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| # | cover | title | author | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages | avg rating | num ratings | date pub | date pub (ed.) | rating | my rating | review | notes | recommender | comments | votes | read count | date started | date read |
date
|
date purchased | owned | purchase location | condition | format | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 085780426X
| 9780857804266
| 2.00
| 1
| Mar 01, 2012
| Mar 2012
|
 Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my BEDTIME STORIES list. I have a little boy and love reading to him, so this reading list will cover the classic (and new) children’s stories we’re enjoying together. I'm currently reading The Magic Faraway Tree to my son as his bedtime story. He's nearly one year old and I enjoy doing the voices and dramatic intonation while he has his last bottle. I couldn't find his book tonight - my wife had tidied up the baby's room - so I grabbed this as a back-up book. Bear's Magic Moon is a sweet little story, with lots of nice action words for emphasis during a read-aloud. Little Polar Bear is scared of the dark and wont go to the full-moon party. But then the Wise Old Bear makes her see the magic of the moon and she has a great party. The End. The pictures are very pretty. I had two issues with the book. The story is so short, that I could have read it twice before the baby finished his bottle, and that's with taking it slow with my best gentle-narrator voice. And the blurb on the back is gibberish! It's the same blurb that's listed for the book on Amazon (and here). Little Polar Bear is afraid of the dark. He won’t even go outside to see the moon with his dad. Wise Old Bear explains that the night can be very beautiful. But will Little Polar Bear believe him? Come and see how brave a bear can be in this magical, moonlit story.1) Little Polar Bear is a girl. 2) Wise Old Bear explains nothing. He just says, come outside into the dark and the little girl trusts him enough to face her fears. Only after she's already amazed by the full moon does the Wise Old Bear explain anything. 3) The question of whether Little Polar Bear does, or does not, believe the Wise Old Bear is never raised. It's a moot point. So why it features so prominently in the back-cover is beyond me. Madness, I tell thee. Udder madness. We have a few of these Igloo picture books that were given to us as a present for the baby and I'm looking forward to when he's old enough to look at the pictures with us - at the moment he quite likes turning the pages, but would rather tear them out than look at Bear's Magic Moon .(less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| May 08, 2013
| May 08, 2013
|
May 08, 2013
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 4.33
| 6
| Feb 05, 2013
| Feb 05, 2013
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list. Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front. In the interest of transparency, let me say this: the author, Marie, is a friend of mine. I’ve never reviewed a friend’s book before and I’ve been torn as to how to approach it. I want to do my bit to help promote the book because I’d love to see it do well - but then, countering that, is my honesty and integrity as a reviewer. I almost want to over-react to dispel all suggestion of a biased review by writing an analytical assassination of Qualia ’s flaws – but I’m not sure Marie would appreciate that! Rather than continue to confuse myself and fight to remain impartial and objective, let’s just agree now that I was a partisan fan from before I’d even received my copy of Qualia . Having said that, I won’t let my review collapse into boring, rose-tinted flattering drivel – I’m hoping that my extra insights into the writer, her history, life and interests, can provide an interesting perspective for potential readers. Qualia isn’t Marie’s debut novel – but it is her fantasy debut. Both her previous books, Narrow Margins and Narrow Minds, are humorous memoirs – and I recommend them unreservedly. Those books tell Marie’s own tale about how she reacted when the Rover car company went bust and took her successful IT support firm down with it. Rather than rebuild her comfortable suburban life, Marie chose to follow her (rather spontaneous) dream and move her family onto a fixer-upper canal boat, and permanently become ‘river rats’. It’s an eccentric, charming and heartfelt yarn about recognising, appreciating and fighting for happiness – whatever that word means for you. Now, sharing your own experiences, in your own voice with your own style, etc – that’s quite a different kettle of fishies from writing a work of fantasy fiction, and yet Marie has not played it safe. Qualia tells the story of Joe – a human minion working for the archangel Metatron. He’s your run of the mill, one foot in the supernatural world, messenger, courier, demon-killer, etc. But then (to paraphrase the Fresh Prince) his life gets twisted upside down. His latest job is a bit bigger than he’s used to: kill Lucifer (kind of). It turns out that when you get right down to the nitty-gritty, this whole Heaven and Hell, angels and demons, malarkey isn’t as simple as they’d have you believe, and once Joe gets the chance to chinwag with a few of Hell’s bigwigs, he starts to realise he’s been batting for the wrong side for a long time. So begins a frantic quest through the multiple dimensions of Hell to deliver an insurance salesman called Graham to Lucifer’s throne room before Metatron can erase the multiverse. Joe is helped in his mission by unusual allies - fallen angels, alien demons, his hot hippy neighbour, a dead psychic and her necro-bro, a dragon, a centaur, carnivorous goats, and more eclectic friendly faces – while he’s hounded the whole way by the bloodthirsty archangel Michael and his army, the angelic host. Its one hell of a ride (excuse the pun) and as Will.I.Am would say, it’s fresh, it’s dope, it’s a hoot! There are elements of Qualia ’s style comparable to Chris Moore and Marie Philips. Considering the subject matter, it’s not surprising I can see echoes from the Sandman and Lucifer graphic novels. There’s also an unmistakable urban fantasy influence from Jim Butcher. But when I tried to tell my wife what I thought Qualia was like, the strongest similarities struck me from the screen rather than the page – Kevin Smith’s film Dogma and Josh Wheedon’s classic TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. It’s that same blend of humour with supernatural action, clever but silly concepts delivered straight-faced with a wink. The humour here is a much more wry British sarcasm than outright gags, but there were plenty of chuckles from me. There are a lot of specific ideas I really enjoyed. Technically Joe is immortal, but this doesn’t mean he can’t be killed. Joe can most definitely be killed, with all associated pain; he just bounces back to life again later like some kind of sarcastic weeble toy. It makes him grouchy. I loved the way fairies (and dragons) were enfolded into the Christian mythos. The cute but lethal carnivorous goats were a definite crowd pleaser! Each of the different stages in the episodic descent into Hell were imaginative, challenging and interesting. I also thought the semi-sentient knuckle-dusters were a great weapon. There were dozens of nice little fantasy embellishments and flourishes that demonstrated a deep love of the genre. But what really stole the show were the characters. All of them are flawed but hugely likeable. My personal favourites were the necromancer, the centaur, the surfer-dude angel Rafael and big, bad Lucifer himself. It was the moments of doubt and hesitation that sold it to me – Belial’s guilt over those he couldn’t save from Hell when he evacuated, and over the children who died because he saved one monster too many. Lucifer’s sympathy for those condemned to Hell for suicide. And Joe’s own constant, niggling insecurities that make him such a reluctant hero made him a star for me (I’m a sucker for an anxious saviour). So what happened to the 5th star? I think Marie has just tried to do a little too much, too quickly. This book ends on an obvious hook to continue a series – but to me, the story feels like it’s come from a third or fourth instalment in an already existing series. There’s a lot of condensed explaining to do, about the how the system of faith/magic/multiverse works which wouldn’t have been necessary with a couple of prequel adventures to set the scene more gradually. This adventure is a real turning point for Joe, but we haven’t spent enough time with Joe as Metatron’s bitch for that to feel as significant as it should – again, I just feel the defection would have carried more weight had we been a couple of books in already. So it’s a solid 4-star recommendation from me. I think Marie’s done a smashing job with Qualia and it’s a really fun, quirky, imaginative ride. I think she should be hugely proud of what she’s accomplished and I can’t wait to see if she does continue the series (I hope she does!) If you do buy/borrow/steal a copy of Qualia and find yourself enjoying it – please drop Marie a line! She’s a truly lovely lady and has (after a little badgering) embraced her goodreads author account - I know she’d love to hear from you.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Feb 23, 2013
| Mar 31, 2013
|
Feb 11, 2013
| Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||||
| 0192728180
| 3.00
| 1
| Apr 02, 2009
| Apr 02, 2009
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my BEDTIME STORIES list. I have a little boy and love reading to him, so this reading list will cover the classic (and new) children’s stories we’re enjoying together. This books was given to Fin (my baby son) as a Christmas present. He's still at the age where books are good teething material (and he gave this one a damn fine gumming), but I still enjoyed reading him the story and showing him the pictures. It's a simple tale about a scared Goat who hears 'burglars' downstairs. He seeks the comfort of his friend, Donkey - but with Donkey missing poor little Goat leaps to the conclusion that Donkey must have been stolen by the burglars! Scared as he is, Goat plucks up his courage and goes bravely forth to confront the burglars (waving a stuffed Rabbitty) and rescue his missing friend. Of course, Donkey is just up getting a midnight snack - there were no burglars! Oh, how they laughed! The final illustration - the midnight feast they had to celebrate - is my favourite image of the book. The illustrations are quite lovely; pastel, beautifully shaded, and with a touch skill for expressive animal faces that reminded me of Nick Aardman's Grommit character (from the Wallace & Grommite claymation movies). The moral (as I see it) about childhood night-fears being groundless and worth facing down is a good and valid basis for a children's book, clear and well executed. I have no real complaints with the book. It's a good kids picture book - I just didn't love it enough to give it any more than three-stars. But if we pick up the rest of the series I could easily see G&D's adventures growing on me.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| not set
| Dec 31, 2012
|
Dec 31, 2012
| Paperback
| ||||||||||||||||
| 0868012327
| 9780868012322
| 4.21
| 7,337
| 1939
| 1984
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my BEDTIME STORIES list. I have a little boy and love reading to him, so this reading list will cover the classic (and new) children’s stories we’re enjoying together. My wife, Millie, and I are taking it in turns to pick bed-time stories for our baby boy, Fin. Winnie-the-Pooh was my choice and then to follow it, for her pick, we’ve just had The Enchanted Wood . I’ve already picked The Wind in the Willows to follow. Enid Blyton is a very familiar name to me, I must have read most of both the Famous Five and the Secret Seven stories as a child, but somehow The Faraway Tree series passed me by completely. I don’t think I’d ever heard of it before Millie began telling me about it. The premise is simple enough: a family from the city with three children (a boy and two girls) move out to the countryside. The children are told of an enchanted wood nearby and in that wood they discover a magic tree. Many magical folk live in the woods and up the tree, but at the very top of the tree is a ladder through the clouds to a magical land. The question is, which magical land will be through the clouds today? For it changes, quite regularly, you see. And you never know if the land through the clouds is nice or nasty – but you’re guaranteed an adventure! We picked up a copy of this book from a second hand book store in the Cardiff arcades and it was a modern re-print. I was only a few pages in when she started complaining that it wasn’t how she remembered it –two of the children’s names were different! She stole the book from me and started flicking through it – “she's called Dame Slap, not Dame Snap!” she muttered. Having never read the stories before I was none the wiser, but apparently at some point the books have been amended by the Politically-Correct Brigade. Determined that we stay true to her childhood nostalgia, Millie picked up her original copies of the series from her Grandmother’s house. I think this PC editing is all a bit over the top. They changed the little girls, Bessie and Fanny to Beth and Frannie (why bother?) and the evil schoolmistress, Dame Slap (who slaps naughty children) to Dame Snap. I’m sure there are other changes too – having now read the original book there are gollywog dolls and a pony called Blackie –I doubt those survived the editor’s scalpel. All of which, while quite interesting, is an odd subplot for a widely beloved children’s book - and quite apart from the magic of the story itself. Reading a book aloud gives you a different outlook on a writer’s style, its rhythm and meter, vocabulary and narrative flourishes. Blyton’s work is an absolute pleasure to read aloud, with a wonderful flow and even though dated, the language is infectious – I found myself using Blyton-esque phrases in regular conversation, “oh, how absolutely tremendous!”, “that’s a simply marvellous idea!”, etc. Some of the magical lands at the top of the tree were playful and imaginative and will stick with me – The Rocking Land, The Land of Take-What-You-Want and The Land of Birthdays. But some others seemed rather uninspired and forgettable – The Roundabout Land, The Land of Ice and Snow, The Land of the Saucepan Man, etc. Likewise, the characters who inhabit the enchanted wood and the faraway tree were a bit hit and miss for me. Moon-face – a bit weird. Silky – lovely! Mister Whatzisname and Dame Washalot – one note wonders. The Red Squirrel – cute. The Old Sacepan Man – annoying! As for the three children – I never developed different voices for them with my read aloud as I did with the characters of Winnie-the-Pooh because quite frankly they all spoke exactly the same way and had near identical characters. They’re all idealised clone-kids, (good, kind, considerate, hardworking, respectful, etc). Considering how many of these identikit kids Blyton uses in her stories , she must have had a production line churning them out… Famous Five + Secret Seven + Faraway Tree Three = the Fiction Factory Fifteen? Overall I did enjoy the experience of reading The Enchanted Wood aloud to my son as his nightly bedtime story, but I’m not convinced it ranks as an all-time great. I’m pretty sure Millie would like us to work through the whole series, so maybe it will grow on me, I’m certainly happy to give it a chance. (less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Dec 24, 2012
