Reading List 2009: # 35 - 38
Aug. 21st, 2009 02:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedibuttercupYes, I'm still up. Yes, my alarm's going off in an hour and a half. No, I can't sleep. Dammit. *yawn*
4 books in this batch: 1 more Star Trek novel (can I call it research?), two scifi/fantasy worldbuild-y epics, and one supernatural detective novel.
35. The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane. TOS #13. Paperback, 255pp. Reread. Someone recommended Diane Duane's novels for getting a better grasp on Rihannsu culture and so on, so I went looking through my collection to see what of hers I had. This is the first; no Romulans, but the cover made me frown and think, "hm, is that the one where the crew go on a weird imaginary journey together due to some kind of space/time rift and get to see their inner selves as outward manifestations?" And lo, I had remembered correctly. Less a scifi story and more a collection of creative metaphysical musings, but lots of fine detailed character work-- which while not exactly capturing how I think of Kirk & co, nonetheless sketches them with a warm and loving pen.
36. Way of the Wolf by E. E. Knight. Paperback, 380pp. 1st of the Vampire Earth. Okay. So you know I'm a fan of alternate history, and worldbuilding, and tough survivalist characters who still have a heart, and serious treatment of things out of supernatural legend. This series is tailor made, apparently, to hit all of those buttons. It doesn't entirely manage to escape the realm of cliche at times, and some of the little summary italics sections at the beginnings of the chapters skim over events I'd rather see in more depth, but overall? I kissed the cover when I finished, and I'll definitely be buying the second whenever I spot it in a bookstore.
37. Something from the Nightside by Simon R. Green. Paperback, 230pp. 1st of the Nightside. Okay, so if "Twilight" was teeny romance dragged into the supernatural world and mugged with superlatives until its internal drama meter got cranked up to 11? "Something from the Nightside" is pretty much that, only for detective novels. If I wasn't such a big fan of Butcher (who is much better at worldbuilding, characterization, and subtlety of plot, among other things, in his supernatural detective series) I might have liked this better, I suppose; as it is, I won't be collecting the rest of the series.
38. By Heresies Distressed by David Weber. Hardcover, 475pp. 3rd of series. Still really, really enjoying this series, even if the characterization gets a little facile at times (as much as I appreciate witty characters, it does start to grate when the good guys are always either righteously intent on Important Things, or bantering at each other in total love with their own cleverness). The real draw of this series, for me, is the worldbuilding. I seem to have a button programmed for this sort of mixed setup, with a few refugees (or in this case, one survivor) from a high-tech world stuck in a low-tech culture. And on such an empire-building scale here, too; I suppose I can blame it on too much Risk when I was younger.
Next up: ??? No clue. Still keep meaning to get to "Collison Course". We'll see.
4 books in this batch: 1 more Star Trek novel (can I call it research?), two scifi/fantasy worldbuild-y epics, and one supernatural detective novel.
35. The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane. TOS #13. Paperback, 255pp. Reread. Someone recommended Diane Duane's novels for getting a better grasp on Rihannsu culture and so on, so I went looking through my collection to see what of hers I had. This is the first; no Romulans, but the cover made me frown and think, "hm, is that the one where the crew go on a weird imaginary journey together due to some kind of space/time rift and get to see their inner selves as outward manifestations?" And lo, I had remembered correctly. Less a scifi story and more a collection of creative metaphysical musings, but lots of fine detailed character work-- which while not exactly capturing how I think of Kirk & co, nonetheless sketches them with a warm and loving pen.
36. Way of the Wolf by E. E. Knight. Paperback, 380pp. 1st of the Vampire Earth. Okay. So you know I'm a fan of alternate history, and worldbuilding, and tough survivalist characters who still have a heart, and serious treatment of things out of supernatural legend. This series is tailor made, apparently, to hit all of those buttons. It doesn't entirely manage to escape the realm of cliche at times, and some of the little summary italics sections at the beginnings of the chapters skim over events I'd rather see in more depth, but overall? I kissed the cover when I finished, and I'll definitely be buying the second whenever I spot it in a bookstore.
37. Something from the Nightside by Simon R. Green. Paperback, 230pp. 1st of the Nightside. Okay, so if "Twilight" was teeny romance dragged into the supernatural world and mugged with superlatives until its internal drama meter got cranked up to 11? "Something from the Nightside" is pretty much that, only for detective novels. If I wasn't such a big fan of Butcher (who is much better at worldbuilding, characterization, and subtlety of plot, among other things, in his supernatural detective series) I might have liked this better, I suppose; as it is, I won't be collecting the rest of the series.
38. By Heresies Distressed by David Weber. Hardcover, 475pp. 3rd of series. Still really, really enjoying this series, even if the characterization gets a little facile at times (as much as I appreciate witty characters, it does start to grate when the good guys are always either righteously intent on Important Things, or bantering at each other in total love with their own cleverness). The real draw of this series, for me, is the worldbuilding. I seem to have a button programmed for this sort of mixed setup, with a few refugees (or in this case, one survivor) from a high-tech world stuck in a low-tech culture. And on such an empire-building scale here, too; I suppose I can blame it on too much Risk when I was younger.
Next up: ??? No clue. Still keep meaning to get to "Collison Course". We'll see.
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Date: 2009-08-21 04:34 pm (UTC)Yes, I can see how it would be. For me, though, that's not quite enough; I gave up half way through the first book because, well, epic politics isn't quite enough to hold my attention.
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Date: 2009-08-23 11:30 pm (UTC)I remember looking over "The Wounded Sky" at least once or twice in a bookstore and thinking it wasn't quite my cup of tea. Your review confirms that impression but also makes me a little more curious to read it.
And that Weber series is looking better and better. One of these days I'll dive into it :)
Thats so true!
Date: 2009-12-04 11:06 pm (UTC)