Reading Wednesday
Finished reading: The Redeemer by Jo Nesbø. I'm still digesting this novel, but so far, I think I would consider it one of the better novels in the Harry Hole series, though not the best one (that one would be The Redbreast, I feel). The twist came out of left field for me, but I think I just failed to pick up on some cues.
What interests me most, though, are the characters. Harry Hole is more tolerable than not in this book, which is good (there are some novels where I can't stand him). He makes some choices toward the end which are... certainly not in line with good police work, but which I nonetheless can sympathize with. And speaking of complicated things, I felt an unexpected amount of compassion for the hitman in this novel. It's similar to the feeling I felt for the central character in The Son, I think.
Also finished reading: Mort by Terry Pratchett. To my surprise, this is a Pratchett novel that I have never, ever read before. I've owned the book for a long time, but I had zero recollection of ever having read it, and the book showed no sign of ever being opened. So, we must conclude... but anyway.
I feel like Mort is where the series starts to lose some of the roughness of the earliest books and gets into a better gait. It hasn't hit its stride yet (and I'll be damned if I know for sure when that would be, though maybe as I keep reading the series I'll have more of an idea of where I feel it might be). But one can tell that it's... getting somewhere. It's settling in. There's a feel of "This goes here, and that goes there-" Even though I love the first few books in the series, they read more awkwardly, and of course there are the inconsistencies with the later novels.
When I was reading the series for the first time (and completely out of order) I feel that I didn't really have enough appreciation for Death as a character. Maybe it's because he'd show up in bits and pieces, always briefly. It wasn't until a lot later that I read anything that really focused on him. And I still certainly can't say that I can get into his head now. But I developed an appreciation for him over the years.
One new thing I realized when reading this novel, is not about this particular book, but the series as a whole... I have no idea where anything fits in, in terms of a timeline, I mean. There are several different storylines, and I suppose they're all happening at once, but it didn't hit me until just now - mainly because, well, in this novel, Susan doesn't exist yet. I might have to look it up sometime, how all the books fit together - not just in terms of which comes after which, but on a temporal scale. Surely somebody's written that down somewhere.
Currently reading: A Redtail's Dream by Minna Sundberg. It's a webcomic, but I'm counting it as a book because it's been published in print as well, though the printed version of the book is no longer available from what I can see. Summary from the website, it's a story about: "a young man and his shapeshifting dog on an involuntary journey on the other side of the Bird's Path in the realm of dreams. They have to rescue their fellow Villagers before their souls pass on to Tuonela, the land of eternal sleep." Sounds like it's right up my alley! It starts of a little slowly, but it picks up after the prologue (so, around Page 15). The art is lovely, and so far I'm enjoying the story, though I'm not very far into it yet.
Reading next: Fools by Pat Cadigan. I have no idea what it's about, but from my experience with Cadigan so far, I can guess that 1. it's cyberpunk, 2. it's kind of a mindfuck, and 3. I'll enjoy it. After that is finished, I'll read Pratchett's Sourcery. Probably.
Looking forward to reading: Stand Still, Stay Silent, by Minna Sundberg. It's a post-apocalyptic webcomic set in the Nordic countries (primarily Iceland, from what I've heard?). I've been trying to be patient and hold off reading it until the printed version of chapters 1-5 is released - I paid for it when the crowdfunding campaign was going on, because this comic sounds so relevant to my interests, and I prefer reading things in print. The April 16th blog entry says that the print prep is going very well, which is good! Though there are still a lot of things that need to be taken care of before it's printed. I hope I'll be able to prevent myself from reading it before the print version is in my hands. [/crosses fingers!!]
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3388591.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.
What interests me most, though, are the characters. Harry Hole is more tolerable than not in this book, which is good (there are some novels where I can't stand him). He makes some choices toward the end which are... certainly not in line with good police work, but which I nonetheless can sympathize with. And speaking of complicated things, I felt an unexpected amount of compassion for the hitman in this novel. It's similar to the feeling I felt for the central character in The Son, I think.
Also finished reading: Mort by Terry Pratchett. To my surprise, this is a Pratchett novel that I have never, ever read before. I've owned the book for a long time, but I had zero recollection of ever having read it, and the book showed no sign of ever being opened. So, we must conclude... but anyway.
I feel like Mort is where the series starts to lose some of the roughness of the earliest books and gets into a better gait. It hasn't hit its stride yet (and I'll be damned if I know for sure when that would be, though maybe as I keep reading the series I'll have more of an idea of where I feel it might be). But one can tell that it's... getting somewhere. It's settling in. There's a feel of "This goes here, and that goes there-" Even though I love the first few books in the series, they read more awkwardly, and of course there are the inconsistencies with the later novels.
When I was reading the series for the first time (and completely out of order) I feel that I didn't really have enough appreciation for Death as a character. Maybe it's because he'd show up in bits and pieces, always briefly. It wasn't until a lot later that I read anything that really focused on him. And I still certainly can't say that I can get into his head now. But I developed an appreciation for him over the years.
One new thing I realized when reading this novel, is not about this particular book, but the series as a whole... I have no idea where anything fits in, in terms of a timeline, I mean. There are several different storylines, and I suppose they're all happening at once, but it didn't hit me until just now - mainly because, well, in this novel, Susan doesn't exist yet. I might have to look it up sometime, how all the books fit together - not just in terms of which comes after which, but on a temporal scale. Surely somebody's written that down somewhere.
Currently reading: A Redtail's Dream by Minna Sundberg. It's a webcomic, but I'm counting it as a book because it's been published in print as well, though the printed version of the book is no longer available from what I can see. Summary from the website, it's a story about: "a young man and his shapeshifting dog on an involuntary journey on the other side of the Bird's Path in the realm of dreams. They have to rescue their fellow Villagers before their souls pass on to Tuonela, the land of eternal sleep." Sounds like it's right up my alley! It starts of a little slowly, but it picks up after the prologue (so, around Page 15). The art is lovely, and so far I'm enjoying the story, though I'm not very far into it yet.
Reading next: Fools by Pat Cadigan. I have no idea what it's about, but from my experience with Cadigan so far, I can guess that 1. it's cyberpunk, 2. it's kind of a mindfuck, and 3. I'll enjoy it. After that is finished, I'll read Pratchett's Sourcery. Probably.
Looking forward to reading: Stand Still, Stay Silent, by Minna Sundberg. It's a post-apocalyptic webcomic set in the Nordic countries (primarily Iceland, from what I've heard?). I've been trying to be patient and hold off reading it until the printed version of chapters 1-5 is released - I paid for it when the crowdfunding campaign was going on, because this comic sounds so relevant to my interests, and I prefer reading things in print. The April 16th blog entry says that the print prep is going very well, which is good! Though there are still a lot of things that need to be taken care of before it's printed. I hope I'll be able to prevent myself from reading it before the print version is in my hands. [/crosses fingers!!]
This entry was originally posted at http://yuuago.dreamwidth.org/3388591.html. You can comment here or at the original entry.