Karlstar's (Jim's) Reading for 2019

Welcome to 2019! Is it that time again already? Here's what I've been reading so far in 2019.

Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds (started in 2018)
The Hound of the Baskervilles; A Study in Scarlet; The Sign of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Guns of Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die: How the Allies Won on D-Day by Giles MIlton (ER book)
Magefall by Stephen Aryan
Van Richten's Guide to Vampires BY Nigel Findley
Dune by Frank Herbert
Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon
A Night Without Stars by Peter F. Hamilton
Lion In the White House: A Life of Theodore Roosevelt by Aida D. Donald
Dream Park by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain
Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell
The Fall of Gondolin by J. R. R. Tolkien
Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin
Meditations on Middle-Earth edited by Karen Haber
Jefferson's America by Julie M. Fenster
DragonRiders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey (3 in one SFBC omnibus edition)
Azure Bonds by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb
The Wyvern's Spur by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb
Lewis and Clark The Journey of the Corps of Discovery by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns
The Course of Empire by Eric Flint and K. D. Wentworth
You Die When You Die by Angus Watson
Twelve Kings in Sharakhai by Bradley P. Beaulieu
To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
Head On by John Scalzi
Count Brass by Michael Moorcock
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Earthclan by David Brin (includes Startide Rising and The Uplift War)
The Empire of Grass by Tad Williams !!
Secret Empire Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America's Space Espionage by Philip Taubman

My ratings always include a STTM rating - Slogging Through The Mud, or how much time is spent on travel.

I use a 1 to 10 rating system because I started rating books long before LT and because I like the additional granularity. Here's my rating scale explained. Looking at this after writing it, I see I give out too many 7's. However, checking my LT books, the 8 ratings stop right around book 500, so I'm consistent there, but I only have about 70 books rated 9 stars or higher, so either I'm being too tough or there just aren't that many 9 or 10 star books.

1 - So bad, I couldn't finish it. DO NOT READ!!!
2 - Could have finished, but didn't. Do not read. This one means I made a conscious choice not to finish, usually about halfway through the book. Something is seriously wrong here.
3 - Finished it, but had to force myself. Not recommended, if you're a complete-ist you'll regret it.
4 - Finished it, but really didn't like it. Not recommended unless you have to read everything.
5 - Decent book, recommended if you have spare time and need something to read.
6 - Good book, I enjoyed it, and would recommend it.
7 - Good book, recommended for everyone. I may have read it more than once, and would consider buying the hardcover edition.
8 - Great book, I would put it in the Top 500 of all time. Read more than once, I probably have the hardcover.
9 - Great book, top 100 all time. Read more than once, if I don't have the hardcover edition, I want one!
10 - All-time great book, top 50 material. Read more than twice, I probably have more than one copy/edition.

This year I will be reading more books recommended by the fine folks here in this group! That includes Chasm City, The Guns of Dawn and Magefall. I've also decided that I really want to add the Everyman's Library editions of books to my library, starting with one from Doyle.

Unfortunately, we are moving, so all 1700 or so of the books are going to be packed up and since our new home does not have nearly as many shelves, most of the books are going to spend a few years in boxes.

Happy New Year! Wishing you many good books this year and the time to read them. Good luck with the moving!

>1 Karlstar: Happy 2019. :) Tchaikovsky is an author I keep meaning to get around to. I have Children of Time on my Kindle and was originally intending to read it last year, but then I learned there was a follow-up book being published in 2019 so I decided to hold off for now. That way if I like the first one I can read them together.

>1 Karlstar: I hope 2019 is a wonderful year for you and your reading. I shall be tagging along to see how you are getting on.

Happy new year! Following along again :) Moving stinks, good luck.

>4 Peace2: >5 YouKneeK: >6 pgmcc: >7 Narilka: Thanks very much! Luckily it will be a slow move while the house is on the market.

Happy new year! I hope it is a good one for you and that the house move goes well.

Strength to you with the move! And for the rest, happy new year.

Good luck with the moving, and I hope you still manage to find some time for reading.

>9 Sakerfalcon: >10 hfglen: >11 SylviaC: Thank you all! That's very nice of you. I always find time for reading, just not enough. I'll be counting time until I can get all the books unpacked, but that will be year(s), I'm afraid.

Chasm City by alastair reynolds
STTM: 2 - lots of in city travel, which is more exciting than it sounds
Rating: 7

This was recommended by several people here on LT, including BookstoogeLT .

This book had one great thing going for it, I did not want to put it down. It reminded me of some of Peter F. Hamilton's scifi - complicated, advanced science set in a complex and colorful world. This is really the story of one confused man, pursuing a vendetta against another across space and time. The setting, Chasm City, is a domed city on a world with a hostile atmosphere but a strangely convenient canyon that provides easily available atmosphere to those living in the dome. It is also the site of a strange cyber-biotic plague that destroys cyber enhancements or makes them go berserk. Chasm City is a highly divided society - the poor do without cyber in The Muck while the rich manage to deal with the plague in The Canopy.
Overall, I found this to be a very interesting sci-fi thriller, with some societal commentary thrown in. At times I was puzzled about why he'd put Chasm City together the way he did and I'm not certain I bought his redemption theory, but it definitely was fun to read.

Are you going to read the other books in that universe. revelation space is the first, set across the same time as Chasm. It gets a bit odd by the end, but the first few are great.

>14 reading_fox: I actually read it and didn't really care for it. Any other recommendations from this universe?

Guns of Dawn by Adrian Tchaikovsky
STTM: 3 - surprisingly little for a military story
Rating: 6 out of 10

This is a pretty standard 'coming of age' story, with the setting of the military. It is the story of Emily Marshwic, the current head of an old, distinguished family, a bit down on their luck these days. With no parents, Emily is trying to get the family through. Soon after the story starts, the 2 neighboring countries of Lascanne and Denland enter into a vicious war when the king of Denland is assassinated. Emily is from Lascanne and they immediately have to defend themselves from the invading 'republicans'. First her brother in law is drafted, then her younger brother. Then comes the 'Women's Draft' and Emily essentially volunteers.

I enjoyed reading this, the writing was pleasant and the characters were interesting. I did have a couple of problems with the subject matter. It is clear that the writer made absolutely no attempt to write a 'realistic' military fantasy. That wouldn't be a problem if the author hadn't just hand waved the training, to the point where it was a joke. The training chapters are terrible and the action sections have problems off and on. Don't get me started on the technology!

The other problem for me was that while this reads like a 'coming of age' story, Emily is too old for that. I'm not sure what the technical term is for a story about a person learning about their capabilities, but I guess this is one of those.

A good read, I just wish it had lived up to its potential a little bit more.

>15 Karlstar: - Not really. RS is the start of the series. He's written a couple of short stories diamond dogs which mostly won't make that much sense unless you're aware of some of the universe background. And a SF/Crime duology set in the glitter band - The prefect and Elysium Fire but again the backdrop is partly the longer story played out in the RS stories.

Century rain is possibly my favourite of his other standalones.

Happy reading in 2019, Karlstar!

>17 reading_fox: Thanks reading_fox. I may have to go back to Revelation Space and revisit it. Maybe. >18 clamairy: Happy 2019 to you too, clamairy!

Soldier, Sailor, Frogman, Spy, Airman, Gangster, Kill or Die: How the Allies Won on D-Day by Giles Milton
STTM: 0
Rating: 5 out of 10

This is a personal point of view of the events of June 6, 1944, though some things that happened on June 5 are included. On one hand, I liked the point of view of the low level individuals presented, which included young ladies working as radio operators and nurses, as well as paratroopers, Rangers, commandos, infantrymen, sailors, civilians and Germans. Generals and such were mentioned, more so on the German side, but this was mostly about the lower ranks. Unfortunately, such a low level, scattered view of the events of the day made it a scattered book. This was much more of a personal recollection of events than a history, but without the necessary backdrop, it did get confusing. Still, the individuals stories make for a very intense book. It was also quite graphic.

Possibly because this was an ER advance copy, there are no maps!! That made it even harder to keep track, while I've read a lot about D-Day, the geography of Normandy is not my specialty. That, perhaps explains some things about the book, as it was written by someone from England. For me, a history book of this type with no maps, diagrams or photos is seriously lacking.

The author also made some puzzling choices when referring to unit sizes and ranks, it felt at times when he was talking about squads or platoons or companies he referred to them as battalions or regiments.

The next book on my list, Magefall, hopefully will be a cheerier read.

Next up: Dune. It came up here when I discovered one of the trilogy was missing and then it came up again in a side conversation in a game, so I decided it is time for a re-re-(re?)-read. Its been a long time, in any case.

>21 Karlstar: But such a great re-re-re-re-read ;)

>22 Narilka: Agreed! I am very much enjoying it. I have to admit, sometimes going back to books that are so well written is a real pleasure. I love reading new books and new authors, but it is really hard to compare them to the greats.

Still working on Dune, I should have been done by now but there's often other things that require reading and that darn work thing.

A work, and reading, not getting time left to read for your own pleasure.
Partly at that place myself, at the moment.
I hope it will pass, fast, so you can get back to the essentials :)

>25 Busifer: Thanks! Dune is now finished, I'll write a revised review soon. It was great, I think I missed a lot in my previous readings. Next up is Leaving Berlin, a Christmas gift from my daughter.

Dune by Frank Herbert
STTM: 0
Rating: 10 out of 10

My original LT review, updated:

There's really not much I can say about this scifi classic that hasn't been said better by others. The characters, premise, plot and writing are fantastic. Published in 1965, this book was way ahead of its time. Just being based on a non-Western culture was innovative. The author cleverly did not make this book technology based, but instead made it humanity based, which has stood the test of time much better. Complex yet direct, this only gets better with time. I recently had a chance to re-read it and I think I enjoyed it more now in 2019 than I have any previous reading.

