[Abyss]

James Hutton, on 17 April 2013 - 05:33 PM, said:

Found Dead Beat by Buther at the thrift store for 3,50 euros (=cheap) -- bought it and am now reading it. Is was not that much piqued by Storm Front that I read earlier, but maybe I need to use some more to get addicted to the crack...?

Did you read the five books in between STORM and DEAD BEAT?
Because i gotta tell ya, if you jumped those, DB, while pure awesome, isn't going to blow your mind nearly as well as if you read the series in order to that point, imnsho.

It's like jumping straight from {soft drug reference} all the way to {sick crazy speedball type drug combo direct injection that only a hardened addict can survive reference} without taking the time to build your addiction.

[Salt-Man Z]

Started in on Consider Phlebas today. Didn't know what to expect other than everyone loves the Culture books, but I'm enjoying it so far.

[Morgoth]

EmperorMagus, on 17 April 2013 - 05:48 PM, said:

Finished The Quantum Prince. "Oh Shit" is my new favourite phrase.
I'm thinking about what to read now. Don't want to completely destroy my mind by reading The Fractal Prince.

You really should read the sequel right away in order to get as much out of it as you can.

I finished American Elsewhyre (spelling?) while lounging in the Italian sun and it was fantastic. I've been lucky to have enjoyed a fantastic string of books recently, and this compared favourably to all of them. I'm a big fan of Lovecraft, as might shine through now and then, and this book did the lovecraftian horror aspect so very very well. Insanity, universe shattering schemes and transdimensional horrors so vast realities buckle beneath their weight. My recommendation is to read it now, while your mind is still intact to do so.

I've now set my mind on Heredotus' Histories, which is surprisingly enjoyable so far.

This post has been edited by Morgoth: 17 April 2013 - 07:46 PM

[Vengeance]

Ganoes Paran, on 16 April 2013 - 03:19 PM, said:

I am going through a phase of reading the same books as my wife,

I have been with Mrs Vengeance for a long long while. We vary rarely read the same books. Do not allow your self to be drawn into crap literature just to try to connect on a deeper level with your significant other. Fuck that. Tell her she can read her what nots about unlikely heroes and flowers and you are going to read manly books about things that go bump in the night and blow your mind.

In fact the only books that I can remember reading after my wife had read them where the augusten burroughs books because they where funny. Any other cross contamination was completely accidental and years apart.

[Defiance]

I read the same books as my girlfriend.

You see, what you need to do is to get her to read all of your books. So yes, I may be reading what she's reading, but that just means I'm reading Malazan/A Song of Ice and Fire/The Dark Tower and so on again.

The real trick here is getting her to read at all. She's glued to video games when she gets off work so it's tough as hell to even get her to put some time aside to read.

[yuna_anomander25]

finished with the 1st book, The Black Company, now to read a little later the 1st novella of Bauchelain and Korbal Broach, looking forward to this now,

[Chance]

Finished up Michael Sullivans Heir of Novron and the series has been one of the most entertaining in a good while and Sullivan is really good at using earlier introduced elements and characters in more or less unexpected ways later on.

This post has been edited by Chance: 18 April 2013 - 01:24 AM

[Abyss]

Chance, on 18 April 2013 - 01:24 AM, said:

Finished up Michael Sullivans Heir of Novron and the series has been one of the most entertaining in a good while and Sullivan is really good at using earlier introduced elements and characters in more or less unexpected ways later on.

Good to hear. Am midway in THEFT OF SWORDS at the moment.

[acesn8s]

Burned out on Iggulden's Emperor series (bk3). I picked up Shogun instead.

[Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast]

I seem to be hearing only good things about it; should I buy The Quantum Thief?

[Assail]

Before my kindle got smashed I was in the middle of reading The Swords of Night and Day by David Gemmell

[polishgenius]

Jade-Green Pig-Hog Swine-Beast, on 18 April 2013 - 07:57 PM, said:

I seem to be hearing only good things about it; should I buy The Quantum Thief?

I don't think it's as mindblowing as a lot of people do, but yes, definitely. And the sequel is much better- it's written with the flair the premise needs, that I didn't think the original really had enough of.

[Grief]

Assail, on 18 April 2013 - 08:03 PM, said:

Before my kindle got smashed I was in the middle of reading The Swords of Night and Day by David Gemmell

It's a pretty good book, but I felt like White Wolf was better.

Think my favourite Gemmell might actually be Dark Moon.

[Abyss]

Grief, on 18 April 2013 - 08:07 PM, said:

...Think my favourite Gemmell might actually be Dark Moon.

I love everything about that book except

Spoiler

the end

.

