Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

This is our discussion of the contemporary fantasy novel.....

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
(2015)

A library with the secrets to the universe. A woman too busy to notice her heart slipping away.

Sounds like a quirky romantic comedy.

Brendan wrote: "A library with the secrets to the universe. A woman too busy to notice her heart slipping away.

Sounds like a quirky romantic comedy."

HAH

I have about 20 pages left or so which I'm going to try to finish tonight, along with the 10 pages of Lord of Light I have left.

But so far this book is probably my favorite read of the year. If you haven't read it yet you should give it a shot. Do be warned, however, that there is a lot of violence, and not the cartoonish kind either, with "phasers on stun" or whatever.

I'm going to call this book "Urban Lovecraft." Not sure how else to classify it.

Randy wrote: "But so far this book is probably my favorite read of the year."

Me too. I've read it twice this year. How to classify it is a difficult question; I would go with Urban Fantasy with a strong New Weird influence, meaning it touches on fantasy, horror and science fiction in roughly equal measure.

Brendan wrote: "Me too. I've read it twice this year."

I just gave it the only 5-star rating I've given out this year (4 last year, if anyone cares: The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, A Storm of Swords, Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West and In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex). It was so good I actually don't want to read anything else right now because nothing else stands up to it.

How was the re-read? I imagine you pick up a lot more the second time around, especially in the early going.

I really thought the story was over with about 50 pages left or so. Wow! The ending gave the rest of the book a whole new spin. That was one intricately plotted story.

I knew I was enjoying the book when I got out of bed one night, walked to my computer and sent the author a GR friend invite at like 11 pm. I think I was about 75 pages in at the time.

I'm not a give fan of gratuitous violence, or torture, or...well a lot of the other stuff that happened in the book, but the complexity of the plot made me keep reading because I wanted to figure out what exactly was going on. It is definitely a book that needs a re-read, knowing the ending will significantly change one's reading experience, you'll be able to see how all the pieces worked together.

Anyone else had trouble seeing the main characters as 30 year olds instead of teenagers? Not that the book had a YA vibe but something about the domineering father figure, plus all the orphans living together forced my brain to keep picturing them as 15 or so. As well as their naivety about the world made them seem more childlike.

I am about 100 pages in and I keep thinking "Why would someone write this?" I see this is sometimes classed as horror, which is a genre I rarely read. I'm not clear at this point if the violence is supposed to be mostly dark humor, as it seemed at first, or something more serious. It's a fast read so I'll keep going.

The re-read was good because you could see that what at first appears just to be a series of unconnected events is much more clearly part of a plan. Also, the animal scenes were easier to read the second time since you're emotionally prepared.

I'd love to have a sequel to this but there doesn't seem to be one in the works.

I'm not sure how there could be a sequel (view spoiler)[ there isn't anyone left at the end. (hide spoiler)]

Andrea wrote: "I'm not sure how there could be a sequel [spoilers removed]"

As I recall, that might not be an impediment.

Hmm....good point.

Faith wrote: "I'd love to have a sequel to this but there doesn't seem to be one in the works."

On the author's GR page he mentiones writing a short story set in the same world as Library. He also says that he wouldn't be adverse to writing a sequel.

Well, I've finished this and I feel a bit like I did with Gone Girl. It's impressive what the author did, but it's just too far outside any human experience. (maybe I have limited experience.)Very clever but not much to hold on to. For me it is a 3. I am an agnostic at most, but this seems to be a pretty scary view of almighty powers.

I started Lord of Light a couple years ago and didn't get far. I see you recently read it so I was going to go back to it, but I don't think I can read another book about superhuman behaving badly right away!

Revenge, Gods, pain and suffering. This was a gruesome read for me but I had to finish the book, had to. There were many nods to other books I’ve read or currently reading so I thought that was less imaginative. I’d classify this book in the Horror genre. Couldn’t read straight through without taking breaks with less intense reads. Don’t think I want to read this author again. Just not my cup o’ tea.

I usually read before going to bed and it gave me nightmares!