[Use Of Weapons]

 QuickTidal, on 12 May 2011 - 01:53 PM, said:

Definitely. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs books are incredible. Though I've not yet read the third.

It is incredibler.

[pat5150]

Just finished Alastair Reynolds' Chasm City and it was awesome! Space opera doesn't get much better than this!

Check the blog for the full review.

Patrick

[Abyss]

 Baco Xpuch, on 11 May 2011 - 11:41 PM, said:

Just finished Abercrombie's the Heroes last night; he's now one of my favorite authors. ...

Seconded. That book put him on my pre-order the hb list.

 Tapper, on 12 May 2011 - 10:59 AM, said:

Currently reading Caine Black Knife ... is there a discrepancy between Blade and Black Knife in that he mentioned that he met his wife during the lead-up to the Boedecken saga where all the participating Actors sat around a table? In Caine Black Knife, all those Actors don't know/ aren't supposed to know about one another that they're Actors, that happens only when he is alone with Marade, and his wife is nowhere in sight (unless Shallan is Tizarre).
Not sure I like the very fast emergance of fire arms in Home, as well.

Three thoughts...
1) it's a fucking Caine book. Post fucking properly. Fuck.

2) Keep in mind actors don't all look the same before and once they were sent to Overworld.

Spoiler

Two of the Boedecken lady actors recognized Caine but he didn't know them or the others. The prep for missions is fairly wide open and in Boedecken in partcular the admins were playing it sneaky.

3) I liked the firearms element. it's a perfectly logical consequence of the Studio's fucking about.

 acesn8s, on 12 May 2011 - 01:20 PM, said:

 Tapper, on 12 May 2011 - 10:59 AM, said:

... how the fuck

Spoiler

did Labourer Kollberg suddenly end up commanding the BOG?

My take is:

Spoiler

Kolberg became the avatar for the God of Dust and Ashes. The BOG is controlled by the God.

That. Fuck.

 jitsukerr, on 12 May 2011 - 02:22 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 12 May 2011 - 01:53 PM, said:

Definitely. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs books are incredible. Though I've not yet read the third.

It is incredibler.

I actually thought 2 was better than 3, but that's like saying t-bone is better than filet mignon.

 pat5150, on 12 May 2011 - 02:51 PM, said:

Just finished Alastair Reynolds' Chasm City and it was awesome! Space opera doesn't get much better than this!
...

Huh... i'll be curious to see what you liked about it. To me it was his weakest book.



Still working my way thru the last MEG book, even with WHITE LUCK WARRIOR standing by i'm actually finding it hard not to want to know what's going to happen next... (abeit i'm skipping whole pages to find out...).

[McLovin]

 Hocknose, on 11 May 2011 - 10:29 AM, said:

Just a quick question for those of you that have read it...will the encylopedia spoil parts of the story if I refer to it while reading TTT?

No, you should be fine. Not much spoilerage there IIRC.

[amphibian]

 Abyss, on 12 May 2011 - 04:32 PM, said:

 pat5150, on 12 May 2011 - 02:51 PM, said:

Just finished Alastair Reynolds' Chasm City and it was awesome! Space opera doesn't get much better than this!
...

Huh... i'll be curious to see what you liked about it. To me it was his weakest book.

To me, Chasm City is one of his very strongest. Century Rain is his weakest book by far - again, this is my opinion - as it didn't have a strong enough concept to really stand up to the full novel treatment.

[Tapper]

 acesn8s, on 12 May 2011 - 01:20 PM, said:

 Tapper, on 12 May 2011 - 10:59 AM, said:

Currently reading Caine Black Knife after finishing Blade of Tyshalle last night. Blade was great, but exhausting. I liked parts, other bits felt contrived, and I might have missed this, but how the fuck

Spoiler

did Labourer Kollberg suddenly end up commanding the BOG?

My take is:

Spoiler

Kolberg became the avatar for the God of Dust and Ashes. The BOG is controlled by the God.

Yes, and that is made quite clear when he and Tanel'Koth fuse, but:

Spoiler

There is no fucking transition what so-ever. At one point, he is called up by the board and is still a Labourer. The next time you see him facing Tanel'Koth, he commands the board. There is no in-between.

@ Abyss: I'm fucking sorry. The ass-reaming skull-fucking might of fucking Caine is just too fucking awesome to be fucking captured in a fucking cascade of cock-sucking bone-breaking Christ-fucking swear words.

