What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

[SKJAM!]

I imagine that the fact that it's her adversary's dreamworld is also a bad sign.

 

Norman Spinrad's Bug Jack Barron which I am now glad I didn't try to read when I was twelve, because I never would have "gotten" it.  Media celebrity goes up against a billionaire obsessed with immortality, and has to reach deep down for that last scrap of integrity he never thought he had.  Some scenes are in fact pornographic.

 

See more at http://www.skjam.com/2015/09/10/book-review-bug-jack-barron/

[Grailknight]

Any further reply would be spoilers and I think several people here read the series. 

[Pattern Ghost]

Finished The Dreaming Jewels by Theodore Sturgeon. I'd give the first half four stars out of five, the last half two stars for effort. Good premise but didn't deliver. Aside from the occasional awkward sentence construction, the prose was decent, typical Sturgeon. So, it wasn't a chore to finish it. The latter half, however, starts out with a HUGE coincidence, contradicts itself in two different details, and the ending was trite and predictable. It was a freebie from Amazon, or a buck deal at most, that I had laying around (uh, virtually anyway), and it is a short novel typical of the time it was written (1950), so I don't feel to let down, but not as good as other Sturgeon classics. I'm not sure how it earned the retro Hugo award. If you like Sturgeon, haven't read it, and can get it very cheap, it's not a total waste. Overall, 3/5 stars.

[Grailknight]

Some of the works that won awards in the 50's were pretty bad, but I haven't read the losers so maybe the best of bad lots.

[Pattern Ghost]

It was a retro Hugo, awarded in 2001.

[Burrito Boy]

Finished The Dreaming Jewels by Theodore Sturgeon. I'd give the first half four stars out of five, the last half two stars for effort. Good premise but didn't deliver. Aside from the occasional awkward sentence construction, the prose was decent, typical Sturgeon. So, it wasn't a chore to finish it. The latter half, however, starts out with a HUGE coincidence, contradicts itself in two different details, and the ending was trite and predictable. It was a freebie from Amazon, or a buck deal at most, that I had laying around (uh, virtually anyway), and it is a short novel typical of the time it was written (1950), so I don't feel to let down, but not as good as other Sturgeon classics. I'm not sure how it earned the retro Hugo award. If you like Sturgeon, haven't read it, and can get it very cheap, it's not a total waste. Overall, 3/5 stars.

I read this a few years back and liked it--it's Sturgeon after all--but can't remember the huge coincidence or contradictions. Do you mind telling me what they are? I may or may not have spotted them when I read the book and now I'm curious.

[Pattern Ghost]

I read this a few years back and liked it--it's Sturgeon after all--but can't remember the huge coincidence or contradictions. Do you mind telling me what they are? I may or may not have spotted them when I read the book and now I'm curious.

 

The meeting of Judge Bluett and Monetre was hugely dependent on coincidence. When Bluett explains to Monetre why he was asking him about regenerating fingers, the story is all over the place, and fails to explain why he'd already asked a bone doctor about it (he said he hadn't known about the fingers growing back until he saw Kay at the tent). The girl finding Monetre was also a bit of a stretch, but not as jarring as Bluett's inconsistent story. The two together with Monetre was clearly the author being heavy handed in getting them all in one place to set up the ending.

 

The second contradiction was Solum revealing that he was a human and not a product of the crystals. It was directly contradictory to his own dialog with Zena just prior to the end, and the presentation of the character throughout the book. It wasn't a huge gaff, but could have been set up better. It read as if the author changed his mind at the last minute; if he planned the reveal, he failed to set it up in any meaningful way.

 

Those two details were fairly minor in the grand scheme of things, though, and forgivable. I put those kinds of lapses down to lack of copy editing, and not really more offensive than a type-o or an awkward sentence here and there.

 

The larger problems were: a lot of wasted verbiage on repeated info dumps, melodramatic monologs, a complete failure to capture the carny atmosphere or describe practically anything in the setting (see Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes for a good counter example), the predictable ending for Zena, the mostly cardboard characters, and the lack of a good follow through for the basic premise (I'll grant the last one is very subjective).

[Burrito Boy]

Thanks. I'm not sure I remember spotting any of that except the bit about Solum being human. Now I want to track down my copy and reread it, this time with a more critical eye and your comments in mind.

 

It's easy for me to spot errors, inconsistencies, etc. in the writing of authors I don't quite like--Asimov, Clarke, Farmer--but I seem unable to critique my favorites.

[Pattern Ghost]

If I was reading it as a random 1950 pulp SF story, I'd probably have gone in with lower expectations. It wasn't bad, though, just average overall. Definitely had its good points.

