Reading_fox's reads 2009

Err in reverse order so far:

Currently
The murder at Road Hill House
An usual branch out into true crime

Previously - these are all reviewed.
mistborn
All ten of the Martin Beck police procedurals, one of if not the first of this genre set in 70s STockholm allowing the authors to remonstrate about the social welfare. Partly sucessful but some very variable translations
Interspersed by Menagerie Manor Pink bats and the Aye Aye and I because too much crime is depressing. Durrell's wonderfull humour shines through all of these although Manor is probably the best.

Jingo A good pratchett but fairly obvious

Fatal revenant and Runes of the Earth continuing travails of the now dead Thomas Covenenant - but when has that ever stopped him being long winded and moany. Goodfantasy though.

R, S, and T from Sue Grafton I couldn't face re-reading the whole series just to put the latest one in perspective. About par for the series. I wonder if she's regretting commitig to 26 books yet?

Blood of elves unusual polish fantasy from which the excellant PC game was based. Again maybe it's a translation issue, but not as I expected from the game.

The year began with Assassin's Aprentice one of my SantaThing choices - Not a bad start to long running fantasy series, but I won't be rushing to get the sequels.

Hi RF - I'm glad you found your way over here. I'll
keep an eye for your thread. Were you part of the Ending an Ending read of in GD? I'm curious because I just received a copy as a gift.

reading_fox, you're the first person I've heard from who's read the new Thomas Covenant books. I read the original series with roughly equal parts irritation and fascination, but irritation won in the end, as expressed here:

http://kimhuett.livejournal.com/2325.html#cutid1

Dchaikin - no I didnt manage to find a copy in the bookshops I looked in. I'm not sure it's had a Uk release though it might be on amazon - a temptation I'm trying to avoid. I do want to read it someday, but from the GD threads I wasn't convinced that it will appeal to me.

Timjones - a bit harsh I feel. Thomas can be a bit irritating at times, but if you know anyone with a long term condition, he's a pretty accurate characterisation of how that defines their life. And as such it's a good model for much of the human condition. This third series focuses much more on Linden, who's got issues of her own, but isn't quite so self-involved. I think the 2nd series is my favourite when they are exploring the rest of the world. This one seems a bit contrived in places, though there are some fascinating concepts. I'm a bit worried it's a quartet though - SD needs a stronger editor.

#4: Fair points, reading_fox: perhaps my attitude would be different if I re-read the Thomas Covenant books now - I wrote that piece 25 years ago, and I was more easily irritated then!

Now finished The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: which I've reviewed here. Not a winner. Vaguely interesting diversions into Victorian england, but not exactly riviting true crime. OtherHalf is finding it a bit better.

Also read New Scientist, which I'm not catalogging.

#5 - pre LiveJournal days then! well done for managing to retain and convert it.

Now finished a re-read of Empress reviewed. Unusually dark fantasy, lots violence and sex - but ungraphic as opposed to the urban vampire kind. An unnamed god is worshipped through snakes and scorpions and a she-brat has designs to better her station. Character driven fast paced - not exactly fun, but compelling.

The riven kingdom the sequel to Empress was next up. Very very different in tone - this is the opposing force to that presented in the first book, both feature leading heroines of totally different character. I'm eagerly awaiting the showdown between them in the finale - character driven fantasy at it's finest.

Hammer of God reviewed reviewed

Not as good as it could be or ought ot be. A titanic clash between two women - an Empress and a Queen, with their competing gods, is resolved into a bland brief fight between two men. Lacks the spark of all of her previous works especially the wit and dialogue of the characters.

Catching up on peridicals now
Ethical Consumer - interesting articles on cotton and sugar.
New Scientist - getting increasingly tabloid
Chemistry World, Walk and What's Brewing still to go - seldom anything muchon intrest in any of them, and then This weeks NS will be out.

Not sure what book I'll read next but after that load of non-fiction it'll probably be more fantasy.

