Books I've recently read
Still going fine with he reading :)
Brothers of Earth by CJ Cherryh
An early book in her career in which a lone survivor of a battle is shipwrecked on a planet with aliens and one other lone surviver of the battle (from the other side of the war) who sets herself as the boss in the local nation, and basically he has to adapt himself to the aliens' culture, and they have their own issues, and their own forthcoming war.
The thematics of Must Adapt to Alien Culture! are pretty classic Cherryh, which I adore, and which she does w/o being the least Mighty Whitey about it. The story was overall well done. There is a lot of interesting touches in the way the aliens culture are portrayed, especially the fact they have their own issues of imperialism, and it's anything but simple, and there is no easy resolution at all, just least worse.
Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
Fourth volume in the Thief series, this was a pretty nice story, and as always I absolutely love her writing and her sense of characterisation. I have two big issues with it: One are the shift between 1st person & 3rd persons in the storytelling, also they are semi cleverly set up, I still found them very disorientating; and the other is what I'll call the Lymondification of Gen. And I'm going to let this lay there because I'm not sure how to extrapolate.
Lord of the White Hell 1&2, by Ginn Hale
Very good M/M fantasy series in which a young man from a culture that is a tolerated minority is accepted as in a big school because he's very, very good at science stuff, and finds himself rooming with the infamous noble whose family pactised with demons. I really love Ginn Hale's writing and characterizations; even though it didn't hit all of my buttons as much as Wicked Gentlemen did; but it was still very good. Several good characters, and several interesting touches and a very satisfying plot and romance as well. I liked how the main character was all "lol superstitions" about it at first; although I rather dislike how this subversion was later eroded by revelations at the end. I also disliked he was given dark skin but blond hair. Couldn't he have been made to look Arabic all the way? But overall a very good read.
Hunter of Worlds by CJ Cherryh
Another early Cherryh. This one has a member of a rather pacific alien species captured and enslaved by a powerful and very ruthless species, forced into a mind bond with another member of his own species who was slave to them since forever, and a human being. It's funny because it seems like the summary an id fanfic. I thought storytelling wise, it was a bit of a mess, the viewpoints sometimes shifted - well not a random since it served the plot, but in a way that hadn't been well set up by the structure of the storytelling previously - and the overall story - well I'm not quite sure what to think of it. Also, even for a Cherryh book, it greatly suffered from an overuse of Call A Rabbit a Smeerp; which since we were dealing with the cultures of no less than 3 alien species, keeping straight all those terms and their meanings was a bit tough. Still ended up liking it overall, because I always love how Cherryh does culture clashes and people forced into adapting to it, and creating strong emotional bonds in the process.
The Honourable Schoolboy by John Le Carré
Sequel to Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy. This one is also very interesting, but a bit less good, a bit more confused and slow, and a with a rather abrupt ending. Still did brilliant thing with storytelling and different characters' voice in telling stories; and portraying the dirty side of spying, and - with most of the action set in Honk Kong and Southeast Asia in the 70's - of war and imperialism. Which - you know what I said about tragic minority characters? Yeaaah. *side eyes* Although to be fair Le Carré seems to have a thing for tragic characters period, there are certainly a lot of tragic for everyone.
Ash by Malinda Lo
A rewriting of Cinderella with added Fair Folks and added lesbian romance. Very nicely written, great atmosphere, and it is so rare to see a lesbian romance in a fantasy novel I can't but squee! It's a bit light on the plot, though, and the resolution felt a bit too easy/quick.
Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny
A short (post)-apocalyptic novel in which an hardened criminal is forced to drive a armored vehicle across the extremely destroyed America from LA to Boston to deliver the serum that will save Boston from a nasty plague. This felt very cinematic and atmospheric, with an odd feeling that rather reminded me of the last part of the Corwin Amber series. The whole surrealistic, desolated landscape haunted by monsters and wrecks of a destroyed America in which an endearing psychopath finds himself in the role of a hero thing is well done. It's pretty nice.
Doctrine of the Labyrinth (Mélusine, Virtu, Mirador,& Corambis) by Sarah Monette
A fantasy hurt/comfort bromance series about a former prostitute gay wizard and a former assassin cat burglar who end up helping one another from all trauma they have undergone (and sometimes causing more). Yeah, I think that's the best summary I can do, although it might sell the story short. Those are very character driven stories, and sometimes the plot feel a bit meandering - which ends up being quite thematically relevant though because what else do you do in a labyrinth by meander- but plot there is, and plot threads introduced earlier and seemingly abandoned do end up showing up again and get resolved satisfyingly. The world building is pretty good, and shaped a lot by language in ways that are sometimes very successful - I loved the difference of voice and inflection between the two main characters, which shows both their difference in personality, and in mood, and their difference of social status for example - and sometimes very much not - so much seemingly random French sounding words! The magic plays a sometimes odd role in the plot compared to how it's used in most fantasy series, but difference magical theories and practices were very well explored. The whole city of Mélusine as a beautiful, baroque, and corrupt city, with the cultural chasm between the nobles and wizards of the Mirador and the working class Lower City was extremely well done (even though the action isn't set there all the time), and most of the other places have also some solid world building behind them. Mostly I loved the characters, especially Felix (aka gay wizard) who is also very dickishly sarcastic and self-destructive; and also a few other secondary characters like Mehitabel. Lots of vivid characters with their own voice. I said it was hurt/comfort; and going through hell and trying to find your way back from it after having been physically and emotionally scarred and crippled is very much a major theme and drive of the story, and is done beautifully. I found it quite gripping.
comments at the original post on Dreamwidth
Brothers of Earth by CJ Cherryh
An early book in her career in which a lone survivor of a battle is shipwrecked on a planet with aliens and one other lone surviver of the battle (from the other side of the war) who sets herself as the boss in the local nation, and basically he has to adapt himself to the aliens' culture, and they have their own issues, and their own forthcoming war.
