[worry]

Turns out, the horse just had an iron deficiency.

[Salt-Man Z]

Yeah, if you're reading and enjoying Erikson, you might be past the point where Piers Anthony is going to do anything for you. I was expecting a lot more from the Incarnations of Immortality series, and I was sorely disappointed. I'd still recommend checking out the first 3 Xanth books, and his Of Man and Manta trilogy, though.

[Fist Gamet]

Think I have now officially gone too far. Reading two books at the same time, switching back and forth is normal enough but I have found myself reading more...unless re-reads don't count

Dust of Dreams
Legend
The Winter King
Wolf of the Plains

I vow to finish them before starting another. Witness!

[Hound]

QuickTidal, on 08 June 2012 - 12:34 AM, said:

Finished Gemmell's TROY: LORD OF THE SILVER BOW tonight, fantastic book with an amazingly well written final battle with a few tear-inducing last stands of soldiers. EPIC, and I'm fully in for the trilogy now! Will pick up the next book soon.

Now onto Kristen Britain's GREEN RIDER.

The next two TROY books are even better It's one of my favorite trilogy's, really, really good!


--

Anyway, just finished DIVERGENT by VERONICA ROTH. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE! Yes, it is THAT bad. A painfully simplistic plot, completely illogical in some places and with plotholes you could drive a truck through. I really liked the HUNGER GAMES and after reading some positive reviews, I thought to give this book a try. The worldbuilding was virtually non-existent and nothing was adequately explained, defined or developed. Oh and the main character was ourageously stupid. Gods, I even liked the TWILIGHT books MORE than this piece of garbage (no, I'm not kidding).

Pff.... time for a hopefully better book, about to start BLADE OF TYSHALLE by Stover.

[QuickTidal]

Hound, on 09 June 2012 - 04:53 PM, said:

just finished DIVERGENT by VERONICA ROTH. AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE! Yes, it is THAT bad. A painfully simplistic plot, completely illogical in some places and with plotholes you could drive a truck through. I really liked the HUNGER GAMES and after reading some positive reviews, I thought to give this book a try. The worldbuilding was virtually non-existent and nothing was adequately explained, defined or developed. Oh and the main character was ourageously stupid. Gods, I even liked the TWILIGHT books MORE than this piece of garbage (no, I'm not kidding).

I had the same experience. Roth's series was being touted as the next HUNGER GAMES, and I could only get about 50 pages into the first book before I wan ted to chuck it at the wall. HATED.

[LadyMTL]

Salt-Man Z, on 09 June 2012 - 05:56 AM, said:

Yeah, if you're reading and enjoying Erikson, you might be past the point where Piers Anthony is going to do anything for you. I was expecting a lot more from the Incarnations of Immortality series, and I was sorely disappointed. I'd still recommend checking out the first 3 Xanth books, and his Of Man and Manta trilogy, though.

Yep, hit the nail right on the head...I finished Pale Horse yesterday and was just meh about all of it. I don't know if I'll buy any of his other works - maybe if I get really desperate for something to read? Anyway, now I've moved on to Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. I loved Snow Crash so I have high hopes for this!

[Binder of Demons]

Maia Irraz, on 10 June 2012 - 09:07 PM, said:

Anyway, now I've moved on to Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. I loved Snow Crash so I have high hopes for this!

The Diamond Age was the first Neal Stephenson book I read and I loved it. I couldn't help but think of the book again when the ipad first came out, and you started to see the adverts for interactive books. Obviously, the "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" is quite a bit more than an ipad (or other tablet) and Stephenson does know how to weave a wonderous tale.

If you enjoy this as well, and have a liking for history, then you'll definitely need to get his "Baroque Cycle" which is brilliant in my opinion.


As for what I'm reading at the moment, I've been dipping in and out of some non-fiction Photography and Video books. And I just finished a re-read of "The Bonehunters". Undecided as to whether i'll go on to Reaper's Gale now, or maybe do a Dresden re-read.

[amphibian]

Finished Blue Remembered Earth.

In its essence, it's a long, multicultured and space opera-flavored shaggy dog tale that starts in the Serengeti, and then takes us to the moon, Mars and looking outwards of the solar system entire. It is much like Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars books, without being the heffalump of science/politics/terraforming that those writings are.

