[Salt-Man Z]

 Mentalist, on 05 March 2013 - 04:34 PM, said:

my one question is, should I have read "Chasm City" first? there's constant references to the Plague, and I've got the impression that Chasm City deals with that time directly.

Nope. Chasm City was written second (after RS), but works as a standalone. In fact, I read the other three main RS novels (the "trilogy") first, then later came back and read CC. You'll find a lot of Reynold's RS stories straddle that time period, starting pre-Plague, but ending post-Plague (Diamond Dogs perhaps being the prime example). Chasm City just spends the most time on Yellowstone itself, that's all.

[polishgenius]

Reading Chasm City before Redemption Ark will shed some light on a character in that, and it can be read then, but like SMZ says, it's not necessary. And it certainly shouldn't be read before Revelation Space, you're alright there. The time of the plague is supposed to be fairly mysterious.

[Hound]

Currently reading Bones of the Hills part 3 of the Conqueror / Genghis Khan series by Conn Iggulden. I devoured the previous books (Wolf of the Plains & Lords of the Bow) in like 2 days. Extremely fast paced and very well-written. Recommended!

[stone monkey]

The Amazon Fairy delivered Warren Ellis' Gun Machine this morning. So that's in the bag for tomorrow's commute...

This post has been edited by stone monkey: 05 March 2013 - 10:59 PM

[yuna_anomander25]

@ Briar King - i'm taking a short break from Hobb, so as to not be burnt out, but i'll immediately resume maybe after 2-3 books,

@ Last Name - likewise with Hobb, a short break, but this time not only because of the break, but my copy of Magician: Master still hasn't arrived,

started reading anew with Prince of Thorns - Mark Lawrence, took longer than i had wished to read this, and since this is just short, i expect to finish this sooner, and also reading a few chapters of Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga, starting with The Warrior's Apprentice, i'm thinking of purchasing the omnibus versions, to complete the series,

[lastname]

 yuna_anomander25, on 06 March 2013 - 01:34 AM, said:

started reading anew with Prince of Thorns - Mark Lawrence, took longer than i had wished to read this, and since this is just short, i expect to finish this sooner, and also reading a few chapters of Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga, starting with The Warrior's Apprentice, i'm thinking of purchasing the omnibus versions, to complete the series,

Omnibuses are the way to go for the Vorkosigan Saga. They cover all novel(la)s other than Memory and Cryoburn, stick to the internal chronological order and, often, also make sense thematically. You might also want to give Cordelia's Honor a shot although that deals with the Cordelia/Aral arc.

[Blues]

Just finished Banks' A Player of Games (I'm totally reading these out of order, not that order really matters), and it was a great read. Overall I'm really impressed with Banks (read Consider Phlebas, Look to Winward, Use of Weapons, and Hydrogen Sonata so far). I don't know how I've been reading for some long without having stumbled upon his works earlier.

I'm in a bit of a lull right now. Having recently (within the last 6 months) finished all of Dresden, Memory of Light, Forge of Darkness, and OST and now after having gone through a couple of Bank's novels I'm looking for some simple hack-n-slash fantasy and coming up blank. I'm trying to find something in the same vein as Gotrek & Felix, i.e. something that isn't too serious with plenty of action. I'm debating checking out William King's Kormak trilogy.

Also on my To Read list I have: The Breach, some more Banks, and The Shadow of the Torturer series.

PS I love this thread

[polishgenius]

 Blues, on 06 March 2013 - 08:09 AM, said:

I'm trying to find something in the same vein as Gotrek & Felix, i.e. something that isn't too serious with plenty of action. I'm debating checking out William King's Kormak trilogy.

Have you read Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar books? The original fantasy bromance adventure thing. I've just gotten into them really and they're very good. All short stories and novellas so it's ideal for bite-size reading in between other books as well.


Currently doing a reread of Revelation Space, but I've paused between Redemption Ark and Absolution Gap, not sure what to read next. Got a few out from the library atm, might go for Cornwell's Azincourt...

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 06 March 2013 - 12:22 PM

[Abyss]

 Baco Xtath, on 04 March 2013 - 12:24 PM, said:

 Briar King, on 04 March 2013 - 05:30 AM, said:

Anyway I need HELP!!!! What do I do? With finding Cold Commands up there tonight and just finishing Steel today I dont know if I should go with it or go with Best Served Cold? Im leaning towards CC atm. Help me fellow Imperials!!!! Fuck

I'd go with CC since it's fresh on your mind but they're both equal parts disturbing and awesome so it's win/win either way.

seconded. COLD COMMANDS takes large messy chunks of what's great from STEEL and amps that mad shit up to 11.

 Graablick, on 04 March 2013 - 02:11 PM, said:

Done with Cold Days now, and that just sucks.. Now I have to wait to for the next book to satisfy my need for Dresdencrack.

The support group meets on Mondays. bring cookies.

 polishgenius, on 06 March 2013 - 12:19 PM, said:

 Blues, on 06 March 2013 - 08:09 AM, said:

I'm trying to find something in the same vein as Gotrek & Felix, i.e. something that isn't too serious with plenty of action. I'm debating checking out William King's Kormak trilogy.

