I went ahead and bought Return of the Thief on e-book, and read it ... couple days ago. My overall thoughts: it was okay.
I've been trying for the past few days to try to figure out what i liked and didn't like about it, but like usual i'm finding it difficult to put my thoughts and feelings into words. In talking it over with my sister (who hasn't read it yet) earlier, i guess my problems kind of boil down to a few things:
Spoiler
Vaguely spoilery thoughts
Problem one is, i don't get the need for a new narrator. There's already a lot of characters in this series, and now that it's wrapping up, it doesn't seem like a good time to introduce a new one. I don't feel like Pheris added a lot to the book, and i certainly don't feel like i got to know him all that well.
Problem two can maybe be chalked up to too many people beforehand freaking out about whether main characters were going to die, if there was going to be a volcanic eruption, etc., but it just felt a bit too cozy. It felt like a carefully crafted story with just enough drama and danger to be interesting, but where none of the important people were ever in real danger. I think part of it was this book is like half war and politics, half warm and fuzzy character moments, and the two did not blend well together. I wasn't rooting for Eugenides to die, but i certainly wasn't surprised when neither he, nor any of the other former main characters, did.
Finally, and i'm a bit firmer ground here in regards to what i thought, the plot was kind of all over the place. You had the troublemaking Eddisians, Erondites, the Medes, and then the unreliable Continental Powers. Most of the issues got resolved before the end of the book (and thus didn't further the main narrative), while the ones that did last to the end had to play a bit of second fiddle to all the other issues, and thus didn't get fully developed, in my opinion. A big part of the problem for me, too, is that most of these had been barely mentioned in earlier books, if at all, and so they had to be introduced and added to the framework of people and countries we already knew about. It's hard to care about things introduced like that.
One positive note, i did like how things ended with Sejanus, though i didn't like the amount of is-he-trustworthy-is-he-not that went on before that happened.
That's about the best i can do. Overall, i think i liked it better than Conspiracy, but maybe not. It's certainly near the bottom, and just in general i don't like the last three books as much as the first three. I should probably re-read the whole series at some point, and maybe i'll like it better, or at least be able to put into better words why i didn't.
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. - Rabbi Tarfon
Posted : October 9, 2020 9:05 pm
@coracle, I knew you would be a Ngaio Marsh fan due to the local connection.
I was surprised when I realised The Scales of Justice was set in England; when I looked it up, it appears that only a few of her books were actually set in NZ, which I thought a little sad. Do you know the reason why she set so many of her works outside of NZ?
Because NZ is so small that no-one can get away with murder for very long. 
(Sorry, @coracle... that's just me being an Aussie troll. 
I'm not much of a mystery fan myself, but my parents are and I know they both enjoy Ngaio Marsh.)
"Now you are a lioness," said Aslan. "And now all Narnia will be renewed."
(Prince Caspian)
Posted : October 10, 2020 1:12 pm
coracle liked
@snowangel, I'm glad you still enjoy sharing Wilson with your siblings.
Oh, that reminds me I need to read chapter 6.
I will have to post a picture of the rabbit little sis made in the craft thread, it's super cute. The Green Ember readers had a discussion and we decided the problem with the final books was pacing (there were several rather long sections following one main character at a time) and that the ending was disjointed.
I read Duncan's War and started King's Arrow, and now I really want to read something by George MacDonald. 
I think my siblings will really enjoy this series. I am also reading Laughing at the Days to Come by Tessa Thompson and Candy Bomber by Michael O. Tunnell, the only common denominator is that all are library books.
I normally would do the same as you, Valia, but I haven't read through the Stuart Brannon series in years and now that I have most of the series smack in the middle of my personal library...it's hard to read the library books instead. It might help if I stored my library books some place other than on the shelf just above my Stephen Bly books. 
SnowAngel
Christ is King.
Posted : October 16, 2020 9:15 pm
@Courtenay, that logic has never stopped anyone from setting multiple murders in the same small town or massive slew of murders occurring in rural England.
