Backlog, Part I
So, while I've been too busy to read LJ, I have been doing other reading, especially on the Metro, which is a time during which I can't do anything online at all. I've been doing a LOT of reading, so it's going to take several posts to catch up on WHAT I've been reading.
Let's start with books. I haven't just been reading books, I've been reading whole series of books.
First, I read "The Gap" series, a five-novel saga from Stephen R. Donaldson. The books are The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story, The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge, The Gap into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises, The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Disorder, and The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die..
Yeah, Donaldson. I wasn't impressed by his Covenant the Unbeliever series (to the point where I've never gotten around to the second book in the trilogy), but I was told the Gap stuff was different. And it was: I actually enjoyed it.
I think he does better with SF than fantasy. The series is set in a future as created by something called the Gap Drive, an FTL travel method that sometimes drives people mad. It starts out with a complicated little minuet of a story involving the lives of three people who live on the fringes of space (the first novel), but over time the series becomes a complicated tale involving a terrible cold war between an alien race (the Amnion) and humanity, the dangers of human greed, and one man's attempt to make the universe safe for humans. It's based very loosely on -- or perhaps sort of inspired by -- Wagner's Ring Cycle. (What's up with SF based on the Ring Cycle? I know of one video game that's a SF take on it, and there's a Captain Harlock anime series based on it...)
Anyhoo, I was told once regarding the Covenant the Unbeliever series that that if you can get past the rape scene in the first book, you're good. I think this is more literally more true of this series. If you can tolerate the (much nastier) rape scenes (that's multiple rape scenes, by the way) in the first book, you should be fine.
I dunno what's up with Donaldson and rape, but the important thing is you'll know you'll be able to handle the series overall if you can take the first book, in particular if you can have a certain amount of sympathy, no matter how small and how overwhelmed by hatred and disgust, for a mass-murderer and rapist, as he transforms from villain to victim. If you're capable of viewing a very, very bad person as a human being worthy of a tiny drop of sympathy, even if you can't forgive him for what he did (and the text makes it clear you shouldn't), then you'll enjoy the first book, and what follows it.
The first book is probably the best; while making it clear you should hate Angus Thermopile (the aforementioned rapist and mass murderer) for the things he's done, Donaldson deftly manages to make him seem human, which is vital as things totally fall apart for him, because otherwise you won't care when things go pear-shaped for him. The book starts with a listing of events as people understood them on a particular space station, followed by what REALLY happened.
The second book is also very personal, following what happens to the various characters after the first book, and completing various transformations: While Thermopile went from villain to victim in the first book, in the second book someone who seemed a hero becomes a villain, and the victim transforms into a heroine of sorts.
After that, the style of the books change, becoming less personal, even giving the occasional encyclopedia-like "supplemental data" entries on the universe, sort of like a reverse RPG sourcebook -- mostly fiction, with a little source material. However, this drawing back makes everything more epic, giving even more room for people to show themselves at heroes and villains. The last three books are a little overlong, but they keep you hooked.
What makes the series work is that while it is highly nasty and gritty, despite the cynicism of all the characters and the compromises they make, by the end of the series humanity is better off than it was at the start of the series, and there's been redemption -- or damnation -- for all the major characters. This including several characters that don't even get introduced until the second or third book, but turn out to be very important, especially in terms of how they intersect with the three main characters of the first book. (Of those "later" characters, I particularly like Hashi. Watch for him.)
I also read all the Dresden Files books that are out at this point. These are by Jim Butcher, and we're talking seven novels here (so far): Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril, Summer Knight, Death Masks, Blood Rites, and Dead Beat.
These are good popcorn books. They're highly predictable (even for me, and I usually suck at predicting "obvious" plot twists), and the writing is workmanlike but not brilliant. That said, they're fast reads and very fun, and therefore addictive in the same way candy bars are: Empty in some ways, but tasty. Also, there's a cumulative effect. While each novel stands alone, knowledge of previous novels (or "episodes", as I tend to think of them -- the books are very TV-like, IMHO) will provide a lot of easter eggs, and provides a lot of the interest: You get to like the characters, even if some of them are one-note, and become curious about what's going to happen to them.
The books are a sort of cross between a detective novel and urban fantasy, with an emphasis on the latter; the novels are not quite gritty enough to be as noir as they want to be. They follow the life and loves of Harry Dresden, a wizard for hire, sort of the head of a supernatural detective agency, dealing with a supernatural worlds of vampires, faeries, and whatnot that most people don't want to admit exists. It's not surprising that there's going to be a RPG based on the books; the details have a very "geek" feel to them, very self-consistent and carefully delineated (none of the De Lint dreamlike feel), and it's obvious the author is at least passingly familiar with RPGs and comics. (Harry himself is a comic-book fan, though it doesn't come up much, and there's a group of college students -- who are also werewolves -- that Harry hangs out with that play D&D in their spare time.)
