Definitely a family favourite! It has touchy-feely bits, and a brilliant pop-up on the last page.
So... Little Piggy is convinced that Wolf is somewhereDefinitely a family favourite! It has touchy-feely bits, and a brilliant pop-up on the last page.
So... Little Piggy is convinced that Wolf is somewhere on the farm (don't ask me why, the kid had a hunch, just roll with it...) So he wanders around sticking his hand into hiding places to see if Wolf is there (surely that's just asking for Wolf to bite his hand off?) Each one is a hidden touch-panel (eg, this one is soft, this one is smooth, this one is rough, etc) and it turns out each time to be a different animal that Little Piggy is unknowingly groping - Kitten's fur, Frog's back, Chicken beaks, etc. Except for the last one, of course, which really is WOLF! AHHHH! WOLF! BIG POP-UP BITEY SNAPPY WOLF!
At which point my two year old, Fin, goes "Oh no, Wolf! Hide!" And throws the duvet over his head and sits there giggling while I wrestle the Big Bad Wolf away. Winning.
Fin gets to chose two stories for both naptime and bedtime, so he gets through (at least) four stories a day. There are some that are, quite frankly, rubbish - but he likes them. You just throw in some silly voices and try and make it fun. Then there are others, like this, which are just a pleasure to read every time.
Recommended if you know a little one in need of a present!
My baby daughter had a bad case of stage fright when she born; she was overdue, my wife was induced, and we werTwo word summary: Enormously enjoyable!
My baby daughter had a bad case of stage fright when she born; she was overdue, my wife was induced, and we were still in hospital for several days before she arrived. Over that time, we did a lot of reading to kill the time. This wasn't one of the books we took with us - this was an impromptu purchase from the hospital bookshop when our travelling library was running low.
I think my first comment was, "Django Wexler. What an awesome name for a spec-fic writer!"
Django — the D is silent as most everyone now knows — the nickname of the great Belgian-born jazz guitarist Django (originally Jean Baptiste) Reinhardt, makes a dynamic musical choice for any jazz aficionado. Reinhardt's nickname "Django" is Romani for "I awake." The name has become more familiar with the release of and acclaim for the Quentin Tarantino film Django Unchained.
So about the book?
Right, of course. Sorry, I'm suffering from new-baby sleep deprivation so my chain of thought is rather squiggly.
This is 'flintlock fantasy' - a term I've heard, but never read before. Most fantasy is set in a medieval era ('classic fantasy' - castles, knights, swordplay, etc). Some fantasy is set modern-era (urban fantasy - cars and computers, etc). Some is set in a spin-off of Victorian era (steampunk fantasy - steam power, airships and clockwork, etc). Flintlock fantasy is set in a Napoleonic equivalent era (muskets and cannons, etc) - it's a great combination, and I don't know why it's only recently coming to prominence.
As a kid, one of the TV shows I was allowed to stay-up late and watch was Sharpe. Based on Bernard Cromwell novels, the show starred a young Sean Bean (he of Lord of the Rings & Game of Thrones fame) as a British soldier in the Napoleonic wars. It was an awesome show (and one I'd love to re-watch some time). I also have a soft-spot for Wilbur Smith's Courtney series which is set in a slightly later era (but more sailor/explorer based than military). I haven't indulged either of these loves for many years, which is one reason why The Thousand Names went down quite so well with me!
You see, this isn't 'amazing' writing. There are many clichés here (more on that later), and the prose is more workmanlike than inspirational, but the experience as a whole was enormously enjoyable. I've seen other people compare it to The Black Company series as another recent flintlock fantasy work, or the Malazan Book of the Fallen series as another military-focused fantasy work. Unfortunately, I've not (yet) read either of those series, so to me the most comparable author springing to mind is Brandon Sanderson. That's a big compliment in my book, because Sanderson has become my go-to guy for reliable, fun, 'popcorn' reading.
The Thousand Names is driven by three soldiers, each of which are graduates from the Tabula Rasa school of Character Stereotypes.
