ixoy's reading log

ixoy

Finished Steph Swainston's "The Modern World", the final book in her Castle trilogy.

This book is part of the small "new weird" genre in that it's .. well just a bit odd. In this case it continues the tale of Comet, a winged-human who occupies the role of Messenger in the Circle. The Circle is a group of people gifted with immortality who are the best in their field in different areas (Artillery, Archery, Swordsman), and whose eternal life is granted by the Emperor in return for their assistance in fighting the threat of the Insects who control the north.
The premise itself is still intriguing - it's rare to find fantasy with such a meritocratic society (members of the Circle can be Challenged for their place). Additionally it sets itself a few centuries on, hovering around the 18th century in the fields of medicine, etc.

All the settings would be pointless if it weren't for good characters, which we have. This book, in particular, focuses more on the immortality angle - what it means to outlive everyone and live through ages. It's done well and I particularly enjoyed delving into the back stories of some of the main characters. There's plenty of room for more here too.

The main plot arc - an attack by the Insects - is handled well and suitably epic for a finale.

There's some elements that I would have liked more of - the Shift (a series of parallel worlds), the Emperor, etc. That may have been planned for future books but there's only one more since Swainston has, unfortunately, quit from professional writing. Based on the talent evidenced in the Castle trilogy it's a shame because it was refreshing to see something that was refreshingly different in the genre.

ixoy

Finished "'Tis the Season" by China Miéville. It's a short story but it's not part of a collection and should only be read on this day. It's the story of a future where all aspects of Christmas are trade marked and how people seek to bring back Christmas. It's very short but an enjoyable read for the day, with a twist of Miéville's fierce imagination. In tone it's closest to "Kraken" so don't expect anything too dark.

Tar.Aldarion

ixoy wrote: »

Finished "The White-Luck Warrior" by R. Scott Bakker, the second book in his Aspect-Emperor trilogy.

This is a bleak book. Bakker's world of Earwa and Kellhus is amongst the darkest I've ever read. But it's an interesting world - one on the verge of a Second Apocalypse, where a huge army [the Great Ordeal] march to stop the rise of the No-God.

There's a real sense of epic in this book. The scale of the armies and their enemy [the Horde] is very effectively communicated. The power of the sorceries rained down is suitably gratifying - magic rarely goes on this scale in fantasy novels.

For all that though, this is a very philosophical book - much like the preceding book and trilogy. Unlike many authors though, Bakker is actually capable of delivering these insights in an intelligent and thought provoking manner. Yes, to some people there might be too much inward (navel even) gazing but it's part of what I expect, and want, from this series.

The characters we stay with are limited - there's only 5 or 6 of them. Bakker's style means we really get into their minds, including their many many flaws. He's got a good gift for descriptive language with vivid imagery - you can taste the ashes of the world he's conjured, feel the pain.

In many ways, being a middle book of a trilogy, this is clearly a bridging book. It didn't matter to me - I enjoyed it. The series dark philosophical bent will definitely not appeal to everyone. However, if you liked the Prince of Nothing trilogy, then you will definitely appreciate this series too.

Thanks for reminding me to continue this series! His books are some of my favourites and I had forgotten about them. Time to get back to Drusus Achamian

ixoy

Finished "The Age of Heroes" by Brandon Sanderson, the final book in his Mistborn trilogy.

Very much enjoyed this. Without giving anything away, the series ended on a very satisfying note. A lot of things were explained - Sanderson seems to have had the series properly planned and the reveals of certain events from the series, and the reasons for them, were well handled. It all felt quite clever really.

At times this exposition could almost be deemed too heavy - but dammit, it worked. Seemingly innocent moments from previous books come back to play and there's a satisfying sense of "Ahhhh!" as your understanding changes.
The magic system - one of the best I've seen - is further deepened (again also playing a large part in explaining numerous events in the series).

Like many trilogy conclusions, the stakes are high - very high. This allows Sanderson to work a few plot threads that are suitably action filled and tense. Sure he could have trimmed down on a couple but the pay offs are worth it.
The characters are also well handled, with noticeable growth from the first book and good conclusions to their story arcs.

Pacing is one thing that Sanderson has spot on - never bored, once. I read the final quarter in one day, caught up as I was in the story. I also ended up very satisfied.

