Return of the Book Thread

[Sky]

I saw that Modesitt's latest Imager book came out and I'm not all that enamored of the series thus far and wasn't really wanting to pick it up, despite Modesitt being my light fare go-to guy.

Then I saw he's done a sci-fi standalone, which I think are some of his best works as they tend to be less 'guy discovers his power and fights the system' and more private eye (ok, 'guy is a preternatural investigator and fights the system'...but there's a definite difference in feel).

Anyway, about a third of the way into The One-Eyed Man and it's pretty good.

[Ironwood]

Just read The Long War by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter. Not quite as good as the first book but was definitely a decent read.

I found the first book to be a fairly flat and uninspiring read. While there is a really fun concept there, the plot seemed to have a ton of holes in it. It didn't feel like the usual quality I would expect from Terry Pratchett. If the second one isn't as good I don't see myself rushing to read it.

It was shit.

[lamaros]

Finished Shift and it was really well done.

Published book or? I have a copy on my shelf but just can't bring myself to care after how Wool ended.

[Viin]

Shift is before Dust, yeah?

[lamaros]

Shift is before Dust, yeah?

Yeah. My brain just isn't working today. Worrying.

[Morat20]

Shift is before Dust, yeah?

They kinda overlap a bit, I think, right at the end.

I'm curious if he plans to do a standalone about the 'dark' silos that left the network.

I dunno, the last book just kinda left some stuff open in places and felt like it was missing something. It was good, just....not quite what it could have been. Still well worth the time.

[Chimpy]

I saw that Modesitt's latest Imager book came out and I'm not all that enamored of the series thus far and wasn't really wanting to pick it up, despite Modesitt being my light fare go-to guy.

I checked it out when it came out. While the new Imager books are not as good as the original three (which I liked a lot), they do get better after the first one. The newest one was ok, but if there is other stuff you have in mind to read I would not say run out and get it.

Probably better than any of the Corean Chronicles books after the initial one though.

[dd0029]

Anyway, about a third of the way into The One-Eyed Man and it's pretty good.

I really enjoyed this one, but my opinion on this is suspect.

Anyway, I picked up and read Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. This was really fun. I ran across this via Scalzi's big idea thing and I suck at the book talk, so I'll just link to the teaser there.

This was really and a lot of fun.

I also read Generation V by M.L. Brennan which was a fun popcorn vampire book. The different take on vampires was different enough to be interesting. I really appreciated the small scope of the story. Too many urban fantasies insist on apocalyptic trappings and get caught up in moving that world story along instead of focusing in on their characters and their smaller more intimate stories.

I just finished the YA book Cinder by Marissa Meyer. This has gotten a fair bit of talk around the library lately, so I figured I'd check it out. It's a re-imagining of the Cinderella story with Cinderella being a cyborg. That sounded like a neat premise which could lead to some fun. Nope. It's an object lesson in getting caught up in the world story. It's also got a terrible case of the YA. About the only YA trope it's missing is the lurve triangle. Which is too bad, because there seems to be a neat story under all the plothammer stuff.

[Sky]

Probably better than any of the Corean Chronicles books after the initial one though.

Yeah, he kind of squandered that setting. I was really enjoying that magic system and the whole external threat mystery.

Looks like he's working on a new Recluse book. Those were pretty hit or miss, but I do like the way he hits different points in the world's history and different points of view. I think the fall of the angels and the one at the height of the chaos empire were my favorites. I think because both of those retained the sci-fi background of the empires in the fantasy setting.

[Xilren's Twin]

Just finished Scott Lynch's latest Gentlemen Bastards book The Republic of Thieves and i have to say, didn't like it nearly as much as the first 2.
There was far less time devoted to clever schemes and con games, the entire plot seems very contrived in a non believable way, and we spend way way way too much time spend wallowing in the emo self pity and frustrating relationship between Locke and Sabetha both current and in the past.  Plus i think the mages of Karthian are a terrible deus ex machina that hangs over the entire book.  The reveals this time around are just not satisfying and the stage setting for future stories is not really a direction i think will prove very interesting.  Oh yeah, and he managed to write basically an entire play into the book as well (the titular Republic of Thieves) that we basically had to listen to the entire plot of.


On the plus side, i went by my local bookstore the day before the release date and asked them to hold me a copy of it, but they checked and saw it was not a "firm" release date so they could actually just give it to me right then, a day early.  Which was nice.

[Ironwood]

Wasn't Lynch battling depression during this one ?

I didn't expect it to be as good.  I will still pick it up, I think.

[Quinton]

Just finished Scott Lynch's latest Gentlemen Bastards book The Republic of Thieves and i have to say, didn't like it nearly as much as the first 2.
...

I'm hoping he can get the series back on the rails.  I didn't hate this book, but it wasn't as solid as the first two.  It had some good moments, but the overall story was less interesting.

I'm really hoping that
Either way, the next book really needs some truly epic caper to return to form.

[Quinton]

Anyway, I picked up and read Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. This was really fun. I ran across this via Scalzi's big idea thing and I suck at the book talk, so I'll just link to the teaser there.

This was really and a lot of fun.

Awesome suggestion.  I massively enjoyed this.  Particularly the rather unique POV of the protagonist.

[lamaros]

Why is there no kindle edition...

[Quinton]

Why is there no kindle edition...

For which?

[Mattemeo]

Well balls. The sexy new hardcover of Pratchett & Gaiman's Good Omens which was supposed to come out in the next couple of days has been shunted back to mid January 2014. I can't find any explanation as yet but I suspect it might have something to do with Gollancz throwing their entire marketting budget at THIS from now till the new year (again, much like the nice new Good Omens print, these aren't getting released across the pond, sorry), post Scott Lynch-o-rama.