New comments:
As a science fiction book goes, this one is a little light on many of the standard scifi concepts. There are no aliens, no AI's, no robots, spaceships are just concepts (so far) and not complex pieces of machinery, FTL travel is an assumption, not a technology. Even so, this still feels like a science fiction novel.

Things in the book that might have bothered me in the past did not bother me at this point in my life. Several of the characters have extraordinary ability to read people, situations and other subtle clues to effectively manage people and predict the future. What's important is that this future society does not depend on machines to get by - it relies more on specially bred people. Is there space travel and fancy machines? Sure, but they aren't the backbone of the story. I almost said they aren't the foundation of the story and I realized that it shares that with the Foundation Trilogy - a future story driven by people not technology. These folks don't move planets or blow up stars, but it still feels futuristic.

I'll move on to the next book soon but for now I'm diving back into my unread book pile.

>27 Karlstar:
I read Dune for the first time last year. It has been in my tbr pile for years. I found it to be amazing.

Dune is one of those clearly SF books that feels like fantasy, and hence oft becomes the suggestion for the Space Fantasy sub-genre. I haven't read it for years but recall greatly enjoying it, unlike any of the sequels.

>28 pgmcc: I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'm glad it is still as amazing for me, it was refreshing to read something that good again.

>29 reading_fox: I've never heard anyone say that about Dune before. While there isn't a lot of 'tech', there just as clearly isn't any magic or tech that is just hand waved into existence. At least not yet.

I really need to do a reread of Dune soon. Maybe this summer.

>31 Narilka: I'll look forward to your review! Next up, A Night Without Stars by Peter F. Hamilton. I started on this on Saturday and I'm about halfway done.

I re-read Dune a few months back and was glad I did. It is a pretty fantastic read.

Who's looking forward to the next season of American Gods? While I thought the ending of last season was ridiculous, I'm hoping they get back to the plot of the book and from the very brief previews, it looks like they might. I'm at last curious enough to give it a try.

Any particular reason you would think about starting your own blog? I can tell you, it's a lot more work than keeping a catalogue here. Well, actually, it is only as much work as you make it I guess :-D

>35 BookstoogeLT: I actually have 3... 2 dormant ones and one that is active as my campaign diary for my home D&D (3.5 edition) game. Of course, for some reason for me at the moment wordpress isn't showing the site logo page icon.

https://wordpress.com/view/returnofthevadhagh.wordpress.com

Should have been:

https://returnofthevadhagh.wordpress.com/

>36 Karlstar: Well, I think your D&D journal one is way more work than I've EVER put into mine. Good luck :-D
Just as an fyi, you have to get rid of the "wordpress.com/view" in your link. With that, it takes one to their own home page.

>37 BookstoogeLT: Argh! I always manage to mess up the wordpress URLs.

>37 BookstoogeLT: Thanks, it is a bit of work but I enjoy it and the gang seems to enjoy the adventures. I always mess up the wordpress URL, I think I managed to get the right one this time.

>39 Karlstar: As long as you enjoy it, it's not really work, that's my philosophy in regards to hobbies.
And yes, the url is now correct.

>40 BookstoogeLT: Its not work at all - until I go back months later and realize I need to fix some of my tortured grammar.

>29 reading_fox:, >27 Karlstar:, >28 pgmcc:, >31 Narilka:,>33 majkia: Belatedly, concur with all the fans of Dune here.

>30 Karlstar: I agree that Dune is definitely SF. All the fantastical elements are explained eventually. In that respect, Frank Herbert reminds me of Hugh Cook.

Sorry folks, way too long since I reviewed something, so here's some catching up.
Magefall by Stephen Aryan
STTM: 1 - almost none
Rating: 6 out of 10

This is the 2nd book in the Age of Dread series. Unfortunately I did not realize that and I haven't read the first book. It wasn't too hard to follow, though there were a few annoying references to characters that never made an appearance in this book.

It picks up the action from the first book, following several young mages. One who is leading a new colony of mages and trying to live quietly, one who goes off to join a new Royal Cadre of mages and one who is out for revenge.
Mage talents in this world are spontaneous, randomly occurring to individuals who then need training to contain and use them. Mages are feared and resented by those without mage talents.

Unfortunately there seems to be little limit on mage abilities. There's no specific fields or types of magic, while some mages are better than others at some things, there seems to be no limits on what can be done or learned, provided the mage puts in the effort. That explains why people fear mages, there is no real way to contain them. That makes mages hunted people and the various plots explore that.

I thought this was good, I enjoyed the characters and the action. The unlimited nature of magic in the book bothers me a bit as that causes a lot of potential plot problems that aren't handled, but all in all, this was interesting to read. I'm not sure how this ended up on my wish list, it was either an Amazon recommendation or one of you folks, but since none of you are listed as having it in your collection, I'm going to blame Amazon.

>43 Karlstar: Yep, definitely not me. I just checked to see if I had ANY books by an "Aryan" and no luck. Sounds very familiar all the same :-)

>44 BookstoogeLT: I don't recognize any of the 8 other people on LT who have the book from this group.

Just finished up Vampire of the Mists and am in the process of writing my review. I saw you had reviewed it last year and you mention it was book 2 in the series. I was under the impression it was book 1. Is there a prequel book later on or something? Just curious

>46 BookstoogeLT: LT says it is book 1 in the series, but I, Strahd is the first book, which for the series LT just says 'Ravenloft', instead of 'Ravenloft Book 1'. That makes Vampire of the Mists book 2.

>47 Karlstar: I just looked and Vampire of the Mist was published in '91 and I, Strahd in '93. I'm guessing I, Strahd takes place chronologically before Vampire of the Mist?

>48 BookstoogeLT: Very much so! I guess they must have decided to go back and put the story that was outlined in the module into book form. I guess this is the classic case where the order of publishing is not the order of the story. Why did you pick up this 'series'?

>49 Karlstar: I was wanting some Forgotten Realms and figured I'd give this a try. Couldn't be worse than any of the other FR stuff and I had zero interest in anything new.

I'm a big fan of Doug Niles' Moonshae series, though the first was better than the second. I also didn't mind the series with the Nameless Bard, but I don't own them and I don't recall the titles. Of course, Salvatore's Drizzt stuff is the best.

>51 Karlstar: "Drizzt stuff is the best"

Oh man, that got a good chuckle from me. Salvatore is one of the reasons I gave up on FR. I kept expecting more from him than some of the no-name/new authors they used and I got exactly the same quality.

Are you a FR reader? Keeping up with the current stuff or anything?

>52 BookstoogeLT: I went through a phase where I read every FR book, either because I had it or borrowed one from a friend who had a good collection. There were some truly terrible ones. I haven't picked up a new one in a while, except for the Salvatore stuff. I think he's better than most of the module writers turned novelists they used to use. Ed Greenwood had some good books too, but then he really went downhill.

Another review from a book I finished a month ago while I catch up.

Leaving Berlin
STTM: 0 - everything happens in East Berlin
Rating: 6 out of 10

I got this book as a gift, one of the rare books that was purchased for me that was not on my wish list. They probably picked it because of the time and setting, 1949 East Berlin. I guess this book falls under the category of 'spy thriller'?

The hero of the story is a German Jew and Communist who fled Berlin to America in the 30's, though how he did so is unexplained. While in the US, he married and had a son. Now McCarthyism has forced him to move back to East Berlin, to the same part of town as his old family home. There, he soon meets old friends who have either returned also or somehow survived. The price of 'escaping' the USA has come with a price though, he now has to report on the Germans and the Communists to US Army intelligence. The beginning of the book starts as if this is going to be a story about the Berlin airlift, but that has almost nothing to do with the story.

The plot soon thickens as the brand new spy is caught between the US, the Communists and the new East German government. There are things to report on that all sides want to hear about, others who are working for one or more than one of the security services and the ever present fear of a new Communist purge.

This one rapidly got out of control, I guess as you might expect from a spy thriller. I was a little put off as the reluctant civilian quickly became a German James Bond in just a few days. However, I really liked the historical backdrop, I've read almost nothing about life in late 40's/early 50's Berlin.

A Night Without Stars
STTM: 5 - some long trips
Rating: 6 out of 10

My rating on this is somewhat biased, as I really enjoyed the Void trilogy and this book along with The Abyss Beyond Dreams is sort of a side-story to that series. That and it is somewhat of a Commonwealth novel.

For those not familiar with the Void trilogy, the Void is at the center of our galaxy but it is not a black hole. It is an area of space with its own physical laws that periodically expands and absorbs stars to power it. Powerful alien species have tried to barricade it or stop it and failed. Humans have sent fleets into it with 2 results - they settled the planet of Querencia an the planet of Bienvenido.

This series concerns the settlers of the planet Bienvenido. Cut off from the rest of humanity and limited by the Void to a 1800's level of technology, they have struggled to hold the planet against The Fallers - aliens who fall to Earth, capture and consume humans and assume their form. All of that is explained in The Abyss Beyond Dreams. In this book, the balance is tipping towards the Fallers and the humans are getting desperate. Technology has advanced some, but not fast enough to help - instead technology is part of the problem. The Peoples Security Regiment still does what they can to find and wipe out the Fallers but they are about as moral as you'd expect for the security force of a totalitarian dictatorship - mostly not at all.

Can the few humans with Commonwealth technology evade the PSR and the Fallers and help humanity survive?

While the 'aliens among us' theme is a really old one, it makes for an interesting book set against the backdrop of the Void and the Commonwealth. A bit contrived? Sure, but still fun.

