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Downloaded the new Incrementalist book, by Brust & White, last night. Can't wait to read it!
I'll have to check that out. The first one was well-written and interesting, and I'm not sure how they're going to resolve the profound ethical dilemmas. I have confidence in Brust, given how he's handled ethical questions in the Vlad Taltos books.
I'm currently pushing through Republic of Thieves, speaking of ethically-challenged protagonists.
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After reading several of his one-shots (Elantris, The Rithmatist, Warbreaker), I'm diving head-first into the Cosmere with Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn. Near as I can tell, this is where the Allomancy books start, right? For those of you who've read them, can you tell me if this is a good spot to begin on his series writing? He's reached a point where trying to figure the best place to begin can be daunting.
First, good news: you already had a taste of the Cosmere - Warbreaker and Elantris are a part of it. In general, so far the Cosmere books have very strenuous connections. You can basically read any of them independently of all the others and not miss a thing.
As for the choice of Mistborn - yes, it is an excellent series and a great starting point. Admittedly I have yet to try the Stormlight Archive, his only other major series, so maybe it's better - but be cautious as it is many years away from completion at this point.
The Mistborn books offer a truly epic story with one of the best magic systems out there, incredible twists and some innovative concepts. Characterization is not incredible but you'll definitely care about the main characters and have a favorite or two. Mistborn is not perfect, but in some aspects it is nothing less than awe-inspiring.
I bought the latest Dragonlance trilogy from both authors awhile back the one thay begins witn Dragons of the Dwarven Depths and ends with Dragons of a Hourglass Magr. I hsve held off reading it. As i want yo read the War of Souls trilogy first. As well o heard from many a reviewer thst the ladtest trilogy no longer has the magic of the previous Dragonlance series as well as being badly written. As in the quality of the writing is written by someone who is just starting out. Not veteran writers.
Some people, such as SmiloDan, will disagree with me on this point, but I would recommend Dragons of the Dwarven Depths. I feel that it DOES have the right magic and good, quality writing, and makes a nice supplement to the original Chronicles by filling in a vital chapter in the saga... not seamlessly, but well enough. Admittedly, the editing could have been better, but that shouldn't discourage anyone from reading it.
I hated Dragons of the Highlord Skies and Dragons of the Hourglass Mage, though.
I bought the latest Dragonlance trilogy from both authors awhile back the one thay begins witn Dragons of the Dwarven Depths and ends with Dragons of a Hourglass Magr. I hsve held off reading it. As i want yo read the War of Souls trilogy first. As well o heard from many a reviewer thst the ladtest trilogy no longer has the magic of the previous Dragonlance series as well as being badly written. As in the quality of the writing is written by someone who is just starting out. Not veteran writers.
Add my vote with those who were not impressed with the War of Souls trilogy. Too much of it felt like it was trying to repeat story elements from Chronicles, right down to certain character deaths. I won't say any more to avoid spoilers, but in my opinion you are better off reading one of the companion trilogies (Heroes, Tales, etc.).
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...in my opinion you are better off reading one of the companion trilogies (Heroes, Tales, etc.).
Yeah, some of those later Dragonlance books, while not up to par with the original 6, made for enjoyable reading. Some of the short stories in Tales were priceless gems... although those gems made up a small minority of the stories in those books. The main character of Weasel's Luck by Michael Williams made me laugh, and got me hooked on that book by the time I had read the first four pages! Flint the King by Mary Kirchoff and Douglas Niles made for some fun reading, although I can't accept it as part of Krynn continuity. The Kinslayer Wars by Douglas Niles impressed me, and I CAN accept that one as canon. And if you insist on sticking with Weis and Hickman, I should mention that The Soulforge by Margaret Weis made an interesting character piece, and the last part of it helped me to understand a certain aspect of Raistlin's character.
I bought the latest Dragonlance trilogy from both authors awhile back the one thay begins witn Dragons of the Dwarven Depths and ends with Dragons of a Hourglass Magr. I hsve held off reading it. As i want yo read the War of Souls trilogy first. As well o heard from many a reviewer thst the ladtest trilogy no longer has the magic of the previous Dragonlance series as well as being badly written. As in the quality of the writing is written by someone who is just starting out. Not veteran writers.Some people, such as SmiloDan, will disagree with me on this point, but I would recommend Dragons of the Dwarven Depths. I feel that it DOES have the right magic and good, quality writing, and makes a nice supplement to the original Chronicles by filling in a vital chapter in the saga... not seamlessly, but well enough. Admittedly, the editing could have been better, but that shouldn't discourage anyone from reading it.
