[Salt-Man Z]

My wife read the entire Crown of Stars series (I bought them all, planning to read them; I still haven't) and she enjoyed it. Seems like it might be more up my proverbial alley than hers, which is (hopefully) a good sign.

For female authors (and just in general) I highly recommend Karen Traviss' 6-book Wess'har series; I'd probably slate it right behind Donaldson's GAP Cycle as my favorite sci-fi series.

[amphibian]

I'm a bit dismayed by the auto-dismissing of modern female authors. In addition to the ones mentioned above, Elizabeth Bear writes phenomenal books and Robin Hobb does too (although she is kinda hit or miss for many people).

Bear is particularly responsive on Twitter too.

[Use Of Weapons]

There's a whole thread dedicated to Female authors. All the ones mentioned above feature heavily.

[Ukjent]

Hobbs farseerbook is imo a waste of time. Its a tease that gives you the hint of something good to come, but in the end you realizes that the hole thing was a waste of time. I would rather use my time on the coldfirebooks or Rachel AAron's The legend of Eli Monpress.

The first three of them was okei, but the ending just ruins the whole thing for me, and the last three is worse.

This post has been edited by Graablick: 20 December 2012 - 11:44 PM

[Chance]

Briar King, on 20 December 2012 - 06:42 PM, said:

She certainly hit the shit out of me. I plan on re readin 6 Farseers at some point. The only one I didn't like all the way through was bk 3 1st tril. It doesn't get good till the end.

The books hit people different. I found the first trilogy very good and then the second one stomped all over what it had accomplished. I'm not with Graalblick above the first trilogy is good fantasy but wouldn't bother with anything else shes written...

This post has been edited by Chance: 20 December 2012 - 11:20 PM

[worry]

That's a shame, because the Liveship Traders is the best of the entire bunch. It has a wide cast of interesting, well-drawn characters; it's brutal to many of them; it has an intriguing mythology that expands or explodes much of what you think you know from the first trilogy; and it comes together in a fantastic convergence that rivals SE's.

Use Of Weapons, on 20 December 2012 - 12:36 PM, said:

IMO, Crown of Stars suffers from that perennial flaw that all long series have: it doesn't go where you want/expect it to go. And it doesn't go there so thoroughly and so definitively, that I, at least, felt somewhat aggrieved.

This problem didn't affect me, since I had no idea where it would or could go, and had no particular desires for it either way....all I hoped was that I hadn't accidentally stumbled into a simple Christian allegory with a bunch of fantasy window dressing (as I had bought all seven books at once in a lot). It turned out to be a whole lot more than that, so all its weird and unexpected turns felt like positives to me.

[Coco with marshmallows]

Getting back on track from the discourse on female authors:

Anyone read "Blood Song" by Anthony Ryan?

Thoughts?

To the person upthread asking about "The Heir of Night" - Young adult at most to be honest. mildly interesting premise, but very basic characters and plotting. Not bothering with the sequel personally.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

+1 to so-so recommendation of The Red Wolf Conspiracy

+1 to positive recommendation of Feast Of Souls

+1 to pass recommendation of The Heir Of Night

And I'm now looking forward to checking out the Crown Of Stars series...which I recall seeing on shelves during my many trips to browse my local bookstores (may they rest in peace). I was always turned off by the weird cover art, but the Amazon blurbs makes it sound kind of epic:

From Booklist
The first volume of Crown of Stars, another complex fantasy saga of political and magical intrigue, bodes extremely well. The Kingdom of Wendar is beset by civil war between brother and sister for the throne, by two hostile nonhuman races, by ghosts roaming the streets, and by enough other plots and counterplots to fuel the average Balkan war. Key to successfully resolving the overly fraught situation are Alain, a young prophet who needs to learn his parentage before he can act safely, and Liath, a lifelong fugitive sheltered by her father from worldly knowledge that she must acquire before she can act. The saga's world is exceedingly well built (including a working economy, for instance), its pacing is brisk enough to keep the pages fluttering, and its characters are, at this stage, at least archetypes who may develop into more. This certainly could become one of the best multivolume fantasies--fans, take note! Roland Green
From Kirkus Reviews
From the author of The Golden Key (with Melanie Rawn and Jennifer Roberson, p. 1108), the first entry in a projected fantasy series. In a Europe-flavored fantasy world, King Henry of Wendar is beset by two powerful enemies: the invading nonhuman Eika and their huge, terrible dogs; and by his half-sister Sabella of Varre, who denies Henry's right to name as his heir his bastard son Sanglant. Young, parentless Alain, seemingly destined for the church, is granted a vision of the Lady of Battles and eventually attaches himself to Count Lavastine--who also keeps large, vicious dogs that, other than the Count himself, only Alain can control. At this point, however, Lavastine, a neutral in the struggle for power, is ensorcelled by Sabella's allies and marches to war against Henry. Meanwhile, Liath, having spent most of her young life with her beloved Da fleeing unknown enemies, is enslaved by churchman Hugh when Da is murdered, leaving Liath unable to pay his debuts. Hugh hopes to grab the book of magic that Da left Liath, but just in time she's recruited by Wolfhere of the King's Eagles. Wolfhere knew Da and suspects Liath has magic abilities; both Alain and Liath will play important parts in the showdown between Sabella and Henry. A creditably self-contained and appealing, modestly engrossing opener, though without much originality or bite. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Nonhuman races?
Ghosts?
Terrible dogs?

