6/19/2010

  1. megan: destroyer. c j cherryh.

    1. verdict: +
    2. review:

      she's into these. but i missed most of the review. that's what happens
      when you flaunt the rules of order. just saying.

  2. megan: empress & the riven kingdom. karen miller.

    1. verdict: ++
    2. review:

      she's into these books for sure. miller is a good writer and the books
      are super absorbing. kind of a conan world with lots of loincloths and
      magic and crystals and stuff. i dunno, this was a whirlwind review and
      i couldn't really follow it.

  3. chris: the knife of never letting go. patrick ness.

    1. verdict: +
    2. review:

      "yeah, it had a ridiculous title. it's a young adult book." this has
      something to do with mind reading and a chase scene. he really likes
      it, great book. he doesn't want to say much for fear of ruining
      it. (he gets a call "from his stylist," which he has to take.) anyway
      everything the dude knows about the world turns out to be LIES LIES
      LIES. definitely a young adult book, but good. recommended.

  4. chris: the gone-away world. nick harkaway.

    1. verdict: ++
    2. review:

      "reads like a surrealist smashup of pynchon and pratchett, vonnegut
      and heller." ok if that's not bullshit from top to bottom, i don't
      know what is. but chris says "that's a pretty good summary, but it's
      like he specifically set out to write a book like that." this is the
      son of john le carre, evidently. high larious. "this was in the
      literature section." well, duh. anyway, it seems that "if you're john
      le carre's son, you have a good agent, and you're on vintage. if
      you're brian patrick slattery, you're on tor." too bad, but that's the
      world, i guess. anyway, chris really liked it. i shan't type in the
      summary, shall i. pretty obviously his first book, it's awkward in
      spots, but is good.

  5. paul: light. m john harrison.

    1. verdict: +
    2. review:

      "i mostly backed off on my hate for light, but i read it a couple
      months ago, and mostly forgot it." generally, he felt a bit cheated by
      the ending, and didn't like the strict alternation between the three
      viewpoints, but other than that, he liked it.

  6. adam: the name of the wind. patrick rothfuss.

    1. verdict: +++
    2. review:

      "this is maybe my favorite fantasy book i've read in a decade." strong
      praise from a huge fan of the very finest pulp. we've had many reviews
      of this already, so i won't say more. this is a winner, though, by any
      standards.

  7. jen and brandon: the city and the city. china mieville.

    1. verdict: +++
    2. review:

      we've been over this a couple of times, too. suffice to say opinion
      continues to be unanimous. highly recommended.

  8. chad: kraken. china mieville.

    1. verdict: ++
    2. review:

      written before the city and the city, but only released now. similar
      in many ways to the city and the city, taking place in "basically the
      real world" in modern-day london. in terms of plot, pacing and
      structure, this is a much bigger book. it's been compared to
      neverwhere, in that it has some similarities but is much, much
      better. the book begins when someone has stolen the giant squid, and
      the hero is, i guess, the curator. thus begins a wild, mystery fantasy
      romp. basically the curator hooks up with torchwood and finds that
      there may be a squid cult involved. it quickly turns into a crazy
      fantasy world with tons of magic. he liked it a lot, the only drawback
      is that it maybe just gets too big. tons of plot lines, tons of
      characters, blah blah. but really well done.

  9. group discussion: house of suns. alastair reynolds.

    no simple verdict for this one, maybe we can reach some sort of
    consensus, we'll see... ok, i can't type all of this in. we didn't
    like it. jeff, the "biggest reynolds fan," wishes to offer a
    perspective. but he can hardly get a word in. i would like to write
    down all the things that we didn't like about this book, because man,
    oh man, there are some good ones. anyway, sometimes you really want to
    read a space opera, but i would really like to live in a world where
    you could do better than this.

  10. that's all, folks.