Runaways by Brian K. Vaughan
The series Runaways came up as a recommendation for me several times, and it looked interesting. However, I am wary books with of teenage characters, because if they’re not well done, I find them intolerably annoying. Luckily, the characters in Runaways may be teenagers, but they were interesting, and the angst was low-level and, to be honest, understandable.
Blood Price (1991) Tanya Huff
I’m embarrassed to admit how long I’ve had this book without reading it. In fact, it’s been so long that I’m not even certain precisely how long it has been, but I’m thinking I picked it up in ’94 or ’95, along with its two companion volumes. (The price was $3.99, if that tells you anything, although I got it used.) Not that I didn’t try to start this book before. I did. A rather long time ago. However, the first chapter is rather gruesome, and I thought the book was going to be horror, so I put it back for later. It’s just that later took a lot longer to get here than I expected.
I came across a comment in passing that gave me pause to consider what I’ve been writing here. Specifically, I don’t review a lot of books I don’t like.
There’s a very good reason for this–I don’t read a lot of books I don’t like.
When I pick up a book I don’t like, I tend to abandon it; typically thinking, “Well, maybe I’m just not in the mood for this right now. Perhaps I’ll come back to it later.”
So here are some reviews of some books that I started and abandoned. Please feel free to tell me if the book gets better later, and I should really slog through fifty more pages, because the payoff will be worth it.
Swords of Haven (1999) Simon R. Green
Omnibus edition of: Hawk & Fisher, Winner Takes All, The God Killer
Swords of Haven, the omnibus edition containing the three Hawk and Fisher books, Hawk & Fisher, Winner Takes All, The God Killer, is a very odd book.
Yeah, I know that’s three books in as many days, but two of them were comics, so I hardly think that counts. Cuz I don’t have a book problem, and denial isn’t the first sign of anything.
Besides, it’s not like that time when I read 27 Spenser books in five days.
The Farthest Shore (1972) Ursula K. Le Guin
The final book in The Earthsea Trilogy, as A Wizard of Earthsea tells of the start of Ged’s life as a wizard, The Farthest Shore closes his adventures.
A Wizard of Earthsea (1968) Ursula K. Le Guin
Strangely enough, as much fantasy as I read, I’d never gotten around to reading Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Trilogy. I’ve had the books for a couple of years, but for one reason or another, never got around to reading them. It’s a short book, my copy has only 183 pages (same for the reprint I just looked up), so I kept putting off reading it until a time when I needed a short book to read. Well, that time seems to be now.
Read More about A Wizard of Earthsea
The Tombs of Atuan (1970) Ursula K. Le Guin
The second book in the Earthsea Trilogy, The Tombs of Atuan tells the story of Tenar, who becomes Arha, the Eaten One, and High Priestess of the Nameless Ones. Tenar is taken from her home at the age of five becuase she is the reincarnation of Arha. The tombs beneath the city are her realm and her responsibility.
Brokedown Palace (1986) Steven Brust
I don’t know how long it’s been since I read Brokedown Palace, but it was long enough ago that I didn’t remember any of the story, and I don’t think I’d yet read many of his books other than the first couple Vlad Taltos books. Which meant that there were plenty of pleasant surprise in store for me as I reread this book.
Michael’s been studying. Guess what I’ve been doing.
Moonlight & Vines (1999) Charles de Lint
The third (I believe) Charles de Lint short story collection, Moonlight & Vines returns again to Newford. Although it starts and ends with a Christie Riddell story, and there are plenty of appearances by the characters with whom we’ve become familiar, there are also new characters, some we’ll meet again, and some who seem to appear only this once.
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Memory & Dream (1995) Charles de Lint
Memory & Dream is not my favorite Charles de Lint book. Partially, because I keep forgetting that it’s a novel and not a short story collection, so I pick up the book, start reading, and then think, “boy, this is a really long story.” Then I remember that it’s a novel, and I have to shift my expectations. It seems like a small thing, but it always throws me off, just at the point where I’m getting into the story.
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Jack of Kinrowan (1995) Charles de Lint
Jack of Kinrowan is actually two books: Jack the Giant Killer and Drink Down the Moon.
In Jack the Giant Killer, the Seelie Laird of Kinrowan’s daughter has been stolen by the Unseelie Court, despite the fact that she was being escorted by the Gruagagh. And the Unseelie Court also has the Horn that controls the Hunt, so the Gruagagh–even if he were still trusted by the Laird’s court–is trapped in his tower and unable to help, while no one else has the power to help. Except, maybe, a Jack.
And further on the Bad News front.
Jim is not renewing his lease for The Bookshelf in May. And he’s not sure when he’ll have another storefront.
Which means that there will be Zero used book stores in Morgantown then.
He is talking about an on-line presence, but sometimes you really have to see the book, y’know?
The Ivory and the Horn (1995) Charles de Lint
The Ivory and the Horn is the second short story collection by Charles de Lint, and like Dreams Underfoot, is set in Newford, the mythical North American city, where mythical beings reside.
Dreams Underfoot (1993) Charles de Lint
I believe that Dreams Underfoot is the first Charles de Lint book I bought. I may have read one of his stories somewhere (Now that I look, I may have first read “The Moon Is Drowning as I Sleep” in Snow White, Blood Red, and from there been sucked in.), perhaps in a “Year’s Best in Fantasy and Horror.” Or I may have just seen the cover and snatched up the book.
Captain Alatriste (1996) Arturo Perez-Reverte
translated by Margaret Sayers Peden
My mistake came in reading this after reading Steven Brust. Following one swashbuckling adventure with another is bound to lead to comparisons, and as there are few whose writing I love more than Steven Brust, anything else is going to come across as weak by comparison.
Anyone else read Steven Brust?
If so, I’ve been annoyed by something I can’t figure out.
To wit: who the hell is the Warlord during the Vlad books?
At the end of Sethra Lavode, Sethra Lavode resigns as Warlord and is replaced by Sethra the Younger. The next book in the timeline is Jhereg, and that plot revolves around who is going to be Warlord when the Dragon Emperor takes the throne, and as much time as Sethra is spending at Castle Black, I don’t think she could still be warlord. Then at the end of Jhereg The House of Dragon decrees that Sethra the Younger can never be Emperor or Warlord, but doesn’t mention her having to step down.
So who replaced Sethra the Younger as Warlord between Sethra Lavode and Jhereg?
I’d also ask why, except that I think the answer is pretty self-evident.
And yes, I know, that’s a pretty ridiculous question to be asking, all things considered. Except that I really don’t want to do my Survey Methods homework, and pondering Dragaera is nice distraction.
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