[Mentalist]

Came home last night, while reading "Dread Wyrm". Sat down to finish a chapter.

Got up, looked at the clock 4 hours later.

Daymn, this series is good.

Edit: aand finished.

Severely tempted to go and buy the last 2 volumes tomorrow, but I think I'll start the re-read of Vol 1 of "Dagger and Coin" instead, since I already bought books 2 + 3 as well.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 13 September 2019 - 02:48 AM

[Maark Abbott]

Pushing on with In The Ruins. Nearly at the 500 page mark now.

Is KE setting Alain up as some kind of reincarnated Jesus analogue?

[QuickTidal]

Finished SHARPE'S TRAFALGAR. As per Mac, it was fine, but not super great. It felt weird jamming Sharpe so almost randomly into Trafalgar by sending him home from India at the exact right time.

Forgot I had this next one on my Kindle from a sale a while ago on amazon, but I started NOBLE HOUSE by James Clavell. Man, I forgot how immersive Clavell's novels always are. They suck you right in.

[Mentalist]

Nah, tCG doesn't really have any slow parts. It's almost 100% payoff.

[amphibian]

Aptorian, on 10 September 2019 - 04:39 PM, said:

Just finished the second Vagrant book, The Malice.

It's not a bad book, like the first one it's downright heartwarming in the middle of all that grim grimness, but I feel like the first half of the first book promised something completely different than what the series actually delivered.

And the more you read the less grim the story actually is. It's more "the real monsters are us" than the epic Diablo vs High Tech Knights smackdown I was looking for.

I don't even know what the third book is supposed to be about. The infernals seem more sympathetic than the people. I wonder if the Seven/Six become the real baddies.

There's a particularly large fight in the climax of the third book. But there's also more goat time and more time with Infernals.

I greatly enjoyed it and hope that you'll at least try the third book.

[Aptorian]

I'd say the goats are the real draw of these books.

The part in the first book where the goat starts the battle for the platform against the tainted pelicans is up there in terms of epic Fantasy battles.

[Cyphon]

In fairly convinced the goat from this series is the actual origin for all the GOAT memes in sport.

Been a while since I updated on what I've been reading...

Bridget Jones Diary (for a thing my wife and I do where we read one book a year that were important to each other - shes had Assassins apprentice and Hyperion so far) and I have to say it was pretty good. Despite whatever you may think about the subject matter Helen Fielding makes your root for Bridget and it has some sumptuous lines in it.

Permafrost by Reynolds is a great time travel short story if you pick it up. Perfect blend of concepts and punchy writing, which I've sometimes found his longer work is a little bloated.

Read War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. I can totally see why it's a classic/key text in Urban Fantasy and is really well written. Some of the beats you expect given the now established tropes but it's done well enough that it doesnt matter. Raced through what is an excellent book.

Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addision was fantastic stand alone fantasy. Can see why it's so highly regarded. My only thing thing is that more character motivation could of been brought in to explain some ot the action but given the scale and scope that's a hard task. It made me realise I love political intrigue style books. So recos for that style appreciated.

As such I just devoured the first of the Daughter of the Empire series by Fiest and Wurts. Started the second now. Love all the links to the original trilogy and how it neatly builds out the world and the plots from one small bit of the original trilogy and one character feature into a gripping story. They've also done action and consequence plotting really well too.

This post has been edited by Cyphon: 15 September 2019 - 04:34 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

Finished the audiobook of THE DRAGONBONE CHAIR and... It's ok. I've enjoyed listening and there's enough going on that I'm definitely going to keep listening but it doesn't half meander it's way to something actually happening.

And I know that's Tad Williams so I shouldn't be surprised and I'm confident there will be a good payoff eventually so I don't really know why I'm complaining to be fair but I got bored on a few occasions.

Also, while the narrator is good or seems the characters that speak the most have been given accents that annoy me a bit haha.

[worry]

Did the reader sing the songs or just say them?

[Tiste Simeon]

He spoke them rhythmically if that makes sense. He stepped out of his usual pattern of speech which did distinguish the songs without him actually singing.

[worry]

Ah, like Hamilton.

