Wed Reading Meme...
Mar. 26th, 2014 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatWhat I just finished reading?
Eh, same as last time - "The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison".
What I'm reading now?
The urban fantasy novel Magic Bites by Illona Andrews - which I'd flirted with previously but hadn't been in the mood for, now I apparently am. I've officially jumped genres. It was bound to happen eventually.
I decided to read "Magic Bites" based on the quotes reprinted at Good Reads, which I found hilarious. Yes, I'm choosing novels based on Good Reads quotes. Well that and the fact that a co-worker heavily rec'd it to me about two years ago.
“Men and swords. My father said that if you put any able-bodied man, no matter how peaceful, into a room with a sword and a practice dummy and leave him alone, eventually the man would pick up the sword and try to stab the dummy. It is human nature.”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Bites
“What happened to the alpha-wolf?"
"LEGOs."
"Legos?" It sounded Greek but I couldn't recall anything mythological with that name. Wasn't it an island?
"He was carrying a load of laundry into the basement and tripped on the old set of LEGOs his kids left on the stairs. Broke two ribs and an ankle.”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Bites
Ilona Andrews is apparently a husband and wife creative writing team who met in a Composition Class in College, she's Russian-American and he's an ex-Army Sergeant. The style is snarky, but the world highly detailed and logical. The authors actually thought it through and follow the rules they set and don't jump off on a tangent - a rarity in this genre. And it reminds me a little of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.
The series is about a hard-ass female magic user and mercernary named Kate Daniels, who solves paranormal problems and mysteries in a post-apocalyptic Atlanta.
Here's Good Reads explanation of the world:
The current novel deals with Kate's investigation of her mentor/father figure's murder. (Think Giles but with major mojo). To investigate his murder she has to work for the Knight Protector (think Watcher Council but again with major mojo). And various shapechangers, including the Beast Lord of the Shapechangers - who few have met and those who do, don't discuss. The vampires in this book are rather different - they are described as brutal human insects, controlled by Necromancers - who pilot them. Far more dangerous than any of the vampire shows or books that I've seen to date. There's no humanity left in them, they have no pity, no mercy, their minds are similar to an insect's mind. They exist merely to feed.
See? Switched genres. This is not a romance, more mystery/urban fantasy a la Dresden Files.
On a separate note? Still reading The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. Say what you will about Atwood - she's a great writer at least from a technical perspective. Also very quotable..in particular, I found myself nodding along with this quote:
The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read. Not by any other person, and not even by yourself at some later date. Otherwise you begin excusing yourself. You must see the writing as emerging like a long scroll of ink from the index finger of your right hand; you must see your left hand erasing it.”
I think this true. When we write knowing someone else will read it - we change how we say the words...alter the thoughts all so subtly...either to impress, entertain, cater, or somehow reach that reader. But when we don't...
What you will be reading next?
Magic Burns - by Illona Andrews. Again, I love the quotes. They fit my snarky and asburdist sense of humor. Actually I want to read the first four novels. (Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, Magic Bleeds) By that time, I'll be reading Butcher's latest Dresden Files. It's rather nice to start a series that already has 7 books...no waiting. Although I'm admittedly not a fan of series - in that you end up committing to those books. I only like serials that are tv shows. Movie and book serials bug me.
Eh, same as last time - "The Undead Pool by Kim Harrison".
What I'm reading now?
The urban fantasy novel Magic Bites by Illona Andrews - which I'd flirted with previously but hadn't been in the mood for, now I apparently am. I've officially jumped genres. It was bound to happen eventually.
I decided to read "Magic Bites" based on the quotes reprinted at Good Reads, which I found hilarious. Yes, I'm choosing novels based on Good Reads quotes. Well that and the fact that a co-worker heavily rec'd it to me about two years ago.
“Men and swords. My father said that if you put any able-bodied man, no matter how peaceful, into a room with a sword and a practice dummy and leave him alone, eventually the man would pick up the sword and try to stab the dummy. It is human nature.”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Bites
“What happened to the alpha-wolf?"
"LEGOs."
"Legos?" It sounded Greek but I couldn't recall anything mythological with that name. Wasn't it an island?
"He was carrying a load of laundry into the basement and tripped on the old set of LEGOs his kids left on the stairs. Broke two ribs and an ankle.”
― Ilona Andrews, Magic Bites
Ilona Andrews is apparently a husband and wife creative writing team who met in a Composition Class in College, she's Russian-American and he's an ex-Army Sergeant. The style is snarky, but the world highly detailed and logical. The authors actually thought it through and follow the rules they set and don't jump off on a tangent - a rarity in this genre. And it reminds me a little of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files.
The series is about a hard-ass female magic user and mercernary named Kate Daniels, who solves paranormal problems and mysteries in a post-apocalyptic Atlanta.
Here's Good Reads explanation of the world:
The world has suffered a magic apocalypse. We pushed the technological progress too far, and now magic returned with a vengeance. It comes in waves, without warning, and vanishes as suddenly as it appears. When magic is up, planes drop out of the sky, cars stall, electricity dies. When magic is down, guns work and spells fail.
It’s a volatile, screwed-up world. Magic feeds on technology, gnawing down on skyscrapers until most of them topple and fall, leaving only skeletal husks behind. Monsters prowl the ruined streets, werebears and werehyenas stalk their prey; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst for knowledge and wealth, pilot blood-crazed vampires with their minds.
In this world lives Kate Daniels. Kate likes her sword a little too much and has a hard time controlling her mouth. The magic in her blood makes her a target, and she spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. But sometimes even trained killers make friends and fall in love, and when the universe tries to kick them in the face, they kick back.
The current novel deals with Kate's investigation of her mentor/father figure's murder. (Think Giles but with major mojo). To investigate his murder she has to work for the Knight Protector (think Watcher Council but again with major mojo). And various shapechangers, including the Beast Lord of the Shapechangers - who few have met and those who do, don't discuss. The vampires in this book are rather different - they are described as brutal human insects, controlled by Necromancers - who pilot them. Far more dangerous than any of the vampire shows or books that I've seen to date. There's no humanity left in them, they have no pity, no mercy, their minds are similar to an insect's mind. They exist merely to feed.
See? Switched genres. This is not a romance, more mystery/urban fantasy a la Dresden Files.
On a separate note? Still reading The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. Say what you will about Atwood - she's a great writer at least from a technical perspective. Also very quotable..in particular, I found myself nodding along with this quote:
The only way you can write the truth is to assume that what you set down will never be read. Not by any other person, and not even by yourself at some later date. Otherwise you begin excusing yourself. You must see the writing as emerging like a long scroll of ink from the index finger of your right hand; you must see your left hand erasing it.”
I think this true. When we write knowing someone else will read it - we change how we say the words...alter the thoughts all so subtly...either to impress, entertain, cater, or somehow reach that reader. But when we don't...
What you will be reading next?
Magic Burns - by Illona Andrews. Again, I love the quotes. They fit my snarky and asburdist sense of humor. Actually I want to read the first four novels. (Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, Magic Bleeds) By that time, I'll be reading Butcher's latest Dresden Files. It's rather nice to start a series that already has 7 books...no waiting. Although I'm admittedly not a fan of series - in that you end up committing to those books. I only like serials that are tv shows. Movie and book serials bug me.