[Mentalist]

Finished Absolution Gap yesterday, and thus the "Revelation Space" Trilogy.
Overall, it was ok. It's great to see more epic-space opera series, but I was left somewhat underwhelmed. To be fair, my only reference points right now are Night's Dawn trilo and the Hyperion Cantos, so it may not be a fair comparison. But, to be honest, the setting just didn't grab me. The last book was clever, playing with the timing and presentation the way it did, and was much better at holding my interest compared to the rest of the series, but it wasn't enough to make the series great.

I still have Chasm City to read, but i'll take a break from Sci-fi for a bit. Think I'll finally give that first Ketty Jay book a try.

[Baco Xtath]

Mentalist, on 01 May 2013 - 09:48 PM, said:

Finished Absolution Gap yesterday, and thus the "Revelation Space" Trilogy.
Overall, it was ok. It's great to see more epic-space opera series, but I was left somewhat underwhelmed. To be fair, my only reference points right now are Night's Dawn trilo and the Hyperion Cantos, so it may not be a fair comparison. But, to be honest, the setting just didn't grab me. The last book was clever, playing with the timing and presentation the way it did, and was much better at holding my interest compared to the rest of the series, but it wasn't enough to make the series great.

I still have Chasm City to read, but i'll take a break from Sci-fi for a bit. Think I'll finally give that first Ketty Jay book a try.

You really need to read Galactic North to finish the series (along with Chasm City and the Prefect). Diamond Dogs and Turquoise Days are good but not necessary. I recently listened to Blue Remembered Earth and found it beyond phenomenal. I gave up on Retribution Falls about 200 pages in. I found the characters to be cliche and was underwhelmed as a whole. However, a lot of people love this series so it's not a common opinion and I'll probably give it another shot before too long.

Reading Forever War and listening to The Gap Cycle book 4: Chaos and Order. .Not very far into either but am immensely enjoying both.

[amphibian]

I'm unsure how he read the Reynolds books without working in Chasm City somewhere in the middle. Without it, several pieces go unplaced in the puzzle.

I just blew through Ian Tregillis's Milkweed trilogy. Pretty good, lighter sci fi world war II stuff. Four and a half out of five.

[Mentalist]

Reading "Retribution Falls" the night i'm supposed to be packing was a bad, bad idea.

I now have about 16 hours to pack my entire life away. and run a bunch of errands tomorrow. no sleep for me tonight.

Oh, and for those on the fence: "Ketty Jay" books are a fast-paced, action-packed read. Think "TailSpin" (the Disney show), but with sex, violence and politics. I've barely managed to force myself to put the book down after 3 hour binge.

[Salt-Man Z]

amphibian, on 02 May 2013 - 12:48 AM, said:

I'm unsure how he read the Reynolds books without working in Chasm City somewhere in the middle. Without it, several pieces go unplaced in the puzzle.

Huh. I didn't think so. I read the trilogy a couple of years before CC.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

88. Dream Park by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes - Circa 1980s SF novel about a virtual reality role-playing game. This was apparently popular enough to warrant a new edition some 30 years later...but I didn't find it all that great. For similar (VR) plots I highly recommend The Whims of Creation by Simon Hawke or The Sherwood Game by Esther Friesner instead.

89. The Aedyn Chronicles Book One: Chosen Ones by Alister McGrath - Mediocre YA fantasy.

90. Half-Minute Horrors edited by Susan Rich - Kids' book of extremely short horror stories, some only a few sentences long. Probably the best one was the illustrated (and hilarious) two sentence summary of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw by Lisa Brown:

Spoiler

"The Governess sees ghosts...or perhaps she is insane. Either way, it's quite scary."

91. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - I was put off from reading this for a long while, due to the allegedly groan-inducing god/human sex scenes, but I finally gave in because of the allegedly fantastic world-building. I didn't find either allegation to be particularly accurate.

92. The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card - The first of a new YA? fantasy series. Cool magic system.

93. Reaper's Gale by SE - What could I possibly say about this in a short blurb? Not my favorite Malazan book, but that's like saying not my favorite amusement park ride. It was still a blast, and gave me a deeper appreciation for MT. Now I'm off to RotCG, and I'm already finding it leaps and bounds better than NoK. That's a relief, because after NoK, I was afraid the ICE books were going to be a drag...

[Serenity]

Finished Necessary Evil. Previously mentioned niggles aside, I thought it was a good end to the trilogy

Thinking about trying Leviathan Wakes next.

[James Hutton]

Finished The Warrior Prophet by R. Scott Bakker, went straight on to the sequel: The Thousandfold Thought.

I really need to re-read the trilogy when I finish this book. Good stuff!!

[acesn8s]

Kruppe, on 02 May 2013 - 07:42 PM, said:

88. Dream Park by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes - Circa 1980s SF novel about a virtual reality role-playing game. This was apparently popular enough to warrant a new edition some 30 years later...but I didn't find it all that great. For similar (VR) plots I highly recommend The Whims of Creation by Simon Hawke or The Sherwood Game by Esther Friesner instead.

