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New Review: Sean McMullen's Souls in the Great Machine
July 31, 2003 (11:51 PM) ( link ) ADDED a review of Sean McMullen's Souls in the Great Machine. God, that was a tough novel to get through. And not in a good way.
Corey Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom has improved considerably, though it's still not one of the better science fiction novels I've ever read. Aside from Doctorow's novel, I have nothing else on my plate; this weekend merits another trip to the library and another lovely hour or two browsing its shelves. (Though the D.C. Library's speculative fiction offerings are unfortunately quite limited.)
New Reviews: Iain M Banks's Excession and Julian Barnes's A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters
July 25, 2003 (12:22 AM) ( link ) ADDED reviews of Iain M Banks's Excession and Julian Barnes's A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters.
I've started reading Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and I don't like it. The first chapter provides thinly disguised exposition in the tired form of a "dialogue" between two strangers, and Doctorow uses all sorts of annoying writing techniques. Of course, maybe there's a reason for his style: I'll have to read a few more chapters before I decide whether to drop the book for good.
I've also started Sean McMullen's Souls in the Great Machine. It has a great setting, in a subgenre that I love: the far future world where extreme high tech has come and gone and the world has reverted to an earlier stage of technology. Unfortunately, McMullen is another terrible writer, with paper-thin characters and some really awful plot turns. Here's hoping the setting will sustain me through another, let's see, 300 pages.
Sigh. So nothing good so far. I get the feeling my top 10 list in September won't have a lot of highlights from the past year.
New Review: Michael Marshall Smith's One of Us
July 12, 2003 (3:02 AM) ( link ) ADDED a review of Michael Marshall Smith's One of Us. Exactly like his other books, Spares and Only Forward, though with slightly different underlying ideas.
Next, I think I'll be reading Julian Barnes's A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, as recommended by a friend. It'll be a break from my usual batch of speculative fiction. Afterward I think I may actually embark on Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast Novels. But we'll see.
New Review: Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio
July 10, 2003 (12:39 AM) ( link ) ADDED a review of Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio. Boy am I glad to be moving on to another book. That other book is Michael Marshall Smith's second novel, One of Us. Unfortunately, the first few chapters only reinforce what I said in my review of Spares: Smith has plenty of interesting ideas but only a single basic storyline that he ever uses. Hopefully my expectations will be foiled, but I doubt it.
In the meantime, I finished Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix a while ago. I'm debating whether to review it: I mean, I thought it was fantastic, and significantly better than The Goblet of Fire, but does anybody really care what other people think? Probably not. (Though A.S. Byatt has an interesting opinion.)
New Review: Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow
July 9, 2003 (1:23 AM) ( link ) ADDED a much-belated review of Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow. Pretty good book. Read a much better review by Kate Nepveu here: Kate touches on the themes behind the book, something that didn't impress me deeply enough to write about (I mostly focus on entertainment value). Kate, by the way, also strongly recommends against Children of God, the sequel to The Sparrow.
I'm still chugging through Darwin's Radio. It's ok, if a little workmanlike (and therefore boring); its ideas are far better than its story, which sometimes feels a bit remote and even off-hand. Iain M Banks's Excession is much better: so far it's still as exciting as it was on the first page, and it seems to be getting even better.
The pace of my reading this summer is abominable. I should be devouring books left and right. Unfortunately, work, exploring D.C., and the electronic cocaine known as SSX Tricky have conspired to limit how much I can read. Never fear! Once I slog through the last few pages of Darwin’s Radio, I will be reading many more exciting books.
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