Books

Book 370: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell – Susanna Clark

Clarke, Susanna - Jonathan Strange & Mr. NorrellWhat a journey! I don’t know what I was thinking waiting this long to read this novel. It’s been sitting on my bookshelf for almost 10 months and has been out for over a decade! In the last few months I finally heard enough about Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell to pick it up and read the tome that it is. (AKA the boyfriend wants to watch the new TV adaptation and I said I couldn’t until I read the book.)

I am most definitely beating myself up for not reading it sooner. Sure I was a bit scared of the length, hello doorstop clocking in at 846 pages, but I was even more concerned with the comparisons to Dickens! How wrong I was; how wrong I was. For some reason I let this one comparison (I still think Dickens needed an editor) blind me from the wondrousness that was this book.

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Books

Book 284: The Fall of Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos #2) – Dan Simmons

Simmons, Dan - The Fall of HyperionWhat a follow-up! After reading Hyperion, the first in the Hyperion Cantos, I immediately moved into the second! So glad Alex gave us both of them or I wouldn’t have known what to do, or I would’ve gone out and bought it. Although the style changed from the first novel, this one was just as strong and incredibly intelligent. There are definitely spoilers after the next paragraph so you’ve been warned.

The start of this book was a bit more confusing than the first, again it starts in the middle of the story, but with different characters. Rather than immediately going back to our seven pilgrims and their stories, Simmons introduces us to Joseph Severn, another cybrid (originally a John Keats), and brings in the character Meina Gladstone, CEO of the hegemony and mentioned many times in the previous book. There are of course other characters and they all add to the amazing story, but the core group remain the same.

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2014 Challenges, Books

Book 283: Hyperion (Hyperion Cantos #1) – Dan Simmons

Simmons, Dan - HyperionIf there is a novel that could make someone fall in love with and/ or enjoy Science Fiction, this is the novel. My friend Alex gave Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion, along with a couple of other books, to our house for Christmas. When I asked him which ones I should read he specifically said these and boy was he right! I was so excited finishing this one up, while I was purchasing a guidebook for my sister I picked up the third book in the Hyperion Cantos (four books) and will definitely read all of them.

This review WILL NOT contain spoilers, but no promises for the rest of the Cantos. The way I read, I read an entire series as one story and sometimes blend things together not knowing what comes from which particular installment, but the first one is always easiest to keep spoiler free. What was most exciting about this novel and what kept me so interested was Simmons’ intelligence and writing ability!

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2012 Challenges, Books

Book 96: A Storm of Swords – George R.R. Martin

And with the turn of a page some of the characters I’d grown most fond of were murdered. I’m still speechless and I honestly didn’t think he could (or would) do it again, but what was I thinking? And then, 200 pages later HE DOES IT AGAIN! What?!? I mean resetting your cast of characters is old hat, but wow. I’m not sure how many more times this can occur before I lose patience. I almost want to make a list of all the characters that were alive at the beginning of a book and then cross them off as they die to try and see an overall picture.

This is a 4,161 page series (Kindle version as of now with two, maybe three, to come) set in an at war pre-technology era of royalty, knights, magic and dragons, of course characters will die, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I will say the final chapter of the novel was somewhat more rewarding than what happened 400 or so pages before, but the epilogue was somewhat disturbing! Where is Martin taking the series!?!?

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2012 Challenges, Books

Book 92: A Clash of Kings – George R.R. Martin

Wow. What more can I say? Book two of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire cycle and although this novel wasn’t as captivating as A Game of Thrones, it was still a fascinating and entertaining read. As with A Game of Thrones I am using A Clash of Kings for two challenges – checking in at over 750 pages it is book two in my 2012 Tea & Books Challenge and as I bought it in 2011 with birthday money I’m also tacking it on to my 2012 Mount TBR Challenge.

As with the first novel in the series, so much happens in A Clash of Kings that it is hard to summarize or even review. Suffice to say that enough happens within this one novel that could fill three or four novels. You never know who is going to die or switch allegiances next; you never know where the next chapter will take you; and you can never 100% feel like you know who is who they say they are or where they’re from.

THERE ARE (a few) SPOILERS FROM A GAME OF THRONES. So if you plan on reading the novels scroll down to the recommendation to avoid them.

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