Return of the Book Thread

[WayAbvPar]

IT'S HERE!! IT'S HERE!!

/runs off to read.

There goes sleep tonight.

I would say I am jealous, but I am having a ball with my re-read. Mouse just showed up for the first time 

[Morat20]

Yup.

Liked those a lot. Use the mythology/world building concepts in a small module I ran for friends.

I mean, it was still stock D&D, just with the different sorts of undead -- and charter-magic esque constructs.

It was actually a great deal of fun -- the magic was supposed to be unique to the players/characters, and none of them had read the books. It was hard to tell them "No, I'm not that creative. I'm taking something that's steampunky, running it through a D&D grinder, and handwaving half the steampunk as runic magic".

Ended with a climactic showdown deep inside Death, as they forced the big bad back Gate by Gate to banish him.

It made things like questioning the dead far more interesting and I liked having a necromancy setup that felt a lot more vile than the usual D&D setup.

[Evildrider]

IT'S HERE!! IT'S HERE!!

/runs off to read.

There goes sleep tonight.

I would say I am jealous, but I am having a ball with my re-read. Mouse just showed up for the first time 

My favorite Mouse moment takes place in Changes.   

[RhyssaFireheart]

IT'S HERE!! IT'S HERE!!

/runs off to read.

There goes sleep tonight.

I would say I am jealous, but I am having a ball with my re-read. Mouse just showed up for the first time 

My favorite Mouse moment takes place in Changes.   

Yep, Mouse has been reintroduced and I loved it!  So perfect.  And so far, the book is awesome!  Tempted to stay up and finish it tonight but I have the house to myself tomorrow so I can indulge then.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Well, definitely adding my vote to the best of the series so far.  The way Butcher's pulled in some threads is just great.  


Finishing up Side Jobs now as well.  The story about Michael was really well done.  Wonder how Harry's going to be getting along with Uriel now?

[Reg]

Mister showed up in Ghost Story.  He was living at Murphy's place. He could see Harry's ghost and was one of the big reasons Harry's buddies came to believe that it was really him.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Mister showed up in Ghost Story.  He was living at Murphy's place. He could see Harry's ghost and was one of the big reasons Harry's buddies came to believe that it was really him.

Duh, you're right.  I have no idea why I forgot that.

[dd0029]

Just re-read Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt Case Files books. They were even better the second time around.

[JWIV]

Finally picked up and started reading Jack Vance's The Dying Earth series.  So very damn good.

[murdoc]

Reading Abercrombie's "Best Served Cold" and I think I am enjoying it even more than the First Law trilogy (which I loved). Complete bastards, all of them - yet I can't help rooting for them.

[Sky]

I'm currently reading Brom's Krampus.

Great reading for the season. A selection reading for the library xmas party was vetoed. 

+1 if you're of viking heritage.

[Ingmar]

Krampus is south German, not viking. 

[Sky]

Norse mythology figures heavily into the book.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Finished reading Elantris.  I rather liked it and think I'll pick up the rest of Sanderson's books.  I figured I'd like his writing based on how he's been doing with the WoT books, but didn't want to drop a bunch of money right off.  Maybe I'll get the Mistborn books for Xmas.

[Viin]

The Mistborn books are good, I recommend them.

Also don't forget to read Jim Butcher's other books: Codex Alera

[Quinton]

The Mistborn books are good, I recommend them.

Also don't forget to read Jim Butcher's other books: Codex Alera

I really enjoyed the Codex Alera stuff -- I think the first three were stronger than the last three (and I particularly liked the second book, which interestingly many cite as their least favorite in the series).

I think it would have been more interesting if
I absolutely love the story behind why he wrote the series... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylKRYe0ZWHo (@ 1m30)

[Cyrrex]

Anybody familiar with David Eddings, with his Belgariad and Malloreon series of books?  Local librarian (in a Danish library with an English section) recommended them to my son, but I had never heard of them.  Son is 10, btw.

