December 2010 Reading Thread

[beniowa]

Last night I finished Antiphon by Ken Scholes. It's good and just as readable as the first two books. However, like Werthead said in his review earlier this year the third book in the Psalms of Isaak suffers from middle book syndrome. Not much happens to advance the plot and we don't really get any answers. We still have two books to go so hopefully the next one will step things up a little.

I also finished Swords and Dark Magic edited by Jonathon Strahan and Lou Anders. It was a pretty mixed bag. Some of the stories such as those by KJ Parker, Scott Lynch, and Joe Abercrombie were good. A few others by Greg Keyes and Glen Cook were pleasant surprises. The rest were just average to barely competent.

I'm not going to read any more short stories until after the New Year. My next novel will be Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett.

[Ealdorman Halasahr]

The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson.

Best Served Cold, Joe Abercrombie.

A Storm of Swords, George R.R. Martin.

[RobMRobM]

Finished Hyperion and liked it, but wish that I had known it ends on the precipice of action <grumble>. Need to get next book.

About to start Connie Willis' Blackout. May then shift off genre and go to new Dennis Lehane book....

[Werthead]

Spellbound by Blake Charlton. Started off pretty bad, to the point where I questioned going on, but abruptly it turned around and became quite intriguing. Now fairly enjoying it. Nothing remarkable (save a magic system Brandon Sanderson would be proud of), but reasonable MOR fantasy fare.

Not sure what to read next. Possibly The Holy Machine. After that, maybe, finally, Shadows of the Apt.

[Bastard of Godsgrace]

Finished The Neon Court by Kate Griffin (first 2011 release I have read) and I must say I liked it a lot. It closes many subplots from previous volumes nicely, showing it is truly a trilogy, not just three novels in a series - altough Griffin mentions on her blog that she has more Matthew Swift novel contracted. It also is a sparser novel, not so overwritten like Midnight Mayor. On the flip side, scale of magics involved tends to destroy suspension of disbelief, but it is a common fault of urban fantasy - our contemporary world and apocalyptic scale magics just don't mix very well, IMHO.

[pat5150]

Just finished Robin Hobb's Dragon Haven. It was all right, but it fails to truly satisfy in and of itself. The end offers resolution of a sort, but you end up feeling as though you have read the second volume of a trilogy and you are left with too many unanswered questions. . .

Last week I completed GRRM and Gardner Dozois' Songs of Love & Death, which was pretty good.

Check out the blog for the full reviews. :)

Next up: My review of R. Scott Bakker's The White-Luck Warrior!

Cheers,

Patrick

[nickg]

Someone gave me The Erevis Cale Trilogy for my bday ( awesome gift btw ) and I liked the cover so much I had to start it. I haven't read any Forgotten Realms in a couple of years, but I am just finishing the first book and it is by far the best I have read from the Realms. Might not be saying much, but I think Paul S Kemp has done well with these so far.

[Cantabile]

Finished Neuropath this morning. Next on the list will be Disciple of the Dog :)

[The Evil Hat]

Finished Michail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita, Jose Saramago's The Double and Ben Okri's Tales of Freedom.

Okri is an author that always gives me a gut-punch a day or so after I've finished a book. I remember many sleepless nights wandering about after having finished The Famished Road, so I will probably try his Dangerous Love next.

What did you think of Master and Margarita? I read that book earlier this year and loved it.

[Vrana]

What did you think of Master and Margarita? I read that book earlier this year and loved it.

I really enjoyed it, especially the beginning. Brilliant intro. I'm not sure I followed on everything that went on around Berlioz' apartment but in the end I had a hard time putting it down.

I was going to write a long thing about how similar I found it to be to S. Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, but luckily I googled beforehand and saw a handful of essays that had already done that.

Speaking of Rushdie, I finished his Step Across This Line a non-fiction collection of essays, and came to the conclusion that whilst I do enjoy his fiction, I think he should stick to fiction. Some of the more political columns I felt were infuriatingly naive and apologetic.

