Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Books I’ve read since about Apr 2007 – part 2
The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchett - 10/10 and 10/10. As mentioned in my blog post on Apr 3, 2007, Pratchett’s whole Tiffany Aching series is truly outstanding. A few months after I finished Wintersmith, I decided I should re-read the first two books. They were terrific again. Very, very, highly recommended. Even though they are marketed as young adult fantasy, they are far more substantial than a typical young adult book. These books are some of the best fantasy ever written.
Wyrd Sisters, by Terry Pratchett - 7/10. In my previous lengthy Discworld mania blog post, there were a couple of Discworld books that I hadn’t re-read. In the meantime, I’ve re-read a few of them, Wyrd Sisters being the first. Most of the Discworld books are parodies (in addition to being darn good fantasy books in their own right). This particular book parodies Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The witches are the main characters. In general the Discworld books focusing on the witches tend to not be my favorites (the Tiffany Aching books excepted), but I enjoyed this one and the next one on this re-read more than I did the first time.
Witches Abroad, by Terry Pratchett - 7/10. Sadly I don’t recall the theme of this one right now.
Monstrous Regiment, by Terry Pratchett - 6.5/10. This is sort of a City Watch book, in that Sam Vimes (one of my all time favorites!) is in the book. But he plays a minor part; the book is really about Polly, a girl who joins the army. The army is supposed to be all-male, so a lot of the book is Polly trying to hide her identity throughout various skirmishes. The “socks” jokes are pretty good (you’ll have to read the book to find out), but all-in-all this is certainly one of the weaker Discworld books.
The Phoenix Guards, by Stephen Brust - 10/10. I reviewed this earlier, in this Sep 2006 blog post but I read it again in 2008. This time, I give the book a perfect 10/10. See the other post for an idea of what the book is like. By the way, the 2008 re-reading was what prompted me to read the Dumas books discussed here. (I likely re-read 500 Years After at the same time (see the Sept 2006 blog post), but didn’t write it down.
The Black Company series by Glen Cook – an overall series rating of 7/10, but as you can tell, it starts high and ends low. These are fantasy novels in the mercenary sub-genre, as told by Croaker, the official chronicler of the Black Company. He also doubles as the company surgeon. (Get the pun on his name? a doctor who makes people “croak”! I didn’t get the play on words myself probably until my third time through the books.)
The original 3 books
The Black Company - 10/10. Shadow's Linger - 8/10. The White Rose - 9/10. Looks like they are available all together in a collection as Chronicles of the Black Company.
These three are the ones that prompted me to buy all the rest (all at one time, I think, as a Christmas present to myself one year). The company gets hired on to help “The Lady” fight her battles. The twist from ordinary mercenary novels is that the Lady is an evil sorceress; the company is fighting against the rebellion striving for freedom from her tyrannical rule, rather than the other way around. But subsequent novels have you guessing whether the Lady is truly evil, and whether the rebellion is truly noble. I guess that was one of the major draws for me, that the series didn’t have the typical black/white perspective of most fantasy novels.
An interlude
The Silver Spike - 7/10. This one was creepy. Some of the characters get into grave robbing for pay, taking corpses to a tower in exchange for gold. The mysterious unhuman beings in the tower use the corpses for some nefarious purpose. Before too long, the characters are creating the corpses themselves… Not too many books give me bad dreams, but I think this one did. One downside to this book is that there was a lot of “s-word” in comparison with the rest of the books; I guess in Cook’s mind this may have been because the story wasn’t told by Croaker. And it actually doesn’t involve the bulk of the company at all.
Black Company in the South
Shadow Games - 9/10. A pretty good story—the Black Company decides to go south to find out about its history. They run into problems along the way.
Dreams of Steel - 7/10. This one has a different narrator; seems like it was mainly a placeholder book, if I recall correctly, where not too much happened.
Bleak Seasons – 6/10. This one and the next three are called the “Glittering Stone” books, named after something the company finds in the south. I think of them all as one novel. Sadly, I thought they were too slow moving, with a sub-par plot. By the last of them, I was thinking, “Can’t I be done with this series already?”, instead of “Wow, can I have some more?”
