Book Logging
Dec. 1st, 2009 05:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckI've felt at least vaguely dissatisfied with everything I've read in the last few months. Some of these books might have gotten a more enthusiastic set of comments if I weren't having so many issues with anxiety and depression right now. I can't tell.
At any rate-- Take with a grain of salt.
Atherton, Nancy. Aunt Dimity Vampire Hunter - I wish I liked these books better. They're exactly the right level of tension for me for right now, but the main character, Lori, annoys me when she leaps frantically to conclusions. This particular volume in the series is much like the others I've read-- nice people with old misunderstandings getting nudges and new information to fix things.
Bell, Clare. The Jaguar Princess - I found this book engaging up to a point about halfway through. There, I could see a plot development that would upset me a great deal coming. I peeked at the end to confirm that, yes, I was right and closed the book.
I have no idea how well researched the Aztec setting and mythology are. I found everything fascinating and reasonably self-consistent, but that's not necessarily the same as accurate.
Blame 1 - I shan't be reading more of this. It's post-apocalyptic, violent and bleak. Pages at a time go by with no words. The main character travels upward through a vast, ruined building, meeting people and cyborgs and monsters and either killing them or watching them die. I'm curious about the world building but not enough so to deal with the story.
Bujold, Lois McMaster. Sharing Knife: Passage and Sharing Knife: Horizon - I've still not read all of the second book in this series. I probably won't go back to it at this point as the impression I've gotten of the shape of what I didn't read is that it would stress me out. (I originally stopped reading because, while the book was good, I could tell that if I read it right then I'd loathe it. I read about the first third and the last couple of chapters.)
I liked the rhythm of the journeys in both of these books. I'm glad to have read them close together so that I could see both the trip out and the return. I liked the characters and the style of the narrative. I was more interested in the journey than in Dag's growing understanding of his abilities.
Chevalier d'Eon 2 - I'm torn-- I want to know what happens in this series, but I'm not sure I want to read it. There's so much death and grotesque horror in it that it pushes my tolerances. I think I'm hoping for answers to the questions I had at the end of the anime, mostly why questions.
Demon Flowers 1 - I found the art jarring. Everybody's arms and legs looked wrong in a way that I found uncomfortable. The plot didn't catch me, but I'll probably give this one more volume since the library has it. I suspect, though, that the plot won't appeal to me.
The story's about demons who hunt down the half-mortal children of the gods in order to eat them and gain power. More or less on a whim, one of the demons decides to save the life of a child and ends up on the run with the kid for years. The main story starts about ten years later, when demons catch up with them.
E'S 1 - Given that I found this on BookMooch and may never see another volume, it's probably just as well that I'm not enamored of the series. I kept feeling like I'd seen the story before-- Super powered mutants warring with each other and with normal humans isn't a rare starting place for stories. I have the impression that this series intends to play with moral ambiguities and with who knows what about what's really going on, but I find it hard to care. That may be the mood I was in when I read it, but it also might be the series.
Eternal Alice Rondo 1 - I'd misread the blurb on this, so I was expecting the main character to be female. Being wrong about that may have skewed my reaction, but I didn't click with this. It was text dense and a lot of work and had creepy sexual undertones (and some explicitly creepy bits with a sister obsessed with and possessive of her brother).
If I understand correctly, the basic premise is that a bunch of girls and women are fighting battles to steal each other's minds/souls/dreams in order to take the information contained therein. That information, when put together, grants power (or maybe just a new installment of a popular story, I forget). The hero can copy a person's information and take away the copy. Nobody else can do that. That means that whoever he helps doesn't have to destroy her opponents.
The library has this series, so I may read more, but I don't know if I will.
Flint, Eric and Andrew Dennis. 1635: The Cannon Law - People in this book repeatedly say that one of the political factions won't do certain things because those actions are crazy or stupid or barbaric. I've read enough books that each of those statements made me flinch as being a sure narrative indication that exactly that will be happening shortly.
This is part of the 1632 universe and is set in Rome (mostly). Papal politics are a big part of events (Nobody will try to take the Papacy by force of arms. It's too foolish. Really). I liked this better than 1635: The Dreeson Incident because it focused strongly on a few characters, staying with each long enough to make them familiar. That made it feel less fragmented. That said, though, I'm definitely at the point where I want to read the books in this series but don't want to own them. I want to see where the world building goes, but the scope is tending to get too broad to be compelling for me.
