Four Books
Jul. 3rd, 2006 10:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiFour books read between Thursday and Sunday:
1. Bios, by Robert Charles Wilson. A thin novel based on a classic sci-fi premise (a Deathworld that's got a full ecosystem but is completely hostile to us), this was a quick, but fun read. The mixture of a typical future-repressive society with the planetary exploration actually enhances the novel (and is directly relevant to the central themes). In many ways, this is an "old school" genre novel, but Wilson's got a contemporary vision (and, frankly, better writing chops than most), making it engaging from start to finish. It's nice to see writers like Wilson and Brust (below) who remember that a great story doesn't need to run for seventeen 800-page novels.
2. The Ruins, by Scott Smith. The middle 150-200 pages of this novel are simply superbly done horror (and don't let the soft sell done on the book jacket convince you that this is a "suspense" novel). Some truly original and interesting twists, great tension, and not a wasted word or phrase. It's exactly the kind of stuff you'd expect from the guy who wrote A Simple Plan. Alas, the book is hindered by the opening 75 pages or so, in which not one character shows anything resembling an interesting personality trait, and which contains tons of what Elmore Leonard calls "the part that readers tend to skip." And the "twist" ending, which I'm sure that Smith spent much time agonizing over, is so predictable and cliched that it could only come from a non-genre writer who has read five genre novels (or seen movies), and has decided that he's got a brilliant twist that no one's ever heard of before (there are more moments like that throughout the novel, but they tie too integrally to the plot to even hint at here). For all that frustration, this would have been an amazing novel if it had been released as a MMPB -- the writing is top notch, and the horror themes themselves are amongst my favorite in recent years. For hardcover pricing, though, take a pass (or a library loan), and wait for the trade.
3. Dzur, by Steven Brust. As I noted on Friday, I loved this. On the one hand, it's too damned short; on the other, Brust leaves the audience wanting more, which is a good thing. We get reappearances of a couple of characters, and even though one of them appears in the prologue to the book, mentioning who it is would, imho, be a spoiler (and I'm saying that to make sure that no one else who's read it casually mentions it here). Chronologically, this is the most straightforward Vlad book in a while, picking up a few hours after Issola, and not really employing many flashbacks (other than the chapter intros, which flash back to the prologue). I don't want to spoil much, but suffice to say that the book puts Vlad back in Adrilankha, something I've missed.
I'm already curious what the next book will be. We meet at least one new Tiassa here, but that's not necessarily an indicator of anything (especially since there's no guarantee that the next novel will take place after this one). But the last two novels have gone backwards through the cycle, which would give us Hawk next, something I'd like to see, both since they make a nice contrast to Dzurs, and because the only two Hawks I can think of -- Daymar and Paarfi -- are two of my favorite characters. ETA: Actually, it's a Tsalmoth, not a Tiassa. One day, I'll have the house straight.
4. Wintersmith, by Terry Pratchett. It's clear that the Tiffany Aching series has helped re-energize Pratchett, and that's a good thing. What's particularly nice in this book is watching him gain more confidence in his ability to write a YA novel. Frankly, this could pass as a "real" Discworld novel with no problem -- it's got lots of Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg (whose house gets a name, in one of the best jokes in the book), the usual amount of innuendo (Tiffany is now thirteen, and as a farmgirl isn't ignorant of sex, although she still gets baffled when she hears that someone's a "strumpet," and looks the term up in a dictionary), footnotes, and even the requisite appearance by Death. Plot-wise, it's either a love story or a story about a god/force of nature stalking a human. Either way, it's damned fun, and easily up there with the other two Tiffany novels. The scene with the Nac Mac Feegles attempting to sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is likely to go down as one of the funniest moments in any Pterry novel.
1. Bios, by Robert Charles Wilson. A thin novel based on a classic sci-fi premise (a Deathworld that's got a full ecosystem but is completely hostile to us), this was a quick, but fun read. The mixture of a typical future-repressive society with the planetary exploration actually enhances the novel (and is directly relevant to the central themes). In many ways, this is an "old school" genre novel, but Wilson's got a contemporary vision (and, frankly, better writing chops than most), making it engaging from start to finish. It's nice to see writers like Wilson and Brust (below) who remember that a great story doesn't need to run for seventeen 800-page novels.
