Books I Bought in 2010
I've commented on every book I bought this year. It's not quite a list
of every book I've read this year; I borrow a few, I re-read some.
I've acquired 50 books in 2010 (so far).
- de Pierres, Marianne
- Dark Space
The prologue has an asteroid miner discovering a weakly godlike space
entity; also lots of wacky far-future tech-jargon of the sort that I
enjoy. I bought the book on those strengths, and was rapidly
disappointed by the story, which pushes the entity entirely offstage
in favor of a bunch of Italian aristocrats squabbling over a mining
colony. It's one of those "spoiled aristo gets life lesson in misery
and shreds of compassion" novels, which I hate. (Imputations about my
own social stratum are left as an exercise.) Also the POV keeps
cutting to the (now-rich, erstwhile-) asteroid miner, in a series of
plot asides that I'm pretty sure make no sense whatsoever. He's a
spoiled jerk too.
- Keck, David
- In a Time of Treason
Sequel to crunchy Old-European-Medieval tournament story with ghosts.
This time it's war with ghosts. I like the portrayal of a land where
buried sins can literally fester just beneath the skin of the world.
However, the author works a little too hard to keep the lord's wife
(hero's illicit love interest) tagging along to all the crises.
- Orzel, Chad
- How To Teach Physics To Your Dog
Nice introduction to quantum physics, with a down-to-earth attitude
which clarified some stuff for me (and I've read a lot of
introductions to quantum physics). Warning: this book is a
conversation magnet. Be prepared to tell complete strangers why
teaching physics to a dog is a good idea.
- Duncan, Dave
- Ill Met in the Arena
Twisty political thriller in a world where a zillion little
principalities are breeding for psychic powers through regular arena
combat. Duncan inevitably spins a vast ream of weird political and
cultural institutions, crossed with details about various magical
abilities, all of which wind up being (a) vital to the plot and (b)
not a chore to read at all, because the plot is so bouncy. Not my
all-time favorite Duncan, but he's still got it.
- Berg, Carol
- The Spirit Lens
A sort of Musketeer-y intrigue story, with royal assassination plots
and secret cabals of wizardry. The secret magic didn't seem to hang
together very well, though -- I felt like the author was switching
ontological tracks whenever the plot required it. The plot itself
was fine, though.
- Brust, Steven
- Iorich
Vlad learns there ain't no justice. The Empress commiserates.
- Scalzi, John
- The God Engines
Nasty little story about caged deities running starships. Tightly
built, which means the author couldn't have avoided the grim ending
if he'd wanted too, which I bet he didn't.
- Martin, George R. R.
- Starlady; Fast-Friend
Two medium-future short stories, each with bite. I miss GRRM-the-SF-writer.
- Ashbless, William
- Pilot Light
A reprint of Ashbless's longest published short story (still pretty
short) -- not updated, due to obscure intellectual property issues,
but vitriolically footnoted by Ashbless (with Powers and Blaylock
chiming in at the margins). One day the truth will be known, but only
if the authors get tired of the joke.
- Perry, Steve
- Spindoc
Light SF thriller. Too much reliance on awesome sex as a character
motivator.
- Ronald, Margaret
- Wild Hunt
Speaking of Tim Powers, this series continues to get the urban fantasy
right. The Hound of Boston comes up against a raft of canine and
other hunting-ish mythologies.
- Williams, Walter Jon
- This is Not a Game
I avoided this for a while because I liked Halting State and didn't
want to step on it. Naturally this was silly of me. The setting is
essentially not SF at all -- only a few comments about alcohol-fuelled
laptops and China decoupling from the dollar (which I think is
happening in real life anyhow). Imagine that alternate-reality gaming
were a slightly larger slice of the computer game industry, and this
plot wouldn't even be speculative. Which is to say, Williams knows his
stuff and knows how to tell it.
- Bujold, Lois McMaster
- Horizon (The Sharing Knife, 4)
This book doesn't have a plot. That is, the "Wide Green World" series
has a broad plot arc, and this book has some plots in it, but none of
them run from one end of the book to the other. Plus I didn't like the
"climactic" one much. It's fine, it's a good read, but I feel like the
whole series needed to be torn apart and rebuilt in a different number
of books.
- Okrent, Arika
- In the Land of Invented Languages [borrowed]
A survey of constructed languages, from the medieval philosophers
(trying to generate or classify all true knowledge) to Esperanto and
Lojban (trying to unite all human cultures) to Klingon (ditto, with
fricatives). Very easy reading; the author finds the interesting
history behind everything.
- Richardson, Kat
- Poltergeist
This is the second book in the Greywalker series, and I give up.
Clunky, unbalanced, coincidence-happy plotting.
