[masan's saddle]

Finished The Lies of Locke Lamora a few weeks ago, absolutley loved it, although I've read on these boards that the follow up is a bit of a let down ? Will still read it though. Finished The Alan Clark Diaries and am about 100 odd pages away from finishing Blood of the Mantis, the 3rd Shadows of the Apt book. It's the worst of the 3 books so far, very slow. I'm hoping something spectacular happens at the end because this series is shaping up to be a long one and I need something to keep me interested.....

Ok, when BotM is finished, I have a choice of the Bauchelain and Korbal Broach anthology, or 2 Richard Morgan books. I've not read anything by Morgan before but i've only read and heard good things about him. So, what will it be ? ( The Steel Remains or Altered Carbon are the options )

Any ideas ?

[caladanbrood]

Altered Carbon is a seriously great book.  And of course the KB&B novellas are fun too - if you are reading Morgan, go for his sci-fi first, because it's significantly better than his fantasy (Steel Remains) which is really not that special.

[LadyMTL]

I'll second the Altered Carbon love, it's the first Richard Morgan book that I read and I really enjoyed it.
I myself have finished the George Carlin bio and now I'm reading Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake. So far, so good...I love post-apocalyptic stories.

[Salt-Man Z]

masan, on 06 January 2010 - 08:15 PM, said:

Finished The Lies of Locke Lamora a few weeks ago, absolutley loved it, although I've read on these boards that the follow up is a bit of a let down ? Will still read it though.

Really, a number of people will tell you that what disappointed them most about Red Seas Under Red Skies is that it was just more of the same. I personally had no problem with that, and think the second book was almost as awesome as the first. My biggest complaint has to do with the structure of the book as a whole (likely you'll see what I mean when you read it).

As for me, I just finished Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun for the second time in a year. It was enjoyable the first time, but it was absolute magic the second.

Next up is Servant of a Dark God which I need to read for LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program. I've heard good things about it, so I'm looking forward to it.

[QuickTidal]

LEVIATHAN by Scott Westerfeld.

Really cool YA book about an alternate history WWI where the Germans, Austrians ect. (Clankers) have large steampowered mechanicals, and France, Britain, Russia (Darwinists) have crossbred animals made into large fighting things (like a giant airship that looks like a whale). The son of assassinated Archduke Ferdinand and Princess Sophie, Aleksander escaped murder by his very own people to meet up with Deryn (as girl in the British air core posing as a boy so she can fight) and together they try to make sense of the war that has fallen upon them and not get killed in the process .....VERY cool stuff and the story is quite engrossing! YA Steampunk meets a little new weird.

[Use Of Weapons]

_The Sharing Knife: Beguilement_ by Lois McMaster Bujold. I'm a huge fan of Bujold -- her Vorkosigan space opera series is possibly the closest thing in SF to the Dresden Files in terms of addictiveness. They share similar protagonists in some ways, too, come to think of it.But her fantasy is equally good, though I'm curiously resistant to it. _Curse of Chalion_, _Paladin of Souls_ and _The Hallowed Hunt_ are all excellent books, on a par with her best writing in the Vorkosigan sequence. So I'm at a loss to explain why I've waited so long to pick up _The Sharing Knife_.Anyhow, I've done so, and am about a third of the way through. Great characters, intriguing setting, odd magic -- it all feels as solid as ever, though there is some question over the over-arching plot (ie. there doesn't seem to be one as yet). But I'm enjoying the journey as much as I ever do with Bujold's prose sweeping me unresisting into her world. And there are several volumes to get after this!

[Abyss]

masan, on 06 January 2010 - 08:15 PM, said:

Finished The Lies of Locke Lamora a few weeks ago, absolutley loved it, although I've read on these boards that the follow up is a bit of a let down ?

RED SKIES is okay enough, but i thought not even close to LIES and therein lies the disappointment. What i disliked wasn't that it was more of the same so much as that it never reached the levels of clever, novel or entertaining that LIES did. There were glimmers, but that was all. I don't regret reading it, but LIES put Lynch on my pre-order list and RED bumped him off it.

Quote

I've not read anything by Morgan before but i've only read and heard good things about him. So, what will it be ? ( The Steel Remains or Altered Carbon are the options )

Any ideas ?

From a Malaz fan perspective, the Novellas are totally worth the read and fairly quick.

Morgan remains firmly on my pre-order list. AC is a great great book and will probably send you running to grab the two sequels. I thought TSR was brilliant. Brood disagrees but he is cold and dead inside. in a nice way.

QuickTidal, on 07 January 2010 - 08:29 PM, said:

LEVIATHAN by Scott Westerfeld. ...VERY cool stuff and the story is quite engrossing! YA Steampunk meets a little new weird.

I saw this, reads the blurb and was tempted but resisted because of the YA. May library it for a test drive.

jitsukerr, on 08 January 2010 - 12:21 PM, said:

_The Sharing Knife: Beguilement_ by Lois McMaster Bujold. I'm a huge fan of Bujold -- her Vorkosigan space opera series is possibly the closest thing in SF to the Dresden Files in terms of addictiveness. ...

I really do need to check this out. Internets are a bit vague on where to start. Suggestions?

- Abyss, always on the hunt.

