[Grimjust Bearegular]

I've just finished the Divergent-series by Veronica Roth, and I feel dirty. The first book was fun and enjoyable, although poorly written and with terrible dialogue, but the two latter books just get mired down in a bog of "cleverly" convoluted plotlines, and reveals that would have made the Scooby- Doo crew proud...ai ai ai, and that ending? I'm pretty sure Roth had no idea what she was doing.


Now I'm reading The Thousand Names, the first book in the Shadow Campaign-series by Django Wexler, and so far it looks really promising. It's a military/history-oriented fantasy, and reminds of MbotF in a lot of ways, especially in the interaction between soldiers, and how the entire army is put together...I'm actually looking forward to reading more, which is rare these days

[Macros]

started mccullaghs roman series last night.
have the omnibus e-book edition, comes in at 4400 pagesish.
I love the time frame its set in, but man its a tough start to get into

[Mentalist]

Started Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis

about 2 chapters in, too early to say much. Wanted to read this before ordering Assail, so that if i like it, I'd order the rest of the series with it.

[QuickTidal]

Mentalist, on 14 August 2014 - 03:35 PM, said:

Started Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis

about 2 chapters in, too early to say much. Wanted to read this before ordering Assail, so that if i like it, I'd order the rest of the series with it.

Prepare yourself. That series is amazing.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 14 August 2014 - 04:30 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 14 August 2014 - 03:35 PM, said:

Started Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis

about 2 chapters in, too early to say much. Wanted to read this before ordering Assail, so that if i like it, I'd order the rest of the series with it.

Prepare yourself. That series is amazing.

What ^ said.

[Macros]

Same as, about 60pgs in now and its caught my interest, just the first 20 or so pages was hard slogging with a constant stream of new names and povs being hurled at me

[D'iversify]

Finished Moby Dick today. Pretty heavy going in places (it certainly helps I'm interested in old natural history, see for example 'Cetology') but certainly a worthy read because when it reads well it reads beautifully.

[Salt-Man Z]

D, on 14 August 2014 - 09:20 PM, said:

Finished Moby Dick today. Pretty heavy going in places (it certainly helps I'm interested in old natural history, see for example 'Cetology') but certainly a worthy read because when it reads well it reads beautifully.

This sucker's been sitting on my bookshelf and my Kindle for years now. One of these days...

[worry]

My approach to it was to not make it the only book I was reading at the time. Read a chapter or two at a time...when you hit points of great forward momentum read as much as you want, when it slows down go back to reading a little per day. Just keep going that way cuz it's absolutely worth it.

[Tiste Simeon]

Grunts hasn't gripped me thus far plus my cousin has all the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels so I'm reading them while I am here and will pick up Grunts again after.

[QuickTidal]

Finished BLOOD PACT by Abnett. Another stellar entry into the Gaunt's Ghosts series. I thnk I'm now only one book behind and then I'm caught up. Anyways, as always a great time!

Started the latest James Rollins Sigma book THE 6TH EXTINCTION. Let's see how this one goes.

I also have the latest Murakami on deck, COLORLESS TSUKURU TAZAKI AND HIS YEARS OF PILGRIMAGE.

[acesn8s]

Finished Ringworld's Children. I also burned through Simon Green's Nightside books 10 & 11.

Not sure to what focus on now, so I'm reading del Toro/Hogan's The Fall and Tchaikovsky's Blood of the Mantis. It's a little difficult getting back into Shadow's of the Apt, as it has been a few years since I read Dragonfly Falling. It's starting to come back to me.

[Baco Xtath]

Finished Fairyland by Paul McAuley. Excellent book, highly recommended. It's about a dystopian future where gene-hackers tamper with dolls (human-made fairy-esque slaves) and the ramifications that follow. Crazy stuff and really good.

Also finished Ex-Purgatory. Good, but not my favorite in the series. About halfway through Magician's Land. It's fun being back with the crew and Fillory. I'm enjoying Elliot and Janet's POVs the most. though Quentin and Plum are fun too.

