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The Laws of Murder by Charles Finch
This is one of the better stories in the canon. Lennox has left Parliament to start up a detective agency with three other partner. The only problem is that a mystery figure or figures is planting ads in the newspapers about how the detective agency is particularly Lennox. These assertions even come from Lennox's former friends in Scotland Yard. A big case comes Lennox's way when an important figure gets murdered and there is a note saying only Lennox can help. This leads to Lennox going after one of his old foes as well.
It's all very well done.
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The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang
It's book two of The Poppy War Trilogy. It still feels like I'm doing homework reading this. And, yet, the books have won rave reviews and two Hugos. And I finally stumbled on to the fact the books are a thinly disguised retelling of Chinese history in the 20th century. In the first book, we saw the end of the empire. Book 2, The Dragon Republic shows the rise of the short lived republic era. And our hero Rin is supposed to be modeled on Mao Zedong.
In this book, Rin joins forces with Vinearys who is Nyzha father (I'm getting the spellings wrong but I don't feel like looking them up) her schoolmate. V's plan is to bring democracy to the land. He wants Rin to help him defeat the remaining forces of the empire. There are big battles and more shaman magic and eventually, Rin learns it is all a lie. V just wants power.
My biggest problem is that Rin isn't very sympathetic. She's not a very good hero and I don't see why people follow her or think she is doing a good job. And there is the constant battle to control her power which includes a lot of drug addiction.
And in this book, we get to meet the representatives of the Western Powers in the Hesperians. They have guns and technology and a feeling of superiority over Rin's people. They seem very British.
Because it is such a slog, I contemplated not reading the third book. But I'm sucking it up and plowing into The Burning God.
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(10-05-2022, 10:53 AM)Greg Wrote: My biggest problem is that Rin isn't very sympathetic.
Mao wasn't very sympathetic either...
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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The Burning God by R.F. Kuang
I'm glad that is done. Seriously considered not even reading the final book in the trilogy. In every other chapter, someone betrays Rin. Rin is placed in charge of the Army but never shows that she should be in charge of the army. There are far more qualified people around her. I never quite understood how her power work. She does terrible things and feels some guilt but does things for the greater good. But there never is a greater good. I guess the lesson is in a war there are no winners. Fine. I need someone to show or tell me how these books are worthy of two Hugo Awards.
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Sierra Six by Mark Greaney
I'm kind of sad. This is the latest book in the series and I will have to wait a year for the next one. I guess.
It's two stories in one. The first story is 12 years ago when Courtland Gentry is told to join up with the Sierra Group as their sixth member. The Sierra Group is going after some terrorists who are getting ready to stage a massive terrorist event. Then there is the present day story where Courtland is back to being on the run from the CIA doing a job in Algiers when he stumbles across a terrorist who was supposed to have died 12 years ago. Now Courtland has to chase the terrorist back to India and save a female along the way who helps him in his quest to catch the terrorist. Both climaxes to the stories happen simultaneously and it made me read faster and faster.
The Courtland stories have grown on me. I quite enjoy them despite the absurdity of the stories and the macho posturing. It helps the stories have become a bit small and Courtland isn't facing off against a million people like in the early books.
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Uncompromising Honor by David Weber
I haven't read a David Weber book for almost a decade, which is surprising given that at one point he was my favorite author. Honor Harrington was one of my favorite characters. I can't remember which led me to the other but the series is based on the Horatio Hornblower novels. I might have heard that Harrington was based on Hornblower and read Harrington because of that or the other way. As Weber points out, he's been writing Harrington novels for 25 years. And thought this is the 14th book in the direct series there are at least a dozen supporting books in the Honorverse that don't have Honor in the lead. I've read most of those two. But all seem pale without the presence of Honor Harrington. She is the character that drives the series.
