[polishgenius]

Under Heaven > Al Rassan > Sarantine > Tigana > Arbonne > Earth and Sky > Last Light > River of Stars for me, but I gotta reread River of Stars and Arbonne for a proper ranking. Also not read Brightness Long Ago yet.

[Abyss]

Mentalist, on 20 February 2020 - 08:48 PM, said:

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.

Not having read River, Children, or Brightness...

I would go with Sarantine - Lions - Arbonne - Under Heaven - Last Light - Tigana.

Fionavar sort of belongs aside but i would place the trilo between Heaven and Last if pressed, and Ysabel dead last.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

polishgenius, on 20 February 2020 - 08:58 PM, said:

Under Heaven > Al Rassan > Sarantine > Tigana > Arbonne > Earth and Sky > Last Light > River of Stars for me, but I gotta reread River of Stars and Arbonne for a proper ranking. Also not read Brightness Long Ago yet.

I liked RIver of Stars more than Under Heaven, though they're both good (... but the Chinese source material is better).

While I've only studied classical Chinese a little, GGK provides a(n un)fairly typical post-Modernist misrepresentation of it. His prose is also just okay in these books.

I loved his other books when I was twelve.

[Maark Abbott]

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.

The way he teased along through literally the entire book about the Talair / Miraval feud was... whew lad. Real good shit.

Rejoice seems interesting so far. Definitely a change of pace from armour and crossbows.

[carjug]

wretched readers, Trudge thyselfs down to a well stocked-up Library or for profit bookstore and secure a copy of The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu. It is long and complicated, which will make you crowd very happy, I'm so sure. It deals with the response to an alien invasion of Bad_Ass little green men, with technology that makes us earthlings look like little teensy ants. The kind you step on when you are Children or young adults. There are big words and complexicated plots in this way-too-long trilogy too, that should make the brainy ones of you People very happy. I just got my clutches on Book 3, the title Death's End has me quivering already. Heh. Bah.

[carjug]

Anyways I'm glad it is done. I have started the audiobook of RED RISING. I already like the setting of the mines on Mars. Compared to MST it feels very quick paced haha.
[/quote]
Hang the Ruster! --- Save the Rde Rising series for a good Snow-Blizzard. It is truly fun

[Maark Abbott]

Rejoice is certainly a change of pace for SE so far. Is Sam a self-insert, I wonder?

Also couldn't help but read the US prez's voice in Orange Goblin's own.

[Abyss]

Holding pattern post ASHLORDS waiting for Aaronovich's next Peter Grant book so roll on Scalzi's OLD MAN'S WAR: THE HUMAN DIVISION.


Each chapter is a more or less complete story contributing to a larger work. Some are great, some are just ok. I do enjoy how it builds the world from the series.


I did briefly start OLD MAN'S WAR: ZOE'S TALE but decided i could wait to get to that. It's a side story from THE LAST COLONY and knowing how things play out i found myself unengaged.

[QuickTidal]

Carol Berg's SONG OF THE BEAST....and man, this is quite excellent. I only knew of her peripherally and just sort of avoided her work for a really superficial reason (the covers Suuuuuuuuck)...but yeah, she's the real deal. Her character work is impeccable. Will definitely check out her other work now.

After that I should have AGE OF EMPYRE by Sullivan in my hands/on my kindle from the recently finished Kickstarter for that book. Sullivan does STRONG finales...so I'm super excited!

[JPK]

QuickTidal, on 24 February 2020 - 04:47 PM, said:

Carol Berg's SONG OF THE BEAST....and man, this is quite excellent. I only knew of her peripherally and just sort of avoided her work for a really superficial reason (the covers Suuuuuuuuck)...but yeah, she's the real deal. Her character work is impeccable. Will definitely check out her other work now.

She really does suffer from terrible cover syndrome, but I feel her newer works improve in that a bit. They're about on par with Kate Daniels covers. I've read the majority of her work, and the only work I didn't like was her very earliest series: The Bridge of D'Arnath. I highly recommend that you seek out her Rai-Kirah trilogy next (though those books do have the absolute worst of her covers). You've seriously got some great books ahead of you.

[Andorion]

JPK, on 24 February 2020 - 05:41 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 24 February 2020 - 04:47 PM, said:

Carol Berg's SONG OF THE BEAST....and man, this is quite excellent. I only knew of her peripherally and just sort of avoided her work for a really superficial reason (the covers Suuuuuuuuck)...but yeah, she's the real deal. Her character work is impeccable. Will definitely check out her other work now.

She really does suffer from terrible cover syndrome, but I feel her newer works improve in that a bit. They're about on par with Kate Daniels covers. I've read the majority of her work, and the only work I didn't like was her very earliest series: The Bridge of D'Arnath. I highly recommend that you seek out her Rai-Kirah trilogy next (though those books do have the absolute worst of her covers). You've seriously got some great books ahead of you.

