The books of 2019

1. Hyperion - Dan Simmons

I read this book more than 13 years ago. That I can tell, because then I was not a father, and the story of Sol Weintraub and his daughter aging backwards did affect me strongly, but this time it was almost too much. I really liked the colourful characters and the feeling of the galaxy. What I did not remember was how clearly this is a horror novel. It might be space opera, a gothic and baroque one, but the character stories are all tragedies, and the main character is a monster and a killing machine. I had also forgotten as their pawn. Once more, a horror novel.

2. Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons

Now things gets real. While this episode of the long novel sometimes megaplane and dataplane, it manages to keep it all together with a strong vision. There are also some moments of the classic "strong man" of old school science fiction, which in this case happens to be a woman. I am not sure I find it plausible why all the people around Meina Gladstone let her betray the TechnoCore and basically run the war as a dictator. But, there are epic scope in this fiction, and characters that engage, so somehow I accept it. I just wish I had a closer relationship to the poetry of John Keats, so I could enjoy the intertextualities even more. It was worth re-reading.

3. The Borrowed Man - Gene Wolfe

I am not sure I get why the main character in this story was a clone of a crime writer. What was the point of that? Considering Wolfe never seem to write anything without a lot of thought behind it, I guess I'm missing something. But, it was an interesting mystery novel, and there were some quite unexpected turns to the story. I also really liked the feel of a 1940-ies crime film, even though I can not figure out why I get the impressions of trench coats and fedoras, as none are described in the novel. I noted that there are multiple persons within a family with the same name, which seems to be a Lupine trait. I think I liked it, but I wonder if there's something I'm missing...

4. Lögnernas Träd [The Lie Tree] - Frances Hardinge

It started slow, and at first I felt misarable for the petty behaviour of people in insular societies, about British class hierarchies and then finally about how bad men have treated women all through the ages. Then the plot picked up, and the mystery became quite engaging, and the characters as well. In the end it was a good story about some terrible deeds, terrible people and how bad men have treated women all through the ages. It was a good story, but it made me sad and angry as well. I kind of think that was the point.

5. The Swordbearer - Glen Cook

I was a bit wary of this one, fearing it would try to do Elric, only worse. In fact it had so much of the Cook's gritty style, and a more engaging set of characters. Elric might be cool, but he is also a bit emo and tiring. What this story also has is the classic Big Baddies from Beyond Time (tm) which is a Cook staple. I think he has some themes he re-use. It was all in all quite entertaining. I don't think I would want to re-read this soon, but it was decent entertaining fantasy.

6. I am Providence - Nick Mamatas

Murder at a literary convention, sound like it could work. This is horror because it is set at a Lovecraftian convention more than the story itself is horror. I found the structure of the novel, with the "detective" and the victim getting their shared time in alternating chapters to be funny and well done. Also, the fact they where named after HPL stories, and thematically fitting, was elegant. I found the ending a bit muddled, though. Why to much waffling about what to do and who did what. It was a sad but precise picture of a fandom with all its quirks and nutjobs. The occluding shadow of racism also lies heavy over the whole book, which I guess is something which needs adressing, but it still makes me sad about some people and their stances.

7. 7 Killers - Gu Long

Finally I read my first wuxia novel. As Gu Long is one of the classic writers in the genre, and so many novels of his has been turned into movies I like, I felt I had to read one. It was just like The Magic Blade (adapted from Horizon, Bright Moon, Sabre) where alliances shifted constantly and Ti Lung walked around showing off deductions about who could have done what weird act in the convoluted conspiracies of the plot. Also, just like Reign of Assassins the characters all shift around and have multiple hidden identities. The fights were very sudden, with a powerful technique that kills with a bang. I read that apparently Gu Long was inspired by Hemingway, and I think it shows. I think it liked it, but it might be a bit much in the long run. It was very clear why his stories have been adapted to film, for they felt very visual even though the descriptions where not all that detailed. They did give you an image in the head, which I liked.

8. Dust of Far Suns - Jack Vance

Cleansing the palate of fantasy and far off lands I decided to read some old school science fiction stories. These four novelettes are the classic varities, with twist ends and adventures in space. I got what I expected and they proved that not all Vance stories have to have the weird intrigues and skulduggery. There were not even much of his trademark flowery language! But, nice and decent space adventure.

