[QuickTidal]

polishgenius, on 21 August 2015 - 11:40 AM, said:

I like Felicia Day and all, but has she really had a remarkable enough life to be worth a biography, auto or otherwise?

Indeed. I thought the main thrust of it was going to be her non-religious-but-homeschooled southern upbringing and how that made her who she is...but that's just the first chapter or two. A lot of it seems to deal with all the stuff you already would know: Nerdy, outcast leader, proficient in music and writing, fell into gaming a little too hard (WoW), parlayed that into her web series THE GUILD...and onwards (none of which is all that noteworthy or unknown). Perhaps that's why I was not fussed to keep reading it?

[Baco Xtath]

Finished the Fifth Season by Jemisin. Thanks, Polish, another great fucking book. Jemisin definitely takes powers to a whole other level. Her magic makes Erikson's look tame. But she does it well and builds her worlds around that.

[Maark Abbott]

Just wrapping up The High King's Tomb now. The ending wasn't as strong as the last installment but it's still going well. After this, I have Attack on Titan 3 & 4, after which I might take a break from Britain and head over to Camorra.

[Gredfallan Ale]

Well, as I lost count of the books I was reading, I just made a list of books I'm currently reading and want to finish.

In random order:
- Neal Stephenson - The Confusion (Volume II of the Baroque cycle) (halfway through)
- Richard Dawkins - The Selfish Gene (Chapter 9 - Battle of the sexes)
- Nassim Nicholas Taleb - The Black Swan (Chapter 3)
- Spinazo's Ethics (although I would not really consider that reading...)
- Robert Jordan - The Eye of the World (Third page)

[Andorion]

Quote

Robert Jordan - The Eye of the World (Third page)

You are reading WoT? First time read?

I am reading Catherine Webb's third Horatio Lyle and Max Gladstones Last First Snow

[Gredfallan Ale]

Andorion, on 22 August 2015 - 12:42 PM, said:

Quote

Robert Jordan - The Eye of the World (Third page)

You are reading WoT? First time read?

Yes, I'm a first timer. Is it worth it?

[Maark Abbott]

So I finished up THKT. QT - if you've not read this, I've spoiler tagged the below:

Spoiler

So the ending has lead to a situation that could arise in the next book - Karigan is now a knight and thus technically minor nobility, thus removing the main boundary stopping Zachy boy from porking her but good. Prediction is for Estora to die and Karry to get some.

.

Decided as well to take a break from this series whilst Mirror Sight makes its way to me. The Lies of Locke Lamora is next.

[Andorion]

Gredfallan Ale, on 22 August 2015 - 01:47 PM, said:

Andorion, on 22 August 2015 - 12:42 PM, said:

Quote

Robert Jordan - The Eye of the World (Third page)

You are reading WoT? First time read?

Yes, I'm a first timer. Is it worth it?

I did a full read through last year. My ongoing thoughts are posted in the Rober jordan/ Brandon sanderson subforum in Other literature.

Basically WoT is one of the milestone series of modern fantasy. The positive points are great worldbuilding, an insane attention to detail, some great characters and some truly memorable scenes and dialogues.

The negative points are the middle books can drag a bit, though they usually have some awesome parts, some characters become incredibly annoying and you want to murder thm, and RJs attention to detail goes down some strange areas.

But in one years hindsight I would say that if you read the series with an open mind and patience some of those negative points can be very entertaining themselves. I would say read it. Its an experience a fantasy reader ought to have.

[Mentalist]

Finished "Reamde" yesterday. The action REALLY picks up towards the end. Still, this is much more of an action thriller than SFF, imo.

Think I'll go for "Kraken" as my next commute book.

At home, finished GotM as first part of my Malaz reread. Good t be back, although the GotMisms grate (particularly since SE hasn't yet made up his mind which part of T'lan Imass means what). Onto DG, 2 chapters in.

[acesn8s]

I'm finding Heirs of the Blade a slower read than The Sea Watch. Che and Tynisa aren't that interesting.

[Gredfallan Ale]

Mentalist, on 22 August 2015 - 04:20 PM, said:

Finished "Reamde" yesterday. The action REALLY picks up towards the end. Still, this is much more of an action thriller than SFF, imo.

I've read that one as well recently. I agree with you on the action thriller part, but I still enjoyed the read, though, it was quite relaxing.

[Gabriele]

Andorion, on 22 August 2015 - 02:27 PM, said:

Gredfallan Ale, on 22 August 2015 - 01:47 PM, said:

Andorion, on 22 August 2015 - 12:42 PM, said:

Quote

Robert Jordan - The Eye of the World (Third page)

You are reading WoT? First time read?

Yes, I'm a first timer. Is it worth it?

I did a full read through last year. My ongoing thoughts are posted in the Rober jordan/ Brandon sanderson subforum in Other literature.

Basically WoT is one of the milestone series of modern fantasy. The positive points are great worldbuilding, an insane attention to detail, some great characters and some truly memorable scenes and dialogues.

The negative points are the middle books can drag a bit, though they usually have some awesome parts, some characters become incredibly annoying and you want to murder thm, and RJs attention to detail goes down some strange areas.

But in one years hindsight I would say that if you read the series with an open mind and patience some of those negative points can be very entertaining themselves. I would say read it. Its an experience a fantasy reader ought to have.

The problem is that I want to murder most of the characters already in the first book, esp. the female ones. They are just such annoying high school girls. I'm making a second attempt to get through the book right now (as side read to the Balzac binge I'm on) but I'm not sure I'll manage, though I have a set of the first three.

[Andorion]

Gabriele, on 23 August 2015 - 11:23 AM, said:

Andorion, on 22 August 2015 - 02:27 PM, said:

Gredfallan Ale, on 22 August 2015 - 01:47 PM, said:

Andorion, on 22 August 2015 - 12:42 PM, said:

Quote

Robert Jordan - The Eye of the World (Third page)

You are reading WoT? First time read?

