Yesterday I finished League of Dragons, the ninth and final Temeraire book. Unlike most of the previous entries, it’s not half travelogue of another part of the world’s culture-as-affected-by-dragons, because Laurence and Temeraire are finally in the closing stage of the war with Napoleon and so most of the events take place between Russia and France as Napoleon is gradually pushed back to his home country. It feels a little overfast as things that might previously have been elaborated on are skipped so that various story beats can hit, but the overall narrative was enjoyable and I’m really happy with the ending as a close to the series overall.
Haven’t read it yet, but I just wish the dragons would take over the world already so Laurence and Temeraire can live happily ever after. The “19th century kind of sucked in terms of equality” theme has gotten pretty old, IMO. Sure, it sucked, and it’s right for this to be presented as an important topic even in a quasi-historical series, but the over and over again part kind of wears for me.
The Thousand Emperors by Gary Gibson. I find Gibson to be a little limp occasionally, but it was still a good sci-fi read. Gist of the novel is some dude works for what is the main human empire in space, and succeeds in taking down a space villain, and on returning to the empire, he gets involved in the fallout.
Just read the first five books in the Alex Verus series. They’re fun quick reads, and they managed to avoid most of the obvious cliches.
On a related note, my local library has an adult summer reading program. You fill out a slip for each book you’ve read, and it works like a raffle. It mostly works on the honor system, and you have to read the books between June 20 and July 29, Anyone else have something similar?
Most libraries have a Summer Reading Program, the prizes at the end vary widely though. The library I work at has stupidly generous prizes, eg. iPads and a nice gas grill. The library where I live gives out pens and random other crap that no one should ever want.
I needed a computer game break and spent the week reading. Finished Armada, which reminded me an awful lot of the author’s first book, and also consumed the Red Rising series. I don’t know if anyone else has read these or not, but it seems to me like a pretty neat plot in a pretty neat settings with pretty neat characters who absolutely never ever do what they say they are going to do. Good guys, bad guys, high born guys, low born guys, they are all full of Shtuff…
I just turned my Barnes & Noble settlement credit into a copy of Redshirts by Scalzi (I’m a little behind, alright?), and then turned that into a .mobi my Kindle can read (the old Nook died years ago, and luckily the bulk of my B&N library converted well enough via Calibre). Now I just have to find time. . .
I purchased the Wayward Pines trilogy last month from an Amazon promotion and have started reading volume one. I’ve seen the TV adaptation, so I have an idea as to where it’s going. I’m halfway through the first book and my main impression is that so far it’s all about fights. Ethan (the main character) fights just about everyone he encounters. Frankly, it’s turning into a bit of a slog, though I think the book’s just turned a corner (but really, I’m around 55% through the book and it feels like it’s been fistfight central). I’m not finding it exactly a page-turner either, though to be fair it might be because I know what’s behind the mystery.
@ArmandoPenblade, Redshirts is on my list of books to read someday. So even after you finish reading it, you won’t be the last one to the party.
I just finished The Nightmare Stacks by Charles Stross a couple of days ago, and posted on my blog about it. More of the Laundry Files series. Stross is one of my favorite authors so I’m not an unbiased observer by any means, but if you like any of his stuff then this one is probably right up your alley as well.
Oh, thanks for posting this, I also enjoy this series though I have not yet read the book where Bob’s wife is the star. I remember reading that book was more superheroish than secret agentish so I have not been sure I would like it.
That one was The Annihilation Score, and it gets a brief mention in The Nightmare Stacks, but it’s not really required reading beforehand. I would recommend that you read The Rheus Chart if you haven’t already, though…the main character comes straight from that book.
Yeah, “secret agent” isn’t the genre description that comes to mind for me, either. Flailing under the weight of bureaucracy, yes; occult shenanigans, yes; even political drama in places. Although I suppose that those (minus the occult bit) is probably what real secret agent life is like. More than what you see in James Bond, anyway.
Just finished League of Dragons, and my thoughts effectively echo those from upthread. It was in some ways a return to the much better books of early in the series due to more alt-history stuff and less “travelogue of 19th Century injustice”, to paraphrase Malkav & Miramon.
On the other hand, it really read to me like Novik was just rushing to finish the series. Everything sort of wrapped up abruptly without her usual build to a climax, and I really got the impression that a fair number of threads were hastily tied up at the end where she might have had some more interesting conclusions planned originally; there are four or five series regulars that pretty much disappeared into the ether.
Still, it wasn’t a terrible conclusion to a series that gave me a fair amount of pleasure over the years. I’m looking forward to what Novik might work on next.
Finished The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith a few days ago. It’s a fictional story of three time periods, all linked by a painting. The original painter was Sarah de Vos a dutch woman from the 17th century, who in this version of history was the first woman of that time to paint a landscape. Her story is probably the most interesting in the book and seems a likely one given the time period. The painting is bought and passed down through one family, until a shady art forger comes up with a plan to take it. He enlists a young art student to make a duplicate, so that the original won’t be missed, and the complications both at that time and through her future are fascinating. It’s a very good read from a genre I don’t usually spend much time with.
I started The Histories by Herotodus a few days ago. I was expecting something interesting but dry, maybe a bit like Tolkien, but hold up—this Herotodus guy has written a real page turner! It’s fun seeing the mythical perspective of antiquity mixed in here & there, too.
