Alright, five books read this week (a few short ones).
First up was The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie. I held off on reading this because I'm torn on Abercrombie's works. ON the one hand, he's got a lot of talent. On the other hand I think he tries too hard to make nasty, unlikeable characters who are mostly cowards. I like gritty, real works. (GRRM anyone?) But I'm not a huge fan of a world absent of anyone who isn't a big turd. Abercrombie's trilogies were a decent debut. I liked them. Best Served Cold I didn't like much at all. It just went on and on and on with a very obvious ending.
Now, complaints out of the way: I liked Heroes. Abercrombie seems to have reined in his over the top characters. Most of the characters were believable with very real/understandable emotions. Abercrombie's writing was in top form (as usual) and we actually had a few likeable characters. For anyone who has read the previous novels, you'll recognize a lot of familiar faces. The action was quick paced and even though it only covers a few days, it didn't feel like there was any fluff. My biggest issue with Abercrombie is that he writes purely entertainment fiction. I never put one of his books down with any new thoughts or perspectives. I put his book down thinking hmm..that was good...and immediately forget it. It's like watching a good action movie. It's nice in the theater, but you're not going to watch it when it comes out on dvd. And that's Joe Abercrombie for me. A quick, entertaining read, but no real substance. Still, I reccomend it if you're reading list is scraping the bottom of the barrel and you need a good read.
Per Dan's suggestion from the podcast I picked up The first two Joe Ledger novels by Jonathon Mayberry. Patient Zero and The Dragon Factory. This was good stuff. Think Tom Clancy with some pretty awesome sci fi thrown in. The first novel deals with zombies, but Mayberry goes to great lengths to show the science behind it so that it's believable. Well, sorta believable. The main character is a Ex-Ranger, Baltimore PD Detective. This is probably the only portion that is hard to swallow. The main character is nearly super human capable. Throughout the novels the man never sleeps, is always sharp in picking things up to move the plot forward, rarely gets injured, and manages to kill dozens of people with very little effects. The second novel deals with racism, eugenics, and Unicorns. Haha, yep, unicorns. There is more character development, but these novels are still very much plot driven.
All in all, Mayberry's a good, quick read. The main POV is 1st person, but the rest switch between a very loose 3rd limited and omniscient. Again, nothing this more entertainment reading, but not bad.
I read a Louis Lamour book because it'd been awhile (I've read all of his books at least twice and most of them half a dozen or more). If you've ever read any of his novels, you know they're formulaic. But I still love reading him for a number of reasons. First, he was a consummate scholar and historian. Historical fiction at its best. Secondly, the man lived. By 17 he was in Singapore working on a ship. He traveled all over the world, was a professional boxer with a pretty good record, served in the army, and did about a million other jobs. Anyway, Lamour is the opposite of the other writers this week. He's entertaining (if predictable once you've read a lot of his books), but he imparts a lot of wisdom through his works.
Finally, I read the first Vampire Diaries novel. I have to admit, the TV series has been something of a guilty pleasure of mine. I figured I'd give the books a try. The novels are a lot different from the TV series. In many ways it's like reading another story (though I have to say I like the TV show a lot better). The story is pretty good, kind of has an Anne Rice feel to it. The biggest issue I have is with the characters. The author seems to lapse between vapid, shallow girls who are the most popular in the school and intelligent, thoughtful girls who can see below the surface. Often a character will use words that are not in keeping with who they are. This pulls the reader out of the story. The ending was incredibly anticlimactic and didn't really end. I turned the page and the book was over. Weird. I'll probably try to read one more because I do love the TV series and they are short books, but if it's more of the same I'll just stick with the show.
@maxonennis thanks I'll check it out. I'm chewing through my reading list so I def. need some good reads. I'm looking forward to GRRM and (hopefully) Lynch this year, but other than that, just looking for new stuff.