Steve's Bookshelf 2013

[Karsa Orlong]

Ooh .. one for me then?

 

Damn, I'd better return it 

 

 

 

60 TBR's is pretty good isn't it? With the aid of Kendal Mint Cake it's quite conquerable  

 

I don't do cake, unfortunately 

[Little Pixie]

I don't do cake, unfortunately 

 

   

[poppyshake]

Damn, I'd better return it 

Ha bloomin' ha!

I don't do cake, unfortunately

That's alright then cos it isn't cake but seriously .. 'don't do cake'? .. are you human?

[Karsa Orlong]

Book #52:  Pompeii by Robert Harris

 

 

From Amazon:

 

A sweltering week in late August. Where better to enjoy the last days of summer than on the beautiful Bay of Naples? But even as Rome's richest citizens relax in their villas around Pompeii and Herculaneum, there are ominous warnings that something is going wrong. Wells and springs are failing, a man has disappeared, and now the greatest aqueduct in the world - the mighty Aqua Augusta - has suddenly ceased to flow. Through the eyes of four characters - a young engineer, an adolescent girl, a corrupt millionaire and an elderly scientist - Robert Harris brilliantly recreates a luxurious world on the brink of destruction.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

As mentioned up-thread, this book had been sitting on my TBR list for nearly three years.  Silly really, because it's very good indeed.  The story spans four days, starting 48 hours before Vesuvius erupts.  The aqueduct that serves the towns along the coast of the Bay of Naples is in trouble.  The new aquarius (chief engineer, if you like), Marcus Attilius, has this brought to his attention when a slave is fed by his master to a bunch of moray eels.  The slave's crime was to allow his master's prize fish to die.  But Attilius quickly realises that this was not down to the slave's inattention, but due to the water being poisoned by sulphur. 

 

This discovery sets off a chain of events that lead Attilius into a sequence of life-threatening situations and behind all this is the impending cataclysm.  Naturally, the characters aren't aware of what's going to happen, so I really liked the way Harris played with my knowledge of the events.  I did find myself wondering at times whether it was his skill that was building the suspense, or the fact that we all know what's going to happen, but whatever it was I thought it worked brilliantly.

 

The atmosphere and sense of place is also very well handled.  The characters are perhaps lacking a little depth, and I feel he uses archetypes in order to develop them quickly and keep the story moving at pace.  I didn't find the tale boring at any stage.  I think there's always a danger with this sort of story that it could get bogged down in the historical - and geological, in this case - detail, and become more like reading a textbook.  That didn't happen here - it's never dry or uninvolving, largely because of the pace and the impending doom.  And, although the dialogue is no doubt modernised, it works well.  There's a small amount of swearing, but nothing much to worry about (one use of the 'c' word is the worst of it, I think).  If anything - given what we know about the language of the time from preserved poems, graffiti and such - there probably isn't enough swearing 

 

The only part of the book that didn't quite work for me was the very end.  And, no, I don't mean the volcano erupting  I mean the very final page, which came off as a little convenient.  Given everything he'd achieved up to that point, carrying me to the very heart of the disaster in quite thrilling style, I thought it was a bit of a shame to end on a bum note.  But there you go.

 

Overall, a terrific read.

 

 

8/10

Edited September 7, 2013 by Karsa Orlong

[bobblybear]

Nice review. I, too, have had Pompeii on my TBR list for a number of years. It sounds like a great read but for some reason I've never quite fancied picking it up. I shall bump it up my reading list, methinks!

[Karsa Orlong]

It's worth a try, bobbly! 

 

I've just knocked my score for it down by '1' after looking at some of the other books to which I've given '9's.  It wasn't quite in the same bracket as some of those, so it's now got an '8'.

 

Making a start on Cornwell's The Pale Horseman today.  I was hoping the paperback of The Sunne in Splendour would turn up, but it hasn't as yet.

[Brian.]

Thanks for the review of Pompeii, I've had it on my TBR for a while now so I might have to pick it up sooner rather than later.

[Karsa Orlong]

I saw that Frederick Pohl died last week.  Iain M. Banks, Richard Matheson, Jack Vance, James Herbert, Ray Bradbury, Anne McCaffrey.  So many great SF/fantasy authors have died in the past couple of years  

[Athena]

Book #52:  Pompeii by Robert Harris

x

Great review ! It's going on my wishlist.

x

I saw that Frederick Pohl died last week.  Iain M. Banks, Richard Matheson, Jack Vance, James Herbert, Ray Bradbury, Anne McCaffrey.  So many great SF/fantasy authors have died in the past couple of years  

x

It's really sad, quite a lot of them passed away .

[Timstar]

I saw that Frederick Pohl died last week.  Iain M. Banks, Richard Matheson, Jack Vance, James Herbert, Ray Bradbury, Anne McCaffrey.  So many great SF/fantasy authors have died in the past couple of years  

 

Yeah I saw that, been a sad year. I have Gateway by Pohl on my TBR pile.

