Steve's Bookshelf 2014

[Karsa Orlong]

... but you're not the whole package!

 

No, but I have it on my TBR list.  I hope you enjoy it!

 

[frankie]

No, but I have it on my TBR list.  I hope you enjoy it!

 

 

If it's on your TBR list, how will that affect me  

[Timstar]

Be nice to Steve, we all know he's self-conscious about his smaller than average TBR pile 

[frankie]

But I said it was getting big!!  

[Devi]

thread of the year.

[Karsa Orlong]

But I said it was getting big!!

 

Only when people keep looking at it   

[frankie]

Okay we'll stop staring. 

[Karsa Orlong]

Okay we'll stop staring. 

 

You think rather highly of yourself if you think you're 'we'.

 

 

[frankie]

You think rather highly of yourself if you think you're 'we'.

 

 

 

I knew that one was going to come back and bite me in the arse!!  

[Karsa Orlong]

Completely off topic, but I have to share this . . . 

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1499375658252

 

 

 

ETA: Oh well, it's faked.  Still funny though

Edited August 20, 2014 by Karsa Orlong

[Karsa Orlong]

The 2014 Hugo Award Winners were announced a couple of days ago:

 

Best novel Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie

Best novella Equoid by Charles Stross

Best novelette The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal

Best short story The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere by John Chu

Best related work We Have Always Fought: Challenging the Women, Cattle and Slaves Narrative by Kameron Hurley (A Dribble of Ink)

Best graphic story Time by Randall Munroe

Best dramatic presentation (long form) Gravity written by Alfonso Cuarón and Jonás Cuarón, directed by Alfonso Cuarón

Best dramatic presentation (short form) Game of Thrones: The Rains of Castamere written by David Benioff and DB Weiss, directed by David Nutter

Best editor (short form) Ellen Datlow

Best editor (long form) Ginjer Buchanan

Best professional artist Julie Dillon

Best semi-pro zine Lightspeed Magazine edited by John Joseph Adams, Rich Horton, and Stefan Rudnicki

Best fanzine A Dribble of Ink edited by Aidan Moher

Best fancast SF Signal Podcast, Patrick Hester

Best fan writer Kameron Hurley

Best fan artist Sarah Webb

John W Campbell award for best new writer Sofia Samatar

 

 

Full list of nominees: http://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-history/2014-hugo-awards/

 

 

[Athena]

I have to say most of those names don't sound familiar to me .

[Signor Finzione]

Same here - I'm more familiar with fantasy than SF, though I have been meaning to try Kameron Hurley for a while, and I'm curious about Ann Leckie too.

 

Have you read any of the authors Steve?

[Karsa Orlong]

I've read some of Charlie Stross's urban fantasy.  It was pretty good, especially if you like Lovecraftian-type stuff. 

[Karsa Orlong]

# 51

 

Woken Furies by Richard Morgan

 

 

 

2008 - Gollancz ebook - 580 pages

 

 

From Goodreads:

 

Takeshi Kovacs has come home. Twice.

The gains of the Quellist revolution are lost. The First Families, corporations and Yakuza battle to exploit even the dregs of Harlan’s World. And Kovacs has returned to extract revenge for his murdered dreams. As, it is whispered, has Quellcrist Falconer…

Mutterings of a second rebellion stir in a maelstrom of political intrigue, and in the technological recesses of machine-infested New Hokkaido, fostered by a fragile craving for Quell’s return from the dead an dthe freedom of Harlan’s World. But when faced with a kernel of defiance the First Families act, bringing a savage young Envoy called Takeshi Kovacs out of storage to up-root the rebellion and crush it…

Only one thing is certain: someone called Takeshi Kovacs is going to have to die. For good.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

This is the third and last of Morgan's 'Takeshi Kovacs' books.  They are all standalone stories which feature the same main character - well, the stories are all separate, but the connections between the three mean you would gain more appreciation from reading them in order.  For instance, both this one and the second book, Broken Angels, assume you understand what the process of re-sleeving is, and what a needlecast is, and so on and so forth.  Also, this one has a main plot that involves the Quellist movement, something which has burbled away in the background of the previous books.

 

This story starts with a terrific hook:  Kovacs is brought out of storage and re-sleeved into a new body some 250 years after he was last put into storage.  His mysterious benefactor then outlines the job he has for him: to hunt down and kill . . . himself.  He's been 'double-sleeved'.  In other words, this is an old copy of him that was taken and stored away.  The Kovacs we know from the previous books is out there somewhere and is making a bit of a nuisance of himself.  He's been killing priests of the New Revelation, and cutting out their cortical stacks (the things which contain downloads of their personalities, memories etc).  Why he is doing this is not explained until much later in the story.  This is because the New Revelation comes after him and, in order to get away from them, he latches onto a pseudo-military outfit that's heading into the middle of nowhere - something which takes the story off in a completely different direction.