I hated Dragons of the Highlord Skies and Dragons of the Hourglass Mage, though.
DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!
RAISTLIN SAYS "YOU BET YOUR BISQUITS!!!!"
DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!
I'm so distraught I misspelled biscuits....
The Dwarven Depths kind of ruined DL for me. :-( It has A LOT of whiny bickering--and it's kind of obvious it's being used as filler. I'm pretty sure I'm never reading another Dragonlance novel because of it. And I'll probably never re-read the first 2 trilogies, either. :-(
Also, RAISTLIN said "You bet your biscuits!!!!"
WTF?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
But to each, their own.
Good Luck.
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Finished Ace Of Skulls (Tales Of The Ketty Jay #4, Chris Woodings). Due to infrtustructure issues, I couldn't get to Whitefire Crossing (Courtney Schaffer) last week, so I read a couple of short stories from Sanderson's new collection Arcanum Unbound. Infrastructure issue is solved, so I'm back to novels now.
For the past four years, I've read a book in this series every winter. It became a comforting habit, a periodical visit to a world of adventure and fun. The initial pitch I heard for the series - "Steampunk Firefly" - does sum things up rather neatly. A loveable crew follows the leadership of a captain who always cares more than he'd like, getting involved in large scale events and generally being a thorn in just about everybody's side.
The series has a lot of good things going for it. Woodings has a great ability to set up some wild scenarios and nudge them towards explosive conclusions. Sections of the series are just such pure and unmitigated fun that I often grinned like an idiot while reading them. Chaotic scenes such as aerial dogfighting and chases through crowded streets are described with clarity and rhythm, making this one of the better series I've read for action. The worldbuilding is good, as the various factions and peoples never feel cartoonish and a real sense of place and culture is established while never resorting to overt info dumps that hamper the story. The somewhat weird magic system in particular is a unique touch not quite like anything else I've ever seen. The writing is all around good (and gets much better from book to book) with few weak passages, though prose is not exactly part of the manue here. Humor is abundent and ranges from a variety of fart jokes to some seriously hilarious and subtle moments. Characterization is a particular strong point, with each character bringing extra layers and surprising depth the more the story advances.
As for the structure of the series - the first book is by far the weakest. Even though it introduced a different and interesting setting, it had a very predictable story, resorted to plenty of cliches and maybe adhered a bit too much to the Firefly formula. Book two reinvigorates pretty much all the elements from the first one, and creates a truly fun romp with some genuinly touching moments. The third book, "The Iron Jackal", is a masterpiece of of the pulp adventure genre, just about perfect in every aspect, and the whole series is easily worth it for this one alone. The fourth and final book is very solid and brings the story to a worthy conclusion, but can't quite compare to its fantastic predecessor.
All in all, I recommend Tale Of The Ketty Jay. If the concept appeals to you, rest assured you'll find what you're looking for with this series. I greatly enjoyed reading it for the past few years and am saddened that I have to say goodbye to these characters and this world.
I haven't read a lot of the other books but I really enjoyed
"Vinas Solamnus", far more than I liked "The Legend of Huma".
Huh. Back in the 1990s, I bought and read dozens of Dragonlance novels, but I never considered Vinas Solamnus. Would you recommend that one?
(And yeah, I thought it was entertaining reading The Legend of Huma once, but its characters were bland and one-dimensional, and the events that it described were completely unmemorable. I didn't get far when I tried to read it a second time.)
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I liked Kaz the Minotaur too. Or maybe just Kaz the Minotaur.
Weasel's Luck actually used d12s! Multiple d12s!
It kind of made me want to make a table-based dGross gaming system, where you roll an X-axis d12 and a Y-axis d12 and check a table for the results.
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@Smilodan im kind of prepared for the writing to be at most ok. I have not heard too many good reviews of the latest trilogy. Im a completist that way. I think what bothers me the most is less what could be terrible writing. More "here what officially happened. Now here what REALLY happened behind the scenes. Less a new story and more rehashing thecdame old material. I will keep a open mind.
