[JPK]

Tiste Simeon, on 07 October 2021 - 10:04 PM, said:

Morgoth, on 07 October 2021 - 07:40 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 05 October 2021 - 07:08 AM, said:

So I finished one of the most challenging and unique books I've ever read, HOUSE OF LEAVES by Mark Z Danielewski. It is weird to say the least and one that could never be captured on audiobook or even ebook. I dunno if any of you have read it but I found it quite a challenging read but very rewarding and I really got into it. Despite the academic style the main thrust of the book is written in, I think it'll stick with me for a while...

Since I managed to pick up the entire Raven's Shadow trilogy for £2 (not each, that's the whole shebang!) I've started on that.

I love that book. I’ve read everything he’s written since on the strenght of House of Leaves alone

So weird but worth the effort!

The chapter on echoes is one of my favorite things I've ever read. I've also read ONLY REVOLUTIONS, which is a very challenging read that I'm not sure I'd actually recommend, and THE THOUSAND YEAR SWORD, which was excellent and weird as well.

As for myself, I just finished CHILDREN OF TIME. You did not overhype this Abyss. Very good recommendation, and I can't believe how well he stuck that landing.

[Abyss]

Tsundoku, on 07 October 2021 - 09:27 AM, said:

worry, on 06 October 2021 - 08:47 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 06 October 2021 - 05:42 PM, said:

Wendig was the wrong choice

Yah it's weird hearing Star Wars characters calling their enemies "douchenapkins" and "vuvuzelian dingo dango buttwhistles" or whatever.

???

Finished Whispers Under Ground. Quite good, but felt a bit like a "joining" book, rather than being in and of itself.
But I guess being part of a series you're going to get some like that and some that stand a bit more on their own.

On to Broken Homes.

WHISPERS was my least favorite Peter Grant book. Ok enough for the series, but again and again the payoff didn't live up to the setup.
BROKEN returns to form.

[Abyss]

JPK, on 08 October 2021 - 01:55 AM, said:

...
As for myself, I just finished CHILDREN OF TIME. You did not overhype this Abyss. Very good recommendation, and I can't believe how well he stuck that landing.

IKR?! Ten semi-autonomous tentacles out of eight!

[JPK]

I just finished VINDOLANDA and it was another spot-on recommendation. Thank you RBB. I would like to say that Goldsworthy's work as a historian really shined through in this. There's also something really enjoyable about a story about a guy picking up a sword and challenging an enemy to a 1 on 1 duel for honor. I immediately grabbed books 2&3 for the near future.

Next up is something a bit unusual for me: non-fiction. I've started Dave Grohl's THE STORYTELLER: TALES OF LIFE AND MUSIC. I'm about 2 hours in so far and loving every minute of it. Hearing his description of when he fell off stage, broke his leg, and then finished the show before allowing anyone to take him to the hospital was exactly as satisfying as I figured it would be. He also narrates it himself! He's just a really interesting person to me due to his musical history and how that has shaped him into the man he is. I really can't overstate how much I'm enjoying this so far.

[Macros]

Just finished The Wisdom of Crowds by Abercrombie. Strong strong finish to the trilogy, the set up for going forward at the end.... hmmm.... Loved how Rikkes visions paned out in this trilo, really don't like the sound of where its going to though. Fuck Bayaz

The scene with Cloverfield at the camp fire is just two pages of pure Abercrombie gold, I had to read it twice, bust out laughing at it.

Probably will start Vinlandia tomorrow

[T77]

Macros, on 10 October 2021 - 07:25 PM, said:

Just finished The Wisdom of Crowds by Abercrombie. Strong strong finish to the trilogy, the set up for going forward at the end.... hmmm.... Loved how Rikkes visions paned out in this trilo, really don't like the sound of where its going to though. Fuck Bayaz

The scene with Cloverfield at the camp fire is just two pages of pure Abercrombie gold, I had to read it twice, bust out laughing at it.

Probably will start Vinlandia tomorrow

I also just finished TWoC and enjoyed it.

[Traveller]

Just starting WoC.

