Reading list - 2018

Fallen Dragon - Peter F. Hamilton

I dimly remembered the central theme of this as asymmetric sci-fi warfare - an invading armoured-up corporation against an advanced but non-military planet - which is a topic I'm interested in from a gaming perspective, making it worth a re-read, but my memory was flawed.

I enjoyed it more than I think I did the first time I read it - there are sympathetic characters on both sides of the central conflict, a broad and interesting background beyond that and the whole thing comes to a satisfying if slightly too neat conclusion. While the deux ex machina in the hands of the underdogs deflates the main plot there are interesting cameos from the modified humans of the Santa Chico colony and the glimpse at space opera in the broader background is tempting if rather neglected.

There are definite hints of author wish fulfilment in the portrayal of the main character Lawrence's early life (which I seem to remember as a bit of a sub-theme of Hamilton's work - less creepy here though than in Misspent Youth), in a way this slightly counts against the novel while also being central to the character's development.

Original, imaginative but not quite the story-telling mastery promised by the blurb.

Great Maria - Cecelia Holland

An enjoyable and interesting telling of the Norman conquest of Sicily - but not. Maria's husband is clearly modelled on Robert Guiscard, but is called Richard, and the places and battles have different names than the real events, however the overall narrative matches the broad sweep of the history. It seemed an odd choice to me to be so parallel but different, and slightly bugged me all through an otherwise great book.

The narrator's perspective is oddly compelling - as with Hild she is often forced to await the outcome of battles which will reshape her life from afar, and as the wife of a knight her power or influence waxes and wanes strongly according to the men who are present or absent at the time. Her marriage is a passionate, abusive, ambitious partnership which is very much presented at face value, making for a novel which is very hard to pigeonhole. Well worth a read.

Worlds of Arthur - Guy Halsall

A slightly odd and disjointed book but well worth your time if you're interested in post-Roman Britain. The oddness is because large sections of it are written as a "how to rebut theories on King Arthur" guide, which on the one hand is comprehensive and informative but on the other is in places repetitive and perhaps at times covers what may be trivial to the intended audience.

It is though a very good guide to the patchy but occasionally deep information we have about the period, enlivened with some of the author's (perhaps not entirely conventional) theories.

Places in the Darkness - Chris Brookmyre

I've enjoyed Brookmyre's work since Quite Ugly One Morning and was interested to see he'd moved into sci-fi. Places in the Darkness lives up to its blurb ("gripping" and "ingenious" amongst it). In many ways it's Brookmyre's gruesome murder investigation stock in trade, but the sci-fi element helps him move from "look at the world we've made for ourselves" onto the world we might be making. It doesn't offer anything astonishing but does give an interesting take on the near-ish future in a way that resonates and provokes a slightly worried "hummm". Recommended.

Losing Small Wars - Frank Ledwidge

Not my usual cup of tea, but the blurb caught my eye. As someone with a vague interest in military stuff I know that the British army is (was?) considered good at small wars, however its deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan clearly didn't go as hoped or expected. Ledwidge relentlessly fills in the blanks, and it was particularly interesting to see operations I remember being reported on the news being retold from the other side of the lens. The blame is placed fairly squarely at the feet of the planners and strategists (or lack thereof) - there are some glimmers of hope within the conclusion but generally the sense is that the institution will just roll on. Fascinating, convincing, depressing.

Some choice quotes:

"The problem may be summed up thus: the old ways of 'cracking on' and then muddling through, using a combination of wishful thinking, old myths and 'initiative' are (or should be) long gone".

"... the lie has been given to the seductive myth of 'punching above our weight' militarily. As anyone even remotely familiar with boxing will readily acknowledge, punching above one's weight is to be avoided if at all possible. There is no virtue in entering a fight at a disadvantage. Heroic, outnumbered actions are not primarily accounts of courage; they are often testaments to inadequate contingency planning and poor strategy"

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers

Sort of a space opera Firefly - the ship's crew are oddballs rather than outlaws and there are aliens, but otherwise a very similar feel.

If there's a downside to this book it's that it feels like the start of a TV series - there is a main story but it mainly wants you to meet and become involved with the characters, however you're not quite sure what you're signing up for. I'm interested in where their stories will go, but I'm not quite sure I'm interested enough to invest in an open-ended or at least as-yet unfinished series. And the novel's not quite strong enough to stand on its own, probably because that's not Chambers' goal. I'll keep an eye on where this goes, but probably not pick up the next in the meantime.

Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch

More great stuff from Aaronovitch and Peter Grant. Totally convincing worldbuilding, the invented elements fit seamlessly into real London and the magical world has the right amount of limitation to allow for the suspension of disbelief. OK, except for perhaps the ending which is perhaps unconvincing while delivering a surprising punch. It feels like too easy a choice, but I'll be reading more of these.

The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway

I was recommended this as a "light read", which is a bit of a misnomer, although it is short. Truly an impressive book, it invites you in to share the old man's obsession and ordeal. It's hard to comment further without getting into details of the tale so I'll end by saying it's downbeat, uplifting and, for a novel that's so self-contained, intriguing.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Screenplay) - J.K. Rowling

My family are invested enough into the Harry Potter universe to make reading this screenplay worthwhile, but I'd far rather it was a novel. For one thing the stage direction is so detailed and yet so narrow that the resulting impression is far less evocative, and the format is thin enough to leave you feeling short changed.

It's refreshing to be in a different time and on a different continent, and Newt's character and occupation are interesting, but it's no where near as compelling as the original stories.

Ignorant Armies - David Pringle (ed.)

The early Warhammer anthologies are a bit of a mixed bag but this is probably the strongest of those I've read in recent years. Usually I mention the better stories but this is good enough to only really have one weak one - Apprentice Luck - with the others all having something to recommend them. Two are worth a specific mention - The Star Boat because, while a few points of the plot seem a bit off, the idea is a strong one which fires the imagination and is wrapped up suitably by its ending, and The Laughter of Dark Gods as it gives a very good idea of the early conception of a chaos champion's journey. Well worth it for Warhammer enthusiasts, a bit average otherwise.

King Hereafter - Dorothy Dunnett

This retelling of an interesting area of history - early 11th Century Scotland - and a well-respected author seemed like a good bet and mostly it was, however the third quarter really dragged.

If, as was the case for me, all you know about Macbeth is the Shakespeare version, this book will be a revelation. Suffice to say his reign was a lot longer and more successful than I thought, and hence for at least the first half it completely avoided the problem central to historical novels that you know how it's going to turn out. Mix in Dunnett's unconventional theory that Macbeth and Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney are one and the same and the book (bar that third quarter) becomes a mix of viking yarn and inter-kingdom plotting that combine into an informative, enjoyable and occasionally tense read. The slower chunk, where we find out about Macbeth's pilgrimage to Rome and watch him trying to bond his disparate kingdom into a whole, rather let the remainder down - while important to the overall story and adding poignancy to the ending it's really very stodgy.

As an aside it really emphasises how little we know about even major figures of the time - Macbeth and Thorfinn - that Dunnett's theory can be unconventional rather than downright wrong. Given the sparsity of the known facts it always impresses me when someone can craft such a detailed, convincing story within the period; that it both fits with what we know while at the same time being so different from the conventional narrative is even more impressive.

Daughter of the Empire - Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts

I thought I'd re-read this as a "chicken soup" book while struggling with the middle section of King Hereafter, and because having heard that it's based around an old Tékumel campaign I wondered how it would read now I know a bit more about that world. It was the good, easy read that I was hoping for, spoiled slightly by a vague memory of how things would turn out.

The social and political conflicts which are central to the plot still strike me as far more interesting than the standard D&D fare of titles such as Magician, however reading it from a gaming viewpoint I find it hard to see how it would work as a game rather than as a novel since prospective players would need to know far more than is reasonable about the setting to really take part.

