Books I Bought in 2004
I'm afraid book reviews are on hiatus. You will find
here brief reviews of books through 2011, longer reviews through fall
of 2014, and then nothing. Sorry! I got distracted trying to
finish a game and then never got back to reviewing.
I acquired 96 books in 2004.
- McKenna, Juliet E.
- The Assassin's Edge
Sixth(?) and last in a series which wasn't all that great. I remember
the first one as being very good; should re-read it and see if I was
out of my mind, or if the author just lost it.
- Britannica, Encyclopaedia
- Almanac 2004
Remember when some US gov't official said that buying almanacs was a
sign of terrorism? Bought as patriotic duty.
- Caine, Rachel
- Ill Wind
Begins a new series in the Laurel K. Hamilton genre. Most
Mary-Sue-esque published novel I've read this year, but a good read
anyway. Sex scenes as characterization, imagine that.
- Galouye, Daniel F.
- Dark Universe
No memory of this at all. Oh! Right, it's the post-holocaust one about
a group of people living in total darkness. High-concept and
imaginatively done, and from 1961 when that was unusual. They have
what we'd call superhuman audio discernment, and navigate via sonar
(clicking rocks together or whatever's at hand). Then the higher-tech
surface survivors come with flashlights and bring them back to
civilization, and they lose the hearing talents. I wanted there to be
irony in this, but I couldn't find any. Good book though.
- Moon, Elizabeth
- Once A Hero
Young officer gets in trouble, makes good. No, wait, that was Trading
in Danger. What the hell was this? I just flipped through the book
for five minutes, recognized several incidents, and I still can't
remember what it's about. I think spaceships fight.
- Wright, John C.
- The Golden Age
- The Phoenix Exultant
Two great post-humanity books, not yet ruined by the third.
- Jones, Diana Wynne
- Wild Robert
Minor Jones about a ghost. Minor Jones ain't bad, but it's not great
either.
- Brinley, Bertrand R.
- The Mad Scientists' Club
- The New Adventures of the Mad Scientists' Club
- The Big Kerplop!
Yay reprints! Two collections of stories from my early geekdom, and
about even earlier geekdom. Kerplop is a novel, never published back
in the day. All count as science fiction if you allow "technology I
can't afford on my allowance" in addition to "technology we haven't
invented yet".
- Powers, Tim
- Powers of Two (The Skies Discrowned; An Epitaph in Rust)
One of these is Forsake the Sky, which was okay but doesn't do
anything Anubis Gates doesn't do better. The other was new to me,
but same applies. Completists only.
- Montfort, Nick
- Twisty Little Passages
Retrospective of early history of text adventures; also sets up some
terminology for discussion, and gives a definition of "interactive
fiction". (Not the same as mine, FWIW.) Also, has a subchapter about
me! I'm so cool.
- Williams, Kit
- Engines of Ingenuity
Art book by the guy who wrote Masquerade, the classic puzzle book.
Remember all that marquetry in the illustrations? He's really good.
This documents a working wood-and-metal model of an ancient gearwork
invention: a two-wheeled chariot which contains a compass that always
points north (as long as the wheels don't slip. Picture a
differential, but not exactly.) Gorgeous work.
- Smullyan, Raymond M.
- Who Knows?
Small book with some essays about theism and atheism. Not a topic
that's going to be reinvented at this late date, but Smullyan is still
sharp and says interesting stuff.
- Berg, Carol
- Son of Avonar (Bridge of D'Arnath, book 1)
Better than her previous standlone book. Another "horrible people
invading across the worldwalls" plot -- familiar stuff, but the
protagonist is cool and has a great back/current-story to tell.
- Doctorow, Cory
- Eastern Standard Tribe
Jazzy but unpleasant to be around. Lacks the heart of Magic Kingdom.
- Mash, Robert
- How To Keep Dinosaurs
Utterly mad little book, with great photos of dinosaurs frolicking
around the house.
- Czege, Paul
- My Life with Master
Modern mini-RPG. Players play the pitiable assistants of an evil
baron/scientist/etc. Game mechanics geared towards tragic/triumphant
narrative scenes rather than combat.
