Steve's Bookshelf 2013

[Timstar]

Not a great deal....I have Lonesome Dove and Shogun on my wishlist, might Kindle or Library them.

[dex]

£100 on books, wow I'd want about 30 for that.

[Raven]

What are the chances of anyone spending over £100 on books before then?

 

I think I might know someone who can help with that . . .

 

KYLIE!!!

[Devi]

Our bookshop is doing the same deal with the card - except my local one thinks its a tad crazy to expect people to buy $100 worth of books just for a $10 voucher - so they just stamp it for every $10 you spend on a purchase instead.

 

I bought my boyfriend the star trek vault book - got 4 stamps for it! I've almost earnt my voucher.

[Karsa Orlong]

The guy in Waterstone's told me the 'deal' might be extended beyond June.  I should blimmin' well think so!

[Athena]

It sounds like a nice deal (extending it would be a good idea), shame I'm not in the UK for a while .

[chaliepud]

I reached my 10 stamps last week but mainly because I had to buy revision books for my kids, but was very good and used my £10 voucher online to download books for my Kobo as sticking to my not buying tree books resolution..

[Karsa Orlong]

Glad it worked for you!    I think any attempt by me to follow the deal through would have too much of a negative impact in too short a time on my TBR list

[Kylie]

I think I might know someone who can help with that . . .

 

KYLIE!!!

 

Nah, I'm broke at the moment. In fact, I'll have you know that I passed up going to the big bookfair last weekend, which saved me several hundred dollars (that I didn't have anyway) and has kept my TBR pile from expanding by another 100+ books. So there!

 

The best deal we have in bookshops around here is to receive $5 credit for every $100 you spend. There's no expiry date though (actually, maybe the points expire in 12–24 months - I wouldn't know, my points don't last that long!) I think I have around $12 at the moment. But (to pre-empt any comments from Raven), most of the money I spend there comes from vouchers that I've received from others.

[Karsa Orlong]

Book #17:  The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

 

 

 

From Amazon:

 

According to mythology mankind used to live in The Tranquiline Halls. Heaven.  But then the Voidbringers assaulted and captured heaven, casting out God and men. Men took root on Roshar, the world of storms. And the Voidbringers followed . . . They came against man ten thousand times. To help them cope, the Almighty gave men powerful suits of armor and mystical weapons, known as Shardblades. Led by ten angelic Heralds and ten orders of knights known as Radiants, mankind finally won. Or so the legends say. Today, the only remnants of those supposed battles are the Shardblades, the possession of which makes a man nearly invincible on the battlefield. The entire world is at war with itself - and has been for centuries since the Radiants turned against mankind. Kings strive to win more Shardblades, each secretly wishing to be the one who will finally unite all of mankind under a single throne. On a world scoured down to the rock by terrifying hurricanes that blow through every few day a young spearman forced into the army of a Shardbearer, led to war against an enemy he doesn't understand and doesn't really want to fight. What happened deep in mankind's past? Why did the Radiants turn against mankind, and what happened to the magic they used to wield?

 

 

Thoughts:

 

I'm not sure exactly what to say about this book, so I'm just going to wing it and try and avoid spoilers in the process.  A couple of days ago I was more certain.  I was on the verge of chucking it in for a lost cause, and giving it my lowest score so far this year in the process.  It's very rare that a book actually annoys me, but this one did.  The biggest problem with this book is the same accusation that could be levelled at practically every other multi-entry fantasy series out there, including my favourites: it's too long.  It's way, way, way too long.  Several rain forests have been wasted in the publishing of this book.  Seriously, with some good editing it could have told the same story, much better, in about 500 pages.  Instead, what we have is a 1,100 pages during which almost nothing of any consequence happens, split into two volumes so you have to pay twice for one novel.  You could skip chapter after chapter and dive back in and not have missed anything.  It is boring in the extreme.

 

As far as I can see, the only reason Sanderson's getting the attention he's getting is because he was chosen to finish The Wheel of Time.  He's not the best writer.  He seems to feel the need to explain everything, every thought, every action in the minutest detail.  He refuses to leave anything to the reader's imagination.  He wastes words like nobody's business.  He let's language that doesn't sit well with the rest of the book slip through the filter (words such as 'wow', 'scoot' and 'gotten' cropped up regularly here).  I enjoyed the first Mistborn book, but the second and third hung around far too long for my liking, and dragged beyond belief.  Same here.  It's not bad writing, as such, it's just . . . in need of refining.  With the number of books he churns out, I think he's leaving himself too little time to do this.

 

But there is some nice invention here.  The world building is decent if not particularly ground-breaking.  The main three or four characters are cliched (conflicted warrior, wronged slave etc) but they are well developed and you do care for them.  The magic system, again, is decent, although I expect it will be more fully explained in subsequent books.  There are some original creatures and races on show, but he doesn't really delve too deeply at this stage and, weirdly, his overly-descriptive style doesn't really seem up to the task of conveying what these things really look like (the excellent artwork frequently has to come to the rescue in these cases).  Speaking of the artwork, it adds to the immersion and is beautifully done.

