Zhanshuai Ran Ran itibaren Texas
a different kind of John Grisham book, a collection of short stories all set in Ford County, Mississippi. The stories are well told with a diverse set of different characters, in 7 different, non related stories. Due to the short story format, the stories lack the normal complexity and character development of a Grisham Novel.
This was a really good book. I'm not a fan of Brent Weeks's Night Angel trilogy, but I found The Black Prism to be very well written, with a great plot and even better subplots. The main characters are interesting, as I had reasons both to hate and love them--they have obvious weaknesses, but I was rooting for them in the end. I also liked that, for once, a fantasy book had a fat hero (one of the protagonists is fat, anyway. The other is ridiculously good-looking.) I didn’t take to the magic system at first, not because it isn’t good, but because it’s not my normal cup of tea, but it grew on me. There’s lots of interesting twists and turns (one near the beginning of the book that’s a real shocker) that kept me interested, and by the end of the book I’m left wondering what will happen and being mad that book #2 isn’t out yet. Definitely recommend this to anyone who likes epic fantasy. Or rainbows.
If you like Joe Haldeman, you'll probably like this too. I haven't read anything else by Barnes but now I'm going to start looking.