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[sholio]

Capsule review/reactions to few other books I've read lately (too lazy to track down Amazon links at the moment):

Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker: This is the first in a series of Westerns by the guy who wrote the Spenser: For Hire novels. So, the good is that this is fast-paced, engaging, and Westerny without being too over-the-top cornball Westerny, if that makes any sense. The bad is that I really disliked most of the characters aside from the narrator (and I wasn't all that sure about him) -- which was kind of the point (the point being that it takes a certain kind of person to live a gunslinger's life, and neither gunslingers nor people who are attracted to them are nice kinds of people) but it made slow going at times. I also realized around the second half of the book that I'm sick to death of stories about gunslingers; I found myself a lot more interested in the "civilian" characters who wandered across the page (the prostitutes, the Chinese immigrant workers, the restaurant owners). On the other hand, the last chapter grabbed me hard and the preview of the next book intrigued me enough that god help me, I went out to B&N and bought the rest of the series. So we'll see how it goes.

Duma Key by Stephen King: Well, it's King. If you like King, or if you don't like King, you'll know what to expect (and what not to expect; I think this book ups the ante on King's weird race issues by quite a large margin). It's doorstopper-sized and pretty much vintage King. This one's about art and artistic creativity, and I think it made me afraid to draw anything ever again.

Northlander by Meg Burden: Fantasy of the England-derived, kings-castles-and-magic type. Most of the problems I had with the book were problems of the first-novel sort (odd pacing, awkward coincidences), and world-building issues (I'm mega-picky on world-building). But I loved the characters (five really quite adorable brothers, and the telepathic outsider with healing powers who comes among them) and I'm sure I'll be after the next book soon, because I want to know what happens to them next.

The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold: I liked her other Chalion books a lot, but ... I couldn't even finish this. SO. BORING. The plot drags, I found the characters utterly bland, and I ended up just skimming to the end to see if things picked up when the fighting got going (answer: no).

Comments

[neonhummingbird.livejournal.com]

You're not alone with The Hallowed Hunt; I had to drag myself through it the first time. It's not even close to the level of the other two Chalion books (which are brilliant!) IMO, but I did find that I liked it a little better when I recently reread it (years later).

Thanks for the tip towards Northlander; it does sound cute. :)

[sholio]

I'm glad it wasn't just me with Hallowed Hunt! I liked the first book but didn't love it; actually did love the second book; and then this one was a major let-down all the way around.

[lavvyan.livejournal.com]

I loved the first two thirds of Duma Key, with the horror only occasionally and very slowly creeping in and all the hints about the daughter. The showdown itself I found over-the-top to the point of being just plain ridiculous, which kind of ruined the entire book for me. Pity, because I do like King's way of building a story. (Unless he's building a story like Cell. That was just, no.)

[sholio]

Yeah; my general experience with King is that a lot of his books are like that -- they have a fantastic wind-up, great characters, wonderful suspense ... and then it falls apart when he gets to the big climax and reveal scenes. He's a whole lot better at starting things than finishing them. But I keep reading his books because I'm such a sucker for the things he is good at (and when he's good, he's very good!).

[aelfgyfu_mead]

I liked The Hallowed Hunt, but nowhere near as much as the first two.

[sholio]

Yeah, it was nowhere near as good. Especially compared to the second one, which was really neat.

[blacklabs2.livejournal.com]

Ugh, the Hallowed Hunt. I kept hoping it would pick up, but I wanted to throttle the characters through most of the book because they were just unbelievably dull. I really liked the first and second books, which seemed to have mature, interesting characters, as opposed to your generic coming of age fantasy characters. Actually, as I get further and further past 40, I'm really looking for books with characters that aren't 20-somethings, but they are few and far between. I read Sheri Tepper's Fresco a while back and that had an older latina, but it fell kind of flat for me. I'm not sure I can put my finger on why.

[sholio]

That was exactly how I felt about the characters; they were so dull and flat! It was hard for me to believe that the same person who came up with vivid characters like Miles, or Ista, or Cordelia, could have so much trouble making these people come off the page.

I'm also with you on the age thing. Young protagonists are certainly not a deal-breaker for me -- I've loved and continue to love many of them -- but I also find myself craving characters who aren't 18-year-olds falling in love for the first time.

