Because Tom Lloyd kind of asked.
So, I mentioned that I'd been disappointed by a bunch of 'new' books i'd read over the last couple of years and was asked which ones.
This means a post for the first time in 18 months [and only then because LJ says I talk too much and my reply comment was too long.]
As some of you know I was meaning to start reviewing geeky stuff so maybe this will be the spur to the arse that snowballs, or not.
Anyway here are a list of books with a brief comment of what I thought. [And when I say new above, I men books by authors who are new to me. I don't metion any autors that I have already been reading regularly.]
Ok, so just grabbed the names and authors of those from the last couple of years. Not all debuts [think wooding is his debut adult book, ICE technically had night of knives. In each case though they meet my criteria of buying authors I hadn't read before.]
Farlander
Col Buchanan
Perfectly readable but not awesome.
The Left Hand of God
Paul Hoffman
Ok, now this one was cool, not awesome but I will pick up any sequel in paperback to see where it goes. Definitely a bit different.
Shadow and Betrayal: book one: Book One of The Long Price
Daniel Abraham
For the life of me I'm struggling to remember this beyond the hook of poets controlling avatars of concepts. I enjoyed it and will pick up a sequel at the right price; but if I can't remember much of the plot only a couple of months after reading...
The Poison Throne: Moorehawke Trilogy, Book 1
Celine Kiernan
Get the feeling that this may be YA. Uses more than a few tropes but executed well enough. Again would probably pick up a sequel but not in hardback.
Perdido Street Station
China Mieville
As mentioned on another part of your blog. The writing is excellent if [imo] a little Dickensian in the overabundance of descriptive prose. The world building and internal consistency are brilliant. I just found that the book ultimately left me cold and I realised that I just hadn't come to care about any of the characters.
Almost feel like the book deserved more from me and that my not liking it is a fault of mine. Still though, not sure I’d pick up another by the same author unless it had serious recommendations by people whose opinions I trust.
The Hundred-Thousand Kingdoms: Book One of the Inheritance Trilogy (Inheritance Trilogy 1)
N.K. Jemisin
Well enough written but ultimately left me a bit 'meh', seemed like a book about its premise more than any driving plot.
The Red Wolf Conspiracy: The Chathrand Voyage, Book One
Robert V.S. Redick
Now this one I liked and will again pick up a sequel in paperback
Temeraire (Temeraire 1) [a.k.a. His Majesty's Dragon]
Naomi Novik
The standout on this list, LOVED it. The dragon is so well characterised and has such a unique and consistent voice that I totally fell for this book. It even had me on the verge of tears [mainly because I have a weird sentimental streak and don't like humanity much]
Since it's been out for a while I bought all the available sequels at once, they're not as good and didn't have the same impact but were good enough that this is a series I'll follow.
[Interestingly, or not, this book only came to my attention because a website called Suvudu had a fantasy cage match which Pat Rothfuss did a couple of shorts for, reading around there was also one by Ms Novik which was different and charming enough that I grabbed the book.]
Fire
Kristin Cashore
Again I wonder if this was a YA novel, I liked it well enough but still wasn't blown away.
Blood of Ambrose
James Enge
Still not sure whether I liked this book or not. Really. There was stuff I liked, stuff I disliked and quite a lot of 'huh'? Also a whole bunch of laugh out loud moments [accidental flying horse ftw]. On balance I'd probably pick up his next book.
Acacia: War with the Mein Bk. 1
David Anthony Durham
One of the few books that I just didn't enjoy at all. The word that springs to mind, sadly, is 'turgid'. I'm pretty sure I put this down after reading around two thirds of it and haven't picked it up again
Retribution Falls: Tales of the Ketty Jay
Chris Wooding
Was excited by the prospect, in love with the concept and this had so much potential to combine a bunch of great ideas but... This one definitely counts as disappointing, if only because my expectations were for pure awesome. [Airships and heists are both 'win button' items for me.]
The real flaw here was again that I never really came to care about the characters. I get that they're all grey area people, anti-heroes etc but the book never 'clicked' for me.
That said, the premise is strong enough for me that I'll give book two a chance in paperback. It's possible that the first book was concentrating too much on establishing the setting and the second book will be more rewarding in terms of plot and characterisation.
