BlueRose Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 I've read Mistborn 1 and 2 by Brandon Sanderson, twice. Book 3 is out next Tuesday and I am very excited. I also plan to buy Wildcards 1 next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry. Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 I'm tempted to start reading [i]Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman[/i] sooner rather than later, now that my review copy arrived today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Barry Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 The End of Iraq by Peter Galbraith Peter Galbraith can not see any hope in continuing to work towards a united and secular Iraq and after reading this book I agree with him. Scathingly critical of the Bush administration for its constant blunders and prioritising cheap shallow PR gains for real strategies PG says that this is a war which the US can not win. He argues that Iraq is already at civil war and has effectively split into three states already. While he sees some ways forward in cartain areas the fact that he has no answers on how to deal with Baghdad, the increasing Iranian influence in the South or the international problems created by an increasingly independent Kurdistan suggest that we are all going to be hearing about this region for decades to come. Comprehensive and eye opening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Wolf Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 I finished [url="http://darkwolfsfantasyreviews.blogspot.com/2008/10/empire-in-black-and-gold-by-adrian.html"]"Empire in Black and Gold" by Adrian Tchaikovsky[/url]. The novel is not entirely without flaws, but I like it. I believe that Adrian Tchaikovsky made a pretty good job with his created world, with a wonderful crossing between humans and insects and with the presence of interesting machines and automatons. I will look forward for the next novels in the series and I hope that the world-building will be further developed, because it is interesting. My next read is "Bloodheir" by Brian Ruckley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted October 9, 2008 Author Share Posted October 9, 2008 I'm reading a 2009 debut called [i][b]The Adamantine Palace[/b][/i] by Stephen Deas. It's a very fine book, basically [i]Temeraire[/i] done properly with the dragons as dangerous, volatile beasts that have to be controlled and treated with respect (they also can't talk) and much conniving and political intrigue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deornoth Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Sounds like a good read, when is it's release date? Everyone in the office thinks that I've been working but what I'm really doing is reading a PDF file of James Barclay's 'Vault of Deeds', all of a sudden I'm in love with PDF books :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casrot Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 [b]Going After Cacciato[/b] by Tim O'Brien It's interesting to see the parallels in the writing between this and O'Brien's [b]The Things They Carried[/b], especially in terms of style and literal truth vs. emotional truth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beniowa Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Yesterday I finished [b][i]Every Last Drop[/i][/b] by Charlie Huston. I almost completely agree with all of RedEyedGhost's and Deornoth's points about it so I don't really have anything to add to it. It was a pretty good book and definitely a must for fans of the series. I'm currently 80 pages into [i][b]Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded[/b][/i] by John Scalzi. This is not a novel but instead a collection of various posts over the last ten years from John Scalzi's blog, [url="http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/"]Whatever[/url]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myshkin Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Just finished [i]The Painted Man[/i] by Peter V. Brett. I really enjoyed this one. Well written and a fun read. Starting Brent Weeks' [i]The Way of Shadows[/i] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kcf Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 [quote name='Myshkin' post='1550033' date='Oct 9 2008, 15.03']Just finished [i]The Painted Man[/i] by Peter V. Brett. I really enjoyed this one. Well written and a fun read. Starting Brent Weeks' [i]The Way of Shadows[/i][/quote] oh...you must be a big fan of YA then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted October 9, 2008 Author Share Posted October 9, 2008 [quote name='Deornoth' post='1549188' date='Oct 9 2008, 14.26']Sounds like a good read, when is it's release date? Everyone in the office thinks that I've been working but what I'm really doing is reading a PDF file of James Barclay's 'Vault of Deeds', all of a sudden I'm in love with PDF books :thumbsup:[/quote] March, I think. I still need to pimp you to Gollancz, don't I? That sounded bad. Maybe I'll ask Pat to do it instead... ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myshkin Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 [quote name='kcf' post='1550065' date='Oct 9 2008, 15.19']oh...you must be a big fan of YA then?