brlb21's attempt at the challenge

I am actually doing the 888 challenge also, but I realized that I will read books not on those lists, so thought I would try this one to. Not sure if I can read that many books in a year, but we will see. So, on a positive note I just finished Fortress in the Eye of Time.

It was a very nice 568 pages, and the first book I ever read by Cherryh. I also just started the sequel. I liked it, although the beginning was fairly slow. Not sure if I will read the whole series. Fortress of Eagles is also starting off slow, I found myself skimming more than reading, but I think that is a habit developed in grad school.

I seem to be accomplishing this task better than the 888 one, oh well..
I finished Heir to the Shadows yesterday. I liked it less than the first one. The plot seemed very disconnected in places, and jumped through time a lot. I give it a B-

I also read Dark God Laughing which I really enjoyed. However, I would have to buy the rest of the series, since I doubt any library has them, and I have already bought too many books recently. This one gets an A.

Finally, for class I read My Family and Other Saints. I guess it was interesting; mostly because she is an awesome writer, but I have never been into memoirs.

Meanwhile, I have started reading a million other books all at the same time, which is totally typical of me, these include Devlin's Luck, Fortress of Eagles, Foreigner, The Blade Itself: The First Law, and a few other ethnographic works for class.

Read Green Rider which was fairly good, if in general basic fantasy.

Finished Queen of the Shadows, it was better than the previous one, but not as good as the first.

Checked out lots of other books from the library to read rather than do school work.

Devlin's Luck I give it maybe a "C." It was okay, but not memorable, and I have zero desire to read the sequel.

Assassin's Apprentice I am much more interested in the Tawny Man Trilogy, but I have to read her other books first. This was like a B- perhaps. Or a C+

Neither Man Nor Woman Good, but has some methodological problems. Still overall it was pretty interesting.

The Lies of Locke Lamora Very good, out of this bunch definitely the best. I can't wait to read the next one.

Gave up on reading Foreigner, not b/c it was bad or anything, just b/c I don't have time and there are other things I want to read first like The Temptation of Saint Anthony.

So, only 11 so far, though I feel like I have forgotten something...

Friction bleh

Privilege of the Sword How many ways are there to say "lack of plot" or "poor character development"? Why can't people leave a good thing alone; seriously, not every book needs a sequel. I loved Swordspoint couldn't read Fall of the Kings and finished this book thinking, why even bother to have a plot if you are just going to randomly and abruptly end the whole thing? It really felt like Kushner just got tired of writing and said, oh okay I can stop now by getting rid of Ferris. And on top of that, why even have St. Vier in the story if he is only going to be some shadowy vague sort of character without any personality? grrr...

Reindeer People a long, but very good ethnography.

The Savage Mind I read this weeks ago, but forgot to add it.

The Afterlife is Where We Come From:another ethnography.

Never in Anger Perhaps a "C."

Ember I wrote a review about this one, it was alright.

18 total

Maledicte I thought it was pretty good, the back story could have used a little bit more development, and my favorite characters were 2 secondary ones, but I enjoyed it overall. B+

Elantris I'm not sure if I can count this one as read. I skimmed lots of it, basically b/c I was too interested in knowing what was going on in Elantris to read the parts about everyone else. I thought the ending was pretty good, and I liked the redemption of the evil priest. B

Shamans/NeoShamans I read this for school, for a research paper I am working on. The first couple of chapters were okay, but I disagreed with the author a lot throughout most of the rest of the book.

21 / 50
(42.0%)

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down This book is over rated. Lots of my students love it, probably b/c it is such an easy read, but I was rather unimpressed.

Spirit Gate It started out really good, but the characters switched around a lot, and I felt that the middle part was very slow.

Banewreaker Besides the fact that it is ultra-derivative, it was at least interesting. I pretty much spoiled everything for myself though by reading the end of the next book (not sure why, I had a random moment of curiosity) so I probably won't read it.

Student of Kyme, this is the new Wraeththu Mythos novel. I was super-excited about the book, but it was mostly a disappointment. Probably my least favorite of the Wraeththu books. It was by no means terrible, but not up to par with Storm Constantine's other work.

In Search of Authenticity

The Crimson Sword Nearly the slowest, most unengaging fantasy novel I have read in a while. It was really hard to finish, and entirely too long (I think it is nearly 600 pages).

The Final Programme and A Cure for Cancer
I liked the first one, but the second utterly confused me. I think Moorcock is an acquired taste, although I enjoyed the Elric books.