Loved reading about his take on Indian Lit, though, and its rise to prominence in the past decades, something I've been playing around with in my head about starting a thread on.

[siemprepe]

Started shadowplay and am half-way through wintertide.

[Neal]

I just finished A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham and loved it. Can't believe it took me this long to get around to reading it and with all the praise for the rest of the series I'm really really looking forward to it.

It's the first Abraham stuff I've read outside of Wildcards so I'll definitely be reading everything else he does.

[Nearly Headless Ned]

Finished Lavondyss by Robert Holdstock. Strange and disturbing but compelling.

Also finished Memory by KJ Parker, last in the Scavenger series. My favourite of Parkers so far.

Will go back to reading Drood by Dan Simmons and have also just started King Rat by China Mieville. Brilliant intro!

[Cuchulain]

Finished Spillane's I, the Jury. There's a raw power to Spillane's writing that makes the novel entertaining to read, but he's nowhere near the level of Chandler or Hammett in terms of style and plot.

After Spillane's novel I was in the mood for fantasy, so I decided to try Sapkowski's The Last Wish. I'm glad I did, as this short story collection is really superb. Sapkowski manages to write original and funny sword & sorcery tales with an often surprising depth to them. He also draws a lot on mythology and subverts a few fairy tales in the process. Additionally, the stories are set in a world reminiscent of Vance's Dying Earth (which I love). The Last Wish has left me hungry for more Witcher tales, so I really hope the people at Gollancz start picking up the tempo regarding the English publication of the five book saga.

Reading about Sapkowski white-haired protagonist made me realize I had never actually read any of the stories featuring that original (and most famous) white wolf, Moorcock's Elric. Wanting to change this, I tried the collection Elric: The Stealer of Souls (which contains the first five Elric stories and the novel Stormbringer). Having finished the collection, I was left a little underwhelmed. The stories contain some great ideas (and were very influential in this regard), but the plots and writing style really aren't that good. I enjoyed Moorcock's collection to some extent, but I think his tales fall short of those of other classic sword & sorcery writers such as Leiber, Vance, etc.

[Vrana]

Finsihed Bill Bryson's Mother Tongue, hilarious as always though I'm not too fond of his sensationalist style when it comes to interpreting some facts.

And Conrad's Heart of Darkness. This one I regret. It slayed me, I have been looking for good books on Africa after my hitchhiking trip there and this one hit so close so many times. God I miss it.

Next up is Bosnia: A Short History, by Noel Malcolm.

[RedEyedGhost]

Reading Jasper Kent's Twelve - started a bit slow, but i'm getting into it now, though horror still really isn't my cup of tea

If you have a free half hour, could you** possibly listen to this short story (Spirit of Nationalism by Richard Marsden) set in the same time period and war as Twelve. I've been on the fence about buying Twelve, but I listened to that podcast last week and the atmosphere was completely captivating. If Twelve has half the atmosphere of Spirit of Nationalism, then I want to read it immediately.

**or anybody that has read Twelve and is willing to listen to an excellent short story.

[Xalinor]

Finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Not brilliant by any means. An intelligent, fun thriller. The last hundred pages or so were completely unnecessary.

Next up is probably Brandon Sanderson's Elantris. Possibly the Great Gatsby.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I finished Simon Winchester's Atlantic. I was a bit disappointed. I think the topic was too broad to cover in any kind of detail. As a result, the book just highlights exploration, trade, battles and enviromental changes but with no scope or depth whatsoever. If you want a very general overview of the Atlantic Ocean, then I would recommend it. Beyond that, meh.

Up next is The Scarab Path by Adrian Tchiakovsky.

[palin99999]

Finished:

Shadow Season by Tom Piccirilli - 7/10

Starting:

Firstborn by Brandon Sanderson

[Bastard of Godsgrace]

I just finished Troika by Stepan Chapman. It is somewhat famous for being unlike anything else, and I must admit its reputation is at least partially deserved. Quite good, if you enjoy more surreal stuff.