Return of the Book Thread

[Ozzu]

I've now finished 'A Game of Thrones' and 'A Clash of Kings'. Dayum. That's some good reading. Now I have to run to B&N to grab the 3rd and 4th of the series later today.

[Draegan]

I just finished "The Well of Ascension" by Sanderson.  It's a great story and the ending was awesome.  The only complaint I have so far about the series is that the whole thing takes place in one city basically.  There is no moving around and exploring the world (yet?)  I'm a few pages into "The Hero of Ages".

[Morat20]

I went old-school --- picked up "Alien Emergencies" on Kindle. It's three of James White's Sector General novels, and I'm midway through Ambulance Ship.

[dd0029]

(yet?) 

The last one takes place mostly out in the middle of nowhere.  While technically somewhere else, its not anywhere near as well realized as the city.

[Lt.Dan]

In keeping with alternating fiction and non-fiction I'm now reading QED: the strange theory of light and matter.  It's a series of lectures given by Richard Feynman on quantum electrodynamics in basic basic ways.  It's blowing my mind. 

Apart from that my "to read" list is:
- the companion book to "the Pacific"
- Devices and Desires - the first book in the Engineer trilogy
- The Prefect - high concept space opera by Alastair Reynolds
- the Good Eats early years cookbook (with poster - squeeeeee)
- Ratio - Michael Ruhlman (all about the ratios in cooking)
- The Night Watch - Sergei Lukyanenko

[Viin]

I think you need to move Night Watch to the top of your list. Not sure what it's doing down there at the bottom!

[Ard]

Yeah, the translation of that is actually extremely well written, and all the books in that series are out in the US now. 

[Mattemeo]

- Devices and Desires - the first book in the Engineer trilogy

Can't recommend that enough - and the two sequels. One of the most engaging series I've read in Fantasy (difficult to categorize - neither high nor low, perhaps technical fantasy?). So ambitiously characterized, astonishingly plotted and a brilliant example of one man's unflinching moral exactitude through duress.


I'd also like to recommend Steph Swainston's 'The Castle' series - 4 books so far - The Year of Our War; No Present Like Time; The Modern World and the recently published prequel, Above the Snowline. Swainston doesn't currently have a US publisher so people might have to import from the UK or Canada.

It's difficult to describe The Castle series. It's set in - for want of a better word - a contemporary-medieval world where electricity was never harnessed, and a tide of interdimensional giant insects have taken over a good portion of the lands. The struggle between the insects and the native human races (Plainslanders, Awians (humans with vestigial wings) and Rhydanne (spry cat-eyed mountain wild folk)) is hampered more by their own political turmoil, and presided over by the Emporer San and his chosen 50 immortals for the last 2000 years. It's told from the warped perspective of The Messenger, one of the chosen 50 - Comet Jant Shira, a half-breed Awian/Rhydanne, and the only man to have ever flown - a man besieged by his past, his ego and his addictions.

It's vividly written and clearly the product of a lifetime's labour of love - you can totally immerse yourself into Swainston's world, and the immortal timeline grants her characters incredible scope and mystery.

[Johny Cee]

I think you need to move Night Watch to the top of your list. Not sure what it's doing down there at the bottom!

Loved the first three.  I think I wrote some nonsense about it ages ago in this thread.  I felt the last one was pretty meh, though.


I bought a pile of books at a used book store the other day, and I'm really digging Asher's The Skinner.  The cover blurb is "Dune meets Master & Commander" and that feels... pretty damn close. 

[Sky]

Can't recommend that enough - and the two sequels. One of the most engaging series I've read in Fantasy (difficult to categorize - neither high nor low, perhaps technical fantasy?). So ambitiously characterized, astonishingly plotted and a brilliant example of one man's unflinching moral exactitude through duress.

I completely disagree. Plodding, poorly-written and repeatedly disappointing. Full of good ideas the author has no idea how to flesh out or turn into a good story.

[naum]

I've now finished 'A Game of Thrones' and 'A Clash of Kings'. Dayum. That's some good reading. Now I have to run to B&N to grab the 3rd and 4th of the series later today.

Hodor.

[Quinton]

Started reading Gene Wolfe's Long Sun books the last few days -- I'm nearing the end of the second book (Lake of the Long Sun), or first book (Litany of the Long Sun, which contains  Nightside of the Long Sun and Lake of the Long Sun), depending on your point of view.

I'm enjoying these quite a bit.  They're not quite as rough a ride as the New Sun books (though having read a lot more Wolfe at this point, I look forward to rereading New Sun at some point and having better luck untangling it).  

One thing I deeply enjoy about Wolfe's writing is the wonderful words he exposes me to:

I should clarify the fact that all the words in the Book of the New Sun are real . . . Some SF fans, who seem to be able to tolerate any amount of gibberish so long as its invented gibberish, have found it peculiar that I would bother relying on perfectly legitimate words. My sense was that when you want to know where you're going, it helps to know where you've been and how fast you've traveled. And a great deal of this knowledge can be intuited if you know something about the words people use. I'm not a philologist, but one thing I'm certain of is that you could write an entire book on almost any word in the English language. At any rate, anyone who bothers to go to a dictionary will find that I'm not inventing anything: a "fulgurator" is a holy man capable of drawing omens from flashes of lightning; an "eidolon" is an apparition or phantom; "fuliginous" literally means soot-colored (a complete black without gloss), and so on.