It's not a perfect series but it is one of the most enjoyable series that I've read in the last few years. Absolutely recommended and I look forward to reading "The Alloy of Law" and all future Mistborn novels.

ixoy

Finished "Surface Detail", another Culture novel by Iain M. Banks.

This is his best Culture-novel of the last few years. There's a good blend of characters and their associated plot lines which all, after a time, mix quite well together (even though a couple remain primarily apart).
Banks also has one of his best Ship minds from his series in "Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints". A genuinely amusing character, he's a great example of the wit that can feature in Banks' novel.

In addition, there's a nice bit of philosophy in here as the book - set around the idea of Hell (in a VR form) as a concept - explores the moral reasoning for a Hell in an advanced culture (and the Culture).

It builds up to a satisfying end although I do feel some plot lines were left dangling a bit, to be wrapped up rather too quickly in a Dramatis Personae. Recommended for anyone who has enjoyed Bank's Culture novels and a pretty good entry point for those who have yet to read them.

ixoy

Also finished "The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ" by Philip Pullman which I had been reading on and off for the last while.

Despite its short length, I had trouble reading this. Pullman attempts to re-tell the story of Jesus by taking a slant on it: Jesus had a twin, Christ. Jesus is the prophet but Christ is the man who tells the story realizing he needs to create a legend from the man who is mostly a humble preacher. So Pullman tells various episodes from the Bible and how they became more after the fact because the stories needed to be bigger to last the ages.

It's an interesting idea but I didn't enjoy it - it was a little too close to reading the Bible. The style of writing was simplistic, a choice I understand but one I didn't find interesting to read. It has its merits and all but it just didn't work for me and, given the standard of his Dark Materials series, I found this a let down.

ixoy

Finished "The Third God", the final book in Ricardo Pinto's "Stone Dance of the Chameleon" trilogy.

This is a pretty mammoth volume (900 pages) that brings the story full circle as the lead, Carnelian, returns to the world of his birth right alongside its deposed God Emperor.
The series does well in creating a memorable, original fantasy world. There's no real glimpse of the usual European medieval tropes. There's not even horses. The opulence of the Masters is matched only by their sheer cruelty of which beggars belief and here is more evident than ever. The scale of slaughter, of cruelty, that we witness is horrific - some of the most disturbing that I've ever seen in a fantasy series. Joe Abercrombie, for all his visceral detail, never stands on the sheer scale of violence here.
It's not all about the violence though - it's about the events that precipitate this and how the individuals shape the world around them. There's some nice revelations in this too that make clearer events from the previous books.

It's not a perfect book. It's somewhat too long, the details too excessive. Carenlian, the lead, whilst a sympathetic character is almost too helpless at times - trapped by events but rarely able to shape them. It is though memorable. There's imagery here, originality, that you don't find often these days. A challenging, but worthy series.

ixoy

Finished "Rule 34" by Charles Stross. It's loosely a sequel to "Halting State" (shares a character, same world) but takes on an entirely new case. It's actually quite a complex plot but starts off with seemingly disparate threads: A series of murders designed to look like accidents, an ex-con made consular for a newly-formed Russian colony, and a recruiter for a shady organisation.

As the novel progresses, these plots combine and intertwine in an interesting way, towards an ending that is largely satisfying although begging for a sequel (which is being written).

A lot of people disliked the novel being written in the 2nd person: This don't bother me although I don't think it really added anything either. Better though was Stross' vein of humour running throughout the novel. It's genuinely amusing at times. There's also lots of smart ideas here as to what our future might look like in 15-20 years time, touching on politics, the economy and social issues. Stross' feverish mind, so evident in "Accelerando" is at work here.

I really enjoyed this: Interesting ideas, lots of geeky stuff for the computer nerd in me, and a dash of quirky humor. One of his best works so far.

fisgon

ixoy wrote: »

In addition, there's a nice bit of philosophy in here as the book - set around the idea of Hell (in a VR form) as a concept - explores the moral reasoning for a Hell in an advanced culture (and the Culture).

It builds up to a satisfying end although I do feel some plot lines were left dangling a bit, to be wrapped up rather too quickly in a Dramatis Personae. Recommended for anyone who has enjoyed Bank's Culture novels and a pretty good entry point for those who have yet to read them.

