Return of the Book Thread

[Murgos]

Finished up David Weber's new one, Out of the Dark.  What a bad idea.  He might have been able to do an alien invasion with vampires and partisan fighters at one time, but not anymore.  The blowing up was cool, but that was relatively few and far between.  He spent the first third of the book introducing the mostly American cast and their families.  There's also a "wonderfully" inverted Independence Day moment when the aliens hack the internet through an Iranian coffee shop.  And because this is a David Weber book, he had to have some convoluted reasoning for the good guys to massively out tech the bad guys, even though the bad guys are alien invaders from space.  Even with all of the problems, it might have been a good book if he was a better writer.  These people talk nonstop in enormous paragraphs saying the same thing over and over and over and everyone is exactly the same.  Though I do have to say that his bad guys were not mustache twirling villains this time,  their mistakes were mostly believable.  And the vampires?  They only showed up halfway through the book and did just about nothing until the last chapter or two when the handfull of them kill all of the aliens.  All of them, by grabbing hold and riding the exterior of the alien drop ships as they retreat from the planet.

Marketing:  Dave!  How the hell are ya?  You're the best baby!  About your book... The kids these days, they're really into vampires, you know?  It's nothing personal but, uh, we can't publish any more of your books unless you put vampires in them.  K, baby?  Love ya, say hi the the missus for me!  Let's do lunch!

[Morat20]

Marketing:  Dave!  How the hell are ya?  You're the best baby!  About your book... The kids these days, they're really into vampires, you know?  It's nothing personal but, uh, we can't publish any more of your books unless you put vampires in them.  K, baby?  Love ya, say hi the the missus for me!  Let's do lunch!

I don't mind authors doing shit like that, as long as it means they can keep writing the crap I like.

Although that WOULD explain the book nicely. "You do your money book, then the book you want to do, then your money book...."

[dd0029]

I have one that does not suck this time.    I believe someone else mentioned this several pages ago, but my copy finally arrived from the library, The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson is some really good stuff.  Note that this is the first book of a 10 book big fat fantasy series.  The prologue is pretty awesome, but then the next bit is kind of slow.  By the middle it regains its momentum and trucks along.  Being book one, the overarching story is still kind of unclear, but the world is really cool and Sanderson manages to keep is crown as one of the best magic inventors out there.  He's a disciplined author, so I expect one a year, but 10 years might be a bit of a wait for some.  But, if you don't mind that, I would recommend this one.

[Chimpy]

Your post reminded me it is nearing November. So I checked Amazon and the second to last Wheel of Time book comes out Tuesday.

Guess I am going to have to re-read the previous one over the weekend so I remember where the story is at.

[Morat20]

Your post reminded me it is nearing November. So I checked Amazon and the second to last Wheel of Time book comes out Tuesday.

Guess I am going to have to re-read the previous one over the weekend so I remember where the story is at.

I'm waiting until they're all out, buying them on Kindle, and reading them in order. I stopped at the one where the first like 200 pages was everyone being all amazed/shocked/confused/worried about the end of the previous book, and which -- by the end -- virtually nothing had actually happened. 700 pages of "response to major event" and "nothing but filler".

I've been told they've gotten better, so I figured I'd just wait.

[dd0029]

Guess I am going to have to re-read the previous one over the weekend so I remember where the story is at.

I was going to recommend the following for chapter summaries, but they have not finished Towers of Midnight.  But they do have all of the other books done.  Damn lazy fans.

http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/

[ghost]

second to last Wheel of Time book comes out Tuesday.

Is this guaranteed to be the second-to-last WOT novel?  I quit reading after #5.

[Reg]

Well Robert Jordan is dead and the new guy they brought in to finish the books appears intent on actually finishing the books.  Plus he's good - it's Brandon Sanderson who wrote the Mistborn series.

He wrote the last one as well and it was the best I'd seen from a WOT book since the very early ones.

[Chimpy]

second to last Wheel of Time book comes out Tuesday.

Is this guaranteed to be the second-to-last WOT novel?  I quit reading after #5.

Yes. Jordan was apparently about 75% done with his manuscript for the final volume "A Memory of Light" as he called it when he died. But it needed fleshing out with dialogue and minor plot line tie ups (from reports all of the main story lines were at least fleshed out as the direction and endpoint). The problem was, it was something like 1600 pages even in it's un-finished state. Since TOR can't print a hardcover over 200 pages that doesn't disintegrate after 2 readings, and no one can make a really readable mass market paperback much over 1000 pages, they decided to split it up.