[Chimpy]

Anybody familiar with David Eddings, with his Belgariad and Malloreon series of books?  Local librarian (in a Danish library with an English section) recommended them to my son, but I had never heard of them.  Son is 10, btw.

If he is 10, then he is just about the age group they are aimed at. (The Belgariad is mostly aimed at the 12-14 age group, I think I was around 12 when I read them the first time).

Early Eddings stuff is an entertaining read as it is pretty dialogue driven (and he was good at writing it). There are also very few places where the pacing is a slog.

I am sure you will see a lot of comments from the neckbeards around here that it is totally a rip off of Tolkein, derivative, totally formulaic, etc. 

[Xuri]

I currently find myself completely immersed in Asimov's sci-fi universe, having just finished reading the four main novels in the Robot-series for the first time, and about to pick up all the short-stories connected to that series before I move on to the Foundation-series, which I read some (but not all) of at my local library 15-16 years ago. I remember very little of the Foundation-series, except that I enjoyed it at the time. I'm hopeful that still holds true for my revisit to the series!

[WayAbvPar]

Anyone have the Dresden books in a shareable Kindle format? In my re-read I have discovered that I am missing books 8 and 9 (Proven Guilty and White Knight) for some reason. They aren't in the Prime Lending Library and I am trying to avoid spending another $20 on them if possible. Send me a PM if you can help.

[Trippy]

Anybody familiar with David Eddings, with his Belgariad and Malloreon series of books?  Local librarian (in a Danish library with an English section) recommended them to my son, but I had never heard of them.  Son is 10, btw.

10 might be a wee bit young but if he's at an advanced reading level it might be okay. I started reading them when they first came out in 6th or 7th grade (roughly same age as Chimpy).

[WayAbvPar]

They are fun books. Story isn't terribly original, but the characters are fun and have some amusing conversations.

[Ingmar]

I am sure you will see a lot of comments from the neckbeards around here that it is totally a rip off of Tolkein, derivative, totally formulaic, etc. 

Well, these things are all true, but they're still entertaining reading at that age.

[Quinton]

I am sure you will see a lot of comments from the neckbeards around here that it is totally a rip off of Tolkein, derivative, totally formulaic, etc. 

Well, these things are all true, but they're still entertaining reading at that age.

Indeed.  I think I read them in middle school and enjoyed them quite a bit.  I suspect they have not held up well.

[Chimpy]

Actually, I think they have held up better than a lot of books I read as a teenager.

I re-read them when I have nothing else to read once every couple of years (which I do with pretty much every book I own). Sure, they are pretty basic plot-wise, but the quality of the dialogue makes his stuff still enjoyable. At least the stuff that was enjoyable in the first place...

[Cyrrex]

Anybody familiar with David Eddings, with his Belgariad and Malloreon series of books?  Local librarian (in a Danish library with an English section) recommended them to my son, but I had never heard of them.  Son is 10, btw.

10 might be a wee bit young but if he's at an advanced reading level it might be okay. I started reading them when they first came out in 6th or 7th grade (roughly same age as Chimpy).

He's probably an above average reader for 10.  Probably way above average, considering English is his second language technically.  He's read all the Harry Potter books, all the Eragon books, The Hobbit and all the Darth Bane books from Star Wars.  So I guess it was as much a question of the appropriateness as anything else.  I mean, there isn't constant gang-raping scenes and whatnot.

And Chimpy is only a 6th grader?!  He must also be above average.

[Chimpy]

Har de fucking har

There is not anything really inappropriate in the belgariad. The mallorean is more oriented towards the late teenaged or adult audience with a smattering of innuendo, but none of his fantasy books are overly graphic. His two fiction books are written for an adult audience.

[Morat20]

The Belgariad and the Mallorean are practically the definition of light door-stopper epic fantasy. Standard plot, standard characters -- heck, the second series is basically the first retold. (Admittedly, he hangs a lampshade on it and the characters themselves first complain about it, and then use it to try to figure out what's gonna happen next. IIRC, it's some sort of Fate thing.)

