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Post by wildfire2099 on May 31, 2018 21:26:33 GMT -5
The Fifth Season N.K. Jemisin
There are ALOT of post-apocalyptic stories out there these days, so it really is something to come up with something as completely original as this book. The world of the Stillness shows an Earth that is no long stable, and where global climate disasters that take years to recover are common place.
The backdrop gives us some great ideas... we have the Orogenes, who seem to be able to use molecular movement (heat, or vibrations) to move solid objects.. but the reactions it causes seem to be a big reason for enviornment difficulties. Then we have society based on 'stonelore'... rules actually written in stone so they can't be change by political whims (though we do get some meta-commentary by one character that perhaps that's not the case), and where survival is the most important option. There's also some androids (maybe aliens?), some weird anti-Orogenes, and space bourne Oblesiks that have unknown power from an unknown source.. just a crazy, fun soup to tell a story.
Unfortunately, there is no story told in this first book... it's ALL world building. We get 3 parallel stories in 3 different times (2 in the past).. but very little happens. The main Character has a very set goal, but doesn't progress toward it even a little bit.
Sure, there are hints of some sort of titanic political struggle. There's a glimpse of a larger world than the one the main character inhabits... but they are just hints... very little along the line of actual plot development.
I hope with all the awards and great reviews, there is actually a story at some point, because such top notch world building deserves ones.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 13, 2018 12:07:15 GMT -5
Krazy: George Herriman, a Life in Black and White by Michael Tisserand I'd been wanting to read this pretty much since I first saw it was coming out. And thanks to a pretty deep discount on the Kindle version I took the plunge. I'm really happy to see that we are starting to get full-fledged biographies of comic strip creators (see also Schulz & Peanuts by David Michealis). Now if we could just get some of the great comic book creators (Kirby for Pete's sake). The background in this one was fascinating. That Herriman was a creole passing as white is pretty well established. The danger to his career had that become known is pretty clear. Equally interesting were the looks at early comics greats who are now largely forgotten. And the absolutely huge craft of sports cartooning that is also largely forgotten. Watching along as Herriman strove to have that breakout strip that would put him with the likes of Bud Fisher and Rudolph Dirks. This is particularly compelling since Herriman's influence has clearly outstripped both of those luminaries. I was generally familiar with Herriman's non-Krazy Kat strips, but it was interesting to see their history laid out. I also like that where he could, Tisserand busted myths...but was happy to say when there simply wasn't enough evidence to confirm or bust certain assertions. It's clear that Krazy was not a terribly popular strip with the general public or with newspaper editors, though it was a darling of the literati. But it did last from 1913 to Herriman's death. And there's no indication it was kept on life support by Hearst himself as has been frequently asserted. As to Herriman himself he comes off as generally a nice mild-mannered man who was a consummate professional and seems almost oblivious to the genius of his work. Well recommended.
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Post by brutalis on Jun 14, 2018 8:07:44 GMT -5
Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West Paperback – February, 2018. By Tom Clavin.
The city of legendary most violent and bloody town of larceny, gunfights, cattle drives, thieves and soiled doves in the West. This is the story of the town and infamous folk who lived and/or visited this depraved hive of scum and villainy. Along the way Wyatt Earp and his brothers along with Bat Masterson and his brothers would all spend time there as law men making their names and cleaning up this wicked town.
Quite a story filled book as the writer attempts to resolve some of what is mystery and what is history by telling the city's adventures from it's earliest days. Man of the tales are taken from newspaper articles so they are quite short with very little details but when you place them all together they combine to telling an intriguing and interesting story. Lots of famous folk abound throughout the book with the greatest focus on Wyatt and Bat's comings and goings as law enforcers in Dodge City. An entertaining and enlightening read for anyone who wants something a bit more than a typical western movie type story.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 14, 2018 10:05:18 GMT -5
Dodge City: Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West Paperback – February, 2018. By Tom Clavin. The city of legendary most violent and bloody town of larceny, gunfights, cattle drives, thieves and soiled doves in the West. This is the story of the town and infamous folk who lived and/or visited this depraved hive of scum and villainy. Along the way Wyatt Earp and his brothers along with Bat Masterson and his brothers would all spend time there as law men making their names and cleaning up this wicked town. Quite a story filled book as the writer attempts to resolve some of what is mystery and what is history by telling the city's adventures from it's earliest days. Man of the tales are taken from newspaper articles so they are quite short with very little details but when you place them all together they combine to telling an intriguing and interesting story. Lots of famous folk abound throughout the book with the greatest focus on Wyatt and Bat's comings and goings as law enforcers in Dodge City. An entertaining and enlightening read for anyone who wants something a bit more than a typical western movie type story. I have this on my list of books to read. But it's probably a few years out.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 14, 2018 22:00:00 GMT -5
That Dodge CIty book sounds really interesting... that's going on the list for sure.
