December to Dismember: Books we're offing this month

[Gormenghast]

I've been thinking of tackling Malazan, now that it's all done. Where does KoN fit in? I usually tend to read in publication order, but is there like a recommended chronology here?

NoK is best read at least after Deadhouse Gates, or it'd spoil certain parts of Erikson's books. Being DG and MoI closely related it's better not to put anything between them (or maybe the novellas).

Usually the reading order would put NoK after Midnight Tides, but I actually suggest to put it after House of Chains, as MT switches the focus away, and NoK is related to certain things in House of Chains (but also to certain things in The Bonehunters, so either way is fine).

If you don't like a story sprawling all over the place this is probably not a series for you.

[Lyanna Stark]

I blame DatePalm for getting me hooked on Ben Aaronovitch's "Rivers of London". And here I was, planning loads of other things to do during my spare time, but now I am inexplicably drawn to reading, and reading only!

[Datepalm]

If you don't like a story sprawling all over the place this is probably not a series for you.

I don't mind sprawl, but I may draw a line at preparatory homework :)

I blame DatePalm for getting me hooked on Ben Aaronovitch's "Rivers of London". And here I was, planning loads of other things to do during my spare time, but now I am inexplicably drawn to reading, and reading only!

Oh, how terrible!

I blame you and your leather clad chick relaxation reading talk for nudging me into MLN Hanover. (Does it develop on from the first book? I thought that was fine, but not quite up to the raving the later books are getting in the thread)

Finished Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder. Didn't like it all that much. The term 'Bloodlands' itself I find particularly grating and needlessly deliberately gruesome-exciting. Sounds like the title of a computer game. (Areas, by Snyders definition, subject at some point to both Soviet and Nazi deliberate mass murder policies over the course of 1930-1950 or so.)

[theladyinspring]

If you don't like a story sprawling all over the place this is probably not a series for you.

Yeah Malazan taught me that lesson: avoid sprawling series because they're not for me. I saw the writing on the wall while trying to get through Gardens of the Moon and bailed out. I was SO DISAPPOINTED because I love long books and long series, and I had really settled down to read all these books. It's not that it was boring, it just jumped around way too much for me.

But I often like books that many people find slow (i.e. Robin Hobb's Soldier's Son series) or that may be less philosophical but spend a lot of time with one character. I find that there's plenty of drama in everyday fantasy life. A good example would be the books I just finished, Bujold's Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls. But as per my usual I have a difficult time finishing series and will not be finishing the third book. Thankfully it's not really a sequel or connected to the first two so I don't feel as bad as I did when I didn't finish The Long Price Quartet.

Next I am going to read Stephen King's The Long Walk since my library has it on Overdrive and apparently it's similar to the plot of The Hunger Games. Loved The Hunger Games (lol again, only the first two books) and love Stephen King so we'll see. Hopefully this will also get me enough out of the fantasy mood that I can read some sci-fi. Then I will probably finish out December making my way through the Vorkosigan books.

[Cuchulain]

My December reads so far:

Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys. I expected some sort of follow-up to American Gods, but this novel is much lighter in tone (which isn't bad, just different). It's a very enjoyable, easy read with a touching ending.

The Enterprise of Death by Jesse Bullington. It's a decent, well-written novel but for some reason I didn't really enjoy it. I think it's because it largely lacks the humour of The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart.

The Skinner by Neal Asher. Ridiculously fun to read. I love the planet Spatterjay with its extremely hostile aquatic wildlife.

[SkynJay]

Next I am going to read Stephen King's The Long Walk since my library has it on Overdrive and apparently it's similar to the plot of The Hunger Games. Loved The Hunger Games (lol again, only the first two books) and love Stephen King so we'll see. Hopefully this will also get me enough out of the fantasy mood that I can read some sci-fi. Then I will probably finish out December making my way through the Vorkosigan books.

Long Walk is still the only King I have enjoyed. Though I have the Gunslinger sitting on my shelf($1.50 used so why not?) and have hopes for it. I know, blasphemous to not love him, but what can you do?

