[amphibian]

 Briar King, on 10 December 2010 - 01:26 AM, said:

My fav is book 2 Royal Assassin. Fitz is older and the politics I loved. I havent yet and have no real desire to read her Live Ship Tril, I just skipped ahead back to Fitz in Tawny Man.

Unless you are a woman, you did exactly the right thing.

[Salt-Man Z]

The Liveship Trilogy is still the only Hobb I've read, and it's fantastic. I don't know why everybody here cries about it so much.

[ansible]

I enjoyed The Liveship Traders, though it has been a few years since I read it. I wish I had read it between the Fitz trilogies, rather than before them. There's that one connection I wish I could have made... But they were all pretty good books.

[Defiance]

I know I'm like 3 weeks late, but ASOS is truly amazing. It might be the best book I have ever read, although the Malazan books come incredibly close (in fact, The Bonehunters may surpass it).

I'm reading Stonew...oh wait, no I'm not. It was supposed to arrive on Monday and it still hasn't arrived. I'd be furious if Cataclysm hasn't just come out; because of the expansion, my fury has become mere annoyance.

I suppose that doesn't say something I'm reading. The quest logs in WoW when the markers on the map are too vague, I suppose.

[Thel Akai]

I absolutely hate the Liveship Traders. The first book started out quite good I thought. Interesting take on magic and ships etc.. Early introduced protagonist seemed to have an interesting future. So, after reading a quarter of it I went ahead and bought the other books. Big mistake. Things started to go bad halfway through the first one, and then it went downhill from there. I never read the final book. The problem is that I hate every character in the book. I can't stand them. Even those who are slightly less hateworthy have shallow personalities. And I hate every stupid decision they make, which are just about _every_ decision they make. And you can see which way things are going (which is mostly downhill) all the time, which is another thing I don't like when reading stories. What a bunch of losers. If I never read any other Robin Hobb book (this series is the only one I've tried of that author) the Liveship Traders will be the reason.

[Astra]

I read twice!!! The Farseer and the Liveship Traders trilogies.
Loved them both times. Some of the very best fantasy I have read.

However, after re-read of the trilogies I...I made a huge mistake and I have read the Tawny Man trilogy. Dreck, rubbish, sissy's story. Romance with a fake label Fantasy, that tricks fantasy fans to read it. Robin Hobb has been obliterated from my Top 5 Fantasy writers list.
I don't know if I can make myself to read the latest duology or Soldier Son Trilogy.

This post has been edited by Astra: 10 December 2010 - 11:22 AM

[Use Of Weapons]

I liked the Liveship Traders, but mainly (AFAIR) for the character of the Mad Ship

[Thel Akai]

 jitsukerr, on 10 December 2010 - 11:30 AM, said:

I liked the Liveship Traders, but mainly (AFAIR) for the character of the Mad Ship

Ah, yes, I would make a little exception for the Mad Ship in my tirade against the characters.

[cerveza_fiesta]

Well, after 2 x 12-hour (that should have been 5 hour) trips through the idiotic N.American passenger air transit system, I am done with A Storm of Swords.

That is one of the most gripping and awesome pieces of fantasy literature I've read in a very long time. The ending did not disappoint in any way shape or form.

Spoiler

• Tyrion gets revenge on Tywin
• Tywin was fracking Shae and using her to play Tyrion the whole time !!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA laughed mightily when I finally made that connection.
• Joffrey chokes on poison. No great surprise.
• Jon is Lord Commander....though I felt this was a little over-predictable for GRRM's style. It was inevitable, but the way of resolving the choosing just seemed a little rushed and over-convenient harry Potter style.
• Lord Beric's brotherhood whipping ass and taking names, now focusing on the Freys because of what they did at the red wedding.
• The RED WEDDING was an amazing scene. It was so awesome I couldn't even read at a normal pace - even though they killed Robb. I felt Robb's whole crusade was getting a bit stale anyway so I wasn't entirely sad to see it end that way. I might have expected a bit more of a battle but it was cool to do it with a more treacherous slant.
• The Lord of Light's forces are massing at the wall to fight the Others and the Wights...can only be cool, really.
• Jaime basically gives the collective fuck-you to the world and does what he wants, but hands off his sweet-ass sword to Brienne so she can go find Sansa/Arya
• Daenerys actually decides to be a conscientious leader and stick around to ensure rule of law in the slave cities before she moves on Westeros.
• The last couple of chapters where Petyr tries to get it on with Sansa and pushes the lunatic Lysa Arryn out of the door in the Eyrie. So great...