Obelisk Gate N.K. Jemisin
This book is almost the very definition of a mid series blah book. Or maybe it's just more 'atmospheric' than I thought. Whatever the reason, there's really just not much that happens here. We find out that Nassun is just as powerful (or moreso) than mom, and we get a little be of the different factions at work in the Stillness, but the endless angst about surviving the season in Castrima really dragged.
Even worst than the pace, though, was the feeling that it didn't matter. Either the 'superheroes' of the story are going to fix things, or they won't and everyone will die. Things that were mysterious in the first book are still just as mysterious.
The things that annoyed me the most, though was the talk about 'magic' . It seems very contrary to all the nice world building that there should be anything that's not technological.. it's clearly set up that the orogenes are bred mutants, or have some sort of nanobots, or maybe alien tech. Copping out on the rest of the historical world building and calling it 'magic' seems lazy.
That said, the writing is still good, the characters are really interesting and the setting is unique and well done. I can see why people that like the recent atmospheric type stories would love it, but the story just doesn't live up to the promise of the first book.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 16, 2018 19:29:36 GMT -5
I definitely was into this one, as evidenced by the fact that I read most of it today Some Danger InvolvedBy Will Thomas I have to say, it was refreshing to see someone create their own characters, instead of just using Holmes. The author here apparently is a scholar, and has written his share of short stories, but went with his own creation for a novel, instead of using Holmes and Watson and mashing them into his form. Which is good, because other than the form of a detective (though Mr. Barker prefers 'enquiry agent') and a narrator who is his assistant, Barker and Llewelyn don't really fit any mold used for the Detective, which is really great. Instead, it felt more like a mix of a western and a Holmes story. There was plenty of action, great setting, and the beginnings of a world with a whole cast of interesting characters which Mr. Barker employs. The mystery itself moved forward nicely, had its share of twists, and had a surprisingly but not impossible to determine conclusion... while planting seeds for later adventures. There were a few glaring quirks though... one was the authors obsession with food. a good 10% of the story was involved in describing meals, or traveling to meals, while a subplot (which one hopes will not dominate future installments) of Llewelyn not gaining weight while his employer plies him with fancy food was annoying almost to distraction. It was also a bit crazy how successful Llewelyn was, as a scholar put into prison, being able to excel in a such a wide variety of situations on which he should never have been exposed to before. Minor quibbles, though that could both be improved upon... definitely looking forward to reading the next installment.
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Post by brutalis on Jun 18, 2018 9:11:50 GMT -5
Book 7 in the Richard Sharpe Saga: Sharpe's Havoc by Bernard Cornwell. Our hero Richard is still off in Portugal fighting against the Frogs. Assigned to find a runaway Englishwoman and he finds her married to a British "Colonel" who is playing all the cards in the deck by marrying her for money and deals with the French and English and all the while attempting to get Sharpe killed. Of course Sharpie doesn't tolerate any of this and eventually turns the cards against the "Colonel" while fighting the French, achieving British victory in Portugal and saving the young lady. All in a days work for the Green Jacketed Rifle brigade and the ever lucky Sharpe. Yet another fast page turner of a read from Mr. Cornwell in the growing adventures of Richard Sharpe!