| Feb 10, 2013
|
Dec 24, 2012
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 159816015X
| 9781598160154
| 4.29
| 214
| Jan 01, 1999
| Aug 14, 2007
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list. Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front. Please note, the low score given here does not indicate this is a bad book – the story is sweet and the artwork is great – it’s just that I’m so wide of the target audience that I don’t really know what to make of it, and didn’t particularly enjoy it. (It’s not you, it’s me... ) Firstly, I don’t normally read manga, and Love Mode is panelled the original way, right to left. I started reading this one night, when I was already quite tired, and my brain just couldn’t get a handle on it. Pages right to left. Panels right to left. Words left to right. My eyes kept trying to read everything left to right, but I got there in the end. Secondly, this is a mid-series volume (book 6) which I was reading as a stand-alone – so we come in midway through a story arc with no backstory and no idea who anyone is. Again, confusing, but fine, just roll with it. Thirdly, this is ‘yaoi’ – something I’d never heard of before. To quote wiki, yaoi is: “female-oriented fictional media that focus on homoerotic or homoromantic male androphilic sexual relationships”. I’m a happily married guy with a baby boy: I have no problem with homoerotic manga, but nor do I have a secret passion for it. So how did I end up reading this? It was given to me as a gift. As a bit of quick background – I limit my to- read shelf, here on goodreads, to books I actually have here on the shelf. I keep that pool of books at 18 – three rows of six on the goodreads cover view. Once I finish a book, I pick a new book from that pool of 18 and order in something new to replace it. I’ve been making a concerted effort recently to clear some of the gifts out of my to-read shelf because otherwise they’d languish there indefinitely (and choke up my shelf). My wife’s best friend is currently dating the store manager of a manga and retro-gaming shop called Super Tomato. Before they started dating, I only knew him as they guy I bought N64 games from (I still have a working N64 and regard it as the golden age of gaming from my childhood). Turns out he’s got a bit of a dry, cheeky sense of humour and for my birthday he gave me a couple of N64 games and this volume of yaoi. I don’t think he expected me to ever actually read it – let alone be publicly reading it in a coffee shop when we met up last week. That tickled him. So now I’ve finished it. What can I say? The story concerns the owner of an exclusive club (The Blue Boy) where clients hire male escorts. This could be sleazy, but is portrayed as classy and liberating. The first short story is about the owner’s brother and lover getting caught up and taken hostage during an armed robbery. The second is a flashback story about an innocent and terminally ill client. Then there’s a wrap-up. The End. My wife got excited about the gay sex scenes. My overriding reaction was... meh.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| May 10, 2013
| May 18, 2013
|
Nov 12, 2012
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 0451464400
| 9780451464408
| 4.50
| 16,284
| Nov 27, 2012
| Nov 27, 2012
|
A man cannot live on award winning Sci-Fi alone! Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it...more A man cannot live on award winning Sci-Fi alone! Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my SERIES list. I loves me a good series! But I'm terrible for starting a new series before finishing my last - so this reading list is all about trying to close out those series I've got on the go. My wife and I got to know each other by chatting over books on our lunch breaks. Once we’d established that we had similar tastes, we started lending each other books and then meeting up for after work drinks to discuss them. Then I stole her away from her fiancé and (exactly two years later) married her myself. Shortly after she moved in with me, I started a new job with a film company in London, with an hourly train commute each way. She started lending me the Dresden Files and I devoured them on those train rides. Because she already owned the lot, I didn’t have to wait between each delicious fantasy-detective morsel and fully immersed myself in Harry’s adventures, one after the next. The first few books of the series are about Harry establishing himself and Butcher establishing the wider magical world he inhabits. Then we get a stronger series thread weaving in with the war against the Red Court, leading up to the epic, dramatic climax of book twelve, Changes . The follow-up to that, book thirteen, Ghost Story , left a fair amount of fans cold but I was prepared to be a little more forgiving. For the series to keep going and growing, Butcher needed to hit the reset button and boot-up with a fresh campaign. He laid the groundwork for that in Ghost Story , showing that the world as we knew it would go-on without Harry, leaving him free to step up to the next stage. In Cold Days , Dresden’s new campaign really gets up and running. In the previous books Harry was an impetuous youngster, often underestimated by his more powerful and experienced opponents. Nobody will make that mistake again! Harry is now a real power-player, able to go toe-to-toe with the big boys, and welcomed into the inner circle of a secret war. It’s not a perfect book – because there are a lot of new developments to work through we end up with more condensed plot advancement and exposition than rests easily within the Dresden Files standard framework (it feels a touch like it’s bursting at the seams). And in a way, it’s a kind of sad development – Harry has now outgrown his allies – which means some of the wonderful cast we’ve come to love don’t have much to offer (except moral support). But Cold Days is still a tremendously fun book! Anyone who’s made it this far in the series isn’t going to stop any time soon – and it’s such a beloved, familiar world that dipping back into the series is like coming home from a long trip, or relaxing into a warm bath – comfortable and cosy and delightful.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Dec 24, 2012
| Jan 06, 2013
|
Oct 20, 2012
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 0416168604
| 9780416168600
| 4.32
| 103,693
| 1926
| 1979
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my BEDTIME STORIES list. I have a little boy and love reading to him, so this reading list will cover the classic (and new) children’s stories we’re enjoying together. My baby son is six months old and as part of his bedtime routine we're reading him stories. I was pleasantly surprised to discover a new love for reading aloud - doing the voices, the dramatic intonation, etc. I've owned this copy of Winnie The Pooh since I was very young myself - and despite a comfortable familiarity with the characters, Christopher-Robin, Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Rabit, Owl, Kanga and Roo... I found that I wasn't familiar with their specific adventures. I found myself wondering if I'd ever actually read the book before? I really liked it! I've found myself growing inordinately fond of old Pooh bear, especially when he goes sailing in an upside-down umbrella. Eeyore, oh Eeyore! So happy to put the popped balloon in and out of the honey jar on his birthday! Little Piglet, jumping out of Kanga's pouch to say "ah-hah!" to no effect! They're a wonderful little gang, which is, I suppose, why they're such a famous and beloved little gang. I found myself throughout, after each little adventure, stopping to say "but where's Tigger? Maybe he turns up in the next adventure." But he never did! We shall have to read more stories and see when he arrives... Sadly, my wife was not such a big fan. She -*outrage*- thinks Pooh's stories are boring! Despite these nonsense ramblings I've bowed to her demands and the next book we're reading our sprog is her choice, Enid Blyton's The Enchanted Wood (the first book in The Faraway Tree series). I've already pegged The Wind in the Willows to follow, so it may be some time before we return to Christopher-Robin and friends - but thanks to the great times we had here, I'm determined that we will. *note* Following Richard's comment that Tigger shows up in the next book, I've added The House at Pooh Corner to my basket for the next time I place an Amazon order =D(less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Nov 06, 2012
| Dec 15, 2012
|
Sep 28, 2012
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 0416169805
| 9780416169805
| 3.92
| 62,658
| 1908
| Oct 01, 1971
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my BEDTIME STORIES list. I have a little boy and love reading to him, so this reading list will cover the classic (and new) children’s stories we’re enjoying together. Wind in the Willows is a funny old book, isn’t it? The adventures of Ratty, Mole and the Toad; they didn’t make much of an impact on me during my childhood. I read the book, I liked it well enough, I remembered the characters, but that was about it – it was never a favourite. I think I got a lot more out of it as an adult, reading it aloud in bitesize chunks to a drowsy baby, every night for a couple of months. It gave me time to ponder the book between readings. But I still think it’s a funny old book. I mean, we start off focused on Mole as he ventures out from his underground home, befriends the Water Rat and discovers the gently joy of the riverside life in springtime. Ratty and Moley then potter about the countryside together, meeting the different folk who live thereabouts. The focus drifts over to Toad, who – I have to agree with my wife – is a bit of a tool. Toady has a big adventure on his own, and then teams up with Ratty and Mole (and the Badger, of course) for the final big showdown. It’s all terribly episodic; it’s great for a bedtime story as most chapters reach their own conclusion, but the plot (such as it is) is all over the place and never really builds up much momentum until Toad goes off on his grand adventure. But somehow that doesn’t matter – the plot is not the important thing here. What shines through on almost every page, in some beautifully evocative, vivid and sometimes poetic description, is a passionate and articulate adoration for the British countryside, nature and the changes of the seasons. I grew up in a green and leafy suburb and my favourite place to escape away to was a quiet little lake in the woods – so I can certainly appreciate the sentiment. But Grahame goes far above and beyond that; there’s no talk of religion in this book, but there is a god (small G) – Pan – and nature is the religion here. Looking at Wind in the Willows as a fantasy novel is somewhat confusing – the internal logic is more dreamy than scientific. These characters are animals... who walk upright, talk, dress and act like people. But they also keep animals who act like animals – Toad has a working carthorse and a pet canary, neither of which talk or wear clothes, etc. But they do live in a world dominated by humans, Toad steals a man’s car and gets sent to a human prison in a human city, guarded by humans. And humans keep animals as pets – the jailor’s daughter would like to keep Toad as a pet, but doesn’t tell him so because he’s too proud. And these talking animals of ours, eat the same food as humans – often processed food, made from animals – which is a confusing ethical dilemma. Then there’s the issue of scale and size. To some degree, the characters reflect the sizes of the animals which are their namesakes –eg, Badger and Otter are larger than Mole and Ratty. But at other times, the scale is confusing – Toad rides a stolen horse comfortably, and escapes the city dressed as a washer woman – so he seems to be in-scale with humans, and he’s of a similar size to his friends, ergo they’re all human sized. But a human sized Rat living in a hole in the riverbank seems... grubby. Whereas a rat sized rat, wearing little human clothes, living in a hole in the riverbank is... romantic? Sexism. Where are the women? Only two female characters appear in the whole book – and they’re both humans! Where are all the animal-women? We meet a wide array of talking creatures – mole, rat, toad, badger, otter, weasel, stoat, rabbit, hedgehog, mouse and bird – but all male. There’s mention of female family members, but they’re never seen. And there’s one particular scene (I didn’t note down when, I’m afraid) when the boys are sitting discussing the day’s events and dinner is bought to them. By whom, may I enquire? I get the feeling the women are all there, doing the women’s work, but invisible. It’s like a world of Oxford dons, wrapped up in their own little tweed worlds, boating on the river, while the common life drifts beneath their attention. If you get the feeling I’m overly critical of this classic story – I’m not really (hence the four-star rating) – but as I said at the beginning, it’s just a funny old book! If you find yourself reading it in the near future – try rolling some of the sentences around your mouth, rather than reading it all inside your head – there’s a real music and magic to the words. The Wind in the Willows made bedtime stories feel like a performance – one I greatly looked forward to! (less) | Notes are private!