Agree with this. Read this recently and found the Hell idea fascinating, but the narrative was a bit bitty, too many stories going on at once. Still, the breadth of imagination of Banks is something extraordinary.
(BTW, do you mean Deus ex Machina rather than Dramatis personae? Apologies if I'm being pedantic)

ixoy

Finished Raymond E. Feist's "A Kingdom Besieged", the first book in his Chaoswar Saga and the 2,542,123rd Riftwar book (give or take).

This is the final trilogy in Midkemia, after 25 years, so I was happy to see a return to Crydee, where it all began, for one of the plot strands as the Kingdom of Kesh launches against the Kingdom of the Isles.
Some characters from the previous series appear (a little bit older) as well as some ones and, again, I enjoy seeing Pug and the rest. The new characters aren't particularly outstanding but they're quite likable.

The novel itself is basically a setup for the next two novels and contains some interesting twists and turns (not quite sure how I feel about the end of it - I'll need to read "A Crown Imperiled" to judge). The prose is a bit snappier and tighter than some of the previous books. There's still proof reading issues with too many typos although it's a little better than before.

Overall it's a promising beginning to what will hopefully end the series of the Riftwar books on a high.

fisgon wrote: »

(BTW, do you mean Deus ex Machina rather than Dramatis personae? Apologies if I'm being pedantic)

Nope - "Dramatis Personae" is the final labelled section in the book, meaning it just summarizes the list of characters and where they ended up. Not how I generally understood "Dramatis Personae" as I thought it just meant listing the characters. "Deus Ex Machina" would have only come into play if there had been some cheap shortcut to resolve the ending, which thankfully there was not.

ixoy

Finished "Empire in Black and Gold" by Adrian Tchaikovsky, the first book in his Shadows of the Apt series.

The premise sounds pretty weak - a land with different races of men, each with certain characteristics of insects. There's Beetle-kinden who are good engineers, Fly-kinden whose speed makes them perfect messengers, Spider-kinden who deal in seduction, etc. The main focus is on some Beetles who reside in a land that's flush with the success of their engineering prowess. It's a world whose level of technology would roughly be the 18th/19th century with steam powered machines including early planes and helicopters. The people themselves though have their head buried in the figurative sand because they refuse to acknowledge the growing threat of the Wasp empire to the east which one man, and his band of students (the stories leads) try to bring to the land's attention.

As cheesy as the premise might sound, the insect-aspected elements actually work. It defines characteristics for different races and explains the state of play of their place in the various empires. The addition of some almost magical aspects to these (Dragonfly-kinden can fly, Wasps have a sting, etc) makes for some interesting battles and scenarios.

The characters are quite enjoyable, reminding me a little of Brandon Sanderson in that they're easy to like. The only thing that irked me was that sometimes the author jumped between characters viewpoints from one paragraph to the next, not always making it clear whose head you were in.

The novel had a brisk pace, never letting there be time for boredom and set up enough pieces for a sequel (well 9 sequels as it turns out) so I'll definitely be checking out the sequel.

As a bonus, the Kindle-edition contains 4 short stories and pieces of art work that don't appear to be present in the paperback version, bulking it up by another satisfying 16%. Enjoyable little pieces although a bit flimsy next to the main material. Nice to see such stuff thrown into the e-book versions.

ixoy

Finished "Containment" by Christian Cantrell. This is somewhat of a self-published title for the Kindle and was a bit of an experiment on my side to see if I could gift myself a book that only cost $1. In other words: I didn't think much about the product I was buying.

So is it worth the price? Sure. In the printed form it's 246 pages (relatively short) and concerns the story of Arik who is a colonist on a remote outpost on Venus. It details how the colony came to be and their lives as Arik life works towards giving them the goal of endless oxygen.

In terms of science, and thought put into the technical aspects, this book is very good. It reminded me a little of Paul McAuley in that sense although this leans more towards the IT end (the writer being a software developer) and spends some time on ideas on future communication systems, interfaces, protocols, etc.

In terms of characters - it's a little weak. It makes sense that colonists, in a closed environment, wouldn't have too much personality but it doesn't help for a story. However, science fiction isn't often known for good characters so I'd let it slide.
A bit more noticeable was the author's habit of going into long details about the technical aspects at the expense of moving a plot. Mostly I enjoyed these technical asides but there really wasn't much flesh to the plot as a result and the scenes of action, such as they were, were a bit dull because the manner in which they were described was a bit too clinical and observant.
On a small aside there were a few too many incorrect users of "its" and "it's" (a personal annoyance) for a novel - it might have benefited from a second proof read. Still not as bad as Feist's proof reading standards...