The setting also seemed not so much Tékumel influenced but rather by the 1980s interest with all things Japanese - although there are some themes from the former such as the value and scarcity of metal; loyalties owed to house, clan and god; slavery and the non-human cho-ja.

I'd recommend it to those who haven't read the series as a good, early example of a now overstocked genre.

Moon Tiger - Penelope Lively

Another book that left me feeling I should read more proper literature. The story itself is fairly sparse but its central device, of retelling the same scene from the distinct and discordant perspectives of the participants, is cleverly done. The main characters are all sufficiently flawed to provide conflict while being redeemable enough to be believable and to some degree sympathetic. A great insight into the human condition and, in the context of the current times, a reminder that the recent popularity of nostalgia for the mid-20th century is entirely misplaced.

The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi

Sort of a sequel to Old Man's War - mostly new characters in the same setting. A good read, picking up the psychological side of the Ghost Brigades' creation process and some of the wider questions that the technology raises. The special forces characters are flawed by the nature of their creation, and you also spend time with the viewpoint of Boutin who's pretty much a sociopath, so there's a little to be desired on the character sympathy front.

The weakness in the setting (or perhaps the whole genre) remains - the society is advanced enough to invent new solutions to the problems they are faced with, while also being on a technical par with several other species such that they can have sustained conflict with them. Asking you to consider the implications of some technology while asking you to not think too closely about others gives the whole thing a dissonance which I couldn't quite escape from. Worthwhile but slightly disappointing.

Honour's Knight - Rachel Bach

A slightly weaker sequel to Fortune's Pawn, perfectly readable but not quite up to the mark set by its predecessor. The setting is solid, Devi's place within it is suitably complex and believably plotted, however as the bigger picture of the series emerges it doesn't quite work for me. I can't quite put my finger on why, except that perhaps it's military sci-fi morphing into space opera or something like that. Also, although the various trials and battles are well set up there's never really a feeling of danger despite a few shocks. Still - some good battles, interesting use of the powered armour that's central to Devi's world, nicely varied aliens and some human interest. Good, and I will get the sequel, but not great.

Niccolò Rising - Dorothy Dunnett

I was put off from starting this by my struggles with King Hereafter but I shouldn't have worried. Despite some of the same difficult characteristics as that book - a plethora of often similar names to pick up, and excessively clever plotting by the main character - I found it far easier to digest and enjoy. It's full of convincing period detail and with the tension between the entitled landed gentry and the new, often richer merchant class (which makes the early Renaissance so interesting as a setting) a central part of the background.

The story moves along nicely and covers a lot of ground, both geographically and in development of the main characters. There are a few moments which seem to be necessitated by the plot rather than being convincing in themselves, and the ending I felt to be a bit of a let-down having its eye on the sequel and a new, interesting setting rather than delivering on what had gone before. I will pick up the next in the series, but with less enthusiasm than I expected when still half way through.

Lucifer's Dragon - Jon Courtenay Grimwood

Good-ish cyberpunk. The story is told in two parts, the current-ish founding of New Venice and the future dystopia, the former being slightly the more interesting and readable part. A few areas jarred - the 1998-era descriptions of shiny new PC technology are a bit embarrassing to the modern eye, and there's the occasional overly graphic or disturbing sexual interlude but mostly it's a solid, engaging novel with a slightly too pat, not entirely convincing ending.

An interesting thing, to my perhaps quirky mind, was that the portrayal of combat set around 100 years in the future was far more sci-fi than anything you'd see in Warhammer 40K.

The Meknificent Seven - Pat Mills

The recent death of Carlos Ezquerra prompted me to pick up the origin compilation of the ABC Warriors, a couple of strips of which I'd read when I was young. I'm not sure about this as an art form - the original format of the stories as short strips make for somewhat shallow reading, however there are some nice concepts, some great art and an irreverence which keeps a few of the stories relevant nearly 40 years later.

Reading list - 2017

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

Award-winning and set in a historical period that fascinates me - surely a winner? Humm, not sure.

It's certainly well-researched and really brings the period to life (as well as providing lots of ideas for RPG scenarios) but it's slow going in several places and the central character (and narrator) of Thomas Cromwell doesn't really ring true. Here's a man who rose from no where - the run-away son of a blacksmith / brewer - to the highest offices in the land, talented, persuasive, depended upon by Cardinal Wolsey, surviving his fall to find favour with the king. But as a narrator he's distant and slightly peevish, so you never quite find yourself drawn into the story.

Well worth a read but to me it didn't really live up to its reputation.

I Let You Go - Clare Mackintosh

A recommendation from my wife - "a page-turning read ... like Gone Girl" she said. Like Gone Girl but far grimmer might be a better tag line. While Gone Girl has a slight otherworldly element to it this is very much set in the real world, with characters you want to sympathise with while not quite being sure how much sympathy they merit. It makes good use of the narrator's viewpoint and slight misdirection and is brilliantly written - very hard to put down while at some points you don't really want to turn the next page. The only criticism I'd level is that the final reveal is a bit too tidy, of the sort that challenges your suspension of disbelief. Otherwise a great book - just make sure your diary is clear before you pick it up.

Wolf Riders - David Pringle (ed)

Seeing as I'm working through the Orfeo trilogy at the moment I thought I'd try one of the Warhammer anthologies while I was between books. I'd read Wolf Riders when it was published in 1989 and had no particular memory of it, now I can see why. There are some good stories in here - Brian Craig's The Way of the Witchfinder is the stand-out, and as the final story it leaves you feeling the collection's a better read than it really is.

Four of the eight tales are average at best, and (perhaps not coincidentally) all end up being of the "character backstory" type. One of these - Ralph T. Castle's Cry of the Beast - might have been quite decent if it'd been left to show the Old World being a big and complex place but the ending, with the protagonist making his way out into the world, leaves it feeling cliched.

Jack Yeovil's No Gold in the Grey Mountains I enjoyed, as I did Craig's other contribution of The Phantom of Yremy, and the title story by William King is decent enough and introduces Felix and Gotrek nicely. But overall I'll be glad to get onto my next book.

Crowbone - Robert Low

Best avoided.

The good Oathsworn novels are unpleasant in places - high on brutality and hardship (Low's depictions of slogging through the cold are particularly chilling), but worth the read for the story and because you want the characters to win through. The lead character in this novel is, unsurprisingly, Crowbone, who's pretty irredeemable, so that essential ingredient is lost.

One thing that's worth a mention is the arc through the Oathsworn novels of Orm's crew from hungry wolves to satiated wolves (if still a long way from being sheep) and there's still an interesting aspect of that story to be had here, but unfortunately not worthwhile enough to salvage things.

The Reluctant Swordsman - Dave Duncan

I remember picking this up in the library many years ago but I'm honestly not sure if I read it - if not I was missing out. On the one hand it's a fairly typical portal fantasy but I found it impossible to put down. Duncan does a brilliant job of creating dilemmas for his protagonist to solve or fall foul of, at turns due to his ignorance of the world, his modern prejudices or fresh perspective, and while you can see the puppetmaster at work it's never offputting. The twist at the end is particularly well done, probably the most surprised I've been by a book in a while.

The world is also quite compelling, perhaps most easily described as Tékumel-lite, with its stratified and tradition-bound society and casual approach to capital punishment. There are a few pieces of what we know so far that I'm finding slightly challenge my suspension of disbelief, but I'm willing to give this the benefit of the doubt for now and see where Duncan goes with it. That said, while I will probably work my way through the series I'm not that keen to move on to book two just yet, and not just because of the compulsive nature of book one and its impact on real life. Despite being hard to put down it was a strangely unsatisfying, slightly insubstantial read, more comfort food than nourishing meal.

Citizen Soldiers - Stephen E. Ambrose

Less grim than Stalingrad.