| none
|
1
| Feb 12, 2013
| Apr 27, 2013
|
Sep 27, 2012
| Hardcover
| |||||||||||||||
| 0575105828
| 9780575105829
| 4.17
| 15,909
| Nov 08, 2011
| 2011
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my FINISHING THE SERIES! list. I loves me a good series! But I'm terrible for starting a new series before finishing my last - so this reading list is all about trying to close out those series I've got on the go. When I first heard that Sanderson had written this book, my initial reaction was of cynical disappointment. I mean, the original Mistborn trilogy closed itself in a satisfying and definitively final way – the only explanation I could think of for tacking on another novel was to try and cash in on the series’ success. I’m very relieved to discover that’s not that case (and I’m sorry for ever expecting the worst of you, Mr Sanderson). I was fascinated to read, in the author’s introduction, that Sanderson has planned a trilogy of trilogies in the Allomantic world. We’ve already had the first trilogy, set in past, and he’s got two more to go, one set in a modernish world and a third set in a futuristic world – all linked by the wonderful blood/metal magic system of the mistborn. The Alloy of Law is not the start of the planned second trilogy, it seems to have grown organically from the planning phase of that series – a surprise baby, if you will. If you've never read Mistborn, the basic premise of Sanderson's magic system is this: metal gives you magical powers. You can eat metal and burn it inside you to give you magical powers. You can wear metal against your skin and store natural abilities for later recall. The iconic usage is 'pushing' against metal objects to throw yourself into the air. Or pushing metal objects at enemies as projectiles. While this magic was fun in the original fantasy series, it gets a reboot here with the introduction of guns. Magic that turns people and random objects into projectiles... combined with projectile weapons! The Alloy of Law is a (gun) barrel full of fun! Start with a pistol slinging spaghetti Western sheriff Supercharge him with metal-pulling and weight-changing magic Dump him into a steampunk fantasy city Give him a smart-mouthed klepto sidekick Confront him with an unkillable enemy Insert a little love interest A dash of family intrigue BOOM – paperback magic! It’s quick to get into, difficult to put down, and leaves you wanting more. The Alloy of Law isn’t an amazing story, nor is it incredible writing. But Sanderson has powerful knack for crafting mighty likeable characters, and this is a popcorn-perfect, adventure-ride experience. And I'm a big fan of the allomancy action sequences - they're tremendously kinetic and imaginative, like two brightly coloured marbles having a gunfight in a pinball machine. I’ve not yet read a Sanderson I didn’t like – and I still have The Way of Kings waiting for me on a shelf somewhere. Happy days!(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Apr 2013
| Apr 08, 2013
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Jun 16, 2012
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 0747562105
| 9780747562108
| 3.95
| 138,183
| Aug 04, 2002
| unknown
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my LOCUS Y-A list. I think I’ll always have a soft-spot for imaginative young-adult speculative fiction and as the good people at Locus did such a grand job with picking their Sci-Fi winners, I’ll trust them to single out some special y-a books too. When I pulled up the list of previous Locus Y-A Award winners, I wasn’t surprised to see Coraline taking the 2003 prize. It’s one of those books that I had been meaning to get around to reading since it came out but never quite got to before the film came out in 2009. I probably would have picked it up sooner, if it wasn’t for the huge success of the film - I know that may sound counter-intuitive, but with the movie still fresh in my mind, I didn’t want to go into the book with my imagination pre-programmed. Having left it a few years, it was now possible to read the book on its own terms, without hearing Dakota Fanning’s voice coming out of Coraline’s mouth or picturing the world through Selick’s stop-motion interpretation. And, golly-gee, it was worth the wait! I think what grabbed me first was the scarcity of the descriptions. Gaiman does a marvellous job of conveying much while saying little. It would have been easy to tunnel down into many of these moments to build depth, tension and atmosphere, etc – in fact, that’s normally one thing I love a good writer doing – but Coraline is the work of a master storyteller. Reading it is like catching in the distance the melody of a complex pop song played on pan-pipes – it’s been stripped down to the bare essentials, but remains just as likely to get stuck in your head and your own mind does all the extra imaginative work, fleshing out the skeleton. Having said all that, the little details that Gaiman does embellish his tale with are vivid and evocative, imbuing his titular character and her world their own clear and quirky style. Much like a few eye catching pieces of jewellery (or some dayglo green gloves and wellington boots that look like frogs) can really set-off an outfit. Coraline herself is a wonderful heroine and I’ve come to the conclusion that her attitude is perfect for this story. She is so very matter-of-fact and quietly determined, in complete contrast to the dark whimsy of the other-world. In my review of The Graveyard Book (which is a cut from similar cloth) my only complaint was that the hero of that story, a young boy called Nobody Jones, was a too much an ‘everyman’ character, easily identified with but lacking a bit of sparkle himself. I was tempted to make the same complaint in Coraline – surely a girl with a bit of sass would have captured my heart more? I’m a sucker for a sassy girl. But on reflection, I’ve decided that Coraline is just right the way she is. If she’d had more fun with her adventure – treated it like playtime, like a complicated game – it would have lost a lot of its weight. But Coraline is serious, stubborn and independent, she’s not fazed by the threat the other-mother poses, but she takes it at face value and deals with it on its own terms. That grounded, sober perspective keeps the story firmly balanced, and curtails any risk of it drifting into the talking-animals and fairytale-baddies children’s fantasy pigeonhole. While we’re mentioning talking animals though – both the cat and the rats were highlights for me! I have three cats and I’m sure Gaiman must a lot of experience with cats, because he’s got the cat-itude spot-on. I looked at that last line and thought, this is the era of the internet – all the information of the world is at my fingertips! So I Googled “does Neil Gaiman have a cat?”, found my way to the “cats” tag on his blog and fished out this quote: “There used to be seven cats in this house. There were always seven cats. As one died off or went walkabout, never to return, another would turn up at the back door.”Yes, this man knows his cats! And it shows. And I loved every scene involving the-cat -with-no-name. Here are a couple of quotes, because they are smile-worthy. “What's your name,' Coraline asked the cat. 'Look, I'm Coraline. Okay?' “The cat wrinkled its nose and managed to look unimpressed. "Calling cats," it confided, "tends to be a rather overrated activity. Might as well call a whirlwind.”And then there are the rats. I’ve read a few books recently with talking rats. Wind in the Willows , with good old Ratty. Thomas , with its evil (but stupid) minion rats. The Amazing Maurice , with its brave, magic Discworld rats (go, go, Dangerous Beans!). All three of these present their rats as small, furry people - but Coraline does not. The rats are something like an elemental evil. Like the spirit of treachery embodied. Or the essence of malignancy made flesh. They’re genuinely creepy! Which brings us nicely on to the buttons: will I ever look at buttons the same way? I think not. There is a beads and buttons shop in the Cardiff arcades, and every time I walk past I see the ghosts of a thousand other-mothers in their window display. Best subversion of a standard household object ever. Come here Coraline, so I can sew buttons into your eyes and you can stay and love me forever! Yuk, yuk, yuk! Creepy as cockroaches under your skin. Pure ick. Keely makes a good point about Gaiman’s body of work as existing as a modern reimagining of classic myth types. “He took inspiration from Fairy Tales in Stardust, from European myth in American Gods, and African myth in Anansi Boys. Though Morpheus was no small man, the individual story arcs dealt with normal folks. Sandman and Good Omens worked off of Christian mythos, while Neverwhere created myths from modern symbols”I (obviously) disagree with Keely’s conclusion - that Coraline , standing outside of an obvious storytelling tradition is worse off for lacking the genre savvy play of his other work. I’ve been thinking about how I’d classify the inspiration behind Coraline , and the phrase that’s come to mind is “domestic horror”. When you’re little, your parents warn you about the dangers of life. Don’t run with scissors. Don’t play with matches. Don’t take sweets from stranger. Pratchett riffed off the fears these warnings can create in Hogfather (the thumb-suckers thumb-cutting ostrich-scissor-monster?) – and it’s that same riff I feel running through Coraline . Don’t play with the sewing box, you might hurt yourself. Don’t play with rats, they might bite. Don’t wish for another mother or your other-mother will sew buttons into your eyes. Or perhaps the moral is for the parents? Ignore your child too much and she may just run away to someone more attentive... who may take advantage and hurt her. Try and ignore that thought when you wave your kids away to ‘go play’ because you’re too busy, huh? It’s a cracking little book. So why only four stars? Because it’s teeny. It’s barely a novella. To get a full five stars I need something I can sink my teeth into. This was delicious, but I was still hungry when I finished. (less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Mar 09, 2013
| Mar 11, 2013
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Jun 16, 2012
| ||||||||||||||||
| 055255202X
| 9780552552028
| 3.99
| 14,268
| 2001
| Jul 23, 2013
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my FINISHING THE SERIES! list. I loves me a good series! But I'm terrible for starting a new series before finishing my last - so this reading list is all about trying to close out those series I've got on the go. I remember being given a copy of Reaper Man when I was a wee boy. When Death took on the prototype mechanical harvester, my first major author-crush began and it's never let-up. In my teenage years I re-read my favourite Discworld books so many times that their spines cracked and pages fell out. Sir Terry will always be an idol, an icon and a source of inspiration. But somehow this one passed me by. I think it's because it's a stand-alone within the Discworld universe, and those have never been my favourites. Also, I'm not yet sold on the young-adult Discworld books. Before The Amazing Maurice I'd only read The Wee Free Men and I wasn't convinced, so I felt little urgency to grab a copy. This is a good book! It's a great concept (talking cat, rats and sidekick human boy scamming villages as a rat plague and the Piper). It's funny. It's got great dark touches for a y-a book. It explores corners of the Discworld map that hadn't been fully tapped. Maurice is a great character. Dangerous Beans is an amazing name! The Mr Bunsy satire element is done superbly. As a huge Pratchett fan, I would read his descriptions of paint drying. This - this goes down like cold lemonade on a hot summer day. I devoured this book like it was covered in Nutella. So why only three stars? (This is almost an exact parrot of Dan's review) - but the rat-king felt tacked on at the end. Great scenes for sure, but the story felt more episodic than cohesive. - Keith, (Maurice's pet human) just never got more that a 'meh' from me, my heart was all with the rats come the end. - had I read it back when I was young, we might have gelled better, but as it was I felt like I was standing outside the story-circle, imagining how a youngster would enjoy it, rather than being truly gripped myself. I've only got a couple more Discworld books I've not read, both part of the Tiffany Aching y-a series. And then I will (after many years of negligence) be 100% up-to-date with the series! (less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Sep 13, 2012
| Sep 17, 2012
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Jun 16, 2012
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 0671017837
| 9780671017835
| 4.24
| 5,247
| Jan 01, 1998
| unknown
