Return of the Book Thread

[tgr]

I thought GoT was slightly meh until well into book 2 I think, but it's getting slightly more interesting after that. But then again, I loved the pacing in the riftwar and serpentwar saga from Feist, which is a totally different animal, so our tastes might vary.

[Ard]

Tell me I'm wrong please.

You're wrong.  I have money on him just throwing up his hands, telling his fans to fuck off, and then quitting without finishing the series, with all the bitching and moaning he's been doing on his blog over the last few years.  I mean, he's only been able to get out half a book in what, 5 years?

[naum]

Tell me I'm wrong please.

You're wrong.  I have money on him just throwing up his hands, telling his fans to fuck off, and then quitting without finishing the series, with all the bitching and moaning he's been doing on his blog over the last few years.  I mean, he's only been able to get out half a book in what, 5 years?

Yikes.

Entries there from 2006, stating how he'll have book #5 done by summer or end of year (2006).

[Ard]

Now also keep in mind book 4 was only half the book it was supposed to be at release.  Books 4 and 5 were originally supposed to just be book 4.  This has been dragged out far longer than just back to 2006.   I'd be utterly shocked if the series ever gets finished.

[Rasix]

It won't.  You can clearly see it go into "I have no fucking clue how to wrap this up in my lifetime" territory in book 4.  He keeps introducing more POVs, which means less actually gets done as far as plot movement.   Also, he's somewhat trapped himself in that several characters seem to be many years away from their ultimate significance in the series. Combine that with the fact that book 5 will just catch us up to book 4 and I think we're screwed.   While I love ASOFAI, I'm starting to get annoyed with writers that wander off into series/wallet bloat.  I really appreciate series that END.

The HBO series could possibly catch up to the books and then be stuck with nowhere left to go.  We'll get another fade to black.

[pants]

Don't forget also that the gap between Book 4 and 5 was originally going to be 10-15 years, then halfway through writing Book 5 he realised that that idea didn't work, so he's had to significantly change the structure of Book 5, and I guess 6 to make it start straight after Book 4.

So yeah, I think he's having all kinds of troubles with the series right now :(

[FatuousTwat]

I wanted a little light reading, so I tried The Highwayman. I think I got to page 25.

Two exclamation points in the prologue alone (not even pertaining to dialog). DONE.

[Draegan]

I finished the Culture Novel: "Use of Weapons" a week ago or so and the ending was kinda cool but the whole book was pretty dull.  I really didn't get into the character I guess.  Maybe like Morat said, a second read through will be better.

Picked up the Mistborn series the other day.  Started to read it last night, 60 pages in, interesting "magic" system.  The story seems to get into things right away.  Look forward to reading more.

[WayAbvPar]

Ideally GRRM will keel over as soon as the last WoT manuscript gets sent to the publisher and then Sanderson can clean up after him too.

[Khaldun]

I just wish the guy would say, "I have bad writer's block, I don't know how to end the books, fuck off". He kind of says it indirectly, but there's no need to act like John Edwards saying he didn't have an affair or anything. It happens, it's ok, it's your books. Same for Patrick Rothfuss.

[Quinton]

It won't.  You can clearly see it go into "I have no fucking clue how to wrap this up in my lifetime" territory in book 4.  He keeps introducing more POVs, which means less actually gets done as far as plot movement.   Also, he's somewhat trapped himself in that several characters seem to be many years away from their ultimate significance in the series. Combine that with the fact that book 5 will just catch us up to book 4 and I think we're screwed.   While I love ASOFAI, I'm starting to get annoyed with writers that wander off into series/wallet bloat.  I really appreciate series that END.

I don't get the feeling GRRM is padding things out absurdly (unlike WoT which drove me crazy with entire books where basically nothing at all happened that was new), but I do think he's managed to paint himself into a corner and hasn't figured out how to fix it.  It is frustrating, because I love the series, but I'd rather wait for him to figure out how to make it make sense than to wade through volume after volume of filler.  I am starting to think that "when George figures it out" may be "never"...

[Johny Cee]

I just wish the guy would say, "I have bad writer's block, I don't know how to end the books, fuck off". He kind of says it indirectly, but there's no need to act like John Edwards saying he didn't have an affair or anything. It happens, it's ok, it's your books. Same for Patrick Rothfuss.

Rothfuss is a victim of his success.  He was trying to sell the finished series as early as 1992.  The Name of the Wind was a NYT bestseller, so the publisher kicked back the follow up books to extensive rewrite/reedit.  If Name had been a moderate seller his publisher would have just shat out the remaining books, warts and all.