I also read more of the Dying Earth novels, two of them: The Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga.
Unlike Vance's first novel in the setting, these two books focus on a main character: Cugel, a charming but completely amoral man who ends up on a long and complicated quest when he is caught trying to burglarize a wizard's home, and his complicated adventures in attempting to extract revenge on said wizard. Together, both books make up the complete story.
Vance excels at atmosphere; while more cohesive than the first book, Cugel's adventures are very much an excuse to encounter all sorts of strange and exotic locations and people, where Cugel gets swindled, swindles someone, or both, and ends up fleeing town for one reason or another. It's really tough to describe the appeal of these novels: It's in the way everyone talks and acts, strangely detached in speech yet passionate about one's own selfish desires, cynical and dreamlike at the same time. These are the sort of novels you want all your friends to read, but it's tough to describe WHY they should do so, other than they're rather funny in a very intellectual way.
Since I enjoyed Vance's work so much, I checked out his "Planet of Adventure" series, which consists of four novels: City of the Chasch, Servants of the Wankh, The Dirdir and The Pnume.
The novels do not stand alone well; you really need to read the first novel to understand the other three. It's best to view them as one long novel. That said, it's an enjoyable novel, though the ending is sort of abrupt.
It's a SF novel which involves the adventures of Adam Reith, the sole survivor of a mission to the planet Tschai, which turns out to be the home of four sentient alien races and the descendants of human slaves that one of the races in question stole from Earth in our prehistory. Reith is trying to get back to Earth, to tell Earth about this strange planet of men and aliens, particularly given that many of the men still serve these aliens, a situation Reith doesn't find acceptable.
While less amoral than the Cugel, there's still a certain sense of detached, fancy speech and cynical swindles, and there's the same exotic feel as the Dying Earth novels, though less over-the-top. Vance's attitude toward women in the book is not exactly enlightened, though it leads to some plot surprises -- you wouldn't expect the romantic entanglement that drives a lot of plot in the first novel to disappear as suddenly as she does in the second novel.
Overall, the books are fun popcorn books, though not quite as good as the Dying Earth stuff.
Oh, and I finally got around to reading Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon.
In case you've been living under a rock, the book is a sort of neo-pagan take on the Arthurian myth, with Morgan Le Fay as sort of the heroine. Despite what some people have said to me, it's not very "fluffy pagan" at all, and captures the tragedy of the Arthurian myth very well, just from a very different angle. As long as you don't view it as historical (which one should never do with the Arthur myth anyway), you should be fine. Then again, I love alternate takes on the Arthur myth, so it makes sense that I would like it...
Let's start with books. I haven't just been reading books, I've been reading whole series of books.
First, I read "The Gap" series, a five-novel saga from Stephen R. Donaldson. The books are The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story, The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge, The Gap into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises, The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Disorder, and The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die..
Yeah, Donaldson. I wasn't impressed by his Covenant the Unbeliever series (to the point where I've never gotten around to the second book in the trilogy), but I was told the Gap stuff was different. And it was: I actually enjoyed it.
I think he does better with SF than fantasy. The series is set in a future as created by something called the Gap Drive, an FTL travel method that sometimes drives people mad. It starts out with a complicated little minuet of a story involving the lives of three people who live on the fringes of space (the first novel), but over time the series becomes a complicated tale involving a terrible cold war between an alien race (the Amnion) and humanity, the dangers of human greed, and one man's attempt to make the universe safe for humans. It's based very loosely on -- or perhaps sort of inspired by -- Wagner's Ring Cycle. (What's up with SF based on the Ring Cycle? I know of one video game that's a SF take on it, and there's a Captain Harlock anime series based on it...)
Anyhoo, I was told once regarding the Covenant the Unbeliever series that that if you can get past the rape scene in the first book, you're good. I think this is more literally more true of this series. If you can tolerate the (much nastier) rape scenes (that's multiple rape scenes, by the way) in the first book, you should be fine.
I dunno what's up with Donaldson and rape, but the important thing is you'll know you'll be able to handle the series overall if you can take the first book, in particular if you can have a certain amount of sympathy, no matter how small and how overwhelmed by hatred and disgust, for a mass-murderer and rapist, as he transforms from villain to victim. If you're capable of viewing a very, very bad person as a human being worthy of a tiny drop of sympathy, even if you can't forgive him for what he did (and the text makes it clear you shouldn't), then you'll enjoy the first book, and what follows it.
The first book is probably the best; while making it clear you should hate Angus Thermopile (the aforementioned rapist and mass murderer) for the things he's done, Donaldson deftly manages to make him seem human, which is vital as things totally fall apart for him, because otherwise you won't care when things go pear-shaped for him. The book starts with a listing of events as people understood them on a particular space station, followed by what REALLY happened.
The second book is also very personal, following what happens to the various characters after the first book, and completing various transformations: While Thermopile went from villain to victim in the first book, in the second book someone who seemed a hero becomes a villain, and the victim transforms into a heroine of sorts.
