What Are You Reading Right Now 2.0

[Ralin]

Most of the way through Dead Beat.
Spoiler

So Harry has been avoiding Michael specifically because he's been afraid Mike would recognize the connection to Lasciel? Makes a lot more sense than what he said in the last book.

Spoiler

Not just that. Harry can handle physical threats just fine. I think the thing that really scares him is Michael being disappointed in him.

Plus I think Charity isn't the only one sick of Michael coming home hurt every time he works with Harry.

[Forgothrax]

Most of the way through Dead Beat.

Rather random, Ahriman, but if you ever tire of analyzing Harrington, I love your analyses enough I'd almost be willing to pay for something similar for tDF.

[Kitsune]

Just finished "The Coldest march" about Falcon Scott in the Antarctic

[Ahriman238]

And finished with Dead Beat, moved on last night to Proven Guilty.
Spoiler

Well, some empathy for Morgan, I wasn't expecting that. I also bet none of Bob's previous owners let him control a T-Rex.

Up til last night, I hadn't had a single problem reading these books before bed. Then I read the one where slasher-flick villains come to life. That'll learn me.

Good to see the Carpenters again, how much do the younger ones know about Mike's other job?

The Merlin remains an asshole. Big surprise I'm sure.

[JME2]

Working Body Double, the fourth entry in the Rizzoli & Isles series.

Don't watch the show, but I've been curious about the series and so far I'm enjoying it.

The plot for Book #4's a doozy and the most interesting one so far.

[JME2]

Now I'm currently reading The Tudor Plot.

It's the latest novella for Steve Berry's Cotton Malone series. It also acts a prequel to the most recent novel, The King's Deception.

Having previously read the book, I was aware that Cotton had worked briefly with the head of MI6 years earlier -- a collaboration that didn't end well.

So it's interesting to see that noodle incident fleshed out. That Berry's tying in Arthurian legend is also great.

[Ahriman238]

Finished Proven Guilty and, just wow.
Spoiler

At first I wasn't too impressed with the horror-monster villains, but their connection to Mab really changed things up.

I really, really, did not see Molly's involvement until it was made obvious. And the mission into Arctis Tor was appropriately epic. So is the pitcher of ice water, in it's own way.

So Harry is now a decorated Summer Friend, able to call on them once in his hour of need. I'm sure somewhere in there there's a mechanism to screw him over, a hidden trick, a line of fine print he accepted in accepting the decoration, or something along those lines.

Huh, I really don't know what to make of the Merlin, besides him being on the short list of possible traitors. Towards the end there he was willing to kill Molly not because it was necessary, but because Harry stung his pride. Yet he's unwilling to go on the offensive against the Reds, who have done far worse to him and his.

Nice to see the Winter Knight and Lea again, and be reminded how cruel Mab can be to people who cross her.

I also like Charity a lot more now with her backstory and her being an effective fighter who helps Michael train.

Yay! Harry and Michael are best buds again! Harry and Ebenezar are friends again! And ominous hints about the Black Council.

And again I've run out of Dresden books in the house. For now, I'm starting the Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, the last of my Christmas take.

[dragon]

Daemon by Daniel Suarez very good read

When a designer of computer games dies, he leaves behind a program that unravels the Internet's interconnected world. It corrupts, kills, and runs independent of human control. It's up to Detective Peter Sebeck to wrest the world from the malevolent virtual enemy before its ultimate purpose is realized: to dismantle society and bring about a new world order

[JME2]

Sounds like a fascinating premise; I've added it to my digital library reading list.

[Ahriman238]

I'm only about halfway thorough the Name of the Wind. It's a huge book, but so engrossing I'm literally having trouble putting it down. The worldbuilding is decent, the magic system is interesting and the character dynamics are all very believable. But mostly this book has a great understanding and appreciation for the art of storytelling, Rothfuss knows exactly how much to reveal to keep you invested, when to skip over bits and when to slow things down. If I could write a third as well I'd feel pretty damned impressed with myself.

[Oskuro]

Halfway through House of Leaves... A book I have a hard time picking back up once I've put it down for a while. After I last put it down I ended up re-reading all the Discworld novels I have around

[JME2]

About 1/4 of the way through Erik Larsen's The Devil in the White City.