Good luck Memorax! I really hope your experience is better than mine. I lost all respect for Dragonlance. It was so corny and such a waste of potentially good material. I only played 1 of the DL modules, so when the Chronicles skipped some of the dungeons, I missed out too.
I just finished The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid. The writing was pretty erratic. Either very sloppy or almost competent. It was pretty interesting, if only because she killed off characters quicker than GRRM. The ending was kind of a disappointment; the genetically engineered fighting heroine was super passive during the finale.
I started Bound by Blood and Sand by Becky Allen. I think it's going to be an ecological allegory, but it's already pretty interesting. The world has too many people for it water supply, so the High Ones are going to abandon the Closest (scions of traitors that are magically enslaved and commanded) to the desert.
Now that I've finished off 'Three Cheers For Dangly', I'm reading 'April Blood: Florence and the Plot Against The Medici' by Lauro Martines, a heartwarming tale of Italian intrigue and multiple public stabbings, and 'Listen To This: Miles Davis' B%!*+es Brew' by Victor Stankovic
Mr. Comrade obsessively watches BBC documentaries on Youtube, mostly on ancient civilizations, but recently one on the Medicis, and he's been regaling me with stories of Michelangelo, Machiavellli, and Lorenzo the Magnificent.
Also, I don't know what's up, but since I started composing this post, The Monks album has finished and I queued up the Jackson 5 on youtube and the first recommended video is BB.
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Count me in as a Weasel's Luck fan. Galen Beknighted, too, although I don't actually remember what happened in it.
I've been re-reading 'Warrior of Mars', by Michael Moorcock, a workmanlike if unexceptional Edgar Rice Burroughs ripoff. Michael enjoyed writing it, which is nice to hear.
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Count me in as a Weasel's Luck fan. Galen Beknighted, too, although I don't actually remember what happened in it.
I recently picked up both books. I have finished the first, but not the second. I enjoyed the first so much I insisted my son read it, and he devoured it in one sitting. Granted, it was the 7-hour ride back to college, but still...
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Ended up with Earle's Jacksonian Antislavery and the Politics of Free Soil, which is about what it says. It's ok but I don't feel like I'm getting a whole lot out of it. The thing feels more like an extended prologue to Foner's book on the GOP's ideology before the Civil War than all that revelatory. The real argument here is basically that Democrats could be antislavery too, which is old news, and that they are very occasionally more radical than Whigs on the front.
Sure, no argument. But they're also part of what is the more profoundly proslavery party and end up on the GOP's right when they join the coalition. Anything I could say about them on the negative side is also true of antislavery Whigs, but almost always to a lesser degree.
Also Earle's doing this thing where he tends to compare antislavery Dems to Garrisonians, who might be admirable for their consistency but are frequently apolitical well past the point of being self-defeating. A better comparison would be with established Whigs within the political system who are less spectacular (and also often infuriating) but usually absent. Maybe it's still coming, but I'd really like to see Barnburners vs. Seward & Greeley.
Spoiler: Greeley took many admirable stands, but he's also basically insufferable and prone to wild swings in position for trifling reasons.
I found Da Vinci for Dummies on the clearance shelf at my local Half Price Books, and am reading that now. I've been a fan of Leonardo since childhood, and had read enough history and conspiracy books before The Da Vinci Code came out that I was already familiar with Dan Brown's sources. Someday I want to run an alt-historical campaign set in a Renaissance Italy where Leonardo actually built most of his inventions, and this looks like just the sort of thing to help me better organize my thoughts/research.
Just finished Mistborn, and now after seeing just how much Brandon Sanderson has written (and is going to write), it's like looking at a smorgasbord where you just want MOAR but don't know what to start with.
Anyhow, as a palate-cleanser from fiction, I am reading Marcus Aurelius' Meditations for the next few days.
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I'm in chapter 6 in The Wall of Storms. The national-service testing for the Empire has commenced and it's kinda like the extreme testing for the Chinese Imperial service, where candidates had to have amazing penmanship and quote Confucius extensively and not sleep for days on end. Yikes! There's one character we're supposed to be following as she takes the exam and next chapter is a flashback to her youth. I just hope it's leading somewhere plot-critical because as impressive as the world-building is, it feels a bit like filler and so far I'm not impressed by the character.
