[Not a Review]How Pat Rothfuss has Ruined my Life

Dearest Readers,

Remember me? I used to write reviews here all the time! I used to read 50 books a year! I used to have all sorts of passionate things to say about fantasy literature, both good and bad!

But then a mean, mean man named Pat Rothfuss came along. After a long and painful 3 year wait, he released the second book in a trilogy of his; a trilogy called the Kingkiller Chronicle. Knowing that this excellent novel would soon be in my hands, I re-read the first novel in the series. This was no mean feat, as it clocks in near 1000 pages. Then I worked my way greedily through the newest installment, The Wise Man's Fear, also quite lengthy. I laughed, I cried, I yelled, and I did nothing but read for over a week. When I finished it, I turned it over and started reading it again.

"But Lisa," you may ask, "How could such a wonderful experience possible ruin you in any way?"

Here's how, gentle readers: nothing else is good enough anymore. I've tried all of my tricks for getting out of a "reading rut" and nothing seems to work.

I've tried a little low quality smut (Two! Freaking TWO Laurell K. Hamilton books). Usually if I read something throw-away it will clear out my system and make me excited to get back to "the good stuff". But no. This time it just made me angry that such utter crap could exist and be making money when shining paragons of perfection like Wise Man's Fear exist.

I've tried reading fantasy at the opposite end of the spectrum. Surely some nice gritty, bloody, cursing-filled Joe Abercrombie would reset my fantastical moral compass? I made it to the last 80 pages of The Heroes and then I completely ran out of steam. I couldn't force myself to continue reading anything that engaged me emotionally so little. The characters were real, but they weren't lovable... and once you have loved Bast and Kvothe, how can you care about anyone less worthy?

I've tried some non-modern fantasy, in a sub-genre I've never touched before: The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart is a 40-year-old novel in the lore of King Arthur and Merlin. Vastly different from almost any fantasy I've read - and still it neither moved me nor engaged me.

I've tried young adult novels, knowing they will be middle of the road, but maybe guide me back towards a good mindset (Lirael by Garth Nix). I've tried short novellas by my favorite authors set in my favorite universes (Bayan's Gold by Peter V. Brett). I've tried new, exciting looking titles (The Scar-crow Men, Never Knew Another) - nothing seems to work.

I was roused from my malaise for approximately 4 hours while I read Steve Brust's latest Vald novel, Tiassa. It is utterly unthinkable that I'd not respond to the literary voice of my favorite historian (One Paarfi). I cackled through Tiassa with utter delight; enraptured, thrilled, engaged, and happier than I had been in months. But then, 4 hours later, Tiassa was over. I started to re-read it, as well, but eventually set it aside as a futile effort: I am doomed to be forever ruined on fantasy novels.

2 months later, I'm still mournfully gazing at my stack, wondering what possibly could shake me out of this literary depression into which I've sunk. I'm looking at Daniel Abraham's newest novel, The Dragon Path... perhaps he will succeed where a solid 10 other books have failed.

Woefully yours,
Lisa the Reviewer, Forever Ruined by Rothfuss

JD's 2010 Book List

Well, it wasn't a great year for quantity! I'm way down from last year's 48 book count with a mere 36 (and a total of 15,403 pages average 42.3 pages a day). And two of those aren't even fiction. Ouch. Still, there were a great deal of wonderful books this year. Some of them, like Heart of Darkness and Kraken were the sort that simply enchanted me with words. Some of them, like The Lions of Al-Rassan and The Way of Kings engrossed me completely in their worlds and people. Two authors managed to perform the rare "back-to-back", getting me to pick up a sequel as soon as I set down the book (I'm looking at you Daniel Abraham and Pierre Pevel). There are some gems in there I'd forgotten about too. Agent to the Stars and The Exile Kiss in particular made me smile as I glanced through the list.

It wasn't all tea and roses though. I wrote a rare terrible review (down from two last year though, so either I'm learning or getting more forgiving!), and there were plenty of books too mediocre to care enough about to write a review. There were, of course, amazing books that I never got around to reviewing too. The top of my damn-I-should-have-reviewed-that list are: The Magicians (super fast: I didn't like it nearly as much as everybody else), The Name of the Rose (being bored has never been so engrossing), and The Warded Man (!).

1. Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad) - 102 pgs - Finished 1/7/2010
2. Boneshaker (Cherie Priest) - 416 pgs - Finished 1/8/2010
3. Odd and the Frost Giants (Neil Gaiman) - 128 pgs - Finished 1/9/2010
4. The Magicians (Lev Grossman) - 416 pgs - Finished 1/22/2010
5. Riddle of Steel (Roleplaying) - Finished 1/23/2010
6. The Makers (Cory Doctorow) - 416 pgs - Gave up at page 350 on (2/15/2010)
7. The Steel Remain (Richard Morgan) - 432 pages - Finished 2/24/2010
8. The Name of the Rose (Umberto Eco) - 600 pages - Finished 3/7/2010
9. Agent to the Stars (John Scalzi) - 365 pages - Finished 3/11/2010
10. The Exile Kiss (George Alec Effinger) - 315 pages - Finished 3/17/2010
11. The Windup Girl (Paolo Bacigalupi) - 300 Pages - Finished 4/7/2010
12. Divine Misfortune (A. Lee Martinez) - 320 Pages - Finished 4/15/2010
13. A Betrayal In Winter (Daniel Abraham) - 384 Pages - Finished 4/30/2010
14. An Autumn War (Daniel Abraham) - 366 Pages - Finished 5/5/2010
15. The Price of Spring (Daniel Abraham) - 352 Pages - Finished 5/22/2010
16. The God Engines (John Scalzi) - 136 Pages - Finished 5/22/2010
17. Houses of the Blooded (John Wick) - 428 Pages - Finished 5/21/2010
18. Anathem (Neal Stephenson) - 960 Pages - Finished 7/1/2010
19. Territory (Emma Bull) - 432 Pages - Finished 7/15/2010
20. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larson) - 608 Pages - Finished 7/26/2010
21. The Lions of Al-Rassan (Guy Gavriel Kay) - 528 Pages - Book ruined. Finally Finished 11/17/2010
22. The Affinity Bridge (George Mann) - 356 Pages - Finished 8/3/2010
23. Kraken (China Mieville) - 528 Pages - Finished 8/18/2010
24. Dies the Fire (S.M. Sterling) - 592 Pages - Finished 9/7/2010
25. The Evolutionary Void (Peter F. Hamilton) - 704 Pgs - Finished 9/16/2010
26. Use of Weapons (Iain M. Banks) - 512 Pgs - Finished 9/21/2010
27. Getting Naked (Patrick Lencioni) - 240 Pages - Finished 9/30/2010
28. Way of Kings (Brandon Sanderson) - 1008 Pages - Finished 10/7/2010
29. Raving Fans (Ken Blanchard) - 160 Pages - Finished 10/12/2010
30. Deathstalker (Simon R. Green) - 528 Pages - Finished 10/22/2010
31. The Cardinals Blades (Pierre Pevel) - 309 Pages - Finished 11/2/2010
32. The Alchemist in the Shadows (Pierre Pevel) - 336 Pages - Finished 11/3/2010
33. Elantris (Brandon Sanderson) - 496 Pages - Finished 11/17/2010
34. Green (Jay Lake) - 368 Pages - Finished 11/29/2010
35. Iron Angel (Alan Campbell) - 512 pgs - Finished 12/15/2010
36. The Warded Man (Peter V. Brett) - 480 Pgs - Finished 12/27/2010

And because Lisa demands it, here are my top 5 for 2010:
(In no particular order, and again excluding sequels to make my life easier)
1. The Warded Man
2. Lion's of Al-Rassan
3. The Windup Girl
4. Kraken
5. Way of Kings

Spring Cleaning!

I'm really horrible about starting reviews then never finishing them. As such, I have a pile of reviews half finished in my drafts folder. In the spirit of spring cleaning, I'll be posting them this week in various states of completeness - I'll try to complete the ones that deserve it, and maybe just leave the others "as is." I recommend that my other slacker reviewers on this site do the same!

Happy spring!

JD's 2009 Review

Me too! Me too! I didn't get nearly so much reading done this year as LisaBit (I blame gaming) it still ended up being a pretty healthy stack. Also, I'm terrible at both remembering things (that's why this blog exists!) and keeping up with things (that's why this blog updates so infrequently!) so this list may not be complete. Also also, I don't feel like looking up how to spell the authors' names so... I'm not gonna.