[Samwise]

[Rendakor]

Just finished Darkly Dreaming Dexter.  Not bad.  The first season of the show is better.  But there are sections of the first half that you can tell the show lifted wholesale.  I liked how it offers some insights into some of the characters in the show that I have always found awkward, namely LaGuerta and Deb.  Those two seem to have lifted their initial characters out of the book in a way that I never really thought fit them in the context of the show, but work in the book.  I have to say that the second half sort of peters out.  But the first half is like mainlining the best parts of the show.

That's the first Dexter book, right? The second one isn't bad either, but the third (Dexter in the Dark) was godawful.

[dd0029]

]That's the first Dexter book, right? The second one isn't bad either, but the third (Dexter in the Dark) was godawful.

Yeah, I read the first one.

Just about to give up on The Unincorporated Man.  It's an Ayn Rand fantasy which is oddly set against an already very libertarian society, which might not be that bad.  Unfortunately, the authors forgot they needed to write a story.  It's too bad, because some of the ideas are interesting.  But the heavy handed moralizing or whatever it is you call it when whacked out libertarians do it.  It reminds me of another book, Jennifer Government, less knowingly tongue in cheek but essentially the same type of future world where corporations run everything.  The world is actually kind of interesting, but its set up as the great evil that our cryonically frozen time traveler spends his time getting his Galt on against.   One odd feature that was a quick clue in to the essential unserious nature of this is that Alaska, with all its libertarian baggage, is the seat of the rebirth of civilization post nuclear holocaust.  Its all very annoying, the beginning was enticing enough to lure me in but the preaching from the authors just got too much.

[RhyssaFireheart]

I just started rereading the Malazan books and I can't believe how much I "missed" the first time around in Gardens of the Moon.  I mean the info about Kruppe and how the plots and other storylines were set up.  Granted, it was the first book and I'm reading it with the knowledge of all the following books, but there is a lot of stuff in there.  I want to get the rereading done before I pick up Dust of Dreams.

[FatuousTwat]

I just finished "The Well of Ascension" by Sanderson.  It's a great story and the ending was awesome.  The only complaint I have so far about the series is that the whole thing takes place in one city basically.  There is no moving around and exploring the world (yet?)  I'm a few pages into "The Hero of Ages".

I haven't read anything past Mistborn yet, but Elantris was really good as well.

I read Warriors, a cross-genre anthology edited by Gardner Dozois (my favourite editor, his The Years best Science Fiction is always fantastic) and GRRM. I really enjoyed it. Covers everything from a captured French engineer being slowly driven mad by a Moroccan king to a genetically engineered religious warrior/assassin/martyr attempting to kill an enemy empire's head of state in the far future. I'm really looking forward to the other two anthologies they are doing together.

Currently reading Best Served Cold, by Joe Abercrombie (author of The First Law trilogy). Very dark, but very good.

[Cyrrex]

I just started rereading the Malazan books and I can't believe how much I "missed" the first time around in Gardens of the Moon.  I mean the info about Kruppe and how the plots and other storylines were set up.  Granted, it was the first book and I'm reading it with the knowledge of all the following books, but there is a lot of stuff in there.  I want to get the rereading done before I pick up Dust of Dreams.

You're going to reread ALL of them?  That's quite a task!

[RhyssaFireheart]

Howso?  It won't take me too long, really.  Depends on if I decide to read or game, and since I'm in reading mode atm, that's what I do in the evenings.  Maybe about 3 weeks or so for all the books and then I'll pick up DoD to read.  Reading is probably my one real addiction, and I have no desire to be cured of it. :)

[Lt.Dan]

- Devices and Desires - the first book in the Engineer trilogy

Can't recommend that enough - and the two sequels. One of the most engaging series I've read in Fantasy (difficult to categorize - neither high nor low, perhaps technical fantasy?). So ambitiously characterized, astonishingly plotted and a brilliant example of one man's unflinching moral exactitude through duress.

I'm about 200 pages in and I'm going to abandon ship, which is very very very rare for me.  The only reason I made it that far was that I was away on holiday and didn't have anything else to read.  My views of the book are totally the opposite of yours: can't recommend it at all, one of the most annoying books I've read in fantasy, and couldn't care less about the characters or plot.  But glad you liked it.

[Rendakor]

I started reading the first book of Warhammer's Malus Darkblade; it's pretty decent so far.

[Cyrrex]

Howso?  It won't take me too long, really.  Depends on if I decide to read or game, and since I'm in reading mode atm, that's what I do in the evenings.  Maybe about 3 weeks or so for all the books and then I'll pick up DoD to read.  Reading is probably my one real addiction, and I have no desire to be cured of it. :)

I keep forgetting that I don't read nearly as much as I used to (a combination of not smoking and having too many other entertainment choices) and that it's entirely possible to blow through these books more quickly than I am.  Right now, it's taking me nearly a month per Malazan book.

