January 2010 Reads

[TheEvilKing]

Finished off The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King yesterday. Can't wait to get stuck into this series further. I love the glimpses of Roland's past and the mystery of the Tower.

[beniowa]

I read Kitty's House of Horrors, the seventh entry in the Kitty series by Carrie Vaughn. More plot and less character development for Kitty this time around, but it was still quite an entertaining edition to the series.

I also made short work of John Scalzi's novella from Subpress, The God Engines. It's a blending of science fiction and fantasy in which gods are used to power spaceships, hence the title. Scazli's first foray into fantasy takes an interesting look at the nature of faith with a solid, intriguing story.

I think my next book will be The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld.

ETA: I forgot to mention that Gary Gibson's Stealing Light is up next, and I'm really looking forward to this one with all the love that the second book was getting around the blogosphere last year. I've had it on my shelf for over a year and a half, and I'm glad that I can finally get into it.

I really need to get around to buying that book. Somehow I keep forgetting.

[Larry.]

Received my review copy of the Martin/Dozois-edited Warriors today. Will spend the next few days reading and re-reading several of these tales. Curious to see how many I'll end up noting down as possible inclusions. Very curious about the new Beagle story.

[williamjm]

I think my next book will be The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld.

I really need to get around to buying that book. Somehow I keep forgetting.

I wasn't too impressed with Stealing Light. It was OK, but I felt like I'd already read most of the ideas in it, except they had been executed better the last time I read them. By comparison, The Risen Empire was good Space Opera, still nothing revolutionary but an entertaining read.

[Ski the Swift]

Just finished Ernest Hemingway's For Whom The Bell Tolls. I really enjoyed all of it except for his love making scenes.

I'm onto finishing off Simon Scarrow's When The Eagle Hunts. His Eagle series isn't the greatest written but for some reason I enjoy it. Then after that I'm reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

[Procrastimancer]

Finished Haruki Murakami's AFTER DARK a couple nights ago, but sickness and the passing hope that the books I ordered would arrive left me with no desire to move on to something else. Oh well, desperation for something to read will always force my hand. Now reading DEVIL'S CAPE by Rob Rogers.

[beniowa]

I wasn't too impressed with Stealing Light. It was OK, but I felt like I'd already read most of the ideas in it, except they had been executed better the last time I read them. By comparison, The Risen Empire was good Space Opera, still nothing revolutionary but an entertaining read.

Really? Huh, I'd thought all the buzz was pretty positive. But admittedly, that's only the blogosphere I think. Thanks for the input, williamjm! I'll be sure to keep that in mind when I next take a look at the book.

[Deornoth]

Finished reading Aaron Dembski-Bowden's 'Soul Hunter', Warhammer 40K tie-fiction about the machinations of the traitor legions (The Night Lords in particular). 'Soul Hunter' is a slow burner to start off with but does give you plenty to get your teeth into; it ramps up the pace later on and that's when it's worth sticking around for! My full review is over Here. I fancied a bit of a change of pace and am now reading Lucy Snyder's 'Spellbent'.

[Sophelia]

I barely have time to read these days (well, since I beat my insomnia I keep going to bed really tired and then just...falling asleep. Weird). However I had a holiday recently so I managed to read a few books, including:

Tim Akers' Heart of Veridon

Tim Akers is Kat's adopted writer from Worldcon and since he was very nice when I had a chat to him about steampunk (into which his story can fortuitously be classified), I bought his book when I saw it in my local bookshop. It was a good fast-moving adventure story with plenty of suspense, escapes and twists (the main character is a renegade ex-zeppelin pilot). I didn't fully comprehend the relationship between religion/machinery/magic, but this is more of a positive than a negative point, as there are more books to come. The world it was set in was reminiscent of Bas-Lag but the story style reminded me of the 39 Steps, except that characters used American slang like 'gee' and 'swell'. The prose was not noticeably beautiful like Mieville's, but it was well-written, avoiding hackneyed phrases and there were some nice images. I would say/quote more but I won't be able to retrieve the book from my mother's house for another month. I would be interested to hear other opinions on it. I recommend it.

I also read Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth. This was the first historical (non-fantasy) novel I have read for some time. It kept me reading on but at the same time irked me, and I can't for the life of me say why. I want to say the characters were too simplified, but that wouldn't be fair, since they were mostly grey and none were cliches. I want to say the plot lacked intellectual challenge, but that wouldn't be fair either, as there were mysteries and the characters had problems to solve which meant using their brains... I want to say the world wasn't realistic, but the author had clearly done loads of research and there were tons of details of the period (set at the time of the battles between Empress Maud and King Stephen in medieval England). So, I dunno. Perhaps it was all too smug? I don't know. I can't find the old threads on it so I don't know if others shared any similar feelings. I can see that the book was a labour of love and that lots of people would like it, but I won't be reading more by this author.

I finished China Mieville's The Scar and I thought it was a brilliant, amazing book. I actually thought it was even better than Perdido Street Station and darker, if that's possible, more thought-provoking.

