Some books of may and june

[oneiriad]

Akunin, Boris:  The State Counsellor
I'm not quite sure why I like the Erast Fandorin books. The writing style isn't quite my thing, the main character - while certainly interesting enough - never quite manages to rise to the level where he ought to be. So why do I like them? Dunno. Ah well, introspection is overrated, bring me Russian anarchists and bombs and random feats of martial arts and deduction, yes.

Brust, Steven:  Jhereg
Interesting. Must read more. Yes.

Bujold, Lois McMaster: Shards of Honour
Still so good and it makes me feel guilty for not reading more of them already, but that's always been my problem when actually buying the books or the dvds or whatever - things with return-by-dates takes precedence, and I'm just left feeling guilty. Ah well, luxury problems. Besides, wouldn't want to read all the books to fast - it's no fun running out of something good too fast.

Caine, Rachel:  Heat Stroke
Right, not reading more of this series. Because apparently I find slavery and in particular the kind where you can't even stop yourself physically and the whole idea of a slave race triggering as fuck, even if I've got reading pleasure kinks skirting right next to it. Which I kind of knew already, so why I even bothered to read to books in this series...

Clare, Cassandra: City of Glass
I finally figured it out - there so Harry Potter meets Star Wars. Also, the idea of mystical magic land being somewhere you can travel to physically while totally unknown to the muggles - sorry, in this day and age that's just lazy writing, unless you start giving me one hell of a good explanation for nobody wondering about those weird satelite photos or inconsistent travel routes, particularly when you seem to have stuck it in somewhere so geographically well-covered as Europe. Just saying...

Fforde, Jasper: Shades of Grey - the Road to High Saffron
Is it just me or does all Fforde's series read alike - and not in a good way. It's like there's a checklist somewhere...

King, Stephen:  Under the Dome
Well, the idea is pretty brilliant, but I'm not thrilled by the execution. Besides, the villain irritates me - probably mostly because I like my bad guys to be smart and to not automatically consider the hero an obstacle or a person enemy. I've probably been watching too much Deadwood and gotten spoiled, right...?

Langstrup, Steen: Plantagen - den hvilende ondskab  (The orchard - the sleeping evil)
Steen Langstrup is kind of a Danish Stephen King wannabee - well, sometimes. Mind you, this is one of his weirder offerings. I mean, giant man-eating snails with telepathic powers? Really? Not to mention that the little intro kind of spoils the surprise completely...

Lynch, Scott:  The Lies of Locke Lamora
Eeeeh, this is fun. Fantasy con artists is great fun. *nods* Also, the city is lovely and exotic. Different, not just run-of-the-mill stuff, which is great. And Imdb has a page for it as being in development, which sounds intriguing...

Miéville, China:  The City and the City
Awesome. I love the idea of Beszel and Ul Qoma, of two cities entwined like that. It's just the right sort of weird. Kind of something like Kafka meets Borges.

Palma, Felix J.:  El mapa del tiempo
This is awesome too. It's a novel set in Victorian times, featuring H.G. Wells, time travel, the steampunk robot apocalypse, elaborate cons, cross-temporal romance, Jack the Ripper and so much more. And it's fun.

Sawyer, Robert J.: Flashforward
I was a little worried when I sat down to read this that it would spoil me for the tv series, but since the only things the tv series really took was the idea of flashforwards and the scientist Lloyd pressing a button to start it, I needn't have. It's alright. A few neat discussions of temporal stuff and free will and considering the book is nearly a decade old and most part of it is set in a near future around now-ish, it's surprisingly rarely jarring and science fiction-y, if you know what I mean.

Skov, Leonora Christina: Silhout af en synder (Silhoutte of a sinner)
Okay, so I might be overusing the word awesome in this post, but this book really is. It's a very well written gothic novel with nods to ladies like Karen Blixen, featuring mad people in addicts (well, towers), mysterious family connections, an old castle, lesbians and twincest and surprising and scaring revelations. It really is awesome. Makes me want to read more by LCS, except her previous novels has never sounded like something I'd like... maybe?

Sirene (Siren)
Oh, this is surprisingly good for something that is also pretty obviously an experiment. It's a short novel with the occasional parts told in comic form anda mp3 player delivered with the books containing songs for almost every chapter. The story is so-so - it's got a mad scientist, cyberpunk, a mermaid girl, music industry, evil gangsters... but the combination is good. Very good. soAlso the ngs. Although maybe I should be worried about my favourite one sounding like it's made for cutting... right, moving on.

Smith, L.J.:  The awakening,  The struggle, The fury, etc.
Okay, so I'll read almost anything with vampires in it. I'm damaged like that. Seriously, I read Twilight and didn't hate it more than so many other things I've read. Anyway, this gets worse for each book, partly because there seems to be a woobiefying of Damon taking place, and Bella has an annoying powers-as-the-plot-demands thing going on. And the sad part is, if the Danish publishing industry had just published all three books of the original trilogy back when I was in the proper age bracket instead of stopping after the first two, I'd probably never have bothered to read more. wouldn't have had the unfinished business thing going for me. Mind you, I like the tv series.

Søndergaard, Niels:  Dimensionsdetektiven 1.-3.
A comic series about a smalltime private detective who winds up hopping between parallel worlds after having solved the murder of himself. Not great literature, but the different versions of Copenhagen are interesting enough to make me want to read the fourth album too, even if the bitch queen is in it...

Toro, Guillermo del:  The Strain
You know, considering who's doing the writing, I was kind of disappointed here, sorry to say. I had too high expectations, I suppose, but then, the man made something as awesome as Pan's Labyrinth. Can you blame me for high expectations and being disappointed in something that reads like Michael Crichton writing a vampire novel?