[RedEyedGhost]

I blame you and your leather clad chick relaxation reading talk for nudging me into MLN Hanover. (Does it develop on from the first book? I thought that was fine, but not quite up to the raving the later books are getting in the thread)

They get much better. This is what I wrote after reading the first book in '08

an urban fantasy that has a slightly different take on vampires, werewolves, demons, etc.; these creatures - "riders" - are beings from a neighboring universe that take control of humans or animals. The way they would take control of things reminded me quite a bit of the television series Supernatural, as did the story in general. Not that there's a problem with that because I think Supernatural is a very enjoyable show, and that's how I would classify this book as well - enjoyable. I don't think it's high literature or even at the level of Daniel Abraham's other work.

As with most 1st person stories, the main character was developed very well, but I found the other characters lacking (it took me along time before I was able to separate Chogyi Jake and Ex in my mind). I also felt the book suffers from us not seeing enough of what the riders are capable of or just how bad they are. We also don't get a definite reason of why they are bad, if they are all bad, etc. (I really liked the final battle, and wish there had been more like that throughout the book.)

While not in the upper echelon of fantasy like the rest Daniel Abraham's work, it is very enjoyable and I am looking forward to the next book in the series. This book created a lot of fertile ground that can be built on during the rest of the series, and I'm ready to read more.

I gave it 3/5 stars on librarything; I gave the next two books 4/5 and latest book 4.5/5.

[Nearly Headless Ned]

Tideland by Mitch Cullen. Pretty disturbing stuff really. It has shades of Alice In Wonderland and Psycho and Cullen does a rather good job of getting into the over active mind of an 11 year old girl. I even found myself getting completely drawn into the games she played with her severed barbie doll heads.

[Rooster]

I've recently read in two's. The first twosome was Christopher Stasheff's A Wizard in Bedlam and the Warlock in Spite of Himself. Imagine my surprise when both turned out to be SF. Both were quite enjoyable fare, even though Warlock suffered from a too-presumptuous main character and a quite weird romance (My Lord! Yes, My Lord! No, My Lord! I will try, My Lord!) That robot horse was pretty kickass, though.

The next two were van Vogt's Book of Ptath and Voyage of the Space Beagle. Ptath had some good moments, and at times van Vogt's writing was powerful, but overall I was unimpressed. It seemed a mess. Space Beagle, on the other hand, I enjoyed greatly. The first three were very fun stories of space exploration and exotic aliens. The last was interesting but too much about Nexialism.

Next was Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. The former was good, and the latter was nearly excellent; probably a top 5 novel for me this year. Deception was a big thing in both novels, and while a little frustrating, it also made for engaging reading.

After that I read Hamilton's Neutronium Alchemist and tried to continue with the Naked God, but I just can't take two of those novels in sequence. They're slooooow. AC's parts were dreadfully boring and a major, sinister antagonist in Reality Dysfunction seemed almost an afterthought here. Remarkably, Joshua was much better this time around, so it kind somewhat balanced out, and the "throwaway" character chapters were actually quite good.

To compensate for failing to read two by Hamilton, I read three by Alastair Reynolds; namely, Redemption Ark, Absolution Gap and Galactic North. Redemption Ark was very good and the best book I've read by Reynolds. Absolution Gap was interspersed with good moments and too many "What." moments. Galactic North had a few excellent stories, while the rest didn't move me much.

[theladyinspring]

Hmm maybe I should read more books by twos, since I have such a hard time finishing trilogies. Now need to find some good duologies or huge stand-alones.

[Teng Ai Hui]

I've been in a mood for biographies lately having recently finished You Cannot Be Serious by John McEnroe and Ice by Ice-T. Now, I'm rereading Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale.

[Isis]

In the past 2-3 weeks I managed to finish Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, which I found Ok. I was never a gamer and while I could understand most of the references in the book they didn't make me nostalgic or anything. I also read Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, which I did not enjoy at all and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, which was actually a very good read, deserving of all the praise it's been getting.