Flint, Eric and Ryk E. Spoor. Boundary - I spent a lot of this book waiting for something to happen. That's an odd thing to say because a lot did happen, but there's something missing, at least for me. The conflicts aren't anything I could really grab hold of and define-- mostly they're man vs. engineering challenges. The book also falls into that odd category of near future science fiction. The supporting details in terms of vehicles, communication, etc., all seemed very present day. The only way I could tell that it wasn't supposed to happen tomorrow was references to historical events that would fill at least twenty years between now and the time of the story.
This isn't a bad book. I'd not have finished it if it were. It follows scientists, engineers and military folks as they prepare for and undertake a mission to Mars. It spans years. The Mars trip becomes relatively high priority when an unmanned probe uncovers an ancient (millions of years old) base on Phobos. The alien remains there match a unique fossil specimen found by one of the characters right at the K-T boundary.
I just wish that the missing something had been there. I'd like to know what I was looking for.
Godden, Rumer. Little Plum - I think I'd have loved this when I was a kid, but I seem to be too old for it now. I didn't dislike the story of little girls and neighbors and dolls, but I also didn't connect with it strongly enough to read all of it. I think my ability to read about young girls getting up to mischief has deteriorated now that I have a girl of my own. I read as a mother rather than as a fellow child.
Hana Kimi 22-23 - That was a happier ending to the series than I quite expected. It didn't leave me satisfied, but I can't see the whole thing going any better. Of course, my dissatisfaction may have more to do with my mood than with the last two volumes, maybe.
Hunter x Hunter 24 - I said I wasn't going to pick up another volume of this, didn't I? Well, I forgot. Of course, I also didn't manage to finish this volume. I didn't care enough to fight with the parts that repelled me.
Storey, Margaret. The Dragon's Sister and Timothy Travels - I'll be hanging onto this book for Cordelia. I think she'll like it when she's finally done with the Rainbow Magic books. There's no great depth of characterization, but the world has hints of things not seen, of larger rules and patterns.
There are a number of books I've read that I haven't written up yet. They're probably going to get an also-read entry with no comments or very slight comments. Some of them have been waiting since summer. It may be time to admit that they're not getting properly logged.
At any rate-- Take with a grain of salt.
Atherton, Nancy. Aunt Dimity Vampire Hunter - I wish I liked these books better. They're exactly the right level of tension for me for right now, but the main character, Lori, annoys me when she leaps frantically to conclusions. This particular volume in the series is much like the others I've read-- nice people with old misunderstandings getting nudges and new information to fix things.
Bell, Clare. The Jaguar Princess - I found this book engaging up to a point about halfway through. There, I could see a plot development that would upset me a great deal coming. I peeked at the end to confirm that, yes, I was right and closed the book.
I have no idea how well researched the Aztec setting and mythology are. I found everything fascinating and reasonably self-consistent, but that's not necessarily the same as accurate.
Blame 1 - I shan't be reading more of this. It's post-apocalyptic, violent and bleak. Pages at a time go by with no words. The main character travels upward through a vast, ruined building, meeting people and cyborgs and monsters and either killing them or watching them die. I'm curious about the world building but not enough so to deal with the story.
Bujold, Lois McMaster. Sharing Knife: Passage and Sharing Knife: Horizon - I've still not read all of the second book in this series. I probably won't go back to it at this point as the impression I've gotten of the shape of what I didn't read is that it would stress me out. (I originally stopped reading because, while the book was good, I could tell that if I read it right then I'd loathe it. I read about the first third and the last couple of chapters.)
I liked the rhythm of the journeys in both of these books. I'm glad to have read them close together so that I could see both the trip out and the return. I liked the characters and the style of the narrative. I was more interested in the journey than in Dag's growing understanding of his abilities.
Chevalier d'Eon 2 - I'm torn-- I want to know what happens in this series, but I'm not sure I want to read it. There's so much death and grotesque horror in it that it pushes my tolerances. I think I'm hoping for answers to the questions I had at the end of the anime, mostly why questions.
Demon Flowers 1 - I found the art jarring. Everybody's arms and legs looked wrong in a way that I found uncomfortable. The plot didn't catch me, but I'll probably give this one more volume since the library has it. I suspect, though, that the plot won't appeal to me.