I think Martin completely fucked his story timeline by extending the Civil War story and complicating too many POVs, and he has no idea how to fix it without the series turning into WoT 2.0.  I think the original plan was a three book series, which gives you:

Book 1 - Death of previous generation/setup for Civil War
Book 2 - Civil War and aftermath
Book 3 - Winter/return of magic/Others

Now we're looking at a minimum of seven books, and that's if he goes with setting one of the books five years after the previous books (that's an idea he's floated... and seems a necessity to get the Arya/Daenrys plotlines back to Westeros) and he ties up the remaining Civil War storylines quickly.  

A big problem is Martin's style in the series, which is wordy and deals with details minutely.  That means any small bloat upfront causes big problems on the back end.  

[FatuousTwat]

I finished the Culture Novel: "Use of Weapons" a week ago or so and the ending was kinda cool but the whole book was pretty dull.  I really didn't get into the character I guess.  Maybe like Morat said, a second read through will be better.

Picked up the Mistborn series the other day.  Started to read it last night, 60 pages in, interesting "magic" system.  The story seems to get into things right away.  Look forward to reading more.

Mistborn was a good read IMO, and I just started Elantris.

[Ozzu]

I've read quite a few in the last couple of months. In order:

'The Long Walk' by Stephen King - 7/10 It has a very Stephen King-y ending. I like Stephen King-y endings.

'The Dark Tower' series by Stephen King - 9/10 The first four books are better than the last three. The ending of the series could not have been better though, IMO.

'A Boy's Life' by Robert McCammon - 8/10 A year in a small town where some pretty fantastical things happen.

'The Black Jewels' trilogy by Anne Bishop - 8.5/10 A lot of strong characters in this. There was a serious overuse of the word 'snarl'.

And I just started 'A Game of Thrones'. I'm 200 pages in and I'm loving it.

[Quinton]

'The Dark Tower' series by Stephen King - 9/10 The first four books are better than the last three. The ending of the series could not have been better though, IMO.

I totally agree with this assessment.

Some people apparently *hated* the ending.  I think it was perfect.

[lamaros]

'The Dark Tower' series by Stephen King - 9/10 The first four books are better than the last three. The ending of the series could not have been better though, IMO.

I tried to read the first book. Horrible! I nearly always finish a book once I started it, but I deliberatly left that one on a train in the Alps and I'm glad I did.

[FatuousTwat]

'The Dark Tower' series by Stephen King - 9/10 The first four books are better than the last three. The ending of the series could not have been better though, IMO.

I tried to read the first book. Horrible! I nearly always finish a book once I started it, but I deliberatly left that one on a train in the Alps and I'm glad I did.

Ah, that was my favourite book in the series. It changes pretty drastically after that first one.

[Sky]

Martin should take a page from Modesitt's style and just shift perspective a hundred years or so. Write a book or two there to keep fans happy and then jump back to the 'present'. Some of Modesitt's best stuff (imo) has been when he's basically working backstory. It's been so long since I've read the fire & ice books, but I don't mind rambly writers and the lack of a conclusion if the story is good along the way.

Too bad he's letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.

[Draegan]

I finished the Culture Novel: "Use of Weapons" a week ago or so and the ending was kinda cool but the whole book was pretty dull.  I really didn't get into the character I guess.  Maybe like Morat said, a second read through will be better.

Picked up the Mistborn series the other day.  Started to read it last night, 60 pages in, interesting "magic" system.  The story seems to get into things right away.  Look forward to reading more.

Mistborn was a good read IMO, and I just started Elantris.

I finished Mistborn over the weekend.  Didn't really put it down at all.  My FFXIII gameplay suffered a little bit. 

It was an excellent read.  The story moved quick and the writing was well done.  The only quirky parts was when the characters were planning the jobs.  It just seemed a little hokey.

Reading The Wells of Ascension now.  It starts off very slow and I don't like the tempo right now though I'm only 50 pages into it.  I see where the story is going to go but I want them to get at it.

Good books so far.

[Johny Cee]

Jim Butcher's new Dresden novel comes out in April, and he's released four preview chapters here:

http://jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/12/fullpreview.php

[bhodi]

Jim Butcher's new Dresden novel comes out in April, and he's released four preview chapters here:

http://jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/12/fullpreview.php

Must. Resist.

You're a jerk. Good thing I'm reading/listening to codex alera right now.

[JWIV]

Jim Butcher's new Dresden novel comes out in April, and he's released four preview chapters here:

http://jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/12/fullpreview.php

Must. Resist.

You're a jerk. Good thing I'm reading/listening to codex alera right now.

I suppose I should also mention that the Baltimore preview for the Dresden Files RPG was also released today - http://www.dresdenfilesrpg.com/2010/03/23/nevermore/

[Evildrider]

I really wish I still had a gaming group.  :(

[Morat20]

I really wish I still had a gaming group.  :(

I wish I could convince mine to give that setup a try. One is hugely FATE-resistant. He just doesn't get the approach, I think.