And last but not least...
CATELYN IS A FUCKING ZOMBIE NOW...OMG FUCKING COOL

Just so much cool...through and through cool.

I am picking up A Feast for Crows tonight. I can't wait to continue.

I think somebody mentioned that they were good books to read in succession since the stories are so close together chronologically. I don't care if it's slower, I just want more.

This post has been edited by cerveza_fiesta: 10 December 2010 - 03:10 PM

[QuickTidal]

 cerveza_fiesta, on 10 December 2010 - 03:07 PM, said:

Well, after 2 x 12-hour (that should have been 5 hour) trips through the idiotic N.American passenger air transit system, I am done with A Storm of Swords.

That is one of the most gripping and awesome pieces of fantasy literature I've read in a very long time. The ending did not disappoint in any way shape or form.

Spoiler

• Tyrion gets revenge on Tywin
• Tywin was fracking Shae and using her to play Tyrion the whole time !!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA laughed mightily when I finally made that connection.
• Joffrey chokes on poison. No great surprise.
• Jon is Lord Commander....though I felt this was a little over-predictable for GRRM's style. It was inevitable, but the way of resolving the choosing just seemed a little rushed and over-convenient harry Potter style.
• Lord Beric's brotherhood whipping ass and taking names, now focusing on the Freys because of what they did at the red wedding.
• The RED WEDDING was an amazing scene. It was so awesome I couldn't even read at a normal pace - even though they killed Robb. I felt Robb's whole crusade was getting a bit stale anyway so I wasn't entirely sad to see it end that way. I might have expected a bit more of a battle but it was cool to do it with a more treacherous slant.
• The Lord of Light's forces are massing at the wall to fight the Others and the Wights...can only be cool, really.
• Jaime basically gives the collective fuck-you to the world and does what he wants, but hands off his sweet-ass sword to Brienne so she can go find Sansa/Arya
• Daenerys actually decides to be a conscientious leader and stick around to ensure rule of law in the slave cities before she moves on Westeros.
• The last couple of chapters where Petyr tries to get it on with Sansa and pushes the lunatic Lysa Arryn out of the door in the Eyrie. So great...

And last but not least...
CATELYN IS A FUCKING ZOMBIE NOW...OMG FUCKING COOL

Just so much cool...through and through cool.

I am picking up A Feast for Crows tonight. I can't wait to continue.

I think somebody mentioned that they were good books to read in succession since the stories are so close together chronologically. I don't care if it's slower, I just want more.

Yep, all that stuff. Definitely the best in the series. We told ya! LOL!

That said...don't expect much from A Feast For Crows, it was split into two halves....VIA POV....don't ask me why....so you get like ONE Jon Snow chapter (cause he interacts with Samwell who has POVs here), 3 Arya chapters and that's about it for cool. Like I said before, if ASOS was the party, then AFFC is the cleanup after. Brienne has an interesting journey...though a boring one. Only Jaime, Arya and Samwell's POVs save this book from utter doldrums....Cersei's chapters are only so-so and aside from Asha Greyjoy's chapters, the other Greyjoys who have POVs are kind of lackluster.


That said, the as-yet-released A Dance With Dragons contains the rest of the POVs from the original one-volume AFFC...so Jon Snow, Tyrion, Daenerys, ect...don't show up till the next volume...and they are all the best storylines....considering the bodycount in ASOS. AFFC just can't live up to it's potential and I am firmly in the camp that thinks that is because it was split VIA POV instead of down the middle of the story.

Sigh.

Still worth reading, but you'll see what I mean.

[cerveza_fiesta]

I didn't understand the split really.

Was just checking out the Wiki page and I think I get it now. AFFC deals with junk down south...A dance with dragons deals with the other simultaneous cool shit that goes on during the time period of the slightly-more-boring AFFC events.

GRRM is a huge dick by the way for delaying that book so long with so many official "finshed-by" dates announced already.

Authors should not treat a fanbase like that. I realize it takes time, but we are the reason he's making money. It's like actors who refuse to do interviews...it's like "fuck you man, I pay your bills, give me something here..."

