SkynJay Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Took me longer than I had meant but I finally started 'Ace of Skulls.' Hate to see this one end.Also rereading The Folding Knife a little bit each night. Because the KJ Parker thread reminded me that I should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night's_King Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Finished Conn Igguldens Death of Kings (Emperor #2) yesterday. And now I have a hard time deciding what to read next.The books at choice are: The Field of Swords (Emperor #3) - Conn IgguldenThe Generals (Revolution #2) - Simon ScarrowThe Winter King (Arthur #1) - Bernard Cornwall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peadar Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Finished Conn Igguldens Death of Kings (Emperor #2) yesterday. And now I have a hard time deciding what to read next.The books at choice are: The Field of Swords (Emperor #3) - Conn Iggulden The Generals (Revolution #2) - Simon Scarrow The Winter King (Arthur #1) - Bernard Cornwall And the winner is: The Winter King! Congratulations all round! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lojzelote Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 I finished Songs the Dead Men Sing by GRRM. Most of all I probably enjoyed the horror pieces (i.e., Remembering Melody, The Needle Men, The Monkey Treatment), The Meathouse Man made me feel like a creep, Nightflyers began promisingly, but I wasn't so fond of the revelation, and The Skin Trade was great, but the end was messy, IMHO. Seriously, what happened in The Skin Trade? Please? What was the deal with the Skinner? Did the old Harmon guy call him, so he would steal a skin for his son to help him to change? If so, then why did he first went for Joan and Willie, who Jonathan Harmon viewed as inferior skinchangers? If not, so where did he come from and why? Also, why is the Harmons' palace full of mirrors if they're aware of the danger? Why did Willie send Randi the shard? I feel very stupid, but I just didn't get it at all. Next, I will start The Warlord Chronicles with The Winter King. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night's_King Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 And the winner is: The Winter King! Congratulations all round! I really, really want to read the book (I even read the first 50 pages yesterday), but I have no real wish to read fantasy right now. I'm probably gonna read Two Generals first. But who knows, I'm gonna decide after the first pages few pages. And somehow, I guess, that I'm gonna read them simultaneously anyway. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 The Winter King isn't fantasy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night's_King Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 The Winter King isn't fantasy. Are you serious? I've always assumed that it involved magic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 I'm serious. There's a Q&A with Cornwell on it somewhere but he explains how basically everything that looks like magic in the series has a real explanation/can be explained by coincidence in real life, with the exception of one even near the end of the third book. It's certainly fictional, and you can argue about it, but I don't consider it fantasy in the least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night's_King Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 I'm serious. There's a Q&A with Cornwell on it somewhere but he explains how basically everything that looks like magic in the series has a real explanation/can be explained by coincidence in real life, with the exception of one even near the end of the third book. It's certainly fictional, and you can argue about it, but I don't consider it fantasy in the least. Thank you. I guess I'm reading it first, after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Sanderson didn't write the prologue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mshimmyb1 Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 Alastair Reynold's Revelation Space. Only 50 pages in, but Im liking it so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolverine Posted September 5, 2014 Share Posted September 5, 2014 And the winner is: The Winter King! Congratulations all round! And then burn all the Conn Iggulden. People believe in magic in The Winter King, people try to do magic as well, but anything that seems like magic has an explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbcooper Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Might try Kameron Hurley's Mirror Empire next or Peter Watts' latest if I remember what happened in Blindsight... Just finished Echoparaxia, you don't need to remember much from Blindsight. Regardless, it was a great read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Unlike Conn Iggulden, where nothing has an explanation because it's all made up shit. Ahem Seriously, if The Winter King is fantasy than Conn Iggulden could be considered alt history. I don't like Conn Iggulden very much. True Story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KalibakCruel Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Ok so I'm at a cross roads. I'm either going to begin The Prince of Nothing series, or The Book of the New Sun. I know they're not similar, but is one of the writers or the story just flat out better than the other so it warrants being read first? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garett Hornwood Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Yesterday I finished Eisenhower: A Life by Paul Johnson, it was a good primer biography for those who want general historical knowledge of Eisenhower but not in-depth enough for a history nut like myself. Also Johnson gives his own opinions about things without source backup and lets his conservatism be too blatant. I don't mind an author being liberal or conservative in their political views, biases will come out in writing but not to blatant as Johnson was in the text. Yesterday I started my next book, City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. Yes, I know the sentiment on this board to the Mortal Instruments series and it's author. However a little background, this is a recommendation from a friend of mine that I got in return to a recommendation I made to them on another series (the Seven Realms novels by Chima that Dracarya is currently reading). So given that I actually like this friend and she can see my Goodreads activity on FB, I'm reading the series. Also I sorta want to know how good I am at spotting really bad writing. Year-long reading update: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: I'll be finishing Antony and Cleopatra tomorrow, I hope this isn't considered one of the Bard's better plays because the plot and characters are all over the place. But then again I am coming right off of reading Macbeth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolverine Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Ok so I'm at a cross roads. I'm either going to begin The Prince of Nothing series, or The Book of the New Sun. I know they're not similar, but is one of the writers or the story just flat out better than the other so it warrants being read first? I was hooked really fast by The Prince of Nothing. Have not read TBotNS yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 As great as Bakker's writing can be, Wolfe is just in a whole different class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KalibakCruel Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 As great as Bakker's writing can be, Wolfe is just in a whole different class.Ok, endorsement for BotNS? and how about story? If you've read both of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 Difficult to compare, as Wolfe's story is deliberately told in an... unconventional, shall we say?... manner, which is designed to make you pay attention but also makes far more sense on a second read (and a third, and probably a fourth though I've not done that yet). So Bakker's more traditional epic fantasy thing is probably more immediately engaging on a first-go-round (though it's littered with fireside-tale philosophical asides so it's also not a casual read), but if you enjoy puzzling things out Wolfe's your man.Bottom line: for me, both are dense, tricky books that reward effort, but Wolfe is both more effort and more reward.You can't really go wrong with either, though, because even if you're one of those put off by some more troubling aspects of Bakker's world, you'll still have plenty to think about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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