What I'm Reading

Here's a list of what I'm currently reading and what I've recently read.

1. Throne of Jade, and Black Powder War, by Naomi Novik. The other two books in the Temeraire series are even better than the first. Buy them. You won't regret it.

   
   

2. The Bonehunters by Steven Erickson. The sixth novel in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series is another triumph for Erickson. A number of plot threads that have been hanging loose for literally thousands of pages finally begin to converge. We meet many old characters, a number of new ones, encounter scenes of high drama (the siege of Y'Ghatan is breathtaking), and learn several surprising developments.

   This is not a standalone work; you need to have read the other five to make sense of what's going on. The sheer size and scope of Erickson's novels is daunting to some, and I can certainly understand a lack of enthusiasm for reading what will be a 10-book series where each volume clocks in around 1,000 pages.

   That's not to say I don't have issues with the book. Erickson's humor is rather juvenile and often misplaced. I also have an ongoing problem with the ridiculous number of superbeings in his world. The death of a major character is very badly handled, and undermines a very powerful confrontation that immediately precedes it.

   But for those who enjoy wallowing in an incredibly detailed alternate world with a cast of gazillions, the rewards are worth it.

   
   

3. Conqueror's Moon by Julian May. This is the first book I've read by Julian May, a well-regarded writer of both science fiction and fantasy. I'd heard good things about this book and was eager to read it. I found the magic to be interesting and unique, though I felt that some of the characters behaved rather unbelievably in certain circumstances. There were moments when it was obvious a character did something because the plot required them to rather than having their actions derive from their personalities. Still, all in all, it was an enjoyable read.

   
   

4. His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik. I really liked this novel. It combines Napoleonic era seagoing warfare, a British tale of manners, a bit of Patrick O'Brien, and a very interesting dragons tossed into the mix. (Yes, I know how that sounds, but it really works, trust me.) The dragon, Temeraire, is like a curious talking puppy, eager to learn and please his master, Captain Will Laurence, who has been forced to "adopt" the dragon who hatched upon his ship after the capture of a French war galley that was transporting the egg to Napoleon. It reads much like a young adult novel, but isn't marketed as such. I bought the other two books in the series, Throne of Jade and Black Powder War, and will be reading them soon (right now I'm reading Erickson's The Bonehunters, which will take a while....).
   
   

5. Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell. I really liked this book. It's something of an anachronism in one respect -- an old fashioned, swashbucking adventure dressed up in far future science fiction clothing. The story is of the planet Nanagada, which suffered a technological collapse several centuries before the story takes place, the nature of which is not immediately made clear. The survivors adopted a Carribbean-styled culture (one of the unique aspects of the book) and did their best to rebuild. The more peaceful inhabitants of a peninsula must deal with the constant threat of the Azteca, a bloodthirsty civilization devoted to human sacrifice who have adopted an alienrace called Teotl as their "gods."

   The driving narrative concerns John DeBrun, who washed up on a beach decades earlier with no right hand (he now wears a hook) and no memory of his earlier life. He's done an admirable job creating a new life to fill the void, but his family and the very existence of his people are threatened with extinction when the Azteca invade his country. John himself is hunted by the Teotl gods, who believe he holds the key to the Ma Wi Jung, a mysterious artifact lost in the frozen north.

   Other than the unique flavor of the culture, Buckell breaks little new ground here, but that's perfectly fine. This is an enjoyable, well-written adventure story that doesn't aspire to anything more. It is a standalone novel, but we have enough glimpses of the wider universe -- and the wars being waged in it -- to hope that more stories are coming. Recommended.

   
   

6. Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link. I'm not much of a short story reader anymore, but this collection is too good to ignore. Each of them is an exquisite experience in the art of language and storytelling. Link's prose is diamond-sharp and a perfect vehicle for the weird tales (there's no other way to describe them) in this book.

   There are zombies (but not the flesh eating kind -- these hang out in convenience stores that cater to the undead); a faerie handbag with an enchanted village contained inside its dog-fur exterior; a group of rabbits who protect a haunted house; a man who married a dead wife and had dead children with her and now wants a divorce; a group of kids who watch a mysterious television show about a library in a world-spanning tree and discover the show may be more real than it seems; middle-aged parents who ask to hear a story about the devil and a cheerleader; and more.

   These descriptions don't come close to doing these stories justice. It's the manner in which they are told as much as the tales themselves that is so glorious. Each story is a virtuoso, dizzying, and ingenious hire-wire act. Magic For Beginners made a number of "Year's Best" lists in the mainstream press, including Time Magazine. This is a truly wonderful collection, not to be missed.