He's very mechnical about his playstyle, and while he's not a min-maxer or a rules-lawyer, I think his formative years playing war games and such have left him with a very firm desire to have concrete rules in place.

FATE's a big grey area. We couldn't even coax him through character creation in Spirit of the Century. He really disliked how fuzzy the Aspects were.

[Johny Cee]

Gene Wolfe has a new book out, called The Soreceror's House.  It's an epic epissa Episcopalian epistolary novel.  If you like Wolfe, you'll like this.  Mind screwy and unreliable, with a heavy theme of identity.

[Margalis]

I really hate it when authors plan for a trilogy or more. Just write one good book dudes.

Thank god I stopped reading the Game of Thrones books after the first one. Following a series for 20 years is lulz.

Edit: I knew Game of Thrones series was going to be trouble when the intro chapter about the frozen ice guy (or whatever, forgive me, it's been a while) didn't come into play at all in the entire rest of the book.

[Quinton]

Just finished The Knight by Gene Wolfe.  A different sort of unreliable narrator than Severian in The Book of the New Sun, and a bit easier to follow.  Still quite enjoyable.  I liked the mythology of the world quite a bit -- plenty of common fantasy elements, but not cookie-cutter fantasy fare.  Starting on The Wizard (the follow-on book) now.

[Cyrrex]

About two-thirds of the way through House of Chains, which would be book 4 in Erickson's Malazan series.  I like every book better than the last...I think it takes some time to get used to this guy's style, but the biggest thing is that there are just so many characters and moving parts that it simply takes thousands of pages to learn enough about them to care.  You could be excused for reading half the first book and then giving up entirely, but you'd be the poorer for it.  It's kind of an exhausting read, but worth it nonetheless.  I can't believe I have still like 6 books to go (each one around a 1000 pages?!).  I don't read as much as I used to - I used to smoke, and I'd always read while doing it - so this will take me forever.

Also, at the risk of becoming one of the unpopular kids, I, too, really liked the Dark Tower series.  Probably in the top two or three all time for me.  Only books that ever made me cry like a bitch, and it managed to do it at least twice.  I didn't like the first book the first time around...it was better in retrospect and upon subsequent readings, once I understood things better.  And I know many people hated it, but I loved the ending, too.

[Samwise]

I blazed through Joe Abercrombie's First Law series this past week.  On the whole I enjoyed it, but I was hoping for a more satisfying ending.

Best depiction of "barbarian rage" I've read.   

[Xilren's Twin]

About two-thirds of the way through House of Chains, which would be book 4 in Erickson's Malazan series.  I like every book better than the last...I think it takes some time to get used to this guy's style, but the biggest thing is that there are just so many characters and moving parts that it simply takes thousands of pages to learn enough about them to care.  You could be excused for reading half the first book and then giving up entirely, but you'd be the poorer for it.  It's kind of an exhausting read, but worth it nonetheless.  I can't believe I have still like 6 books to go (each one around a 1000 pages?!).  I don't read as much as I used to - I used to smoke, and I'd always read while doing it - so this will take me forever.

Having just reread all of them so i could go into Dust of Dreams i have to say i think i enjoyed them more the second time around, but i have also learned which sections of wallowing introspection can be skimmed rather than hanging on every over wrought word.  That being said, he's still introducing new characters in this book and freely admits in his forward while it was intended to be the last, he had to split it into two.  Like we've never heard that before  

Still, Patrick Rothfuss is the one that pisses me off the most; one great book and then.... nothing.  I'd rather get 3 books of crap than leaving me hanging for this freaking long.

[Quinton]

Erikson at least seems to be moving at a good clip, and I feel like we're approaching a grand finale after having read DoD.

[murdoc]

Erikson just needs an editor. I'm going to start 'Toll the Hounds' after I finish 'The Name of the Wind' and it's going to take me a bit to get back into all the characters and moving parts. I actually think I'd be better served to start reading them over from the beginning again since it's been so long since I read any of them.

[Ard]

Erikson at least seems to be moving at a good clip, and I feel like we're approaching a grand finale after having read DoD.

Pretty sure he went on record stating that DoD would be mostly all buildup and that the last book would be all action more or less, unlike the rest of his books which are like 90% build up and 10% action.  I have yet to read DoD yet, but it's sitting on my desk.  Going through the Taltos novels by Brust that I missed years ago due to not being able to find previously (Phoenix and Athyra), and have Iorich to read once I finish catching up.

[schild]

Have I mentioned John Dies at the End? If not, mentioning it again.

[dd0029]

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.