[Maark Abbott]

The Aoi segments of Elliot's work is probably the only segment I struggle in. Still, onwards we slog. I got some stuff from my TRP that's been there two years nearly that I need to get to.

[Andorion]

Question to anyone who has read Accelerando by Charles Stross - is it supposed to feel a bit disjointed? I am at the end of Part 1 and honestly it feels more like reading a bunch of connected short stories and novellas than one book

[Abyss]

Andorion, on 16 September 2019 - 01:33 PM, said:

Question to anyone who has read Accelerando by Charles Stross - is it supposed to feel a bit disjointed? I am at the end of Part 1 and honestly it feels more like reading a bunch of connected short stories and novellas than one book

It coheres along the way.
Mostly.

[QuickTidal]

Making my way through the end of Tolkien's FALL OF GONDOLIN which (as a more case study book of the evolution and near execution of a story Tolkien never really got to tell) has been really fun...but it's making me want to do a LOTR re-read...so I may just crack FELLOWSHIP tonight when I get home. Haven't read the holy trilogy in at least a couple of years.

[Andorion]

Abyss, on 16 September 2019 - 02:10 PM, said:

Andorion, on 16 September 2019 - 01:33 PM, said:

Question to anyone who has read Accelerando by Charles Stross - is it supposed to feel a bit disjointed? I am at the end of Part 1 and honestly it feels more like reading a bunch of connected short stories and novellas than one book

It coheres along the way.
Mostly.

I really have to sit down and finish this. Its a bit of a difficult book to follow because of the pace and how the narrative keeps on changing

[Abyss]

Andorion, on 16 September 2019 - 03:49 PM, said:

Abyss, on 16 September 2019 - 02:10 PM, said:

Andorion, on 16 September 2019 - 01:33 PM, said:

Question to anyone who has read Accelerando by Charles Stross - is it supposed to feel a bit disjointed? I am at the end of Part 1 and honestly it feels more like reading a bunch of connected short stories and novellas than one book

It coheres along the way.
Mostly.

I really have to sit down and finish this. Its a bit of a difficult book to follow because of the pace and how the narrative keeps on changing

I finished it, but there was a chunk of skimming involved.
My love for Stross as a writer and personality, his LAUNDRY series, and much of his other work, is deep and wide, but when he goes full sf futurist my attention wanders.

[QuickTidal]

BfuckinK, on 16 September 2019 - 03:16 PM, said:

You already finished Noble House?

I gave up on it for the time being at around the 1/4 mark...it was not exactly thrilling. At least not on a SHOGUN level. I'll probably back to it at some point, but for now...meh. It started off well, but dove right down into corporate merchant shenanigans and I'm like "meh"

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 16 September 2019 - 04:14 PM, said:

BfuckinK, on 16 September 2019 - 03:16 PM, said:

You already finished Noble House?

I gave up on it for the time being at around the 1/4 mark...it was not exactly thrilling. At least not on a SHOGUN level. I'll probably back to it at some point, but for now...meh. It started off well, but dove right down into corporate merchant shenanigans and I'm like "meh"

I enjoyed the corporate shenanigans for the most part but every so often i had that 'the guy who wrote SHOGUN wrote .... THIS??? ' reaction.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 16 September 2019 - 05:24 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 16 September 2019 - 04:14 PM, said:

BfuckinK, on 16 September 2019 - 03:16 PM, said:

You already finished Noble House?

I gave up on it for the time being at around the 1/4 mark...it was not exactly thrilling. At least not on a SHOGUN level. I'll probably back to it at some point, but for now...meh. It started off well, but dove right down into corporate merchant shenanigans and I'm like "meh"

I enjoyed the corporate shenanigans for the most part but every so often i had that 'the guy who wrote SHOGUN wrote .... THIS??? ' reaction.

In contrast, I can see how the earlier novels in this series (beginning with TAI-PAN) jive with the SHOGUN vibe because they are more very old period pieces....but no amount of 'this is set a week in 1963, and stars Pierce Brosnan and John Rhys Davies' is about to enthral me to the trials and tribulations of corporate Hong Kong shenanigans.