>53 Karlstar: I tried to read as many as I could but gave up after a couple of years. Just too many sub-par reads :-D

>53 Karlstar:, >56 BookstoogeLT: How was the trilogy that starts with Homeland? I’ve had that on my Kindle for ages, but I’ve never gotten around to it. I would just put blinders on and treat it as a trilogy because I’m definitely not up for fitting in the 30+ Drizzt books, much less the 285+ Forgotten Realms books! Especially not after some of your comments. :)

I loved those old Baldur’s Gate computer games set in that universe. I played the Icewind Dale games too, but they weren’t as memorable.

>57 YouKneeK: I find Drizz't books to be not at the bottom of the pile but sadly, that doesn't say that much. Salvatore can write some really good action scenes but fails spectacularly in characterization. In a trilogy you won't notice it, so much, but when there are 30 books, well....

And Karlstar might have a different opinion to offer you ;-)

>57 YouKneeK: >58 BookstoogeLT: I might! If you are looking for 'great' fantasy, then just keep going. If you are looking for good action fantasy, somewhat game related, then you'll enjoy them. He doesn't spend a lot of time developing characters, except in a few places with Drizzt and Wulfgar, where they get extra time to be developed. Actually, maybe more so with Wulfgar. The action is good though and for me, he did a lot to develop bits and pieces of the Forgotten Realms. I love what he did with drow society - and dwarves, don't forget the dwarves!

I like Homeland, Sojurn and Exile, but I started at the beginning with the Icewind Dale trilogy.

>58 BookstoogeLT:, >59 Karlstar: Thank you both, that helps! I don’t think I’ll make any extra effort to fit it in sooner, but I’ll keep it in mind as something to swap in if I want to read something I can count on being more action-oriented.

>56 BookstoogeLT: I just saw an auction post for some of the Dark Sun novels, did you read any of those? I think I borrowed them from someone, I do not have them.

>61 Karlstar: I've never heard of this particular sub-series of DnD. I just looked up the first book and saw it was written by Troy Denning. I've read enough of his stuff to know that I can't stand the man's writing. So it'll be a series I'll have to pass on.
good luck...

>62 BookstoogeLT: I'm trying not to be mean, but I totally agree with you on Denning. If there are FR books I haven't read, they were written by him. There were some Dark Sun novels written by Lynn Abbey though, which I do have and were quite good. Now they are selling some FR novels too, the Maztica trilogy.

>62 BookstoogeLT: How about these? Your questions about the FR books got me to thinking about which ones I like that I do not have, so I picked up the first two from ABE.

ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finder's_Stone

>64 Karlstar: Have not heard of those. I was looking through my calibre database and it looks like I've read less than 100 out of over 300+ Still a good chunk but I suspect I stayed away from a lot of the earlier novels due to them being crap even by fans (from what I could gather from the few reviews around)

I stopped reading FR novels a long time ago, other than Salvatore, I think it was in the mid to late 80's was the last time I could claim I had read all that I knew about and a lot of those I borrowed.

I couldn't find from a fast scroll-up: what the R in "FR"
stands for. Thought I might just ask? -- Fantasy and ____________?

>67 rolandperkins: "Forgotten Realms"....

>67 rolandperkins: Sorry about that! They were originally published by the TSR company, the creator of the Dungeons and Dragons game and the company that also published the Forgotten Realms game setting, written originally by Ed Greenwood. They had a lot of their module writers write novels set in the game world. Some are better than others, but most are just fun.

No apology needed, and thanks. (Hmm, I got "F for
Fantasy" wrong.

Time for some late reviews.

A Lion in the White House by Aida D. Donald
STTM: talk about travel, but not while travelling!
Rating: 6 out of 10

I confess that I knew very little about President Theodore Roosevelt before picking up this book. I knew he was related to Franklin Roosevelt and that he was from New York, that was about it. He became President in 1901 when McKinley was assassinated, then was re-elected to 1 term.
This was a good, short biography of the President, mostly about his time when he was not President, including his 1 term as Governor of New York State. Interestingly enough, at the time he was a progressive Republican, very active in breaking up monopolies, curbing the powers of business and was a strong proponent of worker's rights. He also was a proponent of a strong Navy to project America's interests abroad and ultimately, prepare for WWI. As President, he also organized the building of the Panama canal, though under somewhat dubious circumstances. He was also a great conservationist, placing quite a bit of land in the West under federal protection.
Part of the reason I enjoyed the book was for another view of the late 1800's and early 1900's. As a general history book of this time, it was a bit lacking, but as a biography, it was quite good.

Dream Park by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes
STTM: does going in circles in a theme park count?
Rating: 7 out of 10

I love Dream Park and I have ever since it first came out back in 1982. The concept is that after the catastrophic California earthquake, a new company builds a new amusement park, with state of the art attractions, including a fully immersive gaming area. The game is implements with actors, some automation but primarily holograms used to create a 'realistic' setting within the park for a 'Gamemaster' (two of them, really) and a group of live action gamers to live out a multi-day adventure. To make things just a little more interesting, there is industrial espionage and murder in the park.
The plot is good, the adventure within an adventure is fascinating and there are plenty of good characters involved. The 'live action' gamers are pretty much what you'd expect from a group of gamers, but since they are actually forced to interact in the 'real' world, it gets interesting. Not great reading, but I enjoyed re-re-reading it.
You can argue about their choice of technology and the possible low level of automation involved; I think in today's world such a thing would be implemented with VR. However, when I look at the commercials for attractions such as the Pandora world attraction or some of the other 'interactive' attractions now, they weren't far off.

>72 Karlstar: So how do you pick the books you read?

>72 Karlstar: Could I recommend The Helmet of Horror (by Viktor Pelevin) to you, as an interesting (if slightly dated) take on consequences of VR?

>73 BookstoogeLT: Some from recommendations here, some from recommendations on Amazon and re-reads are just whatever appeals to me from my library. A buddy and I got talking about Dream Park, so it got on the list for a re-read. I blame you for the FR reads!

>75 Karlstar: Thanks. It's always interesting to see other peoples strategies for reading :-)

>74 -pilgrim-: I'll take a look at it! >76 BookstoogeLT: I guess my strategy is random? I really enjoy reading the reviews here on LT to get ideas for new authors.

There is one weird thing I noticed about this year's reading, it's heavy on the 1800's, particularly the American West. It started with the Sherlock Holmes stories, one of which was partially set in mid-1800's Utah, then the biography of Roosevelt, then some Mark Twain short stories, then Jefferson's America and the book about the Lewis and Clark expedition and Fevre Dream, which is set on the Mississippi in the mid-1800's. Totally accidental, but I now know at lot more about the middle of the USA in the 1800's than I did before this year.

Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell
STTM: 1 surprisingly little space travel
Rating: 4 out of 10

While packing up my books recently, I discovered another batch of Science Fiction Book Club hardcovers that I had gotten from a friend at work. Every few years his wife made him give up ALL of his books and he was a very busy reader and big fan of SFBC, he used to order 3 or 4 books a month. After going through this latest batch of unread books, I actually got rid of some I knew I would never read and put some others on the 'read soon' pile. This is how I came to read Ragamuffin.

The author clearly had a a concept in mind when he thought of this novel - what if there was a whole culture in space based on Caribbean rastafarian culture? And another one based on the old Aztec culture? What if there was a loose confederation of planets ruled by high tech aliens that kept humans subjugated, except for the Ragamuffin (see above Rastafarian) pirates/bandits? Wouldn't that be cool?

In the author's universe there are a number of settled planets, all connected by a limited series of wormholes that are completely controlled by the aliens, who when they choose to punish rebellious humans, cut off planets from the rest of the wormhole chain. A human rebel group creates a super weapon to fight back - a young woman who is both super spy and super hacker. How she got created or why or by who isn't important, we meet her when she's in her early 20's.

There are, of course, humans who work for the aliens, enforcing 'order' in the galaxy through nefarious means. There are also some not so bad aliens, who will just use humans for their own purposes, they aren't quite so bad....

The book is mainly about the rebellion of the humans of course and how the super weapon gets involved in the rebellion, mostly by accident and mostly against her wishes. Unfortunately, I really wish the characters were done better. A month after reading this book, while I can remember what a couple of them were, I can't remember a single name. There are also amazing gaps in the alien technology and human society also. The author seems to completely miss the point that science fiction is supposed to be about how advancements in technology change the human condition and human society, he seems to have completely forgotten that part.

>79 Karlstar: You seem to have found sonething else to go into my category of "I would really like to read this book, could somebody else write it please?"

The Fall of Gondolin by J. R. R. Tolkien
STTM: 0 - I would never accuse the master of such!
Rating: 9 out of 10

Christopher Tolkien claims this is the very last Tolkien novel. Considering his age and that he's basically published all of the Tolkien material now, it's probably a true statement, though he admits he said the same thing for Beren and Luthien.

The Fall of Gondolin is one of Tolkien's stories from the 2nd Age of Middle-Earth, the Age before the time of the Lord of the Rings. I don't think I need to review the story itself for you folks here!

There is probably less 'original' material in this book than in Beren and Luthien. The original, 'full length' tale of the Fall of Gondolin only takes up 70 pages. It is longer than the version that was included in The Silmarillion. The other two versions that are presented are even shorter. However, I really enjoyed the commentary and history that was included. The background on the story, how it changed over time and how it all fits into the history of Middle-Earth is fascinating.

If you expect this book to mostly be the story of the Fall of Gondolin, you'll be disappointed. This isn't the same as The Children of Hurin, which was a complete story. This is more like one of the old Lost Tales books, as much about Tolkien's writing as it is about the story itself.

Great, great stuff. I can't say I haven't read anything great this year, we were lucky enough to have new Tolkien to read.

>80 -pilgrim-: A neat concept done poorly, unfortunately.

Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin
STTM: 3 - a lot of river travel
Rating: 6 out of 10

I really had no idea what to expect from this book going into it. I don't recall reading any other reviews here on LT and I did not look at any before adding this to my wishlist, it fell under the category of 'Get more stuff by GRRM'. Since he started as a scifi writer and has also done a lot of fantasy, I guess I was expecting it to be scifi. Instead.. its historical fantasy? Set on the Mississippi River in the years before and after the Civil War, it takes place mostly on steamboats.

A down on his luck steamboat captain and owner, Abner Marsh is paid in gold to build a big, fancy, fast steamboat, as long as there are no questions asked - and the new patron gets to be captain! He agrees, provided he can build the fastest steamboat on the river - or at least one that can compete for the title. So is born the Fevre Dream, possibly the biggest, fanciest, certainly newest and possibly fastest steamboat on the river. However, there's something not quite right about Joshua York, the extremely pale, very eccentric patron who Marsh only sees at night.

You guessed it, this is a vampire novel. Except in Martin's Earth, these beings aren't exactly vampires. They are another race that have many of the same traits as vampires - sunlight sensitivity, great strength, long life and a thirst for blood. However, they aren't 'undead' and aren't bothered by typical anti-vampire defenses. Fevre Dream was written in 1982, so Martin certainly didn't borrow the concept of non-evil, non-undead vampires from Twilight, or even Barbara Hambly, (since Those Who Hunt the Night came out in 1990) maybe he even started the whole non-evil vampire thing.

The plot of the novel alternates between life on a steamboat on the Mississippi in the 1800's and a vampire novel. I don't want to give much more of the plot away, but if you think you'd like a mid-1800's novel crossed with a vampire novel, you might enjoy this. I liked it, but it wasn't fantastic. It was definitely different and he had some great minor characters. It conveniently skips over the Civil War years, but since it starts before the war, slavery is present.

>83 Karlstar: I read this about 4 years ago and was pleasantly surprised by it. I think I liked it quite a bit more than you did, but I’m glad you still liked it pretty well. For me, it may have helped that I hadn’t read that many vampire novels. I haven’t read Twilight or the Hambly series, anyway.

>83 Karlstar:, >84 YouKneeK: FWIW I wouldn't characterize Barbara Hambly's vampires as either not-evil or not-undead, although she does come up with a sort of explanation as to how vampirism "works".

>83 Karlstar: I was going to say I had just read this a couple of years ago but upon review, it would seem it was back in '14. My, how time flies ;-)
My impression of the vampires was that in general they WERE bad but that the one we're reading about is an aberration of being not so bad. I could very well be off though, as that is just my memory of an impression. Not exactly the most reliable thing :-D

>83 Karlstar: Actually I was looking at this in a discount bookshop a couple of days ago and wondering whether to buy it. I got something else instead; a chouce I am already deeply regretting.

>87 -pilgrim-: Maybe you did miss out 'cos I liked it quite a bit too. Hope your something else proves to be a worthy pickup so you're not disappointed.

>89 -pilgrim-: Unfortunately it is showing every sign of being my worst read this year... :-/
With your combined recomnendations, I will take that as a BB and see if they have any copies left next time I am in town.

>83 Karlstar: Fevre Dream is on my TBR pile. Your review makes me think I will enjoy it.

I read it in 2009 apparently. Also enjoyed it to some degree - there was a push to publish all of GRMMs non-GOT stuff in the large gaps between GOT books. Dark and brooding with good atmosphere, but I wasn't impressed by the characters.

So LT was down, probably for a few minutes Tuesday? and look at all the conversation I missed because I waited two days to check back! That and Wed. nights are gaming night, not computer night.

>84 YouKneeK: I think I'm just meaner than you when it comes to ratings. I did enjoy it, it's just not Game of Thrones quality?

>85 -pilgrim-: >86 BookstoogeLT: My thoughts and reviews are affected by my extreme dislike of Twilight and True Blood. Ugh, vampires. Ugh. Both Martin and Hambly's vampires are generically evil, but both feature a vampire who rises above their nature. You caught me being overly general, which I'm guilty of way too much in these reviews.

>88 AHS-Wolfy: >89 -pilgrim-: >90 Sakerfalcon: Pleasantly surprised to see how many people enjoyed this and I'm glad my very vanilla reviews are helpful. :)

>91 reading_fox: Maybe we can have more discussion when some of these other folks have read it? In some cases, I definitely agree. I really did think Martin did a good job of creating 'Mississippi river boatmen' characters, if that makes sense. The kind of characters Mark Twain would write about/create, maybe.

>92 Karlstar: Where are your reviews on LT? I always check the book to thumbs up your review and then never see them. Do you not put them in the lt database but just in your thread?

>81 Karlstar: I'm really relieved to hear you enjoyed this. I really have to get to this one. I haven't read Beren and Lúthien yet, either. I'm so ashamed... I keep buying them in hardcover editions and putting them on my Tolkien Shrine shelf, and then forgetting they're there.

>94 clamairy: I really, really did! I have the nice hardcover editions too and now the last two match.

>93 BookstoogeLT: I review the books here on LT 90+% when I add them, you don't see the reviews in my library?

Here's my LT review for Fevre Dream.

http://www.librarything.com/work/11394028/reviews

>93 BookstoogeLT:, >96 Karlstar: I think when Karlstar first reviewed it, the edition he had shelved wasn’t combined with the main work page. So the touchstone went to the main work page, but his review wasn’t there because it was on a “different” work. It looks like somebody has combined them since then so now it’s showing up.

>97 YouKneeK: I probably have that problem for a lot of books, its not unusual for me to add a book and find that the version that comes up in the search, despite me using the exact ISBN, looks off or has significant errors. I probably should check that more often when the # of people who have the book or the # of reviews looks off.

>94 clamairy: So your msg and BookstoogeLT's got me thinking, how is it possible that I'm the only one I recognize from this group that has reviewed Fall of Gondolin! I would have thought this would be a bunch of Tolkien geeks.

>99 Karlstar: I read The Fall of Gondolin in Unfinished Tales, then again as it is told in the The Silmarillion. I also have the discussion of its evolution in The History of Middle-Earth.

I confess that I wonder what this new version has to add.

The Unfinished Tales version provided a fuller narrative version; the History describes the evolution of the text.

I had rather assumed that this was more an attempt to cash-in financially than genuinely new material. Am I wrong?

>100 -pilgrim-: I've read both of those two and I would say that the version in the book is longer, plus it contains a lot of material about how/when it was written. However.... I'm not 100% positive it is different than the Unfinished Tales version. I *think* it is, but I'd have to go back and look at Unfinished Tales again.

>100 -pilgrim-: I was assuming thst the material about the how and when was that which was covered in The History of Middle-Earth I forget which volume).

I understand that The Silmarillion is a compressed form, shaped by what Christopher Tolkien and his publisher considered marketable, so that it does not fully represent the tale that J.R.R. wanted to tell.

But if the Fall of Gondolin does differ from the version in Unfinished Tales, I am very curious on what basis the changes were made.

>96 Karlstar: & >97 YouKneeK:, that is probably the most likely explanation.

Like clamairy, I have been purchasing the new hardcovers, but haven't yet read them all. I think I have seven Tolkien works sitting in my hardcover fantasy TBR pile, versus 3 other authors. :( This must be remedied.

>104 MrsLee: I look forward to your reviews! They'll inspire some other folks to read them too.

Meditations on Middle-Earth edited by Karen Haber
STTM: 0
Rating: 8 out of 10

When I read the blurb for this one on Amazon, I misunderstood a little. This isn't so much writings about Middle-Earth or hobbits or elves or such. There are a couple of those short papers, but it is mostly short writings by authors (14 - 16 pages, typically) about how and when they encountered The Lord of the Rings and how it influenced their lives. It has been on my wish list for years, my youngest daughter has made it a mission to get the oldest stuff off my wish list for me for Christmas, my birthday, etc.

The author list is awesome - Le Guin, George R. R. Martin, Robin Hobb, Diane Duane, Raymond E. Feist, the Hildebrandt brothers (!), Orson Scott Card, Harry Turtledove, Terry Pratchett, Poul Anderson, Esther Friesner, several others.

Not all of the stories are the same, but many of them tell the tale about how the author encountered LoTR and how it affected their lives. Some of them are stories about LoTR and it's relationship to fantasy or writing in general. This is especially true of Ursula LeGuin's article, hers is an analysis of Tolkien's writing style.

For me, this was even better than I'd hoped. Whether the authors are younger or older or just about the same age as I, I could relate to the experience of finding Tolkien's books on the shelves of the library and how that changed everything. Several of them mention how it changed/started the fantasy novel genre. There are several not so subtle pokes at a couple of authors (who aren't included in the book, of course), particularly Terry Brooks.

I thought both the personal stories and the ones that talked about Tokien's writings or the writing business in general were great, unlike some short story collections, I didn't mind a single one of these, it really connected me more with every one of the authors.

My own personal history with Tolkien started in the public library. I was a non-stop reader and I'd already gone through most of the books in the children's and young adult rooms, but I kept seeing the ugly orange/brown Ballantine Books 1968 edition of The Two Towers. My brain says the cover was orange and brown but... it is actually pink and blue. Book 3 is mostly orange and blue and has a hydra on it. What? Not only was the cover ridiculous, non-informative and bizarre, but it was book 2. I picked it up and put it down I don't know how many times, until they finally had The Fellowship of the Ring, which has a slightly less strange and ridiculous cover. Though - what's up with the purple flamingos? However, once I read book 1 I was hooked and had to read book 2, book 3, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, then came the fantasy novel explosion in the late 70's and 80's with Brooks and so many other authors. They also let me into the adult section of the library and I read all of the fantasy and scifi and mysteries and lots of history and... That lead me to finding Dungeons and Dragons in 1978 and so on.
By the time I got to college and was lucky enough to be able to take both a sci-fi and fantasy reading/writing class, I'd already read most of the books for the class - but I read them again anyway, of course, why wouldn't I? At one point the teacher pointed out that while it looked like I was sleeping through some classes, I always knew what they were talking about and I always knew the answers to the questions. Turns out I just hadn't mastered the knack of staying awake in boring classes or meetings yet, which took me many years at work to master.