- McKillip, Patricia
- Alphabet of Thorn
You know McKillip. Not as good as Ombria but still great.
- Westerfeld, Scott
- The Secret Hour (Midnighters, vol 1)
Kickass creepy kids' SF. A few teenagers discover that time stops and
the world gets weird for an hour every night. Also, they have powers
and there are monsters. Unclear when sequels will appear or how many.
- Kay, Guy Gavriel
- The Last Light of the Sun
I liked it, dammit, stylistic hoo-hah and all. Kay claims he's taking
a break from decadent civilized folk to write about barbarians, but it
turns out he's still writing about civilization (the process) as seen
by the people it's happening to.
- Stevermer, Caroline
- A Scholar of Magics
Decent follow-up. Must re-read College of Magics; I recall it as
being madder. Must make ginger stem cake.
- VanderMeer, Jeff; Roberts, Mark (ed.)
- The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric and Discredited Diseases
Many well-known authors make up awesome gross stuff.
- Ford, John M.
- Heat of Fusion and Other Stories
YAY NEW JOHN M. FORD. Collection of stories and poetry. Now get a
novel written dammit.
- Johnson, Kij
- Fudoki
Cat makes good in Japan. I liked this better than Fox Woman.
- Danielewski, Mark Z.
- House of Leaves
Bought because it looked like the weirdest book ever, but dauntingly
so. Still haven't cracked it.
- Brust, Steven
- Sethra Lavode
The last trace of what I like about Brust has now been squeezed out of
his Dumas style. This is the husk.
- Nasir, Jamil
- Tower of Dreams
Protagonist hunts archetypal cultural images in order to sell them to
advertisers. Catches a goddess by mistake. Author tries too hard to
boil down the conflict between fantasy and modernity.
- Green, Simon R.
- Agents of Light and Darkness
Badly-written noir in secret city where the magic shit goes down.
Funny lines work, numinous ones don't.
- McLaughlin, Robert (et al)
- Cthulhu Live
Live-action RPG handbook. I grabbed it for the descriptions of what
the crazy GMs did to make their scenarios work. Half-burying actors
in faux graveyards, building ten-foot-tall muppets of Nodens.
- Pratchett, Terry
- A Hat Full of Sky
Sequel to Wee Free Men. Still just as good as good Pratchett.
- Reynolds, Alastair
- Revelation Space
Got me back into big-ship-go-boom SF.
- Harrison, Kim
- Dead Witch Walking
Yet another Hamiltonian series begins. Author put some thought into
the backstory for once (magic-folk came out of the closet in aftermath
of human pandemic) but it only makes sense if you don't think too
hard, and anyway it's icing on the police-corruption plot. Which also
only makes sense if you don't think too hard. Non-thinky fun.
- Rowling, J. K.
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Because I wait for the UK paperback, that's why. Wizard continues to
suffer high school with best friends, death threats, occasional
smoochies.
- Desaulniers, Marcel
- Death by Chocolate
- Death by Chocolate Cakes
Do not get between Desaulniers and chocolate. Stand behind
Desaulniers, wait for him to finish cooking, then knock him out and
steal food.
- Manley, Roger (ed.)
- The End is Near!
Art museum exhibition book from the American Visionary Art Museum in
Baltimore. My favorite museum dedicated to crazy people art. Bought
it for Paul Laffoley's crackpot-science-expressed-as-diagrams art.
- Robinson, Spider
- Callahan's Con
He read a chapter at Worldcon last year. I could tell it was terrible
and had a great time listening. Started reading book in bookstore,
bought it when I realized I wasn't going to stop. Terrible book. Note
to self: do not start reading his new one in bookstore.
- Shinn, Sharon
- The Safe-Keeper's Secret
Great story. Small-village life in a world where magical talents are
little things, like knowing when to keep a secret. Teenager grows up.
I don't know why Shinn keeps writing the angel soap opera instead of
this stuff.
- Gentle, Mary
- Cartomancy
Collection of short stories. Mixed, by which I mean good-to-great. I
think Gentle's basic trick is to writing caringly about people she
doesn't like much. I think Gentle doesn't like people much.
