November 2017; Reading Thread

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I just finished A Crown of Swords by Robert Jordan for the second time, book seven of The Wheel of Time in my quest to conquer this series for the first time. From what I remember of the portions of the two books I've read after Lord of Chaos is that I found the series taking a turn for the worse starting with this book, but in this reread I picked up on certain mysteries and happenings that resonated with me--despite Jordan's penchant for writing on and on about the relationship between men and women, the rearranging of skirts, and the pulling of braids, and other endless repetitions--this book did indeed possess certain high points and moments of intrigue that left me wanting to continue to press onward and discover exactly the meaning behind certain cryptic events. Now I'm on to The Path of Daggers, a book that I've never actually finished, so I'll be heading into new territory with this one.
 
Artemis - Andy Weir

After the huge success of "The Martian" following it up was always going to be a difficult ask. While there is a change in type of story, this time around it's a criminal capers on the moon, there is more than a passing resemblance to the original.

Jazz is a petty criminal who gets in over her head, but when schemes go wrong she "Sciences the sh*t out of things" in ways similar to Mark Whatney. So you have a likeable main character getting into trouble and teaching us about the moon, welding, the chemistry of Aluminium production etc etc. as opposed to potatoe growing on Mars. As a character she is charming, but i'm not sure how realistic she is..She is a very attractive, young muslim, who swears alot, likes a beer and apparently has a reputation for sleeping around, she certainly came across as a female character written by a man.

The world building and science of the moon base is interesting and feels authentic. You get enough little details to really imagine being there.

The main problem I had with the book is that with this supposed to be a heist movie but the pacing is off. It starts out slow and when things so wrong and the plot should be picking up speed, Weir spends too long explaining the science of air pressure in moon bases or the smelting point of metals etc. It slows things down a bit much.

Overall it's a ok book that is a quick read but I don't think it works as well as "The Martian". In the Martian it is a story of triumph over adversary, Mark is stranded there and does everything he can to survive against the odds. In this book all the problems that Jazz has to solve are of her own making.

The movie should be fun though.
 
Lucien21 said:
Artemis - Andy Weir

After the huge success of "The Martian" following it up was always going to be a difficult ask. While there is a change in type of story, this time around it's a criminal capers on the moon, there is more than a passing resemblance to the original.

Jazz is a petty criminal who gets in over her head, but when schemes go wrong she "Sciences the sh*t out of things" in ways similar to Mark Whatney. So you have a likeable main character getting into trouble and teaching us about the moon, welding, the chemistry of Aluminium production etc etc. as opposed to potatoe growing on Mars. As a character she is charming, but i'm not sure how realistic she is..She is a very attractive, young muslim, who swears alot, likes a beer and apparently has a reputation for sleeping around, she certainly came across as a female character written by a man.

The world building and science of the moon base is interesting and feels authentic. You get enough little details to really imagine being there.

The main problem I had with the book is that with this supposed to be a heist movie but the pacing is off. It starts out slow and when things so wrong and the plot should be picking up speed, Weir spends too long explaining the science of air pressure in moon bases or the smelting point of metals etc. It slows things down a bit much.

Overall it's a ok book that is a quick read but I don't think it works as well as "The Martian". In the Martian it is a story of triumph over adversary, Mark is stranded there and does everything he can to survive against the odds. In this book all the problems that Jazz has to solve are of her own making.

The movie should be fun though.
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didn't get into the book. too slow or something :)
 
Wesley Chu's The Rise Of Io has been finished and thoroughly enjoyed, next up is The Zero Stone - Andre Norton.
 
Talysia said:
Just picked up Patrick Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind, and I'm really enjoying it so far.
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tobl said:
yes it's very good. and the continuation also
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A fine conundrum, to which I have yet to find a satisfying answer: Do I buy into a series as soon as the first book is published or do I wait until all books are published, so I don't have to wait in between installments and maybe have to read all the previous books all over again, because after a-while I tend to forget the finer points of the plot. Especially if it gets complicated with lots of intrigue, mayhem and backstabbing, as fantasy sagas tend to be.

Somehow, I always fall for it and buy it book by book. Which has the above described drawbacks. Don't care to count how often I have re-read the Wheel of Time stuff. Especially the first three books or so. By all rights, I should be able to recite them by heart - if only I weren't an old guy with a memory failing as fast as my eyesight ... Oh, and I yet have to read the final two or three books of that series.

Or the Malazan Empire: Read the first four books and then hit the long wait in-between. By now, of course, the series is complete, but I can't get myself to read those first four again just to get started. Maybe I'll just buy them all and put them on my to-read shelf as a once-I-am-retired project?!

