[acesn8s]

I finished The Curse of Chalion by Bujold. I really enjoyed it. She write a book that is similar to GGK. Very character driven, with a touch of magic. I will be picking up more of her books. Time to finish up Cook's The Silver Spike. I started it around the time we moved into the new house (Feb.) and then got side-tracked. I think I need to start over.

[Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast]

Looking to pick up some more of Mieville's books. Which non-Bas Lag novels do you guys recommend? (I know Abyss is going to say Kraken, so perhaps apart from that one.)

[Mentalist]

Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast, on 30 September 2013 - 05:40 PM, said:

Looking to pick up some more of Mieville's books. Which non-Bas Lag novels do you guys recommend? (I know Abyss is going to say Kraken, so perhaps apart from that one.)

I'm yet to read kraken. Read Railsea!

[polishgenius]

Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast, on 30 September 2013 - 05:40 PM, said:

Looking to pick up some more of Mieville's books. Which non-Bas Lag novels do you guys recommend? (I know Abyss is going to say Kraken, so perhaps apart from that one.)

All of them, apart from King Rat which I couldn't get through. Everything else he's written is sterling.

(I'm currently reading the Scar for the umpteenth time)

[Abyss]

Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast, on 30 September 2013 - 05:40 PM, said:

Looking to pick up some more of Mieville's books. Which non-Bas Lag novels do you guys recommend? (I know Abyss is going to say Kraken, so perhaps apart from that one.)

KRAKEN!!!



...so there...

Mentalist, on 30 September 2013 - 07:19 PM, said:

... Read Railsea!

That too!

[amphibian]

As strange as this sounds, Kraken or Un Lun Dun are the best places to start Mieville. The latter is much more like a Gaiman book than anything else and the former is a madcap tumble through a very odd London.

Railsea is good, but should come after you've gotten through some of the profound strangeness of the Bas-Lag books.

[Salt-Man Z]

The first (and thus far, sadly, only) Mieville I've read was Embassytown and it blew me away.

[Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast]

I've read the Bas Lag novels. I'm looking at Embassytown and Railsea at the moment—I'll plan to read all of them, anyway, I just want to keep my To-Read Pile topped up.

For some reason, those are the ones that are catching my eye.

[Mentalist]

I've finished "Warhost of Vastmark", book 3 in "The Wars of Light and Shadow" series.


It was quite brilliant. "Curse of the Mistwraith" was mostly exposition, with some action, "Ships of Merior" was a brilliant set-up book with a stunning pseudo-conclusion (and a damn cliffhanger), and "warhost" delivered the payoff. Seriosly, I read this in two days, whereas the other two took weeks.

That being said, I'm not gonna go on with the next arc "Alliance of light" quite yet, because that's a 5-book arc, and I need a break.

So next, I'll be reading "Air War" Adrian Tchaikovsky's 8yh book in the "Shadows of the Apt"

[Stalker]

If anyone else is curious about the Janny Wurt's books that Ment keeps mentioning, like I am, the first two are currently on sale in the US Amazon for $3 total. I think the sale only runs through tomorrow since it is a new month. Either way, I picked them up. Looking forward to them, since I had never heard of this author before.

Before I start those I'm currently working on Glen Cook's newest Garrett PI novel that I hadn't gotten around to yet. So far, it is a much better offering than the last two.

[QuickTidal]

Derailed: Jay Kristoff's KINSLAYER.

Oh hell. I wanted to like this one. The first book had a lot going for it, and none of the reviewer complaints about it (the word choices within, in basing it off a Steampunky Japan, and getting those word choices wrong as to Japan IRL) bothered me.

