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March Reading 2017


Garett Hornwood

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On ‎3‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 6:39 PM, C Rutherford said:

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.

Without spoiling it, would you say it concludes the Trilogy successfully?  I was rather disappointed with the Rainwilds stories, but I thought the first two books of the new trilogy were a real return to form.

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12 hours ago, Isildur's Mane said:

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. 

The first three books in the trilogy are the best, and I think Mostly Harmless is generally regarded as the weakest although it has a few good moments.

If you haven't read them yet, I think the two Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency novels are a similar quality to the early Hitchhiker's books.

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On 3/9/2017 at 10:06 AM, SeanF said:

Without spoiling it, would you say it concludes the Trilogy successfully?  I was rather disappointed with the Rainwilds stories, but I thought the first two books of the new trilogy were a real return to form.

 

Hobb brings many elements together in a way that I think will surprise as many as it will please.  Though I don't think the surprised and the pleased will be mutually inclusive.   This is a book that draws together things she has planted in prior books, not just the two prior in the series and it feels like the conclusion of not just the trilogy but entire sequence of books based in the Elderlings world.

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Mira's Last Dance was another entertaining installment to Lois McMaster Bujold's Penric and Desdemona novellas.

The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor was pretty interesting once you got past her repetitive use of saying the same things over again (ie Amazons were real people and they were the Scythians).  I had no idea who were the Scythians and the amount of the archaeological evidence of their culture, including burials of warrior women. The fascination by the Greeks when they encountered the Scythians created the Greek myths and stories of Amazons in art and literature.  

Anne's House of Dreams by Lucy Maud Montgomery was another charming book in the Anne of Green Gables series.  I regret not reading this a child.

Now reading William Deitrich's historical fiction, The Barbary Pirates

 

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Somewhat late to the bandwagon, but I just finished Too Like The Lightning, and I really, really liked it.

It's certainly not flawless: some of the world-building didn't quite ring true to me and a few of the later plot twists seemed a bit unnecessary.  And I'm not surprised that some people have found the narrative style off-putting.  But it's the most enthusiastic and inventive SF book I've read in a long time.

Looking forward to starting the sequel -- though I might reread this one again first..

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3 hours ago, Plessiez said:

Somewhat late to the bandwagon, but I just finished Too Like The Lightning, and I really, really liked it.

It's certainly not flawless: some of the world-building didn't quite ring true to me and a few of the later plot twists seemed a bit unnecessary.  And I'm not surprised that some people have found the narrative style off-putting.  But it's the most enthusiastic and inventive SF book I've read in a long time.

Looking forward to starting the sequel -- though I might reread this one again first..

I agree with your views on the pros and flaws. I just finished Seven Surrenders and it continued in the same way but was even an itch better. Some really good emotional payoffs and also some really well laid twists that I'm guessing will make a re-read very worthwhile. The tone and style were the same and I enjoyed both. I found the treatment of some hard philosophical problems to be well executed though the plot and the 18th century style. 

There were two plot points that I didn't quite buy but it was a relatively minor quibble and I think can be explained by the non-objectivity and non-omniscience of the narrator. 

 

Overall i I highly recommend. The second book closed the plot enough that I think people can jump into the first book now, while there is clearly a further story to be told in the next two books. 

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On 3/10/2017 at 8:46 AM, williamjm said:

The first three books in the trilogy are the best, and I think Mostly Harmless is generally regarded as the weakest although it has a few good moments.

If you haven't read them yet, I think the two Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency novels are a similar quality to the early Hitchhiker's books.

I've seen Dirk Gently on TV and really want to read the books. But that will have to wait until I've read more of my books I already have. I've got piles of them 

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After seeing your comments, I'm putting Too Like the Lightning on my to-read list.

I finally read the first WIld Cards book. I liked it. I really loved a few of the stories, some others just felt a bit flat for me. My only problem was that as soon as I got to know a character and get invested in him/her, the story ended. And that's the truth for all anthologies, but this is supposed to be a series, so... I'll probably read a couple more of them, see how I feel.

I started Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs.

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I finished Claire North's The Sudden Appearance of Hope. I thought it was good, although I preferred North's two previous books and there were times when it felt like it lost focus a bit.

Next I'm going to read Bujold's Mira's Last Dance.

On 11/03/2017 at 3:57 AM, Isildur's Mane said:

I've seen Dirk Gently on TV and really want to read the books. But that will have to wait until I've read more of my books I already have. I've got piles of them 

Just don't expect the plot of the books (or setting or any of the characters, with the possible exception of Dirk himself) to be anything like the TV series, although they're both good.

 

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4 hours ago, Westerosi Coast Gangster said:

I burned through the Red Rising books in about a week, really looking forward to Iron Gold. Also, I started The Sword of Truth books, am currently reading Wizards First Rule. What are people's opinions of the Sword of Truth series? will I be as interested as I am now as I move through the books?

Well, you might as well just rip your eyeballs out now. It's one of the worst things I've ever read. Its existence is a stain on the fantasy genre.

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On 09/03/2017 at 3:10 PM, Damelon said:

Little, Big by John Crowley.

It was on my pile for ages, time to dig in. So far so good. Wondrous.

Wonderful novel

On 09/03/2017 at 3:06 PM, SeanF said:

Without spoiling it, would you say it concludes the Trilogy successfully?  I was rather disappointed with the Rainwilds stories, but I thought the first two books of the new trilogy were a real return to form.

Hobb gets worse with each novel, she's Goodkind tier these days

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