I remember reading that and its sequel The Barsoom Project. I thought they were fun reads and back in the late 80s/early 90s, pretty cool concepts.

[Serenity]

Briar King, on 03 May 2013 - 06:45 PM, said:

Serenity, on 03 May 2013 - 02:50 PM, said:

Finished Necessary Evil. Previously mentioned niggles aside, I thought it was a good end to the trilogy

Thinking about trying Leviathan Wakes next.

Do it! I'm not much of a syfy fan but I read LW and fucking LOVED IT! Bk 3 is coming out next mth so its a great time to start the series!

Downloaded it to my Kindle!

[yuna_anomander25]

finished with the1st book Falling Free in the Vorkosigan omnibus Miles, Mutants and Microbes, it's not much fun as the main character Miles is not present, but it was made as a background for a future book, will see how it plays with Miles' universe,

started back with the 1st book Blood Follows in Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, one question, where in Wu is Lamentable Moll located, i think it's somewhere in the Lands of Fist? am i correct or wrong?

anyway, after this, i will finally get back to my Shadows of the Apt read with Blood of the Mantis, it's been months since i last read Dragonfly Falling, would be nice to get back to the Insect-Kinden world,

[Mentalist]

Finished "Retribution Falls". Good, solid book, kept up pace until the end. A bit on the lighter side, but still really good. Will deffo pick up sequels

been trying to pick which one of the two exceptionally thick Angry Robot Omnibuses I should take on my Trans-Atlantic trip. Tried a chapter of each.

"Knights of Breton Court" gave me a prologue, in which a criminal "King", who runs the streets but tries to do good was betrayed and killed by his rival, who has some kind of magic. And his son will be pseudo-King Arthur. The writing was solid, pacing decent.

"Bookman" started with an intro describing the author's influences being Jules Verne, Sherlock Holmes, early steampunk, and the musketeers. Oh, and Greek myths, for good measure. And then the first 4 chapters (so far) had solid writing, and dumped me into a messed up pseudo-England, with a full-on steampunk world to sort it all out.

Yeah, I think I'll stick with Bookman.

I'll be off the interwebs grid for the next two weeks, I'll let you know what I thought then, Abyss!

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 19 March 2016 - 11:58 PM

[amphibian]

Red, White and Blood by Chris Farnsworth - actually pretty good. My one quibble is a bit weird: Farnsworth absolutely nails a Daily Show pretend blurb about the presidential election, but then completely blows the Colbert Report one earlier in the book. The tone of the Colbert one is wildly off, thus I'm betting he watches one and not much of the other.

Anyways, Cade and sidekick end up in interesting places throughout the book, both progress a bit and of course, the supernatural bad guy is pretty evil. However, the book is written in such a way that a fourth or fifth will need to be written to truly close things off that are happening within it. I'd still recommend it to those who've read the first couple books (think Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter + Van Helsing, except waaaaaaay better and with the vampire being in service to the President, rather than the President).

[Dutch]

Briar King, on 04 May 2013 - 06:52 PM, said:

Just finished Tai Pan and that book was GREAT! It wasn't better then Shogun but that was still an epic story and its making me just have to start Gai Jin right now instead of Promise of Blood or finishing Cold Commands.

I knew you would you little barbarian

As far as I can remember Gai Jin means Out lander as well as barbarian.

[Ukjent]

Reading Wooding's The Iron Jackal on my spar time, in the rest of time it gos in avr mega2560 datasheet.

[MTS]

yuna_anomander25, on 03 May 2013 - 11:03 PM, said:

started back with the 1st book Blood Follows in Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, one question, where in Wu is Lamentable Moll located, i think it's somewhere in the Lands of Fist? am i correct or wrong?

It's on the Theftian Peninsula, which is right next to Fist. You can see it on the map here if you zoom in:
http://forum.malazan...ewieldermapjpg/

[Solidsnape]

Mentalist, on 01 May 2013 - 09:48 PM, said:

Finished Absolution Gap yesterday, and thus the "Revelation Space" Trilogy.
Overall, it was ok. It's great to see more epic-space opera series, but I was left somewhat underwhelmed. To be fair, my only reference points right now are Night's Dawn trilo and the Hyperion Cantos, so it may not be a fair comparison. But, to be honest, the setting just didn't grab me. The last book was clever, playing with the timing and presentation the way it did, and was much better at holding my interest compared to the rest of the series, but it wasn't enough to make the series great.

I still have Chasm City to read, but i'll take a break from Sci-fi for a bit. Think I'll finally give that first Ketty Jay book a try.

Chasm city. Good.

Reading the end of game of thrones. Decided I'd have a go as I was given the complete set for Xmas. Managed to get through GoT in about 5 days, and I've got CoK here with me for when I finish.
Good times.

[Serenity]

Just over 400 pages into Leviathan Wakes. Loving it!

[Nocturnal]

Finishing The Bonehunters and halfway into Emma by Jane Austin.

[Tiste Simeon]

Nah she wrote the Jane Austen Book Club...