- The Honourable Captain (HC) often acts cynical and resigned to the 'realities' of military life, but at heart is an idealist, a white-knight and a natural leader. He just needs a reason to believe!
- The Girl Dressed as a Boy (GDaaB) has run away to join the army and lives in fear of the other soldiers finding out her secret, while simultaneously proving that she's a better solider than any of them!
- The Enigmatic Colonel (EG) is Shelock Holmes in a uniform - a tactical genius, with razor-sharp insight into strategy and man-management, which allows him to steer his men to victory against huge odds again and again.
In an fantasy-world version of Egypt, in a Napolenoic era equivalent, HC and GDaaB are serving in an something like the French Colony forces - propping up the rule of an Egyptian Prince. An extremist religious faction whips up a rebellion, the Prince's local forces (trained by the French) defect to join the rebellion, and the wild desert raiders also throw in their lot with the uprising. Massively outnumbered, our forces retreat back along the coast to an old fortress. The rebel forces don't pursue, instead consolidating their grip on the capital. This is where the story starts, with HC nominally in charge awaiting the arrival of EG and the reinforcements. GDaaB is a lowly 'ranker'.
It's predominantly a military story, with set-piece battles providing opportunities for the Girl Dressed as a Boy to prove her mettle and work her way up the ranks, for Enigmatic Colonel to prove his genius, and for Honourable Captain to regain his belief and focus.
Despite this stereotypes and clichés... it works! There's a lot of love for good old-fashioned, character focused adventure here. I've already namechecked Sanderson, but fans of Louis McMaster Bujold, Julian May, Tad Williams and/or Peter Hamilton are likely to enjoy themselves here. There's not a great deal of 'gritty' if you prefer your fantasy with an edge, for all the guns and death this is actually a clean-cut honour and heroes sort of lark.
The fantasy element is gradual - quick spoiler tags here for a discussion of the magic system: (view spoiler)[It seems to be a 'symbiotic spirit' magic system. Each of the 'thousand names' of the title seems to refer to a different magical spirit (a naath). There are Egyptian Priestesses who work to learn the spells to bind a naath to a host. Some naath have limitations, eg 'can only be bound to women'. Different naath seem to embue their hosts with different skills, - 'ability to animate corpses', 'super strength/speed', 'ability to throw invisible walls/spears of force', 'ability to heal any wound', 'ability to absorb/devour other naath'. The scope of a thousand different naath, certainly gives the magic enough room for flexibility - it's like X-men, but you have your powers bestowed upon you, rather than being born with them. The long term effects of being naath-bound on the psyche have not yet been explored, but my hunch is 'not good'! (hide spoiler)]
Mr Django has already announced that there are 5 books planned for the series, 1 per year, so it's going to run for a while yet 2013-2017, so arguably the best time to start reading will be 2016 to blitz the four existing books just before the last one comes out. I've been foolish enough to start before book 2 is out... so I'll be waiting patiently for my yearly instalment!
As long as military books don't turn you off, this is highly recommended.
Note: Baby Tabitha was eventually born on 23rd June, and is a happy, healthy little sprog.
Do you know that early episode of Scrubs (yes, I really am going to begin this review with a Scrubs reference) where J.D. is trying to stop his relatiDo you know that early episode of Scrubs (yes, I really am going to begin this review with a Scrubs reference) where J.D. is trying to stop his relationship with Elliot falling into the 'friend zone'? The idea is that after that first flirty moment, you've got 48 hours to seal it with a kiss, or you're stuck forever in the 'friend zone'.
