Hours Gone By

What I Just Finished Reading: Ooh, this'll be a long one. We went to visit family for the hols and because I a) don't drive and b) don't care to watch endless marathons of either news or reality TV I spent a lot of time reading. I was also trying to reach my 50 book target for Goodreads this year but...I don't think that's going to happen in 2 days. Still, 5 or 6 shy of the goal isn't bad. Thank god for ereaders: I'd've had to pack a whole other bag for books otherwise.

Furies of Calderon (Codex Alera #1) by Jim Butcher: I don't dislike Jim Butcher's work by any means - I pretty much marathoned all 15 Dresden Files novels in a week not that long ago - but I suspect it'll take me a book or two to get into this series as well, as it did with Dresden Files. I enjoyed the book, certainly, but it felt unfinished. Not surprising, given that it's part of a series, but I can't help feeling that even with a series you should be able to read the individual books without feeling either unfinished or lost. I've still gone ahead and added the 2nd book to my library wishlist to remind me to borrow it when next I log in to borrow some things.

Pretty Polly and Whisper by Barbara Hambly: These two novellas are set in the world of Hambly's Darwath series (originally a trilogy, now encompassing five books and sadly out of print) and are available to purchase from Smashwords, where Hambly sells a number of short stories (Continuing Adventures) for her various series. I was edgy about reading Pretty Polly because I don't like it when bad things happen to animals in books and filmbut the titular cat winds up with a happy ending, to my relief.Whisper felt a little more awkward than Pretty Polly, as if it should have been larger and was cropped down to novella length. The reasons in-story make sense, but I would very much have liked a more intricate plot. The ending felt a little pat too but overall I liked it, though of the two Pretty Polly was my favoriate. It's been a while since I read anything mid-apocalyptic and longer since I read the Darwath series (puts on list) but I was surprised and pleased at how easy it was to drop back into the world.

The Kindred of Darkness by Barbara Hambly: I picked this to reread because I like to have long, continuous books to read when we're driving - well, he's driving, I'm being driven - or when I have long stretches of time to read. Plus, Lydia, Don Ysidro, and James - won't say no to reading about them! While I didn't think this was one of the stronger entries in the series when I first read it, on reread I like it better.

Widdershins, Threshold, and Stormhaven by Jordan L. Hawk, the first three books in the Whyborne & Griffin series: Widdershins is available free at Smashwords, and the link will take you there. Thanks so much to just_ann_now for letting me know! I bought Threshold and Stormhaven, and perforce another copy of Widdershins, in an omnibus edition right after finishing Widdershins and pretty much spent the last two days with my nose in my ereader. The first book is very reminiscent of Sarah Monette's Kyle Murchison Booth short stories - not a copy, mind, just the same feeling - but less dark. And with more sex. It moves away from that feeling in books 2 and 3. Threshold has a significant Lovecraftian feel, though with more readable prose, much more likeable main characters, and a genuinely weird and engrossing plot. Stormhaven was a little harder for me to read, as it deals with a Victorian/Edwardian mental asylum and I know enough of those (read: pretty much anything) that it would make me uncomfortable even if I wasn't often edgy about treatment of the mentally ill in fiction. It also delves deeper into Griffin's past in an asylum and how he was subjected to "gay 'cure' therapy", and sexual assault (by attendants and as part of said "therapy"). (He wasn't committed for being gay, and doesn't know who told the doctors, just to horrify us more.) You can skip those pages and still understand the book, however. It doesn't feel like something tossed in just for the sake of drama and a tragic backstory: Griffin is still affected by what he was subjected to - and it would be disingenuous to pretend horrific things wouldn't happen to a 19th century psychiatric patient even if he wasn't gay - and it does have an effect on his reactions through the books. Apart from that my only real complaints are that the sex scenes are a touch OOC, especially in the first book, and Whyborne's jealousy gets formulaic and grating by the third.