So it wasn't that which derailed it, it was the characters, and plot progression, and gender politics of the 2nd book.

quasi-spoilers (AKA if you are ever going to read this book, and want to be clean of spoilers, don't read this...if you don't care about it, then go for it)

Spoiler

So the strong female character lead Yukiko, in this book becomes a pawn of men, repeatedly...up to and including her Thunder Tiger companion Buruu. She spends nearly the entire book complaining, afflicted, and love-lorn. The men, on the other hand, spend the book betraying everyone in sight, and the other female characters (who never meet or help our lead...it would have been nice if they'd have interacted) are all spies who sneakily disarm and kill the men. So no one is likeable. No seriously. There is NO ONE likeable in this book.

I can't make this up.

The gender politics that I may have overlooked in the first book as on such display here that I KIND of want to re-read STORMDANCER to see if they were present there as well. While both men and women spend time being evil or bad, or obtuse in this book...I'm really upset that the lead is reduced to what she's reduced to. And I'm not at all the type of reader who normally notices this. But Yukiko actively becomes Twilight's Bella (from the 2nd book where her BF leaves) for the entire time. It made me heartsick that the author felt the need to drop her into that bucket of Mary Sue-ism.

And there was some sketchy dialogue, like an older female character who says "Yes, I'm being a bitch, but at least I'm not being a stupid bitch."...sigh. SIGH! Really?

Lastly, there is a new character who shows up and is INSTANTLY clear that they are an interloper and quite bad and untrustworthy...but of course one of the supposed good characters falls for every last lie that drips from said new characters lips. As a reader, I don't want to be tipped off to this....I want it to be as much of a surprise when they are revealed as a traitor as it is to the characters...if I know from word 1 that they are lying, then I have to sit through every single bad decision and belief of those lies the character is dealt. It's like the worst, squirmiest, and annoying trope I can think of to put in a book. What's the opposite of subtle? That's what this is.

The saddest bit? I bought this in hardcover on the back of my enjoyment of the first book.

Oh well, you live you learn.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

189. Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman - Unpopular opinion of the day: I found this loads better than American Gods. So much comic relief.

190. The Android's Dream by John Scalzi - Probably a more popular opinion: A letdown, considering this is the author of the brilliant Old Man's War.

191. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski - A fun enough RPG-style fantasy, but nothing particularly special.

192. Star Wars Legacy Of The Force: Inferno by Troy Denning -

Spoiler

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! Jacen, you rat b@$-turd!!!

193. Witch Way to the Mall edited by Esther Friesner - As I predicted, Friesner anthologies are guaranteed to be entertaining.

194. Uncanny X-Men First Class: Knights Of Hykon graphic novel by Scott Gray - Average X-Men fare; not great, not terrible.

195. X-Men Magik: Storm & Illyana graphic novel by Chris Claremont - This one I liked, all the more surprising since I'm not often impressed with circa 1980s Marvel.

196. The Book of Lasts by Ian Harrison - From extinct animals to last words of famous people. Best read in small doses; I did a lot of skimming...

197. How To Teach Physics To Your Dog by Chad Orzel - Quantum physics for the layperson. This has been done better elsewhere.

198. Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs - Clever concept, building a story from real, spooky-looking B&W photos. But this was ultimately just an okay YA fantasy/horror. I was expecting it to be way creepier than it turned out to be, so it was a disappointment in that regard.

199. Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs...(and the title goes on and on) edited by Ted Thompson - Silly kid stories by Neil Gaiman and others. Your 10 year olds will love it.

200. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - An instafavorite. Worthy of the milestone #200 read. Someone drop some balloons on me. I desperately want this to be made into a movie before 80s nostalgia dies out.

201. Street Fighter: Sakura Ganbaru! Volume 2 graphic novel by Mashiko Nakahira - Sometimes I find manga in the bargain bin. Sometimes I buy it. Sometimes I don't notice it's a volume 2 (or later), when I haven't even read volume 1. Sometimes it doesn't matter, because manga is so spastic and nonsensical anyway...

202. The Shaktra by Christopher Pike - A little bit of middle-book syndrome, but I will definitely finish the Alosha series. First class YA fantasy.

203. The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer - I don't understand all the positive buzz on this one. I found it plodding and dull.