I feel honoured to know someone who really got in at the beginning of D&D. Red book, I presume?

Jefferson's America by Julie Fenster
STTM: 10 - so much exploring!
Rating: 7 out of 10

Another book with a slightly misleading title. This book is not at all about America in the early 1800's. It is all about the Louisiana Purchase and the explorers who turned the vast amount of land from a bit mystery into a part of America. It is not just about the Lewis and Clark expedition, but the expeditions that explored the Upper Mississippi, the Red River, the Arkansas (Arcansa) River and of course, Lewis and Clark's long expedition to the headwaters of the Missouri, across the Rockies to the Pacific and back.

It is easy to forget that even after the Louisiana Purchase, most of the states of Mississippi and Alabama were Spanish territory, as was East and West Florida. Once the territory of 'Louisiana' was purchased from the French after the Spanish had transferred it to them, boundaries needed to be set and the territory explored. The borders were very fuzzy and several nations were racing to find a water route to the Pacific.

I love history and I had never read anything about the explorations of the Upper Mississippi, Red or Arkansas Rivers. What these people went through is simply amazing. With no roads, sometimes in boats that were poorly designed for the trip, they still somehow made their way up the rivers and back, providing tremendous amounts of information on the Native Americans, plants, animals and geography of huge areas.

Very interesting and well written, I would recommend it if you aren't already familiar with the subject.

More catching up:
The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
STTM: lots of flying, no slogging!
Rating: 7 out of 10

I've read all three of these books in the past individually - Dragonflight, Dragonquest and The White Dragon. These are more classic scifi from the 70's, though this is a little bit of a fantasy crossover. It also clearly inspired some of the concepts found in Eragon, though there is no magic. This is the old SFBC three-in-one hardcover edition I must have picked up at a library book sale.

On Pern, somewhere in the galaxy, humans live on the very Earth like planet. Unlike Earth though, there are flying dragons who are also capable of teleporting! Dragons can go *between* to any place the dragon (or rider) can accurately visualize. 'Accurately' becomes very important in all three stories. How exactly dragons can teleport is never explained, they just do. Science, you know.

Unlike Earth, Pern is periodically attacked by the alien 'Thread' - mindless space spores that devour all plant and animal life if not burned away before or after landing from the Red Star that periodically orbits near Pern. The dragons and dragonriders are dedicated to protecting the planet from Thread, but after 400 years with no Thread, even the dragonriders are starting to think that thread will never come again.

Of course, it does, or there wouldn't be three novels! In the first, the leaders of the Dragonriders, in particular Lessa, must find a way to handle the Thread seriously while seriously under strength. Thread is more of an environmental hazard, it is not intelligent and there does not appear to be any directing intelligence, just 'mindless' insect type of life trying to spread. In the second novel, Dragonquest, Thread continues to fall, but they still haven't determined the best way to be in the right place at the right time and now there are political problems. The White Dragon is a bit different in plot, as it mostly follows a single dragon and its rider, though the main plot continues.

I always enjoyed these books, though reading them all at once made me realize why I never remember much of Dragonquest. It is mostly politics and is not nearly as interesting as the other two books. This is not hard scifi, there's lots of things that are ignored, but still, it is a good read. McCaffrey clearly wanted to explore some... alternate living arrangements, which I guess was a thing in the early 70's. That's part of the structure of the book, but not overwhelmingly so.

>109 Karlstar: I re-read these a couple of years ago (maybe more, not sure) and I remember thinking that I was glad to have read them again but it would probably never happen again. THAT is one of the dangers of a re-read :-(

However, I do have this edition, that I bought from the sfbc :-) Nothing like a glossy pink cover with a dragon on it to class up a shelf!

>109 Karlstar: These are in my TBR. I still can't believe I've never read them before!

>111 Narilka: I’ve never read them either. The series is on my list and I really want to try it, but I doubt I’ll get to it within the next couple years.

I still love all the early Pern. dragonsong being my favourite. I always felt they are Fantasy, with the later SF elements very much added in afterwards.

>109 Karlstar: Like reading_fox, I still love my Pern books, especially the trilogy about Menolly. Tor.com has been doing a series of posts about the series, starting with Dragonflight which have been fun to read. They've also given me the desire for a reread! Here's a link to the posts so far.

>110 BookstoogeLT: I think I agree, it was long enough since I read them but I won't need a re-read for a long time. That's partly because now I remember enough to not need one.

>111 Narilka: >112 YouKneeK: They are good stuff, give them a try!

>114 Sakerfalcon: I liked all of the other books too, though I think I'm missing a couple of the later books. Thanks for the link, I opened it but have to read through it later.

Azure Bonds and The Wyvern's Spur by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb
STTM: 4 some adventuring travel
Rating: Azure Bonds - 6 out of 10; Wyvern's Spur - 5 out of 10

These are both 'Forgotten Realms' books, published by the TSR company and set in their game world of Faerun aka The Forgotten Realms.

Azure Bonds starts out in typical sword and sorcery fashion. A swordsman wakes up after what is apparently a 3 day bender, hung over in an inn with little memory of the last 3 days. Somehow he's picked up 6 new, extremely prominent tattoos. They are resistant to magical investigation and local experts know almost nothing about them. Going to another expert for more advice, he's required to go on a quest first. Not that unusual of a start, right?

However, Alias is a her, not a him. She remembers her life as an adventurer but not the last few days or where she got the tattoos. She also seems to have picked up a lizardman companion who's not quite a 'normal' lizardman. Setting off to solve the mystery of her tattoos, she asks a local sage who sends her off to rescue a bard who is supposed to perform at a wedding in 2 days! This starts Alias and Dragonbait, the mute lizardman off on a series of adventures to solve the riddle of her past and what the tattoos have in store for her fate.

The tattoos represent 2 prominent wizards, an old dead deity, a criminal gang and 2 unknown factors. They also seem to both control and empower Alias, depending on the circumstances. Getting rid of them and gaining her freedom is her quest and obsession.

Along the way they meet some of the 'famous' characters of the Forgotten Realms setting and have a bunch of adventures. I enjoy this book because it is a fine example of Dungeons and Dragons fiction. where the game doesn't get in the way of a fun adventure. The adventures are epic and the characters are interesting.

I did not enjoy The Wyvern's Spur as much. It is in the same series, but only one of the characters from the first book appears in the second book, though there are plot elements in common. Giogioni Wyvernspur, who appeared briefly and without significance in the first book is the main character of this one. He has to find the ancient family good luck talisman, called the Wyvern's Spur. He knows absolutely nothing about it or what it can do, just that it is really important to his family, was very important to his long dead father and is now missing. He's not much of an adventurer at all, rather just a useless minor noble, so how he blunders around is sometimes amusing and sometimes frustrating as the authors have to bail him out of the problems they've put him in.

>116 Karlstar: Think you're going to read the final Finder's Stone book? I've found a lot of "series" by multiple authors in FR are barely strung together. One of the lesser reasons I don't read them any more :-)

>117 BookstoogeLT: If I remember correctly, it fell in between books 1 and 2, quality-wise, but that read was a long time ago. I don't have it, I probably should pick it up. You're right, these 3 are barely strung together, though book 3 has more in common with book 1 than book 2 did. Strange way to make a 'trilogy'.

>99 Karlstar: I'm hoping that others have read it but just not reviewed it. I haven't been posting reviews to LT on a regular basis for years, and I suspect others have lapsed as well.

>106 Karlstar: And that was a bullet right between the eyeballs! Interestingly, when they had that big book voting thing last year with Meredith Viera a year or two ago I watched a video on PBS during the voting process and they interviewed quite a few celebs and famous authors about their favorite books and what they'd be voting for. George R R Martin's was the biggest surprise, as he was voting for LotR. He's said the death of Boromir really changed him. He was no longer afraid to kill off his main (or his reader's favorite) characters. I'd really like to let him know I think he's taken that a bit too far. :o)

>119 clamairy: He sure has!

You're right about the reviews, since I really don't do Goodreads and my rule is that I write some review for everything I enter into LT, I do review a lot. Others obviously do not.

Slightly related, my dislike of China Mieville's work partly stems from his dislike of LoTR.

>120 Karlstar: I wasn't aware of that. I own something of his but now I'll back-burner it.

Lewis and Clark The Journey of the Corps of Discovery by Ken Burns, Dayton Duncan, others
STTM: 10 - the very definition of it!
Rating: 7 out of 10

I picked this up at a library sale. I believe it is the companion book to a PBS TV show. It turned out this is part history, part picture book and partly the story of making the show. The authors did their research on the Lewis and Clark expedition, followed part of the route for the show, then put this book together after they made the TV show.

I really enjoyed this 'overview' of the expedition, which was not as in depth as the version in Jefferson's America, which was good since I'd just read JA! However, this version includes photos of notes, maps and drawings from the expedition, images of paintings (from later in the 1800's) and some pictures from even later in the 1800's. It was all a great companion to the previous book, I wish I'd actually read them together. The modern commentary on what's happened since was also interesting.

Nothing in this book was contradictory to what was in J.A., so there's no controversy or really any new nuggets. Since both draw heavily on the written expedition notes, which were quite extensive, there's not a lot of mystery or conjecture. A really nice book to read through quickly for history buffs. I gave it such a high rating because the combination of pictures and commentary was useful and a really nice combination.