I'll give Thomas Covanant a break because so far there's a lot of travelling across the countryside and it's not gripping me.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 12 October 2021 - 09:37 AM

[Abyss]

Traveller, on 12 October 2021 - 09:37 AM, said:

...
I'll give Thomas Covanant a break because so far there's a lot of travelling across the countryside and it's not gripping me.

Covenant and co were slogging decades before it became trendy.

[amphibian]

The slogging pays off - later when a good chunk of people already quit because of the earlier stuff. It really pays off though and Donaldson keeps the callbacks and knock on effects strong throughout the series.

[Tiste Simeon]

Ugh slogging is my least favourite fantasy trope which is why I think I hated Memory Sorrow Thorn so much because it's literally all slog with minor points of vague payoff and whinging on occasion...

This post has been edited by Tiste Simeon: 12 October 2021 - 06:45 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

Oh man... Sandman Act II "Fables and Reflections"

Spoiler

The Johanna Constantine story "Thermidor" had me choked up... The bit where Orpheus sings is such a beautiful and powerful moment my eyes were welling. The song is stunning! As I was listening to it while driving a big police van, nearly crying is not perhaps the best look!!

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Giving fantasy a test and reading Conversations with Friends. It’s good but I find it ironic that a book with that title deliberately doesn’t use quotation marks when people are having conversations. With friends.

[QuickTidal]

Finished WILD CARDS V: DOWN & DIRTY. Pretty good. Better than ACES ABROAD actually. The sad thing is that the biggest story in the volume is the weakest by a long margin (where they are putting on a 1988 Wild Card Virus/AIDS benefit concert with a still living Buddy Holly as the headliner) that's super messy and muddled...and then it ends with a weird rapey scene. There is also a Wild Cards Virus allegory with the AIDS epidemic and the passing of such from one character to many others until he's stopped by two heroes... which reads super HINKY all these years later. Like it's hard not to see the comparison between the stigma's associated with the disease at the time, and what they did with the one character who was passing it...every time I run into one of these WILDLY out of touch old paradigms in the WC series, like the exasperating sexually-inclined Aces or Jokers, the very 80's-minded sexism, and other stuff best left in the past (in this one Oriental is used instead off Asian and it stands out to me hard)...it makes me can't wait to get up to the TOR books from the mid-to-late 200's onwards as the paradigms will be more in line with today...and leave these old ones as finally read. And the worst bit is that I hear the most cringe and and terrible stuff is in the next 3 book arc...

Anyways. Still good, but you gotta have your trigger goggles on and see these for what they were when you read the older ones.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Started empire in black and gold. I was doing a non-fantasy detour, time to get back to it.

[Maark Abbott]

I finally ground through Karsa is Cross. After the honeymoon period of 'omg new Erikson' ended, that was a real grind. Strong finish at least which pushes it to a 6/10. It'd be a good ICE book, but it was a weak SE book. The marine sections in particular were a real chore.

Gonna read a few light novels and then get back to Irvine.

[QuickTidal]

Finally decided to finish Licanius....I've been putting it off as his next series isn't due till 2023 and I didn't want the wait....but it's been staring at me on my kindle too long, so I'm about 10% into THE LIGHT OF ALL THAT FALLS....and it's really starting to set up the big finale. Good stuff.

Oh, and Islington is one of those great authors who puts a catchup/high-level summary at the beginning of his books so you can recall what happened in the previous ones. Always a good trait.

[Tiste Simeon]

I finished Blood Song by Anthony Ryan and enjoyed it a lot. Vaelin was a good character, exploring the morally grey area around the necessity for killing someone and where the line is. Have gone straight onto Tower Lord, the second in the trilogy.

[polishgenius]

It got a little delayed (after some initial very long delays, since its first publication projection was like 2019) but I finally got my hands on Ada Palmer's Perhaps the Stars. Right back into being obssessed with it.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 05 October 2021 - 02:52 PM, said:

...
Now... back to the Lot Lands for more Orc Sons of Anarchy on war pigs w Jonathan French's FREE BASTARDS.

2/3rds of the way through this and if the author sticks the landing i am going to reco the living hell out of this trilogy.

[amphibian]

I think French does stick the landing - although it's a different landing than I expected.