17th April, 2009
Long series extended and other sordid tales.
Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson.
Steven Erikson’s sprawling Malazan series is up to its 8th book and, until now, has managed to slip under my radar which is really too bad since this is, so far, a pretty decent read. I like the way that Erikson tells these stories; a huge number of characters are involved in the entire series, yet each book focuses on just a handful, some of which carry over into the next. Compared with Robert Jordan or George R.R. Martin’s epics, I find it much easier to keep track of who is doing what when the tales are written in this style. Not the absolute best out there, but certainly a solid read.
4/5 gogs.
Polity Agent by Neal Asher.
Book four in Asher’s Ian Cormac series, this novel continues to expand upon the mysteries of Jain tech, gives more background on the history of the Polity (as well as the usual well-written, action-driven plots) and is a satisfying read. If you liked the first three Cormac books, you’ll probably enjoy this one as well.
4/5 gogs.
Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell.
No, no, no. A piece of speculative fiction, which the author completely filled with broken English, presumably to give some sort of authenticity to the not-formally-educated characters, was just too difficult to get into. After 3 chapters (and having scanned the rest of the book to see if the language continued, which it does), I had had enough and dropped it into the book return at the library. Sorry, but reading a book with a dialogue that looks like it was lifted from a 1940′s Bugs Bunny cartoon featuring Native Americans (“me like ‘em real good”) just isn’t something I wanted to spend my time on. Skip it.
1/5 gogs.
Posted at 5:18 am | Comments (2)
On July 1, 2009 at 10:20 Will R said:
July 1, 2009 at 10:20
I enjoyed the first polity book – although I found it too simplistic for the cryptic nature of the writing. e.g. the character of the dragon – a giant, all-powerful mass that is nobodies friend – is pretty played out by the end of the book. I mean, wooo, mystery concerning its origin, (intriguing, yes) but after the first three quarters of the book, I finished it out of will power rather than pure draw. In short, it was no “Name of the Wind,” although it was better than quite a few other books I’ve read recently.
Keep writing the blog, this is where I get my reading list! You do a magnificent job! (I also thought Crystal Rain was a joke)
On July 2, 2009 at 5:15 Gog said:
July 2, 2009 at 5:15
I can see where you’re coming from in regards to Asher; I tend to lump his books into the category of a worthwhile waste of time. Not particularly deep or thought-provoking yet still entertaining. Kind of like Predator or Green Day. Well, maybe a step up from that. XD