[King Bear]

Astra, on 24 April 2011 - 02:57 PM, said:

To be honest I was a bit sceptical about the whole series. I have noticed that my taste is quite different from many fans of The Malazan Book of Fallen.
Many of you love books that I not only merely dislike, but cannot stand. For example: American Gods, The Book of the New Sun, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, The Crown of Stars, Nation, Catch 22, Lord of Light, Earthsea.

I'm glad that you enjoyed GotM! I have to say I'm a bit surprised you hadn't read any malazan yet, considering the number of posts you've made on here. Just goes to show how cool this forum is, that a non-fan such as yourself has (presumably) enjoyed it so much to make over 1,000 posts!

Anyway, Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice are IMO even better than GotM. Indeed, they blow it out of the water! So keep reading you're in for something special!

hehe, I'm a fan of many of the authors whose works you listed as hating: Gaiman, Wolfe, Donaldson, Zelazny. I haven't read Crown of Stars and Earthsea, and I'm not terribly interested in either. I'd like to read Catch 22, but what's Nation?

So what fantasy authors do you enjoy?

More on topic, I'm currently reading The Island of Dr. Moreau.

[Bauchelain the Evil]

Astra, on 24 April 2011 - 02:57 PM, said:

I finished Gardens of the Moon by ...you know who.
(why this title? I have not figured out this one)

I loved the book.

Nice characters. I like their behaviour, way of thinking. Good dialogues.
The sheer scope of the world. Geography, magic! WOW!
Concise description where appropriate.
The language is easy going. This book grabbed my attention from the start. There was no period when I had to adjust myself to Erikson's style.

Some names are a bit funny. Darujhistan, Capustan, Kaliban, Canhasan a glimpse of the not too distant future?
Considering that I speak Russian and Hebrew:
Halaf, D'rek, Hara; Dobre, Nahal, Sotka, Baran


To be honest I was a bit sceptical about the whole series. I have noticed that my taste is quite different from many fans of The Malazan Book of Fallen.
Many of you love books that I not only merely dislike, but cannot stand. For example: American Gods, The Book of the New Sun, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, The Crown of Stars, Nation, Catch 22, Lord of Light, Earthsea.

I am a happy bunny (appropriate for Easter? ).
I thought I might take a break and squeeze in a stand alone book.
Nope. On to the book two.

Deadhouse Gates.

Happy to know you enjoyed GotM. believe us, you ain't seen nothing.
But really, hating American Gods and Lord of Light? *shakes head*

[POOPOO MCBUMFACE]

It's... humanly possible to dislike Lord of Light? I don't understand, I think there must be a language barrier here. I'm missing something.

Starting the second book of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell just now. I have to say - speaking as someone who enjoys Dickens - the first part didn't impress me all that much. It was alright, but felt a bit like a one-trick pony, and the pacing was pretty terrible, as was the RAVEN KING less-than-subtle RAVEN KING foreshadowing every DID I MENTION THE RAVEN KING where. Hopefully it picks up.

[amphibian]

Quickie Ben, on 24 April 2011 - 03:47 PM, said:

I have to say I'm a bit surprised you hadn't read any malazan yet, considering the number of posts you've made on here.

Astra's not reading the Malazan books, yet posting all kinds of things on here remains the single oddest thing I've seen on this forum.

Quote

but what's Nation?

A non-Discworld book written by Terry Pratchett. I thought it was his most emotionally affecting book since Night Watch and a great read.

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 24 April 2011 - 06:24 PM, said:

A non-Discworld book written by Terry Pratchett. I thought it was his most emotionally affecting book since Night Watch and a great read.

Agreed. It was really nice to see Pratchett on a non-discworld book for a freshness...and I got it. Enjoyed NATION a lot.

[Astra]

Quickie Ben, on 24 April 2011 - 03:47 PM, said:

I'm glad that you enjoyed GotM! I have to say I'm a bit surprised you hadn't read any malazan yet, considering the number of posts you've made on here. Just goes to show how cool this forum is, that a non-fan such as yourself has (presumably) enjoyed it so much to make over 1,000 posts!

