What are you reading in October

[Tehol]

Heh... i finished Blood Song by Anthony Ryan, it did not grab me, i thought the book dragged a little later part (invasion, i skimmed through those pages) also imo the enemies in the book are not well drawn except king Janus (sp?), they are there to make Vaelin (sp?) look good. It seemed like the book targeted toward teenagers or i may be too pissed off with this hero worshiping that i missed the good bits. Good thing about this story is that it has no magical sword, talking unicorn or dragons to solve your troubles but the main character is a super soldier who has a super horse and a super war dog so why would you need anything else?

[Isis]

I almost never finished The Heroes - it took me so long to get through. After that I was done with the author, though that wasn't only about his books.

I am really struggling with reading again. Crawling through The Scarab Path. I need something that will really grab my attention. But I don't want to buy any more books this year. I already have LOADS of unread books here. Guess I'll spend some time with my bookshelves today.

[Snowborn]

I'm finally done with Deadhouse Gates. It was great. The ending was awesome, I hated the last few chapters of a certain storyline (in a good way. Good job, I almost cried). There's something about it that bothers me, though, but I'll leave that question for the Malazan threads. I liked this book better than Gardens of the Moon, so I agree with most readers. I look forward to reading more of this series.

After that, I tried to read something different, and decided to go with Prince of Thorns. It's entertaining, and it moves fast. But it didn't grip me, it lacks something, I don't know. I find some things hard to believe (Jorg is 13!) and like someone here said it's like the author is trying too hard to make the characters act edgy. It's not for me. Maybe I'll try again some other time.

Now I picked up Night of Knives, Esslemont's first Malazan book. So far so good, but I miss Erikson's style. I read somewhere that this is one of the "weakest" books in the series, so that might be the reason. I think I'll finish this book pretty quickly.

[Snowborn]

Sorry for the double post, I can't edit my previous one.

I have to admit that The Heroes really isn't grabbing me like Abercrombie's other books did. I'm losing track of who's who, and I'm just not that invested in the characters. May push on for a bit, only 36% done.

The Heroes was my least favorite of the standalones, but it's still very good. Have you read the chapter "Casualties" yet? I thought it was brilliantly done.

[deleted01]

Can't multi-quote on my phone, so:

Snowborn, I loved the First Law trilogy and even Best Served Cold, a book that doesn't seem too popular with people on here, but I'm struggling with The Heroes. I don't think I have read that chapter yet, might read some more tonight. Does anything else actually happen? Battles are fine, but a little more substance wouldn't go amiss.

Isis, what else made you stop reading?

[thecryptile]

The Heroes is pretty much all about the battle- it's the literary equivalent to the D-day landing opening scene in Saving Private Ryan. There's some political shenanigans going on too, but the main focus is combat. I liked it, especially Bremer dan Gorst's POVs.

[KingGendry]

I'm about 60% through The Heroes at the minute and finding it more to my liking than BSC, struggled with that book at times, personal tastes I suppose.

I have to say that sometimes Bremer dan Gorst slips into Bremer dan Glokta with his internal self-pity.

[The Wolves]

I just finished The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde it was okay I liked it. Now I'm starting to reread some Edgar Allen Poe

[deleted01]

I'm about 60% through The Heroes at the minute and finding it more to my liking than BSC, struggled with that book at times, personal tastes I suppose.

I have to say that sometimes Bremer dan Gorst slips into Bremer dan Glokta with his internal self-pity.

I agree, though Glokta was so much more likeable, to me. I felt like I cared about him, his internal monologues, though funny at times, inspired sympathy, whereas Gorst just irritates me.

I intend on reading Red Country, and so I think I should probably finish The Heroes. It's definitely about personal tastes, and while I love a good battle, I also love a little more depth to a story.

I do like Black Dow, and Calder. I think there's perhaps more to them than some of the other characters, and I'm keen to see what happens there. Bayaz was also a welcome surprise, even if I did end up hating him by the end of the FLT.

I'm also 35% through A Game of Proof by Tim Vicary, which I'll be using for my law essay. It's a good solid story of a female barrister in York, her struggles and family life. My main focus is the case at the beginning, and any references to the jury, but the murder mystery that it seems to be becoming is also really interesting. There was a part that made me laugh - Sarah, the main character, says something along the lines of the courts playing the 'game of proof', and she plays to win. Sometimes I think I see ASOIAF in everything :P

[The Great Walrus]

I'm currently on the final book in the Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light, and hopefully i can finish that by the end of the week.

From there, i plan on starting Wayne Barlowe's God's Demon, which i've heard is a fascinating read.

[Opisthokont]

Finished Warped Passages by Lisa Randall. Some nice stuff in there about Randall-Sundrum models and related extra-dimensional theories, why they exist, and how they are connected to the standard model, but also lots of annoying analogies and the obligatory third of the book wasted on physics that is already described in 1000 other popular science books. It was written before the LHC was finished, and there are some tragic references to various evidence for extra dimensions and supersymmetry that might be expected turn up as soon as they start it (it didn't).

