My Books And Why I Like Or Hate Them So I was bored, have this bookshelf behind me, and somewhere along the line my brain decided, 'hey, let's examine them all and tell people about them!' And so, I listened to it. I wish it was more complicated than that, but it isn't, really. So, enjoy. Or not, depending.
The Black Company Books Glen Cook
"I do not want to die, Croaker. All that I am shrieks against the unrighteousness of death. All that I am, was, and probably will be, is shaped by my passion to evade the end of me." She laughed quietly, but there was a thread of hysteria there. She gestured, indicating the shadowed killing ground below. "I would have built a world in which I was safe. And the cornerstone of my citadel would have been death." These books helped shape the way I look at fantasy. It's written from the perspective of a mercenary company, from the point of view of those who write its annals. The world is gray, the evils are ill-defined and strange. Magic, is odd, and broken and strange. The insanity of their wizards makes Mizahar's, at their worse extreme, completely tame. The world-building is top-notch, and there are no heroes; only the perspective from which the story is told.
Anansi Boys Neil Gaiman
I'm a bit of a Gaiman fan, so it's no surprise that I liked this book too. But the odd thing is, I didn't think I was going to. The main character sort of put me off, I didn't know what to make of the rhythm of the story. I generally never throw a book down in disgust. I just leave it there, intend to pick it up again and never have the presence of mind to do so. I picked this up again maybe six months later and started reading at the bookmark, and it held on tight. Even though the main character is in his late twenties and has a steady job, this is clearly a coming of age story, about confidence in yourself, disguised as a urban fantasy.
Who Fears Death Nnedi Okorafor
A beautiful book whose genre I still can't pin down. It's after civilization's end I suppose, because there are old heathen computers in some places, but there's also magic and . . . and those don't really matter in the scope of things. This is a story centered in what I think is Africa, with magic and supernatural power everywhere. It's about racism and sexism down to its very bones, and it often beats you over the head with feminism, but it doesn't actually hurt the story, and while reading it fit, rather than feeling like something shoved in to the disservice of the story.
Also . . . Just, don't read if you're squeamish. There's some cringe-worthy stuff in here. WARNING ADULT CONTENT and all that.
Dune Frank Herbert
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. If you have not read these books then you should. That's all I have to say about that.
Neverwhere Neil Gaiman
London Below is a charming place. I loved this book - SURPRISE - and it sort of fed my taste for the absurd. Not fantasy mind you, I mean the absurd. I mean the market full of bizarre creatures, selling bottlecaps and rusted steel, where metaphor is real and reality meaningless. I imagine anyone on site who had read this book and knew I had my eyes on Alvadas would stab me in the eye with a hot poker, while screaming.
The Dresden Files Jim Butcher
"The world is getting weirder. Darker every single day. Things are spinning around faster and faster, and threatening to go completely awry. Falcons and falconers. The center cannot hold.
But in my corner of the country, I'm trying to nail things down. I don't want to live in a world where the strong rule and the weak cower. I'd rather make a place where things are a little quieter. Where trolls stay the hell under their bridges, and where elves don't come swooping out to snatch children from their cradles. Where vampires respect the limits, and where the faeries mind their p's and q's.
My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. When things get strange, when what goes bump in the night flicks on the lights, when no one else can help you, give me a call. I'm in the book." The Dresden files takes pulp-style action and sexuality to lull you into a false sense of security, only for you to realize a few books in what kind of nightmare world you've been snared into caring about. The plots make the main character - a wizard private eye in the yellow pages - seem mundane in comparison, but it's handled so expertly that everything fits together.
Each book is self-contained, so it can be read without having expert knowledge of what came before . . . Except Changes. It's incredibly easy to slip from casual reader to hardcore fan. Be wary.
I think I'm going to just put WARNING, ADULT CONTENT at the end of everything that I think has adult content in it, kay?
A Song Of Ice And Fire George R.R. Martin
Read the books, dammit. They're good!
WARNING, ADULT CONTENT
A Hundred Thousand Kingdoms N. K. Jeminson
I bought it thinking that it was a fantasy, but it turned out to be a romance instead. And now, against all odds, I want the sequel!
WARNING, ADULT CONTENT
Coraline Neil Gaiman
Children who read it think it's an adventure story about a clever girl saving her parents. Adults allegedly think of it more as a horror story. I'm not sure what that says about me, but don't let its location on the bookstore shelves fool you! It may be short but it's strange, weird and adult enough for anyone under a hundred and ten.
Kraken China Mieville
His other books didn't quite ring true in me, which is odd, as I generally like the odd, but this one did. It has everything you could want; sentient ink, magical nazis, Londonmancers and a squid that is key to the end of the world. I liked it.