[csyphrett]

Read The Blood of the Olympians by Rick Riordan. The new heroes of Olympus take the prophecy given to them and make it work for them so they can heal the Olympians' split personality, win the war with the giants, and stop Gaea. Poor, poor Octavian. He got to save the world but not in the way he wanted.

CES

[Grailknight]

The Aeronaut's Windlass: Cinder Spires Book , by Jim Butcher. A new universe of steampunk, age of sail, etheric magic and talking cats in Butcher style. This one is filled with interesting characters and a smooth, fast paced plot. A notch below Dresden at his best but an excellent read.

[Pattern Ghost]

I saw Grailknight's post and remembered I forgot to pick up The Aeronaut's Windlass! I finished it last night. Not his best effort. I thought about it all day, and I think I put my finger on it: I didn't leave with an impression of whose story it is. Dresden Files tells Harry's story, and the Codex Alera tells Tavi's, but this was more of an ensemble cast type of affair. The problem is twofold here: Butcher's really good at fleshing out all of the supporting characters and even very minor characters like henchmen or soldiers who are there only to get killed a scene later. The second part of the problem is that none of the characters on the heroes' side stood out as a main focal point; everyone got very equal "screen" time. Overall, I didn't get as invested in any of the characters or the world as in his other work. I'm going to put that down to it being a first novel in a series, but in this regard, it's far behind the first novels of his other two series.

 

The tech reminded me strongly of the Eberron setting -- at least as much of it as I've seen in DDO -- and I'm not familiar enough with steampunk as a genre to say if that's just because he pulled two tropes that are very common from it or if he's an Eberron fan. The crystal tech and the arm blasters are the two bits that remind me of the settting. Seemed like everyone was a melee Artificer. =)  And this is fine. Butcher will take things in his own direction, and already does in the first book. It's just that the similarity was interesting, and IIRC, he's a RPG fan too.

 

I'm not really sure I'm sold on the setting yet, either. Some elements remind me of Codex Alera.

 

One minor quibble on the tech:

The copper-clad steel swords. I wonder what kind of edge they can have if the environment is so corrosive to steel/iron. If you leave a steel edge,  you've got a ruined sword. If you coat it with copper, well, you have a poor edge.

 

 

I'm going to keep reading the series, because Butcher's one of the few newer authors I can stand (the only one I can think of offhand -- there are so few, I'd have to actually do some digging to find another) and I'm sure he'll do something at the very least readable with it. But as for a rating, I'd give it a 3/5. Because it's very readable, and a decent, professionally-crafted story. It just doesn't sing. One reviewer on Amazon called it soulless, and I think that's a fair criticism, if a bit harsh.

[csyphrett]

Also read this and the Sword of Summer.

I liked it, but have to agree that a lot of time was devoted on the entire cast with basic information put in about the setting. Now that I think about after reading your takes, there are a lot of elements I recognize from other writers/works going on that I didn't think about at the time.

 

I did like the cat being his adopted kin's second. That was a funny bit with the certification in the middle of a lot of grim happenings.

 

The Sword of Summer is another foray into Rick Riordan's myth series but focused on the Asgardians. Loki is the villain natch, and it seems he is doing evil while still chained to his rock. The hero is the cousin to Annabeth Chase from Percy Jackson's books which ties things in with the rising of the titans and Gaea, and the Kanes battling Apophis. The Asgardians come across as living their lives while knowing their part of the world will be destroyed in the future which seems to be what Loki is trying to do to escape his rock. it is up to Magnus Chase and his allies to forestall that for as long as possible.

CES

[death tribble]

Fated by Benedict Jacka.

 

Alex Verus, a Diviner mage, gets caught up in the middle as Light and Dark Mages try to get their hands on an artifact. It is fast paced and I finished it in 4 days. The action is set in London which kind of gets my attention.

Recommended. There are sequels and I will be getting into them as a result.

[Vondy]

Conan: The Rogue by John Maddox Roberts. I read this twenty years ago, but decided to give it a re-read. Roberts' SPQR series of roman murder mysteries is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. When it comes to Conan pastiche, Roberts has a knack for writing "Conan: The Character." He kens and captures REH's conceptualization of Conan far better than other pastiche writers I've read. This one is a send up of Dashielle Hammet's Maltese Falcon. I'm a huge hard-boiled and noir fiction fan in general, and Hammett fan in particular, and it was reasonably well executed, though Roberts did Hammet somewhat less justice than he did Howard. Still, it was an easy and entertaining read with a delightfully salacious cover. If you like Conan or Swords & Sorcery, I recommend it.

[csyphrett]

Fated by Benedict Jacka.

