What else are you reading - November 2020

[Tamahome]

Will you be playing quidditch in the back yard?

[John (Nevets)]

As long as your brooms are long enough, I could see that being a good socially distant game.

[Seth]

I read Black Sun and thought it was a really good set-up for the rest of the series, but perhaps not the best as it's own book. It's great to read a really fresh-feeling setting in epic fantasy, but a lot of the book is backstory and maneuvering characters into place.

Also read The Last Smile in Sunder City, and I really liked the setting (a noir-inspired magic city after magic disappears). But even for a noir, there's only so much wallowing in the past I can tolerate from a main character. I might look at the next one and see if the main character has moved forward a bit.

[Geoff]

Tamahome wrote: "Will you be playing quidditch in the back yard?"

Great idea!

[Trike]

Seth wrote: "I read Black Sun and thought it was a really good set-up for the rest of the series, but perhaps not the best as it's own book."

I agree. For some reason I thought it was a standalone, so you can imagine my surprise when I got near the end and thought, “There’s no way she can wrap all this up in two chapters.” She didn’t. Because series.

[Melina]

Seth wrote: "I read Black Sun and thought it was a really good set-up for the rest of the series, but perhaps not the best as it's own book. It's great to read a really fresh-feeling setting in ..."

Agreed on the setting - it was interesting to learn this new world Roanhorse created inspired by Pre-Columbian cultures. The mysticism of each culture was well thought out with the right amount of magic thrown in.

[Rick]

If you want a great series that looks at pre-columbian peoples in the Central American region check out Aliette de Bodard's Obsidian and Blood. Originally published as a full trilogy that book has all 3 volumes (which is surprising since the 3 are not short). You can start with Servant of the Underworldif you just want the first book for some reason.

[Seth]

Rick wrote: "Aliette de Bodard"

Thanks for the recommendation - this is probably the author I haven't read that I've been recommended most often. I'll have to grab something.

[Rick]

Seth wrote: "

Thanks for the recommendation - this is probably the author I haven't read that I've been recommended most often. I'll have to grab something."

I like her stuff a lot. There are basically three fictional universe for most of it. Obsidian & Blood is a closed trilogy set in the Aztec world. It's complete and she doesn't plan on more there. The Xuya universe is a far future, Vietnamese setting (she's French-Vietnamese) and the Dominion of the Fallen is set in an alternate Paris where the world has seen Fallen angels take up residence and war.

[Tamahome]

Finished The Queen's Gambit novel after watching the tv miniseries: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... This is the same author as The Man Who Fell to Earth, which has a bizarre movie adaption starring David Bowie.

[Mark]

My hold on The Ten Thousand Doors of January finally arrived. Here we go...

[Kev]

Haven't read anything this month.... Even books I was excited about, or sequels I was interested in that came up on my holds from my libraries I just didn't feel like reading.

Anyone else hit a slump near the end of the year and not want to read at all?

[Trike]

Kev wrote: "Haven't read anything this month.... Even books I was excited about, or sequels I was interested in that came up on my holds from my libraries I just didn't feel like reading.

Anyone else hit a s..."

I’m usually slammed at work because November is budget season, but I’ve literally only worked one day this month; aside from outside forces impacting me, I don’t have an emotional slump. I hope you feel better.

[Rick]

Kev wrote: "Haven't read anything this month.... Even books I was excited about, or sequels I was interested in that came up on my holds from my libraries I just didn't feel like reading.

Anyone else hit a s..."
not now but I've hit those too. Sometimes it's my emotions but mostly it's just a lack of desire to pick up a book and read. I usually come out of it in a month or two. You could check out anthologies (short stories are less of a "eh, do I want to read book?" thing) or comics if you want. Or just do other stuff and come back to it naturally.

[John (Taloni)]

Finished up three books recently. In reverse order:

The Tower of Nero, Rick Riordan's latest. This one was surprisingly good. The other books in this series have been good but not particularly inspired. This one puts together the "Apollo as mortal" bit well. Good insight into abusive / manipulative parents, Nero as the worst but Zeus participating in that vein as well. Plus a side bit about the motivating power of common decency.

I wasn't expecting much from this one. Riordan botched the Norse mythology one so much I figured we were in for a dud ending. Odin as doddering fool? Er...no. While not quite as bangup as the ending to the first Percy Jackson series, this one was a credible tieup involving most of the Riordanverse.

