Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Finally finished Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. It's a very young YA steampunkish alternate history book set in 1914 at the beginning of WWI. World was unique with man-made creatures and steampunk machines. Explanations were simple enough for young readers. Story continues in his next book but it doesn't end on a cliffhanger. And I must say the illustrations throughout the book by Keith Thompson were excellent especially the end pages. Overall a satisfying read if a bit too YA for me. Rated C [3 stars]

I've read Leviathan. Yes, it does end on a cliffhanger of sorts.

[ATDrake]

Finished a number of books in the meantime (I think the commenting deficit is well into the double-digits now). Might as well mention the latest, since it came from the library's New Books shelf and I quite enjoyed it.

The Ionia Sanction by Gary Corby is a sleuthy mystery/adventure thriller set in historical Ancient Greece, and really is historical, with this episode, the 2nd in series, being centred around a certain event involving the real-life Athenian general turned Persian satrap Themistocles, whose Wikipedia entry I won't link to because it'll probably spoiler you for what happens in the book.

In any case, author Corby does a fairly decent job of interweaving his fictional sleuth and activities with real-life personages (his amateur sleuth is a made-up brother for the real Socrates, who's a teenaged boy in this, and makes this the 2nd Ancient Greek sleuthy famous philosopher-related series that I know of, the other being Margaret Doody's Aristotle books which one day I'll have to try).

I like how he not only includes historical notes and explanations showing how he deviates from the real history and why (as well as "this sounds like I made it up, but really I didn't; it's all there in Thucidydes") but also introduces his cast of characters with a little descriptive blurb and funny representative quote from them at the start of the book. Plus there's a naming/pronunciation guide which suggests to sound really authentic, you need to pronounce the χ in the traditional Scottish/German ch manner: i.e. like gently choking on a fishbone.

I've always been somewhat wary of 1st-person narration done in historical detective novels, as many authors tend to make their sleuths sound like a jaded transplanted 20th century noir/police procedural narrator who's quantum leapt into a convenient period body, keeping modern attitudes more-or-less intact and finding justifications for why their heroes are so out of step with the local times (if they even bother acknowledging that people were much the same, and yet very different, back then).

Corby's aspiring sleuth Nicolaos isn't entirely free from a certain Quantum Leap-yness, especially as regards going against his father's will to try and secure a love marriage with an unsuitably-backgrounded undowried girlfriend instead of a standard status-enhancing property marriage though that probably did happen a lot in ancient times as well, but otherwise reads as generally fairly in tune with his time period for the most part and there's only a minor occasional infodumpy clunkiness in the explanatory narrative for the differing customs of the time, some of which are probably different enough to need some explanation for people who haven't studied Athenian historical culture.

Overall, the plot moves fairly well (it's one of those mysterious murder leads to mysterious artifact to mysterious personage which takes you on a distant journey to find out how they all tie together, with some Greek/Persian political intrigue involved) and the whodunnit resolves well enough. The characters were generally likeable (excepting the ones which obviously weren't supposed to be) and weren't afraid to make fun of the sleuth at his expense, and there were some witty lines in the dialogue and narration.

Medium-high recommend if you've an interest in ancient Greek historical sleuthery which incorporates real-life Greek history (and not just the background trappings). The writing is a little light and perhaps shallow in places, but the history/culture inclusions added a nice depth, and there was a charming sense of humour to much of it.

I really liked this, in part because it was very Relevant to My Interests, but also because it was fairly entertainingly written and enjoyable in its own right. I'll be looking up the 1st in the series at the library, and should these things go on discount sale as e-book for, say, ~$3 per volume, I'd be happy to buy the lot.

[Latinandgreek]

I'm reading both "The Magus" and the first book in the Dresden Files series, "Storm Front". I'm really glad that I finally got around to reading the Dresden Files. It's a nice break from the Magus, and the perfect book for "just about to go to sleep" reading. I'm reading the Magus during the day, and Storm Front in bed.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Finished a number of books in the meantime (I think the commenting deficit is well into the double-digits now). Might as well mention the latest, since it came from the library's New Books shelf and I quite enjoyed it.

