Fiddler's Green Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 Just finishing the last couple of stories in Stephen Donaldson's Daughter of Regals. A fairly straightfroward and enjoyable collection for fans of Donaldson. After that, it's on to Heinlein's Have Space Suit, Will Travel and Kinsella's The Iowa Baseball Confederacy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight of Ashes Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny. Just started 9 Princes in Amber and was hooked in immediately, though (and this is probably due to the multiple POVs in ASoIaF) I've come to find the one POV tiresome, despite the fast pace of the book. I know Zelazny was an influence on Martin and the characters in Amber may be gray but just 'cause they're gray doesn't mean they (Corwin's brothers and sisters) have much depth... ...but I'm not even halfway through so.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Barry Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami The first time I have read one of his books and I got all the weird I was expecting plus change. I guess, as the title suggests, it is the story of a search for a sheep. If the plot is taken in isolation the book sounds vapid and boring. I can assure you that it is not. It is beautifully written, even in translation, and the observational style ranges from comic to tragic. Whatever i write here won't do the job of summing the book up so just go read it. Strangely compelling. SPOILERS Just in case anyone else has read it, was the Rat the son of the Boss? I have a feeling I am being dim here. Sorry, I have forgotten how to do spoiler text. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elrostar Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny. Just started 9 Princes in Amber and was hooked in immediately, though (and this is probably due to the multiple POVs in ASoIaF) I've come to find the one POV tiresome, despite the fast pace of the book. I know Zelazny was an influence on Martin and the characters in Amber may be gray but just 'cause they're gray doesn't mean they (Corwin's brothers and sisters) have much depth... ...but I'm not even halfway through so.... My fiancee said she found the characters got a lot more interesting once they stopped bitching about who was entitled to the throne. On a more serious note. Don't read past The Courts of Chaos. Seriously. You will be tempted to do so because you'll think "Hey, there's another five books here, and they must be pretty good as well". Don't. Just.... don't. Madness and badness lie that way. This is in fact the one great problem of buying The Great Book of Amber. You can't as easily pretend that the Merlin Chronicles don't exist. And really, you are better off if you can somehow pretend that they don't exist. They were all a bad dream, and the books didn't really happen. No, really. They're bad. That bad. Just.... please don't read them. If you do read them, you will probably want to forget you ever did. And that's where having The Great Book of Amber is such a problem. It's a constant reminder of the fact that they do exist. So be strong. Do not succumb to temptation. Do not read them. Seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yrael Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. If I want enchanting prose I read McKillip. Of all other fantasy books I expect plot!! Yes, the plot is the most import thing in fantasy!!! This series just drags on and on mindlessly. It's stuupid. I could never get into The riddle master of Hed . :sick: I stopped after the second chapter. And there IS a plot in The Dragonbone Chair. It's just that Williams takes his time to shape his characters and weave the threads of his plot and I love that. I wish Zelazny had done that with his Amber series. When there's too much action the characters suffer, they become like robots or characters from video games with no depth. Still, I haven't finished the book yet. So I can't really discuss it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klegane the Kinhater Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 Switching back and forth between A Confederacy of Dunces and The Charnel Prince.... polar opposites really Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astra Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 The Great Book of Amber is one of the best series I have read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elrostar Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 The Corwin Chronicles are great. Just... please don't read the Merlin Chronicles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellis Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 I just read His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I have such mixed feelings, but on the whole it's a fascinating read and i must have liked it quite a bit cuz i basically devoured the entire series in 3 days. (on the other hand it is young adult so a pretty quick read). I pretty much agree with the assessment in the Inchoatus review: http://www.inchoatus.com/Reviews/Review--H...p%20Pullman.htm The first book is solid, and I loved the daemon idea, and the world-building in general was pretty cool, as long as you didn't think too much about it. Lyra and Will were great trickster characters, and the moral ambiguity of the first part of the series was very well done. I enjoyed the second book - Subtle Knife - the most, as I liked Will and Mary Malone much better than Lyra. Then somewhere in the third book - Golden Compass - things started falling apart. Plot, character consistency, philosophical continuity, all took a nosedive. The ending was both unsatisfactory and facile, and most of the main characters were acting far out of the range of plausibility. It was interesting to see Pullman work so many of the themes of SF and myth - such as Orpheus, the fall, mind-body duality - and to compare and contrast his handling of similar cosmologies as those used by Hal Duncan (Vellum) and Clive Barker (Imajica). However and this is perhaps because this is a YA series, I'd have to ultimately rank it below those others. Gonna go look for HDM threads now. bellis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mauvka Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 Starting on Lord of Light, by Roger Zelazny The concept is strangely fascinating: a mix of hindu mythology with sci-fi, but I haven't read far enough to see where the story is going. Still, I generally have good trust in Zelazny's writing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat5150 Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 Hi guys! I just finished Melanie Rawn's SPELLBINDER. And for my money, without the shadow of a doubt it's her best novel to date. For the full review, check out the blog! Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dornish prince Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 just finished slaughter house five by kurt vonnegut. it was a mindf*$@ but very good. recently read haunted by chuck palahniuk. see above. currently reading a feast for crows by some guy. so far its very good, however; it'll get much better if someone would poison samwell tarly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 Lord of Flies - Ambrose Bearce ghost stories The Plague - Book Six Dark Tower Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lint Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 I've been reading Guy Kay more recently (mainly due to the recommendations from this forum). He's certainly one of my favorite writers now. I read Lions of Al-Rassan (my favorite so far) and just recently finished Tigana. I just ordered A Song for Arbonne and should be starting on that soon. I was looking to buy the Sarantine Mosaic: Sailing to Sarantium next, but it seems that that book is currently out of print. However, the second novel is still being sold. Can anyone give me any reason as to why they're no longer selling the first? I really enjoyed the Corwin chronicles myself (which I also read because of the forum) and I almost didn't read the Merlin Chronicles because of the awful stuff I had heard about it but I was waiting for my next book to get here and I read it anyway. I'll admit that I was hooked from the first book, but everything after that was a rambling mess. However, I wasn't expecting much so I wasn't too horribly disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight of Ashes Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 My fiancee said she found the characters got a lot more interesting once they stopped bitching about who was entitled to the throne. On a more serious note. Don't read past The Courts of Chaos. Seriously. You will be tempted to do so because you'll think "Hey, there's another five books here, and they must be pretty good as well". Don't. Just.... don't. Madness and badness lie that way. This is in fact the one great problem of buying The Great Book of Amber. You can't as easily pretend that the Merlin Chronicles don't exist. And really, you are better off if you can somehow pretend that they don't exist. They were all a bad dream, and the books didn't really happen. No, really. They're bad. That bad. Just.... please don't read them. If you do read them, you will probably want to forget you ever did. And that's where having The Great Book of Amber is such a problem. It's a constant reminder of the fact that they do exist. So be strong. Do not succumb to temptation. Do not read them. Seriously. Heh. Yeah, I agree with your fiancee, it did get more interesting once one gets past the introductions (where Corwin's brothers seemed to be slight variations of one character) and the bitching over who gets the throne. Among other things, that scene with Bleys making his way up the mountain was great. I've heard negative stuff about the later books so wth , I'll skip it. I postponed reading Persuasion by Jane Austen for this anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astra Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 The Corwin Chronicles are great. Just... please don't read the Merlin Chronicles. That's what I was being told by some of my friends. I didn't listen to them and I read all 10 books. I didn't regret my decision for 1 single moment. The only book that I disliked a bit, because it reminded me of some pc game quest, was book number 9. The rest are just excellent. Well, for me at least I've been reading Guy Kay more recently (mainly due to the recommendations from this forum). He's certainly one of my favorite writers now. I read Lions of Al-Rassan (my favorite so far) and just recently finished Tigana. I just ordered A Song for Arbonne and should be starting on that soon. I was looking to buy the Sarantine Mosaic: Sailing to Sarantium next, but it seems that that book is currently out of print. However, the second novel is still being sold. Can anyone give me any reason as to why they're no longer selling the first? Where are you looking for the books? Amazon.co.uk has all of his works. I think most of his earlier works were reprinted in the beginning of 2006. I have read only 3 books so far. Tigana and The Last Light os the Sun are superb. The Song of Arbonee is weaker IMHO, although not bad. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellis Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 GGK is pretty popular in Canada, but I haven't seen his books as much in bookstores in the US, and my local library doesn't even carry them all (and there aren't a whole lot, eh?). I would try amazon.ca or amazon.co.uk as suggested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 For the Guy Gavriel Kay lovers, check out my short review of his forthcoming novel at the linkie in my sig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellis Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 So Stego, you're saying it doesn't suck like Last Light of the Sun. That's reassuring. I loved Tigana, and i even have warm feelings for Fionavar from my youth, so i'd welcome the return of Kay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xray the Enforcer Posted November 3, 2006 Share Posted November 3, 2006 I'm switching between The Briar King by Keyes, and Melusine by Sarah Monette. I picked up the first because of the many recommendations by others on this board. It's pretty standard issue fantasy, but it's entertaining. I bought the second because I've run across Ms. Monette posting in Scott Lynch's LiveJournal -- and was informed that while there's some deviant degrading sex (this term actually came from a negative review of the book) in the book, it's nowhere near the levels of Venom Cock. (for the record, it's not any more deviant than what I've read in mainstream erotica.) I'm not sure exactly where Melusine is going, but I'm enjoying her use of language. She's a very visceral writer, and I like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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