1. Whitechapel Gods
2. Jhegaala
3. Little Brother
4. Graveyard Book
5. Clay's Ark
6. World War Z
7. Counting Heads
8. Domino Men
9. Glass Books of the Dream Eaters
10. CthuluTech*
11. CthuluTech: Vade Mecum*
12. Tigana
13. Temporal Void
14. Mistborn
15. Halting State
16. Alpha Omega*
17. The Well of Ascension
18. The Hero of Ages
19. Dark Arts
20. Monster
21. Warbreaker
22. Blood of Ambrose **
23. The Family Business
24. The Man with a Golden Torque
25. Manual of Detection
26. Old Man's War
27. Misspent Youth **
28. The Forever War
29. The City & The City
30. Thirteen
31. The Ghost Brigades
32. As You Wish
33. The Devil You Know
34. Bar None
35. Red Wolf Conspiracy
36. Slaughterhouse Five
37. The Sheriff of Yrnameer
38. The Last Colony
39. Daemons Are Forever
40. Inheritor
41. Sandman Slim
42. Unseen Academicals
43. Frankenstein ***
44. Debatable Space
45. Matter
46. The Stranger
47. Zoe's Tale
48. Bridge of Birds

* Roleplaying
** Did not finish
*** Out of order (badly)

As for my top 5 (in chronological order, naturally).... Little Brother, World War Z, Tigana, The Forever War, and The Stranger. Several others deserve to be in that list but I left off because they are part of a series, which was a relatively simple way of trimming my list to 5. That said, I read all four books of Scalzi's Old Man's War universe this year, so it deserves particular mention.

Lisa's 2009 Review

In 2008 I read 51 books, and in my year-end review glibly said “maybe in 2009 I can make it to 60!” Well. This year I accidentally read 70. A grand total of 27590 pages, which equates to about 76 pages a day. I blame all the work travel – lots of plane time to bump up my totals! Here is the full list:

1. Backup by Jim Butcher
2. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
3. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
4. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
5. Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams
6. So Long and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams
7. The Sword by Deborah Chester
8. A Magic of Twilight by S. L. Farrell
9. Last Watch by Segei Lukyanenko
10. Small Favor by Jim Butcher
11. The Black Company by Glen Cook
12. A Magic of Nightfall by S. L. Farrell
13. The book of lost things by John Connolly
14. Lamentation by Ken Scholes
15. The Domino Men by Jonathan Barnes
16. Hand of Isis by Jo Graham
17. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson
18. The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson
19. Steward of Song by Adam Stemple
20. The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson
21. Peter and the StarCatchers by Dave Barry & Ridley Pearson
22. Nation by Terry Pratchett
23. Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm
24. Conqueror's Moon by Julian May
25. The Stranger by Max Frei
26. Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik
27. The City & The City by China Mieville
28. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein
29. Skin Trade by Laurel K. Hamilton
30. WarBreaker by Brandon Sanderson
31. Clay's Ark by Octavia Butler
32. The Exile Kiss by George Alec Effinger
33. Namah's Kiss by Jacqueline Carey
34. Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
35. Act of Will by A. J. Hartley
36. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
37. Song for Arbonne by Guy Gavriel Kay
38. Dead Until Dawn by Charlaine Harris
39. The Enchantments of Flesh & Spirit by Storm Constantine
40. The Bewitchments of Love & Hate by Storm Constantine
41. Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
42. The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
43. The Last Colony by John Scalzi
44. Monster by A Lee Martinez
45. Turn Coat by Jim Butcher
46. Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett
47. Mountain of Black Glass by Tad Williams
48. Sea of Silver Light by Tad Williams
49. Basket Case by Carl Hiaasen
50. Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V. S. Redick
51. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
52. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
53. Havemercy by Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett
54. As You Wish by Jackson Pearce
55. The Woad to Wuin by Peter David
56. The Magicians by Lev Grossman
57. Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
58. Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner
59. Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi
60. Wolfskin by Juliet Marillier
61. World War Z by Max Brooks
62. Canticle by Ken Scholes
63. 500 Years After by Paarfi of Roundwood (re-read)
64. The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay
65. The Wandering Fire by Guy Gavriel Kay
66. The Darkest Road by Guy Gavriel Kay
67. Ariel by Steven R. Boyett
68. The Martian Chronicals by Ray Bradbury
69. Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart
70. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Books that I read 100-250 pages of before putting down were: The Sword, Conqueror’s Moon, Basket Case, Woad to Wuin, and Wolfskin.

Picking my top 5 favorite this year is easier than most years – it seems like I read a whole lot of “so-so” books, with a few bright gems. In no particular order, my favorites are: The Magicians, Tigana, The Stranger, Mistborn, and The Ghost Brigades. And of course it goes without saying that I re-read 500 Years After because the Khaavren Romances remain solidly lodged as my favorite fantasy novels of all time.