The Course of Empire by Eric Flint and K.D. Wentworth
STTM: 2 - very little travel of any kind
Rating: 7 out of 10

From my LT review:
This is a fairly interesting and innovative take on the 'Earth controlled by aliens' theme. It is the first part of a series and it jumps right into things. Earth is under control of the alien Jao and has been for some years now. The Jao, a sort of seal/walrus-like mammalian species has slightly better technology and troops specially bred for warfare. They have occupied the Earth and have organized it the way they are used to, the Jao can't contemplate doing things any other way. That means clans and families are the primary organization, with rivalries between the families instead of a purely political structure.
The Jao keep saying that a worse alien race, the Ekhat, are coming and that humans and Jao must prepare. Unfortunately, they don't explain anything to the humans, so they all they get is rebellion. There are human rebels, cooperators and collaborators, of course. When a new high ranking Jao is assigned to the planet, the plot obviously hangs on whether he can get humans and Jao to cooperate or not.
I thought this was well done, even though it jumped right into the middle of things. It is also somewhat self-contained and reads like a single book, I didn't feel it was incomplete at the end. It did remind me quite a bit of the Chanur novels, but not in a bad way. I actually thought this was completely self-contained, until the very end it reads like a single book, but it is part of a series. The ending is not a cliff-hanger, I don't feel compelled to read the next book, but it was good enough to make me want to. Unfortunately, I don't think I have it. This was part of a random lot I got from someone else and I either didn't get the next book, or I got rid of it in a recent purge....

A good attempt at human-alien relations where humans don't have the upper hand.

I will keep trying to catch up on reviews this weekend. I've actually been running out of books I haven't read and book gift cards, so I've been doing some re-reads.

You Die When You Die by Angus Watson
STTM: 9 out of 10 - so much slogging
Rating: 5 out of 10

This book hits you right away with a strong smack in the face - the names are ridiculous. It almost seems as if the author went to one of those fantasy name sites where they will generate lists of fantasy names for you. If you haven't seen one, you can find ones that create fantasy race names or fantasy-ish human names, like Norse or Pirate, etc. In this case, I think the author selected 'Viking' and 'Noun plus adjective' for the name type. Otherwise, how do you get names like Finnboggi the Boggy, Thyri Treelegs, Bjarni Chickenhead, or Garth Anvilchin? Sassi Lipchewer? Keef the Berserker? Wait, that last one isn't bad. Don't take my word for it though, generating names has always been a struggle for me, but I think I can recognize bad ones when I see them.

This also felt like a novel where the author had a 'what if' idea - in this case, what if Vikings landed in South America long before Cortez, were hailed as gods and treated as such for hundreds of years. Throw in some alchemical magic and some Aztec political maneuvering, plus some sort of end of the world magic Armageddon that's coming in a later book and that is generally the setting.

Once the book gets going and you get over the names (including the gods Oaden and Loakie) the problem is that most of the characters are distasteful. They are either overly impressed with themselves, which seems to be the case for 90% of the characters, or they are just blindly nasty or useless. In one case, one of them is a useless stoner. Why a stoner in such a setting? There are one or two competent characters, but way too few, so once the action starts, this feels like it is going to just be a cakewalk slaughter.

Of course that isn't the case or this book would be really short. I think this is trying to be just like a Joe Ambercrombie novel, but misses by quite a bit.

Twelve Kings in Sharakhai by Bradley Beaulieu
STTM: 0 - it all takes place in one city
Rating: 6 out of 10

I'm not quite sure what to make of this one. On one hand, the setting is intricate, complex and very well thought out. The story takes place almost entirely in the city of Sharakhai, which is a desert city that sits apparently amidst other kingdoms, about which we know very little.

The characters are varied and excellent. The story is almost entirely told from the point of view of the heroine, Ceda, who is a very low commoner in the city, along with her friends, all of similar status. Actually, thinking about it now, they all appear to be orphans. Ceda makes a living on the fringes of society, mostly doing dangerous thieving and as a part time gladiator. She is obsessed with finding out why her mother had a life-long vendetta against the Twelve Kings. The Kings killed her mother over it and Ceda has taken up the cause, though she has no idea why her mother had the vendetta and how she expected to have any success against the Kings. The Kings are extremely rich, near immortal and are guarded by the fanatical Blade Maidens. Long ago, the Kings seemed to have formed some magical compact with the gods which grants them their powers and longevity. They rule Sharakhai with an iron fist and no mercy.

The story is quite interesting and complex, the characters are good, the writing is good, I'm not sure I found any but the smallest editorial errors. Unfortunately, it is quite long and seemed to drag at some parts. It is also, for me, a bit overly mysterious. I like multi-book series, but I don't like being forced to read book 2 just so the author can fill in essential parts of the plot that were deliberately left vague in book 1.

The other problem I have is Ceda's age. She starts her gladiator career at 14 and she's 19 at the start of the book. 14 is way too young for anyone to be a successful gladiator! Maybe that's just the Dad in me, but I didn't care for it. Also, why are they all orphans? This does not seem like it was supposed to be a YA book, so what's the point of a bunch of teens with not a parent in sight? I realize that removes the possibility of them ever hiding with their parents or being saved by their parents, but it also conveniently removes the possibility of family being used against them, which is way too convenient. They don't have to worry much about the consequences of their actions, though there are a couple of times when friends and family become a problem.

Not a bad book, but I don't really have any interest in picking up the next one. You may like it better. It seems like other people did, since there are sequels and prequels and add on novellas.

>123 Karlstar: At one point I had considered reading that, but I never did get around to it. I think I had found it on the Baen Free Library many years back. I did read Wentworth’s Heyoka Blackeagle duology about 5 years ago, starting with Black on Black. I really enjoyed them, although it has pretty mixed reviews.

Thanks, I've read nothing by Wentworth before, I'll keep an eye out for it.

To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
STTM: 6 - boat travel
Rating: 9 out of 10

Why did I read this again? My wife bought me a beautiful Easton Press leather bound, hardcover edition, beautifully printed, looking brand new, even though it wasn't. Besides, it is a great SF classic.

From my original LT review:

This is the first book of the famous Riverworld series. It starts with what was a unique premise at the time - a famous adventurer from Earth's past wakes up in a room full of thousands or millions of dead bodies, connected to a large machine of some type (The Matrix, anyone?). Waking up later, he and countless others find themselves reincarnated on Riverworld, by no one knows who, or why. Only a few souls realize they are prisoners of some alien intelligence, and seek to find out why. Generally, within any given area there is a majority of people from one time and place(80%), a second smaller group, then a random sampling of people from all times. Throw together 16th century Italians and 20th century Americans and things can get quite interesting.
This is a creative, well written and fascinating book. A science fiction classic that is well worth reading.

To me the Riverworld series is up there with Dune or the Foundation trilogy when it comes to some of the great, classic SF. It is well written, interesting and a fascinating concept. Some folks may be put off by Farmer's approach to civilization and norms. For one, everyone arrives on Riverworld naked. That makes creating clothes a high priority for at least most of the characters. Second, everyone is completely beholden to the makers of Riverworld for their food, as it arrives daily in their 'grails', assuming they are allowed to use them. This book is partly an exploration of individual human nature and partly an exploration of human communities and governing.

>128 Karlstar: You've made this one sounds very intriguing! (As if I don't already have too many books on my TBR.)

>128 Karlstar: You know, I haven't read a thing by Farmer. I have no idea why, as I see his name all over the place and he seems rather foundational. Hmm, I'll have to see what my library has of his works and stick him into the rotation.

Any particular place you'd recommend starting with him?

>130 BookstoogeLT: I would definitely start with To Your Scattered Bodies Go and continue with the rest of the trilogy. I definitely enjoyed The Fabulous Riverboat and The Dark Design. While he has a lot of other books, I can't tell you a thing about them. I picked up those that are in my catalog in the big book dump from my friend and I still haven't gotten to read them and now they are packed away, that's why they have no review.

>131 Karlstar: Thanks. I guess I'll just go with whatever the library has :-)

>132 BookstoogeLT: Roger Zelazny wrote the introduction to the version I just read and had very good things to say about the Riverworld books, as you'd expect and described Farmer's earlier works as some what experimental and ambitious, though that may have been referring more to his short stories.

>133 Karlstar: Well, my expectations just nosedived then. Zelazny never impressed me with any of his books or his style. So I guess I'll be a lot less excited to try out Farmer.

>134 BookstoogeLT: It was meant to be more of a note about his earlier/other works from an opinion other than mine. Don't worry, Riverworld is not scary! :)

Head On by John Scalzi
STTM: zero, by design
Rating: 5 out of 10

Finally, something brand new! Thanks to my wife for buying me this for Valentine's Day. Yes, she really does get me.

Head On is the direct sequel to Lock In. If you haven't read Lock In, it introduces a new syndrome/disease. Haden's Syndrome. Haden's (also what sufferers are called) leaves almost all of its victims completely paralyzed, but totally conscious. After a big government funded effort, a neural net and threeps are developed - threeps are mechanical bodies that via the neural net, Hadens can inhabit and move around and interact normally. Lock In really explains the subject, but it isn't necessary to read it to enjoy Head On.

Chris Shane is a Haden who's father happens to be both famous and wealthy and Chris is possibly the world's most famous Haden. He's also a FBI agent. Like some other Scalzi novels, the title Head On is a bit of a joke. During a rugby-like game that features threep bodies being torn apart as part of the action, one of the players suddenly dies when his threep loses his head. Like all sports, Hilketa is supposed to be safe and now the Hilketa league is in trouble. Of course Chris was randomly at the game as his father is a potential investor, so he's thrown into the situation. He immediately suspects foul play and he and his partner, Leslie Vann start digging in.

This is a murder mystery novel with some tech aspects. Chris is the good cop, Leslie is the bad cop, down to the cursing, smoking, drinking and bad habits. Unlike the first book which was also a mystery, this one also gets a little bit adult.

