ixoy's reading log

Finished "The Twelve" by Justin Cronin, the second book in his Passage trilogy.

This one was a bit difficult for me. On one hand, I really like when he goes into the logistics of how the world (no wait "America" - but that's apparently the entire world) copes with the event of a vampire apocalypse. Those scenes were good as were most of the action.
Struggling against that was the spiritual angle which, personally, I found very distracting and removed me from the novel. Too many nods to there being "an unseen hand" or a bigger plan. It's not too far it seems at time from "wizard did it" with some of the events. It was present in "The Passage" but seemed to take a bigger role here and I found it highly off putting with all the Christian allegory. The other allegory to Nazism was very heavy handed as well.

It's not a bad novel but I'm concerned as to the direction it's taking. Hopefully Book 3 will focus on the more pragmatic aspects and leave out the spiritual elements. Have characters hope, yearn, etc but to have them all keep focusing on some mystical plan and overseer doesn't work for me.

Blood and ashes: It's done! Finally! Twenty years later and it's good bye to the Wheel of Time as I finished "A Memory of Light" penned by Brandon Sanderson working in Robert Jordan's world.

Can say little without spoilers except that the book feels suitably epic and that the Final Battle is done well. Sanderson is very capable with his pacing and racking up the tension. Ending felt a little rushed though given how many thousands of pages preceded it.

I've mixed feelings about its ending. It's far from perfect but that's as much Jordan's fault as Sanderson's. Nobody was going to be completely happy. Overall as a series it was memorable but flawed - it could really have been compressed into ten books, maybe less. Still I won't forget this, even if it's merely as an insane investment of time. The Wheel of Time turns and hopefully the passing Age is in no rush to come again in the near future...

Finished the even shorter "Legion" by Brandon Sanderson. It's not much more than a short story but it's got a fun premise (an investigator who hallucinates other people who have different skills he requires) and probably has room for further stories.

Finished "The Technician" by Neal Asher. It's a Polity novel - a sequel to both his Agent Cormac series and, in particular, "The Line of Polity".

If you've read Asher before, you know what to expect and you get it: nasty monsters, sarky AIs and lots of action. This one also has one of the smarter plots in his series with multiple interesting revelations, all handled well - bordering on the convoluted at time but never crossing the line. Outside of the AIs the standout character is Jem, a former Proctor from "The Line of Polity" and his journey of self discovery makes him one of Asher's stronger characters.

If you're a fan of Asher, this novel is a must. If you're not then read the books mentioned above first and then this one. More of this please (well once he gets the Penny Royal series out, I will have this wish).

Finished "Salute the Dark", the fourth book in Adrian Tchaikovsky's "Shadows of the Apt" series and the final book in the first arc.

This one brought a satisfying conclusion to the events of the first three books, including character arcs. There's a great sense of sacrifice here and it works on a suitably big scale despite clocking in at a relatively small page count. Action is kept well paced.

Off to buy the fifth book (starting up, I imagine, the expected arc kicked off somewhat in the background of the last two books).

Also now finished "Blue Remembered Earth" the first book in Alastair Reynold's Poseidon's Children series. Set 150 years from now, it details a solar system where Africa has risen to a dominant power and members of its wealthiest family begin to uncover the legacy of their late grandmother.

Set in our confined solar system it's quite different to some of the wider scale stories of his previous works (especially "House of Suns"). It's more character focused. It's also more optimistic in tone, pointing out the great potential of humanity which is a different angle than the gritty Revelation Space series took. Unfortunately, for me, it's a little duller because of it. It's just a little too safe with no real edge or sense of danger. The plot, which is fine, didn't really grab me (nor did it bore me). It's a perfectly good book but it's not memorable either. It does though seem to be a lot of set up, ground work for the next two books which I believe could begin to deliver on the grander scale I like to see in Reynold's works.

Finished "The Hydrogen Sonata" by Iain M. Banks, the latest - and sadly last - Culture book. This time in somewhat of a contrast to "Surface Detail" exploring Hell, he looks at the Glitz civilization who are in the final days before they Sublime - sort of an ascending - when events come along to endanger it.