So, to close a long rant somewhat on topic: The Rothfuss books are eminently readable (though, as an aside, the one I loved most was the story that the author published to make the wait easier on us readers: The Slow Regard of Silent Things. He himself writes that it should not work, but oh boy, does it ever. Great stuff and masterfully written. Alas, you can only really appreciate it, if you have read the two "big'uns" before).
 
vanye said:
A fine conundrum, to which I have yet to find a satisfying answer: Do I buy into a series as soon as the first book is published or do I wait until all books are published, so I don't have to wait in between installments and maybe have to read all the previous books all over again, because after a-while I tend to forget the finer points of the plot. Especially if it gets complicated with lots of intrigue, mayhem and backstabbing, as fantasy sagas tend to be.

Somehow, I always fall for it and buy it book by book. Which has the above described drawbacks. Don't care to count how often I have re-read the Wheel of Time stuff. Especially the first three books or so. By all rights, I should be able to recite them by heart - if only I weren't an old guy with a memory failing as fast as my eyesight ... Oh, and I yet have to read the final two or three books of that series.

Or the Malazan Empire: Read the first four books and then hit the long wait in-between. By now, of course, the series is complete, but I can't get myself to read those first four again just to get started. Maybe I'll just buy them all and put them on my to-read shelf as a once-I-am-retired project?!

So, to close a long rant somewhat on topic: The Rothfuss books are eminently readable (though, as an aside, the one I loved most was the story that the author published to make the wait easier on us readers: The Slow Regard of Silent Things. He himself writes that it should not work, but oh boy, does it ever. Great stuff and masterfully written. Alas, you can only really appreciate it, if you have read the two "big'uns" before).
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i guess it depends on the question of the series. if it's like a trilogy it might be okay if the writer publishes one by year for instance. on the other hand if it's more time between... i had the luck to find some new authors with complete series and read them. others had already a few books in the series but then there's the wait problem. i don't think there's an answer. it's more a case by case circunstance. rothfuss for instance it's a trilogy but you have to wait 5 or 7 years or more for each book. john conroe publishes one or two a year. So, like i said there's no answer
 
Started to read this in earnest, no more jumping around. Halloween may be over but I want the thrills to continue:

Image (6).jpg
 
Today I set out on a re-read, it must be eighteen years or so since I last had a go at it (gave up at the time), Wyrms by Orson Scott Card.
Still in early chapters so I'm trying to get my head around the palace intrigues and world building.
 
Rereading Magician by Raymond Feist. I last read this in my early teens in the early 1980s (purchased in a newsagents in Betws y Coed) and loved it. I thought my 11 year old might like it so dug the book out. Started to read it to him but he wasn't interested so I carried on myself.

Anyway...

For a Young Adolescent this is an engaging and competent page-turner with plenty of excitement and epic spread. Coming back to the book 35-odd years later, from an occasionally more mature perspective, this is a sub-Tolkein load of codswallop which plumbs the depths of cliche in terms of plot, characterisation, and prose style. There really is much better YA fantasy out there.
 
Breezed through We Are Legion (We Are Bob). A light, fun read with lots of nerdy references. I liked it and bought the other two because it doesn't really have any kind of ending.

About 1/3 of the way through Paradox Bound by Peter Clines. His last two books were light reads and this is some more of the same.
 
Just finished reading Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. An overall enjoyable read, although I'd liken it a little to swiss cheese in that it's got some holes in it that you will likey spot yet the overall experience blends well into and enjoyable experience. And I should note that they are not plot holes, but more those elements of writing which suggest a less experienced writer, and it is indeed the authors first publication. I'll be eager to see where this heads and continue reading the sesries, especially as I think the change in the story as it advances will fill in some of those holes.

If anything I think the story would feel better if the author could have directly given more exploration of some of the core themes raised within the story so as to give them a more mature depth. The ending could have done with a bit more expansion as well as it seems to wrap up very neatly rather too quickly (though I should say that it is by no means an uneventfull ending and the story very much ends in a cliff ready for the next book, so it could be more a result of creating this moment as a breaking point with the expansion to come in the next book)



Ps writing on tablets takes ages!
 
Vince W said:
Just started The View From The Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman. A collection of his essays, introductions, and speeches. Rather entertaining so far.
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I have a couple of pieces left in that to read. I've found it entertaining and occasionally thought-provoking; Gaiman comes across as having a deep supply of empathy for others.


Randy M.
 
Well, I finally started David Weber's Safehold book #9; At the Sign of Triumph. .... I don't believe I've ever had lower expectations for a book, especially one of his. The book is think enough to be a Hebrew Lexicon. I've listened to about 30% of The Man of Legends by Kenneth Johnson. So far I find it very interesting and it could rise up to be a 5 star book for me.
 
hitmouse said:
Coming back to the book 35-odd years later, from an occasionally more mature perspective, this is a sub-Tolkein load of codswallop which plumbs the depths of cliche in terms of plot, characterisation, and prose style.
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Interesting - that's what I was expecting from The Magician, but I was pleasantly surprised. I guess it helps to start with low expectations. :)
 
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