[Grief]

Abyss, on 18 April 2013 - 08:39 PM, said:

Grief, on 18 April 2013 - 08:07 PM, said:

...Think my favourite Gemmell might actually be Dark Moon.

I love everything about that book except

Spoiler

the end

.

Spoiler

Which bit of it? There were a few bits I felt were kind of a cop out, but I don't remember out and out hating it. I felt that most of the characters could have had a darker ending that he shied away from (with arguably the exception of Dace coming back, depending on if you think he's a good thing, but at the end his return does seem portrayed positively), and that it would've been a better ending had he stuck to it. Like I say, I don't remember thinking it was a terrible ending either, though it has been a few years since I read it.

[Abyss]

Grief, on 18 April 2013 - 09:07 PM, said:

Abyss, on 18 April 2013 - 08:39 PM, said:

Grief, on 18 April 2013 - 08:07 PM, said:

...Think my favourite Gemmell might actually be Dark Moon.

I love everything about that book except

Spoiler

the end

.

Spoiler

Which bit of it? There were a few bits I felt were kind of a cop out, but I don't remember out and out hating it. I felt that most of the characters could have had a darker ending that he shied away from (with arguably the exception of Dace coming back, depending on if you think he's a good thing, but at the end his return does seem portrayed positively), and that it would've been a better ending had he stuck to it. Like I say, I don't remember thinking it was a terrible ending either, though it has been a few years since I read it.

spoilers for end of DARK MOON...

Spoiler

The underpowered/perpetual victim mage gets a wholly spontaneous massive deus ex power up and proceeds to wipe out the Bone-faced invaders entire resurrection system in about two pages, leaving their entire invasion force suddenly depressed enough to surrender just as they're about the kick the humans' asses at the heroic last stand site.

And then General WarWhore, who was awesome to that point, sacrifices herself to save one of them because notwithstanding that they just almost wiped out the entire human race, she's tired of war.

It rang trite, verging on cop-out.

Dace was brilliant and a character i would have loved to see Gemmel write again.

[Assail]

Grief, on 18 April 2013 - 08:07 PM, said:

Assail, on 18 April 2013 - 08:03 PM, said:

Before my kindle got smashed I was in the middle of reading The Swords of Night and Day by David Gemmell

It's a pretty good book, but I felt like White Wolf was better.

Think my favourite Gemmell might actually be Dark Moon.

Yeah I definitely enjoyed White Wolf a lot more. As far as I've gotten into SoN&D it just leaves me kinda depressed and nostalgic about the series. The Jianna/Skillgannon story was never really that great to me, and to basically rebuild it somewhat in this one isn't preferable to me.

I'm rereading all of his stuff, I'll start on the Rigante series next and then the Waylander books. I heard his Troy series was great, and i never got to read it, so I'll definitely get around to that too.

Favorite though so far is easily The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend. He built such an awesome character with Druss, the the first story that chronicles Druss in his prime is always awesome.

Spoiler

I just wish Druss could have had the fight with Michanek, or at least with some kind of polar opposite version of himself with an enchanted weapon, just to level the playing field and see how Gemmell would have tackled the situation.

Haven't read Dark Moon, brief synopsis for me?

This post has been edited by Assail: 18 April 2013 - 10:10 PM

[JPK]

It has been a couple months since I've posted, but here's the list I've been chewing through:

The Book of Dragon and The Book of Dzur by Steven Brust
Foreigner and Invader by C.J. Cherryh
The Wounded Land by Stephen R. Donaldson
The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan

Beyond those I'm currently in the middle of the audiobook for The Dragon Reborn, and going to start Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia. A friend gifted me the first three Monster Hunter books for xmas, any thoughts on it before I dig in?

[D'iversify]

Enjoyed Dark Moon but of Gemmell's stand-alone novels my favourite by far is Echoes of the Great Song. Though I've heard good things about Knights of Dark Renown, which I've never read.

[James Hutton]

Abyss, on 17 April 2013 - 06:04 PM, said:

James Hutton, on 17 April 2013 - 05:33 PM, said:

Found Dead Beat by Buther at the thrift store for 3,50 euros (=cheap) -- bought it and am now reading it. Is was not that much piqued by Storm Front that I read earlier, but maybe I need to use some more to get addicted to the crack...?

Did you read the five books in between STORM and DEAD BEAT?
Because i gotta tell ya, if you jumped those, DB, while pure awesome, isn't going to blow your mind nearly as well as if you read the series in order to that point, imnsho.

It's like jumping straight from {soft drug reference} all the way to {sick crazy speedball type drug combo direct injection that only a hardened addict can survive reference} without taking the time to build your addiction.

No, the thrift store didn't have those 5 books.

I now understand why you guys call it Dresden Crack though. I just couldn't stop reading it, dammit!