Interesting. I found PSS more thought-provoking. But I would love to see a thread on The Scar which might provoke further thought in me ;)

I just finished Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin which was a decent vampire book

Funnily enough Fevre Dream was one of the other books I read. It was OK, but it didn't light my fire. The plot was slow-moving, and Martin's choice to defy expectation at times backfired (for me) since I was disappointed certain things never happened. The book's strength for me was atmosphere, and I imagine the tang of history would be stronger for those familiar with the New Orleans area (though it might not seem enough for those interested in the American civil war and slavery issues, since although these issues were touched upon, the book did not have the scope to explore the themes with any depth).

I finished Daniel Abraham's A Shadow in Summer, I thought it was good and the quality of the writing was impressively high for a debut novel (it was his debut, wasn't it?). The idea of the andats seemed very original and it was quite refreshing to have a fantasy novel that is largely about the characters and intrigue with only very occasional action in the form of violence or magic.

This is the next book I want to buy but I have had a fruitless hunt for it for months (I even looked in bookshops in New York), and recently glimpsed it in London in a size too large to carry home, so I am still bookless.

[williamjm]

I also read Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth. This was the first historical (non-fantasy) novel I have read for some time. It kept me reading on but at the same time irked me, and I can't for the life of me say why. I want to say the characters were too simplified, but that wouldn't be fair, since they were mostly grey and none were cliches.

I read it recently as well, and I did feel a similar thing. I think I'd say that although the characterisation is reasonably good in most ways (the characters are interesting and reasonably varied), it lacked subtlety. It usually doesn't take long to get an accurate impression of the various characters - that William is sadistic, Philip is well-meaning but prone to hubris, Alfred is a bully, Jack is a genius but has problems dealing with people - but throughout the book Follet does seem to repeatedly hammer home those characteristics. The most obvious is the way William Hamleigh has to be shown indulging in some sadistic misogyny every couple of chapters regardless whether it has any relevance to the plot. There's also a lack of character development, most of the characters don't really change much throughout the book.

I want to say the plot lacked intellectual challenge, but that wouldn't be fair either, as there were mysteries and the characters had problems to solve which meant using their brains...

Again, the plot was mostly reasonably interesting and entertaining, but again it lacked subtlety. It wasn't enough for Follet to simply show the building of Kingsbridge Cathedral but also had to have his characters involved in every single historical event and meet every significant historical figure of the period (and apparently make a lot of the significant technological breakthroughs of the era, I suspected several hundred pages in advance that Jack was going to end up being the inventor of flying buttresses). It felt a bit like a medieval version of Forrest Gump at times ;). I'm not really complaining too much about this point, since it probably does make the plot more interesting even if it is a bit unrealistic, and some of the historical events like Becket's martyrdom do fit in very well thematically with the rest of the plot.

This is the next book I want to buy but I have had a fruitless hunt for it for months (I even looked in bookshops in New York), and recently glimpsed it in London in a size too large to carry home, so I am still bookless.

I think the only copy I saw in the bookshops was the trade paperback omnibus of the first two books.

[Seak]

Thanks for those who've recommended Daniel Abraham's A Shadow in Summer recently. Loved it! The world is engrossing and fully-realized. Can't wait to finish this series.

Full review here.

[Seak]

I read it recently as well, and I did feel a similar thing. I think I'd say that although the characterisation is reasonably good in most ways (the characters are interesting and reasonably varied), it lacked subtlety. It usually doesn't take long to get an accurate impression of the various characters - that William is sadistic, Philip is well-meaning but prone to hubris, Alfred is a bully, Jack is a genius but has problems dealing with people - but throughout the book Follet does seem to repeatedly hammer home those characteristics. The most obvious is the way William Hamleigh has to be shown indulging in some sadistic misogyny every couple of chapters regardless whether it has any relevance to the plot. There's also a lack of character development, most of the characters don't really change much throughout the book.

Again, the plot was mostly reasonably interesting and entertaining, but again it lacked subtlety. It wasn't enough for Follet to simply show the building of Kingsbridge Cathedral but also had to have his characters involved in every single historical event and meet every significant historical figure of the period (and apparently make a lot of the significant technological breakthroughs of the era, I suspected several hundred pages in advance that Jack was going to end up being the inventor of flying buttresses). It felt a bit like a medieval version of Forrest Gump at times ;). I'm not really complaining too much about this point, since it probably does make the plot more interesting even if it is a bit unrealistic, and some of the historical events like Becket's martyrdom do fit in very well thematically with the rest of the plot.

I'm reading World Without End and you've described it exactly, too. It's very well done, just not subtly done and i think that's the main problem. We got it, Ralph is a jerk and that will never change. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I read Out of Phaze by Piers Anthony. I'm disappointed that the author chose to go with the time worn fantasy cliches of teenage boys on a quest and boy meets girl, boy loses girl ect which is unlike the first 3 books. The world is interesting enough, so Robot Adept by the same author is up next.

