Reading List 2010: #1 - 9
Jan. 21st, 2010 06:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedibuttercupNine books in the first three weeks of 2010! Off to a swift start.
Four fantasy this time; four science fiction (three hard, one soft); and one graphic novel.
1. Call of Madness by Julie Dean Smith. Paperback, 311pp. 1st of the Caithan Crusade. Reread.
2. Mission of Magic by Julie Dean Smith. Paperback, 324pp. 2nd of the Caithan Crusade. Reread.
3. Sage of Sare by Julie Dean Smith. Paperback, 339pp. 3rd of the Caithan Crusade.
4. The Wizard King by Julie Dean Smith. Paperback, 337pp. 4th of the Caithan Crusade.
I found three of these more than a decade ago in a used bookstore, read the first two, realized the series ran to four, and stopped. But they've been out of print since first publication in the early 90's, so the first time I spotted the missing one was last December-- all alone on the shelf of a Goodwill! \0/ Another reviewer described them as a Katherine Kurtz knockoff, and that's not entirely inaccurate; if you've read the Deryni series, you'll find these designed along familiar lines. Some of the characters are likeable and/or interesting and there are some unique worldbuilding elements, but unlike the Deryni-verse a lot of the background is never fully supported or explained, and the seams of the author's plotting occasionally show. I liked them enough to keep them, and I'm glad I finally found the fourth; but if you had to pick these or Kurtz, read Kurtz.
5. Into the Looking Glass by John Ringo. Hardback, 278pp. 1st of Looking Glass series. Reread.
6. Vorpal Blade by John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor. Paperback, 520pp. 2nd of Looking Glass series.
7. Manxome Foe by John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor. Paperback, 463pp. 3rd of Looking Glass series.
This series is basically "John Ringo tries his hand at actual hard scifi". It being Ringo, there's still a lot of military action in it as well; but the worst of his excesses are really toned down here. There were bits that reminded me of his collab series with Weber, and bits that reminded me of the early parts of his Posleen War series, but overall it was pretty much its own thing, a very quick and enjoyable read. Some really interesting science-y bits, and lots of memorable characters, too. I'll have to pick up the fourth one soon.
8. Hellblazer: The Devil You Know by Jamie Delano, etc. Graphic novel, 263pp. So, I finally picked up the second Hellblazer compliation. *pause* I think I get why these are so popular now? Dark, but engrossing. Seeing as how I'm reading them in a different country, though, not to mention a couple of decades after they were written, I'm fairly sure a lot of the obvious commentary-on-present-times elements are going over my head. Not to mention, wow, the angst. Not my usual cup of tea; I think I'll wait a couple of months before I pick up the next.
9. The Darkship Thieves by Sarah A. Hoyt. Trade paperback, 370pp. This story's told in first person, and begins very in medias res, so it took me a few chapters before it really caught hold, but once it did it was like brain candy: a fairly fluffy rebellious-daughter and tempestuous-romance plot going in the foreground, with some tantalizingly fascinating scifi worldbuilding in the background. Not epic literature, but I do hope she writes more in this 'verse.
Next: I'm about 40 pages into World War Z. *gulp* After that, probably back to the Trekverse, with a reread of Diane Carey's The Final Frontier. (It's probably been a good fifteen years; my memory of it's pretty vague).
~
Four fantasy this time; four science fiction (three hard, one soft); and one graphic novel.
1. Call of Madness by Julie Dean Smith. Paperback, 311pp. 1st of the Caithan Crusade. Reread.
2. Mission of Magic by Julie Dean Smith. Paperback, 324pp. 2nd of the Caithan Crusade. Reread.
3. Sage of Sare by Julie Dean Smith. Paperback, 339pp. 3rd of the Caithan Crusade.
4. The Wizard King by Julie Dean Smith. Paperback, 337pp. 4th of the Caithan Crusade.
I found three of these more than a decade ago in a used bookstore, read the first two, realized the series ran to four, and stopped. But they've been out of print since first publication in the early 90's, so the first time I spotted the missing one was last December-- all alone on the shelf of a Goodwill! \0/ Another reviewer described them as a Katherine Kurtz knockoff, and that's not entirely inaccurate; if you've read the Deryni series, you'll find these designed along familiar lines. Some of the characters are likeable and/or interesting and there are some unique worldbuilding elements, but unlike the Deryni-verse a lot of the background is never fully supported or explained, and the seams of the author's plotting occasionally show. I liked them enough to keep them, and I'm glad I finally found the fourth; but if you had to pick these or Kurtz, read Kurtz.
5. Into the Looking Glass by John Ringo. Hardback, 278pp. 1st of Looking Glass series. Reread.
6. Vorpal Blade by John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor. Paperback, 520pp. 2nd of Looking Glass series.
7. Manxome Foe by John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor. Paperback, 463pp. 3rd of Looking Glass series.
This series is basically "John Ringo tries his hand at actual hard scifi". It being Ringo, there's still a lot of military action in it as well; but the worst of his excesses are really toned down here. There were bits that reminded me of his collab series with Weber, and bits that reminded me of the early parts of his Posleen War series, but overall it was pretty much its own thing, a very quick and enjoyable read. Some really interesting science-y bits, and lots of memorable characters, too. I'll have to pick up the fourth one soon.
8. Hellblazer: The Devil You Know by Jamie Delano, etc. Graphic novel, 263pp. So, I finally picked up the second Hellblazer compliation. *pause* I think I get why these are so popular now? Dark, but engrossing. Seeing as how I'm reading them in a different country, though, not to mention a couple of decades after they were written, I'm fairly sure a lot of the obvious commentary-on-present-times elements are going over my head. Not to mention, wow, the angst. Not my usual cup of tea; I think I'll wait a couple of months before I pick up the next.
9. The Darkship Thieves by Sarah A. Hoyt. Trade paperback, 370pp. This story's told in first person, and begins very in medias res, so it took me a few chapters before it really caught hold, but once it did it was like brain candy: a fairly fluffy rebellious-daughter and tempestuous-romance plot going in the foreground, with some tantalizingly fascinating scifi worldbuilding in the background. Not epic literature, but I do hope she writes more in this 'verse.
Next: I'm about 40 pages into World War Z. *gulp* After that, probably back to the Trekverse, with a reread of Diane Carey's The Final Frontier. (It's probably been a good fifteen years; my memory of it's pretty vague).
~
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no subject
Date: 2010-01-23 10:11 am (UTC)Seriously, if/when there's a global pandemic WWZ is pretty much what's going to happen.
And that is scary.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-27 12:41 am (UTC)The rest of it, though, was-- yeah. Too plausible to be comfortable. And the multiple POVs added to that dry awful matter-of-factness of it, I think; I don't know how they could possibly make a movie out of it and still convey the sheer scale of everything.
Oh! And it also became immediately obvious where the secondary author of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies had got his particular vision of a zombie menace; I'd wondered, as when I read that one it didn't seem to match up to any popular vision of zombies I knew of.