I enjoyed reading Band of Brothers and picked up this book hoping for a broader version of the same, I was wrong but not disappointed. Citizen Soldiers is a strange mix of the big picture of the post-D-Day battle for western Europe and recounting of specific events from individual soldiers' memoirs. The style jars slightly at first but after a while starts to gel, and so gives a picture of both the generals' objectives and the experience of the fighting men. The latter brings home both the hardships of day-to-day existence, especially in the depths of winter, and the chaotic, random nature of battle.

The overwhelming impression is one of waste and loss - both for individual senseless attacks ordered by out-of-touch senior officers, such as the offensive through the Hürtgen forest, and the colossal cost of the whole thing in lives and material.

My wargamer side gained some good insights, although modern wargames generally aren't my cup of tea being a bit too close to home. If I do break that aversion, or more likely if I venture into sci-fi stuff, then there are some lessons especially on streetfighting that I'll want to apply: the last place you want to be is on the street; tanks are a good way of making doors in walls where there are none currently (and never enter a house via the original doors); and there's no such thing as "too close to use artillery". In fact the casual and inventive use of high explosives (how do you make a foxhole in frozen ground?) gives a certain dark humour to quite a few of the recollections.

Equal of the Sun - Anita Amirrezvani

Great story, very average novel.

To start with the plus points, this is an absorbing story of how those in priviliged but powerless positions - princesses, concubines, eunuchs - endeavour to exercise power and of how the capable but resented daughter of a great sultan attempts to defend his legacy. You have regicide, palace intrigue and mechanations, the use of structures and tradition to try to bind those in power.

The downside is in the telling, which is  mostly good enough but sometimes distractingly clunky. There are passages where you feel the editor said "here are some adjectives, go back and make it more sumptuous", and times where the narrator - in life-threatening situations - is having to tell you how scared he is since it's not seeming that way.

The ending, surprising and somewhat haunting, goes quite a long way to redeeming the novel but I still wouldn't put it into the "would recommend" pile.

Bring up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel

More Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell. Still a slow read and a narrator that doesn't quite have the right voice, but worth a read. The brilliance of the book is that, although you know how it will turn out, the characters and the mechanations remain convincing - they don't know what's coming, or why behaving as they are may not be so clever. And full of period detail that's great if you're fond of WFRP.

The other interesting thing is the tempo - normal, normal, normal, Bam! Real life doesn't pace itself as a novelist would and it's refreshing when novels don't either.

Storm Warriors - Brian Craig

A book of two halves. This is the third in the Orfeo trilogy and if I hadn't mostly enjoyed the first two I might well have given up on it. The first half spends a lot of time setting up the main characters and its Albion just isn't my Albion, in fact apart from the odd bit of name dropping it hardly feels like it's set in the Old World at all. In the second half the plot gets going nicely and draws you along, still not quite Warhammer but a good read none the less.

One plus point, which it shares with the whole trilogy, is it gives some additional texture to various of the dark powers (Slaanesh in this case), showing something beyond the rather one-dimensional view portrayed in a lot of the source material, and giving them a more convincingly corrupting aspect in the process.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - J.K Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany

I enjoyed the Harry Potter novels when I read them so time ago, and now my children are working their way through them it was good to see the Cursed Child come out in paperback. I found it slightly disappointing - above average but not good, it sort of reads like high-quality fan fiction rather than being on a par with the originals.

On the plus side it introduces some interesting characters as the next generation at Hogwarts, avoiding the obvious and with a decent underlying plot. It's nice that it sort of peers at one of the more interesting and less used aspects of the wizarding universe - only rarely touched on in the originals - that the parents of pretty much everyone anyone knows, and their parents, etc. all went to the same school. The downside is in the characterisation of the adults who were children in the originals is rather unconvincing, with the children themselves being rather more believable.

Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett

Autumn was a difficult this year and I needed a nice warm soup of a book - Guards! Guards! is exactly that. I've read it before at least a couple of times so the overall plot was no great surprise although the twist at the end still got me. Pratchett's warmth for his characters combines nicely with his jaundiced view of our world via the lens of Ankh Morpork to deliver gentle satire and the characters of Carrot and Vimes remain favourites.

Thank you Terry!

The Dervish House - Ian McDonald

I'm trying to have a bit more variety in my reading so something modern / sci-fi and in a less familiar setting (albeit by a British author) ticked the boxes. It's cleverly told, woven together from the points of view of some very different people all with their own connections to the central event / narrative. The blurb and quite a lot of the plot are a bit of a red herring which is sad in a way as there are some good stories to be had in those directions, but the story itself doesn't disappoint - the plausible near-future technology is worthwhile in its own right but the lens of an unfamiliar culture somehow makes the whole more thought-provoking.

Those thoughts were for me quite negative though - I'm not sure whether it's a sub-text or just my reading but the feeling I came away with was of the clash between technological advance and humanity's wellbeing.

Wolfsangel - M.D Lachlan

Good in parts. For mundane / historical vikings I'd recommend Robert Low's work far above Wolfsangel, but this book does have its strengths. On a minor note the depiction of the Whale People - the Sami people I assume - as suitably unknown and different is a refreshing contrast to the outlook of Low's cosmopolitan Orm, but the stand-out aspect is the portrayal of the witches. Inhuman and chilling, they take tribute from the local poplace as well as acting as oracles to the powerful, and would remain convincing even in a magic-free setting. The villager folk-magic and knowledge-seeking via ordeal are also persuasive - is the key that the characters expect this to work, or is there actual magic at play here?

The downsides are in the plotting and narration which are sometimes jarring. Sometimes you're not convinced that the characters are acting within their nature so much as advancing the plot, sudden changes of point of view can be disorientating and at times one narrator seems to know the thoughts and motivations of another, making for some difficult reading.

Old Man's War - John Scalzi

Pretty good, with a definite hint of Heinlein (which is no bad thing), but I'm not sure how many of the other eight books set in the same universe I want to bother with which is not the strongest recommendation ever.

On the plus side it's fast-moving military space opera which is hard to put down, with the protagonist's backstory and ongoing story adding a human element which draws you in. The main downsides are the universe-building and some of the tone, although probably a large part of my trouble with the former is in my head.

The problem here is the standard challenge of inter-species sci-fi warfare: the cosmic unlikeliness of the two sides being close enough in technology level for it to actually be a contest. If anything this is emphasised rather than explained in the text by two of the opposing species - the Rraey and the Consu. The Rraey are advanced but conservative, and having been on a par with humanity technology-wise when the two species first met are now falling behind. Conversely the Consu are very advanced but enjoy warfare as a ritual, hence when they meet any other species in battle it just so happens that the weapons and technology they use provide a more or less even match. To me this undermines rather than supports the rest of the book.

On the tone front, according to one review I've seen this series is actually a comedy - this may be the case but other than one battle this comes across as a slightly jarring tone than actual humour which dampened my enjoyment a little.

I probably will read the follow-up - The Ghost Brigades - at some point, but not urgently.

Reading list - 2016

In Search of the Dark Ages - Michael Wood

I think I remember seeing this criticised as being a "history of kings and queens" but I found Wood's style and subject matter to be immediately engaging. Given the period of time that Wood is seeking to cover the book is inevitably an overview, but still has a personal element that draws you into the narrative. A couple of episodes stood out to me as showing the nature of the early kings of the time, which built upon things I'd read previously but also brought them to life: firstly their need to travel constantly both to keep their personal connection to their subjects but also to consume their "taxes" (in the form of perishable goods or livestock) and secondly the uncertain nature of succession and the primary role of king as warchief. The latter is highlighted by an attempt to blind Æthelstan (and so disqualify him as king without murdering him), which has interests parallels from Sarantium to Tekumel.