EDIT And I realize it takes time to write a good book, but don't tell people you're going to be done in 2006, then 2008 and let 2010 roll around with no end in sight.

Hopefully the work on the TV series will give him some inspiration to get it all done.

This post has been edited by cerveza_fiesta: 10 December 2010 - 03:55 PM

[T77]

 QuickTidal, on 09 December 2010 - 06:20 PM, said:

 Briar King, on 09 December 2010 - 06:12 PM, said:

Im bummed that Robin Hobb did do it for you. I truly enjoyed the 6 books I read by her. Ofcourse you really cant go wrong with The Dark Tower books either. They are fucking fan-fucking-tastic(except book 6).

Yeah, and Assassins Apprentice is my all time fave by her.

Considering that Hobb appears a lot in the top 5 fantasy author threads I had high hopes. It just felt very meh to me. It was kind of slow and I didn't care much for any of the characters. That said, it wasn't awful and I am sort of intrigued about what will happen, I liked some of the plot. Maybe I'll try the second one some time.

[QuickTidal]

 cerveza_fiesta, on 10 December 2010 - 03:48 PM, said:

Hopefully the work on the TV series will give him some inspiration to get it all done.

Sadly, I have a feeling his involvement with this will only make things worse.

[End of Disc One]

 Briar King, on 10 December 2010 - 07:46 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 10 December 2010 - 06:18 PM, said:

 cerveza_fiesta, on 10 December 2010 - 03:48 PM, said:

Hopefully the work on the TV series will give him some inspiration to get it all done.

Sadly, I have a feeling his involvement with this will only make things worse.

Why is that ya think?

GRRM doesn't deal well with distractions.

[Abyss]

 End of Disc One, on 10 December 2010 - 07:47 PM, said:

 Briar King, on 10 December 2010 - 07:46 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 10 December 2010 - 06:18 PM, said:

 cerveza_fiesta, on 10 December 2010 - 03:48 PM, said:

Hopefully the work on the TV series will give him some inspiration to get it all done.

Sadly, I have a feeling his involvement with this will only make things worse.

Why is that ya think?

GRRM doesn't deal well with work..

Fixed.

But really, the tv series gives him carte blanche to kick back on his money chair and sip a moneytini and throws a bit more money in the fireplace to warm the moneyhouse while he waits five years for the tv series to catch up with the books before he even has to think about getting around to finishing DoD.

I secretaly harbour hope that in a moment of brilliance and motivation they will coordinate the release of DANCE with the premiere of the series, but who are we kidding...

[Mentalist]

I am only going to re-state my last recommendation.

do not read AFFC until ADOD is out. then read the 2 back to back. and hopefully that'll be able to sustain the awesome high that you get from finishing ASOS.
AFFC in itself is fairly meh, though it has some okay parts, but the best parts of it are in the end, and all they do is foreshadow another MAJOR shitstorm later on in the series.

Oh, and cliff-hangers. goddamn cliffhangers...

on topic: this entire week i've spent in love/hate embrace with the fourth edition of the Canadian Constitutional Law. While my spurned Book of the New Sun sits 2 shelves above me. stupid exams....

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 11 December 2010 - 12:55 AM

[Yellow]

 Briar King, on 10 December 2010 - 11:03 PM, said:

Fuck we prob wont even get lucky enough to have the book in our hands for 2011 either. He is going to release such a sigh when its finished we ll hear it. Then he prob wont even touch a keyboard for another 2 yrs to start book 6.

And if the book isn't very good, he'll probably never touch one again.

[Bauchelain the Evil]

Finished Wild Cards Volume I. The idea was great and I liked many of the characters. My favourite was Croyd. Some of the stories were a bit meh, but I liked most of them.

[QuickTidal]

Star Wars Fate Of The Jedi ABYSS by Troy Denning.

I enjoyed the first two, looking forward to more.

[Varen]

Matthew Stover - Blade of Tyshalle. Read Heroes Die last week and so far this one seems pretty damn good as well, and thanks to Abyss/Salt-Man Z for even making me aware that the Caine Series existed.

After I'm done with that I have the third in the series, Caine Black Knife, and then I will be on to the two most recent Adrian Tchaikovsky books (although I am really struggling to get through them)