The Ionia Sanction by Gary Corby is a sleuthy mystery/adventure thriller set in historical Ancient Greece, and really is historical, with this episode, the 2nd in series, being centred around a certain event involving the real-life Athenian general turned Persian satrap Themistocles, whose Wikipedia entry I won't link to because it'll probably spoiler you for what happens in the book.

In any case, author Corby does a fairly decent job of interweaving his fictional sleuth and activities with real-life personages (his amateur sleuth is a made-up brother for the real Socrates, who's a teenaged boy in this, and makes this the 2nd Ancient Greek sleuthy famous philosopher-related series that I know of, the other being Margaret Doody's Aristotle books which one day I'll have to try).

I like how he not only includes historical notes and explanations showing how he deviates from the real history and why (as well as "this sounds like I made it up, but really I didn't; it's all there in Thucidydes") but also introduces his cast of characters with a little descriptive blurb and funny representative quote from them at the start of the book. Plus there's a naming/pronunciation guide which suggests to sound really authentic, you need to pronounce the χ in the traditional Scottish/German ch manner: i.e. like gently choking on a fishbone.

I've always been somewhat wary of 1st-person narration done in historical detective novels, as many authors tend to make their sleuths sound like a jaded transplanted 20th century noir/police procedural narrator who's quantum leapt into a convenient period body, keeping modern attitudes more-or-less intact and finding justifications for why their heroes are so out of step with the local times (if they even bother acknowledging that people were much the same, and yet very different, back then).

Corby's aspiring sleuth Nicolaos isn't entirely free from a certain Quantum Leap-yness, especially as regards going against his father's will to try and secure a love marriage with an unsuitably-backgrounded undowried girlfriend instead of a standard status-enhancing property marriage though that probably did happen a lot in ancient times as well, but otherwise reads as generally fairly in tune with his time period for the most part and there's only a minor occasional infodumpy clunkiness in the explanatory narrative for the differing customs of the time, some of which are probably different enough to need some explanation for people who haven't studied Athenian historical culture.

Overall, the plot moves fairly well (it's one of those mysterious murder leads to mysterious artifact to mysterious personage which takes you on a distant journey to find out how they all tie together, with some Greek/Persian political intrigue involved) and the whodunnit resolves well enough. The characters were generally likeable (excepting the ones which obviously weren't supposed to be) and weren't afraid to make fun of the sleuth at his expense, and there were some witty lines in the dialogue and narration.

Medium-high recommend if you've an interest in ancient Greek historical sleuthery which incorporates real-life Greek history (and not just the background trappings). The writing is a little light and perhaps shallow in places, but the history/culture inclusions added a nice depth, and there was a charming sense of humour to much of it.

I really liked this, in part because it was very Relevant to My Interests, but also because it was fairly entertainingly written and enjoyable in its own right. I'll be looking up the 1st in the series at the library, and should these things go on discount sale as e-book for, say, ~$3 per volume, I'd be happy to buy the lot.

This sounds like it is right up my alley.
Thank you,
Apache

[caleb72]

I finished Diary of the Displaced and I reviewed in on my site if anyone's interested. I liked it but it lacked in a couple of areas.

Direct link for the lazy: http://papyrus.calebblake.net/2012/0...y-glynn-james/

I've now started Wired by Douglas E. Richards. This is an interesting book in that there are some pretty significant claims to success:

The #1 bestselling Kindle book for all of 2011 in two major categories -- technothrillers and science fiction -- an unprecedented achievement (19th bestselling Kindle book overall, including fiction and non-fiction).

You would have to think that this author made a packet with rankings like that, but I never hear him being mentioned in the indie author success story discussions you see floating around.

Anyway - a third in and there's nothing wrong with the pacing. It's easy to get into and moves like a bullet train.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

The Ionia Sanction by Gary Corby is a sleuthy mystery/adventure thriller set in historical Ancient Greece, and really is historical, with this episode, the 2nd in series, being centred around a certain event involving the real-life Athenian general turned Persian satrap Themistocles, whose Wikipedia entry I won't link to because it'll probably spoiler you for what happens in the book.

In any case, author Corby does a fairly decent job of interweaving his fictional sleuth and activities with real-life personages (his amateur sleuth is a made-up brother for the real Socrates, who's a teenaged boy in this, and makes this the 2nd Ancient Greek sleuthy famous philosopher-related series that I know of, the other being Margaret Doody's Aristotle books which one day I'll have to try).