The first four or five books in the series, starting with On Basilisk Station are supreme space opera. I couldn't read them fast enough. I should probably go back and read them again. I believe most are available to read for free at Baen Books. Since this is military Science Fiction Space Opera. There is a lot of talk about the technology involved. There are chapters devoted to how they transit interstellar space and how the various armaments work and so on. Over time this has grown from a few brief passage to what seems an unwieldy percentage of the book. It becomes tedious when you take a step back and realize none of it is real. I tend to gloss through the bits about the various types of missiles each type of ship has. It gets even better when the various space navies have their own versions of the missiles and Weber starts comparing the advantages and disadvantages each missile has compared to the other navies.
The one thing Weber likes most of all is to have a scene where a large group of characters is sitting around discussing the pros and cons of various situations. He likes to have the officers on the bridge talking. He likes to have politicians meeting for discussions. There are a lot of scenes set in corporate boardrooms. Nothing says dynamic like people talking.
As the main Harrington series has progressed there has been less and less Harrington in her own novels. She has risen in the ranks from captain to fleet admiral and she is too powerful for the books. Consequently she only pops up when things have really gone bad and you need the god to save the situation. But again she's the best character in the books and I want more of her than these secondary and tertiary characters.
At this point, the story and mythos is really dense. There are different star leagues. There are hundreds of various captains I'm supposed to keep track of. It's a lot of work to keep everything straight and even to remember who is who and what they are fighting against.
Which brings us to the latest book. All the weaknesses are there. For the majority of the book, Harrington is off stage. She's hanging out with her husband and wife. She's having quick meetings with the Queen of Manticore. But she really is in a holding pattern. Meanwhile the Solarian League is causing problems, mostly because they are being manipulated by a shadowy group called the Mesan Alliance who have been around causing trouble from the sidelines for a lot of books now. The tension is between the Solarian League and the Manticore Alliance which is a new group of Star Nations. There are plenty of scenes in boardrooms as the Solarians discuss how they are going to deal with Manticore. Meanwhile on Manticore everyone is discussing what they are going to do with Mesa. There are scenes on ships with people talking about upcoming battles. There are government meetings talking about rebellions. The Mesans talk about their nefarious plans. And we talk about weapon design in a lot instances.
It's hard work to get through it. Halfway through there is a really fun space battle as a small group of the Manticore Navy protects a planet from hundreds of ships from the Sol navy. The Manties know they are going to die but it's their job to protect. Top notch Weber.
The book drags on until the Solarians do something reprehensible aided by the nefarious Mesans and it's time to call in Harrington. And then the book goes to 11 for a couple of chapters as Harrington does what Harrington does. It's awesome. It's why I read the books. But then it's over. And it's back to mopping up and meeting in boardrooms to discuss what just happened.
There's also a lot of talk about treecats which a lot of people have including Harrington, but that is another Blog post entirely.
This book came out in 2018 so it's about time for another Harrington book although in the afterward Weber said he didn't know when or if there would be another book. I hope there is because there is still story left to tell. But it is a lot of work to get through them.
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A Call to Insurrection by Weber, Timothy Zahn, and David Pope
This is part of the Manticore Ascendant Series which tells of the early days of the Manticore Star System long before anyone had heard of Honor Harrington. It's been so long since I read the previous three books in the series I had little to no idea of what was going on and this book refers to events in all of those books. I soldiered on.
Another shadowy group is sowing trouble in adjacent Star Systems to Manticore and Manticore sends off some people to help out. Meanwhile on the Manticore itself one of the spies is sent off to investigate the death of one of the Lords who died under mysterious circumstances. There are a lot of intertwined story thread going on. Of course there are a couple of big space battles.
I like this series since it relies on more on action at this point than talking about the action. The two other writers help to keep Weber in check.
Good fast fun read. Read the other books first.
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City on Fire by Don Winslow
1985 Providence, Rhode Island where the piece between the Irish and Italian mobs is broken when Liam, Irish Mob, steals Pam from Paulie, Italian mob. That kicks off a war between the rival gangs. Danny Ryan of the Irish gang is the main focus of the book. His father used to run the Irish gang but drink caused him to be set aside. Now Danny is set aside while the Murphy's run the gang. There are shoot outs and more shoot outs. The FBI is involved. Everyone is looking to double cross everybody else.
