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dustydigger
Posted 2017-08-31 10:01 AM (#16232 - in reply to #14868)
Subject: Re: The Pick & Mix in 2017
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Once again I have neglected this thread,so many real life problems
Finished Roger Zelazny's Madwand,a late work,not one of his best,but still with flashes of imagination and interesting world setting.He had intended a third book in the seriesto wrap up the tale, but sadly died before writing it
Ken McLeod's The Cassini Division was a post Singularity tale which didnt grab my attention. Didnt like the humans in the story,and there was too much political stuff(socialism against capitalism etc) Cant say it encouraged me to read any more McLeod.
Much more enjoyable was a nostalgic reread of some of Edward Lear's nonsense verse for a challenge,and found them as fresh, amusing,and poetic as ever,though I have never been too fond of his limericks.
Finished Randall Garret's Too Many Magicians and Kate Griffin's The Neon Court.
Randall Garrett's Too Many Magicians is a mixture of alternate history (Richard the Lionheart survived,John never became king,the Anglo-French empire survived to this day) institutionalised magic,and a locked room mystery solved by Lord Darcy,suspiciously similar to Sherlock Holmes. Light fluff but fairly enjoyable. A bit dry for mytastes,but I may enjoy the Lord Darcy short stories better'
Not sure whether to call Griffin's work urban fantasy,weird fiction,or even horror to some extent,but I really enjoy the Matthew Swift series. In fact I thoroughly enjoy that whole sub genre of mages etc living in London,where London itself is often almost a character in its own right. Mike Carey's Felix Castor,Ben Aaronovich's Peter Grant,Benedict Jacka's Alex Verus probably were all created in honour of Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden,but this making London itself an integral part of the story seems to be a mostly British thing. Harry is in Chicago,but I dont feel that the city is integral to the stories.

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