Reading List Update: # 11 - 13
Jan. 20th, 2008 11:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedibuttercupThree more books this week: one modern crack!fantasy, one techno-thriller, and one swords-and-manners fantasy, all new to me.
11. License Invoked by Robert Asprin and Jody Lynn Nye. Paperback, 310pp. I knew from the author's names, right off, that this would be frothy, ridiculous fluff, but sometimes that's what the mood calls for. By page four, after the third parenthetical authors' aside-- "(We aren't going to try to kid you that nobody in Washington, D.C. has lovers!)"-- I was ready to throw it at the wall, but thankfully the story got down to business after that. The characters are all a bit one-note, even the magic-wielding secret agent heroes; the screwball comedy elements jar a little against the actual murder and black magic plot; and everything is just a little overdone, as if drawn by a kid with 80's-day-glo crayons instead of an adult making Serious Art. All that aside, however, it was a fun read. I turned the last page with a smile.
12. Death Match by Lincoln Child. Paperback, 388pp. I've read most of this author's collaborations with Douglas Preston, and they're all well-written thrillers with a thread of sci-fi or supernatural danger. He's not quite as good on his own, but still above the pack. This book's about a computer-match dating service run by an A.I, but far more in-depth than something like match.com, with a hefty price tag. Every couple matched? Is ridiculously happy. Until they start inexplicably dying. The main character is the forensic psychologist called in to investigate. This being a thriller, he ends up in danger for his life as he pursues the problem, which he escapes by the skin of his teeth to reach a mostly-happy ending.
13. Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner. Paperback, 329pp. One of the reviews for this likens it to a cross between Georgette Heyer and Fritz Lieber's Lankhmar, and it so is. Brilliantly descriptive writing; full of style, wit, irony, flashing swords and fine clothing. Very much "a melodrama of manners", in which verbal fencing matters as much as physical, even the heroes are flawed, a complicated game of politics drives the action, and the couple at the center of everything is composed of a swashbuckler and a secret noble. Reminded me very much of all the Regency romances I used to devour, except that it's set in a fantasy world and neither of the central characters is female.
And next? Not sure yet; I still have a stack of seventy unread books to pick from. Good grief; even with everything I read last year, I still ended up with twenty more in the unread stack than I started out with! I really need to keep away from Borders until I catch up with myself a little.
~
11. License Invoked by Robert Asprin and Jody Lynn Nye. Paperback, 310pp. I knew from the author's names, right off, that this would be frothy, ridiculous fluff, but sometimes that's what the mood calls for. By page four, after the third parenthetical authors' aside-- "(We aren't going to try to kid you that nobody in Washington, D.C. has lovers!)"-- I was ready to throw it at the wall, but thankfully the story got down to business after that. The characters are all a bit one-note, even the magic-wielding secret agent heroes; the screwball comedy elements jar a little against the actual murder and black magic plot; and everything is just a little overdone, as if drawn by a kid with 80's-day-glo crayons instead of an adult making Serious Art. All that aside, however, it was a fun read. I turned the last page with a smile.
12. Death Match by Lincoln Child. Paperback, 388pp. I've read most of this author's collaborations with Douglas Preston, and they're all well-written thrillers with a thread of sci-fi or supernatural danger. He's not quite as good on his own, but still above the pack. This book's about a computer-match dating service run by an A.I, but far more in-depth than something like match.com, with a hefty price tag. Every couple matched? Is ridiculously happy. Until they start inexplicably dying. The main character is the forensic psychologist called in to investigate. This being a thriller, he ends up in danger for his life as he pursues the problem, which he escapes by the skin of his teeth to reach a mostly-happy ending.
13. Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner. Paperback, 329pp. One of the reviews for this likens it to a cross between Georgette Heyer and Fritz Lieber's Lankhmar, and it so is. Brilliantly descriptive writing; full of style, wit, irony, flashing swords and fine clothing. Very much "a melodrama of manners", in which verbal fencing matters as much as physical, even the heroes are flawed, a complicated game of politics drives the action, and the couple at the center of everything is composed of a swashbuckler and a secret noble. Reminded me very much of all the Regency romances I used to devour, except that it's set in a fantasy world and neither of the central characters is female.
And next? Not sure yet; I still have a stack of seventy unread books to pick from. Good grief; even with everything I read last year, I still ended up with twenty more in the unread stack than I started out with! I really need to keep away from Borders until I catch up with myself a little.
~
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Date: 2008-01-21 09:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 06:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-21 10:08 am (UTC)Are you actually going to listen to some one who has the same habit :)
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Date: 2008-01-29 06:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-21 05:01 pm (UTC)