@SnowAngel, I'm glad to hear you think your siblings will enjoy the Crown & Covenant series! What George MacDonald books are you wanting to read, and would they be rereads or first reads?
I understand about the Stuart Brannon reread - there are definitely some series that are hard to stop in the middle of!
I recently finished Priceless by Robert K. Whittman, a memoir about an undercover FBI specializing in art crime from the mid-80s to the mid-00s. Realistically, the language got a little rough in places, but it was a good look at art crime and how stolen artwork tends to be recovered.
I also read A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt this week; it's a play and a short read then, but it was good and has given me something to think about as far as holding to matters of conscience. FPA Theatre had a production of it last winter in NYC and I had hoped they would tour it this fall, but that's not happening - maybe they'll tour it in a few years still.
Death is swallowed up in victory.
Posted : October 17, 2020 2:24 pm
@Courtenay, that logic has never stopped anyone from setting multiple murders in the same small town or massive slew of murders occurring in rural England.
True. I'm not sure why anyone would ever want to live in Midsomer. Or for the American equivalent, Cabot Cove...
"Now you are a lioness," said Aslan. "And now all Narnia will be renewed."
(Prince Caspian)
Posted : October 17, 2020 4:09 pm
For giggles and laughs
- Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Mouse Amos by Robert Lawson
Thank you for this one @Mel. I just finished it up last night. It was quite humorous and I preferred it to Rabbit Hill.
Posted : October 19, 2020 9:43 pm
Over the past couple days i listened to The Original, a new, i guess it's a novella?, co-written by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal (an author i've never heard of before). Currently it's just in audio format, i don't know if there's ever going to be a text-only version.
It's set in a futuristic world where everyone has access to nanites, which prevent aging, repair physical injuries, cure illness, and allow people to use "theming", which adds color and music and all kinds of things to the world around them, but also raises a lot of questions about what is real. The main character, Holly, wakes up to learn she is a Provisional Replica -- a clone of the original Holly -- made by the government with one purpose: to find, and kill, the original Holly for the crime of murdering her husband. If she succeeds, she can take over the original Holly's life. If she doesn't do it within four days, however, she'll die.
This won't be one of my favorite Sanderson things ever (maybe i'll blame that on the co-writer ?), but i still liked it, the concept particularly. I've never liked stories that question the humanity of clones and robots, but while that was part of the story it wasn't really the focus. How theming and the like provided edited versions of reality, and the potential downsides of that, was more the topic of discussion. The story was too short to really get into the various arguments for or against it, but since in the real world it's a purely theoretical idea at this point, that's probably for the best.
Spoiler
the ending
Original Holly being so negative about replica Holly being, well, a replica seemed to come out of nowhere, especially given how eager she'd been to talk to her to begin with, and that replica Holly herself hadn't seemed to have issue so much with being a replica as what had been added to her when she was made. I suppose it was necessary to explain why she murdered Jonathan's replica, but i think it would have been better to have included at least some of that distaste in replica Holly. It would have fit together better, at the very least.
I think i would have preferred if it was made clear which Holly lived, especially if it was the replica Holly we'd been following this whole time, but it's not as much of a cop-out or as unsatisfying as it would have been in a different book. Neither of them are the Holly-that-was, and so whoever lived is going to be a different person. If it was replica Holly, i wonder if she would revive a replica Jonathan? That'd be quite the story to tell the neighbors.
It has a lot in common with Sanderson's short story Snapshot, which i think i liked a little better, but they're very close. Maybe someone with a better eye for analysis, or a better knowledge of the co-author, could compare the two and see what might have been brought in by which author. It'd be an interesting take, if not particularly relevant.
Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. - Rabbi Tarfon
Posted : October 22, 2020 1:33 pm
I've read Return of the Thief. I'm not entirely sure what I think.