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 19, 2018 23:52:35 GMT -5
Trouble on Titan Alan Nourse c. 1954 My copy is the 1967 Lancer paperback.. made me happy that the ad int he back was for Phoenix Prime, which I read a while back from my stack I've read a few other juvenile stories from this era, and this one certainly carries plenty of similarities to the ones Heinlein and others wrote... the kids in the story come together to figure out a problem the adults can't solve because they're too bound in their ways. It's a well executed verision of that plot, but it's pretty much the same one you can read lots of other places. This one also mixed in a fair bit of the older adventure/travelogue of the solar system type story... we find a settled universe, but one that's 'realistic' (for what was known in 1954, anyway). There are semi-sentient aliens on Titan, but nothing like Burroughs. (funnily enough, said aliens are mentioned only casually and are totally unimportant). It also has a much more realistic time line for space colonization than most... many 50s and 60s books had moon colonies by 1990.. this one imagines the first moon landing in 1976 and takes place 200 years later. There was also a nice shout out to Heinlein with 'Rolling Roads' as a key form of transport on Earth, which made me smile. The story was really just one big logic whole away from 5 stars... the premise is that the miners on Titan are unhappy because they mine the Macguffinium (sorry, it's too late for me to find the name of the pretend element) that makes the worlds energy go. But, how'd they get to Titan to discover it without the energy? They talk about atomics a bit, but it's clear that World Infrastructure can only support the mining colonies in space because of the mineral . I guess maybe there was a bit on Earth? Or they had nuclear plants that lasted long enough to get going? Anyway, I know that's totally not the point and has nothing to do with the plot, but it bugged me a bit. Otherwise, a great classic 'YA' sci fi.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 21, 2018 10:28:27 GMT -5
Noir by Christopher Moore. I'm having a hard time deciding how I feel about this one. There's everything here that I should like. And I did like the book. A fair bit. But the whole was somehow less than the sum of the parts...and that perplexes me. I love Christopher Moore. Lamb and The Stupidest Angel are very high on my list of favorite books. Even his (to my mind) lesser books I find very entertaining. And I'm a huge fan of Noir. Both film and literary. And I trust Moore to be able to do pastiche with panache. And looking at the cover...the silhouettes and the hand on the "R"...well I'm a fan of that too. But somehow that didn't come together quite as well as it should have. I felt the book was pretty slow for a good 60% of the way in. It wasn't boring. But it didn't really move. It ended strong...so there's that. I liked the protagonist "Sammy Two-Toes". And that's good and bad. Moore indicated in the afterward that he was going for Everyman Noir of the type of Jim Thompson rather than hard-boiled detective. Moore didn't pull off Thompson, though I don't think he was really trying. But Sammy was just too likeable and too competent to really be a noir protagonist. Likewise "The Cheese" was too likeable and not nearly manipulative enough to be a fully realized noir femme fatale. And again...this isn't pure noir. Without spoiling (though If you look at the cover you can probably figure it out) there's a mash-up here with another genre popular in the 50s. And I was okay with the mash-up and overall it worked. I don't want to scare anyone away. It's fun book. And the last quarter to a third of the book redeems any shortcomings it had on the front-end. If you're a Moore fan, you'll probably like it. If you haven't read his stuff...it probably isn't the place to start. 3.5/5
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 22, 2018 10:17:07 GMT -5
A Piece of Martin Cann Laurence Janifer c. 1968 The best part of this book is definitely the cover, which is a classic 60s sci fi piece that has absolutely nothing to do with the book. The book itself is mostly about theories of psychiatry... the main plot features a group of therapists that go into the subconscious of the patient (Martin Cann) to try to get him back into the world (he's apparently catatonic) but role playing within his fantasies. Sounds fun, right? They do this sorta thing in comics regularly. Unfortunately, the fantasy is 'the council' which consists of the therapists taking on roles of angels debating with 'God' (the patient). If you perhaps have your favorite 60s altered state going, this might be entertaining, otherwise, it reads like a poor intro to psychology text.
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Post by brutalis on Jun 25, 2018 13:34:13 GMT -5
Patriotic Fire: Andrew Jackson and Jean Laffite at the Battle of New Orleans May 8, 2007
by Winston Groom.
Good quick and informative read which helps the reader to better understand the Battle of New Orleans in 1814 after the War of 1812. Absorbing book in which you quickly find yourself interested in learning more about Andrew Jackson and Jean Lafitte as they join together to battle the British and prevent the incursion into the city and it's sea port. You get a very nice mix of information and entertainment from all sides of the struggle from the British to the American to the people involved in the fight itself. Even touches a bit on the what if aspects: what might have happened if the pirate's of New Orlean's weren't patriotic and fought alongside Jackson? What may have been the repercussions if the United State's lost and England gained a foothold? What if the British weren't battling Napoleon and made a stronger attack? This was a time of unlikely allies and America at a crossroad...
