[polishgenius]

Macros, on 22 November 2012 - 12:13 AM, said:

worth the time?

Meh. Depends on your tolerance for ridiculous Mary-Sueage and trying to top each humongous set-piece with another, even more humongous set-piece. It's like Lord of the Rings written by Russell T Davies and directed by Michael Bay*.




*The Michael Bay who made The Rock. Don't get me wrong, it's not awful.

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 22 November 2012 - 01:50 AM

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

I just finished A Fortress of Grey Ice by J. V. Jones, and while I enjoyed it, I have to admit that it definitely suffers from middle-book syndrome. Unfortunately, there are apparently 3 middle books in this series. I hope more "stuff" happens in the later books.

I'll also be starting The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan soon. There are apparently many middle books to slog through in this series as well. But I want to get to the Sanderson ones at the end, so I'll stick with it. Anyway, knowing me, I'll be the one weirdo who enjoys the middle ones.

[End of Disc One]

Kruppe, on 22 November 2012 - 03:17 PM, said:

I'll also be starting The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan soon. There are apparently many middle books to slog through in this series as well. But I want to get to the Sanderson ones at the end, so I'll stick with it. Anyway, knowing me, I'll be the one weirdo who enjoys the middle ones.

Don't expect the Sanderson ones to suddenly be better than the rest of the series. They're without a doubt better than the handfull that come before it, but I don't think many people say they're the absolute best.

[QuickTidal]

Kruppe, on 22 November 2012 - 03:17 PM, said:

I'll also be starting The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan soon. There are apparently many middle books to slog through in this series as well. But I want to get to the Sanderson ones at the end, so I'll stick with it. Anyway, knowing me, I'll be the one weirdo who enjoys the middle ones.

As someone who didn't have the long waits for those middle books other people had I can tell you that a lot of the middle ones people complain about aren't quite as bad when you don't have to wait for them...tho CROSSROADS OF TWILIGHT is a piece of garbage with one event worthy of noting which you can look up. But stuff like WINTER'S HEART is not nearly as bad as people think...but if you'd waited a year for it, you'd be pissed.

[Abyss]

Briar King, on 22 November 2012 - 12:31 AM, said:

Macros, on 22 November 2012 - 12:13 AM, said:

I thnk i have the fury books on my ereader
worth the time?

You talking about Butchers Alera series? If so then yes def worth your time! As we ve said...survive bk 1 and your golden.

What ^ said.

polishgenius, on 22 November 2012 - 01:48 AM, said:

Meh. Depends on your tolerance for ridiculous Mary-Sueage and trying to top each humongous set-piece with another, even more humongous set-piece. ...

The Mary-Sueage fades as the book advances, and the gradually increasing set-pieces are gradually more awesome.

Hugely entertaining after the first book. Doesn't re-invent the genre or anything but takes a lot of the stylistic elements that work with the dresdencrack and runs to some fun places with them.
Plus it's complete in six so you can read them straight thru if you like.

QuickTidal, on 22 November 2012 - 03:21 PM, said:

Kruppe, on 22 November 2012 - 03:17 PM, said:

I'll also be starting The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan soon. There are apparently many middle books to slog through in this series as well. But I want to get to the Sanderson ones at the end, so I'll stick with it. Anyway, knowing me, I'll be the one weirdo who enjoys the middle ones.

As someone who didn't have the long waits for those middle books other people had I can tell you that a lot of the middle ones people complain about aren't quite as bad when you don't have to wait for them...tho CROSSROADS OF TWILIGHT is a piece of garbage with one event worthy of noting which you can look up. But stuff like WINTER'S HEART is not nearly as bad as people think...but if you'd waited a year for it, you'd be pissed.

I suspect this is accurate tho i was one who waited and was resultingly irritated until Sanderson jumped in.
That said there is a lot to like in the series and the first six ARE pretty great.

[Macros]

I didn't have the ball aching wait until book 9/10 I think and trust me, 7 and 8 still sucked a load of balls.

i mean we're talking a shipping container full if golf balls ammount of balls.

a 40' container.

[worry]

Hell hath no fury like a nerd scorned.

[Defiance]

Going to delve into Tolkien's work for the first time since I was 10 or so (originally read the Lord of the Rings after I saw the first movie in theaters). I think I'm going to start with The Hobbit, move on to Lord of the Rings, and then pick up a copy of The Silmarillion (haven't read this one yet, although I've heard some people say it's Tolkien's best work even though it's incomplete). Depending on how ambitious I'm feeling, I might pick up some of the History of Middle Earth volumes after all of this to further explore Tolkien's world. The history and craft of creating fantasy worlds has always really intrigued me, and the amount of work Tolkien did is pretty mindblowing.

[QuickTidal]

Defiance, on 22 November 2012 - 08:04 PM, said:

Going to delve into Tolkien's work for the first time since I was 10 or so (originally read the Lord of the Rings after I saw the first movie in theaters). I think I'm going to start with The Hobbit, move on to Lord of the Rings, and then pick up a copy of The Silmarillion (haven't read this one yet, although I've heard some people say it's Tolkien's best work even though it's incomplete). Depending on how ambitious I'm feeling, I might pick up some of the History of Middle Earth volumes after all of this to further explore Tolkien's world. The history and craft of creating fantasy worlds has always really intrigued me, and the amount of work Tolkien did is pretty mindblowing.

