Reading Fated by Benedict Jacka, first book in his urban fantasy series Alex Verus.
It is interesting to see how different Alex is from Dresden, both are very different kind of mages, though both have their own issues with their respective councils.
What about all of you? What have you all been reading or listening to lately?
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Just finished Paper Towns by John Green with very mixed feelings
I have been mildly irritated at the whole book right up to the last 30 pages where it kind if got better. I can’t really put a finger on what has annoyed me, but it just feels wrong and somewhat artificial
I finished Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time today, a bit shy of two years after I started it. Well, I actually started the series in the nineties, but this time I managed to finish it.
OP asked me for my opinion on the ending, but at this point I’m sort of unsure myself. It’s such a long series with so many concepts and characters that it’s hard to summarize my thoughts in writing. I don’t have that Talent. I do find myself satisfied with how the series ended, though. There’s some Christian philosophy woven in to the conclusion that I don’t really agree with, but it makes sense and works within the world the story takes place in. Brandon Sanderson was a great choice for writing the final books.
Yes, it is a good series, but one I can’t really recommend to most people, and it frustrated me at many points. Heck, I think half the books should have been slashed. Don’t have your spouse for an editor I suppose.
I’m glad it’s done.
I also read Guy Delisle’s comic book Hostage. It’s the true story of a kidnapped NGO administrator who was kidnapped in 1997 in the Caucasus. Very interesting read and a daring story to adapt to a comic book, since it’s mostly one man alone hand cuffed to a radiator. It must have been a harrowing experience for the hostage though.
Next up I think I’ll read Остров Сахалин by Eduard Verkin. It’s a sci-fi book I picked up from the library.
So,
Ending
I didn’t like the ending. The final fight, it felt very anti-climatic to me. I am not sure what I wanted the fight to be, so cant say I have any better suggestion.
I can see that. Despite the slow pacing of the books, the last fight felt rushed. But more than that, it’s possible such a metaphysical fight can never truly be expressed in words; we don’t have the language for it. It will by necessity feel underwhelming, since the writing has to be done from a human perspective for us to understand and relate to it. As writers and readers we are imprisoned by our humanity and very limited perspective. This is why tackling such huge cosmic issues is difficult to do in a truly satisfying manner. Everything always sounds too human and not grand enough, because that is what we have to anchor it to. Like, say, I like reading sci-fi books about truly alien intelligences, but those are always creations of human minds, playing with human tropes. In the end, writing something outside human experience is impossible for us, lest what is written becomes entirely unintelligible.
I may be missing the mark here, but sometimes I have thoughts and they take flight. I just wanted to say that I can understand expecting more, even if I personally enjoyed the ending well enough.
That’s actually a valid point. I guess I can stop blaming Sanderson for botching up the final fight 😀
Thank you for your comment on the Wheel of Time. Now I feel less guilty for skipping parts.
Murder by Design by Lee Goldberg
Listening to the audiobook as i don’t have the time for reading nowadays.
An amazing intersection of Technology and history about how forecasting has affected us as a society, the cost and reasons of certainty even when they’re not facts, including AI.
Finished my Culture series re-read. Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M Banks. Loved it, and I miss the series already. Started Free and Equal by Daniel Chandler. A book about how to implement John Rawls philosophy in today’s world. It’s a fantastic intro into Rawls genius, and provides a good lens through which to look at some of todays most challenging political differences.
I’m just about to finish up the 13th book of He Who Fights with Monsters. I’m pretty sad I’m getting to the end of what is currently out.
Think I’ll go for a few more Dresden books after I’m done!
How many books are there in total!?
I know you don’t know, but who else can I ask? 😀
Another week of “the Wandering Inn” volume three. Man this one is big, I’d thought I would have finished it by now. The book gets better in the end, not that it was really bad to begin with. My problem with it is that is was written as a web serial, and by design there are a lot of tangents where the book goes of from the main story line.
I’m really digging it so far 😀 about 10% in
Trying to get through Dan Brown’s most recent novel “Secret of Secrets”. It’s really bad so far — like someone put together a paint by numbers version of a Dan Brown story. I’m sure they’ll make another Tom Hanks movie out of it.
I’m about 2/3 through The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (DCC VI), so I’ll probably finish that this week.
And next up is We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor which was recommended by someone on Lemmy somewhere at some point.
I loved We Are Bob, I listened via audiobooks.
I just started The Fires of December by Brandon Sanderson cause my copy arrived in the mail. The first chapter has me intrigued.
Bullring Days Four by Wes Boyd
A Farewell to Arms - Hemingway
Did you mean A Farewell to Arms?
Those would be two very different books!
Lmao, oh yes I do think so. Wouldn’t be unusual for Hemingway’s manliness though :p
Yes. Fixed. Thanks
Np!
Holding off on anything until There Are No Giant Crabs In This Novel: A Novel of Giant Crabs by Jason Pargin comes out, but I just finished chewing through the other four books in the John Dies series again in preparation. Fuck, I love Jason Pargin, read his books and listen to Bigfeets!
The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Janet Hardy.