Ooh, good news to hear you liked The Night Circus. I just bought it for my dad for his birthday (with the express view of borrowing it from him as soon as he's read it).

I recently finished Jennifer Egan's The Keep (which I cunningly bought my boyfriend for his birthday so that I could read it after him). It's very easy to read, it's fairly short and I wanted to keep moving further and further into the mystery as it unfolded. I do really like those stories where you're not quite sure what's going on, after getting hooked on that style of book after reading The Magus, and I am perfectly happy to not know precisely what happens to people by the end of the book. Might have to check out some other books by Egan.

Thanks to the Waterstones free book offer with ADWD pre-orders I also read Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence. I whipped through it in no time at all. Very, very easy to read style and a compelling story that makes you just want to read another few pages. I see where the comparisons with Joe Abercrombie come from, as the tone and some of the dialogue is somewhat similar. On that note, I should admit that I started The Heroes about six months ago and just cannot seem to get into it. I'm baffled by this as I never had that problem with any of Joe's other books. I guess he shouldn't have abandoned us and moved out of London. *nods*

Currently reading Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. Wow. Reminds me why I love short stories so much.

[Datepalm]

Finshed Heirs of the Blade, by Tchaikovsky, which dragged a bit but I ended up really liking, for some strong thematic and character stuff, even if the plot was a bit straight forward. Takes the series forward considerably, IMO. Definitely in my sort of top 5 epic fantasies now.

Also Ken MacLeods Restoration Game, which was good but frankly just way too silly. Everything i've read by MacLeod seems to almost sabotage great characters and stories with an insistence on a sort of funny, irreverent, almost chick-lit-spunky style of writing that doesn't always do the book justice, IMO, even when the jokes do work. I like the occasional foray into the heroines personal life as much an anyone, but do we really need a run down of her witty concerns matching that top with those shoes while reality may be unraveling in the background or something?

[jdiddyesquire]

So finished Faith by John Love. Night Shade Book's first 2012 release it looks like.

Really liked it. Inverted Star Trek meets Moby Dick? (full review)

Writing a review right now for John Fultz's Seven Princes and reading The Tiger's Wife (Obreht) and The Hammer (Parker)

[jdiddyesquire]

Finshed Heirs of the Blade, by Tchaikovsky, which dragged a bit but I ended up really liking, for some strong thematic and character stuff, even if the plot was a bit straight forward. Takes the series forward considerably, IMO. Definitely in my sort of top 5 epic fantasies now.

Also Ken MacLeods Restoration Game, which was good but frankly just way too silly. Everything i've read by MacLeod seems to almost sabotage great characters and stories with an insistence on a sort of funny, irreverent, almost chick-lit-spunky style of writing that doesn't always do the book justice, IMO, even when the jokes do work. I like the occasional foray into the heroines personal life as much an anyone, but do we really need a run down of her witty concerns matching that top with those shoes while reality may be unraveling in the background or something?

My main complaint on Restoration Game was the whole SF angle just didn't wash for me. I felt like he should have just written the thriller he wanted to write instead of writing for the genre he's known for.

[Starkess]

Finished up Terrier, first of Tamora Pierce's Beka Cooper series. Always fun to return to favorite authors from my childhood, and especially to their worlds! Always like revisiting Tortall. It was an interesting enough story, although I don't really like the journal style she used. It's making me itch to reread the Alanna series for sure. :)

Think I'll pick up Bloodhound (book 2) for another easy read.

[henderson]

Just finished the last book in the Harry Potter sequence, and I thought the story started to fall apart in Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The last three books (5,6, and 7) were bloated with too much telling and not enough showing. I got tired with Harry whining and being filled with angst.