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list. Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front. If you’ve never read any of Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga – what are you waiting for? They’re great! However, I wouldn’t recommend making this your first. It’s not the kind of series you have to start at the beginning (I came in at book nine and loved it) but, to me, Komarr has the feel of the middle book in a trilogy, a smaller arc within the bigger series. If you’ve read one or two other books in Vorkosiverse - this is Miles’ first adventure since Memory, where he embarked upon his new career as a Galactic Auditor. He’s kind of like a trouble-shooting detective with the authority of the Emperor. Miles is still settling into his new role, trying to find the balance between effective use and reprehensible misuse of his power. In this case, Miles is called in to investigate a massive space accident that has damaged the planet Komarr’s soletta array (terrorist-with-secret-weapon shenanigans ensue). If you’re familiar with the broad path of the series – this is “The one where Miles falls in love.” Miles has been in love before –at the end of Komarr he even reels off a list of all the people he’s fallen for in the past. But watching Miles falling in love has never been the main focus before, it’s always been a subplot or distraction – but Bujold handles it remarkably well, this isn’t a romance in any conventional fashion. Ekaterin is no Quinn, nor is she a Taura - those are the wild girls from Miles’ past I was most fond of. Ekaterin is an unhappily married Vor lady with an eight year old son. She’s living on Komarr (not her home planet) and married to a Barayaran Administrator who is a complete tool, on both a personal and professional level. Miles meets her through the course of his investigation and is slowly bewitched by her. The perspective flip-flops between Miles and Ekaterin throughout the story as he tries to stay focused on his case rather than the dame, and she tries to change her life somehow. The twist comes during an accident: her husband is killed and the case breaks. Both aspects of the story pick up the pace before combining in a climax dominated by Ekaterin, not Miles; it’s the last straw for Miles and he is irrevocably smitten. My favourite quote came right at the end: “She had met the enemy, mastered her moment, hung three hours on death’s doorstep, all that, and she’d emerged still on her feet and snarling. Oversocialized, hah. Oh, eah, Da. I want this one.” It was easy to enjoy Komarr : Miles is one of my favourite characters and hanging out with him is delight. But Ekatarin was new to me, and although she grew on me as the book progressed, it wasn’t love at first sight. She’s complex, brave and strong by the end – but she’s timid, scared, insecure and joyless at the start. So it took me a little longer than normal to become enthralled. At one point I wondered if this might be my first Vorkosigan Saga to get just three-stars from me, but then it pulled round on the upward curve and thundered past the finishing line a very strong four-star rating. I finished it on my break at work today and had a big grin in the canteen – very tempting to just read straight on to the next in the series as I know my wife has bought it! Bujold’s strongest card is her characterisation, closely followed by her dialogue – and they shine as brightly as ever here. Miles case just isn’t his most fascinating and the supporting cast isn’t half as strong – no Marc, no Cordelia, no Gregor, no Ilyan, no Dendarii, etc. So Komarr is not my favourite of the series (that’s still Mirror Dance), but I still enjoyed it thoroughly and highly recommend. Komarr was a gift from my Grandmother-in-Law, along with two other Bujold novels she picked up for a combined price of £5 from a second-hand book stall. Thanks Nanny-B!(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Apr 22, 2013
| May 2013
|
Jun 16, 2012
| ||||||||||||||||
| 0671016075
| 9780671016074
| unknown
| 4.42
| 5,573
| 1996
| unknown
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list. Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front. A few weeks ago I came down quite suddenly with the Norovirus which has swept across the UK this winter. One minute I was in bed complaining of a slight stomach ache, the next I was passing out on the bathroom floor after hurling into the sink, bath and finally toilet. My wife had some big exams coming up, so rather than nurse me she threw a bag and the baby into a taxi and went to stay with friends. Because I couldn’t even keep water down, I quickly became dehydrated and my fever spiked. Have you ever had fever dreams? Weird aren’t they? I work for a finance company and had recently finished Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold . I was having very vivid dreams, trying to explain to Tyrion Lannister that I couldn’t approve his loan because he’d recently left his position as the King’s Hand, and we couldn’t lend to unemployed customers. I also had to turn down Daenerys Targaryen because she didn’t have three years residency in Westeros. Once reality had reasserted itself (and my body would accept water again), I still needed a couple of days of quiet recovery. This book was a way down my reading list, but it was the one that found its way into my shaking hand and kept me company between my many naps. If you’ve never read any of the Vorkosigan Saga: 1) You lucky person, you have such a treat waiting for you – they’re great! 2) Don’t start with Memory . This is very much a transition story. Up to this point Miles has been a quirky (but brilliant) space adventurer; a pintsize aristocrat officer working as an undercover intelligence agent, posing as a mercenary admiral. In this book – that all stops. So if Miles is no longer Admiral Naismith, who is he? That’s the central question of this book. Everybody is moving on with their lives – Elena and Baz set the tone at the start when they tell Miles they’re retiring from the mercenary fleet to start a family, and then Emperor Gregor is falling in love too! Miles has been through so much, and what (aside from his wits) has he got to show for it? The pace and intensity is lower here than some of the previous adventures. This is a lot more of a reflective, contemplative Miles that we’re used to. But he still needs an adventure, he can’t just brood – and the story here is predominantly a detective case, investigating who sabotaged the memory-chip in Simon Ilyan’s head (Miles ex-boss). But this slower pace is no bad thing – Bujold is a character-centric writer, and taking her foot off gas with the plot twists allows her time to dig deeper into the cast’s psyche – something she does very well indeed. I often find that my state of mind plays a huge part in how much I enjoy a book. Recovering from the Norovirus could have been a very tiring and lonely time – but Miles Vorkosigan has joined that elite group of fictional characters who feel like old friends in my head. He was going through a tough time in Memory , and I was doing likewise in Cardiff – it felt like we helped each other through it. My admiration for Bujold grows with each and every book I read. I've got Komarr lined up a few books down my reading list and I'm certainly looking forward to it!(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Jan 21, 2013
| Jan 22, 2013
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Jun 16, 2012
| |||||||||||||||
| 0671578294
| 9780671578299
| 4.19
| 4,237
| 1989
| Sep 01, 1999
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list. Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front. I had scheduled this to be read several weeks ago, but my darling wife (who I've gotten utterly hooked on the wonderfully addictive Vorkosigan Saga) beat me to it. Then she lost the book. Thanks, sweet-pea! My parents came to visit recently which sparked a mad scramble to tidy the old homestead, and the missing book turned up under a box of baby toys. With teeth marks in it. That's teeth, plural - my boy has two now! I've never been a huge fan of short stories and novellas (check out my short-stories shelf, it's pretty understocked). Once a story starts to carry me, we build up some momentum together and when it's good the pages flicker past without me really noticing... Short stories never build the same kind of momentum, and never really aim to, and that leaves me kind of cold. Usually. Not so here. This is a collection of three Miles novellas, bound together (loosely) with a bit of Miles/Illyan banter about mission budgets - sounds fascinating, I know, but it suffices as a bridging device. Plus, it gives Miles a bit of distance on these stories for a couple of heart-ouchie zingers in his reflections. Now, it's worth mentioning (if you've not heard me say it before) that I'm reading this fourteen (so far) book saga out of order. Neither print order or internal chronological order. As such, I may know a character or location from a later adventure without really understanding where the significance comes from. It means I've taken each book at face value, and enjoyed them tremendously, but I also take great delight in joining the dots in the backstory. As I said, this book compiles three novellas, and Bujold simply cannot write a bad story: The Mountains of Mourning - a young, newly graduated Miles is looking for some fun on leave before being assigned. Instead he ends up travelling into the hillbilly mountains of his home district, to act as judge and jury in a case of baby-murdering. Sounds grim, huh? It cuts even closer to the heart for Miles, as the baby was killed for being a 'mutie', a planetary prejudice/hatred which Miles himself has battled against his whole life. This is Miles in detective mode, and young enough to be fretful. This is my favourite story of the three, and for me it filled in the question mark a later book, Memory , had left, when Miles returns to the site of the baby's grave during his mid-life crisis. Labyrinth - the rescue of Taura! Where did Taura come from? What was their romantic relationship? What did Miles do to piss of Ryoval quite so bad? These are questions I'd had hanging in the air ever since I read my first Vorkosigan Saga novel, Mirror Dance . This is miles as Admiral Naismith, thinking fast as leaving the world eating dust. Pure class. Borders of Infinity - the Dagoola IV rescue mission. Miles walks into a prison camp, friendless and naked. The prisoners (of war) have had their spirits broken, they're fighting each other, and the only one willing to chat with Miles is half mad. But still Miles saves the day, with just his brilliant brain and his balls of steel. You've gotta love this guy! (My wife tells me there's a great echo from the end of this novella in Komarr , but I haven't read that yet) The Mountains of Mourning was my favourite because it left the old heart strings thrumming, but the other two are just popcorn-pleasure -reading, sci-fi-adventure-nuggets. Yum-may. This Borders of Infinity collection is a very worthwhile addition to the Vorkosiverse.(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Jan 20, 2013
| Mar 09, 2013
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Jun 16, 2012
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 4.28
| 401,777
| Jan 1985
| 2002
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my HUGO WINNERS list. This is the reading list that follows the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I loved reading the Locus Sci-Fi Award winners so I'm going to crack on with the Hugo winners next (but only the post-1980 winners, I'll follow up with pre-1980 another time). According to Goodreads, Ender’s Game is the book most frequently shelved as ‘science-fiction’ or ‘sci-fi’. Since I joined Goodreads, Ender’s Game is the book most frequently recommended to me by friends here. Thank-you, Goodreads and co, for your part in introducing me to Ender’s Game ; we got along splendidly. You know that feeling: when a book just feels right? When you instantly feel at home in this world? When you get annoyed with the real world for introducing upon your time together? When you want to start all over again the moment you hit ‘the end’? When you want to bounce up and press the book into someone else’s hands so they might feel the way you do? Yeah? Like that. Oddly enough, I started with book two in Ender’s Saga – Speaker for the Dead – which is a very, very different book. I’ve given them both 5-stars, and I’m pretty excited to see what other twists and turns the story takes. I’ve seen some complaints that the series gets weaker as it goes along, but I’ve also seen people complain about the first two, and for me they were flawless victories – so I’m disregarding all naysayers and holding strong to my own opinion as shameless fanboy so far. Quite simply, Ender is awesome. The scenario he faces is awesome. The challenges he overcomes are awesome. The climax is awesome. The fallout is awesome. The only thing that wasn’t awesome was the slightly contrived way the Hive Queen is delivered to Ender – that felt clunky – but by then there was so much momentum on this wave of awesome-sauce that I was in a forgiving mood. I don’t have much to say in terms of critical discussion – I totally threw my analytical hat away about three pages into Ender’s Game and just immersed myself in the story. And I had a great time! It’s... extremely accessibly sci-fi. Super-smart, heart-of-gold kid, smacks down the bullies, teaches himself to be a military genius, shoulders the pressure and responsibility of the world, then saves mankind by kicking-ass at videogames. Hell yeah! The zero-gee battle games (which make up a big part of the story) are a bit a childhood fantasy for me. It’s basically zero-gee laser-quest. It talks directly to my ten-year-old inner child. I had dodgy knees as a child and struggled to run in team games – but I dreamt about zero-gee. This next sentence should be written in giant, flashing capital letters but I’m going to exercise all the restraint I have: I want to play! I understand that Orson Scott Card has publicly said some reprehensible things and that’s massively pissed some people off. Fine: the guy is a douche and I won’t recommend him as a dinner-party guest. But his work is superb and I would whole-heartedly recommend Ender’s Game to anyone with any interest (at all) in sci-fi! Wiggin FTW! Woo!(less) | Notes are private!