'Dune Messiah' by Frank Herbert
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Finally, after more than a year, finished listening to the audio of Absolution Gap (Revelation Space #3, Alistair Reynolds). Deciding to go for something much shorter and breezier this time, my next listen is to Neil Gainman's Neverwhere.
Besides mostly mediocre writing and extremely shallow characterization of just about all characters except maybe for Scorpio, we have the ending itself. I wouldn't call it a twist, because it doesn't actually change how we understand what happened in the story previously - it's more of an out of the black, deus-ex-machina, pointless and sudden resolution to the overarching story that leaves most plot threads hanging and diverges so much from everything established so far that it feels completely pointless.
I'm honestly glad to be done with the book, which I would never have completed without the medium amount of credit Reynolds gained from me with the previous two books in the trilogy. Absolution Gap is just a bad book. However, I did enjoy some of Reynold's other books and am planning to get to his non Revelation Space books in the coming years - namely, Terminal Worlds and House Of Suns.
As far as structure is concerned - the first book is decent, the second is the best in the series by quiet a wide margin (a feat accomplished by expending the world just enough while keeping it centered around elements from the first book, by having the best set of characters in the series, and by having the tightest and most well paced story arc), and the final book is an unworthy mass.
All in all, I can't say I recommend Revelation Space unless you are a truly enfranchised SF reader who seriously needs a fix of inventive ideas. As a story and reading experience, this simply isn't worth your time.
Wow...I loved Absolution Gap. Although I don't really think of the Revelation space books as a single story, but rather a group of novels that happen to be set in the same same setting and sometimes deal with related plots.
I will say he tends to use certain story devices (elements and variations of the unreliable narrator mainly) JUST ENOUGH that I find its best to read a couple of his books then take a break for awhile.
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Jacksonian Antislavery and the Politics of Free Soil is in the can. I expected him to pull a Sean Wilentz and just pretend that antislavery Dems were the One True Democracy after some really cringe-inducing talking around and handwaving of white supremacy as a motivating factor ("We hate slavery because it keeps black people here" is a popular stand.) but the nadir was the David Wilmot chapter. From there things came around and Earle admitted that the actually existing Democracy is the one that basically expelled its antislavery wing. He did it a bit backhanded, leaning on how antislavery Dems had a choice where antislavery Whigs no longer had a party.
That's not quite true on either front. Only a couple of antislavery Democrats are officially read out of the party, but by 1850 it's pretty damned clear where the Democracy is going and you still have Van Burenite barnburners who see it as viable to coalition with. By contrast, it's kind of true that the Whigs are de-Whigged, but that's because individual state organizations begin converting themselves into Republican outfits in coalition with the Dems who left earlier. To use the obvious example, Lincoln ignored early GOP organization in Illinois circa 1854 and remained basically a Whig. He didn't completely move over until 1856.
There's a lot of this book that's really good. I'd even say it's an important and approachable text on a subject often neglected lately, but I think Earle was a little too easy on the antislavery Dems. I also suspect his book ends in 1854 because after that point he needs to reckon more with the ex-Dems in the GOP turning into the party's especially racist hard right, which the Whigs mostly didn't join.
Reddit's AskHistorians is having an author Q&A with a scholar who just released a book on the slave trade, so I switched over to it. Slavery at Sea Terror, Sex, and Sickness in the Middle Passage is not a fun read. There are a couple of problems with middle passage-oriented books, the biggest usually being that they tend to be numbers books. The driving concern is how many people and how many died. That's an important topic, but it's dominated the field to the extent that it's a little uncomfortable. Muskateem's book is something of a corrective to that, looking more at the manufacture of slaves as its experienced, which is great. I know more horrible things than I did yesterday and that's frequently how my research progresses. Refuse slaves...damn.
The prose is also very dry and heavy on superfluous jargon. I'm sure there are some shades of meaning that I just miss in that, but a lot of it comes across as redundant stage-setting. I think it's her dissertation so I don't begrudge that too much, but it can still be a slog. I rarely give up on histories for that kind of thing; Muskateem is far from the worse I've seen -she doesn't revel in opacity or convoluted structure like every postmodernist I could mention- but it does feel like another editorial pass or two would have helped.
