Sunday, October 31, 2010

October '10

STAR WARS: CROSSCURRENT
-P. Kemp-epub-214
-fantasy-the novel that is the immediate prequel to the Lost Tribe of the Sith short stories. A ship of sith blunders 5000 years from the past into the BY[Battle of Yavin] era and sets things up for later in the Fate of the Jedi series and probably some later series as well. Well written and I actually enjoyed reading about non-Skywalker characters. That doesn't happen very often.

POLITY: AGENT CORMAC: GRIDLINKED
-N. Asher-epub-346
-scifi-far in the future, the main empire is the Human Polity, an entity of humans ruled by AI. The line between man and machine is blurring. The non-Polity sections of space are headed by strong willed individuals who are constantly attacking the Polity. Agent Cormac is a Polity agent, gridlinked[connected to AI's through technology] until he is cut off to regain his humanity. Also introduces us to an alien called the Dragon, which appears to be immensely powerful and who cares not a whit about humans. Very well done, even with some of the technical descriptions.

POLITY: AGENT CORMAC: THE LINE OF POLITY
-N. Asher-epub-437
-scifi-a rogue scientist fuses himself with an ancient races technology. At the same time the Polity is attempting to extend their line by the peaceful taking over of a world. These two plots collide and Skellor [the scientist] sets himself up to be a major villain in coming novels. Cormac plays a very small role. Focus is on Skellor and some freedom fighters on the planet's surface. Extremely engaging and I just enjoyed reading this.

DISCWORLD: THE TRUTH
-T. Pratchett-epub-239
-fantasy-a yarn in Ahnk-Morpork about the advent of the movable type press. Subplots of intrigue and murder and Vetinari. And it all works out in the end. And Vetinari continues to show just how much of a clever bastard he really is.

KIM
-R. Kipling-epub-307
-historical fiction-a young boy, son of an irish soldier and wife, is orphaned in India and grows up wild. Meets a holy man and comes to the attention of the British. Goes to the best school and is trained to be a spy. Has adventures with the holy man and the story ends with him at about 17 as he prepares to enter Her Majesties Service. Fantastic. The wording, the pace, the excitement, were all splendid. The sense of India was conveyed very believably. Need to read more of Kipling.

POLITY: AGENT CORMAC: BRASS MAN
-N. Asher-epub-405
-scifi- a direct continuation of Line of Polity. Deals with the back history of Mr Crane [the insane brass golem] and more of Skellor, who obviously didn't die. And some AI's decide to see if they can become AI tyrants instead of benevolent dictators; quite interesting to see AI politics, reminds of Greg Bear's Eon.

BRISINGR
-C. Paolini-epub-PARTIAL REREAD
-fantasy-I started this and it seemed very familiar. I just figured I had read a couple of chapters before. Well, I got up to around the 300+ page mark and it STILL seemed familiar. So I checked and it turns out I had read it in December of '09.

ARTEMIS FOWL: THE ARCTIC INCIDENT
-E. Colfer-epub-146
-ya fantasy- Artemis has to work with the LEP so he can rescue his dad. It was ok, nothing memorable, not a reread that is for sure.

ROBOTECH: THE SENTINELS: THE DEVIL'S HAND
-J. McKinney-epub-133
-scifi-about the SDF3 going off into space before the Masters came to earth. Lots of characters from the Macross saga along with a host of new ones. Minmei is still around sadly, and Rick, even though married to Lisa, hasn't got much of a spine. Will see how this sub series turns out.

WORLD AT WAR: INTO THE DARKNESS
-H. Turtledove-dtb-684
-fantasy-even though it is almost alternate history. Seems to be a World War II'ish story but in another world that has magic. It was well written and even interesting, but I don't know if I really want to read more of the series simply because it is a big investment of time. And I just don't care enough to read a war history. Turtledove also throws in completely unnecessarily graphic sexual descriptions and situations.

POLITY: AGENT CORMAC: POLITY AGENT
-N. Asher-epub-403
-scifi-the continuation of the big story about the fight against the Jain artifacts. Find out Blegg IS just a construct of Earth Central but that Cormac might actually BE the first post-human the AI's are trying to create. Lots of fighting and some stuff with the remaining 2 dragon spheres. Very engaging and plot oriented. Very little character development, but that is ok.

DRESDEN FILES: DEATH MASK
-J. Butcher-epub-235
-urban fantasy-Harry has to have a duel with someone from the vampire Red Court, stop a fallen angel from unleashing a magical plague apocalypse and deal with Susan going away for good and taking the fight against the vampires who created her.


MONTLY SUMMARY
11 Novels
1 Partial Re-read
3549 Pages