June Booklog
Jun. 30th, 2012 03:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
netgirl_y2kHow is it the end of June? Why, oh why, won't it stop raining?
So in between watching football and obsessing over the weather like it's the beginning of a very damp apocalypse movie I did manage to read some books.
Heartless & Timeless by Gail Carriger - It's weird, because I remember being thoroughly unimpressed with the first book in the series, and only keeping going after some pretty enthusiastic recs, then rattling through the last three books one after the other at a rate of knots. I am now quietly mourning that there are no more to read. I think part of why it took so long for the series to click for me was that while I liked Alexia herself, I really didn't care for her marriage to Conall, that sort of alpha male character rarely does anything for me. For a lot of the time I was actually kind of rooting for Alexia to run off with Madame Lefoux. Speaking of canon queerness, how delighted was I when Biffy/Lyall became canon? Quite delighted. But in the final book, seeing Connall as a father to little Prudence, and Alexia's reaction when she thought he'd died, I sort of retroactively warmed to their relationship. I hope they do retire to Egypt and grow old together.
It also addressed the other bugbear I'd had, the sort of condescending and dismissive attitude Alexia had towards her friend Ivy.
IVY HISSELPENNY HAS SECRET SMARTS AND IS ALSO QUEEN OF THE VAMPIRES. OH YES!
Anyway, I hope the rumours that there will be a future series about the adventures of Alexia's daughter are true.
Code Name: Verity by Elizabeth Wein - This is about two girls, a pilot and a spy, who become unlikelygirlfriends best friends during WWII. It's chock full of stuff that I like, romantic female friendships (at least that's how I'd describe them), unreliable narrators, plot twists. This is filed under: CANNOT RECOMMEND HIGHLY ENOUGH. PS. BRING TISSUES.
Jaggy Splinters by Chris Brookmyre - You know, Brookmyre is one of my favourite authors. He's the Run out on release day and buy the signed hardback guy. But this collection of short stories borders on the unreadable. It becomes very clear, very quickly, that writing novels and writing short stories are two entirely different skill sets.
Also, I wonder if this is a fandom thing? Because even most longer fics would still be classified as short stories. So if you've read much fic at all you quickly develop a sort of subconscious recognition of what a well structured short story looks like. Or maybe I'm just talking complete rubbish, I don't know.
Anyway, the only two that were any good at all were the Parlabane ones, and only because they were about a familiar and beloved character (again, fandom) and I'm giving the one about homeopathy being a crock of shit massive kudos for being about homeopathy being a crock of shit, even though it wasn't actually that good.
When the Devil Drives by Chris Brookmyre - Luckily, he's still good at writing novels. There was a weird thing, I think, when Brookmyre changed his name from Christopher to Chris and started writing more straight-up crime fiction. My relationship with his novels had sort of gone: this is nicely weird - this is too weird - this is not weird enough. But I actually really liked this one, maybe I've adjusted to his new style, or maybe I just like seeing failed actress Jasmine Sharpe come into her own as a private investigator.
Blackout by Mira Grant - I mostly, mostly, adored this zombie trilogy. And the final instalment was a fun, engaging read, just like the previous two. But there was one huge thing that I couldn't get past. I can't tell you how much George/Shaun becoming canon irked me. And I had liked them as overly-affectionate and creepily co-dependent siblings in the previous books (my narrative kinks, let me show you) I could even have bought them getting together in the wake of George's, you know, temporary death. But the whole thing, where it turned out that they'd been in a secret relationship for years and nobody knew just felt cheap somehow. Not to mention that whether they were biologically related or not they had been raised as siblings their entire life, and that was never addressed at all.
Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson - Like the other Sanderson book I read, it took me a long time, like two weeks, to really get into this. Although some of that may have been football and apocalyptic weather related. So it took me two weeks to read the first half of this book, then two days to read the second half.
I'll say this for Sanderson when he grabs you, he really bloody grabs you.
I'm torn between getting the second Mistborn book on my kindle so I can start it tonight, or waiting until I'm passing the shop and can get the paperback. The cover art is so pretty.
