ixoy's reading log

Finished "The Chosen" by Ricardo Pinto, the first book in his "Stone Dance of the Chameleon" trilogy.

This book was an interesting one. Pinto builds up a very original world. The story focuses on Carnelian, one of the Chosen. The Chosen are akin to angels in this world looking down upon all the other races (literally, due to their size, as well as figuratively). The whole society is spun around this, with most people trapped in abject servitude to the Chosen. When it comes time to elect a new God Emperor, Carnelian is forced to travel into the world to the fabled city of the Chosen.

As we travel through this world, Pinto unveils it in intricate detail (at times almost too much so). The layers of the society are built up and there's a beautiful alien quality to it all. It's not like any other culture that I've read in countless fantasy series - built upon strict hierarchies and blood purity, on ancient customs and threats of dominance. It's fascinating.

It does mean though that the plot moves slowly - not very much happens really in the 700 pages. There's enough detail for me to avoid this being an issue but it will be a slow burner for some.

The story is nearly entirely told from Carnelian's perspective and, being naive, he's a good view into the barbaric customs he sees. It can make it hard to empathise with some of the supporting cast, when they brutally murder and mutilate people for merely looking at them. It can be a bit challenging as a result to try and get into an alien mindset and Carnelian is written to try and bridge the two.

The ending is a bit out of the blue - quite sudden, with a pace that doesn't quite match what we've seen before. Still I want to read more because there's so much new here. Just as well as I bought the second book before I had even begun this one!

Finished "The Final Empire" by Brandon Sanderson, the first book in his Mistborn trilogy.

This novel was pretty good. Initially it's a little weak as it comes across as a weak heist novel and not a patch on the smooth and witty take of Scott Lynch's books. The type of story changes though and it gets better as the leads try and take down a God-head figure who leads the despotic Final Empire.
The empire that they are trying to take down is very oppressive, with the nobles treating the common folk - skaa - like dirt. However it's unfortunate (in a sense) that I read "The Chosen" so recently because it did, to my mind, a much better job of showing the sheer cruelty of those who believe they're elevated above others. It meant that I didn't quite feel the same level of despair as Sanderson probably intended. I also didn't feel we learnt enough about the circumstances of the world (although I understand that this will be dealt with in later books).

The characters fortunately are pretty decent. Now they're not outstanding but the lead - Vin - is amicable and her growth is both believable and satisfying. I also like how they handled Kelsier in this and people's reactions to him.

One big thing that got mentioned often was the system of magic which is very well done and original (the closest semblance I can think of is some of the work done in Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles). It's smart and balanced, having defined limitations and rules. It's also very central to the book and is worked in well.

The pacing on the book is good and I read through it fairly quickly. The ending seemed a bit too easy but there's some good foreshadowing for the sequel.
On a separate note, this is the first book where I found out the author had annotations on each chapter. Reading this "director's commentary" afterwards made me appreciate the book more and understand some of his creative decisions.

Overall, I enjoyed the novel and will definitely read the second. That itself is a good enough recommendation.

Finished "The Way of Shadows" by Brent Weeks, the first book in his Night Angel Trilogy.

I had good hopes for this book initially, based on a high score on Amazon's reviews. The enthusiasm was dampened by some lukewarm reception on boards. Unfortunately, lukewarm and indifference is the best I can muster for this - one of the most over-rated fantasy novels that I've read in the last few years.

What's wrong with it? The premise is sound enough - a young orphan (Azoth) becomes the apprentice of the city's best assassin (Durzo) amidst a backdrop of some political intrigue. The problem is nothing is done very well.

For starters the world is poorly drawn. The action is set in one city, which is meant to be a melting pot of the surrounding cultures but we never get a feel for any of this. The city is bland. Even worse is that we don't get a feel for the aggressor nations that threaten them - we barely know anything about them so it's hard to feel them as a source of intimidation.
Other flaws include the magic system used in it. It feels poorly executed - it doesn't have the thoughtfulness and detail put in in (and I'll be using this as a comparison more than once) Sanderson's "The Final Empire".

