TheRevanchist Posted November 14, 2015 Share Posted November 14, 2015 Fool's Fate - a nice finish to a good trilogy. Bar Burrich getting killed which was inevitable that was going to happen, it has the most happy ending I have ever read in fantasy. It has complete closure, and no idea why Hobb decided to continue Fitz's story. A part of me wants to finish here, and to imagine Fitz living forever happy (married with Molly, in good terms with Nettle, and known to everyone who is important in his life) instead of reading his new trilogy when inevitably everything will go to hell again. Considering that in the end of the book, 3-4 years went very fastly, I think that this was original's Hobb idea to finish the saga.Anyway, will see Fitz again. And the fool.Now, time to check out with Asimov and to read his Foundation. 7 books there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deleted01 Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 I started rereading Burial Rites by Hannah Kent. Set in Iceland in the 1800s, it follows Agnes, sentenced to die for the murder of her lover. It's the best in historical fiction; I adore this book, and highly recommend it. It's beautifully crafted, harrowing yet wonderful. It was my choice for an article I did on #thisbook, to celebrate female authors, a couple of years ago, and it still continues to impress me. It also fits the winter theme very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 I finished the first Earthsea book all the while not realizing it was intended to be a young adult book. There was an afterword by the author which explained this to me. I definitely will not be reading on. This one did nothing for me though now I understand that I may not have been the target audience. I did recently see David Mitchell say this is one of his favorite things ever and that he rereads it every decade or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedEyedGhost Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 Fool's Fate it has the most happy ending I have ever read in fantasy. It has complete closure, and no idea why Hobb decided to continue Fitz's story. Probably because Hobb is a sadist, and writing such a happy ending has been eating her up inside for the past ten years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 About Earthsea: it's kind of an odd series. Book 1 I really like the plot of but with the exception of a few class moments I found dully written (though I'm glad I read it for the mythology it creats). Book 2 is much better written but has a really rubbish plot. Book 3 puts their respective strengths together and is really good imo. And then book 4 is utterly, utterly dreadful and ruins the mythology that had been put together for the sake of the sort of ludicriously OTT 'feminism' that makes otherwise sensible people hate everything associated with the term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peadar Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 About to read Bernard Cornwell's Warriors of the Storm. Would love to read something more... new, but nothing appeals just now and will go for safety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maester Llama Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 Finished two very different newish sf novels from Tor, Dark Orbit by Carolyn Ives-Gilman and Corsair by James Cambias: Dark Orbit is anthropological cultural exploration / idea-based sf of a kind that I haven't read as much of lately, in which a shipful of people from a hypercapitalist culture that values monetizable knowledge above all things encounters a community of blind people with no sense of time. The book's discussion of the ways we alter things by observing them and inevitably filtering them through our own frameworks is stellar stuff, just great, exactly what I love about social science fiction, and some of the quantum science stuff that comes up later plays into these themes beautifully. The plot is very busy, and there's some political and mystery-based stuff that the book uses solely as a way to get at the intercultural exploration that's what it really cares about, but I think that having a clear focus and set of concerns carries the book through and allows it to feel like a cohesive whole. The characters are a touch more than pleasantly functional, enough to feel well-developed in the context of an idea book. It took a little while but I ended up digging this a fair bit. Cambias' Corsair is a near-future technothriller about space piracy. It's fine. Fast-paced and compulsive. The action sequences are pretty much just functional, but it manages to make staring at screens and talking about orbital trajectories edge-of-seat stuff and I appreciate that. It has a slight whiff of dudebroism about it in some places relating specifically to how the women in the novel get things done, and one of the two protagonists in particular spends a lot of the climax making people do things for her rather than doing them herself. Book's got a bit of a jingo on too, though it is a military action piece so some of that just comes with the territory. Still, an enjoyably solid thriller that crafts a fun story around lunar mining, orbital mechanics, and the economy of outer space. Recommended only reservedly, but I had fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinevere Seaworth Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Despite the great story in the Shattered Sea trilogy, I didn't like the Raith POV in Half a War.Now halfway through The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Was at the bookstore and not sure what to get and decided to give this first