yeah, but the next couple are a little uneven. The first book is excellent, the second is okay to good, the third is meh. After that, they get better.
See, I thought the second one was weaker than the third. From there on, I have really enjoyed them all.
Now I returned False Value to the library, I picked up the latest novella from the series What Abigail did that summer. Follows what Peter’s niece did in London while Foxglove Summer was going on in the South West and the Cotswolds.
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I have just finished Byzantium by Judith Herrin. Very enjoyable read.
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The second one was a complete story. The third one seemed incomplete, and undercooked. I suspect the editing has improved, as well as having sold enough of them he doesn’t have to do other stuff.
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I’ve been reading “Sideways Stories from Wayside School” with V. Observation 1 => 1978 was very different for schools. Observation 2 => there is straight up Lovecraft weird fiction in here. Strong Unknown Armies vibes. I mean it’s totally read that one kid takes a note that doesn’t exist to a teacher that doesn’t exist, one of the kids is a dead rat under a pile of sodden raincoats, and that was the third dead rat so far to try and sneak into the classroom “since September”.
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I like that her focus om this topic is different
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With regard to Gibson, I thought there were 3 Sprawl books, Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive… are there more in the Sprawl?
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There is also the Bridge trilogy, which I think is technically part of the same world?
I think the only other Sprawl is Burning Chrome, the short story collection.
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I just finished the third Witcher book (“Time of…” something… Contempt? I think?) and it was fine.
Not nearly as strong as the first one. Slightly better than the second one (certainly less convoluted). But gosh not a lot happens. If anyone is thinking about reading the first three (technically, I suppose these are books 2-4), I’d say skip this one entirely. Nothing of note seems to happen.
But, that stated, I am sort of sad to say goodbye to Geralt. I don’t think I’ll be continuing with the series.
Next on the list is either The Fractured Void by Tim Pratt (a Twilight Imperium novel), or A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (book 2 of the “Small Angry Planet” group). I’ll probably flip a coin… I don’t suspect either will take long to devour.
Oh, and I have to read Orientalism by Edward Said for class. So I guess I’m reading that first.
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I liked it a great deal, but I think it’s probably the weakest of the four.
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Just finished Hail Mary by Andy Weir. Thoroughly enjoyed it and can’t remember the last time a book made me cry.
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I was not super in love with the Witcher series myself. It was fine but I didn’t understand the reputation it got. And that was before I got to know a ton of other really great fantasy writers.
I enjoyed Becky Chambers first book a lot, so I would go for that one 
I started reading Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi. Up to now I really enjoyed his Old Man’s War series, but I am not 100% sure on this book. Obviously it is a detour of the usual main characters because now Zoe is the lead character but that’s not the problem per se. At least as far as I am in it is just retelling stories from the older books from her perspective. And that’s not that exciting for me. But curious where it will go. At some point it will go in new uncharted areas, I am sure
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Currently re-reading the excellent King Leopld’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild, the story of the Belgian Free State and the awful things done to serve Leopold’s insatiable greed for territory and riches. It turns out the colonialism isn’t great for the colonised, especially when a single man answerable to no one is in charge. The utter shittery of Henry Morton Stanley (of Stanley and Livingstone fame) is also exposed, as well as the heroism of E. D. Morel, William H Sheppard and George Washington Williams. Highly recommended.
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Today I finished the first novel Storm Front of The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher and I have mixed feelings about it.
It reminds me a lot of Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews.
Typical urban fantasy I would say. A lot of action, which I enjoyed, but also some weird sexualization. It seems to be an important part of urban fantasy, at least in the books I read. In the first Dresden files novel a lot of words and time is spent on describing the very attractive looks of every woman in the book. I understand that it is a first person story with a protagonist who is single and longing for a woman in his life. And I also understand that the women characters are strong characters. But it is kinda over the top and a lot.
I wonder if I had less problems with it in Kate Daniels because it was from a female point of view. But Kate Daniels did not feel that needy to me to be honest.
Still, Storm Front was a fun read, very short, great action. The focus of the worldbuilding was very narrow in this first book. I liked the worldbuilding in the Kate Daniels series more.
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I feel it takes the first few books for Butcher to really find his footing with the Dresden Files. It definitely gets better.
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I’m nearly finished the 5th audio book of the Dresden files. They are enjoyable but there is a lot of authorial version of male gaze still on show. It does get better at acknowledging it though.
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Found Reset Middle East by Kinzer to be too high level that it’s almost useless reading it. I did got some titbits out of it. But felt that I wasted time on it. But I re-read The Grand Chessboard by Brzezinski before this one, so the former felt really weak.
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I finished What Abigail did that summer from the Rivers of London series a while ago. Took Rotherweird out (as my next Pratchett novel was taken, Making Movies) but I am not enjoying it at all. Hardly anything is happening 50 pages after the set up at the beginning, I think this book is not for me.
I enjoyed Rotherweird, but I do remember it being quite slow and vague until the big reveal/dramatic events at the end.
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