Now a poorly drawn world need not necessarily be an issue if there is a good plot woven through it. The plot is probably the strongest element in this book but it feels very disjointed. In the earlier stages of the book there are leaps of years. It creates a poor sense of pacing. There are some interesting twists in the book but they don't generally feel like they were set up well, where you could have picked up on them. It's generally a sense of "ta da!" The final third of the book is substantially better in plotting but it's too little too late.

The characters growth also suffer from this pacing. Skipping years we don't see how characters progress to become the best in their business. Deep friendships form in this time, again with no real feel for how they got there. Since I read it recently, "The Final Empire" springs to mind as a book that also took an orphan, and trained them, but had a much more natural and believable progression.
Even when the pacing stops jumping years, the characters we're left with are varied. Durzo is just an emo dressed up in assassin's garb. Constantly prattling on about death, and the worthlessness of life he is tiresome to listen to. Azoth is Emo Lite, torturing himself and the readers at time with his self absorption. It's hard to take them seriously at times because I'm rolling my eyes. If your characters need to have streaks of self loathing, then see how much better Joe Abercrombie does it lacing it with black humour.
One of the more interesting characters is unfortunately cursed with one of the worst names I've seen in all my time reading fantasy. A high-powered pimp, she's called Momma K. I expect her to be releasing a rap single soon.

The other element is Weeks' writing ability. It's perfunctory at best. The dialogue at times is just embarrassing. He has a number of the bad guys cackle manically and his good guys play the emo vibe heavily enough that the Cure would probably wince. Oh and he also used the word "BOOM". He just forgot to have the cartoon birds whirling around characters heads afterwards.

Is there any redeeming features? To be fair it gets a fair bit better in the final third and there are some half decent plot reveals. The problem is I just don't care for the characters, I find the world half-baked and dull and the writing too flat. There's too many good books out there waiting to be read for me to invest in reading the sequel. Not recommended.

Finished (finally) "Minority Report" the fourth volume in the collected short stories of Philip K. Dick.

Perhaps it's just a reflection of Dick's writing in the '60s but I found it hard to warm to a lot of this collection. Characterisation is weak in genera but that's normal enough. The fact was the ideas, which is his mainstay, didn't grab me as before. Perhaps I felt they didn't explore in the same depth some of the ramifications that I've seen other authors do. Yet at other times the stories themselves went on too long, stretching out a thin idea too far - such as with "Spider's Web". It's probably that you can see the (typically ironic) ending coming and are just waiting for this punch line.
That's not to say that is is a bad collection. The titular "Minority Report" is good and there's a number of other interesting pieces like "The Days of Perky Pat". Unfortunately I just felt they were imbalanced by stories that dragged too much or that just felt a bit staid, with cardboard characters.

Hopefully the fifth (and final) volume will have a better selection.

Finished "Dragon Keeper" by Robin Hobb, the first book in the Rain Wild Chronicles duology.

I enjoyed this. It's a slow moving tale, set some years after the Liveship Traders (and the Tawny Man series) about the recently hatched dragons, who are weak sickly things. Three different tales of characters weave into the dragon's lives.
The storyline is nothing amazing - the novel is quite slow paced so not much happens. However Hobb is a very good writer and is adept at characters. In this one I liked the majority of characters (except for those I wasn't meant to like) and enjoyed reading their thoughts and how they begin to grow. Her writing style is gentle and yet descriptive - she paints the world very well, one I have no trouble picturing.

It's not her best work, but it's like returning to something cosy and familiar. If you're a fan of Hobb, this is recommended. If you're new to her, then I'd suggest starting with the Assassin trilogy and working through the previous nine books first.

Finished "No Present Like Time" by Steph Swainston, the second book in her Castle series. It's 2.5 years since I read the first book but I was able to return to the world quite easily.
I genuinely enjoyed this one as it offered something a bit different. Like the first, it follows Comet who holds the position of Messenger for the Emperor San. The Messenger is part of the Circle which contains the very best in their field - the Warrior, the Strongman, the Archer, etc. The reward for those in the position is immortality. However, they can be challenged and - if someone is superior in their chosen field - they take the mantle of that role and the original contender loses their immortality. When the Swordsman role is lost to a new-comer then it sets off a chain of events.
In a separate thread, a new land is discovered and Comet, and some others, sail to it to bring the people under the wing of the Emperor.

