[Abyss]

amphibian, on 12 February 2020 - 10:34 PM, said:

Let Tiste get there organically. He's already taken the right step of reading it. We can celebrate and egg him on without revealing things...

Can I still DEFY him?

[Maark Abbott]

Arbonne continues to beguile and surprise. I am seeing why Kay is so highly regarded. Maybe I'll ask him to write a quote for my bo-*BANG*

[Chance]

Got through Prince of Outcasts third last of the Emberverse, Stirling has some irritating habits but expanding the world in each book is working very well.

Didn't expect however

Spoiler

that he would go full out mythos in this last one

even if there where signs all along, those parts are however fairly awesome so far.

This post has been edited by Chance: 14 February 2020 - 04:04 PM

[Macros]

Started Stirlings second book, the Protectors war, on friday, but alhavent gotten too far yet, been a busy bee.

[Maark Abbott]

I still haven't forgiven ICE for what he did in Rush to Ascendancy.

[Mentalist]

The last Elrik trilogy makes me want to re-read the Cornelius books to get a better read on Prince Lobkowitz. Maybe also the Bastable trilo. Oh God, that's a bottomless rabbit hole, isn't? Moorcock, you sly genius, you prey on us detail-focused OCD victims.

I wonder where the 3rd story will go?

At home, "Shogun" is pretty good. Japanese sounds like a complicated language.

[Mercury]

Reading a really cool book I got at this weeks garage sale excursion. Adrain Tchaikovsky’s Empire In Black and Gold It is very simple and yet it isn’t at the same time. Remarkable cover on this book to.

[Maark Abbott]

Almost finished with Arbonne.

Spoiler

That feels like kinda a DEM with Ademar... But I hope there is at least a hint as to who shot that arrow.

[QuickTidal]

Didn't really read much while I was on vacation (south of Trump's Imaginary Border wall) in wonderful Cancun, because all I could think about was re-reading EXILES by Melanie Rawn...which I am now doing as I'm home. It's still such an abolsutley enthralling book. Insert "QT you're a masochist, she's never going to finish that trilogy"...yeah, I know, but it's such a great frigging series!

[Chance]

Finished up the Emberverse and well some of Stirlings bad habits are somewhat irritating as they repeat through the series, I'm guessing these are actually better read with some time in between rather than in a row. But some of the best writing comes closer to the end. The Prince of Outcasts and The Sky Blue Wolves to a slightly less degree The Sea People probably being among the most interesting books of the series after the starting trilogy.

Started up Crownbreaker and had this huge smile for the first parts which where hillarious.

This post has been edited by Chance: 19 February 2020 - 02:59 PM

[Abyss]

Just Finished the earbook to Scott Reintgen's ASHLORDS.

The author was completely new to me, the publisher put the (stunning) cover on a tweet, i read the blurb.... "phoenix horses"??? ok, bless audible's ever reliable no questions return policy, let's do this... And yeah, this was good fantasy. Great at times. Reintgen's past work is kid or YA... ASHLORDS treads on YA ground, i suppose, but really it's good fantasy for fantasy fans looking for entertainment and a nice level of originality.

At the core of the book is a cross country race between older teen riders on phoenix horses... every night their mounts burst into flame and 'die' and every sunrise they have to be resurrected by alchemy... different alchemicals create a horse with different properties. Endurance, savagery, speed, other things more supernatural. Mess up another rider's alchemy and they're stuck with what they get.

So based on that, maybe you're seeing HUNGER GAMES, maybe MAZE RUNNER, HIS DARK MATERIALS' daemons, possibly POKEMON. Sure... it's not hard to see those similarities, but Reintgen manages to avoid writing too close to the zeitgeist. The riders aren't conscripts, the horses are 'just' horses, not familiars. His world is interesting too, there are elements of technology, an internet of sorts. There are other magical elements at work in the world as well, nicely not overplayed. The key to the story tho are the three leads, each from a nation with a stake in the races. They start out trope-heavy but Reintgen keeps twisting when i expected him to turn, has characters do the opposite of what the reader might expect, but their decisions make sense.


Great pace, great action, the race scenes are riveting.

The end result is a solid book. To the extent that some of the YA marketing is offputting, i'd say ignore it. 'adults' will enjoy this book. It entertains and held my interest for the duration and i want more. It's a short listen, worth an audible credit, absolutely worth the price of the book and your eyetime.

Second / final book is out this summer. I'm in.

[Andorion]

Reading Salvation Lost by Peter F Hamilton. The 2 timelines really speak to each other. Now if only he had skipped some of the sex, this book would have been great instead of good.


