Reading Diary: Jan 20, 2012 (Jordan, Eisler, Sprunk, Berenson)
I thought now might be a good time to throw out some quick opinions on books I've read this month. Some of these I finished, and some I am still reading.
-The Eye of the World: Book One of 'The Wheel of Time' by Robert Jordan (finished) - I'm trying to get ready for the release of AMoL this November by reading the entire series over the next several months. I read the first five books 3 years ago, but wanted to start over from the beginning. I have to say this one was just as good the 2nd time as it was the first. Love how big and epic this story feels. Also love that it feels like the kinda story that got me into fantasy in the first place. Great, great stuff!
-The Great Hunt: Book Two of 'The Wheel of Time' by Robert Jordan (10% complete). Not much to say as I'm still at the beginning of this one. It picks up right where Eye of the World left off. Starts well..
-The Detachment (John Rain) by Barry Eisler (finished) - I really should have dedicated a review/reaction post for this one. It was flat out AWESOME. This was my first Eisler book, but it definitely will not be the last. Sure, things were mentioned in this book that happened in previous books, but you can enjoy this one if you are new to the series (like me). I would say it took until chapter 16 for me to really be drawn into this one. The first 15 chapters were fine, just not at the same spectacular level as the rest of the book. Lots of twists and turns, and I didn't feel that Eisler took the easy way out. All the characters were great, and I thought Eisler did really well portraying the egos of the group. Assassins are strong-willed (I would imagine) and trying to get 4 of them working together is an interesting proposition. How Eisler dealt with this felt very natural. Anyway, I have to imagine this book will be one of my favorite reads of the year in any genre. Now I need to work in some of the earlier books. And one more time: AWESOME. Go read it.
-The Secret Soldier by Alex Berenson (70% complete)..I would say I am enjoying this one..it took a little while for me to warm up to it. I would say the first 1/3 I had to work to maintain my interest, but since then it has been gaining a study momentum. I'm a big fan of the main character, John Wells. Berenson does a good job with his character, but some of the supporting characters are a little less fleshed-out. And I'm ready for Wells to take on something totally different, unrelated to the Middle East.
-Shadow's Son by Jon Sprunk (60% complete)..This one I am really struggling with. From the reviews, I thought this would be right in my wheelhouse. But it's just not very interesting to me. While Caim is well developed, I feel like Josey is a stock, cardboard cutout stereotype. I keep forcing myself to pick it up every day and read a few more pages, but I'm beginning to think I might just set it aside for awhile. Its not bad, just "meh". Anyone want to convince me to keep going? Does the writing get better in the 2nd book?
Reading Diary: The Bonehunters by Stephen Erikson (# 1)
I wanted to post some brief thoughts on what I have read of The Bonehunters (book 6 of the Malazan Book of the Fallen) so far. I'm about 65% through the book now, and it has been a little slow going this time. While I still like it, I would also say it might be my least favorite of the series so far. I feel like there was action and story progression early in the book, but the last several hundred pages seem to be dragging on. I know it can be hard to make a 1200 page book (mmpb page count) move quickly, but I was hoping and expecting a little more. There seems to be a lot of "philosophical" talk among the characters. I am usually fine with that, but not when it forms the majority of the story for 400+ pages. Some pieces of the overall puzzle are dropped in these "discussions", but it can sometimes be hard to pick them out (like a needle in a haystack kinda thing). So its been a bit of a let down, and I've had to read some other books while reading this one.
The good news is that the story seems to be picking up. Some of the characters are coming together, so hopefully there will be a little less jumping around. The Malazan books so far seem to have good starts, ok middles, and awesome endings. I'm having a little trouble determining how this one will have the big, epic ending that the previous books have had. Guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens over the last 400 pages.
Grade so far: B-
Final Thoughts: The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman
Well, it didn't take long for me to completely change my mind on the The Left Hand of God. You can read my initial, positive thoughts of the first 40 pages here. Later that day I read another 20 pages and decided to go ahead and pick up the Kindle edition for $12.99 (yeah, I got a free trade paper edition for review, but I read more on my e-reader). That turned out to be a bad decision. Once the 3 boys (main characters up to that point) made their escape and more characters were introduced, things went down hill fast. Amazingly fast. Ridiculously fast. You get the picture.
So what happened to change my mind so quickly? The horrible, horrible dialog. Horrible. Did I mention horrible? Good grief..I felt like I was reading the first draft of a first novel..sorry to be so harsh..but the way the characters talked was stilted and unnatural. Maybe that is how the author meant for them to talk, or there is some other explanation for it. Maybe it fits in with that kooky narrator's voice...I dunno. All I know is once many more characters were introduced and they started opening their mouths...I couldn't take it. Literally some of the worst dialogue I have read in a book by a major publisher. I bet half the self-published ebooks would fare better. And the new characters all seemed immature and felt a bit similar..where the only real difference in them was their names..otherwise they acted and talked the same.
I waited a couple of days to let my frustration cool and see if maybe I was just in a picky mood that night. Last night I read one more chapter. And nope, I'm done. If anything, the chapter I read was the worst one yet. So as I said, I'm done. Done. Done. Done. I know I can be picky at times, but normally when I don't like a book, I just put it down and start something else. This one literally made me mad (probably because 2 hours of reading after spending $12.99, I realized I wasted that money. If only I had waited for one more night of reading before deciding to buy the Kindle edition. Oh well.)
Initial Thoughts: The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman
So yesterday in the mail I received the trade paperback edition (a review copy, not a purchase) of The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman. Based on all the reviews I read last year, this book was not on my radar...at all. But just for the heck of it I decided to pick it up and read a few pages. Next thing I knew, I had read the first 40 and was enjoying it. I can see why some (lots) of folks complained about the writing style, though for some reason it works for me. In some ways it reminds me of David Keck..his writing style was something you either really liked or really disliked. I think Hoffman's writing inspires the same sort of reaction...a love it or hate it kinda thing. I read a review that mentioned the narrator being omniscient..is that the right term? I know the narrator's voice is tightly coupled to the overall writing style, but I do like the narrator so far, too.
The religious aspect is interesting, also...seems to be based on Catholicism in some (many?) ways. I grew up Catholic, but disagreed with lots of the beliefs (especially when I couldn't find so many of the Catholic "rules" in the bible)..so I later got baptized in a Baptist church (and now attend a non-denominational)..all this to say I find the religion in this world interesting so far.
The characters..its too soon to tell. I don't have any issues with any of them yet, so that's good.
So..40 pages in..and I'm thinking I'm going to keep reading it. Hopefully my opinion doesn't change as I get further into the book..I'll report back in another day or two (depending on how much reading time I have the next couple of nights).
Contact Info
Email me if you would like me to review a book. Digital ebooks are accepted.
Follow me on Twitter at bossfan2000
Be my friend on Goodreads here.