- Griffin, Kate
- A Madness of Angels
My favorite urban fantasy of the year so far, and that's "urban" as in
"London" as in "you can practically feel the Underground schmutz
coming out of your nose". An apprentice wizard comes back from the
dead with serious pronoun troubles. Then more troubles show up; then
everyone starts taking sides.
- Ellis, Warren
- Global Frequency: Planet Ablaze
Short, highly episodic series about the secret organization that deals
with the scary shit. (I did wind up owning the full graphic-novel set,
although I didn't seem to record buying the second part.) Some horror,
some giant monsters, some willpower porn. Good stuff. I wish they'd
done the TV series with Michelle Forbes.
- Kibuishi, Kazu
- The Stonekeeper's Curse (Amulet 2)
Second part of graphic-novel fairy tale with teenagers, elves, talking
animals, and giant adorable walking houses. The "parents in
YA-genre-fantasy" elements could use more depth, but maybe that's part
3.
- Meding, Kelly
- Three Days to Dead
Best opening ever. Rest of book not quite up to it. More "oh god
bubbling hormones" as the only motivation behind the character arcs;
too much wallowing in lust/angst/PTSD. At least they notice the
PTSD. Also, don't telegraph your deus ex machina ending in advance; it
ruins the effect.
- Wolfe, Gene
- An Evil Guest
I didn't understand this book. I mean, I understood some of it -- it's
about humans dealing with higher forms of life, lower forms of life,
and those who force their way through the boundaries. But I don't get
why any of this book was the way it was, from the weird White House
opening scene to the dark-and-angsty romance tropes to Cthulhu.
- Lloyd, Tom
- The Stormcaller (The Twilight Reign, book 1)
Don't remember a damn thing about this one. (Goes to find it.) Oh,
right. Whiteeyes are children born to lead -- the gods give them
straight 18s, the rest of their lives is up to them. Well,
intelligence is the dump stat, it turns out. Also they have berserker
temperaments. Not necessarily a good deal. Anyway, this is a decent
premise, but the author throws in gods and dragons and demons
and magic armor and I think mysterious wizards show up, maybe
werewolves... Oh, right, vampires. At any rate, it's too much.
- Bellairs, John; Fitschen, Marilyn
- The Pedant and the Shuffly
A picture-book story, which I already had in the recent NESFA edition,
but when I saw an original edition I grabbed it. A logician lurks in
the woods, trapping people and proving they don't exist. A kindly old
sorcerer tangles with him, and triumphs, with the aid of a shuffly. I
really don't see what else you're waiting to hear, but I'll quote
anyway: "Have you ever thought that you might not exist?" "Yes, I
have thought so, but when I do, I throw myself down stairwells till
the feeling goes away."
- Bear, Elizabeth
- Chill
Second part of stranded-in-space-with-nanotech trilogy. This is the
tourism part of the fantasy plot: I'm sure stuff happened, but what
I remember is the baby mammoth.
- Elliott, Kate
- Traitors' Gate
Third part of giant fantasy politics trilogy. I fell off this series
after the first book -- couldn't remember most of the characters in
the second, and the problem hasn't improved. I think probably the
good guys win.
- Hodgell, P. C.
- Bound in Blood
Second part of "Jame hits military school". It really would have worked
better as a single volume with To Ride a Rathorn, but I suppose the
wait would have killed us all. With that understanding, this is terrific;
it wraps up the Tentir storylines and advances the series arcs (Tori,
Kindrie, the Merikit). We have strong hints that Jame will be off to
the north in the next story.
- Nix, Garth
- Lord Sunday
Conclusion of, no kidding, seven-part kids' fantasy series. (Like
Rowling, the author was structurally restricted from slopping over to
eight. Unlike Rowling, he kept the books nice and tight. You could
probably read the entire series in a weekend.) Anyway, it wraps up
with a fairly satisfying whoosh, although I sense that Nix has had
this ending packed in a box since 2003 and let it get slightly stale.
- Butcher, Jim
- Turn Coat (Dresden Files, 11)
A traitor in the White Council! If you don't figure out who within two
sentences of the character's appearance, there's no help for you, but
that's not the point. Plotting, spying, magical ambushes, and all of
Butcher's colorful and semi-insane wizarding community at each others'
throats. Will Harry survive, dispose of his enemies, and maintain a
emotionally healthy and stable romantic relationship? Yeah, you can
probably figure that one out too.
- Shiga, Jason
- Meanwhile
Very glorious Choose-Your-Own-Adventure graphic novel. I am mostly not
a fan of the CYOA form (insufficiently interactive for me) -- but this
thing pulls it off, through very tight marriage of form and content. A
boy discovers a mad scientist's laboratory containing a time machine,
a telepathy helmet, and a box that destroys all life on Earth. You
therefore wind up exploring many recursive paths (timelines,
memory-tracks) while sometimes accidentally destroying all life on
Earth. The ability to see adjacent story-paths crossing the page adds
to the experience too.
