[QuickTidal]

 polishgenius, on 16 June 2014 - 03:18 PM, said:

 Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast, on 16 June 2014 - 02:32 PM, said:

Having caught up a bit with this thread, is it worth my while to pick up a copy of Vellum? Intrigued by it but can't tell whether I'll enjoy it or not...

The only way to know is to try... for my part, I found it one of the best books I've ever read, absolute genius. It takes some effort and indeed a reread, but it's very rewarding.

And I found it to be one of the most tedious, pretentious, and awful bunch of words ever put to page. So much so that The used book store would not take it when I tried to sell it and so I threw it in the trash and wished it good riddance for wasting my time.

So you REALLY may have to just read it and see as I've seen polarizing reviews.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 16 June 2014 - 03:45 PM

[polishgenius]

I knew QT would soon show up with his mad, wrong ways.

[QuickTidal]

 polishgenius, on 16 June 2014 - 03:53 PM, said:

I knew QT would soon show up with his mad, wrong ways.

Always!

[McLovin]

And then there's my perspective: I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. I've certainly not been motivated to pick up the sequel.

So I guess that means...read for yourself and find out.

[Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast]

Haha. Not even left square one, never mind getting back to it! I think I'll give it a go then - cheers!

This post has been edited by Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast: 16 June 2014 - 04:47 PM

[Abyss]

Finished Pullman's HIS DARK MATERIALS trilo. Enjoyed it. I thought his imagination was awesome, his characters engaging for the most part with a really nice touch for supporting cast fantasy genre fun (Ioyrek rules. The Galavespians were awesome and i would read an entire series of them stabbing big people in the neck). There were a few instances where the story dragged, but overall totally worth the listen/read. Have to say the audio books, done with a complete cast, really added something.

Also finished Lavie Tidhar's BOOKMAN trilo, bk 3 THE GREAT GAME. I give up... his imagination, settings and even characters are awesome, but something about the way Tidhar tells this story just didn't work for me as much as i enjoyed the components. His narrative... meanders, i suppose, and when i want to see progress, instead i got inner-monologuing that didn't add anything new to a character who already had my attention. The series is totally worth a try, because what didn't work for me may blow another reader away, but ymmv, i suppose. I have his VIOLENT CENTURY in the TRP and will try it at some point.

Next up as i continue to try and bring to a close series that have been stagnating in my TRP, either Jacka's TAKEN, or Campbell's LOST FLEET second and third series' i think. Also have this anthology LEGENDARY dedicated to Gemmel that i'm curious about.
Unless WURMS OF BLEARMOUTH arrives.

Also HELLBOY/BPRD.

GAHHH TOO MANY CHOICES FIRST WORLD PROBLEM WAAAAH

[amphibian]

 polishgenius, on 16 June 2014 - 03:53 PM, said:

I knew QT would soon show up with his mad, wrong ways.

I read a galley of Vellum many years ago, before it came out and my opinion ended up closer to QuickTidal's than yours.

I didn't hate it, but thought it was an okay story buried under a mountain of "look at me writing good" language. Duncan's voice came off as inauthentic to me in a way that's as if we didn't trust Erikson to use Kruppe well as a character.

[Baco Xtath]

Finished Drowned Cities. Bacigalupi paints a brutal future and does it well. It's a bit YA but definitely worthwhile. Tomorrow starts Cibola Burn. Hell yeah.

[Mentalist]

Finished "Red Country". Good book, nothing stellar.

I didn't really buy the Wild West parallels-for me, it was far more Klondike gold-rush-y, a la Jack London's stuff than California. Just the feel I got from it.

Still, good book.

Next I'll probably read "Emperor of Thorns" since I picked that up in mmpb today...

[amphibian]

Kate Griffin/Catherine Webb can flat out write.

I just finished Madness of Angels and very, very much liked it.

Warning: it's closer to the hazier sections of Perdido Street Station in the early going, then settles down after the protagonist comes to terms with coming back from the dead in a Terminator type naked in a ball of electricity appearance.

Very creative, very fun and I'll read the rest of her books. I'm genuinely impressed by her sheer output, must be getting nearly everything out of her head into the page in a fashion that she and her editors like.

[Macros]

Just read the first two Empire books by...I forget, books are called Wounds of Honour and Arrows of Fury.
meh, Scarrow did it better Imo, enjoyable if somewhat predictable.

[Morgoth]

So I've plown through a number of books recently, most memorably of the fiction being Cibola Burn and Ancillary Justice.

