[Tiste Simeon]

Wow SMZ you're smashing it with the bad jokes! I would have complained but didn't want to appear... Salty... ;-)

[Maark Abbott]

I'm very fond of CoS. Well written, convincing villains, complex motives, and the books have a good wodge of girth to them. None of this half inch thick silliness. These books could kill a man with a good blow to the head.

[Macros]

Started the bloody rose on the train over from the airport this morning.
Page turning fun again, about the 50% mark in, I'd say I'll finish it tonight/ tomorrow morning

Then I have Shiang to read, second book in Iguldens empire of salt series. I enjoyed the first one (Darien) well enough

[Morgoth]

Tiste Simeon, on 17 September 2018 - 05:27 AM, said:

Wow SMZ you're smashing it with the bad jokes! I would have complained but didn't want to appear... Salty... ;-)

No! Bad! Bad Simeon!

[Tiste Simeon]

You know how "Often" I like winding you up, Martin.

[Andorion]

Reading Ruin by John Gwynne. The author has so many stupid characters its really annoying

[Maark Abbott]

worry, on 17 September 2018 - 02:55 AM, said:

Finished The White Luck Warrior. This series is starting to feel like an indictment of something.
For now, I'm putting off the Endymion books and will jump on the Harry August bandwagon. Hoping it's lighter fare.

I always viewed the first series as an indictment of Abrahamic religions, specifically within the Middle East. The second one came over as dealing with how faith is used to control the actions of the many for the benefit of the few.

Just remember to not be a weeper because slogging is the antithesis of weeping.

[Macros]

Finished Bloody Rose.

I would say (for me) it was as good as Kings because it had a better ending. But wasn't as consistent through the middle so on balance..

[Mentalist]

After a day and a half, I'm maybe halfway through "the Delirium Brief" . It's pretty great.

[Maark Abbott]

About 100 pages into In The Ruins. This is most definitely washing the bad taste that Wyld left out of my mouth - it's girthy, wordy and rumbles forwards without ever going too quickly. I feel like I've come home.

[Cause]

worry, on 11 September 2018 - 07:20 PM, said:

The best part of Angels & Demons, IIRC, is giving the albino dude a POV up front where he's like "Wow, this mysterious thing I've stolen -- I refuse to name it, even though these are my private thoughts given the omniscient narration -- but I sure think it may have some impact on the plot later!"

Direct quote!

No the best part is the opening line!

'Physicist Leonardo Vetra smelled burning flesh, and he knew it was his own'

I hope he knew it was his own burning flesh before he smelt it, being tortured and all

[Tiste Simeon]

Cause, on 19 September 2018 - 07:35 AM, said:

worry, on 11 September 2018 - 07:20 PM, said:

The best part of Angels & Demons, IIRC, is giving the albino dude a POV up front where he's like "Wow, this mysterious thing I've stolen -- I refuse to name it, even though these are my private thoughts given the omniscient narration -- but I sure think it may have some impact on the plot later!"

Direct quote!

No the best part is the opening line!

'Physicist Leonardo Vetra smelled burning flesh, and he knew it was his own'

I hope he knew it was his own burning flesh before he smelt it, being tortured and all

"Hey, does anyone smell burning flesh? Anyone? No? Maybe it's just me. Also - anyone else feeling a burning sensation in their flesh? No? Huh. I just be going mad lol"

[Andorion]

Macros, on 18 September 2018 - 06:35 PM, said:

Finished Bloody Rose.

I would say (for me) it was as good as Kings because it had a better ending. But wasn't as consistent through the middle so on balance..

Finished Bloody Rose just now. I agree. The ending is better, the middle can lag a bit, but overall I like these new characters a lot.

[Abyss]

Just finished Jemisin's THE FIFTH SEASON.


I was a little ambivalent at the start... i need to be in the right mood for low action high concept fantasy and coming off of the Kateamine finale i was still in a hyped up gimme splosions and dragons kind of place. Jemisin won me over with an interesting setting, good characters, and a narrative that hints its way to great payoffs. I understand all the praise this book got.

Spoiler

As post apocalyptic fantasy worlds go, the whole seismic mess was nicely original and fascinating. More subtle than just earthquakes and volcanos, tho it has those too. The Seasons concept was suitably grim and creative. I liked the hints at what the obelisks were, and how the humans were controlling the Raja, with the Stone-Eaters up to who knows what in the background. I figured out about halfway through that the three narratives were all the same character, but i still enjoyed how the author crystallized that revelation toward the end. What action there was... mainly Cyan and Alabaster vs the guardians at the island towards the end, was compelling... really well done.

Went straight in to book two THE OBELISK GATE.

[Macros]

Read The Mad Lancers on my tea break there.

Short story about the formation of the Lancers (McClelland sins of empire trilo)

Would have happily read a full novel about their formation and exploits in the war

[End of Disc One]

Macros, on 19 September 2018 - 02:53 PM, said:

Read The Mad Lancers on my tea break there.

Short story about the formation of the Lancers (McClelland sins of empire trilo)

Would have happily read a full novel about their formation and exploits in the war

Ben Styke is awesome. I still need to read Wrath of Empire but I'm in a bit of a slump and I'd rather save that one for when I'm out of it.

[Macros]

It's everything you would expect of him

[Morgoth]

Abyss, on 19 September 2018 - 02:35 PM, said:

Just finished Jemisin's THE FIFTH SEASON.


I was a little ambivalent at the start... i need to be in the right mood for low action high concept fantasy and coming off of the Kateamine finale i was still in a hyped up gimme splosions and dragons kind of place. Jemisin won me over with an interesting setting, good characters, and a narrative that hints its way to great payoffs. I understand all the praise this book got.

Spoiler

As post apocalyptic fantasy worlds go, the whole seismic mess was nicely original and fascinating. More subtle than just earthquakes and volcanos, tho it has those too. The Seasons concept was suitably grim and creative. I liked the hints at what the obelisks were, and how the humans were controlling the Raja, with the Stone-Eaters up to who knows what in the background. I figured out about halfway through that the three narratives were all the same character, but i still enjoyed how the author crystallized that revelation toward the end. What action there was... mainly Cyan and Alabaster vs the guardians at the island towards the end, was compelling... really well done.

Went straight in to book two THE OBELISK GATE.

I loved that trilogy. It's one of my best reads in some time.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Re-reading Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. I haven't read them since I was a teenager, and I loved them back then. Getting so much more out of them reading them now. The things I missed, particularly the names Lyra gives our-world parallels to hers (of course her Chthonic Railway is our Underground....) really beautiful books.

[polishgenius]

I just read La Belle Sauvage, so now I want to re-read HDM. Haven't got them with me though so that'll have to wait.



Then I started Gene Wolfe's Wizard Knight. I'm enjoying it, but I am amused by the memory that, at the time it came out, his publishers (at least in the UK) tried to give it a mainstream sort of push, complete with Neil Gaiman cover quote. I mean yeah, the language is less dense than in the Solar Cycle, for sure, but it still carries all the same narrative trickery, vaguenesses, and meandering that makes Wolfe so off the beaten track.