12/3/2009
- megan: jacqueline carey. kushiel's dart and so on.
- verdict: ++
- review:
this is a double trilogy, no bs. i guess it's two stories in the same
world, hence two distinct trilogies. i dunno. anyway there's a race of
people descended from jesus and mary magdalene, whose credo is "love
as thou wilt," so really i guess basically they're satanists? anyway
the first trilogy follows a girl named phaedra and things sort of
devolve from there. seems to involve a lot of stuff, celtic stuff,
greco-roman stuff, viking stuff, demons and magic, etc. (ed: i admit
that i'm realy not able to follow this whole thing very well. sounds
awfully complicated with a lot of words i understand used in ways that
don't really make sense to me. anyway i remain your faithful
reporter.)
- adam: greg bear. the city at the end of time.
- verdict: -
- review:
never read any greg bear. bought this not at an airport bookstore as
usual, but rather at... the train station bookstore! knew the name and
thought this looked good. "big, imaginative, return to form, yadda
yadda." so here's what's cool about it: it's sf on the largest
scale. the first chapter is called "fourteen zeros" because "that's
how many zeros after the one into the future we're talking." (ed: this
is the stupidest thing i've ever heard.) it's about people in the far
future trying to stop the universe from imploding inward on
itself. they're humanoid, there's a hierarchy of races, some are
extremely powerful and build galaxies and stuff. i dunno where this is
going. they're trying to breed some kind of special people that can
save the universe. (ed: this sounds stupid because adam obviously
thinks it was stupid.) he tried to finish this book as penance for
quitting anathem (which fact should be a point of pride, imho), but
made it almost to the end and quit. he couldn't tell the characters
apart and didn't like the book. "from what i read about the ending, if
i'd have finished it, i'd have been *more* pissed off."
- paul: joe abercrombie. the blade itself.
- verdict: +
- review:
seemed like table setting, not a satisfactory conclusion, clearly
setting the stage for the rest of the series. what he liked about it
was the nuances of how people behaved even though they were basically
pretty rotten. he prefers fables to things that are really thought-out
with regard to physics are magical systems or whatever. this book
really gets the characters right, and very little fantasy does. thumbs
up.
- paul: ursula k leguin. the left hand of darkness.
- verdict: ++
- review:
obviously a classic. this book clearly thinks everything through,
there's lots more about the world that doesn't show up on the page,
but it shows. this is his second time reading it, and he appreciated
it more. highly recommended.
- jen: joe abercrombie. best served cold.
- verdict: +
- review:
adam and chad have both reviewed this book. she loved the first law
trilogy, but this one... "is this fantasy?" it took her forever to
read it because it's "not a fantasy novel, it's just a vengeance/war
novel." it could have been italy in the middle ages. apparently, she
says, i'm just not that into war. she likes the characters, but she
thought it was weird that shivers was also a berserker, just like
logen. what, is this a trait that all northmen share? OH SHIT!
argument ensues!! adam and chad are not buying this. but it really
bothered jen. she enjoyed it, but is now less excited for future joe
abercrombie novels.
- interlude.
are semi-mystical period martial arts novels fantasy? very good
discussion, if i do say so myself.
- chris: george r r martin. a clash of kings.
- verdict: ++
- review:
this is fantasy fiction, serious business. no question. it's also
really awesome, and it does also break free of tolkien (which subject
was just previously under discussion). jen would not like these
books. lots of intrigue, plot-heavy. they're long, but everything
drives the story forward. it could be set in europe and really
wouldn't make any difference, there are no particularly fantastic
elements. you can see prior minutes for a bit of plot summary, but as
should be clear, we really can't attempt to keep up with the amount of
story here. it's not clear whether he'll ever finish this series, but
for now, chris is hoping he does.
- marko: charle stross. saturn's children.
- verdict: +
- review:
"the cover doesn't lie." freya, the main character, is a fembot. "she
had been built for one purpose only," as marko so very tactfully puts
it. but there are no men left, "they got extinct." so it's a society
of androids built to obey humans, so they build a weird aristocratic
society. the story takes place in the solar system, so if you want to
get around, it takes a long time. there's a lot of stuff about how
much easier space travel and extraterrestrial life is for robots, how
you might build a city on mercury, etc. marko liked it, thought it was
fun and recommends it.
- matt: china mieville. the city and the city.
- verdict: +++
- review:
chad already reviewed this book. everything he said is true. this is
the bomb, the real deal, and is so very highly recommended!!
- chad: china mieville. perdido street station.
- verdict: ++
- review:
this is out of bounds, and is a latter-day classic, so not much
perhaps will be said. he already read the iron council, so he's a bit
out of line here. the connection is loose, though, so it's
fine. anyway we hear a bit about it, a big sprawling story. it's done
very well and he's into it.
- coda
this was a great, productive and super fun meeting. everybody finished
in high spirits.
- that's all, folks.