|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Nov 25, 2024 12:26:51 GMT -5
 Munich Wolf by Rory Clements
Sebastian Wolff is a homicide detective in Munich in 1935. He's not a party member and has come afoul of the political police. But when a young British girl is murdered, Wolff is the best bet to find a killer who has caused a political incident. But then again, in Munich in the 1930s everything is political. And this investigation takes Wolff in to the upper echelons of the Munich power structure including a jaunt in to the Thule Society. I didn't know a lot about Clements going in to this novel. I knew that he had written two different historical series' both of which had won historical fiction awards from the CWA, so there must be something going on there. But I had some trepidation. If you're writing about crime in Nazi-era Germany, I'm going to compare you to Phillip Kerr and his great Bernie Gunther. It may not be fair, but it's going to happen. Well Seb Wolff isn't going to replace Bernie yet, but he's enjoyable. It probably helps that this is set in Munich and Gunther generally hung out in Berlin. And Seb is a very different character. Not quite as cynical as Bernie and probably somewhat more capable of playing the games necessary to stay alive as a non-party member in a very political job. The mystery was what it was. Neither super compelling nor super obvious. It was the work that Clements put in to the characters and the setting that was more intriguing. I really had no idea that Munich was a huge destination for young upper-class Brits in the early 1930s to "continue their education." This also introduced me to Unity Mitford and the Mitford Sisters, so that was interesting. This was a solid historical mystery and I'd certainly read another case about Sebastian Wolff. And it seems increasingly likely I'll seek out Clements' earlier work as time allows. |
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Nov 25, 2024 23:33:36 GMT -5
I finished my re-read of The Enchanted Forest Chronicles .. I found the books at the library book sales last week... remembering that people had talked about them before but not realizing I had actually read them until I got them home. Fun series that is an early version of playing with (and poke some fun) at fairy tale tropes. The last book was actually written first, so there some weirdness there (and its definitely the least good of the 4) but the other three make an excellent trilogy that I enjoyed re-reading.
|
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Nov 30, 2024 0:12:40 GMT -5
Midshipman Bolitho
Alexander Kent
This is quite a swing from book #26 in the series.. over 40 years earlier, and with Richard Bolitho a 16 year old Midshipman.
I liked how instead of starting at the very start, we start with the main character as an experience Midshipman getting on a new assignment on a ship of the line. The Gorgon is off to Africa to patrol, and find a pirate fortress being used by slavers and a lost English ship that needs saving.
The 2nd story takes place a year later and finds Richard and a fellow midshipman drafted abord his older brothers cutter to investigate local smuggling that turns out to be more than the bargained for. It was much more interesting than the first one, which was a pretty paint by the numbers first naval story, complete with all the usual characters therein. The 2nd book had some cool stuff about wreckers (people that would try to trick ships into crashing and then collect the salvage) and a pretty clever and surprising plot twist.
I decided to go with chronological order instead of publishing order for these... hopefully that will be a good choice.
|
|
|
|
Post by MRPs_Missives on Nov 30, 2024 6:00:02 GMT -5
I've been in a prose slump for most of November. It took me most of the month to read a single fantasy novel, not because the novel was bad, in fact I gave it a five star rating on Good Reads, but because I just was going days between picking up the book, When I did pick it up, I would read large chunks of it being thoroughly engrossed and enjoying it, but I would put it down to go to sleep or do something else for a bit, and just wouldn't pick it up for days at a time. Losing a week to the root canal/infection/allergic reaction where I wasn't really capable of focusing on much let along pay attention to a narrative while reading didn't help much. But I picked up the book last evening and ploughed through the last 170 pages of it in one sitting. The book... The Dragon in Winter by Jonathan Maberry, the third book in the Kagen the Damned trilogy.  I discovered Kagen in one of the sword & sorcery anthologies I picked up in the last year or so, and then sought out the first book in the trilogy. I devoured the first two books and then had to wait for the third book to be published. The first book was distinctly sword & sorcery, but set in what ends up being the far future of a post-apocalyptic earth (revealed only the third book by artifacts some of the characters uncover) with a distinctly Cthulhu mythos tinged cosmology (Cthulhu, Dagon, and Hastur the King in Yellow all feature prominently in the pantheon of the gods/powers in this world). With each book however, the scale of the conflict grows and the trilogy takes on much more of the feel of a modern epic fantasy, complete with the third volume featuring multiple point of view characters alternating chapters (the first book was almost, but not quite, entirely from Kagen's POV, the second book expanded this some, while the third would go several chapters between Kagen POV chapters as the cast grew. Most of the other POV chapters were told from he POV of allies of Kagen (and the chapters where they interacted with Kagen, Kagen would be the POV character), but a few focused on some of the adversaries or characters with uncertain allegiances who were players in the story. I will say though that in books one and two it felt much more akin to when Robert Howard would tell sections of the story without Conan being present to set up the story's conflict and establish adversaries and/or potential allies for Conan in the story, but it was apparent that it was most definitely a Conan story. Books one and two felt distinctly like it was Kagen's story even when Kagen wasn't "on screen" for parts of it. In the third book, it was still telling the "third act" of that story that featured Kagen started in book one and continued through book three, but the other players had much more prominent roles and it felt more like an ensemble cast for the third book. And that may have contributed a little bit to the slow start I had on the book. It was all good and I liked all of the expanded cast and their POV chapters, but there were so many to check in on that sometime sit felt the story was only slowly grinding forward as you had to get through a handful of chapters to get back to what Kagen was doing or what one of the other POV characters were up to to get that sense of progress. That said, the chapters usually moved quickly, as they varied in length from a few paragraphs to a few