Spoiler
Spoiler
I'm incredibly frustrated that the Sacred Mountain erupting turned out to be completely insignificant as well. I'm frustrated by the deaths of all the attendants, plus Sejanus and most of Gen's family. I'm frustrated that the only map included was the not-very-helpful and rather-spoilery battle map and not one showing all the other countries that were so important to understand. I disliked the repeated "someday you will be in love" thread and its accompanying elements. I found it a bit frustrating that we were introduced to yet another new character as narrator, but more than that, that he alternated between first-person and third-person omniscient and that he kept including information about future events (that didn't even happen in the story). The breaking of the story into two books didn't make much sense to me, especially since we didn't change narrators, and it fell into a pet peeve of mine where we get a previously mentioned period of time rehashed from a different perspective. It kind of renders Thick as Thieves a non-essential addition to the series, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I guess, but also...why was it needed then? Pheris being more connected with the gods than even Gen seemed...rather far-fetched. It felt weird that the minor goddess who Gen once worshiped was only resolved as a bonus short story in the end. I feel like there were some other threads that weren't wrapped but I can't identify what they were at the moment. Oh, also, there were a number of new elements introduced that didn't seem to have any grounding in previous books, but they really should've if they were as big a deal as they were made out to be (thinking specifically of the Edissian tattoooes, the trial for Gen, Ula, etc.). I did like that we finally got a name for Minister of War (and a good one!), but not sure I loved how we learned it - and twins (plus a child for Sophos & Helen) seemed a bit too convenient. I had also been hoping for some sort of role for Heiro, so it was a bit disappointing that she got one comment and that was it.
I didn't dislike it as much as Thick as Thieves, but it's definitely near the end of the list.
I didn't dislike it as much as Thick as Thieves, but it's definitely near the end of the list.
So, essentially, I had very similar thoughts as @Arwenel.
@Dot, I am curious which moments made you put down the book and just take them in.
Arwenel, that Sanderson short story does sound interesting!
Death is swallowed up in victory.
Posted : October 23, 2020 3:52 pm
This won't be one of my favorite Sanderson things ever (maybe i'll blame that on the co-writer ?), but i still liked it, the concept particularly
My thoughts are pretty much the same, although I think the co-writer did provide some stuff Sanderson wouldn't have done on his own. I've found his mystery/crime stories (Snapshot, and the Legion trilogy) seem to more heavily rely on existential crises to solve the case than some of his other stuff. Maybe it's because I listened to Snapshot instead of reading it, but I thought the world in Original was better and the internal monologues were stronger. But that might just be the difference in narrators. This is by no means one of my favorites, but it's still pretty solid.
YA book club's thing this month was Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell. It's a fun graphic novel about two teenagers who have worked in the same pumpkin patch for the past four years and are now contemplating what the future will be like when they're off at college instead of working at the pumpkin patch next year. Solid friendship with a bit of romance at the end. I actually found this romance cute, which is unusual for me.
Sci-fi's was Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. It's an interesting story. Necromancers in space as the premise was intriguing. There were a few things I disliked, such as the tendency to refer to the characters by a lot of different names and descriptors within the text. There was a large cast and even with the dramatis personae at the front of the book it was tedious and confusing to keep everyone straight. Referring to the same character by first name, last name, title, nickname, and physical descriptor in the same chapter was a bit much. I would have liked the world-building to be more solid, but I did get the sequel, Harrow the Ninth, immediately after I finished.
Up next: re-read Brandon Sanderson's Warbreaker as a refresher on Nightblood, the best talking sword ever, before Stormlight 4 in November. And YA and sci-fi book clubs are teaming up because of Thanksgiving, so I only have to read one book for that. The Light Between Worlds by Laura E. Weymouth is apparently a sort of grown-up Narnia and other kinds of portal worlds where growing up in one world and then going back to childhood in the other has more of an impact. I'm hoping it's more than just a "Narnia was bad" kind of narrative, but I do really like portal worlds stories so I might like it even if it is nothing more than that.
Edit: oh boy here we go. Prepare for the ramble.
@Dot, I am curious which moments made you put down the book and just take them in.