Among the tidbits is that he seems to be heading towards a crossover event involving multiple pantheons. I'm in for that.

[John (Taloni)]

Second, Hunters of Dune. Yep, I went on to the next Dune book despite Internet warnings that they were terrible. The cartoon riff has a time-traveler telling Frank Herbert "Burn your notes after Chapterhouse Dune." Actually, I found this one fairly decent. Maybe it's that my expectations were so low. Yes, this book betrays part of the original Dune, but then, that's not the fault of Brian Herbert or Kevin Anderson. Those plot points were in Frank Herbert's work and this follows those in what seems to me a logical extension.

Not much spoilery below but I suppose any discussion of the plot would be a spoiler to peeps who haven't read this far, so...

(view spoiler)[All the major characters of the first Dune book are now resurrected as gholas using the euphemistically named "axlotl tanks," which are really brain-dead women kept only as wombs. There's really no reason why the gholas should have the memories of the originals, but there is a vague reference to keeping spice at a certain level during the pregnancy. If I were to greatly construe on minimal facts, perhaps the spice allows the embryo to access its own memories the way Bene Geserit do for Other Memory in the spice agony. It's unclear why the women need to be brain dead except to cast the Tleilaxu as unfeeling monsters. To keep the template clear? Well, I've found that whole plot point ridiculous and insulting. It's also against continuity, as a fully grown Duncan Idaho ghola was presented to Paul in Dune Messiah, and they didn't have time to raise him from an infant for that.

As for the resurrectees, they seem to be setting up to be the strike force for the escapee Bene Geserit. I found myself wanting to call them the "Uncanny aXlotl-Men." The warped Paul raised by the resurrected Baron Harkonnen looks interesting.

One strange point is that the axlotl tanks are left dormant after raising the bigshots from original Dune. How about bringing back the women who sacrificed themselves to do that? You are doing literally nothing with their bodies, you have cell samples, bring them back as well. This situation reminds me of the Sam Kinison "Jesus" bit where they're all standing around the crucifixion saying "it's a shame he has to die" and Jesus responds "maybe I wouldn't have to if someone would get a ladder and a pair of pliers!"

I'm unsure what to make of the Honored Matres springing from freed axlotl tanks. They then dedicate their way of existence to revenge on men, expressed as sexual slavery. There's a lesson here about repeating the past, but it's done in such a warped fashion I'm unclear what Herbert was trying to say.

I saw on the internet that it's recommended to read the Butlerian Jihad first. Yeah, I should have done that. There's a series of reveals at the end of Hunters of Dune that mean nothing to me. I had assumed that those were written after these two book, but nope, the Butlerian Jihad was written first.

I'll move on to the next one after some books I'm more looking forward to. These are turning into decent filler books. None have the majesty of the original, but I've stopped hoping for that. (hide spoiler)]

[John (Taloni)]

Third, and first read, Rivers of London. I found this to be like a prose comic book. It felt a lot like a Dr. Strange spinoff, as if they'd introduced the characters in main continuity and then done a limited series. I found myself thinking of them as "Copper Strange" and his apprentice.

Because of the comics feel I found the intro a bit tedious. Comics get right into the action. This one had a lot of setup. The setup paid off pretty well, tho. Also, the quips and asides in the beginning definitely moved things along.

Great use of Newton in the story. He's an English icon so why not incorporate his work? If you only know a little about him the book explains enough to bring you along. If you're aware of his interest in the occult and the purported waste of his time on that, the book offers a tantalizing second viewpoint.

I recall a discussion about a certain plot point, where a character is described as plump and had to develop a sarcastic viewpoint or otherwise commit suicide. I honestly wouldn't have noticed that bit if it hadn't been called out in discussion here. I didn't take it as a fat joke or really any kind of derision. Rather, it seemed like a fast quip about a stock British character, of which there were quite a few in the book. And there were so many quips that this one just disappears into the flow.

If anything, it's another line that made me wince. Most of the violence is cartoonish and I took it as fiction or even comic book level. One line was right out of the real world. During one of the assaults an abuser says "do you have a headache now?" It's the kind of thing an actual spousal abuser would say. Worse, the victim had been plucked out of her support network and left alone with a small child. So I found that one a lot harder than the sarcastic comment above.

