Moar books!
So my computer's been broken for weeks. This means I've read a lot of books. Some were rereads, some were brand new. And I don't think this was all of them, but I didn't have my computer to take notes on, sooooo.... Also, starting a new list for 2011.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11: The Dresden Files (books 1-11) by Jim Butcher (partial reread)
I've read the first four Dresden File books before, but just kind of... didn't finish the series. I had through the 9th book, and could borrow the next two from friends. So since I had so much of the series, I read/re-read them when my poor computer was down. Overall, I liked them. They're not the best literature ever, but they were fun reads, fairly decent. The later books were definitely better written than the first few. You could see that he'd changed his mind about a few minor details part-way through, though I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't read them all in such a short period of time (four days for all 11, I wanna say?). They're better fluff reads than what I used to read, I'll definetely say that.
However, I'm very disappointed that when searching for the later books, I stumbled across a MAJOR spoiler in the 12 book, which I haven't read yet. Darnit, why do people do that? *grumble grumble grumble*
12: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
I... huh. I don't know if I liked this book or not. I kind of have mixed feelings about it. For those who haven't read it yet, it's the story told by a hero of his life, and this book is about his early life. If this had just started with the retelling, I would probably never finished the book. Kvothe, the main character, is way too awesome, even in the beginning as child. It's just... kind of like reading a Mary Sue fanfic. But then, we know he's going to end up as an awesome hero, so it's not unlikely that he started already better, right? It's still... kind of grating, though.
But the bigger issue, for me, are the female characters in the book. Almost none of the main characters are female - there hasn't been a single woman in the 'current' part of the book, the part that's not the telling of his story. The women in his past tend to be pretty bland or very minor. The main love interest is very two-dimensional so far, and is pretty obviously going to die. The 'maybe-sorta' love interest becomes one when the Kvothe saves her life (no joke) and has pretty much no other personality. There is one interesting woman (the money-lender, for those who have read it), and she's only in two scenes. It spectacularly fails the Bechdel test. I was just... frustrated. It's a decently written book, so why can't we have some decently written female characters to go with it?
It was frustrating enough that I'm not really excited about the next one. I might pick it up/borrow it at some point, but it's not a must-read.
13: Son of Avonar by Carol Berg
Heh, this is like the opposite of the previous book. The main character is a middle-aged (for the time period, she's in her mid-late 30's in a medieval-ish land) woman who's very impressive on her own, despite having no magical powers or anything. She's determined to survive, despite the deck being heavily stacked against her. But overall, I thought Berg's writing was a bit lackluster. Her foreshadowing was akin to an anvil dropping out of the sky. I really liked her Rai-kirah series, and I don't remember this being a problem, so I'm not sure when that changed. But part of it was that she writes very cleanly, without a lot of excess description, so when she mentions something, you know it's going to come up again. Still, I enjoyed it a lot, and am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
14. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
I so, so, so badly want to like this book. *So* badly. It's the favorite book of more than one person whose opinion on books I respect. But overall... meh.
It's very political (which as some people know, I'm not much into :P), and very much 'The end justifies the means', at least when it comes to the good guys (which as some people know, I'm very much not into). There was an interesting plot that went no where, and I'm really disappointed about that.
Spoilers, highlight to read: **For those who've read it, I really, really, really wanted to see Dianora and Baerd meet up, darnit! Why the heck did he even bother having them be siblings/have that connection if they never met? It felt like a tease, which never resolved in to anything.**
Oh, and there was random incest. That was really kind of wtf? It added nothing to the story.
Still, I did like some of the characters and interactions and the general morality of the whole thing. One of the bad guys was 2-dimensional like woah, but the other one was fascinating. And there was an interesting twist I realized like one page before they revealed it, which kind of made me happy, haha. Oh, and the last line was awesome.
15, 16, 17: The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins (YA) (reread)
Yes, this series again. :P See, I started reading Mark Reads, and he read the Hunger Games, and I wanted to follow along/reread parts he mentioned.
Overall, I liked it a lot better than when I first read it. I still have a large problem with her way of occasionally summing up really important parts - it's so damn rushed! - and problems with the actions of the bad guys in the second book. But some of the stuff I didn't like the first time I read it I liked a lot better the second time through, and I still think the whole world is *fascinating* and well done. And dark and horrible. :P I can't wait for the movies to come out, though I have no clue how the heck they're going to actually bring the rating down to PG-13. These are some of the darkest books I have ever read, and I often like dark books.
18: Transformation by Carol Berg (first of the Rai-Kirah series) (reread)
Thanks to the other book of hers, I decided to reread the first of this trilogy, and most of the last book (I have no clue where our copy of the second book is!! Wah!). But I haven't finished the third book yet, so I'm not counting it quite yet. :P It's a good series, though truthfully, not as well written as I remember. Still, very entertaining, and I really do enjoy the whole series and recommend it to others.