Cibola Burn was a fun action packed Space Opera in what is becoming something like the Dresden of sci fi, and yet I'm finding myself frustrated with much the same issues as I experienced with the previous book in the series. In essence I find the authors to be too willing to forgo logical consistency in order to create suspense. It's not a flaw sufficient to make me stop reading, but it buggs me.

Ancillary Justice was an interesting story of a massive, ship encompassing AI finding itself locked into a single human body. This is Ann Leckie's first novel from what I understand, and I found it promising. It's also nice to have more female authors in the genre.

[Cause]

Recently read and have enjoyed

The traitors Son: A well written fantasy set in a medieval type setting in which humanity is both divided against itself but must also struggle against the wild, intelligent beasts, faeries and magic that live in the forests and environments on the edge of human civilization.

Tales of the Kin: A tale of a thief and spy (not locke lamora) set in a fantastical empire. Just entertaining

[QuickTidal]

Cameron's KILLER OF MEN, while not bad at all, was a REALLY slow burn. About 100 pages before anything of real significance happens. I've put it down for now, but I'll likely go back to it later when in the mood.

Settled into book 2 of Mary Stewart's Merlin series THE HOLLOW HILLS...which so far is even better than book 1. Her writing is so wonderfully descriptive without feeling overwrought or weighing down the narrative. She has a way with words.

[polishgenius]

 Mentalist, on 17 June 2014 - 01:39 AM, said:

I didn't really buy the Wild West parallels-for me, it was far more Klondike gold-rush-y, a la Jack London's stuff than California. Just the feel I got from it.

Why would it have to be California? The main influences are Unforgiven, set in Wyoming, and Deadwood (which is set in the one in North Dakota). The gold rush stuff coming largely from Deadwood, since it being a mining town is one of the driving forces of the plot of the show.

[Baco Xtath]

 amphibian, on 17 June 2014 - 03:48 AM, said:

Kate Griffin/Catherine Webb can flat out write.

I just finished Madness of Angels and very, very much liked it.

Warning: it's closer to the hazier sections of Perdido Street Station in the early going, then settles down after the protagonist comes to terms with coming back from the dead in a Terminator type naked in a ball of electricity appearance.

Very creative, very fun and I'll read the rest of her books. I'm genuinely impressed by her sheer output, must be getting nearly everything out of her head into the page in a fashion that she and her editors like.

I loved all the Mathew Swift books, Midnight Mayor probably being my favorite. I haven't tried her new stuff yet but it's definitely on my TRP.

6 hrs into Cibola Burn. A lot of set up thus far but still good stuff. Also listening to Last Argument of Kings; 5 yrs since I last read it. I'd forgotten how good the First Law trilogy is. One of the top series, without a doubt.

[Serenity]

Finished The Grass Crown, the second of McCullough's 'Masters of Rome' series, and now about a quarter of the way through the third, Fortune's Favourites. Very rare for me to read three books from a series one after another, especially mighty tomes like this. In fact, I think it's the first time it's happened since my first read through Malazan, so I'm obviously loving them

[QuickTidal]

 Serenity, on 18 June 2014 - 08:02 AM, said:

Finished The Grass Crown, the second of McCullough's 'Masters of Rome' series, and now about a quarter of the way through the third, Fortune's Favourites. Very rare for me to read three books from a series one after another, especially mighty tomes like this. In fact, I think it's the first time it's happened since my first read through Malazan, so I'm obviously loving them

I've got FIRT MAN on deck...really excited to get into it later this summer. Good to know the series continues on the good trend.

[Ukjent]

Read the Forever War last night, and I have to say it was surprisingly damn good.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! I read too much. Need to knock some of these off my list. I'll start with some mostly forgettable cheap/free kindle reads:

108. Children of the After: Awakening by Jeremy Laszlo

109. Forgotten Girl: Season One - Episode 1 (Steampunk OZ) by Steve DeWinter, S.D. Stuart

110. Planet Urth by Jennifer Martucci, Christopher Martucci

111. A Tide of Shadows (The Chronicles of Llars) by Tom Bielawski

112. Saving The World Boxed Set II by Dean King - More comic book history summaries of 3 super heroes. Like the 1st set, it reads like a 6th grade book report.

113. The Time Travel Megapack: 26 Modern and Classic Science Fiction Stories edited by Edward M. Lerner

114. Hollowland by Amanda Hocking - YA dystopia with zombies; liked the comic book version better.

115. Reign of Blood by Alexia Purdy

116. A Quest of Heroes (Book #1 in the Sorcerer's Ring) by Morgan Rice

117. Garden of Eden Anthology (Biblical Legends Anthologies Series) edited by Allen Taylor

118. Scary Mary by S.A. Hunter

11 down, about 3 dozen more to go...