There's vast commentary on life in London and successive waves of immigration. Lower Thames represents the newer parts and the upper Thames older, entrenched Britain. A glimpse into a world of magic likely to be developed more in later books.

My wife twigged to the (view spoiler)[Punch and Judy aspect of the book early on. She'd seen a Midsomer Murders that focused on a Punch and Judy show. I'd only vaguely heard of them and had no real idea what they were. A Brit would know, though. (hide spoiler)]

Anyway, there's seven more of these books and likely more to come. I imagine I'll plow through them like the Invisible Library books.

[Seth]

Kev wrote: "Haven't read anything this month.... Anyone else hit a slump near the end of the year and not want to read at all?"

I definitely hit this wall earlier this year. In addition to Rick's suggestions, what worked for me was doing rereads of some books I liked from a long time ago. I guess I was looking for something comfortable, so it helped that I wasn't going to get rudely surprised while reading. Hope you find something that helps.

[Sheila Jean]

I managed to read all the things below. I'm ending the month ~60% through the audio of Regenesis by C.J. Cherryh. I'm interested enough to finish but I'm not loving it like I did Cyteen.

In print I managed to finish up The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk. Which I thought was fine but not as enjoyable to me as the Kingston Cycle books. I'm currently slogging through Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. Which I'd assumed I'd read, but it's actually my husband's copy from way back and now that I'm 60 pages in I don't think I've actually read it. I'm finding it a very slow read for 208 pages of mass market paperback.

Sheila Jean wrote: "I'm listening to Battle Ground by Jim Butcher (library loan) after which I'll try to finish up Blood of Empire by Brian McClellan and Heaven's River by Dennis E. Taylor. [Note to self FINISH ALL THESE BEFORE STARTING [book:Rhythm of War|49021976] by Brandon Sanderson.)

I'm reading The Memory of Souls by Jenn Lyons (library loan) after which I hope to finish up The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty."

[Joseph]

Sheila Jean wrote: "I managed to read all the things below. I'm ending the month ~60% through the audio of Regenesis by C.J. Cherryh. I'm interested enough to finish but I'm not loving it."

I did like Regenesis when I read it, but, for better or for worse, to me it just felt like Even More Cyteen.

[Brian]

Sheila Jean wrote: "...Heaven's River by Dennis E. Taylor..."

For those of us who prefer to buy bits for our eyes instead of bits for our ears, Dennis Taylor's blog says:

Question: Where’s the Kindle version?

Answer: Audible likes to have an exclusivity deal with authors. During negotiations, they will try for up to a six month gap before the text versions are produced. The inducements to the author are: Audible pays for the narrator, Audible pays for the cover, Audible does marketing, Audible offers a much larger advance. Audible is also responsible for about 2/3 of my total income, so they are by definition my primary publisher.

Fortunately my agent, who is a bit of a pit bull, has kept the exclusive period down to four months. So the text version (for the current contracts, anyway) will always come out 4 months after the Audible version.

Given the late September 2020 release date for Audible, that suggests Kindle availability by February 2021.

[John (Taloni)]

I am good for Dennis E. Taylor to get as much money as he can. I don't relate to audio books, so February it will be.

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

The audible exclusive book that annoys me is Mount Fitz Roy by Scott Sigler which comes out on Thursday.

The kindle version won't be out for over a year :-? I prefer to read than listen.

I've been waiting for this sequel to Earthcore since 2006

It is $69.59 for the Audible version for non-members. So I won't be getting that. A more reasonable price would have got me (Under $30)

Scott usually podcasts his new novels, but that won't be for over a year either, as part of the exclusivity deal.

[Colin]

Tassie Dave wrote: "The audible exclusive book that annoys me is Mount Fitz Roy by Scott Sigler which comes out on Thursday.

....

It is $69.59 for the Audible version for non-members. So I won't be getting that. A more reasonable price would have got me (Under $30)"

Not sure about Aussie pricing, but you could take out a month-by-month subscription and then cancel again after getting the one book? That would surely get it under your $30 mark.

I've pre-ordered it with one of my subscription credits, although at 29 hours and change it's about twice as long as the ideal audio book for me!