pages, so the reader was never in one POV for overly long. But it also made it easier to let time pass between picking up the book because the churn through the various POV chapters diluted the sense of urgency that sometimes compels you to keep picking up the book. That said, the sense of urgency kicked up a notch about halfway through the third book when the various threads started entwining and building its momentum towards the climax. Plot in a nutshell-in the first book we "meet" Kagen on the worst day of his life-he was captain of the guard for the Silver Empress and responsible for protecting her and especially her family and children but while on a night off he spent drinking he was drugged and a powerful want-to-be witch king attacked killing the empress, much of her family and children, Kagen's family and conquering and capturing the capital city of the empire-all part of his plot to bring Hastur the Witch King to the physical world and rule as the King in Yellow's avatar and disciple. Kagen is 'damned" because of his failure and the rest of book one and two detail Kagen trying to stop the Witch King and his plot. Book three features the fruits of Kagen's labors in the first two books having built a coalition of resistance to the Witch-King and centers around the build up and fighting of the larger war and Kagen's personal quests to stop the ascension of the King in Yellow and the manifestation of Hastur. The writing is crisp and flows. The pacing in book three is a little slow to start because of the vastness of the supporting cast in the tapestry of the war being fought, but still moves fairly well and really picks up about halfway in. The characters, protagonists, antagonists and supporting characters, are all well developed and enjoyable to read about, but the rotating churn does impact that pacing in the first half of the book. The setting/world building is well done and intriguing, and Maberry is good at building tension and drama and writes a mean fight scene (not quite to REH levels but few get there) Overall, I really liked the trilogy, and will likely revisit it at some point down the road, I just wish I had been in a better frame of mind vis-a-vis reading prose while reading the third book so it didn't take me so long. -M |
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 1, 2024 9:15:37 GMT -5
a good, recent epic fantasy series where the author actually finishes the story? I'm in  |
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 1, 2024 23:49:38 GMT -5
Psalm for the Wild-Built
Becky Chambers
I'm not usually a fan of 'atmospheric' novels... this is sort of one, since nothing really happens, but, OTOH, the world is not really explained at all... the stage is set.. this is a post-technological society where houses are made of mushrooms and the world is at one with nature. Sure, they still have some clever survival tech and cell phones, but nothing is intended to last.
Becky Chambers is also typically called 'cozy'. Which, it seems it today's litspeak, means that non-sci fi fans might like it..its not TOO deep and complex. I don't usually like that so much either (those I did like her previous book I read).
Yet, here I am, and this is a darn good book.
It's completely different from our world, and it came about by Robots 'awakening'... apparently one day they became sentient and decided they didn't want to work anymore, and people let them go wander off. This book is 200 years after that, and a tea monk (this worlds version of a psychiatrist, only with tea instead of narcotics) that is obsessed with crickets goes into the untamed wilderness at the same time as robots decide they should check up on humans and a robot meets up with him.
The robot is nothing like robots usually are. He doesn't do math. 'Do you know who much processing sentience takes?' is definitely up there with the best lines ever. And they have CHOSEN to die now and then. The robot explains that he is made up of all different parts, that, instead of repairing themselves indefinitely, they even now and then, well, die. And rebuilt new robots from the parts. Why? Because that's how nature works, and they want to learn about nature. Crazy, yet logical, too.
Their 'quest' to visit an old decrepit monastery in the woods is the whole book... the two of them essentially just talking philosophy. It 100% qualifies as a 'good sci fi makes you think' book. What is our purpose? And do we have to have one? Or is life enough? Deep stuff for a silly book about a monk pulling a gypsy wagon full of tea into the woods because he wants to hear a cricket.
I consider myself a bit of a student of fake religions (I tend to find them alot more interesting then the real ones) and here in a post-modern society at least a thousand years in the future and one that doesn't seem to have had any sort of horrible event that caused the 'transition'.. just people decided to change (that is clearly the most unrealistic part). Polytheism is generally considered primitive, but here it is.. they have 6 main gods and they are for different things. But yet is seems perfect for the world... the gods are there to inspire, but not control, and people have to do stuff themselves (almost like a warm fluffy version of Crom). I can dig it.
I'm not so sure about mushroom based building material though...
|
|
|
|
Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 2, 2024 17:43:23 GMT -5
 Flynn's In by Gregory McDonald
What a weird book. I really liked the first Flynn novel (and his initial appearance in Confess, Fletch). I really didn't like the second Flynn novel. So I approached this one with some trepidation. And for a while it was okay. Nothing special. Kind of a generic mystery, but unoffending. But it completely fell apart in the third act. Just...bleh. And then, the more I thought about it, the angrier I became. Flynn was an interesting character. He was different than the run-of-the-mill cop or P.I. But then McDonald either forgot that or just stopped caring. Dude seriously wrote three pretty darn fine books, created a couple of fun characters and then went to hell in a handbasket. So read Fletch, Confess, Fletch, and Flynn. Then write McDonald off as a flash in the pan. You're welcome. |
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 3, 2024 23:04:21 GMT -5
A Prayer for the Crown-Shy
Becky Chambers
My first thought is ARGH!!! Another one! This book clearly ends in mid stream (Dex and Mosscap have talked to a few people, but not the 'City')... and they seem to have resolved to do so at the end of the book. Yes at the end of the book. Will there ever be a 3rd one? Seems pretty uncertain.
Beyond that, this one is really just more of the same from the first one.. without even alot of things to make sure think as much as the first. There are a couple things... like the 'crown shy' trees of the title, Mosscap's stress about a replacement part, and his analysis of the answers to his question, but there's so much more to be explored and instead we get... an ending scene that is very much like most of the first book. I'm definitely disappointed.
|
|