I’m starting off 2010 already 400 pages into Pandora’s Star, setting myself up for some more sci-fi in my reading diet. I also have a backlog of several half-written reviews that I hope to post soon. Happy reading in the new year!

[Lisa's Take] Wolfskin - Juliet Marillier

Warning: this isn’t really a review. I read the first 2/3 of Wolfskin, then lost interest and let other things distract me. This is a rarity – usually I either hate a book and suffer through 100 pages out of obligation before putting it down, or I enjoy it enough not to keep reading to the end, faults aside. The premise was kind of boring to me (young Viking boy wants to be a Big Strong Fighter! Follow him as he grows up, meets a grey/scheming counterpart, then sails across to Greenland and meets the people there). Nothing about the book hooked me, and I only kept reading as long as I did because I was trapped on a plane with it.

Now. I see Juliet Marillier’s name ALL OVER the place. She publishes like a mofo and has a bunch of books out there. I know for sure that I have a couple of other books in my stack that were written by her. So – can one of you other fantasy lovers tell me if any of her books are more worthwhile? Unless I get a vote of confidence, I’m probably going to prune her out of my stack and move on. It just seems a shame to dismiss a prolific author who has at least a little promise without getting a second opinion.

Thoughts?

2008 Review

Inspired by Geoff, I decided to keep a list of the books that I read this year. Below is the complete list, in (more or less) order of book completion. I didn't really have a goal in mind when I started, but I made it to 51 books, which seems a good number for a year. Maybe next year I can make it 60!

1. The Phoenix Guards (re-read) by Steven Brust
   
2. Fire in the Sun by George Alec Effinger
   
3. Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
   
4. Privilege of the Sword (re-read) by Ellen Kushner
   
5. Dead Beat by Jim Butcher
   
6. Wicked by Gregory Maguire
   
7. Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher
   
8. The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes
   
9. Lord Foul's Bane (didn't finish) by Stephen R. Donaldson
   
10. Territory by Emma Bull
    
11. The Gunslinger by Stephen King
    
12. Renegade's Magic by Robin Hobb
    
13. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
    
14. My Own Kind of Freedom (not published) by Steven Brust
    
15. Fire Study by Maria Snyder
    
16. Otherland - River of Blue Fire by Tad Williams
    
17. Sabriel by Garth Nix
    
18. Black Ships by Jo Graham
    
19. Sir Apropos of Nothing
20. Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner
    
21. Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik
    
22. Before They Are Hanged by Jow Abercrombie
    
23. Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay
    
24. The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue
    
25. Dies the Fire by George Alec Effinger
    
26. The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez
    
27. Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey
    
28. The Dark Volume by Gordon Dahlquist
    
29. Blood Noir by Laurel K. Hamilton
    
30. Jhegaala by Steve Brust
    
31. The Immortal Prince by Jennifer Fallon
    
32. The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
    
33. Dragon Champion by E. E. Knight
    
34. Tigerheart by Peter David
    
35. White Night by Jim Butcher
    
36. Holder of Lightning by S. L. Farrell
    
37. The Magicians and Mrs. Quent by Galen M. Beckett
    
38. Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin
    
39. The Sordid Tale of Jackie D (not yet published) by C. L. Witten
    
40. Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
    
41. The Good Fairies of New York (didn't finish) Martin Millar
    
42. Last Dragon by J. M. McDermott
    
43. The Stand by Stephen King
    
44. Little Brother by Corey Doctorow
    
45. Man with the Golden Torc by Simon R. Green
    
46. Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett
    
47. Hood by Stephen Lawhead
    
48. Too Many Curses by A. Lee Martinez
    
49. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
    
50. Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead
    
51. Halting State by Charles Stross
    

Spreading the Love

In an effort to help Grasping for the Wind get a well-fleshed-out list of fantasy review blogs compiled and exposed, I'm re-sharing the list below. Yay bloggery!