Not exactly award winning, not awful, fairly well paced and generally easy to read. I think I read it sometime in junior high, maybe?

His other series (the one about the Knights of some sort) plays with a lot of the same concepts and is a bit more political than action oriented, but not by much. A tad more adult, basically, but nothing nearly as dark or gritty as, say, Martin. The main character isn't a kid, is about the major difference.

[Cyrrex]

The Belgariad and the Mallorean are practically the definition of light door-stopper epic fantasy. Standard plot, standard characters -- heck, the second series is basically the first retold. (Admittedly, he hangs a lampshade on it and the characters themselves first complain about it, and then use it to try to figure out what's gonna happen next. IIRC, it's some sort of Fate thing.)

Hmm, okay...then what would you say about reading the Malloreon stuff first?  Would it technically be out of order or otherwise ruin the Belariad?  Reason I ask is because the library gave him the former series, and I told him to stop reading until I figured this out. 

[Reg]

Read the Mallorean first? That's nuts.  Half the appeal of the Mallorean is that it brings back all of the characters that you liked in the Belgariad.  I can't imagine anyone liking it without reading the Belgariad first.

[Trippy]

Read the Mallorean first? That's nuts.  Half the appeal of the Mallorean is that it brings back all of the characters that you liked in the Belgariad.  I can't imagine anyone liking it without reading the Belgariad first.

Plus The Malloreon isn't nearly as good as The Belgariad.

As for appropriateness it should be fine for him. If he's read the Potter books already there's nothing in The Belgariad that's worse than what's in those.

[dd0029]

Just finished up my marathon Dresden read, everything other than Storm Front and Side Jobs. After some browsing around, I must be one of the very few who liked Ghost Story and hoped it was a return to a smaller setting for Dresden. Cold Days was interesting from a fleshing out the world stand point and he wrenched the dial right back to 11. Anyone know how old Harry is? Some minor quibbles, could have done with out the return of edgy sex stuff written by a fairly vanilla guy and what's the deal with pointing out every single pun? Overall, it was still fairly good and I'll be waiting for the next one. Though Joe Pitt would walk up to Harry, take his blasting rod, beat him senseless with it and tell him to quit being a pussy, shit happens.

[Morat20]

Hmm, okay...then what would you say about reading the Malloreon stuff first?  Would it technically be out of order or otherwise ruin the Belariad?  Reason I ask is because the library gave him the former series, and I told him to stop reading until I figured this out. 

Read the Belgariad first. The Mallorean is a sequel. So, you know, it'd be a bit confusing insofar as you'd have a lot of characters that don't get introduced, also sort of spoils some of the Belgariad plot. Well, kinda of all of it.

Yeah. So Belgariad first. It being epic fantasy, order's sort of important.

[Bzalthek]

If he likes those, Eddings also did the Elenium and the Tamuli.  Trilogies instead of quintets this time around but I still enjoyed them.  Ah, to be young again.

[Evildrider]

Just finished up my marathon Dresden read, everything other than Storm Front and Side Jobs. After some browsing around, I must be one of the very few who liked Ghost Story and hoped it was a return to a smaller setting for Dresden. Cold Days was interesting from a fleshing out the world stand point and he wrenched the dial right back to 11. Anyone know how old Harry is? Some minor quibbles, could have done with out the return of edgy sex stuff written by a fairly vanilla guy and what's the deal with pointing out every single pun? Overall, it was still fairly good and I'll be waiting for the next one. Though Joe Pitt would walk up to Harry, take his blasting rod, beat him senseless with it and tell him to quit being a pussy, shit happens.

I liked Ghost Story as well.  Not one of my top ones, but it really showed how shit went to hell after Harry "died" in Changes.  The funny thing with Harry is he's got power, but he's usually still outclassed by the big baddies.  That and he gets his ass saved a lot.  Even the Winter Knight powers has drawbacks.