I’ve torn through several books in the sidebar over there since we last talked. Ringo’s Last Centurion deserves a brief mention. If you’re a fan of conservative politics and the intimate details of a military campaign, pick this one up. Give yourself about thirty pages to adjust to the style, and you’ll find it difficult to put down.
Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn trilogy is very good and shows me that he just might be worthy to follow in Robert Jordan’s footsteps as the writer of the twelfth book of the Wheel of Time series. However, Elantris, his debut novel, was almost unreadable. I don’t say this to be mean, but something about the story and the style just didn’t gel with me immediately. I’m glad I gave Mistborn a chance, because it has been worth the read.
I’ve read the next of the Elizabeth Moon books in the Kylara Vatta cycle. I stand by my earlier opinion–they’re good popcorn reads, just right for a plane ride or an idle night in the easy chair. There are some complex dynamics in the character of Kylara Vatta herself, but I don’t think Moon does the internal stresses justice. There is no question that the novels in this series are worth a read, but they could be so much more with just a few additional brushstrokes on the main character.
John Scalzi succeeds again with Zoe’s Tale. I’ll admit to not liking The Last Colony as much as his other work, but Zoe’s Tale was a great read. Many in the community have annointed him as a Heinlein successor. I see this in Old Man’s War, but I didn’t really see that comparison being valid in some of his other work. With Zoe’s Tale, Scalzi has renewed that connection for me. I see this book as similar to Heinlein’s Podkayne of Mars, only Scalzi does a better job of writing a teenage girl than the late grand master ever did. The prose in this novel is witty beyond measure, but it never drowns in its own cleverness. Check it out.
We’ll talk about Taylor Anderon’s second Destroyermen book (Crusade) toward the end of the week.