Mark Lawrence book a shot on account of y'all.If I don't like it I also picked up the Cibola (sp) Burn from The Expanse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Alexander of Macedon by Harold Lamb was terrible. It tried being history and story thereby ruining the history part as I had no idea what was truth.Because of this I found myself wanting something good so have went straight into "Royal Assassin" by Hobb. Fitz is a whiner but at least everyone around him points this out too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astromech Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Leviathan Wakes was a fun read. I'm looking forward to continuing the series. It wasn't perfect, but it was highly enjoyable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Leviathan Wakes was a fun read. I'm looking forward to continuing the series. It wasn't perfect, but it was highly enjoyable.You here this all the time but it is a series that gets much better after book 1. I wasn't a huge fan of LW but I am crazy about the series as a whole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 I just finished my reread of Abercrombie's The Heroes. It stood up well: lots of dark humor and pithy philosophy as grizzled, war-weary veterans and a couple of naive youngster POVs fight in a battle over three days (with some similarity in the geography and maneuvers to Gettysburg).Now I should return to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Blade of Tyshalle (Acts of Caine vol. 2). I hope they both improve, as advertised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Finished Dark Fire. Very enjoyable, look forward to reading the next in the series. But, I'm going to be strict with myself and dig through my reading pile. With that said, next up is The Sunne in Splendour, which I'm happy to be reading at last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polishgenius Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 So I read Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen, which iirc a few people wondered about in the new reads thread before the forum nuke.Recommended, especially for anyone who thinks like Lonesome Dove meets Buffy the Vampire slayer sounds like a good idea (I had that distinct feel while reading it then read the post-book interview with the author where she said that's what she thought too. So yeah). Good atmosphere, nicely told story.My only issue with it isn't with the book itself, really, but with the claim by the author that the main protagonist self-identifies as male, something I think the text itself doesn't reflect all that well. That's not to say she's not an interesting and well-written character- she's just not the character the author says she was intending. It may simply be a misunderstanding of the term on the author's part, or indeed on mine, or quite probably both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astromech Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 You here this all the time but it is a series that gets much better after book 1. I wasn't a huge fan of LW but I am crazy about the series as a whole.There were certain aspects of it that bothered me a little. Miller's obsession with Julie was understandable, but it was taken too far. I was annoyed with his convincing proto Julie to go to Venus. The ending was really the weakest part. Holden was a pretty vanilla character in all the good ways. It was nice to read a pov from an optimist, idealist and someone with a strong moral compass for a change. Miller's nihilism and fatalism is a bit too overdone in scifantasy now. The crew of the Rocinante gave me very good Firefly vibes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Pesci Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Has anyone read the Portal Arcane books by J.Thorn? Supposedly along the lines of the Dark Tower, and the first book is free on amazon at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Has anyone read the Portal Arcane books by J.Thorn? Supposedly along the lines of the Dark Tower, and the first book is free on amazon at the moment.Nope. But if they are free and I am interested I just grab it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicomo Cosca Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I´ve finished my reread of The Dragon Reborn the other day and I must say I absolutely loved it! I remember enjoying the first three when I read them a couple of years ago, but now I´m fully obssessed with them! I like how the story progressed from being an all out adventure (book 1) to delving more into the politics and lore of the world (late book 1 until now). I love how organic everything feels and how everything conects with each other.If I have any critiscisms for the series right now it´ll be that some of the interactions between Elayne, Egwene and Nynaeve feel kind of awkward (their first meeting with Min in TGH comes to mind).But all in all I feel as if the first three were just the introduction/set up for the crazyness thats going to go down (hopefully) on the next couple of books. I´ll be starting The Shadow Rising son so I´m looking forward to see how the story plays out (I´ve never read any of the following volumes) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRevanchist Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Leviathan Wakes was a fun read. I'm looking forward to continuing the series. It wasn't perfect, but it was highly enjoyable.Reading it at the moment. Looks nice, although nothing special so far (read around 40% of it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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