Majkia's Magical Obsessions
Forum75 Books Challenge for 2011
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1majkia
For about 15 years I read only mystery and more standard fiction. So for the past few years I've been focusing on Fantasy and SciFi trying desperately to catch up with what I missed. It's a losing cause! More keeps getting written! I want a moratorium! Okay, no I don't.
2alcottacre
Sometimes I want a moratorium on more books too. I know how you feel :)
3majkia
1-Academ's Fury - Codex Alera 2 - Jim Butcher
2-Cursor's Fury - Codex Alera 3 - Jim Butcher
3-Captain's Fury
4-Princep's Fury
5-First Lord's Fury
6-Soulless - Gail Carriger
7-Emissaries from the Dead - Adam-Troy Castro
8-Leviathan- Scott Westerfeld
9-The Alchemyst - Michael Scott
10-World War Z - Max Brooks
11-Peshawar Lancers - SM Stirling
12- Changes - Jim Butcher
13. Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson
14-American Gods - Neil Gaiman - unfinished
14. Heat Wave - Richard Castle
15. Alchemy of Stone - Ekatrina Sedia
16. Changeless - Gail Carriger
17. Templar Legacy - Steve Berry
18. Altered Carbon - Richard K Morgan
19. Last Stormlord - Glenda Larke
20. Consider Phlebas - Iain Banks
21. The Name of the Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
22. Enchanted, Inc - Shanna Swendson
23. Dragon Keeper - Robin Hobb
24. Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
25. Acacia - David Anthony Durham
26. Something From the Nightside - Simon R Green
27. Re-Read: Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson
28. Night of Knives - Ian C. Esslemont
29.Deadhouse Gates - Steven Erikson
30.The Half-Made World - Felix Gilman
31.Outlander- Diana Gabaldon - ABANDONED
32.The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie (begun yesterday)
4drneutron
6ronincats
7alcottacre
10klobrien2
Karen O.
13majkia
It's quite a read! I'll do a review but perhaps not until tomorrow after the read-a-thon ends.
14majkia
1. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie I'll do the review a bit later. Too busy at the moment. I'll give it 4 stars though. Great read!
15alcottacre
16majkia
My review of The Blade Itself:
Anti-heroes abound in The Blade Itself . But then, when the world is a place full of violence, where the Inquisition is used to torture anyone into confessing to anything, what exactly is a 'hero' anyway?
Joe Abercrombie creates a bloody and violent world, sadly, a totally believable one. Magic is there, but understated and not well understood. The privileged use and abuse the masses, and are astonished when revolution raises its head.
The characters are all flawed, and worn down and scarred by their lives, all but one self-centered privileged fellow who, despite himself, seems about to finally open his eyes to see what is going on around him. He won't like it.
Reminiscent of George RR Martin's series, A Song of Ice and Fire, you just never know who will step up or who will fall apart. Nor, are you likely to know exactly what is going on any time soon.
Highly recommended.
17alcottacre
18majkia
19alcottacre
20majkia
http://www.librarything.com/work/178750/reviews/68485518
I enjoyed it and had to keep reading!
eta: replaced the link to the review
21ronincats
22majkia
23alcottacre
24majkia
What a great read! Great characterization, world building is marvelous and complicated, writing is crisp and flows well, and I was sucked into the world within the first few pages.
Highly recommended. Not happy with my review but it is a hard book to review and not give away the plot!
http://www.librarything.com/work/8103741/reviews/66519812
25Morphidae
27majkia
28Morphidae
29majkia
LOL.I know the feeling...
30majkia
What's a girl to do? She;s been pretending to be a boy so she could serve on the Darwinist British Airship Leviathan. And poor Daryn is scrambling to keep her secret, but things keep getting in the way! One, most notably, being the escaped prince of Austria-Hungary who is aboard and is struggling to keep his own secrets.
Between the two of them, well, mayhem ensues. Look out Istanbul, you're in their crosshairs.
Another great read from Scott Westerfeld!
http://www.librarything.com/work/9536897/reviews/62321908
33Whisper1
I'm compiling a list of birthdays of our group members. If you haven't done so already, would you mind stopping by this thread and posting yours.
Thanks.
http://www.librarything.com/topic/105833
34majkia
What fun! I adore Floote and I'm in lust over Channing Channing of the Chesterfield Channings. Fangirl...
http://www.librarything.com/work/9589660/reviews/64474475
35alcottacre
36majkia
37alcottacre
38majkia
I don't need blood and gore and wild abandon in a book, but I do want either a mystery to solve, or a hero to cheer for. Poor whatisname here provides me neither.
39majkia
http://vyse.blogspot.com/2011/03/review-elfland-by-freda-warrington.html
40majkia
What a fun book, and i fell madly in love with Thomas Nightingale. And what exactly is Molly??
