Miscellaneous Chatter > Literature

Yearly Targets 2018

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MSJ:
Finished The Enemy of God, by Cornwell. (23)  2nd book in the Warlord Trilogy. Great books.

SilentRoamer:
I am currently readoing Children of Time by Tchaikovsky. It feels very Hamilton at the moment but a lot more tight knit and woven.

Recently read Nivens Ringworld and Aldiss Non-Stop and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them.

Trying to get more time to get online and to read a bit more as work has been insane over the last year or so.

Hope the TSA crowd are all doing well and avoiding the blood greased eternal damnation that awaits us all.

Looks like I have some TSTSNBN catching up to do!

MSJ:
Finished Excalibur, Cornwell. (24) That finishes up the Warlord trilogy. By far the best Arthur story I've ever read or watched. Would love to see it as a film. Highly recommend this to everyone.

ETA: Derfel of Cadarn is the man!

Wilshire:
The Hidden Empire (Saga of Seven Suns 1) by Kevin J Anderson (40)
Anderson made his name by writing books in other people's universes, like Dune and starwars. This was his debut novel in his own universe, and it was really good. The setting was very generic, but the story ends up making up for it.  Definitely a fun read

Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera 1) by Jim Buther(41)
This was an enjoyable read, much better opening to a series than Stormfront for Dresden Files. Its possible that this is because i like the more traditional fantasy setting more than urban fantasy. At any rate, it wasn't the best book ever, but there was something to it that makes me want to read more. I'll have to pick of the sequels some day. The world if full of mysteries and intrigue that would be fun to read about.

Angelmaker by Nick Harkaway (42)
Wow. This was a great book, and mostly deserving to be  a Hugo/Nebula winner. I'm probably biased as it has a bunch of random things that touch my life within the pages. It starts as a book about a book, has bees in a position of importance, clockwork mechanisms and a watchmaker, and other things. Seems like a sporadic jumble, but they fall together nicely and Harkaway spun a great tale. Highly recommended for someone looking for a scifi set in present day.

Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre (43)
An above average book, but not by much. It had a unique story, post apocalypse earth scifi with some alien stuff thrown in, but it was such a short novel. Not a ton of time to flesh out characters, but it was still something of a heartwarming read. Not highly recommended, but it was still OK.

Darkmage by M. l. Spencer (44)
Eh, not good. Really generic fantasy story, little bit of dark thrown in for flavor but it was ultimately just too generic for me to recommend.

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke(45)
Quality scifi. Not much thought was put into the characters or their development, this is a scifi all about the setting and the reaction of humanity to an alien event. The writing was serious good, though it is a bit disappointing that the characters where flat. Definitely recommended if anyone is looking for some classic scifi.

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski (46)
This was an interesting book. From all the bad that I've heard about translations in general, I think this book did a fine job. Kinda of a twisted take on Brother's Grimm fairy tales, with a unique story thrown in to the mix. I don't know if I'd recommend it highly, but if you play the Witcher video games, you might enjoy reading this. It was a decent, quick read.

Wilshire:
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold (47)
Wanted to make a new post rather than incrementing my last one because this book was beautiful. This is the first thing I've read by Bujold, and I'll agree with the accolades it has received over the years. Not really sure how it ended up on the hugo/nebula awardee list, as its really not scifi at all but oh well - she deserved it. Its really a great fantasy tale of a woman past her prime (which, in the world of medieval setting is apparently 40), trying to go on what amounts to "one last adventure". Dark-ish without being grim, its a pretty touching story, though I've found I do have quite a soft spot for stories that deal with death in a realistic yet positive way. It reminds me a bit of Gemmel, if Druss the Legend was an old lady rather than a man.

I struggled, literally for years, whether or not to read Curse of Challion first, as it was published before and the events take place before. While I have now spoiled that book, Paladin of Souls did not suffer for it. What tipped me over the edge finally was when someone mentioned how Bujold writes very self-contained stories, so while this book is a direct sequel the events and most of the characters are new - if in function if not in fact.

All together a great story with many touching moments.

Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins (48)
I really enjoyed this book, and in particular I think the audiobook production did a great job. Bit of a mystery type vibe, though much more interesting in concept. Some great ideas discussed, and definitely and interesting universe created. Its pretty freaking dark, especially at the start, and a lot of violence is against kids which is disturbing. Sometimes by kids, sometimes not. Still though, I had a lot of fun with this one and would recommend it. Well written, interesting world and ideas, and an audiobook that just worked. I don't know if the production smoothed over some of the rough edges or what, but somehow it seemed to add a lot.

Circe by Madeline Miller (49)
Not much to say. If you like retellings of greek mythos, fine. Its well written, but I'm not a fan of this type of story, and its written in first person which is always a bit awkward. Unless you really love greek mythology, skip it.

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