You might have heard of the indie Bundles of games that are offered now and again, great idea with lots of benefits, well now there’s something similar but for books, The Humble ebook Bundle! Pay as much as you can afford and get six e-books from cool authors (Cory Doctorow and my new favorite Kelly Link among others), if you pay more than the average, $12.08 as I am writing this, you get two extra books, Old Man’s War by John Scalzi (I reviewed this here) and Signal to Noise by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean.
When I got this book in a book swap during a dinner with some fellow book bloggers I didn’t realize that this was the book that was going to pull me out of the non-reading doldrums I’ve been in for near half a year now. I’ve started books but none has been finished, except, finally, this one. I read the most of it on the train towards Uppsala where I hoped to get it signed and the end the morning after.
This book is like a box of delicious chocolates, every little story delightful and fun. I think my favorite it the one about the Fairy Handbag but it might also be the one about the wanna-be poet who digs up something else than the dead girlfriend he intended. I also adore the fantastic storylines in the tale about the TV-series that is a bit more than that.
I highly recommend this book and it gives me the same feeling as Neil Gaiman’s short story collections does, like I get a glimpse at how the world might be, or is, if I look at it right, maybe from the corner of my eye or with my head tilted just so.
I would like to mention the translation too, I am very picky when it comes to translated books and this one did not feel translated at all, the only difference from reading in English was that it went faster. And that is how a translation should be.
Stories told within stories are always tricky but in my opinion Rothfuss manages it right. We get Kvothe, the main character, tell the story of his life but at the same time we also get the feeling that even if he thinks he's at the end of his journey that's not really the case.
Kvothe is exceptional in a way that only heroes in fantasy novels can be but he's not especially heroic, at least not in the beginning. Rothfuss manages to reflect the egoism of early youth rather well in my opinion.
My only gripe is that the female characters feel a bit stereotypical, we have the wild love interest, the nerdy girl, the caretaker and the fey strange girl and so far they haven't gotten much more characteristics than that. Would it have been too much to ask to have one of his friends being a girl? Without it being a guy friend with boobs?
All in all it is an enjoyable tale, better than average in all ways except the female characters, and I will read the next one.
Yesterday I sat down with a few of the other members of the bookclub EMK and had beers (well, cola for me as I'm on anti-biotics) and a few hours of constantly flowing geeky talk about everything from books though games and to TV-series and movies. Awesome way to spend time if I say so myself. I came away with two new (to me) books and a few more recommendations.
My goodreads thingie up there is not exactly correct, I'm actually finished with The Name of the Wind and almost finished with M.E Patterson's Devil's Hand. The latter is the book we are reading for the book club and thus I won't say more about it besides that it has to do with demons, poker, Las Vegas and the end of the world. Could easily have been a Supernatural episode. I'll post a review later.
It would seem my urge to read has returned, at least at bit, as I knew it would. Having swinging interests is a bit of a bother but at least I know it always swings back. Right now I can't wait to start on Eld (Fire) the sequel to Circle (Cirkeln) that I wrote about here. And after that Tricked and then, and then... too many books, too little time.
So remember how I said one of the books I was looking forward to in the future was John Scalzi's Red Shirts? And that there was an excerpt on tor.com? Well, I finally got off my shapely behind and read said excerpt and now I only have one question: Is it june 5th yet? Because it's good, very good.
Considering the title the book is about just what you might think it is about, those unfortunate souls who get eaten, pulverized, infected, melted, defenestrated or killed in whichever dreadful way the writers could dream up that week on Star Trek, especially the Original Series. Of course, in the book the names are cleverly changed but easily recognizable as a closer look is taken at how things went on behind the scenes.
Scalzi does humor well, as is very obvious in Agent to the Stars for example, and from the first 5 chapters it seems he's still got it. I for one is going to pre-order and if you like Star Trek and other old sci-fi series, or know enough about them to know what a redshirt is, you should to.
So several of my favorite authors are coming out with new books and maybe those will be the kick in the pants I need to start reading more. But, if not I can at least talk about them here.
First off and already released is Elisabeth Bear with Range of Ghosts. An epic fantasy centering around the eastern cultures instead of the traditional western clones. I do like my fantasy and this sounds promising.
Secondly we move from fantasy to Sci-fi, the awesome John Scalzi (seriously, you should follow him on twitter - he's great!) is coming out with a book called Red Shirts and honestly that's about what I know about it besides that you can read a preview over on Tor.com (or you're supposed to anyway, I can't find it now.) also it comes ou June 5th.
Finally we come to urban fantasy, Kevin Hearne is a few weeks away From releasing the fourth book about his Iron Druid Atticus O'Sullivan - Tricked. I can't wait to read more about Atticus and his hound Oberon, so far the series have been a lovely mix of myths and modern pop-cultural references and I hope that continues!
A year that begins with order book can't be an entirely awful one. At least that's what I belive, which is why I just sent off an order to bookdepository.
A bit of fantasy, a bit of comic and then horror and mystery. Kind of like a perfectly mixed drink.To be honest the Batman comic is mainly for 'dreas but I am pretty sure I'll get around to reading it sooner or later as well.
Carrie is one of those King-classics I haven't read yet and as for the Griffiths book I have fallen helplessly for Ruth Galloway and her friends. As so many of my fellow bloggers I've realized there's something about Ruth and The Wash that just won't let go.
A fan of the fantastic and fabulous with a not so secret dream of one day seeing her name on the spine of a book. Blogs about books here and talks about everything and nothing at www.twitter.com/cyphersushi. Can also be reached at anymomentcallednow@gmail.com
I think this might be my favorite China Mieville book to date. I've read a few of the other reviews on here that claim it is thinner, more boring and whatever (don't get me wrong, many of those reviewers liked the book too just maybe not as much as me) but honestly I think that is a plus. Now, Mieville is one of my favorite authors but his books are kind of like eating really dark chocolate, very tasty but it get's too much if you mainline a whole bar of it. The worlds he creates are so filled with wonderful strangeness that I can only absorb so much before having to put the book down. Now this book is like dark chocolate with a nice filling or flavoring, ie you can actually eat the whole damn piece without feeling overwhelmed.
Kraken might be a bit easier to read but in no way has Mieville skimped on the fantastic ideas. I do adore Billy the main character because he feels so real, so normal in all of the craziness of the world ending. Because the world is ending, the problem is only finding out how.
I heartily recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed Chine Mieville's earlier books, especially Un Lun Dun, or Neil Gaiman's whole bibliography, especially Neverwhere.