- Gentle, Mary
- 1610: A Sundial in a Grave
More of same, at novel length. Swashbuckling, humiliation, and
hermetic mathematicians who can predict the future. The book is overly
obsessed with the protagonist's B&D obsession, but still a pounding
historical adventure. Read this if you bounced off Neal Stephenson's
recent boulders.
- Gorey, Edward
- Amphigorey Also
Gorey. Bought it for "The Awdrey-Gore Legacy", a murder non-mystery
which would make the world's best hypertext. Some Flash programmer
needs to ignore copyright law and get on it.
- Reynolds, Alastair
- Redemption Ark
- Absolution Gap
More ships, more booms. Occasional stars and planets buy it too, if I
recall correctly. Fucked-up people scheme in a galaxy dominated by
posthuman wars. Great.
- Marks, Laurie J.
- Fire Logic
Really well-written character story. As others have observed, you do
have to say "huh" about a book in which opiate addiction is cured by
dirt, but still good fantasy product.
- Mazza, Ralph; Holmes, Mike
- Universalis: The Game of Unlimited Stories
Modern mini-RPG. Generic (genreless) ruleset for role-playing in a
group where the players share GM-duty, and share control over all the
characters as well. Game mechanics geared towards introducing and
resolving plot complications.
- Wright, John C.
- The Golden Transcendence
Wright reveals that he doesn't write stories, he writes Randist
tracts. In lieu of ending his great trilogy, he has everybody profess
Objectivism and walk away. Won't be fooled again.
- Stross, Charles
- Iron Sunrise
Much better sequel to Singularity Sky. Has a plot. Has Evil Space
Nazis. Has teenager on the run with a secret. All good.
- Stross, Charles
- The Atrocity Archives
Indescribably tasty. I started reading Lovecraft because of Stross's
"A Colder War". This isn't the same gag, but it's still
Lovecraft-inspired government thriller, and I'm with it. Describing
the Hand of Glory as a 'Wigner's friend disintermediating observer
effect' gets all the points.
- Cannon, P. H.
- Scream for Jeeves
Now that I've started reading Lovecraft, I can appreciate this. Was
never a Wodehouse fan, though, so I'm not getting the full impact.
- Zelazny, Roger
- Wizard World (Changeling; Madwand)
Re-read. Widely regarded as Zelazny's most phoned-in fantasy series.
Widely is correct. Still very easy to read, though.
- McCarthy, Wil
- Lost in Transmission
Unlike previous Queendom novels, this one is an incomplete story.
Don't remember how many sequels are coming. Bunch of (perpetual)
teenagers with all-the-technology try to colonize another planet, and
it turns out their technology isn't quite magical enough. None of
these books have ever quite convinced me that McCarthy is using
consistent tech abilities and limitations. But, so what.
- Gorey, Edward
- The Willowdale Handcar, or the Return of the Black Doll
Got this free with the purchase of something else.
- MacLeod, Ken
- Newton's Wake
Standalone. Better than his last trilogy, not as good as his first few
books. Every plot detail has fallen out of my head. Some kind of
cultural argument about dead people. Has musical theater.
- Irvine, Alexander C.
- One King, One Soldier
Fisher-King story. WW2 soldier comes home with wounded leg (aha!) and
gets tangled up in magical conspiracy. Not as good as the best Tim
Powers, but better than recent Tim Powers, so what are you waiting for?
- Caine, Rachel
- Heat Stroke
Mary-Sue-esque protagonist gains tremendous magical powers. Imagine!
But indications are that the next book will return to more normal
levels of protagonistness. I haven't stopped reading them, so they
must not be crap yet. Right?
- Mieville, China
- Iron Council
I have decided that The Scar was an anomaly, and Mieville's normal
mode is boring plotless stuff with goo. This is a portrait of a
political movement which I don't care about. Awesome goo.
- Lee, Ji
- Univers Revolved
That's "Univers" the font. Art book. This is to computer typography
what calligraphy is to handwriting.
- Butcher, Jim
- Blood Rites (Dresden Files, 6)
Still fun, still not turning to dreck. How long can this go on? Book 7
will be hardback, sigh.
