Eyes of Nine
Everything's Fine
I hadn't read the novella and ss (still haven't); and as such didn't realize there were references until I read your post a moment ago. And I thoroughly enjoyed the novel.
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What are you reading in 2024?
- Thread starter Nellisir
- Start date
Finished “Ninth House” by Leigh Bardugo this week and while I wait to get the sequel, I’m into “Mexican Gothic” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia.
Loved the Ninth House magical murder mystery set amongst the secret societies of Yale University, and so far Mexican Gothic is giving me Crimson Peak vibes.
Loved the Ninth House magical murder mystery set amongst the secret societies of Yale University, and so far Mexican Gothic is giving me Crimson Peak vibes.
overgeeked
B/X Known World
Mexican Gothic was the first of her I tried to read. I bounced off it. Looking forward to a review, especially on the pacing of it. My problem was it dragged out at the beginning.
I’m about a third of the way through it. It’s a slow burn but I haven’t found it particularly draggy. It’s clearly building suspense. I also like the different trappings with the story set in Mexico while remaining firmly in a gothic milieu.
Nellisir
Hero
Got Rimrunners & Amongst Our Weapons from Amazon, only to realize I've read Amongst Our Weapons...which brings up a whole set of questions.*
Ditched The Terraformers. Read Rimrunners. Tt fills in some really big gaps that only get glanced on elsewhere, but it's not one of her best works, and if you have concerns about women using sex transactionally, this is not a good book to read.
I fetched Cyteen from the apartment, but I also got Shades of Grey (Jasper Fforde) to reread in anticipation of the sequel (Red Side Story). I'll probably read Cyteen though - attempts to deviate from reading these books haven't gone well.
*Am I missing one of the books? Did I not read it? Why did I think there was a final book to come out? Did things get wrapped up? Because I don't remember them being wrapped up.
Ditched The Terraformers. Read Rimrunners. Tt fills in some really big gaps that only get glanced on elsewhere, but it's not one of her best works, and if you have concerns about women using sex transactionally, this is not a good book to read.
I fetched Cyteen from the apartment, but I also got Shades of Grey (Jasper Fforde) to reread in anticipation of the sequel (Red Side Story). I'll probably read Cyteen though - attempts to deviate from reading these books haven't gone well.
*Am I missing one of the books? Did I not read it? Why did I think there was a final book to come out? Did things get wrapped up? Because I don't remember them being wrapped up.
HaroldTheHobbit
Hero
Just started with Thomas Pynchons Gravity's Rainbow from my pile of summer reading. Dense and very good, both Eco and Stephenson are visible in the text. After that it's time for my annual readings of Foucaults Archaeology of Knowledge and The Order of Things, to see if am any smarter this year ;-)
overgeeked
B/X Known World
Just finished Dirty Laundry, a non-fiction book about ADHD by Richard Pink and Roxanne Emery. Rox has ADHD. Rich is her probably autistic husband. They have TikTok and YouTube things called ADHD_Love. It’s an interesting read. Very easy to get into. Mostly about radical acceptance and caring for yourself as someone with ADHD or caring for someone with ADHD. I’d recommend it for anyone just finding out about their or their partner’s ADHD.
Ruin Explorer
Legend
No you are not missing any Peter books.
But your feeling is one I share. The story just sort of stops in Amongst Our Weapons. I mean there are two fairly significant events at the end, but it really doesn't feel like a natural place to end and it leaves huge questions as to what's next. Also for some reason it ending in the summer (IIRC) seems wrong.
It really feels like there should be another book covering the sort of "aftermath" and tie stuff up, but seemingly not. And the next book chronologically will apparently be one featuring alternate Abigail and Peter POV chapters and be set in Scotland, which seems like an odd follow-up (not coming out this year - probably next).
There is a newer book (Winter's Gifts) with FBI Agent Kimberley Reynolds but she's an awful generic pastiche/stereotype of an American that I haven't read it, and it's chronologically before Amongst Our Weapons.
EDIT - As an aside, I think generally Aaronovitch has kind of written himself into a corner with [all series spoilers]
the Rivers themselves. They're very very powerful. They abuse their powers (even with the attempted retcons in the last two books that it's 'not that bad', it's like yes it is). They're pretty unwilling to agree to any kind of formal limitations on their power except with other gods and even then it's sketchy, and indeed it would seem out of character for them. And when they were just part of the mystical goings on in general that didn't seem to matter. But now Peter is married to and has kids with one of them. A sharper author would see that that compromises Peter's position completely and have difficulties ensue from that. But the weird retcons about them being not that bad (which don't work because the early books exist and the entire series requires you to not see non-main people are irrelevant "NPCs" - unlike a lot of fantasy) suggest to me that he's struggling to "kill his darlings" as it were, and perhaps struggling to work out where the series is actually going. I think Aaronovitch sees the problem he's caused, and saw it at least a couple of books back, but is kind of trying to weasel out of it, rather than engaging with it.
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Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Could he have gotten tired of the serialized story he was telling and run out of steam? (Which would be completely fair -- the world is great, the serialized story is the least interesting part of these books.)
Ruin Explorer
Legend
See my spoiler edit to my previous post if you like.
I think he's written himself into a corner, and he's struggling to plot a path forwards, GRRM style. I don't think he's out of steam exactly - usually when that happens with an author you can feel it in how they're writing, but actually part of the issue with Amongst Our Weapons is that it has a ton of energy and forward momentum (imo) and then... it stops. Like he intentionally said "Oh I need to stop this book and put that stuff in a different one". But there isn't a different one.
Also he's falling further behind the real world, time-wise. Rivers of London is set in 2012, and was finished in 2011. Up to Foxglove Summer, all the books were published within a year of when they were set.
But then several books are set in 2014/2015, to the point of referencing specific real-world events from 2014/2015, and then both False Value and Amongst Our Weapons are both early 2016 (Jan and April IIRC). And False Value is very much a 2016 book - like what he's describing there is massive 2016 vibes (Amongst Our Weapons less so, it's more timeless).
And I think this timeline is screwing him as well because he's not the kind of guy to abandon it, but now all the characters ages have to match it, and he has Abigail and two very smol demigod bebes for whom their exact age is going to matter a LOT (where to characters already in twenties/thirties/immortalities it might not) for a while.
The real solution is probably a time-skip - he could skip right over COVID and I don't think anyone would fault him for it. But even to skip to 2022 is 6 years, going from Abigail at 16 in Amongst Our Weapons to Abigail at 22, almost as old as Peter was at the start of the series (25) and the babies would go from 0 to 6. I mean actually I write that down and it sounds like a great idea. But will he, like GRRM did, get trapped in a web of his own needless detail and precise events? I kind feel like he might.
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