House of Leaves is by Mark Z. Danielewski. It’s clearly a dark book; very sophisticated in its presentation, with layers on layers of meaning and narrative. I’m reading this now because it was recommended by Old Hat on CVGamers. I first remember reading about this in Poe’s liner notes for Haunted. [Side note: the relationship between the two is mentioned on the Haunted wikipedia page.
I’m not far into it yet, but it looks very promising.
I recently reread Mercedes Lackey’s Arrows Trilogy: Arrows of the Queen, Arrow’s Flight, and Arrow’s Fall. Evidently was the first trilogy written in the series, despite my reading the Magic’s Promise/Pride/Price trilogy previously.
I enjoyed the series. Some small elements felt repetitious– but given that this was the first series written I guess it’s the other books that repeat the elements introduced here.
Talia is inspiring and refreshing– from the very beginning, she seems like someone whose struggles are worthwhile. The petty humiliations and struggle to adapt to strange environments in the first book are very well written– I sympathized with Talia and hoped she’d find a way to endure.
I had a craving for some Lackey novels this weekend– specifically Tarma and Kethry. So I read Oathbound and Oathbreakers, which I enjoyed, but noticed some problems with them this time around. Afterward I read Oathblood, and kicked myself– the missing kickoff story is in there. (Oathblood is a collection of Tarma and Kethry short stories). If you’re interested in reading the series, here’s how I suggest you tackle it:
Oathblood: Sword-sworn
Oathbound
Oathbreakers
remaining short stories from Oathblood. [Note: Some of these are in Oathblood and Oathbound in very similar form.]
Quick compelling reads by Jim Butcher (of Dresden Files fame). I polished them off during our travels to and from Italy– there was a lot of time in plane and airports. Jennifer started reading them as I finished them, and also seems to be enjoying them so far.
Law of Survival is the third book in Kristine Smith’s Jani Killian series. It’s early, but I’m enjoying it much more than Code of Conduct so far. [As ever, more later.]
I recently completed a pair of excellent books: The Time Ships by Steven Baxter and Eagle: The making of an Asian American president, volumes 1-5 by Kaiji Kawaguchi.
Time Ships was a fun read, with interesting takes on time travel and parallel universes. It was recommended by forester on CVGamers.
The two books are Blocking the Courthouse Door by Stephanie Mencimer, and The SFWA European Hall of Fame, edited by James and Katherine Morrow.
Blocking the Courthouse Door is a solid book; if you’re interested in the civil court system at all, you’ll learn something new in this book. The book is strongest when it’s talking about cases and industry organizations. While its critiques of the Republican machine and its adoption of tort reform are solid, the obvious stridency can get in the way of the well illustrated assault on non-corporation suits.
Code of Conduct and Rules of Conflict are Kristine Smith’s first two books about Jani Kilian.
The worlds revealed in the book are interesting– a strong earth trying to keep its colonies held tight, with a fascinating alien race, the Idomeni. The book builds a feeling of claustrophobia, with the characters confined by Chicago’s winter.
There is a lot of small technology– particularly in relation to paper, which is high tech/confidential encrypted, etc. The bigger technology stays largely off screen; shooters function mostly as pistols, ships don’t get described in much detail. It’s a good setting for an investigative mystery, with a lot less tech description and obsession than is common in SF.
Voices is Ursula LeGuin’s sequel to Gifts. It’s an excellent sequel, set many years later. She does a great job of building a convincing occupied city, filled with resentments and unease. The characters all ring true; Memer and Galamand and the oracle house are detailed additions to the world, as is the whole city of Ansul. Gry and Orrec have matured and changed since the last book, but remain at their core the same people.
If you liked Gifts, read Voices.
Vigilant, by James Alan Gardner, is a solid book in the Expendables universe. While it’s not the strongest book, it does have enjoyable mysteries and plotting, and a solid viewpoint character (Faye).
Men of Iron, by Howard Pyle is about a fictional struggle in early 15th century England. The book does a good job of hewing to the viewpoints of the era; unlike most of today’s fantasy, the characters have viewpoints appropriate to the era. Despite stilted speech and some interesting authorial choices as to which parts of the story he’d tell, it was a good read. (Discussion about it will start up soon in CVGamer’s bookcase.)
Ursula LeGuin’s Gifts is a good book, and a strong start on a series. It’s in the Young Adult section, but is as interesting and complex as most of her stories. The tale of Orrec and Gry growing up as landholder’s children in a fantastic Scotland analogue is light on action and long on solid, believable thought.