Viking Age England - Julian Richards

In stark contrast to Wood, Richards' style (at least here) is as dry as can be. It contains a wealth of detail, ideal if say you're looking for resources for a game setting... But a slow read (even without my note taking) and giving very little feel for the personality of the time. One area where it does come to life is when dealing with religion and belief, as evidenced by burial practices. It seems that, if someone had been injured or mutilated in life (and hence not eligible for Valhalla), then animal parts might be substituted for the missing parts on burial, with ravens (sacred to Odin) and boars (a symbol of virility) being popular.

The Empty Throne - Bernard Cornwell

This sequel to The Pagan Lord caught my eye in my local library. Cornwell is a great writer, able to bring tension to scenes even when you know roughly how they're going to turn out - partly as he's now let slip that Uhtred will survive to be a grandfather, partly due to my growing knowledge of the period.

There's still plenty of interest though, and enough insights (or at least believable imagination thereof) into the feel of the period to make it a worthwhile, and page-turning read.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street - Natasha Pulley

Another recommendation from my wife, the Watchmaker is very put-down-able at first so I'm not sure whether it'd still be languishing on the reading pile without that recommendation. Pulley's technical ability as a writer really shines through as you get to grips with the novel, so it's a bit odd that the beginning's interesting rather than compelling. It picks up though, and by the end I was totally gripped. It's somewhat hard to review though without straying into spoiler territory, which I try not to do.

The ending is tidy, but it's hard to see any of the characters being happy in the future. It's also not at all the story I was expecting, which is no bad thing, but on the other hand it's odd to have set up the Watchmaker's precognition and extraordinary mechanical skill and then tell a completely different story. I understand a sequel is in the works so perhaps these more steampunk elements will be explored further then, on the other hand the social side of his future - in many ways equally interesting given the setting - could well be the focus.

The Wolf Sea, The White Raven - Robert Low

Picking up from the conclusion of The Whale Road, The Wolf Sea takes us from Constantinople to Jerusalem in unpleasantly hot, sweaty detail. Low strikes a good balance between getting the Oathsworn to the end of the novel and having them being fearsome without having everything (or even most things) fall before them. They're convincingly out of their depth in Constantinople and out-maneuvered at various other points along the way, although it's becoming clear that their oath is also quite a handy device to keep them moving in the direction that the author wants - without it you can't see greed being enough motivation for what they go through. A great page-turner with some nicely surprising twists and, again, a fascinating view of the historical period. But a little too heavy on the grim to be truely enjoyable.

The White Raven is the cold and starving counterpoint to The Wolf Sea, and well up to the standard of the earlier novels in the series. One point I particularly liked was the presentation of slightly out of the ordinary exploits which you can quite plausibly see as growing into the basis of myths in the re-telling. Some good RPG fodder there. The other thing that's becoming clear is that, along with the oath device, the regular refreshing of the crew is another key tool for the author. The Oathsworn are more like a Star Trek crew than any other analogy I can think of - there's a tight focus on a few key members, and a lot of the secondary characters are actually redshirts (although this fact is often well concealed until the fatal moment). Looking at the books through an RPG lens, as with Cornwell's Saxon tales a great selling point of the period is that a boat load of armed men can quite often (but not always) set their own destiny. I can't immediately see how that could translate to a typical RPG group, but perhaps I'm starting to get there.

The Prow Beast - Robert Low

I'm finding the Oathsworn books annoyingly unputdownable - I'm feeling I've read enough Vikings for now and should be reading more broadly, and have plenty of other things to be doing besides! But having seen this on the shelf in my local library I've read it as fast as real life would allow.

Low seems to want to show us as much of late 10th century Europe and the Near East as he can, which suits me down to the ground and, despite us knowing Orm is due a ripe old age, he fills the tale with tension as well as interesting but not overblown detail. They're not cheerful tales though - Low treats his protagonists about as well as Robin Hobb does (my benchmark for protagonist misery), but the Oathsworn treat those around them equally harshly so that's probably fair. It does leave me though wanting some sort of palette cleanser or two before I seek out Crowbone (currently the last in the series).

Déjà Dead - Kathy Reich

Having had enough of Vikings for a while a diversion into murders and post-mortems seemed a good idea at the time! A decent book, this doesn't really live up to its blurb. Reichs clearly knows her stuff as a forensic anthropologist but if you don't know your iliac crest from your glenoid fossa then a lot of the procedural description is just words on a page, which is a shame as this seems to be the book's main selling point. Without them it's a good enough thriller, but not really one to seek out.

A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan - Ursula le Guin

The fact that this is a classic helped me stick with it when otherwise I might not have. Le Guin's writing style is rather remote, and her main character slightly irritating at first. About a third of the way through A Wizard of Earthsea things pick up somewhat, although I would rate this book as interesting rather than great - and annoyingly it leaves some rather large questions about the world, where magic seems relatively common, unanswered.

The writing style is better suited to The Tombs of Atuan, where it matches the narrator's cold upbringing. A good tale, well told, but not really matching my expectations when I picked up the book.

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

It's good to see this was billed as a psychological thriller - I worked out who done it 72% of the way through, so it's clearly not a whodunnit (which I never get right!). In some ways like Gone Girl in that it uses the power of the narrator's point of view to paint you one picture, and then a very different one, this book is an uncomfortable read in places but a thoroughly worthwhile one. It's slightly let down by the ending not being entirely convincing but that's a fairly minor blemish in an otherwise very good novel.

Hild - Nicola Griffith

It's clear that Griffith did an enormous amount of research for Hild, but she does a fantastic job of showing, not telling, in order to deliver a thoroughly interesting viewpoint of the early middle ages and also a great story. Hild's is an interesting perspective - constrained by her gender to have only a second-hand account of most of the battles in the book she in some ways becomes an "everyman", waiting on the uncertain outcome of events over the horizon along with the sort of folk who don't get much attention in your typical novel of the period (or most periods come to that). However she's also an extraordinary character, close enough to her king see a lot more of the world, and the events that shape it, than most.

It's a weighty book, and my passage through it was made slower by all the notes I was making, but I'm keenly looking forward to the rumoured sequels.

The Pilgrim of Hate - Ellis Peters

Pilgrim of Hate is an interesting antedote to Hild, in that it demonstrates that you can write perfectly passable historical fiction with only the thinnest veneer of history included. Definitely a whodunnit this one, so I didn't have a clue what was going on until Cadfael explained it. As with Rivers of London there's a central deception of the type I'll fall for every time (and which I really must steal for use in an RPG plot one day). A good holiday read (no notebook needed!).

The Lazarus War: Artefact - Jamie Sawyer

I picked this up as a page-turning read, more military sci-fi than high concept, so I'm being unfair to be slightly disappointed with it. It's both well written (keeping you going for one more chapter, when it's far later than you realised) while also somehow clumsy - it sometimes feels as though it's been assembled from a sci-fi kit of parts. And it touches on issues that it perhaps should be exploring: what would be the psychological impact of the contempt that Harris-as-simulant feels for the puny humans around him; how debilitating to be in the position of having his own life on the line rather than that of the disposable simulant? Sawyer opens these questions and then veers back to the main, rather pedestrian but anyhow gripping plot.

As a novel it ticked the boxes I was looking for when I picked it up, so I really should give it due credit. It's the first in a series so perhaps these questions will be addressed - but rather unfairly I'm not feeling motivated enough to seek out the others in the series.

Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay

It's apparent enough from the story itself but the author's afterword makes it clear that this is a novel with a message, unfortunately for me this made it weaker than those of Kay's books which I've read previously. A perfectly good book, if long, and with perhaps a slightly contrived ending, spiced up by some nice twists throughout. For all my reservations, the ending still kept me gripped, in a "stay up far later than I ought" way. But still not up to the standard of say his Sarantium novels.