The Magicians
Lev Grossman
Blatantly a kind of dark urban fantasy response to Harry Potter. I seem to remember that it was well written and interesting. Though perhaps not as clever as it thought it was.
Nights of Villjamur (Legends of the Red Sun 1)
Mark Charan Newton
Friends, acquaintances and a number of authors I respect, all appear to be fans of his but I just did not get into this book. I honestly have no idea at all what the point of this book was.
The setting was well established and it had a bunch of characters all with their own narratives and drives but to me it all felt a bit disparate and disjointed. Ultimately there was just nothing in this book to draw me in or keep me interested.
Empire in Black and Gold (Shadows of the Apt)
Adrian Tchaikovsky
This was a perfectly fine book but never grabbed me. The only memorable moment was the whole 'nazi wasps on an airship' bit [as my established predilection for airships dictates, this scene at least should have been made of win.]
That said I did just order the sequel because I read your blog and you seem to suggest that the sequel is better than the debut.
Royal Exile: Book One of the Valisar Trilogy (Valisar Trilogy 1)
Fiona McIntosh
Warlord invades old kingdom after some sort of power or revenge, that’s what I remember. Don't think this was a bad book just not a particularly good one.
The Painted Man (Demon Trilogy 1)
Peter V. Brett
Oh the premise, really good premise demons that mean you can't go outside after dark. Some cool writing and enough interest that I will eventually find out what happens next. Some weird gaps in the narrative which occasionally really broke me out of the story.
The Ten Thousand
Paul Kearney
Roman legions, loosely based around the dissolution of the roman empire. Strong characters. Not that memorable though and further books are only likely to get picked up if there is a gap in my schedule.
The Way of Shadows (Night Angel Trilogy)
Brent Weeks
Not sure why I haven't picked up the sequel yet. Liked this well enough, think it may just have been a little 'trope fatigue' on my part. Plays with the assassin idea but again I think my problem was that the narrative skips through what is after all the interesting part of the premise.
I think one of my issues is that in fantasy, whenever we have an assassin character they are always reluctant or moralistic. I think modern audiences can handle an assassin who is good at his/her job and doesn't have a problem with it. It's the challenge to the author to still be able to make this character engaging.
The author has got another series just started which is getting a bunch of great reviews so I may well give myself a kick up the arse to finish this trilogy and check out his new book.
Winterbirth (Godless World)
Brian Ruckley
Ok, this one I picked up because at the time he was being mentioned in the company of the four books in my original post [see below]... Didn't deserve to be. I may be being unfair, and this may be a better book than I remember. It is entirely possible that being the first book I read after those four, it simply suffers by comparison. TBH unless given a compelling reason I’m unlikely to pick up others in the series.
Return of the Crimson Guard
Ian Cameron Esslemont
Yes, yes please, more of these please. Alright so there is no way I’m not buying his books. As a fan of the Malazan books by Steven Erikson I’m always going to be reading these. That said ICE did a bang up job. Different story telling voice from SE. My only criticism is that much like SE, could be tidier. Love SE, love his clear delight in language but in both authors cases I think they could sometimes do a little more with a little less.
In a recent SE book I was [uniquely] left with a feeling that nothing much had happened until the last couple of hundred pages. That said it was a one off
Perhaps I should clarify what I meant by disappointing, I think I mean it more in relation to other things I have read.
The four books in my original post [Tom lloyd, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch and Joe Abercrombie.] were a real anomaly. They're right up there in my favourite books and all were straight on the 'buy author immediately upon seeing new book' list. [And it's not the longest list in the world, maybe ten names.]
In fact any of my friends who still read LJ and enjoy reading fantasy, I recommend absolutely the following:
Tom lloyd - The Stormcaller
Patrick Rothfuss - The name of the Wind [now with a sequel on an actual schedule, all those I held off on recommending it to shoul buy]
Scott Lynch - The lies of Loche Lamorre
If you buy and read any of these books and really don't enjoy them, I'll allow you to punch me in the groin... or buy you a drink; in fact I thnk i'll go with the drink even though the former would allow me to refer to these books as 'groin punchingly good'.
[Joe Abercrombie I hesitate over a similar level of recommendation. Great books but i'm still not sure that the original trilogy ended up satisfying. I'd recommend but with the caveat that you may feel a little bit let down at the end after a tremendous start.]