It's good but I didn't enjoy this one as much as "Surface Detail" and it's a little bit down to the characters not being quite as engaging. This included the various ships where, there being so many, not one of them really stood out for me.
Characters aside the plot was pretty good and, despite weaving about a little, came to one of the most satisfying conclusions of his books (certainly a stronger end than "Surface Detail"). In fact the last fifth or so was very strong with some excellent action sequences thrown in.

Iain M. Banks brought a superb series to us in his Culture novels. While "The Hydrogen Sonata" isn't his best, it's only because some of the rest are excellent. He's a talent that will be sorely missed.

Finished "Particle Horizon" by Selso Xisto. It's a book that I picked up when I saw it was free having never heard of the author (it's his debut work).

It's the tale of a research facility, stationed inside a hollowed asteroid, that's attacked by a group of religious fanatics. It's told from the perspective of some of those living there, the invading fanatics and members of the squad who come to fight them off.

I had relatively low expectations of an unknown Kindle author so I was very happy that this book was actually very good. Xisto was very good at describing the scenes, made interesting characters, let the plot flow at a strong pace and built towards a satisfying climax. I was never bored and I was surprised at how quickly I read through it. My only quibbles were that the religion vs science angle wasn't explored as deeply as I'd liked (or as balanced really) and that the book needed further editing in parts - far too many times I saw "its" and "it's" being used incorrectly.
Overall though I remain impressed and would be keen to see what he produces next. A good find that the Kindle's made possible.

Finished "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins, the final book in her Hunger Games trilogy.

It's quite different to the other two books in that there are no hunger games this time around. Instead, it's taking a bigger step up as people prepare to fight back with Katniss as a (very) reluctant figurehead.
Now this, when it's being adapted to film, is going to be split into two books and I'm wondering how they'll achieve this. The first part of "Mockingjay" is quite slow with only a few "action" scenes. It's done well enough but a lot of it is more to do with internal character struggles.
The second half picks up and delivers quite a lot. It's also quite bleak. The downbeat permeates a lot of this novel so there's not much in the way of "fun" (then that's the same for the trilogy as a whole).
There's a few decent twists and there is room for character growth. "Catnip" isn't always likeable but she is quite believable.

Overall, I was pleased with how they handled this and the character arcs. It'll be interesting to see if the Hollywood adaptation is faithful or if it tries to take it down a more lighter route.

Also polished off "The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography" by Simon Singh. Another book that's been around for ages - a productive day.

There's no real solid reason it took me so long other than I've a strong preference for fictional works. The title clearly says what it's about and I thought Singh did an excellent job of describing the history of cryptography right from the earlier days and how, each time, the various systems thought unbreakable were solved.
The only issue was (and one the author could never avoid) how old some of the chapters on "current" computer cryptography seemed (no surprise since it was 1999 when the book was written). Shame it couldn't be updated but it was still interesting to get a history and many of the core principals still apply.

An excellent overview of cryptography that's accessible to everyone.

Finished "Blood Song" by Anthony Ryan, the first book in his "Raven's Shadow" series. Like Hugh Howey's "Wool" series, it's another self-published Kindle success story which has also moved to an actual publisher for the next instalment.
And he deserves his success. In structure this tale mirrors Patrick Rothfuss's Kingkiller Chronicles, where a veteran recounts the tale of how he went from a young man to a famed killer. It's not quite as sharp as "The Name of the Wind" but Ryan's Vaelin is a likeable character and he's very capable of doing the most important task of an author: He made me want to keep reading. Yes, there's clichéd moments at times and nothing is startlingly original, bur it was a genuine page/screen turner and a very enjoyable read. Another victory for the freedom that the Kindle gave to the market.

Finished "Slaughterhouse 5" by Kurt Vonnegut. It was a bizarre little novel, a mediation on the events, and subsequent PTSD, of a veteran (based on Vonnegut) after he is caught up in the events leading to the bombing of Dresden in World War 2.

I picked it up because of the sci-fi elements to it (such as they are) and how it's used to describe the reactions to trauma. It read well and I can see why it's popular, although not quite what I'd usually go for. Certainly elements of it will linger in my head but, on the classic front, I far preferred '1984' as social commentary (okay, a bit unfair to compare them but my experience of classic literature that incorporates sci-fi, rather than straight out sci-fi, is limited).

