tigersgogrrr wrote:

Gremill wrote:

3. Gideon the Ninth (Tamsyn Muir)
Second reading of this brilliant scifi/fantasy tale of necromancy, whodunnit murder, swords, skeletons, swearing, sarcasm and snark. Funny, action packed and fill of great characters in an interesting world.

Loved this so hard. Have you read Harrow? Very different style.

I'm 86% through it and loving it.

8.
Just finished The Passage by Justin Cronin.  This book has a belter of a first act.  I was entirely swept up in Amy’s (and her mother’s) story, and Carter’s and Wolgast’s too.  Just brilliant, compulsive stuff.  I was already eyeing the next two books in the trilogy.  Then that thing that happens happened, and we’re introduced to a slew of new characters, and there’s not a single interesting one among them.  Two more massive acts populated by bland, puddle-deep characters caught up in ridiculous plot contrivances.  What happened?  It started so, so well.  I’ve never read a book before where the quality nosedives this sharply.  Won’t be bothering with the next two now.

Got some Tamsin muir books, will give the a go. And flowers for Algi

9.
Reading outside my wheelhouse, have just finished Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy.  Good grief, I have to do this more often.  There’s a reason the author’s oeuvre has endured.  Beautiful prose, and it’s bursting with character and wit.  Will absolutely be reading more from him.

10.
Finished Kraken, which was this months book club choice.  I have opinions.

Welly well well, Flowers for Charlie now makes sense.

IASIP episode. Only started the book.

11.
Finished Smith of Wootton Major by J. R. R. Tolkien.  This is a slight but strangely haunting tale of how a tiny Faery star gets mixed into a cake at the Feast of Good Children, and of the boy who swallows it and,as he becomes a man, often goes walking across the borders and sometimes into the heart of Faery.  It wasn’t until I read the fairly extensive afterword by Verlyn Flieger that I discovered that this was the last story that Tolkien ever wrote, and I can’t say I’m at all surprised.  Tolkien was famously averse to allegory, but I couldn’t help but think of Smith’s wanderings in Faery as something analogous to adulthood, when we’re free to strike out into the world on our own, to see and do new things.  When Smith has the star taken from him in the end and he can no longer pass through the margins of Faery, his world shrinks again, just like it does when we get a little too old to do exactly as we please.  He would probably hate that reading, but that’s what I took away from it.  The story has a sadness about it.  Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this, but then I think I’m hardwired to enjoy anything written by Tolkien.

Sure. I just do a lot less telly watching and games playing.

I have to say that Gideon the Ninth has so far been thoroughly enjoyable and has actually made me chuckle out loud at some of the dialogue.

13.
Last night I finished Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky.  I.  Loved.  It.  I wasn’t as in love with Children of Time as many were, but this novella is much more my jam.  Very strange, and often quite funny.  It has a very easy flowing, conversational prose style, and I found myself very quickly absorbed into the weirdness of the story.  I would love to read more sci fi just like this.  Highly recommended.

I also read the short story It’s a Good Life by Jerome Bixby, which was later adapted into a Twilight Zone episode...twice: once for the original show and then again as one of the stories featured in the eighties film.  Turns out the original adaptation was incredibly faithful to the source material.  The premise: what if a child was born with unlimited power, and not understanding anything about the world or having the maturity to understand the consequences of their actions, how might they wield that power?  It’s brilliant and terrifying.

hylian_elf wrote:

1. A Game of Thrones (George R. R. Martin) - 4/2/21 So this was fine. Enjoyable enough read and held my attention all the way through. I like the structure, different chapters for different characters, and the different strands and arcs of the story. Ultimately, though, I didn’t think it was that special. Certainly not an all-timer like a lot of lists make out. I hear that it gets better with books 2 and 3, but then dips in quality with 4 and 5. I’ll give it a gap before tackling A Clash of Kings.

I read the first book several years ago and found myself quite nonplussed. There's a great deal happening and I remember relating its content to buddies in the pub and almost convincing myself it was better than I originally thought as I spoke. 

But I felt no desire to read on. I have no desire to watch the TV series either - although I do remember thinking it would make for good TV when I read the book. That could be the contrarian in me though - or maybe I felt that making it suitable for TV was by design which put me off it.

I remember reading some Dan Brown novels after reading his Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons (which while not great literature are good old page turner holiday reading) and feeling (it was called Digital Fortress which was before his Da Vinci success) he was writing for a film or TV series. It really put me off.

Allow me to recommend Digital Fortress

I got about a quarter of the way through Game of Thrones and gave up before the series was a thing.  I just don’t think most fantasy is for me.  As a rule it has to be weird as fuck for me to get invested.  Tolkien has spoiled me on traditional fantasy, Clive Barker has spoiled me on the darker, more out-there fantasy.

Tolkein was enough for me re the fantasy genre. I love the novels and the LoTR film adaption but I had no real desire to read anything else - anything I tried has felt derivative.

It's a hard act to follow.

I remember reading a book in a series that involved a planet that experienced a regular disaster when it came too close to another planet and it required dragon riders to intercept and burn up something that fell into the atmosphere. I was very young when I read it but it was an interesting idea - can't remember the name of the series now....