Also finished In Search of the Indo-Europeans by J P Mallory, which presents a bunch of linguistic and archeological arguments for where and when the speakers of proto-Indo-European lived. Spoiler: The author thinks that it was somwhere between central Europe, Caucasus, and the forest-steppe of western Asia in the late neolithic. The linguistic bits were really interesting, but the archaeology just felt like endless lists of various burial methods and pottery decorations. Maybe I would have been able to see more structure in it if I knew anything at all about archaeology, but then I don't know anything about linguistics either.

Started reading Greg Egan's Zendegi. So far it's very slow - there's been a revolution in Iran and there are long descriptions of people playing in or working on the titular VR game. I'm hoping the mindfuck commences soon, otherwise this may turn into my least favourite Egan novel. I think Distress or Quarantine holds that position currently.

Also trying to get through Thomas Metzinger's Being No One. Heavy stuff. And a collection of Italo Calvino stories called The Complete Cosmicomics, which is definitely not heavy but maybe a bit too silly. There are some gems though.

[Alytha]

I'm reading Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick. It's very bizarre. Very sad and decadent, apart from the sex scenes, that is.

[williamjm]

I'm about 3/4 of the way through The Republic Of Thieves. It seems to have got mixed reviews and I felt it got off to a slow start (much of which was spent repeating that a character was in mortal peril but it was obvious he wasn't really going to die), but I enjoyed the plotline more once they got to Karthain and the Camorr flashbacks are also good. At the moment, I'd probably rank it ahead of Red Seas Under Red Skies but still some way behind The Lies of Locke Lamora.

I agree, though Glokta was so much more likeable, to me. I felt like I cared about him, his internal monologues, though funny at times, inspired sympathy, whereas Gorst just irritates me.

I intend on reading Red Country, and so I think I should probably finish The Heroes. It's definitely about personal tastes, and while I love a good battle, I also love a little more depth to a story.

I do like Black Dow, and Calder. I think there's perhaps more to them than some of the other characters, and I'm keen to see what happens there. Bayaz was also a welcome surprise, even if I did end up hating him by the end of the FLT.

While it is all about a single battle, I did think The Heroes had better characterisation and more depth than Best Served Cold (which is entertaining but it felt like the most simplistic of Abercrombie's books). I did find Calder to be a much more interesting character than I had expected, although I do agree with you that Gorst was a bit irritating and he's probably the weakest character out of the main cast.

[Beathag]

Currently reading Doctor Sleep by Stephen King, which is the sequel to The Shining. Loving it so far!

Really. I shall look it up.

I finished a reread of The Red Tent (for the umpteenth time) and AGot (ditto)

And I reread Dance for the second time (stopped reading after Jon was stabbed, imagine my surprise finding the epilogue).

Dan Brown's Inferno. Reads more like a travelogue. Not a big fan of Dante either, but I read a review saying it was good. About a third of the way through.

Then LA Confidential. That will finish up the month.

[RedEyedGhost]

I finished The October Country by Ray Bradbury the Wednesday. It took me a bit longer than expected for its size, but with it being short fiction it took about as long as I thought it would. I'll just divide the stories into three categories:

Really liked:

The Dwarf

Skeleton

The Jar

The Lake

The Scythe

The Man Upstairs

Homecoming

The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone

Alright:

October Country

The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse

The Emissary

The Crowd

Jack-in-the-Box

There was an Old Woman

Didn't Care For:

Uncle Einar

The Next in Line

Touched with Fire

The Small Assassin

The Wind

The Cistern

Not a bad collection overall.

I'm now halfway through Adam Nevill's The Ritual. It's quite good so far, very atmospheric. I am disappointed with the quality of the paperback though; the spine seems to crack every time I open the damn thing. It reminds me quite a bit of Tom Fletcher's The Leaping, if anybody is looking for a similar book.

[AverageGuy]

I liked Blood Song, but it was hard to get past some of the cringe-inducing errors. I believe there was a more updated version put out after I read mine that was better edited, which may have helped. I would probably still read the sequels.

Yeah, looking through Amazon reviews I see a lot of people mentioning that, but I think a copyeditor got at the version I read; obvious errors weren't such an issue.

[Jace, Extat]

I'm currently on the final book in the Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light, and hopefully i can finish that by the end of the week.

From there, i plan on starting Wayne Barlowe's God's Demon, which i've heard is a fascinating read.

Still have 'Memory of Light' unfinished on my shelf, I've been considering tackling it again. I usually love Brandon Sanderson, but too much Robert Jordan to slog through.

On a whim bought a book called 'Mages Blood' 3 weeks ago at BnN. Awful. Just terrible.

[SkynJay]

On a whim bought a book called 'Mages Blood' 3 weeks ago at BnN. Awful. Just terrible.

I won that one in a websites giveaway not long ago. What was it like (other than bad?)

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I finished The Crown Tower by Michael J. Sullivan. I liked Gwen's story more than Hadrian's or Royce's just becouse I knew less about her background compared to Hadrian and Royce.

Now reading The Rose and the Thorn by same author.

[End of Disc One]

I have to admit that The Heroes really isn't grabbing me like Abercrombie's other books did. I'm losing track of who's who, and I'm just not that invested in the characters. May push on for a bit, only 36% done.

The character list at the beginning is really helpful. Sounds like you're reading an ebook though so it's probably not as easily accessible.