| none
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1
| Apr 08, 2013
| Apr 14, 2013
|
Jun 16, 2012
| Mass Market Paperback
| |||||||||||||||||
| 0671720147
| 9780671720148
| 4.23
| 6,826
| Jan 01, 1990
| Sep 01, 1990
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my HUGO WINNERS list. This is the reading list that follows the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I loved reading the Locus Sci-Fi Award winners so I'm going to crack on with the Hugo winners next (but only the post-1980 winners, I'll follow up with pre-1980 another time). Long-running series should, ideally, be read in the internal chronological order. Unfortunately, Maestro Bujold did not write her epic Vorkosigan Saga in the obvious order – she’s jumped back and forth in the timeline with each successive book. Under these circumstances, fans that have been with her since the beginning will have experienced the full story in publication order, which also makes perfect sense. Being the contrary and ornery individual that I am, I am reading this wonderful series in neither chronological or publication order, but rather a semi-random and illogical sequence of my own devising! (Faye uses the word ornery a lot in older QuestionableContent issues I’ve been reading and it got lodged in my head.) I began with Book Nine ( Mirror Dance ) and then jumped back to Book Two ( Barrayar ) – both read as part of my Locust Quest. These stories caught me hook, line and sinker: I declared myself a loyal reserve in the Emperor’s Vorkosigan Fan-Club Army. Next, I found my way here to Book Four, ( The Vor Game ) as it was flagged for my attention as a Hugo winner from 1991 (more on that later). And I’ve now been given Books 8, 10 and 11 ( Borders of Infinity , Memory and Komarr ) as Birthday presents. Hurray! I love a big fat series. Discworld. Dresden Files. The Dark Tower. Pliocine Exile/Galactic Milieu. Foundation. Night’s Dawn. A Song of Ice and Fire. Catch my drift? To me, the Vorkosigan Saga is the best thing I’ve discovered since I began the Locus Quest (and that includes Neal Stephenson, who I now adore). It took a great effort of will to not tear into Barrayar the moment it arrived, and another to resist the allure of The Vor Game for weeks and weeks until my reading list said I was allowed to! (I’m very strict with my reading lists – once the list is made, the list is boss.) Whereas Barrayar focuses on Miles’ mother around the time of his birth, and Mirror Dance focuses on Miles’ clone-brother when they’re both in their late twenties. The Vor Game focuses exclusively on Miles in his late teens, just after graduating – and more Miles equals more fun! He’s a terrifically likeable lead and Bujold has a real flair for character which isn’t common in sci-fi. This is a classic book of three acts. Miles starts in the military, gets assigned to some backwater Arctic camp, and has a massive personality clash with the commander, which gets them both fired. He gets re-assigned as a spy, and out in the field, under-cover, he bimbles around for some time, getting a feel for the territory on one mission before he bumps into his old childhood chum, The Emperor, who is on the lam incognito! Miles has to rescue his friend, foil the intergalactic plot that threatens his home-world, defeat his old Arctic-camp nemesis, and dig some other mercenary buddies out of the hole he left them in during his last adventure! It’s a light-hearted, whirlwind adventure in the best traditions of Space Opera. Miles is a fast talking, faster thinking, marginally psychotic, loveable little scamp! It was one of those books where I spent the whole time reading it with a huge grin plastered on my face, and strangers in coffee shops looked at me with a worried squint. (Or maybe they were just curious if it was really ‘sugar’ I was putting in my drink?) A quick note on the cover: I seem to have a copy of The Vor Game that was a short-lived edition. I can’t find the correct cover on GoodReads, and I’ve searched high and low on the internet, and the only version I could find anywhere was an e-bay pic of a guy’s hand holding the book. I now cannot even find that! (I shall add a pic to this review when I find my camera). So apparently this is rare – maybe it would be worth something if my copy wasn’t battered to frack. I take my books wherever I go, in whatever pocket they can be crammed – I am not kind to covers and spines. Another quick note: After seeing how much I was enjoying this series, my darling wife has now gotten in on the fun, and agrees that Miles is utterly adorable and the books are awesome. We are now a family of Vorkosigan fans together! Double-hurray! As far as I can tell you can jump into this series at any point because they’re all superbly written, stand-alone novels as well as linking together into an epic sci-fi adventure series. So you’ve got no real excuses – just grab the first one you spot and get involved! P.S. The Vor Game won the 1991 Hugo Award. The Locus Sci-Fi award that year went to Dan Simmons' The Fall of Hyperion (which is awesome) and the Nebula went to Le Guin' Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea (which I haven't read yet). I've given both Fall and Vor Game 5-stars, but of the two I'd give Simmons the nod as an outstanding achievement.(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Oct 15, 2012
| Oct 20, 2012
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Jun 16, 2012
| Mass Market Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 1582346038
| 9781582346038
| 3.74
| 70,386
| 2004
| Aug 30, 2005
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my HUGO WINNERS list. This is the reading list that follows the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I loved reading the Locus Sci-Fi Award winners so I'm going to crack on with the Hugo winners next (but only the post-1980 winners, I'll follow up with pre-1980 another time). First of all – if you haven’t already – please go and read Keely’s wonderfully tongue-in-cheek review of this book. It’s one of my top-ten GR reviews and makes me chuckle every time! Second, I thought this was a great quote from the blurb on the back of the book: “Clarke welcomes herself into an exalted company of British writers – not only, some might argue, Dickens and Austen, but also the fantasy legends Kenneth Grahame and George MacDonald – as well as contemporary writers like Susan Cooper and Philip Pullman.” – New York Times Book ReviewThis is a quite remarkable book – a true blend of diverse styles that creates something new. One of those books where I started to tell my friend that “It’s a bit like...” and then tailed off, waving my hand around, unable to locate the end of that sentence. It’s a bit like many things. It’s a bit like nothing I’ve read before! It’s a bit good (but that’s a bit of an understatement). Winner of the Hugo in 2005 (holding off one of my all-time favourites in Miéville’s Iron Council ), I can’t help but feel I should have read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell earlier than this – but I’m very pleased I’ve gotten around to it now. Let me get in my quick warning: it’s a slow burner. I think I turned to my wife at one point and said “I’m five hundred pages in and I think we’re getting to the good bit”. I have no probem with leisurely pacing, but not everyone has the patience for that kind of shenanigan. There are many things I enjoyed enormously, but here are my top three: The characters! Fantasy is not always renowned for multi-faceted, complex and believable characters, but the cast of JS&MN are varied and superb – Strange, Norrell, Childermass, Black, Drawlight, Lascelles, Wellington, Segundus and Honeyfoot are all sketched elegantly and convincingly. The female characters are less attention catching, Mrs Strange and Mrs Poole both fall victim to the evil fairy, but there’s enough shown of their individual natures before that to carry them. Nobody felt like a caricature, or cliché, or only there to fulfil a plot requirement, and there was a touch of Dickens’ flair for minor characters really owning their appearances. The magic! Magic in fantasy can take so many different forms and flavours. Clarke has managed to create a world where magic is dreamy and amazing, but also somehow gritty and grounded. My favourite example is the ship stuck on the sandbar. Strange makes magical horses out of the sandbar to help pull the ship free, and as they’re made of the sandbar itself they help float her free when they move. But getting the magic sand-horses tied to the ship is a nightmare and when they lie down to sleep and turn back into sandbar’s in new places the sailor are angry at the disruption to their maps! Magic is slippery and innately difficult to wield accurately. Consequences are often unintended. Being a magician is hard work! There’s no point-and-click reliability. The footnotes! A bit of a deal-breaker for some it seems. Clarke makes extensive use of footnotes to expand and illustrate the history of the story. I read every single one (and even flicked back to find old ones where required). For me, these footnotes really highlight the passion and labour that’s been put into this book. They’re brilliant! Some people apparently find them frustrating and boring (I just don’t get it). One of the ways I judge a book is by how much time you spend thinking about the book when you’re NOT reading it. I found my head drifting back to JS&MN many times, in many different ways. I found myself longing to pick it back up, just to feel the weight in my hand and let the pages flick past. I found myself imagining living in the world of the story, meeting the characters, strolling through their houses, going out on their campaigns. I found myself daydreaming about what else could have been done with the story, the places Clarke didn’t take the tale, the magic never done. I felt drawn to the book (and still do – I’ve got it next to me on the desk now, and I want to stroke it like a cat). It’s definitely a book that people connect with. The training manager at work interrupted a meeting to gush about the book when he spotted it sitting on my desk. Our shy office newbie, who had barely said a word all day, suddenly started chattering away when she noticed it. I’ve had more comments at work about this book than the last dozen added together! I have one complaint. I had a big issue with the ending. It made me feel: “What? No! You can’t just leave it like that! What happens next? Tell me more! Damn you, book, tell me more!” Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a very, very fine book and even more remarkable for being a debut. It’s not always easy to read for everyone – but it’s highly recommended.(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| not set
| Feb 19, 2013
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Jun 16, 2012
| Paperback
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| 0356500535
| 9780356500539
| 3.72
| 20,078
| 2009
| 2010
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A man cannot live on award winning Sci-Fi alone! (or can he?) Following the resounding success of my Locust Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading lis...more A man cannot live on award winning Sci-Fi alone! (or can he?) Following the resounding success of my Locust Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my HUGO WINNERS list. This is the reading list the follows the old adage, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I loved reading the Locus Sci-Fi Award winners, so I'm going to crack on with the Hugo winners next (but only the post-1980 winners, I'll follow up with pre-1980 another time). I had mixed feelings before I read this book. It had been on my shelf for a few months and - on the one hand - most reviews were in agreement that this is a great book with brilliant writing, but - on the other hand - most reviewers were also in agreement that this is an incredibly bleak and disheartening vision of the future. I sometimes find it hard to get excited about stories that I know are going to bring me down. I had a copy of Schindler's List for years before I watched it. I knew it would be amazing but it wasn't until a day I was already down in the dumps that I found the motivation to put it on - and then, oddly, it made me feel better, because, "hey, my day wasn't that bad in comparison!" Generally I'm a happy soul at the moment, in my contented little bubble with my wife and baby son, so why go looking for the book that will bum you out? Because it really is brilliant, that's why! Yes - The Windup Girl is bleak as f#ck. It does not pull punches. The world we meet is a sad and down-at-heel place. These characters are not nice people. Great things do not happen to them. They do not feel good about that. Most of them do not survive. We do not leave this world in a better state than we met it. That sucks. But this is a writer who has really, really honed their craft. It's damn near flawless writing. Tense, vivid, original, expectant, gripping, sensual, imaginative, bold, mature, relentless, exciting, fascinating, provocative, exotic, timely, memorable... and yes, I really have run out of superlatives! Every character here is expertly balanced. Each is powerful and driven, but also fundamentally flawed. Every character grows and changes in convincing and unexpected ways. Even though they're all working at cross-purposes, they all still endeared themselves to me. The Tiger, The Yellow-Card Spider, The Windup Girl, The Calorie Man and The New Tiger will all live long in my memory. It was really refreshing to read a sci-fi set in Asia, with Thai words sprinkled throughout. A dystopian future in a Buddhist culture! You're plunged into this world, with all these superb little details and it's tightly woven and cohesive and... just a great setting! The blend of technology got a big tick from me too. Kink springs, meagadonts, spring guns, clippers, methane lamps - each invention a plausible reaction to a post-oil, post-gun powder world. Technology is a cornerstone of sci-fi, and Bacigalupi has done a sterling job of high-tech/low-tech innovation. I've seen The Windup Girl described as steampunk, which got me thinking. Steampunk is a derivative of cyberpunk, and this book definitely riffs off cyberpunk - the back cover blurb even name-checks Gibson. And a lot of the visuals and aesthetics do fit the steampunk ethos, but steampunk is conceptually a kind of pre-oil sci-fi, whereas this is post-oil, and although they may be in similar places on opposite sides of that curve, they're definitely not in the same head-space. I've seen this described as biopunk, which had a certain ring to. It would be interesting to see a little cloud of sf-punk subgeres evolve. Cyberpunk, steampunk, biopunk... What next? Spacepunk? Psypunk? Ecopunk? Funkpunk? :-) The ending of the book has this little sequel-hook which didn't work for me. That's about my only complaint, really. I wouldn't complain about a sequel - I'd love to read a sequel! But the book was strong enough to stand alone in all respects, and I felt the little scene with the girl and the generipper saying "hmm, I wonder what happens next?" felt tacked on at the publishers request rather than fitting naturally within the narrative arc. Just my two cents. My penultimate point is how hard this is to compare. Whenever I describe a book to someone who reads a lot, I try to say "it's a bit like..." But this one is tricky! It's a bit like Stephenson (if he stayed more disciplined). It's a bit like Simmons (if he narrowed his scope). It's a bit like Hamilton (if he had a grimmer outlook). It's a bit like Baxter (if he had more flair). It's a bit like Egan (if he could write deeper characters). It's a bit like Morgan (if he went multi-perspective). It's a bit like Robinson (if he got a lot more intense). But Bacigalupi is, at the end of the day, a strongly original author who has carved out a superb new niche - who I can't wait to read more from! Final point (I promise, I know this has been a long review) - this got on to my reading list as a Hugo winner. It was the joint 2010 winner with China Miéville's The City & The City . My first big award-winners reading list was the Locus Sci-Fi winners - and they gave it to Boneshaker that year (huge mistake!). I'm a big Mieville fan, but of the three I'd give my award to The Windup Girl . It pushed all my buttons, and I kept being surprised by how much I was enjoying it. Definitely, highly, repeatedly recommended!(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Feb 19, 2013
| Mar 05, 2013
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Jun 16, 2012
| Paperback
