Trillian

Trillian

all about books - news, reviews and a ton of chitchat :)

March 2014 - My Book Month
Prince of Thorns  - Mark  Lawrence The Prague Cemetery - Umberto Eco The Hero of Ages  - Brandon Sanderson Life After Life - Kate Atkinson

I found out that too high expectations mostly lead to a big disappointment, encountered an real unlikeable antihero, read the last book of a great series and learned how small decisions can have big effects. 

 

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

Looking for a unlikeable antihero? Well no need to look any further, you have found one in Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath, the protagonist in the Broken Empire series by Mark Lawrence. A cruel and murderous prince who left his home and goes on  some kind of a killing spree through his land. The beginning was quite difficult - especially the writing style -, but I started to enjoy this book, even though it was a slow process. I only gave "Prince of Thorns" three stars, but I think I just was not in the mood for such a different story. I'm definitely going to continue this series and am sure that I will like them much much more. 

 

The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco

There is not much to say about it. I just didn't like this book at all. It's nothing like The Name of the Rose or Foucault's Pendulum. Just one historical event after the other which leaves little room for the actual story. And it's really lacking a story in my opinion. The only interesting part was the written discussion between the main protagonist Simonini and the priest Dalla Piccola and that's what kept me going even though it was quite exhausting to the point where I just wanted to start skipping sentence after sentence. So, I'm really sorry but I can't give this book more than two stars - even though it hurts me to do so. 

 

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

I'm so going to miss Vin, Elend, Sazed and of course TenSoon...  I can't believe that my time with those characters is over already - how time flies by. 5 stars because it was a great ending for this series! I can highly recommend the Mistborn series to every fantasy fan out there! The first part of the Stormlight Archive series is definitely going to be the next Sanderson book for me - especially since the second book has been published recently!

 

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Life After Life is a very interesting story about the life of Ursula and how big effects little decisions can have. Going the long way and not taking a shortcut through the garden doesn't sound like it would make a big difference, does it? But in Ursulas life it does and throughout the book Ursula repeatedly gets the chance to do something different - to change her and her friends and family's future. At first I was a little bit confused because of the constant time hopping, but after some chapters I got used to it and it didn't distract me anymore. I liked Atkinson's writing style and enjoyed reading about Ursulas life. I gave this book 3,5 stars, but when I think about it now maybe I should have given it directly four stars :)

 

Read Me Challenge March

The goal for march was to read books with an antihero, a villain protagonist and not a charismatic, likeable and flawless hero. I was really looking forward to this topic - well I have to because I recommended it ;) Unfortunately I had way to little time and too many other books to read, so I only read two books that matched this topic:

- Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

- The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco (I didn't even know that this book has an antihero until I started reading it and it was so clear to me that it was a perfect match)

 

50/50 Challenge

Since I'm reading a lot of bigger books this year, I decided to use the option to count books with more than 500 pages as two. So I have read 16/50 books and saw 14/50 movies. btw the Veronica Mars movie was just aaawesome :) and I just found out that there is a book that continues where the movie stopped!

 

Statistics

books read: 4

genres: 2x fantasy, 2x historical novel,

pages March: 2,201

pages 2014: 6,484

best book: The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3) by Brandon Sanderson

worst book: The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco :(

currently reading: haven't decided yet :) maybe Noah by Sebastian Fitzek or Shadow & Claw by Gene Wolfe

!!! spoiler alert !!! Quote
Green, such a strange color for plants. "And... the sky," Breeze said, shading his eyes. "Blue. Not a hint of ash or smoke. Very odd. Very odd indeed. I'll bet Vin had something to do with this mess. That girl never could do things the proper way."

The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3) by Brandon Sanderson

URL
Neue Science Fiction und Fantasy Rundschau

Für alle SciFi und Fantasy Fans gibts mal wieder eine neue Rundschau mit dem Titel "Zurück aus der Zone" auf derstandard.at. Dieses Mal sind sogar einige ganz interessante Bücher dabei. Hier mal ein kurzer Auszug:

 

Es ist die Schwerkraft, die uns umbringt von Ulrike Schmitzer

"Kira träumt schon ihr ganzes Leben vom Weltraum. Neben ihrem Job in einem Labor testet sie in der simulierten Schwerelosigkeit die Ausrüstung für Astronauten. Sie soll an einer Isolationsstudie teilnehmen, einer Simulation für zukünftige Marsreisen. Eigentlich verrückt genug. Doch als sie herausfindet, dass sie eine Zwillingsschwester hat, die ebenfalls Teil des Programmes ist, und ihr ein mysteriöser »Taucher« Avancen macht, beginnt sie zu zweifeln und zu recherchieren. »Es ist die Schwerkraft, die uns umbringt« ist ein souveräner Roman über den Traum vom Weltall, der die Schwächen der Spezies Mensch erst deutlich macht." (Quelle)

 

Eine wirklich interessant klingende Science Fiction Geschichte von einer österreichischen Autorin. Das Cover ist der Wahnsinn, oder? Kommt sicherlich unter die Top 5 für 2014.