 

I don't mind padding.  As I say, practically every modern fantasy author is guilty of it (maybe excepting the likes of Abercrombie and Kay).  But there has to be a pay-off somewhere along the line, and for 1,000 pages of this book there just isn't any.  It starts out intriguingly enough, with hints at a vast history in true Erikson style, and I was really excited about it at that stage.  But then it's only the last 100 pages that really come alive, with some nice twists, some laughable conveniences, and some good character developments.  Everything else in between is filler.  There just wasn't enough going on, not enough interesting characters, not enough invention or originality.  In the end, it is generic High Fantasy, predictable in the extreme.  You can guess exactly where the characters are going to end up.  And, in making it so the female characters are only good for reading and writing, he's pretty much set equality back several decades.  They don't tug their braids or smooth their skirts - they just sit around and don't do much at all.  Meh.

 

I was really looking forward to reading this book.  At last, I thought, a new fantasy series that I can get my teeth into.  In the end, it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it's nowhere near as good as I hoped.  That makes scoring it pretty tricky.  At the moment, I don't ever want to read another Sanderson book.  He annoys me too much.  By extension, that means that I can't finish WoT either, so I may as well pass on that now, before I go too much farther.  I may change my mind, but that's how frustrated I am at the moment.  There's just enough at the end of this book to make me curious, but the thought of slogging through another novel like this is almost making me lose the will to live.  It's just my opinion, of course - I know I seem to be in the minority.

 

How's that for a stream of consciousness review? 

 

 

5/10

[Karsa Orlong]

The Plan 2

 

From the TBR list:

 

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

Stonemouth by Iain Banks

The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett (Demon Cycle Book 2)

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (Gentleman Bar Steward Sequence Book 1)

HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian (Aubrey/Maturin Book 3)

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight Archive Book 1) - finished 22/03/13

Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds - started 23/03/13

The Cure of Souls by Phil Rickman (Merrily Watkins Book 4)

 

 

Re-reads:

 

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (about 20 years since I read this)

A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (over 30 years since I read this!)

 

Books I might buy:

 

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files Book 7)

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan (Kovacs Book 1)

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (Expanse Series Book 1)

Monarchies of God by Paul Kearney

Necessary Evil by Ian Tregillis (Milkweed Tryptich Book 3)

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Shogun by James Clavell

 

 

The 'one no-one saw coming'

 

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

 

 

[Karsa Orlong]

At some point last year I saw there was a Kindle collection of five of Alastair Reynolds' novels for £15.99.  Even though I already had two of them I figured I'd get it at some point for the other three.  I just noticed it's gone up in price to £27.99.  Dammit!    

[Timstar]

Yeah I noticed that as well hopefully it will come back down again.

 

great review, shame you didn't like it, guess you're not gonna read any more Sanderson?

[Karsa Orlong]

great review, shame you didn't like it, guess you're not gonna read any more Sanderson?

 

 

Not at the moment   It's one of those where I don't know if I was too harsh or too easy on it.  There was a lot I liked about it, but that was outweighed by the humdrum nature of most of it.  5/10 is average, so it seemed to fit.  I can see why others would love it, it just wasn't for me

[Athena]

Shame you didn't like it that much. I plan to read it at some point. I hope you like Terminal Worlds. I don't own this book (yet), and so I look forward to hear what you think.

[Karsa Orlong]

Shame you didn't like it that much. I plan to read it at some point.

 

 

I hope you like it more than I did (won't be difficult!)

 

 

 

I hope you like Terminal Worlds. I don't own this book (yet), and so I look forward to hear what you think.

 

 

I'm enjoying it very much.  It's living up to the blurb so far: steampunk with a futuristic Western vibe to it (and airships thrown in) 

[Timstar]

Terminal World sounds quite interesting, as does his new trilogy 'Poseidon's Children'... might have to acquire these soon.

[Karsa Orlong]

Terminal World sounds quite interesting, as does his new trilogy 'Poseidon's Children'... might have to acquire these soon.

 

 

I've come perilously close to buying Blue Remembered Earth a couple of times, but I keep telling myself to wait until the trilogy is complete.  It won't last 

 

Have you read any Reynolds before?  If not, I'd highly recommend Chasm City as a starting point

[Timstar]

Have you read any Reynolds before?  If not, I'd highly recommend Chasm City as a starting point

 

I haven't... but is Chasm City not the sequel to Revelation Space?

 

I am also not too eager to start another series 'til I finish some of my current ones.

Edited March 25, 2013 by Timstar

[Karsa Orlong]

I haven't... but is Chasm City not the sequel to Revelation Space?

 

 

Not really, no.  It is set in the same universe but is a separate, independent story.  It doesn't matter in which order you read those two.

[Karsa Orlong]

Just noticed that Alastair Reynolds has written a Doctor Who novel, which is coming out in June, featuring Jon Pertwee's Doctor, Jo Grant, UNIT and The Master.  Not something I'm overly interested in, but for anyone who is . . .