Spoiler
So, first off, I really liked Pheris. He's both a pretty good example of how to write a disabled protagonist and also keeping in line with some traditional Greek mythos. He cannot speak, but he is the mouthpiece of the gods and of history. Hence why I actually like the shifting point of view. He says at the start of the book that this is his recording of history as he knows it, but included other things that were told to him. It also made me sit up and pay attention whenever he said something that seemed like a throw-away line. Megan Whalen Turner seems to almost always bring those back around, like when he mentioned the two soldiers who died in the ambush at the pass. I was then waiting for the ambush at the pass and metaphorically biting my knuckles as the story got closer to that point.
Some moments that made me put the down the book: the first time Pheris sees one of the gods. The narrators are always close to the gods in some way, and appearing to him in waking life rather than just in dreams like they did for Sophos really caught my attention.
The revelation that the Eddisians were planning to kill Gen before the first book. I hadn't even thought of it before, but it then made perfect sense. Gen is ruthless, and does anything he wants and everyone knows it. That's really dangerous.
The death of Erondites. Because the sky god is not fond of the thief for stealing that lightning but Erondites apparently offended all of the gods enough for them to work together to get rid of him.
The comments about how Eddis always knew she would be the last Eddis. It seemed like a political power play when she destroyed Hamiethes Gift in the Sacred Mountain in the first book, and it was that, but it was also establishing that no god would ever appoint a ruler of Eddis again. And she was ready to marry Sophos' uncle if that what was she had to do. I was a bit disappointed that the mountain didn't erupt, but the narrative was more about their dread of not saving everyone before that event, and in the end they did, so I felt like the reader didn't actually need to see it happen.
When Pheris tells Gen not to overreach. Again, Gen is so ruthless and after all of the stuff about how the Erondites' family will always betray him I was just so happy that he listened.
Dancing on the rooftop at the end. Thieves only fall if the god himself drops them. And since Gen was Annux everyone else on that roof was under his protection and also his god's. Just . . . the poetry of it. I love Megan Whalen Turner's take on divine intervention.
I did half expect Gen and Pheris to ride out of that camp on a stolen elephant, but I think it worked having Attolia steal some for him instead. They are all under the Thief's protection, so they stole stuff for him. Also, getting him an elephant was really sweet.
There's probably more that I'm not thinking of at the moment. I have found from talking to other groups of friends who have read it that people who didn't really like 4 and/or 5 were usually dissatisfied with the ending, but the people who did like them love the ending.
Narniaweb sister to Pattertwig's Pal
Posted : October 23, 2020 4:07 pm
@Dot, thanks for the response!
Spoiler
Return of the Thief
Speaking of Pheris - do you know what his disability would be? I wasn't sure if his special love and interest in numbers pointed towards autism, but that didn't seem to fit with his physical ailments.
I felt that the revelation that the Eddisians were planning to kill Gen - and the suddenly darker portrayal of the Thief position - changed a lot of things and not in a way that felt in-line with earlier books. It felt more like a, "Haha, you were wrong!" view instead of a natural expansion/explanation? If that makes sense.
The dancing on the roof did make sense, even if I was still kind of waiting for Gen to fall.
I felt that the revelation that the Eddisians were planning to kill Gen - and the suddenly darker portrayal of the Thief position - changed a lot of things and not in a way that felt in-line with earlier books. It felt more like a, "Haha, you were wrong!" view instead of a natural expansion/explanation? If that makes sense.
The dancing on the roof did make sense, even if I was still kind of waiting for Gen to fall.
Spoiler
Vague QT Thoughts
there's a transition in the themes/stories of 4-6 that connect in a different way than the first three? I know that we get a lot farther away from Gen and the conflicts get larger/more international, so to speak. So, I guess if someone liked those elements, it would make sense they would like 6 too. Maybe?
I'll also be curious to hear what you think of The Light Between Worlds, too.
Okay, few more things:
Spoiler
Return of the Thief
I felt like the line where Eddis tells Attolia that Gen has to bear his god a little longer was supposed to be really significant - but the other shoe never dropped on it? I'm seeing comments about him being possessed by the god Eugenides, but I don't see it clearly from the book? And it doesn't make sense from anything previously - the gods show up, but none of them seem to ever possess anyone?
