[pat5150]

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

[yuna_anomander25]

finished with Magician: Master, i'm now planning to read those books which i had put on hold, and read a few chapters, before i will read another, still deciding which book to be a priority read, as Bauchelain,, will have to take some time before i could get back to it,
deciding from these:

A Shadow in Summer
Blood of the Mantis and/or to get back on
The Chronicles of the Black Company - Shadow Linger

[T77]

Tehol the Only, on 28 April 2013 - 05:54 PM, said:

I'm Reading The return of the black company and i'm not liking it nearly as much as the first 2 omnibuses... the plot and characters are still great but the narration is much sloppier and less engaging. How's the fourth book?

I liked all of the books. But, I am very biased as I am a huge Cook fan.

[Tiste Simeon]

So erm, I have heard a lot of people mention Hyperion by Dan Simmons, and it turns out I have it on my Kindle. I don't know if I have the Fall of Hyperion or whatever the sequel is called but I do have some other Simmons stuff. Worth a read even without the 2nd one?

EDIT: In case you're wondering, the other Dan Simmons books I have are "Carrion Comfort" "Drood" "Summer of Night" and "The Terror"

This post has been edited by Tiste Simeon: 30 April 2013 - 02:15 PM

[Chance]

pat5150, on 30 April 2013 - 01:16 AM, said:

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. . .

Just finished the same and must say your on the spot, thought the scenery shift to psuedo 17th century from the regular stuff is probably the books strong point. He should have cut out a lot of POV's that are probably for the future and gotten us some more depth in the main actors. Still I'll probably pick up the second book with low priority mostly because he can write action and the last showdown was all kinds of neat. Damn shame the epilogue then came along...

Well on to Necessary Evil which should be all kinds of great.

This post has been edited by Chance: 30 April 2013 - 02:35 PM

[Abyss]

Tiste Simeon, on 30 April 2013 - 02:14 PM, said:

So erm, I have heard a lot of people mention Hyperion by Dan Simmons, and it turns out I have it on my Kindle. I don't know if I have the Fall of Hyperion or whatever the sequel is called but I do have some other Simmons stuff. Worth a read even without the 2nd one?...

Yes, but since HYPERION and FALL OF are essentially one massive book split in 2, i'd strongly suggest getting your hands on FALL before starting because you WILL want to read the whole thing.

Chance, on 30 April 2013 - 02:31 PM, said:

...on to Necessary Evil which should be all kinds of great.

Psyched! Must get!!!

Finished the first Riyria colection, THEFT OF SWORDS. Good fun traditional fantasy. Didn't blow me away but the lead characters are engaging in an archetypical way and the stories move along nicely.

Will return to QUANTUM THIEF now before more Riyria.

[Stalker]

Briar King said:

1367351918[/url]' post='1052603']

Chance said:

1367332298[/url]' post='1052519']

pat5150 said:

1367284574[/url]' post='1052416']
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. . .

Just finished the same and must say your on the spot, thought the scenery shift to psuedo 17th century from the regular stuff is probably the books strong point. He should have cut out a lot of POV's that are probably for the future and gotten us some more depth in the main actors. Still I'll probably pick up the second book with low priority mostly because he can write action and the last showdown was all kinds of neat. Damn shame the epilogue then came along...

Well on to Necessary Evil which should be all kinds of great.

Not cool to hear. It's still getting great reviews on Amazon.

While Pat's review is valid, I was entertained enough that it didn't bother me, like many others who have enjoyed the book. Pat is right that it will definitely appeal more to fans of Sanderson or Weeks, due to their similarities. Promise of Blood reminded me a lot of Weeks' debut in that it was a fun read, but did have some flaws that could distract readers. Weeks is a much stronger writer now that he has more novels under his belt, I thought The Blinding Knife was excellent , and I think McClellan will improve similarly as he continues to write. Overall, I enjoyed his debut.

[polishgenius]

In spare time between assignments (never in my life had I had this little time to read...) reading Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear. If this keeps up I've got a new favourite to bang the drum for, it's wonderful so far.

[Chance]

Briar King, on 30 April 2013 - 07:58 PM, said:

Not cool to hear. It's still getting great reviews on Amazon.

Since when can one trust any form of online rating...



Necessary Evil was good enough to be a one sitting read, been a while since a book did that to me. Easily the best read so far this year. It might be a slightly less impressive then the second book just because the twists are to a large part already established still one glorious book.

On to Lost Fleet: Guardian but as usual an excellent book will completly ruin the next read.

This post has been edited by Chance: 30 April 2013 - 10:52 PM

[Mentalist]

I'm out of post-exam coma, and been making good progress on Absolution Gap As with the rest of the Reynolds books, a bit of a slow starter, but pretty good once it got going.