What I'm Currently Reading: Taking a break from short novels and novellas with Red Seas Under Red Skies (Gentlemen Bastards #2) by Scott Lynch. Despite this being book 2 in a series, you could actually pick it up and understand it without having to read The Lies of Locke Lamora, especially with the way Lynch interweaves past events with the present events. (One scene with Father Chains is copied directly from Lies, in fact.) I'd still recommend reading Lies, because it's wonderful. :)

What I'm Reading Next: Whyborne & Griffin #4-6. :)

Weren't we just talking about this, just_ann_now?

What I Just Finished Reading: Ash, by Malinda Lo. Truthfully I finished reading this a couple of weeks ago and then forgot about it. That's not because it's a bad book by any means, it's just not quite my speed, focusing more on romance than fantasy etc. I thought more depth could have been put into Sidhean's characterization and motives, and I was disappointed that a potential story thread
regarding Ash's father's money and the stepmother's lies about it - I'm sure she was lying because what little characterization we saw of the father didn't support the story that he'd run out of money and used up the stepmother's fraudulently - was seemingly dropped. I was also sorry we didn't get to see more of Kaisa, who I quite liked. I did very much enjoy being able to walk into a large chain bookstore and just pull a novel with a QUILTBAG protagonist off the YA shelf. That would have meant a lot to me when I was younger.

The Very Best of Tad Williams. I was surprised to find a script in there, but it was still an interesting way to read a story. I usually avoid script-format when I read fanfics because they tend to be just strings of text, but Williams uses direction and description in his script as well, making it easier to read. I could swear I've read the story about the newly come to life AI before, though. The short with the Armenian vampire is still my favorite.

What I'm Reading Now: How Not to Write a Novel: 200 Classic Mistakes and How to Avoid Them--A Misstep-by-misstep Guide by Howard Mittlemark and Sandra Newman. I wanted to read this for two reasons: 1) I kept seeing references to it on TVTropes and they made me curious and 2) I like to write and knowing what not to do is so useful, especially if I ever lose my mind and decide to plot out a novel. I'm also a technical writer, and even though that's different from writing fiction, it never hurts to check out guidelines.

What I'm Reading Next: Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive #2), by Brandon Sanderson. Okay, so...it's not part of The Stack. But The Stack will still be there when I'm done.

What I Just Finished Reading: The Lies of Locke Lamora. So much love for this book. It's lush, engrossing, clever, and heartbreaking. I had to walk away and calm down a bit at a couple of points because the events actually affected me. This is definitely one I'm going to go back to again and again.

What I'm Currently Reading: Villains by Necessity by Eve Forward. Light vs. dark is a standard fantasy trope, and so is the idea of the balance between them. I think we normally see the idea of dark conquering and light having to fight back. This novel explores the idea of what would happen after light wins the war and banishes everything 'dark' - thieves, assassins, sorcerors, unhappy thoughts, lack of conformity - from the world.

The world's name is Chiaroscuro. Guess how well that goes.

Fortunately for the world, a thief, an assassin, and a Druid walk into a bar - sorry are on a quest to make things right again.

What I'm Reading Next: No idea. Maybe The Way of Kings, maybe The Doctrine of Labyrinths again. Not sure yet.

What I Just Finished Reading: Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner. Wow. Just...wow! And who knew reference to fish could be so romantic?

No, I'm not explaining that. If you don't know you'll have to read it and see.

What I'm Currently Reading: Swordspoint again. The first time through I found the beginning a bit rocky, and I think it will make a difference knowing how to read the rhythm of the piece and the personalities of the characters. (Alec, Alec. I feel like I ought not to like you, and yet I do.)

What I'm Reading Next: Not sure. Possibly Kushner's The Priveledge of the Sword. Perhaps The Lies of Locke Lamora. I may make one of them my upstairs and the other my downstairs book. (Because I will forget to bring my book with me from one place to another. Except when I do. This is why, no matter how intent I am on keeping my bookshelves organized and tidy, it doesn't happen.They wind up upstairs, downstairs, and in stacks. I will eventually try to organize them, get part way through, and find a book I haven't touched in ages, like meeting an old friend by chance, and it will all start again. I will grow old, and sit among my stacks of books, drink my tea, and read.)