Yes, I'm a first timer. Is it worth it?

I did a full read through last year. My ongoing thoughts are posted in the Rober jordan/ Brandon sanderson subforum in Other literature.

Basically WoT is one of the milestone series of modern fantasy. The positive points are great worldbuilding, an insane attention to detail, some great characters and some truly memorable scenes and dialogues.

The negative points are the middle books can drag a bit, though they usually have some awesome parts, some characters become incredibly annoying and you want to murder thm, and RJs attention to detail goes down some strange areas.

But in one years hindsight I would say that if you read the series with an open mind and patience some of those negative points can be very entertaining themselves. I would say read it. Its an experience a fantasy reader ought to have.

The problem is that I want to murder most of the characters already in the first book, esp. the female ones. They are just such annoying high school girls. I'm making a second attempt to get through the book right now (as side read to the Balzac binge I'm on) but I'm not sure I'll manage, though I have a set of the first three.

Oh dear, I don't remember any of the girls being that annoying this early. Is it Nynaeve? Just take it lightly and try to see the funnier side.

[Gabriele]

Nynaeve, Egwene, that princess with E.. who appears later in the book if my memory serves me right. The only tolerable one is Moiriane so far. And the way the boys react to the girls doesn't help, either. Ignore the silly gits and get a life.

[amphibian]

Gabriele, on 23 August 2015 - 01:58 PM, said:

Nynaeve, Egwene, that princess with E.. who appears later in the book if my memory serves me right. The only tolerable one is Moiriane so far. And the way the boys react to the girls doesn't help, either. Ignore the silly gits and get a life.

The characters do grow up some, but I think the core dynamic doesn't change much for the remainder of the series. If you hate it this early, you are probably going to have some serious grit to get through the rest of the books.

(For what it's worth, I gave up on actually reading the books once I read the very bad Crossroads of Twilight and then read the wiki summaries after that to satisfy my completionist urges.)

[Abyss]

Gabriele, on 23 August 2015 - 01:58 PM, said:

Nynaeve, Egwene, that princess with E.. who appears later in the book if my memory serves me right. The only tolerable one is Moiriane so far. And the way the boys react to the girls doesn't help, either. Ignore the silly gits and get a life.

Elayne.

A fair chunk of the boy/girl stuff in the early books is very YA to just irritating, but aside from as a motivator it's fairly inconsequential. There's enough good stuff to carry you to books 4-6 where the shit truly hits the Wheel. In a good way.Books 7-10 can be read with a fair amount of skimming. Without the five year wait between they aren't nearly as annoying I'm told. And the last few books are pure epic fantasy goodness.
All of which is to say, it's worth the read.

[Gabriele]

King Briar, on 23 August 2015 - 06:31 PM, said:

Yep WoT should be read be every fantasy fan at least once.

That's why I gave the book(s?) a second chance. In most cases, life is to short for bad or boring books.

This post has been edited by Gabriele: 23 August 2015 - 06:59 PM

[Gabriele]

Abyss, on 23 August 2015 - 05:15 PM, said:

Gabriele, on 23 August 2015 - 01:58 PM, said:

Nynaeve, Egwene, that princess with E.. who appears later in the book if my memory serves me right. The only tolerable one is Moiriane so far. And the way the boys react to the girls doesn't help, either. Ignore the silly gits and get a life.

Elayne.

A fair chunk of the boy/girl stuff in the early books is very YA to just irritating, but aside from as a motivator it's fairly inconsequential. There's enough good stuff to carry you to books 4-6 where the shit truly hits the Wheel. In a good way.Books 7-10 can be read with a fair amount of skimming. Without the five year wait between they aren't nearly as annoying I'm told. And the last few books are pure epic fantasy goodness.
All of which is to say, it's worth the read.

So far, the motivator seems to be that the girls say "men" a lot, the boys don't 'get' girls, and no one really talks with each other about the things that matter, causing most of the troubles the travellers encounter in the first place.

This post has been edited by Gabriele: 23 August 2015 - 07:07 PM

[acesn8s]

Gabriele, on 23 August 2015 - 07:05 PM, said:

Abyss, on 23 August 2015 - 05:15 PM, said:

Gabriele, on 23 August 2015 - 01:58 PM, said:

Nynaeve, Egwene, that princess with E.. who appears later in the book if my memory serves me right. The only tolerable one is Moiriane so far. And the way the boys react to the girls doesn't help, either. Ignore the silly gits and get a life.

Elayne.

A fair chunk of the boy/girl stuff in the early books is very YA to just irritating, but aside from as a motivator it's fairly inconsequential. There's enough good stuff to carry you to books 4-6 where the shit truly hits the Wheel. In a good way.Books 7-10 can be read with a fair amount of skimming. Without the five year wait between they aren't nearly as annoying I'm told. And the last few books are pure epic fantasy goodness.
All of which is to say, it's worth the read.

So far, the motivator seems to be that the girls say "men" a lot, the boys don't 'get' girls, and no one really talks with each other about the things that matter, causing most of the troubles the travellers encounter in the first place.

Kinda like kids in high school and college...

That being said, I do understand your criticism and agree with it. I believe the series offers a lot and it is worth putting the time in.

[Morgoth]

I disagree that they're worth it, though Abyss' claim that the later books are a lot less annoying when there's not a 5 year wait makes a lot of sense.

As for reading, right now I'm reading The Familiar book 1 by Mark Danielewski. A little too early to tell what I think, but the man is an artist, no doubt about that. The question is whether he goes too far (Only Revolutions) or gets it just right (House of Leaves).