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Post by Prince Hal on Jun 25, 2018 16:16:48 GMT -5
Patriotic Fire: Andrew Jackson and Jean Laffite at the Battle of New Orleans May 8, 2007 by Winston Groom.Good quick and informative read which helps the reader to better understand the Battle of New Orleans in 1814 after the War of 1812. Absorbing book in which you quickly find yourself interested in learning more about Andrew Jackson and Jean Lafitte as they join together to battle the British and prevent the incursion into the city and it's sea port. You get a very nice mix of information and entertainment from all sides of the struggle from the British to the American to the people involved in the fight itself. Even touches a bit on the what if aspects: what might have happened if the pirate's of New Orlean's weren't patriotic and fought alongside Jackson? What may have been the repercussions if the United State's lost and England gained a foothold? What if the British weren't battling Napoleon and made a stronger attack? This was a time of unlikely allies and America at a crossroad... Well, the war had officially ended about a week before that battle was fought. As Groom's most famous character often (Too often, if you ask me) said, "Life is like a box of pirate treasure. You never know which coin you're gonna get..."
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 25, 2018 22:31:59 GMT -5
To Kingdom Come by Will Thomas
The promise of the first book is most definitely realized here in the 2nd one, as Barker and Llewelyn go undercover to help investigate the bombing of Scotland Yard by learning bomb making and joining the Irish terrorists.
While I don't have the knowledge of the details of the Irish independence movement of this time, the details and heart shown here seemed perfectly correct to me. One could find themselves liking, fearing and hope they lose, all at the same time.
Barker seemed a bit less perfect in this one, which was good, and Llewelyn a bit more like an emotional young man at a dangerous new job, which was nice. Thomas does a great job making his pair completely unique.. one could certainly compare them to Holmes and Watson, being set in the same era, but that is really where it stops. (incidently, the Strand was mentioned in passing while the characters were undercover, I half expected them to run into Conan Doyle himself!) Heck, they even dialed by the emphasis on food (though there was still enough meal talk to get annoying).
Overall, an excellent period thriller that I would highly recommend.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2018 18:32:39 GMT -5
Finished Anthony Horowitz’s Forever And A Day. 007 is dead and the only agent who uncover who killed him is James Bond.I really dug the prequel to Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale. It gave us a unseen story that didn’t rely too much on guest stars and Bond tropes. I liked Horowitz’s previous Bond novel but liked this one quite a bit more. I hope he gets the chance for a third outing with 007.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 30, 2018 9:26:39 GMT -5
War with the Robotsby Harry Harrison c.1968 (stories from 1956-59) I love the cover for this one... it's fantastic! I don't think i really related to any particular story, but what a great piece! Its by John Schoenherr, which doesn't sound familiar to me. The book itself is rather interesting, it's feels like Harry Harrison sat down with his publisher and said 'hey, Asimov isn't the only guy that writes about robots!' Each story has a one page, I guess essay, that talks about a particular aspect of robots and their social implications that the story following is discussing, which is kinda fun, if a bit pretentious. Of the stories themselves: 'Simulated Trainer' must surely have been on Orson Scott Card's list as a boy.. it's a now-familar theme. 'Velvet Glove' is an interesting one on what makes a human, though not nearly in depth as others. My favorite is one I've read in other collections 'Arm of the Law' . It features a small frontier town (on Mars, but that's not really important) that gets an mysterious package.. a test robotic cop. A close second was 'the repairman', who featured one of the men that keep the hyperspaceways running by making sure the beacons are active. This one was an ancient one, that a local lizard people had broken.. they had used the radioactive runoff to mutate and improve the species, and had made it into a holy temple. It's not really a robot story (though the main character does use a couple), it's a really fun one. A couple of the others were pretty pedestrian.. the last one, the 'title' story, was an interesting twist on the 'robots gone amok' them. Well worth checking out if you a fan of early sci fi.
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