- Bear, Elizabeth
- Seven for a Secret
Odd little book: Abby Irene and vampire friend meet World War 2 (alt.)
Recall that Abby Irene is about 80 at this point. Manages to avoid
being entirely grim and regretful.
- Thurman, Rob
- Roadkill
New story (non-arcful) in saga of teenage monster and his big brother.
They are off on the trail of an ancient Gypsy maledight. Road trip!
With werewolf pals. Nothing deep, just good fun.
- Jemisin, N. K.
- The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Young princess from an outlying barbarian tribe is summoned to Court
to be named heir. None of the cliches you're now imagining apply -- or
rather, the story lets you hold onto each one just long enough to get
oriented and then replaces it with something better. Great narrator;
great collection of cranky and devious gods (or, as Brust would say,
demons; or andaat, or... yeah, it's been a theme the past few years).
Comes to a very definite end, although other books will follow in the
same setting.
- Duane, Diane
- A Wizard of Mars
New Kit and Nita book! It's been too long. A fat satisfactory tangle
with ancient lost Martians. The characters, and thus the books, have
grown past the point where they need to have a showdown with the Lost
Power in the last chapter; instead, life is complicated. This is good
(perhaps overdue). The "boyfriend" word also crops up, which (maybe
this is just me) is nearly as disconcerting to me as it is to our
wizard heroes. Also, Carmela is threatening to upstage the entire
series. Rock on, Carmela.
- Caine, Rachel
- Unknown (Outcast Season, book 2)
Ex-djinn attempts to deal with evil magical threat, with the aid of
the entire human magical community. They're not winning yet.
Fireworks, earthworks, and... er... waterworks.
- Jones, Diana Wynne
- Enchanted Glass
Lightweight but still charming story in Jones's usual vein. A young
magician inherits the house and duties of his grandfather. These
include boarders, boundaries, groundkeepers, and giant vegetables.
- Miles, Lawrence (ed.)
- The Book of the War
A lexicon novel from a spinoff Doctor Who storyline. (It does not
directly involve any canonical Who characters, and the terminology is
painted over.) The history-spanning, insular, weakly godlike
civilization has run into an unnamed Enemy. This is a dictionary of
factions, technologies, personages, and adjunct factors from the War's
early years (for certain agreed-upon values of "year"). Lexicon
entries are threaded together in several ways to form several implied
narratives -- of which some are interesting and some are dull.
Nonetheless the book is a worthwhile example of a bunch of crazy
people writing something impossible.
- Turner, Megan Whalen
- A Conspiracy of Kings
Fourth in the Thief of Eddis series. This one concerns Sounis. Gen is
offstage for a lot of the book, which makes me sad, because I read
these pretty much for Gen to mess with my head. But it's still a good
book (and Gen still gets some licks in).
- Hanover, M. L. N.
- Darker Angels [e-book]
Behold as I wet my feet in the sea of electronic books (Bay of iPad,
iBooks Cove). Comfortable so far. Anyhow, this is the second book
about chick with annoyingly diacritical name and her team of
demon-hunting buddies. As promised, the pneumo-epidemiology gets more
interesting, and we start getting some unsubtle hints about Jayne's
own situation. I hope the author winds up taking the extra step,
though I suspect he won't. This series stays on my "would buy in ebook
but not paperback" list.
- Dunning, Stephen; Lueders, Edward; Smith, Hugh
- Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle
Collection of modern verse, aimed at showing kids what the stuff is
like. Also what Optima Italic is like. I got this to replace my
original copy, which was bookplated "E. BLONG", which was unnerving
and wonderful to a young Pinkwater fan. But the poems are nice, too.
- Leiber, Fritz
- Swords Against Death
Second in 1995 reprint series of all the Fahfrd and Grey Mouser
stories. It turns out I haven't read many of these. The editors put
them in chronological order, possibly filing the edges to fit, and
this must be a loss -- the opening story in this volume introduces the
duo to Sheelba and Ningauble, but it can't have been written that
early. That complaint aside, this is a delightful assemblage of evil
priests, demon-possessed architecture, ghosts, and other
not-yet-cliches-and-anyhow-Leiber-did-them-better. The range of styles
and modes is surprisingly broad.
- Carey, Mike
- Dead Men's Boots [e-book]
Exorcist, take three. Felix and succubus sometime-partner (not that
way) are tracking down a serial killer who refuses to stay dead.
Separately (ha ha), somebody wants custody of Felix's demon-possessed
best friend. The questions of why the ghosts started coming back, and
what else might turn up in the near future, begin to arise.
