100 Books - January

[xenith]

So January is over. After being behind in the first fortnight, I read 8 books in the first weeks, and then nothing else for the rest of the month. So I'm 0.5 books behind. Although, I have 5 books I'm partway through so I'm not too worried.


Torments of the Traitor, by Ian Irvine

I read this one because I was supposed to review it. I don't think reviews should avoid saying negative thing about books is appropriate, but there should be some positives. So I didn't write the review

Finished it because it was due back at the library and I didn't want to have to take it out again

Treason's Harbour, by Patrick O'Brian

Maybe it should be a ****. I put this aside for a few days, and when I got back to it, found it hard to get back into it.

And with each book there are less and less of the supporting cast from the earlier books as they go their own ways. There are newcomers to replace them but I don't seem to engage with them

The Bone Doll's Twin, by Lynn Flewelling

That was fun.

Took me a week to read the 100 pages, and a day to read the rest.

Prophecies to be fulfilled, and the story takes place over many years & characters I don't care about, bleargh. But then one gets to know the characters, and for such a big cast, they're well developed, and events become more relevant rather than just "this happened as he's growing up", and it's easier to get wrapped in the story. So nice little emotional moments too, which help make the characters real.

Hidden Warrior, by Lynn Flewelling

So slow for most of the book, in the "years leading up to" bit. But the last 100 pages were worth reading. I think I can see a pattern here.

Mostly though, it reminds me of what I used to like in fantasy novels. I'd gone off them in recent years.

Oracle's Queen, by Lynn Flewelling

I didn't write any comments for this one. It was a nice "wrap up the story" sort of book, but there were a couple of places where it might not have been as finished as it could have been.

Luck in the Shadows, by Lynn Flewelling

I had this and Bone Doll's Twin out from the library, when the Book Fairy brought the rest of the Tamir trilogoy. Of course, I read them first, intending to get to this one sometime later. Then the Library Elf sent me an email saying there were books due back in 3 days and I can't renew this one because someone else wants it!

So I can either get this back at some later date to read it, or read it in two days.

Reviews seem mixed on it, but the gist seems to be, standard fantasy fare with interesting characters/interactions. Sounds good, so it's getting read.

Edit: Standard fantasy fare with interesting characters. Bogs down a bit in the middle, but otherwise a quick read

Flying Colours, by C. S. Forester

Definitely liked this one better than the previous two. It has a beginning, middle & end so it felt it was going somewhere, and the characters seemed more real.

Black Crusade, by Richard Harland

I picked this up at Thylacon, where Richard was selling them. It won the Aurealis Award for Horror that year, and the overall award. It's an easy read, and quite clever in places. Admittedly, I wouldn't have bothered reading it if I wasn't doing the "100 Books" thing, but the pages passed quickly.

Comments

[cached41.livejournal.com]

oh, and lj - you can link that too

[monissaw.livejournal.com]

That could get confusing.