No, only by alphabetical color: amber, black, brown, cyan, dark cyan, ebony, fuchsia, gold, green, hansa yellow, indigo, jade, khaki, lavender, light cyan, lime, magenta, marroon, medium cyan, mint, navy blue, ochre, papaya whip, parchment, persimmon, pewter, pine, pink, plum, prune, purple, quicksilver, raspberry, red, scarlet, sienna, teal, thimbleweed, turquoise, ultramarine, vanilla, vermilion, violet, white, yellow, zaffre
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Finished The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley. It’s mostly noteworthy because its Japanese characters in Victorian London reminded me a lot of Ace Attorney Chronicles. It even cites one of Natsume Sōseki’s novels as source material (that might actually be someone worth reading, too).
The story for the most part seemed to be lacking a clear direction, and when the big reveal came near the end I was a bit disappointed. Not exactly the payoff I was expecting, but perhaps I just wasn’t sensitive enough to pick up the clues beforehand. I must concede though that not knowing what was going on, and to what end it would lead, certainly kept my interest up, even though it’s not exactly a page-turner.
As a side note, in the book there’s a girl called Six, like the side-kick in Heaven’s Vault. Of which there now exists a novelization. Which is a fantastic read. Even (or, perhaps, especially) if you played the game.
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Nearly finished Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer, but I think nothing she could do on the last 100 pages would change my opinion: it’s fantastic. Well, actually it’s Sci-Fi, written in the style of an 18th century novel, centered around political intrigue on 25th century Earth. Sounds boring, but its cast of characters is really quite extraordinary, if perhaps also a bit stereotypical, meaning the lack of action is more than made up by their weirdness and secrets.
What I also like (in the German translation) is the language used to depict the far-future gender-neutrality. It shows no signs of the atrocities language is currently undergoing in the name of equality, but introduces new pronouns and noun forms that seem to do a much better job in my book, plus they add a lot of substance to the world-building. I fear the original is not so lucky in that regard, so kudos to the translator.
Just like Three Parts Dead, it’s quite a novel and refreshing read, although I guess the concepts and philosophical questions it touches upon are rather old. But judging by the titles of the final 3 volumes, it should be getting more interesting still …
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Oh, speaking of books, https://www.humblebundle.com/books/video-game-histories-boss-fight-books-books is a pretty cool bundle. The book on Jagged Alliance 2 wildly exceeded my (admittedly non-existent) expectations.
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Finished Brothers of the Wind by Tad Williams. Gave me some strong LoTR vibes in the first half, and the second half was remarkable in its own unique way (although one could find parallels too). For me it’s one of Williams’ best works to date, and so much better than the Last King of Osten Ard stuff. Given how well I liked The Heart of What Was Lost, I feel maybe he should give up on epic fantasy series and just deliver more shorter episodes from that world of his.
Also, that quote on the back made me laugh: “[Williams] Inspired me to write my own seven-book trilogy …”. I can only hope that in the future he inspires some single-volume all-the-bloat-cut-out novels too!
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That’s on my list to read next! (So not reading your post to avoid spoilers). First I’ve got to finish the endless Wheel of Time (about 1600 pages to go)
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I read mostly sci-fi stories or science-related books.
I’m reading Dune and previously I have read Project Hail Mary, which I think it’s a spectacular novel.
I’ve read The Martian and Artemis and pretty much enjoyed them from start to finish! Project Hail Mary is on this year’s list for me, really looking forward to it. Currently re-reading a classic Latin American piece by Cortazar, “Rayuela”.
Did you enjoy Artemis as much as the Martian? I’ve intentionally skipped Artemis because the reviews weren’t particularly flattering, especially when compared to The Martian.
Read Geometry for Ocelots by an author seemingly too poor to afford a proper pen name (or an ‘i’, for that matter), Exurb1a. It’s something of a Science Fiction fable, with its message perhaps not overly subtle, but at least not being delivered in a preachy fashion. Good food for thought, I guess.
I usually opt for more escapist reading material, but from time to time it’s nice to have my own pessimistic (long-term) world view reaffirmed. Now back to enjoying the finer things in life … while supply lasts.