- Briggs, Patricia
- Raven's Shadow
Author's long rising trend abruptly broken with this vaguely pointless
series-start. There may have been characters but I can't remember. If
you don't know Briggs, go back and read Dragon Bones instead.
- Gorey, Edward
- Amphigorey
Completing trilogy.
- Wrede, Patricia; Stevermer, Caroline
- The Grand Tour
Decent follow-up. Must re-read Sorcery and Cecelia; I recall it as
being madder.
- Berg, Carol
- Guardians of the Keep (Bridge of D'Arnath, book 2)
Not as solid as the first one, since the plot has to advance, which it
does in a series of contrivances. The Evil Demon Enslavers are just so
Evil, you can't imagine. Well, you can, really. Still enjoyed it.
- Kirstein, Rosemary
- The Language of Power
Fourth book, better than the third, which was not as good as the
second but so what? Great series. Watching Rowan be smart is more fun
than entire navies of ships going boom. (Want more Bel, though.) We
finally start to see some of the causes of the long-running plot.
- Lowachee, Karin
- Warchild
War brat adopted by aliens in midst of alien war. Decent stuff.
- Stackpole, Michael A.
- Eyes of Silver
Author is trying for the huge, rich fantasy backdrop with many
cultural viewpoints and war cast on top. Doesn't make any part of this
work.
- Ash, Sarah
- Lord of Snow and Shadows (The Tears of Artamon, book 1)
Fairy tale about whiny idiots.
- Asaro, Catherine (ed.)
- Irresistable Forces
This is the one with "Miles Vorkosigan gets married". Not interesting
except to completists, but there are a lot of Bujold completists out
there, so let me amend that to "decent Vorkosigan anecdote".
- Morrow, James
- The Cat's Pajamas and Other Stories
Morrow is still a freak-boy. I didn't like every story, but they were
all fantastic lunacy. You read Morrow because there isn't anything
else like that, except maybe Effinger and he's dead.
- Reynolds, Alastair
- Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days
Two novellas. One alien death-maze set-piece, with a point too blatant
to be interesting. The other one was okay.
- Erikson, Steven
- Blood Follows
Short story in chapbook form. Turns out I enjoy Erikson in short
form! Utterly unpleasant villains square off against each other, and
they're all great fun to watch for this long. Never touching his
novels again, I'd claw my eyes out.
- O'Leary, Patrick
- Other Voices, Other Doors
Some very good short stories and poems (the surrealist / magical
realist variety) mixed in with some incomprehensible hero-worship of
Spider Robinson. Spider Robinson? Didn't you notice where
hero-worship got him?
- Gardner, Martin
- Visitors From Oz
Martin Gardner writes Oz fanfic, but I outgrew Oz a long time ago.
(Which is how Baum differs from Carroll.) Some mathematical-games
byplay about Klein bottles, but nothing much worthwhile.
- Moore, John
- Heroics for Beginners
A few funny ideas.
- Baker, D. Vincent
- Dogs in the Vineyard
Modern mini-RPG. You play Mormons. I am not kidding. RPG people say
this is the best thing since everyone gave up D&D; I only read about
RPGs, but I can believe it. Players are travelling priests, wandering
around a settlement-era Westerny territory, isolated towns full of
muskets, guilty secrets, and sin. Players are vested with infallible
Church authority; their job is to hit town and Sort It Out. GM's job
is to make the next town even more morally ambiguous. Game mechanics
geared towards defining and resolving conflicts between people.
- Pratchett, Terry
- Going Postal
Pratchett still great.
- Duncan, Dave
- The Jaguar Knights (A Chronicle of the King's Blades)
Our favorite smelly fantasy kingdom is invaded by Aztecs. (Except the
tearing-out-human-hearts thing really does give them magical
powers.) The Blades decide to invade back. Politics, fighting, the
whole bit. Duncan never screws this stuff up.
- Edghill, Rosemary (ed.)
- Murder by Magic
Ok, ok, I bought it for the Diane Duane short story. I'm allowed.
Familiar gimmick, well-done. The rest of the stories range from good
to bad, mostly bad.
- Butcher, Jim
- Furies of Calderon
I had fun.