[Ooshie]

Pompei sounds very good indeed.  I read The Sunne in Splendour years ago and remember it as being a great read, hope  you enjoy it too.

[pontalba]

Drat!  Now I'm going to have to go back and restart Pompeii.

 

Just when I thought it was safe to go into the water.........................

Edited September 10, 2013 by pontalba

[Karsa Orlong]

I read The Sunne in Splendour years ago and remember it as being a great read, hope  you enjoy it too.

 

Going by the fifty-odd pages I read before stopping, I think I will like it.  The secondhand paperback arrived yesterday evening, but I was dismayed at the size of the damn thing.  I thought, being an old edition, it would be the old, smaller sized paperback format, but it's the newer bigger size, and it's about 6cm thick.  Not one I can fit in my work bag too easily!  So now I'm annoyed again, cos it wasn't cheap even secondhand, and wishing I'd waited for the Kindle edition to be updated      This book is going to end up costing me about twice what it should have

 

ETA:  I should add that the edition they sent me was not the same one shown on the Amazon page.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Karsa Orlong

[Karsa Orlong]

Book #53:  The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell

 

 

From Amazon:

 

Continuing the outstanding success of The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman is the second installment of Bernard Cornwell’s fantastic series, following the fate of Alfred the Great ,and the forging of Britain.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

The Amazon blurb was waaaaay too spoilery to post here in full (always a problem with a series!).  I don't want to go into plot details, for the same reason.  It picks up immediately in the wake of the climax of The Last Kingdom, as you might expect, so I'll leave it at that.

 

What I can say is that I thought it was every bit as good, if not slightly better than, the first book.  I love the easy flow of Cornwell's writing, to the point where I almost think of his books as a comfort read.  This book focuses more closely on Alfred through the eyes of Uhtred and, whilst there didn't seem to be as much action as the first book, it allows for some great character development and it still moves at a cracking pace.  Plus I think Cornwell pulls off something of a masterstroke in the final third of the book when he introduces a new character called Pyrlig, who brings some welcome humour to the novel.  He is a larger than life individual who has some great, laugh-out-loud lines.  The action is, of course, scary and visceral, and possibly even more effective for there being a bit less of it.

 

This is the eighth of Cornwell's books that I have read, and I do think he has a formula, as much as any writer of so many books has.  But I find it a winning formula, and it works better for me here than it did in the Grail Quest trilogy.  If I do have one complaint about this book it is the rather abrupt ending.  But then I know there's more to come, and I'm really looking forward to it.

 

I liked Cornwell's 'historical note' at the end, too.  He's always honest about the changes he makes to historical fact in order to serve his story, and they usually make sense in dramatic terms.  Unlike Conn Iggulden, he doesn't completely re-write history to his own purposes.

 

I had to laugh at the one and two star reviews on Amazon (few as they are) because none of them have anything to do with the book.  Somebody gives it one star because they haven't received it, another because it wasn't available on Kindle at the time.  Blah blah blah  

 

 

9/10

 

[Athena]

ETA:  I should add that the edition they sent me was not the same one shown on the Amazon page.

x

That's annoying . I hope you'll still read the book even if it's not the size you wanted. I also prefer smaller paperbacks and haven't yet read some of my books because of their size (and weight).

 

Nice review .

[Karsa Orlong]

x

That's annoying . I hope you'll still read the book even if it's not the size you wanted. I also prefer smaller paperbacks and haven't yet read some of my books because of their size (and weight).

 

It doesn't normally put me off - I like long books, after all - but this one is like a brick.  The Book Depository info said it was 3.5cm thick, which sounded good to me, but it's nearly twice that in reality.  I should have just waited, but I got impatient having read and enjoyed the start   And now, in theory, it's only a couple of days until the new edition is released in hardback, which probably means the updated Kindle edition will appear as well     If that happens, I will get the new Kindle version, because I really do want to read it, and this paperback will go to the Cancer Research shop, meaning I'll probably have ended up paying nearly £20 for the book in total   I never learn

[Kylie]

Oh, I didn't hear about Pohl. Too many awesome authors dying.

[Karsa Orlong]

King of Thorns has been bought

 

I nearly bought Emperor as well.  Nearly 

[Signor Finzione]

King of Thorns has been bought

 

I nearly bought Emperor as well.  Nearly 

 

Excellent news! I hope you have fun with it and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on both. I'm just starting on a re-read, and may well buy Emperor next week. Exciting!!

[Karsa Orlong]

Excellent news! I hope you have fun with it and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on both. I'm just starting on a re-read, and may well buy Emperor next week. Exciting!!

 

Readalong!!!