[worry]

I finished Consider Phlebas, first Banks I've ever read, and found it enjoyable. He's got a good sense of humor and a talent for making pulpy stuff (like the fat guy with metal chompers) very entertaining. I plan to at least read Player of Games and Use of Weapons fairly soon, given their reps (and will maybe dip into his non-sci-fi stuff, though I have no clue where those fall genre-wise). Now I'm back to Codex Alera, book 2, with higher hopes than I had for the first one.

[Salt-Man Z]

sorrysort, on 30 April 2013 - 11:50 PM, said:

I finished Consider Phlebas, first Banks I've ever read, and found it enjoyable. He's got a good sense of humor and a talent for making pulpy stuff (like the fat guy with metal chompers) very entertaining.

I just finished Consider Phelbas the other night; also my first Banks. It was good enough--exciting, well-written space opera--but I was expecting a little more. I think my biggest disappointment was the humans, who, diverse subspecies features notwithstanding, talked and acted just like contemporary Westerners, and the aliens weren't particularly alien either, beyond their physical descriptions.

[worry]

I can't disagree with that, but I have very little sci-fi reading experience (and pretty hodgepodge at that), so I don't really have the background for comparison (in the same way I recognize SE as ahead of the pack fantasy-wise for instance)...that plus perhaps an assumption that Banks is just dipping his toes into the pool on this first outing, and the reputations of certain future novels, was "enough" so to speak. That said, I do hope (and expect) the next couple to rise above "more of the same" though.

This post has been edited by sorrysort: 01 May 2013 - 02:07 AM

[Salt-Man Z]

That epilogue really got me, though.

[Tiste Simeon]

I encourage you to keep up with Banks, every book is different, even all of them set in the Culture universe!

Edit: Abyss, worth getting the Endymion books too then?

This post has been edited by Tiste Simeon: 01 May 2013 - 06:05 AM

[Serenity]

Salt-Man Z, on 01 May 2013 - 01:43 AM, said:

sorrysort, on 30 April 2013 - 11:50 PM, said:

I finished Consider Phlebas, first Banks I've ever read, and found it enjoyable. He's got a good sense of humor and a talent for making pulpy stuff (like the fat guy with metal chompers) very entertaining.

I just finished Consider Phelbas the other night; also my first Banks. It was good enough--exciting, well-written space opera--but I was expecting a little more.

I felt pretty much the same when I read it. Things really pick up with The Player of Games, though.

I'm about 200 pages into Necessary Evil. I'm enjoying it, although there seem to be a lot more American-isms slipping through Tregillis's net in this one. The word 'billfold' instead of 'wallet' crops up multiple times. He's writing about English characters, so they should think and speak as if they were English. When they use American terms I find it pulls me out of the experience. A minor niggle, worsened by repetition. Didn't notice it half as much in the previous books.

[Salt-Man Z]

Tiste Simeon, on 01 May 2013 - 06:02 AM, said:

Edit: Abyss, worth getting the Endymion books too then?

I'd say yes. They're not nearly as good as the first two, and they're not really necessary, but I enjoyed them, and if you're ever going to try them you might as well read them right after the Hyperion books.

[Tiste Simeon]

Salt-Man Z, on 01 May 2013 - 03:09 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 01 May 2013 - 06:02 AM, said:

Edit: Abyss, worth getting the Endymion books too then?

I'd say yes. They're not nearly as good as the first two, and they're not really necessary, but I enjoyed them, and if you're ever going to try them you might as well read them right after the Hyperion books.

Well, I have some Amazon vouchers & Fall is cheap on the Kindle atm so I might as well buy all of them!

[Serenity]

Briar King, on 01 May 2013 - 03:16 PM, said:

Serenity, on 01 May 2013 - 07:37 AM, said:

Salt-Man Z, on 01 May 2013 - 01:43 AM, said:

sorrysort, on 30 April 2013 - 11:50 PM, said:

I finished Consider Phlebas, first Banks I've ever read, and found it enjoyable. He's got a good sense of humor and a talent for making pulpy stuff (like the fat guy with metal chompers) very entertaining.

I just finished Consider Phelbas the other night; also my first Banks. It was good enough--exciting, well-written space opera--but I was expecting a little more.

I felt pretty much the same when I read it. Things really pick up with The Player of Games, though.

I'm about 200 pages into Necessary Evil. I'm enjoying it, although there seem to be a lot more American-isms slipping through Tregillis's net in this one. The word 'billfold' instead of 'wallet' crops up multiple times. He's writing about English characters, so they should think and speak as if they were English. When they use American terms I find it pulls me out of the experience. A minor niggle, worsened by repetition. Didn't notice it half as much in the previous books.

If it makes you feel better I thought English called Wallets, billfolds, and we called billfolds, wallets. Lol

Nope, it's not helping

[Abyss]

Tiste Simeon, on 01 May 2013 - 06:02 AM, said:

I encourage you to keep up with Banks, every book is different, even all of them set in the Culture universe!

Edit: Abyss, worth getting the Endymion books too then?

Despite how totally i enjoyed Hyperion, i haven't read it . Consistent opinion seems to be good but not as good as Hyperion.