May 2018 reading thread

[Danny McG]

Oh dear. I'll have to hope we have different tastes. Did you like Last Call, or Declare?



That was also in the secondhand bookshop I bought the others at. It didn't sound at all like his other stuff.

I haven't read Declare. "Last call" was initially a bit confusing with all the Fisher King stuff. Since then I've looked in to the legend etc so, if I ever re-read, I'll probably savvy it a bit better.

Deviant's palace is post apocalypse with a nasty alien doing a power grab.

 

[Paul_C]

Just finished The Yiddish Policemen's Union - Michael Chabon, which was very good, next up is R.A.Lafferty’s Arrive at Easterwine, the Autobiography of a Ktistec Machine, which I bought out of curiosity when @Hugh expressed a dislike of it.

 

[Hugh]

............. next up is R.A.Lafferty’s Arrive at Easterwine, the Autobiography of a Ktistec Machine, which I bought out of curiosity when @Hugh expressed a dislike of it.

I hope you like it and can give me reason to try again.

 

[Hugh]

I haven't read Declare. "Last call" was initially a bit confusing with all the Fisher King stuff. Since then I've looked in to the legend etc so, if I ever re-read, I'll probably savvy it a bit better.

Deviant's palace is post apocalypse with a nasty alien doing a power grab.

I read all Powers’ novels up to and including “Declare” (2001). My particular favourites were “The Anubis Gates” and “Dinner at Deviant’s Palace”. I thought they were really good. I’m afraid that each book since Deviant’s has impressed me less, but I still found them interestingly thought-provoking, and for that reason I persisted. Then I bought “Hide Me Among The Graves” and I completely lost all momentum for it without ever starting it, and it’s just sat on my bookshelf ever since. As a result I haven’t read either “Three days to Never” or “Medusa’s Web”. Can anyone encourage me to give “Hide Me Among The Graves” a try?

Looking on wikipedia I see that one of his early works “An Epitaph of Rust” has been reprinted in “Powers of Two”. I don’t think I’ve read that one. As I seem to prefer his earlier works, has anyone read that?

 

[nixie]

I am in the mood for light and amusing.
A re-read
The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett

 

[The Judge]

I duly finished the King of Foxes, and although I'm still by no means a convert to Feist's writing, and I was baffled by the appeal of the protagonist both to the characters in the novel and to readers of it, the book grew on me the further I got into it.

After that I sped through The Merchants' War by Frederik Pohl, a tale that manages to be both funny and frightening as it looks at the power of advertising, and the way the unscrupulous use it and then justify themselves and their actions in bringing relentless consumerism of junk food and junk junk to those who'd prefer to retain their integrity and sanity.

And I've just finished A Death at Fountains Abbey by Antonia Hodgson, a whodunnit set in England in 1728, the third in a series featuring Thomas Hawkins and Kitty Sparks. Entertaining enough, but to my mind not nearly as good as the original in giving a feel for time and place -- that was an historical novel with a murder and a mystery; this is a murder mystery which is set in the past. She's evidently done a good bit of research about Fountains and Studley Royal -- the setting for most of the novel -- and its occupants, as well as the South Sea Bubble which is the wellspring of the plot, but outside those elements period details are sparse, and the Georgian atmosphere lacking. Slightly disappointing.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Fountains Abbey

Have you ever been there? The grounds are very pretty, but I still prefer the atmosphere of Rievaulx Abbey, which is just a way across North Yorkshire.

 

[The Judge]

No, I haven't. Having read the novel, I'd quite like to see the ruins and especially the gardens at Studley Royal which I knew nothing about before this -- the owner, Aislabee, was undertaking large landscaping works when Capability Brown was still a child. I've a sneaking suspicion we might have seen Rievaulx, but that would have been years ago. There are so many places we really ought to visit or revisit.

 

[HareBrain]

Finished Medusa's Web by Tim Powers: a pacey read, but way too complicated and with another confused ending. I don't regret reading it, though, as you just don't get ideas like that from anyone else. I think I will give Dinner at Deviant's Palace a go, as reviews suggest it has his trademark imagination but with a simpler plot.

 

[nixie]

I duly finished the King of Foxes, and although I'm still by no means a convert to Feist's writing, and I was baffled by the appeal of the protagonist both to the characters in the novel and to readers of it, the book grew on me the further I got into it.

I've a massive soft spot for Feist, ignore flaws and plot inconsistencies I wouldn't with other authors, King of Foxes was one of his weaker books. Caspar was an annoying character, should never been giving the opportunity to redeem himself never mind a position of trust. He did loyal but i never trusted him, always expected a betrayal.

 

[Bick]

I finished Andrzej Sapkowski's The Last Wish, which I enjoyed very much - I'd recommend it. I will certainly be reading more by him. Fairy tales for the well-read adult, that can border on horror, high fantasy or sword & sorcery, but are not quite any of those. I think he's invented a niche genre. This was a fix up of short stories with a linking story between each, with the shorts all in the past relative to the linking arc - it works well. The following books are novels - the first is Blood of Elves, which I already have.

I've now cracked open a John Scalzi - The Ghost Brigades. I really liked his Old Man's War, and its a few years now since I read it but I had a sudden hankering to read the series, and so far I'm glad to have returned to it. Scalzi is an easy and entertaining read. He reminds me a bit of Resnick or Foster, in that the writing is beautifully clear and light, there's a sense of humour bubbling below the surface and pacing and plot are well done and exciting.

