[2011] What are you reading?

It does make me a bit nauseous too. Everyone trying to cash in on the next Twilight phenomenon. Still, I'm glad that teenagers are reading, even if it's trashy pulp fiction. It's better than watching trashy TV and retread Hollywood flicks,

 

Finished up the latest Dresden novel, Ghost Story, the other day. The series is schlock fiction, but it's usually pretty fun. I don't care too much when it veers off into faerie or spirit subject material, but otherwise it's entertaining, formulaic popcorn reading.

The series took a pretty radical shift in the twelfth book, and I was curious how it would move forward in what author Jim Butcher is calling the second half of the series. Unfortunately this book delved directly into matters of spirits and faerie court politics. It was a quick read, but one of my least favorite Dresden novels. The last quarter was supposed to be the epic showdown, but was a confusing, sloppy mess. I read the first 12 pretty much in order last year, so maybe reading one in isolation isn't as much fun. I'll read the next one, but I feel I overpaid for this book. Worth it for fans of the series, but you might want to wait to pick it up in paperback or used unless you're dying to know what happens to Harry Dresden.

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist (great reading blog for sci-fi\fantasy\other random book fans) linked to a 2011 Fantasy Awards recently.

I just quoted the best novel section, but what caught my eye was nominee Guy Gavriel Kay, who has recently become one of my favorite authors. Under Heaven is my favorite Kay novel and ranks among my all-time favorite novels. If he didn't win, I was curious about the winner. So I'm reading Who Fears Death? by Nnedi Okorafor right now. Interesting so far. Kind of urban fantasy in an unidentified future but set in Africa and starring a biracial woman as the main character. Very off the beaten path but pretty good so far.

Got Amazon GC's for my birthday this year so I bought the whole nominee section listed above. Looking forward to trying some new authors from the genre.

 

I finished Who Fears Death? by Nnedi Okorafor last night. It was a very different take on modern fantasy. The main character is a bi-racial woman set in a bleak post-apocalyptic future Africa. Onyesonwu is a daughter of rape, and the threat of marauding evil white men wiping out the remaining black settlements hangs over the entire novel.

I haven't read anything like this before. At times, the book fascinated me. The casual use of African slang and tribal customs seemed out of place in a fantasy novel, but it certainly added to the vibrancy of the environment. As Onyesonwu gains power, I was fairly excited to see where the story would go.

On the flip side, at times I didn't care for the portrayal of Onyesonwu. She was a teenage girl, and she acted like one. When she embarks on a mission with several other teenage girls, I felt like I was watching Mean Girls. And a personal pet peeve of mine. I hate prophecies that foretell events, especially when they shape people's decisions. It's taking free will from your characters and cheapens the story.

It's always an uneasy feeling when you're sailing through a novel but concerned that the ending has to work to make the novel a success. Then you look down and realize you're 90+% of the way through the reading. All right, things are about to go down. Then they don't start going down. I'm also not quite sure what happened at the end. I thought I knew how it turned out, but there were 3 epilogues that muddied it up.

All in all, a very different type of fantasy with a unique protagonist and set in an environment you won't see again soon. Still, it grew petty at times, and the ending was a mess. This novel won an award this year over Guy Gavriel Kay's Under Heaven (can't remember which one), which is an absolute joke. If you want to read something very different or with a female lead, this might be worth picking up. Otherwise, I'd take a flyer.

I'm looking at my stack of unread books, and I picked up the one that seemed to percolate to the top. I nearly put it back down, but I'm going to suck it up and enjoy the ride. Up next: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin. I think I'll thoroughly love it, but I'm dreading the notorious long wait between novels. Guess I'll be b****ing with the rest of you about the release of The Winds of Winter. I also still think the dude is going to pull a Robert Jordan. I suppose Sanderson can always finish this one too.



My 2011 Reading Awards will be up next week.

 

Spoiler

Only reading the first one is probably why you highly recommend it. Such a great opening book. It's a shame she trashed the trilogy with that abomination of a third novel.