[Silk]

Just started the Mistress of the Empire book (Feist) having finished the first two in the series, man this Feist chap can wright a good yarn and the collaboration with Wurts is seriously making me think of trying one of her books. Any suggestions?

[Use Of Weapons]

Silk, on 08 July 2011 - 11:10 AM, said:

Just started the Mistress of the Empire book (Feist) having finished the first two in the series, man this Feist chap can wright a good yarn and the collaboration with Wurts is seriously making me think of trying one of her books. Any suggestions?

Start with the "Cycle of Fire" trilogy [_Stormwarden_, _Keeper of the Keys_, _Shadowfane_], which is also available as an omnibus. _Sorceror's Legacy_ is fun, short novella-ish. _Master of Whitestorm_ is a one-off and has more mature writing than "Cycle of Fire", so try it before embarking on her magnum opus, the "Wars of Light and Shadow", a massive, multi-volume, intricately plotted epic. Wurts has some unfortunate tics as a writer, particularly when it comes to dialogue, but her descriptive prose is normally wonderful, and occasionally stunning, particularly when writing about music. And one of the main characters in WoLaS is a masterbard, and the universe itself is based on musical motifs, so that strength of hers comes to the fore often. She also has the best centaurs I've ever read in fantasy ever, absolutely bar none.

WoLaS has five main arcs:

• Arc 1
  • Curse of the Mistwraith
• Arc 2
  • Ships of Merior
  • Warhost of Vastmark
• Arc 3 - Alliance of Light
  • Fugitive Prince
  • Grand Conspiracy
  • Peril's Gate
  • Traitor's Knot
  • Stormed Fortress
• Arc 4 - Sword of the Canon
  • Initiate's Trial
  • Destiny's Conflict
• Arc 5
  • Song of the Mysteries

We're currently waiting the publication of Book 1 of Arc 4, which is coming in autumn of this year I believe.

[McLovin]

About 3/4 of the way through Grave Peril. Really liked the way this started, but not really liking how it's going at this point. Maybe I'm suffering Dresden fatigue.

But, Abyss will be delighted to know that Mrs. McLovin is now reading my copy of Storm Front. Your disciples have disciples, my friend!

Lastly, 2 chapters from the end of ACOK. It is just surprising how much detail I have lost from my last re-read (admittedly that was 6 years ago). Will be starting ASOS tomorrow, hopefully *rubs hands in anticipation*.

[QuickTidal]

3 quarters into my re-read of GOTM and am I insane to have drawn parallels between Tavore and Ganoes and Oponn in this book? Probably. Anyways, still thoroughly enjoying the richness of my reread. Even when Tool and Lorn are discussing The Logros and Kron T'Lan I feel like I have so much more insight. Love it.

[Morgoth]

QuickTidal, on 08 July 2011 - 01:40 PM, said:

3 quarters into my re-read of GOTM and am I insane to have drawn parallels between Tavore and Ganoes and Oponn in this book? Probably. Anyways, still thoroughly enjoying the richness of my reread. Even when Tool and Lorn are discussing The Logros and Kron T'Lan I feel like I have so much more insight. Love it.

This is why GotM is my favourite

[Abyss]

Briar King, on 30 June 2011 - 05:27 AM, said:

...ABYSSSSSSSSS....WTFUCKKKKKKKKKKK? After all that shit talking about reading Dresden and you STILL havent even picked up Furies yet....Shame. On. You..... Go read it NOW.

i KNOW! I KNOW!!!!

Its like having that entire series just sitting on the TRP is almost intimidating... it's weird... i waited specifically until the series was done but the timing of starting it keeps pushing me off... admittedly TCG didn't help...

And now I'm having commitment-a-phobia, especially with DWD and GHOST STORY mere weeks away.

MWKarsa, on 04 July 2011 - 03:01 PM, said:

Just finished Summer Knight by Butcher and just like the first books in this series I throughly enjoyed it. Great fast and fun read. Now I need to decide which book to pick up next. Decisions, decisions...

Bauchelain the Evil, on 05 July 2011 - 09:09 AM, said:

While on cruise i found both Storm Front and Fool Moon in the ship's library and wow! ...

Briar King, on 06 July 2011 - 12:21 AM, said:

...I fucking FLEW through Storm Front. I thought it was the shit and much better then Fool Moon.

silvenquesti, on 08 July 2011 - 12:10 AM, said:

Just finished Dead Beat Grave Peril (long long day) ...I guess it's onward to Summer Knight....

McLovin, on 08 July 2011 - 01:18 PM, said:

About 3/4 of the way through Grave Peril. Really liked the way this started, but not really liking how it's going at this point. Maybe I'm suffering Dresden fatigue.

But, Abyss will be delighted to know that Mrs. McLovin is now reading my copy of Storm Front. Your disciples have disciples, my friend!...

THE DRESDENCRACK!!!! IT GROWZ!!!
AND GROWZ AND GROWZ!!!!!

Btw Grave Peril was probably my least fave dresdencrack, saved mostly by some humour and a killer finish.
Summer Knight was where my addiction was locked in and everything after just tightened the grip.

And yes, you can experience dresdencrack overdose, especially because there's an initial reflex to pound through the books like 5 at a time and have so gloriously many ahead of you. But with a judicious break or two it's all great fun. And then you get to the most recent one. And then the shakes start.

