[EmperorMagus]

 Graablick, on 28 June 2014 - 10:21 PM, said:

Doing a reread of The Darkness that comes before. I have read all the 5 books before, but I still don't know what I think of them. The writing is good and the same can be said about the setting. But Kellhus is just a massive cock and I can't stand him.

Kellhus is one of my favorite fantasy characters. I don't like the second trilogy because there isn't any chapter for him. The guy is just bad ass.

[Ukjent]

He is some of the best written I have read, but it's just worse reading the books for the second time. You know how it will evolve and that will just continue nagging in the back of your mind.

[Traveller]

 The Incredible Kitsu, on 28 June 2014 - 09:42 PM, said:

Finished Prince of Fools. I think I like Jal even better than Jorgy. Plus Snorri is just plain awesome.

Yep. Just reading this now, about halfway I think. I do kind of wish the Broken Empire wasn't almost identical to how it was in the past - it would just seem more plausable to have evolved rather than simply repeating the past.

I like Jal though, he's a sort of reminds me of a cross between Flashman and Jezel (Abercrombies) with his innate cowardice often being mistaken for bravery.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 29 June 2014 - 11:09 AM

[Imperial Historian]

What? It takes place at the same time as prince of thorns, not earlier or later. Why would it have evolveD?

I loved this, better than thorns series in my view, though this may be due to my preference for harry flashman style heroes.

[Macros]

Revelation space is hard work
trying to get the constantly shifting timeline straight in my head is frustrating

[Traveller]

 Imperial Historian, on 29 June 2014 - 11:09 AM, said:

What? It takes place at the same time as prince of thorns, not earlier or later. Why would it have evolveD?

I loved this, better than thorns series in my view, though this may be due to my preference for harry flashman style heroes.

I don't mean in relation to the other books, I meant in relation to the world as it was before the year of a thousand suns or whatever it was called.. the past back before 'the builders.'

If the world as we know it was destroyed today, civilization is unlikely to regrow in exactly the same way, repeating events such as Viking invasions; and although region names would be vaguely familiar sounding, they would be more likely to reflect our present names than the ones from our medieval past.

I just mean that the world of the Broken Empire would be more convincing as our world in the future if the names were entirely new or more subtle reminders of the regions they are now, rather than identical to their original names.

Although to be fair to Lawrence, having just looked at the map, the majority are new names. It was just names like Umbria, Florence, and Roma that I was thinking of.

Really enjoying this so far.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 29 June 2014 - 05:24 PM

[worry]

Blame the Church!

[Serenity]

 polishgenius, on 25 June 2014 - 07:19 PM, said:

That said, I enjoyed Reality Disfunction, in places a lot- however I never read more purely because there was a gap between reading the first and second, and by the time I'd got there, I didn't remember enough to properly get what was happening, but at that stage, too much to enjoy a full reread.

I was in the same situation, reading them as they came out. I ended up reading The Reality Dysfunction three times, The Neutronium Alchemist twice, and The Naked God just the once (so far). Loved that trilogy - nothing else he's done has come close, imo (I enjoyed the Greg Mandel books to a degree, and quite liked Pandora's Star, but hated Judas Unchained, and haven't been back to him since).

 QuickTidal, on 28 June 2014 - 12:21 PM, said:

Started TOWER LORD this morning! It's already great to be back with Vaelin Al Sorna.

Jealous! It should arrive on my Kindle later this week . . .



My reading has been slow-going over the past couple of weeks, mainly because of holiday and the World Cup. Still, I finished McCullough's third 'Masters of Rome' novel, Fortune's Favourites, and then Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf, both of which were fantastic.

Now I'm re-reading The Legacy of Heorot (spot the Beowulf connection!) by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Steven Barnes, and it's every bit as awesome as I remember it from the first time I read it (must be 25 years ago . . . ).

Then I was planning to read Galactic North, but now QT's reminded me about Tower Lord I may go for that instead. Or maybe Half A King . . .

[Grimjust Bearegular]

Just finished The Blade Itself and wow, here's an author who's even worse at writing female characters than Tolkien was. Good job! Didn't care at all for the main characters, they're two-dimensional and whiney, thought the prose was choppy and unrefined, didn't get excited until 400 pages in and then it sort of just dabbled off. Not gonna pick up the second book anytime soon.


Also just finished Leviathan Wakes, which was EPIC. I <3 Miller. Can't wait for the TV-show. Some of the twists and turns were a bit predictable, and the moral issues and themes were way too obvious, but other than that it was an excellent read. Gonna buy book two immediately!