 

It is not for the faint-hearted (I seem to remember saying that about the previous books, but you can double it with this one) and is full of brutal, visceral action, swearing, and completely gratuitous, over the top, graphic sex scenes (which I have to assume are just wish-fulfilment on Morgan's part, because they read like porn) which seem to have no reason for happening - there's no build up of attraction or sexual tension, it's just wham-bam-thank you ma'am, although it usually lasts for a good few pages.  Not something you want to be reading when you're on a crowded tube train (which happened to me - most embarrassing    ). 

 

For the first half of the book the story moves along at a cracking pace.  And it's not that it doesn't carry on that way but, unfortunately, something rather ugly happens.  The religion he has created, the New Revelation, is mentioned quite early on, as you can tell, but as the book goes on it becomes increasingly apparent that he is using it for nothing but a thinly-veiled attack on Islam and Islamist extremism.  Whereas much of the best science fiction uses allegory to hold a mirror to our own world, Morgan uses a sledgehammer.  The New Revelation's 'solo assassins' (has anyone heard of a non-solo assassin? ) are effectively suicide bombers, the priests are fanatics, and the women cover themselves for modesty.  At first I was okay with this, but when Kovacs spends two pages berating the wife of one of the priests for wearing a head scarf and allowing herself to be controlled by her husband it seemed to me to jump over an imaginary line with both feet - it had no relevance to the story, and just came across to me as Morgan airing his personal views.  It was too much, and I didn't like it at all. 

 

From that point on the book became problematic for me, because I began to see this sort of angle in much of what happened thereafter.  It ceased to be storytelling and became instead a lecture on why the New Revelation is BAD.  There was no counterpoint, nobody from the religion to provide a contrast to the fanatics or to argue their point with Kovacs.  It was all one way, and it started to make me angry.  I was so disappointed about this, because I'd been thinking 'this is a definite 9/10' up to that point.  Couple this with the sex scenes and the women in the story becoming sexual objects and it becomes even more problematic.

 

I finished it but, in the end, it became a struggle.  I just wanted it to end, but it's neither a short book nor an easy read.  The previous two books were challenging reads but, throw in what I've just described, and this one became a real trial.  In the last couple of hundred pages the score in my mind kept dropping.  It was still an 8 as of yesterday but the more I've thought about it the less I've been able to justify that score to myself.  There was just too much here that made me feel uncomfortable, and I'm no longer sure I'll read any more of Morgan's work, because I've now heard that this is just the start of his preaching.

 

Woken Furies could have been brilliant.  In the end, though, I found it confused, disappointing, frustrating, annoying, and not a little worrying.

 

 

5/10

[Timstar]

Ah that really sucks, very annoying when authors do that. It does sound pretty disgraceful. I haven't read any Morgan yet but I have Black Man and Altered Carbon on my TBR pile.

[Signor Finzione]

After hearing what Steve's said about the author being somewhat vehement in portraying his extreme personal views, I'm a bit worried about the prospect of him having a book titled Black Man. 

 

What is a needlecast?

[Athena]

Great review! I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the book though, it doesn't sound nice at all what the author did.

[Karsa Orlong]

What is a needlecast?

 

It's a long range transmission of a person's mental self to another body (sleeve) or storage facility.

[Signor Finzione]

It's a long range transmission of a person's mental self to another body (sleeve) or storage facility.

 

Oh, of course.

[Karsa Orlong]

Oh, of course.

 

You asked

[Signor Finzione]

You asked

 

I know But I could just imagine you saying it as though it's something everyone already knows.

[Karsa Orlong]

I know But I could just imagine you saying it as though it's something everyone already knows.

 

Whilst rolling my eyes to the heavens and tutting.  Yes, that's exactly how it was

[Karsa Orlong]

# 52

 

Deadhouse Gates (Book 2 of The Malazan Book of the Fallen) by Steven Erikson

 

 

 

 

2000 - Tor paperback - 836 pages

 

 

From Amazon.com:

 

In the vast dominion of Seven Cities, in the Holy Desert Raraku, the seer Sha'ik and her followers prepare for the long-prophesied uprising known as the Whirlwind. Unprecedented in size and savagery, this maelstrom of fanaticism and bloodlust will embroil the Malazan Empire in one of the bloodiest conflicts it has ever known, shaping destinies and giving birth to legends . . .