2. The Ruins, by Scott Smith. The middle 150-200 pages of this novel are simply superbly done horror (and don't let the soft sell done on the book jacket convince you that this is a "suspense" novel). Some truly original and interesting twists, great tension, and not a wasted word or phrase. It's exactly the kind of stuff you'd expect from the guy who wrote A Simple Plan. Alas, the book is hindered by the opening 75 pages or so, in which not one character shows anything resembling an interesting personality trait, and which contains tons of what Elmore Leonard calls "the part that readers tend to skip." And the "twist" ending, which I'm sure that Smith spent much time agonizing over, is so predictable and cliched that it could only come from a non-genre writer who has read five genre novels (or seen movies), and has decided that he's got a brilliant twist that no one's ever heard of before (there are more moments like that throughout the novel, but they tie too integrally to the plot to even hint at here). For all that frustration, this would have been an amazing novel if it had been released as a MMPB -- the writing is top notch, and the horror themes themselves are amongst my favorite in recent years. For hardcover pricing, though, take a pass (or a library loan), and wait for the trade.
3. Dzur, by Steven Brust. As I noted on Friday, I loved this. On the one hand, it's too damned short; on the other, Brust leaves the audience wanting more, which is a good thing. We get reappearances of a couple of characters, and even though one of them appears in the prologue to the book, mentioning who it is would, imho, be a spoiler (and I'm saying that to make sure that no one else who's read it casually mentions it here). Chronologically, this is the most straightforward Vlad book in a while, picking up a few hours after Issola, and not really employing many flashbacks (other than the chapter intros, which flash back to the prologue). I don't want to spoil much, but suffice to say that the book puts Vlad back in Adrilankha, something I've missed.
I'm already curious what the next book will be. We meet at least one new Tiassa here, but that's not necessarily an indicator of anything (especially since there's no guarantee that the next novel will take place after this one). But the last two novels have gone backwards through the cycle, which would give us Hawk next, something I'd like to see, both since they make a nice contrast to Dzurs, and because the only two Hawks I can think of -- Daymar and Paarfi -- are two of my favorite characters. ETA: Actually, it's a Tsalmoth, not a Tiassa. One day, I'll have the house straight.
4. Wintersmith, by Terry Pratchett. It's clear that the Tiffany Aching series has helped re-energize Pratchett, and that's a good thing. What's particularly nice in this book is watching him gain more confidence in his ability to write a YA novel. Frankly, this could pass as a "real" Discworld novel with no problem -- it's got lots of Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg (whose house gets a name, in one of the best jokes in the book), the usual amount of innuendo (Tiffany is now thirteen, and as a farmgirl isn't ignorant of sex, although she still gets baffled when she hears that someone's a "strumpet," and looks the term up in a dictionary), footnotes, and even the requisite appearance by Death. Plot-wise, it's either a love story or a story about a god/force of nature stalking a human. Either way, it's damned fun, and easily up there with the other two Tiffany novels. The scene with the Nac Mac Feegles attempting to sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is likely to go down as one of the funniest moments in any Pterry novel.
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Temeraire
Date: 2006-07-03 03:19 pm (UTC)The books are a lot more about character and a lot less about action/warfare, and that's kind of a nice change. They seem well written (to my untrained eye) and are interesting, especially when Temeraire starts pondering the parallels between draconic servitude and the slave trade. The parts of the second and third book in China are interesting as well. If you haven't read them, give em a shot.
-JLW
Re: Temeraire
Date: 2006-07-03 03:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-03 03:42 pm (UTC)Tsalmoth, sweetie.
The scene with the Nac Mac Feegles attempting to sing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" is likely to go down as one of the funniest moments in any Pterry novel.
CRIVENnnnns....
(no subject)
Date: 2006-07-03 04:14 pm (UTC)Plz mail immediately.
*lust*