Fortune's Pawn - Rachel Bach

After the last few books I was looking for a slightly lighter read that I could dip into and out of, and this was exactly what I needed. Fortune's Pawn is odd in that the narration isn't quite convincing, it feels rather forced especially at the beginning as if Bach doesn't really understand her heroine. Once it gets going though the plot becomes interesting, and then intriguing - I'll definitely be seeking out the next in the series.

Flamesong - M.A.R Barker

Another interesting trip to Tekumel. As with The Man of Gold it gives a good insight into the world and how a roleplaying game might fit there, although the trial of Trinesh and his companions towards the end of the book also highlights its limitations as a game setting. Barker also does a good job of presenting lost technology, which can be a tricky challenge when the reader is more tech-savvy than the protagonist. Conversely the book definitely lacks for a map, even a very rough one - the characters' discussion of their travels, perhaps understandable to someone more familiar with the geography of Tekumel, left me completely in the dark.

For me this remains a fascinating but intimidating setting. As far as I can tell from reviews the books go rather downhill from here, so I'm not sure how much further I'll explore it.

On Basilisk Station - David Weber

No subtly here, Honor Harrington's world is not painted in shades of grey. Weber's writing is impressive, he was able to lead me around via the nose emotionally - you're rooting for Honor, and booing her enemies. Perhaps unsurprisingly given its black and white nature, it's hopefully not too much of a spoiler to reveal that the tale turns out OK in the end, although there are setbacks and loses along the way. For me though it turns out a bit too well, and while I thoroughly enjoyed the book I was left with no interest in its sequels. It has the feel of a TV show where no second series is planned, so when a sequel is decided on the first order of the day is to tear the hero back down so they can be built up. I think I can manage without.

The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince - Robin Hobb

It's Robin Hobb so I wasn't expecting a happy tale, but this is unexpectedly downbeat. The narrator and the other main characters are all rather unsympathetic, and the more sympathetic a character is the more remote they are in the telling. And it being Hobb there's an air of doom over the whole thing. This all adds up to make a good (but short) story rather put down-able which is a shame. For several reasons I found it well worth my time: as a chapter in the history of Buckkeep; as a demonstration of a storytelling style and for the story itself. As often with Hobb's stories I find myself wanting more - but after a bit of a break.

The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch

This book came highly rated from various people on G+, but I found it hard to enjoy at first. Locke is an interesting but rather smug character and it wasn't until the stakes ramp up considerably with his introduction to the Grey King that it starts to become more enjoyable. From there it slowly builds, via various ups and downs, to a brilliantly executed climactic scene.

The setting of the city of Camorr is almost a character in its own right, Renaissance with a slight sprinking of clockpunk (or at least modernity), along with the "aliens did it and ran away" mystery of the Elderglass. You're left torn between hoping Lynch will explore these in more detail in future versus hoping they're left well alone as an interesting but unexplained backdrop.

Reading list - 2015

The Weird of the White Wolf - Michael Moorcock

The Elric novels are really quite short (this one being three novellas plus a prologue in 155 pages), so I really should be making my way through them faster than I am. Individually they're all very readable but they're just not gripping me in a way that reflects their importance in both fantasy writing and gaming circles.

I'm slowly getting a sense of Elric's world, which is very much one of uninhibited imagination, and not something that unfortunately seems to happen much in modern fantasy. Tolkein's ascendancy, and perhaps the introduction and influence of RPGs, seems to have made careful worldbuilding the norm, and perhaps something has been lost as a result. In many ways in a world (or universe) sense these books are more in tune with space opera than mainstream fantasy, and that's no bad thing.

The Vanishing Tower, The Bane of the Black Sword, Stormbringer - Michael Moorcock

It could be said that I'm getting lazy in my reviewing, or I could argue that the books are better viewed as a whole! Either way, I'll try and wrap up the last three books in the core of the Elric saga in one.

The saga to me only really finds its place when Theleb K'aarna takes centre stage as the main villain. It might be that Yyrkoon isn't really up to the job, or it might be that with Yyrkoon as the villain then it's still all about Elric, and hence rather too introspective. For a while this brings us a fairly rarified view of the Young Kingdoms, as two of the most powerful sorcerors of the age clash across various realms - for a while this was a setting I could really see myself enjoying.

Eventually K'aarna is defeated and Jagreen Lern sort of becomes the villain, though really at this point Moorcock switches from epic saga to a very wide-angle cosmic struggle as Chaos tries to assert itself completely on Elric's plane. For me the story became too distant to enjoy, or even get much out of. Armies are destroyed and countries revert to the raw stuff of chaos, and the books become an idea rather than a story. Fortunately for me I live on a plane where 50 years of games and books have been written on these foundations, however I've come to the original after the event rather than before and so a lot of the value is lost to me.

So, for the story and ideas in the first two thirds of the saga, well worth a read (the story itself perhaps 3/5, but scope and breadth of ideas a clear 5). Overall I'm glad to have read it, in a way as a box-ticking exercise although that does it a massive injustice, but mostly I'm glad that it was written for everything that has come after.

Moon over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch

Good, but not really up to the standard of the first. To be expected in a way, the first was opening up a whole new fiction, while this is filling in some gaps and adding some depth the ground has already been broken. The plot is interesting enough, but seems to have more of an eye on the next in the series than really trying to deliver a punch - after the first I spent the whole book looking for the twist in the tale and was still left wanting at the end.

A good read happily consumed, that it seems a bit of a letdown is more to do with the strength of the first in the series rather than any weakness with this.

When Gravity Fails - George Alec Effinger

I bought this many years ago, I assume because of its place in Cyperpunk 2020's "appendix N" but didn't get very far with it at the time. 20+ years later and with rather broader horizons I enjoyed it, but equally due to the passage of time it's lost some of the ground-breaking quality which made it so highly regarded.

It's fascinating to see aspects of cyberpunk translated to an un-named Middle Eastern city with an Algerian hustler as the protagonist rather the high-tech US and Far Eastern cities we're used to seeing. The plot is satisfying enough, although without quite the tension I imagine was meant to be generated towards the end.

To me one of the most impressive aspects was how true the protagonist was to himself rather than beng a vehicle for the plot, and how well such an unfamiliar setting is conveyed. If it has a weakness it's that the impact on society of moddies and daddies - personality-altering technology - is never fully explored.

The Last Light of the Sun - Guy Gavriel Kay

I really enjoy what I've read of Kay's history-inspired fantasies. This one combines Celts, Vikings, sidhe and King Alfred to good effect, not only giving an emotive, deep and believable viewpoint of three cultures but importantly set into a good story with some great twists. The only downside being that I felt the need to make notes while reading it for further research later, so slowing me down, which can't really be blamed on the author!

Thoroughly recommended.

The Whale Road - Robert Low

Really very good - I'd add this to the "read this, then run a Viking campaign" list. A very convincing view into the world of the Vikings - you get the feeling that Robert Low has done his research, which he shows off with his narrative without force-feeding it to the reader. The protaganist, Orm, starts off wide-eyed and naive, and so is a great conduit for this early on. One of my few critisisms of the book is that he seems to grow in compentance rather too quickly, which makes the ending a bit less believable, but this doesn't really detract from the book. And it also sets us up nicely for the next in the series, which I'll be buying in the near future.

One other minor critisism is that there's clearly a point towards the end of the book where Orm is protected by nothing other than plot armour, but I'm prepared to let this go with just a raised eyebrow. And my last quibble is how far-sighted Orm is at times. The book is told as a memoir, so it's fair that it can be narrated with a wisdom beyond what he probably had as a raw youth, however you sometimes feel the advantage of the author's extra thousand years of perspective more than you probably should.