I *know* there were others, but now I'm totally blanking. I don't think I read anything else cover-to-cover, though, just parts of favorite books. And I'm in the middle of Snow Queen by Joan Vinge right now. Not bad so far! I'm not very far yet, though. :P
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11: The Dresden Files (books 1-11) by Jim Butcher (partial reread)
I've read the first four Dresden File books before, but just kind of... didn't finish the series. I had through the 9th book, and could borrow the next two from friends. So since I had so much of the series, I read/re-read them when my poor computer was down. Overall, I liked them. They're not the best literature ever, but they were fun reads, fairly decent. The later books were definitely better written than the first few. You could see that he'd changed his mind about a few minor details part-way through, though I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't read them all in such a short period of time (four days for all 11, I wanna say?). They're better fluff reads than what I used to read, I'll definetely say that.
However, I'm very disappointed that when searching for the later books, I stumbled across a MAJOR spoiler in the 12 book, which I haven't read yet. Darnit, why do people do that? *grumble grumble grumble*
12: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
I... huh. I don't know if I liked this book or not. I kind of have mixed feelings about it. For those who haven't read it yet, it's the story told by a hero of his life, and this book is about his early life. If this had just started with the retelling, I would probably never finished the book. Kvothe, the main character, is way too awesome, even in the beginning as child. It's just... kind of like reading a Mary Sue fanfic. But then, we know he's going to end up as an awesome hero, so it's not unlikely that he started already better, right? It's still... kind of grating, though.
But the bigger issue, for me, are the female characters in the book. Almost none of the main characters are female - there hasn't been a single woman in the 'current' part of the book, the part that's not the telling of his story. The women in his past tend to be pretty bland or very minor. The main love interest is very two-dimensional so far, and is pretty obviously going to die. The 'maybe-sorta' love interest becomes one when the Kvothe saves her life (no joke) and has pretty much no other personality. There is one interesting woman (the money-lender, for those who have read it), and she's only in two scenes. It spectacularly fails the Bechdel test. I was just... frustrated. It's a decently written book, so why can't we have some decently written female characters to go with it?
It was frustrating enough that I'm not really excited about the next one. I might pick it up/borrow it at some point, but it's not a must-read.
13: Son of Avonar by Carol Berg
Heh, this is like the opposite of the previous book. The main character is a middle-aged (for the time period, she's in her mid-late 30's in a medieval-ish land) woman who's very impressive on her own, despite having no magical powers or anything. She's determined to survive, despite the deck being heavily stacked against her. But overall, I thought Berg's writing was a bit lackluster. Her foreshadowing was akin to an anvil dropping out of the sky. I really liked her Rai-kirah series, and I don't remember this being a problem, so I'm not sure when that changed. But part of it was that she writes very cleanly, without a lot of excess description, so when she mentions something, you know it's going to come up again. Still, I enjoyed it a lot, and am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
14. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
I so, so, so badly want to like this book. *So* badly. It's the favorite book of more than one person whose opinion on books I respect. But overall... meh.
It's very political (which as some people know, I'm not much into :P), and very much 'The end justifies the means', at least when it comes to the good guys (which as some people know, I'm very much not into). There was an interesting plot that went no where, and I'm really disappointed about that.
Spoilers, highlight to read: **For those who've read it, I really, really, really wanted to see Dianora and Baerd meet up, darnit! Why the heck did he even bother having them be siblings/have that connection if they never met? It felt like a tease, which never resolved in to anything.**
Oh, and there was random incest. That was really kind of wtf? It added nothing to the story.
Still, I did like some of the characters and interactions and the general morality of the whole thing. One of the bad guys was 2-dimensional like woah, but the other one was fascinating. And there was an interesting twist I realized like one page before they revealed it, which kind of made me happy, haha. Oh, and the last line was awesome.
15, 16, 17: The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins (YA) (reread)
Yes, this series again. :P See, I started reading Mark Reads, and he read the Hunger Games, and I wanted to follow along/reread parts he mentioned.
Overall, I liked it a lot better than when I first read it. I still have a large problem with her way of occasionally summing up really important parts - it's so damn rushed! - and problems with the actions of the bad guys in the second book. But some of the stuff I didn't like the first time I read it I liked a lot better the second time through, and I still think the whole world is *fascinating* and well done. And dark and horrible. :P I can't wait for the movies to come out, though I have no clue how the heck they're going to actually bring the rating down to PG-13. These are some of the darkest books I have ever read, and I often like dark books.
18: Transformation by Carol Berg (first of the Rai-Kirah series) (reread)
Thanks to the other book of hers, I decided to reread the first of this trilogy, and most of the last book (I have no clue where our copy of the second book is!! Wah!). But I haven't finished the third book yet, so I'm not counting it quite yet. :P It's a good series, though truthfully, not as well written as I remember. Still, very entertaining, and I really do enjoy the whole series and recommend it to others.
I *know* there were others, but now I'm totally blanking. I don't think I read anything else cover-to-cover, though, just parts of favorite books. And I'm in the middle of Snow Queen by Joan Vinge right now. Not bad so far! I'm not very far yet, though. :P