The thematics of Must Adapt to Alien Culture! are pretty classic Cherryh, which I adore, and which she does w/o being the least Mighty Whitey about it. The story was overall well done. There is a lot of interesting touches in the way the aliens culture are portrayed, especially the fact they have their own issues of imperialism, and it's anything but simple, and there is no easy resolution at all, just least worse.
Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
Fourth volume in the Thief series, this was a pretty nice story, and as always I absolutely love her writing and her sense of characterisation. I have two big issues with it: One are the shift between 1st person & 3rd persons in the storytelling, also they are semi cleverly set up, I still found them very disorientating; and the other is what I'll call the Lymondification of Gen. And I'm going to let this lay there because I'm not sure how to extrapolate.
Lord of the White Hell 1&2, by Ginn Hale
Very good M/M fantasy series in which a young man from a culture that is a tolerated minority is accepted as in a big school because he's very, very good at science stuff, and finds himself rooming with the infamous noble whose family pactised with demons. I really love Ginn Hale's writing and characterizations; even though it didn't hit all of my buttons as much as Wicked Gentlemen did; but it was still very good. Several good characters, and several interesting touches and a very satisfying plot and romance as well. I liked how the main character was all "lol superstitions" about it at first; although I rather dislike how this subversion was later eroded by revelations at the end. I also disliked he was given dark skin but blond hair. Couldn't he have been made to look Arabic all the way? But overall a very good read.
Hunter of Worlds by CJ Cherryh
Another early Cherryh. This one has a member of a rather pacific alien species captured and enslaved by a powerful and very ruthless species, forced into a mind bond with another member of his own species who was slave to them since forever, and a human being. It's funny because it seems like the summary an id fanfic. I thought storytelling wise, it was a bit of a mess, the viewpoints sometimes shifted - well not a random since it served the plot, but in a way that hadn't been well set up by the structure of the storytelling previously - and the overall story - well I'm not quite sure what to think of it. Also, even for a Cherryh book, it greatly suffered from an overuse of Call A Rabbit a Smeerp; which since we were dealing with the cultures of no less than 3 alien species, keeping straight all those terms and their meanings was a bit tough. Still ended up liking it overall, because I always love how Cherryh does culture clashes and people forced into adapting to it, and creating strong emotional bonds in the process.
The Honourable Schoolboy by John Le Carré
Sequel to Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy. This one is also very interesting, but a bit less good, a bit more confused and slow, and a with a rather abrupt ending. Still did brilliant thing with storytelling and different characters' voice in telling stories; and portraying the dirty side of spying, and - with most of the action set in Honk Kong and Southeast Asia in the 70's - of war and imperialism. Which - you know what I said about tragic minority characters? Yeaaah. *side eyes* Although to be fair Le Carré seems to have a thing for tragic characters period, there are certainly a lot of tragic for everyone.
Ash by Malinda Lo
A rewriting of Cinderella with added Fair Folks and added lesbian romance. Very nicely written, great atmosphere, and it is so rare to see a lesbian romance in a fantasy novel I can't but squee! It's a bit light on the plot, though, and the resolution felt a bit too easy/quick.
Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny
A short (post)-apocalyptic novel in which an hardened criminal is forced to drive a armored vehicle across the extremely destroyed America from LA to Boston to deliver the serum that will save Boston from a nasty plague. This felt very cinematic and atmospheric, with an odd feeling that rather reminded me of the last part of the Corwin Amber series. The whole surrealistic, desolated landscape haunted by monsters and wrecks of a destroyed America in which an endearing psychopath finds himself in the role of a hero thing is well done. It's pretty nice.
Doctrine of the Labyrinth (Mélusine, Virtu, Mirador,& Corambis) by Sarah Monette
A fantasy hurt/comfort bromance series about a former prostitute gay wizard and a former assassin cat burglar who end up helping one another from all trauma they have undergone (and sometimes causing more). Yeah, I think that's the best summary I can do, although it might sell the story short. Those are very character driven stories, and sometimes the plot feel a bit meandering - which ends up being quite thematically relevant though because what else do you do in a labyrinth by meander- but plot there is, and plot threads introduced earlier and seemingly abandoned do end up showing up again and get resolved satisfyingly. The world building is pretty good, and shaped a lot by language in ways that are sometimes very successful - I loved the difference of voice and inflection between the two main characters, which shows both their difference in personality, and in mood, and their difference of social status for example - and sometimes very much not - so much seemingly random French sounding words! The magic plays a sometimes odd role in the plot compared to how it's used in most fantasy series, but difference magical theories and practices were very well explored. The whole city of Mélusine as a beautiful, baroque, and corrupt city, with the cultural chasm between the nobles and wizards of the Mirador and the working class Lower City was extremely well done (even though the action isn't set there all the time), and most of the other places have also some solid world building behind them. Mostly I loved the characters, especially Felix (aka gay wizard) who is also very dickishly sarcastic and self-destructive; and also a few other secondary characters like Mehitabel. Lots of vivid characters with their own voice. I said it was hurt/comfort; and going through hell and trying to find your way back from it after having been physically and emotionally scarred and crippled is very much a major theme and drive of the story, and is done beautifully. I found it quite gripping.
comments at the original post on Dreamwidth