Recreational Literary Endeavors

[tjalorak]

November's apparently the month I went (and continue to be) insane:

November 2009

À 11.02.09 - Shepherd, Mike. Undaunted [Kris Longknife 7].
I enjoyed the earlier books in this series but somewhere after Audacious, the books have become sort of odd. I think I'm just not liking the themes of the latest books.

À 11.02.09 - Andrews, Ilona. On the Edge [Edge Chronicles 1].
Paranormal romance and alpha males. I didn't buy the romance and I didn't really like any of the characters. Love her Kate Daniels series, not so much this one.

À 11.02.09 - Andrews, Ilona. Magic Mourns [Must Love Hellhounds Anthology].
Focuses on a side character in the mainline Kate Daniels series, Andrea and her attempts to deal with Raphael and Cerberus. Okay story. I found the ending scene to be the most intriguing when Thanatos shows up with the golden apples at Kate's doorstep.

À 11.04.09 - Harrison, Kim. Dead Witch Walking [Rachel Morgan 1].
À 11.04.09 - Harrison, Kim. The Good, The Bad, and the Undead [Rachel Morgan 2].
À 11.04.09 - Harrison, Kim. Every Which Way But Dead [Rachel Morgan 3].
À 11.05.09 - Harrison, Kim. A Fistful of Charms [Rachel Morgan 4].
À 11.05.09 - Harrison, Kim. For a Few Demons More [Rachel Morgan 5].
À 11.06.09 - Harrison, Kim. The Outlaw Demon Wails [Rachel Morgan 6].
À 11.07.09 - Harrison, Kim. White Witch, Black Curse [Rachel Morgan 7].
This series just sucked me in and refused to let me go until I finished it. Rachel is just one of those people who if you sent her out to find a rogue vampire, she'll fall into a nest with tons of them. Head first. The good thing is she has good friends (Ivy is way dreamy) and she rises to the occasion in sink or swim situations.

À 11.08.09 - Hunter, Faith. Skinwalker [Jane Yellowrock 1].
There are some similarities to Harrison's worldbuilding but Harrison's world is definitely more urban whereas Hunter's feels more wide open and with more sunlight. This partly has to do with New Orleans being chosen as the city. I did enjoy Hunter's take on vampire politics, Jane's background as a Native American, and Jane's inner Beast.

À 11.09.09 - Harrison, Kim. Once Dead, Twice Shy [Madison Avery 1].
Harrison's YA series dealing with death reapers. Reminded me a bit of Dead Like Me.

À 11.10.09 - Rowland, Diana. Mark of the Demon.
Well, it's the first time I've read of a demon summoner both being the good guy and the main character of a novel. Other than that, I thought it sort of bland.

À 11.10.09 - Castro, Adam-Troy. Emissaries from the Dead [Andrea Cort 1].
À 11.11.09 - Castro, Adam-Troy. The Third Claw of God [Andrea Cort 2].
Sci-fi / mystery fusion. Andrea is a Judge Advocate General and her position seems to be part investigator, part lawyer. She's a genius ... and a convicted war criminal. Of course, the latter has, um, certain other facts that are pretty important to understand, but the fact that she believes herself to be a monster as well really lends an interesting shade to the novel. Combined with the AI Entity's disturbing tendency to drop world shaking bombs on her, the novels are one wild ride (mentally).

À 11.11.09 - Thurman, Rob. Nightlife [Cal Leandros 1].
I really liked the cover art. The story itself wasn't particularly interesting to me and the main character's teenage angst was sort of annoying.

À 11.12.09 - Griffith, Nicola. Slow River.
À 11.12.09 - Eskridge, Kelley. Solitaire.
Rereads. They're sort of soft sci-fi with it clearly being set in the future but not so clear as to how far. I really enjoyed how the two authors play with story structure and touch upon the identity theme.

À 11.15.09 - Thurman, Rob. Trick of the Light [Trickster 1].
The lead up wasn't very interesting but the ending scene reveal was absolutely awesome.

