Currently Reading - 2-May-2015
May. 2nd, 2015 08:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davidgillonJingo, Terry Pratchett.
Ankh-Morpork works itself up into jingoistic frenzy over a piece of worthless land that emerges from the sea between it and Klatch, immigrants are harrassed out of their homes, the Patrician is forced to step down, and noble leaders like Lord Rust step forward to lead the crusade... There's so much resonance with the rise of UKIP I found myself in the unusual position of finding a Discworld book almost too depressing to read. Of course Captain Vimes isn't happy, a crime has been committed, and he isn't being allowed to investigate it, nor the even bigger crime likely to be hiding behind it. Pratchett is as clever as always, while still throwing in surprises, Carrot as T E Lawrence fits perfectly, but for once even Carrot's naivete isn't sufficient to let him clearly see the truth, while 71 Hour Ahmed confuses by being at times clearly a Klatchian Vimes, and at other times clearly not Vimes,a lawman for a simpler, harsher, more complex environment, but I can't help being disappointed at the resolution. He takes Vimes to the point of arresting a war, after repeatedly riffing on the point that policemen serve the law and not the forces of government, and then the Patrician steps in at the last moment, planning several steps beyond everyone else, to ensure that Ankh Morpork wins by surrendering and that Vimes is denied his arrest. It's a clever resolution, a very Vetinari solution, but this time I felt cheated, that Pratchett had walked up to a larger story and then shied away from telling it.
Pocket Apocalypse, Seanan McGuire
The latest Incryptid book, cryptozoologist Alex Price is off to meet his girlfriend Shelby's family, and their living in Australia is only the start of his problems. For a start there's the werewolves, which in the Incryptid universe are any mammal (including marsupials) infected by a shapechanger version of the rabies virus which has hopped the species barrier. Things go from bad to worse when he meets Shelby's family, and daddy-dearest quite clearly doesn't approve, though fortunately Shelby's sisters are no worse than his own (which considering how lethal his own sisters are isn't actually that reassuring), and worsen further when Alex tries to go to work, and the werewolves refuse to cooperate by acting like the Price family field guide says they should. It's another good entry in the series, but it is a series, and this isn't the place to start (that would be either Discount Armageddon, the first book about his sister Verity, or Half-Off Ragnarok, the previous book about Alex). If I've got a criticism it's that we don't see enough Australian cryptids, I'd really have liked to see Alex encountering a drop-bear or the like, rather than the focus on an imported problem.
Heartache. 20 Sided Sorceress Book 5, Annie Bellet
Sorceress Jade Crow is still holed up in Wylde, ground-zero for US supernatural folk. waiting for psychotic ex-boyfriend Samir to show up and try and eat her heart (which is how sorcerors gain power). As of the last book Samir has spent all of his apprentices/proxies, the only person left to send is himself, and if Jade isn't a match for someone who may be a couple of millennia old, then she has at least surrounded herself with allies, and taken as many steps as possible towards maximising her power. The point of this episode seems to be to tell her it wasn't enough, her most powerful allies are called away for various reasons, and then Samir comes calling, and people die. It's difficult not to think of this in The Empire Strikes Back terms, the good guys spend most of the book been progressively beaten on, and even Samir professes himself bored they aren't putting up a better fight. There are hints of other stuff going on, the plot arc about the dissolving of the shapeshifter Justices (like Jade's boyfriend Alek) is clearly going somewhere, and the whole story pauses in a 'Hang on guys, I've got a great idea' moment, but this isn't a comfortable read, nor one that brings anything to a conclusion. It's clearly going to feel weirdly incomplete until book 6 comes out.
Ankh-Morpork works itself up into jingoistic frenzy over a piece of worthless land that emerges from the sea between it and Klatch, immigrants are harrassed out of their homes, the Patrician is forced to step down, and noble leaders like Lord Rust step forward to lead the crusade... There's so much resonance with the rise of UKIP I found myself in the unusual position of finding a Discworld book almost too depressing to read. Of course Captain Vimes isn't happy, a crime has been committed, and he isn't being allowed to investigate it, nor the even bigger crime likely to be hiding behind it. Pratchett is as clever as always, while still throwing in surprises, Carrot as T E Lawrence fits perfectly, but for once even Carrot's naivete isn't sufficient to let him clearly see the truth, while 71 Hour Ahmed confuses by being at times clearly a Klatchian Vimes, and at other times clearly not Vimes,a lawman for a simpler, harsher, more complex environment, but I can't help being disappointed at the resolution. He takes Vimes to the point of arresting a war, after repeatedly riffing on the point that policemen serve the law and not the forces of government, and then the Patrician steps in at the last moment, planning several steps beyond everyone else, to ensure that Ankh Morpork wins by surrendering and that Vimes is denied his arrest. It's a clever resolution, a very Vetinari solution, but this time I felt cheated, that Pratchett had walked up to a larger story and then shied away from telling it.
Pocket Apocalypse, Seanan McGuire
The latest Incryptid book, cryptozoologist Alex Price is off to meet his girlfriend Shelby's family, and their living in Australia is only the start of his problems. For a start there's the werewolves, which in the Incryptid universe are any mammal (including marsupials) infected by a shapechanger version of the rabies virus which has hopped the species barrier. Things go from bad to worse when he meets Shelby's family, and daddy-dearest quite clearly doesn't approve, though fortunately Shelby's sisters are no worse than his own (which considering how lethal his own sisters are isn't actually that reassuring), and worsen further when Alex tries to go to work, and the werewolves refuse to cooperate by acting like the Price family field guide says they should. It's another good entry in the series, but it is a series, and this isn't the place to start (that would be either Discount Armageddon, the first book about his sister Verity, or Half-Off Ragnarok, the previous book about Alex). If I've got a criticism it's that we don't see enough Australian cryptids, I'd really have liked to see Alex encountering a drop-bear or the like, rather than the focus on an imported problem.
Heartache. 20 Sided Sorceress Book 5, Annie Bellet
Sorceress Jade Crow is still holed up in Wylde, ground-zero for US supernatural folk. waiting for psychotic ex-boyfriend Samir to show up and try and eat her heart (which is how sorcerors gain power). As of the last book Samir has spent all of his apprentices/proxies, the only person left to send is himself, and if Jade isn't a match for someone who may be a couple of millennia old, then she has at least surrounded herself with allies, and taken as many steps as possible towards maximising her power. The point of this episode seems to be to tell her it wasn't enough, her most powerful allies are called away for various reasons, and then Samir comes calling, and people die. It's difficult not to think of this in The Empire Strikes Back terms, the good guys spend most of the book been progressively beaten on, and even Samir professes himself bored they aren't putting up a better fight. There are hints of other stuff going on, the plot arc about the dissolving of the shapeshifter Justices (like Jade's boyfriend Alek) is clearly going somewhere, and the whole story pauses in a 'Hang on guys, I've got a great idea' moment, but this isn't a comfortable read, nor one that brings anything to a conclusion. It's clearly going to feel weirdly incomplete until book 6 comes out.
no subject
Date: 2015-05-03 12:18 pm (UTC)Incryptid series? Oh no! More books to buy!
no subject
Date: 2015-05-04 02:37 am (UTC)And the rest of the Toby Day books out on Kindle on Wednesday, which is going to make a hole in my wallet, though at least they've dropped the price from the £7+ they were showing a month ago to £4.50ish.