 

[Vertigo]

I've now cracked open a John Scalzi - The Ghost Brigades. I really liked his Old Man's War, and its a few years now since I read it but I had a sudden hankering to read the series, and so far I'm glad to have returned to it. Scalzi is an easy and entertaining read. He reminds me a bit of Resnick or Foster, in that the writing is beautifully clear and light, there's a sense of humour bubbling below the surface and pacing and plot are well done and exciting.

In case you are unaware, the last two 'books' in the series were published one chapter at a time before being published as complete books and, in my opinion, it shows badly. They felt to me very disjointed and episodic. Actually I should say it rather than they, as I only read The Human Division and I found that so bad (for other reasons as well) that I never picked up the last one - The End of All Things. Very disappointing.

 

[The Big Peat]

I've a massive soft spot for Feist, ignore flaws and plot inconsistencies I wouldn't with other authors, King of Foxes was one of his weaker books. Caspar was an annoying character, should never been giving the opportunity to redeem himself never mind a position of trust. He did loyal but i never trusted him, always expected a betrayal.

Spoiler

I thought that the next book, Exiles' Return, and King of Foxes was Tal kicking Kaspar off the cliff to begin with?

That aside - not sure I'd agree, although not sure I disagree either. I like redemption arcs. However, while I never found Kaspar annoying, I'm not sure his arc played out right. I think redemption should have taken a bit more. Although I always redemption should take more than the powers that be in this world think too...

In any case, it was one of the last Feist books I enjoyed a lot more than I didn't. I should re-read them some time, but I remember the series devolving into less jumping the shark and more a Super Mario clone featuring a stunt water-skiier evading every single shark in the world.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Not sff but just finished The Quality of Silence by Rosemary Lupton. Fantastic sense of place, nice thriller bits, and I learned loads about Alaska. Recommended.

 

[The Judge]

Spoiler

I thought that the next book, Exiles' Return, and King of Foxes was Tal kicking Kaspar off the cliff to begin with?

King of Foxes is the one where Tal first meets Kaspar and inveigles his way into his court, and is then sent off on a couple of missions to kill other people on Kaspar's behalf.

 

[The Big Peat]

King of Foxes is the one where Tal first meets Kaspar and inveigles his way into his court, and is then sent off on a couple of missions to kill other people on Kaspar's behalf.

I thought as much. I think nixie's given a spoiler for the next book... although I guess its on the blurb.

 

[nixie]

I thought as much. I think nixie's given a spoiler for the next book... although I guess its on the blurb.

Oh s#$$% I have sorry

My only excuse is I read it when it was released many moons ago, never reread unlike Magician.

I was never keen on Talon either.

 

[Danny McG]

I'm having another re-read today
Daniel O'Malley
Stiletto - the sequel to The Rook, like the first in the series there's a lot of unimportant seeming (at the time) little details that actually build up to the bigger picture.

A second reading gives me a chance to really absorb these, whereas in the first reading it's like "yeah, interesting, but what's happening to the main protagonist while I'm reading about a painting hanging in a walkway?"

 

[tobl]

I'm having another re-read today
Daniel O'Malley
Stiletto - the sequel to The Rook, like the first in the series there's a lot of unimportant seeming (at the time) little details that actually build up to the bigger picture.

A second reading gives me a chance to really absorb these, whereas in the first reading it's like "yeah, interesting, but what's happening to the main protagonist while I'm reading about a painting hanging in a walkway?"

it seems is going to be made into a series, Rook i mean at least

 

[williamjm]

I finished Dave Hutchinson's Europe at Midnight. After two books I'm not quite sure what to make of this series. It's often compelling, has some fascinating ideas and interesting characters but it can also be a bit frustrating at times. It often feels like the characters we are following are at the periphery of the huge events that are occurring and some of the more interesting events in the story seem to happen off-screen. I think to some extent this may be a deliberate attempt to show the futility of individuals trying to fight the system, but it can leave the story feeling a bit unsatisfying.

I read all Powers’ novels up to and including “Declare” (2001). My particular favourites were “The Anubis Gates” and “Dinner at Deviant’s Palace”. I thought they were really good. I’m afraid that each book since Deviant’s has impressed me less, but I still found them interestingly thought-provoking, and for that reason I persisted. Then I bought “Hide Me Among The Graves” and I completely lost all momentum for it without ever starting it, and it’s just sat on my bookshelf ever since. As a result I haven’t read either “Three days to Never” or “Medusa’s Web”. Can anyone encourage me to give “Hide Me Among The Graves” a try?

Looking on wikipedia I see that one of his early works “An Epitaph of Rust” has been reprinted in “Powers of Two”. I don’t think I’ve read that one. As I seem to prefer his earlier works, has anyone read that?

I liked Hide Me Among The Graves, I thought it was maybe the best of his post-Declare novels, I think the Victorian setting maybe suits him better than setting a book in the modern day. I wouldn't say it's necessarily radically different to his previous work so if you've read plenty of his books in the past you probably know roughly what to expect.

I've also read An Epitaph in Rust. I'd say it probably felt more like a Philip K. Dick story than a Tim Powers story. I think Powers was still learning his trade at the point he wrote it and it's not up to the quality of his later work.

You've reminded me I do need to read Dinner at Deviant's Palace at some point, I think it is the only one of his novels I haven't read yet.