 

Although I'll probably squeeze in some other books between each of these 

[Karsa Orlong]

Book #54:  Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire Book 1) by Mark Lawrence

 

 

From Amazon:

 

Before the thorns taught me their sharp lessons and bled weakness from me I had but one brother, and I loved him well. But those days are gone and what is left of them lies in my mother's tomb. Now I have many brothers, quick with knife and sword, and as evil as you please. We ride this broken empire and loot its corpse. They say these are violent times, the end of days when the dead roam and monsters haunt the night. All that's true enough, but there's something worse out there, in the dark. Much worse.

 

From being a privileged royal child, raised by a loving mother, Jorg Ancrath has become the Prince of Thorns, a charming, immoral boy leading a grim band of outlaws in a series of raids and atrocities. The world is in chaos: violence is rife, nightmares everywhere. Jorg has the ability to master the living and the dead, but there is still one thing that puts a chill in him. Returning to his father's castle Jorg must confront horrors from his childhood and carve himself a future with all hands turned against him.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

I feel a bit sorry for Mark Lawrence.  It seems that he has been chosen as the poster-boy for those who want to bash the so-called 'grimdark' sub-genre of fantasy that also includes the likes of George R. R. Martin, Joe Abercrombie, Steven Erikson, Richard Morgan etc.  I've seen it happening on other forums and, to his credit, Lawrence has taken part in the discussions, although he's obviously been quite bemused by some of the vitriol coming his way.  A lot of this criticism has centred on the main character, Jorg, being a rapist.  Now, having read the book, I can't help wondering what all those people were going on about.  There is a rape, yes, but it happens off-screen, so to speak, and Lawrence doesn't make excuses for it.  Prince of Thorns is a dark, dark novel about an amoral fourteen year-old seeking revenge upon the so-called Broken Empire, but is there anything worse in here than there is to be found in one of George R.R. Martin's books?  No, not by a long, long way.  Is there anything here worse than anything in a book like American Psycho?  Nope.  And, quite bizarrely, coming off the back of reading The Pale Horseman, a book about the Vikings - who were not exactly averse to a little raping and pillaging - how is it that this particular novel is being singled out for attack and not Bernard Cornwell, or any other historical novelist who deals with battle and its aftermath?  It's not even half as bad as what Stephen Donaldson did in Lord Foul's Bane, the first of his 'Thomas Covenant' books, and I found that unpalatable.

 

Half the problem here is, imo, that this story is told in the first person.  Lawrence wants to get you inside Jorg's head and find out what makes him tick.  In fact, the whole book is less about the story and more about Jorg himself.  You have access to his innermost thoughts, and you'll spend pages learning about events that have contributed to him being this way, and then Jorg himself will tell you it's no excuse, that he knows he's a psychopath, and everyone should get the hell out of his way or pay the consequences.  Perhaps even more bizarrely, Lawrence doesn't go into any detail about the particular actions which have caused the debate.  It is there by inference at most.  He's more interested in delving into Jorg's psyche.  I'm not even sure he wants you to like Jorg, and certainly not some of the things he does, but you do reach the end of the story with a better understanding of what has made him this way.

 

This is Lawrence's first novel, and it is another reason why it's remarkable.  His writing is brave, uncompromising, full of wonderful descriptions and turns of phrase, and his voice is consistent and engaging throughout.  His characters are vivid, even though it is only Jorg who is fully fleshed out, kind of a cross between Locke Lamora and Gregor Clegane, as one reviewer put it.  His twisted world is not quite what you might be expecting (and to say more about that would spoil the sense of discovery as you go along).  The pacing is relentless, the pages fly by.  And, above all else, he manages to tell a compelling story that asks you to think about what you're reading, and to question your sympathies and your attitudes.  He should be applauded for that, I think.

 

Tim, you need have no fear - this is no Game of Thrones rip-off.  It is nothing like Martin's books.  Maybe there's a little of Abercrombie in the pitch-black humour.  Perhaps there's a little of Glen Cook in the first-person narrative.  But mostly, it's just Mark Lawrence, and he's a refreshing voice in a crowded genre.  I wish I'd read it sooner.  

 

Bring on the King of Thorns 

 

 

9/10

 

 

[Athena]

Great review! It's going on the wishlist.

[Devi]

Mine too!

[Timstar]

Great review! It's going on the wishlist.

 

I can trump that... just bought it

 

'twas a great review Steve, did you read the Kindle version? 

 

I love the cover art as well.

[Karsa Orlong]

Thanks guys 

 

 

'twas a great review Steve, did you read the Kindle version? 

 

No, I got the paperback 

 

Did you go for the Kindle version?  Is it true that there is no map included?

 

 

ETA: Of course, now I have my usual dilemma about whether to dive straight into the second book or read something else first  

Edited September 13, 2013 by Karsa Orlong