[amphibian]

Foundation is a mess of ideas that don't actually work together and is hampered by Asimov's clunky prose.

Still has nuggets of cool stuff though.

[McLovin]

So for those who haven't read COLD DAYS, I have one word for you.

Vajazzled.

Really, the book could have just ended there, but I'm glad it hasn't.

[QuickTidal]

Almost 200 pages into STONE OF FAREWELL and want to point out that Tad Williams has one again swept me under his spell.

[Nicodimas]

amphibian, on 18 December 2014 - 03:11 AM, said:

Foundation is a mess of ideas that don't actually work together and is hampered by Asimov's clunky prose.

Still has nuggets of cool stuff though.

Yea I am starting to remember how it jumps all around. That aspect does bother me for certain and the B-rated Sci-fi parts... I think you also have to remember it was published 60+ years ago! Really cool stuff and early early is his career for certain.

[acesn8s]

QuickTidal, on 18 December 2014 - 02:58 PM, said:

Almost 200 pages into STONE OF FAREWELL and want to point out that Tad Williams has one again swept me under his spell.

I have about 200 pages left in Shadowplay and am in the same boat.

[QuickTidal]

acesn8s, on 18 December 2014 - 06:12 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 18 December 2014 - 02:58 PM, said:

Almost 200 pages into STONE OF FAREWELL and want to point out that Tad Williams has one again swept me under his spell.

I have about 200 pages left in Shadowplay and am in the same boat.

Yeah, it's kind of mesmerizing. LOL

[Abyss]

McLovin, on 18 December 2014 - 01:52 PM, said:

So for those who haven't read COLD DAYS, I have one word for you.

Vajazzled.

Really, the book could have just ended there, but I'm glad it hasn't.

One of the funniest things Butcher has ever written...

..and that's saying quite a lot.

[Nicodimas]

Abyss, on 18 December 2014 - 06:50 PM, said:

McLovin, on 18 December 2014 - 01:52 PM, said:

So for those who haven't read COLD DAYS, I have one word for you.

Vajazzled.

Really, the book could have just ended there, but I'm glad it hasn't.

One of the funniest things Butcher has ever written...

..and that's saying quite a lot.

Oh cool I haven't read this one yet. Been on my shelf for a personal reason..unread. I should read it.

[Binder of Demons]

Nicodimas, on 18 December 2014 - 05:59 PM, said:

amphibian, on 18 December 2014 - 03:11 AM, said:

Foundation is a mess of ideas that don't actually work together and is hampered by Asimov's clunky prose.

Still has nuggets of cool stuff though.

Yea I am starting to remember how it jumps all around. That aspect does bother me for certain and the B-rated Sci-fi parts... I think you also have to remember it was published 60+ years ago! Really cool stuff and early early is his career for certain.

Also, try to remember that Foundation was actually written as a series of short stories which were made into a single novel a bit after the fact. There were 4 short stories originally published in Astounding Stories, and a fifth story added later. So that can quite easily explain the jumping around bit.

[Macros]

Gabriele, on 14 December 2014 - 03:06 PM, said:

Macros, on 11 December 2014 - 09:34 AM, said:

Brothers in Blood.
Latest in the Eagle series by Simon Scarrow, its popcorn fun, Sharpe set in the roman empire, which I thoroughly enjoy

If you like that stuff, you should also give Douglas Jackson's Hero of Rome series a try. There's another Roman one by Harry Sidebottom about Ballista (beginning with Warrior of Rome and finished with 6 books), but he is a professor for history and it shows sometimes. I didn't mind, but little history lessons (usually no more than a paragraph or so) are not for everyone. His new series about Maximinus Thrax is even more history-focussed. Ben Kane writes Roman stuff, too (Hannibal and Spartacus) but he's not up to par stylistically, imho.

Cornwell's Uhtred books are fun, too. They're making a TV series of the first, The Last Kingdom.

Actually just started the Uhtred books today at work on some down time.

Sudebottoms books, eh I've read 3 so far, possibly 4, they're ok, but the constant insertion of domina and famila in italics instead of just saying fucking family irritated the hell out of me. Either go for Latin everywhere or stow it, stop showing off harry, it pulls me out of immersion too much everytime it happened

[amphibian]

Sometimes words that have no exact correlation in English are used in the original language. I think the full concept of the "domina" as the Romans understood it isn't expressed that well by saying "Mistress", with those particular sets of modern English concepts, and perhaps "familia" is the same way.

[amphibian]

I tore through the Kate Daniels series.

It doesn't hold a candle to Butcher's Dresden Files or the Matthew Swift books and the Verus books migh eclipse it someday. BUT it does do "easy reading" well in the paranormal action series and it has a female lead who is presented in a fairly strong and smart manner. Ilona Andrews (the writing team) does a good job of leaving Chekhov's Guns around for future stories/novellas without making them annoying and once the big bad's minions really start coming in, the overall story level dramatically picks up. The romance is also entertaining - although there's a tendency to make the relationship quarrels between characters be shown by consensual and non-maiming physical violence that I think is done out of "just do it this way cuz it's easier".