It's told from the first person and Comet is an interesting character. As well as being immortal, he's also winged (the only person who can fly) and a recovering drug addict. He can be very selfish and his perspective can be refreshing in a genre that is still a bit too prone to the innocent farm boy routine.

I find the idea of an immortal meritocracy intriguing. I also liked the Shift, the fantastical world Comet can enter through a drug high. There's some fierce originality here and this book sets up plenty more for future instalments. It's also satisfyingly self-contained (unlike what I felt with the first) with the two plot arcs handled well. Recommended for those who want something a little different.

Finished Richard Morgan's "The Steel Remains", the first book in his "Land Fit for Heroes" trilogy.

It's a dark, gritty series in the new fashion of the likes of Abercrombie and (to a smaller degree) GRRM. There are three characters, with a shared past, who have separate storylines taking place in a land where older forces of legend are appearing once more. It's not particularly original but its done fairly well and the invaders are reasonably fresh.
The characters have their own complex moral codes, particularly the lead Ringil. I appreciated the work Morgan did with his character for a number of reasons and would like to see how it progresses in the future.

The novel's fairly short by the genre's standard (c. 430 pages) meaning that the pacing is nice and swift, with no time to be bored or - as some authors do - fall into flowery descriptions.

Recommended for those who are fans of the sub-genre of gritty fantasy.

Finished "Things That Never Happen" by M. John Harrison. It's unfortunately aptly named - things never happen in this short story collection. I found far too many stories to be far too dull.

Harrison can write - he creates very clear descriptions. They're vivid but they're nearly always describing the mundane life. The worlds in these short stories are always dour, bleak and downbeat. Primarily told in the first person, there's a certain uniformity to them. The sci-fi elements, if present at all, are tenuous at best - hinted at, mentioned in a sideline. Now this might work for some, the idea of the memories or echoes of ideas but for me it just grew boring. Yes, there's some decent short stories in there but too often my eyes grew unfocused and glossed over the words trying to see if anything would actually happen.

Maybe some people will appreciate his use of language, despite the leaden pacing. I couldn't and won't be revisiting this author.

Finished "The Diary of a Dr Who Addict" by Paul Magrs. More of a novellete than a novel, it charts the "coming of age" years of a Doctor Who-obsessed teenager growing up in the '80s and how he reacts to the changes in his life and those around him.
Being a fan of the show I enjoyed the many references to "Doctor Who" but there's a lot more to it. It's a good tale about adolescence and feeling like you don't fit in with those around you. Jumping in at various points in these formative years, the narration is crisp and clear and I'd recommend it as a nice, nostalgic read.

Finished Daniel Abraham's "A Shadow in Summer", the first book in his Long Price quartet.

It is set around a city's control of the cotton trade through use of a bound creature - an andat - that is controlled by what is referred to as a poet. The plot is around trying to destabilise this control as the characters become embroiled in it.

What stood out for me in this is Abraham's strength with characters. It's unusual to have a strong middle-aged woman in a lead role but he does it with aplomb and yet, unlike other books, he makes her believable too. She's an overseer not the typical grizzled veteran. The other characters are all relatable to some degree or the other. Indeed Abraham makes the villains, such as they are, understandable too - they're weak willed people, not evil. This human approach makes it much easier to get involved with the story.

The story itself is somewhat slow moving seeing as it's somewhat setting pieces up for the next few books (or so I assume). Abraham though makes sure to balance his time with each of his characters unusually well. With nobody's story dominating, it means no story dragged and I read it quite swiftly.

For something a bit more low-key, populated with good characters, I'd definitely recommend this. I'm looking forward to seeing where the next few books go.

Finished "The Well of Ascension" by Brandon Sanderson, the second book in his Mistborn trilogy.

Really enjoyed this. Sanderson has a gift for pacing - we're thrown straight into some action and throughout he always knows when to break up some dialogue at the right juncture. The magic system used - Allomancy - works very well and is open to inventive scenes but somewhat believable as there's a (vague) grounding in physics underpinning them.

