New Arrivals - late November '06

Filed by: Darren on November 28, 2006 at 8:30
Filed In: Books

Collected a consignment of new books for UKSFBookNews last night from the post office. Everything will be listed in the next Books Received article on the site, but I just wanted to highlight a few choice items here that will henceforth be contributing to my own personal what-to-read-next dilemma:

Gradisil by Adam Roberts

Adam is a client of mine, and I do try to make a point of reading as many of my clients' books as I can, but I have to confess that I'm a Roberts behind at the moment; I still haven't sat down to read The Snow [Amazon].

But then Adam is one of those authors who writes individual novels at a time, exploring the possibilities of whatever idea has most captured his mind's eye and then moving on to the next, so I ought to be able to skip ahead to Gradisil and then go back to The Snow when I've unpacked it (so many of our books are still in boxes after last year's house extension...)

Ilario, The Lion's Eye by Mary Gentle

There's nothing I'd like more than to sit down and lose myself in the new Mary Gentle novel for a few days, but alas, there's work and chores to be done, so I may have to restrain myself. I made the mistake of trying to read Ash [Amazon] in fits and starts and I really don't think I got anywhere near as much out of it as I should have, so Ilario [Amazon] may have to take pride of place on my 'priority holiday reading' list for next year, by which time a more portable paperback should be out.

It's a real shame, because Ilario sounds like a wonderfully inventive alternate history, as most of Gentle's novels are, and I really do enjoy that particular sub-genre.

Evil for Evil by K.J. Parker

The second part of the Engineer Trilogy, by one of my very favourite authors. Parker writes complex, multi-layered fantasy with a dry, biting with throughout and an absolutely superb observational eye. Her Scavenger trilogy is one of the most intriguing and enjoyable fantasies I've read, this series started out just as well in Devices and Desires, although there does seem to be some small risk that she's covering a bit of the same ground that she explored in her first, Fencer trilogy.

Anyway, this is a potential 'drop everything' title, although I think I'll finish the short Christopher Priest novel I've just started before I treat myself to 599 pages of Parker.

Endymion and The Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons

I now have all four books of Simmons' Hyperion sequence waiting for me on the shelf. All I need now is the time to sit down and appreciate them fully. Again, I think I tried to read Ilium too piece-meal and ended up not fully appreciating its complexity, and I've heard so many good things about this series that I'm determined to find the time to do it justice. Another two for the holiday shelf, perhaps...

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5 Responses to 'New Arrivals - late November '06'

Big Dumb Object on November 28th, 2006 4:50 pm

The Genre Files, a new blog...

Ariel (of The Alien Online) has new blog The Genre Files.......
Joe on November 29th, 2006 1:42 pm

Gradisil comes highly recommended, but then being a book by Adam you could almost take that as read... Currently reading an advance proof of (yes, another) pseudo-Victorian mystery/fantasy The Sonambulist by Jonathan Barnes. I blame Leauge of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Jonathan Strange for this new cod-Victorian vogue myself. Was persuaded to start reading it by the recommendation on the cover by one professor of 19th century literature, Adam Roberts. If Adam is recommending it I assume it is well worth me having a look and indeed it is highly enjoyable.
Ariel on November 29th, 2006 2:00 pm

I've heard vaguely promising things about The Somnambulist myself. And I'll bet that the success of the Prestige movie leads to a fair bit more quasi-Victorian stuff in the next year or so as well... which is good when it works well, but can get a bit much sometimes.
Ed on November 29th, 2006 11:57 pm

Okay, so I read some of your ramblings tonight. The Hyperion Cantos. The first two are indeed two of the greatest SF novels ever written. Oh the joy of discovering them for the first time! You are right to wait until you have time though, the second needs to be read right after the first. The Endymion two are not as essential, carry the story on from a different perspective but do tend to ramble a bit in places. Still worth reading though.
Ariel on November 30th, 2006 7:03 am

Cheers Ed! Right, that's another two for the required holiday reading list. At this rate I'm going to require a longer holiday...