34 replies to this topic

[Garlan the Gallant]

I was wondering if you guys could help me select my next novel. Here are the novels that I am considering:


1) Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
2) The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
3) Crystal Rain by Tobias S. Buckell
4) The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington
5) Territory by Emma Bull
6) Shogun by James Clavall
7) The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan
8) Acacia by David Anthony Durham
9) The Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
10) Abraham Lincoln Vampire-Hunter by Seth Graham-Smith
11) Heaven's Net is Wide by Lian Hearn
12) Hounded by Kevin Hearne
13) Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard
14) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
15) Who Fears Death by Nnendi Okorafor
16) Clementine by Cherie Priest
17) The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick
18) The Mongoliad by Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear
19) Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover
20) Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

I was wondering if you guys would be able to rate the books that you have read on this list using a 5-star rating system (5 stars is the best)? Please help me out, as I am stuck on what to read next. Thanks so much!

[SkynJay]

Nope, but I can tell you that I just realized I have not read Johannes Cabal the Necromancer for a few years, and need to hit it up on a reread.

[Grack21]

Wow. You have the opposite taste of me, so, I dunno.
11?

[pat5150]

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi.

Patrick

[dornish prince]

i'm reading the night circus right now and, so far, i'm quite enjoying it. happy reading!

[Francis Buck]

SHOGUN

FUCKING READ IT

Edited by Francis Buck, 04 May 2012 - 09:38 PM.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

Of your list I have read:

Shogun
Outlander
The Night Circus
Who Fears Death
The Red Wolf Conspiracy

I do find it interesting that all of those books on that list are all books I have enjoyed greatly.

Shogun is a great historical fiction.
I adored the Night's Circus for its beautiful prose (G.G Kay like) and the plot.  One of my favorite novels I read this year.
Who Fears Death is a great post apopcalytic Africa novel.  It is a coming of age story but it doesn't flinch from brutal topics such as genocide, female circumcision and rape.
Outlander.  I really liked it, but I saw it more like a romance novel with a tiny dash of science fiction (time travel).
I'm a sucker for nautical fantasy and the Red Wolf Conspiracy hit all the right notes for me.  It had great worldbuilding and characters.  It is the first of 4 novels.

Given my choices, go with Who Fears Death or The Night Circus as they are great stand alone novels, but if you are hankering for a politically charged historical novel then Shogun.

[SkynJay]

Ok, Clementine is a short story sequel, have you read Boneshaker first?  The rest seem to be standalone or starts of the series.

[Contrarius]

It all depends on what you're looking for at this moment. Do you want light? Dramatic? Meaningful? Dark and tragic? There's several very good books on your list, but not every book will fit every mood.

[haLobEnder]

Garlan the Gallant, on 04 May 2012 - 08:04 PM, said:

I was wondering if you guys would be able to rate the books that you have read on this list using a 5-star rating system (5 stars is the best)? Please help me out, as I am stuck on what to read next. Thanks so much!

If you're looking for a 5-star rating system, why not check out the books on Goodreads to see what the folks over there have to say on the matter?

The only book on that list that I've read completely was Acacia, which was a good epic fantasy, though personally I wouldn't rank it on the same level as GRRM or Guy Gavriel Kay.  

I stopped reading The Windup Girl 1/3rd the way through because it was way too bleak for my tastes, and I hear that it only gets bleaker from there. Eventually I'd like to get back to it, but it's definitely not what I'd call a pleasure read.

I spent even less time with Robopocalypse. Without having read Wilson's non-fiction work I suspect he's more suited to it than he is fiction writing. Everything was so impersonal and technical (but as I said I didn't get very far, so things could have picked up).

Edited by halO bendeR, 04 May 2012 - 10:11 PM.

[nickg]

SHOGUN
Heroes Die
Sad Tales of the Brothers Grossbart

[haLobEnder]

Guinevere Seaworth, on 04 May 2012 - 09:45 PM, said:

I adored the Night's Circus for its beautiful prose (G.G Kay like) and the plot.  One of my favorite novels I read this year.

This novel wasn't on my radar at all until you mentioned it being 'G. G Kay like'; I just checked out the audiobook version from my library's download service. Thanks.

[Grack21]

Of the two I've read, Heaven's Net Is Wide was pretty good, that's the prequel correct? say 3.5/5

Outlander is trashy rape porn. -10000/5 I'd recommend Terry Goodkind before I'd recommend this trash.

[Marjie Eilie Myatt]

Shogun is fascinating.  I read it when I was a kid (my parents let me read anything in the house).  I never looked at it with adult eyes, though, so I can't vouch for the prose at this point, or its verisimilitude.

