Books!

[woodwardiocom]

Earthlight by Arthur C. Clarke

I recently re-read this minor Clarke classic about a cold war in space briefly flaring hot. It's interesting how civil everyone is. Very British -- right down to the sexual mores. Mildly recommended.

Pathfinder Tales: Skinwalkers by Wendy N. Wagner

A tie-in novel to the Pathfinder RPG, the plot is about a single mom ex-pirate viking dealing with an invasion of shapeshifters. Fun, light, mildly recommended.

Beyond The Shadows by Brent Weeks

The conclusion to the Night Angel trilogy, which I've read over a span of maybe six years. Lots goes on in this one, as all our minor heroes ramp up into world-shakers, just in time for the apocalypse. I like fantasy series about assassins, especially when moral dilemmas crop up, as they do all over the place in this one. Mildly recommended.

Earthsea 4, 5, and 6 by Ursula K. LeGuin

I recenetly re-read the original Earthsea trilogy, and decided to push on through the rest of the series. The last three books are obviously fix-fics for the first three, as LeGuin retcons the heck out of how magic works in her world. In particular, in the first three magic was the domain of men only, and preferably celibate men, and in these books that point of view is revealed to be fundamentally flawed. The climax of the last book is a bit anti-, but it nicely sews up the new understanding of magic. Recommended.

Engineering Infinity and Edge Of Infinity, edited by Jonathan Strahan

While anthologies are not really my thing, these are both solid collections of modern SF. Recommended.

Comments

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

I was particularly interested in how LeGuin's understanding of death had evolved from 35 to 75.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

Oh, indeed! "Wait, did I give my world a horrible afterlife? No wonder everyone is trying to avoid death!"