4/25/15

1. prelude:
   
   procedural deliberations, observation of formalities.
   
   
2. megan: the dresden files. jim butcher.
   
   
   1. verdict: ++
      
   2. review:
      
      fantasy and hard-boiled detective stuff. harry dresden, wizard and
      private eye, "everything gets more complicated when he uses magic."
      (ed: doesn't it always though?). "in order to get the skull to do what
      he wants, he needs to bring it romance novels and women's underwear."
      is there anything else that really needs to be said about this? i
      guess some are really good, and some are not so great. there are 15,
      so... "there were necromancers and they were raising the dead, and he
      was like, 'i'm gonna trump that with a tyrannosaurus rex.'" apparently
      people generally think these are actually pretty awesome.
      
   
   
3. adam: saga, vol 4. brian k vaughan and fiona staples.
   
   
   1. verdict: +++
      
   2. review:
      
      "it's one of those things where, when i see the leaves coming out and
      the flowers, i feel like oh it's almost fall and everything is fading,
      well, it's like that when i start a new volume of saga and i know it's
      just going to end." anyway, sounds to your humble editor like another
      volume of this blockbuster.
      
   
   
4. adam: the magicians. lev grossman.
   
   
   1. verdict: +++
      
   2. review:
      
      he really liked it a lot. definitely reading the rest of the
      series. nikko concurs but found the pacing strange.
      
   
   
5. nikko: eragon. christopher paolini.
   
   
   1. verdict: meh
      
   2. review:
      
      she doesn't remember it. "there's an egg. where this dragon comes
      from. a blue, shiny beautiful egg." adam says the way nikko was
      describing this when reading it reminded him of the way guys like
      george rr martin basically shit on derivative drivel like this.
      
   
   
6. interlude:
   
   dr who talk. for awhile.
   
   
7. matt: the peripheral. william gibson.
   
   
   1. verdict: +
      
   2. review:
      
      i'm talking, not typing.
      
   
   
8. aziz: zero, vol 1-3. ales kot.
   
   
   1. verdict: +++
      
   2. review:
      
      thought it was going to be sort of a straightforward spy thing, but it
      turns out to be something different. one of the most novel ways of
      telling a story he's ever seen in comics. the stories are each
      somewhat isolated and drawn by a different artist, so you only
      understand the impact of a particular story a few stories later. "it's
      terrific, it's really, really cool."
      
   
   
9. aziz: manifest destiny. chris dingess and matthew roberts.
   
   
   1. verdict: +
      
   2. review:
      
      it's a western, but like if lewis & clark were going cross-country,
      not exploring, but fighting zombies. basically. he's read the first
      trade and will continue.
      
   
   
10. paul: the manhattan projects. jonathan hickman.
    
    
    1. verdict: +
       
    2. review:
       
       another graphic novel, like if the manhattan project was actually also
       an occult struggle and an alien zombie hunt? i guess? "oppenheimer has
       an evil twin who is also a cannibal who eats people and then the
       reappear in his mind but with oppenheimer faces." i'm pretty sold on
       this. aziz approves.
       
    
    
11. paul: on basilisk station and the honor of the queen. david weber.
    
    
    1. verdict: +
       
    2. review:
       
       extensively nerdy. the second one was "like a star trek plot." she
       "saves the world through the force of her professionalism."
       
    
    
12. chad: the magician's lang. lev grossman.
    
    
    1. verdict: +
       
    2. review:
       
       didn't like it as much as the first two. it's still good. not gonna
       talk about what happens in the stupid book, no spoilers. doesn't have
       as much of the magic college stuff, which was where he was strong. now
       that they're a bunch of sad middle-aged adults, it doesn't hold
       together as well. it was ok.
       
    
    
13. chad: the republic of thieves. scott lynch.
    
    
    1. verdict: +
       
    2. review:
       
       "i read this book and honestly i did not care about any of the things
       i might or might not have been wondering." (ed: in reference to jeff's
       review of 10/14.) kind of fun, this one is sort of a political caper,
       the last one was about the boats. there's a lot of stuff about the
       girlfriend, "that's kinda cute." it's fine. if you've read the first
       two, i guess you might as well.
       
    
    
14. adam: the hobbit. jrr tolkien.
    
    
    1. verdict: ++
       
    2. review:
       
       (ed: this is adam's first encounter with tolkien, following hard on
       the heels of many thousands of pages of sanderson.) just a couple
       thoughts when reading this. he's a funnier writer than adam would have
       expected. other than the hobbits and gandalf, there are no characters
       that are particularly likeable. "i'll probably read the lord of the
       rings sooner rather than later." very high praise.
       
    
    
15. coda:
    
    pirate freedom and further speculative and largely uninformed
    ruminations on gene wolfe.
    
    
16. that's all, folks.