Kevin's Watch

I'm almost finished Memories of Ice, and have a copy of House of Chains at hand.

I'm itching to start reading it, but have been held up finishing MoI due to being drunk every night for a week.

Katharine Burdekin's Swastika Night. It's an uncomfortable book.

I'm currently reading 'L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future, Volume 3'. It's an interesting read, not least because some of the winning entries aren't particularly good. Most of them end very weakly. Still, none are so bad as to be repellent.

Midshipman's Hope by David Feintuch, for the umpteenth time. I read all the Nick Seafort saga at least twice a year, and am waiting impatiently for the final volume. It was in the process of being published, when he tragically passed away last year.

Phantasm wrote:I'm almost finished Memories of Ice, and have a copy of House of Chains at hand.

I'm itching to start reading it, but have been held up finishing MoI due to being drunk every night for a week.

MoI is my favorite of the first four. And I love the other three! But I'm reading GotM again. I need to read the first four again, before moving on. Too much slipped by during the first reading.

Just finished Hunter's Run by GRRM, Dozois and Abraham.

This story's first incarnation was a novella titled Shadow Twin, which was a limited edition published by Subterranean Press in 2005. Unfortunately, I haven't read the novella-length version of this book, so I can't draw comparisons between the two versions. All I can say is that Hunter's Run is a damn good read!

With this being a collaboration between George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois and Daniel Abraham, I was concerned that their different writing styles would result in a work lacking a certain cohesion. I'm glad to report that such is not the case. The whole tale streamlines quite seamlessly and one can never tell where one author's inspiration or style ends and his collaborators' begin.

Survival, identity and loyalty are probably the three main themes explored within the pages of Hunter's Run. And although there's enough action to satisfy most readers, what with the principal protagonist being pursued by aliens across outlandish wilderness, the underlying storyline which carries this novel remains that of Ramon's inner journey.

Ramon, Hunter's Run's main character, is far from being a likeable fellow. Truth to tell, he's quite antipathetic at the beginning. And yet, as it gradually dawns upon him that he might be more than a fry or two short of a good meal, Ramon slowly grows on you. This character growth is without a doubt the most compelling facet of this book.

To the nay-sayers out there, there is nothing I can write that will make them want to pick up a GRRM work that isn't ASOIAF. So be it. . . In the end, it's too bad, for Hunter's Run is a solid effort and a fun read. If all of Martin's side-projects are this good, few of his fans should complain!

Check the blog for the full review!

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

Right now, I'm wondering what I should read next...possibly a Guy Gavriel Kay book...either the Wandering Fire..or Sailing to Sarantium.

I'm reading Garth NIx's Drowned Wednsday to one of the Kids.
And Eragon to the other one.

unfortunatly, I don't realy like either of them.
(the books that is...I like the kids!)

drew wrote:(the books that is...I like the kids!)

Well, my list of Prime recommendations has expanded to at least the first four Malazan books. So...


Earthsea
Malazan
Neverness
TCTC

Rage of a Demon King, Vol 3 of Feist's SerpentWar.

--A

"A Shadow In Summer" by Daniel Abraham. Very impressive first novel in his series. Sort of an Asian flavored fantasy with a very unique take on magic. Very good flow to the language, and it certainly doesn't feel like it's his first novel at all.

pat5150, glad to hear you liked "Hunter's Run". I have a copy of the novella, "Shadow Twin", and really enjoyed it. My only complaint was that it felt too short. Sounds like that's been taken care of. I'll have to pick up a copy of "Hunter's" when it's available now, too.

Abraham is from New Mexico and good friends with GRRM, SRD and Walter Jon Williams--a very nice guy too...

Having finished 'Challenger's Hope' and 'Prisoner's Hope', now re-reading 'Fisherman's Hope', the 4th in the Seafort Saga.

Has anyone else even heard of this great military sf series? Anybody?

Wizard's First Rule, Terry Goodkind. It's my second time. Sorry Edge, I haven't heard of those books but I will check em out.

danlo said

Abraham is from New Mexico and good friends with GRRM, SRD and Walter Jon Williams--a very nice guy too...

Yeah, it was the reccomendation on GRRM's website that got me interested in Abraham. You guys in New Mexico get all the cool authors...

Continuing with The Eternal Champion; this is the Gollancz Tales of the Eternal Champion series edition--I've just started the second of the three stories in this volume: Phoenix in Obsidian.

