Reading list - running low
Been a while since I posted anything on here - been wondering what impact this has on drawing attention to my first novel to be honest with you. But this morning I've spent the last half hour or so trying to find a good book to read for my upcoming trip on Saturday; and would you believe I just can't seem to find one.
For the most part those I've seen in the "recommended reading" section on Amazon appear to still be Templar and Vatican related. This is a trend I thought died out a year or two after the first Dan Brown film came out, yet here they still are, being churned out at a significant rate of knots. How many more secrets can the Vatican possibly have to hide from civilisation, and how much longer can we really care?
Viral threats also seem to be popular at the moment, or at least there are a lot of books published on the subject (I can't say for sure how well they're being received as the reviews appear mixed). I like this as a concept, especially when the source is something from the past that can be explored. But there have been far too many instances of Nazi bunkers being found that contain some long lost virus (that apparently despite our greater understanding of virology and genetic sequencing since WWII we are still incapable of reproducing the effects of), or a Vatican team being responsible for retrieving it should it go missing.
I think what prompted me to jot down a brief entry for the blog though, was a review about "Gods of Atlantis" by David Gibbins. I had clicked on it to see if others were thinking along the same lines as I had when I tried it = that they found themselves unable to finish it due to the sheer number of consecutive chapters that involved the main characters sitting in the briefing room on their boat talking endlessly about mini-submarines and the history that links what they're looking at on the screen. It just slowed things down too much for me. The review I was looking at said that the reader had found with a previous book that they had to put down for a few days at a time because they found it difficult to get into, but in the case of Gods of Atlantis they had to do so for weeks at a time.
And this is what rang alarm bells for me - because I too don't think I've read a book in about six months where I've found I actually wanted to go to bed before I was tired each night in order to read more of it. They've all been books that I've either not been able to finish, or dropped in on every few weeks and only managed a chapter at best before finding nothing was gripping me. This is making it considerably more difficult to choose a book to buy, as I am now half expecting the same dragged out stories and genetically altered Nazi virus that will get me as far as meeting the main characters before becoming bored and feeling I've walked the same weary fictional path so many times before. The background of the history to the threat of so many of these archaeological thrillers isn't even clever enough to keep me ticking over.
I must say some of my favourite books of this archaeological thriller genre have been the Andy McDermott series where okay a couple of the treasures they've sought have not been so much threats as they were simply means of funding a more modern diabolical plot (or saving some history from one), but the connections to myth and legend intermixed with factual history and some nicely executed action have always been might impressive. And the other major one (aside from the Matthew Reilly: Jack West series that sadly ended a few years ago) was the "Genesis Plague" by Michael Byrnes, because it had a fantastic cliff hanger and a very nice link between fact and fiction that just got me thinking as I read it, and therefore made me want to keep reading to see if he took the story in that direction.
These are the kinds of books that I'm trying to find, but with so many books out there in the couple of quid price bracket, it just makes me loathe to spend £4.99 on the kindle versions of more obviously major authors (Trudi Canavan, what the devil are you playing at with your £8.99 kindle price tag - I loved the Age of Five and Magician's Guild trilogies, but I'm not paying above print price for kindle books in your Traitor series; that's just nuts!) on the off chance they've still got the good above the self-publishers that I'm having to take more of a risk on.
I've got two days until my trip - thankfully I will have the "Expectant father survival guide" to read that I know I'll enjoy and finish simply because I need the info within for my upcoming new baby. So at least that's one book I can rely on - where are the rest?!?!?!?
For the most part those I've seen in the "recommended reading" section on Amazon appear to still be Templar and Vatican related. This is a trend I thought died out a year or two after the first Dan Brown film came out, yet here they still are, being churned out at a significant rate of knots. How many more secrets can the Vatican possibly have to hide from civilisation, and how much longer can we really care?
Viral threats also seem to be popular at the moment, or at least there are a lot of books published on the subject (I can't say for sure how well they're being received as the reviews appear mixed). I like this as a concept, especially when the source is something from the past that can be explored. But there have been far too many instances of Nazi bunkers being found that contain some long lost virus (that apparently despite our greater understanding of virology and genetic sequencing since WWII we are still incapable of reproducing the effects of), or a Vatican team being responsible for retrieving it should it go missing.
I think what prompted me to jot down a brief entry for the blog though, was a review about "Gods of Atlantis" by David Gibbins. I had clicked on it to see if others were thinking along the same lines as I had when I tried it = that they found themselves unable to finish it due to the sheer number of consecutive chapters that involved the main characters sitting in the briefing room on their boat talking endlessly about mini-submarines and the history that links what they're looking at on the screen. It just slowed things down too much for me. The review I was looking at said that the reader had found with a previous book that they had to put down for a few days at a time because they found it difficult to get into, but in the case of Gods of Atlantis they had to do so for weeks at a time.
And this is what rang alarm bells for me - because I too don't think I've read a book in about six months where I've found I actually wanted to go to bed before I was tired each night in order to read more of it. They've all been books that I've either not been able to finish, or dropped in on every few weeks and only managed a chapter at best before finding nothing was gripping me. This is making it considerably more difficult to choose a book to buy, as I am now half expecting the same dragged out stories and genetically altered Nazi virus that will get me as far as meeting the main characters before becoming bored and feeling I've walked the same weary fictional path so many times before. The background of the history to the threat of so many of these archaeological thrillers isn't even clever enough to keep me ticking over.
I must say some of my favourite books of this archaeological thriller genre have been the Andy McDermott series where okay a couple of the treasures they've sought have not been so much threats as they were simply means of funding a more modern diabolical plot (or saving some history from one), but the connections to myth and legend intermixed with factual history and some nicely executed action have always been might impressive. And the other major one (aside from the Matthew Reilly: Jack West series that sadly ended a few years ago) was the "Genesis Plague" by Michael Byrnes, because it had a fantastic cliff hanger and a very nice link between fact and fiction that just got me thinking as I read it, and therefore made me want to keep reading to see if he took the story in that direction.
These are the kinds of books that I'm trying to find, but with so many books out there in the couple of quid price bracket, it just makes me loathe to spend £4.99 on the kindle versions of more obviously major authors (Trudi Canavan, what the devil are you playing at with your £8.99 kindle price tag - I loved the Age of Five and Magician's Guild trilogies, but I'm not paying above print price for kindle books in your Traitor series; that's just nuts!) on the off chance they've still got the good above the self-publishers that I'm having to take more of a risk on.
I've got two days until my trip - thankfully I will have the "Expectant father survival guide" to read that I know I'll enjoy and finish simply because I need the info within for my upcoming new baby. So at least that's one book I can rely on - where are the rest?!?!?!?
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