[Macros]

oh didn't catch Promise of Blood on the list.
Yeah, backing up QTs reco, go for it, the whole Trilogy is hella fun, and the new series is shaping up very well too. 2/3 novellas that that you can read after the first trilogy as well.

[Zetubal]

worry, on 13 January 2019 - 09:05 PM, said:

Finished City of Stairs. Liked it but didn't love it. Would put it squarely in the middle of the RJB pack.

My thoughts exactly. City of Blades is a tad better imo, and all in all the series consistently maintains the same level of good-ish entertainment.

[Tiste Simeon]

Andorion, on 14 January 2019 - 04:24 PM, said:

Also listening to Clive Barker's Imajica. Apart from the sex scenes which are irritating, its not bad.

Yeah pretty cringy tbh. Still don't think I liked that book despite enjoying the concept of it.

[Abyss]

Just finished Jonathan French's THE GREY BASTARDS.

That was SO MUCH FUN.
More or less classic fantasy, marches on the edges of Grimdark but never quite goes full dark or grim.
The lead characters are all half-orcs in the classic fantasy sense. The Big Human Kingdom gave a badlands border kingdom to its freed half-orc slaves to act as a buffer between it and the real orcs.
The half-orcs formed into Sons of Anarchy type gangs that ride warboars and rule/patrol their territory. Throw in well written, likeable/unlikeable characters, a plot that swerves but never quite twists, bike-gang politics, shitty human royals, mad wizards, mysterious elves, the odd meddling god, and tribes of insane kill-frenzied centaurs, and you've got a great fantasy story.

Utterly sets the stage for more books but is satisfyingly self-contained. Will absolutely read the next one.

Tiste Simeon, on 14 January 2019 - 05:12 PM, said:

Andorion, on 14 January 2019 - 04:24 PM, said:

Also listening to Clive Barker's Imajica. Apart from the sex scenes which are irritating, its not bad.

Yeah pretty cringy tbh. Still don't think I liked that book despite enjoying the concept of it.

Clive Barker doesn't need me to 'defend' his work, but for its time it was pretty edgy... he was one of the few flat out gay fantasy/horror authors doing some fairly sick stuff at the time (see BOOKS OF BLOOD, which make anything in IMAJICA look vanilla). Point being, for context, Barker was trying to push things a bit. I never thought that was the most memorable thing about the book but many seem to focus on it.

[acesn8s]

WhiskeyJohn, on 12 January 2019 - 05:23 PM, said:

Started Dragonbone Chain (Bk 1 of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn)

I started my first reread of (MS&T) this weekend, after finishing The Library at Mount Char. I'm really excited to jump back in. It's been at least 2 decades since I read Dragonbone Chair. I can't really remember most of the plot at this point.

[Mentalist]

Finished "Rapture" last night. It wrapped up well, I was a bit worried after volume 2, but Hurley did some interesting things with this world.

Starting "Luna: New Moon" by Ian McDonald. Given I have about 10 hours of travel in the next 2 days, I'm expecting to get through a good chunk of this.

[Abyss]

acesn8s, on 14 January 2019 - 05:58 PM, said:

WhiskeyJohn, on 12 January 2019 - 05:23 PM, said:

Started Dragonbone Chain (Bk 1 of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn)

I started my first reread of (MS&T) this weekend, after finishing The Library at Mount Char. I'm really excited to jump back in. It's been at least 2 decades since I read Dragonbone Chair. I can't really remember most of the plot at this point.

I remember being really surprised when the guy in the bloody tutu started massacring the elves.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Andorion, on 14 January 2019 - 04:24 PM, said:

Doing something unusual. Reading the giant superhero webserial - Worm. 40% into it, its really really good.

Also listening to Clive Barker's Imajica. Apart from the sex scenes which are irritating, its not bad.

I would love to read Worm, but I love killing trees. There's no way to read it as the byproduct of a tree...yet.

[End of Disc One]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 14 January 2019 - 08:46 PM, said:

Andorion, on 14 January 2019 - 04:24 PM, said:

Doing something unusual. Reading the giant superhero webserial - Worm. 40% into it, its really really good.

Also listening to Clive Barker's Imajica. Apart from the sex scenes which are irritating, its not bad.

I would love to read Worm, but I love killing trees. There's no way to read it as the byproduct of a tree...yet.