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| 1842430351
| 9781842430354
| 4.20
| 33,086
| Dec 1984
| Apr 09, 2001
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A man cannot live on award winning Sci-Fi alone! Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it...more A man cannot live on award winning Sci-Fi alone! Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS & GUILTED list. Sometimes people gift you books you want which barge their way into your reading list. Sometimes people gift you other books and you feel guilty for not reading them... Let's jump straight in with a quote from somebody else's review: "I was surprised at how much I liked this book" - GertieDitto, Gertie, ditto! A couple of years back I decided to get all of my immediate family the same present (same-same, but different) - as many second hand books as I could get for £20. I averaged about 7 books each. My brother got various Mann Booker Prize winners. My Mum got a platter of modern sci-fi and fantasy. My Step-Dad got a selection of humorous fantasy works: this being one of them. He likes authors like Tom Holt, Robert Rankin and Chris Moore. I wasn't familiar with Tom Robbins (at all, like, zilch recognition) but it kept popping up on Amazon's 'if you like this, you might like...' so I took a punt and chucked it into his birthday bundle. There were two books he came back to me raving about and thrust into my hands - Lamb and Jitterbug Perfume . Having read one Moore beforehand, I knew what to expect from Lamb , so I breezed through it in while stuck on a plane - and it's a good book. I didn't know what to expect from Jitterbug , so I left it on a shelf... and it kept looking at me... It's good! Not to put down their own work, but this is the kind of story that Holt & Rankin would kill to write! It's got just as much imagination and whimsy as their zany tales, but a much deeper and more finessed use of theme, and bucketloads more 'blood-on-the-walls' heart to it. It's a story about immortality, perfume, passion and beets! Quick tangent:(view spoiler)[(If you've never heard of British poet/rapper Scroobius Pip, check out the song 'The Beat That My Heart Skips' on youtube - that kept popping into my head (over and over again) as the 'The Beet That My Heat Skips') (hide spoiler)] It's light hearted and smart, it's fun, funny, and tremendously enjoyable. Robbins knows his way around a sentence and can certainly produce a playful paragraph - the man can write! I particularly enjoyed Pan, the whale mask, the lesbian not-lover, heaven and the bees. A delightfully incongruous combination of words! So why not a 5-star? Because... It's just not quite my thing. It's a bit like watching Friends with the wife - there's no doubt it's entertaining, I don't complain about watching it - but I'd rather be watching Battlestar! I doubt I'll ever feel the urge to re-read, and if there was a sequel I'm not sure I'd pick it up. We enjoyed our time together, but like a blind-date set-up that seems good in theory, it's clear the chemistry isn't right for a long term relationship.(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Sep 17, 2012
| Sep 26, 2012
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May 18, 2012
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 074993896X
| 9780749938963
| 3.42
| 6,338
| Oct 03, 2006
| 2007
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my FINISHING THE SERIES! list. I loves me a good series! But I'm terrible for starting a new series before finishing my last - so this reading list is all about trying to close out those series I've got on the go. 2.5 rounded up to 3 because my wife and my mother-in-law both love it (and they might use tea-spoons to pop out my eyes if I give it a 2). It’s a solid urban-fantasy effort with a good, strong female private detective (Harper Blaine) for a lead. She lives in Seattle, has a pet ferret, and is generally a likeable broad. The fantasy element is OK, but I didn’t find it inspiring – Harper got killed by a client, and although the medics brought her back she can now see ‘the grey’. The grey includes ghosties, vamps, warewolves, etc – the usual bunch. It also includes misty visions of the world beyond death, or some-such. Good for atmosphere, bit vague for specifics. It was a fun and easy read, very much a scene setter for the series. Lots of effort put into grounding the story in Seattle (rather than generic American city as some UF is) – lots of resistance on Harper’s part to accepting her new role as a ‘greywalker’, which kind of emphasises that this is a nice, normal gal who’s doing her best to muddle through this otherworldly madness. Obviously the real fantasy hoodoo can’t kick-off until she’s accepted and embraced her ghostly powers. I’ve been told this aspect picks up in books two and three of the series, which makes sense. There was one specific thing that annoyed me. People are revived by medics every day. What is it about Harper that makes her special? Why does she become a greywalker, and the next guy to get revived just get brain damage? It was all a bit wishy-washy and coincidental to keep my disbelief suspended. Maybe I’ve just been spoilt by coming in at the top end of the UF market? Compared to Dresden, Castor, Grant and Swift... Blaine is too much the UF ‘girl next door’. I’ve no doubt there’s more substance there if you get to know her – but in a crowded genre, Greywalker doesn’t make a strong enough first impression. Having said that – I will continue to read the series because my wife already owns them – but they’re certainly not top of my wish-list...(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Sep 18, 2012
| Oct 03, 2012
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May 18, 2012
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 0747598843
| 9780747598848
| 4.09
| 128,284
| Sep 30, 2008
| 2008
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my LOCUS Y-A list. I think I’ll always have a soft-spot for imaginative young-adult speculative fiction and as the good people at Locus did such a grand job with picking their Sci-Fi winners, I’ll trust them to single out some special y-a books too. There were some complications when my son, Fin, was born which meant Mum and baby needed to stay in hospital for a week after the birth. During that time, both did a lot of sleeping. There was no chance I was going to leave them - and there's only so many crosswords, sudoku and logic puzzles you can do. The Graveyard Book was there to keep me sane. In my world, Gaiman is one of the heavy-hitters. He rarely puts a step wrong - from his Sandman comics, through Good Omens (his collaboration with Pratchett), the epic American Gods and the quite brilliant Neverwhere , his movie script for Mirror Mask - the books (and films) Coraline and Stardust - the man simply excels at whatever form of storytelling he turns his hand to. If my expectations weren't already pumped enough, The Graveyard Book won the 2009 Hugo Award ahead of Neal Stephenson's Anathem . If that name means nothing to you, Anathem is one of my all-time favourite books (to the extent that I named a cat after it's protagonist), so to learn that a panel of literary judges had decided that Gaiman's young-adult fantasy retelling of The Jungle Book was even better... my mind was blown. It's a good book. It's a very good book. I just didn't love it as much as I expected. It's easy to point at all the wonderful elements - the overall concept, the rich and varied characters which populate this world, the eccentric little funny moments ("why are you carrying the pig?", "for luck!"), the dreamy but complex tone, the bittersweet ending, etc. It's been much harder (for me) to figure out what was missing. I think part of it was the antagonist, Jack. True to the Jungle Book inspiration it's an episodic tale - which limits Jack's influence to the beginning and the end. His entrance at the beginning is perfect - but the unveiling of who exactly the antagonist(s) is and the following climax was the only specific thing I can point at and say "dissa! dissa!" (That's a pun by the way - point at and say 'dissa' = disa-ppointing, get it? *sigh* I can but try...) I thought the identity of The Jacks a little disjointed. Gaiman's Graveyard world is full of ghosts, witches, vampires, warewolves, ghouls and mummies, etc - classic 'halloween' characters - all spun in a new and interesting direction. The Jacks do not fit this template... their secret society seemed more like something from one of Fforde's Nursery Crime books. It's a fun idea, but I felt it jarred in this scenario. My next complaint may be a little more controversial for fans of the book. I thought Bod himself was little bit... forgettable. Gaiman often uses an ordinary 'everyman' character as his portal to a fantastic world, and Nobody Jones fits the bill. He is a nice, pleasant kid with perfectly understandable, reasonable desires. But he himself is not the show stopper. I know it's a lot to ask, but I'm picturing the same The Graveyard Book but with a Naruto -eque kid front and center... and it's better! In my head it's definitely better! Aside from those couple of small gripes, this is a solid 4-star, give it to your kids, read it every year, love it, treasure it, modern classic. Apparently the film will be a stop-motion, directed by Henry Selick ( The Nightmare Before Christmas , Coraline ) - so that's definitely one to get excited about!(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Jun 07, 2012
| Jun 13, 2012
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May 17, 2012
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 0575097442
| 9780575097445
| 4.13
| 27,438
| 2005
| Aug 11, 2011
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A man cannot live on award winning Sci-Fi alone! Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it...more A man cannot live on award winning Sci-Fi alone! Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS & GUILTED list. Sometimes people gift you books you want which barge their way into your reading list. Sometimes people gift you other books and you feel guilty for not reading them... Sanderson is fast becoming one of my favourite fantasy writers. He’s not the ‘best’ fantasy writer (or the most gritty, imaginative, revolutionary or whatever). But I think Sanderson offers the most accessible, enticing and addictive reading experience in modern fantasy. I’d previously read his original Mistborn trilogy (but not yet his Alloy of Law continuation) and now Elantris too – and all four books went down smoooth. You’re hooked before you realise it, they’re damn difficult to put down, and the pages seem to fly by in a blur. I have to single out his magic systems for praise. It’s easy to fall back on fantasy clichés – magic wands, magic spells, magical potions, magical creatures, etc. It’s far harder to build a magic system from the ground up, sort of twisting the underlying physics of a world. Mistborn uses a magical system based on consuming metal, and Elantris uses a magical system based on drawing glyphs in the air. Broadly speaking, after building a functional world on his new system, Sanderson then crashes the system and sets his stories in the chaos that follows. The city of Elantris has fallen. Ten years down the line, what was once the glowing home of demi-gods, home of wonders and miracles, is now a rotting prison city for cursed half-mad immortals. The empire to which Elantris was the capital has fractured and splintered, threatened by their fanatical religious/military neighbours. We come into this world from three perspectives: Raoden is prince and heir to the Kingdom. He awakes to find himself taken by the magical illness which dooms him to banishment in Elantris. Sarene is a princess, due to marry Raoden (who she’s never met) to form an alliance between the two little Kingdoms in the face of the Evil Empire. Her ship arrives and she learns her fiancé is dead – the truth has been swept under the carpet. Hrathen is the most unusual character – a senior priest for the Evil Empire, sent to the Kingdom to convert it peacefully to their religion before a deadline – if he fails: war. The story cycles between the three characters, chapter after chapter and gives the telling a strong, steady pace and rhythm. Each of the characters is strong, wilful, passionate, flawed and likeable. I’m torn over Raoden. His storyline focuses on what life is like is Elantris and his efforts to restore peace and order there, and then to discover why Elantris fell and how to reverse that. This is the main thrust of the fantasy, so the ideas here are superb, but for Raoden himself it all seems a bit too easy. Sarene takes the detective roll. Legally, she’s already married to the ‘dead’ Raoden, so she arrives as a widow in a foreign court which excludes women from authority. She’s trying to discover what the hell is going on and to foil Hrathen at the same time. Hrathen was my favourite character, and he provides all the intrigue outside of Elantris. He’s the baddie (trying to overthrow the king and put a convert on the throne, and turn the citizens against Elantris as monsters on their doorstep) but he’s also a goodie (trying to convert the kingdom peacefully before his nation’s semi-demonic army arrives and crushes them). He’s cunning and cool under pressure, morale but doubting his faith, and follows a strong transformational character arc. There are a couple of downsides worth mentioning: It’s a touch clunky in the way the three main characters all see what’s going on in the kingdom more clearly than everyone else. It’s like they’re the only bright, level headed people in that whole land – everyone else is either a bit dumb, or just lacking in initiative. It’s kind of cartoony in how clearly delineated the different factors are. This isn’t exactly a bad thing – but it is simplistic, which makes it easy to be dismissive if you come to if from some complex, morally ambiguous, fantasy reading. Overall, Elantris is a really enjoyable book which, as a stand-alone fantasy, doesn’t require further installments to reach a satisfying conclusion. I can happily recommend for jaded fantasy fans looking for a light and tasty snack, and those with only an occasional interest in the genre simply looking for a good book.(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Jul 18, 2012
| Jul 24, 2012
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May 14, 2012
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 0316068594
| 9780316068598
| 3.80
| 2,211
| Apr 02, 2009
| Feb 01, 2010
