February reading
February was a much slower reading month than January, mostly because the book I read or was reading didn't grab me that much, or in one case I'm still slowly reading and savouring a book that I'll probably finish this month.
16. Ekaterina Sedia: The Secret History of Moscow
This book is set in Moscow in the 1990s, where people are suddenly turning into birds. A small group sets to investigate this mystery and to find one woman's missing sister. During their investigation, they find an underground realm where old gods go to wither away and die.
Sedia's novel combines a lot of elements I like (folk tales and mythology, magic suddenly disturbing the mundane), and I did like the ideas, but the execution and the balancing didn't work for me. I would have liked to have learned much more about the old gods and folklore creatures in the underworld, but the book spent too much time in setting up the scene and introducing the characters and their troubles before moving on to other things.
17. Scott Hawkins: The Library at Mount Char (e-book)
I don't know what to think about this book. Getting into it was a major struggle, but about halfway through I just read the rest in one sitting.
It's a dark fantasy where a group of children was adopted by Father, who taught each of them a different "catalogue" in the titular library. Now Father is missing and the grown up children try to find out what happened, but also fight to win in the power vacuum left behind in his absence.
I liked a lot of the ideas, and like I said, once I got past the beginning, I found it much more interesting, but the book was much too gory for me. I don't much enjoy horror or gore or stuff like that, and there was too much of it in this book for me to really enjoy it.
18. Kai Ashante Wilson: The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps (novella, e-book)
I quite enjoyed this one, and am thinking of nominating it for Hugos if I can just decide whether to put it in the Novel of the Novella category (apparently it's just a bit too long for the novellas, but it's also quite short for a novel)
The story tells of a group of mercenaries traveling with a merchant caravan. The action is viewed through the "sorcerer" of the group, who is descended from a people with godlike powers, who has some skills and powers himself, but is still mostly human.
What I enjoyed most was the brotherhood and camaraderie between the men in the group. A lot of time is spent on showing the different characters of the brothers and the dynamics of the group.
The worldbuilding is interesting, since it's a combination of science fiction and fantasy. The godlike powers mentioned before are a result of science, but the setting is mostly fantastic. I quite recommend this.
19. Fabian Nicieza et al.: Deadpool Classic, vol. 1 (graphic novel, e-book)
With the coming of the Deadpool movie, I was interested in reading some of the original comics. I asked for recommendations in a Facebook group, and was told that this book collects stuff that should be a good introduction to the character.
This book collects some of the earliest Deadpool stories, and as such might be a good introduction for some. For me it didn't quite work. The book has quite a disparate collection of various stuff, including the New Mutants issue where the character first appeared, a couple of several issue stories, etc. The artwork was not that great (for example, I hate Liefeld's work) except for the last story which I liked better than the previous ones.
I did get some glimpses on the character's development and why he could be interesting, so I might go on to check out the second volume, but I'll probably go see the movie first and decide after that.
16. Ekaterina Sedia: The Secret History of Moscow
This book is set in Moscow in the 1990s, where people are suddenly turning into birds. A small group sets to investigate this mystery and to find one woman's missing sister. During their investigation, they find an underground realm where old gods go to wither away and die.
Sedia's novel combines a lot of elements I like (folk tales and mythology, magic suddenly disturbing the mundane), and I did like the ideas, but the execution and the balancing didn't work for me. I would have liked to have learned much more about the old gods and folklore creatures in the underworld, but the book spent too much time in setting up the scene and introducing the characters and their troubles before moving on to other things.
17. Scott Hawkins: The Library at Mount Char (e-book)
I don't know what to think about this book. Getting into it was a major struggle, but about halfway through I just read the rest in one sitting.
It's a dark fantasy where a group of children was adopted by Father, who taught each of them a different "catalogue" in the titular library. Now Father is missing and the grown up children try to find out what happened, but also fight to win in the power vacuum left behind in his absence.
I liked a lot of the ideas, and like I said, once I got past the beginning, I found it much more interesting, but the book was much too gory for me. I don't much enjoy horror or gore or stuff like that, and there was too much of it in this book for me to really enjoy it.
18. Kai Ashante Wilson: The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps (novella, e-book)
I quite enjoyed this one, and am thinking of nominating it for Hugos if I can just decide whether to put it in the Novel of the Novella category (apparently it's just a bit too long for the novellas, but it's also quite short for a novel)
The story tells of a group of mercenaries traveling with a merchant caravan. The action is viewed through the "sorcerer" of the group, who is descended from a people with godlike powers, who has some skills and powers himself, but is still mostly human.
What I enjoyed most was the brotherhood and camaraderie between the men in the group. A lot of time is spent on showing the different characters of the brothers and the dynamics of the group.
The worldbuilding is interesting, since it's a combination of science fiction and fantasy. The godlike powers mentioned before are a result of science, but the setting is mostly fantastic. I quite recommend this.
19. Fabian Nicieza et al.: Deadpool Classic, vol. 1 (graphic novel, e-book)
With the coming of the Deadpool movie, I was interested in reading some of the original comics. I asked for recommendations in a Facebook group, and was told that this book collects stuff that should be a good introduction to the character.
This book collects some of the earliest Deadpool stories, and as such might be a good introduction for some. For me it didn't quite work. The book has quite a disparate collection of various stuff, including the New Mutants issue where the character first appeared, a couple of several issue stories, etc. The artwork was not that great (for example, I hate Liefeld's work) except for the last story which I liked better than the previous ones.
I did get some glimpses on the character's development and why he could be interesting, so I might go on to check out the second volume, but I'll probably go see the movie first and decide after that.