The Book Count 2024

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Just starting "City of Stairs" by Robert Jackson Bennet, first book in trilogy. Will let you know if worth your time.

[Greg]

Thank you. It was worth my time. I enjoyed the whole trilogy. I really like his writing.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Thank you. It was worth my time. I enjoyed the whole trilogy. I really like his writing.

Yay!

[Greg]

His Foundryside trilogy is better.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

His Foundryside trilogy is better.

Also “Yay!”. I’ll add them to the list.

[Greg]

Love will Tear Us Apart by C.K. McDonnell

More from the world of the Stranger Times. I like McDonnell's writing. It's all very irreverent and he has a good eye for characterization. This book involves another episode at the Stranger Times newspaper in Manchester. This time Hannah has technically quit her job and gone off to a rehab retreat. The editor is seeing the ghost of his ex-wife. And the occult group is up to their usual shenanigans with the Stranger Times as their target.

This book didn't click as well as the first two and this book relied heavily on knowledge of the first two to understand a lot of the subplots. The book took a long time to get to what it was about and then really went anywhere. I liked the writing and the characters but the plot felt a bit off.

[Greg]

Revenger by Alistair Reynolds

Revenger is kind of a steam punk space opera that kept me asking questions. Two sisters escape their controlling father because they are bone readers which means they can read messages generated by a skull in the heart of the sail propelled starship. These ships go after Baubles or planets encased by shields. The planets all hold valuable technology from long lost civilizations. Naturally, there are pirates that go after these ships....

I had a lot of questions about the make up of this civilization which kept taking me out of the narrative. Distance being the big one. It was odd because they didn't use a familiar unit of measurement to say how far things were apart. And the crew traveled between these baubles and worlds in a sail propelled craft that can't have been the fastest way to travel. This kept me coming back to shouldn't this take longer? Like decades. Or maybe everything is really close. It's not really clear.

Everybody in the book talk like they are living in 19th century England and they treat the spaceships like sailing ships. I think Jim Butcher does a much better job of this type of spacefaring granted they are all bound to the one planet.

I'm giving this an okay but the book left this reviewer puzzled. I'm in for another episode because I'm no quitter.

[Greg]

Some Desperate Glory

This was fun. A bit of Groundhog's Day Space Opera, sort of. At first I was disappointed because the book starts out as a military academy inside a moon approaching graduation day and I've had my fill of that narrative, but then it became more. Everyone is being trained to take on the aliens that wiped out Earth. Kyr is the not liked leader of her particular group of cadets. Then her brother is sent on a mission and Kyr decides she needs to go after him to keep him from getting killed.

Lots of good action. Lots of twists I didn't see coming. And it stands alone.

[Greg]

The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera 

My first bit of Sri Lankan fiction. And I'm not a fan. Or maybe I just didn't get all the metaphors flying around my head. Fetter is taught from a young age by his mother to be an assassin with the sole aim of killing his prophet father. He rebels against this and heads to the big city where all the bright doors are located. These are doors that magically appear. They can't be opened or closed and by the end of the book are never really explained their function to the book.

Fetter goes on lots of adventures in and around the city to a point I can't discern. And the culmination of the book is taken up by another entity that completely kills the narrative.

[Greg]

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

Mr. Bennett does good work. I read this book fast I enjoyed it so much. And now I have until February 2025 for the next installment. It's Holmes and Watson in a magic realm threatened by Kaiju. Kol is a military man an engrave who has been altered so he remember everything he sees. Ada is his boss and in charge of solving the murders that come there way. They've only been a team for four months when a murder occurs at a rich lord's estate. Basically, a tree spontaneously grow out of a man's body and kills him. Things get weird from there.

All the technology in this world is plant based. There are lot of allusions to Japanese society. And there are giant Godzilla type monsters that periodically come in from the sea and destroy everything in their path. There is so much going on and it all ties together very well. Probably the weakest part of the story was the solving of the mystery but only a little bit

I really enjoyed this and can't wait for more.

[Greg]

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

Amina Al-Sirafi is a feared pirate long in hiding in the Red Sea area with her family until her hiding place is discovered and someone blackmails her to take a job. This leads to a high sea adventure including sea serpents, zombies and a sorcerer. All good fun. I'm dissappointed the next installment doesn't come out until next February.

[Greg]

Shadow Captain by Alastair Reynolds

The further adventures of the Ness sisters with this time Adrana taking over the narrative duties. Fura has become the Quasi captain of the Revenger. The book is a tale of three parts. The first is an attempt to get fuel from one of Bona's secret Baubles. The second is sort of an emergency run to get supplies at a downtrodden world on the outer edge of the worlds. In the final bit they head to find Bona's large stash of quoins.

I did like the fact that we finally got an explanation for the universe which kind of makes sense. So, yay, for that. But on the whole, I don't like the Ness sisters. They both have their faults and I can't choose who is doing the right thing. The whole steampunk space esthetic isn't really doing it for me either. I keep waiting for one of them to come up with an "Aye, matey" Nothing of the pieces really seem to fit well together.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Shadow Captain by Alastair Reynolds

The further adventures of the Ness sisters with this time Adrana taking over the narrative duties. Fura has become the Quasi captain of the Revenger. The book is a tale of three parts. The first is an attempt to get fuel from one of Bona's secret Baubles. The second is sort of an emergency run to get supplies at a downtrodden world on the outer edge of the worlds. In the final bit they head to find Bona's large stash of quoins.

I did like the fact that we finally got an explanation for the universe which kind of makes sense. So, yay, for that. But on the whole, I don't like the Ness sisters. They both have their faults and I can't choose who is doing the right thing. The whole steampunk space esthetic isn't really doing it for me either. I keep waiting for one of them to come up with an "Aye, matey" Nothing of the pieces really seem to fit well together.

Do you want me to send you book 3?

[Greg]

Sure. I am a completist.

[Greg]

Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions by Ed Zwick

The movie I always associate with director Ed Zwick is Glory. Turns out he's done a bunch more. He got his start on thirtysomething, a show I never watched. But he's carved out quite the career. And he has anecdotes for most of it. It's another deep dive into the filmmaking process but never really demystifies the filmmaking process. There are some good anecdotes. There is some good advice. My favorite part was when he name-checked Nilo Otero who was first AD on three of Zwick's films and was also in Stro.

Only for the deep Hollywood enthusiasts among us which I'm pretty sure is me.