Outlander is problematic in so many ways.  Hated much of it while I nonetheless read each book in the series.  There's a thread on it, but has some spoilers, I suppose.  I don't remember a lot of specific spoilers, just generalized thematic spoilage.

I actually like Michener, who is not on your list, I realize.  I loved "Hawaii" but had to skip a whole bunch of the opening pages where the islands are being formed by undersea volcanoes billions of years ago.  Also really enjoyed "Chesapeake," but if you're American, that one's not "exotic" --- if that's what you're going for.

[Garlan the Gallant]

SkynJay, on 04 May 2012 - 09:53 PM, said:

Ok, Clementine is a short story sequel, have you read Boneshaker first?  The rest seem to be standalone or starts of the series.

Yes, I have read Boneshaker and I quite enjoyed it. I never got around to reading the rest of the series though...

Contrarius, on 04 May 2012 - 10:00 PM, said:

It all depends on what you're looking for at this moment. Do you want light? Dramatic? Meaningful? Dark and tragic? There's several very good books on your list, but not every book will fit every mood.

Well, I'm not too picky in terms of mood; however, these are some of the authors I have enjoyed and have not enjoyed:

Enjoyed:
Joe Abercrombie
Daniel Abraham
R. Scott Bakker
Ernest Cline
Glen Cook
James S.A. Corey
Bernard Cornwell
Steven Erikson
Felix Gilman
Robin Hobb
Scott Lynch
George R.R. Martin
Richard K. Morgan
Patrick Rothfuss
Brian Ruckley
Peter Pevel
Cherie Priest
Brandon Sanderson
John Scalzi
Ian Tregillis

Not Enjoyed:

Peter V. Brett
John Brown
Trudi Caravan
Jasper Kent (lost interest after the first novel)
NK Jemisin
Naomi Novik
Ken Scholes
Brent Weeks

halO bendeR, on 04 May 2012 - 10:10 PM, said:

If you're looking for a 5-star rating system, why not check out the books on Goodreads to see what the folks over there have to say on the matter?

How reliable is the goodreads rating system? More or less so than Amazon?

Edited by Garlan the Gallant, 04 May 2012 - 11:17 PM.

[RedEyedGhost]

Garlan the Gallant, on 04 May 2012 - 08:04 PM, said:

1) Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

I'm reading it now, and it's really good.  On par with The Dresden Files and The Black Sun's Daughter.

Quote

3) Crystal Rain by Tobias S. Buckel

Loved it, and the follow ups are even better - 4 stars

Quote

4) The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart by Jesse Bullington

It was great in parts, but very inconsistent throughout - 3 stars

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5) Territory by Emma Bull

Wonderful book, great characters and a fully realized setting - 4.5 stars

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6) Shogun by James Clavall

I've had it for a few years, and really need to read it but I don't want to read it right now because everybody else on the board seems to be reading it.

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7) The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan
...
14) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

My two favorite books from last year, and they couldn't be more different from one another!  Both are 5 stars.

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8) Acacia by David Anthony Durham

Good, but it took awhile to get used to Durham's writing style; I need to read the next two books this year 3.5 stars

Quote

19) Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover

Very good action scenes - 4 stars

[Datepalm]

I'm with whoever said its a question of mood. I've read Rivers of London, Clementine and The Windup Girl from the list, and i'd rank them roughly in that order. (Clementine is really a novelle though. But the next book of the series is slightly better, if anything - Dreadnbought, I think.) but they're very different - RoL and Priest's books are mostly romps - witty dialogue, improbable action sequences, delight in clever worldbuilding. Priest had a bit of a more serious core, but also a lot of horror-zombie stuff going on, which I can't help but find sillier rather than scarier. Windup Girl is big-ideas sort of SF, very bleak. It pulls it off...somewhat. The energy scarcity is interesting, the gender politics are somewhat appalling, characterization and plotting and pace scattershot.

Edited by Datepalm, 04 May 2012 - 11:57 PM.

[Sci-2]

Quote

Windup Girl is big-ideas sort of SF, very bleak. It pulls it off...somewhat. The energy scarcity is interesting, the gender politics are somewhat appalling, characterization and plotting and pace scattershot.

You make it sound like it sucks.

eta: <<insert appropriate smiley>>

Edited by sciborg2, 04 May 2012 - 11:57 PM.

[Datepalm]

I don't think it quite sucks, but its flaws have stayed with me more than its strengths over time.

[Sci-2]

Hmmmmm....Fair enough.

I really enjoyed both Night Circus and Heroes Die.

Night Circus is a prose-poem, so the love story aspect is more there for reader insert IMO. The setting is flat out gorgeous and the prose is beautiful.

Heroes Die is a good novel, and it leads into the incredible Blade of Tyshalle which ranks as one of the best SFF of all time.