À 11.16.09 - Meier, Shirley. Shadow's Daughter [Fifth Millennium 01].
À 11.16.09 - Meier, Shirley and Stirling, S.M. Saber & Shadow [Fifth Millennium 02].
The addition of Stirling to the writing team noticeably changes the style of the novel. The first seemed like it would lead to someone who becomes the leader of a mercantile empire and an "ethical thief." Somewhere along the way in the unwritten blank between book 1 and book 2, she became a kickass knife user who carves up the enemies with no remorse. I took a peek at the summaries for the next few books and well, Stirling is still there so I predict bloodshed and mayhem. Not that I'm opposed to that, but I just thought the contrast between book 1 and 2 was hilarious.

À 11.17.09 - Francis, Diana Pharaoh. Path of Fate [Paths 1].
À 11.17.09 - Francis, Diana Pharaoh. Path of Honor [Paths 2].
À 11.17.09 - Francis, Diana Pharaoh. Path of Blood [Paths 3].
Fantasy. Reminded me a bit of the Valdemar series what with animal companions and service to a goddess.

À 11.18.09 - Murphy, C.E. Urban Shaman [The Walker Papers 1].
Meh. The shaman part was sort of interesting although Walker just bumbles through it on her own. I also liked the Wild Hunt and the - well, villains isn't quite the right word because that requires evil intent instead of just amoral intent - beings there were stupidly powerful and ruthless. That being said, it's not a book that left me wanting for more.

À 11.18.09 - Davidson, MaryJanice. Undead and Unwed [Queen Betsy 1]
After all the angsty vampires, it was fun to read about a comedic take on it.

I moaned and pounced on them. They were all in my size! I tugged off my tennis shoes, yanked so hard my socks went flying over my shoulder, and slipped into the yellow sandals. Bliss!

"Mirror!"

"I can't believe we're bribing our future queen with designer shoes," Tina muttered.

À 11.18.09 - Mead, Richelle. Vampire Academy [Vampire Academy 1].
YA series that focuses on a 'war' between two type of vampires, one being evil and undead and the other being alive, magic-wielding vampires committed to doing no harm protected by dhampirs. Main character is a dhampir guardian who is bonded to a princess vampire. This series is like my guilty pleasure. It's a book set in high school - I usually hate those types - except with magic and guardian classes. There's teenage angst, romantic drama, and adventure.

À 11.19.09 - Davidson, MaryJanice. Undead and Unemployed [Queen Betsy 2].
À 11.19.09 - Davidson, MaryJanice. Undead and Unappreciated [Queen Betsy 3].
À 11.19.09 - Davidson, MaryJanice. Undead and Unreturnable [Queen Betsy 4].
Queen Betsy cannot die and is discovering new powers every book. Still pretty funny.

À 11.19.09 - Mead, Richelle. Frostbite [Vampire Academy 2].
À 11.19.09 - Mead, Richelle. Shadow Kiss [Vampire Academy 3].
À 11.20.09 - Mead, Richelle. Blood Promise [Vampire Academy 4].
Same as above. Rose kills more undead vampires, has her love transformed into an undead, and concocts a really stupid ... wait, that would imply she HAD a plan. Which she doesn't. I did like the glimpses into the vampire court (very feudal) and getting to see her parents, who are pretty darn awesome if not very good at being parents.

À 11.20.09 - Davidson, MaryJanice. Undead and Unpopular [Queen Betsy 5].
À 11.20.09 - Davidson, MaryJanice. Undead and Uneasy [Queen Betsy 6].
À 11.20.09 - Davidson, MaryJanice. Undead and Unworthy [Queen Betsy 7].
À 11.20.09 - Davidson, MaryJanice. Undead and Unwelcome [Queen Betsy 8].
Somewhere along the way, this series acquired drama and the vague stirrings of a plot. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet since the point of this series was to be a comedy.

À 11.22.09 - Saintcrow, Lilith. Night Shift [Jill Kismet 1].
À 11.22.09 - Saintcrow, Lilith. Hunter's Prayer [Jill Kismet 2].
À 11.22.09 - Saintcrow, Lilith. Redemption Alley [Jill Kismet 3].
This is like a remix of urban fantasy, Sin City, and Cthulhu mythos. Lots of gore, guts, and death. Pretty awesome series though.

À 11.23.09 - Galenorn, Yasmine. Darkling [Sisters of the Moon 3].
Eh. I haven't read the earlier books in this series so maybe that's why I wasn't very into the characters but I suspect it's partly just the writing style.