A couple of books you might want to look for: Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon is a wonderfully different sci-fi adventure novel with a female protagonist in her 70s - I talked about it here. And Stealing Fire, which I just posted about a couple of days ago, contains mostly characters from about 30-45 who have plenty of life experience under their belts.

I definitely think we need more books in the fantasy, sci-fi and action genres with older protagonists! Especially older protagonists who are women. I have nothing against farm boys with magic swords, long-lost teenage royalty and girls discovering their magic powers, but there are plenty of interesting people over the age of 20. :D

[blacklabs2.livejournal.com]

I have Remnant Population waiting to be read, but may have to look for Stealing Fire. It's interesting that there are so few books with older female protagonists. There is an audience out there for them, but then again, I'm sure sci-fi / fantasy publishers have their ideal demographic. Which evidently doesn't include me. Not that it stops me from incessantly buying books. I'm actually hard put right now to name a good example, except Ista. Some of Marion Zimmer Bradley's characters maybe.

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

*I've just started reading Matthew Reilly, maybe we can get a review out of me :D

[sholio]

Yes, do! Talking about books is fun (though I sometimes feel guilty that I'm such a very picky reader; I seldom have all nice things to say).

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

In a way that's good because that shows me that I don't have to be all positive in a review and just be truthful about what I (how do you put emphasis on an I? It's already a capital!)think. I still worry too much about other peoples opinions :( It might explain why I don't write when I really want to!

[iamrighthere.livejournal.com]

How does Duma Key compare with Under the Dome (which I read and liked until the contrived ending)?

[sholio]

Er ... I'd say it's sort of similar, although Duma Key at least did a better job of laying out the pieces in the earlier part of the book (as opposed to the sudden surprise aliens in Under the Dome). But, then, I've sort of come to accept and expect a rather uninspired ending as part of the experience of reading a King novel. Reading King for the plot is sort of like watching a JJ Abrams show for the plot; it's just not what he does.

[fitzwiggity.livejournal.com]

I loved Duma Key! The beginning-to me-was a little bit slow, but only because it was a new story, with an entirely new setting. The way the story led up to the end reminded me of the way King wrote Dark Tower series, and the differences between them weren't all that different really. It was like reading it through and expecting King to hold to his standards, and watching him succeed beyond what you'd originally imagined King to write.

I've recently read the first five Dark Tower books (are the last two as good as those? I don't have them) Hearts In Atlantis (slight spoilers for the Dark Tower series, in the end), Christine (a bizarre love-triangle story that I didn't much like), and Needful Things. Do you have any other King books that I should read. The only one that's next on my list so far is Salem's Lot (Which also apparently ties into Dark Tower series for the character Callahan.).

I haven't read any of the other books as yet, but I'm adding them to my ever growing fantasy list. :D

[sholio]

Hmmm ... the nice thing about King is that most of his books are pretty good, and there are tons of them. I highly recommend "Under the Dome"; it's his most recent one, so might be tough to find cheap or at the library, but when it does turn up there, it's excellent (at least I thought so).

My caveat with his older stuff is that I went on my big King-reading binge in the mid to late '90s, so it's been a long time since I've read most of his older books. But I remember really liking most of what I read -- Pet Semetery, Dead Zone, Dark Half, Dolores Claiborne ... great creepy stuff. Also, I really liked his book on writing (called, unsurprisingly, "On Writing") -- he talks as much about his own history as about the writing process, and it's as interesting as an autobiography as a writing book.

I never managed to finish The Stand, though. Maybe someday I'll give it another shot!

[fitzwiggity.livejournal.com]

I've not found the book of King's "On Writing"...though it's nonfiction, I think. It sounded interesting, anyway, and something I was looking forward to adding on my bookshelf.

I've already read Dead Zone-loved the beginning with the wheel and all, but then it kind of...slowed, almost.

Hated Dolores Claiborne, because it was rather SLOW. I haven't yet read Dark Half or Pet Semetary, though. IT is on my list, as well as The Shining. I'd forgotten about the Stand...I should probably try to read that as well. (BTW, is it that terrible? *g*)

Oh, and I'm heading to the Bookstore sometime this week, I think. Any other suggestions bookwise? Orson Scott Card, Jim Butcher *LOVE*, and Mercedes Lackey are personal favorites of mine. Do you have any suggestions that might resemble even slightly those three authors? Rather vague, I know, but I'm trying to find some new people to read. (I'm a bookworm alchoholic.)