Mexal Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 I have just started reading Disorderly Knights, the next book in the Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett. I liked The Queen's Gambit though I liked the first one better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edda van Heefmstra Ruston Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Never said there was, Isis. It's just about... efficiency. Yeah, that's it, efficiency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord of Oop North Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 I'm nearly halfway through Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror, which is an enlightening read on the absolutely shitty 14th century. She is a good writer and has a way of making history very entertaining, so I would recommend it to all casual fans of the subject. Afterwards, I'm going to finally read Guns, Germs and Steel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VarysTheSpider Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 I did it! I Finished Steven Erikson's Bonehunters! Overall, meh. Not one to remember I think. Starts as any Erikson book starts. Big monster gets released for some poorly thought out reason, then other monsters get released for an even more badly thought out reasons to kill the monster. Typical other Erikson stuff happens. Soldiers break into moments of philosophy at the drop of the hat, using words not even the intelligent characters use. Surrounding area gets described at length, which I'm sure is a treat for the archaeologists among us, but as for me was just a wonder to see how many ways Erikson could describe the Seven Cities as a land full of sand, rocks and heat. Also, mysterious gods do mysterious things for mysterious reasons. Erikson continues to use naughty words more frequently, but manages to have less sex in this one than either of the last two. Not good. But hey, it's not all bad. The writing is standard (i.e better than average) and the action scenes are pretty decent. Karsa has some interesting conversations with his newfound companion, and I suppose in the context of the series Erikson has done a passable job in bringing a lot of the plotlines closer together, helped somewhat by a very liberal treatment of time and space. With this "transition" novel completed, I'm hopeful that Reaper's Gale will be significantly better. 6/10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Barry Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Persian Fire by Tom Holland Enthralling and relevant history of the Persian/Greek war focusing on the Persian Emperor and the Athenian contribution. Barry Silver Star for Quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinevere Seaworth Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Hey long time lurker decides to come of the closet and post for the first time! Thanks to the good recommedations here at the board, I finished The Pillars of the Earth. Fantastic! I didn't think a story about building a cathedral would be so engrossing. I found the history intriguing as I'm not familiar with that time period at all. I'm reading Dark Glory War by Michael Stackpole on a friend's recommendation. Meh...it is slow going and it has enough interesting world builidng details to keep me going but the character are cliche fantasy types. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diabloblanco18 Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 I've just finished Hawkwood's Voyage, the first book in Paul Kearney's Monarchies of God series. Damn, was it good. Rather impersonal at times (a POV style which I've never much liked), and a couple of the characters were given so little screentime as to be almost pointless, but for a novel where the shit goes south, there's not much out there to top Hawkwood's Voyage. In many ways this was the best "set-up" novel in a series that I've read since A Game of Thrones. Thank God I've got the next one at hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peadar Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 I've just finished Hawkwood's Voyage, the first book in Paul Kearney's Monarchies of God series. Damn, was it good. Rather impersonal at times (a POV style which I've never much liked), and a couple of the characters were given so little screentime as to be almost pointless, but for a novel where the shit goes south, there's not much out there to top Hawkwood's Voyage. In many ways this was the best "set-up" novel in a series that I've read since A Game of Thrones. Thank God I've got the next one at hand. Sounds great. Wert seems to be a big fan too. On topic: just finished the enjoyable Enemy of God by Bernard Cornwell. I love the way he does the magic and I'll definitely be picking up the last in the series on Saturday. Next on the executioner's block is Sarah Hall's The Carhullan Army. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starker Image Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Right now I'm reading A Man in High Castle by Phillip K. Dick and Prey by Michael Crichton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Finished rereads of Shadows Linger and The White Rose. That series is every bit as good as I remembered it. I'm gonna have another go at The Tyranny of the Night, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IheartTesla Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 I am almost finished with The Terror, which meant it was time to pick up a new book. Which happens to be the conclusion of the Troy trilogy by David Gemmell (forget what the third book is actually called). Since Gemmell passed away before the book was completed, the ending will probably be interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mashiara Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 I just finished Shadow and Claw by Gene Wolfe and I absolutely loved it! Next stop is Sword and Citadel, (as in The Sword of the Lictor and The Citadel of the Autarch) by the same author. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deornoth Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 I really tried to finish 'Maelstrom' (Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Scarborough) but realised, about a hundred and forty pages in, that I didn't care about the story or its 'so perfect that I wanted to punch them' characters. I put the book down and will not be picking it up again, have a look at my 'I can't believe I read this' review over Here. I'm now reading Clive Warner's 'Rebody', a look at the perils of taking out cryogenic insurance... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellis Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 The Carpet Makers by Andreas Eschbach. Strange short little novel. The POV travels every chapter, making this more of an exercise in world-building than in plot. Not that there's anything wrong with that. The War of the Flowers by Tad Williams. One of those slipstream stories about a person from our world who travels to a new world, and finds love and redemption (oh and saves the other world too). Neil Gaiman does this stuff better, with fewer words, in say Neverwhere. Micheal Swanwick does badass fairy dystopia better in Iron Dragon's Daughter. Not bad, just not special. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Aardvark Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Double Post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Aardvark Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Graphic Novels/Comic Books: Bone by Jeff Smith: Similar in many ways to my all time favorite series (Cerebus) only Jeff Smith never went nuts. Ghost World by Daniel Clowes: Great look at "everyday" life. Well made in every sense of the word. Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughn: Funny, satiric, and exciting all the same time with one of the best writers in the business (Brian K. Vaughn) at its head. Great stuff. Fiction: The Philip K. Dick Reader: One of the masters of sci-fi and I had never read any of his stuff aside from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. When I saw this at the bookstore I had to pick it up and haven't been disappointed one bit. The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien and edited by Christopher Tolkien: Tolkien. Turin Turambar. 'Nuff said. Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe: I've always been a fan of Tom Wolfe's non-fiction, particularly of The Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers, but Bonfire has always been one of those classics I've never got around to reading. Not exactly an easy read but it's written in an excellent, although experimental, fashion and is surprisingly timely for a novel that's 20+ years old. Non-Fiction: House to House by David Bellavia: Forget all the "news" reports that show an explosion or two, a soldier talking for 30 seconds, and a reporter who barely understands the difference between "enlisted" men and "officers." Originally recommended to me by my brother in law, a decorated veteran Marine of both Iraq and Afghanistan, this book will tell you what it's really like to fight in the modern urban jungle, the nastiest battlefield on Earth. Whatever you think about the war, this is the book to read to know what it's really like for the men and women fighting over there. Shake Hands With The Devil by LTG Romeo Dallaire: The catastrophic failure by the international community (the US and UN in particular) has been an interest in mine, especially considering the new failure occurring today in Darfur. One of the best books I've ever read about the subject (or any really) was the aptly titled We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families. Where that book covered the horrific events on the ground, former Canadian Lt. General Romeo Dallaire describes the Kafka-esque bureaucracy and hand wringing that allowed the world to sit on it's hands. Not to be missed. Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden: There are two people who can turn real life events into political thrillers that rival anything written by Tom Clancy or WEB Griffin, one of them being David Bowen of "Black Hawk Down" fame (the other being the amazing Ken Follett). Killing Pablo is one of those novels that won't EVER let you put it down without a fight, even if you already know the ending. My first thought when I stopped reading this the first time (which was after about two hours straight) was "Who needs 24 when we have Mark Bowden?!" Seriously, it is that good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuenjato Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Currently reading Wolfe's The Urth of the New Sun (interesting so far, not quite what I expected after the original tetra) and Plutarch's The Rise and Fall of Athens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serious Callers Only Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Glen Cook Starfishers (the only book i know where genocide is thought a viable sensible policy by the protagonists), going to start Mistborn after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anubiel Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 I've finally started reading 'Dreamsongs'. I've had the book on my shelf for over a year.. It annoys me that it's so big and heavy, every time I sit down to read it's like a workout. Other than that I like what I've read so far, even though some of the early stories contain more than a healty amount of adjectives Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beniowa Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 A Magic of Twilight by SL Farrell. A solid fantasy book though I felt it was a little underwhelming. Still recommended for genre fans. Already started on The Dragon's Nine Sons by Chris Roberson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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