9. The Book & The Sword - Louis Cha

This was a very cool book. So much adventure, so much drama. I can really understand why Louis Cha have become such a big name in wuxia fiction, but also why so many of his books have been filmed. The settings are big and dramatic, and begs to be showed in wide screen. You could say that this novel is a lot like the classic Water Margin (Shuǐhǔ Zhuàn), but with more nuances and details. But we have many of the same types of personalities, and some of the same sensibilities. Maybe less murder hobo, and more other kinds of adventure as well. In this novel we have everything, like corrupt officials, noble rebels, tragic love stories, secret manuals, secret societies, heists, battles with thousands and forgotten cities in the desert. What's there not to love? In comparison to Gu Long the fights where described in minute details and much more verbose in general. The two big names in wuxia fiction could not have been more different in style. I feel sorry for Helmsman Chen who found and lost a brother and the love of his life.

10. Taltos - Steven Brust

I have taken on the project of re-reading the Vlad Taltos novels in chronological order. I have had a hard time with the last few books I've read keeping track of what happened when. As I wanted to read these books anyway, why not in this order? It turns out that this was the volume where Vlad met Morrolan, and when they went into the Paths of the Death. High fantasy indeed! I liked the dialog, as always. I think Morrolan is my favourite character after Vlad, and the plotting was good. It might not be a great idea to start with this order if you haven't read the books before, as the meeting of gods and dragaeran empire bigwhigs mean little to you before you have built up some kind of relation to them. Fun times, though. Next up is my favourite Taltos novel, Dragon!

11. Dragon - Steven Brust

Time for Vlad to go to war. I think I appreciate the idea of seeing him and his relationships evolve in chronological order. There where a few interesting oddities that I think foreshadow things happening in other books, or I'm just better at pieceing them together as I've read them before. Dzur might be my all time favourite because of the food, but this one I also really like. I found the off hand comment the serioli did about Vlad to be quite interesting. He is one of the ones from the "invisible little lights" or something to that effect. Star travel?

12. Yendi - Steven Brust

Vlad is still boss of his area, and now someone moved in and want to take over. It was a pretty complex plot, hatched by Sethra the Younger for hundreds or years ago. I had actually forgotten about the Sorceress in Green and her involvement. This was also the story where Vlad is killed by Cawti, and fall in love. I had forgotten about that part. I really, really liked the conspiracy and the funny banter of this one.

13. Jhereg - Steven Brust

So, at the top of his game Vlad is called upon to assassinate someone who had taken refuge at Castle Black, with all that entails. Once again we see complex plotting in what is basically a heist. This is for getting someone out and kill them instead of getting in and stealing, except Kiera does some of that anyay. Just like a good heist this is mostly all planning. Once again I liked the plotting, and now we get to hear confirmation on the "tiny lights" theory of humans as not native to Dragaera, and Aliera drops the genetic bomb that shakes the foundation of Vlad's racism. Less funny banter, but a lot of details of how the house of the Dragon handle honour and once again plots that go back hundreds or maybe a thousand years.

14. Iron Empires: Void - Christopher Moeller

I liked the Iron Empires comics, even though they were maybe not your usual fare. You could see the vast space, with empires and star nations with sweeping histories, and also the ruthless war with the Vaylen, and imagine many books about these potentially epic stories. As there were only two you could kind of fill in some of that space yourself, and I was quite intrigued by the rpg that was published based on the setting. Now I found out they had managed to publish a new volume after a crowdfunding campaign, and I knew I had to read it. Now the Vaylen are absent and it's only humans this time, but it's a drama with lot of colour and spectacle. It's a war story, but it's a story about honour and how to stay tue to what you belive in. But, it was also a visual treat and great adventure. Now I only hope they can finance another volume!