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my FINISHING THE SERIES! list. I loves me a good series! But I'm terrible for starting a new series before finishing my last - so this reading list is all about trying to close out those series I've got on the go. My wife and I found our way to A Madness of Angels through Mike Carey’s Felix Castor books. In the blurb at the back is the publisher’s spiel, “if you liked this you’ll love Kate Griffin…” In our house, Castor is up in silver medal position on the Urban-Fantasy podium, second only to the great Harry Dresden (with Peter Grant currently picking up the bronze). So we went hunting for a copy of the book. My wife started reading it, put it down, whinged about it, picked it up, put it down, whinged about being pregnant, etc – and it took her several months to actually finish the damn thing, by which time I would have been happy to never to have to hear about it again, let alone read it myself! Her main complaints were: - self-indulgent, stream-of-consciousness prose - found it hard/impossible to connect with the main character - the style of urban magic was too ‘contrived/cute’ My wife and I have similar taste in books –something which drew us together when we met – but every now and again we disagree completely. There are some pretty mixed reviews of A Madness of Angels here on Goodreads. More than a few people agree with my darling wife, but those who praise the book said enough to make me give it a chance. It took me while to get into, but by the end I was convinced – I’m a Matthew Swift fan! Kate Griffin goes about her Urban-Fantazy business a little differently to her peers. For one, her hero starts the story dead – kind of (let’s say disincarnated?). For two he’s possessed – kind of (it’s a symbiotic relationship?). For three, Swift is a sorcerer not a wizard (like Dresden or Grant). Those first two points are strongly connected – and lead directly to the first two complaints my wife had with the book. Swift is an urban sorcerer, but he was murdered a couple of years ago by forces unknown. With his last breath Swift poured his dwindling life-force into the telephone lines where his spirit was sheltered by the equivalent of an urban elemental-spirit – the electric angels (born of telephone conversations). When someone summons Swift back to the mortal plane the angels come along, tangled up with him. Because the story is told first-person, the narrative voice is… odd. Mathew Swift himself is disorientated from death and reincarnation – the electric angels have never been corporeal before, and take a childlike delight in every fresh sensory revelation. Because every sight and sound his hitting the angels so hard, and Mathew is in such a mental muddle, the first couple of chapters are vivid and intense, but also a little tricky to get a handle on. It seems like some readers who don’t gel with this beginning, never really click with the book and don’t enjoy it. I was a little sceptical, but some of the prose is delightful so I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Next, we move onto the fact that Swift is a sorcerer not a wizard – these two words may seem interchangeable (if you’re not a fantasy aficionado) but they represent two very different mind-sets. Wizards (like Harry Potter, Harry Dresden, Peter Grant, Gandalf the Grey, etc) increase their power and abilities through study, they come from a schools and traditions with systems of magic. Their magic is rule bound, often using set tools and techniques (wands, staffs, broomsticks, spell books, potions, etc). Sorcerers are a very different kettle of fish – to steal a Discworld definition – a sorcerer is a source of magic. Sorcerers fly by the seat of their pants, taking inspiration from their surroundings to create their magic on the spur of the moment. To compare magic and music - wizards are like orchestra musicians, working with others to learn and perform famous compositions, but sorcerers are like jazz artists, improvising on their own. Or maybe wizardry is the science of magic, sorcery the art. A good sorcerer needs to be aware of his surroundings. A good sorcerer needs to see the potential in the world before him. These qualities give Swifts narration a strongly lyrical quality, a somewhat tangential train of thought and stream of consciousness – again, I can see why some readers didn’t gel, but I found the positives outweighed the negatives comfortably. Matt Swift is an urban sorcerer, so the powers he’s tapping into are the ebb and flow of city life. Graffiti. Cash machines. Wheelie bins. Tube stations. Pigeons. I love London and found it all delightfully evocative, there are some wonderfully imaginative scenes and concepts. Because Matt is now twinned with the electric angels, he’s now regarded by the magical big wigs of the city as something of a power-player, opening some interesting doors. My only complaint really, is that come the end, the final antagonist is a little underwhelming. It’s a gradual build up – Matt has to figure out what’s happened while he’s been dead, why he’s been brought back (and by who) and then work his way up through various henchmen to fight the big-bad. I was right there, every step of the way, until the final showdown, which left me all ‘meh’. I loved the dragon though! Overall, I enjoyed A Madness of Angels a great deal and I’m very much looking forward to the next in (and the rest of) the Matthew Swift series.(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Sep 07, 2012
| Sep 13, 2012
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May 14, 2012
| Paperback
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| 0007391587
| 9780007391585
| 3.78
| 1,858
| Jan 01, 2011
| Nov 01, 2011
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list. Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front. The word on Sanctus from my GR friends: “Very good religious-conspiracy type thriller” – Cara Muphy (4 stars)Now, I read The Da Vinci Code back when it was the biggest thing since slice bread – and I liked it well enough to pick up a couple more of Dan Brown’s books from my Mum’s bookcase (Angels & Demons, Digital Fortress). I’ve rated all three at 2-stars here on goodreads, because they’re perfectly readable and entertaining, but overall they’re not really my kind of thing. I think the fairest review I can give Sanctus is to say that Toyne’s novel is just as good as Dan Brown’s. If you liked The Da Vinci Code, if you like religious-conspiracy type thrillers, you will like this. If you felt so-so about Brown, as I did, you’ll likely feel the same here. So it gets another two-star rating from me. This was a present from my mother-in-law. For some people that would be enough on its own to consign any book to eternal obscurity, but I actually like my wife’s Mum. She usually has pretty good taste in books but this one was wide of the mark and spent over a year languishing on my shelf before I decided to just read the damn thing and get it over with. To start with I thought this might have some nice alt-history elements to lift it above Brownishness. The story focuses on The Citadel, a massive religious fortress carved/tunnelled into the side of a mountain in Turkey. It’s utterly ancient, predates the Vatican and is the true home of the church. They’ve got a secret there – the Sanctus of the title – and nobody knows what it is. The holy grail? The cross of Christ? The body of Christ? Etc. There’s a core group of monks who know what the Sanctus is and guard it – when a new members is inducted into the group, he is so horrified by the truth that he escapes, climbs to the top of the citadel and jumps (using his cassock as a makeshift wingsuit) to land outside the Citadel’s jurisdiction. The story gets picked up by the local detective, the dead monk’s long-lost sister (who just happens to be an investigative reporter), the opposing secret society devoted to bringing down the Citadel, the good monks within the Citadel, the evil monks within the Citadel, the assassin-monks dispatched by the Citadel, etc. The actual events of the story occur pretty quickly, cascading one after another as a good thriller should. The viewpoint cycles between all interested parties to keep the reader better informed than any one of them and the tension high. The chapters are all around 3-4 pages long to keep the pace snappy – but this drove me mental because no one chapter has any real momentum gathered. But it’s all building up to the big reveal right at the end – what IS the Sanctus? And this was this was the biggest let down for me. It was just… silly! See spoiler if you've not intention of reading the book: (view spoiler)[Ok. Are we sitting comfortably? The Sanctus is… Eve! That’s right, the better half of Adam and Eve, the original woman. She’s some kind of magical immortal which the church has been keeping locked up (in an iron-maiden to keep her weak) since the dawn of religion. Anyone within a close proximity to her heals almost instantly. The Citadel garden is incredibly fertile because she’s there (or maybe the plants are watered with her blood, it’s not clear). The people of the city around the Citadel average an extra seven years life expectancy because she’s there. She is life and wonder embodied… or something. And yet, when she’s freed by our courageous heroine she immediately dematerialises and imbues the girl with some (all?) of her powers. But she couldn’t dematerialise in any of the previous centuries of imprisonment because… she needed to make eye contact with a female? Because… mystical holy powers are sexist! Yeah. That so didn’t blow my mind. (hide spoiler)](less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Apr 14, 2013
| Apr 22, 2013
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May 14, 2012
| Paperback
| |||||||||||||||
| 0575097566
| 9780575097568
| 3.93
| 7,904
| Jan 10, 2011
| Jan 10, 2011
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my FINISHING THE SERIES! list. I loves me a good series! But I'm terrible for starting a new series before finishing my last - so this reading list is all about trying to close out those series I've got on the go. In 1963 Lawrence of Arabia won the best picture Oscar – and deserved it! But what’s that got to do with Rivers of London? That same year, Dr. Who made his debut on British TV – and he’s still going strong. But what’s that got to do with Rivers of London? Before launching his hugely popular Peter Grant series of urban-fantasy police-procedurals, author Ben Aaronovitch wrote TV scripts for Dr. Who. I know there are also plenty of fans in the USA and around the world, but in the UK, Dr. Who is cultural landmark. Here in Cardiff, we have a whole tourist attraction called “The Dr. Who Experience” – and I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who wouldn’t know what I was talking about if I said ‘exterminate’ in a nasal, robotic voice. Anyone who’s worked on Dr. Who is sprinkled with fairydust (or should that be tardis-dust? No. That just sounds like his tardis needs a dusting). My point (I think) is that Ben A comes into the picture as a writer already well steeped in fantastical fiction, British idiosyncrasies and prime-time TV entertainment – and Rivers of London does not disappoint. That’s not to say it’s perfect, but as far as new series go it’s pretty damn promising. The obvious reference point here is Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. If you’ve never heard of them (where have you been?) they’re a phenomenally successful, fourteen (fifteen now?) book series about a wise-cracking, private-dick, wizard in Chicago. Rivers of London is about a copper in London. I’d like to say an ordinary copper in London, but Peter Grant realises he ain’t exactly ordinary when he interviews a ghost as a witness to a murder. Things only get weirder from there on in as he gets recruited into the Met’s special branch for weird-sh!t , meets a family of river goddesses and goes toe-to-toe with an ancient spirit of anarchy. So let’s play compare’n’contrast: Harry is a lone-ranger, Peter is part of the police force. Harry comes in a fully-fledged wizard, Peter is just learning his first spells. Harry is loud and American, Peter is dry and British. Harry is white, Peter is black. While these two series are in the same ballpark, they’re a very different kettle of fish. London is becoming a bit of a hot-spot city setting for urban fantasy: there are two strong urban fantasy series (Peter Grant and Matt Swift) set there, and several great stand-alone urban-fantasy novels (Neverwhere, Anansi Boys, Kraken, King Rat, Un Lun Dun). Of them all, it’s Aaranovitch’s which feels closest to a real sense of modern London. This isn’t a fantasy thru-the-looking glass (like Neverwhere or Kraken) these are fantastic adventures in the London we know and love. Whereas the Matt Swift series is about an urban-sorcerer, below-the-radar, magic-in-the-gutters , type scenario – Peter is an upstanding officer of the law, flashing his siren in pursuit of magical evil doers. It’s all very above board, level-headed and in the light of day. That’s… extremely refreshing as an angle on urban fantasy. Peter himself is, of course, the star of the show. No amount of clever magic or imaginative use of location can carry a series if the lead character isn’t loveable – and Peter really is. He’s funny in a dry, sometimes whimsical, observational fashion – no slapstick or gags. His family is unconventional but still believable, and his relationship with them rings true. His flaws are all very believable for a lad of his age. I saw a review which said “this is hardly deep and meaningful reading” – hell no, it’s not! This is very much page-turning, popcorn-munching, pure-pleasure, fun reading! So why didn’t it get five-stars? It’s actually quite hard for me to put my finger on. I think Rivers of London was trying to do a lot as the first book in a series – introduce our boy, Peter, to a whole world of magic at the same time as tackling a big case and a complex sub-plot… it was perhaps a little too much to keep cohesive and ended up a bit disjointed. It wasn’t a huge problem – every chapter is great fun, but the overall story didn’t quite have enough punch in the climax to clinch that whole-hearted “whoop-whoop!” response that I look for in a five-star. It drops down to the next rank as “a damn fine book” instead. (less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Aug 12, 2012
| Aug 16, 2012
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May 14, 2012
| Hardcover
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| 0340788674
| 9780340788677
| 4.06
| 141
| 1995
| 2000
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my FINISHING THE SERIES! list. I loves me a good series! But I'm terrible for starting a new series before finishing my last - so this reading list is all about trying to close out those series I've got on the go. As a kid, I was a big fan of the Deptford Mice trilogy: brave young mice take on evil rats and their badass overload cat/ sorcerer, Jupiter. What set them above other ‘talking animal adventures’ is the dark/horror edge that is Jarvis’ trademark. The rats are very big on skinning mice and eating them – frying the ears is a particular delicacy. He’s not afraid to lay down a body-count to rival Robocop. But where the Deptford world really takes off (for me) is with the Deptford Histories where the classic horror elements grow stronger. The Alchemist’s Cat tells the back-story of the big, bad sorcerer cat, Jupiter - that’s a great book. The Oaken Throne tells the back-story to the Star-Wife and the war between bats and squirrels - that’s my favourite book in the Deptford world and one I’ve re-read many times since I was young. Then we come to Thomas , the third in the Deptford Histories, which tells the back-story of one of the main mouse characters, Thomas Triton (the fierce old sea-salt). I somehow missed Thomas when I was young and never even knew this book existed until a couple of years ago. I re-read the whole series shortly before I joined GoodReads last year, and ordered my copy in then – but what with the baby and moving house and all the other good books on my list, it’s taken me a while to get to it. Reading Thomas has been a big nostalgia trip, filling in a few blanks from a series I know so well and tying together the back-stories of a couple more characters from the original trilogy. It’s a very enjoyable story – everything I’ve come to expect from Jarvis – likeable characters, great tone for the dialogue (Woodj’s country bumpkin talk is adorable) and a creeping sense of horror. For me, the original Depford Mice trilogy are all 4-star books, as is The Alchemist’s Cat . The Oaken Throne is a personal 5-star. But Thomas I can only give 3-stars though. It’s nowhere near as tightly tied into the Deptford world. The Thomas Triton we know in Deptford is an old sailor who’s settled down on a moored ship. We know he’s got some darkness in his past that causes him sleepless nights and drives him to rum – this is that tale. It’s a sailor’s tale, so it happens in far flung corners of the world (not Deptford). It’s a tale that touches only feather-light on the Star-Wife and on Jupiter not at all. We have a whole new big-bad – the horrific snake god (Sarpedon) who’s trying to reincarnate and usher in an era of darkness, and the dark cult (The Scale) who worship him. What Thomas does well is flesh out the wider ‘Deptford’ globe visiting, Crete, India and Singapore and mentioning many more. Thomas makes it clear that London is not alone in hosting civilizations of small, anthropomorphised creatures– they’re all over the world. It also gives Jarvis an opportunity to play with more exotic creatures. No longer limited to mice, rats, cats, owls, bats, squirrels, etc – Thomas introduces us to Mongooses, Tree Shrews, a Jerboa, a Sable and a Loris. The story itself is well told – the beginning serves up the knowledge that Woodj will never make it home from this adventure, leaving a lingering sense of dread over the events. The escalating adversaries in the form of Morgan, Dahrem, The High Priest and then Sarpedon keep the pacing fast and dramatic. The big actions set pieces are vivid and memorable – the crash of the Calliope, the showdown in the mountain temple and the big final battle, etc. The little backstory tie-ins for Morgan and Madam Akikuyu are nicely done, as is Madame Lotus’ vengeance on Thomas and the final twist for Woodj. If I had read Thomas back when I first fell in love with the rest of the series, I would likely rate it as highly. But coming to it fresh, now, it just feels a little too distanced from the rest of the books to really resonate. But it’s a good book and a fun read, and I’m glad I’ve now completed the Deptford Histories series. (less) | Notes are private!
