(Just to be clear, that’s a description of the books not anyone I know or how I’m feeling about my career.)
I have done a lot of reading since the last update, just short of a month ago. Aided by a new hammock, I’ve plowed through quite of bit of Kindle material and some hard-back reading. Unfortunately, not all of it has made the grade.
Abandoned:
Wakers, Ron Collins. Promising premise with a rich but scummy entrepreneur who had himself frozen being brought back, and something about a track star. Not subtle writing, and I felt a bit battered by the rather blunt story. Put to bed at 19%.
The Pericles Conspiracy, Michael Kingswood. Captain of a star ship has a secret, the government’s involved, and she just wants to get through her refit and back into space, except...I didn’t read far enough to find out. The pacing and characters didn’t click with me, so I cut it loose at 5%.
Jaran, Kate Elliott. Fell afoul of the Jefferson Smith rule about breaking my immersion in the story too often. Started promisingly: Earth occupied by victorious aliens. Pallidly-written heroine is going to visit her brother, and has some bizarre adventures in the middle of nowhere. The plot, which was already weakening rapidly, took one dogleg too many. Jettisoned at 6% read.
Escape: The Lazarus Alliance: Book 1, Blaze Ward. This started strongly, and had tons of promise...before losing my interest with a pointless plot twist too many. A shame, since I was 66% through it.
I think these are good guys. Maybe.
Image: Goodreads
Soul Wars, Josh Reynolds. Age of Sigmar, starring Sigmar and various one-dimensional underlings. It can't decide if it wants to be carried by the plot or the characters, and so both wind up being underdeveloped and formulaic. I don't have a great deal of interest in the fantasy genre as a rule and this couldn't overcome that. I hung in to 47% through.
Overlords of the Iron Dragon, C. L. Werner. This is Sigmar-meets-Steampunk, starring um... dwarves called something else and their ur-Zepplins. There's an aerial battle with a dragon, if that's your sort of thing. Sacrificed it to the elder gods at 12%.
Beyond Frankenstein, Mary Shelley. Just couldn't. Lingered for weeks, waiting for lighting to strike. No dice. Burned down by a peasant mob armed with pitchforks and torches at 50%
Too Early To Tell:
The Great Influenza, John M. Barry. I've noted this before and it's still here--now 23% done. Again, a shame because it's topical and I've heard Barry being interviewed. I just can't quite break into a good rhythm with this.
Sons of the Hydra, Rob Sanders. 40K Space Marines epic involving a post-Heresy splinter of the Alpha Legion. If that sentence doesn't make sense you probably shouldn't buy the book. I want to like this, giving both sides some air time and all that, but am struggling with a bit of an unreal plot line--and that's saying something for this genre.
Fascinating premise, but off to a really slow start.
Image: Goodreads
Trouble The Saints, Rae Dawn Johnson. I ordered this after reading a sample back in May. It’s been slow going for reasons I can’t pinpoint, but had the same issue getting through The Sin In The Steel, which I ordered based on a sample in the same collection. Will revisit it in the week ahead.