[amphibian]

There are gnomes late in the series (Gird books) and they kick ass in a way that's relatively cool. But they don't do their thing in any particular detail underground.

There's no Moria-style underground scenes in the entire series. It's like the series never goes more than 30 feet underground at any given time. There's no flying either. This is a pretty two-dimensional series as far as where the action takes place. There's some teleporting, but it's from spot to spot, not up to down or realm to realm.

[Baco Xtath]

Beneath the Dark Ice by Greig Beck

[Puck]

..The Lightstone by David Zindell? Anyone?

I need to reduce the space my books are taking up so I figured I'd donate those that are good enough and in a good-ish state to the local library, again. Now, in the furthest corner of my bookshelf I found this. Remember buying it, but never got around to read it. The synopsis sounds pretty unspectacular, but it's a thick book [~900 pages in German] and I happen to be intrigued by the sumerian sounding names.. Opinions?

Also, are any of those connected to the Dark Tower series [like Insomnia, for example] or are worth reading on their own? I'm not a big Stephen King fan, but a friend of my mom's thinks I am and once dumped a whole wagonload of his books on me..

Thinner
The Running Man
Roadwork
Four Past Midnight
Rose Madder
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Dolores Claiborne
Gerald's Game

Also.. Wolves of the Dawn by William Sarabande..?

Edit: Also, Dawnthief by James Barclay..?
I'm a bit hesitant about donating this one, because it's in English and non-German books seem to be shelf warmers at the town library.. The copy of The Black Company I donated two years ago looked fresh like on it's first day last time I checked. But I've had Dawnthief sitting on my shelf for years now and never got around to reading it, as I keep hearing mixed opinions.

This post has been edited by Puck: 26 September 2013 - 09:12 PM

[worry]

None of those are DT related as far as I remember. In fact, Thinner, The Running Man, and Roadwork are all Richard Bachman novels. Dolores Claiborne and Gerald's Game are related to each other, but not DT. I'm a big King fan and think a lot of those are worth reading, but if you're not a fan they might just not be up your alley. None of them run toward fantasy, except maybe Rose Madder in a very distant way. The Running Man might be the one that would surprise you most, if you want to take a gamble. It's a near-future dystopian sci-fi novel.

[Puck]

Thanks for that, worry.

I do enjoy King's novels occasionally but I'm not a big enough fan to want to have them all immediately at hand, and I will be keeping some [Atlantis, Insomnia, The Stand, a couple of others], but since some do have to go, I figured the public library is a good option as I can borrow them from there if I want to read them. Just trying to figure out which ones to keep of those I haven't read yet.

This post has been edited by Puck: 26 September 2013 - 09:40 PM

[worry]

Ah I getcha. None of those are must-read-now level IMO, and King is one of the most reliable definitely-available-at-the-library authors anyway, so I think you're safe in donating them all.

[worry]

You know, you're absolutely right. I think I had only read The Gunslinger (and well before) RM came out, and never made the connection so it didn't stick. RM actually isn't one of my faves either, so maybe that's a factor. After reading Duma Key I thought it had more connection with that, but looking up what you mean, I gotta apologize for my hastiness. Good call, BK.

[Ukjent]

@
Puck

I enjoyed Dawnthief and the following books.

[Puck]

..the Company novels by Kage Baker? In The Garden of Iden in particular? They sound intriguing, but the covers are downright ugly and I tend to be sceptical of time travel. But the premise does sound interesting.

[Chaeone]

Briar King, on 19 December 2013 - 01:56 AM, said:

The 2nd Bobby Dollar book? I'm surprised this came out so fast. I've still got a ways to go before I even start bk1 but I heard good things about that one so I bought it earlier this yr.

Quite different to the first, but in a good way. Its been a long time since i rushed out to buy a book as soon as it came out, this was one of those times. I really enjoy his take on the heaven/hell duality, and i think i enjoyed the second book even more than the first.

On a related note, this thread has totally backlogged my Goodreads TRP, i have no idea where to start my next reading project after i finish the Mars Trilogy.

[Baco Xtath]

Steel World by B.V. Larson
Dawn of Swords by David Dalglish
Moth by Daniel Arenson
the Thousand Names by Django Wexler
Emperor Mollusk versus the Sinister Brain by A. Lee Martinez
Malice by John Gwynne
American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett

[polishgenius]

Baco Xtath, on 17 March 2014 - 08:11 PM, said:

the Thousand Names by Django Wexler

Malice by John Gwynne

Both of these are decent. Worth a look if you're after some epic fantasy, there's been worse in recent years (though also rather better). Malice is really weird because it's clearly trying really really hard to be 'inspired' by aSoIaF, but the author is obviously also a fan of old-school types like Feist and Eddings, so you have a dark, multi-stranded plot that involves, for example, pheasant farmboys falling in love with princesses. Likewise, the mythos comes off like someone mashed together Brandon Sanderson and R Scott Bakker. It's an interesting mix. The writing is erratic but the enthusiasm carries it through.


The Thousand Names I was disappointed by because it starts so well, and reads like it really could be a Napoleon-era Malazan equivalent, but Wexler dodges all the hard plot decisions and it ends up really not carrying much weight or impetus. It's well written though and if he can learn to take a gamble, it's probably the series with the greater potential of the two.

[Serenity]

I thought The Thousand Names started pretty well, too, but by the end I was losing the will to live. It was so predictable, the dialogue was poor, and some of the conveniences in the plot were hilarious.

[Macros]

Was just coming here to ask about Malice, I'm circa 50 pages in, its gt me along for the ride but one thing
everyone does this
"huh" he grunted

for agreement, denial, everything, who the fuck grunts "hub" as an answer for all statements?

[Tsundoku]

Macros, on 18 March 2014 - 10:32 AM, said:

Was just coming here to ask about Malice, I'm circa 50 pages in, its gt me along for the ride but one thing
everyone does this
"huh" he grunted

for agreement, denial, everything, who the fuck grunts "huh" as an answer for all statements?

People from Norn Iron? Admittedly, it's usually prefacing a veritable wall of text, delivered in an all-but incomprehensible accent, at about 10 times normal speed.

But otherwise, the comparison stands.

This post has been edited by Sombra: 18 March 2014 - 11:17 AM

[Abyss]

Chaeone, on 06 February 2014 - 06:54 PM, said:

... this thread has totally backlogged my Goodreads TRP, i have no idea where to start my next reading project after i finish the Mars Trilogy.

WE WIN AGAIN!!!!

[polishgenius]

Serenity, on 18 March 2014 - 08:14 AM, said:

I thought The Thousand Names started pretty well, too, but by the end I was losing the will to live. It was so predictable, the dialogue was poor, and some of the conveniences in the plot were hilarious.

Yeah. It didn't break me down as much as you, apparently, but if anyone is considering this and hasn't yet read Col Buchanan's Heart of the World series, I'd recommend that instead- it's not quite the same but kinda similar in its style, and is considerably better.

[polle]

Puck, on 26 September 2013 - 08:31 PM, said:

..The Lightstone by David Zindell? Anyone?

I've read the entire series, but that was a long time ago so apologies for not remembering all the specifics. It's not bad, but certainly nothing special either. Rather bland (I guess the best west way to describe is 'meh'). It is a classic quest kind of story; swords and magic, higher beings (like angels), etc.

[Jahdu]

Pied Piper by Nevile Shute
Not a fantasy novel but a book I enjoyed immensly in my youth.

[Baco Xtath]

Hard Magic by Larry Coreia