Miscellaneous Chatter > Literature
Yearly Reading Targets 2020
Wilshire:
A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie (33)
Abercrombie is a great character writer, I've got to give him that. A Little Hatred takes place maybe 20ish years after the events of First Law, which means that its largely a new cast of main characters. Its fun to see the old faces lurking in the background, bringing a nice nostalgia factor with it, while still allowing plenty of space for the young and reckless to take center stage. That said, I don't think its altogether his best work. Some scenes are fantastic, but there is not the same overall sense of awe that I had with The Blade Itself. Something is missing, though I can't honestly put my finger on it.
I'll be looking forward to reading the rest, but I'm not feeling an immediate need to start The Trouble With Peace.
The P:
I'll be reading this closer to the release of book 3. I assume the series will improve by each book. I appreciate Abercrombie's method of plotting the whole trilogy from the start. It gives me hope even after a subpar start.
Wilshire:
Yeah I think I'll wait for the 3rd release and read them together. Its not bad, and I still recommend fans of Abercrombie read it, but its a good thing this is the opening to the second trilogy rather than his debut novel.
Wilshire:
Hyperion by Dan Simmons (34)
Hmmm. You know what, it wasn't as good as I remembered. The first time I read it was something like 5 years ago, and what was a few hundred books ago, frankly fairly early on in my reading career (when judged by read count). So the reread was somewhat disappointing, not quite the incredible book I remembered. That said, its still a great book. The various pilgrims' stories are fun to listen to, though Simmons struggles with making interactions centered around romances any kind of believable.
The setting, the worldbuilding, remains the primary interest. Each individual story is largely interesting by itself, but it doesn't weave quite the cohesive narrative as I original remembered. Brawne Lamia's story is the weakest of the bunch, but it does work nicely to reveal aspects of the universe to the reader.
Altogether, its still one of my top scifi picks, but it might no longer remain at the top. We'll see how it goes with The Fall, and perhaps the rest of the Cantos.
The P:
I enjoyed Hyperion a lot. I agree the strength is in the setting. I like slow building of tension as we learn more about what brought them all on the pilgrimage together and the growing threat of the shrike.
The fall of hyperion is very good, probably my favorite of the cantos.
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