From Newsgroup: rec.arts.sf.written

Highlights and Lowlights - August 2026

Books are rated using a very primitive rating system:
rCL+rCY are good, and more rCL+rCY are better
rCL-rCY are not good, and more rCL-rCY are worse

Just a few brief descriptions this time - very busy times, but IrCOm happy
to answer questions about anything here.


Highlight: The Curse of Chalion - Bujold [World of the Five Gods #1,
Re-read Project #11]

Lowlight: Land of Unreason is lowest rated for this month, but it
wasnrCOt awful.


August 2026
( +++ 1/2 ) CaptainrCOs Fury - Butcher [Codex Alera #4, Re-read Project #12]
( ++ ) Hardwired - Walter Jon Williams
( +++ 1/2 ) DivinerrCOs Bow - Lee & Miller [Liaden Universe #27]
( ++ ) Tomorrow Sucks - ed. by Cox & Weisskopf
( ++++ ) The Curse of Chalion - Bujold [World of the Five Gods #1,
Re-read Project #11]
( + 1/2 ) Land of Unreason - de Camp and Pratt
( ++ 1/2 ) Primary Inversion - Asaro [Skolian Empire #1]

===========================================
August 2026 - with just a few brief descriptions

( +++ 1/2 ) CaptainrCOs Fury - Butcher [Codex Alera #4, Re-read Project #12]

( ++ ) Hardwired - Walter Jon Williams
So. IrCOve had this for years - probably decades - and this is my first reading. Why? Well, while I very much enjoy WJWrCOs writing, he often
writes in sub-genres I do not like. For example, cyberpunk (with very
few exceptions, one of which does not turn out to be Hardwired). So what happened here was not totally unexpected: great writing, and I uttered
the Eight Deadly Words about 3/5 of the way through the book. A power
skim of the rest, with help from the internet, filled in the rest.
Somehow I read and enjoyed Voice of the Whirlwind years ago. I can only
blame my brain cells.

( +++ 1/2 ) DivinerrCOs Bow - Lee & Miller [Liaden Universe #27]

( ++ ) Tomorrow Sucks - ed. by Cox & Weisskopf

( ++++ ) The Curse of Chalion - Bujold [World of the Five Gods #1,
Re-read Project #11]
Oh this was superb. Again. I had forgotten about 90% of it. This is set
in a medieval-level secondary world where five gods are worshipped, and
there is some magic. Chalion is a feudal state, one of many, and there
are many disputes and intrigues between them. We meet Caz (Cazaril) as a disheveled starving vagabond walking to a far away city in the hopes
that a former employer might find some sort of employment for him. It
turns out his former employer is the widow of a former leader of Chalion
- Caz was a page in the household. He gets treated well upon his return,
and we slowly learn more and more about Caz and the world. HerCOs a very interesting man, with a very interesting background, and herCOs a much
better human being than he believes. Bujold does a remarkable job
telling the tale.

( + 1/2 ) Land of Unreason - de Camp and Pratt
This gets a bit thin after a while, but itrCOs fine. Diplomat Fred Barber
is abducted to Fairyland as a way-too-old changeling, and must go on a
quest in order to secure his way back to his home on current-day Earth.
This is similar to CarrollrCOs Alice in Wonderland - logic, illogic, fantastic, metamorphosis, etc. IrCOm glad I read it, but it would have
worked better for me if it was shorter (and perhaps less derivative).

( ++ 1/2 ) Primary Inversion - Asaro [Skolian Empire #1]

Now Reading:
Long work - Machine Vendetta - Reynolds [Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies #3] Collection - A Liaden Universe Constellation Volume 5 - Lee & Miller

Tony
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2