Looking to 2009
Jan
01
2009

Happy 2009!

2008 was a pretty good year for reading some good books and here’s hoping 2009 will be even better. There are some books coming out I can’t wait for, especially Corambis by Sarah Monette, Hope’s Folly by Linnea Sinclair, and Kings and Assassins by Lane Robins. Elizabeth Bear also has a new Edda of Burdens book (By the Mountain Bound) coming out later in the year and the next of Ann Aguirre’s Sirantha Jax series (Doubleblind) will be out as well as the first book in her new Corine Solomon series (Blue Diablo). I’m sure there will be many, many more too.

Over the last week I’ve been thinking about some reading goals for 2009:

1. Read 50 Books

I really considered making this number higher since I made that goal in 2008, but in the interest of being realistic with my goals I ended up deciding to just aim for 50 again. If I’m going to continue to review every book I read, I just don’t think I’ll have time for much more than that unless 2009 is the year I become independently wealthy.

2. Read some urban fantasy

While I’ve read a few books considered to be urban fantasy, such as Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and Elizabeth Bear’s Promethean Age series, I haven’t read that much. I can’t think of a single werewolf or vampire book I’ve read where they weren’t background characters or in a parody. So I thought this year I’d try to read some more urban fantasy, especially the types of books very different from what I have read before. To work toward that goal, I did get Moon Called by Patricia Briggs and Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison.

3. Read more science fiction that scares me

Although I’ve become a huge fan of space opera this year, there are some science fiction books that still frighten me because I think they will be too dry or won’t have good characters. Not having actually read these books, I don’t know that, though, and maybe they aren’t as scary as I think. It’s time to find out.

4. Read more comic books

Since reading Sandman, I haven’t read any graphic novels. On my list is Watchmen and at least the first of the Lucifer comics (which are a spin off of the Lucifer from Sandman).

5. Challenge myself to read one book a month that I’m hesitant to read

This goal is mostly so I’ll read some of those books that have been sitting on my shelf for whatever reason (most of these will be books that are there because they’re very long, because they’re science fiction that scares me, or because the first book is part of a long series/short series containing long books). I might be challenging myself or having John challenge me or do some of both; I haven’t decided yet. After I told John about my goal (and my decision for January’s book challenge, which is reading Childhood’s End, a book he told me I should read), he wanted to give me a book to read every month. So I may try that for a while unless I find I’m not getting to a lot of books that have been sitting on the bookshelf for a while that I want to get off my conscience.

I’m still going to try to manage it so I only read the longer books when I’m behind on reviews and have some catching up to do since I only avoid long books now because I have nothing to review if it takes me forever to read a book.

I thought about having a goal of reading more book published in 2009 than I did books published in 2008 last year but decided that wasn’t a very realistic goal if I’m going to only be able to manage about 50 books for the year. There are too many older books I still need to read.

So that’s it for reading goals. Anyone else been setting goals for books to read this year?

Favorites of 2008
Dec
31
2008

2008 has come to a close and it was a great year for reading since I read a great many more really good memorable books than I did in 2007. My only reading goal for the year was to read 50 books and I ended up reading 54, which is a lot more than 2007 (which was something like 36). That’s probably at least partially because I discovered I really liked space opera this year and read a lot of that instead of a lot of epic fantasy doorstoppers. I do review everything I read so all of those have been reviewed with the exception of some of the more recently read books, which will be reviewed when I have the time.

Favorites of 2008

My top ten favorites out of all books read throughout the year and commentary on each can be found over at The Book Smugglers, where I was a guest blogger for Smugglivus. Instead of rehashing the same list that is available elsewhere, I’m going to do some favorites in select categories for 2008. Since I only read about 12 books published in 2008, I’m including all books read unless otherwise noted.

Favorite book published in 2008: Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth by Elizabeth Bear
Runners-up: Shades of Dark by Linnea Sinclair, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre, The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia

Yes, I know these are actually two books but they were supposed to be one book originally and together tell a complete story so it’s hard to just pick one of them. Bear’s tale of Faerie and Elizabethan England contains well-written prose and dialogue, an interesting plot, and some great (and famous) characters such as Christopher Marlowe and Will Shakespeare.

Most ambitious work: Dune by Frank Herbert

It is a classic for a reason and does not even feel particularly dated, which is rare for science fiction books I’ve read which were written around the same time. Dune combines religion and philosophy, has some action and adventure, and has a truly interesting character in young Paul Atreides. The strong role women play in the universe is also very unique for its time when many of the famous science fiction books written around the same time tended to be male-dominated. Although it wasn’t one that resonated strongly with me personally, I did really enjoy reading Dune and it was one of the better books I read this year.

Favorite new (both fairly new and new to me) author: Sarah Monette
Runner-up: Elizabeth Bear

Sarah Monette’s The Doctrine of Labyrinth series is edgy with two exceptionally well-developed characters. It’s certainly not for everyone with its darker tones and Monette’s propensity to think of the worst possible thing she can do to her characters and then write about it. As someone who thinks the darker the better, I can’t get enough of this series.

Best ending: Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks

I’d heard this ending was pretty good but I really didn’t see it coming. Rereading this one with an idea of the ending would be interesting.

Longest short book I ever read: Neuromancer by William Gibson

Seriously, it was only about 200 pages but it felt like it would never end.

Book so impossible to put down you’d have to pry it from my cold dead hands: Shades of Dark by Linnea Sinclair
Runner-up: Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre

Shades of Dark was impossible to put down with its great characters and fast-paced plot (at least after it got going a little bit). Wanderlust was also extremely difficult to pry out of my hands until I was finished with it.

Best battle: Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro

Normally I’d rather read about characters and politics than battles, but this one did have me right on the edge of my seat!

Best prose: Ink and Steel/Hell and Earth by Elizabeth Bear
Runner-up: Last Dragon by J. M. McDermott

Bear has a very specific, lush vocabulary with some lovely dialogue.

Most creative: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

A child’s parents are murdered, leaving him in the capable hands of the inhabitants of the local graveyard. It sounds completely strange but it very much worked.

Most imaginative incorporation of well known legends: The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari

This retelling of the book of Job in the Bible combined with the legends of King Arthur still managed to seem fresh and original.

Most unique magic system: Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson

It’s definitely unique although getting magic powers by swallowing different types of metal may be a little much for my suspension of disbelief. All I can think of is how unhealthy that sounds. (It’s still a fun read though.)

Favorite character: Mildmay (Sarah Monette’s The Doctrine of Labyrinth series)
Runners up: Felix (same series), Whiskey (Elizabeth Bear’s Promethean Age series), Miles Vorkosigan (series of the same name by Lois McMaster Bujold)

Both Mildmay and Felix are extraordinarily well fleshed out characters, but in the end, Mildmay is just more sympathetic. Although both have their vulnerabilities, he tends to be less of a bastard about it. The amoral shape-shifting waterhorse Whiskey was another favorite to read about, and the vibrant Miles Vorkosigan has the type of personality that leaps off the pages.

Book containing most interesting alien species: Probability Moon by Nancy Kress

With all the space opera I’ve read this year, I’ve read about an awful lot of telepaths, empaths, and shapeshifers. This particular alien race was not any of those but instead worked in a universe of shared reality – if an inhabitant of the world did not believe as the others did, it caused them actual physical pain, making for an interesting first contact situation between them and humans.

Books Read/Reviewed in 2008

In case anyone is interested in the full list for comparison, below are all the books I’ve completed in 2008 with a star next to those published in 2008. I’ve reviewed all of them except for some of the newer ones unless my fiance John read and reviewed them first (sometimes I read books he reviewed when I had a lot of catching up to do). All books reviewed by John are listed underneath my list. Between the two of us, we wrote 53 reviews this year (although I reviewed everything I’ve read, some of them were omnibus versions that I reviewed together and I’m also a little behind right now).

Kristen’s Books

1. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
2. The Skewed Throne by Joshua Palmatier
3. The Book of Joby by Mark J. Ferrari
4. Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
5. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
6. Neuromancer by William Gibson
7. Breath and Bone by Carol Berg *
8. Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro
9. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
10. Melusine by Sarah Monette
11. The Virtu by Sarah Monette
12. The Mirador by Sarah Monette
13. Grimspace by Ann Aguirre *
14. Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
15. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
16. A Kind of Peace by Andy Boot
17. The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
18. Hood by Stephen Lawhead
19. Last Dragon by J.M. McDermott *
20. Dune by Frank Herbert
21. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
22. Blood and Iron by Elizabeth Bear
23. Witness by Bill Blais
24. The Radiant Seas by Catherine Asaro
25. Blood Follows by Steven Erikson (reread)
26. A Companion to Wolves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear
27. Whiskey and Water by Elizabeth Bear
28. The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold
29. The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
30. Crystal Rain by Tobias Buckell
31. Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks
32. The Cipher by Diana Pharoah Francis
33. Archangel Protocol by Lyda Morehouse
34. The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia *
35. Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre *
36. Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
37. Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie * (in the US)
38. Ink and Steel by Elizabeth Bear *
39. Hell and Earth by Elizabeth Bear *
40. Probability Moon by Nancy Kress
41. Maledicte by Lane Robins
42. Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch
43. The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks *
44. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman *
45. Variable Star by Spider Robinson and Robert A Heinlein
46. The Healthy Dead by Steven Erikson (not yet reviewed)
47. The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt
48. Skyfall by Catherine Asaro
49. All the Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear *
50. Gabriel’s Ghost by Linnea Sinclair
51. Shades of Dark by Linnea Sinclair *
52. An Accidental Goddess by Linnea Sinclair (not yet reviewed)
53. Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold (not yet reviewed)
54. The Jackal of Nar by John Marco (not yet reviewed)