 

 

Perdido Street Station von China Miéville

"Willkommen in der unmöglichen Stadt! Eine Stadt, eine Welt für sich, ein Moloch: Das ist New Crobuzon, bevölkert von Milliarden Menschen und Mutanten, unterjocht von einem strengen Regime und angefüllt mit den ungezählten Sehnsüchten, Ängsten, Problemen und Kämpfen seiner Bewohner. Als eines Tages ein seltsames Wesen den geheimen Laboren der Stadt entflieht, ahnt niemand, dass dies der Untergang New Crobuzons sein könnte. Auch Isaac Dan dar Grimnebulin ahnt die Gefahr nicht, als er dem Wesen begegnet…" (Quelle)

Dazu gibts nicht viel zu sagen. Klingt einfach spannend! :)

 

 

Abaddons Tor von James Corey

"Der Krieg hat begonnen - doch gegen wen? Überall im Sonnensystem haben die Menschen Raumstationen errichtet. Die friedliche Zukunft ist jedoch in Gefahr, denn ein fremdartiges Protomolekül hat die Bevölkerung der Venus ausgelöscht und entwickelt sich nun rasant fort – mit katastrophalen Folgen. Uranus wird als Nächstes angegriffen, und dort entdecken die Menschen schließlich ein unheimliches Portal. Und niemand weiß, was jenseits des Portals lauert..." (Quelle

Das ist der dritte Teil der Expanse Reihe von James Corey. Gerade vom ersten Teil habe ich mittlerweile schon so viel Gutes gehört, dass auch dieses Buch sofort auf meine Wunschliste gewandert ist. Band 1 heißt übrigens "Leviathan erwacht":

 

"Im Weltall gibt es kein Gesetz... Die Menschheit hat das Sonnensystem kolonisiert. Auf dem Mond, dem Mars, im Asteroidengürtel und noch darüber hinaus gibt es Stationen und werden Rohstoffe abgebaut. Doch die Sterne sind den Menschen bisher verwehrt geblieben. Als der Kapitän eines kleinen Minenschiffs ein havariertes Schiff aufbringt, ahnt er nicht, welch gefährliches Geheimnis er in Händen hält – ein Geheimnis, das die Zukunft der ganzen menschlichen Zivilisation für immer verändern wird." (Quelle)

 

 

Das war jetzt nur eine kleine Auswahl an Titeln, die mir persönlich sofort aufgefallen sind. Wenn ihr noch mehr interessante Fantasy und Science Fiction Bücher wie zum Beispiel "Der Gottbettler" von von Michael M. Thurner entdecken wollt, schaut euch einfach die neueste Rundschau an :)

new books new books :)

I went on a shopping spree and went a little bit overboard. But you never can buy too many books, can you? Well, click on "more" and you can read about the new ones I can call my own :)

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Reading progress update: I've read 66%.
The Prague Cemetery - Umberto Eco

too high expectations mostly lead to major disappointment. And that happend with this book. I loved Foucault's Pendulum and The Name Of The Rose, but it's so much hard work getting through The Prague Cemetery. Just one historic event after the other and all prejudices and cliches you can think of. I thought about quitting a few times and it's always a struggle to pick up the book to continue reading, but I won't give up, because in the end I want to write a review!

Reading progress update: I've read 25%.
The Prague Cemetery - Umberto Eco

I'm slowly making my way through this book. So far I'm not impressed - it's nothing like The Name Of The Rose or Foucault's Pendulum. And all those prejudices are really getting on my nerves. I so hope this changes soon - I'm only at 25% so there's still room for a change :)

ENTWEDER ODER - EITHER OR [TAG]

Ich wurde kürzlich von Vee von Read a Book getagged und fand das so eine tolle Idee, dass ich die Fragen gleich mal beantworten musste. Um ehrlich zu sein habe ich ja keine Ahnung, ob ich alles richtig mache, da ich bei soetwas bisher noch nie teilgenommen habe. Falls ich also irgendetwas falsch mache, verzeiht mir :) Jetzt aber zu den interessanten Fragen, einfach auf Mehr klicken und weiterlesen.

 

I was recently tagged by Vee from Read a Book and I thought it was such a great idea that I immediately had to answer the questions. To be honest I never did something like that, so I have no idea if I'm doing everything right. Please be kind to me if I make any errors :) Just click on more and continue reading.

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URL
The 9 Agonizing Stages...

... of waiting for the next book in a series to come out

(by Huffington Post)

 

soooo true ;) but I would include a stage where I re-read the whole series before the newest book comes out!

Interesting websites for fantasy & science fiction readers

I'm sure nobody here on booklikes has any trouble finding new books, but are you looking for inspirations and are a science fiction and fantasy or even horror fan? Then I have a few quite interesting pages for you. 

 

SF Signal

On the first day of every month you can find the new releases of the specific month for the science fiction, fantasy and horror genre on this website. Especially if good looking book covers are very important for you, this is the perfect page, because SF Signal not only posts an ordinary list of the new releases, but also includes their book covers - which makes browsing so much more fun :)

 

Worlds Without End

... provides a lot of different book lists - e.g. NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy books or the best Science Fiction and Fantasy books chosen by The Guardian. They also have a complete list of the winners of different awards, like the Hugo Award, Nebula Award or the Locus Science Fiction & Fantasy Award. So if you want to read the Top 100 SciFi & Fantasy books or want to check out the last couple of Hugo Award winners, you may visit this page. They have one really great feature: if you register there, you can name all the books you have already read and get a helpful overview how much you have read of specific lists. 

