August 2014 reads

[First of My Name]

Finished rereading Harry Potter #4 & #5, Blade of Tyshalle and my first read of The Stand, which was amazing. Now starting Iron Dawn.

[Lyanna Stark]

We can discuss Myles at length at LonCon lol. I need to get in front before then.

Yes, there are lots of things to say about Miles! :lol:

Picked up "Mirror Dance" by the way, more (spoiler for "Brothers in Arms")

Clone!Mark

and Admiral Naismith, but haven't got far yet.

[RedEyedGhost]

Yes, there are lots of things to say about Miles! :lol:

Picked up "Mirror Dance" by the way, more

Clone!Mark

and Adminral Naismith, but haven't got far yet.

You might want to spoiler tag that ;)

[Rody]

I finished Mistborn last night. Really got hooked into it except the relationship between Elend and Vin felt too cliche. Hopefully it will get better on book 2. I went a read the wiki and I know the ending but it just made me want to read the series more to see how the hell they got to that situation.

[Lyanna Stark]

You might want to spoiler tag that ;)

Done. :D

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I finished the final Jaran novel, The Law of Becoming. It was Ok, and I felt slightly disappointed as it just abruptly ends. The series was one book to long. A great start, a weak finish to the series in my opinion.
I started The River at the Center of the World by Simon Winchester. It is a travelogue about going up the Yangtze River.

[ljkeane]

The series hasn't actually finished, there were meant to be more books but apparently they didn't sell well enough. That probably explains the rather odd end point.

[Gigei]

Just finished Delia Sherman and Ellen Kushner's The Fall of the Kings.

It was terrible, but in a somewhat good way. :cool4: I mean I do love the setting but the main male character was so boring I almost gave up. I did skim 30% of the book and read the rest. There just were not any interesting characters except for the pirate woman (not giving details to avoid spoilers. But hey, I re-read Swordspoint, the first book in the series and it's still good re-reading.

Confused though:

Was the Black Rose actually married to Alec? In the short story where brings home his second wife from her POV she remembers he had a first wife. However, this is not really cleared up in the Fall of the Kings so I am not sure if the short story is now non-canon.

[dbcooper]

I finished Blindsight, it was brilliant throughout. This is how hard science fiction should be written - for all its cutting edge scientific speculations, it is also a really well written fiction with developed characters (none of them conventionally likeable at all, which is another plus for me), impressive style (Watts is really good at creating a creepy atmosphere , for example) and a complex narrative structure.

God yes. I can't wait for his next book coming out in a couple weeks.

[Darth Richard II]

The series hasn't actually finished, there were meant to be more books but apparently they didn't sell well enough. That probably explains the rather odd end point.

Her Crossroads trilogy is also set on the same world, though I am unsure of the timelines. I know a while back she siad she had the outline for a 5th novel.

[WexPyke]

I just discovered Bernard Cornwell and read Agincourt. Now moving to Rebel. I have never read historical fiction and it actually is pretty interesting.

[wolverine]

I just discovered Bernard Cornwell and read Agincourt. Now moving to Rebel. I have never read historical fiction and it actually is pretty interesting.

Of course it is interesting.

Usually Cornwell's King Arthur series, The Warlord Chronicles, is his most highly regarded work around here.

I like his Saxon Tales just as much. It is about the forging of the nation of England (wars with Vikings and such). IMO it has his most interesting protagonist.

His trilogy on an English archer, The Grail Quest, is interesting but not on par with the previous two I mentioned.

[WexPyke]

Of course it is interesting.

Usually Cornwell's King Arthur series, The Warlord Chronicles, is his most highly regarded work around here.

I like his Saxon Tales just as much. It is about the forging of the nation of England (wars with Vikings and such). IMO it has his most interesting protagonist.

His trilogy on an English archer, The Grail Quest, is interesting but not on par with the previous two I mentioned.

Thanks. I am currently reading Rebel and do not like it as much as Agincourt but it is early. I just bought the Saxon series as a set so that is next.

[SilentRoamer]

Yes, there are lots of things to say about Miles! :lol:

Picked up "Mirror Dance" by the way, more (spoiler for "Brothers in Arms")

Clone!Mark

and Admiral Naismith, but haven't got far yet.

Its been a long time since I read the Vorkosigan saga. Miles is a great character.

Definetely going to return to Bujold when I have the time and finish the Paladin of Souls series. I did all the Vorkosigan stuff upto Miles Errant so I think I am fairly up to date with those, maybe a few to read.

