[2011] What are you reading?

It took a while to get going , but The Dervish House by Ian McDonald hit its stride and was a very memorable, entertaining read. It's set in Istanbul in 2027 where nanotechnology is the hot new tech. The technology seemed way too advanced for a future set only 16 years from now, but the story was still really good.

The opening pages describe a suicide bomber blowing herself up on a train. From there the book covers about a half dozen main characters (all of whom live in the titular Dervish House) over five days as their paths slowly intertwine around a number of plots and conspiracies. Notable among them: a stock broker who is enmeshed in a plot to smuggle natrual gas from Iran and pawn it off as legitimage, an economics professor who is wracked by guilt and lives at homes in near isolation while he postulates accurate conspiracy theories, an art dealer who specializes in religious texts and hunts the archaeological find of the century, a pair of nanotechnologists designing the invention of the millenia, a drug addict who sees djinn, and the star of the show, Can Durukan the Boy Detective and his BitBot snake\bird\monkey\rat.

At times McDonald's writing is too wordy and slows the pace down. I felt for the most part it painted a vivid picture of the actions and scenes, but sometimes it bogged down. As I mentioned the beginning is extremely slow as you are introduced to characters, and sometimes I forgot who a character was. But once the plot gets going, I polished it off in a few sittings. I keep thinking of Cryptonomicon (without the schizophrenic writing) and the level of plots playing out.

My only real complaint is with all of the verbose detail McDonald puts into the novel, I felt like I didn't get a good feel for Istanbul. I was really hoping to get a much better analysis of the people and its culture. Maybe because it was sci-fi, the culture had been changed. I'm curious to read more about this historical city. I might have to read the Yashim books by Jason Goodwin soon.

Minor spoiler

Spoiler

The end wrapped up a bit too neatly. I was okay with it, but it seemed like a happily ever after kind of footnote.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book. I don't agree with Pat's Fantasy Hotlist that this was as good as Under Heaven, but it was a memorable read.

Up next: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. I've had this in my queue forever, and it seemed like a natural progression from The Dervish House.

 

I finished The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi night. It's a novel set in a pretty bleak future Thai city, where global warming has risen the sea levels and genetic warfare has wiped out most vegetation on the planet. It's an ensemble piece, tracking about half a dozen characters including the titular Windup Girl (a replicant).

The book had potential to be great, but it just never seemed to take off. Most of the characters were pretty two-dimensional, serving to advance the plot. A couple stood out as most interesting, but one was downright aggravating to read. Bacigalupi's writing is outstanding, and his words captivated me. Ultimately, though, the story and the characters fell short of what I would have liked for them to be.

Up next: The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. Hard to believe I've had this book for 5 months and still haven't read it. It was one of my most anticipated novels of the year, but a steady chorus of friends, reviewers, and people on this board have made expect a good book but to seriously downgrade my expectations. Still, I'm glad to be reading about Kvothe again after Rothfuss's excellent debut, The Name of the Wind.



I also picked up the first four books by Martin this past weekend. Costco had them for $20, and I figured maybe it's time to finally read them. I still think he's going to pull a Jordan, but I'd like to read this story as well as watch the TV show, which I won't do until I've read the books. This is one of the few times a film adaptation is causing me to read a novel.

 

I know. It was a complete impulse buy. I've seen that set at that price ever since the HBO show aired, but I held out until Saturday. I haven't read them yet, but now they sit on my bookshelves and taunt me. Kind of like the Ring calling out to Boromir. I'm torn between WTF did I just do and should I break down and read these? Give them to the crack addict who begs on the corner?

I'm hip deep in Rothfuss, Lynch, Abercrombie, and McCammon. Do I really want to torture myself by adding another frustrating wait to my reading queue?

All of the above self questioning is pretty meaningless. I am a glutton for punishment and have weak willpower in these matters. I'll probably start reading it soon. Damn, I'm going to be another frustrated Martin fan. At least I'll have plenty of company on this board....

On an unrelated note, aren't you a Guy Gavriel Kay fan? I was ambivalent on the Finovar Tapestry, but absolutely loved Under Heaven. I definitely want to read more of his stuff and would appreciate any guidance to tackling his pretty sizable catalog.

I agree. I read all of the Dresden books last year, pretty much straight through and am looking forward to eventually reading this latest novel, especially after the way the previous book ended. They are pure fluff, but they are mighty fun summer popcorn fluff.

Let us know your thoughts on it when you finish. The series pretty clearly hit a turning point in the last book, and I'm curious to see how Butcher handles the first book in the final stretch (half?) of the series.

 

I finished The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss last night, and I definitely agree with the positive yet tepid response it's generated. I enjoyed this book quite a bit, but it dragged mightily towards the end. It is also the victim of hype that the publisher and author erroneously issued to help sell the first book. I had numerous friends imploring me to read The Name of the Wind, but I steadfastly refused to budge on my incomplete fantasy series rule. Yet the publisher and author claimed he had already written the whole trilogy, and they would be published in short order. So I broke down and read Rothfuss's most excellent debut then became very frustrated by the three year wait before the next installment. Apparently written means "in need of multiple re-writes." Fair enough, but I feel kind of deceived. Even more egregious is that this is clearly the opening set of books in a much longer series. I thought it would be three books, and the story would be over. Now it looks like we'll be getting at least 6, maybe 10-12 novels in the chronicles of Kvothe. I never would have jumped on this bandwagon if I had known there was such a long way to go.

All that aside, this was a good book. Rothfuss is a good writer, and he captures a storyteller style that reminds me of an epic tale told around a campfire. He can be brooding, serious, dark, inquisitive, and jocular, but it always feels pretty natural. Kvothe is at times a bard, a musician, a scholar, a fighter, a mage, and a con man, which makes for very interesting reading.

Still I can't shake the mismanaged expectations. I really expected the second act of a three part play, with the finale all set up. Instead this is a very slow moving, at times meandering, novel that moves Kvothe along without any real feeling that he's getting closer to the end of the story. There aren't any epic scenes and only one epic clash in this installment. The second half of the book was really slow, and I felt a good 60+ percent of it could have been lopped off. There was a couple of plotlines that were almost anthropological in nature, and they dragged on way too long.

I look forward to reading more of Kvothe, and I hope Rothfuss can complete the next book a little more quickly. If you weren't expecting the series to be completed in three books, you would likely have a different reading experience than me, but it seems like a lot of people agree this book dragged quite a bit in the second half.

Up next: The Lions of al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. Looking forward to reading more of Kay after his outstanding novel Under Heaven, which is the second best book I've read this year.