Little Pixie Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 There are a fair few of us attempting this in 2017! Good luck! And failing miserably. But you`ll be the exception ! Good Luck ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 I've missed you Raven! I hope you'll pop in more often. I'm also planning to buy fewer books this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Hello again! Nice to see you around Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissy Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 I read (and heartily enjoyed) Daniel O'Malley's The Rook, and Stiletto. Thanks for recommending them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyshake Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Haha .. never be afraid to have an opinion Happy Reading in 2017 Raven! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppy Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Another welcome back from me, Raven! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted February 16, 2017 Author Share Posted February 16, 2017 Thanks, everyone. I've missed you Raven! I hope you'll pop in more often. I'm also planning to buy fewer books this year. Planning and doing are two different things. I read (and heartily enjoyed) Daniel O'Malley's The Rook, and Stiletto. Thanks for recommending them. I read Stiletto last year, after picking it up for 99p on my Kindle. It didn't have the originality of The Rook, in terms of story telling, and it was very uneven in places, but I still enjoyed it (Glad you did too!). It wasn't a patch on the latest Peter Grant book, however. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted September 15, 2017 Author Share Posted September 15, 2017 Five whole books this year. I'm about ready for a lie down... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lau_Lou Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 1 hour ago, Raven said: Five whole books this year. I'm about ready for a lie down... I hope you've enjoyed them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted October 14, 2017 Author Share Posted October 14, 2017 ^ Thanks! I've read two whole books this month! *smug face* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Pixie Posted October 16, 2017 Share Posted October 16, 2017 On 14/10/2017 at 5:59 PM, Raven said: ^ Thanks! I've read two whole books this month! *smug face* You've done better than me.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madeleine Posted October 17, 2017 Share Posted October 17, 2017 Way to go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted October 18, 2017 Author Share Posted October 18, 2017 Why does this feel like an AA meeting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted October 19, 2017 Share Posted October 19, 2017 What were they? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted November 1, 2017 Author Share Posted November 1, 2017 (edited) Three books in a month! Getting good at this! On 19/10/2017 at 12:05 PM, ~Andrea~ said: What were they? Sorry, I missed this for some reason. They were: Star Trek: The Final Reflection By John M. Ford This is the first Star Trek novel I've read (and finished) for years. I used to read a lot of them as a teenager and collected a large number of the Titan re-issues that came out in the late eighties/early nineties. This one was written in 1984 - pre-TNG - and has a very different take on the Klingons from what they would evolve into, but it did lay some of the ground work for what came later. I never read the book at the time, but it was mentioned as an influence for Star Trek Discovery, so I dug it out and read it. It's not the greatest book ever written, and it has certainly dated, but I didn't want to throw it out of the window as I did Star Trek: Forgotten History a few years back! One for the fans. The Furthest Station By Ben Aaronovitch The first Rivers of London/PC Grant novella (and from what Ben Aaronovitch has been saying, it probably won't be the last). Although looking forward to reading this, I was a bit wary as my previous, limited experience of novellas has largely been of stories that don't quite fit the format (they have either been padded or crammed/rushed). This one, however, was a distilled slice of Grant, and worked very for me. A good story, that makes good use of the characters and continues to expand the RoL universe. Also, from a book-geek point of view, it is a nice little hardback! Highly recommended. And yesterday I finished: Rivers of London By Ben Aaronovitch After reading the above I was inspired to go back and start re-reading the series again, and I'm glad I did because there is so much I have forgotten! Great book - classic novice in a fish-out-of-water situation. if you like your policing with a dash of magic and haven't read this, do so now. Highly recommended (and only 99p on Kindle at the moment!) Edited November 1, 2017 by Raven Adding the pretty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted January 2, 2018 Author Share Posted January 2, 2018 2 days in and I have one on the board! Not bad, after last year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anisia Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 Good start to the year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Pixie Posted January 28, 2018 Share Posted January 28, 2018 Happy Reading in 2018 ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nollaig Posted January 29, 2018 Share Posted January 29, 2018 How you doing 29 days in? Happy reading, however many books you read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Andrea~ Posted January 30, 2018 Share Posted January 30, 2018 (edited) The Rivers of London books sound good. Might give them a go. Edited February 2, 2018 by ~Andrea~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted February 1, 2018 Author Share Posted February 1, 2018 On 29/01/2018 at 11:07 AM, Nollaig said: How you doing 29 days in? Happy reading, however many books you read 3.5. I was going quite well, but have been ground down by The Massacre of Mankind, Stephen Baxter's sequel to The War of the Worlds. There is some good stuff in it, but it took a dog's age to get going and it is rambling all over the place. There will probably be a review when I finish it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted February 27, 2018 Share Posted February 27, 2018 I hope you have a great reading year in 2018! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted February 27, 2018 Author Share Posted February 27, 2018 ^ You too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Hi Raven! Does Stephen Baxter write in the same sort of style as HG Wells in The Massacre of Mankind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raven Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 Pff... You leave your thread alone for a week or so and look what riff-raff walks in... (Hullo!). In answer to your question, yes and no... The story is told through the eyes of a different character than the original, which allows Baxter to side-step having to replicate Wells writing style exactly. That works well for the most part, but it falls over when he drops in phrases/lines from the original novel not as quotes - because the original book is a published work within this story - but as part of the new character's narration. I found it rather jarring, to be honest, and a bit of an odd way of invoking the feel of the original (which I don't think this book does very well). Overall, I wasn't that taken with the book. It suffers from the same kind of escalation that very few sequels manage to carry off (to my mind this is more Independence Day 2 than Aliens, although that may be a bit of a harsh parallel to draw!). It's certainly from the "More is better!" school of story telling. Also, the way the narrator is kept at the center of the story is terribly contrived, and the book takes forever to get going. There are some good ideas in the book though, and the use of contemporary real life people (such as Churchill) is interesting. I also liked a section where events are told through the eyes of several different people around the world, but it's all too patchy and feels like a bag of ideas loosely held together by the main narrative. I re-read War of the Worlds in preparation for reading this and where Well's original is concise and beautifully written, this is almost the exact opposite. I did write up a review when I finished it, but wasn't happy with it so I didn't post it. Perhaps I should look at it again and have another go, but the above pretty much sums up my feelings about the book. If I were being charitable, I'd give it 3/5, and wouldn't really go out of my way to recommend it (my sister loved it, however, but she married a Scotsman and lives in Wales so, like, how good is her judgement?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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