Books in August 2020

So August only saw three normal books being read, and two of them were pretty big. Several roleplaying games were also read, and the Goodreads Challenge target is progressively getting further and further behind.

Tales from the Folly: Rivers of London Short Stories Collection (Ben Aaronovitch)

I enjoyed this short story collection set in the Rivers of London universe. The stories involved range from vignettes upwards and feature Peter Grant and other characters from the settings. Apparently, a number of the stories featured in the books sold in Waterstones. Enjoyable insights into the setting.

Under Heaven (Guy Gavriel Kay)

I enjoyed Under Heaven very much. Guy Gavriel Kay does what he is so good at here, and digs into real history - in this case, China's Tang Dynasty - and creates a fantasised parallel version. The writing is beautiful and evocative, the pace shifts, and the story builds to a climax that sets the empire against itself. It's something you wouldn't have expected from the humble start where we find the protagonist beside a remote, desolate lake which was a battlefield between two countries, burying the abandoned dead of both sides in honour of his departed father who served as a general in the war. Absolutely lovely stuff.

River of Stars (Guy Gavriel Kay)

River of Stars is set around four hundred years after Under Heaven. There are some peripheral references to the actions of the characters in the previous novel, but they are not key to the story. The first book explored a parallel of the Tang Dynasty and this one deals with the near-collapse of the Song dynasty. The characters are introduced gradually, and the stories build and layer up. For a long period, I wasn't certain where the book was going but it gathered momentum and I ended up staying up to the early hours of the morning finishing the last third of novel because I didn't want to put it down. The story mixes politics and battles with world-changing events. I really enjoyed this, perhaps more than the first book.

2 August 2020