That does kind of undermine the whole agency thing - the only way she gains any power is by giving up everything that makes her a woman, or even human? Not exactly great. Was that Ringworld Engineers? I stopped reading the Ringworld series after that book.
As an aside, I’m not surprised Niven’s books have never been made into big movie productions. His aliens are about as visually ugly as you could possibly think of. Wouldn’t exactly endear people. I mean, sure, aliens probably would be like that. But it’s not Hollywood.
I finished A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman, lightweight, well paced, enjoyable. Hillerman’s style is almost like sitting down with Leaphorn and Chee and asking “Sup?”
I started Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children today… 70 pages in and I find myself comparing it to The Rook.
I finished Tobias Smollett’s “Expedition of Humphry Clinker”. The humourous parts were very good, but I found the serious travel descriptions only mildly interesting.
I felt the same way about “Three Men in a Boat”, but at least the travel descriptions in “Humphry Clinker” had the added interest of describing what the places were like in days of yore.
Finished The Mote In God’s Eye today. Felt a bit premature in my assessment of Niven’s women. Sally does get some power through her own ability - I think. There was a lot of politics in the end but she was on the Commission…by her own experience. I think. I actually felt that it might have been a conflict of interest to have a married couple on the Commission, so I was surprised both Rod and Sally were appointed. Anyway…I’m not bowled over by the book. It felt like it screwed up its climax and and accidentally started what felt like a denouement too early, so he raced through the events in the last 100 pages as fast as possible. Even then, what I felt should’ve actually been the climax took place in the last 10 pages and barely wrapped up in time.
To make up for the mild disappointment, I’ve decided to re-read The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper next.
Almost done with City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer. I’d previously read (listened to) Annihilation and found it fascinating; LawMonkey’s comparison of City to Johnathan Strange & Mr. Norrell intrigued me as well.
“Spellbinding” might be the best term for this collection of writings. It’s not a novel; rather there are short stories, interviews, dissertations, and other various bits and pieces that all build the world of Ambergris, the City of the title. There are some lovely engravings and artwork, moments of humor and meta-references, LOTS of footnotes, as well as some very disturbing moments. It reminded me a lot of China Miéville — dark, bizarre fantasy in an urban setting. It’s not easy reading, but IMHO very immersive.
I’ll be looking up more of VanderMeer’s work - even if I’m a bit disturbed by his apparent obsession with fungus.
I’ve re-read The Dark is Rising about 4 times now, every few years since I first read it as a teenager. I’m well into it - love the deep sense of the magic, the timelessness. The kind of magic that can silently well up out of the earth and snuff your life out without a sound. No cutesy kid stuff. Later in the series it gets into Arthurian myth and Will turns into a mysterious all-powerful guide figure, and, well, let’s say it hits a lot of my points. I have no patience for the Drew kid books though.
I’m glad. For me it was a terrible let down, everything was just handed to Will, he never had to sweat or cry or even make an effort, he just read a book. WTF? And the bad guy? No he was defeated by an ancient god, which is fine, but why have Merlin and the Old Ones there if the gods are just going to do it themselves?
When I was a kid, someone gave me The Grey King, not realizing it was part of a series. I really liked it, but in later years when I read the other books they didn’t click for me. In fact I don’t even remember anything about them, but I still like that one single book. I think my not knowing what the hell was going on was part of its charm.
I refuse to reread it and fSilver on the Tree, which are the last two books in the series, because I ADORED them as a teen and I don’t want to lose that love.
I still enjoy the writing and the imagery, and a lot of the scenes taken on their own, like the holiday party and the creepiness of the Rider and the Walker … but yeah, the plot is like “what is even the point?”
Just finished* The Memory Keeper’s Daughter* and thought it was a little too…cozy, I guess? Too much cutesy and repetitive (and sometimes cliched) descriptive narrative. Poorly edited, I thought. And I didn’t really find any of the characters completely believable. Meh, anyway.
Went on a mini-shopping spree at Barnes and Noble his afternoon, and up next is Joe Nesbo’s latest Harry Hole novel, The Leopard. I really enjoy Nesbo.
I finished The Magician’s Land, by Lev Grossman. Not only did I like this book, but it’s the last of a trilogy and I thought it wrapped up the entire thing in a very satisfying way.
I also read California, by Edan Lepucki. It’s a post-apocalyptic novel, which is not generally my thing, but I liked it well enough (I picked it up because it’s been getting strong reviews). A married couple living in the wilderness following the breaking down of civilization in general (I guess, the details of the actual downfall is deliberately vague) becomes involved with a survivors camp and there is a lot of intrigue.
Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself. Finally. I absolutely love Best Served Cold, but I’ve waited forever for it to come out in paperback, and it never has, so I bit the bullet and bought the ridiculously expensive trade paperback.
And it’s bloody and violent, and dark, all the things that made me love Best Served Cold.
I’m slowly working my way through Felix Gilman’s The Revolutions. I’ve been really enjoying it, but it is quite long and I keep falling asleep halfway down a page, not through any fault of the book, just a function of reading in bed at bedtime.
I love the tone of voice, which is really ringing true for me. Some of the subject matter is familiar (Victorian spiritualism, turn of the century aliens) but it’s approached from a different perspective than I’ve seen before.
Some of you may be familiar with Gilman’s earlier “The Half-Made World,” and it’s sequel, “The Rise of Ransom City,” also beautifully written. I find I’m preferring this third (which stands alone) in terms of pacing and voice.
I’m interested in seeing the Gilman book but I think it’s his 5th novel, not his 3rd. Unless you mean it’s somehow related to his Half-Made World pair?
Previously he had fantasy novel Thunderer, which I enjoyed, and it’s sequel Gears of the City, which I never got round to.
The Lisa Tuttle novel The Mysteries was good; there were enough clues for me to get by without having read the diary section. It was about a second rate American private detective living in London investigating a fairytale-like disappearance of a woman’s daughter.
Then I whizzed through The Last Full Measure by Jack Campbell, an alternate history novella imagining a different course of American history where John Adams’ Alien and Sedition Acts stay in force and the army becomes a tool of the rich and powerful…
I loved The Blade Itself too and could hardly wait to pick up Before They Are Hanged once I finished Blade. Love Abercrombie’s characters, even the horrible ones. Everyone’s a little bit good and often quite a bit horrible and somehow or other, they just ring true to life. Fascinating 'verse too.
