Big Book Update
I really need to do these in a timely manner. This is what I've read since my last update.
12. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher
13. Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher
14. White Night by Jim Butcher
15. Small Favor by Jim Butcher
16. Turn Coat by Jim Butcher
17. Changes by Jim Butcher
18. Side Jobs by Jim Butcher
19. Dark and Stormy Knights edited by P.N. Elrod. I read this one for the Dresden Files short story Even Hand by Jim Butcher, but pretty much enjoyed all the stories included.
20. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold. This was the latest Vorkosigan Saga book and thanks to the Cryoburn CD at the Bean Free Library, I was able to get an epub copy of the book free. Except for the end this was pretty much a one off Adventure of Lord Auditor Miles Vorkosigan that won't be very memorable. It's not bad and kinda fun at places, but overall ends up being a monster of the week story.
21. & 22. Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. This is actually two books republished in one volume - Shards of Honor and Barrayar. Once again, thanks to the Cryoburn CD, I now own free epub copies of these books and all the Vorkosigan Saga except Memory (poor Memory, never published in an Omnibus and now not offered in the CD). These were rereads, but I felt like I needed to go back to the beginning after Cryoburn. I skimmed some of the other books in the series, but quickly realized I just needed a Cordelia fix. She really deserved more stories.
23. Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera, Book 1) by Jim Butcher
24. Academ's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 2) by Jim Butcher
25. Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 3) by Jim Butcher
26. Captain's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 4) by Jim Butcher
27. Princep's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 5) by Jim Butcher
28. First Lord's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 6) by Jim Butcher. I haven't done this in a long time, but in the last two books, I actually skipped ahead to find out what happens. I wasn't bored or dissatisfied with the story, I just needed to know! I enjoyed this series and now want Codex Alera: The Next Generation to see how the world these characters are trying to build turns out.
29. - 31. The Book of Jhereg by Steven Brust. This is an omnibus of the first three published book of the Vlad Taltos series - Jhereg, Yendi and Teckla. I tried to like this series, I really did. I read the first two books and felt that they were clunky, especially the dialog, and the 'romance' between Vlad and Cawti in book two was weak and seemed like it depended too much on the fact that book 2 chronologically happens after book 1, in which the two characters are already married, so of course they get together... Also Burst depends far too much on the 'that's another story' line to avoid having to explain pre-established relationships - either he hasn't determined how the characters met yet or simply doesn't have the time/page count to even give a short explanation. Because these first three books are short! The omnibus is only 474 pages - that's an average of less than 160 pages per book. So between the low page count and knowing that sometimes is takes a long series to hit it's stride, I decided to keep going. Then book 3 happened. And now I completely hate the main character and don't care about his adventures or what happens next. (I kinda want to know what happens to Cawti, but that's what the internet is for!) So on to something else!
12. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher
13. Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher
14. White Night by Jim Butcher
15. Small Favor by Jim Butcher
16. Turn Coat by Jim Butcher
17. Changes by Jim Butcher
18. Side Jobs by Jim Butcher
19. Dark and Stormy Knights edited by P.N. Elrod. I read this one for the Dresden Files short story Even Hand by Jim Butcher, but pretty much enjoyed all the stories included.
20. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold. This was the latest Vorkosigan Saga book and thanks to the Cryoburn CD at the Bean Free Library, I was able to get an epub copy of the book free. Except for the end this was pretty much a one off Adventure of Lord Auditor Miles Vorkosigan that won't be very memorable. It's not bad and kinda fun at places, but overall ends up being a monster of the week story.
21. & 22. Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. This is actually two books republished in one volume - Shards of Honor and Barrayar. Once again, thanks to the Cryoburn CD, I now own free epub copies of these books and all the Vorkosigan Saga except Memory (poor Memory, never published in an Omnibus and now not offered in the CD). These were rereads, but I felt like I needed to go back to the beginning after Cryoburn. I skimmed some of the other books in the series, but quickly realized I just needed a Cordelia fix. She really deserved more stories.
23. Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera, Book 1) by Jim Butcher
24. Academ's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 2) by Jim Butcher
25. Cursor's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 3) by Jim Butcher
26. Captain's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 4) by Jim Butcher
27. Princep's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 5) by Jim Butcher
28. First Lord's Fury (Codex Alera, Book 6) by Jim Butcher. I haven't done this in a long time, but in the last two books, I actually skipped ahead to find out what happens. I wasn't bored or dissatisfied with the story, I just needed to know! I enjoyed this series and now want Codex Alera: The Next Generation to see how the world these characters are trying to build turns out.
29. - 31. The Book of Jhereg by Steven Brust. This is an omnibus of the first three published book of the Vlad Taltos series - Jhereg, Yendi and Teckla. I tried to like this series, I really did. I read the first two books and felt that they were clunky, especially the dialog, and the 'romance' between Vlad and Cawti in book two was weak and seemed like it depended too much on the fact that book 2 chronologically happens after book 1, in which the two characters are already married, so of course they get together... Also Burst depends far too much on the 'that's another story' line to avoid having to explain pre-established relationships - either he hasn't determined how the characters met yet or simply doesn't have the time/page count to even give a short explanation. Because these first three books are short! The omnibus is only 474 pages - that's an average of less than 160 pages per book. So between the low page count and knowing that sometimes is takes a long series to hit it's stride, I decided to keep going. Then book 3 happened. And now I completely hate the main character and don't care about his adventures or what happens next. (I kinda want to know what happens to Cawti, but that's what the internet is for!) So on to something else!