[worry]

Yah I keep hearing that Miss Peregrine book is a bait and switch that turns out to be waaaay less creepy than it ought to be. Starts out on the right foot and then soon transforms into a goth-lite boarding school for special children romp.

[QuickTidal]

Kruppe, on 01 October 2013 - 07:27 PM, said:

190. The Android's Dream by John Scalzi - Probably a more popular opinion: A letdown, considering this is the author of the brilliant Old Man's War.

For whatever reason everyone thinks that Scalzi hung the goddamned moon and is worhty of some kind of Neil-Gaiman-esque ultra-praise across the board for his work.

OLD MAN'S WAR was excellent, albeit copying multiple established traits from earlier Sci-Fi like Haldeman and Heinlen and just giving them a 21st century spit and polish...but the rest of his books seem to THINK above their status. They are mediocre at best.

But for whatever reason, this guy is the soup of the day and can do no wrong. I disagree. I think he's a flash in the pan.

[Mentalist]

Finished "Air War", the 8th book in "Shadows of the Apt"

Seriously, brilliant stuff. And what a meaty convergence at the end.

[Abyss]

worry, on 01 October 2013 - 07:35 PM, said:

Yah I keep hearing that Miss Peregrine book is a bait and switch that turns out to be waaaay less creepy than it ought to be. Starts out on the right foot and then soon transforms into a goth-lite boarding school for special children romp.

Yep. Disappointing. The found footage photos are fun but the actual story is weak.

[amphibian]

QuickTidal, on 01 October 2013 - 07:40 PM, said:

Kruppe, on 01 October 2013 - 07:27 PM, said:

190. The Android's Dream by John Scalzi - Probably a more popular opinion: A letdown, considering this is the author of the brilliant Old Man's War.

For whatever reason everyone thinks that Scalzi hung the goddamned moon and is worhty of some kind of Neil-Gaiman-esque ultra-praise across the board for his work.

OLD MAN'S WAR was excellent, albeit copying multiple established traits from earlier Sci-Fi like Haldeman and Heinlen and just giving them a 21st century spit and polish...but the rest of his books seem to THINK above their status. They are mediocre at best.

But for whatever reason, this guy is the soup of the day and can do no wrong. I disagree. I think he's a flash in the pan.

He is very good at writing smart, funny and capable characters, who have diverse motivations. His reworking of Fuzzy Nation is like all the best things of the Smurfs, Matlock, Han Solo without the fighting and Avatar smooshed together.

His Old Man's War series is quite good also. Everything fits together neatly and the bad guys have very plausible motivation as well. The only thing I can criticize Scalzi on is that he doesn't like to get vicious and his focal characters get a bit too goody goody about philosophical or political stuff.

So you two are not wrong for not being on the same wavelength as Scalzi, but he does deserve a considerable amount of praise for his writing. The books are good at what they do - rework old, timehonored things and concepts with his particular style of writing.

He isn't going to produce a Sandman, but he has a wheelhouse he does well in. And he's better at it than Sanderson is at his.

[Serenity]

I finished Sharon Penman's The Sunne in Splendour, which was excellent. Then I read Lawrence's King of Thorns, which was also excellent.

Then, last night, I picked up a book from the shelf that I've owned since about 1980/81 and holds fond memories, read the first few pages and decided to just carry on with it, as I've thought about re-reading it on many occasions - The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham.

[Tiste Simeon]

Nearly done with FoD. When it is finished I will take a minor sidestep to read the V for Vendetta graphic novel that arrived yesterday. It came with a V Mask - does that make me part of anonymous now?

[QuickTidal]

Tiste Simeon, on 02 October 2013 - 03:36 PM, said:

Nearly done with FoD. When it is finished I will take a minor sidestep to read the V for Vendetta graphic novel that arrived yesterday. It came with a V Mask - does that make me part of anonymous now?

Yes, and you have to wear the mask when you read it.