Review
41majkia
Very very different, in that the story is told in epistolary fashion. Not my favorite method of storytelling, but for this book it worked quite well.
I gave it only 3 and a half stars because I thought the foreshadowing made the outcome a bit too obvious.
Review
43alcottacre
46alcottacre
Happy Belated Birthday from me too!
47majkia
http://www.librarything.com/review/70700663
Very Firefly-ish. But Mal was a better pirate!
48alcottacre
49ronincats
50majkia
We're talking about heading out in a month or two again, this time just for us, no familial duties involved. I'm thinking mountains. Maybe Ashville, NC or somewhere in the Blue Ridge anyway.
51mckait
welcome! I love the Blue Ridge ....LOVE!
52majkia
Dammit, I'm such a slow reader...
Dance is pretty amazing, and, as usual, GRRM is entirely unpredictable. NOTHING has been going the way I envisioned it would. So all hail to Grumpy who is amazing, and surprising!
54alcottacre
I had to laugh at that!
55majkia
Additionally, I pretty much hated Dany in this book. I so wanted to smack her. As usual, the ones who work the hardest to do the right thing, the smart thing, the honorable thing, are punished for it. Betrayals and stupid stupid cowardice abound. As does cruelty, terror, misery and magic.
Best book of the series so far, IMO.
56alcottacre
57majkia
What a great fun read. Gail is back on form, with lots of witty dialogue, twisty plots, and Alexia being her usual bowl everyone over self.
I also really liked the way the consequences of her actions are causing important changes round and to her.
Highly recommended
58alcottacre
59majkia
60majkia
I just finished my review of The Black Prism by Brent Weeks. Find it here.
Also, I upped the stars to
My only complaint is that I thought the cover not very descriptive of the book.
I should also add that I LOVE that the women in the book are awesome!
61alcottacre
62majkia
63alcottacre
65alcottacre
66majkia
67alcottacre
68majkia
I just began Memories of Ice and am already sucked in. So complex and so fascinating, layers upon layers of history that he metes out in tiny little bits that you have to put together. I love his writing style
“Thirty-eight bitter, resentful veterans, already twice betrayed. I wasn’t part of the treachery at the siege of Pale, and Laseen’s proclamation of outlawry embraced me as much as it did them. Neither event can be laid at my feet, yet they’re doing it anyway.”
Poor Paran. And what's up with Rake that he isn't at the parlay? And Silverfox! And... And... The Crippled God. Oh, boy.
And Kallor. No one knows who he is? And what's Lady Envy going to do when she runs into Rake who killed her dad Draconus with his own sword?
69alcottacre
70majkia
And oh, gods, I sooo sooo want a book that details Caladan Brood, Anomander Rake and Lady Envy's adventures together.
71majkia
The second book of the series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel
I confess to having some major issues with this book. Firstly, this guy is supposed to be brilliant. Uhm, right. He heads off to Paris with the bad guys on his tail, and he HAS NO PLAN. He wanders around Paris, not knowing or recognizing anything (he’s not been back for years) and didn’t even have an idea who he’d contact for help. Excuse me?
And don’t even get me started on the incompetence of the bad guys. Sheesh. What a bunch of clowns.
And my biggest beef? The author turns the genius of Niccolo Machiavelli into farce. Seriously???
Granted, it’s a children’s book, but still… I doubt I’ll read the rest of the series.
72majkia
A short novel of the necromancers in all their weirdness. Here Emancipur Reese finds employment with the necromancers Bauchelain and Broach. Suitably weird, grim and decidedly strange.
73majkia
The writing is ... odd. At first I found it rather jarring. I've never been one to worry about complete sentences or slightly off-kilter use of words, but this one has a lot of that. However, that said, the story is interesting and trying to figure out how this world works is definitely keeping my attention.
I don't love any of the characters, at least not yet. One I despise and I keep hoping he's going to evolve into something better. The others are complex enough to keep my interest however, so I'm definitely invested in finishing this book.
I do love how he describes the world, how complex it is, how the descriptions evoke more than just mind pictures but use scent and feel and sound.
75ChelleBearss
76majkia
Finished Nights of Villjamur and here's the review
In addition let me say that I really enjoyed the world he evoked with words. There was plenty of action as well, but I like a world that is realized and this one was well-crafted, with plenty of backstory (most of which is not explained which is a good thing) and you can feel the weight of history, long forgotten or erased, which colors the current events.
Interesting 'aliens' and interesting use of magic as well.
77majkia
And trying to keep the zillions of character straight, especially as so many are from the same families or groups that you can't always remember what the heck that particular dude or dudette was up to.
Hard work to read fantasy! Still, worth it!
78ronincats
79majkia
I've ordered a new Sony, and can't wait to get it. This Kobo, although the hardware is fine, is being programmed by imbeciles.