I have a few quibbles regarding minor things and I'll keep them sufficiently spoiler-free to leave outside those hidden boxes (although a mod could disagree and hide 'em without protest from me).

I think Ilona Andrews fumbled the mechanics of a number of scenes aimed at "greying" the good guys some. This keeps popping up in different situations and it looks to me like Andrews is much better at "greying" the bad guys/girls than doing the same for the good guys/girls.

The unarmed combat up until about 2/3rds of the way through - as seen through Kate who is a relatively unenhanced human in comparison to everyone else - is not good for a long while. The armed combat is good - better than RA Salvatore's Drizzt schmaltz, actually. It reads as if both the husband and wife woke up from traditional martial arts/flailing around with stupid blocks and bad kicks nonsense derived from real life experience with one or two not-good martial arts and then slowly started adding in stuff that does work from better ones. Either they linked up with beta readers who pushed for this or they moved on themselves.

That jump from bad combat to good combat also corresponds with a jump in the overall research into backgrounds, motivations, settings and inventiveness. Much like Butcher, the writers had a jump in terms of what they put out and it's probably because they could put more time/research/networking into the writing.

Overall, I'd say that if you have a small TRP, lots of downtime and a hankering for something not that demanding, you will likely enjoy the Kate Daniels series. That's probably why it's a best-selling series.

[Mentalist]

Tiste Simeon, on 17 December 2014 - 09:47 PM, said:

Traveller, on 17 December 2014 - 08:45 PM, said:

I've just finished Deadhouse Gates.

I can't remember when I last read it.. it's been a while since my last full reread.

Having read a lot of other stuff since, I wondered if I'd enjoy it as much. Also actually knowing what is going on in scenes that used to be more ambiguous makes it a different read, which I thought might make it less enjoyable than I remember.

And.. I shouldn't have worried. The book is still amazing. Duiker's entire story arc. Felisin's journey. Mappo and Icarium.. Coltaine... fuck, it's just epic.

On to MoI. (My paperback of this is now almost in bits though so kindle version this time round.)

I find that reread only enhance the books! May have to do another one before too long.

I'm reserving somewhere between a month and a half to 2 months before Fall of Light comes out for a full Malaz reread.

[Andorion]

Quote

as seen through Kate who is a relatively unenhanced human in comparison to everyone else

I would like to disagree about this.

Also one of the main attractions of this series for me was that there was a seriously kickass female protagonist with no big hangups and the romance angle did not really detract ffrom this.

[Mentalist]

Finished the latest Moorcock, "Nomad of Time". This is the one Moorcock book I would heartily recommend. Especially if you like historical fiction, and dont mind that it be alternative history. .Truly great stuff, with an occasional light doze of philosophising tossed in to engage the thinkymeatz. Strongly endorsed.

[amphibian]

Andorion, on 20 December 2014 - 02:28 AM, said:

Quote

as seen through Kate who is a relatively unenhanced human in comparison to everyone else

I would like to disagree about this.

Also one of the main attractions of this series for me was that there was a seriously kickass female protagonist with no big hangups and the romance angle did not really detract ffrom this.

In the beginning, everyone else has greater magical power than Kate. She's a terrific sword fighter, but the others have shapeshifting powers, regeneration, vampire piloting, blessings of gods and so on. She doesn't.

So that's what I'm talking about without getting into spoilers.

I do think there's a bit of wish fulfillment going on that nearly got out of control until the later books checked it. One or both of the Ilona Andrews team really wanted to giftwrap Kate every power-up and group affiliation possible without serious complication - then they took several steps back and decided that wasn't good for the story/readers.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 20 December 2014 - 06:23 AM

[Andorion]

I read it as not so much not having power, but consciously not using power. As for the group affiliation, frnakly I thought the Order sucked. They never actually did anything discernibly useful.

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 20 December 2014 - 06:22 AM, said:

Andorion, on 20 December 2014 - 02:28 AM, said:

Quote

as seen through Kate who is a relatively unenhanced human in comparison to everyone else

I would like to disagree about this.

Also one of the main attractions of this series for me was that there was a seriously kickass female protagonist with no big hangups and the romance angle did not really detract ffrom this.

In the beginning, everyone else has greater magical power than Kate. She's a terrific sword fighter, but the others have shapeshifting powers, regeneration, vampire piloting, blessings of gods and so on. She doesn't.

So that's what I'm talking about without getting into spoilers.

Yeah it's not about her not having power, it's totally about her not using that power. She uses a power word not even a quarter of the way into the first book, and she chastises herself for revealing that much.

EDIT: Andorion got to it before me.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 20 December 2014 - 01:22 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

Wait. Ilona Andrews is two people?

This post has been edited by Tiste Simeon: 20 December 2014 - 01:34 PM

[Andorion]

Tiste Simeon, on 20 December 2014 - 01:29 PM, said:

Wait. Ilona Andrews is two people?

Husband and wife team I believe