At least Republic of Thieves came out on time!

[lamaros]

Why is there no kindle edition...

For which?

Ancillary Justice

[Quinton]

Ancillary Justice

Weird.  I read it on Kindle and Amazon still shows a listing for me.

[Chimpy]

Probably a regional thing.

[lamaros]

Yeah, being in Australia sucks for that. No availability now. And when it is up they'll gouge me.

[Quinton]

I am reminded of having to order the 4th Peter Grant book from amazon.co.uk, in dead tree format, like an animal, in order to read it on release.  Frickin' regional pricing and distribution bullshit.

[Ingmar]

Randomly walking by the bookstore downtown earlier this week and Brandon Sanderson was in there talking about stuff. Turns out he is younger than me. 

[Khaldun]

George Packer's The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America is surprisingly moving so far. Packer can be smug at times but this is really heartfelt.

[lamaros]

I finally finished Abbadon's Gate, having nothing better to do.

What a crap book. The contrivance was so in your face, the plot boring and cliche, their inability to do characterization at its worst, and the deux ex machina just.. really dull.

Oh well. Back to Lee Child for something a bit more energetic.

[lamaros]

Why is there no kindle edition...

I r dum.

Downloaded and reading!

[Khaldun]

I finally finished Abbadon's Gate, having nothing better to do.

What a crap book. The contrivance was so in your face, the plot boring and cliche, their inability to do characterization at its worst, and the deux ex machina just.. really dull.

Oh well. Back to Lee Child for something a bit more energetic.

Yeah, the third book is a let-down. I liked the first two, though.

[dd0029]

I had a hankering to re-read Elantris by Brandon Sanderson because I remember enjoying it. This one didn't hold up so well. It's more than a little long and there's lots of pointless padding that doesn't do a whole lot to move the story along or build the world. The magic system is also not as interesting and is left until way late in the story. There's also some Terry Goodkind-esque bootstrap moralizing about poverty that's really blunt and pants on head.

[Chimpy]

I had a hankering to re-read Elantris by Brandon Sanderson because I remember enjoying it. This one didn't hold up so well. It's more than a little long and there's lots of pointless padding that doesn't do a whole lot to move the story along or build the world. The magic system is also not as interesting and is left until way late in the story. There's also some Terry Goodkind-esque bootstrap moralizing about poverty that's really blunt and pants on head.

Well it was his first full length novel, you have to be willing to give him a little bit of slack since he has gotten better rather than worse. Goodkind's first novel was pretty much the high point before his randian fuckstickery went into overdrive.

[lamaros]

Anyway, I picked up and read Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. This was really fun. I ran across this via Scalzi's big idea thing and I suck at the book talk, so I'll just link to the teaser there.

This was really and a lot of fun.

Awesome suggestion.  I massively enjoyed this.  Particularly the rather unique POV of the protagonist.

Finished this, only took me a day and a half which probably shows I enjoyed it!

Very much like a culture story I'd say, though I don't know if it will hold into the sequels. I can recommend it quite a lot!

[Simond]

Randomly walking by the bookstore downtown earlier this week and Brandon Sanderson was in there talking about stuff. Turns out he is younger than me. 

On the bright side, that means he's less likely to up and die when you're halfway through a series! 

I can't find any explanation as yet but I suspect it might have something to do with Gollancz throwing their entire marketting budget at THIS from now till the new year (again, much like the nice new Good Omens print, these aren't getting released across the pond, sorry), post Scott Lynch-o-rama.

oohshiny. WANT.

[lamaros]

So I decided to read The Player of Games and I've just finished and I'm quite disappointed, I don't think it was that good at all.

I know we've talked about Culture books before, but what are the better ones? I quite liked Use Of Weapons.

[Ironwood]

The Player of Games is surprisingly deep.  I'm not doing that douchebaggy thing of 'You didn't get it, it's NOT FOR YOU', but there is a bit of a truth to it not being quite as throwaway as some think.

For me, Use of Weapons, Player of Games and Consider Phlebas were the best ones.

Non culture you can't beat The Bridge.  The Bridge is fucking fantastic, though again it's deeeeeeeeep.


Edited to add :  If you want Lighter, Inversions is actually really good.  You can read it just as two stories, or you can really get into it on some other levels.  It's very Culture if you want, or NOT if you don't.

 

[Quinton]

So I decided to read The Player of Games and I've just finished and I'm quite disappointed, I don't think it was that good at all.

I know we've talked about Culture books before, but what are the better ones? I quite liked Use Of Weapons.

Use of Weapons and Excession sort of tie for my favorite.

Consider Phlebas is a bit uneven, some people are not keen on it, and views the Culture through the eyes of an individual who despises it, but has some amazing moments, and concerns the tail end of the Idiran-Culture War, an event that has repercussions throughout many of the later books (Excession included).  It's maybe third on my list.

[Ironwood]

I didn't like Excession and I wasn't that keen on Matter Surface Detail either.

[lamaros]

Coolio, ta. Maybe I will give Excession a go. First up A Fire Upon the Deep, though.

I would want to say that I 'get' Player of Games, and that there's a good book in there somewhere, but I just don't think the bolder elements of the book worked. Notably the main game itself, which was a vague, changeable, and ultimately ephemerally meaningless thing. The social commentary was also really awkward, the book slow to get going, and the plot telegraphed too completely (or maybe the methods of the Culture are too obvious generally). Also I found it a bit trite.

Still better than a lot of other things, though.