Reading Rainbow

So I took another break from the Dune series to catch up on some other reading, and to help build up some personal momentum for the end of the series.

Brandon Sanderson's completion of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series (A Memory of Light) was masterfully done.  Sanderson brought back a lot of my excitement for the series that had dwindled with Jordan's dithering over the series.  I don't know if I'll ever do a straight through reading of this series, but I can say I appreciate the ending.

Then I caught up on my Magic Chick-Lit books with Kim Harrison (Ever After) and Patricia Briggs (Frost Burned).  They're both always fun modern-magic reads.

And then I've been enjoying some comic book compilations on the iPad.  They're all books that I have hard copies of, but are fun to be able to read in bed or at work without carrying the trade paperbacks around with me all of the time.

And just last night, I finished Frank Herbert's Heretics of Dune.  I think this book is what shaped my memory of Frank Herbert's writing style.  When I began reading the books after the movie came out, I had read very little science fiction.  Heretics is an ever accelerating book of action with some of the events left to your imagination, being mentioned only by character's thinking back to them.

At lunch today I started Chapterhouse Dune, and I can remember parts of what is to come that make me want to sit and just read all day.

Saying Good-Bye

Last night I finished I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett. It is his latest book in the Discworld and I get the feeling he is working to say goodbye to his characters as well as his readers.

Diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 2010, Pratchett has curtailed a lot of his traveling and interviews. He has donated lots of money to Alzheimer's research as well the protection of orangutans (as one of his recurring characters is a man who was transformed into one).

In this fourth book in the Tiffany Aching arc, Tiffany travels to the city of Ankh-Morpork for part of the book, and meets a few other recurring characters from the Discworld. And one other character she meets has only appeared once before, and it's one that I as well as many other readers have always wondered about. What happened to her?

Now we know.

And with other things mentioned, I feel Pratchett is doing his best to wrap up loose ends, move bits of continuity along, and prepare to close the door on his universe. And I for one hope that he gets the opportunity to finish his work.

There are many authors out there who have died and left their works unfinished or open to interpretation.

The first posthumous speculation I ever read was Fuzzy Bones by William Tuning which continued the story about Fuzzies introduced by H. Beam Piper. Then I found the true lost sequel written by Piper that was found after his suicide.

I've read the Dune sequels and prequels and will read the "inter-quels" as they come out. Written based on notes and manuscripts by Frank Herbert, these books are written by Herbert's son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson. Now while I enjoy the books and knowing the rest of the story (as Paul Harvey used to say), they don't have the same gripping story as Frank Herbert would have written them.

Another person carrying on from a passed writer based on notes left behind is Brandon Sanderson working to complete Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. I've enjoyed Sanderson's stories, mostly because he is closing the story and moving the plot along. Jordan had found a cash cow and said a few years before he dies that he intended to write until he died and for someone else to complete his story for him.

Then there is the sixth book in Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers' series ... And Another Thing by Eion Colfer. I read this one, and it was severely lacking in the Adams' touch.

And finally there are the Amber prequels written by John Gregory Betancourt. I can't even bring myself to read them. The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny are some of my favorite stories, and I don't want anyone's speculations to mess with the memories I have of them.

So I thank Pratchett for his wonderful world, and wish him continued strength in his life, but hope that he has time to finish his works.

Book Round-Up

So let's see, where was I?

I finished The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, and I do heartily look forward to the last two books in the series. There were good reveals and some fun action. I could pretty easily tell what parts had been written by Jordan, and what parts were wholly Sanderson. It can make a person wish that Sanderson wrote the entire thing. His style is so much more free and flowing. Jordan's by comparison brings to mind the tone and meter of a Norse epic.

Then I moved on the Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry. Now this book is Niffenegger's second novel, and I could easily add her first, The Time-Traveler's Wife, to my annual rotation. And the first three quarters of this book, I felt the same way about. And then stuff happened. It's about the only way I can say it. Things happen and the train goes hurtling off he tracks and over the hills to have a picnic. Sure its unpredictable, but it just made me say, "Whah?"

And for now, I'm filling my time with fluff. I wait patiently (kind of) for John to get and read, and then lend me Jim Butcher's conclusion to his Codex Alera series First Lord's Fury. I have joyous hope.

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As another diversion, I've been watching the video's of Yahtzee's Zero Punctuation. I don't play a lot of video games, mostly because I don't have a game console, but for those I do play or even know about, his videos have been hilarious. And then I've watched some others and they've been funny too. Quite worth the time.

This Books Stands By Itself

...because it's so bloody thick.

The new Wheel of time book (The Gathering Storm, if you haven't been paying attention) is big even for a WoT book.

It is 766 pages long. And that doesn't include the glossary.

However, I can totally understand Sohmer's sentiments.

I am feeling in this book the fun and excitement that was in the early books. And I'm not yet out of the Prologue/Introduction yet.

And there's two more books to go.

Another Book Down

Thursday night I finished Dracula, the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt. It's not a bad book at all. While some of it dragged, I liked the way things moved, and their occasional commentary on the original. I think I liked the closing with a bit of an interview on the writing of the book as much as I did the book itself. It leaves itself open to a sequel, and I'd read it if it happens.

The takeaway from the book is: Make sure there's a body when you kill someone (or something).

And so move on the The Gathering Storm by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan. I just got it at the library today, so I will give judgement as soon as I make one up.