Set in a brilliantly realized world ravaged by dark, uncontrollable magic, this thrilling novel of war, intrigue and betrayal confirms Steven Erikson as a storyteller of breathtaking skill, imagination and originality--the author who has written the first great fantasy epic of the new millennium.

 

 

Thoughts:

 

I honestly don't know where to start   As usual, I haven't thought about what I'm going to write, so I'm just going to wing it    It's kind of strange - I've been a fan of this series for so long, and this is my third time reading it, but it's the first time I've sat down and written anything like a review of each book.  And to do it without spoiling anything?  Bloody hell!

 

Anyway, this - the second book in the main sequence - begins the storyline(s) set on the continent called Seven Cities.  Some years before, the Malazan Empire had conquered these shores, but the locals are now on the verge of an uprising, to become known as the Whirlwind and led by a prophetess called Sha'ik.  As the seven so-called holy cities begin to fall one by one the 7th Malazan army must protect many thousands of refugees as they flee south to the last remaining free city, called Aren, in what will become known as the Chain of Dogs.  This particular storyline was once mooted as being made into a film, but it never happened.  It's interesting because I think these books are pretty much unfilmable, but extracting that one storyline might have worked.

 

Into this simmering cauldron come a handful of characters that we met in Gardens of the Moon plus a whole bunch of new ones.  Chief among these are: Felisin, younger sister of Ganoes Paran; her companions Heboric and Baudin, thrown together during the cull of the nobility; Coltaine, leader of the Crow Clan of Wickans and new Fist to the 7th Army, and his second in command, Bult; the Wickan warlocks Nil, Nether, and Sormo E'nath; the Imperial historian Duiker and cadre mage Kulp; Stormy and Gesler from the Coastal Guard; Iskaral Pust, a High Priest of Shadow and an absolute loon (and joy); and last, but by no means least, Mappo and Icarium - two of my favourite characters in the whole series.

 

I don't know why I listed all of them - I just couldn't pick one or two because they're all brilliant and all vital in one way or another - some of my favourite characters in any book I've read.  There are others who appear only briefly but will become much more important later on, too.  Much of the story is told from the POV of Felisin, Duiker and Mappo.  Their storylines are hugely important, alongside those of the returning Fiddler and Kalam.  Duiker's role as Imperial historian effectively puts him in the middle of the Chain of Dogs and it's through his eyes that we witness the huge battles that ensue. 

 

It's in this book that Erikson kicks things up several levels, from the scale to his writing style to the imagery to the subtexts to the characters, down to simple things like the humour, which is hugely important in what can be a very bleak, distressing tale.  Each time I've read this book I've surfaced at the other end in pieces.  It's so immersive, so atmospheric, so focused that I find it impossible not to get totally invested in the characters and their various struggles.  And he's not afraid to put them and the reader through the wringer.  He's the only author I've encountered (so far) whose books have left me an emotional wreck.  So the humour is vital, and it is laugh-out-loud funny on many occasions, and it comes so naturally from the characters and their interactions (or, in Iskaral Pust's case, his interactions with himself - he does struggle to keep his internal monologues, well, internal  ).  And it never gets old - in fact, it gets funnier the more you get to know him. 

 

The pacing of this book is immaculate.  I can't think of one part of the story where I felt bored, or wanted to skip parts involving a particular character (even if Felisin is particularly unsympathetic at times).  It's also notable how various little details kept cropping up that fit together with the previous book, or foreshadow later events, or just click into place in the overall puzzle.  I think, because there are so many intertwining storylines here, and so many great characters, that the pages keep turning, the story never loses impetus and - for such a doorstopper - it never loses that focus and drive.

 

And then, as the final punch to the emotional solar plexus, he produces that ending.  I'm not talking about the ending of the main plotline(s), which I won't say anything about, but the very last page.  Erikson has written some of the best prologues and epilogues I've come across, and this one . . .  I remember the first time I read it, and the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end.  And it did it again this time.  It's just a perfect ending for this book, so fitting that I can't imagine any way he could've done it better.  As my favourite final pages go, there are two or three books that I always think of:  Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, GRRM's A Storm of Swords, and there are a couple of other Malazan books that rank above them.  Erikson's got a knack for it, and this one's my favourite.  Goosebumps. 

 

Gardens of the Moon was great but it's here, for me, that Erikson climbed onto that pedestal.  He's been there ever since, and no-one's come close to knocking him off it. 

 

So, so good.

 

 

10/10

[Athena]

Great review, Steve ! I hope to be reading this book in the not too far future, but somehow I've been avoiding fantasy the past few months. I'm not sure why. I guess I find it daunting to read a complex story with lots of characters and lots of books in a series (I don't have that many fantasy standalone books). Anyway, do you plan on reading the third book next month?