If you plan to go back and re-read both HOBBIT and LOTR, can I recommend that you START with THE SILMARILLION? If only to give you a solid grounding in what you will re-read, I imagine it will add layers to your re-reads that you didn't know were there. It's a tough read, but both Salt Man and I recently read it for the first time and we both were quite blown away by it.

I followed it up with a HOBBIT re-read and the stuff I now knew about Arda, Beleriand and all of Middle Earth in general made for such a rich re-read!

Just a suggestion.

[worry]

Yah, The Silmarillion is awesome. It's incomplete but it doesn't like end on a cliffhanger or anything, like Tolkien dropped dead mid-sentence. It feels like a whole book, just one that seems like plenty more books could have come after.

[Abyss]

Some little classic fantasy lit loving part of me wants to do a definitive Tolkien re(read) per upthread.

Then the much larger part of me that liked the Hobbit but dropped LoTR twice before forced itself to read the trilo before the movies came out, and fell asleep during the Silmarillion and refused to wake up again until i read something else tells that little part of me to stfu and go finish COLD DAYS before BLOOD AND BONE arrives.

[stone monkey]

The Silmarillion is both epic and awesome. It's not really any kind of traditional novel, though; even barring its origin as the cobbled together mythos assembled from Tolkien's paper's after his death. It's a document, like The Bible, that claims to be the history of a people - in this case the Noldorin Elves for the most part.

It was never meant for publication, it was just that thing that Tolkien kept on going back to and rewriting obsessively throughout his life. To some extent it was his rationale for all the languages, Elven ones at least, that make up the raison d'etre of his work.

But it should be read by anyone who is serious about understanding Middle Earth, as the seeds for everything that came later are contained within it.

[Macros]

Really?
wasn't tylin the old lady who basically raped him repeatedly?

[Use Of Weapons]

I loved Mat and Tylin -- which threw me hugely when following the Tor reread, where there was a huge derail on those scenes that evolved into a massive argument about

Spoiler

whether Tylin raped Mat or not. I was emphatically of the _not_ opinion, but there were some excellent points made in the course of it about Jordan's intent, given the gender role reversal that happens all through the books.

[Defiance]

Bought the Kindle version of The Silmarillion. Very interesting read so far - the letter of Tolkien's that's included as an introduction was very enlightening, and I've just read the sections that precede the Quenta Silmarillion. I'm not sure how much I'll need them but I've taken extensive notes about the Valar/Valier, since I love reading about creation myths.

[QuickTidal]

Defiance, on 23 November 2012 - 12:53 AM, said:

Bought the Kindle version of The Silmarillion. Very interesting read so far - the letter of Tolkien's that's included as an introduction was very enlightening, and I've just read the sections that precede the Quenta Silmarillion. I'm not sure how much I'll need them but I've taken extensive notes about the Valar/Valier, since I love reading about creation myths.

Glad you read the letter, it's important to get the flow of what he sets out to do. Oh you are in for a treat!

[Abyss]

Just finished COLD DAYS.

My thinkymeats is so fucking tripped out on the dresdencrack right now that i couldn't read the directions on a box of mac n cheese.

Holy.
Fucking.
Fuck.


The only thing i'm reading is large chunks of the book AGAIN. RIGHT THE FUCK NOW.

[QuickTidal]

Briar King, on 23 November 2012 - 06:47 AM, said:

Must I keep cursing you out?

HAHA!

LOL


Look at it this way BK, you have what is (IMHO) the BEST of Joe Abercrombie books on the go just now. BEFORE THEY ARE HANGED is just full to the brim with WIN.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 23 November 2012 - 02:13 PM

[amphibian]

QuickTidal, on 23 November 2012 - 02:13 PM, said:

Look at it this way BK, you have what is (IMHO) the BEST of Joe Abercrombie books on the go just now. BEFORE THEY ARE HANGED is just full to the brim with WIN.

Red Country is the best thing he's written. I've read them all and what Abercrombie did with that book has shades of Deadwood, Lonesome Dove and Unforgiven within it (the good kind of shades).

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 23 November 2012 - 06:21 AM, said:

Just finished COLD DAYS.

My thinkymeats is so fucking tripped out on the dresdencrack right now that i couldn't read the directions on a box of mac n cheese.

Holy.
Fucking.
Fuck.


The only thing i'm reading is large chunks of the book AGAIN. RIGHT THE FUCK NOW.

Briar King, on 23 November 2012 - 06:47 AM, said:

Must I keep cursing you out?

You could, but due to the immensity of the dresdencrack i'm currently tripping on, all i really see on the screen is pages from the scene in the book where Harry HOLY FUCK I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT JUST HAPPENED AGAIN WOW THAT WAS EVEN BETTER THE THIRD I MEAN FIFTH TIME THIS BOOK ROCKS YAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH


...sorry what were we talking about?

amphibian, on 23 November 2012 - 02:51 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 23 November 2012 - 02:13 PM, said:

Look at it this way BK, you have what is (IMHO) the BEST of Joe Abercrombie books on the go just now. BEFORE THEY ARE HANGED is just full to the brim with WIN.

Red Country is the best thing he's written. I've read them all and what Abercrombie did with that book has shades of Deadwood, Lonesome Dove and Unforgiven within it (the good kind of shades).

Better than BEST SERVED COLD?