Carol Berg is great. Book 1 in her Transformation series is one of the best I have read in terms of character work.

Finished jay Kristoff's Lifelike. Good. Could have been better

[JPK]

In audio I just finished my second time through 14. Very enjoyable the second time through as well.

Next up I'm jumping back to The Laundry Files with The Fuller Memorandum.

Edit: stupid autocorrect.

This post has been edited by JPK: 25 February 2020 - 05:51 PM

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 24 February 2020 - 04:20 PM, said:

Holding pattern post ASHLORDS waiting for Aaronovich's next Peter Grant book ...

FALSE VALUE EARBOOK HAS LANDED and is being beamed directly into my head !!!!!

[Stylo]

Memories of Ice (first time) and a smattering of P.G. Wodehouse stories

I believe the reason for this particular combination may be obvious. "Wow, that house packed with dead people was fucked. Cheer me up, Jeeves"

[Stylo]

This place seems like a banger, so I'm kinda sad to see that not too many threads are active. Makes me wish I was here Back in the Day, maybe when the books were coming out... as much as social media and other platforms like reddit technically exist, led to the death of the Forum, I don't believe they ever actually replaced proper message boards for depth of discussion, and this one seems pretty chill

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Stylo, on 26 February 2020 - 04:37 AM, said:

This place seems like a banger, so I'm kinda sad to see that not too many threads are active. Makes me wish I was here Back in the Day, maybe when the books were coming out... as much as social media and other platforms like reddit technically exist, led to the death of the Forum, I don't believe they ever actually replaced proper message boards for depth of discussion, and this one seems pretty chill

It has its days of activity and days of inactivity. There are ~20 highly active users, then various irregulars who stop in a few times a month, and then newer users that trickle in. If you check the New Content button (it's in the top right-ish of the page, varying slightly depending on forum skin), you'll see all threads that have received new posts since you last visited.

It was definitely more active when Erikson was in the midst of the main series, and was more active before the Malazan subreddit existed. We should get a bit more activity with the Karsa trilogy.

One project I'm working on is to boost the forum's search result position above Reddit's for Malazan-related search terms (probably through paid ads that should be pretty cheap).

This post has been edited by Whisperzzzzzzz: 26 February 2020 - 05:00 AM

[T77]

Finished Virtual Light by William Gibson. Loved everything about it, especially the prose. Liked it almost as much as Neuromancer. Currently in the middle of Mona Lisa Overdrive to finish out the Sprawl trilogy and loving that too. I've got his latest, Agency, on hold at the library, should have that soon.

[Abyss]

Stylo, on 26 February 2020 - 04:29 AM, said:

Memories of Ice (first time) and a smattering of P.G. Wodehouse stories

I believe the reason for this particular combination may be obvious. "Wow, that house packed with dead people was fucked. Cheer me up, Jeeves"

Ha!

....and i envy you what you are about to read for the first time. The "house packed with dead people" scenes blew me away on my first read and my second.


Also third. Not so much on the fourth but right back on the fifth. ...i may have a problem.

Stylo, on 26 February 2020 - 04:37 AM, said:

This place seems like a banger, so I'm kinda sad to see that not too many threads are active. Makes me wish I was here Back in the Day, maybe when the books were coming out... as much as social media and other platforms like reddit technically exist, led to the death of the Forum, I don't believe they ever actually replaced proper message boards for depth of discussion, and this one seems pretty chill

We're pretty good with jumping on any discussion new arrivals want to raise. Don't hesitate to start a thread or six as you go advance the books.

[Abyss]

T77, on 26 February 2020 - 04:06 PM, said:

Finished Virtual Light by William Gibson. Loved everything about it, especially the prose. Liked it almost as much as Neuromancer. Currently in the middle of Mona Lisa Overdrive to finish out the Sprawl trilogy and loving that too. I've got his latest, Agency, on hold at the library, should have that soon.

S'funny, VIRTUAL LIGHT was where i stepped away from Gibson. Coming out of the Sprawl set, the change in tone and focus i found so much less interesting, the characters less engaging.

[T77]

Abyss, on 26 February 2020 - 04:21 PM, said:

T77, on 26 February 2020 - 04:06 PM, said:

Finished Virtual Light by William Gibson. Loved everything about it, especially the prose. Liked it almost as much as Neuromancer. Currently in the middle of Mona Lisa Overdrive to finish out the Sprawl trilogy and loving that too. I've got his latest, Agency, on hold at the library, should have that soon.

S'funny, VIRTUAL LIGHT was where i stepped away from Gibson. Coming out of the Sprawl set, the change in tone and focus i found so much less interesting, the characters less engaging.

I could see how some might not like it, especially compared to Sprawl. I think the setting - I really liked the Bridge - and his almost poetic prose did it for me. I hear great things about Idoru, the second Bridge novel, which I have on deck.