Books Part V, featuring Benny Profane and the Whole Sick Crew

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Iron Council by China Mieville

A friend lent me three books of his, all set in the same fantasy world, and this was the final third one I've read. Man has an extraordinary (and sometimes perverse) imagination and a knack for world-building, even if his prose and characters don't quite match them. I really enjoyed Perdido Street Station and The Scar, this one though took a while to get into. Like, 200 pages or so. Which were mostly about a group of characters you don't get to know or care about, running from one mortal danger to another, for the sake of the mission which never gets explained until much, much, much later and is therefore hard to give a damn about. Luckily, at around 200 pages mark the book finally gets to tell the story of the Iron Council and from then on it was a blast to read. I just could have lived without the super-long preamble.
 
Iron Council by China Mieville

A friend lent me three books of his, all set in the same fantasy world, and this was the final third one I've read. Man has an extraordinary (and sometimes perverse) imagination and a knack for world-building, even if his prose and characters don't quite match them. I really enjoyed Perdido Street Station and The Scar, this one though took a while to get into. Like, 200 pages or so. Which were mostly about a group of characters you don't get to know or care about, running from one mortal danger to another, for the sake of the mission which never gets explained until much, much, much later and is therefore hard to give a damn about. Luckily, at around 200 pages mark the book finally gets to tell the story of the Iron Council and from then on it was a blast to read. I just could have lived without the super-long preamble.

Agreed with all of this, including liking the other books from this world as well. This is another author whose every book I have read. You should maybe check out the The City & the city, another good book but the style is different than the trilogy you just read.
 
C/P'd from my review on Goodreads, RE: Carrion Comfort:

This might be one of the most negative four star reviews you're ever going to read.

It's not that I don't like this book. I love it.

But there were a few things that stuck so deeply in my craw that I just couldn't quite let them go.

The book plays out like a Hollywood movie script, in its conveniences. Which is a shame, because for the first half, or so, it's gritty "realism" is more than appreciated. I'm ever so slightly disappointed with Simmons, as I believe he is one of the best authors I have ever had the pleasure of reading. That's why I'm so disappointed by how easy this book is, the situations, I mean. It reminded me far too much of Stephen King's It in it's approach to tackling the villains as well.
The neat little bow that ends the story with the good guys prevailing, Marvin somehow surviving, all of the bad guys (including Tony) dying, was almost enough to drop the whole thing another star, but then Melanie lived and Tony's death at least made sense, so I'm content.

All that being said: Tony, Saul and Melanie are three of the best characters I've ever seen written, and the combination of 1st person POV and 3rd person reality inter-played around Melanie's character almost make up for a lot of the cookie-cutter plotting.

It's a great, scary concept, some chapters being some of the most terrifying material I have ever read. But, there was just that little bit that keeps it from the pantheon of favorite books ever, and thus, 4/5.
 
For more seasonally appropriate reading, since I finished Carrion Comfort much quicker than I'd planned (thanks to getting sick, this past weekend), I'm taking a brief trip over to Hell House. At least until I can locate my copy of House of Leaves.

Not over the moon about this one, to be honest. It feels like such a been there done that story, but I'm hoping for it to diverge from the path soon enough.
 
The Bone Clocks just arrived in the mail today.

So excited, but I'm still less than 200 pages into Thousand Autumns...

Can I resist?

I enjoyed the second half more than the first half. Finish this shit.
 
Laz, don't open:

Gump, would you agree that if Laz does not like the VERY end, he has no soul?

Well, I doubt he has a soul regardless, but yes. 100 times yes. My favorite thing in the book is how the last sentence mirrors the last sentence of part I. Brilliant, beautiful, sad. Wonderful, really.
 
Well, I doubt he has a soul regardless, but yes. 100 times yes. My favorite thing in the book is how the last sentence mirrors the last sentence of part I. Brilliant, beautiful, sad. Wonderful, really.

I normally don't use group opinion to measure anything, especially if that group is comprised of people from my own life….but, I have to say, almost everyone I know that has read the book adored the end, and these are people with fairly varied literary interests. Again, that is not what makes me think it's so amazing, but, it kind of solidifies it a bit, I guess. As you say, brilliant, beautiful, sad. It really hit me hard when I read it and has stayed with me ever since.
 
number9dream is the next book on my list of his to read.

I normally don't use group opinion to measure anything, especially if that group is comprised of people from my own life….but, I have to say, almost everyone I know that has read the book adored the end, and these are people with fairly varied literary interests. Again, that is not what makes me think it's so amazing, but, it kind of solidifies it a bit, I guess. As you say, brilliant, beautiful, sad. It really hit me hard when I read it and has stayed with me ever since.
In all honesty, I liked the end, but, it just left me a little cold and depressed. This was due to the fact that it was such a good ending, just not the ending I wanted.
By the way, I definitely liked it better than Cloud Atlas.


oworly.gif
 
number9dream is the next book on my list of his to read.


In all honesty, I liked the end, but, it just left me a little cold and depressed. This was due to the fact that it was such a good ending, just not the ending I wanted.



oworly.gif

You didn't get the ending you wanted/needed, but you got the one you deserved.
 
This is where our paths split. :) I love both books, but definitely prefer Cloud Atlas.

Meanwhile, I lost track, has anyone besides me read his other books:

Ghostwritten
number9dream
Black Swan Green

I don't know. Some of the Cloud Atlas stories left me a bit cold. You can clearly see his literary prowess in the book, of course, but I wasn't as engaged with some of the narratives (I did love the Adam Ewing and Zedelghem stories, though). And I can't stop thinking of the following when I think about that book now.

Hugo-Weaving-in-Cloud-Atlas-Nea-So-Copros-Future-Asian.jpeg

I thought that the very confined setting of Thousand Autums and the longer narrative arch was probably what made me like it more. Mitchell's attention to detail is pretty impressive in that one, and I think he does a great job with dirty mean colonial characters (as he did in the Adam Ewing story). Anyways, my two cents.

Haven't read his other books. I think the next one of his I will read is Ghostwritten (although I'd welcome other suggestions).
 
I love all his stuff so it's not like I'd try to deter you from hopping on over to Ghostwritten next.

And, I mean, I adore Thousand Autumns so I hope I'm not sounding like I am putting it down.

Has anyone in here read any of James Clavell's stuff? I ask cos I have Shogun on my mind now.
 
I'm sure it's been brought up before, but with Laz, Gump and I all having read the same book so recently, it does bring a lot of fun to the table, when we can all discuss it afterwards. The Interference book club wouldn't be such a bad idea.
 
I'm sure it's been brought up before, but with Laz, Gump and I all having read the same book so recently, it does bring a lot of fun to the table, when we can all discuss it afterwards. The Interference book club wouldn't be such a bad idea.

It's definitely fun to have some discussion afterwards. If the logistics work - choosing a book everyone wants to read might be difficult - that would be a nice idea.
 
This is where our paths split. :) I love both books, but definitely prefer Cloud Atlas.

Meanwhile, I lost track, has anyone besides me read his other books:

Ghostwritten
number9dream
Black Swan Green

I've read those three. Probably liked Ghostwritten the most, also loved BSG, which is proof he is just as brilliant without the meta gimmicks.

N9D was a bit too much of a Murakami rip-off, even if it was intentional. It was also a lot of fun, so still well worth reading.
 
I was hesitant when BSG came out because I just don't look toward's Mitchell for that sort of novel - but I should have known better, I really enjoyed it. Number9dream is a blast, yeah, homage, rip-off or otherwise.
 
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