[Mentalist]

Had a very productive 1 week Vacation,

read the first 3 volumes of Tad Williams' Otherland, although the first 2 were re-reads. I liked it a lot, it was complex, and yet for someone with next to 0 knowledge of the British classics, he still made it easy for me to understand. and I loved how he played with the classic "this isn't a game" trope. Ordered volume 4 and I want to finish this series.

Also read Neal Asher's "Shadow of the Scorpion"--a prequel Ian Cormac novel about his first days in the ECS. my curiosity is now spiked for the Spatterjay sequence, and i'm amazed by how he ties it all together. My respect for Asher has gone way up after reading this relatively short novel.

Another real discovery was Glenda Larke. read volume 1 of the Stormlord trilogy, and liked it a lot. the concept is really cool: you have a typical pseudo Middle Eastern fantasy land, where there is a great struggle for a limited resource, that's controlled by magic. but, the result itself is ordinary water. Which makes the story so much more believable and relates to the reader on a whole other level. definitely looing forward to more in this series.

also started Charles Stross' "Atrocity Archives", based on forum recommendations. like it so far.

[acesn8s]

 Tapper, on 12 May 2011 - 06:19 PM, said:

 acesn8s, on 12 May 2011 - 01:20 PM, said:

 Tapper, on 12 May 2011 - 10:59 AM, said:

Currently reading Caine Black Knife after finishing Blade of Tyshalle last night. Blade was great, but exhausting. I liked parts, other bits felt contrived, and I might have missed this, but how the fuck

Spoiler

did Labourer Kollberg suddenly end up commanding the BOG?

My take is:

Spoiler

Kolberg became the avatar for the God of Dust and Ashes. The BOG is controlled by the God.

Yes, and that is made quite clear when he and Tanel'Koth fuse, but:

Spoiler

There is no fucking transition what so-ever. At one point, he is called up by the board and is still a Labourer. The next time you see him facing Tanel'Koth, he commands the board. There is no in-between.

@ Abyss: I'm fucking sorry. The ass-reaming skull-fucking might of fucking Caine is just too fucking awesome to be fucking captured in a fucking cascade of cock-sucking bone-breaking Christ-fucking swear words.

It happened early.

Spoiler

Fucking Kolberg is slaving away at his terminal when he gets the message from the BOG and terminal's lightshow turned him into a flesh-fuckin-eating BOG avatar. He attacks his ex-supervisor and goes all you can eat buffet on her fake rack. It was at that point that Soapy turned into his rape caddy.

[Tapper]

 acesn8s, on 12 May 2011 - 08:26 PM, said:

 Tapper, on 12 May 2011 - 06:19 PM, said:

 acesn8s, on 12 May 2011 - 01:20 PM, said:

 Tapper, on 12 May 2011 - 10:59 AM, said:

Currently reading Caine Black Knife after finishing Blade of Tyshalle last night. Blade was great, but exhausting. I liked parts, other bits felt contrived, and I might have missed this, but how the fuck

Spoiler

did Labourer Kollberg suddenly end up commanding the BOG?

My take is:

Spoiler

Kolberg became the avatar for the God of Dust and Ashes. The BOG is controlled by the God.

Yes, and that is made quite clear when he and Tanel'Koth fuse, but:

Spoiler

There is no fucking transition what so-ever. At one point, he is called up by the board and is still a Labourer. The next time you see him facing Tanel'Koth, he commands the board. There is no in-between.

@ Abyss: I'm fucking sorry. The ass-reaming skull-fucking might of fucking Caine is just too fucking awesome to be fucking captured in a fucking cascade of cock-sucking bone-breaking Christ-fucking swear words.

It happened early.

Spoiler

Fucking Kolberg is slaving away at his terminal when he gets the message from the BOG and terminal's lightshow turned him into a flesh-fuckin-eating BOG avatar. He attacks his ex-supervisor and goes all you can eat buffet on her fake rack. It was at that point that Soapy turned into his rape caddy.

Spoiler

Ah, that makes sense, thanks . I read it just the way that Soapy permitted him this because they are under orders of the BOG and have no orders other than bring Kollberg back to the BOG, or restrain him with violence. I guess I'll have to read that again as I clearly did not pick it up. In my defence, this is the first book I have been reading it with android kindle from my phone, and having to slide every alinea makes for a rather haphazard reading experience.