As good as the pacing and action is, it wouldn't work without some good characterisation and the the primary viewpoints are that of Elend and Vin. Elend gets a lot more "screen time" than the first book which is good as he was one of my favourites there and how he reacts to his responsibilities is believable and human. The same goes for Vin - both have their insecurities and strengths. Many fantasy characters are interesting, but not that many are people you feel you could relate to despite their powers. Sanderson has that touch.

The novel also builds to a very enjoyable finale that really puts in a cliff hanger for the third book which I will absolutely read.
A series worth getting into.

Finished "Reamde" by Neal Stephenson.

This novel starts out about a "gold farming" virus used in a MMORPG game - T'rain (basically "World of Warcraft") and the attempts of various individuals to stop it. We start delving into interesting areas such as the development of the world, touch on the virus, etc. So far, we're quite like typical Stephenson with its nerd quota.
And then it shifts. A lot. It takes a right-angle and becomes a techno-thriller, sliding closer to just being an all-out thriller. It's almost like something out of "24" with long extended action sequences (one such sequence taking about 200 pages).
These action scenes are very well written. Stephenson has a gift for clarity here and I was able to picture what was going on in the world at all time. Not all authors can accomplish this. He's also a greater pacer - you're never bored.

The characters are generally well drawn, without ever being too deep. It's not something I expect either from Stephenson as normally he's spending an equal amount of time tackling large concepts. And that's what's missing here for me... this novel is lacking in the large scale. I had issues with the Baroque cycle but I could never decry it for lack of ambition. I loved "Anathem" which was challenging and thought provoking. "Reamde" is neither - it's a lot of fun, entertaining and would make a great movie / tv show ... but it's missing the something unique that he offered in "Cryptonomicon", "Snow Crash" or "The Diamond Age". Disappointing? Only in that it wasn't what I expected, not that it's bad. Hopefully, he'll cater for the nerdier side more so next time.

Finished "At the Gates of Darkness" by Raymond E.Feist, the second book in his Demonwar duology and the 26th Riftwar series book.

I saw one reviewer describe this book as "comfort food" and I think that's an apt description. In many ways this book is sort of rubbish: The writing is pedestrian (and there's too many typos) - the word "suddenly" appears once a page it seems. The newer characters are a little dull. There's almost too much exposition.

Feist has had a perchance, particularly in recent books, to ret-con the world a bit, revising what we thought we knew with something else: You thought X did that in Book 15? Ah-ha turns out it was actually Y!

And yet.. It's also got characters I've followed for years - Pug, in particular, I've been reading for 20 years now. I like the character and the world of Midkemia. It's a bag of crisps - it's light, it's kind of bad, but I can't help myself.

One small thing though: Don't pay too much for this. I paid about €5 for the e-book version. If I had paid the original hardback price for this slim 300-page book, I'd have felt ripped off.

Finished "A Betrayal in Winter" by Daniel Abraham, the second book in his Long Price quartet.

It picks up 14 years after the first (an unusual length of time) meeting up with some old characters and some new. This time the plot is around succession and characters are forced to address their pasts. The book's plot isn't particularly convoluted but it is executed well - rather than take short cuts with magic spells, or the like, characters are forced to use believable circumstances and skills to work out the betrayals that are going on (and which the reader is informed of from the start). This leads to more interesting characters as it makes them more approachable.
I would say though that it isn't quite as neat as the first book - the characters didn't involve me quite as much (well the new ones anyway). Now it makes sense that Abraham doesn't repeat himself ... I just found more depth in the first set.

I still enjoyed this series and will read the 3rd and 4th books (already bought).

Finished "The Parasite" by Neal Asher. It's one of his early works, only available now on Kindle or out-of-print (and expensive) paperback. It's non-Polity based, but it's interesting to see the early roots of some of his later work here (golems, AI, augs).

The prose is a little bit sloppy at times but the action scenes bear some of the trademarks that Asher fans like - they don't reach the peaks of later works but there's still the adrenalin and violent action fans expect.

If you're new to Asher, there's better works to introduce you to him but if you're a fan than you should get this for your collection.