Speculative Mysteries, a genre-blending discussion

[Carnegie-Stout Public Library]

The results of our May discussion poll are in, and it was 5 votes for more Science Fiction/Fantasy and 4 votes for Mystery. Based on this, we've selected 5 speculative fiction titles with mystery elements.

Discussion will start on May 1st, and these are the titles to chose from:

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer
The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters
The City and The City by China Mieville
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

[Michelle]

Wow--not familiar with any of these and honestly not one of them is something I would pick up on my own--I guess I'll have to do some research before I pick one. Can anyone tell me which one fits most closely in the mystery category?

[Sarah]

That's the fun of book clubs, isn't it? Trying books we wouldn't try otherwise!

Not having read them all, I'd say that The Last Policeman is the closest to a typical mystery novel, despite the setting (it even won an Edgar award). The City and The City is also centered on a murder mystery, but the setting is more fantastic. Either of these would be a good choice!

[Amy]

Annihilation is a short (about 195 pages) fantasy thriller that is a reminiscent of the first season of Lost. If you like reading about things that make you go "hmmmm", this might be the book for you.

[Michelle]

It's not really right to say I've read The City and the City--I read about 8 chapters and gave up. I liked the idea of this book and when I started it I even liked the feel of the book. It reminded me of an old movie, Blade Runner, which I really liked. Its dark and gritty and dives right into the mystery. These are all elements that usually draw me in, but reading The City and the City just felt like work to me. Mieville has an extensive vocabulary and normally I would love that, but some of it is from a made up language and even in context I was finding it confusing and off-putting. You get a great feel for the setting, his writing is really descriptive, but I wasn't getting anything about the characters so I just wasn't invested in them and ultimately didn't care about them. When I realized I was not looking forward to picking this book up it was time to put it down permanently.

[Sarah]

It sounds like you gave it a great effort Michelle! I've also not had much luck with Mieville. I want to like his stories, but his writing never quite draws me in. Maybe one of the other May titles will be more your speed.

[Chel]

If you're think about reading His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik, here's a link to my blog post. I'm on the fourth in the series--Empire of Ivory.

http://carnegiestout.blogspot.com/sea...

[Dawn]

So I decided in May I will read, "A Canticle for Leibowitz". I picked this book because the Catholic Monk element sounded interesting and none of the other books are anything I would normally read. My boss saw it on my desk the day I got it & expressed her shock that I was reading it and offered me good luck in getting through it because she said it's one of the few books in her lifetime she's not finished. Soooooo, I haven't started it yet but now I'm feeling more unsure about my choice than I was when I chose it. Oh well, all I can do it start reading & see what happens!

[Charleen]

I finished A Canticle for Leibowitz yesterday. I thought it was really interesting and it grabbed me from the beginning. Unfortunately, the last two-thirds of the book just didn't pull me in the way that first section did. It was a good book, and very thought provoking, but I ended up not liking it as much as I'd expected based on my initial reaction.

[Dawn]

So I gave it 65 pages and I was mildly interested at first but come 65 pages in I realized I didn't care. I skimmed ahead a little to see if maybe once we got past the initial part of the book if it might get more interesting & it got less interesting so I just gave up. Sci Fi is just not my thing, in general. And I really don't like post-apocalyptic/dystopic settings.

[Andrea]

I finished two books this weekend - The Last Policeman and Annihilation.

I really enjoyed The Last Policeman because it had more of a mystery feel to it and I like that genre the best. It still had those sci-fi elements, which I didn't mind, but I felt like the numbers and "the facts" didn't add much.

Annihilation was definitely a weird one, but still one that I couldn't put down. It was a very quick read in the two days I completed it, and it was just enough to leave me wanting more. I will be picking up the second book in the trilogy very soon.

[Sarah]

I was the one who suggested The Last Policeman for the May discussion, so my plan was to finally read His Majesty's Dragon (it's been on my TBR list for four or five years now. Eek!). However, I just got my hands on an advance copy for the third book in The Last Policeman trilogy, so that's bumped to the top of my list. What is is that's so appealing about watching all of civilization crumble?

It's been ages since I read Leibowitz during a teenage binge on nuclear apocalypse fiction. A Gift Upon the Shore sounds interesting, and it isn't one that I came across before! Plus Annihilation, I'm walking out of this month with more TBR than I came in with :)