March/April books
May. 2nd, 2007 10:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellarienI seem to be reading again the last couple of weeks, but before that most of my reading time was going into writing, so this covers April and March, such as they were. Spoilers may exist.
Tim Powers, The Drawing of the Dark
For some reason, Merlin is running a brewpub in 16th-century Vienna, and hires the reincarnation of Arthur, a hard-bitten old mercenary, as a bouncer as part of an elaborate scheme to save the Fisher King and stop the Turkish conquest of Europe. It's early Powers, but with the usual tropes of magic and secret history and excessive alcohol consumption, and I enjoyed it rather more than I did his latest.
Gene Wolfe, Soldier of Sidon
Further adventures of Latro the brain-damaged soldier in the days of the Persian empire; this time he's traveling up the Nile in search of his lost memory, encountering gods and schemers and a vampiric wax woman, and still forgetting everything by the next day. I actually thought I was mostly following what was going on until quite close to the end, when he misses writing up his scroll for a while and things get confusing.
Dudley Pope, Ramage and the Rebels
Further derring-do and cunning ruses in the Caribbean in the early nineteenth century, rather darker and bloodier than the last couple of books as Ramage and his crew go after a sadistic privateer.
Vernor Vinge, The Witling
Interesting tale of explorers stranded on a world where telekinetic ability is the norm and not having it is regarded as a serious handicap. The working out of the consequences in the way the society works is intriguing, and the bear is cute, but none of the characters grabbed me very much.
Jim Butcher, Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril, Summer Knight
What can I say? They're addictive; I read these four pretty much back to back. I saw the TV series before I read the books; it turns out that the cast as somewhat different, as are the plots. (I think I liked TV-Bob better, but preferred the book versions otherwise.) The books have something of an escalating arc, much more than the TV series.
Tim Powers, The Drawing of the Dark
For some reason, Merlin is running a brewpub in 16th-century Vienna, and hires the reincarnation of Arthur, a hard-bitten old mercenary, as a bouncer as part of an elaborate scheme to save the Fisher King and stop the Turkish conquest of Europe. It's early Powers, but with the usual tropes of magic and secret history and excessive alcohol consumption, and I enjoyed it rather more than I did his latest.
Gene Wolfe, Soldier of Sidon
Further adventures of Latro the brain-damaged soldier in the days of the Persian empire; this time he's traveling up the Nile in search of his lost memory, encountering gods and schemers and a vampiric wax woman, and still forgetting everything by the next day. I actually thought I was mostly following what was going on until quite close to the end, when he misses writing up his scroll for a while and things get confusing.
Dudley Pope, Ramage and the Rebels
Further derring-do and cunning ruses in the Caribbean in the early nineteenth century, rather darker and bloodier than the last couple of books as Ramage and his crew go after a sadistic privateer.
Vernor Vinge, The Witling
Interesting tale of explorers stranded on a world where telekinetic ability is the norm and not having it is regarded as a serious handicap. The working out of the consequences in the way the society works is intriguing, and the bear is cute, but none of the characters grabbed me very much.
Jim Butcher, Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril, Summer Knight
What can I say? They're addictive; I read these four pretty much back to back. I saw the TV series before I read the books; it turns out that the cast as somewhat different, as are the plots. (I think I liked TV-Bob better, but preferred the book versions otherwise.) The books have something of an escalating arc, much more than the TV series.
