May 2016 reads

[The Marquis de Leech]

Oh, Red Seas isn't bad as such. It's a bit bloated and silly, but it has its moments. I certainly never felt the need to put the book down and read something else. Republic is the truly bad one.

I'll read the rest of the series. Whether I buy the rest of the series will depend on reviews.

[SeanF]

I've just finished The Sarantine Mosaic by Guy Gavriel Kay.  A really good read, including the best account of a chariot race that I've ever read.

I also read, Fire and Blood by Harry Sidebottom, an enjoyable novel set in the later Roman Empire by a man who both writes entertainingly, and is very well-informed (he lectures in Classics at Oxford).

And I read Fools Fate, the last in Tawny Man trilogy by Robin Hobb.  Again, well recommended.

 

[red snow]

3 hours ago, TheRevanchist said:

I've heard that the third book isn't that good, though I thought that people rate the second book. Will find it myself soon enough.

Hoping that now that Lynch is a bit better, we will get good books in the remaining ones.

I enjoyed Red Seas far more than Republic. There are some cool developments in Republic but it's buried beneath an attempt at a shakespearean play within the book and a romance where I can only hope it's intentional that the character in love becomes tedious, annoying an pathetic. Fortunately that seems to be the case given how other characters comment on it. It's still not very endearing to put up with over the course of a whole book though. That said I'll still be reading the next one as it will hopefully avoid said pitfalls.

I'm reading book 3 of The Dark Tower. I think this is where the series is clicking for me as I like how there seems to be no barriers at all in terms of where King takes the story and I really dig all the meta stuff particularly the chilling children's train book. Shame I've heard it goes a bit pear shaped later on.

[SkynJay]

3 hours ago, TheRevanchist said:

They are the only two known Locke in the universe, and they are both thieves. It would have been a big coincidence if it was unrelated.

Anyway, I really really loved this book. After the biggest draining experience that I got with Dune books, this was a nice change.

While obviously I was wrong I had assumed it was a nod to another, real life, Locke (a Locke much better known than the two thus far discussed on this thread).

[williamjm]

1 hour ago, SeanF said:

I've just finished The Sarantine Mosaic by Guy Gavriel Kay.  A really good read, including the best account of a chariot race that I've ever read.

The chariot racing scenes are fantastic. I did feel a little bit sad when reading Children of Earth and Sky and one character mentions that the Sarantine hippodrome is now ruined.

While obviously I was wrong I had assumed it was a nod to another, real life, Locke (a Locke much better known than the two thus far discussed on this thread).

If we're just talking about fictional characters I'd also think the Lost character would be far better known than the two others, not that I'd have thought Locke Lamora was named after either John Locke.

I've heard that the third book isn't that good, though I thought that people rate the second book. Will find it myself soon enough.

I don't think either of the two sequels are as consistent as Lies, although they both have good bits in them.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I found Children of Earth and Sky pretty good but Lions Of Al -Rassan still remains my favourite.  Even though I read the Sarantine Mosiac, I admit struggling to remember the specifics in that novel (the silver bird, hippodrome, the mosaics) and relating it to CoEaS.

I'm almost finished a Powder Mage novella, In the Field Marshal's Shadow by Brian McClellan.  I'm also reading a nonfiction book called, When China Ruled the Seas. It is about Zheng He and the Treasure fleet.

[Richard Writhen]

21 hours ago, TheRevanchist said:

Finished the Lies of Locke Lamora and it really was great.

Also, I visited Lynch's site, and there he mentioned that the name of Locke comes from Locke of Final Fantasy VI. I was expecting that, considering that both are awesome and funny thieves.

Kewl. There's a lot of VG influence in modern literature I find ...

[RedEyedGhost]

On 5/20/2016 at 3:23 PM, TheRevanchist said:

Finished the Lies of Locke Lamora and it really was great.

Also, I visited Lynch's site, and there he mentioned that the name of Locke comes from Locke of Final Fantasy VI. I was expecting that, considering that both are awesome and funny thieves.

Should have been here 10 years ago, here he is chillin on the board.  

[williamjm]

10 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

Should have been here 10 years ago, here he is chillin on the board.  

