Summer Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 I'm very interested to try out Kafka on the Shore, one of my friends swears by it. I've heard a lot of good about this book, it's on my list of books to read soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereward Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 Having been ill for most of the last two weeks, I have been able to catch up on my reading. First up was The Lies of Locke Lamora. What a fantastic book. The first fantasy book I have thoroughly enjoyed for years. I followed this up with The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. Now I know I shouldn't have enjoyed this book. So far, there's very little that's original. You can see where the various characters, concepts and settings have been borrowed from, but yet, I so so enjoyed it. The man can write and his enthusiasm shines through. Sadly, I have to relate that I then attempted to read Stormcaller by Tom Lloyd. I've never read Terry Goodkind, but this is what I imagine he would be like. What a horrible book. There is no way in the world I can bring myself to finish it. Inspired by Barry I'm now going to embark on a reread of Patrick O'Brian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cteresa Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 Just finished Anansi Boys. Eh. Underwhelmed, glad I waited for the paperback on that one. Ok, nice book, but not too impressive. Also finished, the paperback of Kage Baker Children of the Company, 6th volume of the Company books and short story patchwork, was also a bit underwhelming, and also glad I waited for the paperback. The preview chapter of the upcoming hardcover there was scarily written, am having doubts if I better not wait for that paperback next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 First up was The Lies of Locke Lamora. What a fantastic book. The first fantasy book I have thoroughly enjoyed for years. I followed this up with The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. Now I know I shouldn't have enjoyed this book. So far, there's very little that's original. You can see where the various characters, concepts and settings have been borrowed from, but yet, I so so enjoyed it. The man can write and his enthusiasm shines through. Sadly, I have to relate that I then attempted to read Stormcaller by Tom Lloyd. I've never read Terry Goodkind, but this is what I imagine he would be like. Yep, that pretty much echoes most of the responses on the UK epic Fantasy debuts this year. Lynch and Abercrombie have been consistently well-received, Stormcaller catches a lot of flack. One more coming later this year, Brian Ruckley's highly anticipated "Winterbirth". As for US debuts in the field, David Keck's In the Eye of Heaven should be derecommended and Shadow in Summer has sofar received mixed responses ( certainly more positive than Keck and Lloyd, but far less unanimous than Abercrombie or Lynch). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyarlathotep Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 Hm, finished House of Chains and The Warrior-Prophet earlier this month. Found HoC to be a big improvement over MoI, which was a bit too.. melodramatic for my liking. Figure I'll be picking up Midnight Tides in a while. The Warrior-Prophet was also fairly decent, if not somewhat uneven; the ending in particular was something of a let-down. Am currently plowing through Cerebus (halfway there) at home, and reading House of Leaves on the bus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaldanya Posted August 29, 2006 Share Posted August 29, 2006 I finished the TamÃÂr Trilogy and was quite disappointed with it to be honest. The first two gave me such high hopes. Basically it's your standard fantasy fare with a twist. A girl child is born and has to be disguised as a boy. For this to happen her twin brother is sacrificed and becomes a demon spirit. This obviously sets up some nice conflict to be had later in the trilogy when she reverts back to being a girl after spending the first 15 years of her life as a boy. Unfortunately, it all felt a bit glossed over to me - especially towards the end when the author was setting up the romance. There are some nice touches with the clashes between the different sets of magic, but again hurried and rushed. Much like the war with the Plenimarians (sp?). A nice easy read, but not as fulfilling as I had hoped and not worth the wait imho. Next up: Keeping it Real: Justina Robson (fun trash) N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat5150 Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Hi guys! As a recent Malazan convert, I was eager to sink my teeth into Ian Cameron Esslemont's Night of Knives, his first novel set in the universe he created with Steven Erikson. Let it be said that Esslemont certainly selected the perfect setting for his first book. By choosing to recount the tale of the night when Surly, the Imperial Regent, plans to assassinate the Emperor, Kellanved, and Dancer to seize the throne, well the author couldn't possibly go wrong. Of all the characters which Steven Erikson has introduced in his series thus far, Shadowthrone and Cotillion remain mysterious favorites to many people. Hence, an opportunity to witness what occurred on the night they ascended was extremely interesting. A very satisfying read for any fan of The Malazan Book of the Fallen. Check the blog for the full review. . . Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davos Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Recently finished Christian Maiers' Ceaser, which is, as the title would strongly suggest, a biography of Julius Ceaser. I found it both enjoyable and enlightening. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the man or in the late Roman Republic. Took far longer to finish than I expected simply because I found myself for several weeks with very little reading time. I'm now finally working through The Thousand-Fold Thought by R. Scott Bakker, which has so far been a suitably marvelous last book to an extraordinary trilogy. Obviously can't state a final opinion on the book or the series it completes until I've finished it (which should happen in the next day or so). I've been eating it up slo far though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman of the North Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Yep, that pretty much echoes most of the responses on the UK epic Fantasy debuts this year. Lynch and Abercrombie have been consistently well-received, Stormcaller catches a lot of flack. One more coming later this year, Brian Ruckley's highly anticipated "Winterbirth". Eh, Lynch isn't from the UK. Just thought I add that I've read three books lately. The Blood Knight by Greg Keyes: A decent finish of the series (or at least I think this was the last book). I've enjoyed the series, it's not groundbreaking but good enough. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie: As Hereward mentioned, this shouldn't be such a great book based on the premise, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Scar Night by Alan Campbell: This was a so-so experience. The world buiilding was interresting enough, but I felt he lacked somewhat in character building. Certainly some of them had the potential to become quite interresting, but they rarely worked for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted August 30, 2006 Share Posted August 30, 2006 Eh, Lynch isn't from the UK. I know. But he debuted in the UK nevertheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alytha Posted August 31, 2006 Share Posted August 31, 2006 i'm reading Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. The mother of all Templar conspiracy novels. And probably the best of them, because it has a certain humour in it and isn't pretentious like some of the others. And Eco's background is considerably bigger than Brown's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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