I've always liked his writing style and he's doing an interesting job of intertwining the Chicago World Fair with the killing spree of H. H. Holmes.

[Ahriman238]

Finished the Name of the Wind, and that was an awesome book. I'm really, really stoked to start the sequel but... I'm going flying soon and saving that for an airport novel.

[Crazedwraith]

Just finished Flag In Exile by David Weber the... fifth in Honor Harrington series and think my interest in the series has kind of played out in the novel. I just feel no need to buy the next one, if I visit my friend who has them I might steal their kindle for the next kindle. So yeah, that's not a great recommendation is it?

Some more details, okay a lot more i sort of blathered on about the whole plot here. Spoiler

So this book as two main plots. The Peeps attack minor worlds to try and draw off the ships of the wall from Grayson, which they will then attach with their battleships, which are ships Peeps have in large quantities but no-one else have because they are big enough to be unwieldy but too small to be used in the wall. (in Napoleonic terms this analgous to a fourth rate/50 gun ship or so i beleive) Alas the Graysons only leave remove half the wall. (though fortituously they have enough other ships of the wall with them the peeps think this has worked.)

So when the arrive, they face off against Honor with six SuperDreadnoughts are caught by surprise and massacred. This is actually the stronger half of the book. But still I thought pretty weak with a fast resolution. This plot also has the criminal underuse of the returning character of Alfredo Yu. There's some fleet stuff at the start and some at the end but the middle of the book is or the most part the other plot.

This is the home grown one where Honor faces resistance from traditionalist Graysons that don't want the change she represents. A couple of other lords, a loud one and a quiet one, team up to try and oust her and sabotage her construction company, collapsing a dome they made on some children (the choice of victims was coincidental and they do feel bad about it for a couple of paragraphs) and blame her company. When it looks like she can disprove this, the loud one gets desperate and shoots down the shuttle carrying Honor in but this fails when his hitman kills the grayson pope and confesses all, leading to a duel between Honor (crash injuried and tired) and the loud lord that infamously she easily wins. The quiet one has covered his tracks well and votes Honor an extra medal to cover his tracks.

To be honest, I didn't find this plot thread that compelling. Its filled with info dumps on Grayson history that I just find boring. And we have a lot time inside the villian's head with his religious nutbaggery views and it gets real old real quick. Thee guy comes off like a Masadan but at least in book 2. That guy's religious nutbaggery was tempered and conflicted until the very end because Simmonds had some connection to reality. These guys just don't.

And Honor herself aint that interesting this novel either.

So anyway, I'm re-reading Honor's inspiration or n+1th time. Hornblower and The Atropos to be specific.

[JME2]

Finished the Name of the Wind, and that was an awesome book. I'm really, really stoked to start the sequel but... I'm going flying soon and saving that for an airport novel.

Your recommendation interested me enough to see if it had a listing on the San Francisco Public Library eBook system.

It does and I've added it to my Reading Wish List.

In the interim, I'm now 3/4 of the way through The Devil in the White City.

[Broomstick]

Just finished The Long Earth by Pratchett and Baxter and enjoyed it. First heard about it here on SDN. Would like to read the sequel but the library doesn't have it (yet) and don't really have anything in the budget for books so it's on to something else after that. Or re-reading one of the thousands of books I already own.

[JME2]

Now working on The Sacred Vault AKA Book 6 of the Eddie Chase/Nina Wilde series.

I'm annoyed they're both back at the IHA as the last book left it up in the air as to whether or not they'd return. They'd been vindicated, but they were re-evaluating their lives and careers (that and the UN threw them under the bus).

Despite a partial return to formula, at least Andy McDermott's continuing his deconstruction of the archaeologist-adventurer genre.

All of Eddie's injuries from the first 5 books are finally adding up and now he's got permanent hearing damage. Even Nina's still having lingering problems with the bullet wound to the thigh she received back in The Secret of Excalibur.

[dragon]

Now reading Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton. It's an OK scifi read

[Broomstick]

Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants, and Intoxicants by Wolfgang Schivelbusch, original German title Das Paradies, der Geschmack und die Vernunft. Just what it says on the tin, though mostly it talks about pepper, coffee, tea, chocolate, tobacco, and beer.

