01 July 2005

June's Reading

This is going to look pretty damn short, due mainly to World of Warcraft. As usual, you can see Make Tea Not War's list here. Total this month is a feeble seven, bringing the year's score to 95.

A Tradition of Victory, Success To The Brave and Colours Aloft by Alexander Kent. I'm still enjoying the Bolitho novels, but the ones I'm reading at the moment (mainly mid to late 1970s) seem rather more formulaic. Even so, the characters (Bolitho especially but some of his companions as well) are developing in interesting ways as the saga continues.

The Charnel Prince by Gregory Keyes. Second in his current fantasy series. Doesn't seem as original as the first one... his characters here seem to have dropped back into being fantasy novel standards.

More Than Human by Ramez Naam. A good, up to date overview of where transhuman technologies are right now and where they might go. Loads of interesting stuff in here, nothing in a great deal of detail however.

Sharpe's Escape by Bernard Cornwell. A very good novel. As the latest in the series, it really shows how Sharpe has mellowed over time. Cornwell is filling in gaps in Sharpe's history but the man's character is much more honourable now than when the original books were written. I'm pretty sure the Sharpe of the books that go chronologically before and after this one was a much nastier piece of work. This version is scarcely a brutal murderer at all! Still, overall I prefer to read about this Sharpe. His mind-space is an easier place to share.

5 comments:

Amanda said...

I wonder if there is a support group for people whose partners are World of Warcraft addicts ;)

Anonymous said...

So are you going to be running the PnP version of World of Warcraft at Kapcon ;)

Unknown said...

I can scarcely imagine a more pointless pastime... much as I am enjoying World of Warcraft, the parts I enjoy just wouldn't translate to pen and paper roleplaying.

I realise that's a serious answer to a non-serious comment, but when I saw that such a thing existed I was quite taken aback and spent some time trying to comprehend it. In this, I failed.

Anonymous said...

:)

I didn't find the idea of a WoW PnP RPG surprising at all, given the design and success of D&D. Seems like a perfect evolution of one part of the hobby to me.

Not that I would ever play it... :)

Unknown said...

Luke, it's more that the things that are fun about the computer game just wouldn't be fun as a pen & paper game.

I basically see the game as being just D&D with the setting details from the game. Which is probably fine as far as it goes, I guess.