And then, continuing with the novella trend, I finish "Angel's Kiss" by Melody Mallone / Justin Richards. It's a short little story told by Doctor Who's Riversong, a precursor to a Season 33 story ("Angels Take Manhattan"). Richards has perfectly captured Riversong's character and dialogue so the fact that the plot is fairly weak doesn't matter as it's short and entertaining.

Finished "Mingames: Fool's Mate" by Neal Asher, his earliest work that he re-published as a Kindle novella.

Well he did say it was a bit of an experiment dusting off this old piece which is just as well because it's not very good. The plot, gathering fighters from different eras of human history to fight, is reminiscent of the old Doctor Who Season 6 classic "The War Games". Unfortunately there's no interesting character like the Doctor, Zoe, or Jamie Crimmon to offset this. The lead is quite forgettable.

The weak characterisation might be okay if it was made up for in other elements but it's not. The world has none of the great flavour of his Polity-verse and none of its black humour. There's no presence of the twisted alien ecology he lives for. Unlike with "Parasite", his other novella, there's really no sense at all of what he would eventually bring with excellent works like "Orbus" and "The Technician".

Honestly, it's a curio that's probably best avoided. Asher is capable of so much better (e.g. everything else he's written) and it's not really worth your time here.

Finished "The Stranded" by Hugh Howey, the fifth and final book in his Wool series (which is one third of the Silo series itself).

Thought this was excellent. It kept right up with the momentum and characters from the fourth book and delivered a pay off, whilst leaving itself open for the upcoming 'Dust' sequel. Howey's prose was involving and perfectly pitched - never got bogged down, painted the picture perfectly and got me caring for his characters.
Howie is deserving of joining the million-dollar self-published Kindle circle and I look forward to the next instalment.

Finished "The Silent Stars Go By" by Dan Abnett, a Doctor Who novel featuring the 11th Doctor and Rory and Amy.

I enjoyed this one - it was a good tale and featured the under-used Ice Warriors. Abnett got the characters of Rory and the Doctor spot on, although not quite as convinced with his Amy.

The plot - a forgotten colony - was well done and there were some decent twists. Pacing built to a climax as it should, with decent points in between.

It's not as deep as some of the older NAs from the '90s but it's a good slice of "New Who".

Finished the novella "The Wurms of Blearmouth" by Steven Erikson, the fifth in his Tales of Bauchelain & Korbal Broach series and a direct sequel to "Lees of Laughter's End".
It's slim but it's got Erikson's humour in droves - plenty of enjoyable banter between characters. It's got a little bit of darkness, some high magic, and nods from gods. A fun little piece.

Finished Orson Scott Card's short story anthology "Intergalactic Medicine Show Volume #1". It's a selection of the best stories from the magazine of the same name by multiple authors.

Quite enjoyed this - the selection is very diverse and there's no real common theme between the stories which works in this case. There's hard sci-fi, humorous post-apocalyptic stories, fairy tales, horror and others in here.

Since I paid a grand total of nothing for it I thought it was great value but it's also worth the Kindle asking price of £3.50.

Also finished "Shadows Linger" by Glen Book, one of his Black Company books. The series was an inspiration for Erikson's superb Malazan series but, in all honesty, it's not a patch on it. I can see that the troops fighting a war are reminiscent of a Malazan army group like the Bridgeburners but it's got nothing else - it has none of the humour, the characters are flat and interchangeable, the plot feels directionless, the prose perfunctory. I'll only read the third book because I bought it and it won't be for a long time.

Finished "Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronvitch, the first book in his PC Grant series.

It's urban fantasy which is a genre that reminded me a little of China Miéville's Kraken. Grant is a cop who ends up working in an old branch of London's police force that deals with supernatural occurrences. In this case it's a string of mysterious violent rampages that are connected. Being urban fantasy the fabric of the city, its character, also plays an important part.

It was enjoyable for the most. It's easy to read and the characters are likeable. It lacked the nerdy element of Charles Stross's Laundry series (which are broadly urban fantasy) so it didn't drag me in as much but there was a bit of substance there to make me return for the next book.

