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In Book 1 of the Gentlemen Bastards series by Scott Lynch, much of the focus is on Locke Lamora. We get to see him start out as a small kid taken in by a thief lord. But after one too many incidents, he is sold to Chains, a fake priest who runs the Gentlemen Bastard thieves. He takes in younglings that have certain talents and brains and raises them to pull off much larger, complicated schemes.
Fast forward some years and the Gentlemen Bastards are now young men. Locke is still the slightly built, brainy, daring leader of the group. Jean has found his talent with some interesting hand weapons and his size. Caldo and Galdo often use their twin powers to pull off some scheme or other. Bug is the new kid and gets all the ‘character-building’ jobs. It is a great team, with lots of bantering back and forth.
Locke has a big scheme to rob some very rich folks, the Salvaras. The Gentlemen Bastards have a whole costume room that allows them to change their looks to suit different business types and ethnicities. However, things start to come undone when the Capa Barsavi is threatened and his men start turning up dead by the hand of the mysterious Grey King. Pretty soon, the Grey King’s nocturnal activities directly interfere with the Gentlemen Bastards and they are forced to do his bidding. The Grey King has a formidable ally, a Bondsmagi and his pet scorpion hawk.
Scott Lynch provides lots of great dialogue and unlikely, amusing situations. The Yuck Factor was also sometimes very high, but suited to the situation. The fast pace coupled with the detail and history of the place and people was excellent for keeping me entertained.
I think most folks come to know William Gibson’s works through his cyberpunk books like Neuromancer. The Blue Ant Trilogy is some of his latest work and this is my second Gibson book. I have been mightily impressed and entertained by his writing so far that I have added all his works to my TBR mountain range. I keep it in the backyard, on the horizon, where the neighbors won’t complain too much.
Bigend, found of Blue Ant corporation, has another interesting pet project that calls for people with special talents. This book jumps right into the middle of things; the characters and situations have backgrounds that we are not immediately privy to. So you have to pay attention to the first bits in order to enjoy the rest of the book, which is well worth the initial concentration outlay. Hollis Henry once was in a rock band, so folks recognize her face here and there. She is a journalist now, that having been a long-time interest. Bigend hires her to track down some unusual info; in fact, at first, we and Hollis are not sure what info we are hunting.
What I Liked: Never heard of the KGB systema before this book and I find it fascinating; every character has their quirks which makes them all real people; the fast pace of the book kept me thinking about the plot even when I wasn’t reading it.
What I Disliked: If you are distracted during that first few chapters, you are probably going to have to reread it since this book plops you right down into the middle of it.
Ken Follett gave Judy Maddox, FBI Agent, the best lines in this novel. Half Vietnamese, half Irish, only child of a cop father and dead mother, she is one tough woman. In her 30s, having dedicated her life to the FBI and putting bad guys behind bars, she suddenly finds her life a mess. Her boss took ill, and now her newly-assigned supervisor wants her fired and he is doing everything he can to make her look incompetent. He assigns her a crap job of checking into the terrorist group The Hammer Of Eden who are threatening to create earthquakes if nuclear plant building in CA is not halted.
Priest and Star have put nearly 3 decades into their valley, which is leased from the government. They founded, molded, and nursed this commune into a thriving community, without electricity, or running water, or paying taxes, or violence. Now, a damn is to be built �" one that will be used for power plants and will also flood their valley. A recent addition to their group, Melanie (mother of Dusty) is a seismologist. Together with Priest and Star, they hatch a plan to steal and use a seismic vibrator to set off earthquakes at locations of their choosing.
Not only did this book have a lot of action, there was also the romance side that was more witty than mushy (the way I like it). As expected with a Ken Follett book, the characters where mufti-dimensional. Priest was a joy to hate because I could understand where he was coming from without condoning his choices. Judy Maddox was awesome to watch walk into a room of men and take charge with hard work and logic. She also shoot with either hand, a skill I recommend gun-users obtaining.
We learn more about The Tribe and their militant structural need for complete obedience from it’s members. At the end of Book 1, Takeo made an agreement with The Tribe �" to join them willingly for their assistance. We pick up right where we left off at the end of Book 1 and follow along on Takeo’s shoulder as he undergoes basic training, Tribe style. He’s in for a rough time, as he has already made Tribe enemies.