[Mentalist]

QuickTidal, on 14 August 2014 - 04:30 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 14 August 2014 - 03:35 PM, said:

Started Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis

about 2 chapters in, too early to say much. Wanted to read this before ordering Assail, so that if i like it, I'd order the rest of the series with it.

Prepare yourself. That series is amazing.

Abyss, on 14 August 2014 - 04:52 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 14 August 2014 - 04:30 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 14 August 2014 - 03:35 PM, said:

Started Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis

about 2 chapters in, too early to say much. Wanted to read this before ordering Assail, so that if i like it, I'd order the rest of the series with it.

Prepare yourself. That series is amazing.

What ^ said.

200 pages in, good, but not really mindblowing yet.

I'll finish this promptly, because now I have Assail waiting for me.

[Coco with marshmallows]

Grimjust Bearegular, on 14 August 2014 - 08:24 AM, said:

Now I'm reading The Thousand Names, the first book in the Shadow Campaign-series by Django Wexler, and so far it looks really promising. It's a military/history-oriented fantasy, and reminds of MbotF in a lot of ways, especially in the interaction between soldiers, and how the entire army is put together...I'm actually looking forward to reading more, which is rare these days

thought it was okay on first read,

just finished re-read last week and found it a fair bit better than i remembered.

Also, just finished the sequel as it happens. Pretty good, couple of gripes:

Spoiler

Orlanko is portrayed as a shadowy mastermind, but frankly he gets out-thought by everyone who goes against him.

Still not revealed much of Valnich's background - motivations, etc, are still a mystery.

Overall though, enjoyed it, and i think its one of the first fantasy books i recall reading where there's a lead character who's a lesbian and her sexuality isn't a plot point.

The relationship between Winter and Jane is portrayed as being entirely normal, which of course it is, as it's written from Winter's pov, and nobody makes a big deal out of it.

It's a nice change to some (aka Ringil in Morgan's stuff)

[Macros]

Django wexler!!
That's the name of the author I was trying to remember for ages! Read a review of one of his books somewhere, wanted to buy then promptly forgot his name

[polishgenius]

Coco, without going into spoilers (so apologies if you already talked about this in the tags) how is The Shadow Throne in regards to taking a few risks with the narrative and the characters? Because that was my big problem with The Thousand Names, it didn't really take any, and was thus predictable.

[QuickTidal]

Mentalist, on 15 August 2014 - 09:05 PM, said:

200 pages in, good, but not really mindblowing yet.

I'll finish this promptly, because now I have Assail waiting for me.

The mind-blowing comes at the end.

Trust us. You're going to want book 2.

[QuickTidal]

Finished the 10th Sigma book by Rollins, THE 6TH EXTINCTION. Eh, it's REALLY focused on Biopunk, and synthetics, and viral plagues that can't be stopped because of how reslilient they are. It's decent, and Gray, Kowalski, and Lisa get lots to do, while Painter, Kat, and Monk pretty much sit on their asses. I feel bad about Kat since she was such a badass operative, and Rollins quasi-replaced her with Seichan when she had her kids...but the issue with this volume is that Seichan is off-page in Hong Kong for the whole book. New characters Jenna and her trained husky Nikko are great fun and well crafted. But what's EXCEPTIONALLY weird here is the fact that we have a bad guy who is kind of standing off against a good guy (both new characters) and Sigma is jjust kind of along for the ride....but it's these two that have the chess match against on another. It almost feels like a Sigma-Side quest? I dunno. Good, but low on the totem pole of Sigma books.

Started Paula Volsky's ILLUSION, which so far is entirely engrossing in a "can't put it down" kind of way.

[Coco with marshmallows]

polishgenius, on 16 August 2014 - 07:56 AM, said:

Coco, without going into spoilers (so apologies if you already talked about this in the tags) how is The Shadow Throne in regards to taking a few risks with the narrative and the characters? Because that was my big problem with The Thousand Names, it didn't really take any, and was thus predictable.

I'd say its still fairly predictable overall. There's a new pov in the second one, and almost an entirely new cast of characters. Winter and Marcus are still pov characters, and them and Vhalnich are the only returning characters. There are some interesting points brought up that I expect will be expanded upon in the third book. Or possibly fourth, depending on how Wexler goes.