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1
| Jan 22, 2013
| Jan 29, 2013
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May 14, 2012
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| 0553382683
| 9780553382686
| 3.88
| 1,868
| Jul 25, 2006
| Jul 25, 2006
|
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my LOCUS FANTASY list. As the Locus Sci-Fi Award winners list treated me so kindly, I figure I’ll trust those same good folk to pick me some stars in their sister-list, the Locus Fantasy Award winners. While I was working my way through the list of Locus Sci-Fi Award winners, I decided to dip a toe into the sister-list for Locus Fantasy winners. I ordered a trio of books from authors I’d never read before Lavinia, Paladin of Souls and The Privilege of the Sword – and this came second out of the three. At heart, it’s a traditional coming of age tale for our teenage heroine, Katherine, a sweet and romantic girl who dreams of getting dolled-up in pretty gown and snaring a handsome gentleman at a fancy ball. She’s forced to put her own desires aside in the name of familial duty when her rich, mad uncle, the Duke, comes a-calling. His (fairly arbitrary) offer is this: she comes with him to the city, dresses only in men’s clothes and learns to be a swordsman and in return he will save her family’s finances. Based on this premise, I was expecting some pretty cheesy, clichéd shenanigans and a bit of sledgehammer-subtle feminism – I was pleasantly surprised! It's a lot more grounded and convincing than cheeseball. The mad Duke keeps things… unpredictable and sometimes pretty funny. Katherine is a very likeable lass, and as she’s slowly won over by the honour and excitement of swordplay it’s hard not to feel a little of her elation. The blind sword master was pretty cool – as was his unconventional relationship with the Duke. The overall tone and spin on the regency style was lively, refreshing and fun. This is the second in a trilogy, but I read it as a stand-alone and it holds up perfectly well. I understand the first book is set nearly twenty years earlier, so while it fleshes out the world and the duke’s early life, it’s not essential reading. My main complaint with this book was the ending – I don’t want to give too much away but it’s abrupt, carries no emotional punch and wraps things up far too conveniently for the next book feel 'true'. The Privilege of the Sword scores a very comfortable three star rating from me – I read it, I enjoyed every minute of it and look back on our time together with fondness, but it didn’t rock my world and I didn’t feel compelled to check out the prequel or sequel. The Privilege of the Sword won the 2007 Locus Fantasy Award. The Locus Sci-Fi award that year went to Rainbow's End (which I didn't enjoy) and the Locus Y-A Award went to Wintesmith, which is my favourite of the three but not top-drawer Pratchett. Conclusion? 2007 wasn't the finest vintage for Locus award winners. Having said that, The Lies of Locke Lamora was nominated that year and finished 22nd in the rankings! I wonder how that would fare if the award were given retrospectively?(less) | Notes are private!
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1
| not set
| not set
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May 14, 2012
| Paperback
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| 0575084588
| 9780575084582
| unknown
| 3.66
| 2,914
| 2008
| unknown
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my LOCUS FANTASY list. As the Locus Sci-Fi Award winners list treated me so kindly, I figure I’ll trust those same good folk to pick me some stars in their sister-list, the Locus Fantasy Award winners. Having never read any Le Guin before, I was a little unsure about where to start. I didn’t want to dive straight in with a big series, which ruled out her most celebrated works, the Earthsea Cycle and the Hainish Cycle, and then Lavinia popped up on my radar as the 2009 winner of the Locus Fantasy award. At the time I was working my way through every winner of the Locus Sci-Fi award (and loving it) so I decided to branch and I try a couple of the fantasy winners. With the clarity of twenty-twenty hindsight, I can say that this probably wasn’t the right Le Guin for me to start with. Underwhelmed is the key word. I was excited by the concept – taking a classic like The Aeneid as a launch point to tell the story of a key, but underexplored character. Dan Simmons’ Illium is one of my all-time favourites, and the sci-fi twist he puts on the Illiad is mind-blowing so I guess I was hoping for echoes of that here. Comparing these two books is like comparing chalk and cheese but far more extreme, like comparing chalk and cybernetic A.I. Words that come to mind around Lavinia are “meandering”, “dreamy”, “floaty”, and “gentle”. Reading this book is no thrill-ride. It’s like carefully folding paper boats and setting them to sail on a quietly babbling brook, under the serene glow of a late spring sunset, while the breeze whispers through the droopy willow branches. I can’t fault the writing – Le Guin is a quality wordsmith with a keen eye for character – but the overall experience just wasn’t my thing. It made me drowsy. Once I’ve started a book I always see it through, because even the most mediocre of tales might have a sting in its tail that makes it worthwhile, but no such luck here. It was like listening to pan-pipe music; inoffensive, but basically dull. There were some very pretty passages of description, and some dramatic tension did creep in as we went along – but by that point I’d already missed my window to emotionally invest in the outcome. There’s some solid research gone into the world building and it’s all very well constructed and convincing – but it just didn’t move me. The story revolves around Lavinia’s (harridan) mother pressuring her to marry a local lord (who’s a bit of a psycho), but she knows (through dreams and prophecy) that she will marry a foreigner (Aeneus). Low and behold, Aeneus rocks up, she loves him, and war breaks out with the jilted other blah. There are some nice touches with Lavinia talking direct to the reader, and chatting with the ghost of Virgil, but not enough to stop my eyes sliding off the page. 2 stars – Lavinia is not terrible, but I can’t really recommend it. (less) | Notes are private!
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1
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May 14, 2012
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| 0007138490
| 9780007138494
| unknown
| 4.09
| 7,854
| Sep 23, 2003
| unknown
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve...more Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my LOCUS FANTASY list. As the Locus Sci-Fi Award winners list treated me so kindly, I figure I’ll trust those same good folk to pick me some stars in their sister-list, the Locus Fantasy Award winners. While I was predominantly reading my way through every winner of the Locus Sci-Fi award, I decided to sample a few of the equivalent Fantasy winners. I’d already read a good percentage of the 21st century winners (all the Mieville, Gaiman, Pratchett, etc) so I decided to fill in a few of those gaps. I ordered a trio of books: Paladin of Souls (2004 winner), The Privilege of the Sword (2007 winner) and Lavinia (2009 winner). This is my pick of the three – it was a whisker away from getting a four star rating from me. This is the second book of the Chalion trilogy, but I read it out of order and have only recently gotten around to buying the first in the series (Curse of Chalion). The events of that book are occasionally referred to, but as going-ons from the distant past with no direct bearing on the current plot, so Curse of Chalion is certainly not essential reading to appreciate Paladin of Souls , which stands up just fine on its own. Bujold takes an unconventional approach to her female lead. I’m casting my mind about for other adult fantasy woks with a female lead and I’ve got Phedre’s Trilogy (young and sexy), Thursday Next (young and smart), Mistborn (young and dangerous), Greywalker (young and sassy), The Privilege of the Sword (young and romantic), Lavinia (young and homely) – what I aint seeing a whole caboodle of is anything comparable to Paladin of Souls (middle-aged and dotty). That’s not being entirely fair to our heroine here, Ista – she’s far more than just dotty. She’s a complex, intelligent, god-touched (bit mental), bitter and depressed noblewoman, who’s trying to seize control of her cosseted life from her overly-controlling family. She dragoons an independent-minded female horseback courier into being her lady’s maid, collars an obese priest from an inappropriate sect, and then convinces her family to release her on a religious pilgrimage. Magical adventure ensues. Paladin of Souls is written superbly; likeable characters, some good action scenes, a nice little mystery at the heart of the plot and a solidly constructed and imaginative world, faith and magic system. I’ve become a big fan of Bujold’s work with her Vorkosigan Saga and a lot of the trademark wry wit and quips are here – yet I’ve scored this lower than any of her sci-fi works. Why? I enjoyed it, no doubt about that, and as I said at the start – it was only a whisker away from a four-star, “I loved it” rating – but I had just a few too many reservations, none of which were individually overwhelming but cumulatively they weighed me down. I found it a bit predictable. While the variations on fantasy tropes were imaginative, none were a revelation. The overall tone felt a bit safe. And, while I can applaud the brave choice of depressed middle-aged heroine, I didn’t ever truly connect with Ista – not like I have done with Miles and Cordelia in her Vorkosigan books. Paladin of Souls was good enough that I plan to finish the trilogy, but flawed enough that I’m feeling no great urgency to do so imminently. (less) | Notes are private!
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1
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May 13, 2012
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| 0575076348
| 9780575076341
| 4.39
| 245
| 1996
| Dec 01, 2005
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Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to relea...more Christmas 2010: I realised that I had got stuck in a rut. I was re-reading old favourites again and again, waiting for a few trusted authors to release new works. Something had to be done. On the spur of the moment I set myself a challenge, to read every book to have won the Locus Sci-Fi award. That’s 35 books, 6 of which I’d previously read, leaving 29 titles by 14 authors who were new to me. While working through this reading list I got married, went on my honeymoon, switched career and became a father. As such these stories became imprinted on my memory as the soundtrack to the happiest period in my life (so far). 1998 was a year without consensus. Every significant sci-fi and fantasy award (that I follow) went to a different novel. The Hugo went to – Halderman, Forever Peace The Nebula went to – McIntyre, The Moon and the Sun The Arthur C Clarke went to – Russell, The Sparrow The B.S.F.A. went to – Priest, The Extremes The World Fantasy went to – Ford, The Physiognomy The Mythopoeic went to – Byatt, The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye The Locus Fantasy went to – Powers, Earthquake Weather The Locus Sci-Fi went to – Simmons, Rise of Endymion It was one of those years where there just weren’t enough awards to go around, with three more superb novels (Hamilton, The Reality Dysfunction , Egan, Diaspora and Robinson, Antarctica ) all finishing empty handed. ...(It was specifically 'Rise' which won the award, but I've posted this review as the Omnibus, as that's the version I own) Rise of Endymion is, of course, the final instalment of Simmons brain-melting space-opera epic, The Hyperion Cantos. I’m going to nail my colours to the mast right from the get-go; I’m a Dan Simmons fan and I loved this book. ...(Split and published as four books, the Cantos was written as two and I tend to refer to them as two, simply Hyperion and Endymion) I’m happy to admit this is a very different book from Hyperion; a much simpler book. Hyperion builds a rich, complex universe and tells a strange and difficult tale from the multiple perspectives of a diverse cast. It is, without a doubt, a stunning achievement. I have the feeling that a lot of readers follow the story to Endymion expecting a similar experience and as a result end up sorely disappointed. Having put so much time and energy into building his Hyperion Cantos universe, Endymion is about Simmons (and us) having some fun exploring it! The first book is road-story / chase-story where our heroes bimble along and leap through many worlds via farcaster portals, negotiating episodic dangers and gradually building their relationship. The second book takes us a little deeper, exploring our heroes’ reconfigured relationship as the time-debt of space travel brings their ages close enough for romance to blossom, the spirituality/philosophy of the maturing messiah, and the eye-water potential of the beautiful, vivid settings. Objectively, Hyperion is the ‘better’ book – but subjectively Endymion is (for me at least) a more pleasurable experience. It’s better escapism. It doesn’t make my brain hurt. It had that blend of high-tech sci-fi that I love, that feels magical. It was more uplifting. More emotive. Hyperion felt like an exhibit, Endymion like an embrace. I know I’m in the minority, but I don’t care! I feel like I’m back in the playground, holding hands with the piggy-nosed girl. I think she’s pretty and the rest of you can just go away and stop calling her names! Read Endymion . Love Aenea. Be happy.(less) | Notes are private!
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May 11, 2012
| Paperback
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