Books

I think the last time I posted I said I wanted to read Peter V. Brett's The Warded Man (The Painted Man in Britain), I did. It was a fun book. A little darker than your average fantasy stuff, which is good of course. I'd say the tone was still a little light even if the content wasn't so much. Tone was light due to the action-packed adventure-style of the story, kind of hack and slash fun. I couldn't find the sequel at the English bookstore in Shinjuku, so I'll try to get it when I go back to the States, hopefully it'll be in paperback by then and I can pick it up Stephen King's Under the Dome, which comes out in paperback this Summer as well and is at the top of my list.

So When I returned to the bookstore to see what to get next I picked up Jim Butcher's first book in his 'Codex Alera' series, which admittedly looked a little light, but heck, his other series looked a little grungier but wasn't epic fantasy which I'm looking to keep an eye on, and the other epic fantasy series didn't have book 1 in stock. I also picked up China Mieville's Arthur C. Clarke and British Fantasy awards winning 'Perdido Street Station'. Absolutely delightful. The two long series I powered through last year was Stephen King's Dark Tower, and George RR Martin's Ice and Fire. Both treated the reader as intelligent adults. That is to say, no matter how whacked out your universe is, certain rules apply to mortal beings, such as, they are mortal, they are not inherently good, they are not always going to deprive a reader (viewer as always happens in the movies) of a blood-filled payoff because protagonist takes the high road and only kills when he absolutely has to, etc. China Mieville treats his readers as adults as well. I read his most recent Arthur C. Clarke winning novel (British Sci-Fi award), the City and the City, and am surprised at how different the two are. Both make you think while reading, his writing is at college or post-graduate level, but the two are on opposite ends of the speculative fiction genre. Think BladeRunner without Daryl Hannah verses Mos Eisley on steroids. Perdido Street would be Mos Eisley on Steroids if you're wondering. In fact, the reason I'm not reading it now is to tell you how much I'm enjoying it (assuming you are out there).