Read Turn Coat, book 11 of the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher.
Another bad people/creatures/whatever doing bad stuff with magic, while Dresden stops them, while getting completely beat up book. I don’t mean that as a bad thing though. That’s why I read the books!
This had some interesting world-building stuff, with some new stuff in over-arching story. Also read the short story that takes place after the book (in the anthology Side Jobs), an interesting look at the relationship between Harry and Murphy.
Currently reading Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson. Book 2 of second era of Mistborn. Just started it, so don’t have much to say about it yet.
What about all of you? What have you been reading or listening to lately?
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Dresden is a bit like a roller coaster where the 1st 3 books are the hill you ratchet up, about midway of book 3 is where you start to crest the 1st hill and see what’s coming up. And while there’s some good twists and turns and thrills up to Turn Coat, it’s pretty tame with some surprising drops and twists.
Turn Coat is kind of the crest of the roller coaster before the bottom drops out headed into the underground tunnel you didn’t know was coming, it really starts to accelerate and spin out quickly after this.
The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. I’m a fairly new reader and never been much into fantasy. I read the Harry Potter series and the first mistborn novel (The 2nd mistborn novels was really boring.) and assumed that all fantasy novels are the same with the chosen one trope and all. Didn’t read anything fantasy for over a year and then I was recommended this banger by one of my friends. I love this book so much. I’ve never read anything close to this.
Finished Perdido Street Station by China Miéville last night. I enjoyed it a lot, but it was one of the most relentlessly miserable books I’ve read in a long time. Bad things happen, continue to happen, segue into more bad things, and then the book ends. Looking forward to the sequel…after a sufficiently long break to recover.
Just started Ancillary Sword by Anne Leckie. I enjoyed the first in the series (Ancillary Justice) and am hoping this one will manage to meet the same standards.
Also picked up False Value by Ben Aaronovitch, to start when I finish Ancillary Sword. The Peter Grant series is something that I’d hesitate to say is good, as such, but they’re enjoyable and a much needed palate cleanser before tackling something punchier again.
I’m interested in those Dresden books. I’ve read all of Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series, and the premise sounds similar, albeit with an American setting rather than a British one. I did a quick search and saw a description which mentioned ‘hard boiled’ detective fiction - I’m not a fan of Raymond Chandler-style prose, so I wonder if that’s a feature of the Dresden series.
As for me, I just finished Bleak House by Charles Dickens. I’m reading all of his novels chronologically, but for a bit light relief I’m now reading Hamlet by Wm. Shakespeare.
The Word For World is Forest by Ursula LeGuin. I hated most of the first chapter but it’s improved since then.
Tentatively started A Spectral Hue by Craig Laurance Gidney.
Finally finished Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman; I found it enjoyable and well-paced. Knight-turned-brigand and divinely-touched orphan tween go on a quest across France during the height of the Black Plague. Medieval fantasy religious horror; very heavily features Christian mythology, so if that’s not your thing, skip. Do check content warnings.
I really wanted to like Between Two Fires but you do need a tolerance for a certain level of Christian messaging. And not, “be nice to people and help the poor” messaging.
If you’re the type that liked Left Behind and would be okay with a grimdark fantasy series it’s for you, otherwise it’s a bit obnoxious.
Yeah, I’d agree with that (although idk what Left Behind is). There was some level of criticism of Christianity throughout most of it, but the end sort of… yeah.
It was a very popular American series that was set during/after the rapture.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_Behind
It had some pretty notable criticisms and wasn’t popular outside of America being ultimately about American and Evangelical exceptionalism fighting the big scary UN.
Started reading Rayuela (Hopscotch) by Julio Cortázar. I had underestimated it (or overestimated my Spanish). A large part seems to be a stream of consciousness that is pretty hard to focus on but moving between chapters in different parts of the book actually helps a bit.
Just finished ”Day of the Jackal” and started reading ”Born to run”.
Finished up Morningstar, so now I’m on to Iron Gold
Morningstar Spoiler
Man, kind of glad Roke (sp? I was listening to the audiobook) died. He was so insufferable at the end. I guess he was set up as a foil to Cassius, who suffered similarly (I would say worse, his family was wiped out whereas Roke lost two lovers), though Cassius came to a different conclusion in the end. I was frustrated that he blamed Darrow instead of either his lovers’ direct killers (Aja, Antonia) who he worked with somehow, or the society at large that created this cruel environment. Cassius on the other hand certainly had reason to hate Darrow, as he killed Julian, but it seems as he aged that he came to blame the society itself for it, combined with the evidence that his family was wiped out by the Jackal with the sovereign’s consent. In addition, Julian’s death was one of necessity for Darrow, where it was killed or be killed. The deaths of Quinn and Leah were not necessary and were just cruel
I was taken aback by Cassius’ ‘betrayal’ at first, but I pretty quickly suspected it was a ruse
Ragnar ;_;
Edit: I’m now about a third of the way through iron gold. God damnit it Darrow what are you doing? I’ve been disappointed before, but now I’m mad at him
The Stone Sky, book 3 of the Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin.
The Reactionary Mind by Cory Robin.
Robin’s core argument is that conservatism’s animating value is not freedom, small government, religion, or even an attachment to the past. Instead it’s the belief in, and defense of hierarchy. He goes further to argue that Government and civic hierarchy is secondary to private and social systems. And the reason conservatives are so quick to defend hierarchy in institutions is the fear that liberation will leak into the private affairs of industry, society, and ultimately the home.
I’m suspicious of the thesis, but I have to admit, some of his ideas have worked like decoder rings for why MAGA acts the way it does.
Barack Obama biography A Promised Land. Not being American, it’s very interesting to learn how American politics work from a very charismatic guy.
Still working my way through Dungeon Crawler Carl. Haven’t had to go to the office recently so haven’t listened much.
I’m about halfway through The Martian by Andy Weir.
Dune: The Butlerian Jihad (Bryan Herbert and Kevin J Anderson)
I’ve long been a fan of the original Dune series, but only found out about the prequel books about half a year ago. So with the new movies, the new series that centers around the origins of the Sisterhood, and Denis Villeneuve doing a treatment of the events following Paul’s ascension to the throne, I figured there’s no better time to dive into the prehistory of the setting!
