[WhiskeyJackDaniels]

I've actually done a decent amount of reading over the past month. Killed books 2 and 3 of the Mistborn trilogy, The Prince of Nothing trilogy, Name of the Wind, and The Summoner.

I just started The Judging Eye, and have the Lions of Al-Rassan on deck since I've heard good things about it here.

[Astra]

Yesterday morning I finished Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay
I guess it was......... an interesting story.
Although, I have nothing else to add. It didn't feel like a fantasy. Just fiction with a few mystical elements.
Same day evening I started infamous Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
I liked the film and looking forward to reading it.

[Fist Gamet]

About half way through Lions of Al Rassan, and really enjoying it. I only have a couple of minor grievances about the writing but nothing significant. Couple of really terrific characters, especially Ammar Ibn Khairan, the poet, who is great to read.

[Captain Beardface]

Finishing up Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds tonight, then onto StarFishers, Creatures of Light and Darkness, or The Judging Eye, haven't decided yet...

[MTS]

Well, Infinite Jest was fantastic, to say the least. Not quite my favourite book of all time, but pretty damn close.

Now reading Under Heaven. Exactly one hundred pages in and loving it so far. Generally I steer clear of Asian-themed works (not sure why to be honest), but this one is a ripper.

[Ain't_It_Just_]

Finished off Name of the Wind Book One, and it was great. Reminiscent of Robbin Hobb's work, but more engaging.

Now halfway through some tasty Dresden, Summer Knight.

[Traveller]

Ain, on 07 July 2010 - 12:45 PM, said:

Finished off Name of the Wind Book One, and it was great. Reminiscent of Robbin Hobb's work, but more engaging.

Now halfway through some tasty Dresden, Summer Knight.

Aw, lucky, I've now caught up with all the Dresdens, and have to wait...

I just started War and Peace. Yep. Thought I'd give it a go, I've been meaning to for ages. Surprisingly engaging at the moment.

[Abyss]

[quote name='Salt-Man Z' date='30 June 2010 - 11:16 AM' timestamp='1277910980' post='775117']
[quote name='Abyss' date='30 June 2010 - 09:23 AM' timestamp='1277907795' post='775107'][quote name='acesn8s' date='30 June 2010 - 08:46 AM' timestamp='1277901972' post='775092']...Now I'm on to Whitechapel Gods.[/quote]
Enjoy! I really liked that book.[/quote]
I finished that last week. It was really good, though frustratingly vague at times. But I think that was part of the charm; Peters gave you just enough information to follow along with the plot, and nothing more. But the atmosphere and the characters were memorable.[/quote] [/quote]

Agreed on all fronts. The vague thing works because the characters don't know much more than the reader and they still have to deal with the situation. Peters is one to watch. His second book Ghost Ocean, while not as original as Gods, has some really well done writing


[quote][quote name='Abyss' date='30 June 2010 - 09:23 AM' timestamp='1277907795' post='775107']Cook's SHADOWGAMES is picking up. I know some people say the series actually starts to fall apart here but in some ways i'm liking this more than the first three. four. whatever.[/quote]
I personally enjoyed the final 6-book arc more than the original trilogy. The trilogy jumped around a lot, while the Glittering Stone story is more drawn out; it reads a lot more like epic fantasy. [/quote]

[quote name='The Seguleh 46th' date='30 June 2010 - 11:44 AM' timestamp='1277912659' post='775122']
I really liked the turn this series took here in the south. Was the first series i read that really brought the soldier POV aspect to the forefront instead of the classic hero/villian showdown blah stuff. Every book was great, the second one (name is eluding me at the moment, based in Juniper anyway...) especially, sorta had that medieval mafia sorta flavor!
[/quote]

Noted. Am into Dreams of Steel now and enjoying the new narrator.

I think it's that i read the first three/four books right after a malazan reread that finished with The Bonehunters just as it was released, so my SE level was high and Cook's first Black Co. books are just not in that league, tho they carried me along enough to finish them. Starting 'fresh' with Shadowgamesi i think i've been more receptive.

[quote name='stone monkey' date='30 June 2010 - 03:51 PM' timestamp='1277927491' post='775224']
Just finished The Raw Shark Texts

Liked:...
Disliked:...[/quote]

Yeah, i know, Jaws is one of my all time favourite flics but the finale in the Texts just didn't work. Overall a strong enough work that i enjoyed it anyways but the end was a letdown.

[quote name='MTS' date='30 June 2010 - 06:49 PM' timestamp='1277938198' post='775307']
After going to start it a little while back and being lured away by Dresden, ...[/quote]

[quote name='Ain't_It_Just_' date='07 July 2010 - 08:45 AM' timestamp='1278506750' post='777759']
...Now halfway through some tasty Dresden, Summer Knight.
[/quote]


MORE Drescrack addicts!

[ansible]

MTS, on 07 July 2010 - 08:08 AM, said:

Well, Infinite Jest was fantastic, to say the least. Not quite my favourite book of all time, but pretty damn close.