[Daikini]

I am reading the Tower Lord by Anthony Ryan. I was very impressed by his first book, Blood Song, in this series. The Tower Lord doesn't disappoint and keeps up a very good pace. Characters are well thought out and act within their types, no freaking out and going in a new direction for no discernible reason. I enjoy his writing style and really like his story, which doesn't feel old and stale at all.

As for the Red Wolf Conspiracy that was mentioned earlier, I did feel that the last book fell a little short, but seeing as how all the books are fairly lengthy, I still think the pace and story were good. I was a bit saddened by the ending..... I did NOT see that coming. And thats a good thing. I enjoyed the entire series and the complicated weaving of story lines.

[Serious Callers Only]

Recently i've reread Chalion series (except Hallowed Hunt yet), read Cast in Flame, read all of the Expanse series (it's good space opera, but it gets irritating how every time the villain basically fucks things up, how there 'has' to be a villain to be defeated in moral duel, in a situation that is ripe for grey - he can do gray - but the point is that there is always a foil villain), rearead A trial of blood a steel series (luv Sasha), read Tamora Pierce Immortals series, read Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron, started reading the girl with all the gifts but was intensely annoyed at it being a zombie story so midway lost patience and skipped to the ending went 'uh' and closed the book. I don't really regret skipping to the end (i suspect it was more of the same until it). Now I'm reading Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman, a pop history of the years before WW1, some funny stuff like the pogrom-luving czar secret service chief being assassinated by anarchists because he forgot his anarchist informant was a jew before pogrom-ing.

edit: also 'read' the Widow's House like so many of you. I don't really care overmuch for this series and was pretty scattered.

indepth ranting:

I ended up skipping all the non cithrin/marcus chapters but ironically, my main problem with what i've read and remembered of this series is that is just too long a deconstruction(s). He could have made a simple book about a deconstructing the 'villain', another simple book about deconstructing the fantasy power meme, but he extended it and extended it and extended it over 4 large books, and only in the next one will we see economic action in the war - ala Tolstoy maybe? - and almost all marcus chapters are all about 'the useless fantasy meme' bloating the series incredibly. Well, i don't often say this, but this is too much worldbuilding even for me, cut down the marcus hero's journey and it would be much more tolerable. Also, i guessed what Cithrin idea would be if not the mechanics of it (in about book 2 argh) and there was much impatience until she got there.

[Snowborn]

I'm reading The Reality Dysfunction, it's good so far, but there are some things that bother me. The setting is really interesting, the bitek/Adamist/Edenist concepts are all things I want to know more about, but I hate most parts that include sexy, sexy Joshua.

All the sex, is that really necessary? I'm not a prude, I don't mind sex scenes in my books, but the ones in TRD feel pointless and juvenile, imo. They all seem to be basically "hot woman sees Joshua, hot woman can't help wanting to fuck him, Joshua thinks hot woman is hot, Joshua and hot woman fuck". I definitely don't care about him.

Quinn seems almost cartoonishly evil, but he has potential. I want to see how much damage he'll make in Lalonde. Evil religious cults are fun and disturbing to read about.

I prefer the female characters, except when they can't stop thinking about Joshua. Ione is pretty cool, when she's the Lord of Ruin (why Lord and not Lady? Everyone now knows she's a woman). Syrinx was my first favorite, I expect to see more of her later on. She's so alien. Marie is stronger than she seemed at first, her arc should be good.

[SilentRoamer]

Hey Snowborn,

Is this the first Hamilton you have read? Hamilton is fairly explicit with his sex but it was more so in the Nights Dawn Trilogy you are reading now and less so in his other works.

Hamilton seemed to tone it down in his later works due to the feedback from fans. I think his writing does improve over time and the Nights Dawn was my first Hamilton read and I found all the sex a bit much as it had no real purpose for the story but the overall story is well worth it and really got me interested in SciFi after having been a fantasy die hard for so long.

From memory the sex does get more a of a backseat (pardon the pun) in the rest of the series.

Syrinx is my favourite character from that Trilogy, Quinn my worst and Joshua the one who grows on me the most.

[Bjornbert]

Finished The Broken Empire trilogy, which I thought was ace! It was very nice to see how the writing and the world developed with each book and I hope this trend continues with Prince of Fools.

Also read The Tyrant's Law and I'm eagerly waiting until the next one arrives.

[HexMachina]

Started Fool's Assassin today (yes, I'm that impatient to read it) and I'm really enjoying it so far. Its always nice to return to The Realm of the Elderlings.

Its off to a very strong start. Unlike The Golden Fool, there is no meandering catch-up to start things off. Two chapters in and things are already moving. Its shaping up to be a great book :)