 

http://voxish.tripod.com/id21.html

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Harvest-Alastair-Reynolds/dp/1849904189/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364297232&sr=1-3

 

 

[Karsa Orlong]

Book #18:  Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds

 

 

From Amazon:

 

Spearpoint, the last human city, is an atmosphere-piercing spire of vast size. Clinging to its skin are the zones, a series of semi-autonomous city-states, each of which enjoys a different - and rigidly enforced - level of technology. Horsetown is pre-industrial; in Neon Heights they have television and electric trains . . .

 

Following an infiltration mission that went tragically wrong, Quillon has been living incognito, working as a pathologist in the district morgue. But when a near-dead angel drops onto his dissecting table, Quillon's world is wrenched apart one more time, for the angel is a winged posthuman from Spearpoint's Celestial Levels - and with the dying body comes bad news. If Quillon is to save his life, he must leave his home and journey into the cold and hostile lands beyond Spearpoint's base, starting an exile that will take him further than he could ever imagine. But there is far more at stake than just Quillon's own survival, for the limiting technologies of the zones are determined not by governments or police, but by the very nature of reality - and reality itself is showing worrying signs of instability . . .

 

Terminal World is a snarling, drooling, crazy-eyed mongrel of a book: equal parts steampunk, western, planetary romance and far-future SF.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

The story starts with a body being discovered on one of the shelves of Spearpoint, a huge spire which reaches up into the heavens, around which cluster the various zones of the last major human city.  The zones dictate how advanced the technology used within can be (it seems to scale downwards from top to bottom).  Passing between zones causes sickness in humans and also prevents more advanced technology from working in less advanced zones.

 

The body turns out to be that of an angel - a so-called posthuman with jetpack and wings - from the celestial zone high up on Spearpoint.  The clean-up team sent to retrieve the body have an 'arrangement' and take the angel to Quillon, a doctor with an interest in such things.  But the angel isn't quite dead, and delivers a chilling message to Quillon, forcing him to go on the run.

 

How refreshing to read a book that stands on its own, that isn't part of a trilogy or a multi-book series - at least, not yet   No prior knowledge is required to enter here, and you won't have to remember all the characters and events within for the next book - at least, not yet    Thing is, there are so many questions left unanswered at the end of the book that I can't help but wonder if Mr Reynolds has a sequel planned. 

 

On the other hand, I very much liked the fact that some aspects were actually left to my imagination, that the book left me wanting to know more.  It's - in my opinion - probably the least ambitious of his books that I've read so far, yet it's still bursting with ideas and imagination.  Perhaps it doesn't quite scale the heights to which it aspires and it runs out of a little steam around halfway through.  There is a dead patch in the middle where it seems to lose its way a bit, and throws ideas around with abandon never to revisit them (again, it screams 'sequel!'), but - for all that - it is a pretty entertaining read.  There are some good characters, especially the foul-mouthed, gun-slinging Meroka - who has good reason to hate angels - and makes it her job to guide Quillon out of Spearpoint, and Curtana, the captain of one of the dirigibles that makes up Swarm (which I won't go into detail about).

 

Ignoring the dead spot in the middle, in the early stages it's one of those books that has something important happen in each chapter, and it's quite fast-moving as a result.  We learn about the world through Quillon's eyes, and it's quite a scary place, with Skullboys and Vorgs hunting him, and the mystery of the Tectomancers looming over all, and I thought its refreshing blend of Western and steampunk was a great deal of fun.  I think, though, that as Reynolds' stand-alone novels go, it's not as good as his Chasm City or House of Suns - although now I see I only gave the latter 7 out of 10, which makes this one sound just as good.  It's not, not quite

 

Oh, and Terminal World is 'a snarling, drooling, crazy-eyed mongrel of a book: equal parts steampunk, western and far-future SF' - but there's no planetary romance.  What is a planetary romance anyway?  Two planets fall in love but it doesn't work out because their orbits never get close enough?  

 

 

7/10

 

 

[Karsa Orlong]

The Plan 2

 

From the TBR list:

 

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

Stonemouth by Iain Banks

The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett (Demon Cycle Book 2)

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (Gentleman Bar Steward Sequence Book 1)

HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian (Aubrey/Maturin Book 3)

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (Stormlight Archive Book 1) - finished 22/03/13

Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds - started 23/03/13 - finished 28/03/13

The Cure of Souls by Phil Rickman (Merrily Watkins Book 4)

 

 

Re-reads:

 

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (about 20 years since I read this)

A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (over 30 years since I read this!) - started 29/03/13

 

Books I might buy:

 

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files Book 7)

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan (Kovacs Book 1)

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (Expanse Series Book 1)

Monarchies of God by Paul Kearney

Necessary Evil by Ian Tregillis (Milkweed Tryptich Book 3)

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

Shogun by James Clavell

 

 

The 'one no-one saw coming'

 

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

 

 

[Athena]

Nice review of Terminal World!

 

I've not read any Sherlock Holmes yet, though I have some books on my shelf. I look forward to read your review.

[vodkafan]

Yes Terminal World sounds good!