[JME2]

Now working on The Sacred Vault AKA Book 6 of the Eddie Chase/Nina Wilde series.

Just finished it this morning.

Predictable and formulaic in some parts, but still good. And it has the best line of the series when Eddie tries to evade an Indian tiger:

Eddie: "F*** off, Tigger!"

One thing I'm liking is that the longer the series has gone on, the more continuity Andy McDermott has built up and utilized.

Here, the Atlantean backstory that's been in place since the beginning gets tied to early Hindu mythology/religion (and he even ties in the Atlantean outpost they found in Tibet back in Book 1).

Most of the surviving recurring characters from the preceding books (Mac, Grant, Macy) all contribute to Operation Save Nina halfway through.

And the ending, while not a cliffhanger on the same level as Book 3, is still a doozy as we learn that..
Spoiler

...the new recurring character, Interpol Inspector Kit Jidal, is an agent of a shadowy cabal calling itself the Group -- and they're very interested in an Egyptian figurine the IHA recovered from Osiris' tomb during the events of Book 5.

[The Grim Squeaker]

Read and finished "Dancing Jax" and "Freax and Rejex" , both by Robin Jarvis.
It's a delight to see that he's still alive, and up to form. (I loved his other books when I was a bit younger, but he hasn't published anything in years! ).
Fun stuff, although "Freax and Rejex" Is definitely the weaker of the two, and it's not as good as some of his other books. ("Deptford histories", "Deathscent", etc' ) .

[Ahriman238]

Just finished Flag In Exile by David Weber the... fifth in Honor Harrington series and think my interest in the series has kind of played out in the novel. I just feel no need to buy the next one, if I visit my friend who has them I might steal their kindle for the next kindle. So yeah, that's not a great recommendation is it?

Not really. On the plus side you've caught up to the thread where I'm about a third of the way into the next book. But to be honest, after the shiny new ship my motivation has been flagging, kept alive only by the knowledge that things get better in the next two.



I'm going to gush a bit about the Name of the Wind/Wise Man's Fear now, alright? Mr. Kindle tells me I'm 40% through the second book.

The premise I feel I can leave unspoilered. There is a quiet inn in a quiet rural village owned and run by the quiet and unassuming innkeeper, Kote. But one day a stranger comes, the Chronicler who has tracked down the innkeep. You see, meek mild-mannered Kote is secretly Kvothe (the Bloodless, the Arcane, Six-string or the Kingkiller) reputedly the greatest warrior, wizard, and musician in living memory. A man who killed a king and started a war that rages to this day, whose head will buy the bearer a thousand gold pieces and a duchy, hence faking his death and hiding in an obscure three-horse town. There are a million Kvothe stories floating around, how he called down fire and thunder on two thugs who tried to mug him, how he played through one of the world's most difficult songs after his lute string broke halfway through, how he taught himself the priestly tongue of Tema in a day and a night of frantic study to defend himself in a trial for raising a demon, how he himself is a demon sent to punish man for his wicked ways. Chronicler tries to bribe, beg, cajole and at one point threaten Kvothe into disclosing the true story behind his legend, and Kvothe agrees on the condition that the telling will take three days (books.)

So story within a story (and extremely well done.) Now for the spoiler-y bits.
Spoiler

First, oh my stars and garters, there's an intelligent and well-thought out magic system, designed by someone whose heard of physics. Well, sort of. Most magic is sympathy, where two objects are mystically linked so energy is transferred from one to another. What sort of energy doesn't matter much, they mostly use heat, but KE works fine too. There are tons of rules and limits all explained in a natural way without ever bogging down the story, and still leaving a wealth of options to the educated and clever mind. There's also sygaldry, which creates permanent sympathy links with inscribed runes and can be used to make things like sympathy lamps that convert ambient heat into light. Alchemy, which Kvothe never studies and speaks little of, and Naming. Like Earthsea and Eragon, everything has a true name and if you know it you can control the thing. Unlike these stories, Names cannot be written down or simply disclosed. If you hear one, you forget it automatically to preserve your sanity, and can recall it only in times of great peril or emotion, or after training to consciously learn and recall it. This is because a Name contains all information about a thing, it's nature, it's age, it's movements, all the forces that act upon it from gravity to light etc.

