[Abyss]

polishgenius, on 03 October 2014 - 04:56 PM, said:

Abyss, on 03 October 2014 - 04:44 PM, said:

polishgenius, on 03 October 2014 - 04:08 PM, said:

I want to read The Troupe, but it doesn't appear to be currently available as an ebook, or at least not an epub.

Your search fu is weak....

http://www.amazon.ca...g=UTF8&sr=&qid=

My search-fu is fine. My using-Amazon-fu is weak, though, hence why I need an epub which that isn't.


(cheers for the effort, though. )

Converting from purchased format to epub isn't hard.

[polishgenius]

Abyss, on 03 October 2014 - 05:15 PM, said:

Converting from purchased format to epub isn't hard.

Yeah, but it still means paying money to Amazon. Nuh-uh.

QuickTidal, on 03 October 2014 - 05:11 PM, said:

Can't you order the tree pulp version?

Yes, but not right now.

[T77]

Finished The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I thought it was good, although I think the Kaladin story line was way too drawn out. That should have been caught by an editor. It came together really well at the end. There was nothing particularly special about it, the plot just slowly got its hooks into me and I will read Words of Radiance soon while this is still fresh in my mind.

I will take a slight break in between these two massive books and read Pyramids by Pratchett next since it is a quick read.

[Coco with marshmallows]

Currently attempting a complete Archive Trawl of Sluggy Freelance - haven't read it in about 8/9 years.

(some ancients may remember long back that my first signature was "time to die nerdboy")

Currently just finishing 2003 - 6 years down, 11 to go.

God damn that's a lot of comics.

[Grief]

Mentalist, on 03 October 2014 - 02:20 PM, said:

20 years later is my favourite Dumas work.

I'll need to give it a look, I've heard quite a lot of positive things about it.

[Abyss]

Coco with marshmallows, on 03 October 2014 - 09:47 PM, said:

Currently attempting a complete Archive Trawl of Sluggy Freelance - haven't read it in about 8/9 years.

(some ancients may remember long back that my first signature was "time to die nerdboy")

Currently just finishing 2003 - 6 years down, 11 to go.

God damn that's a lot of nifty.

Fixed.

[Mentalist]

Grief, on 03 October 2014 - 09:49 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 03 October 2014 - 02:20 PM, said:

20 years later is my favourite Dumas work.

I'll need to give it a look, I've heard quite a lot of positive things about it.

It's a more serious work than the light caper-style of 3 Musketeers (and there's revolutions everywhere), but it's still not a "dark" work by any means.

[Mentalist]

Incidentally, I have finished "Elantris". Quite good. A bit too happy for my usual tastes, a lot of naive idealism in this one compared to what I'm used to, and Sanderson's protagonists do tend to be so wonderfully one-dimensional in their idealism.

Nonetheless, the interplay of the 3 main PoVs worked for me. And the secondary cast was sufficiently strong to brush over the annoyances--they were also fairly one-dimensional, but they seemed to almost complement the main cast, so as to make the whole bunch somehow believable.

EDIT: seeing as my Etermnal Champion books have all arrived, I will next go on a Moorcock binge, starting with the first omnibus "Von Bek"

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 04 October 2014 - 04:36 AM

[Chance]

Went through Ancillary Sword and loved it found it a good step above the first one (but a lot less action). Thought the use of gender stuff still throws me now and then, wondering who is what and how people appear or their relationships, at the same time it really gives a different feel to the narritive and how some things are taken for granted in language.

[Mentalist]

Briar King, on 04 October 2014 - 06:24 PM, said:

@Ment

Could you tell it was it his 1st? It was the 1st of his I read so it didn't bother me at all and I loved it.

To be absolutely honest, yes, you can. His characterization is still rough. His chars are way too 1-dimensional. It's a common problem Sanderson has with his protagonists still (Kellhus, Kaladin and Raoden are all defined primarily by their faith in humanity), but it's overly pronounced in "Elantris".

That being said, it's still a solid book, one of the best debuts I've ever read.

[QuickTidal]

Started THE DRAGONBONE CHAIR by Tad Williams, with the full intent to read the whole series.

So far I love the table setting.

[Coco with marshmallows]

Yeah, that series is where Tad really started to go down the route of using a hundred and fifty words where three would have sufficed.

The pinnacle of this was achieved by him in his Otherland series.