- Donaldson, Stephen
- The Runes of the Earth
No mockery please. Donaldson has always been a good storyteller, and
his writing has gotten a lot better. Linden Avery is not a whiner. As
others note, this is more setup than anything else, but the series
should end up being a solid piece of work in, um, 2010 or so.
- Reeve, Philip
- Mortal Engines
Post-holocaust kids' adventure SF with grim, grimy grim oozing out all
over. Mobile cities chase each other around Europe; Victorianesque
society with the gnashing teeth de-metaphored. Pirate queens,
dirigibles, cheery con men, zombie robots, sullen gutter children. How
can you dislike this?
- Bontecou, Lee
- Lee Bontecou: A Retrospective
Art book -- delicate ornate wire-and-metal sculpture.
- Spencer, Wen
- Dog Warrior
Series is getting old; new protagonist/ally fails to rejuvenate it.
The first book was great because of lovable gawky teen/werewolf/alien,
lesbian moms, grumpy boss/mentor, FBI sweetie. Now it's just this
secret war dragging out and megadoses of alien aphrodisiacs. I won't
enjoy these forever. I'd say "start a new series" but Tinker
sucked.
- Reeve, Philip
- Predator's Gold
Sequel to Mortal Engines. More of same, still fun.
- Carless, Simon (ed.)
- Gaming Hacks
Includes chapter on text adventure creation by me! (I'm so cool.) And
another by Adam Cadre. I tried to work some design perspectives in
among the Inform how-to.
- Norton, Andre
- Star Guard
Weak mix of "military patrol lost on hostile planet" and "humans
revolt against benevolent elder civilizations". Feel-good ending where
protagonist gets best of both plus pony.
- Sleator, William
- Parasite Pig
Sequel to Interstellar Pig! Yay! Only, not nearly as good. No new
secrets, just being kidnapped by aliens.
- Jones, Diana Wynne
- Howl's Moving Castle
Somehow I never bought this, despite multiple re-reads. Still charming
in six different ways, even though it doesn't have the impact (for me)
of Homeward Bounders or her other really great books. Hope the movie
holds up.
- Foglio, Phil; Foglio, Kaja
- Agatha Heterodyne and the Airship City (Girl Genius, book 2)
This took forever to appear, didn't it? But in color! Not sure the
plot is going anywhere, but it sure is fun.
- Image Comics (ed.)
- Flight (vol 1)
Anthology of pieces (thematically related, or sometimes not) by
up-and-coming web-comic artists. Some very nice bits.
- Jones, Diana Wynne
- Castle in the Air
Very flimsy. Army of princesses is worth a laugh, though.
- Baker, Kage
- The Anvil of the World
"Major snarkage," said Christina Schulman. It is so. Peculiarly
old-style fantasy -- reminded me of pre-irony swords-and-sorcery stuff
somehow -- only this has irony, oh yes. Sentimental streak is buried
nearly an inch deep. (Ignore the apparent condonement of 14-year-old
girls marrying and having kids.)
- McDevitt, Jack
- A Talent for War
Unusual war book: set two centuries after the war. An amateur
archaelogist dies, leaving notes about Great Secret. His nephew must
delve back into stories about the great war heroes; also poetry,
monuments, lingering prejudice, mad historical societies. A few
contemporary chase scenes and assassination attempts, too, amid the
research. The Secret is less interesting than I'd hoped, but the
picture of the aftermath of a culture-defining war is really well
done.
- Morgan, Richard K.
- Altered Carbon
Badass private detective in era of mind downloading. Spare bodies are
the new bling-bling. Drugs, sex, street thugs, prostitution. Lotta
fun.
- Williams, Liz
- Banner of Souls
Far-far future Solar System, after eons of biological and
nanotechnological engineering. The penis is obsolete. Earth is
flooded, hot, moldy, and a backwater satrapy of the Martian
Matriarchs. That old nanotech crap has been obsoleted by haunt-tech (a
gift of the alien Kami), which seems to work via actual ghosts. A girl
with mysterious powers is hunted by one warrior, guarded by another.
The setting isn't Mieville but it's the next best thing, and the plot
holds together pretty well. Albeit with the requisite Mysterious
Resolution (which is merely adequate).
Last updated January 1, 2005.
Books I own
Comments on books I bought in:
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