7 Foot Shelves
The Accidental Bard
A Dribble Of Ink
Adventures in Reading
The Agony Column
The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.
Barbara Martin
Bibliophile Stalker
Bibliosnark
BillWardWriter.com
Bitten by Books
Blog, Jvstin Style
Blood of the Muse
Bookgeeks
Bookslut
The Book Smugglers
Bookspotcentral
The Book Swede
Bookrastination
Breeni Books
Cheaper Ironies [pro columnist]
Cheryl's Musings
Critical Mass
Dark Wolf Fantasy Reviews
Darque Reviews
Dave Brendon's Fantasy and Sci-Fi Weblog
The Deckled Edge
Dragons, Heroes and Wizards
The Discriminating Fangirl
Dusk Before the Dawn
Enter the Octopus
Eve's Alexandria
Fantastic Reviews
Fantastic Reviews Blog
Fantasy Book Critic
Fantasy Cafe
Fantasy Debut
Fantasy Book Reviews and News
Fantasy and Sci-fi Lovin' Blog
Feminist SF - The Blog!
The Fix
The Foghorn Review
Frances Writes
From a Sci-Fi Standpoint
Fruitless Recursion
The Galaxy Express
Galleycat
The Gamer Rat
Genre Reviews
Graeme's Fantasy Book Review
Grasping for the Wind
The Green Man Review
Hasenpfeffer
Highlander's Book Reviews
io9
Jumpdrives and Cantrips
Lair of the Undead Rat
Literary Escapism
Michele Lee's Book Love
The Mistress of Ancient Revelry
Monster Librarian
Mostly Harmless Books
My Favourite Books
Neth Space
NextRead
OF Blog of the Fallen
The Old Bat's Belfry
Outside of a Dog
Pat's Fantasy Hotlist
Piaw's Blog
Post-Weird Thoughts
Publisher's Weekly
Reading the Leaves
Realms of Speculative Fiction
Rob's Blog o' Stuff
Robots and Vamps
Sandstorm Reviews
ScifiChick
SF Diplomat
SciFiGuy
Sci-Fi Fan Letter
Sci-Fi Songs [Musical Reviews]
The Sequential Rat
Severian's Fantastic Worlds
SF Gospel
SF Reviews.net
SF Revu
SF Signal
SF Site
SFF World's Book Reviews
Silver Reviews
Speculative Fiction
Speculative Fiction Junkie
Speculative Horizons
Spiral Galaxy Reviews
Spontaneous Derivation
Sporadic Book Reviews
Stella Matutina
The Sword Review
Tangent Online
Temple Library Reviews
Tor.com [also a publisher]
The Road Not Taken
Un:Bound
Urban Fantasy Land
Vast and Cool and Unsympathetic
Variety SF
Walker of Worlds
Wands and Worlds
The Wertzone
With Intent to Commit Horror
WJ Fantasy Reviews
The World in a Satin Bag
WriteBlack
Young Adult Science Fiction

Foreign Language (other than English)

Cititor SF [Romanian, but with English Translation]

Elbakin.net [French]

Foundation of Krantas [Chinese (traditional)]

The SF Commonwealth Office in Taiwan [Chinese (traditional) with some English essays]

Yenchin's Lair [Chinese (traditional)]

Fernando Trevisan [Brazilian, Portuguese]

Human 2.0 [Brazilian, Portuguese]

Life and Times of a Talkative Bookworm [Brazilian, Porteguese]

pós-estranho [Brazilian, Portuguese]

Fantasy Seiten [German, Deustche]

Fantasy Buch [German, Deustche]

Literaturschock [German, Deustche]

Welt der fantasy [German, Deustche]

Bibliotheka Phantastika [German, Deustche]

SF Basar [German, Deustche]

Phantastick News [German, Deustche]

X-zine [German, Deustche]

Buchwum [German, Deustche]

Phantastick Couch [German, Deustche]

Wetterspitze [German, Deustche]

Fantasy News [German, Deustche]

Fantasy Faszination [German, Deustche]

Fantasy Guide [German, Deustche]

Zwergen Reich [German, Deustche]

Fiction Fantasy [German, Deustche]

Week of Mini-Reviews

It’s that time again! Time for another week of mini-reviews! If you’re like me and have just a few words to say about a big backlog of books, this is your chance. Go crazy up until Friday.

A Week of Mini Review - In Closing

Well! That about finishes off the week of mini reviews. Between the two of us we knocked out miniature-ramblings on 18 books! I'm very glad to have my queue clear so I can stop feeling bad about missing so many.

From now on: a full review for every book! ...At least until I get lazy and fall behind once again.

A Week of Mini Reviews

So I have a depressing backlog of books that I'd like to review, but for whatever reason can't put together a full-on review of. Sometimes it's just been too long since I read it for me to get a solid plot summary, sometimes I just can't wrap my head around words that express what I'm trying to say, and sometimes I'm just lazy.

As a result, I've decided that this week will be a week of Mini Reviews - reviews that are just a paragraph or so long, followed by a bottom line: thumbs up or thumbs down. Hopefully my fellow reviewers will get in on this action as well, in order to clear out their review queues.

If this works out well, maybe I'll make it a once-or-twice a year thing. Let me know what you all think about it!