Slipped in a couple of online short stories:
Kings and Paupers by Thomas Emson - a welsh poet who's branching out into english urban fantasy under a penname. I've no idea of the original name and am curious if anyone knows any more.
And
Flying Dutchamn - a Sam Gunn short story from Ben Bova. Sam is by far Ben's most engaging character. It looks like this is an outtake from Tales of the Grand Tour

Now shoudl I add these short stories to my catalog?

the Last Wish reviewPolish High fantasy now reaching the UK market for the first time. Violent and inventive world populated by a huge range of creatures far from the traditional norms, but lacking in deeper meaning or commentry.

Curse of the Mistwraith

Which I've reviewed

3rd time reading this within a year. It really is that good. Complex and convoluted real sink into it prose. Take a few hours off - the bath with lots of steam swirling around is ideal!, and read in large chunks as we follow the fate of two bastard half brothers in an epic in all senses of the word fantasy. Really enjoyable, the next 3 in the series to go.

I've been trying to decide whether to pick this up since we had the Green Dragon read of a Janny Wurts book. Your post is encouraging me. Maybe when I get around to picking up fantasy books again...which will probably be when that last Wheel-of-Time book comes out.

Ships of Merior reviewed

Continuing the epic fantasy. Light and Shadow doesn't seem to equate to good and bad when you've been cursed by a Mistwraith, and the moral arguments can be made either way. Complex and convolute again.

#14 - it is similar to the ride hell's chasm we read, but much more epic! I think it's fair to say her prose isn't for everybody, but if you enjoyed that you'll love this series too.

Warhost of vastmark reviewed

Continuing the deeply epic fantasy exploring justice compassion, freedom of choice and rationalisation. Although essentially the same plot has been run three times we've gained a wider development of all the characters each time, and the outlook for the next book - Fugitive prince - promises something new!

Fugitive Prince is reviewed"

Which is as far as I own in the epic fantasy series. Time to start hunting out the remaining books. As a change from destroying lyessar's armies Arithon finds thta he hasn't bought himself quite enough time and tries to escape. However the wiles of the sorceresses pledged to aid humanities cause track him down, only for the Fellowship to make it possible for Arithon to choose to aid himself. There's some quite subtle moral byplay here, in addition to the rest of Janny's imaginative world and enthralling characters, one of whom she killed off!

I know it's important and that it would hardly be a realistic (even for fantasy) portrayal of war, if no-one died, but it still irks when a favourite is bumped.

A coupel of New Scientists that got displaced by the Wars of Light and Shadow above. One interesting article between the pair of them. it used to be a fascinating publication but some days seems more like a tabloid.

Currently just started busted flush - Short interleaved stories in the Wild Cards universe. About which I know nothing, and there is no introduction either as this is an ER ARC. If anyone does know the basic premises as explained earlier in the series I'd welcome a primer.

Finshed Busted flush Still somewhat confused abou the universe - but intruiged enough to consider picking up an earlier work to get a grip on it. It's a series of chapters each written by a different author following their superhero in a few teams dealing with a few troubles around the world. it probably would have worked better if they'd stuck to less people and places. ER review

A variet of stuff over the weekend

More newscientist.

The BMC's Summit, which I get thorugh CCCC membership but only some months, I'm not sur eif they don't issue it regularly or sometimes I don't get a copy or quite why. Had an interesting article on Dame Kelly Holmes' trying climbing - she doesn't use her feet enough!

A woman of Botswana - McAll Smith's memoirs on how he came to writ ehis famous african series, and the latest the 9th instalment of it - the miracle at speedy motors, which I've reviewed as charming and slow paced insight into an africa that rarely makes the news as all the preceeding ones.

Evolution
And it's review

Annoying anthromorphic at times, it's still an interesting read across time. Looking at the descent of a proto-primate in dinasour times through Roman and modern humans and on into the far future.

A bit of non-fiction:

More caving news in Descent. and Bad Science Dr. Ben Goldacre's lighthearted but also totally serious and critical look at the portrayal of science in the media, and the inability of so many people to comprehend why you have to test your hypothesis or product before announcing it's results or claiming any benefit from it. It's mostly examples taken from the CAM, Nutriticianist or Homopathy areas all of which are rife with untested claims. But Conventional medicine is hardly perfect either and Ben points this out.