I think it was 2006. I thought there are must be people who like fantasy. Maybe I should google "fantasy forum".
Malazan was the first one that I thought I might like. I realised that it was dedicated to a certain series but there was a general forum too where people discussed what they read besides this one series.
A few weeks later I found asoiaf.westeros (I didn't read ASOIAF and don't plan TBH) and sffworld.com half an year later. I am this odd sort of person. I am dedicated. Once I join&like it, I stay.
I didn't read Malazan because the series were unfinished. I made this mistake once. I read The Shadow Rising in 1998 (I knew nothing about Fantasy except The Lord of the Rings), then realised it is a fourth book in the series? OK. Let's find the rest and read them. I found 8 (that was the reason why I started to read in English. I could not locate all 8 books in Russian in Israel). Read them and....what? It is not the end???? But I want to know what happens to characters!!!! I cannot wait!!!
Once bitten, twice shy.
Never again I read an unfinished series

Quickie Ben, on 24 April 2011 - 03:47 PM, said:

hehe, I'm a fan of many of the authors whose works you listed as hating: Gaiman, Wolfe, Donaldson, Zelazny. I haven't read Crown of Stars and Earthsea, and I'm not terribly interested in either. I'd like to read Catch 22

I loved Zelazny's The Great Book of Amber. All 10 books. Also A Night in the Lonesome October
However, Lord of the Light...don't know. It was boring. Old fashioned style. Don't remember the rest. Illogical was the most frustrated part I think.

Catch 22 was just dull. I didn't find it funny at all. It also was illogical with time jumps and I don't like it.

Quickie Ben, on 24 April 2011 - 03:47 PM, said:

So what fantasy authors do you enjoy?

I loved the Wheel of Time, the first 7 and sort of liked 8th books more than 10 years ago
I liked The Riftwar and The Serpentwar sagas
The Lord of the Rings
The Last Light of the Sun and Tigana
Some books by S. King: The Dark Tower series, Salems Lot, It, The Stand and a couple of others.
Harry Potter!
Farseer and The Liveship Traders
The First Law by Abercrombie except the ending. The ending was so disappointing that I cannot bring myself to read anything else by him. I know, I will. I didn't give up on him yet vs. Mieville with his PSS. I adored the book but the ending... was so horrible, akin to coming to the end of The Path of Daggers then realise that there is no more books in the series. Only worse because I know it is the end.
Mistborn
The Hunger Games
The Gargoyle
The Book Thief
His Dark Materials
The Black Company!
Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn
Fahrenheit 451
we
1984

I don't have favourite authors because many of them have good and bad books. For example Robin Hobb. I read Farseer and The Liveship Traders twice. Absolutely in love with the series. I re-read them second time before I read The Tawny Man.....one of the worst fantasy series I have ever read.

Bauchelain the Evil, on 24 April 2011 - 04:46 PM, said:

Happy to know you enjoyed GotM. believe us, you ain't seen nothing.

Ta

Bauchelain the Evil, on 24 April 2011 - 04:46 PM, said:

But really, hating American Gods and Lord of Light? *shakes head*

About Lord of Light I answered above.
American Gods...omg.

POOPOO MCBUMFACE, on 24 April 2011 - 05:59 PM, said:

It's... humanly possible to dislike Lord of Light? I don't understand, I think there must be a language barrier here.

I won't argue about language. Maybe. Although, I didn't find the language difficult. I just didn't like the way the story was told and I didn't like the story too.

When I read Warbreaker by Sanderson, I felt Lord of Light influence, however I liked Warbreaker

amphibian, on 24 April 2011 - 06:24 PM, said:

Quote

but what's Nation?

A non-Discworld book written by Terry Pratchett. I thought it was his most emotionally affecting book since Night Watch and a great read.

Sorry

[Harvester]

Kraken's f*cking amazing!

[Astra]

Harvester, on 24 April 2011 - 09:54 PM, said:

Kraken's f*cking amazing!

I wanted to read it but amazon (UK) reviews don't look good at all.

This post has been edited by Astra: 24 April 2011 - 10:20 PM

[amphibian]

Astra, on 24 April 2011 - 10:20 PM, said:

Harvester, on 24 April 2011 - 09:54 PM, said:

Kraken's f*cking amazing!

I wanted to read it but amazon (UK) reviews don't look good at all.

They are haterz. The book is indeed dragonfucknuts amazing (to me, Harvester and many others on this board at least).

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 25 April 2011 - 12:16 AM, said:

Astra, on 24 April 2011 - 10:20 PM, said:

Harvester, on 24 April 2011 - 09:54 PM, said:

Kraken's f*cking amazing!

I wanted to read it but amazon (UK) reviews don't look good at all.

They are haterz. The book is indeed dragonfucknuts amazing (to me, Harvester and many others on this board at least).

I have it on my Kindle and I've read only a few chapters, but so far it's amazing!

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 25 April 2011 - 02:41 AM, said:

amphibian, on 25 April 2011 - 12:16 AM, said:

Astra, on 24 April 2011 - 10:20 PM, said:

Harvester, on 24 April 2011 - 09:54 PM, said:

Kraken's f*cking amazing!