Back onto the good stuff - as well as a sense of the physical place and time that the Vikings lived and fought through, there's a real sense of the spiritual place. The characters emphatically believe in their gods and portents, and so fit into their world absolutely. Definitely some lessons in there for roleplayers from a more cynical (or wiser?) age. And in the interests of keeping this short one last highlight that I'll mention is how it makes you realise what an interesting (and overlooked, at least when I was at school) period of history this is. There's the conflict between Christianity and older religions, the sheer size and importance of Byzantium, and eastern Europe isn't just a series of invaders from further east (although equally those were significant factors in their history).

To end with my favourite quote, from Orm's first voyage (with the crew carefully avoiding the coast of Wessex) - "... we kept to the solitary inlets and lit fires only when we were sure there was no one for miles. Nowhere was safe for a boatload of armed men from the Norway viks". Who wouldn't want to play in that campaign?!

The Man of Gold - M.A.R. Barker

I sort of see what all the fuss is about - Tekumel is a breath of interesting and alien air. It has that same feeling of somewhere you'd like to find out more about that Middle Earth exudes, but can be hard to grasp at times as well. In a strange way this is a credit to Barker as a novelist - he introduces people, creatures and gods by showing rather than explaining, but with the sheer volume of these, and their unfamiliar names, its rather hard to keep track of.

A few quibbles - because that's the sort of reader that I am...

Given that most of the reason Harsan's the centre of the plot is the ancient knowledge imparted to him early in the story, it's rather unsatisfying that in the end he is reliant on a massive coincidence / plot device.

Also given the prestige and enormous riches that tomb raiding can bring it's rather hard to accept that the slum-dwellers who live practically on top of such a resource could be prevented mostly by social mores (even in such a hidebound society) from making an industry of it. Instead they just dabble enough to help the plot along.

With iron being rare and valuable - as in Kelewan (which was apparently modelled on Tekumel) - why aren't weapons made primarily of bronze, or why haven't alternatives such as stone impact weapons found a niche? Instead they make swords out of leather... I get that swords are cool, especially if, as with Feist and Wurts, you're writing about pseudo-Samurai, but this really jars with me (maybe it's that degree in Materials Science). According to Jeff Dee's Béthorm cured Chlén hide "has the hardness almost of aircraft plastic". That just doesn't cut it (pun intended, sorry!). I'm not having a go at Jeff here, this is the source material he's working with, it's just I happen to have his very comprehensive work as a reference point.

A good and horizon-expanding novel, and I'll be seeking out the follow-up Flamesong at some point fairly soon. But it'd have been better still with some footnotes.

Plague Daemon - Brian Craig

Prompted by Orlygg's book club plan I picked up a copy of Plague Daemon - it's OK, but not a patch on its predecessor. It has its moments, and there are some good smatterings of grim - Humbold's fate being one such - but the Border Princes aren't really somewhere you'd live by choice and Harmis is a far less engaging protagonist than Orfeo was in the first book.

It's also a bit clumsy in places - having established that Harmis isn't the chatty type he then launches into some lengthy dialogues early on for the sake of exposition, and having further established that users of magic are not trusted his companion Averil then rides past crowds of terrified refugees while waving around a magic glowing stick without any apparent negative reaction...

Overall though it does a good job of conveying the setting, and is an readable if not compelling journey through what was (at the time) an interesting but fairly neglected area of the Old World (meriting a bare half page in the WFRP rulebook) and gives a new slant on Nurgle and the followers of chaos more generally (spoiler - there's a plague deamon in the story!).

I'm left hoping the third in the trilogy is better.

The Pagan Lord - Bernard Cornwell

I picked this up on a whim at my local library and was glad I did. I wouldn't rate it quite as highly as The Last Light of the Sun or The Whale Road, but it may just be that I need a break from Saxons and Danes. The sense of place doesn't come across quite as well as in those two novels, but Cornwell can really write. Halfway through the book the narrator attacks Bebbanburg (his ancestoral home, from which he's been dispossessed). You know he's not going to die, there being half a book to go, but I could barely turn the pages for the tension.

Some useful gameable themes come through - the wildness (emptiness) of even a fairly populated corner of Europe, meaning that a few boatloads of armed men can set them selves up somewhere out of the way and be fairly safe. Equally a hundred or so armed men can ride through fairly heavily populated country and as long as they keep moving aren't going to be bothered.

And also (again) the themes of reputation, and the ability to say "fight me, or do what I say". But conversely the difficulty of getting a modern, worldly gamer to really react in the character of the time. Will they know the culture enough to challenge to Holmgang on the spur of the moment, or go to their certain death with only one care - to not lose grip on their sword?

It's also interesting to read the actual history of the time after reading the book (fairly superficially, Wikipedia in this case). The official accounts go "the king did ..." but actually it's quite plausible that, as in the book, a thegn with a reputation and agenda of their own did a thing, if it works then the history books give credit where the scribe feels is politic, if they fail then it's on their own head.

As I was reading I gathered the impression that it was a part of a series, due to the frequent references to backstory. It turns out to be the seventh of the Saxon Stories. I'm glad to have picked this one up rather than an earlier one, as it deals with the much less well-trodden story of the time after Alfred. I can't see myself going back to read the first six, but may well look out for the next.

The Gift of Rain - Tan Twan Eng

Humm, what to say about this one? Perhaps to start with that for the second half at least I found it hard to put down, which has to be a recommendation. Also that I clearly need to read more from non-Western authors (especially with my ongoing interest in Tekumel - on the subject of which it was interesting to note that clan houses make a passing appearance here), a lot of what I've read recently has been rather too far inside my comfort zone, this was in many places a fascinating breath of fresh air.

The story can be viewed on a couple of levels, the first as a memoir of the Japanese occupation of Malaysia during WWII from the point of view of a privileged (but compromised) civilian. As such it's educational from a cultural point of view, less so from a historical point of view and not too grim reading (on my personal scale where Stalingrad is an 11 this is probably a 4). It is very downbeat though, Philip's view back on his life is not exactly happy, although longer and less miserable than it might have been!

On a further level the book delves into the spiritual side of martial arts and the past lives of Philip and Endo-san. I found this oddly jarring - while I felt that a similar presenting-as-fact the mystical side of Guy Gavriel Kay's version of Byzantium added to those novels, here it seemed out of place, I think because The Gift of Rain is set so much closer to the present. But the same justification exists in both instances: people did (and still do) believe in the world as presented here so it's really my own issue as a reader than any problem with the novel.

There were a few other places where my suspension of disbelief was challenged. Firstly the question of whether Philip really could have lived 50+ years on Penang after the war (although this contradiction is presented front-and-centre a few times in the book, so I really should go along with its version of things). Secondly, the youth of the narrator during the main events of the book - Philip's in his mid-to-late teens as the book begins and so his early 20s as the war ends. However other than the earliest scenes there is no real sense of his age, despite the fact that it must be relevant to his actions and how he is viewed. This again may be my comfortable 21st Century point of view - as Philip himself points out he's older than a lot of the Allied troops who eventually liberate Penang. Or equally it may be that, with the memoir narrated by Philip in his 70s, that sense of youth is blurred or forgotten.

Anyway, well worth a read, and to me a reminder to broaden my horizons.

Reading list - 2014

The Dreaming Tree - C.J. Cherryh

I was prompted to re-read this book by its inclusion in the bibliography for GURPS Celtic Myth. It's included there under modern fiction "likely to inspire GMs" and it certainly lives up to that! In fact my reading of it was some slowed by the need to have a notebook at hand at all times.

If I had to sum it into a single word though that would be "atmosphere" - impossible to convey in a short review, especially by a writer such as myself. Suffice to say that Cherryh's sidhe are nothing like Tolkien's elves, and at times the feeling of impending doom makes the book hard to read.

The one flaw is the ending, which left me feeling cheated of the denouement that the books had been building up to. I note from Wikipedia that my copy has a revised ending, which Cherryh felt more satisfying than the original - some day I must find the original and see how I feel about that.

