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The Stone Sky (N.K. Jemisin)
Conclusion of the Broken Earth trilogy. It's excellent, a highly appropriate conclusion, and unremittingly bleak. It's revealed why the world is how it is - in a way, there's science fiction element here as much as fantasy. The book ends on a very faint hint of hope, which shines brightly in its surroundings.
The Sword of the Lictor (Gene Wolfe)
I again got lots from the slow read and discussion, though it as much revealed lots of questions as any answers. The Book of the New Sun is a puzzle, deliberately so, And I think I now appreciate the fullness of that element of it.
Three novellas, around 100 pages each, set around 100 years before the A Game of Thrones. It's good, and less expressing than A Game of Thrones, while still having some cynicism when it comes to rulership, and embracing the random nature of tragedy. Each story ends both happily and with a sour note. It doesn't subvert all the tropes like A Game of Thrones. Good stuff.
39. This Immortal (Roger Zelazny)
Classic Zelazny, complete with an immortal main character with superhuman abilities but who triumphs through cunning, and exhibits a certain dry wit. This one is perhaps the prototype. The concept is fun too - far future Earth, reduced in population with blue-skinned aliens basically acting as if humans were somewhere between pets and the Earth a tourist centre. And lots of allusions to Greek mythology - too many to easily track. A quick fun read, like all Zelazny I've read.
Interesting to get your perspective. I read this a few months ago and found it on the whole disappointing. George Martin's clear forte is social structures, and for me the book shone in this area. Unlike Game of Thrones, where much of the focus was on the dealings of the main family members, this one takes for perspective someone pretty near the bottom of the ladder, with the main lords at some unreachable astronomical height above. That worked really well for me, but in other respects, such as writing style or plot, I struggled to finish it.
The latest of course is:
40. Sarah Canary (Karen Joy Fowler). I look forward to the club discussion. Strange and harsh and sad, but oddly beautiful.
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> 40. Sarah Canary (Karen Joy Fowler). I look forward to the club discussion. Strange and harsh and sad, but oddly beautiful.
Me too. I feel there’s a lot to discuss with this book. I’ll post the questions over the weekend.
The complete run of pre-1980s Elric stories. Interesting indeed to revisit. Pulpy and energetic, and at the best some amazing and Over the top imagery. Uneven in quality; the earliest stories are pretty clumsy. A main character who is both hero and antihero, with over the top angst and a clear metaphor for addiction. And the apocalyptic final volume is incredible.
47. The Golden Atlas (Edward Brooke-Hitching). A really fun series of historical snippets about explorers and various expeditions, with the real gift being the historical maps.
48. Fated (Benedict Jacka). Fun London-based urban fantasy. Fun, but the similarities between the main character in this and the Dresden Files almost turned into a pastiche.
49. The Sandman: Overture (Neil Gaiman). A graphic novel. Simultaneously a prequel to the main Sandman sequence and probably fairly incomprehensible without reading that first, as well as some things afterwards. The narrative isn't quite linear, and it's full of references to the Sandman Cosmos. Reading Endless Nights first is probably also a must. So it's a bit tricksy, a bit self-indulgent, but afterwards made me want to read the Sandman sequence again.
50. La Belle Sauvage (Philip Pullman). Another prequel, this time to the His Dark Materials sequence. It's quite hefty but I found it all pretty compelling. It's also a children's book with both whimsy and some very dark material. I wonder how many readers are adults. I don't care - I liked it.
Interesting! I shall have to check this one out.
I'm feeling tempted to re-read some Moorcock, too. But on the other hand... need to reduce that pile of unread books!
54 - 57. The Jewel in the Skull, The Mad God's Amulet, The Sword of the Dawn, The Runestaff (Michael Moorcock)
58. The Secret Commonwealth (Philip Pullman)
59 - 61. The Knight of Swords, The Queen of Swords, The King of Swords (Michael Moorcock)
62. Citadel of the Autarch (Gene Wolfe)
63. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
Comments to follow. The Moorcock novels are really quick reads.
Final post in this thread.
64--66: Count Brass, Champion of Garathorm, The Quest for Tanelorn (Michael Moorcock)
So...66 in 2019, though that's counting some novellas as individual books. It's not really about getting a high number though.
And...I'm nearly done with the Moorcock books. Almost all are quick easy reads. Some are straightforward swords and sorcery, and most have more straightforward heroes than Elric.
The Eternal Champion series introduces, well, the Eternal Champion concept, which ties together most of the Moorcock swords and sorcery with the main protagonists being incarnations of the Eternal Champion and occasional crossovers. Erekose, the incarnation here, both remembers other incarnations and is summoned to become the reincarnation of older heroes. The Eternal Champion is quite straightforward with a simple inversion. The Phoenix in Obsidian presents a very different post-apocalyptic world and a pure and more powerful version of Elric's Sword, another repeated motif. The Dragon in the Sword is an ending of sorts to the whole sequence and more philosophical than most.
The first set of Hawkmoon books, the Runestaff series of four, are straightforward, with no obvious ties, though the Runestaff and on one occasion Hawkmoon make guest appearances in the Elric books. Europe after the Tragic Millennium is a fun setting, the deus ex machina plotting is knowing and almost subverted, but overall it's fun and simple swords and sorcery, with some interesting characters beside the protagonist.
Things get more unusual in the Count Brass trilogy, which ties things together with the Eternal Champion myth, quite cleverly but not altogether consistently. It's much more philosophical and another definite ending to the whole sequence. The first part of Champion of Garathorm is difficult and quite moving in how it shows grief -- it's definitely philosophical.
Then there's the Swords trilogy, the Corum books. Despite being the last survivor of genocide, Corum is relatively upbeat. And it's the purest iteration of law vs chaos in the whole lot of books.
Only a few more of these to go!
As for the Secret Commonwealth, it's compelling, a sequel to His Dark Materials, but certainly has its flaws. It's about depression, among other things, and definitely not a children's book. It's good, but there's less joy in it than the others. Something is lost. Still, I want to read the finale,