[D'iversify]

About 3/4s through Banks' Consider Phlebas - very enjoyable but not overawing compared to, say Wolfe or Simmons. Keep imagining the Clear Air Turbulence as the Planet Express ship.

[Abyss]

THE RHESUS CHART by Stross.
CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN MUTHAFUCKAHHHSSSSS...

[Baco Xtath]

Finished Honor's Knight by Rachel Bach. Fantastic stuff. Really really good space opera. I recommend it to anyone that likes sci-fi, so basically anyone reading this post. Also, 4 hrs into Tower Lord. So stoked for this one.

[Studlock]

Finally finished PSS by Mieville which I enjoyed very much (but not without some reservations, like the moth-shaped plot tumor), will be reading the Scar sometime very soon. I've also read about 150 pages into the Red Knight and again I enjoy what I've read so far. Willful Murder is my spirit animal basically. And those French-like knights are so hilariously French I love it. Other characters I enjoy: the Red Knight seems pretty cool, Bad Tom is a loon, and the church lady is awesome.

[QuickTidal]

About 150 pages into TOWER LORD and once I settled into the chapter POV's it's moving along at the kind of clip that means I get annoyed when I have to STOP reading it...because all I wanna do is keep reading!

Spoiler

Though all the storyline's are good, Frentis' plotline is Fuuuuuuuucked so far, with the Volarian / ancient goddess (a guess since we don't know who she is...) forcing him to kill people under the bond...and all I want him to do is get control of whatever "seed" the old man leaked into him and ice her! Oh, and so far the whole Lonak storyline in the North is great...Davoka is a really interesting character. And of course Caenis is still kind of a douche nozzle to Vaelin. I'm waiting for Nortah and the northern folk, and snowcat!

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

 Grimjust Bearegular, on 01 July 2014 - 08:31 AM, said:

Just finished The Blade Itself and wow, here's an author who's even worse at writing female characters than Tolkien was. Good job! Didn't care at all for the main characters, they're two-dimensional and whiney, thought the prose was choppy and unrefined, didn't get excited until 400 pages in and then it sort of just dabbled off. Not gonna pick up the second book anytime soon.

If you want to see Abercrombie write a better female character, then read his book Best Served Cold. Monza is a hard-ass.

[QuickTidal]

 Whisperzzzzzzz, on 02 July 2014 - 04:49 PM, said:

 Grimjust Bearegular, on 01 July 2014 - 08:31 AM, said:

Just finished The Blade Itself and wow, here's an author who's even worse at writing female characters than Tolkien was. Good job! Didn't care at all for the main characters, they're two-dimensional and whiney, thought the prose was choppy and unrefined, didn't get excited until 400 pages in and then it sort of just dabbled off. Not gonna pick up the second book anytime soon.

If you want to see Abercrombie write a better female character, then read his book Best Served Cold. Monza is a hard-ass.

Except Monza is a reprehensible human being so bent on revenge that she can't see straight. It's THE LIMEY in fantasy-book form and she's Terrence Stamp. She doesn't constitute a hero so much as a very-very anti-hero who's exceedingly hard to cheer for.

[Coco with marshmallows]

 Abyss, on 01 July 2014 - 09:45 PM, said:

THE RHESUS CHART by Stross.
CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN MUTHAFUCKAHHHSSSSS...

It's out?

TO THE BOOKSTORE!

[Ukjent]

Tried to start a reread of The Assassin's apprentice by Hoobs yesterday but it wasn't working for me and I started yet another reread of The Black Company.

Has anyone read The barrow by Mark Smylie? Came across it on amazon

[Baco Xtath]

 Graablick, on 02 July 2014 - 06:34 PM, said:

Has anyone read The barrow by Mark Smylie? Came across it on amazon

As far as I've seen, the consensus is that it's not that good. I had it on my amazon wish list for a while but after seeing a bunch of negative stuff about it, I've removed it.

1/3 through Tower Lord. Real good so far. This series could turn out to be a top fiver.

[Chance]

Tower Lord really hit the spot for top notch fantasy. Somethings are still a bit too simple, some people painted with a bit too broad strokes but there is a lot to love about the series so far and the next installment is joining the most desired volumes well above most of the "big" names of fantasy. My only real criticism of it is that the book really is two-three chapters short, a couple of people really should have gotten a chance to speak to each other on stage and one storyline could have done with a tad bit more resolution.

Easily one of the most enjoyable novels so far this year, if a bit too enamoured with the gruesome now and then, might even be a top three this year but the competition really is expected to be rather stiff.

This post has been edited by Chance: 02 July 2014 - 09:17 PM