I haven't read many mysteries in years but I like these. I like the tech, I like that he sprinkles in a little real world seeming policy and I do like Scalzi's writing style. It flows well, rarely puzzles me with bad grammar and at times is funny. The subject for this one is a little strange, after all, a game based on ripping the heads of your opponents, even if they are mechanical bodies is a little gross, but I really don't doubt it would be popular in our society.

Good stuff.

>136 Karlstar: They are both waiting to be listened to: bought but saved for later.
I have found that I have more patience for Scalzi when listening to Wil Wheaton than I do when reading the text on my own.

I have to ask, what does the STTM part of your thing mean? I mean, I know technically what it means as you spell that out up top, but concretely, what does it mean? How much travel the characters do, etc?

And why? That is what I'm really curious about :-D

Thanks for asking! It all goes back to Elizabeth Moon's Paks series, which are excellent books. However, she spends an inordinate amount of time having Paks travel in the army, literally slogging through the mud day after day after day. While the time is well spent learning about Paks and her comrades, it does, um, become a bit of a slog. There's other fantasy writers who use travel time in the same way excessively, David Eddings and Robert Jordan come to mind. So, slogging through the mud is mostly about whether the author is going to drag us through a long travel sequence and a measure of how many pages of the book are spent during travel. Its meant to be a bit of a warning about long sequences with not much happening.

For example, in Head On, they drive from DC to Philly multiple times, but the trips usually take only 1 page at most, there's conversation but we learn next to nothing new about the characters. Think 2 cops just spending time in a car in a TV show. When you combine that with the main character's ability to transfer to a threep in another city basically instantly, it becomes a plot device.

>139 Karlstar: Gotcha. thanks for mentioning Eddings by the way, now I know exactly what you mean :-)

>140 BookstoogeLT: I'm a big fan of the Belgariad and the Elenium, but Eddings really was overly fond of forcing the characters to take extended trips all over the continent, without really having much in the way of interesting geography.

>137 Busifer: I didn't know Wil Wheaton narrated those, maybe I can talk my wife into listening to Lock In on our upcoming really long drive.

Count Brass by Michael Moorcock
STTM: 5 one long trip
Rating: 6 out of 10

This is essentially a continuation of the Hawkmoon/Runestaff series. In Moorcock's fantasy universe there are multiple incarnations of the Eternal Champion, one warrior who's fate is caught up in the fate of multiple worlds, battling to bring balance.

In the previous series, Dorian Hawkmoon defeated the quasi-magical, quasi-scientific forces of Gran Bretan and brought peace to what is essentially a future Europe with the aid of the Runestaff. Unfortunately for Hawkmoon, fate will not let him go and he soon hears about a strange version of his old friend, Count Brass, who wanders the borders of his kingdom looking to challenge Hawkmoon to battle. It is soon obvious that not all of the scientists of Gran Bretan were killed and someone is tinkering with the timeline.

While I enjoyed this one and like all Moorcock it is short and to the point, it felt a lot like I was re-reading parts of the previous series, which was by design by still a little tedious.

This was a re-read for me, I recently picked up the 2nd book in the series after noticing it was missing. I also love the covers on these versions of the paperbacks. Did I mention I'm a printed book nerd?

I am very much looking forward to the rumored BBC Hawkmoon TV show and hoping it actually happens! Seems like they should be able to make it work, but can they handle being the bad guys?

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
STTM: 0 - they almost never leave the palace
Rating: 9 out of 10

I believe some of the folks here were talking about this book last year. I picked it up recently at the book store when they had it with some other recommended books and I'm glad I did.

I don't have to tell you much about this one or avoid spoilers, which I'll explain in a bit. Within the first few pages, the youngest son and the one buried so far down in the line of succession that he's mostly ignored suddenly becomes Emperor. While he describes himself as a 'goblin', everyone else in the book is essentially an elf while he is a dark elf. Not sure why the author chose the term goblin for this, it is a bit of a misnomer. If you read the title and expect one of the little Hobbit movie goblins or one of the many similar goblins from fantasy or games, he's not that at all, he's clearly just a dark elf, or really half-dark elf, since he is in fact the old Emperor's son.

Since he was never expected to be Emperor his training is completely insufficient, the vast majority of the book is about him trying to learn on the job. Luckily, the author does a fantastic job of this. The characters are great, the setting is well done, more Chinese than elvish. The writing is great and I found the book fascinating. Unfortunately unless you think something I've already mentioned is a spoiler, the reason why this review can be spoiler free is - almost nothing happens. I'm not sure I've read a book where so little happens, but I still enjoyed it.

I'm sure some folks here will have different opinions on the level of action in this book and whether that means it has a plot, or not. Still, it was really good, I'd rate it higher except for that but I'm still looking forward to the next book.

I had to go back and give this a higher rating. I realized I've been looking for a perfect book - another LoTR and that's just too high a standard.

>143 Karlstar: I read the Castle Brass/Count Brass trilogy all in one go. Hawkmoon was one of my least favorite Eternal Champion aspects but it all was different enough from either Elric or Corum that it still sucked me in :-)

>144 Karlstar: This is good news. I bought this one for my kindle when it was on sale. I can't remember who in here recommended it, or if I just saw how highly rated it was. Going nowhere is fine with me, as long as I'm interested in the characters, and the writing is decent.

>137 Busifer:, >142 Karlstar: So far the only Scalzi audiobook I’ve tried (also narrated by Wil Wheaton) was The Android’s Dream. I started it at the beginning of a road trip and within an hour I was so sleepy that I had to turn it off. I never went back to it afterward. Usually my audiobook failures have more to do with annoyance at the narrator than anything, but as far as I remember Wheaton did fine with it and it was just the story that didn’t grab me. I’d probably do better with it in print; I’m not a good audiobook listener in any case.

I’m really interested in reading the Lock In books someday. What I’ve heard about them sounds interesting. So far I’ve only read Redshirts which I liked quite a bit.

>147 YouKneeK: The Androids Dream for me was funny as heck and one giant spoof. I would say it is intended for men, mostly, its that kind of humor. Besides being a different genre, Lock In and Head On are totally different, though there's a little bit of grim humor in the whole concept of Head On.

>144 Karlstar: I hope LunaticDruid will confirm this, but the traditional version of Dark Elves (before Gygax et al. took over the concept) are goblins.

Certainly in Alan Garner's books the svart-alfar (dark elves) are small, squat goblins, and the lios-alfar (light elves) are elves as we currently think of them.

Tolkien's description of the relationship between elves and orcs/goblins (in The Hobbit particularly) also makes more sense if you see them as both elves (orcs are referred to as "corrupted elves", twisted by Morgoth).

Since both Tolkien and Garner root their fiction firmly in British folklore, I assume that this was the prevailing idea of what dark elves are, until the eighties...

>149 -pilgrim-: Is THAT why David Bowie was the "goblin" king in the movie Labyrinth then?

>149 -pilgrim-: Thank you pilgrim, I had a vague notion that might be the case. I think Addison is following the old Norse concept that the dark elves are called goblins but aren't physically much different than the light elves. If I recall though, isn't there some confusion where the dark elves are also referred to as dwarves in the Norse legends?

>151 Karlstar: LunaticDruid and I had just been discussing Norwegian folklore , and how it is translated into English, in his thread. In particular, how there is confusion often as to whether goblins or trolls are meant, since the most commonly used word actually translates literally as "under dwellers".

Given how Norse poetic language tends to be full or such circumlocution and periphrasis, I suspect that "the stunted people" (or some such ambiguous phrase) may leave it unclear what exactly is meant at times.

According to The History of Middle Earth, in Tolkien's original conception, the Noldor, the High Elves (as opposed to the Vanyar, or Fair Elves) were originally gnomes - that is to say, the elves skilled with craftsmanship. I suspect that he abandoned that as a clear linguistic link because the mental link to Victorian lawn ornaments is too horrible to contemplate! But it emphasizes the point that, originally, gnomes were considered a type of elf.

In that stage of his design, IIRC, Tolkien was also thinking of dwarves as being the Dark Elves. The last remnants of this conception is the one named Dark Elf in The Silmarillion, Eol, shows most of the characteristics ascribed to Tolkien's dwarves. I believe that this was because the story around Eol the Dark Elf was written very early, and (because of his marriage) his status as an elf had to be maintained even after the idea of dwarves as a variety of elf had been left behind.

I am quoting Tolkien's work extensively simply because, as The Book of Lost Tales makes clear, Tolkien's original idea was to synthesise a consistent, over-arching, specifically English "mythology" - so that he was deliberately using English traditional concepts as his starting point.

I am not sure where the idea that dwarfs (as mythological beings, rather than an outdated terminology for human beings with achondroplasty) are stunted people comes from. I suspect it arose because achondroplastic dwarfs are a significant proportion of people with medical conditions causing small stature - and they were the ones who were kept as a sort of human "pet" by wealthy families and so immortalised in works of art.

I think, mythologically speaking, dwarfs are simply beings who are smaller than humans - and that Tolkien initiated the artificial/archaic plural dwarves to keep that distinction.
It

>150 BookstoogeLT: aha! I always wondered why the goblins had a king who was so unlike them.

>142 Karlstar:, >147 YouKneeK: Wil Wheaton narrates almost all of Scalzi's more recent books, and he does a fantastic job of it! Lock in and Head On are available in two versions - one read by Wheaton, and one by Amber Benson.
I was in two minds about which version to get, but I enjoyed the other Wheaton-narrated Scalzi books that I've listened to, so I went with the known.

>153 Darth-Heather: He certainly was more inline with what I'd consider an elf than a goblin. If Elves were rockstars anyway :-D

>153 Darth-Heather: Are you referring to the Addison book or the movie version of The Hobbit? You folks always have such interesting conversations when I'm away!