If you've ever wondered why ancedote is unequal to data, what the placebo effect is or why people worry about regression to the mean, this is the book for you. Equally if you've ever bought something on the basis that it worked for Mrs Blogs, you should read it too.

Eye opening, very simple explanations of basic statistics and why we do science. It isn't at all complicated, plus in places it's funny.

"Bad Science" sounds interesting. As for Stephen Baxter, I've heard good things him as a person, but I'm not sure I could read a book by him.

Although Bad Science is UK centric, the statistics don't change with geography, and with the US direct to consumer advertising of pharacueticals it's probably even more important.

I know nothing about Baxter as a person, but Evolution was OK, his writing is ok if a bit bleak at times, but I've never really engaged with any of his characters. I think there's an SFfans thread on him in you want any more info.

Also read new Scientist - annoyingly containing some of the errors mentioned by Ben Goldacre.

And for the Go Review that book group Why call them back from heaven. not one of Simak's best.

i've read several of Baxter's books; he's informative but not, ummm, gripping.

Three of Jim Butcher's Harry resden Books.

Proven Guilty White night and the latest to arrive in the UK Small Favour.

Proven Guilty is my favourite of hte three, but they're all fin fun fast reads. Harry's sarcastic and comepltely overwhelmed by some stupendiously powerful beings, but he still manages to get away. Some great minor characters, some witty repartee and powerful magic all combine for gripping stories. Best of all there's an underlying backstory developing in each book, expanding the characters and providing continuity - one of Butcher's best points.

>26 reading_fox:: I just picked up the latest, Turncoat, today. It's been a rough week and work and I think I will treat myself to some light stuff. :-)

#27 Lucky you. I've not seen it in the UK yet, and when it does appear it will be hardabck, so I've probably got at least a year to wait for that one. I'm sure it's as light, and as fun as the rest.

new scientist, Chemistry World, What's brewing and Walk all skimmed though

More urban fantasy next, a very different approach from an earlier era:
Infinity Concerto I think this is one of Bear's earliest published works. Certainly before he became famous with Eon.

Quite readable - not brilliant, but an interesting take on the whole Sidhe / Human conflict.

>28 reading_fox:: It has a sequel: The Serpent Mage. I actually like the pair better than his later works...not sure why, but Bear has never really clicked for me.

#29 - Yep knew about the sequel for ages. I only actually found it a couple of weeks ago, hence the re-read of IC. Just finished SM, which I enjoyed. Definately a different twist on the faerie and humans that you see in many urban fantasies, and quite different from IC as well.

I don't find Bear totally stunning, he struggles a bit with engaging characters, but he has some superb ideas and fascinating worlds.

Non-fiction for a change

Mushroom Miscellany by Patrick Harding reviewed

Bloody touchtones. It's not like there are many alternatives.

Fascinating account of the various bits of trivia and details surrounding a few of the UKs more common or popular mushrooms. A must read for those who like them.

New Scientists which was actualy quite good this week - an article with maps showing travel distances to the nearest 50k city - very few places over 48 hrs - and a rant on how the Greens (which aren't the writers opinion to the contrary a monolithic block) have to choose between green power production or saving enviroments. Today's and tomorrow's power requirements necessitate big infrastructure. Again the writer failed to consider using less power.

Also Sole Survivor which is rubbish. Never read any of his others, and while I normally enjoy ppcorn thrillers, this wasn't. Not inclined to try any of his others based on this.

More popcorn thrillers in nothing to lose I've liked all the previous Jack Reacher stories by Lee Child, some of which have been very good indeed. This however is quite tame, and almost dull in comparison.

Even a bad Lee Child is better than Koontz though.

Lee Child is such a guilty pleasure! Have you noticed, though, that his chapters are getting shorter? Some are now less than a page.

As guilty plesaures go Leee Child is pretty good really - apart from teh is last one, which I wasn't so impressed with. I don't mind a few short chapters here and there as an impact, and they worked quite well in Nothing to Lose, but I wouldn't want them to become a habit. Was NtL shorter than his others? It was hard to tell as my copy was published in a strange midsized format.