I got given The Big Sleep in the omnibus collection of Marlowe books 1,2 and 6 on a long term loan/gift, from my friend Justin (the same awesome Zimbabwean spy I that mentioned in my Angelmaker review). I was all, like, "Wow, I've heard of this, this sounds amazing!" And I tried to start it and something (I forget what) interrupted me. And I tried to start it again, and something else (a Jehovah's Witness visit, maybe?) interrupted me again. And boom, we were in the friend zone. I got comfortable having this book kick around with me, forever unread. I moved house with it, more than once. I took it to work a few times, like some kind of literary take-your-child-to-work day. My baby son ripped the front cover off in his rambunctious enthusiasm for all things book. But we never took our relationship to the next level. I never slipped between the covers (what was left of them) and gave The Big Sleep that good, hard read it was clearly begging for.
So we drifted along for a couple of years. And then, recently, I opened the question up to the Goodreads feed and asked "What book, on my to-read shelf should I pick up next?" Dan Schwent (a huge Marlowe fan) encouraged me to give Chandler his well overdue chance... and here we are.
I'm clearly a moron. Why did I wait for so long? This was FANTASTIC. I read it at work, on my lunch breaks, and my breaks were never long enough.
I read Neuromancer for the first time recently, and my response was exactly the same. I love cyberpunk inspired work and - you'll never guess - I loved the book that defined cyberpunk! The Big Sleep follows that same winding path of inspiration all the way back to it's noir roots. I've heard that Hammett basically created the noir detective, and Chandler then refined it - if that's true, I should probably read some Hammett because I loved this, especially with Neuromancer still fresh in my mind.
I love noir tinted sci-fi. I love noir tinted urban fantasy. Why does it surprise me that I love straight-up noir?!?!
I think it's because I'm a bit of an era-snob. As a rough rule, I'm sceptical of anything written before 1980. Oh, sure, there are some good books from before that time - from Chandler's era I've read Tolkien, Orwell, Lewis, Peake... but that's about it. If it was written before you could buy a Casio digital watch, I'm sceptical - that's how I feel.
Also, I think my expectations were damaged by cinema. I never fell in love with the classic black and white noir movies - but I love their influence on modern cinema. So if old noir movies didn't sway me, old noir books would leave me cold too, right?
Wrong, wrong, wrong. Clouds, old chap, you've got to stop making these assumptions!
So yes. I got it very wrong.
I felt right at home from page one. I was swept away on the style, the tone, the dialogue and details. It's a book of mad rich dames giving a snappy talking private eye with ironclad morals the run-around. It's a book of dirty rackets and dirtier blackmail.
It's four cups of coffee (black), a long slug from the office bottle in the bottom drawer then a couple of French cigarettes first thing in the morning.
God DAMN it tasted good.
The omnibus I have is three books, but I'm pacing them out. I read one book at work and one at home. I'm alternating these as my work books, with another title between each one. So my at-work books were: The Big Sleep, Then Hominids (parallel worlds Neanderthal sci-fi), Then the second Marlowe, Farewell my Lovely (which was very nearly as good as this), Then Manhattan in Reverse (sci-fi short stories, which I'm reading now), And then finally I'll be onto The Long Goodbye, the last of my Marlowe omnibus within the next couple of weeks. I can't wait!
The tough call for me now is whether to put the rest of the Marlowe books straight onto my finishing-the-series list. I'm trying to clear that list down, not build it up, but these books are just so good, I don't think I have a choice...
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of lif
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my FINISHING THE SERIES! list.
I loves me a good series! But I'm terrible for starting a new series before finishing my last - so this reading list is all about trying to close out those series I've got on the go.
Summary: Butcher back to his best!
Cheesy motor racing analogy: The first few books in the Dresden Files are like the beginning of a motor race - a little congested while the cars are still bunched up, taking it a little cautiously through the first few turns. Then we hit a solid patch of great storytelling/racing, where the cars are strung out nicely and everyone's hitting their stride. Then zoom! - the run up to Changes is amazing, the home straight, top speed, overtaking manoeuvres and you can't take your eyes off the page! After that excitement, Ghost Story and Cold Days are an abrupt change of pace - slamming the brakes on and manoeuvring through a hairpin turn and chicane - these are difficult corners and Butchers steers us through them adroitly - but they don't carry the same rush as what's happened just before. Which brings us to Skin Game, which to me feels like Butcher back to his best, we've got a fresh straight in front of us and we're slamming the gas pedal down! Everyone wearing their safety belts? No? Let's go!