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Doodles and Samnell will no doubt be interested to hear that the new Incrementalists has a secondary storyline set during the Bleeding Kansas crisis, with John Brown as a side character. It's starting to seem like Brust will eventually try to draw parallels to the 2010 unrest around SB 1070 in Arizona (featured heavily in the novel's main storyline), but I'm not clear on how that's going to work yet.
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Doodles and Samnell will no doubt be interested to hear that the new Incrementalists has a secondary storyline set during the Bleeding Kansas crisis, with John Brown as a side character. It's starting to seem like Brust will eventually try to draw parallels to the 2010 unrest around SB 1070 in Arizona (featured heavily in the novel's main storyline), but I'm not clear on how that's going to work yet.
Bugger, now I've got to read some fiction. Might be able to talk myself into it in light of the especially atrocity-laden present reading.
Also, John Brown's been a side character on the blog too. Checked in with him briefly when he first arrived but he's basically off my source's radar until about 24 hours after my latest chronological post. Will be coming back for him once Sumner's caned. I've got some of the sources all lined up. Might see about a biography if there's time, but my impression is that most Brown writing treats Kansas as a backdrop to Harper's Ferry rather than its own subject.
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My mother is visiting Harper's Ferry National Park in a couple of months. I told her to get me anything John Brown-related. T-shirt, baseball camps, magnets, anything at all will do.
My mother is visiting Harper's Ferry National Park in a couple of months. I told her to get me anything John Brown-related. T-shirt, baseball camps, magnets, anything at all will do.
I don't remember any John Brown tourist kitsch from my visit in '99, but my interests were very different then so he probably wouldn't have registered. Kind of want a t-shirt of him swearing his oath against slavery with a thought balloon that has him left hanging from a high five.
"Anybody? ...anyone? Screw it, freeing some slaves."
'The Year', by Nick Groom, an interesting account of the traditions, celebrations and significant events that used to be marked each month in the past; the only issue was that the author was slightly upset that most of them have been forgotten, despite the fact that we no longer live in an agricultural society. A good read anyway.
And 'Swords of Mars', by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
has him left hanging
Dark pun intended?
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Oh man I decided to take a break from reading the core Dragonlance novels and decided to try the Defenders of Magic Trilogy from Mary Kirchoff.
Ugghh what a mistake. One of the few times I wanted to take back the hours I wasted on the trilogy.
When a author starts a series then writes a novel that ruins the series. In the Defenders of Magic trilogy from Mary Kirchoff. The first book I enjoyed. The second introduces a strange plot element. Granted it's a series about magic on Krynn. The third and final book of the trilogy OMG
It's bad imo really bad.
The main villain goes firmly into Gary Stu territory. As in everything he does succeeds. Nothing goes wrong and gets to use a magic item. Even though at this point in the trilogy. The character HATES
A family member poisoned by the villain in the second book develops a severe caste of Stockholm Syndrome in the third book. I don't know about anyone else but having romantic feeling when the villain not only poisons the village I'm living in but myself as well. Yeah no more romantic feelings.
The strange plot element while well developed just seems a excuse to give a secondary character magic after the main character is killed off by the villain.
It's soured me so much on the Dragonlance series of novels I'm not sure if I will ever read the remaining ones I have.
I'm going to read the Patrick Rothfuss novels.
has him left hangingDark pun intended?
*blinks* That didn't even occur to me. I like Brown well enough that I probably wouldn't make that crack ordinarily, but let's blame it on my subconscious. I've been reading enough awfulness (rape, murder, murder of children, suicide...) lately that some of it probably leaked.
When a author starts a series then writes a novel that ruins the series.
Sounds like the Darksword trilogy by Weis and Hickman. The first two books were great, while the third book just nosedived partway through. The fourth book just never happened, like Star Trek V or the Star Wars Christmas Special. ;)
'Dune Messiah' by Frank Herbert
Im actually re-reading that right now. A little more than 1/2 way through. Such a good series. I have the Circle next and have the new Thrawn book as well.