   
   

7. The Thousandfold Thought by R. Scott Bakker. The Prince of Nothing trilogy concludes with the arrival of the Holy War, after several years of war and devastation, at the Holy City of Shimeh, where everyone is changed forever by the final struggle against not only the Fanim but the ancient Consult, recently revealed to still be active in the world, the foes of humankind and followers of the No-God who brought about the First Apocalypse.

   Read the first two, then read this one. It's glorious. Not perfect -- the end battle goes on too long, and Bakker has a habit of describing intensely powerful moments from an omniscient point-of-view that keeps the reader at a distance from the dramatic weight of the scene. But so much of it is good that it's easy to overlook where he falters. One of the better fantasies out there.

   
   

8. The Warrior Prophet by R. Scott Bakker. In The Warrior Prophet, the Holy War finally begins its march to liberate the holy city of Shimeh from the heathen Fanim, accompanied by the sorcerers of the Scarlet Spires, who wish to destroy the Fanim's sorcerers -- called the Cishaurim, who deliberately blind themselves and use snakes as their "eyes" -- for assassinating the Scarlet Spires' Grandmaster ten years earlier.

   Aanasûrimbor Kellhus grows in power and authority among the caste-nobles of the Holy War, becoming a trusted advisor and later the HOly War's savior when they are nearly destroyed crossing a vast and deadly desert. Many thousands die brutal, horrific deaths, and no one is left unchanged and unscarred by the crossing.

   This is a gripping, devastating sequel to the very impressive The Darkness That Comes Before. I say devastating because the suffering experienced by the people of the Three Seas is at times so awful it can be difficult to read. But it also feels true, not only to that world but to our own bloody history.

   I do take issue with one of Bakker's central assertions of Kellhus's power: namely, the ability to peer so deeply into the hearts of men and women that he understands them better than they understand themselves, and that by telling them the deepest secrets of their hearts that he can destroy them or convert them into devout followers. I just don't buy it. A person's capacity for self-deception is nearly infinite. If you tell a man or woman something about themselves that they disagree with -- even if it is true -- they will simply discount it as a lie or deception.

   There are betrayals, kidnappings, amazing displays of magical power, violent battles, and the growth of Kellhus from a curiosity from the North into the eponymous Warrior Prophet. It is grand, tragic, sad, and inspiring. Don't miss it.

   
   

9. The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker. Wow. wow wow wow. The Darkness That Comes Before is the first novel of The Prince of Nothing, a series set in a vaguely Mediterranean world in which an Apocalypse occurred two thousand years earlier. It is a deeply philosophical novel -- the title refers to the belief of the monastic order of the Dûnyain that all men are asleep, that their thoughts are formed outside of them, in the darkness that comes before, and that only through strict meditation and discipline can one "awaken" and know the source of one's thoughts.

   The surface story is about the calling of a Holy War by the new Shriah of the Thousand Temples, the primary religion of the Three Seas (the region of the world in which the story takes place). The War is called to liberate the holy city of Shimeh from the heathen Fanim. The Shriah's call is answered by men of all rank and station, numbering in the hundreds of thousands. They gather in the Imperial city of Momemn in preparation for their march. But the Emperor plays his own dangerous games with the Shriah, hoping to use the Holy War to reclaim lands lost by his empire over the previous centuries to the Fanim in a drawn-out war of attrition.

   One of the men sent to the Holy War is a sorcerer named Achamian, a member of the Mandate School, whose members each night dream the memories of their founder, who died in battle against the No-God two thousand years before, during the Apocalypse. The Mandate School believes that followers of the No-God -- a group called the Consult -- still walk the world and are planning a second Apocalypse, but no one outside of their school believes their tales of the Consult, and even the Mandate has found no evidence of them for centuries. Still, they remain vigilant, watching for signs.

   And then a sign appears to Achamian that shakes the foundation of his soul. A man named Aanasûrimbor Kellhus, descendent of the king who vanquished the No-God, walks out of the distant north, a legend made flesh, and portent of the end of the world.

   This is a complex book, but it is also vastly rewarding. The philosophical discussions about belief and how one knows his place in the world are fascinating, the world is rich and deep with history, and the characters are nuanced and varied. If you are at all interested in epic fantasies, this is not a book to be missed.

   For a very thoughtful review by Inchoatus, go here.



10. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. An interesting if flawed first fantasy novel. The concept is quite original: the city of Elantris is a place inhabited by angelic beings of light who are not born but rather are "created" at random from ordinary people of the land surrounding the city. In other words, you go to bed one night a normal man or woman, and wake up in the morning a silver-skinned, white-haired Elantrian, endowed with mystical powers.

    Then disaster strikes. Ten years before the opening of the novel, something goes horribly wrong, and Elantris becomes a cursed city. The Elantrians become the living dead: their hearts no longer beat, their skin becomes ashen and covered with sores, and they no longer heal from the simplest wounds. Now the people live in fear of being taken by the Reod, the process that once turned them into Elantrians. Because now it means that one will be cursed as dead and locked within the grime-covered city.

    The problems with this book aren't in the concept but the execution. The writing is often pretty amateurish, and Sanderson adds explanations for a character's actions from the omnicient narrator rather than letting the actions -- which are all very clear -- speak for themselves. It's as if he didn't trust himself enough, or his readers, to catch on to his intent. (Those who read Patrick's review of my novel will note the irony of this, since his review pointed out similar shortcomings in my own work. Pot, meet kettle....).

    The dialog is sometimes stilted, and the political system is far too simplistic and unbelievable. But these flaws aren't enough to sink the book, which is still an interesting read. It's also a stand-alone work, so those who would rather not get sucked in to another multi-book series (save that for the Osserian Saga!) can safely enjoy it without feeling the need to read more.



11. Hal Spacejock by Simon Haynes. Not yet available in the United States, Hal Spacejock is a very funny novel from Australian writer Simon Haynes. It follows the adventures of the eponymous space freighter pilot, a hapless bungler who is forced to accept an incredibly dangerous job shipping spare robot parts in order to prevent his ship from being repossessed. On the way he joins up with Clunk the cow-hating robot and has numerous (mis)adventures with the ship's navigation system, a land car, and a robotic elevator that only wants him to say the proper words to close the doors. Plenty of laughs and more than enough action to keep you entertained. I hope a stateside publisher picks this up.


12. The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly. I love all of Connelly's books. This isn't a Harry Bosch novel but it's still a great read, full of the deft narrative twists and turns that are a hallmark of his writing. Connelly is the best crime writer of the modern era, bar none.


13. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin. I love this series, but A Feast for Crows was a bit of a stumble. Still better than 99% of other fantasies, but he spends far too much time focusing on irrelevant storylines and characters. Briene's tale adds absolutely nothing to this book, and she should have simply been abandoned after deliverying Jaime Lannister to King's Landing, especially when we, the readers, know exactly where Sansa Stark is and that Briene is not even close to finding her. It's just tedious and frustrating when we know so much more than the character yet still have to read about her plodding along through the countryside, making inquiries that don't mean a damn thing. The most interesting story is that of Cersei, and that is where the focus of this book should have been. Still recommended, but this is the first Martin book I would say it's safe to skim in parts.


14. Midnight Tides by Steven Erickson. (I didn't provide a link because this book is not yet available in the U.S. -- I bought a British copy because I just couldn't wait!) Erickson's books are massive and massively complicated. They're definitely not for everyone. I'm 5,000 pages or so into this gargantuan epic, and lots of basic things still haven't been explained. He can be frustrating in some areas, but the scope of his work, and the depth of his imagination, are enough to keep me reading.


15. Predator by Patricia Cornwell. While parts of the mystery were engaging, Cornwell has totally gone around the bend with her characters. Scarpetta is often a bit player in the book. Marino has become a ridiculous and unbelievable caricature, and Scarpetta's neice Lucy -- who has never been believable -- becomes even more absurd. And, true to form, Cornwell wraps up the book in about a page and a half, with a main action scene occurring offstage. Frustrating because she was once so good.


16. The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower by Stephen King. Oh, my god, did I cry at a certain point in this book. I'm talking put the book down, shoulder-wracking sobs. I bought the first Dark Tower book in a Donald M. Grant limited edition in 1982, so I've been waiting a while for this one to wrap up. There is far too much plot in the book (the Dondelo sequence is just retarded, and don't get me started on the crushing disappointment of the Crimson King), but despite its flaws, it's still a sad and wonderful conclusion to one of the strangest fantasy series ever.


17. Olympos by Dan Simmons. A huge let down after the wonders of Ilium, I don't understand the praise this got in much of the SF press. It's a mess of a book. Read his Hyperion books instead, or any of his horror novels.


18. Shadowmarch by Tad Williams. A little overlong (but what of Tad's isn't?), and a little too similar to his materful Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn novels. But still, interesting enough to keep me going, at least into the next one.