So in between watching football and obsessing over the weather like it's the beginning of a very damp apocalypse movie I did manage to read some books.
Heartless & Timeless by Gail Carriger - It's weird, because I remember being thoroughly unimpressed with the first book in the series, and only keeping going after some pretty enthusiastic recs, then rattling through the last three books one after the other at a rate of knots. I am now quietly mourning that there are no more to read. I think part of why it took so long for the series to click for me was that while I liked Alexia herself, I really didn't care for her marriage to Conall, that sort of alpha male character rarely does anything for me. For a lot of the time I was actually kind of rooting for Alexia to run off with Madame Lefoux. Speaking of canon queerness, how delighted was I when Biffy/Lyall became canon? Quite delighted. But in the final book, seeing Connall as a father to little Prudence, and Alexia's reaction when she thought he'd died, I sort of retroactively warmed to their relationship. I hope they do retire to Egypt and grow old together.
It also addressed the other bugbear I'd had, the sort of condescending and dismissive attitude Alexia had towards her friend Ivy.
IVY HISSELPENNY HAS SECRET SMARTS AND IS ALSO QUEEN OF THE VAMPIRES. OH YES!
Anyway, I hope the rumours that there will be a future series about the adventures of Alexia's daughter are true.
Code Name: Verity by Elizabeth Wein - This is about two girls, a pilot and a spy, who become unlikely
Jaggy Splinters by Chris Brookmyre - You know, Brookmyre is one of my favourite authors. He's the Run out on release day and buy the signed hardback guy. But this collection of short stories borders on the unreadable. It becomes very clear, very quickly, that writing novels and writing short stories are two entirely different skill sets.
Also, I wonder if this is a fandom thing? Because even most longer fics would still be classified as short stories. So if you've read much fic at all you quickly develop a sort of subconscious recognition of what a well structured short story looks like. Or maybe I'm just talking complete rubbish, I don't know.
Anyway, the only two that were any good at all were the Parlabane ones, and only because they were about a familiar and beloved character (again, fandom) and I'm giving the one about homeopathy being a crock of shit massive kudos for being about homeopathy being a crock of shit, even though it wasn't actually that good.
When the Devil Drives by Chris Brookmyre - Luckily, he's still good at writing novels. There was a weird thing, I think, when Brookmyre changed his name from Christopher to Chris and started writing more straight-up crime fiction. My relationship with his novels had sort of gone: this is nicely weird - this is too weird - this is not weird enough. But I actually really liked this one, maybe I've adjusted to his new style, or maybe I just like seeing failed actress Jasmine Sharpe come into her own as a private investigator.
Blackout by Mira Grant - I mostly, mostly, adored this zombie trilogy. And the final instalment was a fun, engaging read, just like the previous two. But there was one huge thing that I couldn't get past. I can't tell you how much George/Shaun becoming canon irked me. And I had liked them as overly-affectionate and creepily co-dependent siblings in the previous books (my narrative kinks, let me show you) I could even have bought them getting together in the wake of George's, you know, temporary death. But the whole thing, where it turned out that they'd been in a secret relationship for years and nobody knew just felt cheap somehow. Not to mention that whether they were biologically related or not they had been raised as siblings their entire life, and that was never addressed at all.
Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson - Like the other Sanderson book I read, it took me a long time, like two weeks, to really get into this. Although some of that may have been football and apocalyptic weather related. So it took me two weeks to read the first half of this book, then two days to read the second half.
I'll say this for Sanderson when he grabs you, he really bloody grabs you.
I'm torn between getting the second Mistborn book on my kindle so I can start it tonight, or waiting until I'm passing the shop and can get the paperback. The cover art is so pretty.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-01 01:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-01 01:18 pm (UTC)While Alexia's behaviour towards Ivy never vastly improves, she is shown as being more perceptive than people give her credit for in the latter two or three books. She's got a great scene with Lyall, I think? where she says that being silly is not the same as being stupid. And the vampire bit is towards the end of the final book, 'TIS EPIC.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-01 02:05 am (UTC)The Mistborn books are awesome. They just get better and better until the final twist. I need to actually buy.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-01 01:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-01 01:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-02 05:05 am (UTC)