Perdido St Station

After my unexpectedly long reading session on Monday night got me most of the way through, I finally finished off Perdido St Station yesterday evening. In the end, I did enjoy it, although it was never as gripping as King Rat (his first book). Like King Rat though, there's a sense of chaos bubbling under in the city all the time, a feeling, even when things are relatively normal (which they are for a while) that it could all slip out of control at any moment. It took a long time for me to get into the book, mainly because I didn't really warm to the characters very quickly although I'm not entirely sure why. I liked the variety of species, although it did start to feel a bit "monster of the chapter" at one point as they started pulling things out of the bag to try to combat the threat. Also, in the way of some of the best books, it left a lot of it's world, even the city, unexplored which made it feel much more like a real place, where no-one knows what's going on everywhere.

( Here be spoilers. Summary: Loose ends ++, Characters who are enigmas/think differently ++ )

It's a book with some great ideas, which it deals with really well. If you've only read the non-spoiler bit, don't be left with the impression that I didn't like the it, because I did, a lot in the end. It's not one I'll be re-reading every year (like The Sparrow, which everyone should read) but I'll definitely be going back to it.

Now I have to psyche myself up to try Peter F Hamilton before he comes to ousfg. Any recommendations?

(no subject)

I hate windy weather. It takes your breath away, and I don't have much to spare when I'm cycling - after all, I'm only tiny. Plus, I'm a Norfolk girl. In Norfolk the wind is simple. It comes from one direction at a time only and will blow straight through you rather than deviating. Either you're walking parallel to the wind, or you're shielded from in. In the city however, it's different. All those little roads and quads and things to eddy round means that you never know where it'll be coming from next. You're cycling up the road with the wind just to your right, blowing strong and your balance is all set for that, then you pass an opening to your left and a sudden gust can catch you off guard and you end up nearly blown into the traffic. I turn off roads expecting to move into the lee of the houses only to find that it's just as strong and still blowing straight at me even though I've turned 90 degrees. Ah well, at least it's blown the snow away. Roll on summer, that's what I say.