Myshkin Posted April 28, 2013 Share Posted April 28, 2013 After reading the description of this one, I'm anxious to read it as well. Hope you will comment on it when you are done.I'm about 50 pages in, and I like it a lot so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melonica Stormborn Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 I'm almost done with The Shadow Rising - it took me long enough.I need to distance myself from WoT so I'll just continue with Emperor's Edge (I'm on the third book). Also been wanting to read Cloud Atlas so might as well go with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookWyrm Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 I'm just finishing J.G. Ballard's High Rise now and it's refreshingly original. The concept is this: A high rise filled with the amenities needed to to keep a society going are all inside this one building, minimizing the amount the tenants need to go outside. An isolated society forms separating those inside the high rise from the world outside. Instead of a society developing however, it degenerates into clan warfare as different levels raid each other and vie for control over elevators and what not. These kinds of conceptual scifi's are really great and Ballard is up there with Philip K Dick in terms of the quality of his stories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinevere Seaworth Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 I finished River of Stars by G.G. Kay. I love most of Kay's books but I just couldn't really connect with this one for some reason. I don't know if it was too similar to Under Heaven, not in the right mood for melancholic novel, couldn't connect with the characters or a combination of factors. I have a feeling if I re-read this again in the future, I would like it alot more. Started Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pat5150 Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Took everything I had to finish Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood. À la Brandon Sanderson, the book is filled with exciting battle scenes and features a cool magical system. But it lacks any sort of depth and it is plagued with weak characterization.Not sure I want to read the rest of the series. . .Check out the Hotlist for the full review.Cheers,Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecryptile Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 What's propelling me to the next book is the hope that the Shrike will prove to be an interesting figure in its own right in the future.The Fall of Hyperion doesnt have alot to reccommend it IMO, but Endymion and Rise of Endymion are the best books of the series and you will find out all you ever wanted to know about the Shrike, the cruciform parasite, farcasters etc. by the end of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garett Hornwood Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Finished The Blade Itself today and can't wait to read the next book of The First Law Trilogy.But before that I'll be reading Richard the Third by Paul Murray Kendall which I'll start tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 The Fall of Hyperion doesnt have alot to reccommend it IMO, but Endymion and Rise of Endymion are the best books of the series and you will find out all you ever wanted to know about the Shrike, the cruciform parasite, farcasters etc. by the end of themOh my goodness no. The Catholic bullshit in the later ones is so heavy handed it makes Orson Scott Card look subtle. I with I could erase those books existence from my mind. Terrible, terrible retconing as well, the first two might as well have not happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkess Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 The Fall of Hyperion doesnt have alot to reccommend it IMO, but Endymion and Rise of Endymion are the best books of the series and you will find out all you ever wanted to know about the Shrike, the cruciform parasite, farcasters etc. by the end of them :shocked: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eponine Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 :shocked:Nora, do you think the last two books are worth reading, or not so much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterbound Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Took everything I had to finish Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood. À la Brandon Sanderson, the book is filled with exciting battle scenes and features a cool magical system. But it lacks any sort of depth and it is plagued with weak characterization.Not sure I want to read the rest of the series. . .Check out the Hotlist for the full review.Cheers,Patrick ETA: I didn't mean it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starkess Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Nora, do you think the last two books are worth reading, or not so much?I'm not sorry I read them or anything, but they just didn't even seem to belong to the same series as Hyperion. And I felt they got a little weird with the messiah stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mashiara Posted April 30, 2013 Author Share Posted April 30, 2013 It hasn't been a very good period for reading. I recently finished Robert McGammon's Swan Song. It took me 10 whole days to read it and while I enjoyed parts of it overall I found it less than exceptional.I'm about halfway with 999, Twenty original Tales of Horror and Suspense, and I'm also reading 1-2-3 Magic, Effective Discipline for Children 2-12 by Thomas Phelan. Don't mock me, the husband insisted and frankly, we need some way to deal with the Spawn, before they turn into complete little monsters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delete this account pls Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 I loved Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich. It was almost a collection of short stories united by a tenuous thread - a violent crime in the community's past, but it worked beautifully. I'll definitely check out the sorta-sequel Round House very soon.Enjoyed The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Pretty fascinating and creepy stuff. Murder castles and Ferris Wheels.Currently struggling through Count Belisarius by Robert Graves. Not really digging it at all, but almost finished. Maybe I should have went with I, Claudius instead, but I've always thought Belisarius' story was a cool one, and that swayed me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bastard of Godsgrace Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 I finished River of Stars by G.G. Kay. I love most of Kay's books but I just couldn't really connect with this one for some reason. I don't know if it was too similar to Under Heaven, not in the right mood for melancholic novel, couldn't connect with the characters or a combination of factors. I have a feeling if I re-read this again in the future, I would like it alot more.Started Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain.I am actually struggling with River of Stars, and I am not really sure why. I loved Under Heaven and River of Stars is also beautifully written which we expect from Kay, but I can't connect with it. Perhaps the reason is it reads even more like straightforward historical novel than previous Kay books? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thistlepong Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Finished Midnight's Children (again) and loved it. I didn't have any doubts, really, but it held up better than even my romantic expectations. It's strangely jumpy and even disjointed but held together by themes and threads and the strength of the narration. I keep wanting to say it's fantasy field stripped and laid bare. You're being told a story and how it works, like, epitomizing postmodernity and stuff. Somehow it also breaks your heart. Worth the time.I also finished the movie. It's different. I'll prbably have to watch it again to actually see what it's doing without being a weird gearhead gronard about it.Looking forward to getting back into all the stuff I abandoned, except for the stuff still in boxes. First up is proabably the last third of That Hideous Strength. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowborn Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Didn't sleep last night so I could finish with Perdido Street Station. It was so good, I loved the worldbuilding, the images. Didn't care much for some of the characters, and I wasn't convinced by the ending, but all in all I liked it and will read more by the author. I'll even try to draw some of the characters, if I dare :lol:I'll probably finish The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury, tonight. I've been reading it very, very, very slowly since February, I had almost forgotten I had started with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkynJay Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Six-gun Snow White is proving to be very good. But it can't be a Catherynne Valente story, I have not had to break out a dictionary yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peadar Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Years later, it would be learned that Peadar finished Kay's River of Stars just as the peonys came into flower for the last time. He did not look back, moving on to Necessary Evil by the poet, Ian Tregillis and sighing over what might have been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guinevere Seaworth Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 I am actually struggling with River of Stars, and I am not really sure why. I loved Under Heaven and River of Stars is also beautifully written which we expect from Kay, but I can't connect with it. Perhaps the reason is it reads even more like straightforward historical novel than previous Kay books?It is possible, but unlike his other novels, I knew enough of the history to have an inkling of what is going to happen next. I was clueless about this point in Chinese history and was actually surprised how the novel ended. I ended going to Wiki to read up on the Song dynasty after I finished. I thought the element of not knowing ahead (for me at least) would make a more of an interesting read, but it did not happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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