Although I enjoyed the first two (|Blood Pact, and Blood Trail), I approached this one with trepedation, thinking it would suffer in comparision to all the Dresden books I have been reading recently.
It did, but not nearly as much as I feared, characters were fun, the situation was interesting, the book could have done with another 200 pages though, the ending seemed very rushed, and not as tense as I hoped.
Now working on "Grave Peril", the 3rd Dresden. After that, it's Dresden's 4-8. Someone mailed me 3-8 for my birthday; a welcome diversion from the more severe fare I had lined up on my reading list.
Having resisted for a while, I think I'll take part.
Books read this year!
Soldier of Arete by Gene Wolfe - great! A re-read in anticipation of the new volume.
Jago by Kim Newman - bit too Old Skool horror for my taste, but went down easy
Sleeping Dogs by CK Stead - fascist dystopia New Zealand style - not at all bad!
Shockwave Rider by John Brunner - great ideas, obvious precursor to cyberpunk but fell into a series of rants at the end
Wizards by P G Maxwell - informative non-fic on historical ritual magicians. Good on ancients to 18th C, bit sketchy thereafter, although that's well-travelled ground
Pre-Historic Religion by... er... forgotten - very readable account of religious beliefs of pre-historic man as deduced from extant evidence and anthropological similarities.
Vidocq: The First Detective by James Morton - accoutn of a very interesting 18th century French thief taker, but rather badly written, alas.
And Your Point Is? by Steve Aylett who is the funniest man alive aand a genius. A GENIUS!!!
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester - a sci fi classic. Age has diminished its lustre a little, I think. Rather too psychoanalytical in a rather 50s way, and was less enjoyable than The Stars My Destination.
The Book of Dave by Will Self - just fininshed this. Really good mix of post-apocalypse London (highly reminiscent of The Canticle of Liebowitz) with a contemporary companion story that really lifts it above the SF herd.cEnding was a bit of a cop-out, but the journey was great fun.
Next up: Air by Geoff Ryman.
EDIT: Comics read - 52 (loving it!), The Ultimates (has there been an issue this year?), Ultimate Powers & Ultimate Vision (dropping these - both a bit blah, frankly), The Illuminati series (forget what it's called, but I love this!), Newuniversal (shaping up nicely, though yet to knock my socks off), Essential Super-Villain Team Up (utterly mental 70s Marvel goodness), Essential Ghost Rider (they REALLY didn't know quite what to do with this character, did they?), DC Showcase Challengers of the Unknown (it was on sale - very pulpy).
FURTHER EDIT: I have also been making the effort to read online sf shorts in between books, or at odd moments as I find the time. So far I have read:
Horatius & Clodia by Charlie Anders (Strange Horizons) - a little bit pretentious but a fantastic idea of currency in the future well developed. The Red Dragon & The Woman Clothed in the Sun by Paula R Stiles (Strange Horizons) - excellent story of life in orbital colonies. Quite moving, although perhaps ladels the soap on a little too thick. A Life in Pictures by Mark Ward (Futurismic) - really good stroy about an uplifted squirrel movie star - highly reccomended! RPM by Chris Nakashima-Brown - some fun stuff about celebrity and "media" culture, but ultimately a bit stupid, IMO.
[b]Harvest by Joanne Merriam (Strange Horizons) - neat story about first contact. Touching stuff. Rain Dogs & Dust Puppets (Strange Horizons) - surreal story about semi-real dogs and women. Nicely done, but won't change your world. What The Thunder Said by Lavie Tidhar (Strange Horizons) - near future cyber Africs, good evocation of the clash between the third world and future tech.
All these stories are available free from the sites I sourced them from, and easily as good as anything in the print mags - go for it, chums! I have a couple of stories from Flurb (ed. Rudy Rucker) lined up and will report back when I've read 'em.
I've finished David Drake's With the Lightnings. It was a decent book, although maybe not a race-right-out-and-get-all the sequels one. For a 400-page book it starts slow, getting to page 140 or so before anything very plotlike happens. (Drake does use the space to introduce pretty thoroughly to his characters and their interaction, which at least is not interminable infodumping.) It picks up pretty sharply at that point, though, and much of the middle of the book has an enjoyable Kelly's Heroes flavor to it.
Next book is going to be an omnibus of C.J. Cherryh's original Morgaine trilogy. This is another one that's been wallowing in my to-read pile for a long, long time, and I figure if I can't get into it during my current reading spree I probably never will.
Just started The Civil War: The War of the Three Kingdoms 1638-1660 by Trevor Royle.
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"Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers." - Voltaire
"If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through' narrow chinks of his cavern" - William Blake
Magician: Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist (actually a translation) not really enjoying it, but got it for christmas...
tomorrow I'll start Dead Beat by Jim Butcher
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Minister of Foreign Affairs for the *pack & Niemiecki reprezentant Polepacku, Adept of the Cult of Mac, Denier of the Elven Holocaust
Laugh Points: 2 Playing: Mage the Ascension, Dresdenverse Mage the Awakening, D&D 3.5 Planescape Torment Running: WFRP 1E, Savage Worlds Occult Modern
"Enough liquer and I'd do the entire monster Manual from Aboleth to Zombie." - Andrew
Location: Naked on Everest-it's cold above and below.
Posts: 3,554
Re: The books we read in 2007
Scar Night-Alan Campbell-Much, much better than anticipated for a first novel by a video game designer. The city of Deepgate hangs over a chasm suspended by chains, and the god of Deepgate, Ulicis (spelling), the God of Chains lives in the abyss. Is Ulicis a good god or a naughty god, and what are his intentions for the people of Deepgate, all faithful worshippers at the Temple of the God of Chains. Reminds me a bit of Perdido Street Station in the Dickens tone of the city. Entertaining read.
Later,
KB
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"(Why? Because I got a little too clever and let slip the yipping Chihuahuas of infowar)."
Bob Howard in The Jennifer Morgue on why villian has suddenly decided to scuttle his yacht with Bob still on board.
Location: Naked on Everest-it's cold above and below.
Posts: 3,554
Re: The books we read in 2007
Now started From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain-Minister Faust-Heh, heh, heh, this one is going to be fun. Super-hero deconstruction at its finest. The board of directors of FOOJ (Fantastic Order of Justice) has ordered 6 of its most important members into group therapy. Resolve their issues, or face expulsion from the order. The DC Universe big 3 are represented, and I discern Spiderman from the Marvel Universe in one of the other 3-2 I've not quite figured out who they are supposed to represent.
"With great power comes great psychoanalysis."
I'll keep you posted.
Later,
KB
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"(Why? Because I got a little too clever and let slip the yipping Chihuahuas of infowar)."
Bob Howard in The Jennifer Morgue on why villian has suddenly decided to scuttle his yacht with Bob still on board.
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