That doesn't seem like 10 years ago. It's always odd reading those old threads and seeing the mix between people who are still regularly posting here today and people who haven't been here in years.

[HexMachina]

Since last posting here I have finished Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie. Really loved this collection, and I would be hard pressed to pick a favourite, although Javre and Shevedieh were always absolutely wonderful in their stories. I'm now impatient for Joe to release more stuff in the First Law world  

I've also finished The Wolf in the Attic by Paul Kearney. This was another great read, loved the protagonist, beautifully written and very interesting story. Looking forward to reading more by Kearney.

I am now starting The Book of Phoenix by Nnendi Okorafor. Not read much yet but very promising from what I have read, and an interesting premise.

[C.T. Phipps]

Richard K. Morgan's The Cold Commands and Altered Carbon
Graham Austin-King's YA Rivan Wyrde Trilogy.
John Gardner's License Renewed and For Special Services

A couple of beta-reads for fellow authors
 

[Knight of Ashes]

The City of Mirrors, Justin Cronin 

Finally!

[Darth Richard II]

I haven't read RoT yet but I loved the first two books. Hell, I picked the first Locke book up because of the COVER of the second. Yay fire.

[Garett Hornwood]

Finished Legends II: Dragon, Sword, and King as well as The Sworn Sword: Graphic Novel.  The anthology's first three stories by Martin, Card, and Gabaldon were very good which were the highlights of the collection while the last two by Haydon and Brooks were okay but pulled the overall collection down.  The graphic novel was fantastic and a great adaptation of the second Dunk & Egg tale.

I've started Marlborough: His Life and Times, Book One by Winston Churchill.  This is actually volumes 1 & 2 combined of Churchill's biography of his famous ancestor who was to English/British military fame that Wellington was a century later.  This is also a "rehabilitation" on Churchill's part to place his ancestor rightfully up in the pantheon of English/British military commanders.  So far it's a good read, I just have to adjust to Churchill's personal commentary, which given his mission to rehabilitate his ancestor is understandable (and given it's the 1930s the historian rules were a bit different).

[JGP]

Currently reading Andrzej Sapkowski's Tower of Swallows and, can't believe I'm saying this, but not enjoying much at all so far. He's turned the Dial of Anachronisms up several notches in comparison to previous installments-- that, or they didn't bother me as much somehow. Strangeness.

So, I'll probably drop it [for now] once City of Mirrors downloads. T-minus 3 hours or so. 

[Starkess]

The Dangerous Women anthology is interesting so far. There have been a couple that I wished were actually novels and some that were kind of meh. It's interesting the mish-mash of genres, including a contemporary thriller-noir type that I would never pick up on my own. So yeah it's a good read and nice little bite-size pieces.

My library hold for The High King's Tomb came in so I am going to be reading that as my next novel.

[Iskaral Pust]

I just finished Glendalough Fair, the fourth volume of James Nelson's historical fiction set in Viking Ireland.  It's very similar to Bernard Cornwell's series of Saxons and Danish arriving in England.  A good read, pretty entertaining and interesting to see Ireland represented in novels like this.  Nelson doesn't manipulate his lead POV so grotesquely as Cornwell to have him appear at every historical battle and have a recurring, scheming nemesis whose political machinations undermine the true-hearted warrior.

Next up will be Abercrombie's new book of short stories.

[Richard Writhen]

Started Last Argument of Kings and A Head Full of Ghosts, soon to start The Ballad of Black Tom and Queen of the Dark Things.

[Andorion]

Reading the Copper Promise by Jennifer Williams. Very good so far. 

[The Marquis de Leech]

Finally finished Corambis, by Sarah Monette. The final two books in the tetralogy are definitely a step down from the first two; by the time you hit the tail-end of the series, Monette's strengths of characterisation and world can no longer conceal the weakness of plot and pacing. Monette also seems a bit enthusiastic about portraying homosexual male rape, to the point where you start to wonder whether parts were written for straight woman titilation. And Mildmay, poor guy, will never escape the all-consuming black hole that is Felix Harrowgate.

Next up is Midnight Sun, by Ramsey Campbell.