She is the Darkness – 5/10
Water Sleeps – 5/10
Soldiers Live – 5/10
OK, another 16 books down. Still a bunch to go.
Wyrd Sisters, by Terry Pratchett - 7/10. In my previous lengthy Discworld mania blog post, there were a couple of Discworld books that I hadn’t re-read. In the meantime, I’ve re-read a few of them, Wyrd Sisters being the first. Most of the Discworld books are parodies (in addition to being darn good fantasy books in their own right). This particular book parodies Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The witches are the main characters. In general the Discworld books focusing on the witches tend to not be my favorites (the Tiffany Aching books excepted), but I enjoyed this one and the next one on this re-read more than I did the first time.
Witches Abroad, by Terry Pratchett - 7/10. Sadly I don’t recall the theme of this one right now.
Monstrous Regiment, by Terry Pratchett - 6.5/10. This is sort of a City Watch book, in that Sam Vimes (one of my all time favorites!) is in the book. But he plays a minor part; the book is really about Polly, a girl who joins the army. The army is supposed to be all-male, so a lot of the book is Polly trying to hide her identity throughout various skirmishes. The “socks” jokes are pretty good (you’ll have to read the book to find out), but all-in-all this is certainly one of the weaker Discworld books.
The Phoenix Guards, by Stephen Brust - 10/10. I reviewed this earlier, in this Sep 2006 blog post but I read it again in 2008. This time, I give the book a perfect 10/10. See the other post for an idea of what the book is like. By the way, the 2008 re-reading was what prompted me to read the Dumas books discussed here. (I likely re-read 500 Years After at the same time (see the Sept 2006 blog post), but didn’t write it down.
The Black Company series by Glen Cook – an overall series rating of 7/10, but as you can tell, it starts high and ends low. These are fantasy novels in the mercenary sub-genre, as told by Croaker, the official chronicler of the Black Company. He also doubles as the company surgeon. (Get the pun on his name? a doctor who makes people “croak”! I didn’t get the play on words myself probably until my third time through the books.)
The original 3 books
The Black Company - 10/10. Shadow's Linger - 8/10. The White Rose - 9/10. Looks like they are available all together in a collection as Chronicles of the Black Company.
These three are the ones that prompted me to buy all the rest (all at one time, I think, as a Christmas present to myself one year). The company gets hired on to help “The Lady” fight her battles. The twist from ordinary mercenary novels is that the Lady is an evil sorceress; the company is fighting against the rebellion striving for freedom from her tyrannical rule, rather than the other way around. But subsequent novels have you guessing whether the Lady is truly evil, and whether the rebellion is truly noble. I guess that was one of the major draws for me, that the series didn’t have the typical black/white perspective of most fantasy novels.
An interlude
The Silver Spike - 7/10. This one was creepy. Some of the characters get into grave robbing for pay, taking corpses to a tower in exchange for gold. The mysterious unhuman beings in the tower use the corpses for some nefarious purpose. Before too long, the characters are creating the corpses themselves… Not too many books give me bad dreams, but I think this one did. One downside to this book is that there was a lot of “s-word” in comparison with the rest of the books; I guess in Cook’s mind this may have been because the story wasn’t told by Croaker. And it actually doesn’t involve the bulk of the company at all.
Black Company in the South
Shadow Games - 9/10. A pretty good story—the Black Company decides to go south to find out about its history. They run into problems along the way.
Dreams of Steel - 7/10. This one has a different narrator; seems like it was mainly a placeholder book, if I recall correctly, where not too much happened.
Bleak Seasons – 6/10. This one and the next three are called the “Glittering Stone” books, named after something the company finds in the south. I think of them all as one novel. Sadly, I thought they were too slow moving, with a sub-par plot. By the last of them, I was thinking, “Can’t I be done with this series already?”, instead of “Wow, can I have some more?”
She is the Darkness – 5/10
Water Sleeps – 5/10
Soldiers Live – 5/10
OK, another 16 books down. Still a bunch to go.
# posted by John Colton @ 4:58 PM 