I'm waiting for an official ebook, because there's no way I'm reading that massive sumbitch on a computer or my phone. I know there are "pirated" ebooks out there but the author doesn't approve, and my backlog is big enough anyway.

[Cyphon]

Mentalist, on 14 January 2019 - 06:40 PM, said:

Starting "Luna: New Moon" by Ian McDonald. Given I have about 10 hours of travel in the next 2 days, I'm expecting to get through a good chunk of this.

Great book, think this one has got a good following from malazanites.

[Mentalist]

Cyphon, on 14 January 2019 - 10:42 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 14 January 2019 - 06:40 PM, said:

Starting "Luna: New Moon" by Ian McDonald. Given I have about 10 hours of travel in the next 2 days, I'm expecting to get through a good chunk of this.

Great book, think this one has got a good following from malazanites.

Roughly half-way through. Yes. It is quite good.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Almost 2/3 of the way through Niven and Pournelle's The Gripping Hand, and they've only just started interacting with the Moties. Way too much scene setting in the early half of the novel.

[Salt-Man Z]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 15 January 2019 - 02:46 AM, said:

Almost 2/3 of the way through Niven and Pournelle's The Gripping Hand, and they've only just started interacting with the Moties. Way too much scene setting in the early half of the novel.

I remember being terribly disappointed in that book, despite my love for the first.

[Andorion]

Abyss, on 14 January 2019 - 07:40 PM, said:

acesn8s, on 14 January 2019 - 05:58 PM, said:

WhiskeyJohn, on 12 January 2019 - 05:23 PM, said:

Started Dragonbone Chain (Bk 1 of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn)

I started my first reread of (MS&T) this weekend, after finishing The Library at Mount Char. I'm really excited to jump back in. It's been at least 2 decades since I read Dragonbone Chair. I can't really remember most of the plot at this point.

I remember being really surprised when the guy in the bloody tutu started massacring the elves.

TBH this would vastly improve To Green Angel Tower

[worry]

Shots fired!

[acesn8s]

Andorion, on 15 January 2019 - 04:31 AM, said:

Abyss, on 14 January 2019 - 07:40 PM, said:

acesn8s, on 14 January 2019 - 05:58 PM, said:

WhiskeyJohn, on 12 January 2019 - 05:23 PM, said:

Started Dragonbone Chain (Bk 1 of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn)

I started my first reread of (MS&T) this weekend, after finishing The Library at Mount Char. I'm really excited to jump back in. It's been at least 2 decades since I read Dragonbone Chair. I can't really remember most of the plot at this point.

I remember being really surprised when the guy in the bloody tutu started massacring the elves.

TBH this would vastly improve To Green Angel Tower

Never trust a dude in a tutu and hair helmet made of blood.

[QuickTidal]

So I'm just over the quarter-point mark in James Islington's THE SHADOW OF WHAT WAS LOST (not to be confused with the Tad Williams MS&T novella of the same name), and can honestly say that it's FANTASTIC. Classic-trope doorstopper fantasy with no over-descriptions, a great cast of characters with lots of depth, and it's literally FILLED with twists and turns, and the world building is interesting and complex without feeling convoluted.

I haven't enjoyed a debut novel like this since the first Powdermage novel. Will chime in when finished, but for now it's really hitting the spot.

[Mentalist]

Finished "Luna", as expected. Solid book, I wasn't sure how well McDonald would be at mixing up cultures after his sequence of "country studies" books, but it works. The plot is solid dynastic politics, and that ending is brutal and explosive. I'll certainly be looking out for the sequel.

Moving on, I need a new commute read. Before jumping into Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe, I'll got for the second Fourlands book, "No Present Like Time"

At home, still working through "Ships of Magic", but progress stalled somewhat cause I had a busy couple of weeks so unwinding playing Metro seemed like a less taxing option.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 16 January 2019 - 05:43 AM

[Macros]

Read Fool Moon last night.

about a 1/4 of the way in the pace picks up and doesn't relent, so I just kept reading. A step up in quality from book 1 I'd say, enough to bring me back for book 3

[acesn8s]

Macros, on 16 January 2019 - 07:14 AM, said:

Read Fool Moon last night.

about a 1/4 of the way in the pace picks up and doesn't relent, so I just kept reading. A step up in quality from book 1 I'd say, enough to bring me back for book 3

Butcher does frantic pacing really well, especially with his first person novels.