Finished The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty, the 2nd book in The Daevabad Trilogy.

Went straight to the sequel, The Empire of Gold, the 3rd and last book in the series.

What about all of you, what have you been reading and listening?

  • GreyShuckEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago
    • Finished Craig Hinton’s GodEngine - this book was evidently written in a hurry and it shows. After an interesting seeming start, it becomes pretty tedious, has a few lapses in basic proofreading, is moved along by implausible plot-serving decisions by the characters with even less plausible outcomes and generally has very little to recommend it. This is the 51st (I think) in this series of Doctor Who novels. I will push on to the end - another 10 - but I hope that remainder are better.
    • Finished Robert Brightwell’s Flashman’s Waterloo - I had already got as far as Quatre Bras in this one so this week just read the final section which was very effective, taking the protagonist to many of the most notable areas of the battlefield, putting the author’s research to extremely good use. This novel is one of the best in the series so far, but I am going to take a break at this natural pause before returning to the remainder of these prequels.
    • Finished Adam Biles’ Beasts of England - a sequel to Orwell’s Animal Farm in the light of current political trends including Brexit. Biles definitely captures the tone of Orwell’s book and introduces some new metaphors that work initially, but - in one major case particularly - he then strains beyond credibility. The book is not really about the actual logistics and mechanics of the farm, of course, but you really do need to keep that in mind, keep your disbelief well and truly suspended and focus on the characters and satire to enjoy the book towards the end. That said, the conclusion is effective and is definitely not restricted to Brexit or UK politics at all, and I am glad that I stayed with it.
    • Started Sandra Newman’s Julia - another Orwell inspired novel, this time a telling of 1984 from Julia’s perspective. Five chapters in, I am very impressed. It seamlessly adds a great deal of depth and texture to this world as seen through Julia’s eyes whilst telling its own, compelling, tale. It has been a very long while since I read 1984 but recall it pretty well and planned to read this alone. However I have given in and am now re-reading the original alongside too.
    • dresden@discuss.onlineOPMEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      I have read good things about Julia, going to add it to my wishlist. Might as well give Beasts of England a try too.