Yes, please!

Almost sounds like Malazan.

Anyway, my wallet is really starting to hate you guys.

[yuna_anomander25]

Jaine Fenn's Hidden Empire and her following books,

also, N.K. Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy and her other books,

considering this 2 authors/books to add to my list, and would like to know if its worth it,

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

Haven't read any of the most recent requests, but I'll add my own:

Jack Vance's The Demon Princes series and/or Planet of Adventure (Tschai) series

Jacqueline Carey's The Sundering (Banewreaker/Godslayer)

[Mentalist]

yuna_anomander25, on 30 January 2013 - 04:42 AM, said:

Jaine Fenn's Hidden Empire and her following books,

also, N.K. Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy and her other books,

considering this 2 authors/books to add to my list, and would like to know if its worth it,

There was a thread on Jeminisin some time back. The consensus, iirc was that it's drifting more into YA romance-type book, nothing too special.

Have my own suggestion to throw to the thread: another Angry Robot Omnibus--"The Kinghts of Breton Court" by Maurice Broadus. The blurb suggests an interesting mashup of Arturian legend send in an urban fantasy ghetto streets setting.

Has anyone read this? I'm thinking next time Chapters has a "buy 3, get one free" event, i'll be dropping a chunk of cash on a bunch of AR omnibuses (this is the 4th i'm interested in so far)

[polishgenius]

The first book of Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy was okay - some good stuff spoiled by bad romance and not going quite far enough with the magic- but I really liked the second one, so I reckon it's worth a shot. Not read the third yet.

[QuickTidal]

Jemesin gets touted as very good in the blogger circle, people fall over themselves to talk to her...but she's really MOR for me. I read the first book too and I nearly put it down.

There are FAR better female fantasy authors out there. A number of which have been mentioned.

[acesn8s]

yuna_anomander25, on 10 December 2012 - 08:28 PM, said:

The Chathrand Voyage
The Red Wolf Conspiracy
The Rats and the Ruling Sea &
The River of Shadows
by - Robert VS Redick, i'm seriously considering this, so want to know if its good, also I'm beginning to be a major Gollancz fan/supporter, because of their simple yet stylistic covers


also considering reading Sci-Fi novels, should I start w/ the original Dune (wanted the omnibus ver) and leave out the BH/KJA ones,
[b]
Neal Stephenson

thanks

Read the Red Wolf Conspiracy. I found it, meh. Not planning on picking up the sequels.

Dune is a classic. I read books 2 & 3 as well. I enjoyed them.

Like others, I believe Snow Crash is a cyberpunk classic. I keep meaning to read some of Neal's other books, but haven't gotten around to it just yet.

[Macros]

Regarding the inheritance trilogy, I read the first (hundred thousand kingdoms) got it in an airport I think.
it felt like half a book to me (probably because its part of a trilogy) but overall it was readable ( very short) but suffered (as a few have said) from bad romancesque tendencies Imo. Had great potential to be a lot more but it felt as if the author fluffed it for me. Premise is interesting, if you get the sequence and it picks up let me know.

[Obdigore]

I read hundred thousand kingdoms by JK Nesmin after some reco's at places and... the writing was shallow, the world is mehtastic, and I feel like the entire book should be shelved in the 'Romance' section instead of Sci-fi/Fantasy.

[Macros]

I think with better writing the premise had promise, considering the book takes place mostly in one place I uguess I never considered the world building. That's why I'm kinda curious if two picks up or if its more of the same. If its more of the same I shall not be attempting it.

[polishgenius]

Macros, on 21 February 2013 - 01:54 PM, said:

I think with better writing the premise had promise, considering the book takes place mostly in one place I uguess I never considered the world building. That's why I'm kinda curious if two picks up or if its more of the same. If its more of the same I shall not be attempting it.

Like I said earlier, I thought the second book was a big improvement. There's still romance there but it's less embarrassing, it expands the world more convincingly and there's more momentum to the plot.

[Spoilsport Stonny]

I've read almost everything Neal Stephenson has written. Cryptonomicon is a singular tome that makes more and more sense as time goes by. The ending is my favorite ending I've ever read. The Diamond Age is also amazing and very prophetic when you consider how ubiquitous handheld devices like iphones and ipads are becoming in the first world, and much shorter. THe Baroque Cycle is a challenge, but very worth it, if you can last. Enough has been said about Snow Crash. I was used to his brilliance by the time Anathem came around.

I read all the OG Dune books, even God Emperor of Dune, which I will always regret. The first three are classics though. Also consider Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars books, starting with Red Mars. I like them alot. Although they can be kind of preachy, the science stuff is nice when put up against the politics.

[Salt-Man Z]

See, God Emperor is my favorite of the Dune books. I actually might like the second three better than the original trilogy.

The ending for Cryptonomicon totally took me surprise at first; it was like, "Wait, that's it?" But it didn't take very much reflection for me to decide it was perfect. And what a visual to end on!