I'm still very glad to have revisited it though - if I ever do get to develop a Norse / Celtic / Sidhe campaign, and it's even 10% as atmospheric as this book, then I'd consider it a resounding success.

The Hydrogen Sonata - Iain M Banks

A good Banks book, but not amongst his best, although that still makes it pretty damn good by most writer's standards.

It's an enjoyable tale, with some surprising twists, but at times the plot armour shows through somewhat. And in places the Culture characters are so smug that you find yourself hoping they'll lose, but I don't think I'm giving too much a way by revealing that they don't... 

It also suffers slightly from uneven pacing - it seems to me a hundred pages or so could have been edited from its length without the story suffering.

I tend to take gaming lessons away from most non-work-related books I read and this is no exception. Firstly it reminds me why I steer clear of sci-fi in RPGs - the breadth of imagination required on even the mundane areas of world-building is a very high hurdle, and authors like Banks put most other works to shame on this score. And equally on the wargaming front, as this story shows it's hard to give much credence to any two space faring races to being close enough in technical level that a straight table top battle could occur - asymmetric warfare seems the only plausible type to me. Even for example in the 40K universe, which has a good backstory as to why the Imperium is a non-technical space faring civilisation, it's a bit hard to swallow that any two factions are effectively equal on the battlefield (I know, I know, stop over-thinking and enjoy the game!).

The Explorer - James Smythe

Another incursion into my reading list from my wife's book group, and a story only one of the group members enjoyed. I did as well - the plot twist right at the beginning almost makes the book worthwhile by itself, but from there it gets even better, although the claustrophobic atmosphere makes for difficult reading at times. Another down side is that none of the characters are sympathetic, which makes it a hard book to enjoy.

Good exercise for the brain though, once all is revealed you're left with the feeling you should go back and read it all again, to see it all in yet another light.

Apparently there's a sequel - hopefully I'll get to that this year.

The Forest House - Marion Zimmer Bradley

Another book from my Celtic reading list, although perhaps less distinctly so. Like Kay's Sarantium, it's a nice touch that it crosses the line from historical / romantic to fantastic in that the druids and priestesses mix learning (e.g. medicine) with actual magic.

Bradley conveys the period with some clever devices such as focussing on a few mundane features of the setting, such as the furnishings. It's interesting to me to contrast this with Tremayne's Seventh Trumpet - Bradley with (I assume) far less scholarship, but more talent, succeeds much better in portraying a distinctive view of the time.

From a story rather than atmosphere point of view the book has a few grating moments - the central relationship between Eilan and Gaius rings rather false at times, with their inner voices seeming rather forced into conveying a romance which somehow isn't supported by the rest of the story.

I'll come back to finish the series at some point, but it's not top of my list.

Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch

Another from my wife's book club, and my favourite read of the year. A very British take on the supernaturalist genre which seems to be in vogue at the moment.

Peter Grant, a rookie bobby, sees a ghost while on guard at a murder scene, which abruptly changes his career path. The book mixes police procedural with mystery and elements of horror, its tongue slightly in its cheek but avoiding decending into farce.

The plot makes use of a central deception, of the sort I know intellectually as a reader of a mystery that I should be looking for, but which I unfailingly fall for. When the deception is revealed at the end you're forced to give a wry smile while mentally revising the entire story, but at the same time this always feels like a bit of a cheat to me, since as the reader you're so dependent on the author for information. The same devise could easily be transposed to an RPG scenario - on the one hand the players do have the advantage that they can ask the GM questions, conversely (assuming no railroads) the GM doesn't have the author's assurance that they'll be able to dangle all the right clues in front of their audience. Not a new conundrum since someone was good enough to invent Call of Cthulhu - in fact I remember John over at Dreams in the Lich House having an interesting series on the subject...

Elric of Melnibone, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate - Michael Moorcock

A flurry of interest in the Stormbringer RPG on G+ prompted me to dig out the novels I have, and fill the gaps in my collection. Back in the day I read through the Corum books, but could never really get on with Elric.

Second time around I'm finding them much more readable, overshadowed slightly by the dimly remembered precis from the RPG - it's not going to turn out alright in the end... But they're good, short, enjoyable yarns, and a good antidote to Conan (as apparently their author intended).

Obligatory RPG observations -

• Sketching out Melnibonean society as an author is a great feat of imagination, but in many ways far simpler for the author than the GM to convey. What sort of dishes are there at the banquet anyway (for example)?
• Elric is burning through his ancestors' ancient pacts with various elemental lords at a prodigious rate...
• Definitely not an "everyman" novel - everyone's a named warrior, a prince, dragon lord or duke (although the same accusation could be levelled at Lord of the Rings, for example). I'm not getting much feeling of the world as seen by mere mortals - although enough to know I wouldn't want to live there!

Reading list - 2013 (part two)

It's noticable that I've read significantly less books in the second half of the year compared to the first. Despite the boost of the summer holiday I'm doing more figure painting or less commuting than before.

The Three Evangelists - Fred Vargas
Another from my wife's recommendation list, and well worth a read. Detective stories aren't really my thing, I think I'm far too trusting and take characters as presented rather than trying to work out whodunit. I had no idea who the baddy was, but did enjoy the characterisation of the main protagonists - academic historians each with a different speciality who think their fellow historians are misguided at best if not actually dangerous. Sounds like some geeks I know!

The Legend of Deathwalker - David Gemmell
I spent a good part of the book wondering whether I'd read it before, eventually deciding that I hadn't. Suffice to say that it follows Gemmell's tried and trusted formula however it's written as well as ever and still manages to get you emotionally involved with the characters despite being a bit heavy-handed in places.

I especially continue to enjoy his portrayal of the Nadir - I've no idea to what extent they're intended to reflect the culture of Ghengis Khan's raiders or were invented from whole cloth, but I imagine that to your average fantasy literature fan they're more real than the real thing. I also find them useful in considering how orcish culture might actually function in the Warhammer world.

Things to do one day - re-read all the Drenai books in chrological order.

Lord of Emperors - Guy Gavriel Kay
This had everything I was looking for from the books on my reading list - a good story and it had me reaching for the history books afterwards.

The characters and the city of Sarantium are brilliantly brought to life, and while I have my frequent quibble that the ending doesn't really reward the characters for the journey they've taken us on they do fare about as well as they could hope for after becoming involved with the political elite of the city.

On the RPG setting side of things it's surprising (at least to this ignorant reader) how sophisticated the ancients were on all sorts of levels - medical, engineering and social to pick just three. We're vaguely aware of this, if only from "what have the Romans ever done for us?" but somehow experiencing it in a novel paints a deeper (if narrower) picture than a text book can.

The default pseudo-Medieval setting of your typical RPG does give a convenient shorthand for any group of gamers to congregate around, but books like this show how we're often limiting ourselves as well.

Noble House - James Clavell
An abrupt change of era to this novel set in 1960s Hong Kong. A good read, although you always suspect that the lead character's plot armour is too thick for the ending to be particularly surprising. Also quite interesting in illustrating just how much the world has changed in the last 50 years - sexual equality for example might not be quite there yet, but it's come a long way.

The Raven in the Foregate - Ellis Peters
Ellis Peters delivers what I was hoping for from The Seventh Trumpet, but then this was a nice safe pick from the bookshelf to occupy a train journey or two. Cadfael's a bit too comfortable and the era of King Stephen and Empress Maud a bit too familiar to offer much new from an RPG setting perspective, however as always there's the odd insight to be found.

On the one hand law and civil society is surprisingly strong (although this presumably varies from location to location, with the sheriff of Shrewbury being more upright than his more famous Nottingham counterpart), on the other a time of civil war is clearly the richest in terms of gaming opportunities and the odd bit of murder hobo activity. Also in an era when relatively few have horses to ride, and may not have one conveniently parked, simply running (or walking) away is often a good bet.