 

Alex Verus, a Diviner mage, gets caught up in the middle as Light and Dark Mages try to get their hands on an artifact. It is fast paced and I finished it in 4 days. The action is set in London which kind of gets my attention.

Recommended. There are sequels and I will be getting into them as a result.

The sequels are pretty good. I think I recommended them on this thread earlier. While there are monsters in Verus's setting, this is the first UF one with no vampires that I can recall.

CES 

[csyphrett]

Finished the second Bannon and Clare book the Red Plague Affair. A viral weapon is unleashed. Clare and his Moriarty, Dr. Vance, search for a cure while Bannon searches for the maker. It's presented that the Crown commissioned  the weapon without realizing that it would run out of control if released.

CES 

[Sociotard]

Flex, by Ferrett Steinmetz

 

Lots of fun. It's like Breaking Bad goes Urban Fantasy. Magic is based on obsession.  So if you are an obsessed cook, one day you can do cooking magic. A culinaromancer or gastromancer.  And all the mancers can do one trick: they can create a drug called Flex that is their magic, devoid of special effects or foci, that everyday joes can take to do magic.

 

The downside is the side effects.  If you break the laws of physics, either with your own magic or on Flex, you get unluck. A little magic stubs your toe, a lot fractures your hip, or kills you, or flattens your apartment building.

 

That last is why it is illegal.  Anyway, I had lots of fun with this book.

[Pattern Ghost]

I finished War for the Oaks by Emma Bull last week. Widely held to be the first urban fantasy novel, it does have all the earmarks of the early days of the genre. I think that De Lint really deserves the credit, though, and Oaks seemed more like a weak version of a De Lint novel than something new and genre-inspiring.  It was good, and I can certainly see where it earned its place. Perhaps it keeps getting that "first urban fantasy" title simply because of its popularity. It was a good read, but I don't think I'd give it a very strong recommendation considering both its position compared to its contemporaries and the fact that the genre has kind of moved on and branched out. In other words, if you haven't read it already, no need to rush out and get it, but if it goes on sale, grab it if you like the genre. Bull does nearly everything right, but the book lacks dramatic tension and is predictable in places. The finale is also weakly written; the heroine simply stomps the opposition. The best bit about the book was how the author sets up both the way Faerie works in her world and how the heroine fits into the War among the fey. It's very clever, and even though it's revealed early on, and the book was published nearly 30 years ago, I'll just keep mum about it. If I was giving it stars, I'd give it a solid 3.5 out of 5.

 

I also finished In the Suicide Mountains by John Gardner a few weeks back. This is a well-executed original (AFAIK) fable. The plot points are predictable, of course, but this is the type of thing you read for the particulars of the execution. The small cast of characters is memorable and engaging, and the writing is Gardner. I'm not rating it, because folks either seem to love or hate Gardner. If you liked Grendel, you'll probably like it, though it's not quite at the same level.

[Enforcer84]

Reading the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson...rather listening on my way to work.  I've been listening more as the story progresses..ended up walking 10 miles today, mostly around my building as I listened for 4 hours.

[slikmar]

Been reading the Alex Veras series by Benedict Jacka. Mage series similar to Dresden. I have enjoyed it. Some humor, some fun, good use of magics.

[Grailknight]

Just finished Calamity, the finale of Brandon Sanderson's  Reckoners series.

 

The book does not disappoint. It has a tight story with several plot reveals that shed light on the workings and history of the world without slowing the action or character development.

 

Score it a 5 out of 5. A great setting if you want a post-apocalyptic Champions game.

[Nolgroth]

Called by Robert J. Crane

 

It had all the ingredients to make an engaging beginning to a long-term Urban Fantasy setting, but failed to prepare those ingredients in a way that left me satisfied. It wasn't horrible and it is the author's self-proclaimed start to writing. If he can direct his energy into a more tight prose, less predictable outcomes and generally better characterization, future works might actually be something I can recommend. Keep in mind that Mr. Crane has published many more books through Kindle so it shall be interesting to see some of his more current stuff. As I said, Called had potential. It just wasn't a realized potential.

 

Score: 2.75/5

 

Heck, it was a short, almost casual read that kept me entertained for about three hours. I'll bump it up to 3/5 just because it is the first novel I have read since Monster Hunter International left a bad taste on my brain.

[pinecone]

Just finished Carter and Lovecraft. I liked it a fair bit, classic detective novel, with Mythos for spice. the end was weak, but promises more to come. 4 out of 5.

[death tribble]

Cursed by Benedict Jacka

This concentrates on two curses. Alex Verus's apprentice Luna and the curse she bears and the curse of the Monkey Paw. It is a short entertaining read.