Overall it'll appeal to people who like the technical side of science fiction and are not too concerned with action or characterization. For the price paid it's good value and shows promise for the author's future.

ixoy

Finished "Orb Sceptre Throne" by Ian C. Esslemont, one of a series of novels set in the Malazan world that Steven Erickson brought to fame.

This is a bit of a "for fans only" book. One of the big reasons for this, and one of the bigger flaws, is that the book is very vague - too much needs to be inferred. Anyone who reads the Malazan sequence knows how nothing is ever clearly stated. In this book though it's almost too obscure, one too many unclear references. For a non-fan it'd be incredibly frustrating but even for me, whose read all the books, it pushes the limits. What exactly happened in a number of sequences, why it did, is still a bit of an unknown.

Now there's good stuff in here too - background information on cultures like the Seguleh and Moranth which fans will enjoy. Others are a bit of a wasted opportunity (and too much of a spoiler to mention here).

I think "Stoneweilder" was a better Esslemont novel because he was working with more of his own creations. In this book he's a bit more tied down to Erickson's works and it's a bit of a mess in places.

I enjoyed this book as I always do the Malazan series but it is among the weakest of them. Fans only but the fans will get something worthwhile out of it.

ixoy

Finished "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins, the first book in the trilogy of the same name.

Had this on a "to buy" list but bumped it up with the upcoming movie and because the boyfriend has just read it. It's an enjoyable young adult title - a sort of "Battle Royale" where a group of teenagers, from various districts, are put into an arena and the last man or woman standing is the winner. Our heroine (the story is in the first person) must face these games and use skill, cunning, etc.
The story is paced very well and it surprised me at a few times going as dark as it did.
There's good characterization too - we've a flawed lead who finds it difficult to trust people and must come to terms with the hostile environment she finds herself when cut off from the world she knows.

I'm interested to see how the film deals with some of the violence from the book. It has the author's seal of approval at least as has the book from me.

ixoy

Finished "The Merchants' War", the fourth book in Charles Stross's Merchant Princes series.
The series builds further upon the previous books (it's essentially a serial). There's a bit more expansion of the parallel universe hopping element now, pushing the envelope of it a little further.
Our own world's investigation into the world of the parallel world-hopping narco-terrorists is developed a fair bit, as the potential threats emerge (imagine if a terrorist could jump into the White House from the co-location in their own world).

More importantly Miriam, who was the main character, is made freer - an issue I had with the 3rd book was that she spent most of the time immobile. She's still though not as strong as she was in the first two books and takes up less time, which is a shame. I'd prefer her not as sidelined as she was. The characters that do sideline her have interesting story lines but aren't that interesting themselves - the Clan and the earth agents are too informed of their situations and aren't really exploring along with the reader.

The stakes have been raised and I'm looking forward to how it progresses. It's one of the most interesting takes on parallel worlds that I've found.

ixoy

Finished "Watcher of the Dead" by J.V. Jones, the fourth book in her Sword of Shadows series.

This novel is a bridging novel, focusing primarily on character development. The events shape the characters into where they need to be for the fifth (and probably final) book. I've liked the characters in the series, so this worked for me although some story lines seemed to get short thrift, one in particular noticeable by its absence.

JV Jones is a good writer, able to capture scenes well and get inside character's heads. She may not move her story lines along swiftly but the journey so far is interesting. Looking forward to seeing what happens when she gets to publishing the next novel.

ixoy

Finished "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale", the fifth and final collection of Philip K. Dick's short stories.
Interestingly, PKD admits in a re-printed afterword, that he's an ideas man. It shows in many ways here - characterization is not his strong point for one thing. Women are given short thrift - partially a product of the time it was written in but also somewhat from PKD himself. The writing is generally functional although there are some exceptions. It's why he found it easier to write short stories rather than a novel.

So are the ideas any good? As ever, it's a mixed bag. The titular "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" (adapted as "Total Recall") is very good. There's a few other gems in there: "Faith Of Our Fathers" is excellent, a sort of Cthulu-like alien consciousness in a world where the Soviets won the Cold War. "Your Appointment Will Be Yesterday" is a clever story about time flowing in opposite directions.