>152 -pilgrim-: Quoting Tolkien is appropriate! I'd read in Beren and Luthien that Tolkien referred to the Noldor as gnomes and in the various early versions printed there, he indeed does, which seems very strange when read that way. The explanation given is that gnome used to be a term for wisdom?

IIRC, Eol appears in The Fall of Gondolin and he is indeed referred to as a Dark Elf, but in no way was described as dwarf like. There is a brief reference to dwarves also, but unfortunately I haven't yet read anything on the origin of Tolkien's dwarves.

>157 Karlstar: Eol is dwarf-like in that his primary skill is in craftsmanship, and in his temperament. He is taciturn, grim and knows how to hold s grudge. Physically, I don't remember him having any dwarvish qualities, such as a beard or stunted stature, but I am not convinced that the dwarves always had those. Their primary nature, as evidenced by their creation by Aulë, is their affinity for stone and its gifts (metals and jewels), and their craft skills.

And, as you say, Tolkien takes the etymology of gnome as being from gnosis i.e. "wisdom". Although the alternative etymology given, of ge-nomos i.e. "from the earth", seems preferable to me.

In discussing "dark elves", it should be noted that Noldor usually have dark hair and grey eyes, as contrasted to the blind, blue-eyed Vanyar - the Fair Elves.

I strongly have the impression that the mythological tradition has two types of elves: Light Elves who are exceptionally beautiful and Dark Elves, who live in the earth and are exceptionally skilful and clever. Neither are good or evil - they are dangerous and powerful beings that should be treated with respect.

Tolkien dithered for a while in how he drew on these traditions before settling on the divisions of Fair Elves/Vanyar, Noldor/Gnomes, Silvan Elves/Sindar, Dwarves and Goblins/Orcs.

I had forgotten earlier how it was primarily the Noldor who were enthralled by Morgoth and compelled to slave in his mines. I think this may be a deliberate attempt by Tolkien to link his conception of Gnomes to the popular tradition that has them as warped, stunted, underground-dwelling creatures.

Hey Karlstar, thread is still here and kicking. Don't know if commenting will help you find it or not. worth a shot...

Bingo! Thanks folks, I accidentally ignored it.

>156 Karlstar: we were actually talking about this:



Jareth is the king of these goblins, and I always wondered how he got to be that since he isn't of their race.

Are you referring to The Goblin King by Katherine Addison? I haven't read it, what can you tell me about it? Do you recommend it?

>160 Karlstar: glad you got the mystery solved :-)

>161 Darth-Heather: From his response, I just figured he'd typed in the wrong number and was actually responding to >152 -pilgrim-:

>158 -pilgrim-: Very good points! In Children of Hurin though, Turin takes over the underground lair of a small family of dwarves, who are clearly not elves. Did Tolkien just leave off the origin story of the Dwarves, or have I missed it completely?

>161 Darth-Heather: I was referring to The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison. In my opinion, the title character is more Dark Elf-like than he is goblin-like, but then that depends on your definition of either one, which is very much open to interpretation. I do recommend The Goblin Emperor. While it is not action packed, I did not want to put it down and I wish there was another one.

Please see >144 Karlstar:, I can expand on that if you need.

>163 Karlstar: I thought the Silmarillion dealt with the dwarves? They were created by one of the ainur(?) who got impatient for man or something and then God put the dwarves to sleep until their proper time, or something. You'll notice all the "or somethings". I didn't pay a lot of attention to the Silmarillion. I was just doing well to actually finish that...

>165 BookstoogeLT:, >163 Karlstar: BookstoogeLT is right. The creation of the dwarves by Aulë is covered in chapter 2 of The Silmarillion. Aulë was impatient for the Firstborn (Elves) and the Secondborn (Men), and attempted to create living beings. Iluvatar took pity on him, and breathed life into the beings he had made, but put them to sleep until the coming of the Firstborn.

It is quite clear that here dwarves are not elves. But The Silmarillion, as published, is a very late form of Tolkien's mythology, being pulled together by Christopher Tolkien from his father's notes.

We started this discussion from the point of view of how Tolkien's (created) mythology was rooted in traditional British myth, and from that viewpoint, it is the earlier drafts that are more relevant. It is The Book of Lost Tales, particularly, in The History of Middle Earth that shows Tolkien's earlier concepts. And that is where the distinction between Elves and Dwarves is less clear.

It has been a long time since I read HoME, and my memory of all the evolutions of Tolkien's ideas is faded.

But I suspect that originally he had just the Firstborn (immortal) and the Secondborn (mortal) Children of Iluvatar, distinguished by Death - "the Gift of Iluvatar to Men".

Once he had decided that dwarves were distinct from elves, he had to write a creation myth for them - and also to explain Ents - these being the Free Races, in the sense of having free will.

Only Elves and Men are mentioned in Ainulindalë. Either dwarves were an afterthought, or originally they were thought of as a type of Elf.

And, as is probably obvious, I love The Silmarillion!

>165 BookstoogeLT: >166 -pilgrim-: Good stuff! Pilgrim, I tend to think that dwarves were an afterthought. Thanks both of you for reminding me of what is in the Silmarillion. Its a little sparse for me, which is what makes me think they were an afterthought. Tolkien is usually more detailed, even when the details change over time. Maybe he couldn't decide if they were really 'dark elves' vs. dwarves as he later wrote them. Correct me if I'm wrong, but elves never have beards?

>167 Karlstar: I think you are right, and that is stated somewhere in Tolkien, but it is almost certainly a later development.

Círdan the Shipwright is bearded.

I think he was described as bearded in something that had already been published before Tolkien wrote about beardless elves.

As to whether elves are beardless in folklore generally? I am not sure. I would tend to say 'yes', but without much grounds for it.

>168 -pilgrim-: So in Tolkien, most elves are beardless but it is more writer's preference than genetics? Maybe Cirdan was a goof....

>169 Karlstar: Remember we don't have a finished version of what Tolkien intended; and as HoME shows, he kept changing his mind!

The statement that elves do not have beards appeared in The Hobbit - the first book published.

In the Unfinished Tales, I think, we learn about the 3 cycles of elvish life - beard-growing belonging to the 3rd. Since beardlessness is a sign of elf-blood among men, it is probably genetic
cf. https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/149053/can-the-elves-and-hobbits-in-to...

I really hate to end the Tolkien discussion, but with most of my books packed, I haven't been able to do much research. I'm also way overdue for a review!

Earthclan by David Brin
Includes 2 novels, Startide Rising and Uplift War
STTM: 3 - one particular cross-country trip
Rating: 7 and 6

This has long been on my list of favorite 'books'. So much of a favorite, my old, original SFBC edition binding finally broke in the middle and I had to get a 'new' one while reading this. Turns out, my memory of how I felt about them and the books themselves did not match with this reading.

I really enjoyed Startide Rising, the first of the two books. For those unfamiliar with Brin's 'Uplift' novels, aliens have come to Earth and have allowed humans to join Galactic Civilization, bringing with it FTL and other technology. As is usual, humans immediately start spreading where they can. Earthlings would be more accurete in this context and is very specific and important. Galactic society is all based on the idea of 'uplift' - that there was one Progenitor species that uplifted other species to sentience, then those species uplifted another, and so on and so on for millennia. Galactic society is a very layered thing where power and prestige is based on how long you've been uplifted, what race sponsored the uplift, who uplifted them and so on and so on. However, those rascally Earthlings have no patron! No one knows who uplifted the humans (readers may interpret that any way they wish) and to make things worse, the humans have uplifted dolphins and chimpanzees without permission, help or interference from the Galactics! The nerve!

In Startide Rising a primarily dolphin crewed ship with a few human patrons makes a huge discovery while exploring and immediately attracts the attention of many galactic factions - some of which would kill to get their hands on the information. The dolphins have to prove their worth to escape the trap and help keep Earthlings free of alien interference. I love the dolphin perspective, the plotting and the style of this book. This has always been one of my favorites, along with the prequel, Sundiver. There are some problems that rise from the book being written 32 years ago, things have changed.

Uplift War moves on completely and totally. It does not pick up the story, it is another novel in the same universe, though set soon after Startide Rising. On a planet still reeling from ecological disaster from another client species gone terribly wrong, Earthlings have been given a chance to prove themselves by helping the planet recover. In this case, it is humans and neo-chimps, who are still in the process of Uplift and have a lot to learn and prove. In this case, this novel is about 50/50 chimp point of view and human point of view, as they struggle to prove themselves against an alien invading force. There's also more of an alien point of view in this one, both allies and enemies. Unfortunately for me, there's a little bit too much triumph of human/chimp low tech over alien tech, it felt a little contrived, but otherwise this is a good novel. It will stick with me more after this reading, but I really hadn't remembered any of my first reading 30 odd years ago, but I enjoyed it more now, I think. The characters are great and who doesn't love a good chimp vs. mean aliens story?

There's a trilogy that follows these two books that I enjoyed too, but I won't re-read them at this time.

>171 Karlstar: Ha, I have that sfbc edition! I'm actually in the process of trying to get rid of it, as I re-read the duology a bit ago and realized it didn't fit with me any more :-)

I've read Earth by Brin and the second read was once again, not as good. The only Brin that seems to have kept pace with me was The Postman. I think I've read that 3 times and I'm keeping it :-)

>172 BookstoogeLT: Gotta love The Postman. I thought the movie was decent, but the book is so much better! I know you can say that for almost every book turned into a movie, but still, there's a big gap between the two, even with Tom Petty. Have you read Sundiver, Glory Season or The Practice Effect?

>173 Karlstar: You might want to fix your touchstone. I think l have had that Brin book on my radar for a couple of years because of our Post-apocalyptic thread. I need to revisit that thread...

>174 clamairy: lol! Thanks! That was inappropriate! It is a good post-apocalyptic book.

>175 Karlstar: Haha! Yes. Completely different genre there. :D