stuff i've been reading, take whatever, second attempt
::crosses fingers::
Not as in detail as the first try, because, you know, it's midnight(or at least, 5 till as of the commencement of typing)
"Gallows Thief" by Bernard Cornwell(historical fiction) While my Cornwell reading is rather limited so far(the Grail Quest trilogy, first Sharpe book and an attempt at "Stonehenge") this is easily my favorite. It's largely, I think, an attempt at writing a mystery on Cornwell's part. It fails as a mystery, though, as Sandman just gets really lucky at the last minute, as opposed to solving the mystery. However, the story is quite good, and Sandman and his friends are likable and charming enough for me to want to read more about them. Sadly, there don't appear to be any more books about them...
"Quest For Lost Heroes" by David Gemmell(fantasy) The last of Gemmell's original Drenai trilogy. "Legend" kicked off Gemmell's career quite nicely, but I think it's actually the weakest of his books that I've read. The title, incidentally, is not referring to finding missing legends like it sounds, but about giving the greatest legends of their time, who are well past their prime, something to do. It starts with a great swordsman and legendary hero turned failed monk agreeing to help a peasant boy rescue his crush, to his collecting his old friends so THEY'LL have something to do. It then escalates into travels into enemy territory, to uprisings, to rescuing princesses to overthrowing evil kings to taking out the corruption in your own kingdom. Somewhat like a butterfly in china causing hurricane in Florida... It also perfectly sets up a sequel that demands to be written, but apparently hasn't...
"The Nimble Man" by Christopher Golden and Thomas Sniegoski(urban fantasy) I picked this up solely by Erik's(Scion from the CG boards) urging, not really expecting much out of it. Glad I did. This is one of those books that almost shouldn't work, but does. It's basically an immortal sorcerer(who's real identity is completely wasted...I'd better get some master detecting out of this guy in later books), the first vampire(not who you'd expect), the ghost of a Great Adventurer, a goblin chauffeur, a teenaged demon changling with a serious chip on his shoulder, a socialite fairy princess, and a sentient piece of clay that was left over when God made Adam, or some such. An odd little group facing off against a sadly depowered Morrigan(little understood primordial conceptual beings get no respect in popular fiction) and a god who's so powerful that all the other pagan gods ganged up on him while he was sleeping and tossed him in limbo back at the beginning of time because just thinking about him made them pee in their pants or some such. The writers get a bit too caught up in just how cool they think their ideas are(particularly the vampire and sorcerer's identities) and are clearly much more used to visual storytelling than straight prose, but I'll take this over the "drugs+sex+cars+magic+monster=urban fantasy" books anyday. (I love urban fantasy, but so little of it is worthwhile...)
"Countdown" by Iris Johansen(suspense) Iris Iris Iris...just cave in and write a straight treasure hunt romantic adventure already. You've been wanting to for about 5 books now. Just cave in instead of trying to combine them with terrorists and such. Don't worry, the terrorists and conspiracies will still be there when you come back. Oh, and good book. Have you ever considered writing about nice, stable people?(note: this series started out as being about a forensic sculptor who obsessively did reconstructions of children, hoping to find her dead daughter's body, and the FBI agent who was so obsessed with her that he married some poor woman in hopes of giving her a friend)
"The Fairy Godmother" by Mercedes Lackey(fantasy) This is a book that I've been trying to get ahold of off and on for about 2 years now, but it's kept eluding me. The first 50~ pages were iffy, but I'm glad I persevered. The concept of this one is something I couldn't resist: That the fairytale archetypes created a tradition, so that people born into or living conditions similar to those in fairy tales are essentially forced into the fairytales. However, there can never be as many eligible princes the right age as there are downtrodden peasant girls, or a princess for every stalwart knight, and so some people are left collecting magic their whole lives until someone comes along and steers them along another path, making them fairy godmothers, wizards, evil witches, warlongs and the like. The book is about a girl named Elena who was supposed to be a Cinderella, but the local prince is half her age, so she gets drafted as a Godmother instead. The book focuses primarily on all the things she has to do to make sure tradition is upheld, and making a pair of arrogant princes learn their places.
"Phoenix From Ashes" by Mercedes Lackey(historical fantasy) DOWN FOE!! There are no telekinetic redheads here, just a brunette with fire magic. Maybe it's because I followed up a Lackey book that starts out based in Cinderella with a Lackey book that fairly closely follows Cinderella, but I just didn't like this one quite as much as the other three books in the series, or FG(more than some Valdemar books, though) Still good, though.
"Wolfskin" and "Foxmask" by Juliet Marillier(historical fantasy) Ah...bliss...the Orkney islands...not home to the selkie legends(a not-so-minor obsession of mine) but their central base of operations. Now, I could have used a bit more sea people, but it's in the Orkneys, so I am happy. Oh, and the Faroes, also connected to the legends) "Wolfskin" is about the Norse settling into Orkney(a popular theory is that the Norse boats are the source of the legends about the Finfolk, the darker version of the Sea People) and the second is a less historical quest adventure. I was about to launch into babble about this author and periods and traditions I love and oral storytelling in her books, but it's 12:45 now and class in i 8 1/4 hrs...
"Cross Your Heart and Hope To Die" by Nancy Martin(mystery) Well, it only took an eternity of so for this one to come out in paperback(ok, only 2 years since the last...) This is easily my favorite modern mystery series(granted, most modern mysteries annoy me to the point where I rarely look for new ones, save for browsing at booksales.) Basically, take a trio of 40s socialite thirty-ish sisters and dump them in the modern day, and you'll have a good idea what this series is like(and, unlike a certain JoAnna Carl, she's not starting to sell out and shove technological deus ex machinas into my small town mysteries)
Wait, didn't I say this was going to be shorter?