What I Just Finished Reading

Doc Sidhe by Aaron Allston. If you're looking at the title and thinking of Doc Savage, you are on the right track entirely! Doc Sidhe is a fantasy novel (duology, with the sequel, Sidhe-Devil) and an homage to the pulp magazines of the 30s. Most of it takes place on the Fair World, a kind of alter-dimensional twin of Earth (called the Grim World) that was the basis for our legends of magic and elves. The technology runs about 60 years behind ours, so you have magic and airships, elves and iron-framed skyscrapers. And yes, the inhabitants of the Fair world are allergic to iron, which is a plot point. It's not steampunk, though - in fact, some of their tech is greener than ours. The story is excellent, the pacing tight, and all the characters are distinct and definitely have their own voices.

The link up there will take you to the full novel, available online for free from Baen eBooks. The first seven chapters of the sequel are up as well, but for the full version you'll have to hunt down a (sadly out of print) copy. (Never know, you might be surprised; my copy of Sidhe-Devil has an inscription from the author.)

What I'm Currently Reading

Still working on Otherland: City of Golden Shadows by Tad Williams. It has started to pick up in the latter half of the book, with the disparate threads starting to weave together and make more sense. I may reconsider not reading the second one in the series. We'll see.

The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth by Sarah Monette. Set in an unnamed city during the early twentieth century, this is a series of 10 short stories about the title character (Booth, no one calls him Kyle) and the bizarre and horrifying events that find him after his first unwilling brush with the occult. Booth isn't a typical protagonist: he's painfully shy, awkward, clumsy, stammering, uncertain. These are not bad things; they make him feel like a real person who gets dropped into situations most people only have nightmares about. I think I've only had this a couple of months and I keep rereading it! it's just so perfect.

Continuing on a theme, apparently, I'm also rereading The Goblin Emperor by Katherin Addison (pen name of Sarah Monette). I didn't mean to, I just took it down to verify something in a fanfic and got (willingly) drawn in again.

The book centres around Maia, a young half-elf/half-goblin who is the youngest son of the reigning Emperor and who unexpectedly inherits his father's throne when his father and brothers die in an airship crash. Maia was the fourth son, and has been effectively living in exile under the care of a cousin since the death of his mother, the Empress Chenelo. Unprepared for the role, and unprepared for court, the plot centres around Maia's growth into becoming Emperor and the mystery behind the crash of the airship.

What I'm Reading Next

The list remains the same from last week: either, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente, sequel to The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, or Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner if it's delivered before I finish Otherland and/or pick up another book.

Swordspoint has not been delivered, but The Privilege of the Sword came today. So I have that to look forward to as well. (And a book stack that may soon be tall as I am...)

My god, this book. If you know Katherine Addison as Sarah Monette, her real name and the one she used with her previous publishing house, you already know you're in for an amazing read. (According to Monette, the pen name was required by the new publisher because "publishing is deeply weird".)

The book centres around Maia, a young half-elf/half-goblin who is the youngest son of the reigning Emperor and who unexpectedly inherits his father's throne when his father and brothers die in an airship crash. Maia was the fourth son, and has been effectively living in exile under the care of a cousin since the death of his mother, the Empress Chenelo. Unprepared for the role, and unprepared for court, the plot centres around Maia's growth into becoming Emperor and the mystery behind the crash of the airship.

There's court intrigue, light magic, political maneuvering, steampunk, fantasy, and just a smidgen of clockpunk. I stayed up all night reading it by flashlight, then read it over again. I don't regret picking it up in hardback (indeed, probably the best plan since I know I'll read it over and over again) but a quick peek at Chapters.ca shows me the paperback is available for preorder if that's more your speed.

I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today by karrennia_rune
Category: F/M | Rating: General Audiences
Summary: A look at Simon and Miriamele set post-series and a few years later, as they work to rebuild the world and learn more about each other, even as they attempt to reconcile lingering memories of the past, both good, bad and indifferent.

If the witches don't eat you, it's home by xavie
Category: F/M, M/M
Summary: How could he tell his father that his son was a coward? Afraid of a woman? He couldn't. He wouldn't. It was as simple as that. An owl hooted and had to watch its prey scurry into the leaves as Isgrimnur shouted out his frustration.