What are you reading Wednesday
Jan. 9th, 2013 04:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishWhat are you reading?
Godslayer by Jacqueline Carey, because it was a gift from semilocal J--. Second in a duology. I've also (still) got a bookmark in N.K. Jemisin's The Shadowed Sun where I stalled out.
What did you recently finish reading?
Banewreaker by Jacqueline Carey, first in the duology. I am not a huge fan of these books; they read like the author wanted to rewrite Lord of the Rings with the mythic gravitas of the Silmarillion, only from Sauron/Morgoth's point of view. Which is an interesting enough idea if the author can pull it off, but without decades of worldbuilding and a grounding in the epics that epic fantasy comes from, I don't think it's doable. Carey is no Tolkien, nor even Guy "ghostwrote the Silmarillion" Kay. On the other hand I am genuinely curious how far she'll carry the genre-twisting "bad guy's perspective" thing, and the characters are decent.
What do you think you’ll read next?
Good question. Probably not Tolkien. Likely either Princes of the Air by JMF, or something off the To Be Read shelf. Perhaps the Jemisin.
Godslayer by Jacqueline Carey, because it was a gift from semilocal J--. Second in a duology. I've also (still) got a bookmark in N.K. Jemisin's The Shadowed Sun where I stalled out.
What did you recently finish reading?
Banewreaker by Jacqueline Carey, first in the duology. I am not a huge fan of these books; they read like the author wanted to rewrite Lord of the Rings with the mythic gravitas of the Silmarillion, only from Sauron/Morgoth's point of view. Which is an interesting enough idea if the author can pull it off, but without decades of worldbuilding and a grounding in the epics that epic fantasy comes from, I don't think it's doable. Carey is no Tolkien, nor even Guy "ghostwrote the Silmarillion" Kay. On the other hand I am genuinely curious how far she'll carry the genre-twisting "bad guy's perspective" thing, and the characters are decent.
What do you think you’ll read next?
Good question. Probably not Tolkien. Likely either Princes of the Air by JMF, or something off the To Be Read shelf. Perhaps the Jemisin.
no subject
Date: 2013-01-12 08:58 am (UTC)House of Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus III. So far I find it rather compelling, and hope it'll deliver on its promise.
What did you recently finish reading?
Watership Down. Not sure how I'd gotten this far in life without reading it yet.
In January I've also read a terrible 'leadership book' for a training I'm enrolled in (Emotional Intelligence 2.0), Seaward (again), the last of Abercombie's "First Law" trilogy, and the Hobbit. Being sick does have some upsides! Seaward remains quietly beautiful (and reminds me of childhood), and I'm amazed at how much I remember of the Hobbit in terms of events, dialogue and poetry - and yet had forgotten so much about the narrative tone.
Abercombie's work was rahter over-billed and not as "OMG AMAZINGZ" as I had been told.
What do you think you’ll read next?
Hopefully something from my own rather large TBR pile. I'm thinking Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood or perhaps the Summer Tree by Guy Kay (thought I'd give him another chance; I'm told I'm not picking up his *good* books).
no subject
Date: 2013-01-14 12:17 am (UTC)The Abercrombie, argh. I read them on the advice of a friend and I can see where she liked them: the narrative voices are excellent and his twist on the save-the-world trope is well done. But the viciousness and pettiness and general Crapsack World ground me down, and for several personal reasons I have no use whatsoever for Glotka's arc.
I have not read Guy Kay (well, except for the Silmarillion). E rather enjoyed his latest, Under Heaven. She was unimpressed by the Fionavar books: it sounds like they're early work, and not of the "I really respect his early work" kind either.
(miss you.)