15. Teckla - Steven Brust

This is a tough one. In this volume we get to see Vlad as he really is his nastiest. Cawti leaves him after he really acts like a total dick, and you realize the person within whose head you as a reader have been living is a pretty fucked up person. I felt the persona was cracking, and Vlad really isn't killing dragaerans because he hates them. He can't stand easterners, and the thought of topling the established order is repulsive to him. His father taught him better than he realize how to be a dragaeran. As I loved to read about how Vlad notices small things he loves about Cawti, it really hurt to them read how he bossed over her, refused to listen or just mainsplained things to her. The love felt real, but then he still acted like that. Reading chronlogically I will really look hard at that relationship in the coming novels.

16. Phoenix - Steven Brust

In this volume we get to see how Vlad does what he can to not take a stance, but still help Cawti. He comes across as believable, a bit sad, and as someone with serious anger management issues. He does transform, and only now when I read it chronologically, I more clearly see how it follows. At this stage I have a harder time to follow Cawti. I would have loved to have heard some of these episodes from her perspective. It's almost that I wish she could show some gratitude towards Vlad, who clearly still care a lot about her. Plotwise it's a good heist once again, and we get to see the empress up close, and how Vlad goes head to head against the whole House of Jhereg and still manages to avert a war of all things! Now he seems to finally get to grips with who he is. He hates the empire, but saves it. He claims to hate dragaerans, but his closest friends who go to great lengths to help him are dragaerans. Cawti hates the empire and so Vlad claims to. It will be interesting to see how it develops. Oh, and Aliera called Verra "Mother". That threw Vlad off quite a bit, as did the fact that Devera is her daughter. It did throw me as well.

17. Jhegaala - Steven Brust

So Vlad is off to find his maternal kin, and stumbles into intrigue and power plays that almost kills him. Interesting to read how things work back East, and how the social rules work. I still didn't really get how the witches and the Art work in their society, but maybe there will be more of that. Now it seems like Vlad is accepting the fact that he is more dragaeran than easterner, and at the same it feel like he has acceped the fact that while he refuse to be called evil, he is no longer an assassin. Sadly it seems that realization is paired with his acceptance that Cawti is lost to him for ever. I wondered a bit if him stealing the secret of paper making from the Count in Bzur and sending it off to Empress Zerika IV for him was a conscious attempt to support the empire, or just a way to show his disdain for the eastern nobility. He is a count himself now after all.

18. Athyra - Steven Brust

Now Vlad is finding Loraan again, as a lord of a teckla village where he end up. The Jhereg assasin is there, and they conspire to kill him. Like they do. It was interesting to get the story told from the perspective of a teckla boy, and to hear about how their life looks like. Also, some of Vlad's oddities, like him talking to himself when he is conversing with Loiosh and him changing topics in mid sentence. I imagine him being quite creepy to be around. Savn and Vlad talking about truth and how to behave in life is quite interesting in light of Cawti's and her cohorts attempts to change the lot for the teckla peasants. I like to think Vlad actually met someone who could challenge his wits and ideas in surprising ways. You get kind of jaded about some things, but in this book I got reminded that morganti weapons are supernatural. Using one can actually drive you insane. That's quite powerful.

19. Orca - Steven Brust

Vlad is still on the run, but we get to experience him working with Kiera on a economic conspiracy. I can kind of see how Steven wrote this reflecting on the absurdity of modern capitalism. Savn is still with him, and now we get to see how he tries to help him get better. The big thing in this novel, except the funny bits about Kiera and Vlad working together, is of course how Vlad reflects upon and tries to understand himself working purely for others. I am not sure I really got all the persons involved sorted in my head, but I am curious about how it is Kiera suggests someone else is now watching over Vlad. The big reveal otherwise is of course who she is. Here we also get some glimpses of her talking to Cawti and we hear of Vlad Norathar. I'd like to know more about who that is, apart from the obvious of who hir mother and father is.

20. Issola - Steven Brust

So now we get to go on grand adventures with Morrolan, Aliera, Sethra, Vlad and Teldra. To say nothing of Verra. I really liked history, but in a bit of the same way that the episodes in Phoenix where they travel through the Paths of the Dead it feels a bit too epic and gonzo. Fights between the gods, jenoine and thousand year old heroes and vampires? Check! I almost zoned out a bit. But, the passages where Vlad and Lady Teldra converse about the nature of courtesy and how Morrolan grew up is fascinating. It feels like Vlad, even though he is his usual wise cracking self, is actually more open with her. He is indeed changing, and as he realized that she likes him for who he is, I wonder if he start to care for her more than he realize. I think that his biggest problem is not his anger against dragaerans, but maybe his anger against himself. In the end he is now a wielder of a Great Weapon, and is now maybe not as vulnerable to the Jhereg as before.

