Mariposa Reading

[rachelmanija]

Recommend or anti-recommend my reading while I'm on a week-long writing retreat near Yosemite. I cannot read all of these, as I will also be bringing DVDs and manga-- oh yeah, and writing. Do tell me why you think I should bring or not bring books-- but please, not spoilers.

ETA: If I have the third book of a trilogy in the poll, it's because I've already read the first two.

[Poll #878889]

Comments

[affreca.livejournal.com]

I pick 40000 in Gehena (of the Cherryh books) as it was the only one I could finish. Other people seem to like Downbelow Station, but I'm not a big fan.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Seconded. Downbelow Station is all right, but I've generally been puzzled by the fuss (and I'm a Cherryh fan).

rachelmanija, if you find Cherryh to your liking, you might give either the Morgaine books (Gate of Ivrel, etc.) a try (angst! angst!) or The Faded Sun (aliens, politics, martial arts, cultural clashes).

[wilfulcait.livejournal.com]

Love, love, love Faded Sun. Also, Serpent's Reach, and the Foreigner series.

They are all playing out the same theme, in different levels of elaboration. But they are oh so fine.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I'll third Faded Sun; it was really excellent.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Already read those; that's why they're not in the poll.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Already read both of those, thanks.

[thecityofdis.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard of most of these, but I will always and forever reccomend the Diadem books.

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

The King of Attolia is the best new book I've read this year. It's perfect.

[keilexandra]

Second that!

[gwyneira.livejournal.com]

Hawk of May: love Bradshaw's King Arthur books -- ought to reread them myself, actually.

Evolution's Darling: I just got this myself and would be interested to see what you think.

I didn't really like King Hereafter, but I think I might be in a minority, judging from other reviews of it I've read. Still, it's always good to have one long, dense book in case of running out of other reading material.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

My general advice to people is to read the first chapter of Evolution's Darling and disregard the rest, which does not live up to the beauty of that first chapter (originally published as a short story in F&SF), but people have differed with me on this, so.

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Downbelow Station is all right, but I've generally been puzzled by the fuss (and I'm a Cherryh fan).

rachelmanija, if you find Cherryh to your liking, you might give either the Morgaine books (Gate of Ivrel, etc.) a try (angst! angst!) or The Faded Sun (aliens, politics, martial arts, cultural clashes).

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

"The King" is much, much more satisfying than "The Queen", well up to the standards of "The Thief".

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I liked "Queen" much better than "Thief."

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

I thought the Big Plot Twist came out of left field.

By contrast, the foreshadowing in King is much, much more successful.

[minnow1212.livejournal.com]

On Golden Urchin--what I remember about that is some interesting racial/cultural stereotyping going on about the heroine and the aborigines who raised her. Where by "interesting" I mean, "oh dear" and "product of the times."

The book has some other cooler stuff going on, and I remember enjoying it. Oh! And there's a totally cheesetastic setup that made me giggle madly. So it sort of depends on whether you're looking for unalloyed sink-into-a-univese delight in your books this trip, or whether laughing/mocking certain elements will also play a role in the entertainment value.

[oyceter]

I picked Inda because I'm greedy and want to read it as well. And I picked the Turner and the Chance because I love them and want to see what you think!

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I resemble some of those choices! Did oyce originally recommend FALL FROM GRACE?

[pameladean]

I haven't checked anything, but wanted to remark of King Hereafter that the beginning is rather full. My reaction at the time was that Dunnett had something like, "Hahaha! In many other writers' hands, this would be six fat volumes, but I am going to compress the considerable back story into a few chapters and then write the rest and it will be all in one volume!"

This isn't necessarily a problem, but it's useful to know.

Also it's rather grim, but not hopeless.

P.

[(Anonymous)]

Goodness. I find King pretty much chug-a-liter-of-Scotch-and-jump-off-a-cliff material myself. Or chug a flagon of something more in period. I don't think they had distillation yet.

It's an excellent book, but heartbreaking, much more so than Lymond.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Gah. Me.

Cherryh

[oracne.livejournal.com]

My fave Cherryhs are THE PRIDE OF CHANUR (first one I ever read by her), the Morgaine books (angst!!!), MERCHANTER'S LUCK (lonely angst healed!), RIMRUNNERS (butch warrior woman!), CUCKOO'S EGG (lone human learning alien martial arts), THE PALADIN (girl seeks warrior training from crusty old warrior!), and SERPENT'S REACH (weird as shit communication with insectoid beings; also servant-class clones).

Re: Cherryh

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Already read all those (and love them.)

Re: Cherryh

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Ummm, guess I'd rec 40,000 in Gehenna next.

[wilfulcait.livejournal.com]

Citizen of the Country is the third in that series; I wouldn't read it if you haven't read the other two first. If you have, it's splendid.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's on the poll because I read the first two.

[fannishly.livejournal.com]

Not a rec, but a selfish request -- I haven't read the Hornbacher but am quite curious about it and would like to see your comments.

[cofax7]

I am sad no one is speaking up for Madeleine Brent; I have very fond memories of her (his) spunky unusual heroines with cool skills (like rock-climbing! circus-performing! sleeping with men for money!).

[torrilin.livejournal.com]

I'm voting for Forbidden because it's one of those fun historicals that causes most people to break out in hives. I love it very dearly largely because it's so damn dark. And I want to see your reaction to it.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Evolution's Darling is pretty disturbing. Possibly not a complete success, but well worth reading. I want him to write more like that, but it doesn't look like I'm getting them any time soon.

I'd go with Gehenna of the Cherryh, but it's the only one of the three I've read, so my rec is limited. I really liked how it gave me more insight into the fractal monolith that is Cyteen.

[nbardsley.livejournal.com]

Surprised you haven't read G. Bradshaw's Arthur books!