Return of the Book Thread

[Tmon]

I have to agree, I read the first three books as they were released and while I loved the first two, by the time third came out it was too much effort to catch back up so I stopped.  Last month my wife's grandparents gave me a boxed of the first four books.  I ripped through the first three, but I've spent most of four wondering  why am I off over here when the action is clearly over there.

[Abagadro]

You can preorder the new Culture novel in hardback for under 14 bucks right now at Amazon.  You'll forget about it and have it as a nice surprise on your doorstep in October.

[dd0029]

Noticed that the library had most of Matthew Stover's Caine books as ebooks and decided to reread them because I remember enjoying the first two. Heroes Die is still really, really good. The second one, Blade of Tyshale is like reading the second and third Matrix movies. He seems to have missed that the charm of the first book is his anti-hero. Instead in this book, you are constantly clubbed with ham handed freshman philosophy. He also tries and fails to "explain." Instead of the first book's answer to how things of "Very well thank you" he ends up failing to explain and meld magic and tech world, ending up with some crazy nonsensical blind sleeping god on earth running things and wanting to move and eat magic land. He also spends way too much time on other poorly developed points of view characters. Lastly, he ramped up the gritty way beyond realism and surealism to just annoying background images. All this is too bad, because when he focuses on his anti-hero and if you ignore the nonsense, there's still good stuff there.

I went on to the first of the next duology Caine Black Knife simply because I'd already checked it out. This one is better than the second because he jetisons the other povs and some of the freshman philosophy, however the gritty is inexplicably turned up again. Caine turns his band of adventurers into effective cannibals at one point as a nice topper to the ritual gang rape of the magically healing, because we need to keep the gang rape going forever, warrior woman who eventually survives but you know, was brutalized to death in another adventure because, why not?

Sadly, the library does not yet have the fourth book and I don't really feel like encouraging him with my money.

[Sky]

Sadly, the library does not yet have the fourth book and I don't really feel like encouraging him with my money.

Ask at the Reference Desk. Generally the fiction librarian will want to fill out series, but even if there is a reason they didn't add the fourth one, they may add it due to patron request. Or it might be in processing/lost/etc.

I started the Star Wars Bounty Hunter trilogy and finished the first book, but I'm not feeling it. Lacking any fiction, I've been reading Buddy Guy's new autobiography, which is awesome.

[Chimpy]

Patron requests, especially in times of tight budgets, are very useful because they give the library a "we know we will get at least one circ out of this" versus just buying whatever has decent reviews and hoping some patron will want to read it.

[Khaldun]

Recommend Throne of the Crescent Moon. Sometimes reads like a really great pen-and-paper RPG session, but that's not a bad thing. The wizard character sometimes rises above that to be an interesting character in his own right.

[dd0029]

Ask at the Reference Desk.

I am the Reference desk. But in our case, I'd as the Reader's Advisors to buy it for me. I did check to see that it is a Random House book, so there's no reason we couldn't get it through Overdrive. Still not really sure I want to encourage him to write more by asking the library to buy it.

[Sky]

Woops, missed where you said ebook.

[Morat20]

I've been working my way through some old Beserker novels I snagged off of Baen's free library. It's been ages since I've read any of them. I think Saberhagen also did the Book of Swords (or whatever it was called) that I always meant to read, and never did -- I should probably add that to the list.

[Ingmar]

They're not very good, IMO. (The various Swords books.)

[Morat20]

They're not very good, IMO. (The various Swords books.)

I'm kinda at a point where I have a lot of time to kill, but in spurts. All I really need is something I can pick up and put down easily. Hence the Beserker stuff, which is pretty easy to start and stop.

One reason I'm putting off a few books that are supposedly quite good. I can't really afford to be reading until 3:00 AM right now. :)

[Mosesandstick]

Just finished Atlas Shrugged. Weird love story.

[HaemishM]

Just finished Atlas Shrugged. Weird love story.

Yeah, not many people can write a 1000 page dry hump of craven selfishness.