This is Alastair Reynolds, who is one of my favorite authors, so these damning words are not quite so damning nor any sort of permanent condemnation. I will wait and see how the remaining two Poseidon's Children books go.

Reynolds has a tendency to tack his stories upon characters are somewhat unlikable. I flat out love the Revelation Space books, but it is worth noting that the characters most readers seem to react to the best are Clavain, Scorpio, Antoinette Bax, Skade and Cahuella - and they don't feature in the RS series until the second and third novels. BRB has a similar situation, as the death of perhaps the most important shaper of events, Eunice, in the beginning failing to get any sort of emotional resonance going. Eunice's grandchildren, Geoffrey and Sunday, are more likable than Ilyia Volyova or Dan Sylveste, but their feelings of isolation, unsurety of purpose and often unemotional exploration of the BRB universe doesn't create a pair of truly powerful protagonists.

At the end of the book, we are clearly left with a third of a story in our grasp and it is not the most satisfying story hank I've had in a while. Reynolds did dramatically up the stakes in the second and third novels in the RS books, so I will extend him the same patience. So, my grade ends up being 3.5 stars out of 5 - which is harsh, but Reynolds is well into his publishing career and his last book, Terminal World, was a 5 out of 5.

The rest will be spoilered:

Spoiler

The iceteroid's attack on the ship makes absolutely no blithering sense. None at all. Even if it was possible for humanity to duplicate the drive, the careful planning of the clue hunt should have encompassed a coded recognition beacon/signal that should have seen the iceteroid power down its anti-ship defenses. If getting rid of Hector was crucial, have him be flensed by the personal recognition thing for not visualizing his room enough. Furthermore, it is incredibly odd that Memphis was the broken physicist and not the teacher of the guide that Sunday and her boyfriend had on Mars. I did like that Geoffrey was responsible for Memphis' death though.

[Abyss]

amphibian, on 06 June 2012 - 07:31 PM, said:

Aptorius, on 06 June 2012 - 04:42 PM, said:

Still reading the Cold Commands. I'm about half way through and I am bored. So bored....

Miiiiiinor spoiler: You do realize that Ringil has the plague at that point and is severely messed up. The Grey Places portion ends and he gets back into the real world. Things pick up soon after that.

Youve been hating on TCC for ages Apt. I loved it but maybe youre just cold and dead inside and/or not that into it.

Graablick, on 06 June 2012 - 11:24 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 06 June 2012 - 03:37 PM, said:

Salt-Man Z, on 06 June 2012 - 03:31 PM, said:

Wow, Tigana really does pick up around chapters 3 & 4, doesn't it?

Good to hear! I will be getting to that one after I finish A SONG FOR ARBONNE.

Tigana is just a sad story, and I love how he manage to make the worlds feel real.

Gah. My leastest fave GGK book . Arbonne was way better imnsho.

worrywort, on 06 June 2012 - 11:55 PM, said:

....

Now I've started Ghost Country to satisfy you Patrick Lee nerds some more.

You loved the first book and u need more and u know it.

Briar King, on 10 June 2012 - 04:04 AM, said:

Fixing to start Brent Weeks Night Angel tri omni.

Great fun those.

Maia Irraz, on 10 June 2012 - 09:07 PM, said:

Salt-Man Z, on 09 June 2012 - 05:56 AM, said:

Yeah, if you're reading and enjoying Erikson, you might be past the point where Piers Anthony is going to do anything for you. I was expecting a lot more from the Incarnations of Immortality series, and I was sorely disappointed. I'd still recommend checking out the first 3 Xanth books, and his Of Man and Manta trilogy, though.

Yep, hit the nail right on the head...I finished Pale Horse yesterday and was just meh about all of it. I don't know if I'll buy any of his other works - maybe if I get really desperate for something to read? Anyway, now I've moved on to Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. I loved Snow Crash so I have high hopes for this!

For what its worth PA's Adept series is more adult and less punny than Xanth and Incarnations.

[drinksinbars]

just finished one flew over the cuckoo nest and have started into the uplift series by david brin. both good reads, by ofotcn was very depressing.