[Tuncal]

I just started rereading the Malazan books and I can't believe how much I "missed" the first time around in Gardens of the Moon.  I mean the info about Kruppe and how the plots and other storylines were set up.  Granted, it was the first book and I'm reading it with the knowledge of all the following books, but there is a lot of stuff in there.  I want to get the rereading done before I pick up Dust of Dreams.

It's incredible how much detail he planned into before hand. My favorite part was in Gardens of the Moon they just stumble along a dead dude that's not of any familiar race, floating down a river yet not dead by drowning. Only a few volumes later we find out who he was and how he died heh.

For myself, I have just finished rereading the Black Company series, by Glen Cook. Such awesome fantasy concepts - the Dominator, the Taken, Soulcatcher, the way he's dealt with magic and military small scale epics. Makes me want to play Myth again.

[Ironwood]

I mean, what the fuck.

How many times in 77 pages can people mention Black Company ?

[dd0029]

After a marathon session, finished up the latest Harry Dresden book, Changes.  Take note of that title.  It is pretty good.  Not great, nothing really new is shown or added.  It's got a whole lot more action, there's very little detecting here this go around.  Harry continues to get the crap beat out of him.  I could really do with that noir trope dying.  Harry could also use some remedial school.  One would think after 12 books he would be something more than a hammer looking for something to smash.  No really new plot threads added.  The damsel in distress is actually in distress and Harry is not terribly patronizing about it.  Several are wrapped up.  Some very old ones are picked back up.  Bob does some cool stuff, but nothing sorority house awesome.  Someone needs to explain the last page to me though.

[Arrrgh]

There's a scene in one of the Dresden short stories about his bookcase getting knocked over and his Black Company novels falling out.

[Ironwood]

Arrrgh

[murdoc]

Finished 'The Name of the Wind'. Enjoyed it immensely until the final act outside of Trebon where it kinda felt to me like it left the rails a bit.

[LK]

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, followed by his Writing Wednesday blog posts, and anything quoted / related that would help benefit me as a writer. I have this book, Essentials of the Theory of Fiction, to also peruse.

The weirdest thing about all this is to read ideals and philosophies for one's well-being that I was slowly coming to myself, such as buying experiences instead of things. (Video games can be like buying experiences...)

[Morat20]

After a marathon session, finished up the latest Harry Dresden book, Changes.  Take note of that title.  It is pretty good.  Not great, nothing really new is shown or added.  It's got a whole lot more action, there's very little detecting here this go around.  Harry continues to get the crap beat out of him.  I could really do with that noir trope dying.  Harry could also use some remedial school.  One would think after 12 books he would be something more than a hammer looking for something to smash.  No really new plot threads added.  The damsel in distress is actually in distress and Harry is not terribly patronizing about it.  Several are wrapped up.  Some very old ones are picked back up.  Bob does some cool stuff, but nothing sorority house awesome.  Someone needs to explain the last page to me though.

Fucking Penguin and Fucking Amazon are getting into a goddamn dick-slapping contest, which means no Changes on Kindle. Apparently Penguin decided that despite being available for a year on pre-order, a week before the fucker comes out they want to change the Kindle price.

WTF? So no Changes on Kindle, which has to be pissing Butcher off -- especially since Amazon decided to flip off Penguin and sell hardbacks at 9.99 (the Kindle price) and eat the 2 dollar a book loss.

[Abagadro]

I actually just finished reading all of the Black Company books because of this thread.  Got a bit repetitive reading them all straight through but still pretty enjoyable.

[Johny Cee]

I mean, what the fuck.

How many times in 77 pages can people mention Black Company ?

It is the culmination to my 8 year nefarious scheme to convert Waterthread/F13 into a Glen Cook discussion forum....

[Tmon]

Fucking Penguin and Fucking Amazon are getting into a goddamn dick-slapping contest, which means no Changes on Kindle. Apparently Penguin decided that despite being available for a year on pre-order, a week before the fucker comes out they want to change the Kindle price.

WTF? So no Changes on Kindle, which has to be pissing Butcher off -- especially since Amazon decided to flip off Penguin and sell hardbacks at 9.99 (the Kindle price) and eat the 2 dollar a book loss.

Got it for my nook just now.  Sometimes I wonder if I should have bought a kindle but then Amazon pulls some shit like this and I'm glad that I can borrow e-books from the library and buy from more than one company.

[Lt.Dan]

I mean, what the fuck.

How many times in 77 pages can people mention Black Company ?

Does anyone know of software that could go through this thread and do a connected graph of all books mentioned in this thread.  The we could see how many times Black Company is mentioned and what books cause people to mention it. 

[Ard]

Someone needs to explain the last page to me though.

Yeah, I just finished the book.  Felt like the end of an epic story arc, and ended with a cliffhanger of sorts, which is something he's never done in a prior book at all.