Also read:
House of Suns Reynolds' latest. Very good superb universe building let down by dropping a few plot points mid-air.
the big Sleep - change of genre into 1930s gritty crime. Readable but of more interest in the 30s culture than the actual plot.
The Truth one of my favourite Pratchetts. Absolutely superb satire and puns.

Onto some weird SF What you make it which so wants an "OF" in the title. Dark and disturbing tales of death romance and rejection. I enjoy lots of short stories but this doesn't highlight the quirkiness of the worlds MM Smith can build.

The ship

In a massive change of genre. One of the very few historical fiction novels that I've enjoyed. Entirely character driven, it looks at each link in the chain of people required to fire a shell that turns a battle and changes the course of the war. If Seaman Triggs hadn't take a fuse from the tin, then Hitler may have won. I don't know that I entirely agree with the premise, but it's fascinating short and surprisingly unharrowing reading of a WWII battle.

More fluff

The negotiator another thriller, better than average but still not that special.

Freedom's landing totally unbelivable lucky and co-incidence laden SF. Easy reading fun though.

And the rest of the freedoms

Freedom's choice, freedom's ransom and freedom's challenge they are all about the same. Very unchallenging reading requiring a huge suspensions of disbelief with no explanation of any of the technologys and mostly uninteresting and un-detailed characters.

Small Gods was next up.

This is still not one of my favourites. I re-read after a gap of several years to see if this remained the case, and it is. It's very hard to pin down why I don't like this anywhere near as much as some of his other work. I think basically it is too direct, most TP's humour comes from a careful blend of understated subtle barbs and in your face farce. This only really does the farce, not a genre I like. However even a bad TP is much better than most other writings out there.

The Murder room An Inspector dalgliesh investigation into a death in an obscure london museum. Nothign special.

the Flying sorcerers not funny. A collection of short stories from many of the biggest names in fantasy and SF, some real golden age greats and more modern specialists, but here even TP wasn't funny, and Hainings dull introductions didn't help.

Breeze through some standard Dick Francis in In the frame Dead Cert and then a massive break of genre for me to try some poetry

Reynard the fox, unfortunetly not Goethe's version but a rather lame story telling by Jhn Masefield in 1920s verse. I've reviewed it here and I wsn't impressed. Back to genre fiction for me!

A few to update on this thread.

carpe jugulum - go for the throat. in TP's unique discworld latin. Actually quite good. It's got intelligent vampires in it (no sparkles) and some really meaningful diatribes both for and against religion. On balance against religion though, quite firmly. Plus of course it's very funny.

Bitten. Meh. Werewolves. not to bad, especially for a debut, but not good enough to inspire me to search the rest of the series.

the paladin superb, low fantasy. No dragons, or magic, just a peasant looking to overthrow and empire. But it's told from the point of view of the trainer rather than the pigboy, which is very novel, and of course being CJC, very well done.

jade tiger meh again. Badly done LeCarre imitation. Trying to mix james bond with Smiley. It doesn't work.

poison study really quite impressed with this debut. A clever take on the orphan with special powers. Not quite sure the sequel will hold up, but worth looking for.

Also:
Chemistry world, various New scientists, Descent - always fascinating particularly the article on pushing the Irish caves I've been in.

And a bunch of SF free short stories on my Sony Reader, that I'm not going to review. but have tagged thoroughly.

Red Mars on the Sony EReader which I'm very impressed with. This was a free promotion from Tor, and it worked I rushed out to download the next two. Just a click away.

Hugely enjoyable complex SF looking at competing factions over the exploitation of natural resources and how society can and maybe should function.

I agree - I think it's a great book.

Green mars (review) and blue mars - full review

Both superb. Each slower and less action involved than Red Mars, which was already low on the action front, but again superb literary SF, dealing with today's society and problems set on tomorrows world quite brilliantly. People are very different, and each adds their own contributions to the problems, and the solutions.

>45 reading_fox:, reading_fox, I simply must know: do the subsequent books contain less aimless wandering across the surface of Mars? I read Red Mars recently and while I loved the early portions of the book, which really seemed to focus on the intriguing dynamics among a core group of people, I got really bored by the seemingly endless descriptions of travels to-and-fro.