I did buy a bunch of KJ parker books after reading a trilogy that was pretty cool... ultimately fell out with the writing though.
This means a post for the first time in 18 months [and only then because LJ says I talk too much and my reply comment was too long.]
As some of you know I was meaning to start reviewing geeky stuff so maybe this will be the spur to the arse that snowballs, or not.
Anyway here are a list of books with a brief comment of what I thought. [And when I say new above, I men books by authors who are new to me. I don't metion any autors that I have already been reading regularly.]
Ok, so just grabbed the names and authors of those from the last couple of years. Not all debuts [think wooding is his debut adult book, ICE technically had night of knives. In each case though they meet my criteria of buying authors I hadn't read before.]
Farlander
Col Buchanan
Perfectly readable but not awesome.
The Left Hand of God
Paul Hoffman
Ok, now this one was cool, not awesome but I will pick up any sequel in paperback to see where it goes. Definitely a bit different.
Shadow and Betrayal: book one: Book One of The Long Price
Daniel Abraham
For the life of me I'm struggling to remember this beyond the hook of poets controlling avatars of concepts. I enjoyed it and will pick up a sequel at the right price; but if I can't remember much of the plot only a couple of months after reading...
The Poison Throne: Moorehawke Trilogy, Book 1
Celine Kiernan
Get the feeling that this may be YA. Uses more than a few tropes but executed well enough. Again would probably pick up a sequel but not in hardback.
Perdido Street Station
China Mieville
As mentioned on another part of your blog. The writing is excellent if [imo] a little Dickensian in the overabundance of descriptive prose. The world building and internal consistency are brilliant. I just found that the book ultimately left me cold and I realised that I just hadn't come to care about any of the characters.
Almost feel like the book deserved more from me and that my not liking it is a fault of mine. Still though, not sure I’d pick up another by the same author unless it had serious recommendations by people whose opinions I trust.
The Hundred-Thousand Kingdoms: Book One of the Inheritance Trilogy (Inheritance Trilogy 1)
N.K. Jemisin
Well enough written but ultimately left me a bit 'meh', seemed like a book about its premise more than any driving plot.
The Red Wolf Conspiracy: The Chathrand Voyage, Book One
Robert V.S. Redick
Now this one I liked and will again pick up a sequel in paperback
Temeraire (Temeraire 1) [a.k.a. His Majesty's Dragon]
Naomi Novik
The standout on this list, LOVED it. The dragon is so well characterised and has such a unique and consistent voice that I totally fell for this book. It even had me on the verge of tears [mainly because I have a weird sentimental streak and don't like humanity much]
Since it's been out for a while I bought all the available sequels at once, they're not as good and didn't have the same impact but were good enough that this is a series I'll follow.
[Interestingly, or not, this book only came to my attention because a website called Suvudu had a fantasy cage match which Pat Rothfuss did a couple of shorts for, reading around there was also one by Ms Novik which was different and charming enough that I grabbed the book.]
Fire
Kristin Cashore
Again I wonder if this was a YA novel, I liked it well enough but still wasn't blown away.
Blood of Ambrose
James Enge
Still not sure whether I liked this book or not. Really. There was stuff I liked, stuff I disliked and quite a lot of 'huh'? Also a whole bunch of laugh out loud moments [accidental flying horse ftw]. On balance I'd probably pick up his next book.
Acacia: War with the Mein Bk. 1
David Anthony Durham
One of the few books that I just didn't enjoy at all. The word that springs to mind, sadly, is 'turgid'. I'm pretty sure I put this down after reading around two thirds of it and haven't picked it up again
Retribution Falls: Tales of the Ketty Jay
Chris Wooding
Was excited by the prospect, in love with the concept and this had so much potential to combine a bunch of great ideas but... This one definitely counts as disappointing, if only because my expectations were for pure awesome. [Airships and heists are both 'win button' items for me.]
The real flaw here was again that I never really came to care about the characters. I get that they're all grey area people, anti-heroes etc but the book never 'clicked' for me.
That said, the premise is strong enough for me that I'll give book two a chance in paperback. It's possible that the first book was concentrating too much on establishing the setting and the second book will be more rewarding in terms of plot and characterisation.
The Magicians
Lev Grossman
Blatantly a kind of dark urban fantasy response to Harry Potter. I seem to remember that it was well written and interesting. Though perhaps not as clever as it thought it was.