Ngugi wa Thiong'o's Wizard of the Crow is magical realism, not fantasy.

Set in the fictional African republic of Aburiria, in Wizard of the Crow the author "set out to explore human relationships against the backdrop of a rapidly globalizing world." Thiong'o, naturally, as an exiled Kenyan, has a long history of political activism.

Weighin in at 766 pages, Wizard of the Crow is a work of titanic proportions. And its principal shortcoming is that the pace is at times atrociously slow. Which, in the end, killed this novel for me. Too many unnecessary POV characters make for an unbearably sluggish rhythm in several portions of this book. Indeed, I came very close to stop reading on more than one occasions. . . Even though some parts are quite interesting, others bored me out of my mind.

Sections of Wizard of the Crow appear to be undisguised attacks aimed at the dictatorship of Kenya's Daniel arap Moi. Which is not surprising, given the fact that the dictator's regime imprisoned the author in the 70s, banned some of his books, and then forced him into exile, first in Europe and then in the USA. I believe that, in order to fully appreciate/understand Wizard of the Crow, one needs to be familiar with world politics. Leftists will doubtless enjoy it more than their Right-wing counterparts, methinks.

Though Thiong'o is on the money more often than not, I did find some of his political "comments" to be a bit narrow on the ideological side. While I agree that international financial forces can be disruptive with their efforts to engender development (something this continent desperately needs), following decades of economic stagnation in so many African countries I found that the way he depicted market forces more than a little overdone. Given the author's past, tyranny and egomania are themes that Thiong'o explores through the Ruler and his entourage of sycophants.

Wizard of the Crow is an ambitious literary endeavor filled with great ideas. The humor, however, is more intellectual than funny. The political commentary is quite heavy-handed at times, yet that doesn't take too much away from the reading experience. It's the snail-slow pace which makes what could have been an excellent read merely a good one.

Check out the blog for the full review.

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

I just finished reading Pratchett's Making Money.

Following up on Going Postal, Terry Pratchett lets Moist Von Lipwig, he of the golden suit and new Postmaster General, the man notorious for introducing the commemorative cabbage stamp with the cabbage-flavored glue, once again shine in the spotlight. Naturally, familiar faces from various Discworld novels make appearances throughout Making Money.

When Lord Vetinari informs the Postmaster General that he plans to put him in charge of the Royal Mint, Lipwig is acutely aware that this is a man he can't say no to, and thus his life becomes more complicated. As if this predicament wasn't enough, to his dismay he suddenly finds himself running the bank next door. He soon realizes that the mint runs at a loss. He also discovers that a panoply of people want him dead. And, to add to his woes, he must take the Chairman of the bank, a dog named Mr Fusspot, for walks. But Moist Von Lipwig is always up for a challenge, even though he is about to be exposed as a fraud.

Witty humor permeates the narrative and the dialogues, of course. Which is not surprising, for this aspect has become Pratchett's trademark. Like a majority of the Discworld novels, Making Money is, in light of the current market, "light" fantasy fare. Still, after plowing through Thiong'o's Wizard of the Crow and then reading the first half of Donaldson's Fatal Revenant, I found Pratchett's latest to be oh so satisfying! You will find yourself smirking and chuckling in every single chapter, and there is not a boring moment in this one.

Watching Moist Von Lipwig trying to dig himself out of this hole makes for an enjoyable reading experience. In addition, it was interesting to witness Pratchett's introduction of the paper denominations instead of gold, as well as the parallel between the repercussions this causes on Ankh-Morpork's national economy and our own, if only from an historical standpoint. Though the Discworld installments can at times feel a little absurd, there is an underlying intelligence which pervades every page. This, in my humble opinion, is nothing short of brilliant.

Making Money appears to contain all the necessary ingredients to make it yet another memorable Discworld novel!

Check out the blog for the full review.

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

I just read an ERB book, The Lad and the Lion, and now another called Beyond 39. My father gave me a bunch of these old chestnuts and I'm figuring which to toss and which to save. As for these two, don't bother.

Re-reading God Emperor of Dune. I feel for Leto II so much it hurts.

Reading at the moment So Far from God, a history book about the Mexican American War of 1846-8, which genre often enters the realm of fantasy, doncha think? This book's pretty even-handed so far, though.

But . . . Emotional Leper . . . why do you live . . . why is your location in Michigan!