- Leiber, Fritz
- Swords and Deviltry
First volume (1995 reprint series). Still miscellaneous, although we
get some origin stories.
- Erikson, Steven
- Crack'd Pot Trail
A Canterbury-Tales setup done with Erikson's usual grace, subtlety,
elegance, and understated optimism. By which I mean, he comes right
out and says that art is masturbation, fans and critics like are
cannibals, and fantasy is all shit. Play them off, necromancer cats.
- Calder, Richard
- The Twist
I really wish I'd liked this. The American West has dissolved into a
million-mile long psychogeographical corridor to Venus, the planet of
literal femme fatales? Stagecoaches full of interplanetary spies
rumbling through a Tombstone inhabited by louche cowboys in goth
makeup? Best setup ever! But this book is boring. The protagonist is
an annoying ten-year-old girl. Stuff maybe happens and then I think
everything explodes.
- Huff, Tanya
- The Fire's Stone
Wow, this is early Huff. Early genre; it was written in 1990 but
feels like 1980. A thief, a fighter, and a wizard go hunting for a
lost magic talisman. If I told you why the talisman was important
you'd just laugh, so I won't. As it happens, the writing is good,
nobody is stupid (except the idiots who built their capital city on
the lip of a talisman-restrained volcano, whoops, did that slip out?
But that was a long time ago) and characters are buckets of fun. (The
wizard is a teenage girl. She will kick your ass.)
- Zafon, Carlos Ruiz
- The Shadow of the Wind
The story of a boy growing up in postwar Barcelona, who discovers
(among many growing-up-like affairs) the books of obscure author
Julian Carax. Over the years he searches for Carax, and winds up in a
tangled mess of stories that you could call a spy novel (if there were
any politics at all) or a mystery (if you consider the destruction of
an author's work a crime). Very European, very recursive, mostly
tragic, not particularly fantasy. I liked it even though it's not the
kind of thing I like.
- Sinclair, Alison
- Darkborn
This is another divided-city book. The Darkborn catch fire if they
touch sunlight (or equivalently bright magical light); the Lightborn
melt if they leave it. Our hero is a Darkborn physician. His
flatmate (across the opaque wall) is a Lightborn court agent. One
evening a woman shows up, pregnant with twins who turn out -- perhaps
-- to be of neither race... Politics, magic, assassinations, and all
manner of entertainments promptly arise. The plot is breakneck and
alternates between several characters, all of whom I enjoyed.
- Huff, Tanya
- The Enchantment Emporium
Huff at the other end of the timescale. Er, that is, it's a recent
fantasy. The Gales are a clan of manipulative horny incestuous witches
who keep the world safe from etc etc. This is an attempt to recapture
(or retread) Summon the Keeper, but it doesn't succeed, both because
the parallels are too close and because the characters are less
charming. Mind-control pies are more icky than funny.
- Thurman, Rob
- Chimera
Okay, we get it, Thurman has a thing for big-brother-little-brother
stories. This is the Cal-and-Niko story, except the point of view is
the protective older brother (although he's still the slob), and
instead of a half-demon, the younger one is a genetically enhanced
psychic assassin. Also they're scions of the Russian mob. There's
nothing wrong with this book, it rollicks appropriately, but I don't
know how many more of these I want to read.
- Reynolds, Alastair
- House of Suns
Far-future space opera. The Gentian clone-clan circles the galaxy,
picking up stories and playing with their seriously incalculably
powerful tech-toys, with occasional (every 200,000 years?) reunions to
catch up. Then someone booby-traps one of their reunions. The few
survivors get to try to figure out why. The setting is fantastic but
the plot is kind of thin. I mean, there's plenty of plot and plotting
and secret conspiracies and mysteries and all that. With a gosh-wow
ending. But the mysteries aren't particularly deep, and while all of
the plot elements have their place in the plot, they don't fit
together in the plot. Everything is important once. Nothing is
revelatory. Too bad.
- Pitts, J. A.
- Black Blade Blues [e-book]
A blacksmith SCA chick discovers Siegfried's dragon-slaying sword at a
yard sale. Or somewhere. I have serious problems with this fantasy:
all of the fantasy elements are unconvincing. Dwarves, magic swords,
runes, dragons, a blatantly-lanterned Odin in a dumpster -- the
protagonist and everybody else reacts to them with exactly the wrong
amount of amazement and wonder. Thus, so do I. Worse: all of the
mundane elements (the protagonist's job, her other job, her love
life, her friends) are all terrific -- the author gets that stuff
rock-solid. It was just, every time I got back to the dragon-slaying
parts, I fell out of the book again. Frustrating.
Last updated July 5, 2010.
Books I own
Comments on books I bought in:
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