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Jul. 6th, 2008 12:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreAs I've mentioned in the past, sometimes books just don't work for me. It's not that I don't like them, I just read a few chapters and it fails to engage me at any level. Most times, I can put it aside and come back to it later.
That was the case with Tim Powers' Expiration Date, the follow-on to Last Call (which I loved and read in practically one sitting.) I tried to read it, never got past the first two chapters, and put it aside. Well, after meeting Mr. Powers at Baycon, I resolved to try again, and as motivation, ordered Earthquake Weather, the final book in the series.
This time, the books clicked. I found Expiration Date to be very interesting, but Earthquake Weather? This book rocked. For many reasons.
As usual, the book is well-written and wonderfully detailed. Powers is one of the few authors I know who can dump so much scenery into a story and not make it feel bloated. But what made me sit up and do the happy dance is that much of the second half of the book is set in San Francisco and San Jose! I've been to most of the places mentioned, and a vital sequence takes place inside the Winchester Mystery House. I used to be a tour guide there, years ago, so as the characters moved through the house, I could clearly picture the scene. The climax happens at the Sutro Baths ruins, one of my favorite places in SF. I've been in the cave mentioned in the book dozens of times, so I could follow the course of events easily.
Next up... I'm not sure. I have several books to choose from. What Happened by Scott McClellan, River of Gods by Ian McDonald, The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton, or Building Harlequin's Moon by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper.
I'm sure there are others wandering around my reading area, waiting to leap out and nibble my ankles.
Choices, choices, choices...
That was the case with Tim Powers' Expiration Date, the follow-on to Last Call (which I loved and read in practically one sitting.) I tried to read it, never got past the first two chapters, and put it aside. Well, after meeting Mr. Powers at Baycon, I resolved to try again, and as motivation, ordered Earthquake Weather, the final book in the series.
This time, the books clicked. I found Expiration Date to be very interesting, but Earthquake Weather? This book rocked. For many reasons.
As usual, the book is well-written and wonderfully detailed. Powers is one of the few authors I know who can dump so much scenery into a story and not make it feel bloated. But what made me sit up and do the happy dance is that much of the second half of the book is set in San Francisco and San Jose! I've been to most of the places mentioned, and a vital sequence takes place inside the Winchester Mystery House. I used to be a tour guide there, years ago, so as the characters moved through the house, I could clearly picture the scene. The climax happens at the Sutro Baths ruins, one of my favorite places in SF. I've been in the cave mentioned in the book dozens of times, so I could follow the course of events easily.
Next up... I'm not sure. I have several books to choose from. What Happened by Scott McClellan, River of Gods by Ian McDonald, The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton, or Building Harlequin's Moon by Larry Niven and Brenda Cooper.
I'm sure there are others wandering around my reading area, waiting to leap out and nibble my ankles.
Choices, choices, choices...
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Books
Date: 7 Jul 2008 04:16 (UTC)Decent read though.
TV
no subject
Date: 7 Jul 2008 20:03 (UTC)When you eventually finish this crop, I heartily recommend Richard K. Morgan's "Thirteen", which came out last summer. And his various "Takeshi Kovacs" books if you haven't read those.