John’s Reviews:

The Abyss by Orson Scott Card
Before They Are Hanged (First Law #2) by Joe Abercrombie
The Beggars trilogy by Nancy Kress (aka The Sleepless trilogy)
Dragon’s Wild by Robert Asprin
God’s Demon by Wayne Barlow
Nation by Terry Pratchett
The Peace War by Vernor Vinge
Variable Star by Robert Heinlein and Spider Robinson

Happy New Year!
Dec
31
2008

It’s a few hours early (at least in my part of the world) but I just wanted to wish everyone a happy new year! Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone has a wonderful 2009!

Tomorrow I plan to put up an end of the year recap on books of 2008 and what to look forward to in 2009 (I’ve been waiting just in case I finished a really great book that wowed me by the end of the year but I’ve barely had time to read this month and that’s just not going to happen).

Shades of Dark Review
Dec
29
2008

Shades of Dark
by Linnea Sinclair
448pp (Paperback)
My Rating: 9/10
Amazon Rating: 4/5
LibraryThing Rating: 4.2/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.08/5

Shades of Dark is the sequel to Gabriel’s Ghost and the second book in Linnea Sinclair’s Dock 5 Universe series. While Shades of Dark picks up where the first book left off and focuses on the same main characters, the third book Hope’s Folly (to be released in February 2009) is about Philip Guthrie, a secondary character in the series so far. Shades of Dark should not be read before Gabriel’s Ghost and this review will contain spoilers for the former book (reviewed here).

This novel picks up about three months after the end of Gabriel’s Ghost. Sully and Chaz have left Marker after successfully destroying their first jukor lab and are back to life on the ship Boru Karn – and heading for a meeting with an informant who claims to know the location of another one of these labs. When she cannot sleep one night, Chaz happens to see her last name in a news headline. The article turns out to be about the arrest of her brother, Thaddeus Bergren, for his role in the events at Marker. Of course, Chaz is worried about what will happen to Thad but she is also concerned that his mind will be probed since he is one of the only people with knowledge about Sully’s telepathic powers. This disclosure of Sully’s Kyi-Ragkiril abilities, feared by the vast majority of humanity, would be detrimental to their cause since no one would want to help Sully. Furthermore, most of Sully’s crew do not know what he is and may react badly upon hearing the fact that he could easily destroy their minds if he so desired.

In addition to fear over Thad’s predicament and a possible impending mutiny, Chaz and Sully must also contend with the increasing strength of Sully’s powers, which he hides from Chaz for a time. The reason for the rapid change is unknown, but Sully finds the new things he can do simultaneously intriguing and disconcerting. In the end, he still views himself as a “hell-spawned soul stealer” and fears that keeping Chaz close to him is a mistake – and one that he does not have the personal strength to avoid.


By the end of Gabriel’s Ghost, I was so hooked that I had to go out and buy Shades of Dark so I could start it immediately. That night, I was halfway through this book and finished it about two days later (it would have been much sooner if I didn’t have to go to work). I found this one a little slower to get into in the beginning with a few info dumps about happenings from the previous book but overall better (and much darker) than the first book. Dark books are my favorites, and I really loved how Sully had to come to terms with who and what he was in this book.

