Haven’t been reading much fiction lately,* but I’ve been devouring cook books, cooking magazines, and cooking websites, trying to up my game even further.
* my backlog is truly depressing.
* my backlog is truly depressing.
What are you reading, Septembre 2018 edition
Ralif Redhammer
Legend
Finished Fonda Lee’s Jade City. Pretty good non-Western fantasy, though it loses some of its momentum around the middle part, only to regain it by the end.
Next up is Pratchett’s I Shall Wear Midnight. Just about the season for witches, really.
Next up is Pratchett’s I Shall Wear Midnight. Just about the season for witches, really.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Late last night cracked open Memory, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Today when I picked it up for lunch I was surprised I was already 198 pages into it.
The protagonist. who normally spends every book in a headlong rush of "forward momentum", juggling situations and people while playing Xanatos Speedchess, spends the first 225 pages of this book coming to more and more of a complete stop. (Softcover page count. That's a touch less than half.)
And then on page 226 it all comes back. Very satisfying.
I'm reminded a bit that Tolkien wrote his travelogue parts to be long for the reader as well so they would have a sense of the experience. That is ... somewhat the case, but in this case each barrier, each slowing was personally important to the character - built up over all the proceeding books of the series. This, while immensely satisfyingly full of callbacks, would be a lousy first book to jump into. The callback to Mountains of Mourning had me teary-eyed again, just like when I first read that short story.
The protagonist. who normally spends every book in a headlong rush of "forward momentum", juggling situations and people while playing Xanatos Speedchess, spends the first 225 pages of this book coming to more and more of a complete stop. (Softcover page count. That's a touch less than half.)
And then on page 226 it all comes back. Very satisfying.
I'm reminded a bit that Tolkien wrote his travelogue parts to be long for the reader as well so they would have a sense of the experience. That is ... somewhat the case, but in this case each barrier, each slowing was personally important to the character - built up over all the proceeding books of the series. This, while immensely satisfyingly full of callbacks, would be a lousy first book to jump into. The callback to Mountains of Mourning had me teary-eyed again, just like when I first read that short story.
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