books
February 17, 2010 15:50:40.800
As is quite often the case, I'm reading two books right now:
 
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The Well of Lost Plots is the third book in the Thursday Next series. While it's hardly heavy reading, it's an enjoyable set of books - the intertwining of the real world with the book world (characters can jump in and out of books; some fictional characters die and have to be replaced by generics who stand in for them) is quite interesting. The idea of "oral tradition" story characters (think nursery rhymes) going on strike for better working conditions was pretty amusing. I don't want to give awy too much - this is, after all, the third book in the series. However, I can say this: it's a fun set of books to read, and I recommend them |
 
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Daemon is a much more involved book, and harder to read in parts - there's at least one character involved in some pretty unsavory things, and it's not clear yet whether he ends up on the "good" team yet - because the sides are unclear to me halfway in.
The protagonist is a rich game developer who set off a series of events after his death, via sophisticated, distributed software systems (and people he has the software recruit as real world actors). I'm still not sure what his goals are, or whether his goals serve a good or bad end yet - which is one of the things I like about the book - at the midway point, it's not clear. This is the first book in a series (and only the second is out) - so if you don't want to get sucked in, there's your warning. I like the book, even though parts of it were hard to get through (from the standpoint of the things going on, not from a writing standpoint). |
Technorati Tags:
daemon, well+of+lost+plots
posted by James Robertson
books
February 2, 2010 10:25:09.909
Charles Stross explains the Amazon/MacMillan affair in the context of what's going on in publishing as a whole. It's easy (from the book consumer's standpoint) to see Amazon as "the good guiy" driving prices down, but it's useful to see where writers and publishers are coming from as well - the picture is way more complicated than Amazon would like us to think...
Technorati Tags:
amazon, publishing
posted by James Robertson
books
February 2, 2010 10:11:24.999
 
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I finished off George Martin's A Feast for Crows
yesterday, and now I'm ready for book five - which sadly isn't out yet. Book four focused almost entirely on the south, and there were plenty of surpises. Again, I'll note that martin - unlike the writers for "Heroes" - is entirely ok with killing off characters, including ones that you are utterly convinced are going to stick around. This is a good thing - with anyone at risk, you really want to keep turning the pages. |
So now I'll be paying attention to the rumor mill on his progress - it's been nearly 5 years since book four, so let's have it!
Technorati Tags:
fantasy
posted by James Robertson
books
January 27, 2010 12:25:04.995
posted by James Robertson
books
January 24, 2010 23:13:01.685
posted by James Robertson
books
January 16, 2010 1:03:37.696
posted by James Robertson
books
January 8, 2010 10:19:54.561
posted by James Robertson
books
December 31, 2009 12:59:40.356
 
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My friend Mike gave me the first two books of
George Martin's "
A Game of Thrones" for my birthday last month, and I've
found them very engrossing - book three should be on its way from
Amazon now. It's a huge story, with more characters than you can
shake a stick at, and - unlike the cardboard ones you'll find in
your typical political thriller, these characters are fleshed out.
Having said that, if you decide to read these books, don't get too
atached to any particular character - a number of "he can't kill so
and so, can he?" moments have come and gone already (bear in mind
that I'm only in book 2!), and plenty of those characters have been
killed off. |
Heck, I like the books well enough that they are modifying the
way I exercise. More than once, instead of heading out to jog, I've
gotten on the stationary bike so that I can read a few chapters :)
Highly recommended series - it's not your run of the mill "swords
and sorcery" fare by any means.
Oh, and yes - I am looking forward to the HBO series :)
Technorati Tags:
fantasy
posted by James Robertson