À 11.23.09 - Cook, Dawn. First Truth [Truth 1].
À 11.24.09 - Cook, Dawn. Hidden Truth [Truth 2].
À 11.24.09 - Cook, Dawn. Forgotten Truth [Truth 3].
À 11.24.09 - Cook, Dawn. Lost Truth [Truth 4].
Wizards, dragons, and some of both. Thought the magic being constructed as wards was pretty cool but didn't really like some of the main character's emotional weakness. Decent enough read for a little bit but not great.

À 11.25.09 - Barant, D.D. Dying Bites [The Bloodhound Files 1].
FBI agent gets pulled into a world of vampires, werewolves, and golems. Humans? They're now less than 1% of the population. She's tasked to find and collar a human terrorist. Points for a really, really icky solution to WW2 and the ending conclusion that justifies further books in the series but I found it unrealistic that at the end, the FBI agent isn't more pissed at the fact that she's stuck there now.

À 11.25.09 - Cook, Dawn. The Decoy Princess [Decoy Princess 1].
À 11.26.09 - Cook, Dawn. Princess at Sea [Decoy Princess 2].
The girl is insane and not in a good way. I did enjoy the basic set up of a continent wide game being played by players with actual rules. It's like Risk except if you actually had to live in the world as you manipulated it.

À 11.26.09 - Scalzi, John. The Android's Dream.
Is a blue sheep. I figured out what the sheep was going to pull off earlier but it was still an interesting book. Sort of dry humor but that's the type Scalzi usually has.

À 11.27.09 - Butcher, Jim. First Lord's Fury [Codex Alera 6].
Epic ending to an epic series.

À 11.27.09 - Francis, Diana Pharaoh. Bitter Night [Horngate Witches 1].
Apocalypse is coming and Max hates her witch who she's compelled to obey. Again, good enough afternoon read but not great. I'll be looking for the next book in the series though.

 

[drakensis]

Due to having to bus out to the godforsaken corners of Morley, I managed to read Dan Abnett's (non-40K) swashbuckler novel Triumff. Solid book, reads a little as if Terry Pratchett and Steven Brust were writing Blackadder II.
It is 2010 and England (along with the rest of the Hispanic-Anglo Unity) is ruled by Elizabeth XXX. Sir Rupert Triumff, swashbuckling naval man currently trying to weasel his way around having found Australia, is implicated in a foul plot against Her Majesty. To Arms! Vivat Regina!

 

[drakensis]

Read Torch of Freedom. Not a bad book. Cachat gets to go badass again, Roszak gets into an actual full-size space battle and does surprisingly well (not going to pieces when he finds out it's not going to be a horrendous curbstomp) and several of Mesa's dirty HUGE secrets are about to become very public.

Unfortunately, it's the weakest Flint/Weber collaberation I've read in quite a while. Which still means its better than at least 75% of the books on shelves, but is a bit of a disappointment. Hopefully the next Harrington-centric novel will be better.

 

[Cornuthaum]

Ephraim Kishon - All Satire

Gods, I love that man.

 

[nintendokid]

I just finished Mercedes Lackey's Enduring Flame tilogy: it was surprisingly awesome. I've been desperately looking for something to tide me over for a while since I crushed both the latest Wo and Codex books, and this did just fine. It's very well written with memorable characters and a brisk pace. Think WoT lite.

There is also a prequel trilogy which I plan on picking up.

 

[NanuNanu14]

At the moment, I'm browsing through a melange of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Preacher, Adventures of the Rifle Brigade, Usagi Yojimbo, and re-reading Sandman.

 

[Draculthemad]

Steven Brust has a new Vlad novel out! I finished it a couple of days ago.

Very good, but poor Vlad just cant catch a break.

 

[drakensis]

My caring parents generously gave me all five Lost Fleet novels for Christmas. Read those and the first Kris Longknife book, which are all pretty good.

Also making a stab at reading A State of Disobedience which doesn't feel as good as Kratman's later books.

 

[lcpoketoon]

Just started to reread Anne McCaffery's Dragon Riders of Pern books. After i finish those i'm planning too get the Tower and Hive series, and the Brain and Brawn series.

