Blogoversary, BEA, and the Warbreaker Groupread

Today marks the one-year anniversary of my blog.  I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of you for making it possible.  The book blogging community is a wonderful and supportive place filled with so many nice people who love to talk about books.  It’s something I didn’t expect to find when I started my blog, and I’m so very glad that I did.

I decided to make the trip out to NYC for Book Expo America in early June.  I’ll be in NYC for the conference from June 4-8.  I’ll be very broke afterwards, but it will be entirely worth it just to get to hang out with so many bookish people gathered in one place and learn more about where the book industry is headed.  I’m incredibly excited.  Many thanks to Memory for being my BEA roommate! 

In other news, Naithin and Amanda are hosting a groupread of Brandon Sanderson’s “Warbreaker.”  I was a bit hesitant to add another groupread when I’m already doing the “Neverwhere” and “Red Seas Under Red Skies” readalongs, but I am going through Sanderson withdrawal.  Brandon Sanderson’s books are that good.  I found a copy of “Warbreaker” earlier this week at a “Take a book, leave a book” library in a random coffee shop, so I’m pretty sure that the universe is telling me that I need to be a part of this groupread.  For anyone who’s interested, here’s the schedule:

Section One: Prologue – Chapter 12.
Reading: Monday 21 May, Questions Out: Saturday 26 May, Posts: Tuesday 29 May.

Section Two: Chapter 13 – Chapter 23.
Reading: Tuesday 29 May, Questions Out: Saturday 2 June, Posts: Tuesday 5 June.

Section Three: Chapter 24 – Chapter 34.
Reading: Tuesday 5 June, Questions Out: Saturday 9 June, Posts: Tuesday 12 June.

Section Four: Chapter 35 – Chapter 49.
Reading: Tuesday 12 June, Questions Out: Saturday 16 June, Posts: Tuesday 19 June.

Section Five: Chapter 50 – End.
Reading: Tuesday 19 June, Questions Out: Saturday 23 June, Posts: Tuesday 26 June.

Sign-ups are over here at Once Upon a Time.  Feel free to join in!

Red Seas Under Red Skies Readalong, Part III

Hey all!  Welcome to week three of the Red Seas Under Red Skies readalong, which is hosted by Andrea over at The Little Red Reviewer.

The adorable picture at the left is “Locke Lamora goes cat-shopping” by missqueenmob.  I wonder if Locke’s luck would have been any different if he wouldn’t have forgotten them.

This week’s discussion questions are written by @ohthatashley.

From this point onward, beware of spoilers.

1. Locke and Jean’s ability to find themselves at the center of a serious mess seems unparalleled. At this point, do you think that Stragos will get the return he expects on his investment in them?

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they won’t betray the pirates, who are actually some pretty cool people.  I’m hoping that Locke and Jean find a way to screw Stragos over while still getting the antidote for the poison.  I don’t think Stragos is going to be too happy to see them though after what Merrain did.

2. Merrain’s activities after our boys leave Windward Rock are interesting. What do you think her plans are?

I’m standing by my theory that Merrain is working for the Bondsmagi.  She’s definitely a double agent for someone who’s out to get Locke and Jean.

3. Does anyone know why having cats aboard the ship is so important?

Because they’re adorable and eat pesky little vermin that would proliferate on the ship while at sea.  Mostly though I think they’re good luck because if something goes wrong you feel so much better about life when a cute little kitty curls up on your lap and purrs.

4. The word “mutiny” creates a lot of mental pictures. Were you surprised? Why or why not?

Something had to go wrong, and once Locke and Jean were left on their own without anyone with sailing experience, they were doomed to fail.  I’m a bit surprised that they survived the mutiny so easily though.

5. Ah, the Poison Orchid. So many surprises there, not the least of which were the captain’s children. Did you find the young children a natural part of the story?

They’re my favorite part of the Poison Orchid story.  The captain can be a pirate, sail a ship, and still have a family.  I love the way that Lynch handles women in his stories; they’re treated just like any other character with no extra fanfare or attention because they’re female.  Why wouldn’t the captain of a pirate ship be a mother with young kids?  Why wouldn’t she be teaching the little ones how to sail (and plunder)?

6. Jean is developing more and more as a character as we get further in to the book. Ezri makes the comment to him that “Out here, the past is a currency, Jerome. Sometimes it’s the only one we have.” I think several interesting possibilities are coming into play regarding Jean and Ezri. What about you?

I hope he realizes that she’s gonna die.  Let’s face it… we haven’t had any other minor characters that we can really get attached to, and Scott Lynch loves killing off characters.  Since there’s more to the series after this one, I’m assuming that Locke and Jean will survive, but I can’t see Erzi making it to the end of this book.  Poor Jean.