[Tattersail_]

Just finished the first in the Hunger Games. It took me under a day to finish.

I also read "The Elder Gods" which was simple but refreshing. It was the first book in a trilogy though and i'm not sure I want to buy the second. I only read this one as it was on a shelf in the villa I stayed at on my honeymoon.

I am starting The Gathering Storm next.

[Kanubis]

Tattersail, on 11 June 2012 - 10:16 AM, said:

I also read "The Elder Gods" which was simple but refreshing. It was the first book in a trilogy though and i'm not sure I want to buy the second. I only read this one as it was on a shelf in the villa I stayed at on my honeymoon.

I liked the bit where Eddings put in a divine female character that utterly pussy-whips the male protagonist. It's good to see an author try something new.


...it annoyed me. I'm convinced that his wife beats him and his entire literary career has actually been a desperate cry for help.

[Tattersail_]

Kanubis, on 11 June 2012 - 11:13 AM, said:

Tattersail, on 11 June 2012 - 10:16 AM, said:

I also read "The Elder Gods" which was simple but refreshing. It was the first book in a trilogy though and i'm not sure I want to buy the second. I only read this one as it was on a shelf in the villa I stayed at on my honeymoon.

I liked the bit where Eddings put in a divine female character that utterly pussy-whips the male protagonist. It's good to see an author try something new.


...it annoyed me. I'm convinced that his wife beats him and his entire literary career has actually been a desperate cry for help.

Have you read the whole trilogy? Names like Hook-beak and Longbow and Rabbit annoyed me a little.

[MTS]

I really didn't like that series. I think I got halfway through The Crystal Gorge before putting it down in disgust.

[QuickTidal]

Put down GREEN RIDER (will come back to it), and instead chose to get back into James Clavell's SHOGUN (which I had started a while back and put down for something else)...and now I am wholly immersed in the story and rounding page 200 I am finding it quite hard to put down. Fantastic book, which pays attention to most (if not all) of the details of Feudal Japan and life therein amongst the samurai and warlords.

[HiddenOne]

Read Gaiman's "Anansi Boys" yesterday. pretty good, light stuff. This was my first foray into his books, will read probably read more if the opportunity presents itself. I saw someone earlier in this thread compare an author to 'Stephen King meets Simon Green" - not sure if they were referring to Gaiman but that's exactly what I thought of when I read this book.

[QuickTidal]

HiddenOne, on 11 June 2012 - 03:46 PM, said:

Read Gaiman's "Anansi Boys" yesterday. pretty good, light stuff. This was my first foray into his books, will read probably read more if the opportunity presents itself. I saw someone earlier in this thread compare an author to 'Stephen King meets Simon Green" - not sure if they were referring to Gaiman but that's exactly what I thought of when I read this book.

Wow, your first Gaiman book is ANANSI BOYS? Holy shitsnacks! Dat's Brave. Especially considering it's a spinoff from AMERICAN GODS...if you ever remotely liked ANANSI (one of his weakest books), then you should be certainly in for a treat with his other work! Enjoy!

[Tiste Simeon]

Anyone read the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson? Any good? Thoughts?

[Binder of Demons]

Tiste Simeon, on 11 June 2012 - 06:55 PM, said:

Anyone read the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson? Any good? Thoughts?

I thought the first 2 in particular were excellent, while the 3rd was also very good but just not quite as satisfying.

There are 3 principal characters that we track through the history of Europe (and the wider world) and they are each fascinating. Through the 3 you get a view of the evolution of science (Daniel) and economics (Eliza), while Jack weaves them together while also giving us a view of major historical events, and a good dollop of adventure.

I think if you've enjoyed any of Stephenson's previous works, and liked his writing style, then you'll enjoy this too.

[Imperial Historian]

Just read the first two books in Daniel Abraham's new series 'Dagger & Coin'. Very enjoyable, though a lot more traditional than his earlier work.

Also 'the elder gods' holds the honour of being the worst book I have ever managed to finish, and I've read some of Goodkinds monstrosities. Crystal gorge however was even worse, I put it down after a chapter or two. Eddings has always been derivative but that one seemed to be even more by the numbers than usual.