 

[Aranfan]

I recently acquired a copy of the Great Book of Amber. I shall begin reading it once I've finished On the Origin of Species by Darwin.

 

[drakensis]

Kris Longknife: Mutinieer was decent, I'll pick up the rest of the series when I get the chance.

Similarly, The Battle At The Moons of Hell is shaping up well.

 

[Tom_Badgerlock]

I just finished Mercedes Lackey's Enduring Flame tilogy: it was surprisingly awesome. I've been desperately looking for something to tide me over for a while since I crushed both the latest Wo and Codex books, and this did just fine. It's very well written with memorable characters and a brisk pace. Think WoT lite.

There is also a prequel trilogy which I plan on picking up.

The prequel was what made me read most of Mercedes Lackey's books.

She isn't bad at all, though i believe her work is better when in collaboration with a good writer.

 

[greenmean]

Was mercedes lackey the writer who starts to write slash* in the middle of her books(unless she has a co-writer) or am i thinking of someone else?

*(one or more main chars turning gay)

 

[Tom_Badgerlock]

Was mercedes lackey the writer who starts to write slash* in the middle of her books(unless she has a co-writer) or am i thinking of someone else?

*(one or more main chars turning gay)

she has a series of books (valdemar) with lots of main chars (the series jump around in time a lot), some of them being homosexuals, most of them being hetero.

Homosexual for the sake of being homosexual was never the point though.

 

[Takerial]

Guess I should put in that I've become current on the Dresden Files except for the most recent one. (It's being shipped to me right now.)

I've liked them. Some bits here and there I think he could do without but I feel he's done a better job of not doing it so much.

 

[crazyfoxdemon]

I am currently reading through the Discworld series for the first time.. I am currently on Pyramids

 

[nantukoprime]

Aspirin, Robert. Dragons Wild.

He's good. This series is a modern fantasy + humor. Sort of Piers Anthony connections between words, plot, and the funnies, but more focused on the plot and telling a good story. I'm interested enough that I think I'll try his MythAdventures series and his Phule's Company series.

Kinda sad that he's dead, as I imagine this Dragon series is dead in the water.

Another connection that people might recognize is that he was once married to Lynn Abbey, and edited her Thieves' World. Aspirin was apparently prolific and popular until the IRS decided to see how well he was really doing. Apparently he was doing so well that he had to cut a deal where the IRS got all profits from his single name works. Unsurprisingly, all his future works ended up co-authored. Imagine that.

 

[sith2886]

Has anyone read Arcturian Star by Michael J. Cropo and if so how is it?

 

[elof]

Desert Spear by Peter Brett. All that I anticipated and more. Gotta go can't resist the need to finish it...

 

[daniel_gudman]

Redemption Ark by (Dr.) Alastair Reynolds.

I dunno what it is, but space-opera galaxy-spanning super-weapons are really, really scary when the author's day-job is "ESA Astrophysicist" and all of his treknobabble-esque particles are acting exactly the way we (right now) would expect.

 

[bluwmonkeygod]

Desert Spear by Peter Brett. All that I anticipated and more. Gotta go can't resist the need to finish it...

Just finished reading it and it was awesome. Can't wait to see what happens in the next book.

 

[spooky316]

So the other day I was in Barnes & Noble browsing the Sci-fi/Fantasy section and noticed Ed Greenwood's non Forgotten Realms book Dark Lord. I read the first few chapters and immediately got the impression that it was a thinly-veiled SI bitching about how WotC ruined his campaign setting. Anybody else get this feeling?

On a better note, I just finished reading Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy. Good stuff.

 

[shiki]

I am looking for something awesome to read. I've recently read some stuff by Brandon Sanderson, I kinda liked Warbreaker.

So far not much luck in my search, but am about to read The Princess Bride because of availability..

 

[elof]

You want epic? try Malazan book of the Fallen by steven Erickson. :yay:

 

[bluwmonkeygod]

I am looking for something awesome to read. I've recently read some stuff by Brandon Sanderson, I kinda liked Warbreaker.

So far not much luck in my search, but am about to read The Princess Bride because of availability..

Well what are some example of your favorite books? So that we can get a feel for that type of books you enjoy. It will make it easier to recommend stuff to you.