April Reads

[aceluby]

Finishing up the First Law trilogy now. Absolutely LOVED it, ASOIAF levels of political intrigue and twists.

Starting up Words of Radiance tomorrow and will probably be done by next week. After that I'm either going to continue w/ the First Law books or start up the 2nd Fitz & Fool trilogy. Right now leaning more toward Abercrombie.

[SilentRoamer]

Oh, definitely start with the first, "Dune." It sets up the world and its rules. A lot of folks aren't as enthralled with the following books, but I liked certain of them a lot. And stay away from the ones not actually written by Frank Herbert! It'll rot your eyes out! :P

Yeah I have seen some of the love on here for KJA! Worst thing is I actually liked Saga of the Seven Suns series - despite all of its obvious flaws I liked the underlying worldbuilding. I read terra incognita series and that was pretty awful.

Well I have Dune on ebook and hard copy so it looks like Dune it is. Also probably should not admit being a fan of David Lynch film version but when I watched it when I was 11 or 12 I was awestruck with some of the ideas. I think a read of the novels is needed to excise some conceptual demons I have of Dune.

Thanks for the advice.

[Ghjhero]

Seriously considering this as my next read after my Malazan fail.

What happened with Malazan?

[End of Disc One]

Finishing up the First Law trilogy now. Absolutely LOVED it, ASOIAF levels of political intrigue and twists.

Interesting, I don't think it's anywhere close to ASoIaF when it comes to political intrigue and twists, but it is better in other ways.

[HexMachina]

Finally got around to downloading The Gospel of Loki tonight. 10% through so far, and enjoying it. Its different from.what I have been reading

[saltovergray]

Still reading The Dragon Reborn, finding myself being a bit slowed by all the Tar Valon chapters. Also reading The Stranger by Albert Camus for class (the newer translation, that is).

[HexMachina]

Looking ahead to my next read, I'm trying to decide whether to start The Accursed Kings series (book 1 is the Iron King, Maurice Druon). Anyone read these who can help me decide? (Deciding now because I have a voucher that works on them)

[Guinevere Seaworth]

Tyrant's Blood by Fiona McIntosh was much better read than Royal Exile, but still just an OK series so far. While waiting on the library hold on the final book in the series, I decided to start a recently completed series, the Nightrunner by Lynn Flewelling. I'm about 1/4 of the way through and quite enjoying Luck in the Shadows.

[Garett Hornwood]

I'm only 20% into Assassin's Quest since I started it a week ago. It isn't that I'm not into it, but I was on vacation this past week and I focused on my own writing instead of really getting into a book. I basically did a chapter a day for this book outside my year-long reads, which I'll update below.

My next book will be a Uncorrected Proof version of A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre, it's a biography of Kim Philby and how his betrayal. A LibraryThing Early Reviewers pick up which arrived today in the mail.

Year-long readings update:

The Bible: I read all of the Book of Esther last Sunday and then spent the rest of the week reading Job, finish it today. Tomorrow starts Psalms, which will take a bit of time the next two weeks.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: I finished Romeo and Juliet on the 8th and still wasn't really fond of it afterwards. But I then read my favorite comedy A Midsummer's Night Dream, after finishing today I enjoy it even more. Tomorrow starts King John, have no idea what to expect.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Tomorrow starts King John, have no idea what to expect.

Neither Magna Carta nor Robin Hood feature. :)

[deleted01]

Finished The Quick by Lauren Owen, which was fantastic, though the ending seemed a bit rushed. Probably me just being greedy though - I wanted more!

Started Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters last night.

[YellowDogJen]

I finished The Fell Sword by Miles Cameron last night (2nd in The Traitor Son Cycle) and I enjoyed it a lot. I have a few books sitting on my TBR pile - I think I'll start with Red Rising.

[Maester Llama]

Finished Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone. Good. Really really good. Better than Three Parts Dead, the first in this loose series -- they take place in the same setting but share no characters, save one of this world's powerful figures who is namechecked in Three Parts Dead and a major character in Two Serpents Rise [i understand future books will contain more recurring players]. I'm growing to like these a lot. They're fantasies in which magic and divine power and demons from between the stars act as metaphors for consumer capitalism and commodification and the politics of exchange while also acting as themselves. The satire and the metaphor are there, and they give substance to the magic in the story, but they're not thuddingly on the nose; they don't turn the book into a thinly-veiled lecture, ever. And I really like how measured the discussion of secularism versus faith is. There are snakes the size of skyscrapers and skeletons who run hydro companies using the power of half-dead imprisoned gods and dragonflies that will carry you anywhere you want to go if you let them suck out part of your soul. This is turning into one of my favourite new fantasy series. It might seem a stretch -- there's a lot more action in Gladstone's books, for one thing -- but I think some folks who like Abraham's Long Price might dig this, if one of the things you like about Long Price is its use of fantasy to talk about economic imbalance and labour.

[Bolivar]

Looking ahead to my next read, I'm trying to decide whether to start The Accursed Kings series (book 1 is the Iron King, Maurice Druon). Anyone read these who can help me decide? (Deciding now because I have a voucher that works on them)

I always recommend these books, at the very least they are relatively quick and entertaining reads.

[Reny of Storms End]

Looking ahead to my next read, I'm trying to decide whether to start The Accursed Kings series (book 1 is the Iron King, Maurice Druon). Anyone read these who can help me decide? (Deciding now because I have a voucher that works on them)

If you like historical fiction it's definitely worth a read. I've only read the Iron King so far, but have purchased the second book. Although I went into it expecting more, it was played up as one of the works that inspired ASOIAF, I was still pleased with my experience.

[Arlingzen Bill]

Just finished rereading Cyador's Heirs by L.E. Modesitt jr. next up Rogues edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois.

EDIT: Font issue

[SkynJay]

I gave up on Astra halfway through. Not going to write it off completely, but took a break.

I listened to The False Prince on audio book. It is a middle grade book but pretty good. But the narrator, I really can't say enough about him. Only been doing this audio thing for a few months but he was easily the best voice actor yet.

Also read a self pubbed title called The Towers, have to look up the author. Weird little world where sin (called shame here) can take a physical form, and is also the best defense against a dark hoard. So the very thing the society preaches against is needed to save it. Very interesting idea, book was a bit of a mess at the end though.

Reading Heaven's Queen by Rachael Bach, last of the Dev Morris series. After that I will make a final decision on friggen Astra.

[mashiara]

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. A brilliant and powerful book, like a punch in the gut, bleak beyond belief. Arbor Gold had been telling me to read it for years, ever since I started my first thread in Lit asking for depressing reads... yes, it is depressing alright.

I needed something easy and quick after such a read, I went with Hounds of Autumn by Heather Blackwood, a nice little steampunk novel that was surprisingly good for a kindle freebie.

I also managed to finish David Sedaris' Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Of all his work I've read so far, this was my least favorite. Some excellent moments, some very dull ones.

I'm currently reading Blackveil, by Kristen Britain. At the very beginning and trying to remember what has happened before. I remember being so disappointed when I realized her work wasn't a trilogy and there more books to come... we'll see how I feel about this one.

[ljkeane]

I just finished The Barrow by Mark Smylie. I'm not someone who's particularly bothered by explicit sexual content in a book but I don't find it particularly interesting either and it's fairly relentless in the early parts of the book so it took me a while to get into. A lot of the book also seems to be setting the scene for future books as well, so while the world depicted does seem quite interesting the story itself is only okay. I'll probably read the next book when it comes out to see where it's all going.

[Eponine]

I'm almost through book two of Otherland. I could barely slog through MS&T. I think it's because the word "mooncalf" has not been used in Otherland yet.