7. As we close down this week’s reading, the Thorn of Camorr is back! I love it, even with all the conflict.  Several things from their Camorri background have come back up. Do you think we will see more Camorri characters?

I was so pleased that Locke managed to ake a name for himself in that fight while using his thief skills and trickery.  He even did it all without Jean having to come rescue him!  I loved the banter in that scene as well.  I wonder if our good friend the Spider(s) pay any attention to going on outside of Camorr?

That’s all for this week!  Be sure to pop over to everyone else’s posts to see more RSURS discussions!

“Mistborn: The Final Empire” by Brandon Sanderson

And now for the long-anticipated spoiler-free review!

Over the past month I’ve been participating in a readalong of “Mistborn:  The Final Empire,” the first book in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy.  For anyone who’s interested, we’re doing a groupread of the second book in the trilogy starting sometime in late May/early June.  I can’t wait to read the next one!

At its core, Mistborn is the story of a revolution.  A thousand years ago the Lord Ruler saved the world from the Deepness, but now he’s a tyrant who’s practically immortal.  Under the Lord Ruler’s reign, a class known as the skaa have been subjugated and enslaved.  They are too beaten down to rise up until a charismatic man named Kelsier begins to stir up trouble, devising a risky plan to overthrow the Lord Ruler.  He’s aided by Vin, a street urchin with Allomantic powers.

One of the things that I love about Brandon Sanderson’s novels is that he treats magic as a natural process that operates by certain rules.  In this book, the magic system is called Allomancy, and involves ingesting certain metals to fuel one’s powers.  If you run out of metal, you run out of magic, and if it’s in the middle of a fight then you’re pretty much screwed.  This means that while magic is extremely powerful, it’s not invincible.

I found myself quickly getting attached to the main characters, but Sanderson even Sanderson’s minor characters are fully fleshed and complex.  My favorite is Sazed, who studies and preserves knowledge of the many religions that have been suppressed by the Lord Ruler.

I can’t stop gushing about how fantastic this book is.  It is one of Sanderson’s earlier novels, and his writing is a bit better in The Way of Kings, but the story here is engaging.  By engaging, I mean that there is no way to stop yourself from reading the last 200 pages in one sitting, regardless of what previous plans you may have had.  It’s impossible to put down.

Oh, and unlike most books that are part of a trilogy, this one has a definite end to it’s story arc while still leaving room for the other two books.  I like that.  I get very frustrated when books don’t end.  It’s one of my pet peeves.

I’d highly recommend “Mistborn:  The Final Empire” for anyone looking for a well-written and captivating fantasy novel.

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I read this book as part of the Once Upon a Time Challenge and the Speculative Fiction Challenge.

“Roadside Picnic” by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

As many of you know, I’m a bit of a Russian literature nerd.  When I saw a new translation of “Roadside Picnic” by the Strugatsky brothers on NetGalley, I requested it immediately.

Ursula K. LeGuin wrote an excellent introduction, and I loved the following quotation from it:

Science fiction lends itself readily to imaginative subversion of any status quo.  Bureaucrats and politicians, who can’t afford to cultivate their imaginations, tend to assume it’s all ray-guns and nonsense, good for children.

Not that ray guns aren’t awesome, but you get the point.  This is a piece of Soviet sci-fi from the 70s, and one generally would expect anything that was published in Russia at the time to convey a certain ideological message.  “Roadside Picnic” doesn’t.  It feels almost radically non-political.  It examines both the darkness and hope inherent in the human condition, but it doesn’t even pretend to have any of the answers.

In “Roadside Picnic,” aliens visited Earth but left quickly, leaving behind several Zones filled with their trash.  Redrick Schubart, the protagonist, is a “Stalker”–someone who illegally enters the Zone to bring back alien technology to sell on the black market.  Humans are trying to use items from the Zone to further their own technological advancement, but nobody has any idea what anything in the Zone was intended for.  Nobody even knows why the aliens came or why they left.

The Zone is a dangerous place, and Stalkers tend to have mutant children.  Redrick’s own daughter is a furry creature referred to as the Monkey.  Schubart cares about his family and tries to do what’s best for them despite the danger and legal ramifications of his job.

If the term “Stalker” sounds familiar, it is because “Roadside Picnic” has had a major cultural impact.  It inspired a film adaptation by Andrei Tarkovsky, one of the most famous Russian directors of all time.  The film then went on to inspire the video games “Stalker:  Shadows of Chernobyl” and its sequels, but in the games the Zone is the result of a nuclear disaster rather than an alien visit.  For anyone who’s played the game, a brief word of warning:  The book is nothing like it, even though some elements may be similar.  Don’t go in expecting gun fights and action.  That’s not the intended purpose of the novel, and if it’s what you’re expecting to see, you’ll be disappointed.