After that, the style of the books change, becoming less personal, even giving the occasional encyclopedia-like "supplemental data" entries on the universe, sort of like a reverse RPG sourcebook -- mostly fiction, with a little source material. However, this drawing back makes everything more epic, giving even more room for people to show themselves at heroes and villains. The last three books are a little overlong, but they keep you hooked.
What makes the series work is that while it is highly nasty and gritty, despite the cynicism of all the characters and the compromises they make, by the end of the series humanity is better off than it was at the start of the series, and there's been redemption -- or damnation -- for all the major characters. This including several characters that don't even get introduced until the second or third book, but turn out to be very important, especially in terms of how they intersect with the three main characters of the first book. (Of those "later" characters, I particularly like Hashi. Watch for him.)
I also read all the Dresden Files books that are out at this point. These are by Jim Butcher, and we're talking seven novels here (so far): Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril, Summer Knight, Death Masks, Blood Rites, and Dead Beat.
These are good popcorn books. They're highly predictable (even for me, and I usually suck at predicting "obvious" plot twists), and the writing is workmanlike but not brilliant. That said, they're fast reads and very fun, and therefore addictive in the same way candy bars are: Empty in some ways, but tasty. Also, there's a cumulative effect. While each novel stands alone, knowledge of previous novels (or "episodes", as I tend to think of them -- the books are very TV-like, IMHO) will provide a lot of easter eggs, and provides a lot of the interest: You get to like the characters, even if some of them are one-note, and become curious about what's going to happen to them.
The books are a sort of cross between a detective novel and urban fantasy, with an emphasis on the latter; the novels are not quite gritty enough to be as noir as they want to be. They follow the life and loves of Harry Dresden, a wizard for hire, sort of the head of a supernatural detective agency, dealing with a supernatural worlds of vampires, faeries, and whatnot that most people don't want to admit exists. It's not surprising that there's going to be a RPG based on the books; the details have a very "geek" feel to them, very self-consistent and carefully delineated (none of the De Lint dreamlike feel), and it's obvious the author is at least passingly familiar with RPGs and comics. (Harry himself is a comic-book fan, though it doesn't come up much, and there's a group of college students -- who are also werewolves -- that Harry hangs out with that play D&D in their spare time.)
I also read more of the Dying Earth novels, two of them: The Eyes of the Overworld and Cugel's Saga.
Unlike Vance's first novel in the setting, these two books focus on a main character: Cugel, a charming but completely amoral man who ends up on a long and complicated quest when he is caught trying to burglarize a wizard's home, and his complicated adventures in attempting to extract revenge on said wizard. Together, both books make up the complete story.
Vance excels at atmosphere; while more cohesive than the first book, Cugel's adventures are very much an excuse to encounter all sorts of strange and exotic locations and people, where Cugel gets swindled, swindles someone, or both, and ends up fleeing town for one reason or another. It's really tough to describe the appeal of these novels: It's in the way everyone talks and acts, strangely detached in speech yet passionate about one's own selfish desires, cynical and dreamlike at the same time. These are the sort of novels you want all your friends to read, but it's tough to describe WHY they should do so, other than they're rather funny in a very intellectual way.
Since I enjoyed Vance's work so much, I checked out his "Planet of Adventure" series, which consists of four novels: City of the Chasch, Servants of the Wankh, The Dirdir and The Pnume.
The novels do not stand alone well; you really need to read the first novel to understand the other three. It's best to view them as one long novel. That said, it's an enjoyable novel, though the ending is sort of abrupt.
It's a SF novel which involves the adventures of Adam Reith, the sole survivor of a mission to the planet Tschai, which turns out to be the home of four sentient alien races and the descendants of human slaves that one of the races in question stole from Earth in our prehistory. Reith is trying to get back to Earth, to tell Earth about this strange planet of men and aliens, particularly given that many of the men still serve these aliens, a situation Reith doesn't find acceptable.
While less amoral than the Cugel, there's still a certain sense of detached, fancy speech and cynical swindles, and there's the same exotic feel as the Dying Earth novels, though less over-the-top. Vance's attitude toward women in the book is not exactly enlightened, though it leads to some plot surprises -- you wouldn't expect the romantic entanglement that drives a lot of plot in the first novel to disappear as suddenly as she does in the second novel.
Overall, the books are fun popcorn books, though not quite as good as the Dying Earth stuff.
Oh, and I finally got around to reading Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon.
In case you've been living under a rock, the book is a sort of neo-pagan take on the Arthurian myth, with Morgan Le Fay as sort of the heroine. Despite what some people have said to me, it's not very "fluffy pagan" at all, and captures the tragedy of the Arthurian myth very well, just from a very different angle. As long as you don't view it as historical (which one should never do with the Arthur myth anyway), you should be fine. Then again, I love alternate takes on the Arthur myth, so it makes sense that I would like it...