July's Jubilant Joust At New Books

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Just finished The Red Wolf Conspiracyby Robert V S Redick. Although it was a little wayward at times with its characterisation and plotting, it was still good fun, and a promising start to the series. Next I will be reading V.by Thomas Pynchon, as a precursor to having a stab at Gravity's Rainbow.
 
Having a break from wishing the Koontz book would get a move on and am dipping into Report on Planet 3 And Other Speculations by Arthur C Clarke. A collection of essays from 1972
 
Summing up my summer readings:

- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (audio): Yeah, still very good.
- Men at Arms, Terry Pratchett (third reread): Second best of Pratchett.
- Blue Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson: The sexist characterization bothered me too much with this last book of the Mars trilogy for me to be able to really enjoy it.
- Pandora's Star, Peter F. Hamilton (second attempt: successful): A fairly OK space opera, but massive letdown when the secret inside the barrier was revealed. Of all possible crazy, scary, profoundly disturbing things there could have been, there had to be that...
- The Red Wolf Conspiracy, Robert V.S. Redick: Letdown, see RWC thread.

- The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein (non-fiction): Might just as well be the second time Klein has altered my worldview (No Logo was first). I have mistrusted monetarism for a while, but I had no idea it had had such murderous effects on the world these last 30 years... Shocking and deeply painful - I almost wish it had been fiction.
 
I've been dipping in and out of On Writing by Stephen King. Within its two hundred or so pages (in hardback), there are two books: a memoir of a writer (Stephen King, naturally**); and guidance for writers (that would be some of us).

I'd read much of the material in the memoir before - it's incorporated into King's Dark Tower books - but it was good to see it written out straight. The advice in the other part is not ground breaking (e.g. avoiding the passive tense; avoiding adverbs and steroid-packed verbs of attribution; balancing narration, description and dialogue; etc.), but it's succinct and put across in an entertaining way - that's a pretty good attribute for a book from which we could all learn.

(King also pointed me in the direction of The Elements of Style by Strunk and White; I was worried that I'd not be able to find a copy, until I discovered that I had the book already: it was in a pile of books that had been "cluttering up" (not my words) my parents' house and which were now cluttering up mine.)



** - I know, an adverb - and not the only one!
 
Thadlerian said:
- Pandora's Star, Peter F. Hamilton (second attempt: successful): A fairly OK space opera, but massive letdown when the secret inside the barrier was revealed. Of all possible crazy, scary, profoundly disturbing things there could have been, there had to be that....
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but a very well-envisioned enemy, you must admit. one that truly could not comprehend humanity. much better than night's dawn, imo.
 
I finished Four Ways to Forgiveness by Ursula K. Le Guin and it was pretty good. But I have to say I thought The Birthday of the World was better though.

Edit: Oh and I just started Building Harlequin's Moon by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper.
 
Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers is a superbly written short novel on which the film and the game STALKER are loosely based. In the story an alien visitation creates a "Zone" whose nature is decidedly different from the surrounding earth, and the aliens have left behind several objects with unique properties. These objects are collected by mercenaries called stalkers, who brave the dangers of the Zone to do so, and sold in the black market. The book plays out mainly through the eyes of Redrick Schuart, a veteran stalker, occasionally shifting to other perspectives.

I might do a fuller review but in any case I heartily recco this to all interested in SF of the more accessible (non-obsessed with warp drives and auto-propulsion thrusters) variety.
 
I might just pick up CASTLE OF WIZARDRY, Book 4 of the Belgariad by David Eddings. Last time I had this in my hands was way back in 2006 when Matthew was born! Read all 4 books while doing the 4 hourly feeds but I reckon i could just get right back into it without reading the previous books again.
 
Reading Sons of the Oak by David Farland but am struggling with it. The previous books were one POV at a time with a break in between, or at least i never spotted any multi-POV but this fifth book is horrible, i don't know who is thinking what and have to keep back tracking to figure out who i am following. I also get the feeling the writer had given up on the series but had to finish it, and this was the best they could come up with. So far, i am disappointed, not that the series was ground-breaking but readable it had been. And i worry about the sixth instalment.
 
D_Davis said:
It's good. I thought of you while reading it, I think you will dig it.

The world is kind of cyberpunky, but more dirty. It's a very grimy setting. Have you ever seen the films Delicatessen, or City of Lost Children? The setting reminds me of this, but only more vile and violent.

It's easier to describe it in terms of cinema...also imagine Tekkonkinkreet meets Ghost in the Shell. with a thick layer of soot and grime.

The plot is pretty typical police/mystery, but the setting and characters make it interesting.
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Sounds like exactly what im looking for. I usually like cyberpunk with noir,mystery setting/plot. I found other cyberpunk types that i have read to be too much ranting and much less focused.

Russo's name isnt new to me either like i have said PKD award is one of few awards i try authors because they won. I saw his name come up in the noms several times.
 
I can safely, and totally vouch for the first Carlucci book - Destroying Angel.

Highly recommended, especially to fans of neo-noir, Bladerunner, and Seven.

The end is especially awesome, and contains some stunning imagery and unexpected, but plausible, turn of events.

Great stuff.

I think I need a break from this world though - it is bleak.

I am going to read something else before tackling book 2.


I really want to read Ship of Fools by the same author. I hear it is pretty dang awesome.
 
I almost have a hard time calling Destroy Angel a SF, or cyberpunk novel.

While the setting is of the genre, its themes and plot are straight up mystery/drama. Tanner, the main character, is well written - he goes through a lot of crap, and Russo portrays him with great skill.
 
D_Davis said:
I can safely, and totally vouch for the first Carlucci book - Destroying Angel.

Highly recommended, especially to fans of neo-noir, Bladerunner, and Seven.

The end is especially awesome, and contains some stunning imagery and unexpected, but plausible, turn of events.

Great stuff.

I think I need a break from this world though - it is bleak.

I am going to read something else before tackling book 2.


I really want to read Ship of Fools by the same author. I hear it is pretty dang awesome.
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That's good to hear since I ordered the omnibus edition of Carlucci last week.

Now reading The Four Forges: Elven Ways #1, by Jenna Rhodes (aka R.V. Salstiz & Charles Ingrid among the numerous pseudonyms she uses). Very good story and I'm already looking forward to the next book in the series.
 
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