Dark Angels It was a quick entertaining read. I enjoyed it for the most part, but the second part of the book was definitely lacking. It felt like the author had spent way less time on it. Also, the ending in general sucked, it was rushed and concluded abruptly. Otherwise, the book was good.

Mystic and Rider B

Archangel A- My only problem with the book was the ending. She built up to this one moment, then kind of rushed through it, and then tacked on 3 or 4 relatively unnecessary chapters in order to wrap up the relationship between the two main characters. Otherwise, I really enjoyed it, and stayed up all night just to finish.

31 / 50
(62.0%)

The Gift Very beautifully written, reads much like a folktale. (A)

Red Seas Under Red Skies Amazing, utterly amazing. I was prepared to say that the first book Lies of Locke Lamora was better, but the last 3rd of this book completely blew me away. I am a big fan of intricate plots, witty dialogs, and sarcastic humor - this book delivers all three.
Did I mention the book was amazing?!

Culture of Disbelief I found this book utterly redundant, and not well explained at all. The author consistently talked around issues rather than providing solid conclusions. Obviously, none of the questions addressed here could be answered in black or white terms, but on the whole I was unimpressed with the author's argument. I also felt that he tended to contradict himself, and while using his faith as an example at times, and his own personal experiences, he is hardly qualified to speak for all religious believers in America. Basically, I don't see what all the fuss was about when this book came out in the early '90s.

On Suicide Bombing

There is a lot to think to about for such a short book.

Iron Angel The very definition of an unnecessarily sequel - gets a C. Disappointing b/c I rather enjoyed the first book.
The characters in this one act in ways that make zero sense; failing to be surprised when intensely strange things happen, doing things to their friends w/no remorse or hesitation, and the most annoying thing that I have noticed in other novels and movies - acting as if severe injuries that should have nearly killed them did not in fact happen.

Black Sun Rising Pretty good, but a bit slow in parts. I read the sequel too and it was even better, so onto the last book in the trilogy...

Varieties of Religion Today Didn't like it very much, though I was expecting too, b/c I do enjoy James.

Stalking Tender Prey So, far I like the Grigori trilogy better than the Magravandias series, but not as much as her Wraeththu books. (B+)

Dreams of Drowning - more people should read these books. Its a bit hard to keep all the characters straight (at least for me), and sometimes the plot is a bit, well, unreasonable, but on the whole I enjoyed it. (B+)

As usual, I am reading too many things at one time, the sequels to the above two books and the conclusion to the Cold Fire Trilogy, though I've misplaced it at the moment...

The Devil's Labyrinth Idiocy!! This book is unbelievably stupid. I thought for some reason Saul was a better writer, I vaguely seem to remember reading something by him years ago, and thinking it was good.

I bought this book in the airport, and thought it would be a quick, yet decent read. It is terrible. Besides the bad writing, and a not very well thought out plot (and a serious mistake in the summary on the back of the book), my biggest problem is the anti-Islam nature of the book. It was published in 2007 - why are people still writing this tripe?

Basically, the "evil" people in the book are Muslim who decide to act out some sort of "revenge" (not particularly well articulated by the way) on the Pope using, yes you guessed, suicide bombers!! How original . Why does some card- board stereotyped religious group get to even remotely pass as "plot" - how does this get published?! (I am a bit angry, and have ranted enough, but I am also deliriously tired, so I will stop now).

F

Sharp Objects Maybe I am slow, but I didn't figure out who exactly the killer way. Good book, slightly implausible for something that is supposed to be real life, but this doesn't detract much. A

42 / 50
(84.0%)

Only 8 to go, super exciting! Then I can concentrate on the 888 one - its too hard to do both of these at the same time.

In Search of Respect
Discipline and Punish

have been reading lots of anthropology stuff for my two final papers, and of course the book for the class I teach for. Started American Gods but probably wont' be able to finish it anytime soon, though I have enjoyed the first part immensely (my sister has been telling me to read the book forever...)

American Gods Pretty good, not what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it.

I have precisely one month to read 5 more books and finish this challenge.

Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Just finished it, not sure what I think really. Parts of the book, I still don't quite understand what was going on; I feel as if there were perhaps too many narratives going on at one time. I did like the progression of the novel though - how it goes from being this completely inane mundane world to something totally bizarre.

I am going to put this one to rest. My last four books are 1-4 of Sandman
Sandman Vol 1
Sandman Vol 2
Sandman Vol 3
Sandman Vol 4

Congratulations on reaching your challenge goal! :) Will you start a new one? I have enjoyed reading about your books and what you thought of them.
--BJ