking it).

Oh well, you make it sound very promising...:P

[Ealdorman Halasahr]

Picked up Bakker's The Warrior-Prophet some time ago. Will try and finish it this time. Honestly.

But I'm just as honestly - really - thinking of putting it away in a dark corner of my cupboard.

Don't like the Narrator's voice in the story. He keeps telling me what to think ... I think.

And they're are still just marching, marching, and marching ... Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. (I know it's more

metaphorical than physcial, this journey, this Holy War, but still.)

And there's one thing in chapter 18 that is really bothering me. A contradiction to what he wrote just a few pages earlier. Perhaps if I keep reading, things will be explained, rationally and logically, but I wonder ...

So, if not Bakker, I still have Vance and his Lyonesse to read. And that one I like without reservations.

[ultraman7k]

Picked up The Alienist by Caleb Carr last week, about 150 pages into it, so far so good. It moves along quite nicely and is well written. Pretty interesting stuff in terms of looking at serial killers at the turn of the 20th century.

[Gareds Head]

Hi, Just finished Cecil Lewis's 'Sagittarius Rising'. I know its not fanatsy but I've been out of the groove that way and been interested in WW1 aviators. I did pick up China Mieville's 'City and the City' which I'm looking forward to.

[Procrastimancer]

Just finished Daniel Abraham's A Shadow in Summer. It may be a few points shy of greatness--thanks to a couple issues I had--but it is not too far behind and, as it stands, is a damned good debut novel. I am looking forward to reading on in the series.

Now starting Green by Jay Lake.

[K_P]

Finished Daniel Abraham's Price of Spring - a fitting conclusion to a fantastic series.

It took a while for me to get into the first book but by the middle of the second, I was completely hooked. :thumbsup:

Next up - palate cleanser - Death's Head Day of the Damned by David Gunn

[Deornoth]

Finished reading 'Prospero Lost' (L. Jagi Lamplighter) over the weekend, a tale of Shakespeare's characters (from 'The Tempest') making their way in the modern world and the fight for the magic that they possess. The fact that it's setting the scene for a series does lead to some problems in the characterisation and plot but it's still a very entertaining read and I'm up for reading more. My full review is over Here. I'm still reading 'Mythago Wood' and I've got a couple of others on the go as well.

[murphy]

Finished up my reread of the first two Kate Elliott Crossroads books as well as the final book in the trilogy, Traitor's Gate. Very good read and I liked it much better than her Crown of Stars series. It has a bittersweet but very appropriate ending.

Now reading S. M. Stirling's Sword of the Lady, a novel of The Change.

[Cuchulain]

Finished Morgan's Broken Angels today. While the story turns out to be quite different from that of Altered Carbon (I was expecting another murder mystery), Kovacs still remains the irreverent badass I remember from the previous novel. Actually, I quite liked the subject matter of BA, what with the Martian artifacts and all. Also, while the pace is less hectic than that of AC, I wasn't bored at any point. The graphic sex is a bit much and the one chapter in which Kovacs selects his team felt like an infodump, but apart from those minor things, I can't say much bad about BA. I really enjoyed the novel overall and I'm definitely going to check out Woken Furies.

[Dunhallym]

Quite a bunch for me since I've not posted here in 2 months.

In July, I finished JJ Marie's Trotsky, which was very interesting.

I also finished Eco's Foucault's pendulum, which I enjoyed a lot, though less than The name of the rose (which I read many years back).

After that, I read (though maybe not in this order):

Terry Pratchett's "Carpe jugulum", the last one published in PB in French (way behind, I know, but if I read them in English, ther's so much I miss). It was a fun read, probably not my favourite witches story, but good nevertheless.

I then read Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere", which I enjoyed a lot. However, some similarities with Anansi Boys that I had read some time ago irked me, mainly the personality of the hero and his relationship with his girlfriend and women in general. But that remains a minor point.