[Salt-Man Z]

I think Blade of Tyshalle is the most exhausting book I've ever read. Some of the Malazan books get close, but man. After three reads, I'm still a little confused on the whole BoG/Blind God/black oil thing, but I get that Stover's doing the epic fantasy thing about making metaphors real, so I just let it go without thinking about it too much.

[Abyss]

 Salt-Man Z, on 13 May 2011 - 04:45 PM, said:

I think Blade of Tyshalle is the most exhausting book I've ever read. ...

This so SO true. Especially if, like i did, you go in right off HEROES DIE and expect more of the same.

- Abyss, means all that in a good way.

[Aptorian]

I am reading "At the Mountains of Madness" by H.P. Lovecraft. Been 10 years or something since I last read this story. God damn this stuff is good. It is surprising how good Lovecraft is at telling a compelling and chiling story with such a robust and technical language as the one he uses in that story. It really is a shame that man didn't live 10 more years. Imagine the stories he would have come up with.

I'm reading through his collected work, some 67 stories, and it's really interesting to see the connections he manages to draw between each story. Certain names, subtle hints though descriptions, etc.

[acesn8s]

I was re-reading the Blade of Tyshalle when i came down with a GI bug. Nothing like reading about the Caine in the Pit and Shaft while that was going on. Especially the part about the guy up the shaft from Caine apologizing every so often.

[Rhand]

Spend most of the day reading Midnight Tides, which was not so smart a thing to do as Night of Knives will not be in my possession before Monday morning. I decided to pick up Rob Roy (Sir Walter Scott) but after reading 2 pages I remember again why I put it aside last month in favour of Erikson: NOTHING happens. That's why I love almost all Fantasy works, you're assured that something WILL happen.

[Tapper]

 Salt-Man Z, on 13 May 2011 - 04:45 PM, said:

I think Blade of Tyshalle is the most exhausting book I've ever read. Some of the Malazan books get close, but man. After three reads, I'm still a little confused on the whole BoG/Blind God/black oil thing, but I get that Stover's doing the epic fantasy thing about making metaphors real, so I just let it go without thinking about it too much.

 Abyss, on 13 May 2011 - 06:10 PM, said:

 Salt-Man Z, on 13 May 2011 - 04:45 PM, said:

I think Blade of Tyshalle is the most exhausting book I've ever read. ...

This so SO true. Especially if, like i did, you go in right off HEROES DIE and expect more of the same.

- Abyss, means all that in a good way.

Your posts are a shame unto Mael'fucking Koth and his fucking Hand, the Bad Motherfucker ™ Caine in their lack of dirty fucking language.

Spoiler

I was surprised that Caine ends up on Earth at the end of Caine Black Knife. That was a twist I hadn't seen coming. Loved what he did to the paladin at the end with the Holy Foreskin.

I agree that BoT is nothing like Heroes Die.
If anything, CBK is the direct inheritor of Heroes Die in terms of style and happenstances, both are adventures as opposed to BoTs more... literary and character orientated approach.

I won't lie, the wanton cruelty in BoT, especially the stuff on Earth connected to Faith and all the maneuvering surrounding Pallas Ril was at times a bit too fucking much for me

Spoiler

(although reading about the anally impaled priestess and Marade's torture in CBK weren't exactly walks in the sunshine either).

This post has been edited by Tapper: 14 May 2011 - 09:31 PM

[Bauchelain the Evil]

Finished WHITE LUCK WARRIOR and I'm satisfied. While it lacked a Cil-Aujas type of scene, it was by far a more solid book. This time I enjoyed all storylines, with a predilection for Momemn and the Malowebi one, and I found thr new characters more inreresting, especially Sorweel,whom I could not stand in TJE.

[QuickTidal]

Going to read ODD & THE FROST GIANTS by Neil Gaiman next, which won't take too long, and I dunno what after that...

[styrax]

Iv just picked up cry of the newborn by james barclay and the ancient by r a salvatore both perfect condition hardbacks and both cost me £1 each so even if they arent very good i wont be bothered

[QuickTidal]

Finally got back into Neal Asher's GRIDLINKED (after only getting a quarter way into it on vacation due to my re-read of ACOK taking up my reading time) and I'm somewhere in the neighborhood of 50% done (on Kindle) and it's really picked up now and things are rocking along into the awesome....

...howcome didn't nobody tell me Asher was this kickass?

Like seriously.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 16 May 2011 - 07:24 PM

[Rhand]

Night of Knives.