There are three things Kvothe pursues throughout his life with singleminded determination. To learn the titular Name of the Wind after his first tutor in magic called it out, to wield true power like Taborlin the Great in all the old stories. A woman, Denna, which whom he has a wonderfully complicated relationship. And knowledge of and possibly revenge against the Chandrian, this universes Hooded Minions of the Dark Lord in the same vein as the Nazgul, Taken, and Forsworn. The Chandrian killed his parents who were assembling stories to write a song about Lanre (later revealed to be the previous name of the Dark Lord) because all they seem to do in this story is suppress information about their existence. And yet, everyone knows the bare bones of the story, there's even a children's nursery rhyme describing the curses that give each Chandrian a special sign so you know they are near. But most people believe the Chandrian and their master to be the realm of children's stories and nothing more.

We meet Kvothe the child as a quick-witted son of the Edema Ruh, sort of fantastic gypsies, they were part of a large traveling troupe and he quickly learns all the instruments, singing, acting, juggling and so on. He learns a little sympathy from his tutor Abenthy who joins the troupe for a while. But after Abenthy leaves the Chandrian massacre everyone. Kvothe in shock lives in the woods for weeks playing his father's lute and relearning every time a string breaks, until he decides to go into the nearest city to get replacement strings. But some kids bully him and try to steal the lute, which breaks and Kvothe spends the next three years in Tarbean as a beggar, until he hears a storyteller telling the reader the true story of Lanre, and memory stirs and he aspires to live as more than an animal.

He saves, bluffs and cheats his way into the University, where he remains for the rest of the first book, butting heads with some of the Masters and his personal rival, Ambrose Jakis. It's a long story so I'm not going to retell it all at once. I'll just say it is a masterfully crafted bit of storytelling, and throughout you can see the moments that will become the legend. For instance, Kvothe is sentenced to a whipping at one point for giving a Master a hotfoot with sympathy (using it against people is highly prohibited) and takes a drug for the pain and to prevent bleeding, so he neither bleeds nor cries out, starting the 'Bloodless' part.

[The Grim Squeaker]

I have yet to meet anyone who didn't really enjoy Name of the Wind/Wise Man's Fear on at least some level

[Ahriman238]

And all done with the Wise Man's Fear. Now I just have to wait one to four years for him to finish with the trilogy.

Oh, and Fox is apparently working on a TV adaptation, so I'll expect that to suck royally or be about half as awesome as it deserves and get axed midway through the first season.
Spoiler

Well, we've seen a lot of the legends we were promised of Kvothe. The Bloodless, the Arcane, we know why he is called Six String and how he came to be trained by the Adem. We know of his cloak of shadows and named sword, his rings of wood and air. But we have been promised a few things yet unseen. A betrayal. A king slain and a war begun but not ended. In the first book Kvothe mentioned Ambrose got his revenge and drove Kvothe from the University, which technically happened in this book but only for a while, so I'm wondering if that isn't still ahead of us.

It seems by the "present" in which the tale is told, Kvothe has not hunted down and destroyed the Chandrian. Else why fear their names?

Speaking of, we get back to the rhyme "what's their plan? what's their plan?" So far we've seen the Chandrian do nothing but cover up their own existence and Cinder led some bandits. Which gains them what, exactly? And they're clearly having some issues on the cover-up angle, because every child knows the damn nursery rhyme describing them and their signs, while most people seem familiar with at least the bones of the Lanre story, even if they're reluctant to repeat it. We've learned their names now, confirmed that each has their own sign, and that they track people who use their names and kill them. Which doesn't explain their presence in Trebon at all.

When Kvothe's parents were killed, Haliax said "who keeps you safe from the Amyr, the singers and the Sithe." and Kvothe has been looking for the Amyr ever since. I had wondered why he didn't research the Sithe, but now that I understand they're Fae warriors that makes a bit more sense. Now is there a distinct group of singers they must fear, or did he just mean troublesome troupers spreading information about them? And the Adem know of the seven and their history and their carefully hidden names, and seem to believe that a sufficiently skilled Ketan practioner is a credible threat to them. Curiouser and curiouser.