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I completed chapter 7 in The Wall of Storms. The chapter is essentially a flashback that shows that the gods of Dara are at war and that Mimi, the protagonist we're following in the Empire Exams, is a "special snowflake" who can draw the attention of the gods (not all of it good). The gods were my favorite part of book 1 in the series, so its nice to see them acting up, but Mimi still hasn't got much personality so I don't know if I'll remain engaged with her story.
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Finished Slavery at Sea today. No idea what I'll ask the author when she does Q&A. There are some great insights in it, but they're extremely overwritten and there's far too much meta narrative about what she's about to do or has just done. I appreciate that kind of thing in the right place, when historians situate themselves in the historiography and make their arguments clear. (This can be infuriatingly rare.) But every chapter began and ended with the academic equivalent of "my paper is about", often with digressions into it throughout the main body of the text. Excursions into the symbolism of events, the kind of thing that makes beautiful pull quotes, usually accompany them. So she's telling you, telling you that she's telling you, and going all lit crit. I shared a particularly bad example with a historian friend who thought it was from a bargain-basement essay mill. It's still a great, important book; I'm glad I read it. But it would be stronger at half the length and wouldn't have to lose any detail or interpretation to get there.
But that's done. It would have been finished yesterday, but I was a touch tired and misread the Kindle estimate of my reading time for the epilogue at 20 minutes. That was barely less than the time it took me to get through the previous chapter. Turns out ti was actually ten minutes.
Unsure what's next, but these are my possibles:
1) Some fiction. Any fiction. Reading about slavery is depressing. Reading about the Middle Passage is depressing as f!@! even for a sick mind like mine that can put this stuff in a box when he's done. I have a Fahfrd collection maybe and I've never read a word of that stuff. I've got Kirth's and one other rec for historical fiction featuring John Brown, but I feel like I need an actual break if I'm going to take one just now.
2) Year of Meteors by Douglas Egerton. It's the first book in like forty years just about the election of 1800. I've also seen Egerton described as a little poppy, or at least his book on Reconstruction is, so it might go fast. The subject matter would definitely be easy. Egerton's also written well-regarded works on slave revolts so if I dig his prose that's a real plus.
3) At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America by Phillip Dray. I vaguely recall Dray from a state of field essay in the JAH a few years back that I really liked. Not quite my field but I got it for shockingly cheap as a Kindle daily deal. And also because I hate myself and express that hatred by pouring horrors into my skull.
4) Bound for the Promised Land by Kate Clifford Larson, which I think is the standard biography of Harriet Tubman. Badass subaltern people who take no crap scratch several itches of mine, and Tubman had more guts than a serial killer's walk-in fridge. And she's coming up to kick Andrew Jackson's ass to the back of his bill, which Old Hickory would probably take as one of the greatest of indignities.
5) Outside chance I'll pick up Donald's two-volume biography of Charles Sumner because I'm reading Sumner right now and damn I love that guy. What's Chuck think of Millard Fillmore signing the Fugitive Slave Act? Better he was never born.
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Samnell, I vote that you go with the fiction; I find that, for me, alternating between fiction and non-fiction serves to clear the palate between one and the other. Plus, Fafrd's just a lot of fun.
On that note, after finishing Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, I've made a good beginning on Ruled Britannia, one of Harry Turtledove's alternate histories that doesn't bloom into a series. I'm loving the idea of William Shakespeare as a political subversive.
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I'm reading [i]The Gallic Wars[/b] by Julius Caesar. The Loeb classics version with both Latin and English side by side.
I'm re-reading Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding, because I got it and all its sequels for my birthday! :-D
Now, should I read all 4 Tales of the Ketty Jay in a row, or alternate between them and other novels?
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I'm re-reading Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding, because I got it and all its sequels for my birthday! :-D
Now, should I read all 4 Tales of the Ketty Jay in a row, or alternate between them and other novels?
I would alternate. While they are all fun (and get increasingly better) they do have some recurring themes that might get irritating if you binge through them, or remain entertaining if you revisit them with breaks to refresh yourself.
1)-5)
If you're taking votes, mine is for Leiber.
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My recreational reading has taken a dive as we intensify training our new members in basic Marxism. Re-reading the classics, articles about the Irish Water protesters and the trial in Jobstown, the Kurdish question, and this week, an intro to Lenin and the national question.
Will post readings for the latter in my commie thread.