Sequels and Second Reads

2010: Odyssey Two, by Arthur C. Clarke. I don't feel much of anything for this book. It was an ok story, but not remarkable, nor told remarkably well. It wasn't exactly boring, but I didn't stay up late to read it. The characters were well done-- they were pretty real-- but nothing happens to make the reader feel for them. No exciting happenings + no emotional attachment = rather boring read. I can say hurrah and way to go to the author for having really great grammar. Commas are cool. One Good Knight, by Mercedes Lackey. I've chosen not to read the bulk of this author's work. Generally, I find that if an author has more than five or ten works, they start to get really repetitive and boring, and this author has 72 titles at our library. Ms. Lackey does write two groups of works I enjoy. The first is just a grouping, not a series, and they are interpretations of classic fairy tales (see The Serpent's Shadow, The Black Swan, The Fire Rose, Firebird, and others). She retells them with more adult characters and more plausible context, and I rather like them. The second group is actually a series, although it doesn't seem to use the same characters in every book. It may start with The Fairy Godmother, and all the stories happen in the 500 Kingdoms. They also have strong traditional fairy tale ties. All of these books are fun, because the stories are familiar, yet contain new twists and information; they are enjoyable to read, because they aren't too deep, but aren't children's books either. The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett. I'm a huge Pratchett fan. Read his Discwold series. Do it! Pratchett's books (and this is no exception) are tons of fun to read, because he makes fun of everything over the course of his series (like rock music and news papers). The stories are exciting, the characters are funny and personable. It's not the sort of book to be taken seriously, but each one has little kernels, where you read a sentence and go, "oh, there's something to think about." The Wee Free Men is followed by A Hat Full of Sky, and a new release, Wintersmith. I hope to get both from the library this week.