Gabriel’s Ghost was largely about the obstacles Kyi-Ragkirils had to overcome to be accepted and downplayed their evil since Sully was overall a decent man and Ren (who was not actually a Kyi-Ragkiril but was the race often judged to be one) was the kindest and gentlest being imaginable. Sully was often feared for his abilities by Chaz and later hated for them by Philip, who knew a lot about the worst of Kyi-Ragkirils but often did not know the entire truth. Yet as Sully used his powers for good (such as preventing both Ren and Philip from dying), it seemed as though the dangers of Kyi-Ragkirils had been overstated. It appeared to all come down to what type of person wields the power instead of the actual ability contributing to unethical acts. In Shades of Dark, this is refuted to an extent. Sully is conflicted between his beliefs and the need to exercise his powers more, which is further enforced by the encouragement of a mentor.

Chaz is still a very strong and likable heroine – analytical to the extreme and very practical. She is a strong woman who makes her own decisions, is very capable, and Sinclair does an excellent job of keeping true to her character in both books. Her own struggle with Sully’s difficulty at reconciling his two sides also makes for some excellent reading and she is a very sympathetic character.

There is one minor complaint I had with this book other than the aforementioned info-dumping contributing to a slow start – the number of times Chaz was referred to as “the pride of the Sixth fleet” or “the one-time pride of the Sixth fleet” or any variation of “the pride of the Sixth fleet.” The references to this were excessive. We get it – she was held in high regard and now she’s an escaped prisoner on the run from the law, oh how the mighty have fallen.

For those who have read and enjoyed Gabriel’s Ghost, Shades of Dark is a followup worth reading with a much darker tone and more complex questions. Unless one has an aversion to books that are not light and happy, this one is highly recommended to fans of its predecessor.

9/10

Read Chapter Two

Other reviews:

Reviews of other books in this series:

An Experiment – Need Some Urban Fantasy Recommendations
Dec
29
2008

I have a Borders gift card I got for Christmas and will probably be going to Borders tomorrow to get some books to go with my other Christmas books (The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Wind by Fuyumi Ono and a numbered signed copy of Storm Constantine’s The Oracle Lips, which is a very lovely collection of short stories). Since I have not read much urban fantasy, I was thinking about getting a couple of urban fantasies to try. Any suggestions for where to start?

Last year I branched out and read more science fiction and found I really enjoyed it at least as much as fantasy. I had read some science fiction with mixed results since I rarely found one where I liked the characters as much as in the fantasy books I read. I still tried reading books in the genre that were highly praised on occasion, such as Altered Carbon (which wasn’t bad but had way too much testosterone for my taste) and Neuromancer (which was just plain dull with flat characters I didn’t care one bit for). Maybe I just tried reading too much cyberpunk; I couldn’t get into Snow Crash either.

Then I started reading more space opera – Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro, Grimspace by Ann Aguirre, The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks – and discovered I really liked it and needed to read more. Last year I had pretty good results with these books – Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles series, more from Asaro’s Skolian Saga, Archangel Protocol by Lyda Morehouse, Gabriel’s Ghost and Shades of Dark by Linnea Sinclair, and the famous Dune.

So, this coming year I want to continue trying a few different types of books, and I’ve decided to try urban fantasy outside of the realm of what I’ve read in the genre before (books like Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, which was good). Vampires and werewolves have never seemed all that appealing to me, but you never know unless you actually try it so that’s what I plan to do. Maybe I base my feelings too much on cheesy vampire movies and am missing some great novels.

Books I am currently considering are:

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs (this one has been recommended to me enough times that it’s a must-get if it’s in stock at Borders)

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Ill Wind by Rachel Caine

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton (I’ve heard the first few of these are good anyway; don’t know if I really want to start a series that is going to go downhill that quickly, though)

Once Bitten, Twice Shy by Jennifer Rardin (Tia of Fantasy Debut is not a vampire fan either but enjoyed this one so it sounds promising)

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Is there anything else that should be on my list? Or any of these that should be at the top of the list? Which books have both good characterization (preferably with gray characters) and an interesting story? And are not so cheesy that I’ll get eye strain from rolling them too much?

Any advice is much appreciated!

Smugglivus
Dec
28
2008

For those who don’t already know, Ana and Thea from the excellent The Book Smugglers blog are holding Smugglivus, a celebration of the holidays and their one year blog anniversary, right now. I was a guest blogger there yesterday and have a lengthier than planned post on my favorite books I’ve read this year (regardless of publication date).

The countdown to Smugglivus featured several authors including Linnea Sinclair, Stephen Hunt, John Marco, Melissa Marr, Maria V. Snyder, and Meljean Brook. Now that Smugglivus is here, several bloggers are discussing their favorite books of the year. It’s definitely worth checking out and your list of books you must get will grow… I know mine has!