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| SFReader Forums > SF Fiction and Art > Right Now I'm Reading.... > 2007 Reading List for Members Discussion | Forum Quick Jump
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Daniel Ausema
Acolyte
      
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 298
| Posted 6/19/2007 2:51 AM (GMT -4) |   | I guess my response to Trial of Flowers was less than enthusiastic, but do notice that I said I liked the book. It's one that my thinking of it is likely to keep changing over the next few months, so don't take that as if I found it awful or anything. Etched City is an interesting one--I've seen some of the complaints about it (lack of coherent plot, for example), and I can see that, though I don't completely agree. I actually respect the opinions on books of the guys over at Inchoatus quite a bit, and they were not impressed--not that they strongly disliked it so much as they thought it didn't quite have the depth that those praising it ascribed to it. I read it after reading that review (I think it was their review of Etched City on Amazon that led me to find their site, in fact). Did that set my expectations lower, and therefore I was pleasantly surprised? Hard to say. But I do know it's one that has grown in my mind since reading it--I enjoyed it at the time, and it just seems like it's stuck around. Images appear in my mind, scenes, ideas... I'll still give it a few years before rereading, but I do think it's one I will reread, and I'll see then if it seems genuinely amazing or only has the illusion of depth.
I'd agree that His Dark Materials goes downhill as the series progresses--the final book especially seems to collapse a fair bit beneath a Message. At the same time, the beginning is such a high point, that even in falling it's above many other YA books that I've read. So I think I'd still say read the whole thing, though I think as you go you're more likely to pay more attention later on to thoughts of how and why he's doing what he's doing, or what works and what doesn't as a writer (and reader) rather than engrossed enjoyment as only a reader. At least that was my experience.
I'm curious to hear more about these Chinese books--I know nothing about them. Would you call them speculative? Can you give a brief description? (Guess I'll google it after I'm done posting this, but I'd love to hear how you would summarize them too.) I read The City Trilogy a few years ago--three very short SF novels by the Taiwanese writer Chang Hsi-Kuo. I can't say I loved it...though I also wouldn't say I disliked it nearly as much as the reviewer at SFSite did. Actually, John Clute's review on Scifi.com seems a pretty good way to see its strengths and weaknesses. (I just searched for reviews of it now--I hadn't seen these reviews before.) I guess I'd say it's a story I'm glad I've read...but I don't long to be in the middle of reading it again.
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Bill Ward
Biblioholic
Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1636
| Posted 6/19/2007 7:31 AM (GMT -4) | | The Chinese books are basically novels, though as you can imagine a 'novel' written in, say, fourteenth century china is a bit different than the modern idiom. They're all very long, tend to be episodic, and are essentially popular literature written by chinese bureaucrats for their own amusement.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms is basically a historical novel written in the middle ages, and hews along the historical record of the three kingdoms period of the fourth century following the collapse of the Han dynasty, which is full of famous and legendary individuals and tales of their exploits. Wars and plots abound.
Water Margin/All Men Are Borthers/Outlaws of the Marsh was written a bit later I think, and deals with the episodic exploits of a band of outlaw heroes.
Joureny to the East that xiotien mentions has more fantastical elements, as it deals with a monkey king adventuring abroad.
Dream of the Red Chamber is an eighteenth century novel that is a big family drama.
Those are the 'big four' chinese novels.
I'll check out those reviews of the City Trilogy. | | Back to Top | | |
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bleacheddecay
Acolyte
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 310
| Posted 7/18/2007 3:51 AM (GMT -4) | | WDWard said...
xiaotien, what translation of 'red chamber' are you reading? (assuming you aren't reading it in chinese). How are you enjoying the Golden Compass?
STForster: how'd you like Block's 'Telling Lies?' I love the guy, you should check out his mysteries if you haven't already.
bleached: nice job with the ratings, you've reminded me to track down a copy of 'Jennifer Government'
Nicholas, thanks for the warning re: Map, I think I've read enough about rock strata for the time being.
Daniel A.: how's the Algebraist in comparison with Bank's earlier culture stuff? (assuming you've read it), is that Jay Lake title his novel? How well did he transition to the long form?
Sean: Did Rothfuss live up to the hype?
Thanks! I've just read four books in a row I didn't really like very much.