Kaede is understandably deeply saddened at Takeo’s choice. She returns home to find her mother has passed, her sisters are near-strangers, her father lives in disgrace with addled wits, and the family in whole is impoverished. And this is where Kaede starts to shine �" by taking control of the situation. Her character was interesting in Book 1, but definitely was less developed than Takeo’s; it was good to see her develop into a strong woman of her own.
What I Liked: How the book bounces back and forth in point of view between Kaede and Takeo; learning more of The Tribe, Takeo’s powers, Kaede’s strength; the beautiful, simple language of the story.
What I Disliked: Occasionally, I feel like Nakasone paces herself too slowly in reading (of course, this may just be my eagerness to enjoy the story).
David Damrosch has laid this book out in a very accessible manner, starting with the early archaeology days and Smith translating parts of the epic poem, to Hormuzd Rassam who discovered the ancient city of Nineveh, to the Victorian England sensationalism over the Gilgamesh flood story. I loved how the tale of unearthing this ancient story rolled it’s way backwards to Ashurbanipal, wh0 was an ancient Mesopotamian king who could and did read. He created one of the largest libraries of ancient Mesopotamia, which eventually burned. Luckily, Gilgamesh was preserved on clay tablets, and was such a popular tale, copies of it were wide spread �" including into Hittite culture. It is also possible the ancient Greek bards were singing the deeds of our hero Gilgamesh during the time of the Homeric poets.
What I Liked: Ancient archaeology; the language bits; the adventure of unearthing something lost for 2000+ years; the thought that there could be more such stories, fiction or otherwise, just waiting to be rediscovered.
What I Disliked: Robert Silverberg’s Gilgamesh the King was not listed among the modern works inspired by Gilgamesh.
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nrlymrtl has commented on (8) products.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
nrlymrtl, May 26, 2012
In Book 1 of the Gentlemen Bastards series by Scott Lynch, much of the focus is on Locke Lamora. We get to see him start out as a small kid taken in by a thief lord. But after one too many incidents, he is sold to Chains, a fake priest who runs the Gentlemen Bastard thieves. He takes in younglings that have certain talents and brains and raises them to pull off much larger, complicated schemes.Fast forward some years and the Gentlemen Bastards are now young men. Locke is still the slightly built, brainy, daring leader of the group. Jean has found his talent with some interesting hand weapons and his size. Caldo and Galdo often use their twin powers to pull off some scheme or other. Bug is the new kid and gets all the ‘character-building’ jobs. It is a great team, with lots of bantering back and forth.
Locke has a big scheme to rob some very rich folks, the Salvaras. The Gentlemen Bastards have a whole costume room that allows them to change their looks to suit different business types and ethnicities. However, things start to come undone when the Capa Barsavi is threatened and his men start turning up dead by the hand of the mysterious Grey King. Pretty soon, the Grey King’s nocturnal activities directly interfere with the Gentlemen Bastards and they are forced to do his bidding. The Grey King has a formidable ally, a Bondsmagi and his pet scorpion hawk.
Scott Lynch provides lots of great dialogue and unlikely, amusing situations. The Yuck Factor was also sometimes very high, but suited to the situation. The fast pace coupled with the detail and history of the place and people was excellent for keeping me entertained.
Spook Country by William Gibson
nrlymrtl, May 23, 2012
I think most folks come to know William Gibson’s works through his cyberpunk books like Neuromancer. The Blue Ant Trilogy is some of his latest work and this is my second Gibson book. I have been mightily impressed and entertained by his writing so far that I have added all his works to my TBR mountain range. I keep it in the backyard, on the horizon, where the neighbors won’t complain too much.Bigend, found of Blue Ant corporation, has another interesting pet project that calls for people with special talents. This book jumps right into the middle of things; the characters and situations have backgrounds that we are not immediately privy to. So you have to pay attention to the first bits in order to enjoy the rest of the book, which is well worth the initial concentration outlay. Hollis Henry once was in a rock band, so folks recognize her face here and there. She is a journalist now, that having been a long-time interest. Bigend hires her to track down some unusual info; in fact, at first, we and Hollis are not sure what info we are hunting.