Nights of Villjamur (Legends of the Red Sun 1)
Mark Charan Newton
Friends, acquaintances and a number of authors I respect, all appear to be fans of his but I just did not get into this book. I honestly have no idea at all what the point of this book was.
The setting was well established and it had a bunch of characters all with their own narratives and drives but to me it all felt a bit disparate and disjointed. Ultimately there was just nothing in this book to draw me in or keep me interested.
Empire in Black and Gold (Shadows of the Apt)
Adrian Tchaikovsky
This was a perfectly fine book but never grabbed me. The only memorable moment was the whole 'nazi wasps on an airship' bit [as my established predilection for airships dictates, this scene at least should have been made of win.]
That said I did just order the sequel because I read your blog and you seem to suggest that the sequel is better than the debut.
Royal Exile: Book One of the Valisar Trilogy (Valisar Trilogy 1)
Fiona McIntosh
Warlord invades old kingdom after some sort of power or revenge, that’s what I remember. Don't think this was a bad book just not a particularly good one.
The Painted Man (Demon Trilogy 1)
Peter V. Brett
Oh the premise, really good premise demons that mean you can't go outside after dark. Some cool writing and enough interest that I will eventually find out what happens next. Some weird gaps in the narrative which occasionally really broke me out of the story.
The Ten Thousand
Paul Kearney
Roman legions, loosely based around the dissolution of the roman empire. Strong characters. Not that memorable though and further books are only likely to get picked up if there is a gap in my schedule.
The Way of Shadows (Night Angel Trilogy)
Brent Weeks
Not sure why I haven't picked up the sequel yet. Liked this well enough, think it may just have been a little 'trope fatigue' on my part. Plays with the assassin idea but again I think my problem was that the narrative skips through what is after all the interesting part of the premise.
I think one of my issues is that in fantasy, whenever we have an assassin character they are always reluctant or moralistic. I think modern audiences can handle an assassin who is good at his/her job and doesn't have a problem with it. It's the challenge to the author to still be able to make this character engaging.
The author has got another series just started which is getting a bunch of great reviews so I may well give myself a kick up the arse to finish this trilogy and check out his new book.
Winterbirth (Godless World)
Brian Ruckley
Ok, this one I picked up because at the time he was being mentioned in the company of the four books in my original post [see below]... Didn't deserve to be. I may be being unfair, and this may be a better book than I remember. It is entirely possible that being the first book I read after those four, it simply suffers by comparison. TBH unless given a compelling reason I’m unlikely to pick up others in the series.
Return of the Crimson Guard
Ian Cameron Esslemont
Yes, yes please, more of these please. Alright so there is no way I’m not buying his books. As a fan of the Malazan books by Steven Erikson I’m always going to be reading these. That said ICE did a bang up job. Different story telling voice from SE. My only criticism is that much like SE, could be tidier. Love SE, love his clear delight in language but in both authors cases I think they could sometimes do a little more with a little less.
In a recent SE book I was [uniquely] left with a feeling that nothing much had happened until the last couple of hundred pages. That said it was a one off
Perhaps I should clarify what I meant by disappointing, I think I mean it more in relation to other things I have read.
The four books in my original post [Tom lloyd, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch and Joe Abercrombie.] were a real anomaly. They're right up there in my favourite books and all were straight on the 'buy author immediately upon seeing new book' list. [And it's not the longest list in the world, maybe ten names.]
In fact any of my friends who still read LJ and enjoy reading fantasy, I recommend absolutely the following:
Tom lloyd - The Stormcaller
Patrick Rothfuss - The name of the Wind [now with a sequel on an actual schedule, all those I held off on recommending it to shoul buy]
Scott Lynch - The lies of Loche Lamorre
If you buy and read any of these books and really don't enjoy them, I'll allow you to punch me in the groin... or buy you a drink; in fact I thnk i'll go with the drink even though the former would allow me to refer to these books as 'groin punchingly good'.
[Joe Abercrombie I hesitate over a similar level of recommendation. Great books but i'm still not sure that the original trilogy ended up satisfying. I'd recommend but with the caveat that you may feel a little bit let down at the end after a tremendous start.]
I did buy a bunch of KJ parker books after reading a trilogy that was pretty cool... ultimately fell out with the writing though.