I wanted to read it but amazon (UK) reviews don't look good at all.

They are haterz. The book is indeed dragonfucknuts amazing (to me, Harvester and many others on this board at least).

I have it on my Kindle and I've read only a few chapters, but so far it's amazing!

KRAKEN is squidittyfucknuts awesome and absolutely great fun to read. Totally worthwhile. Ignore the fools who demand that Mieville only ever write more Bas-Lag travelogues, for they are narrow minded and foolish in their ignorance of the glory of the squid.



In other news, started Abercrombie's THE HEROES. Maybe 100 pages in and luvin' it so far. I didn't know Crawford's crew from the short story were in this one, which was a nice surprise. I really, really enjoy the way Abercrombie weaves minor characters from one book into major povs in another and the inverse. It's a really clever way of keeping continuity between the books even while they stand on their own.

[HoosierDaddy]

Harvester, on 24 April 2011 - 09:54 PM, said:

Kraken's f*cking amazing!

Kraken's fucking confusing.

I've got about 50 pages left of it. I enjoy it... and yet, it's charms bug me and I'm charmed by the irritation.

[Rhand]

Just finished Gardens of the Moon, will be taking up Deadhouse Gates.

And to think I only started rereading MBotF because the first 100 pages in Rob Roy are so-damn-boring.

[Binder of Demons]

After finishing THE CRIPPLED GOD, I, like many others, couldn't really get into anything new immediately. So after dipping back into the Malazan world and reading a few large chunks of MEMORIES OF ICE and HOUSE OF CHAINS, I decided to go for something completely different.

I'm nearly finished my re-read of PROVEN GUILTY by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files), which is awesome. And now i feel like i can finally move on to actually reading (and enjoying) THE WISE MAN'S FEAR by Patrick Rothfuss. Or else SURFACE DETAIL by Iain M. Banks. Either seems like a good option.

[McLovin]

Finished Matterhorn. A good book, not as great as some reviews have made it out to be, but very solid and extremely evocative of just what being a US Marine in Vietnam was like. And of just how stupidly that war was managed.

Now have gone back in naval history, to Commodore Hornblower.

[T77]

Finished Bleak Seasons by Glen Cook, a novel in his Black Company series. And it did not disappoint! I give him credit for trying to do something a little different in each novel and making it work. This is an amazing series! I hope he publishes the final two novels soon, he's not getting any younger.

[Tapper]

Just finished The Scar. Miéville's vocabulary and descriptions of surroundings and environment are top notch. I was engrossed, then went 'meh' and finished somewhere in between on the emotional spectrum - although I'm by far more positive than negative. Pity we didn't find out more about Uther Doul. It was a whole lot better than Perdido Street Station but I had hoped that it being Bas-Lag and his second book in that world, it would be better than his stand-alones. Kraken remains my top spot when it comes to Miéville.

Currently reading The Glasshouse by Charles Stross. Interesting backdrop and the opener is steroids mixed with coke and some motherfucking Caine vibes, but I kinda turned off when dueling in space became 'pretend to be living in the noughties'. I may put it aside and read GGK's Ysabel instead.

[Abyss]

Astra, on 24 April 2011 - 07:30 PM, said:

...The First Law by Abercrombie except the ending. The ending was so disappointing that I cannot bring myself to read anything else by him. I know, I will. I didn't give up on him yet ...

For what it's worth, i thought BEST SERVED COLD was a serious jump in quality for Abercrombie.

Briar King, on 25 April 2011 - 07:03 PM, said:

Abyss, on 25 April 2011 - 05:47 AM, said:

...
KRAKEN is squidittyfucknuts awesome ....

You should patent that...

Considering your sig BK, i probably should.

[End of Disc One]

I have about 80 pages left in Dead Beat (be jealous). I knew this was the most popular book in the series but I assumed it was because of the ending (which I already know about). But my god, this is by far the richest book yet. For me the less standalone a book is, the better, and Dead Beat has done a fantastic job touching upon most of the major plotlines throughout the series. Too bad there are no

Spoiler

Knights of the Cross

though. Even if the rest of the book sucks (which I know it won't) this has replaced Summer Knight as my favorite in the series.

This post has been edited by End of Disc One: 26 April 2011 - 02:24 PM

[Abyss]

End of Disc One, on 26 April 2011 - 02:23 PM, said:

I have about 80 pages left in Dead Beat...my favorite in the series.

Told you so!
And that finale is so, so very awesome.