21. Bloodstained Stars - Sydney Freedberg

This in-setting book from Chris Moeller's Iron Empires reads like The Prince by Machiavelli. I guess that's intentional. It's an interesting, if a bit depressing, setting and after the latest installment in the Iron Empires books I wanted to read this one as well. Some of the technical details about starships are not so fun to read, but the insight into the mentality of humankind under siege and in a byzantine state of intrigue and civil war is quite fascinating. I think I see why Luke felt it was a setting for a game. One day I want to run that game.

22. Under Heaven - Guy Gavriel Kay

With my recent interest in wuxia literature, and old Chinese novels, it felt like it was time for me to take on one of Kay's "historical fantasy" novels. This one is set in an alternative Tang dynasty China, during the events leading up to the Lushan rebellion. It's a languid story, told in a very poetic and distanced way, even though the setting is very dramatic, and the stakes high. This is no action story! It's more Wong Kar-wai than Louis Cha, even though there is some killing and murdering. I liked to read it, as the characters where very well put together, and the plot was engaging. But, I'm not really sure why market it as fantasy? Why even set it in Kitai and not in China? It does not read as fantasy at all. I have another one, River of Stars set in the same "not really China" of Kitai during the "Sung" dynasty, and while this was a good read, I'm only thinking about the fact that River of Stars is six hundred pages! Steven Brust does write books that reads more easily...

23. Dzur - Steven Brust

Back again to reading the saga of Vladimit Taltos, count Szurke. This has often felt like my favourite, as I love the framing of the narrative with the meal. It's satisfying to see Vlad back in Adrilanka again, and it's fun to learn some more of how the people relate to eath other as e.g. Mario finally makes an appearance. But, there's something lacking about the plot. It's fun and dances along, but maybe there's something missing in intensity?

24. Iorich - Steven Brust

First time reading this novel, and I found it very enjoyable. In this Vlad is once more fraternitizing with Zerika, and playing at politics and scheming. I think Brust wrote this as a meditation on law and justice, and how they really are not the same thing, regardless of how it might often be presented. Apart from those musings by Vlad, I really liked that he spent so much time with Cawti again. It almost broke my heart those first scenes when he met his son. So often now he emphasize how much he appreciates his friends, and in this volume he also complains a lot about becoming older. Sadly it feels like he is nowhere nearer resolving his issue with the Jhereg, and now after Dzur the Left Hand also has it in for him. While a happy ending feels a bit trite, I am now so engaged in these characters that I somehow feel I wish for it all to work out fine. This was another one I will enjoy re-reading later.

25. Tiassa - Steven Brust

Another first time reading. As this was an episodic novel that I read in between others, to get them in chronological order, I wonder a bit how well it would have worked reading front to back. Maybe one of the not so well working experiments? The theme of all the stories was a small silver statue of a silver tiassa. I must confess I didn't really get all the details of the one story where Vlad was stealing it, placing it or maybe stealing it back. As everything that touches upon Khaavren, it became mired in titles and twisty language. The last story was full on Paarfi, and really messed with my head! In the last two novels I have followed Vlad and Cawti, and in Dzur I think he mentions a Dragaeran lover, but in Tiassa it looks like it's not a done deal (Sara, the bard he met when he was traveling with Savn). Maybe I read them in the wrong order anyway? In this story he was almost killed again, by her family this time. Once again he acts as Count Szurke, and fraternitize with the high and mighty, like Zerika herself. I kind of enjoy those parts. About the end then, is Savn himself again? That would mean some healing and mending, and paying off debt. Are we approaching the end?

26. Vallista - Steven Brust

In this book Vlad is mostly walking around opening doors in a big multidimensional manor. While the plot is kind of neat, and the whole arrangement is intriguing as a puzzle box, with its ties into plots and intrigued spawned by Verra and others, it's mostly Vlad opening doors and looking at things he does not understand. It gets repetetive. Actually, it almost gets boring. Almost. We still have the excellent dialogue, and the funny quips by Vlad as he encounter things and people. But, this was not one of my favourites. I figure it contains lots of references and hints about bigger things, but it was not as easily engaging as I would have wished.

27. Hawk - Steven Brust

Is it getting repetetative, finally? Once more Vlad is involved in a caper, and paces, wisecracks and finally executes the plan at the end of the book. This time he invents a "business scheme" that potentially could tempt the greedy Council to call off the contract. I liked the idea, as it felt tiresome to read once more about a scared Vlad on the run. Naturally it did not all end well with all problems solved, as there are a few more books in the series, but as it is the last one available, I kind of felt cheated in the end that not all was well. Yeah. Anyway. It was a neat heist, and we got to see more of some key figures, like Demon. I was a bit unsure about the weird thing with Tukko having two identities, and what was the thing with him and Lady Teldra? I didn't really get why Aliera was so hesitant to help Kragar, but on the other hand, they aren't really friends, it's just they both know Vlad. Come to think of it, Kragar used to be a Dragonlord, maybe that's why?

28. The Man in the Maze - Robert Silverberg

Old classic Silverberg from his "late phase" before going silent during the seventies. It's a bitter old man sitting in an alien maze filled with death traps and murderous creatures and now he is needed to save humankind by meeting an alien race, even though the last time he did he was changed and estranged from all of his race. The idea of someone radiating all his despair, suffering and misery like a radio mast is kind of elegant. Silverberg like so many times manages to use the trappings of science fiction to write a story about the human condition, and how we can sometimes be insufferable to to each other, and how petty and hateful we all are. But, he also uses those same stories to show that there is love, valour and dignity beneath the filth. In the political andscape of today, maybe that's a lesson we need to be reminded of. This was not a story that really made sense as an adventure story, but as a meditation upon humanity it was very readable.

29. The Eleventh Son - Gu Long

The title of this novel is a bit dull, as it's basically the meaning of the protagonist's name, Xiao Shiyi Lang. He is a wandering swordsman, and known as a vagabond, a drunkard and a bandit. A crowd called the Ideal Gentlemen wants to see him dead, and he laughs at them and mock them. The meat of the plot is how they try to trick him into traps and try in different ways to kill him, but they all know his skills are well developed and he is a mighty fighter. To complicate matter he falls in love with the wife of one of the Gentlemen, and she in him. The love story is typical of the genre, with lots of heartache and anguish. It feels a bit too long, but still strangely engaging. There are things that are less great though. You sometimes feel the author talks a little bit too much about drinking (makes you wonder about how much is the author speaking about his own life), and I also wonder why the lady Feng who in the opening of the novel just disappears until the next to last chapter when she shows up again. Maybe some of the oddities will make sense if you could read the sequel, which sadly has not been translated. In general this is a very Gu Long novel. The heroes are stubborn, short of words and interspersed within the plot developments are short observations on life and people. The subtitle describes it well, A Novel of Martial Arts and Tangled Love.

30. The Smiling Proud Wanderer vol 1 - Loius Cha/Jin Yong

Time to tackle the basis for the Laughing in the Wind tv-series I started to watch. As this in my POD edition is four volumes it felt like quite an undertaking. I am kind of happy I saw the series before, as I feel some of the scenes might have dragged on a bit long in the novel, and I now knew what was going to happen and could skip along. As so often is the case in Chinese stories, just like in Shakespeare, they might high and low. Some of the comedy is of the silly slapstick style and as Louis Cha never uses one sentence when ten can do, it tend to drag a bit into the silly. I am not too keen on the Four Faeries for example. But, it's scheming wulin sects and secret manuals and duels galore. This is like the blueprint for so many wuxia movies. I like the protagonist, Linghu Chong, and I hope he can get cured of his internal damage caused by those Four Faeries.

31. The Smiling Proud Wanderer vol 2 - Loius Cha/Jin Yong

I think I have now gotten into the groove and the story flow on. I was a bit annoyed when those Four Faeries showed up again, but they are not as excessive in their nonsense banter in this volume. The Love stories are so twisty it's hard to keep up. Who where you in love with again, Linghu Chong? Sadly I have found the internal margin on my layout was a bit to short and I have to break the book wide open to read it, which really make the book take a beating. Now Chong have been tossed back and forth so many times between the orthodox and the unorthodox sects that I can't really figure out if there's that much of a difference, which might be the point. Brotherhood and "noble action" Tekumelian style are big things, and I quite enjoy to read how Chong navigate the wulin with those to as his guiding star. Half way through and I can't really see how this will end. He has now turned over the manuscript of the music piece of the title, and I wonder if it will show up again later on.

32. The Smiling Proud Wanderer vol 3 - Loius Cha/Jin Yong

So now in this third volume we get to know a lot of what's been going on. Things get really wild when a big crowd of thousands of people join in with Linghu to march on Shaolin temple, as Ren Yingying is kept there. It turns out there's a big conspiracy to join the five mountain school alliance together, and attack both Shaolin and Wudang. Crazily enough Linghu becomes the headmaster of the Heng-Shan school of nuns! He is now a master swordsman and when he is not sulking or letting his thoughts wonder at important moment he start to act like an elder and gains the confidence of both Shaolin and Wudang. The story is now in it's third of fourth breath, and quite engaging. The first part where he is locked up and learns the "Essence Absorbing Art" from Ren Wuxing and manages to heal himself is both quite dark and happy. Say what you want about Louis Cha, but he does manage to cram in lot of twists in his stories! Now I wonder for the final volume if the five schools will merge, who will head them, and if Linghu will manage to sort out which of the three women he will marry, and not suffer the wrath of either Ren Wuxing or his old master Yue.

33. The Smiling Proud Wanderer vol 4 - Loius Cha/Jin Yong

Finally it all comes together. Sadly people gets killed, and I felt sad when Yue Lingshan was killed. It was remarkable how the twisty plot opened up and it turned out Yue Buqun was behind it all. Having all the five mountain schools unite and then all the masters massacre themselves at Mount Hua in the cave was epic and brutal. I was happy that the Sun and Moon sect's cultic behaviour in the end was cut short and Ren Yingying finally marrying Linghu Chong. There were quite a few bitter sweet moments, and the end was quite tense. I liked how Linghu even though he is a scoundrel he is quite noble, and he treats everyone fair. He never considers anyone evil just because their background, and his attempts to make peace is commendable. It's almost as if there's a streak of desconstructivism in this novel, while it's solidly in the genre. But, man was it packed with plots and individuals! Quite a different read from almost everything else I've read.

34. Arkham Asylum - Grant Morrison/Dave McKean

One of the big books that took a brave new take on something old. I've read Dark Knight and I've read Watchmen and I've also read Arkham Asylum. It's worth re-reading the classics, and I found it quite illuminating to also be able to read the original manuscript together with the published story. I appreciate what Morrison is trying to do, and it gives us a new angle on Batman which I like. It's weird and brutal. More than I remember, actually. Is it great, though? Maybe some of those other titles are actually more fun.

35. Season of Storms - Andrzej Sapkowski

This is the second Witcher book I read. Once again I managed to find a novel not part of a series, which is so annoyingly common these days. Geralt is in a city and gets embroiled in intrigue and scheming way out if his depth. It's a narrow balance making the protagonist competent and having him flounder around like a fish on dry land. Geralt get to be cool and efficient as a killer, but also really taken for a ride by deep scheming. It's still a very gritty and dirty setting, with peculiar modern thinking thrown in by the sorcerors, who seems to know about genetics! I was very, very happy the murdering lunatic sorceror got what he deserved. I like closure in my stories. I did wonder a bit about that tsunami in the end. Was that sorcery? Was it natural? It did feel a bit above and beyond just a season of storms?