No I didn’t. The feeling I got from Artemis is that the author tried to flesh out the characters/story more than in his first book, and it didn’t really pan out. I found myself enjoying the bits about how to make a Lunar colony possible more than the actual story. Expectations after The Martian might have something to do with that judgment though.
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Been a while, so here’s a couple books I read while waiting for RtMI to release:
Just finished The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison, which is a bit of a murder mystery in an asian inspired steampunk-ish fantasy setting. Basically the same world her previous The Goblin Emperor was set in, but with a new main character. Crime is normally not my thing, so hard to judge how it fairs in that aspect, but it’s been a nice deviation from the typical fantasy tropes and nicely written too. I found the conclusion to the case a bit too convenient, but maybe that’s how things resolve themselves if your protagonist isn’t Sherlock Holmes.
Before that, I devoured volume one and two of the Daevabad-Trilogy by Shannon Chakraborty, and am eagerly awaiting the 3rd to come out in German (end of September). That one draws from middle eastern culture and mythology, but otherwise follows in the footsteps of contemporary grim and dark fantasy. I’m somewhat fed up with that stuff, but it’s undeniably gripping. Plus in that one, most of the major characters are actually likeable, even if their behavior is questionable. Except for the Grand Vizier; though I guess that one has “evil bastard” as part of the job requirements.
The last one of note was Two Serpents Rise, from Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence. Like The Witness for the Dead, it shares a world with other novels from its series, but locations and characters differ. This one is pretty much inspired by Aztec mythology and follows risk manager Caleb as he has to deal with poisoned water reservoirs, his father and a mysterious woman he’s fallen in love with. Has a bit of an environmental message to it, and overall, it’s perhaps not as compelling as Three Parts Dead, mostly because Caleb isn’t as proactive while events unfold around him. Still, the extraordinary backdrop makes it quite a fascinating read.
Actually, seems Gladstone turned that world of his into a chose-your-own-adventure style experience, too:
The presentation seems a bit barebones, but could be a fun diversion until the next book comes out over here.
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I finished The Wheel of Time.
Finally!
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I finished all the books that were out back in '03 or '04 and didn’t read any since.
I guess that spared you quite a bit of disappointment.
I’d been so excited for the rescue of Moraine from the Snakes and Foxes, and the whole thing went down in a chapter or two and read like a summary or early draft at best. After that, my expectations were low enough to endure the rest 
.
Curious what you think about Brothers of the Wind then, when you get around to reading that now. 
It is the next on my to read stack!
Also: funny how you blurred the non-spoiler part above. (I would have blurred everything after the word “rescue”)
Overall: the last three books were better than some of the previous ones. But it was a mess by that time to work with I guess. I felt that especially the last book had some “oh, we should still resolve this thread or explain what happened to this side character from 6 books ago” and the author handled it in 2 lines or so.
And 200+ pages for one chapter in a 1000 pages volume? Not funny.
(The outline of that chapter on tarvalon.net is one and a half lines. Not even two!)
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You are right. Didn’t think about the people that might not have made it to book (or season) 5 yet. Fixed.
Yeah, I guess there were one or two books in between that could have been trimmed to a line or two also. Too much talk and too little action. At least that’s something the final books did not suffer from.
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Some of the reviews on Goodreads are really funny if you’ve suffered through them to make up for those though!
Some of them are even wonderful pieces of creative writing.
Like “ The Ta’veren Tavern
A one-act play by Zach” which is the most helpful review (so should show up on top):
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@LowLevel How was On Stranger Tides?
Finally finished the Daevabad-Trilogy. Really liked the unusual setting, but as with a lot of the grimdark stuff, when you think it can’t possibly get any worse, it does. At points like that a part of me really wanted to stop reading, but the other part really wanted to know what happened next. The second part won.
Compared to most of the book, the ending was actually a bit soft. But it didn’t quite go all the way and admit that everyone lived happily ever after. There’s no evidence to the contrary, though.
All in all, I’m definitely looking forward to more of Chakraborty. Her upcoming The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi sounds quite intriguing, too. Has a bit of a Sinbad the Sailor vibe to it.
Now reading Seven Surrenders …
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