It also got the first book out in November of last year, which was the original goal for the book, and allowed Sanderson to put more polish on the climax and resolution of about 9000 pages of high drama interspersed with loosely veiled lesbian S&M fantasies.

[ghost]

Since TOR can't print a hardcover over 200 pages that doesn't disintegrate after 2 readings

This is the goddamned truth. 

Anyway, on to other stuff.

I'm currently reading (well, listening to) Brightness Reef by David Brin, which has been very difficult to stay interested in.  I liken it to Speaker of the Dead by Card.  I just have a difficult time with these guys.  It has been very difficult not to start listening to my copy of Black Company. 

[Morat20]

Since TOR can't print a hardcover over 200 pages that doesn't disintegrate after 2 readings

This is the goddamned truth. 

Anyway, on to other stuff.

I'm currently reading (well, listening to) Brightness Reef by David Brin, which has been very difficult to stay interested in.  I liken it to Speaker of the Dead by Card.  I just have a difficult time with these guys.  It has been very difficult not to start listening to my copy of Black Company. 

I've never finished that particular trilogy, and I loved Startide Rising and The Uplift War. For some reason, that set bores the ever-loving shit out of me. I've read a lot of his stuff -- the good, the bad, and the ugly -- but never anything quite like that. It's a weird combination of "I'd like to see how this ends, but without really reading all this crap about characters and struggles I'm not terribly interested in"

[FatuousTwat]

I was getting worried that The Black Company wouldn't be mentioned this thread, phew, thanks ghost.

[Johny Cee]

Actually, two new Glen Cook books are being published in November:

Gilden Latten Bones - A new Garrett novel.  Basically it's Raymond Chandler plus traditional fantasy. 

The third "Instrumentalities" book, which was finished ages ago supposedly....  My theory is that Tor was sitting on it while they were churning out the Black Company omnibuses.

[Chimpy]

Proof that no one edits anything these days was the Instrumentalities books.

I could not get past the first 100 pages of the first one it was so convoluted and full of random un-necessary and confusing name dropping. Took it back to the library and won't ever attempt to read it again.

[pants]

So has there been any word from George Martin about when hes going to release another fucking Song of Ice and Fire book?  I look at his blog occasionally, and he seems to be busy dicking around signing books and playing with the tv series in Northern Ireland.  Has he actually said if hes ever going to finish the damn thing?

[Chimpy]

He can't figure out how to unfuck his publisher's brilliant idea of cutting the book he had been writing into 2 parts by only covering half the characters.

So don't bet on a new book anytime soon.

They should never have cut the book apart the way they did. They should have had him finish the whole thing, then split it in the middle and release them at the same time or very close together.

[ghost]

Has he actually said if hes ever going to finish the damn thing?

Have you seen how much he weighs? 


Has anyone read the Prince of Nothing trilogy by Bakker and gotten to the new ones yet?  I'd be interested in hearing thoughts on that.   

[Johny Cee]

Has he actually said if hes ever going to finish the damn thing?

Have you seen how much he weighs? 


Has anyone read the Prince of Nothing trilogy by Bakker and gotten to the new ones yet?  I'd be interested in hearing thoughts on that.   

The Judging Eye was good.  Picks up 20 years after or so.  A wonderful homage to the Moria sequence, but that section is basically a horror narrative.

White Luck Warrior isn't out yet, though I think it's getting a release soon.

[Johny Cee]

Proof that no one edits anything these days was the Instrumentalities books.

I could not get past the first 100 pages of the first one it was so convoluted and full of random un-necessary and confusing name dropping. Took it back to the library and won't ever attempt to read it again.

I think the editing is fine, it's just a very complicated, dense world and Cook doesn't do infodumps.  Everything makes sense in light of what happens later in the book, and really rewards rereads.  It is very, very hard to get into since you don't have any warm up. 

The book really rewards having a good background in history and religion.

The second book is much more straight-forward.  Three viewpoints and you stick to established settings.

[murdoc]

He can't figure out how to unfuck his publisher's brilliant idea of cutting the book he had been writing into 2 parts by only covering half the characters.

