mashiara Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 I'm still having a hard time concentrating on my reading. I finished The Just City by Jo Walton a couple of days ago and it was OK, but didn't really do much for me. Maybe it was because I wasn't in the right state of mind for a book full of philosophical discussions. I had the hardest time continuing, part of me just wanted to give up. I'm now finally reading the first Wild Cards book. About 1/3 of the way in and I like it so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 Lots of love here for Adrian Tchaikovsky. I was intrigued by reviews of his work but also a bit jaded on traditional fantasy. Perhaps I'll try one soon. I finished Bengtsson's The Long Ships, a historical fiction of the Viking era. What set this apart is that it was written in the 1940's. It tells the life of adventure of a fictional character. As a novel, it lacks in the quality of prose, characterization, suspense/drama, action and development arc. As historical fiction, it does a good job of representing the culture, worldview and attitudes of these peripheral Norse who suddenly exploded in their impact on the world around them, including a claim to be the real roots of western democracy, especially considering that the popular depiction at this time was simple swashbuckling raiders with horned helmets. Fans of Dunnett's King Hereafter and Cornwell's Saxon Tales series will enjoy the portrayal of the culture but miss the crafting of the story. Now reading Ellroy's The Black Dahlia, first of his LA quartet. Thanks to Marsen for the rec. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beniowa Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 Finished Twelve Kings in Sharakhai. I tried Beaulieu's debut novel, The Winds of Khalakovo, some time back, but couldn't get into. I did finish this book, though I'm not sure how I feel about it. Parts of it were quite good, while others frustrating with bits of plotting and characterization feeling somewhat convenient. I'm not sure if I'll ever read the sequel. Still reading Bookburners, albeit slowly. Been doing it mostly on my days off. About to start Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly.and The Line Between by Peter S. Beagle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 5 hours ago, Iskaral Pust said: Lots of love here for Adrian Tchaikovsky. I was intrigued by reviews of his work but also a bit jaded on traditional fantasy. Perhaps I'll try one soon. Although he's mostly been writing in the fantasy genre, he does have one hard-SF book, Children of Time, if you'd prefer that genre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkess Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Finished my Harry Potter re-read. Good stuff. Gotta love sniffling on the plane when people die! Now I am reading a best of SF/F anthology from like 2010. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andorion Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 We Are Legion(We Are Bob) is an excellent lighter sci-fi. I read it to clear my head after the very heavy Too LIke the Lightning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 6 hours ago, beniowa said: Finished Twelve Kings in Sharakhai. I tried Beaulieu's debut novel, The Winds of Khalakovo, some time back, but couldn't get into. I did finish this book, though I'm not sure how I feel about it. Parts of it were quite good, while others frustrating with bits of plotting and characterization feeling somewhat convenient. I'm not sure if I'll ever read the sequel. Still reading Bookburners, albeit slowly. Been doing it mostly on my days off. About to start Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly.and The Line Between by Peter S. Beagle. I liked Twelve Kings in Sharakhai well enough and I plan on reading the next one, but I don't understand the people who named it best book of 2016. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Finished A Blink of the Screen. Most of the stuff is a handful of pages and generally not very interesting beyond a garnering a smile. But there are some gems in there - I really enjoyed Final Reward (a sword and sorcery author has to deal with his protagonist on the doorstep), Once and Future (Pratchett's spin on The Sword in the Stone), and Troll Bridge (a tribute to Cohen the Nonagenarian). Next up is The Howling Miller, by Arto Paasilinna. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljkeane Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 I haven't really been looking forward to rereading the first two Rain Wilds Chronicles books to try and get the series finished before Robin Hobb's latest book comes out, I didn't enjoy them the first time round and I was anticipating them being a bit of a slog, but surprisingly I've whizzed through Dragon Keeper and a decent chunk of Dragon Haven. It's a lot less irritating to read what's essentially a quarter of a book when I know I can just get the next one in the series without having to wait a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord of Rhinos Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 I'm reading the Cloud Roads by Martha Wells. Just finished up the last book in the Tale of Shikanoko, The Tengu's Game of Go by Lian Hearn. I didn't realize until the end that it was a stealth prequel to her earlier series, Tales of the Otori. Overall, the series is very poor and I'd advise people to not bother with it, even if they liked Tales of Otori. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 9 hours ago, Lord of Rhinos said: I'm reading the Cloud Roads by Martha Wells. Just finished up the last book in the Tale of Shikanoko, The Tengu's Game of Go by Lian Hearn. I didn't realize until the end that it was a stealth prequel to her earlier series, Tales of the Otori. Overall, the series is very poor and I'd advise people to not bother with it, even if they liked Tales of Otori. I am beginning to suspect yo are me from the mirror universe. On book 3 of Shikanoko and loving the hell out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C Rutherford Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 I thought Hearn's prequel series worked really well when read as four parts to one novel. I finished my advance copy of Assassin's Fate by Hobb. A momentous book with relentless momentum is how I will leave it until its is released and open for further discussion. Weird delivery on the most recent of Brigg's Mercy Thompson books. I enjoy these but am always a bit disappointed in how pate and slight they end up being. As urban fantasy it works. But I really loved some of Briggs earlier fantasy work and every time I read one of the Thomspon series I feel cheated because it means another strong seller that keeps her writing this urban fantasy froth. Anyway, because of the weird delivery, I got it yesterday and am about a third of that way into that. Then I think I'll delve into some historical fantasy since Margaret George's take on Nero and Sarah Dunant's Borgia book both also just came out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unJon Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Seven Surrenders hit my kindle, so I dropped what I was reading to continue with what happened after Too Like the Lightning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 30 minutes ago, unJon said: Seven Surrenders hit my kindle, so I dropped what I was reading to continue with what happened after Too Like the Lightning. I put off playing the new zelda to finish Too Like the Lightning, so I should probably grab that, um, soonish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.T. Phipps Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 I have a desire to read some grimdark fantasy with: THE DARK DEFILES by Richard K. Morgan THE TOWER OF THE SWALLOW by Sapkowski Also, BEYOND REDEMPTION by Fletcher I should also mention that I'm guilty re-reading the RESIDENT EVIL game novelizations by SD Perry. I loved those books in 2000 to 2005 and still love them today despite being adaptations. I also read VILLAINS RULE by Michael Gibson which is a nice bit of fantasy parody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Ugh, I could not get into Beyond Redemption. Way too dark just to be dark. Plus I wanted all the characters to die by page 50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.T. Phipps Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 11 minutes ago, Darth Richard II said: Ugh, I could not get into Beyond Redemption. Way too dark just to be dark. Plus I wanted all the characters to die by page 50. Well, thanks for the warning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Some people here really liked it, but I found it to be one of those "look at how grim and dark I am!" Books that doesn't actually get what makes grimdark popular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isildur's Mane Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 The other day I finished reading 'So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish', by Douglas Adams. I liked it but I didnt think it was as good as the ones before it. I will be getting the next one next week when I get paid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 Finished off The Howling Miller. It resonated a bit with me, if only because its bitter humour deals with something that remains a very real issue today (i.e. attitudes towards mental illness). I did spot one screw-up though: Paasilinna has a drunkard character drink the first bit of distilled liquid from a still. While the character isn't too bright, the fact that he's made it to 50+ without going blind suggests that he's aware of the rule that you don't drink the first (or last) bit of distilled alcohol - otherwise you are consuming toxic methanol or higher alcohols, rather than ethanol. Next up is Philosophy in the Boudoir, by the Marquis de Sade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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