[/quote] Totally! I heart YA! I heart it forever! I'm with you on the YA argument. Too often we are seeing novels labeled YA simply because they don't have foul language or explicit sex scenes (I pointed out once before that [i]Lolita[/i] has neither of these things and nobody considers it YA). Incidentally [i]The Painted Man[/i] features both some foul language and adult sex scenes. Also the YA stigma seems to be attached to poorly written novels regardless of content, which serves to both confuse what YA actually is and to make the YA tag synonymous with crap. I don't understand why anyone would consider [i]The Painted man[/i] YA. Does it have the dark and "gritty" feel of GRRM? No. Do the characters swear every other word like in Lynch? No. Does that mean it's YA? No. [i]The Painted Man[/i] deals with a lot of adult issues, delving deep into the nature of the human condition, and is written for adults as the target audience. It is not YA. As for [i]The Way of Shadows[/i], I'm only about 15 pages in so I can't make a determination about it yet, but it doesn't seem to be going anywhere near a YA direction. Whether it's a good or bad book is yet to be determined. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Scot A Ellison Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 I'm finishing [u]The Lies of Locke Lamora[/u] and starting on [u]Quicksilver[/u]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Barry Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 The Religion by Tim Willocks.... is not very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambyr Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Just finished [i]Cyteen[/i]. I really liked Cherryh's Chanur, Faded Sun, and Foreigner novels when I was younger, but for some reason never touched anything in the Alliance/Union universe. I can see I'll have to change that--though I've read that the Union is the villain in most of them, which is going to feel slightly odd after reading hundreds of pages from its perspective. At least there's [i]Cyteen: Regenesis[/i] to look forward to in just a few more months. Started [i]A Secret Atlas[/i] today. Thirty pages in, I'm dubious about actually finishing it, but I'll give it another chapter or two before I toss it. It's the first Stackpole I've read--should I take it as generally indicative of the quality of his work, or give him another try with a different book? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zach H Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 [quote name='ambyr' post='1550729' date='Oct 10 2008, 09.24']Started [i]A Secret Atlas[/i] today. Thirty pages in, I'm dubious about actually finishing it, but I'll give it another chapter or two before I toss it. It's the first Stackpole I've read--should I take it as generally indicative of the quality of his work, or give him another try with a different book?[/quote] I may be a bit biased - transitioning from his Star Wars novels to his fantasy novel [i]Talion:Revenant[/i] is what got me started as a fan of fantasy literature nearly a decade ago - but I'd suggest giving his older stuff a try. I think Stackpole's a lot better when he's working with a single first-person perspective than a sprawling epic with many characters and viewpoints. Mind you, though, even in his better moments he's mainly an action/adventure-driven writer. Look elsewhere for something beyond this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deornoth Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Just finished reading James Barclay's 'Vault of Deeds', a tale of heroes, demons and pension plans. There's plenty of action and it made me laugh lots but at only 92 pages it may be a little pricey for anyone but fans. My full review is over [url="http://www.graemesfantasybookreview.com"]Here[/url]. I'm still working my way through 'Mistborn' and 'Return of the Crimson Guard'... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalThor Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Just finished Jim Butcher's, [i]Grave Peril[/i]. The series is interesting. Fast-paced. An entirely easy read - which I need at this point. I'm going to start David Sedaris', [i]Naked[/i] next Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epilogue Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 On the final stretch of [b]Last Argument of Kings[/b]. I must say, it is pretty damn fantastic. Likely the best of the trilogy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deornoth Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 [quote name='Werthead' post='1550078' date='Oct 9 2008, 18.28']March, I think. I still need to pimp you to Gollancz, don't I? That sounded bad. Maybe I'll ask Pat to do it instead... ;)[/quote] That would be cool :thumbsup: I'm kind of in 'Gollancz Limbo' at the moment where Simon Spanton is sending me the occasional ARC ('Steel Remains' - Good, 'Graceling' - Not so good, 'Patient Zero' - Don't know yet but it's got zombies in it so it's cool by default ;) ) 'The Adamantine Palace' sounds like my kind of thing though, what's it like so far? Edited to add: Having just re-read that, I'm not sure how much pimping I should be asking for... :blush: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.