Is it me, or did you tear through that book? I started reading it a few years ago and didn't get more than about 50 pages. I think I was distracted at the time, and I thought it was pretty interesting, but I've heard a couple of people rave about it since then.

[MTS]

ansible, on 07 July 2010 - 03:18 PM, said:

MTS, on 07 July 2010 - 08:08 AM, said:

Well, Infinite Jest was fantastic, to say the least. Not quite my favourite book of all time, but pretty damn close.

Is it me, or did you tear through that book? I started reading it a few years ago and didn't get more than about 50 pages. I think I was distracted at the time, and I thought it was pretty interesting, but I've heard a couple of people rave about it since then.

A week to read 981 trade paperback pages? I guess I did. And you definitely should give it another go. It was a bit tough for me to get into at first, but once I did I was hooked.

[kcf]

lately I've been struggling to find reading time and reading long books, which makes for not much progress. I finished up Riddle-Master by Patricia A. McKillip for the SF and Fantasy Masterworks Reading Project (review). I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I think the style may not appeal to many 'modern' readers.

I'm not reading Speculative Horizons edited by Patrick St-Denis (of Pat's Fantasy Hotlist). Only one story read so far, but it was pretty good.

[Riot]

Mainspring by Jay Lake

[Salt-Man Z]

Finally got Butcher's Changes off the wait list at the library yesterday. Stayed up far too late last night reading the first 70 pages.

[D'rek]

Finished God of Clocks a little while ago.

The whole Deepgate trilogy seems to me to suffer from losing all its best parts. Book 2 doesn't have Devon, barely has Carnival, doesn't have Deepgate itself, etc. Hell is interesting at least, and actually I found Hell was written even better in God of Clocks. And speaking of which, if you disliked Iron Angel and/or Scar Night in the slightest, don't read of God of Clocks. The writing is more of the same, there's very little characterization even for the couple new characters, the plots become really, really, REALLY irrelevent to each other (by the last quarter, only one of them has any relevance at all, the other 1 or 2 is just still going to provide action scenes) and the ending is UNBEARABLY unsatisfying and sappy.

Abyss, on 30 June 2010 - 02:23 PM, said:

Noted. Am into Dreams of Steel now and enjoying the new narrator.

I think it's that i read the first three/four books right after a malazan reread that finished with The Bonehunters just as it was released, so my SE level was high and Cook's first Black Co. books are just not in that league, tho they carried me along enough to finish them. Starting 'fresh' with Shadowgamesi i think i've been more receptive.

The first few books are definitely going to be unappreciated if you read them with Erikson on the brain. They are too schizo-peyote-jumpy about and narrow-scaled to be read the same way as SE. The southern books are indeed more drawn-out epic style, and there's a couple big plot twists that are particularly awesome.

[teholbeddict]

MTS, on 07 July 2010 - 04:36 PM, said:

ansible, on 07 July 2010 - 03:18 PM, said:

MTS, on 07 July 2010 - 08:08 AM, said:

Well, Infinite Jest was fantastic, to say the least. Not quite my favourite book of all time, but pretty damn close.

Is it me, or did you tear through that book? I started reading it a few years ago and didn't get more than about 50 pages. I think I was distracted at the time, and I thought it was pretty interesting, but I've heard a couple of people rave about it since then.

A week to read 981 trade paperback pages? I guess I did. And you definitely should give it another go. It was a bit tough for me to get into at first, but once I did I was hooked.

It took me a month to get through it. I had a hard time at first, the book really throws you for a loop and it takes a while to figure out what's going on and then there is a lot to process. It's one of the most unique books I've ever read. People ask me what it's about and I try to explain it saying it's about....then I say no wait....then I get frustrated and say you just have to read it. It's not like any other book I've ever read. In my top three of all the books I've ever read though and that's saying alot. Glad to see you enjoyed it MTS

This post has been edited by teholbeddict: 09 July 2010 - 03:14 AM

[wolf_2099]

Finished Sizzling Sixteen, awful book, worse than 15. Entire chunks copied and pasted, a word count thats more like a novella, and a shitty story.

I'm not buying the next, they been too bad for too long now.

On to the second book of Legends of the Red Sun or possibly Slayground by Richard Stark.

[The Seguleh 46th]

Had to give up on the Empire in Black and Gold for now as it was tugging me in both directions too much to fully enjoy. Be great for a few pages, and then really irritating for ten. Probably will eventually come back to it.....maybe, i think anyways. Starting on a reread of MOI, and then gonna either start The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms or DragonAge: The Stolen Throne afterwards.

[Salt-Man Z]

Finished Butcher's Changes last night, and WHAT.

[Astra]

Finished Twilight.
Started New Moon

This post has been edited by Astra: 12 July 2010 - 02:48 PM

[teholbeddict]

Ugh! I'm trying to mentally block out the fact that you're reading Twilight Astra. I'm going to assume you're being forced to do this, rather than reading them voluntarily. Even if that's not the case don't burst my bubble!

Reading Helen of Troy by Margaret George. A fantastic and engaging read so far, much better than some of her other works I've read.