 

The Washington Post

Each month critics will get the chance to write about their favourite new fantasy and science fiction books on The Washington Post's homepage. The first article written by Nancy Hightower - science fiction and fantasy columnist - is alread online and can be found here.

 

Science Fiction und Fantasy Rundschau

Unfortunately the last website is only for those of you who can speak/read German. Basically it's an almost monthly article (released on the homepage of a daily newspaper) about some science fiction and fantasy books read by the author from this article. 

Auf der Homepage der Tageszeitung Der Standard, wird nicht ganz regelmäßig aber doch fast monatlich eine Rundschau veröffentlicht, in der der Verfasser dieses Artikels über die von ihm gelesenen Bücher aus den Bereichen Science Fiction und Fantasy schreibt. Hin und wieder findet man da auch ganz interessante Bücher!

 

I hope I introduced you to some new websites you didn't know already :) Have fun browsing!

February 2014 - My Book Month
Dark Places - Gillian Flynn Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson The Final Empire  - Brandon Sanderson The Well of Ascension  - Brandon Sanderson

New month means new summary. I gave science fiction/cyberpunk a try, discovered a new fantasy author and read an exiting thriller. If you want to find out more about my book month just keep on reading :)

 

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Since I really liked Flynn's newest book (Gone Girl), I just had to try another of her works to see if it was just a one-hit-wonder. And now I know that I need to read her other books too, because Dark Places was thrilling and exiting and had great characters. It didn't have those extrem twists like Gone Girl, but after only a few pages I just had to continue reading to find out more about what happend in that specific night when Libby Day's life changed completely. 4 stars :)

 

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

My first book by Stephenson and I quite enjoyed it. It's one of the best 100 science fiction and fantasy books voted by NPR and it deserves to be on this list - even though it's reaallllyy outdated sometimes. But while reading you just have to remember when this book was published first, and when you keep that in mind, the ideas are really innovative. Once again 4 stars!

 

The Final Empire & The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

Are you looking for a new fantasy series with an imaginative magic system? Well, don't waste time, run to a bookstore and buy the Mistborn Trilogy by Sanderson. 5 stars for the first book and 4 for the sequel - you definitely won't regret it! It's a long time since I read three books of a series consecutively, but I just couldn't wait any longer to find out how Vin's adventure continues.

 

~ ~ ~

 

Read Me Challenge February

As mentioned before, I challenged myself to read at least one book each month according to a specific topic. In february I had to read a book with a white cover or ice/snow on the cover or in the title:

- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

- The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

- The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

 

50/50 Challenge

- 8 new books so far

- 8 new movies

I think the goal for the end of february would have been 9 movies and books, so I'm behind the schedule. But if I choose to count books with more than 500 pages as two, I would have 11 books, because Shadowrise by Tad Williams, The Final Empire and The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson all have more than 600 pages. But I haven't yet decided if I should do that.

 

Statistics

books read: 4

genres: fantasy, science fiction (cyberpunk), thriller

pages February: 2,365

pages 2014: 4,283

best book: The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson

worst book: once again a month without a disappointment

currently reading: The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3) by Brandon Sanderson

 

btw. I created an archive on my booklikes page, where I plan to post all my past monthly reviews. Apart from the blog and bookshelves there are also links to my challenges for this year, the list of NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy books and my progress and a site with my contact information.

Review
5 Stars
[Short Review] S by J. J Abrams and Doug Dorst
S. - Doug Dorst, J.J. Abrams

"One book. Two readers. A world of mystery, menace, and desire.

A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own, leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges them both into the unknown." (source)

 

J. J. Abrams - writer, director and producer - is especially known for directing/producing movies like Star Trek Into Darkness and the Mission Impossible films, or working on TV series like Alias, Fringe, Person of Interest or Lost. Now he teamed up with the author Doug Dorst and created an unbelieveable reading experience around Dorst's book.

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Reblogged
[Reblog] Want a bookish purse? Do-It-Yourself

 

 

 

Reblogged from Bookish Quotes
Quelle: http://www.diy-enthusiasts.com/diy-fashion/diy-book-cover-clutch-bag-gift
Quote
Do not dismiss someone's beliefs because you do not understand them, Mistress.
The Well of Ascension  - Brandon Sanderson

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn #2)

Quote
"Going?" Vin asked, perking up. "But you just got in!" "That's the funny thing about arriving somewhere, Vin," he said with a wink. "Once you're there, the only thing you can really do is leave again."
The Final Empire  - Brandon Sanderson

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

Quote
The best liars are those who tell the truth most of the time.
The Final Empire  - Brandon Sanderson

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

Quote
"Wait a minute, Juanita. Make up your mind. This Snow Crash thing - is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?"
Juanita shrugs. "What's the difference?"
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson