Books from 28/6/2005 to 3/3/2006

Not really sure why I picked this book up. A history of a military conflict that occured 100 years ago that I was vaguely aware of as a pre-curser to the Russian revolution.

This book reveals a war that was undoubtably the first modern war. Massed machine gun fire, artiliary, barbed wire, modern logistics, electronic communications, all came into being, not on the western front, but on the Korean penisula between 1904 and 1905.

This conflict wasn't only significant because it revealed man's new capacity for destruction. It was the first time an eastern power had stood up to a western empire and won. It gave an omminous preview of the new expansionist road that Imperial Japan was travelling, a road that would lead to further horrors in WW2.

Characters introduced in "Guards Guards" are clarified and a host of new, interesting characters are added to the Anhk Morpock city watch. Terry Pratchett's typical amusing punchlines are in plentiful supply, however what makes this book stand out is a plot that stands up on it's own without those things that define all Terry Pratchett's work.

A pretty decent detective story with a nice twist, some major character deaths that aren't gratuitous and a satisfying resolution, deliver the best Discworld story I have read so far..

Thanks Ted for noticing these two descriptions:

Jaqen H’Gar when he left Arya:

"Jaqen passed a hand down his face from forehead to chin, and where it went he changed. His cheeks grew fuller, his eyes closer; his nose hooked, a scar appeared on his right cheek where no scar had been before. And when he shook his head, his long straight hair, half red and half white, dissolved away to reveal a cap of tight black curls."

And then the guy who killed Pate the pigboy, in the prologue of Feast:

"He was just a man, and his face was just a face. A young man's face, ordinary, with full cheeks and the shadow of a beard. A scar showed faintly on his right cheek. He had a hooked nose, and a mat of dense black hair that curled tightly around his ears. It was not a face Pate recognized."

Another re-read after Feast for Crows and with the Jon Snow/Aegon VI Targaryen hypothesis in mind. Feel like I am really getting to know the Ice and Fire lore now and that just makes these books that much better.

For those of you that are interested. The Jon Snow/Aegon VI Targeryen hypothesis refers to doubts about Jon Snow's parentage. I think there are a whole range of clues in the books that indicate that Jon Snow is not the bastard son of Eddard Stark and some unknown woman (Ashara Dayne?) but actually the trueborn son and heir of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark.

"Prince Bran has heard that tale a hundred times, I'm sure."

"No," said Bran. "I haven't. And if I have it doesn't matter. Sometimes Old Nan would tell the same story she'd told before, but we never minded, if it was a good story. Old stories are like old friends, she used to say. You have to visit them from time to time."

This book was entertaining enough and perfect for listening to while doing other things. The plot chugged along in a kinda predictable way, but with a long history and rich descriptions to make it enjoyable.

What the hell happened with the ending though? The entire book leading up to some sort of climax at the end and then an almost absurd rush of events that culminated in a confused and sorry showdown between good and evil.

"Quick chop off his gigantic cosmic umbilical cord of unlimited power before he chops off ours!!!"

This sort of crap just doesn't fly with me anymore. But I will read on, I enjoyed most of the book and maybe there will be more giant umbilical cords of power, I just can't get enough of those.

No giant umbilical cords of power in this one, but a familiar ultimate showdown at the end of this book that, again, left me pretty unsatisfied.

I think I am done with Robert Jordan for a while. It will take a serious audio book drought to bring me back.