Probably about the same - but with even less actual 'plot' driving them. They are the experiences of the people and opportunites to exemplify the differences between Mars and Earth, and how much Mars changes. They are also part of the background for Sax Russell's viewpoint on terraforming, and hence have importance when considering ecological consequences for our actions here on Earth. I wouldn't call them aimless myself - though I made no effort at all to remember or care about the actual destinations involved.

I suspect you'd be particularly bored by Blue Mars which really only consists of isolated fragments of some of the people's lives with little overal structure. Yet it too has a lot to say about the porblems our current societies on earth are and will be facing.

I agree that Blue Mars is the least engrossing of the three, although, if you are ever charged with the task of designing the constitution for an newly independent country (or planet), I highly recommend it! But I love books about wilderness travel, and the wilderness experiences in the Mars trilogy are so vividly described that I would have enjoyed them at twice the length.

A bit of fantasy next

warbreaker - free from Brandon Sanderson, but not as good as it could have been. the coloured breath/soul magic was neat but not fully developed, far from the joy and fun of mistborn and the characters even worse.

The worm ouroboros - classic gothic fantasy literature, apparently one of Tolkein's inspirations. the flowery descriptive prose is occasionally reminiscnet, but the world building and characters are both lacking and the plot is shockingly bad. Written in a time when there was no mainstream fantasy, I can see how important this could have been, but it's dated badly when compared to the imagination of more modern works.

Mother of demons I've just finished - another free ebook. Surprisingly good. Although the alien cuttlefish creatures aren't that belivable, much of the society and historical commentry and espeically Irlema's dilemmas make it quite worth reading.

#49 - I hope that's not an indication of how the Wheel of Time books will work out.

#50 Well I hope not too, although I'm not reading WoT, but his previous book Hero of Ages didn't get the most glowing reception compared to his earliest work either - this is on my wish list but I need to find Well of Ascension first.

More free ebooks with alan quatermain very similar to King Solomen's Mines, although the ending is better.

halting state which was fun. I've pretty much always been an RPG gamer so I could at least grasp the underlying concepts, and have a fair stab at the techno-geekery. Not sure this would be everyone's cup of tea without those basics though. Some good social commentary on how technology changes lives and cultures without anyone realising it at the time.

furies of calderon Jim Butcher's pure fantasy frollics rather than urban. SOrt of mostly ok, but still sufferes from the same problems Harry has, only their more exposed in a fantasy world. And I don't like multiple charactered viewpoints that much.

All reviews : on my profile

Silks hey it's dick francis what more do you need to know. The additions of his son Felix don't seem to have altered things.

Sam Gunn Omnibus Ben Bova's best work possibly. It's not deep in any manner. Sam is and remains totally chauvanistic and fiercely competitively anti-capitalisitic and adventurous in space. It's great fun though.

Fugitive Prince re-reading, this is the start of the 2nd Arc in the Wars of Light and Shadow which began 3 book back with curse of the mistwraith. If you are new to the series start there. However FP is ok to dip in for the re-reads. Arithon's on the run. And the Korinai are not helping. All told in Janny's wonderfully rich deep and captivating prose.

Grand Conspiracy ebook again, hurray these are much easier to carry. Arithon sacrifices his isolation in order to attempt the rescue of an innocent revilied in his name. More beguiling prose from Janny. This is even better than FP.

perils' gate as if ti wasn't hard enough alread Arithon's life gets even harder. I can't wait until HarperCollins gets their act together and publishes Traitor's Knot as ebook.

little brother fun anarchist romp for teenagers. kind of works in its stated aim of encouraging them to think about what freedoms we give away.

philosophical strangler his SF is better. This is just about readable, about what you'd expect for a free ebook. Little Brother above was also free but much better.

gone tomorrow Jack Reacher finds trouble again, sticking his nose into other people's business. Not the best of his, but ok.

And some short stories little Prince part of the GD's group read. Utterly charming. And two by the always incredible Ted Chiang - Understand and Exhalation. He really is superb.