The story's about demons who hunt down the half-mortal children of the gods in order to eat them and gain power. More or less on a whim, one of the demons decides to save the life of a child and ends up on the run with the kid for years. The main story starts about ten years later, when demons catch up with them.
E'S 1 - Given that I found this on BookMooch and may never see another volume, it's probably just as well that I'm not enamored of the series. I kept feeling like I'd seen the story before-- Super powered mutants warring with each other and with normal humans isn't a rare starting place for stories. I have the impression that this series intends to play with moral ambiguities and with who knows what about what's really going on, but I find it hard to care. That may be the mood I was in when I read it, but it also might be the series.
Eternal Alice Rondo 1 - I'd misread the blurb on this, so I was expecting the main character to be female. Being wrong about that may have skewed my reaction, but I didn't click with this. It was text dense and a lot of work and had creepy sexual undertones (and some explicitly creepy bits with a sister obsessed with and possessive of her brother).
If I understand correctly, the basic premise is that a bunch of girls and women are fighting battles to steal each other's minds/souls/dreams in order to take the information contained therein. That information, when put together, grants power (or maybe just a new installment of a popular story, I forget). The hero can copy a person's information and take away the copy. Nobody else can do that. That means that whoever he helps doesn't have to destroy her opponents.
The library has this series, so I may read more, but I don't know if I will.
Flint, Eric and Andrew Dennis. 1635: The Cannon Law - People in this book repeatedly say that one of the political factions won't do certain things because those actions are crazy or stupid or barbaric. I've read enough books that each of those statements made me flinch as being a sure narrative indication that exactly that will be happening shortly.
This is part of the 1632 universe and is set in Rome (mostly). Papal politics are a big part of events (Nobody will try to take the Papacy by force of arms. It's too foolish. Really). I liked this better than 1635: The Dreeson Incident because it focused strongly on a few characters, staying with each long enough to make them familiar. That made it feel less fragmented. That said, though, I'm definitely at the point where I want to read the books in this series but don't want to own them. I want to see where the world building goes, but the scope is tending to get too broad to be compelling for me.
Flint, Eric and Ryk E. Spoor. Boundary - I spent a lot of this book waiting for something to happen. That's an odd thing to say because a lot did happen, but there's something missing, at least for me. The conflicts aren't anything I could really grab hold of and define-- mostly they're man vs. engineering challenges. The book also falls into that odd category of near future science fiction. The supporting details in terms of vehicles, communication, etc., all seemed very present day. The only way I could tell that it wasn't supposed to happen tomorrow was references to historical events that would fill at least twenty years between now and the time of the story.
This isn't a bad book. I'd not have finished it if it were. It follows scientists, engineers and military folks as they prepare for and undertake a mission to Mars. It spans years. The Mars trip becomes relatively high priority when an unmanned probe uncovers an ancient (millions of years old) base on Phobos. The alien remains there match a unique fossil specimen found by one of the characters right at the K-T boundary.
I just wish that the missing something had been there. I'd like to know what I was looking for.
Godden, Rumer. Little Plum - I think I'd have loved this when I was a kid, but I seem to be too old for it now. I didn't dislike the story of little girls and neighbors and dolls, but I also didn't connect with it strongly enough to read all of it. I think my ability to read about young girls getting up to mischief has deteriorated now that I have a girl of my own. I read as a mother rather than as a fellow child.
Hana Kimi 22-23 - That was a happier ending to the series than I quite expected. It didn't leave me satisfied, but I can't see the whole thing going any better. Of course, my dissatisfaction may have more to do with my mood than with the last two volumes, maybe.
Hunter x Hunter 24 - I said I wasn't going to pick up another volume of this, didn't I? Well, I forgot. Of course, I also didn't manage to finish this volume. I didn't care enough to fight with the parts that repelled me.
Storey, Margaret. The Dragon's Sister and Timothy Travels - I'll be hanging onto this book for Cordelia. I think she'll like it when she's finally done with the Rainbow Magic books. There's no great depth of characterization, but the world has hints of things not seen, of larger rules and patterns.
There are a number of books I've read that I haven't written up yet. They're probably going to get an also-read entry with no comments or very slight comments. Some of them have been waiting since summer. It may be time to admit that they're not getting properly logged.
