Series

Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, "The Gathering Storm"

2011-07-24 15:05; in Adam's Books, Wheel of Time; 259 words

Brandon Sanderson continues the Wheel of Time series after Robert Jordan's death; this is the first of three Jordan-Sanderson books to complete the series, making fourteen in all. The plotting is Jordan's, but the words are largely Sanderson's — and he does an excellent job.

While Sanderson's style is distinctly different from Jordan's — and this is obvious right from the introduction — I didn't find the transition jarring; he does a decent job of the full range of Jordanian fantasy from private thoughts to big set-piece battles. Most of the characters' voices are spot on, with Egwene being especially good, and Rand and LTT being very convincing; Mat changes the most, although I suspect that's because he's just an enormous amount of fun to write.

No complaints about pacing either: things happen. This book is primarily about the reunification of the White Tower — which makes it an Egwene book, really — while Rand attempts to forge an alliance of nations and avoid going insane in the process. The plot comes together neatly, and it's pretty clear where it's got to go next. Sanderson also manages to weave in a few interesting worldbuilding details that I wasn't expecting (e.g. the scene with Cadsuane and the innkeeper); the world's got to change, but it's nice to see more detail of what's there already.

Sanderson clearly has a great deal of love and respect for the series; it's nice to see it in good hands. And yes, of course I'll be buying the next two...

ISBN 1841492329. Search for this book on Wikipedia or isbn.nu.

Tad Williams, "City of Golden Shadow"

2011-07-18 08:39; in Adam's Books, Otherland; 74 words

A sprawling cyberpunk mystery. The author's clearly in for the long haul here: this is the first of four in the series, and it ends on a cliffhanger. I don't think it's really doing anything novel, but it's got lots of good bits; the South African setting is unusual and works well. I do wish the antagonists were a bit less cartoonishly evil, though...

ISBN 1857236041. Search for this book on Wikipedia or isbn.nu.

H. Beam Piper, "Little Fuzzy"

2011-05-15 16:17; in Adam's Books, Little Fuzzy; 46 words

The release of John Scalzi's reworking, Fuzzy Nation, reminded me that I'd never read the original — which is handily available online at Project Gutenberg. A product of its time, and not terribly deep, but wryly entertaining; it's easy to see why it's got such a following.

Philip José Farmer, "To Your Scattered Bodies Go"

2011-05-11 18:27; in Adam's Books, Riverworld; 99 words

After his death, Richard Burton wakes up on an alien world — along with every other past inhabitant of Earth (although not necessarily in chronological order). I found the concept more interesting than the execution. The world is brutally simplistic by design, so the complexity has to come from the character interactions, but even with a complete cast of historical figures to draw upon, I didn't think this really went anywhere worthwhile. (Goering, honestly? Perhaps in 1966 this seemed like a better idea.) Not a series I'm likely to follow.

ISBN 0586039392. Search for this book on Wikipedia or isbn.nu.

Ursula Le Guin, "The Tombs of Atuan"

2011-04-30 23:40; in Adam's Books, Earthsea; 47 words

The second Earthsea novel. Short, to the point, and beautifully constructed; a really nice piece of self-contained worldbuilding. (Ged doesn't enter the story until a considerable way into it; there's plenty of interest even without him.) Recommended.

ISBN 0140306323. Search for this book on Wikipedia or isbn.nu.

Tobias S. Buckell, "Ragamuffin"

2011-04-30 23:37; in Adam's Books, Nanagada; 67 words

Followup to Crystal Rain. Aha, so this series is actually space opera: we get to see the wider galaxy that Nanagada was cut off from in the first book. The first section's pretty impressive in itself; I'll not spoil the rest of it. Recommended if you like Alastair Reynolds and would prefer something a bit more succinct.

ISBN 0765354101. Search for this book on Wikipedia or isbn.nu.

Fritz Leiber, "Swords in the Mist"

2011-04-17 22:04; in Adam's Books, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser; 77 words

The third Fafhrd/Grey Mouser book, collecting together a set of previously-published stories, with some glue and minor tweaks. Most of this is excellent; creative, entertaining storytelling that managed to simultaneously define and send up the genre. It's only let down by the last third, a novella written considerably earlier than the other stories, set on Earth rather than Nehwon and lacking Leiber's usual dry humour. Recommended nonetheless.

ISBN 0583130887. Search for this book on Wikipedia or isbn.nu.

Peter F. Hamilton, "Judas Unchained"

2011-04-04 20:37; in Adam's Books, Commonwealth; 243 words

Yes, it really is called that. At 1235 pages, the sequel to Pandora's Star is straining the limits of paperback technology — my copy began to disintegrate around the time the Starflyer was finally vanquished — and is every bit as much a triumph of awesomely creative worldbuilding over terrifyingly poor editing as the first book was. For example:

There was no problem with erosion on the wet desert, total saturation bestowed the sand with a fantastic degree of cohesion, locking every grain and grit particle into place like an epoxy. It provided a remarkably stable base to drive on, albeit one with very poor traction had they needed to brake sharply.

And later:

They were halfway down the slope now, ranged at four hundred and seventeen metres from the MANN truck. Thick clouds of diesel gushed up out of its vertical exhaust pipes behind the cab, and it started to rumble forwards.

If you're wondering, the climax of the book involves large amounts of long-distance lorrydriving, and a fairly uninspiring whodunnit. Given all the fuss about shortwave radio during the final chase, I was disappointed that the effects of solar flares on the ionosphere didn't turn out to be a major plot point. There's plenty more I could complain about here, but it's probably not going to stop me from buying the next book just to see what on earth he does next. Grr.

ISBN 0330493531. Search for this book on Wikipedia or isbn.nu.

C. S. Forester, "Hornblower in the West Indies"

2011-03-19 15:13; in Adam's Books, Hornblower; 58 words

Hornblower versus French rebels (and his conscience), pirates, and the weather, with asides on steam tugs and canned goods. But this one's really about Hornblower himself rather than the circumstances or the technologies, and the sinking realisation that the war — along with his career — is over for good.

ISBN 0330101420. Search for this book on Wikipedia or isbn.nu.

C. S. Forester, "Lord Hornblower"

2011-03-17 09:18; in Adam's Books, Hornblower; 66 words

Lord 'Oratio 'Ornblower liberates France by being in the right place at the right time purely by accident — which means that large chunks of this are Hornblower without the usual naval gubbins, giving him a chance to develop as a character a bit more. It's an interesting experiment even if I'm not convinced it's very successful.

ISBN 9780140015362. Search for this book on Wikipedia or isbn.nu.