Thanks, added to my TBR list. Library has the series available.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've read Leviathan. Yes, it does end on a cliffhanger of sorts.

I consider it the end of one adventure. More follow.

[tecweston]

Just Finished

- Skeleton Crew by Stephen King - I feel like I've been working my way through this book for months. It started out slow but a lot of the stories in the second half of the book were really good. Including a few great ones.

Currently Reading:

- Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley (26%)

- Professor Moriarty: the Hound of the D'urbervilles by Kim Newman (17%)

- Climbing Mount Improbable by Richard Dawkins (15%)

- Moby-Dick, or The Whale by Herman Melville (28%) [on hold]

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Finished Odd Thomas. Liked it a lot. Odd is a really interesting character supported by a bunch of other really interesting characters. A fun read.

I'm now starting Laurie R. King's Night Work the 2nd of the Kate Martinelli books.

I just finished Laurie R. King's Night Work and in my opinion it dragged a lot with filler mainly consisting of a whole lot of Indian (Not Native American) and Old Testament Mysticism. Charlie Russell warned me of a Laurie R. King book (he said it was one of the Mary Russell novels) with this problem.

Originally Posted by CRussel

I've lost track of which one is which now, but at least one of them Mary Russell goes on and on about Judaica mysticism and it drags. But once you get past that one, they pick back up again.

But I think that Night Work is more than likely the book he was referring to. Anyway, I'm still looking forward to the next Kate Martinelli book, The Art of Detection which I'll read after I read Killing Grounds by Dana Stabenow, the 8th Kate Shugak Mystery.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by alansplace

I just finished Laurie R. King's Night Work and in my opinion it dragged a lot with filler mainly consisting of a whole lot of Indian (Not Native American) and Old Testament Mysticism. Charlie Russell warned me of a Laurie R. King book (he said it was one of the Mary Russell novels) with this problem.


But I think that Night Work is more than likely the book he was referring to. Anyway, I'm still looking forward to the next Kate Martinelli book, The Art of Detection which I'll read after I read Killing Grounds by Dana Stabenow, the 8th Kate Shugak Mystery.

Must teach you to spell. It's easy, really. Just remember that someone knocked the "L" out of my family.

IAC, still working on Grantville Gazette V. Enjoying about 75% of the stories, and none have been real clankers so far, so a good selection.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Must teach you to spell. It's easy, really. Just remember that someone knocked the "L" out of my family.

IAC, still working on Grantville Gazette V. Enjoying about 75% of the stories, and none have been real clankers so far, so a good selection.

Yikes! Sorry about that. I guess that the Mary Russell spelling of Russell was stuck in my head!

[mewmartigan]

I just finished up Crusade by Dave Weber and Steve White.


Now reading Off Armageddon Reef by Dave Weber.

[covingtoncat73]

Ok, I finished We Need to Talk About Kevin. I found it engrossing but give it only 2 stars because the ending made me very angry. No, not what you're thinking (if you've read the book). I saw that coming a mile away. What I'm talking about some of you might find redemptive but I hated it.

I breezed through a graphic novel as well, Daytripper. Completely beautiful. 5 stars.

[thinkpad]

Finished the Circles of Light series (6 books) by E.M Sinclair. What can I say, I like dragon books , it's got plenty of other stuff. Loads of characters and places, that can some times make it hard to keep up. This series is probably targeted towards the YA-audience.

After that series I went on reading The book of deacon (also fantasy but less dragons ). This book was ok but now I feel I'm loosing interest with the second book: The Great Convergence (whiny characters can quickly become annoying, at least I felt so). So I'm skipping this one for other reading materials.

I've picked up the continuation of the Dralin saga (Ebudae) from MR member John Carroll. This one I'm looking forward to.

[Bilbo1967]

Just finished the 14th of the 15 Repairman Jack books by F. Paul Wilson. Really enjoyed the whole series. Started as a fairly normal lone wolf type thing with slight fantasy overtones but really developed into an intriguing series with fascinating premises, concepts and characters. I can't wait to read the last one