There's also some clunkers: "Cadbury, The Beaver Who Lacked" is utter rubbish and quite possibly fueled by PKD's experiments with drugs (there's a reason this is the first time that it was published). Oddly it came just after "The Electric Ant" - a mind bending story about altering the programming around you to re-create reality. Indeed the later half of the book, which is towards the end of his career, shows a drop in quality in the stories.

Overall it's another worthy volume and an insight into a man's mind who really saw outside the normal boundaries. There's great material here for Hollywood to no doubt further plunder. It's a shame a man with such a fecund imagination never really got the chance to see his worlds realized.

ixoy

Finished "An Autumn War" by Daniel Abraham, the third book in his Long Price quartet and the best so far. It's excellent - the reward here being some superb characterization.

The protagonists from the previous books return older, if not wiser. Abraham has a gift for making them like real, flawed people. Their inner thoughts on love, fear, friendship and so forth are very well played and it's how they've evolved over the decades that's rewarding for fans of the series. Passing a decade between books in the same series is unusual but the rewards here are evident.
The new characters are interesting too and the balance of shades of grey is well struck. It reminds me a little of K.J. Parker who also managed to create believable characters but Abraham's are that much richer and not tinged with the bleak cynicism that often touches Parker's work.

Of course if it was just a character piece, it wouldn't be a fantasy novel and the fantasy elements here raise the stakes highly as one nation threatens to bring down the Khainese kingdom, who use the andat to wield control. The andat are concepts of powers captured in lyrical poetry by Poets. Previous books focused on particular andats whereas this book goes more to understanding their nature and the price of working with them. The unfolding of the war is paced very well and the finale is expertly handled.

One of the best fantasy books I've read in the last year and I'm looking forward to the final book.

ixoy

Finished Janny Wurt's "Initiate's Trial", the first book in the Sword of the Canon arc which is itself the fourth arc in the Wars of Light of Shadow series making this, overall, the ninth volume. I've been reading this series for almost as long as the Wheel of Time.

Anyway, is it any good? Not really, unfortunately. It's set 250 years after the previous book and to me - quite unforgivably - a number of key events happen off screen. Characters are put into a situation that we had no knowledge of and, throughout the novel, only ever get brief glimpses. It's frustrating but not ultimately rewarding.
Now if there was more meat here then it could be forgiven. The novel's prose though stilts the action and plot. Wurts can, and does, turn in some beautiful words but it's so very heavy. I felt I had to wade through it rather than the crisp flow I recently enjoyed with Daniel Abraham. My eyes would be forced to skim over sentences to avoid being mired in them.

Amidst the prose, and aside from the narrative jump, there are some interesting things happening but it all seems a little too familiar - events we've seen before. Characters spend too much time though anguishing on the past events and go a bit over-the-top on their emotions. How refreshing at times it would have been to have clear thoughts and better pacing: the novel would have been much more enjoyable to read.

There's only two volumes left now to be published and I'll absolutely read them. However, based on this, I won't be all that enthused. It's a series that started well but now appears to be over staying its welcome, much like another gargantuan series I can think of. This one though does not have any needed fresh blood to re-invigorate it.

ixoy

Finished "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline.

The world's wealthiest man dies, leaving his fortune to be taken on by the person who can solve a series of riddles that leaves items and challenges across a series of virtual-reality based worlds (OASIS as it's labelled). Step in our main hero, a retiring nerd, who seeks to complete this.

The VR-world of OASIS is quite well described, including how you interact with it. The outside world - less so but that's kind of the point. Wade, our hero, retreats from it and barely interacts with it, instead immersing himself in the virtual world.
The hunt that he's on is nearly entirely themed around cult '80s references to music, movies, tv shows and primarily video games. Alive as I was in the '80s my cultural reference points are mostly from the '90s so they didn't resonate with me quite as much. And there are a *lot* of references. The characters, all of them, are obsessed with the minutiae of obscure arcade games, for example.
Aside from the fact that it's difficult to believe retro love would ever take place on this scale (I can't see anyone in 2041 willing to play a blocky 80s arcade game - they don't now even), the author's love of the subject does shine through. He does make you enthused enough about it that you do get wrapped up in the moment and enjoy the thrill of the characters on their hunt.