[ghost]

On book 3 of my quest to finish the Wheel of Time.   

I've decided that the most irritating thing about the books is the deliberate negativity and resistance to anything out of the ordinary for all the main characters.  Seriously, you're no longer in Emmon's Field, Rand is the Dragon Reborn, Mat is still an asshat and Perrin is a wolfbuddy.  Suck it up and get on with it.  Another thing that has been irritating me is that the Aes Sedai just don't seem like they should engender that level of hatred from the common folk.  He should have made them more obviously sinister and less cartoonish to pull off the effect that he's trying to get. 

9 more to go.   

[Salamok]

You should stop now, I am pretty sure the last 2 books are not worth slogging through the next 7 books.  Although I will say that it is quite possible that on an individual basis not one of the next 7 books is as bad as that last GRR Martin book.

[Rendakor]

I made it to Book 8 on my re-read before basically giving up.

[Paelos]

I got to 6. Threw my hands up at that point. I hated all the characters and the stupid MOUNT DOOOOOOOOOM voice.

[Salamok]

It was not as noticeable/annoying when reading them at the pace they were released, gives you time to forget the braid pulling.  When read back to back w/o a break it is borderline unbearable.

[Rendakor]

I disagree; 8 was my breaking point with the series during their original release too. After waiting the year or whatever after book 7, I was really mad when 8 sucked.

[Morat20]

Just finished Redshirts by Scalzi. Same general view I've had of all Scalzi books. The stories and plotting are good but not particularly great but the writing style is one I enjoy a lot.

Some people I read for story, for plot, for characters or because it's thought provoking. Some people I read because they're good books for the beach (or the dentist. Or when my wife is hogging the Xbox).

Scalzi fits the handful I read simply because I enjoy their style.

Redshirts was amusing. I enjoyed the ice sharks.

[Teleku]

I disagree; 8 was my breaking point with the series during their original release too. After waiting the year or whatever after book 7, I was really mad when 8 sucked.

Yeah, 7/8 is where it bogs down, and that's where I stopped caring on my original read through.  Enjoyed it up through that point.  The last two books have been pretty damn good though, so I actually have hope the series will end strongly.

[ghost]

I have been going through a lot of books as I listen to them on my way back and forth from work.  Book 3 is much better than The Great Hunt.  The Great Hunt was absolutely terrible. 

[Johny Cee]

Just finished Redshirts by Scalzi. Same general view I've had of all Scalzi books. The stories and plotting are good but not particularly great but the writing style is one I enjoy a lot.

Some people I read for story, for plot, for characters or because it's thought provoking. Some people I read because they're good books for the beach (or the dentist. Or when my wife is hogging the Xbox).

Scalzi fits the handful I read simply because I enjoy their style.

Redshirts was amusing. I enjoyed the ice sharks.

Redshirts was okay….  Something about Scalzi’s writing style just screams Golden Age of Science Fiction juvenile work to me, and then there is always some fairly blatant sexual innuendo part which feels a bit jarring compared to the rest of the book’s tone.  The book felt like its premise was stretched about as far as it possibly could be, and honestly I think I liked the first coda much more than the actual story.  Playing around with narrative is just more fun when Pratchett does it.

I will say that Scalzi’s blog, on the other hand, is usually pretty amusing.

I was trying to remember where the term “redshirt” first came from and drawing a bit of a blank.  The earliest I can remember is…  Eddie Murphy in the ‘80s maybe?

[Morat20]

I felt the codas were the actual thoughtful part of the book. The rest was..."Hey, I'm in Star Trek!".

I like that the guy was named "Jenkins" and there was at least one Galaxy Quest shout-out.

His writing style...I dunno. I was trying to explain it to my wife, what I liked and disliked about it. It's not quite breezy, I just don't have a good term for it.

I guess he's good at making me chuckle on occasion just with his phrasing, without actually trying to make a "funny" book. He doesn't seem to take himself too seriously, I like the way he writes.

[Khaldun]

Scalzi reads to me like Heinlein juveniles, which is not at all a bad thing. His dialogue is very good, though like Heinlein, he more or less has one Stock Protagonist who is something of a projection of his own voice.