One of the things that I loved about this novel is how philosophical it is.  Redrick spends a lot of time drunkenly pondering his role as a Stalker and the implications of his own decisions.  He talks about the social impact of the Zone and how it created a black market that brings out the worst in humanity.  I also liked that it was told from the point of view of an average person struggling to make a living and provide for his family rather than from the perspective of someone in charge.  There’s no glory, just the gritty reality of life.

I enjoyed this book tremendously, and would highly recommend it.

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I read this book as part of the Speculative Fiction Challenge.

Mistborn Groupread, Part V

This groupread has flown by!  This week’s discussion covers the last section of “Mistborn:  The Final Empire” by Brandon Sanderson.  If you haven’t read the book, you should not read the rest of this post, as it will include major spoilers.  I’ll be posting a spoiler-free review of the book in a couple days for anyone who hasn’t been following along.

The above Mistborn fan art is The Ash is Falling by LadyUranus.

Carl wrote this week’s discussion questions.  Check out his blog for links to everyone’s discussions.

1.  So, what do you think of Kelsier’s plan now? Or his ‘plan within a plan’?  How do you feel the late introduction of the kandra and how it fit into Kelsier’s plan?

The Kandra is so interesting.  We knew the whole time that there was something off about Renoux, and now we know what it is.  I like the connection to the Mistwraiths; it makes me even more curious about what happened when the Lord Ruler took power.

On one hand I’m still very sad about Kelsier’s death, but it did provide the cataclysmic event necessary to snap the skaa out of their complacency and make them stand up.  Kelsier’s been planning this ever since Mare’s death, and he knew he was going to sacrifice himself.  The plan worked, but I don’t think Kelsier believed that the Deepness was real.  Whatever it is, they’re going to have to fight it without him now.

2.  The final section of the book was very Vin-centric.  How do you feel about the choices she made and did you have any worries/fears about what might happen to her before everything was resolved?

I was worried when the Eleventh Metal didn’t work.  I had guessed that the Lord Ruler was both a Feruchemist and an Allomancer, which would have been the key to his defeat.  Honestly though my biggest panic was when Vin was in her cell and they brought Sazed in.  I was terrified that they’d torture and/or kill him.  I breathed a big sigh of relief when I realized that he’d intended to get himself captured.

3.  After all that we find out that the Lord Ruler wasn’t the prophesied one after all.  Surprised? Had you figured it out?  What thoughts do you have about the big reveal, including how it tied into Sazed’s people?

I hadn’t guessed it, but it makes so much sense.  I was very sympathetic toward the Lord Ruler of the journals and had a hard time reconciling that man who had such good intentions with the tyrant ruling Luthadel.  Since the Lord Ruler was a fake, it makes sense that he’d want to stifle the Terrisman prophecies as well as any information that his claim isn’t legitimate.  The thing that still worries me though is that even the fake Lord Ruler seemed to be very worried about The Deepness.  If it can freak out a man who can execute and torture his own people on a whim, it must be some pretty scary stuff.

4.  There was some back and forth about Elend throughout the story and we finally got to see him take a greater stand.  Any predictions about what might happen in book two with Elend taking on leadership duties?

I’m guessing that Elend is going to replace Kelsier as a point-of-view character.  I like that they put him on the throne; his education seems to uniquely prepare him for leadership, and his ties to House Venture give him a legitimate enough claim in the eyes of the nobility to represent a greater deal of stability than if an unknown were to take the throne.  Yes, he’s a bit naive, but he’s got Vin and crew to back him up and tell him if he starts getting out-of-hand.

Also, I’d have loved to see the look on his face when he was trying to save Vin only to realize that she’s a full Mistborn and can kick Inquisitor ass.  I hope he doesn’t feel too intimidated by her.

5.  Lastly, provide a little wrap up of your experience with the book.  What do you think Sanderson’s strengths are?  How does this book stack up against other fantasies you’ve read?

Sanderson is one of my favorite fantasy authors because he’s so unique.  His stories aren’t just a rehashing of Tolkein, and I love that they’re all interconnected.  His fight scenes are so vivid that you can picture every detail.  All in all, he’s just fantastic.  Also, he needs to write faster.  Just saying…

New Acquisitions – 5/6/12

Since I’m almost done with the semester, I took a trip to the used bookstore to celebrate and found some sci-fi treasures.  I’ve been following Women In SF&F Month over at Fantasy Cafe, which made me want to pick up some more sci-fi novels by female authors.