Did the Medean emperor die? It seemed like all the Medean political intrigue that had been important since QoA was just dropped in favour of introducing a bunch of Continental political intrigue out of nowhere.
There was a scene early on in the book where there was a bright light and a figure and Pheris clung to Gen - but I don't think we ever got an explanation as to what the bright light and figure were???
I felt like there wasn't any final twist in the end of the book? Maybe I just missed it?
Also, I understand why Gen couldn't be told who else had betrayed him, but it was very unsatisfying as a reader.
Did the Medean emperor die? It seemed like all the Medean political intrigue that had been important since QoA was just dropped in favour of introducing a bunch of Continental political intrigue out of nowhere.
There was a scene early on in the book where there was a bright light and a figure and Pheris clung to Gen - but I don't think we ever got an explanation as to what the bright light and figure were???
I felt like there wasn't any final twist in the end of the book? Maybe I just missed it?
Also, I understand why Gen couldn't be told who else had betrayed him, but it was very unsatisfying as a reader.
I suppose in all fairness, I should state that I am rather sleep-deprived and was while reading it (though not because of the book), so that may've caused some things to fly over my head.
Death is swallowed up in victory.
Posted : October 23, 2020 6:59 pm
From about two pages ago ... jo, I was aware that October Sky was an anagram of Rocket Boys! But only because Google told me.
I've been re-reading several of the James Herriot books after watching the new series of All Creatures Great and Small - which I recommend. I think they've nailed the characters, though the stories are (inevitably) different. The books remain wonderful, of course!
After reading a magazine article about it, I borrowed Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez. This is not the easiest read - it's page after page of numbers, and it's a tough subject. However, it's eye opening. The main point that the author comes back to throughout is that though studies are done for almost everything we buy, eat, drive, take when we're sick, etc., women are underrepresented in these. When they are included, data is often not distinguished between men and women. So the result is that the effects of certain medicines on women is not known because the study has been done on males, even for medicines specifically for women. When manufacturers crash-test their cars, the female crash test dummy is a scaled-down male figure which is, rather obviously, physically different from a typical female physique. Could there be any relation between that and the fact women are more likely to be seriously injured in a car crash? The author thinks so. Every page in this book has examples like this. It becomes overwhelming. What I appreciated was that she did not just consider the issues in developed nations. There was some fascinating information about work done with third-world communities who needed safer ways of cooking, retrieving water, and so on. What she uncovers is that some charity work fails because they only ask the men what's needed, rather than considering the needs of women - who primarily do the cooking and retrieving water. Where the book perhaps fails is by failing to acknowledge that men are also primary caregivers, public transport users, and other things. Otherwise, I think it's an important book, especially for anyone who collects or uses data.
Last weekend I read Return of the Thief. I'm glad it arrived on a Saturday because I was able to sit down and read it all the way through! I liked it. But I also like all the other books, so I don't think that's too much of a surprise! It's not my favourite, but I thought it was a good ending.
Spoiler
The 'twist' for me was when Gen was captured and tortured. I 100% thought he had cracked.
I really liked all the second-guessing about what prophecies and messages meant.
I feel like I missed tons of things though. I need to re-read the whole series.
Reading the comments above, I find I agree with a lot of it. I don't think there needed to be a new narrator, but I liked Pheris. Is everyone alive, with the heir and the spare, and happy, super-convenient? Yes. Did it make me happy? Also yes ...
Posted : November 6, 2020 9:23 am
AJ,
Spoiler
Return of the Thief
Gen being captured felt like it was supposed to be a twist, but it also felt really off and the timing really odd. It seemed too early in the book to be the climax and then everything happened really quickly
I recently read Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. Overall, I think I liked it. I adored the setting and enjoyed the narrator. One of the two prefacing quotes was from The Magician's Nephew and, while it definitely was not Narnian, there were elements that did feel like an homage or reference to the book.