Also reading a very unique book - The Imaginary Corpse by Tyler Hayes.

Its a detective mystery that takes place in the Stillreal - the realm where forgotten or grown-out-of imaginary friends, toys, ideas, dreams and nightmares go to. The protagonist is Detective Tippy - stuffed triceratops who was imagined as a detective by his person and hence has preternatural detective abilities.

I really love this book. The worldbuilding feels new and well thought out, there's some complexities woven into the story and the deceptively light setting contains a very dark story.

[Kurt Montandon]

I've got "Heroes Die," "The Three Body Problem," and "Shadow & Claw" arriving today from Amazon, so I'm pretty set to have some good reading ahead of me. Although my "too read" pile already has a half-finished "A Little Hatred" and a half-finished "The Warrior Prophet" sitting next to my bed, on top of barely-started "Shattered Sword" and "The Wages of Destruction" (a pair of fairly dry WWII books).

I've already read "Shadow & Claw" - and used to own a copy - but that was more than 20 years ago, and I remember literally nothing about the plot, and apparently Wolfe's works require careful re-reading anyways because you always miss something the first time.

[Mentalist]

ExcrementEncephalon, on 18 February 2020 - 11:57 PM, said:

Only pretty good?

I got to Part IV last night, which means I read almost 800 pages, so there are clearly things I like.

But there's a number of things I find annoying and the book certainly has pacing problems and when it starts dwelling on things I find annoying, like the whole forbidden love thing, I find myself getting bored and putting it down sometimes.

It's not Clavell's fault. I just don't buy the whole "fate conspires to make person X make the wrong decision, now let's have them think/worry about how unfair life is". I hated it in school when we had read Shakespear and all the "tragically flawed" heroes of his; I hated when SE did it, imitating his beloved Greek tragedies (that's why I'm a member of LHTEC); and I hate it when "Shogun" does it. It's just the way I am, I don't buy the "pre-destined tragedy" trope unless it's extremely well-done, it's a subjective thing.

[Maark Abbott]

Finished Arbonne. Great story.

Onto Rejoice next.

[Abyss]

Kurt Montandon, on 19 February 2020 - 08:53 PM, said:

I've got fucking "Heroes Die," !!!!!!!

Fixed to comply with mandatory ACTS OF CAINE profanity quotient.
Fuck.

[Abyss]

Mentalist, on 20 February 2020 - 12:26 AM, said:

ExcrementEncephalon, on 18 February 2020 - 11:57 PM, said:

Only pretty good?

I got to Part IV last night, which means I read almost 800 pages, so there are clearly things I like.

But there's a number of things I find annoying and the book certainly has pacing problems and when it starts dwelling on things I find annoying, like the whole forbidden love thing, I find myself getting bored and putting it down sometimes.

It's not Clavell's fault. I just don't buy the whole "fate conspires to make person X make the wrong decision, now let's have them think/worry about how unfair life is". I hated it in school when we had read Shakespear and all the "tragically flawed" heroes of his; I hated when SE did it, imitating his beloved Greek tragedies (that's why I'm a member of LHTEC); and I hate it when "Shogun" does it. It's just the way I am, I don't buy the "pre-destined tragedy" trope unless it's extremely well-done, it's a subjective thing.

I tended to view it more as 'self-fulfilling prophecy'... fixated on preventing an outcome, the characters made it happen. I find it lines up with events in SHOGUN better than the notion that the outcome was inevitable regardless. A thin distinction, maybe.

[Abyss]

Maark Abbott, on 20 February 2020 - 08:58 AM, said:

Finished Arbonne. Great story.

Nice to see someone else enjoy ARBONNE, i've always found it sadly overlooked in GGK's work despite being better than TIGANA many of his books and mostly better than TIGANA. TIGANA kind of sucked btw.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 20 February 2020 - 07:56 PM, said:

This....

https://www.tor.com/...iobhan-carroll/

...was nom'd for a Nebula today.


AND IT IS GLORIOUS.

Also, free.

I won't spoil.
It's short, clever, violent, and has one of the greatest killers in the history of literature. Go read it.

[Mentalist]

Abyss, on 20 February 2020 - 03:38 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 20 February 2020 - 08:58 AM, said:

Finished Arbonne. Great story.

Nice to see someone else enjoy ARBONNE, i've always found it sadly overlooked in GGK's work despite being better than TIGANA many of his books and mostly better than TIGANA. TIGANA kind of sucked btw.

Kay goes: Sarantine- Under Heaven- Arbonne - the second China novel- Lions- Last Light - Tigana

Fionavar is not part of these rankings, and I didn't read the latest one yet.