Not as in detail as the first try, because, you know, it's midnight(or at least, 5 till as of the commencement of typing)
"Gallows Thief" by Bernard Cornwell(historical fiction) While my Cornwell reading is rather limited so far(the Grail Quest trilogy, first Sharpe book and an attempt at "Stonehenge") this is easily my favorite. It's largely, I think, an attempt at writing a mystery on Cornwell's part. It fails as a mystery, though, as Sandman just gets really lucky at the last minute, as opposed to solving the mystery. However, the story is quite good, and Sandman and his friends are likable and charming enough for me to want to read more about them. Sadly, there don't appear to be any more books about them...
"Quest For Lost Heroes" by David Gemmell(fantasy) The last of Gemmell's original Drenai trilogy. "Legend" kicked off Gemmell's career quite nicely, but I think it's actually the weakest of his books that I've read. The title, incidentally, is not referring to finding missing legends like it sounds, but about giving the greatest legends of their time, who are well past their prime, something to do. It starts with a great swordsman and legendary hero turned failed monk agreeing to help a peasant boy rescue his crush, to his collecting his old friends so THEY'LL have something to do. It then escalates into travels into enemy territory, to uprisings, to rescuing princesses to overthrowing evil kings to taking out the corruption in your own kingdom. Somewhat like a butterfly in china causing hurricane in Florida... It also perfectly sets up a sequel that demands to be written, but apparently hasn't...
"The Nimble Man" by Christopher Golden and Thomas Sniegoski(urban fantasy) I picked this up solely by Erik's(Scion from the CG boards) urging, not really expecting much out of it. Glad I did. This is one of those books that almost shouldn't work, but does. It's basically an immortal sorcerer(who's real identity is completely wasted...I'd better get some master detecting out of this guy in later books), the first vampire(not who you'd expect), the ghost of a Great Adventurer, a goblin chauffeur, a teenaged demon changling with a serious chip on his shoulder, a socialite fairy princess, and a sentient piece of clay that was left over when God made Adam, or some such. An odd little group facing off against a sadly depowered Morrigan(little understood primordial conceptual beings get no respect in popular fiction) and a god who's so powerful that all the other pagan gods ganged up on him while he was sleeping and tossed him in limbo back at the beginning of time because just thinking about him made them pee in their pants or some such. The writers get a bit too caught up in just how cool they think their ideas are(particularly the vampire and sorcerer's identities) and are clearly much more used to visual storytelling than straight prose, but I'll take this over the "drugs+sex+cars+magic+monster=urban fantasy" books anyday. (I love urban fantasy, but so little of it is worthwhile...)
"Countdown" by Iris Johansen(suspense) Iris Iris Iris...just cave in and write a straight treasure hunt romantic adventure already. You've been wanting to for about 5 books now. Just cave in instead of trying to combine them with terrorists and such. Don't worry, the terrorists and conspiracies will still be there when you come back. Oh, and good book. Have you ever considered writing about nice, stable people?(note: this series started out as being about a forensic sculptor who obsessively did reconstructions of children, hoping to find her dead daughter's body, and the FBI agent who was so obsessed with her that he married some poor woman in hopes of giving her a friend)
"The Fairy Godmother" by Mercedes Lackey(fantasy) This is a book that I've been trying to get ahold of off and on for about 2 years now, but it's kept eluding me. The first 50~ pages were iffy, but I'm glad I persevered. The concept of this one is something I couldn't resist: That the fairytale archetypes created a tradition, so that people born into or living conditions similar to those in fairy tales are essentially forced into the fairytales. However, there can never be as many eligible princes the right age as there are downtrodden peasant girls, or a princess for every stalwart knight, and so some people are left collecting magic their whole lives until someone comes along and steers them along another path, making them fairy godmothers, wizards, evil witches, warlongs and the like. The book is about a girl named Elena who was supposed to be a Cinderella, but the local prince is half her age, so she gets drafted as a Godmother instead. The book focuses primarily on all the things she has to do to make sure tradition is upheld, and making a pair of arrogant princes learn their places.
"Phoenix From Ashes" by Mercedes Lackey(historical fantasy) DOWN FOE!! There are no telekinetic redheads here, just a brunette with fire magic. Maybe it's because I followed up a Lackey book that starts out based in Cinderella with a Lackey book that fairly closely follows Cinderella, but I just didn't like this one quite as much as the other three books in the series, or FG(more than some Valdemar books, though) Still good, though.
"Wolfskin" and "Foxmask" by Juliet Marillier(historical fantasy) Ah...bliss...the Orkney islands...not home to the selkie legends(a not-so-minor obsession of mine) but their central base of operations. Now, I could have used a bit more sea people, but it's in the Orkneys, so I am happy. Oh, and the Faroes, also connected to the legends) "Wolfskin" is about the Norse settling into Orkney(a popular theory is that the Norse boats are the source of the legends about the Finfolk, the darker version of the Sea People) and the second is a less historical quest adventure. I was about to launch into babble about this author and periods and traditions I love and oral storytelling in her books, but it's 12:45 now and class in i 8 1/4 hrs...
"Cross Your Heart and Hope To Die" by Nancy Martin(mystery) Well, it only took an eternity of so for this one to come out in paperback(ok, only 2 years since the last...) This is easily my favorite modern mystery series(granted, most modern mysteries annoy me to the point where I rarely look for new ones, save for browsing at booksales.) Basically, take a trio of 40s socialite thirty-ish sisters and dump them in the modern day, and you'll have a good idea what this series is like(and, unlike a certain JoAnna Carl, she's not starting to sell out and shove technological deus ex machinas into my small town mysteries)
Wait, didn't I say this was going to be shorter?