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(belatedly) books read in March
Apr. 28th, 2006 05:56 pmI’ve been too stressed and busy to write anything this month, which isn’t good. It’s feeling like May could be a mite easier, though I probably shouldn’t write that...
Anyhow, belatedly, here are the two books I managed to finish in March:
Paradox, by John Meaney
I’ve put off reading this for years, purely on the spectacularly rational grounds that I loved To Hold Infinity so much; I wanted to read more in that ‘verse. A chance encounter with a copy in the used book stall in Bath’s arcade finally put my avoidance to rest. So was it worth the wait?
I’ll have to give it a conditional “maybe”. It certainly gripped me as a narrative, and has some nifty ideas, but ultimately it didn’t cohere as a novel for me. Part of this is because it’s so obviously the first book in a sequence; the loose ends are presumably addressed in the later volumes, but the overall kid-from-the-underclass-makes-good-and-bucks-the-system storyline was, well, a little too obvious from the off.
I do want to know the missing story between the first Pilots and the situation on Nulapeiron; I do want to know where Oracles originated; I do want to know what the significance of Kilware Associates is. However, I haven’t, after over a month, felt enough impetus to order a copy of Context (the next in the sequence), so I guess I’ve not been left that curious.
River of Gods, by Ian McDonald
What can I say? This book is extraordinary: multi-layered and complex, yet endlessly fascinating and readable; I came away from it stunned, with an urge to re-read Midnight’s Children again (this is a good thing).
The evocations of place, the social, political and environmental extrapolations, the characterisation... The whole thing exceeds even the high standards I’ve come to expect from McDonald and I recommend it without reservation. My only quibble (and it’s a tiny one) is that the final parts of the narrative are perhaps a little too dense, but I suspect that (along with my need to keep referring back to remind myself who everyone in the massive cast of players was) will go on a second reading.
Anyhow, belatedly, here are the two books I managed to finish in March:
Paradox, by John MeaneyI’ve put off reading this for years, purely on the spectacularly rational grounds that I loved To Hold Infinity so much; I wanted to read more in that ‘verse. A chance encounter with a copy in the used book stall in Bath’s arcade finally put my avoidance to rest. So was it worth the wait?
I’ll have to give it a conditional “maybe”. It certainly gripped me as a narrative, and has some nifty ideas, but ultimately it didn’t cohere as a novel for me. Part of this is because it’s so obviously the first book in a sequence; the loose ends are presumably addressed in the later volumes, but the overall kid-from-the-underclass-makes-good-and-bucks-the-system storyline was, well, a little too obvious from the off.
I do want to know the missing story between the first Pilots and the situation on Nulapeiron; I do want to know where Oracles originated; I do want to know what the significance of Kilware Associates is. However, I haven’t, after over a month, felt enough impetus to order a copy of Context (the next in the sequence), so I guess I’ve not been left that curious.
River of Gods, by Ian McDonaldWhat can I say? This book is extraordinary: multi-layered and complex, yet endlessly fascinating and readable; I came away from it stunned, with an urge to re-read Midnight’s Children again (this is a good thing).
The evocations of place, the social, political and environmental extrapolations, the characterisation... The whole thing exceeds even the high standards I’ve come to expect from McDonald and I recommend it without reservation. My only quibble (and it’s a tiny one) is that the final parts of the narrative are perhaps a little too dense, but I suspect that (along with my need to keep referring back to remind myself who everyone in the massive cast of players was) will go on a second reading.