The Wheel of Time Robert Jordan
This was, counting LoTR, my second real venture into fantasy. I burned through all the books in a summer, but now . . . It just sort of rings hollow, honestly. I'm not interested in the fight against the Dark One, and I don't even care what they lose along the way. Rand is a dick, Egwene is getting along just fine and Matt isn't the same since Sanderson took over. I don't even remember the name of the last book I read, but I haven't picked up Towers of Midnight yet and probably never will.
The Kingkiller Chronicles Patrick Rothfuss
My name is Kvothe.
I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow-kings. I burned down the town of Trebon, I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the university at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.
You may have heard of me. The main character's parents were killed when he was a boy and he spent years as a street rat, he was a natural at magic and just about everything. He is clever, smart, has red hair, and generally fits the hero archetype almost perfectly.
I loved it.
The Kingkiller Chronicles is shaping up to be a part heroes journey, part coming of age story . . . but mostly tragedy in the making as we listen to a broken man recount his story in full. This is the book that taught me that cliches are not bad; they are just badly used. That a character can fit a cliche without that cliche defining them. It also sent me diving into the bookshelves looking for a story to sate me, and almost every book I've listed so far was picked up after this one. If there is a root reason that I am on Mizahar today, it is the fit of curiosity that led me to picking up this book and leafing through the first page.
WARNING, ADULT CONTENT
The Windup Girl Paolo Bacigalupi
Who here likes Dysptopia novels?
So do I, so do I. But usually they're all bogged down with message and I can't help but read it without bonking my head on it along the way. The Windup Girl is more jealous of its message; you need to search for it, think about it rather than have it hammered into your head via an author avatar speech halfway through. It points to things that are wrong but leaves how to fix it up in the air. I recommend it. There might also still be a free e-book floating around, with author permissions. I'm not sure.
WARNING, ADULT CONTENT
The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman
There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.
The knife had a handle of polished black bone, and a blade finer and sharper than any razor. If it sliced you, you might not even know you had been cut, not immediately.
The knife had done almost everything it was brought to the house to do, and both the blade and the handle were wet. 'Oh Kit what is this? Gaiman again? Oh we get it you - ' SILENCE HEATHEN!
As I was saying, this is another book you'll find in odd areas of the bookstore. In England they put it in both the children's novels and the fantasy isles, and I can't help but feel that they should have done the same here too. The only reasons I can think of for them to put it where they have is that the protagonist is a kid, and there is no sex.
But there is violence. The scene opens right after a murderer has sliced and diced the poor baby's family to smithereens. And yes, I mean baby quite literally.
Altogether the book is about a boy as he grows up, raised by a loving family and neighbors. Oh, and they're all dead. This is happening in a graveyard. Hence the title. It's one of my favorite Gaiman stories to date.
The First Law Trilogy Joe Abercrombie
Abercrombie's break out fantasy trilogy puts a neat little twist on the old formula. Not in ways we notice, but in the ways that matter. All the cheery, happy, victory-is-sweet and good-triumphs-over-evil stories cringe and edge away from The First Law, because he seems to follow all the rules but something isn't quite right.
He gives us what we expect and tells us the price for victory, and it is bittersweet, and costs us a good deal more than expected. It's an honest fantasy, honesty about people. In the end, he's left us dealing with real people, and the terrible consequences that real decisions leave us.
WARNING, ADULT CONTENT
American Gods Neil Gaiman
'There was a girl, and her uncle sold her,' wrote Mr. Ibis in his perfect copperplate handwriting.
'That is the tale; the rest is detail.'
American Gods is a beautiful urban fantasy that is hard to define even in hindsight, but I'll try. It is about a war between the old gods that the people brought over with them from other countries into America and the New Gods, the Gods of cars, of television, of electronics and internet. And a man who people call Shadow, caught in the middle of it all.
Lots of things happen, and not all of them are easy to place.
WARNING, ADULT CONTENT
And Now For Something Completely Different
Alright, I'm starting to get hungry now, but before I go I'll throw in a few other things I'd thought of while writing this. Not books though; webcomics.
Dresden Codak A freaky, sometimes stream of consciousness and sometimes serial comic that really catches the eye. It updates irregularly but even the comics that are there right now are worth looking at.
You can find Dresden Codak here.
The Meek A fantasy webcomic with a thus-far dark plot and villians that I can love, if you even want to call them villains.
WARNING, ADULT CONTENT . . . Kind of.
Can be found here.
Unsounded Another fantasy webcomic with a dark plot and wait, are there even villians? I don't know. The heroes both seem like assholes. Likable assholes yes, but still. One thing I particularly admire about this artist is her ability to alternate art styles depending on what would best fit the mood of the moment, whether silly and cartoony or serious, dark and realistic.
Not only that but she updates regularly, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Here be link. |