So don't bet on a new book anytime soon.

They should never have cut the book apart the way they did. They should have had him finish the whole thing, then split it in the middle and release them at the same time or very close together.

First, he can unfuck his brilliant idea of instead of jumping 5 years forward for the fourth book, he decided he wanted to tell the story of those years instead.

[dd0029]

So, I found out we had copies of Towers of Midnight waiting for next Tuesday.  I decided it was a good night to stay up to 3:30 reading so I could put it back on the shelf to be finished processing.  It's a really good book worth staying up for, however it's a decided middle book.  

Not really spoilers but, anyway.

[Johny Cee]

Huh.  Bujould has a new "Miles Vorkosigan" book out now.

[dd0029]

Huh.  Bujould has a new "Miles Vorkosigan" book out now.

Available here.

[Khaldun]

Are you sure? I feel like she's been publishing a lot of shit for a while that pretends to be new Vorkosigan and turns out to be mostly or all recycled.

Apropros of nothing, David Weber is one of the worst reads in genre SF that I've come across in my entire life. Why anyone would read his Napoleonic SF and not Hornblower or O'Brian instead I have no idea. Just adding lasers and tits doesn't make (most) stuff better.

Well.

ok.

but not WEBER.

[Morat20]

Is Jim Butcher's Dresden short-story collection worth picking up? I was gonna get the cheaper Kindle version, if it's out.

[Mazakiel]

I picked it up the other day and skipped ahead to the story set after Changes.  I liked it.  It's not going to make the wait 'til the next book any easier at all though.  In fact, it's probably even worse now.  That being said, it sets some stuff up for later while also having a good short adventure of it's own, and gives some insight/development into the supporting cast. 

Beyond that, I've read the other novella, Backup, that's included in it in the past when it was released as a stand-alone, and it was sort of a similar deal.  If you're a fan of Butcher and the setting, I think it's worth picking up.  If Dresden books are more of a way to pass time in between other stuff, you'll probably want to pass.  From what I know of the other stories, anything that's relevant to what happens in the main books is explained enough in those books to where you won't be lost. 

[Johny Cee]

Are you sure? I feel like she's been publishing a lot of shit for a while that pretends to be new Vorkosigan and turns out to be mostly or all recycled.

Hmm?  She hasn't published a new Miles book since 2002, when she went into fantasy (Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls were both pretty good) and then fantasy/romance.  Before that, the last two books definitely moved things along, I though.

I read most of the Miles books right in a row a bunch of years ago, though.

[dd0029]

This one is new.  It moves forward 5 or so years.  Its a more Miles book than the last have been.  Someone up thread said the end was  , but I think she could go somewhere interesting with what happens.  I thought she was going to end it after A Civil Campaign, not so much any more.

[Chimpy]

Finished The Towers of Midnight this afternoon.

Really liked it.

It is nice to see threads coming to a close. One more year to go!

[Johny Cee]

This one is new.  It moves forward 5 or so years.  Its a more Miles book than the last have been.  Someone up thread said the end was  , but I think she could go somewhere interesting with what happens.  I thought she was going to end it after A Civil Campaign, not so much any more.

I like that Bujould keeps moving Miles along a career path, and that wear and tear catches up with him.  More Hornblower than Aubrey & Maturin.  Next book, Miles will be in his 40s and will be dealing with more politics and governance, more than likely. 

The book was decent, but not worth the cost of hardcover.

[ghost]

A lot of my reading lately has consisted of Dr. Seuss as the two year old loves it.  It strikes me from reading a shit ton of children's books, including a lot of newer authors, how much of a genius Theodore Geisel was.  The Sleep Book, in particular, is spectacular.  It actually puts the boy to sleep. 

[FatuousTwat]

I'm about 20 pages from the end of The Return of the Crimson Guard, and it has really changed my view on the Esselmont side of the Malazan books.

Before I kind of thought of them like Erikson's Buchelain(SP?) novellas, but now I'm thinking they are pretty much required reading.

[Rendakor]

Started reading book one of Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy; really digging it so far.

[Sky]

Just finished Midnight Tides, might be my favorite Erickson thus far.

[shiznitz]

I am reading book 3 of the Lisbeth Salander/Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy.  I was hoping for better.

Glad to hear Midnight Tides is great.  I had trouble sticking with Reaper's Gale.