I think I would have enjoyed these later books if there was less of a focus on Harry Potter, and more attention to Hermione Granger (who I think is the best character in the whole sequence), Albus Dumbledore, Neville Longbottom, Severius Snape, and, perhaps, one of the villains such as Draco Malfoy. I think the reader would have gotten a more complete picture of the world as well as the scope of how much of a threat Lord Voldemort was to that world.

The best thing about this whole reading experience is that I did not buy the books. Good thing the local library had all the novels available.

I think this whole story would have been more interesting and exciting if it was shown from the perspecitive Hermione Granger. Maybe combine her current character with some of the prophecy elements from the Harry Potter/Tom Riddle dynamic. Excise Harry Potter and Ron Weasley from the story completely,and use Ginny Weasley instead as the best friend of Hermione. I think Hermione is thoughtful, positive, smart, and charming. I found Harry Potter to be boorish, angsty, and whining.

[williamjm]

Next was Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky. The former was good, and the latter was nearly excellent; probably a top 5 novel for me this year. Deception was a big thing in both novels, and while a little frustrating, it also made for engaging reading.

Coincidentally, I've just finished Vinge's The Children of the Sky, which again has quite a lot of deception going on in the story. I really liked A Fire Upon The Deep when I read it about a decade ago (although I agree Deepness is even better), so I was a bit nervous about the idea of a sequel released 20 years after the original and whether it would live up to the first novel. I'd say it may be the weakest of the three Zones of Thought novels, but it is still a good book and doesn't feel too out of place when compared to the other two. It was a bit slow to start off with, partly due to a couple of time jumps early in the book but the plot did start to become compelling about a third of the way through the book. Some parts of the ending were satisfying but it was surprisingly open-ended and left two major plot points unresolved. I haven't heard if another book is planned, but it did feel a bit like the middle book in a trilogy. The characterisation was a little bit mixed, the main heroes are possibly a bit bland (Ravna is annoyingly, although believably, naive for most of the book), the two main villains were a bit more effective in provoking a reaction. Frustratingly, some of the more ambiguous and potentially interesting characters such as Flenser-Tyrathect don't appear all that often.

Finshed Heirs of the Blade, by Tchaikovsky, which dragged a bit but I ended up really liking, for some strong thematic and character stuff, even if the plot was a bit straight forward. Takes the series forward considerably, IMO. Definitely in my sort of top 5 epic fantasies now.

It might be the least imaginative in terms of plot and world-building, but I agree it probably is the strongest novel so far thematically.

Also Ken MacLeods Restoration Game, which was good but frankly just way too silly. Everything i've read by MacLeod seems to almost sabotage great characters and stories with an insistence on a sort of funny, irreverent, almost chick-lit-spunky style of writing that doesn't always do the book justice, IMO, even when the jokes do work. I like the occasional foray into the heroines personal life as much an anyone, but do we really need a run down of her witty concerns matching that top with those shoes while reality may be unraveling in the background or something?

Which MacLeod books have you read? I've noticed some of them are more serious than others, I thought Newton's Wake was one of his weaker books because it felt a bit too frivolous at times to take entirely seriously, but other books like The Execution Channel felt more serious. The Restoration Game wasn't the most serious of them, and maybe tried a bit too hard to include geeky jokes and references at times.

[Grack21]

Finished Reap The East Wind by Glen Cook. Fucking Awesome.

Started Farlander on a whim, because I keep seeing the sequel in stores, and it had a Glen Cook blurb on it, which is unusual. Like it a lot so far.

Also Luna Lovegood needs her own series.

[Larry.]

Finished reading the Library of America edition anthology Harlem Renaissance: Five Novels of the 1920s on Monday. There were some incredible stories there. Will likely review it in the future. Finished re-reading Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, in Italian, German (for the first time), and English. Interesting how different parts of the story came clearer to me as I read each language. Also finished reading the English translation of Polish writer Magdalena Tulli's In Red. Good tale, but a bit too brief for my liking.

Almost done with the second volume of the LoA edition of H.L. Mencken's Prejudices. Very astute critic, even when I disagreed with some of his commentaries.