Books Dan Has Read
Goddard, Victoria - Redoubtable Pali Avramapul, The
Rating: 4/5 may read again
Pali Avramapul, who appears in a number of other Goddard books, is featured in this one. We see her viewpoint as she discovers what has happened to her old adventuring companion Fitzroy Angursell.
I think it’s pretty good, but it might be of interest mostly to those who have taken an interest in Pali from other books.
…Daley, Sarah J. - Violently Departed, The
Rating: 4/5 will read again
This mystery/horror story featuring a half-demon ex-nun detective got pretty dark in places, but was well-paced to keep me reading without quite being overwhelmed.
…Stewart, Glynn
Rating: 3/5
Glynn Stewart is one of those authors who somehow manages to crank out multiple books per year while remaining interesting and entertaining. They’re never best-sellers, but they’re diverting. They’re certainly not perfect, but they’re rarely bad enough that I stop reading.
He’s written multiple SF series. I read 8 or 10 of the Starship’s Mage series before losing interest, but that was okay because there was the Duchy of Terra series to start reading. I eventually stopped reading that one, but then there was Castle Federation.
…Bujold, Lois McMaster - Darksight Dare
The latest in Bujold’s Penric series. (I almost wrote Penfold there!)
It’s pretty typical for the series. If you’ve enjoyed other stories in the series, I’m guessing you’d enjoy this one as well.
…Slatter, A.G. - The Path of Thorns
This dark book in Slatter’s Sourdough Universe is the story of Asher Todd, who returns to her mother’s family home, in disguise, for revenge. Asher is formidable but flawed, and there are a lot of twists and turns to how things work themselves out.
…Slatter, A.G. - The Crimson Road
While this book in Slatter’s Sourdough Universe could stand alone, characters from several other books do show up and I think it’d be more enjoyable to have read those books first. Those other books are The Briar Book of the Dead, All the Murmuring Bones, and The Path of Thorns.
In this story, the most badass of Slatter’s female heroines (so far) takes a long journey to the Dark Lands to single-handedly take on the leadership of the Leech Lords, Slatter’s twist on vampires.
…A.G. Slatter - All The Murmuring Bones
Rating: 4/5 Worth re-reading
Pages: 368
Another book in the author’s Sourdough universe, but like all her books and stories, you don’t need to have read any others. It’s just cool sometimes to see things referenced and realize they were in another story.
The last remaining daughter of a once-great family digs into her family’s history, while fleeing a powerful man.
Come to think of it, are there any Slatter stories where there are important male characters who aren’t completely despicable? Hmm…
…Adrian Tchaikovsky - Walking To Aldebaran
Rating: 4/5 Worth a re-read sometime
Pages: 144
Kind of a short SF horror piece.
…Slatter, A.G. - Briar Book Of The Dead, The
Rating: 4/5 Worth an occasional re-read
This book is part of Slatter’s Sourdough world stories. Some characters from past stories show up as ancestors of this book’s main characters.
In the small rural town where the story is set, the Briar family of witches have taken care of - and ruled - the town for multiple generations. The viewpoint character is one of the few Briar women who are not witches. It turns out that some pretty horrific things have happened in the past - and continue to happen - behind the scenes of the apparently quiet little town.
…Neal Stephenson - Fall
Rating: Did not finish
This was just. so. slow.
Excruciating.
Sadly, I have not been able to get through anything by Stephenson since Cryptonomicon. From the System of the World on, he just got so long-winded and the plots dragged so much.
…