I then read "Return of the Crimson Guard" by Esslemont, which was way better than "Night of Knives" in terms of writing and proved a very enjoyable read.

For a change, I read "Petits crimes contre les Humanités" (Little crimes against the Humanities) by Pierre Christin. It's a kind of detective novel set in the world of French universities. It's most of all a satire of the situation of said universities, sometimes a bit caricatural but still quite spot on.

After this little pause, I went on with Malazan and read Reaper's Gale. I still love Malazan. Yes, it's flawed, and yes, it was certainly not the best one in the series, but I loved it nevertheless.

"Le Magasin des suicides" (The Suicide Shop) by Jean Teulé proved a very fun intermede. It's a futurist novel (sci-fi in a way, but there is no science in it, just a grimsome future setting) about a shop that sells people the best instruments to commit suicides. An easy and quick read, full of (dark) humour.

I'm now halfway through Melville's "Moby Dick". I had already tried to read it a few years back but didn't go further than 50 pages. I sincerely can't understand why because now I love it.

I think I didn't forget anything.

[Week]

This past weekend I finally broke out of rereading mode or simply reading fantasy novels (mainly Malazan recently). I had a "Road" weekend after getting The Road (Cormac McCarthy) and The Crow Road (Iain Banks). Both were really excellent, in extremely different ways. I've now moved on to a bit of sci fi with Banks' Consider Phlebas, which I am enjoying thus far as well.

Moving forward, I'd like to continue reading both Banks and McCarthy...as well as some of GRRM's other works (Fevre Dream certainly as well as track down the Dunk and Egg stories).

[Jaqen the FatManderly]

I've begun Gene Wolfe's Soldier in the Mist. I'm very confused, and not surprised at that. Also, I've been reading it while medicated.

[blackstormdragon]

Just started Chasing the Dragon by Justina Robson and I'm already confused. I think I may need to re-read the first three again.

[Deornoth]

Finished reading Al Ewing's 'Death Got No Mercy', latest in the post-apocalyptic 'Afterblight' chronicles. Ewing really gets the post apocalyptic vibe and lays it on the line, in no uncertain terms, in a series of brutal and visceral encounters. It's a bit of a shame then that he decides to go all existential halfway through... My full review is over Here. I'm almost done with 'Mythago Wood' (it's a book that I don't want to end...) and, as always, I've got a few others on the go as well.

[ambyr]

I'm almost done with 'Mythago Wood' (it's a book that I don't want to end...)

You're aware of the various prequels and sequels, yes?

[automne]

Umm.. you might wanna stay away from the Soldier's Son trilogy. Or maybe not. Some people like it, but I personally thought it was rubbish. And I liked all the Fitzworld stuff, even the Tawny Man trilogy.

I agree. I read Shaman's crossing and thought it was crap.

@ Astra

SPOILER: Hobb

Fitz and Molly getting back together didn't work for me. Fitz was just too different from his younger self and Molly was still so boring

I read The painted man by Peter v. Brett and enjoyed it very much - with the exception of the first 2 chapters which are mediocre.

[Astra]

@ Astra

SPOILER: Hobb

Fitz and Molly getting back together didn't work for me. Fitz was just too different from his younger self and Molly was still so boring

Too true.

I could forgive it when she was a servant and young but being mature woman and behaving exactly the same? rising 7 kids didn't teach her anything?

Maybe Joe Abercrombie was right and nothing changes? :)

[The Pita]

I agree. I read Shaman's crossing and thought it was crap.

I always felt that to really get Soldier's Son you have to read all three.

[Mexal]

I just finished The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway and loved it. The book is funny and wildly entertaining while being perfectly over the top. There are ninjas, pirates, weapons of mass destruction, kung fu, wise masters, heroism, love, evil corporations, mimes and so much more that just makes this book all kinds of fun. Definitely one of those books I will probably reread in a few years.

I'm not sure what's not. I might read The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe or do a reread of Acacia because the new book is coming out soon and I enjoyed it the first time. I'll probably read the former.