Finished Brandon Sanderson's "The Way of Kings", the first book in his Stormlight Archive, an insanely ambitious series. This one is a right door stop/murder weapon clocking in at over 1000 pages.

Despite the length (and the fact it really could have done with some editing), I really enjoyed this. Sanderson created his most original world so far - lots of innovations that really added character to it. The characters themselves are good too and primarily split across four main characters with appearances from a few re-occurring side characters. None of these bored me and I wanted to read more of each of their stories (which is as well when each one has hundreds of pages worth).
The magic system, as is the norm with Sanderson, was very well thought out with plenty of scope for more. His ability to keep doing things like this is very impressive.

This is his most polished work so far and I'm definitely going to read the next one (and so on for the next couple of decades that it takes to write). One of the most exciting and enjoyable authors working currently in fantasy.

Finished "The Departure" by Neal Asher, the first in his Owner trilogy. I'd read a few short stories based around the Owner so I was fairly hopeful. It's a completely different world than the majority of his Polity books and, while it's understandable that Asher would want to branch out, it wasn't nearly as good as most of his other works.

The setting is pure dystopian - a future where a corrupt world government presides over billions of starving people, squandering its resources. Enter into this a man, Alan Saul, who can't remember who he is but who has a cybernetic implant that lets him take control of computers and their networks. Saul plans to exact revenge on this. Meanwhile, a side story, features a group on a Mars base who are left to die on orders of their government but fight back.

Problem was that a huge chunk of this book, too much, is dedicated to violent action. Sure Asher's never shied away from it but this is gun porn levels and it's excessive. Being very human based it lacks the alien cleverness employed in the likes of "Orbus" and so it gets quite tiresome. Despite Asher having a good eye for action it gets tiresome. The technology as well seems a paler version of the Jain tech in his Polity books and again not as good.

The character of Saul isn't pleasant either, embodying a lot of the end justifies the means angle. It's hard to root for him. Now, to an extent, that's kind of the point and - to be fair - it actually begins to fall into place a lot better near the end of the book which is more promising for the next two. It certainly gave me hope that there's a bit more to what I've seen so far (which also smacks a little bit of Asher's feeling towards organisations like the EU which he blogs about).

A disappointment because I'm a fan but, with the last 10-15% picking it up a little and the general feeling the endless violence would be toned down, I'm optimistic that it will go up from here.

Finished "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War" by Max Brooks. Interesting concept, telling the beginning, middle and end as a series of interviews with people who were there. Spreading these interviews across the globe helps and Brooks seems to have done a lot of research into making the various cultures seem authentic.

There's a good number of ideas here too (so few of which made it into the film) so it's inventive. If there's a flaw it's that there's a little too much military hardware at times even though it's completely in place. I just found that a little tiresome.

Overall a worthy read and original. Well worth a look.

And finally finished "Diaspora" by Greg Egan which I'd been reading alongside the other two books. It's very hard science fiction detailing a future where man kind has evolved into three distinct branches: genetically enhanced, software running within artificial bodies, and those living entirely as software in virtual environments.
It's a very impressive piece of work as it involves really looking far down the line as to how the very concept of what it is to be human changes. Not content with that though Egan looks into his theories on wormholes, multiple-dimension space and more.
I found the physics very hard going at times and my eyes glazed over more than once. On the other hand what he had to say about the various roads people might go down, including its biology, was interesting.
As with some of his novels characterisation was a little weak but, more than nearly any other author, he really has the Big Ideas. Shame that I couldn't grasp some of it but I'll put it down to my lack of knowledge rather than the author's abilities (which assume more than the average lay man's).

Finished "First Shift" by Hugh Howey, the first book in his Shift trilogy which serves as the prequel series to his "Wool" series.

Do not read this book without having read the Wool series first as it will spoil a lot of its revelations. In fact this is somewhat of the problem, something suffered by prequels, that we know what's going to happen and therefore it's harder to surprise the reader. Now this can be made up for with interesting characters but I didn't feel that the stories of Donald and Troy matched up to the characters from the Wool series. They felt a little flat, lacked some of the emotional depth. It did pick up towards the ending, and there's certainly enough to keep me interested in the second book, but I walked away a little underwhelmed.