Sure characterisation isn't huge and the villains are cartoonish but it does fit in with the spirit of the '80s Cline is trying to invoke. It's just all very enjoyable. It's not particularly well written (prose wise) but the sheer spirit of the book makes it a real page turner. Definitely a fun book if not a particularly brilliant one.

ixoy

Finished (a few days ago), "A Stark and Wormy Knight" by Tad Williams. It's a collection of short stories that is currently only available on Kindle.

First up: There's a screenplay in this and it takes up about a quarter of the book. It's difficult to read and it just doesn't work. "Black Sun" might mean something for people who grew up in the '70s (which it's focused around) but it bored me and seemed clichéd. The movie never got made.
There's also a "screenplay" for a proposed comic. It's described in a "panel" form. Again not interesting to read although if we were presented with the actual comic it might have worked.

The short stories themselves are generally decent to good, with only a few weak ones. Stand out for me was the neat "The Lamentable Comic Tragedy (or the Laughably Tragic Comedy) of Luxal Laqavee" which did the key thing in a short story: a neat concept alongside some nice dark humour.
Other good tales include "And Ministers of Grace" (a sci-fi war of faith tale with promise), the titular "A Stark and Wormy Knight" (fun if slight), "Ants" (Stephen King-like horror) and "The Tenth Muse" (old school concept sci-fi).
The rest are grand, if nothing special.

I only paid an introductory price of under $6 for this, which is well worth it. At the current price - $12 - I'd hesitate. There's plenty of good short story collections by other sci-fi/fantasy authors out there for such a price and they don't bulk it out with screenplays. Good but needs more substance.

ixoy

Also finished recently "The Lost", the second book in the Stargate:Atlantis "Legacy" series that continues on from where the show finished. Authors this time are Jo Graham and Amy Griswold.

It's not very good. Nor was the first ("Homecoming") - which I noticed I forgot to mention here. Covering both then: The writing is weak and the authors have a tendency to repeat phrases/words very close to each other. It irked me.
The first book is very slow as it sets up the return of Atlantis and focuses too much on characters, coming across a little like a soap opera. Some of them are written well, such as Teyla, but they don't seem to grasp McKay at all (characters come to him for relationship advice!).

The authors are clearly familiar with their material, to be fair, and do drag in various arcs in a way that makes sense. It just moves too slowly, the story appears to be drifting. It needs impetus, a greater sense of urgency. Less time having characters drinking tea / chatting (far too much of this) and more with the action. Also inject a bit of the humour too.

I'll probably continue on the series but I might wait a bit longer between books this time (only one more published currently as it is, with two more to go).

ixoy

Finished "The Passage" by Justin Cronin, the first book in a trilogy (called tentatively "The Passage" trilogy).

It's a pretty-damn-big tome [900+ pages in paperback] that deals with the effects on the world when a biological experiment goes wrong, unleashing a virus bearing some properties of vampire lore. Like many others, it's reminiscent of Stephen King's "The Stand" with its apocalyptic background and struggles of people to bring about a better world.

I enjoyed it, although it's not perfect. There's quite a shift a third of the way in and it affects the pacing, somewhat to the detriment (I didn't find the middle boring the way others did but it wasn't riveting either). The characters are good - believable and they do develop nicely as they go along.
It's a little-bit American focused but that's to be expected and it's less so than other authors (including the aforementioned King).

If I had to improve it, I'd have made it leaner. I'd have toned down some of the spiritual elements (a personal preference) and removed some story telling devices that give an indicator of the ultimate resolution of events. Nonetheless, I'll read "The Twelve" at some point so ultimately it was worth my time.

ixoy

Finished Charles Stross's "The Revolution Business" a few days ago, the fifth book in his Merchant Princes series.

It's possibly the weakest instalment in the series because nothing much seems to happen. Book 4 had quite a bit going for it but this is mostly fallout from those events and a fair bit of recapping. It's again probably a weakness of the series that it's split into 6 volumes, requiring recapping, than a trilogy which could be more tightly written.
It's not boring but the political rants in it can be a bit tiring (Stross is very left in his thinking and takes issue with the Bush-years US policy). Still there's enough pieces in place that the final book can answer a number of the questions still hanging out from the fourth book. Could be better but hope the next one is better.

ixoy

Finished "Dragonfly Flying" by Adrian Tchaikofsky, the second book of his Shadow of the Apt series. It picks up from "Empire of Black and Gold" and the imminent threat of war becomes a reality.