80majkia
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0765348810.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
I haven't written my review yet, I need to let it gel a bit first. And I'm horrible at writing reviews. But I do have a few thoughts on this and the rest of the series I'd like to put down.
First, Erikson juggles people and plots and simultaneous actions in disparate locations. Thinking about how he does it compared to say, George RR Martin, I was struck by how different the approaches are, yet how well both methods work.
While GRRM uses chapters with different POVs throughout his Ice and Fire series, Erikson sticks with the 3rd person subjective, not quite godlike viewpoint. Erikson will switch focus multiple times in a chapter, whereas GRRM for instance, sticks with one setting and one viewpoint per chapter.
The difference becomes huge as Erikson begins to weave the different threads together finally revealing to us how all of it fits together.
For me, to get a full understanding of the breadth and inter-connectedness of the action, I think Erikson's works better.
GRRM's, however, is wonderful at presenting actions and events in a manner skewed to the person who's POV is paramount. We see from multiple people, the same event, and understand how it is interpreted, misunderstood, lost in translation, as it were.
As for House of Chains itself, wow. Many threads which I knew were all related (because I trust the author, not because I was able to guess how all things fit) into a totally unexpected whole. And better yet, Erikson's characters grow and change. The main character whom I hated in the first 1/3 of the book, grows incredibly and changes as his experiences expand. It's quite wonderful (and as I'm comparing this with GRRM, think of Jaimie Lannister's growth and change).
The final scenes were not at all what I expected, not at all what seemed to be coming together. Like GRRM, you really don't know what the heck is going to happen, and for both authors individual characters have a way of 'misbehaving' and not doing at all what one (even the gods) expect.
And I adore Cotillion, much to my astonishment.
As usual, bittersweet endings, but some wonderful revelations, which will, naturally, keep me reading the series eagerly.
81majkia
83majkia
An unpretentious thriller with a steampunk vibe. It’s reminiscent of pulp thrillers and doesn’t pretend to be anything else. A fun read, but no deep thinking is required.
84majkia
This is a re-read for me, of a really well-loved cozy. I'd forgotten how much I LIKE Richard Jury. A detective with some issues, but still a nice guy. Not the most difficult mystery to solve, but a nice Christmas-y read.
And of course this is where we meet Melrose Plant another nice guy. They make a fun team and the rest of the series is just as entertaining.
85LizzieD
I've skimmed your thread, and you're reading a lot of interesting stuff. I couldn't make it to the end of The Blade Itself; I wasn't finding anything to redeem the dreariness of all those repulsive characters. I used to like Jury and Plant, especially Plant, but I tired of them before I quit buying, so theoretically, I'll get back. I think it was Aunt Agatha and the fairy cakes that did me in. (Agatha? It's been a long time.)
I'm not impatient to read A Dance with Dragons because I was so furious with GRR for playing cute with A Feast for Crows. Have you read the new P. Rothfuss? It is much more classic fantasy, and I enjoyed it a lot.
I really need to try S. Erickson. BUT FIRST, back to Zula and Company!
86majkia
Lizzie: sorry I had to drop off Reamde from TIOLI last month. As you can see I'm still wading through it.
LOL. Agatha is a trial, no doubt!
I read the first Rothfuss and it was okay. I'll probably read the second.
87majkia
88LizzieD
And uh oh. If you thought the first Rothfuss was only O.K., you may not want to rush to get to #2. He apparently didn't have an editor for it.
89majkia
91majkia
92majkia
1. Read a book with an animal mentioned on page 50 :
Goliath Scott Westerfeld
4. Read a book where the author's name is a profession:
Sweet Silver Blues Glen Cook
9. Read a book read and recommended by an LTer in October
Reamde Neal Stephenson (ER book)
16. Read a novel with titled chapters:
The Dragon Turn Shane Peacock (ER book)
93majkia
Currently The Casebook of Doakes and Haig by Patrick Welch - not all that enamored with it.
Next up are:
River of Gods - Ian McDonald -- Tioli # 2 (book with god or being in title)
Before they Are Hanged - Joe Abercrombie Tioli #13 (book by an author with 4 syllable surname)
Hogfather - Terry Pratchett Tioli #11 (book about a holiday character not Santa)
94majkia
Just started River of Gods.
95majkia
Complex, hard science, futuristic world extrapolated in a realistic fashion. Violent, granted. Still, wonderful.
96majkia
Best hard science fiction I've read in years. Complex, multi-layered plot, set in a futuristic world which is realistically extrapolated from the world of today. The action can be raw and grim and bloody, and entirely fits into the world McDonald has created.
Highly recommended.
101ChelleBearss
102majkia
A good read if you want to see the sorrows and miseries of men fighting men, and politics and lies from everyone. Not a happy read, but it does contain lots of gallows humor and unexpected twists and turns.