I've been working my way through this year's Hugo novels but I think I'm about at an end for that. I was very excited for last year's six novels but not so much this time around. Five novels this year and I only finished two of them. Gave up on two and the third one is both a) the twentieth in a series and b) not available for the Kindle. I'm not willing to plunk down $18+ for a hardcover copy of a book that would is already so far downstream of its own beginning.
I'll review the two that I finished (promise!) but I should probably do at least small reviews of the two that I gave up on. Ready?
Feed by Mira Grant - Placed some time in the near future comes the most annoying book I've run across in some time. At some point in the past a zombie outbreak has occurred. The MSM didn't cover it well and this allowed
A truly dreadful book and I can only guess that it was liked by people who thought that it was about people just like them. In other words, it flattered the right number of fans. Ugh.
Dervish House by Ian Mcdonald - This will probably win the Best Novel award and I can't say that it won't be deserved. I just couldn't get into it. Set (again) in the near future, this time we get the tableau of Istanbul. The book follows a half dozen or so people that all live in an old house. Each has their own separate but intertwining stories. And I ended up not caring about any of them.
There was one very interesting subplot, that of the Mellified Man. Based on (possible) historical practice, an old man would consume nothing but honey over the last few weeks of his life. Soon he would die of malnutrition. At this point his body would be sealed in a lead coffin filled with honey and it would be stamped with an open by date some couple of hundred years in the future. The body would then be sold bit by bit as a type of medicine.
What a fascinating and poetic death! Think, to literally turn your body to honey.
Anyway, maybe I'll come back to this sometime.
Other reviews to come!
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