Criminal - Karin Slaughter
A thriller rather than a detective novel, so more my sort of thing. Brilliantly weaves between 1970s Atlanta and the present day, with a significant focus on the sexual politics of the earlier time. Things had moved on slightly from '60s Hong Kong, but not actually very far...

The Hundred-year-old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson
This book came out as one of my wife's book club's favourite reads of the year, unfortunately I was right in suspecting it wouldn't really be my thing. The novel's tone is just too whimsical for me, especially seeing that Allan really does get away with (sort of) murder. Allan himself is also a bit of a contradiction - on the one hand the world would be a better place if more were as even-handed has him, however it's hard to accept that anyone could be that uninterested in how the world around him works.

A real strength of the story though is how it brings home how poorly we value older people in the western world. No one is going to be quite as remarkable as Allan, but anyone of that age is going to have a lot to offer and isn't merely an inconvenient independent person out to frustrate the old persons' home director.

House of Silk - Anthony Horowitz
Another strong recommendation from my wife's book club. A detective novel though, so had me mostly lost, although I did manage to pick up on the most obviously flagged of the villains... Although I've not read any Sherlock Holmes in a long time I think it's fair to say that the prose (if not the plot) could have been written by Conan Doyle himself.

The main plot is very modern which is good in its way, but distinctly not of a piece with the original novels. I was left hoping Horowitz will revisit the characters in future (which has to be taken as an endorsement of what he's achieved with this novel), but that when he does he mixes some Victorian plots in with the more modern ones.

Reading list - 2013 (part one)

Being the books I'd read up to the end of June, but my blog publishing habit is lax to say the least...

The Heroes - Joe Abercrombie
More of Joe in his distinctive style - great stuff. I especially like the way that Beck's story turns out, and Craw's was rosier than you might expect (but not too much so!). A few quibbles here and there - the involvement of Ishri just peters out, and while we get it that Bayez isn't very nice - certainly not your Gandalf / Belgarath archetype - he's becoming a bit of a deus ex mechina.

I also wonder in the back of my mind how the book would read if you read it before the First Law or Best Served Cold, and hence whether the characters of Dow, the Bloody Nine or Shivers would really come across sufficiently in a stand-alone novel. On the other hand I suppose Joe has earned the right to build on what's gone before. 

Not his best, but still damn good.

Royal Assassin, Assassin's Quest - Robin Hobb
An interesting couple of novels. Part of the way through Royal Assassin (the second in the Farseer Trilogy) you get the feeling that you're reading a standard "young man's journey of discovery and growth" type fantasy. Then at the end you remember that you're reading Robin Hobb and if (like me) you've read her works out of order and already know the Liveship Traders you remember that she likes to tear her characters down about as low as they can get before building them up again.

A certain amount of re-building is done in the final book of the trilogy, but not excessively so. I'd have liked things to have turned out better for Fitz after taking us on this journey, but then that's why it's best I leave the writing to professionals.

Sailing to Sarantium - Guy Gavriel Kay
I'm concious that most if not all of the fantasy I read is medieval north-eastern Europe in derivation, with occasional nods to the renaissance. I was hoping this book - set in and around Sarantium (a parallel Byzantium), with a parallel Rome squabbled over by part-civilised barbarians - would extend me further east and further back in time, and it did just that. It has lots to recommend it - a good read for a start, and furthermore it really invokes the feeling of wildness and uncertainty appropriate to the time. The one certainty is that the mythic is real, in fact it surprised me how firmly the book is placed into the fantasy genre, when 90% of it could be read as alternative history. It's no worse for that though.

One quibble I had with the writing was the explicit foreshadowing ("He never did, as events unfolded...") which I find irritating for reasons I can't quite explain. Another, much more personal, gripe is that the main protagonist has had a rather miserable time of it prior to the start of the narrative, which I found rather depressing, especially following on from my previous reading of Robin Hobb!

The Dying Earth - Jack Vance
I've owned this book for years, but never managed to get far in to it. This time I finished it, but mainly due to stubbornness rather than enjoyment. I know it's a classic, but it just doesn't absorb me - there are some good stories in there, especially Liane the Wayfarer, but between the language and characters it's not a compelling read. The prose seems more that of someone who's showing off than someone with a story to tell, and the characters are somehow a bit flat.

On a more positive note Vance has created a wonderfully evocative world, both the setting and the treatment of magic (powerful enough to build a game upon). So, while I'm glad I've read it, it's not really a book I could recommend. 

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
My wife told me to read this book so she could discuss it with me, which tells you most of what you need to know about it. Without wanting to give the plot away I can say about three things - a great plot with some fantastic twists, a really impressive piece of writing in the way she shapes your view of the characters throughout the book, and the second half stretches credibility almost to breaking point.

The really scary thought it leaves you with though - what if the second half really did happen to you? What would you do...?

Finding Nouf - Zoe Ferraris
An OK whodunit set in an exotic location (Saudi Arabia) and with interesting central characters. The author is an America who was married to a Saudi, so has first hand experience of the country, but somehow her portrayal of the country comes across as fascinating but unbelievable. It's likely to just be me over-analysing things and actually her portrayal is accurate. It does leave me wondering though what a Saudi novelist's take on the same story would be.

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
The introduction to this trilogy is very good, leaving you wanting to read the rest. Unfortunately it's largely downhill from there - the second novel does manage to invoke some sympathy with and outrage for the heroes' plight but comes across very much as a sequel in the Hollywood style. It really does feel as though Collins had to try to reproduce the magic of the first but didn't quite know how. The "Games" portion of the book does get going nicely, but it does take a while to build up to it.

Mockingjay does go some way to rescuing the trilogy, the "Games" portion of this one really does stretch credibility to breaking point, but the ending (which is very much more grown up than I for one expected) does forgive any flaws the book might have.

Where the Bodies are Buried - Chris Brookmyre
Some reviews of this book seem to be disappointed by Brookmyre's departure from his earlier comic / farcial thriller style, but I thought the newer "straight" crime novel (still very much in his distinctive voice) was at least as good as his earlier work.

The book has some very enjoyable twists (which more astute readers than me will probably see coming a mile off) and a nice ending which seems to set us up for more to come - I certainly hope so.

The Seventh Trumpet - Peter Tremayne
As I've mentioned elsewhere I'd like one day to run a Celtic-influenced campaign, so picked this book up in the hope that it would give a useful view into that culture. It did give me a couple of good insights applicable to any renaissance or earlier setting* but overall I was unimpressed with it as a novel. Graham Crawford's review over at Good Reads is far better written (and somewhat more biting) than mine will be but suffice to say there are several things that really grated with the author's style. Most notable of these are that he's far too busy trying to educate the reader (or perhaps going about it in too heavy handed a way), so we have described in great detail inconsequential items of a character's clothing, along with its correct name and so on; and the lack of unique or credible character voices (e.g. a farmer, a monk and a chieftain's sister all speak in the same rather stilted way).

* 1) Building bridges is quite an undertaking, so ferries are more important than our modern viewpoint assumes and 2) horses are not obviously a companion animal in the way a dog is, but still provide the benefits of their own senses of smell, etc, if their rider cares to pay attention.

Zaragoz - Brian Craig
I'd picked this up second hand somewhere years ago (25p!) but not read it until Orlygg and Warlord Paul of Oldhammer notoriety gave it good reviews recently. And deservedly so it turns out. A good book but not a great one, though I wonder how much it suffers as well as benefits from the grim dark that it manages to invoke so well. Good story, great gaming material, wouldn't want to actually live there!

It amused me to notice that Orfeo the protagonist is a bit of a Mary Sue - apparently this is quite OK in a novel (for example, he's far less extreme than Hiro from Snow Crash), but when we as gamers emulate this in the PCs which we create for ourselves that somehow makes us bad people...