[Sheepherder]

You should stop now, I am pretty sure the last 2 books are not worth slogging through the next 7 books.  Although I will say that it is quite possible that on an individual basis not one of the next 7 books is as bad as that last GRR Martin book.

Three books, the last Jordan book is good.  I think it has something to do with dying of cancer, I wish more fantasy authors would get cancer.

Seriously, you're no longer in Emmon's Field, Rand is the Dragon Reborn, Mat is still an asshat and Perrin is a wolfbuddy.  Suck it up and get on with it.  Another thing that has been irritating me is that the Aes Sedai just don't seem like they should engender that level of hatred from the common folk.  He should have made them more obviously sinister and less cartoonish to pull off the effect that he's trying to get.

Starting about midway through the series Mat starts taking levels in Badass; Perrin derps about for three books because he's a retard; and Rand becomes plain fucking annoying.

Umm, sinister isn't cartoonish now?  Regardless, there's a few details in the later books, and a significant chunk of the prequel book, that pretty much states that the Black and Red Ajahs has been wandering around for the last decade and a half murdering the fuck out of anyone and everyone Rand's age who was born near Dragonmount.  If that isn't enough; then there's the sequence of events ending with the Aiel War and Rand's birth that began with an Aes Sedai causing the heir of Andor to disappear.  Then there's the fact that the Aes Sedai have apparently been pulling this sort of shit for the last three thousand years, when they broke the world.  So it's somewhat surprising they don't get assassinated more regularly.

[ghost]

Maybe it's just the person reading the book, but all of the Aes Sedai seem like stern fairy godmothers to me.  I just don't see any reason for anyone from Emmons Field to even know about Aes Sedai, much less hate them with the fervor that Rand and the others seem to have.  I haven't read the prequel yet, but Jordan should have dropped more hints about their dirty deeds.  And I guess by sinister I don't mean to say that he should have turned them into the Addams Family, but maybe a bit more like the Twelve Who Were Taken. 

[shiznitz]

I just read the last Jordan book and the first Sanderson book after skipping the previous 2.  I picked up the story quite easily (which says a lot about how little actually happened in #8 and #9) and like how the pace is actually decent again.  I wonder if jumping from #6 to #10 would leave too much out?

[Khaldun]

I don't know why but I just can't seem to get into the latest Vinge. Working on it again for the fourth or fifth time.

[ghost]

I don't know why but I just can't seem to get into the latest Vinge. Working on it again for the fourth or fifth time.

Maybe it's too much for you. 

 

[Morat20]

I don't know why but I just can't seem to get into the latest Vinge. Working on it again for the fourth or fifth time.

That the sequeal to A Fire Upon the Deep? Wasn't all that good. Not anything like A Deepness in the Sky.

[Rishathra]

It was good, but I was disappointed that it was so.. local.  The setting is interesting enough that I feel unsatisfied just hearing about some folks stranded in a backwater.

[ghost]

It was good, but I was disappointed that it was so.. local.  The setting is interesting enough that I feel unsatisfied just hearing about some folks stranded in a backwater.

That's part of what makes a good story for me.  It's like a good painting-  if there are many layers to it the richness and depth really makes it click.  That's part of why some of these stories (like WOT, which I'm reading now) are so damned drab.  There's not a bit of untold background to give the story depth.  I think that's part of why Neuromancer is so awesome.  There's a ton of untold story that you have to sift through and think up yourself. 

[Khaldun]

It was good, but I was disappointed that it was so.. local.  The setting is interesting enough that I feel unsatisfied just hearing about some folks stranded in a backwater.

I think that's it--local and not my favorite locality in that setting, for that matter.


On other fronts, I cannot recommend Chris Hayes, Twilight of the Elites highly enough. Incredibly clear political thinking about the current situation. I don't agree with all of his prescription but I think he diagnoses the situation very well.

[Soln]

Thanks for the Hayes recommendation.  On the wish/task list.