2012 Hugo Award Nominees

[Duchess of Malfi]

[Duchess of Malfi]

Looks like Leviathan Wakes is the product of two authors writing under a single pen name. One of the authors is the very good new writer Daniel Abraham! It is the first novel in a space opera series set in our solar system as we expand to the outer planets. Most of the reader reviews at Amazon are pretty positive.

Oddly, the e-reader version is more expensive than the paperback!

There is a second book in the series called Caliban's War.

The series as a while is called The Expanse. I do not know how many books are projected to be a part of the series.

[Duchess of Malfi]

Have been reading Embassytown. The first part of the book was fantastic - truly exhilarating.

And then the middle came, and it has been a true slog for me. The characters are not developed whatsoever, not even the first person point of view character. The plot (if you can even call it that right now) is really dragging.

I will stick with it, in hopes that it will get moving by the end.

This book is pretty much the author playing with concepts of language. Probably very cool for people who are into that, or into books primarily written for ideas. Not so good for people like me, who just want a story and well developed characters.

Nothing wrong with any of it, by the way - just differences in preferences.

[MsMary]

[Duchess of Malfi]

Very cool! I Love Abraham's fantasy books, so this is really good to hear MsMary!

(still struggling through Embasseytown by the way)

[Duchess of Malfi]

Finally finished Embassytown.

Beginning and ending parts of the book were wonderful - with an endless slog in the middle.

Among Others might be next. I am wanting to save Leviathan Wakes for last as a special treat.

[Duchess of Malfi]

And the winners:


Among Others by Jo Walton

[Duchess of Malfi]

Read Among Others on my weekend off. It was pretty good. It was about a teenaged girl from Wales going to an upper class boarding school in England (due to a complicated family life) in the 1970's. She is a complete fish out of water due to various reasons (her Welsh ethnicity being only one of them) and retains her sanity by being a bookworm. She is super into science fiction and fantasy, and her social life (such as it is) revolves around a science fiction book club. Tons of science fiction and fantasy references about classic and other older books from the genre. I enjoyed it, but probably would have enjoyed it more if I had read more of the books referenced! People in their fifties as opposed to my forties have probably read more of the books and will probably enjoy it even more than I did!

Rather than reading Deadline (which I am skipping because I truly disliked the first book in its series) I am going back to last year's Dervish House which I did not read at the time because it was only out in expensive hardcover at that time. It is interesting so far - set in Istanbul in the near future, centered around the residents of an old (for lack of a better term) monastery for dervishes now converted into rooms and apartments for rent. There was a terrorist attack nearby, and so far a lot of it centers around reactions to it, etc.

Saving Leviathan Wakes for last.

[Duchess of Malfi]

Leviathan Wakes and Caliban's War are both freaking awesome!!!

[MsMary]

So glad to hear you enjoyed it, Duchess. I also enjoyed Leviathan Wakes. I have Caliban's War, but haven't had time to dig into it yet. I've heard from others besides you that it was great, though.

[Duchess of Malfi]

There are also two inexpensive short stories for kindle set in the same universe, one being The Butcher of Anderson Station and the other featuring an important new character from Caliban's War and her family on Mars. The short stories are good, too.

[MsMary]

Good to know.

Ty Franck (half of James S.A. Corey) had an amusing short story in .

Really enjoyed most of the short stories in that book, actually. It was worth reading.

[MsMary]

I finished Caliban's War last week. Once I got started, couldn't put it down.

How am I gonna wait till June for Abaddon's Gate?

I may have to get those two Kindle books - find 'em.