I very much enjoyed this book - the character arcs are well progressed, particularly Totho's. Everyone has a part to play and it all ties in quite nicely.

The plot moves speedily along without feeling rushed and once again there's a fresh air to the world he's created. There's a nice mix of science (helicopters, armored tanks in a sort of steam-punk style) and ancient magies. The various races, with their insect-like talents, all work well again. It helps the world feel fresher, marking it as more original than many out there.

Putting it more plainly: I'm about to buy Book 3. Enough of a recommendation!

ixoy

Finished "Railsea" by China Miéville. It gets a little tiring reading his new book each year because, with the the exception of perhaps "Kraken", they're nearly always the best books of that year. Unfairly talented.

This book is his take on Herman Melville's "Moby Dick". Instead of Moby Dick there's a giant mole. Instead of travelling on a ship, it's on a train, switching between endless train tracks that cover the land. Civilizations spin out from this, each adopting differently to the rails. Miéville's fierce imagination is capable of creating a real world from this, complete with unique creatures and cultures.

The main character, Sham, is a young doctor's assistant aboard one of these mole-hunting trains whose captain (a knowing anagram of Captain Ahab), seeks her Moby Dick in the form of the mole. However, Sham gets pointed towards his own story and the novel concerns his own hunt and where it takes him.

Naturally, the prose is superb. It really shows up so many other writers - lyrical, poetic, and beautiful at times. The novel is aimed at all ages but I do wonder at times how some teenagers would take this (I used the dictionary a number of times). He also uses brief chapters here and takes on a meta quality at times as he addresses the reader from the omniscient perspective of the story teller.

Now how does it rank up against his fierce collection? This novel's a bit closer to Bas Lag than his recent work in flavour, a superior use of trains than "Iron Council". The novel's not as deep or thoughful / intelligent as "The City and the City" or "Embassytown" but it's damned enjoyable and superior, IMO, to "Kraken", "King Rat" and "Iron Council". It's another strong entry from the master of "new weird", or basically just damned fine fantasy writing.

ixoy

Recently finished "Wool" and "Wool 2 - Proper Guage" by Hugh Howey. Both are stories set in an underground silo in a post-apocalyptic future earth. They're novellas in size and each takes a simple story about people in the silo.

The first one - "Wool" - is a great novella with a neat ending.

"Wool 2" picks up shortly afterwards with different characters. It's stronger on characterisation with quite a touching romance plot line between an ageing mayor and deputy sheriff.

Howey's is a good writer. The Kindle platform is a great way for people like him to be discovered and make successes of themselves. The omnibus of volumes 1-5 was cheap and I'm keen to see what occurs next in the series.

ixoy

Completed Neal Asher's "Shadow of the Scorpion". It's another novel in his Poity series and acts as a sort of prequel to the Agent Cormac series, dealing with Cormac as a young recruit.

Much like his other works, it's full of adrenalin-pumping action and neat technology. It's more human-focused this time, less of the alien but that's no bad thing. There's some AIs in it but again I'd have liked more if only because Asher has so much with them.

Short as it is though, it's a good return to what Asher does best and was a lot of fun to read.

ixoy

Finished "Vivisepulture", a short story collection that I bought cheaply on the Kindle. It's mostly a horror-based anthology which isn't quite what I'd thought it'd be.

Like any anthology, they're a mixed bag. Many are average, one is awful ("Snot" - and yes, it's exactly what you think) and some are clever and touching. I'm familiar with only two of the authors featured here (Neal Asher and Adrian Tchaikovsky) but others at least raised an interest in what they might produce. Nothing outstanding here or memorable but worth a perusal for some of the titles.

ixoy

Finished "The Price of Spring", the final part in Daniel Abraham's "Long Price" quartet.

This book was very rewarding, a strong character piece. Like the other books it picks up the story 14 years on from the previous instalment. Returning to the characters, it's interesting to see how they've grown and yet stayed the same.
Obviously there's an element of fantasy here and this time it's the hubris of being able to wield extreme power - the power to destroy the world - and yet be so very flawed.

The Long Price quartet - in particular the second half - was one of the most rewarding character fantasy series I've read in the last few years. It may not have intricate plotting found elsewhere but on the level of intimacy with characters, it's particularly strong. A recommended series.