Jer
'Til Tomorrow
On to book #2. The first book was actually stronger than I’d remembered — a really enjoyable read.
I quite like Donaldson’s flawed and mentally scarred protagonists, and the world he’s spun up in this series (a generations-long civil war laced with sorcery, coming face to face with the advent of gunpowder, while getting caught up in a much larger struggle) is an interesting one. It’s also funny how the home region of the protagonist has no concept of religion, so when he encounters religious people outside his borders he’s completely flabbergasted by the idea.
Summer Of The Beast by Michael Burns
Two homicide detectives investigate a series of brutal murders in the mountains of southern Arizona during an unusually hot summer. The detectives are on the trail of what they believe is a serial killer, but they soon discover something much more sinister.
Two homicide detectives investigate a series of brutal murders in the mountains of southern Arizona during an unusually hot summer. The detectives are on the trail of what they believe is a serial killer, but they soon discover something much more sinister.
Jer
'Til Tomorrow
…and on to the new one, the 3rd and final book in the series. It looks thicker than the last one, which was already over 500 pages.
The 2nd book was just as good as I’d remembered, expanding the scope after an unexpected 20 year narrative fast-forward (with flashbacks to fill in the most important blanks), introducing more key characters, spending more time on exploring the region on the other side of the civil war, and setting up the final conflict of the story. I’m glad I reread the first two books, and I’m really looking forward to the finale.
Jer
'Til Tomorrow
Finished up The Killing God today, and while it was a bit more bloated and uneven than the first two books, and it had some hastily bandaged plot holes, it still had many great parts and built up to a satisfying finale.
I’d read that Donaldson’s original presumed-final draft was nearly 50% longer, and he was forced to massively trim it down by the publisher before they’d consider moving ahead with it. Some of that definitely comes through in the book, where characters receive overly detailed summaries of what happened to other characters in a number of cases, rather than the author just delivering the actual narrative of those events. Apparently the publisher forced him to change the name of the book from The Last Repository to The Killing God, too. Oh well.
I’d read that Donaldson’s original presumed-final draft was nearly 50% longer, and he was forced to massively trim it down by the publisher before they’d consider moving ahead with it. Some of that definitely comes through in the book, where characters receive overly detailed summaries of what happened to other characters in a number of cases, rather than the author just delivering the actual narrative of those events. Apparently the publisher forced him to change the name of the book from The Last Repository to The Killing God, too. Oh well.
JudasMyGuide
Ancient Mariner
Among other things, I'm currently reading The Silmarillion (as a part of my ultimate Tolkien list) and I utterly forgot how relentlessly bleak the book is.
Azas
Hermit at the End of the Universe
It's the Bible of the fantasy literature.
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JudasMyGuide
Ancient Mariner
Yes, but honestly, Bible never gets this dark, maybe in Ecclesiastes, but not really.
I completely forgot how it's mostly just downfall, hopelessness and tragedy.
I completely forgot how it's mostly just downfall, hopelessness and tragedy.
The_7th_one
Ancient Mariner
Nice book cover
Magnus
Pica Serdica
I think I'm starting to get the hang of Königrufen (with the help of a web platform), a fun game for sure - although I still can't properly remember all the possible contracts and bonuses.^ Among other stuff, e.g.
Maturin
Sköldpadda
Just finished Atomic Anna (2022) by Rachel Barenbaum, my sixth book so far this year.
An SF-novel focused on time travel and a plot to prevent the Chernobyl disaster. If you've read 11/22/63 by Stephen King I would say this is a great companion piece to it, no doubt inspired by it. Character focused and excellent plot, but in no way a copy. Great read.
Have also read Eversion (2022) by Alastair Reynolds, which was very cool. Hard to say much about it other than that it deals with a Doctor, Silas Coade, who is part of an expedition towards a strange object sometime in the 1800's... Go in with no more knowledge than that, trust me. Recommended.
Last but not least I should mention Nikki Erlick's The Measure (2022) which is a look into what would happen if everyone suddenly knew how long they would live. Great idea for a story, but I would have preferred a tight character based narrative over focus on an ensemble and society as a whole. Sometimes veers too close to feeling like a one-for-one allegory but has just enough character substance to be intriguing.
An SF-novel focused on time travel and a plot to prevent the Chernobyl disaster. If you've read 11/22/63 by Stephen King I would say this is a great companion piece to it, no doubt inspired by it. Character focused and excellent plot, but in no way a copy. Great read.
Have also read Eversion (2022) by Alastair Reynolds, which was very cool. Hard to say much about it other than that it deals with a Doctor, Silas Coade, who is part of an expedition towards a strange object sometime in the 1800's... Go in with no more knowledge than that, trust me. Recommended.
Last but not least I should mention Nikki Erlick's The Measure (2022) which is a look into what would happen if everyone suddenly knew how long they would live. Great idea for a story, but I would have preferred a tight character based narrative over focus on an ensemble and society as a whole. Sometimes veers too close to feeling like a one-for-one allegory but has just enough character substance to be intriguing.
You had me at 11/22/63.
Poor JFK