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Book 58 (the last of the year!)
Stan Nicholls - Quicksilver Rising
(1/3)
Again, it’s not genre redefining or anything. But enjoyable enough easy-to-read fantasy, with an air of the Witcher about it. Enjoyable enough all the same. I’ll stick with the rest of his books in the weeks to come.
Book 57
James SA Corey - Babylons Ashes (the expanse 6)
More or less same again - still fun and fast paced. This one very emotionally driven. As a series it does seem more so than you might expect. Still enjoyable.
Onward.
Book 53
Stan Nicholls - Orcs: Bad Blood
Yeah - same as the first really. Fun. Not brilliant, but good enough.
Book 54
James SA Corey - Cibola Burns (the expanse 4)
Still fast paced - varied. Rather than spread throughout space this one takes places mostly in one location. And gets more into a horror esque kind of story.
Onward
Book 55
James SA Corey - Nemesis Games (expanse 5)
And we’re going in the opposite direction. Everything and everyone flung apart. Not just for the sake of it - as an integral part and evolution of the story.
Still good.
Onward.
Book 56
Adrian Tchaikovsky - Days of Shattered Faith.
Final part of a trilogy, of which the names escapes me, but which began with city of last chances - which I loved. The second part, house of open wounds, maybe not so much.
This one initially seemed similar to CoLC - just drops you in and you have to make sense of it as you go. It balances CoLC well, whereas that’s all mystery and possibility and wonder, DoSF is that - the end of that world, and then stories therein.
My misgivings about HoOW to the side, I’d still highly recommend it as a fantasy trilogy.
Book 52
James SA Corey - Abaddon’s Gate (the expanse 3)
So this seemed a bit odd. Quite a jarring shift, several new characters (some not to been again), a mostly singular setting and elements of the story that weren’t explained in the last book. As if there was a spin off short story inbetween (but there isn’t)
Otherwise though it’s still quite enjoyable. Onward.
Book 51
Stan Nicholls - Orcs (omnibus 1 of 2)
Well it says gritty and fast paced on the cover - which is rare for fantasy so I gave it a go.
Reasonable swashbuckly type adventure. Not spectacularly well written, some elements could have been better, but I suppose that might sacrifice pace, which to be fair is quite fast. Found myself eating through it.
Fun though, let’s see how it plays out.
Book 50
James SA Corey - caliban’s war (the expanse 2)
Still good. Still fast. More political and more of a horror story too. Onward.
Book 49
Adrian Tchaikovsky - Service Model
Another standalone. The last I’ll be reading, unless he releases another.
As a novel…kind of meh. Some funny dialogue, and the premise itself is humorous enough but it relies too heavily on it. Progresses slowly, I think, and waits too long to bring at least element of the story to a conclusion, and when it does it’s kind of anti-climactic.
Might be a decent enough book for a young teenager, but overall I’d probably skip it.
Book 48
James S.A Corey - Leviathan Wakes (the expense 1)
Finally getting around to this. Wasn’t sure if I would since I’ve seen the whole series, but it seemed like a good sci-fi series to get into to round out the year.
Oof. Plenty of cybernoir elements and structure, imaginative but still (and deliberately) written in such a way that this future is recognisable, as is the politics of the whole universe.
Fast too. Short punchy action packed chapters. One of the fastest books I’ve read, and since I’m onto the 2nd novel already it isn’t just a fluke.
Book 47
Adrian Tchaikovsky -Alien Clay.
Hmm. Very similar to another of his standalone novels, Cage of Souls.
Also seems to touch on elements that appeared in other novels - Children of Ruin. But takes a positive spin on it, rather than negative.
It’s also written from first person point of view, which I like, but it also makes it very alike Cage of Souls.
As a book, overall. Slightly better than Meh. Doesn’t need to exist, really. But it’s not bad as such
Onward.
Book 46
Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson - A Memory of Light
And so we’re done. 15 books, about 12000 pages.
We’ll start with this one. It’s pretty good. Being the last it moves with a serious amount of impetus. It has to. Impressive that it manages a 900 page battle to still be engaging all the way through, and still leave room for character development and poignancy. Maybe the endings are a bit…not rushed as such, but sudden.
For the series overall. I don’t regret giving it the time. The length and breath of it alone is impressive. Some novels in the series are not great, so it gets a bit challenging at times, but it comes back, which is good. Brandon Sanderson is a good addition. Brought in more humour and better structure.
That being said, I don’t actually think Robert Jordan is all that great of a writer as such.
So I’d probably recommend other fantasy series and writers first, but I wouldn’t categorically tell someone not to bother with this.
Book 45
Adrian Tchaikovsky - Doors of Eden
Another stand alone. Part sci-fi, part fantasy I suppose. Good enough.
Probably could have been expanded a bit I think. Enough there to make 2 or 3 novels.
A bit light on overall depth though maybe.
One or two more of his to read, then I’m done.
Book 44
Robert Jordan - New Spring
The prequel.
Not what I was expecting. A youthful coming of age type story too.
Fun to see, even in passing, characters that would appear later.
Could have been longer. And I kinda like the idea that there was more prequel stories to be explored.
Onward to the final novel.
Book 43
Adrian Tchaikovsky - Cage of Souls
Another stand alone.
This one a future dystopia, and a prison story. Different in that it’s written from a first-person pov. Fun.
Been a while. Oops.
Book 37
The Gabble - Neal Asher.
Collection of short stories. Some interesting. Quite samey to his other work though.
Book 38
Lords of Uncreation - Adrian Tchaikovsky
(Final Architecture 3 of 3)
Still too much of neal Asher to get a proper feel of it as a series. Ending is quite well written though.
Book 39
Knife of Dreams - Robert Jordan
(Wheel of time 11)
Good. Kinda short (less than 800 pages) they’re moving with a bit more impetus now. Characters really coming into their own, rather than just going through the motions.
Book 40
The Gathering Storm - Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.
(Wheel of time 12)
First novel with BS. A good addition. Brings better pacing, better structure and more/better humour to both dialogue and setting.
Book 41
Guns of the dawn - Adrian Tchaikovsky
Stand-alone Novel. His treatise on war. Not just battles, which do feature in other books, but really going into how he writes about war and what it does to people, societies, morality etc. Really good.
Book 42
Robert Jordan - Towers of Midnight
Wheel of time 13
Same as the last. Really good. It’s all coming to a head now. But BS really does bring a better eye for structure, which is what I feel a lot of the other books have been lacking, or missing entirely. As such it really helps reader to fly through the book - which in turn makes it feel more engrossing.
Book 36
Robert Jordan - crossroads of twilight (wheel of time book 10)
So yeah, much the same as what went before. I feel like the last few books have been tightening up a little though. Not so much meandering, but more clarity in the overall story.
Onward.
Book 35
Neal Asher - Jack Four
Stand-alone polity novel. But as such there are familiar elements.
Fun, as usual. Elements of PKD’s total recall. But that’s fine.
Book 34
Robert Jordan -Winters Heart (wheel of time book 9)
Odd one this. Seems to be primarily focused on updating previously forgotten storylines. Quieter. More subtly crafted. Next to no aimless meandering. Which is good, but what’s odd is why isn’t rest of the series written like this. Might be my favourite because of that.
still, I’m not especially blown away by the whole series, but I’ll soldier on.