Butcher also mixes up his storytelling technique - (view spoiler)[for the first time in the Dresden Files, Harry is being an unreliable narrator - he's deliberately not telling us things (hide spoiler)]! It works really well because it's unexpected - we're so used to trusting Harry - and Butcher does a good job with the foreshadowing... I knew something must be coming to turn it all on it's head... but I couldn't quite put my finger on what...
I said to my wife when I finished it that I thought just one element was handled badly: (view spoiler)[The birth of baby Lash (the new Bob). The whole parasite/spirit of intellect thread is integral to the plot at key moments, and we're all braced for some awesome 'birth' scene, possibly in Harry's head, featuring his subconscious again, and maybe flashbacks to Lash... or something! Instead we get... Molly 'delivers' the baby spirit while Harry is passed out and it's all job-done by the time he comes round. Lost opportunity! Booooo! (hide spoiler)]
If you've got to book 15 in a series... you're a fan already! - but this is a great instalment and recommended whole-heartedly.
Pure class from beginning to end - the best science journalism I've read.
It was completely coincidental that I read this just before the 2014 Ebola ouPure class from beginning to end - the best science journalism I've read.
It was completely coincidental that I read this just before the 2014 Ebola outbreak... but that did sort of reinforce why this is essential reading!
Plenty of other goodreads reviews have given superb summaries of the content of the novel, so I'll only touch on that briefly - but here's why I personally loved it:
I originally put this on my long-list as research reading. There's a novel I want to write (one day!) that is set in a an alt-history where humanity was ravaged 18th/19th century by an incredibly contagious but slow killing parasite that crosses from a fictional type of domesticated chimps to mankind.
So... I aced high-school Biology, I've seen Outbreak, I've read the Andromedus Strain and I've played the Plauge Inc app and the Pandemic boardgame - I have a higher than average interest in the mechanics of contagious diseases - but I'm certainly no pro. There were plenty of question marks in my plot regarding how my fictional plague functioned. This book sounded like the perfect, broad spectrum primer for what kinds of diseases had spread from animals, how that worked, and how it could (plausibly enough for spec fic) work.
So that's why it got on my long-list. Every time I saw a review flash past from a goodreads friend, it was invariably positive.
For the last few years I've been diligently focused on my reading lists - working through all the major sci-fi/fantasy award winners since 1980. It hasn't left a huge amount of space for books which sounded interesting, but weren't award winners. So I created a new reading list called the 'Cup of Tea List' for books that hadn't won awards but sounded like my cup of tea! I picked 10 top books for the list - and this was one of them.
So I eventually got my chance to read it! And I loved every page.
I love learning new stuff and I thought this was all fascinating and presented in an incredibly accessible way. It's not dumbed-down, but Quammen never talks in the stilted, precise vernacular of the true scientist. He's a damn-fine writer, who happens to really know his science.
At the end of every chapter I wanted to report it all back to my wife. She's kind of squeamish about sickness, so she didn't totally appreciate that, but even she found it interesting.
I've spoken about it so glowingly every since I finished it, that I've loaned it out twice already. If a friend's looking to borrow a book and they have any science leanings at all, I'm there, "dear friend, have you by chance read Spillover yet? No? Let me find where I've put it..."
In football (soccer) rhetoric, there's a running joke that club managers don't have the broadest vocabularies, and a good player is often described as "a top lad". If he's an exceptional player he might be a "a top, top lad" - with each subsequent, more emphatic "top" being reserved for the elite, the world-beaters, etc. With this in mind, I say that Spillover is a top, top, top read, and it'll only set you back a fiver.
Don't wait as long as I did - get yourself a copy now, then lend it to friends!
I've read 3 Bacigalupi books, and they've taken the maximum haul of 15 stars between them.