36. Paper Swordsmen - John Christopher Hamm

Hamm is writing very much like an academic. This book reminded me of when I used to have to think intently on every paragraph, and this time it was not always because the thoughts were all that complex, but the presentation was. It was very interesting to read about how the career of Jin Yong started, and the famous martial arts fight in 1954 in Macau that propelled martial arts to the forefront of all media. I almost wish I could have read more about the background, and the qing and republican era fiction, but someone else will have to write that story. There were many names, and it was kind of telling that when suddenly in the chapter on how the author begun to get involved in Hong Kong's coming integration within the greater China, he was referred to as Zha Liangyong, and I had to pause for a second and remember that was actually the real name of Jin Yong! I really liked how Hamm could show how the stance Jin Yong took in the Condor Heroes/Eagle Shooting Heroes towards politics and how it was done in Smiling Proud Wanderer felt very much like thoughtful ideas of the role of politics and society within popular fiction. I'm not at all doubting that Jin Yong was smart and cunning enough to use his fiction to express political and social thoughts, while at the same time being a very shrew businessman and journalist. He managed to build his publishing empire on his fiction writing fame, and have them dovetail each other. Quite well done. Now I only wish there were more written about the field of martial fiction in English, and a rather more easier flowing English wouldn't hurt either. Be prepared for Bourdieu!

37. Döden är bara början [Death is only the beginning] - Gunilla Jonsson & Michael Petersén

This is a very long lived property. It feels like Kult always comes back in one form or the other. It's a little lite the original game Mage what blew my mind when I read it, but never seemed to fulfil its grandiose ambitions. So, now we have a novel. It's not all that great. The characters never feel real, they are sketchily described, and there's something wrong with the show, don't tell as suddenly something important has happened and there was no buildup to that happening. In general I think this books lack mood. There's a lot of descriptions of decrepid urban landscape, but I just became lost in the fast rattle of locations in Berlin. I never got a feel for any place. I think the biggest sin of this book is that it is unengaging. Harlan the avenging angel for example, he get's tormented and remade in Inferno, and the apart from a few clinically described sex scenes he wanders off the canvas of the plot and comes back again in the end, like the plot device he always felt like. No, we have yet to fulfil the grandios ambition of what was intimated by that first black game box with three booklets.

38. Farbror Joakim Liv [The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck] - Don Rosa

I've always enjoyed Don Rosas' combination of intertextuality and humor. He does historical adventure dramas with ducks. Weird, but interesting. I also have a soft spot for his detailed and precise style of drawing. His way of doing research and drawing things to be exact like their real counterparts reminds me of Herge, even though their style is very different. Scrooge McDuck is a very interesting character. He is a tragic hero, real and admirable while at the same time flawed. I did read the companion volume in 2015 and it took the story one step further. This is comics when it's good. Real good.

39. The Tea Master and the Detective - Aliette de Bodard

The cover was pretty, and the book was short, so I decided to give it a shot. The former novel I read by the author looked promsing, but did not really fulfil that promise. Even this short little piece felt unsatisfactory. I stopped reading in the middle of it, and did not feel very compelled to pick it up again. But, it was a decent read. Some kind of Sherlock Holmes inspiration behind it, clearly. But, I never really grasped the mystery, nor understood the explanation. It felt like the story was really about two emotionally stunted individuals who through interacting developed and came to know themselves better. The tea master was some kind of simulated mind, or AI of some sort. Clearly it was lonely and suffering from psychological trauma, that through the story was developed into a more sensible situation. I am intrigued by the setting, but I think I need something more to get me to pick up another story like this.

40. Heroes Shed No Tears [Yingxiong wu lei] - Gu Long

I saw the movie first, as I wanted to listen to a podcast about it. Now I think that I should have read the book first. In any case I am happy to have read it. It was a very well composed piece, with a nice symetry of the box entering the city in the first chapter, and then leaving it in the last lines of the last chapter. The characters were quite interesting, both the main two heroes and the scheming villain. It took the ideals and morality of the jianghu to the extremes, and showed how people standing by their moral code can be brought down by just those ideals. As always Gu Long manages to insert some of his interjections in the text, but I kind of enjoy them. But, I am not so sure about his relationship to alcohol. I can see why he drank himself to death. I will re-read this again, and watch the movie again. I liked it quite a lot, and it was better than The Eleventh Son.