And then, the dresdencrack, it OWNS you.

[fidge]

200 pages into some book called A Dance with Dragons.

[Cyphon]

Burn and die.

Finished Cat's Cradle, very good, and the change in writing format was nice in comparison to other books I've been reading of late.

Now no more fiction until I'm in the same scenario as Fidge.

[Gust Hubb]

Cyphon, on 09 July 2011 - 12:36 AM, said:

Burn and die.

Finished Cat's Cradle, very good, and the change in writing format was nice in comparison to other books I've been reading of late.

Now no more fiction until I'm in the same scenario as Fidge.

Yeah, Vonegut is crazy shit (good stuff not the negative connotation). Read that for English and there is a lot written between the lines. If you want some recommendations along his psychedelic style, I could pass some on...

[worry]

I'm reading Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell, about 3/5 through it. It's not as engaging as her last two books (or her shorter essay collections before that, but different beasts), dunno why. Possibly the subject matter, but also there's a lack of distinction between a lot of the historical figures, esp. the missionaries...which is the opposite of what she did with The Wordy Shipmates, where the distinct personalities rang out. Still, by no means a bad book, just sketchier than I'd like.

Edit: Oh yah, at ~230 pages I'm pacing it out till ADWD, like lots of you seem to be dealing with.

This post has been edited by worrywort: 09 July 2011 - 01:09 AM

[QuickTidal]

No fiction books weren't cutting it in the ramp up to the release of ADWD, so I picked up David Grann's (LOST CITY OF Z) non-fiction book of essays called THE DEVIL & SHERLOCK HOLMES and so far it is about as riveting as his first book was. Great non-fiction stuff to get me through the weekend and into Tuesday.

[Serenity]

I'm about halfway through re-reading A Feast for Crows. Gonna be a rush to finish it before Tuesday.

This post has been edited by Serenity: 09 July 2011 - 09:25 AM

[pat5150]

Just finished GRRM's A Dance With Dragons. It's the shit!

Check out the blog for the full review.

Patrick

[Dutch]

Finishing up with the Bonehunters in the coming days, thinking of taking a break from the Malazan Universe after to read "The Real All Americans" by Sally Jenkins which my Niece gave to me today for taking care of the cat and her house while she was visiting Boston with her boyfriend.

She knows that I'm a big American Football fan and thought it would be a suiting present for me. Well she was right, I always like to read about the history of the game.

[JPK]

Finished Summer Knight on the bus yesterday morning. I got some strange looks because of how hard I was cracking up. Digging into Death Masks. I've been really really looking forward to this one because of all the hype.

[Astra]

I finished two books

Crimson Sails by Alexander Grin
I sweet romantic fairy tale

and

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson
I posted MO in the Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson AKA Steven Spielberg's next flick


Reading now The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The last one before I start Memories of Ice

This post has been edited by Astra: 10 July 2011 - 10:53 AM

[End of Disc One]

silvenquesti, on 10 July 2011 - 04:37 AM, said:

Finished Summer Knight on the bus yesterday morning. I got some strange looks because of how hard I was cracking up. Digging into Death Masks. I've been really really looking forward to this one because of all the hype.

I thought Death Masks had a fantastic set up but I wasn't a fan of the A plot/B plot structure. I thought Summer Knight was better.

[Abyss]

Just finished Martin Millar's THE GOOD FAIRIES OF NEW YORK.
'Charming' and 'frivolous' are not words i typically use to describe books, but they apply. More elsethread soon'ish.

Started THE FURIES OF CALDERON - i figured out what was preventing me from getting on with this series for so long... 'start-up syndrome'. No matter how good i know a series is going to be, spending the time needed for an author, even a great author like Butcher, to start something from scratch with necessary farmboy antics and intro worldbuilding, is a bit... i'm going to use the word 'tedious' even if that's unfair. I know i'll enjoy this series, and even soon, but the first 50 pages so far are just that.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 10 July 2011 - 03:34 PM, said:

Started THE FURIES OF CALDERON - i figured out what was preventing me from getting on with this series for so long... 'start-up syndrome'. No matter how good i know a series is going to be, spending the time needed for an author, even a great author like Butcher, to start something from scratch with necessary farmboy antics and intro worldbuilding, is a bit... i'm going to use the word 'tedious' even if that's unfair. I know i'll enjoy this series, and even soon, but the first 50 pages so far are just that.

Well into the dresdencrack as I was, I'll be honest. I put FURIES OF CALDERON down after 100pages and was annoyed...sold the book to a used bookstore. It was just so generic and wasn't blowing my mind yet...

a year later I re-bought it and finished it. While it was still kind of by-the-numbers, I liked a few things about it...enough to read Book2 which I am happy to say is SO much better.

so no matter how tedious FoC seems, just push on.

[D'iversify]

Just finshed a really interesting non-fiction book called Lords of the Fly (about fruit fly genetics) as part of researching for my MA dissertation. Unfortunately, because I have a dissertation to do it means I have very little time to read anything for pleasure. I'm hoping to squeeze in ADWD either in mid-August or in September, and then I'll probably read Bakker's The Warrior Prophet. If I have time.