So the usual mix of SF and F

Hammerfall and Forge of heaven by CJ CHerryh, always a favourite author. Two very different books in a series. Forge is much better, somehow CJC just writes better characters onboard spacestations than she does on land.

Then as actual pbooks
the black company - military SF as fantasy, starts out very disjointed but gets better as it goes along. I'd heard about thsi series on LT, and its certainly better than average.

turn coat - Harry Dresden again - better than the last couple.

the myriad - proper military SF, less gungho than the 3rd in the series which I read last year. I still want to know more about the Romans. I hate time travel and was really quite annoyed by the ending.

fevre dream - Martin's non epic fantasy. This is still dark like his SF but historical fantasy, not usually my oueve, but pretty good. Vampires are bit inconsistant but the steamships are great.

the dispossessed - one Le Guin's classics. I wasn't too taken to be honest. I like subtle social commentry in my novels, but this just wasn't subtle at all.

Full reviews as ever on my profile

Is Forge of Heaven a direct sequel to Hammerfall? I have a copy of Forge and was actually thinking of reading it soonish, but I hadn't realized it was part of a series. Now I'm wondering whether I need to pick up Hammerfall first.

Yes Forge is the direct sequel.

But the Prologue in Forge tells you all you need to know. Hammerfall is very very different from Forge. Essentially it's all about an ignorant tribesman who knows nothing about the universe around him. It's all told in CJC's tight third person, which means we the reader know nothing either.

Forge picks up the ending of Hammerfall, but is based on other characters, and set mostly on the space station. Marek from Hammerfall does get in a bit, but I really doubt that it would be too confusing not to have read Hammerfall - particularly as the details of the world have changed between the two books.

If you have easy access to Hammerfall I'd read that first, but if you haven't I wouldn't be too worried, and Forge is definetly the better of the pair.

Thanks for the info! I may see about getting Hammerfall first, but I won't worry about it too much if I don't.

I've actually got a ton of Cherryh on the To-Read Pile, and was mainly eying Forge of Heaven because it looked like a standalone... I'm thinking now that I may go with Finity's End instead. I think that's the last of the alliance-union books that I have but haven't read.

Dragonhaven: a bit stream of concious-ey which is an unusual writing style for teenage urban fantasy. But they are great dragons (can dragons every not be great?) even if they are marsuipial!

Slant
Much better than the previous offering in the series which was wayy to neuro/pyscological for me. This is the same excellant world, and a interesting melange of characters even if for some reason it's a bit heavy on the sex.

Dry store No. 1 - very different! nonfiction, dry academic's incidents and characters in the backrooms of the Natural History Museum, intersperced with precis' on the details of taxologoy.

survival
Superb lab lit. Fish scientist meets the aliens set against a background of the universe coming to an end. Actually it's really quite good.

looking for jake dark/weird sf horror short stories some in the style of MR James' classics, others just odd. Touches of Michael Marshall Smith there too.

I'm catching up here. Dry Store Room No. 1 has been on my wishlist for a little while now, but I'm still not sure about it. I keep getting alternate impressions that the science will be too intense or it will be too much of a memoir. I just can't get a good read on it.

"Too much" is a tricky call to make. There is a lot of science, especially biology, and I feel it would probably help if you have at least some background understanding of how life if organised by biologists. There is also a lot of memoir, anecdotes and incidents breaking up the science and interjecting mor elight hearted commentry. The science serves to introduce the memoirs, and the memoirs to enliven the science. It's a mixed bag. SO it very much depends on what you are looking to get out of it?

A few fantasies in a row

Royal Assassin and Assassin's quest as ebooks. I'd read Assassin's Apprentice earlier this year, and it was OK but not brilliant. These aren't brilliant either. Perhaps if you put all three books together and edited heavily you'd get one really good story out of it. Certainly most of Quest can be readily thown away.

Lies of Locke Lamora Almost as good as it's hyped to be! Fast fun filled fantasy, with lots of action quick witted characters and bloodthirsty action. Not perfect, I dislike flashbacks. And the characters need a lot more development, especially those that get killed off too soon. But worth reading.

Full reviews as ever on the book pages or via my profile or catalogue.