And the mysteries of the Loechlos box and thrice-locked chest. Is Kvothe actually losing his power and skills? The impression I got from the fight was that he took a hit and remembered he's supposed to play the humble inkeep and would have to leave town after casually beating up two soldiers, but his sympathy did fail him in the first book.

Has Bast been luring all the recent trouble their way? Chronicler and the soldiers for sure. But the scrael and the skinwalker? What next is he going to start singing the Chandrian's names?

You know, Kvothe tells us all the time how clever he is and how virtually infallible his memory, and the first bloody thing he learned about Lackless was that she truly, deeply and passionately hates the Edema Ruh, so why he is surprised? And he really should have phrased his explanation better, something like "the troupers who had this were killed by bandits. Smart bandits. They impersonated the troupers to waltz into town, under your aegis, Your Grace, and looted the place and carried off two girls. I found and killed the bandits."

Is it bad that the first thing I thought of when Bast explained the Cthaeh with the Simurgh?

[The Grim Squeaker]

And all done with the Wise Man's Fear. Now I just have to wait one to four years for him to finish with the trilogy.

Spoiler

It seems by the "present" in which the tale is told, Kvothe has not hunted down and destroyed the Chandrian. Else why fear their names?

Speaking of, we get back to the rhyme "what's their plan? what's their plan?" So far we've seen the Chandrian do nothing but cover up their own existence and Cinder led some bandits. Which gains them what, exactly? And they're clearly having some issues on the cover-up angle, because every child knows the damn nursery rhyme describing them and their signs, while most people seem familiar with at least the bones of the Lanre story, even if they're reluctant to repeat it. We've learned their names now, confirmed that each has their own sign, and that they track people who use their names and kill them. Which doesn't explain their presence in Trebon at all.

When Kvothe's parents were killed, Haliax said "who keeps you safe from the Amyr, the singers and the Sithe." and Kvothe has been looking for the Amyr ever since. I had wondered why he didn't research the Sithe, but now that I understand they're Fae warriors that makes a bit more sense.
And the mysteries of the Loechlos box and thrice-locked chest. Is Kvothe actually losing his power and skills? The impression I got from the fight was that he took a hit and remembered he's supposed to play the humble inkeep and would have to leave town after casually beating up two soldiers, but his sympathy did fail him in the first book.


You know, Kvothe tells us all the time how clever he is and how virtually infallible his memory, and the first bloody thing he learned about Lackless was that she truly, deeply and passionately hates the Edema Ruh, so why he is surprised? And he really should have phrased his explanation better, something like "the troupers who had this were killed by bandits. Smart bandits. They impersonated the troupers to waltz into town, under your aegis, Your Grace, and looted the place and carried off two girls. I found and killed the bandits."

Is it bad that the first thing I thought of when Bast explained the Cthaeh with the Simurgh?

1. Remember , he's an unreliable narrator. He plays some things up, and some things down. He's not self loathing ALL the time.
Spoiler

That the Chandrian are up and about it quite certain. He MIGHT have dealt with one, but I'd guess that the skinwalker et al have somewhat to do with Lanre and co'.

Spoiler

Now is there a distinct group of singers they must fear, or did he just mean troublesome troupers spreading information about them? And the Adem know of the seven and their history and their carefully hidden names, and seem to believe that a sufficiently skilled Ketan practioner is a credible threat to them. Curiouser and curiouser.

I'd say it's simply as Kvothe theorizes - they kill anyone who uncovers any information about them. The nursery rhyme thing is either camouflage, or simply a case of it spreading too far too control (and thus, still being camouflage) .
Think of it this way: Imagine you're a vampire, and the only thing people have about you is the book Twilight.
Now, imagine that someone was trying to make the movie Dracula, including the bits about garlic affecting you, an inability to enter houses without invitation, and increased awareness of the legend of your existence. You'd want to slaughter the director.
Spoiler

Has Bast been luring all the recent trouble their way? Chronicler and the soldiers for sure. But the scrael and the skinwalker? What next is he going to start singing the Chandrian's names?

Doubt it. Just the soldiers, and for the obvious motives.
Spoiler

Sidenote:
Fair bet - the reason Kvothe is so self hating might be him being implicity in his love's death or equivalent, possibly while killing a Chandrian or the like. Fair likelihood of Ambrose Jackis becoming king.