[Sophelia]

I read it recently as well, and I did feel a similar thing. I think I'd say that although the characterisation is reasonably good in most ways (the characters are interesting and reasonably varied), it lacked subtlety. It usually doesn't take long to get an accurate impression of the various characters - that William is sadistic, Philip is well-meaning but prone to hubris, Alfred is a bully, Jack is a genius but has problems dealing with people - but throughout the book Follet does seem to repeatedly hammer home those characteristics. The most obvious is the way William Hamleigh has to be shown indulging in some sadistic misogyny every couple of chapters regardless whether it has any relevance to the plot. There's also a lack of character development, most of the characters don't really change much throughout the book.

Again, the plot was mostly reasonably interesting and entertaining, but again it lacked subtlety.

Thanks William! You've nailed it. The author spells things out too much... or lays things on with a trowel. So (mixing metaphors willy nilly) the characters come across like woodcuts, all heavy lines and no subtlety. You make a good point about lack of character development too.

A minor point which bothered me was:

What was the point of Martha? She did precisely nothing for the whole book. I thought she might have had some crucial role in realising Jack had started the fire and thereby putting him in jeopardy, but no, Jack revealed it to Tom himself in the end (and what an anticlimax, Tom seemed so meh about it).

I think the only copy I saw in the bookshops was the trade paperback omnibus of the first two books.

Yeah, that's the one I saw. I'm not keen on omnibus books so I hope it's available in a normal book-by-book format too. Amazon has nothing yet, but I read somewhere that a UK edition was due out January 2010, so maybe soon...?

[Neal]

Hello all, thought it was about time to stop lurking and post :) This board has been a great source of recommendations and insights, so thanks everyone.

I've just finished Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold and Paul Hoffman's Left Hand of God. I loved Best Served Cold, wonderfully brutal with great characters. Liked to subtle references to characters from the First Law Trilogy.

Left hand of God was good, mostly. It was a really quick read but I found the tone of the book was a bit hard to place and I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be an alternate history or a fantasy book for the majority of it (still not sure to be honest). Overall, I enjoyed it and will be picking up the rest of the series.

Next up is Elizabeth Moon's Speed of Dark or Lev Grossman's The Magicians

And I have a ton of unread books I've bought thanks to the discovery of the book depository and lurking here, so looking forward to catching up :)

[Azmure]

Just finished Charles Stross's Saturn's Children. It wasn't quite as blow-my-brains-against-the-wall brilliant as Accelerando, but I think I preferred it to Glasshouse and Halting State. Stross has now cemented his place as one of my favourite current SF writers.

Up next, either The Secret of Life by Paul McAuley or Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (which I've been meaning to get around to for a couple of years now).

[beniowa]

Yeah, that's the one I saw. I'm not keen on omnibus books so I hope it's available in a normal book-by-book format too. Amazon has nothing yet, but I read somewhere that a UK edition was due out January 2010, so maybe soon...?

Soph, it's possible though I don't remember hearing anything about that. All I know about is the two omnibii for each half of the series. Someone else might be able to tell you more.

I've seen Daniel Abraham posting on a few times on the board in the last week so it might be worth it to ask in the literature thread we have for him.

[Deornoth]

Yeah, that's the one I saw. I'm not keen on omnibus books so I hope it's available in a normal book-by-book format too. Amazon has nothing yet, but I read somewhere that a UK edition was due out January 2010, so maybe soon...?

Orbit have re-released the first omnibus edition to go with the second one that is out now(ish). They're a more decent size to carry around (unlike Orbit's stab at the first omnibus edition) but not the single books that I want as well...

Finished reading Lucy Snyder's 'Spellbent' where a young woman must go against the entire magic using community in order to rescue her lover from hell. On the face of it, there isn't much to distinguish this from most other Urban Fantasy novels. When you dig a little deeper this is still the case but 'Spellbent' is too much fun for this to be a really big deal, I'd give the next book a go. My full review is over Here. I'm now finishing off 'Black and White' (Jackie Kessler & Caitlin Kittredge)...

[Vrana]

Finished Haruki Murakami's AFTER DARK a couple nights ago, but sickness and the passing hope that the books I ordered would arrive left me with no desire to move on to something else. Oh well, desperation for something to read will always force my hand. Now reading DEVIL'S CAPE by Rob Rogers.

I'm interested to hear what you thought about Murakami, I always maintain that it is his best book, if you'e never read him before

Finished Herman Hesse's Magister Ludi, I must say that I liked the last half of it more than the beginning, it took me a while to get into it, but overall I really liked it. I'll be checking out his Siddharta next.

[Procrastimancer]

I'm interested to hear what you thought about Murakami, I always maintain that it is his best book, if you'e never read him before

Finished Herman Hesse's Magister Ludi, I must say that I liked the last half of it more than the beginning, it took me a while to get into it, but overall I really liked it. I'll be checking out his Siddharta next.

My review, as terrible as it may be, can be found here.