Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky somehow makes the idea of having one’s biology converted into alien matter into a heart warming uplifting story against adversity, where every other author would have gone produced a story of soul screaming body horror.
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I managed to whizz through Dawnshard in about a week but rather than launch into Rhythm of War, I returned to the Revelation Space series with The Prefect/Aurora Rising. I’m currently about a third of the way through book two Elysium Fire.
After enjoying 2 full series of Sarah J Maas books… and being happily surprised how good and epic they were, I went and read more from the same recommendation lists. Other author though.
I don‘t even want to write what I read but it was a young adult trilogy that was very young. Each book about 270 pages and it had almost no plot. Lots of drooling over the hot sexy prince from hell, love triangle, no character development, no relationship development, protagonists acting stupid, repetitive descriptions and the lamest sex scenes ever. Jane Austen does better at that.
Teenagers being teenagers wouldn‘t be so bad, but „teenagers making out“ is not a plot no matter how hot all the sides of the triangle are. The supernatural plot would have been fine if there had been more of it. But there isn‘t a lot of space in 270 pages if you need a 100 of those pages for describing the hot demon prince. And no this does not qualify as „The new Buffy the Vampire Slayer“ no matter how much you are trying. And the attempts at a modern take on teenage romance are just a failure. This is really just Twilight all over again except written way worse. The only bonus is that there are no glitter-vampires. The world had some potential with demons running around and characters having fun abilities and all of that. I just wanted either an actual plot or an actual whatever else this was trying to be. And this is not a genre issue. I have read so much YA lately, most of it is not like this. Also I find books using so much Umgangssprache (colloquialisms, slang,) annoying. Brand references and lame popculture references (show don‘t tell please) are another no-go.
I probably just chose the wrong series …. I later noticed on goodreads that the series that was recommended to me by 2 sources was a different one. But now that I have experienced the author … I am not sure I want to try another book.
It was The Dark Elements trilogy by Jennifer L Armentrout
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I’m reading The Iliad!
Never read it before (apart from a kids’ version I had as a child), and now I’m wondering why not. It’s chuffing brilliant!
(I’m reading a modern English translation, not the Ancient Greek version)
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Natalie Haynes (author who translates ancient Greek myths for modern audience) said her choices were to learn French which had sentences like
“Where is the train station?”
or Greek, which had
SING, GODDESS, OF THE WRATH OF ACHILLES
so she said “I’ll have that one, please, that one”.
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Finished Elysium Fire, now on to Machine Vendetta.
Interesting to dip into but not a lot I didn’t already know.
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A bit more on the obscure side but worth reading if only for the proposed Batman Meets Godzilla (1968).
" While taking a cruise ship to Japan, Commissioner Gordon and his daughter Barbara (aka Batgirl) find themselves capsized in a tidal wave. The event was no accident, but a calculated attack by Klaus Finster and his weather control device. From his underground lair beneath Mt. Fuji, Finster demands $20 million in ransom or he will unleash devastating storms on Japan. Commissioner Gordon calls for Batman and Robin to come to Japan. The dynamic duo learn that Finster isn’t controlling the weather as he’d claimed, but Godzilla!"
While not that big a book (268 pages) it is full of monsters.
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I’d watch that.
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Some days you just can’t get rid of a Kaiju
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“What we need is three schoolgirls each with a different hair colour!”
“Er, boss, we’ve only just finished covering up after last time…”
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I remember being at a Worldcon Panel where the creators of the Rocket Girls Anime explained the plot that the Japanese rockets were very small so they had to recruit school girls as astronauts. There was a lot of giggling at that.
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(Somehow clicked the wrong reply button.)
Finished Machine Vendetta which brings that series to an end for now. Apparently there are some more books planned by the author.
Next, I’m returning to the Stormlight Archive with Rhythm of War.
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I just finished Blood Meridian. Good for those who found The Road a bit too Disney for their liking.
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The Road has to be the single most depressing book I’ve ever managed to finish reading. A colleague recommended it to me and… I don’t really know how I did it.
So thanks for the warning 
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I think what makes Blood Meridian worse is that a fair chunk of it actually happened. I do find McArthy’s writing style irritating enough that it distances me from the horror somewhat. I’m glad I read it because it’s full of interesting ideas and thoughts, although the central theme that ‘man is a beast of war and never will overcome that’ is pushed to the point of blood and then beyond, so it becomes a.rather dismal and slightly surreal trudge through horrors. I suppose I was expecting it and so was less affected than I thought I might be.
TLDR; It’s okay. I’m now going to start The Great When, new book by the bearded oracle himself, Mr Alan Moore.
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I’ve recently read Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang, and Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. I enjoyed both very much indeed.
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A sunny day out on the deck saw me finish reading the Halo Jones omnibus. I enjoyed it, and wanted to know what happened next. A shame that evidentially the various parties could never reach any kind of agreement for enabling the readers to find out the rest of the story.
I think the colour artist did a good job with this – I’m sure it looked pretty good in black and white, but the coloured artwork looks great.
In terms of the story telling… a lot of it is pretty unsubtle, but to some extent I guess that’s the nature of the medium. Or maybe just the nature of the publication. It’s well done, though, and I can see why it would have stood out as being different/special at the time.
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