Why do I love his work so much? It's hard to say. He's bleakI've read 3 Bacigalupi books, and they've taken the maximum haul of 15 stars between them.
Why do I love his work so much? It's hard to say. He's bleak as f#ck - but he's also quite, quite, brilliant.
This is a sequel, but it's a new cast of characters set in the same world as Ship Breaker. It's a dystopian future: civilization in the USA has collapsed. The Chinese were peacekeepers, but even they've left now and the land is a torn-up mess of civil war, genocide and child-soldiers - rape and mutilation is a norm. They say this book is targeted at 'young adults', but I can't think of another y-a novel that pulls so few punches...
It reminded me of films set in African conflicts: Hotel Rwanda, Blood Diamond, The Last King of Scotland, Tsotsi... but also City of God.
It's like Bacigalupi saying to the Western world - "you've seen on the news how f#cked up things can get - now stop taking what you've got for granted, because it's all built on a house of cards, and with one strong wind your whole world could come tumbling down."
It helps his moralising stance that the story itself is an awesome tale of bravery and loyalty, with some great 'real' kids as lead characters, and a kick-ass animal-human-hybrid super-soldier for the sci-fi edge :-) It's the kind of 110% page-turner that you'll want to blitz through in a single sitting and resent the world for interrupting.
My only complaint: the sequel isn't out yet. Give me more!
With this third book in the series, I felt Aaronovitch had really hit his stride. This book, the fourth in the series, was aBest Peter Grant book yet!
With this third book in the series, I felt Aaronovitch had really hit his stride. This book, the fourth in the series, was a pure pleasure to read. It ran on rails and I found myself so immersed in the story that I wasn't looking ahead, I wasn't trying to second-guess it, I wasn't trying to analyse it mid-flow. As such... that ending blind-sided me like a pick-up truck running a red light... BAM!
I won't extol the virtues of the series here - if you're looking at reviews for book four, odds are you've already read books one, two and three! Let me just reassure you that this one is another bullseye.
I'm also very excited about the BBC TV series based on these novels that is in development! Check-out this casting blog to whet your appetite for what that might look like :-)
After this I read: Dumbledore's Army Reunites at Quidditch World Cup Final - but for some reason, Goodreads decided to delete the entry for that short story and all associated reviews (cheers for that!) so let's just jump straight to the book I read after that: The Algebraist...more
Really very beautiful and available to read for free online! Read the story HERE. And read Nataliya's amazing review HERE (she says it so perfectly it mReally very beautiful and available to read for free online! Read the story HERE. And read Nataliya's amazing review HERE (she says it so perfectly it makes any further words on the subject kind of redundant).
This got onto my long-list because of these glowing reviews from James, Nikki and Paul.
As James says:
There can be few
A quite wonderful little book.
This got onto my long-list because of these glowing reviews from James, Nikki and Paul.
As James says:
There can be few better recommendations for any book than that you continuously feel the need to read excepts out to those around you, no matter what they are doing (or what else they are trying to read themselves). "Oh, this one is great."; "Just this one and I'll stop."; "Ah, wait, this one is really good too."
I did the same myself, at length.
Did you know that avocados are testicles? And we're all part of the human gene chicken? And that if you called a Nazi a Nazi they would beat you up? And that the Bluetooth on your phone is a Viking?
I read this on my lunchbreak, devouring the bitesize chapters along with my canteen spam'n'chips... and I couldn't wait to get home and tell my wife the funny little snipped that had stuck in my mind that day.
Each mini-chapter delves into the amusing anecdotes that lay behind everyday words, and end by linking that word on to a new word which will be the focus of the next chapter.
Great idea - flawless execution - five stars from me!...more
The first Matthew Swift novel to get 5-stars from me. It was like Griffin was listening to my gripes with the first two books and answered them compreThe first Matthew Swift novel to get 5-stars from me. It was like Griffin was listening to my gripes with the first two books and answered them comprehensively. Truly excellent - and even more impressive as I wasn't at all convinced it was going to happen! :-)
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