Seems to have broken out of it a bit now, as his Bobby Dollar books are nothing like as bad.

On topic, Still Sluggy-ing, just started 2005.

9+ years of niftyness to go.

[worry]

I'll come out as saying I liked Memory/Sorrow/Thorn quite a bit, even if it's ultimately not upper echelon material. The second book is especially strong, as it puts the characters in some pretty dark places.

[Tiste Simeon]

Coco with marshmallows, on 04 October 2014 - 09:15 PM, said:

Yeah, that series is where Tad really started to go down the route of using a hundred and fifty words where three would have sufficed.

The pinnacle of this was achieved by him in his Otherland series.

Seems to have broken out of it a bit now, as his Bobby Dollar books are nothing like as bad.

On topic, Still Sluggy-ing, just started 2005.

9+ years of niftyness to go.

Hah. I read Otherland through twice and while I utterly loved it I couldn't help feeling that you could cut enough from the series to knock it down from 4 books to a trilogy without affecting plot, character development etc in the slightest.

[QuickTidal]

I'm only about 5 chapters into DRAGONBONE CHAIR, but I already really like it. Classic fantasy epic stuff. I'm okay with Williams meandering prose since he's kind of solid at scene setting.

[Morgoth]

Chance, on 04 October 2014 - 04:38 PM, said:

Went through Ancillary Sword and loved it found it a good step above the first one (but a lot less action). Thought the use of gender stuff still throws me now and then, wondering who is what and how people appear or their relationships, at the same time it really gives a different feel to the narritive and how some things are taken for granted in language.

The language part was my favourite aspect of Ancillary Justice. I'm actually a little dissapointed that the author went and made a sequel. I mean, I'm sure it was the intention all along, but I enjoyed the ambiguity of the AJ ending. I guess I prefer standalones these days.

[Chance]

Morgoth, on 06 October 2014 - 06:20 AM, said:

Chance, on 04 October 2014 - 04:38 PM, said:

Went through Ancillary Sword and loved it found it a good step above the first one (but a lot less action). Thought the use of gender stuff still throws me now and then, wondering who is what and how people appear or their relationships, at the same time it really gives a different feel to the narritive and how some things are taken for granted in language.

The language part was my favourite aspect of Ancillary Justice. I'm actually a little dissapointed that the author went and made a sequel. I mean, I'm sure it was the intention all along, but I enjoyed the ambiguity of the AJ ending. I guess I prefer standalones these days.

While Ancillary Justice was decent it had the problem of having to explain everyones backstory, it more or less was all the novel did up until the end where it all came together. This one like many sequels can simply tell a story, as the audience know why main protagonists are like they are and the author does a lot better with a single (simpler) focused story in my opinion. This one like the first one ends in a good place for an interesting sequel, possibly a very interesting one.


Currently going through The Red Knight its refreshingly in how actually medieval it feels, not faux high-fantasy medieval. Not entirely sure if its any good yet or just middling but it probably hinges a lot on the ending.

This post has been edited by Chance: 06 October 2014 - 08:22 AM

[Obdigore]

Coco with marshmallows, on 04 October 2014 - 09:15 PM, said:

Yeah, that series is where Tad really started to go down the route of using a hundred and fifty words where three would have sufficed.

The pinnacle of this was achieved by him in his Otherland series.

I think you mean The Otherland Trilogy.

Spoiler

the fourth book never happened. NEVER HAPPENED

[Tiste Simeon]

Obdigore, on 06 October 2014 - 10:22 AM, said:

Coco with marshmallows, on 04 October 2014 - 09:15 PM, said:

Yeah, that series is where Tad really started to go down the route of using a hundred and fifty words where three would have sufficed.

The pinnacle of this was achieved by him in his Otherland series.

I think you mean The Otherland Trilogy.

Spoiler

the fourth book never happened. NEVER HAPPENED

My only problem with that scenario is that book 3 was not a good place to end it. I didn't utterly hate the end of book 4 but, yeah, pretty much the entirety of that book was useless and pointless. My theory is if you rewrote the ending a bit, took out the rest of book 4 and maybe a few chapters from books 2 & 3, you would have a really tight and well paced trilogy.

[End of Disc One]

Mentalist, on 04 October 2014 - 07:20 PM, said:

(Kellhus, Kaladin and Raoden are all defined primarily by their faith in humanity)

Awesome typo