[pat5150]

Just finished GRRM and friends' latest Wild Cards novel, Busted Flush.

As complex and entertaining as Inside Straight, it's a good read!

Check out the blog for the full review.

Patrick

[Skywalker]

Hello everyone... I've been gone from the forums a LONG time. But I'm back now, so you can all stop crying.

While I was gone, I finished a lot of books by Brandon Sanderson...

Mistborn 2: The Well of Ascension - Damn cool... continues the story most satisfyingly. I particularly loved the interactions between Straff Venture and Zane... Also, I have to say this series keeps surprising me with how original it is. The magic system, the plot twists... awesome.

Mistborn 3: The Hero Of Ages - Awesome, awesome, awesome end to the series. Well worth buying the hardcover edition. Again, the ending caught me by delightful surprise. I really hope Sanderson doesn't write a sequel trilogy anytime soon - although he left plenty of hooks for one. For some reason this trilogy seems right. Very... Matrixy in structure and execution in hindsight, but feels really fresh when you're reading it.

Elantris - Excited as I was by The Hero of Ages, I decided to read Elantris... and... well, again, the originality of ideas is there... the plot twists are unpredictable... but the writing is just not wholesome enough. You can tell that this was Sanderson's debut. Still, this one deserves 3 out of 5 stars if Mistborn gets 5 on 5.

Brisingr - No, I am not a masochist. Thankfully I didn't spend my money on this... but I did spend time reading almost 75% of the way through a friend's copy... GAAAAAH. Why do I do this to myself? Seems Paolini reads the intertubes and decided to stop ripping off Star Wars and the Dragonriders for plot points. Unfortunately in this one he goes all Robert Jordan on us. And not the Dumai's Wells RJ... think Crossroads of Twilight. Horrible filler abounds, the plot crawls, the dialogue is childish at best, the politics and 'subtlety' forced. I'd much rather Skywalker had quickly flown to Dagobah for Yoda's farewell... oh wait...

This post has been edited by Skywalker: 13 November 2008 - 07:01 PM

[Deornoth]

I've just finished reading R. Scott Bakker's 'The Judging Eye'. I could gush on for hours about how great I thought this was (can you tell that I enjoyed it?) but I'll just say that it's Bakker doing what he's done before... but better! My full review is over Here.
I'm now reading 'The Stealer of Souls', a collection of Michael Moorcock's Elric tales...

[SilentHunter]

memories of ice......done wit 700pgs

[kcf]

I finally finished a got a revew written for Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan. It's both a very good book and one that didn't appeal to me much at all - a tough review to write.

Now I'm reading The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson, which is turning out to be just the sort of read I'm in the mood for. Next up will be The Judging Eye by Bakker which just got here today.

[Dr Trouble]

I just finished Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher. I didn't like it.

What I liked most about Butchers Dresden Files is the tight, action packed prose. His ability to tell a story that's Easy to read, but has the under lying threads that tell of a bigger more complex picture.

All this is missing in this first book.

For starters, the story is so ... Simple? I've read it before, many times, and I know the outcome. Not only that, but Butcher, now out of his first person writing, seems to take delight in explaining every little detail with mind numbing clarity. I found my self skimming have the book simply so I could get to the next plot point. Something Which I have never done before.

I have other opinions, but I'll keep them to myself. I have the other three books in the series, bought on the faith that Butcher is one of the best writers out. So I'll continue. I just pray to all the is good that he learns from the first book.

[chitman13]

I've recently read and finished Cenotaxis by Sean Williams, the novella set in the same universe as his Astropolis books. I enjoyed it, especially the fact that it was set from the viewpoint of Jasper, the person Imre was fighting, which meant a different side to the story. I also liked the way that the time flowed for Jasper - events from the future would have happened to Jasper before ones in the past. It was an interesting way to do it and one that worked remarkably well. I'm now looking forward to Earth Ascendant even more

[murphy72]

I am reading Paul Kearney's This Forsaken Earth, the second book in The Sea Beggers series. Here's hoping the rest of the series is published soon. Very engrossing book.

[Astra]

I finished the last book in the Crown of Star series by Kate Elliott.

Unimpressive final.
I am disappointed with the last book in the series. Something about it doesn't sit quite right with me. There were ups and many downs in this volume. The whole Sanglant/daimone situation was very awkward and artificial. The epilogue was ..meh. The whole series were about Sanglant and Liath and what do we get at the end? I expected a lot more.

[Salt-Man Z]

I finished Toll the Hounds on Friday (awesome, if confusing) and am now back with the Black Company, reading Water Sleeps.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Giving the Gap series a reread. It's as good as it always is.

[pat5150]

Just finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's Empire in Black and Gold, and I'm disappointed. Beyond the insect-kinden concepts, this book is pretty much standard fantasy lite fare...

Check the blog for the full review.

Patrick

[LadyMTL]

I'm reading Toll the Hounds right now (on chapter 3...sigh...wish I had more time to read) but before that I read Planet Simpson and before THAT was about about the women in Louis XIV's life. I tend to skip all over the place, I'll read anything that strikes my fancy.

[Stalker]

Just picked up GRRM's A Clash of Kings and Kevin J. Anderson's Horizon Storms (The Saga of Seven Suns). Started in on GRRM's and am enjoying it.

[lokiman]

Am reading Return of The Crimson Guard!!!!!

[Deornoth]

I've just finished reading Rebecca Levene's 'Anno Mortis' in which the undead attack Ancient Rome! I found the pacing to be a little off (okay, a lot off...) which led to me skim reading what felt like an awful lot of filler. When things got going though they really kicked off with zombies riding chariots, a unique approach to zombie siege warfare and lots of heads being chopped off. And the line 'Shoot them in the head' is used! An enjoyable light read for the tube to work... My full review is over Here.
I'm now well into Paul Kemp's 'Shadowrealm'...

[Astra]

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
Not bad. I believe I have inadvertently met

Spoiler

Sherlock Holmes

[murphy72]

I've finally gotten around to starting Paul Parks' A Princess of Roumania. It's all right so far.

[frookenhauer]

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Interesting book so far

[Deornoth]

I've just finished reading Paul S. Kemp's 'Shadowrealm', third book in the 'Twilight War' trilogy. I got the sense that Kemp peaked with the second book and hit a plateau here but 'Shadowrealm' was still a mightily entertaining read that I had a lot of fun with. My full review is over Here.
Next up is James Barclay's 'Ravensoul'!