• “The Quiet Invasion” by Sarah Zettel – Andrea over at The Little Red Reviewer recently reviewed “Fool’s War” by Sarah Zettel, which made me want to read it.  It’s out of print, so I was hoping that I might be able to find a used copy.  The used bookstore didn’t have it, but they did have this one!  It’s about aliens that land on Venus.

• “The Speed of Dark” by Elizabeth Moon – This one is a Nebula-winner.  It’s about a man with autism who is offered a cure, but must decide whether to accept it because it would change the way that he thinks and perceives the world.

• “Dinosaur Planet Survivors” by Anne McCaffrey – This one seems to be set in the same universe as Sassinak, which I enjoyed a lot despite it’s many flaws.  Space pirates and dinosaurs make me happy.  Anne McCaffrey is my go-to author for comfort reading, and this seems like something I’d enjoy.

• “Nimisha’s Ship” by Anne McCaffrey – This one is set in the same universe as the Crystal Singer trilogy.  I’ll be reading both of the McCaffrey books a bit out of order, but I don’t think it matters because her stories tend to be able to stand alone even when they’re a part of a series.

• My copy of C. S. Friedman’s “Legacy of Kings,” the final book of the Magister Trilogy, also came in this weekend.  I was going to wait to buy it till it came out in paperback, but it was on sale on Amazon a few days ago and I couldn’t resist.  I’m not very patient when waiting for sequels.

Has anyone read any of these, and if so, how are they?  Have you gotten any new books lately?

Red Seas Under Red Skies Readalong, Part II

Welcome to the second week of the Red Seas Under Red Skies readalong hosted by The Little Red Reviewer.

The RSURS fan art to the left is Locke Lamora – colour by tenleftthumbs.  It seemed particularly fitting for this week’s section of the book.

It might take me a couple days to get around to visiting everyone’s posts; it’s finals time and I still have some work to finish up before the weekend’s over.

From this point onward there will be spoilers.

“And I meant it.  I’m not going to kill you, you cabbage-brained twit; I’m just going to kick you until it stops feeling good!”

Now that we know a little more about Selendri and Requin, what do you think of them? I worry Locke is suddenly realizing this con might be a bit tougher than he expected.

Scott Lynch doesn’t cease to amaze me with sheer number of ways that he can come up with to torture people.  Poor Selendri… My guess is that even though Selendri got her arm burned off she’s still working for the Archon.  I don’t think you can just stop being an Eye.  There’s a reason why she doesn’t like Locke, and I think she knows that Requin is being played.  If so, then why isn’t she telling on him?

What did you think of  Salon Corbeau and the goings on that occur there? A bit crueler than a Camorri crime boss, no?

To reiterate from the last question:  Scott Lynch doesn’t cease to amaze me with the sheer number of ways he can come up with to torture people.  Please oh please let Locke give them all a dose of their own medicine.  Lady Saljesca gets Falconer treatment though.  It’s very rare that I wish characters to die slowly and painfully, but torturing poor people for your own perverse amusement is WRONG.

The Archon might be a megalomaniacal military dictator, but he thinks he’s doing right by Tal Verrar: his ultimate goal seems to be to protect them.  What do you think he’s so afraid of?

The Bondsmagi are some pretty scary dudes.  I could see the Archon fearing their power, especially if it interferes with his own.  Honestly though I think he’s just afraid of losing his funding/navy.

And who the heck is trying to kill Locke and Jean every few days?  they just almost got poisoned (again!)!

I’m thinking Selendri.  She’s close enough to the Archon to know that Locke and Jean are up to something, but she’s not stupid and wants to clean things up herself.  Of course, I’m probably wrong, and it’s probably someone we haven’t even met yet.

Do you really think it’s possibly for a city rat like Locke to fake his way onto a Pirate ship?

Of course, and I can’t wait to see him try!

A couple random things bothered me in this section.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying the book so far, but… the tipping scene seemed a bit anachronistic.  Tipping’s a pretty modern American concept, and it felt out of place.  Also, what’s up with the whole “larboard” thing?

I love how we’re seeing so much clockwork in RSURS so far.  It gives the book kind of a steampunk aesthetic, which is quite different from Camorr.

See everyone next week for chapters 7-10!

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Edit as of 5/6/12:  I was wrong about the larboard and the tipping.  I’m learning a lot this week!

Also, I skipped a question because I wrote this up in a sleep-deprived haze at 2am after finishing up several papers.  Time to write down the answer!

Isn’t the Artificers’ Crescent just amazing?  If you could purchase anything there, what would it be?

I want a cute fluffy clockwork pet that I’m not allergic to!  I’m tired of being allergic to everything that’s adorable and fuzzy, and I think the Artificer’s could help me with that.