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany 2.5/5
Sunshine by Robin McKinley 2/5
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman 2/5
The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A. N. Roquelaure 1.5/5
Okay, maybe they weren't ALL in a row but it just feels like that.
I'm going to make sure the next one is fun for ME. The Dresden Files is calling my name once more.
Golden Compass was okay once I got past how slow it started. Until the end in which I was throughly angered at the hubris, stupidity, and cruelty of the parents and the church. I hated the strange mixing of science, religion and magic because the assumptions were, in my mind wrong and lead to such horrors.
I must say though, how did that author think of such things? It was quite bizarre to me. If the explanation hadn't been so cruel and power hungry, involving the people and church that should have taken care of Lyra, I might have liked the book overall.
This is one situation in which I might actually like the movie better than the book. I won't be reading the sequels.
bleacheddecay | | Back to Top | | |
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von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)
Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 2952
| Posted 8/24/2007 3:06 AM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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Bill Ward
Biblioholic
Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1636
| Posted 8/24/2007 3:21 AM (GMT -4) | | It's excellent Jason, lived up to the hype in my opinion. Clarke does a wonderful job crafting a book that feels like a Victorian novel (almost a fictional history of English Magic, complete with footnotes) but has a structure and pace that is accessible to a modern reader, and is very inventive and consistently interesting throughout. I highly recommend it.
And having an English magician helping Wellington's army during the Napoleonic wars is just too damn cool, sorry if it's a spoiler--but its also an enticement for guys out there (like me) who might think this book is only about drawing rooms and fairies.
How are the Novak books? I'm guessing they might have a similar vibe to Strange and Norrell. | | Back to Top | | |
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Bill Ward
Biblioholic
Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1636
| Posted 8/24/2007 5:04 AM (GMT -4) | | | Sure thing Jason, its a biggie alright, but I couldn't put it down. | | Back to Top | | |
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Daniel Ausema
Acolyte
Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 298
| Posted 8/24/2007 12:04 PM (GMT -4) | | If I may jump in, Strange and Norrell is a great book. There's lots of playful humor (somewhat on the cerebral side, as I recall, especially in the footnotes), some fascinating world building, an intriguing use of magic, etc. I'm in less agreement about its structure and pace being accessible--I think those that dislike it do so for this reason. It does not feel like today's fantasies in its pace, so if you go in expecting that, you'll likely be frustrated. It is a much slower read than His Majesty's Dragon, for example...but in the end far more worth it also. So I would also highly recommend it, but just know what you're getting into.
I just read His Majesty's Dragon also. It's a very quick read. I think its strength lies on two things--first, as overdone as dragons often seem to be, she manages to draw on all their cool factor without invoking the backlash of dragons having been done this way before. It's very reminiscent of Pern in the connection between rider and dragon, but I think it's that inserting them into the historic milieu just makes it fun. Second, Novak has created some very sympathetic characters. Not in the sense of a lot of fantasy characters that are just so cool (because of weapon skill or whatever), but simply in that the reader really wants Laurence and Temeraire to succeed. They just seem like nice folk, if that makes sense.
Bill, I see you read Justina Robson's Natural History--what were your thoughts on that? I read it a couple of years ago and last year read its sequel (Living Next Door to the God of Love). One of these months I hope to get to her newest, Keeping it Real--looks like that one is very different from the others. But it looks fun.
Twigs and Brambles (my writing blog) | | Back to Top | | |
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Bill Ward
Biblioholic
Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1636
| Posted 8/24/2007 1:26 PM (GMT -4) | | Daniel, I thought Natural History was extremely inventive, and that was its strongest aspect for me. Robson's a good writer too, but I did find myself getting a bit bored with parts of the book. Still, I enjoyed it.
And you are correct that Strange & Norrell isn't fast paced; what I'm really trying to convey is that it is a deft balance between Victorian (or pre victorian I suppose, really) rambling and modern speed. I think it brilliantly suggests the feel of the literature of this period, without actually being as slow as Austen or as cumbrous as Dickens. | | Back to Top | | |
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Bill Ward
Biblioholic
Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 1636
| Posted 9/4/2007 6:17 AM (GMT -4) | | | | |
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Brandon
Stablehand
Date Joined Aug 2007
Total Posts : 41
| Posted 9/21/2007 3:11 AM (GMT -4) | | | The Imago Sequence by Laird Barron. Just chanced on it one day, and I am blown away. This is just what I love.
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