Spoiler
Piranesi
It felt like a horror story in a way, especially as the pieces of Piranesi's past start popping up, but it lacked much of the actual horror, which I appreciated. That is to say, the structure and backstory were indeed horrifying and the Other was so obviously evil quickly, that it could've been written as a straight-out horror story. But the House and how Piranesi viewed things kept it from becoming that, especially the House itself. An endless House of statues and skeletons could've been the perfect setting for a horror story, but the House itself is so strongly non-threatening that it largely negates the horror. Even in the final confrontation with the Other and Sixteen, the House gave protection to Piranesi and Sixteen while also meting out judgment to the Other. I really appreciated that, as well as how Piranesi treated the Dead and his compassion and care of them, and how that showed his high value of human life.
I saw a quote by Susanna Clarke about writing a reverse horror story - the core of a horror story is that there is a secret evil, and she said she was writing a story where the core is that there is a secret good, or something along those lines. I'm a little confused about whether that was this book or a future one, but I can definitely see that theme here.
I wasn't sure how there could be a satisfying ending since Piranesi couldn't stay in the House, but also he wouldn't feel completely comfortable becoming Matthew again, but I'm pretty content with how it ended. He is still able to go back to the House some, and he is starting to also see about becoming Matthew again, even if he will never be who he was before. But what made it work for me was the final scene where he realises that the House is present in the world around him and that he could see the statues he loved and knew in the people around him. And the last lines - I'm not sure how to explain them, except to say it kinda felt like a myth actually conveying an important truth and pointing towards God.
Death is swallowed up in victory.
Posted : November 7, 2020 6:37 pm
I am finally reading Taliesin by Stephen Lawhead (an author I'm kind of hooked on right now) and am enjoying it. It's a very creative take on Atlantis (which at times feels like a mix between ancient Crete and Charn) and a cool backstory to the King Arthur saga. I hope to continue the series to the end!
Also reading Martin Lloyd Jones's Studies on the Sermon on the Mount. A thought-provoking read to say the least- something about his tone and style vaguely reminds me of C.S. Lewis!
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Posted : November 9, 2020 9:43 pm
I've recently read World Without End, the 1200-page follow-up to The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett;.
It takes place a few hundred years later, and follows several families in their lives, power struggles, relationships, and two bouts of the Plague. Very odd to be reading this year about seriously life-threatening infections that spread from person to person and leave many dead! I kept seeing parallels, and trying not to be disturbed.
.
(All very interesting, well told and often gripping, but I won't read any more of his books as there are too many scenes of intimacy)
There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.
"...when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."
Posted : November 9, 2020 11:06 pm
@SnowAngel, I'm glad to hear you think your siblings will enjoy the Crown & Covenant series! What George MacDonald books are you wanting to read, and would they be rereads or first reads?
Just about any George MacDonald fiction would do at the moment. I would really love to read The Laird's Inheritance again, I recall it being one of my favorites as a teen.
I finished Rebel's Keep last weekend, my reading time has been rather limited the last couple weeks and it took way longer for me to finish the series than I would have thought possible. It was pretty good, the writing could have been a little smoother, but the content was good and that's what is really important. I've passed the series onto the siblings and they are all enjoying it. My youngest brother is very eager to read the sequel series, but unfortunately someone checked them out from the library so we have wait a few more weeks.
I'm currently reading Flourish by Lydia Brownback (it's Scarlet recommended), Strays by Remy Wilkins (I do not recommend this one, I can't figure out why Canon Press published, it's NOT theologically sound), and I have a bookmark in The Flying Tigers by Sam Kleiner (I'm looking forward to getting into this one).
And I am listening to Blackhorse Riders by Philip Keith, not getting through this one very quickly, it's hard to listen to, but I figure it would be since it's about the 1st Cavalry in Vietnam which is why I chose it.
I just realized it's time to put Christmas books on hold at the library.
SnowAngel
Christ is King.
Posted : November 14, 2020 1:45 pm