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| The books I read in August. |
I read quite a bit during August, but that's only to be expected as I was on holiday and that always leads to a good month; however, several of the books were roleplaying games which probably reduced the overall page count as I read those more slowly.
The stats? Nine books, three of which were roleplaying, one non-fiction and one graphic novel, which leaves four fiction books. I read 2,978 pages and enjoyed pretty much everything I read quite a lot. As usual, the non-fiction was an audiobook.
The roleplaying games were Wulfwald (an Anglo-Saxon themed OSR game which I'm halfway through writing up a review for, but as a spoiler, it's great), The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game (technically a re-read as I first read it when it originally came out), and Khosura: King of the Wastelands (another OSR themed campaign book).
Dying Earth still befuddles and intimidates me with its system, mainly because I find it written quite challengingly. I don't think I get on well with the way that Robin Laws expresses game design in his writing; I love what he does, but I find the clarity lacking! Sometimes that's because he's on the leading edge of design, but sometimes it's about how clearly the game is written. I'm going to use the Revivification Folio take on the rules for the game at Furnace instead.
Wulfwald was a joy to read, and dares to be very different around an OSR core; hopefully, I'll expand more on this later in the month.
Khosura is an epic city camping, set in the middle of a desert with surrounding points of interest. Khosura is an old city, and has several interlinked levels of Undercity and a variety of competing factions. It's the nearest to RuneQuest's Pavis that I've seen in an OSR/D&D space, and it will be unforgiving if the characters wander into the more dangerous locations without their wits about them. Smart play and running away are definitely strategies to consider. I really like what's been done with this.
The non-fiction book was Spies by Calder Walton, which covers the ongoing espionage conflict between East and West from before the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. Enlightening and interesting, it was a long listen but it kept me engaged throughout.
The graphic novel was the conclusion the Blade Runner graphic novel series, 2039 Vol 3 - Ash. It was a good conclusion to the storyline, and drew the threads together nicely. It's been swiped off me from my eldest who has been enjoying them too. The graphic novels give a tantalising hint of the extended world beyond the films.
So onto novels; I read quiet a broad selection this month and it's hard to pick a favourite so I'll call them out individually.
House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky was I book I ordered when it was announced. It is a follow up to City of Last Chances which I enjoyed greatly. What I got was unexpected and enjoyable, effectively a fantasy version of MASH, where the protagonists are medics in a special unit that uses banned forms of magic to save the lives of soldiers who can't be saved by normal means. Of course, there's more than that going on; rivalries in the military hierarchy, hidden pasts and more. Enjoyable and I will read the final part.
The Glass Pearls by Emeric Pressburger tells the tale of a former Nazi Doctor who has been on the run because of his war crimes since the end of the Second World War. Working as a piano tuner, he arrives in a new apartment in London. He starts to fall in love, but his paranoia and past catch up with him. Extremely well written.
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch is a Booker Prize winning novel which tells a tale of the Republic of Ireland slipping into a fascist regime. It explores a central theme of 'why don't people leave' and then follows that with a harrowing look at the challenges and exploitation that refugees face. Written in one long narrative, it tells the story of a woman whose trade-unionist husband disappears and how she tries to hold her family together. Chilling, sad and shocking, this well worth the time; with likes of Trump, Reform and the harder right parts of the Tories, you can't really think 'that couldn't happen here'. A warning, I think, and very powerfully written.
Murder Road by Simone St. James was an impulse purchase and I'm glad I did. A young couple with complicated pasts pick up a hitchhiker who has been stabbed. When she dies, they become suspects. There's a supernatural edge to the story and it's done very well; I read this very quickly and it was a page turner.
Having written these notes, I've changed my mind. I think Prophet Song was my book of the month.
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| The summary graphic. |
8 September 2024