[Imperial Historian]

I have to add to the love for Bujold, not dresden levels but her vokosigan books are definitely on my pre-order list. I've also been fairly resistant to her fantasy, I did enjoy Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls and The Hallowed Hunt, but I've still not picked up her sharing knife books.

As for where to start in the vorkosigan books, theres several places where you could pick them up, and I'm not sure where to recommend.

I wouldn't recommend starting at the beginning, cordelia's honor and barrayar are by far the weakest books in the series and introduce the parents of the main character, if you enjoy the miles vorkossigan books by all means go backand pick them up, but I don't think they are a good introduction to the series.

starting at the warrior's apprentice, which comes first in publishing and chronological orders is a good bet, I personally then read through them at a random order with whichever ones I could find, but I think both publishing and chronological orders works well. There are a number of duologies + short stories which are well worth picking up if your working your way through the series, in fact I'd start with the young miles duology if your looking for a particular book to buy, and just work your way thorugh the duologies:

Cordelia's Honor (officially the first two books)
Young Miles (omnibus)
Miles Errant (omnibus)
Miles, Mystery and Mayhen (omnibus)
Miles in Love (omnibus)
Miles, Mutants and Microbes (omnibus)

On the subject of vorkosigan duologies the komarr-civil campaign duology has to be the best sci-fi-detective-romantic-political-regency-comedy I have ever read, and has the rare distinction of containing the only book (a civil campaign) I've ever bought three times.

EDIT Oh and I'm officially excited to learn that the first new vorkosigan book CyroBurn for 7 years has been submitted and is scheduled for publishing in november 2010.

[Defiance]

Reaper's Gale and Under the Dome by Stephen King.

[QuickTidal]

TO LIGHT A CANDLE (Obsidian Trilogy Book II) - Mercedes Lackey & James Mallory

[Ain't_It_Just_]

Five Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly. Pretty good, but I'm eager to move onto the big stuff I bought recently.

[Morgoth]

about thirty pages from finishing White Noise by Don DeLillo ... brilliant book.

[QuickTidal]

Gave up on TO LIGHT A CANDLE...Mallory and Lackey spend too much time getting their point across and it bogs down the narrative in unnecessary repetition (something the first book had more of actually). I may go back to it sometime, but for the time being, I need to leave it on the shelf again.

Anyways, finally going to give BRIGHT THE SKY by Kay Kenyon a test drive..heard it's good. Hoping that is so...

[Use Of Weapons]

Re: where to start with Vorkosigan -- I would recommend reading in publication order, except that _Shards of Honor_ and _Barrayar_ come chronologically before _The Warrior's Apprentice_. It's true that you don't need to read _Shards of Honor_ and _Barrayar_ to start getting your teeth into Miles with _The Warrior's Apprentice_ (the first novel in the omnibus Young Miles). But I would argue that you miss out on a lot of world-building, and hence you miss out on a great deal of the character subtleties, especially with Miles's grandfather Piotr in the early Miles books. One of Bujold's selling points has always been her characterisation and especially character interactions. You'll be hobbling her writing if you miss out on these works.

That said, it is true that _Shards_ and _Barrayar_ are the weakest writing, being the earliest written (along with _Ethan of Athos_: _The Warrior's Apprentice_ was sold as a tripartite deal to Baen, including _Ethan_ and _Falling Free_). But if you think of them as the _Storm Front_ and _Fool Moon_ of the Vorkosigan saga, you won't go far wrong. And sub-par Bujold is streets ahead of most other writers. And, actually, both Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan (Miles's parents) are intriguing and fully-realised characters in their own right, fully deserving of novels of their own.Fortunately, they are available in a collected edition called _Cordelia's Honor_, so at least you only have to get one book to have both works.

I predict a Vorkosigan frenzy on a par with Butcher, once you get to _The Warrior's Apprentice_, though. And the fun really starts with _Brothers In Arms_ and my favourite in the whole sequence, _Memory_. (_A Civil Campaign_ is a masterpiece, too. I wish you much joy in your discovery of these for the first time.)

This post has been edited by jitsukerr: 11 January 2010 - 02:33 PM

[K'Chain Bull'shite]

Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson. Enjoying it so far, hoping it's a better alternate-history than The Years of Rice and Salt. I like the political eco-warrior stuff he's been churning out lately but it gets a bit samey after a while.

[Jusentantaka]

just requisitioned crossroads of twilight by jordan after skimming through the past 7 or so books. Amazing how quickly they go if you skip to the next chapter as soon as you see it's about Wesley Elayne.

[EsotericForest]

I'm 100 pages into Bonehunters

[caladanbrood]

So I now have to chose between Gathering Storm, Best Served Cold and a reread of The Braided Path. Too much choice

[EsotericForest]

Well out of those, Best Served Cold looked the most appealing to me, I'd go with that one

[Deornoth]

Finished reading Aaron Dembski-Bowden's 'Soul Hunter', Warhammer 40K tie-fiction about the machinations of the traitor legions (The Night Lords in particular). 'Soul Hunter' is a slow burner to start off with but does give you plenty to get your teeth into; it ramps up the pace later on and that's when it's worth sticking around for! My full review is over Here. I fancied a bit of a change of pace and am now reading Lucy Snyder's 'Spellbent'.