It's a fun read. Stories are inside stories are inside stories.
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Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump and Epic Trail of Destruction by David Enrich
Deutsche Bank's name comes up a lot in the news. This book was published in 2020 so it doesn't have the most recent DB scandals but it has a lot of them. Basically, DB gambled on Derivatives (which I still don't understand) and laundered a lot of money for the Russians. It was the epitome of greed is good as DB strived to become the biggest bank in the world. I still don't think there were enough consequences for the bank.
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Home by Nightfall by Charles Finch
Back to Victorian times mysteries. Charles Lennox is off to Sussex to the family estate to watch after his brother Edmund who is mourning the sudden death of his wife. Naturally odd things occur in the nearby time which Lennox has to investigate. Edmund helps out which takes his mind off his sorrows. Meanwhile, back in London, a German pianist has gone missing. The whole town is searching for his whereabouts but most particularly Lennox's partners in the detective agency.
More of the same. More mystery amidst the manners.
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The Inheritance by Charles Finch
Leigh, a friend from Harrow resurfaces to ask Lennox for help. Most of the story is about Leigh and Lennox's time at Harrow and the difficulties they faced there, Leigh more so than Lennox. In the interim Leigh has traveled the world and only comes back to London infrequently. But a benefactor has left him a lot of money and Leigh has returned to find out what that is about only to be attacked.
It's the usual. Good comfort food with characters I know really well at this point. The book gives more about Lennox's backstory as well to see how he grew up, etc.
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The Woman in the Water by Charles Finch
It's a prequel novel. The story is Lennox's first big case after he moved to London from Sussex. It's the origin story of so many of his relationships with his Valet Graham and Lady Jane and his first acquaintance with the officers of Scotland Yard. The mystery starts with a letter to the newspaper saying the author has committed the perfect crime and he writes because no one has discovered so he is going to do it again. Lennox and Graham need to track down the previous crime and find out how it ties into the next crime.
It was fun to see Lennox a little less polished in his ability to be a detective and the struggles he faces to prove himself. There is also a large chunk of the book devoted to Lennox's parents which we haven't heard about before.
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Hell and Back by Craig Johnson
At this point, I really should break these off into their own series. At the end of the last book, which I vaguely remember, Walt was in a horrific accident. He wakes up in town but he can't remember who he is or what he is doing in this town where it seems to be stuck at 8:17. Walt sets off to investigate and find out who he is and what he is doing.
It's a ghost story, sort of. Occasionally, Johnson does add mystical elements into his novels and this book gives into that desire in a big way. The main arc of the story is the former Indian school that was in the town and the treatment of the Indians in that school. We also have Standing Bear and Vic out looking for Walt who has disappeared.
It's pretty good comfort food at this point.
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A long time ago, in an Edit Bay far, far away by Paul Hirsch
If you want a real nuts and bolts look at editing this is the book for you. I can't imagine any of you want that so this probably isn't the book for you.
Paul Hirsh was Brian De Palma's long time editor, most notably editing Carrie. He also got to work on the original Star Wars. He worked for Herbert Ross, Taylor Hackford and John Hughes. But along the way he fell out with many of the directors or just moved on to other shows. He ran into a lot of the same problems I faced of not really having job security. He even had lengthy fallow periods.
He even worked with Ron Underwood, Tremors director, and didn't have good things to say about him. Not that he was bad, he just didn't have a lot of creativity.
Hirsch does talk about his transition from traditional editing on Moviolas and Kems to using digital editing programs. It was interesting for me to see how he interacted with different directors and their particular quirks. There are also many good sections on the different composers he worked with along the way and how the music affected various edits.
I'm thinking this is a book just for me.
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The Mountain View Library has it.
Checked out. Just requested it. First in line.
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