Have you read Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar books? The original fantasy bromance adventure thing. I've just gotten into them really and they're very good. All short stories and novellas so it's ideal for bite-size reading in between other books as well....

Seconded. Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser are totally worth your time. Classic stuff, great fun.

[lastname]

Just about done with A Wizard of Earthsea. This one just didn't catch my fancy even though I *wanted* to like the book *shrug*. I also thought the book was quite dark for something classified as YA material.

[worry]

The books are awesome (at least the original trilogy, all I've read)...I wouldn't necessarily call them "dark" (by seasoned Malazan standards) but I would call them somber and fairly weighty, especially as you go on. Wouldn't be shocked to find out it was a big influence on Robin Hobb. And yah, the movie apparently bleaches away everything that gives the books character.

[lastname]

I wasn't trying to compare the Earthsea books (considering the first book is from the 60s) to the grimdark fantasy that's common these days. Just a bit surprised by how ... mellow the book was having picked it up from a YA shelf at a store. I'll probably read book 2 anyway.

[D'iversify]

 worrywort, on 07 March 2013 - 05:55 AM, said:

And yah, the movie apparently bleaches away everything that gives the books character.

Not least the fact that most of the characters aren't meant to be white.

I think Ghibli's Tales from Earthsea's actually not a bad adaptation, even though its an amalgamation of narratives and themes from the quartet as opposed to a faithful retelling.

[polishgenius]

What fool classified Wizard of Earthsea as YA? Mind you, I've seen worse, last year in Germany I saw King of Thorns on the YA shelf.


I wasn't a huge fan of the first two Earthsea books- the first one was mostly quite drearily written with only a few moments of brilliance and a decent but undercooked plot, and the second one was well written but with no plot and very few of those moments of magic. Thankfully she melded those two things together and the third one is very good... but then the fourth one was awful.

[Abyss]

EARTHSEA was never intended to be YA, it's being remarketed that way.
I liked the first 2, didn't love the third, never bothered with the 4th. They're good in a classic, roots of the genre sort of way, but ultimately too long on set-up and lean on pay-off for my tastes.

The tv series was awful.

[amphibian]

CJ Cherryh's Morgaine series is really frickin' good. I finished the first three and have the last of the four to go, as well as her many, many other books.

This woman can write complicated plots with complex, evolving characters and keep the character list down at the same time. Just great writing and a terrific story as well.

[Abyss]

 amphibian, on 07 March 2013 - 03:10 PM, said:

CJ Cherryh's Morgaine series is really frickin' good...

Can you elaborate on what you liked? I liked the setting, but found it slow and repetitious, and bailed after the second book.

[stone monkey]

The first three Earthsea books are classic - I'd argue that the 2nd is the best. And they very much are YA books, but in the best tradition of that genre (as with His Dark Materials) they stand against adult fiction very well.

Le Guin apparently wrote them for her kids as they grew up, so you can see the themes becoming more complex as they go on. Le Guin also has a wonderfully terse and evocative style. Simple on the surface, but immensely elegant. Stylistically she's one of my favourites. If I could write like one person, it would be her.

[amphibian]

 Abyss, on 07 March 2013 - 03:14 PM, said:

 amphibian, on 07 March 2013 - 03:10 PM, said:

CJ Cherryh's Morgaine series is really frickin' good...

Can you elaborate on what you liked? I liked the setting, but found it slow and repetitious, and bailed after the second book.

I'm not sure what you found repetitious about the series. The settings move constantly, the story hurtles along fairly nicely until the "break" in the early third book. Cherryh does a very good job of keeping things fresh and having the main pair of protagonists and the one antagonist evolve in their relationships with each other. Nothing's simple and things shift constantly as events unfold.

I'll go into detail under the spoiler tags.

Spoiler

The plot of the first book moves from the Nhi plains tribe to a mountain range to the forests to a lake to the mountain gate and then to another planet pretty quickly. The bad guy turns out to be a pushover and a new bad guy is established who isn't so bad due to being mixed with Vanye's cousin, Roh.

The second book puts the story 1000 years later in a swamp on a dying planet, which then moves to flatlands and a battle with a ravening horde in the mountains at another gate. Vanye and Morgaine's relationship complicates and the wider story becomes a bit more known. Roh becomes a hell of a lot more complex here and there's some very good separation of the protagonists until the end. Very brisk pace to everything here, with the final portions of the book being mostly one long running battle. Cherryh is really good about not letting the cast size creep too much without wielding a bloody pen everywhere.

The third book puts the story some unknown time later on yet a different planet where things are even more different. There's a bit of a slower pace in the beginning, but because Roh is also Liell and came through with the qhal, there is war on the horizon and the pace picks up. I don't want to spoil the story, but Morgaine and Vanye grow up considerably in this book and some interesting things happen here with Roh, the qhal and the inhabitants of the world.

I'm waiting to read the fourth book in the next couple of days to see if the third book's set-up and execution is as good as I believe it is going to be (sort of an open ended conclusion to the third book, which allows for a very different fourth book's conclusion).

[acesn8s]

The Old Man's War by Scalzi. I seem to be in a SciFi mood at the moment.