What I Liked: Never heard of the KGB systema before this book and I find it fascinating; every character has their quirks which makes them all real people; the fast pace of the book kept me thinking about the plot even when I wasn’t reading it.
What I Disliked: If you are distracted during that first few chapters, you are probably going to have to reread it since this book plops you right down into the middle of it.
The Hammer of Eden by Ken Follett
nrlymrtl, May 19, 2012
Ken Follett gave Judy Maddox, FBI Agent, the best lines in this novel. Half Vietnamese, half Irish, only child of a cop father and dead mother, she is one tough woman. In her 30s, having dedicated her life to the FBI and putting bad guys behind bars, she suddenly finds her life a mess. Her boss took ill, and now her newly-assigned supervisor wants her fired and he is doing everything he can to make her look incompetent. He assigns her a crap job of checking into the terrorist group The Hammer Of Eden who are threatening to create earthquakes if nuclear plant building in CA is not halted.Priest and Star have put nearly 3 decades into their valley, which is leased from the government. They founded, molded, and nursed this commune into a thriving community, without electricity, or running water, or paying taxes, or violence. Now, a damn is to be built �" one that will be used for power plants and will also flood their valley. A recent addition to their group, Melanie (mother of Dusty) is a seismologist. Together with Priest and Star, they hatch a plan to steal and use a seismic vibrator to set off earthquakes at locations of their choosing.
Not only did this book have a lot of action, there was also the romance side that was more witty than mushy (the way I like it). As expected with a Ken Follett book, the characters where mufti-dimensional. Priest was a joy to hate because I could understand where he was coming from without condoning his choices. Judy Maddox was awesome to watch walk into a room of men and take charge with hard work and logic. She also shoot with either hand, a skill I recommend gun-users obtaining.
Tales of the Otori #02: Grass for His Pillow by Lian Hearn
nrlymrtl, May 13, 2012
We learn more about The Tribe and their militant structural need for complete obedience from it’s members. At the end of Book 1, Takeo made an agreement with The Tribe �" to join them willingly for their assistance. We pick up right where we left off at the end of Book 1 and follow along on Takeo’s shoulder as he undergoes basic training, Tribe style. He’s in for a rough time, as he has already made Tribe enemies.Kaede is understandably deeply saddened at Takeo’s choice. She returns home to find her mother has passed, her sisters are near-strangers, her father lives in disgrace with addled wits, and the family in whole is impoverished. And this is where Kaede starts to shine �" by taking control of the situation. Her character was interesting in Book 1, but definitely was less developed than Takeo’s; it was good to see her develop into a strong woman of her own.
What I Liked: How the book bounces back and forth in point of view between Kaede and Takeo; learning more of The Tribe, Takeo’s powers, Kaede’s strength; the beautiful, simple language of the story.
What I Disliked: Occasionally, I feel like Nakasone paces herself too slowly in reading (of course, this may just be my eagerness to enjoy the story).
The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh by David Damrosch
nrlymrtl, May 9, 2012
David Damrosch has laid this book out in a very accessible manner, starting with the early archaeology days and Smith translating parts of the epic poem, to Hormuzd Rassam who discovered the ancient city of Nineveh, to the Victorian England sensationalism over the Gilgamesh flood story. I loved how the tale of unearthing this ancient story rolled it’s way backwards to Ashurbanipal, wh0 was an ancient Mesopotamian king who could and did read. He created one of the largest libraries of ancient Mesopotamia, which eventually burned. Luckily, Gilgamesh was preserved on clay tablets, and was such a popular tale, copies of it were wide spread �" including into Hittite culture. It is also possible the ancient Greek bards were singing the deeds of our hero Gilgamesh during the time of the Homeric poets.What I Liked: Ancient archaeology; the language bits; the adventure of unearthing something lost for 2000+ years; the thought that there could be more such stories, fiction or otherwise, just waiting to be rediscovered.
What I Disliked: Robert Silverberg’s Gilgamesh the King was not listed among the modern works inspired by Gilgamesh.
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