Books read, March 2013

[swan_tower]

I almost posted this yesterday, because really, as such posts go, this one is a joke. I did many things in March, but reading books? Not really one of them.

Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett. Returning to my leisurely saunter through swan_tower Finally Reads Discworld. I have now been properly introduced to Sam Vimes, previously encountered as a minor character in Monstrous Regiment (before I started reading things in order). I like him, though not as passionately as some people seem to -- possibly I will grow more attached in time? I liked Sybil quite a lot, and the reflections on how her brand of confidence is both personal and class-based. I was mostly meh about the bad guy's scheme, but on the whole, much fun.

the memoir that is still untitled Re-reading the second book of the series preparatory to revising it (which is what I'm in the middle of doing now). It still needs a title. I will have to fix this soon.

Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne, David Gaider. Read for research, as kniedzw and I have begun running a Dragon Age game. Not really worth your time, unless you are a rabid completist for that franchise. It offered little in the way of worldbuilding information I didn't already know, and, well. This is David Gaider's first novel, and boy howdy does it show. Hopefully he improves with the later ones, since I need to read those, too.

Comments

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

If I say that The Stolen Throne may be Gaider's first novel, it's also, structurally and in terms of character, probably his best, I'd lie. But there isn't much to choose between it and The Calling. The Calling's premise is rather less plausible.

I never read Asunder after that, for obvious reasons. If they expand the franchise to people who've also published original work - like Halo did, or that fractured megalith Star Wars - I might try again.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Oh, feh. I mean, I'm really only reading them for setting info, and (having played Awakening) I know the gist of what's up with The Calling, so I already know at least some of the crackiness there. I was hoping characterization might improve, though. Does he at least get better at prose?

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

This is where I make the back-and-forth hand motion and say, "Maaaaybe?" It annoyed me slightly less, but that may've been tolerance kicking in, since I read the pair back-to-back.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Well, I'll be doing the same thing, so I guess that's encouraging? :-P

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Good luck, and I hope the game's worth it. ;)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

I think it will be. :-)

[alecaustin.livejournal.com]

FWIW, my Clarion classmate Patrick Weekes just had a Dragon Age tie-in (The Masked Empire) announced, and his The Palace Job came out from Tyche books last year.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I shall have to keep an eye out!

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Yes, I just saw that. I will definitely look for it when it comes out, as I suspect Weekes will prove better at this particular job.

(As a game writer, I like Gaider quite a lot. He's been the guy behind several of my favorite characters and plots. But as he himself has admitted, game writing and novel writing are different skill sets, and being good at one doesn't teach you the other.)

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

I'd say the later Guards novels are stronger: Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo, Night Watch. I particularly like the latter two.

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

And *especially* Thud!

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Eh, opinions can vary.

I forgot Fifth Elephant, as an odd case: Watch personnel, but outside Ankh-Morpork.

Ditto Snuff, but I'm not sure that was nearly so strong.

Some other good Discworld are Small Gods, Going Postal, and _Lords and Ladies_.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Lords and Ladies is the first Discworld I ever read, followed by Small Gods. I remember approximately one incident out of each one. It will be interesting to see what I think of them when I get there in the proper order . . . .

[aishabintjamil.livejournal.com]

On the Discworld front, I think you might particularly enjoy the Tiffany Aching stories. The first one, The Wee Free Men, is fun and rich in inside jokes about British folklore. The middle book, A Hat Full of Sky, has some really profound imagery about life and death hidden under his usual ration of humor.

For pure humor, I like Going Postal. He really skewered some things from the early internet and dotcom period.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

The Tiffany Aching books have always sounded good to me. But I know from experience that I don't get everything out of a Discworld book that I could if I just leap in without knowing background, hence going at it this way.