[Morgoth]

Abyss, on 14 June 2013 - 01:35 AM, said:

Morgoth, on 11 June 2013 - 09:09 PM, said:

Abyss, on 11 June 2013 - 04:03 PM, said:

Rajaniemi's FRACTAL PRINCE. And it's awesome.... Everything i thought QUANTUM THEIF was missing and more.

I'm not a man fond of saying I told you so.

Oh yes you are.

Yes, that's why I told you so.

[Puck]

Currently reading Prince of Thorns. Enough to hold my attention and make the hours pass at work, but I've read better. It's also enough to make me buy King of Thorns at some point, though.

[Ukjent]

Rise of Empire , by Michael J. Sullivan until my order from amazon arrives.

[QuickTidal]

Just read The latest Neil Gaiman book THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE in one sitting, cover to cover.

It's wonderful, whimsical, heartfelt and really just quite an enthralling little tale.

Probably his finest book for adults.

[Overactive Imagination]

Reading the first Black Company book. Pretty kickass so far. Read the first half of it a while ago but didn't finish it. Enjoying it more this time around.

[Morgoth]

Engineering Infinity - a collection of hard sci fi stories with an engineering focus. I can't for the life of me remember ever having ordered this from Amazon, but it turned up in its own package so I'm assuming I must have.

It started of with a story by Peter Watts, which was great, so this will be a pleasant way to spend the coming afternoon I reckon.

[HiddenOne]

Reading Blood and Bone, 100 pages in - so far excellent

[Abyss]

Morgoth, on 15 June 2013 - 08:39 AM, said:

Abyss, on 14 June 2013 - 01:35 AM, said:

Morgoth, on 11 June 2013 - 09:09 PM, said:

Abyss, on 11 June 2013 - 04:03 PM, said:

Rajaniemi's FRACTAL PRINCE. And it's awesome.... Everything i thought QUANTUM THEIF was missing and more.

I'm not a man fond of saying I told you so.

Oh yes you are.

Yes, that's why I told you so.

I know. So why did you deny it?



Found myself waiting in a car for an hour without THE BOOKMAN on hand, so flipped thru my ebook TRP/TRF and, notwithstanding my utter prejudice against anthologies, started 'The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination', an anthology with some pretty decent names involved. I only read one story... PROFESSOR INCOGNITO APOLOGIZES by Austin Grossman.

It was so awesomely funny i read it twice rather than move on to the second story. Seriously, Grossman's SOON I WILL BE INVINCIBLE jumped to the near-top of the TRP just based on these few pages.

I dearly hope the rest of the works are that good.

[amphibian]

I recently tore through John Dies At The End and This Book Is Full Of Spiders by David Wong. Terrific "two midwestern rubes prevent the impending apocalypse" stories. Smartly written, very funny and really makes a connection between the reader and the characters.

I'm sitting down with the friend who lent me the books to watch the movie some time soon.

[James Hutton]

Felix Gilman's THUNDERER was a good read, though I had the feeling he could've gotten more story out of his idea of an endless and rapidly changing city as a sort of main character.

On to THE TEN THOUSAND by Paul Kearney.

[QuickTidal]

Making my third (and likely final) attempt at BLACK SUN RISING by C.S. Friedman...Was disjointed by it my first time out, and second time I wasn't allowing myself to get into it...

...the good news is that 40 pages in and I have very smoothly slid into the story and world this go and I'm quite enjoying.

Crossing my fingers.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 17 June 2013 - 05:30 PM, said:

Making my third (and likely final) attempt at BLACK SUN RISING by C.S. Friedman...Was disjointed by it my first time out, and second time I wasn't allowing myself to get into it...

...the good news is that 40 pages in and I have very smoothly slid into the story and world this go and I'm quite enjoying.

Crossing my fingers.

Stop your silly negativizing and concentrate on the ready-thinky. It's a brilliant book in an amazing and utterly original series and if you give it the attention it deserves it will totally reward you.




...unless of course you are cold and dead inside.

Kind of like one of the characters. Who, i hasten to mention, is amazing and utterly original JUST FUCKING READ IT IT'S GOOD.

[Morgoth]

amphibian, on 17 June 2013 - 04:57 PM, said:

I recently tore through John Dies At The End and This Book Is Full Of Spiders by David Wong. Terrific "two midwestern rubes prevent the impending apocalypse" stories. Smartly written, very funny and really makes a connection between the reader and the characters.

I'm sitting down with the friend who lent me the books to watch the movie some time soon.

I'm sorry.

[Mentalist]

Read Chasm City . Unlike the rest of the "Revekation Space" stuff, this one clicked a lot better, for some reason. Pacing worked much better. Though I still struggeld with the beginning. But because of my erratic schedule, where I read late, and tend to fall asleep reading, I can't assign full bame to the author, when it may just be my own weak, tired body doing this.

Anyhow, "Chasm City" is a solid book. I'd probably recommend this, whereas I'm not sure I'd recommend any other works by Reynolds.

Not sure what i'll read next. Got so much stuff in that pile....

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

About done with Neal stephensons reamde. Not his best book, but still excellent. If you haven't read any of his work, do yourself a favor. Or a favour, if that's what you are in to.

[QuickTidal]

BLACK SUN RISING by Friedman...page 125...eh....does anything start to happen?

I'm about ten pages from Lemon Law-ing this book man. I think 100 pages is plenty to give this a chance, but so far not much has happened that keep my interest.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

QuickTidal, on 18 June 2013 - 01:10 PM, said:

BLACK SUN RISING by Friedman...page 125...eh....does anything start to happen?

I'm about ten pages from Lemon Law-ing this book man. I think 100 pages is plenty to give this a chance, but so far not much has happened that keep my interest.

I felt the same way. Loved the prologue, but after that it was a struggle to stay awake. I strongly preferred Feast Of Souls.

[QuickTidal]

Kruppe, on 18 June 2013 - 01:22 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 18 June 2013 - 01:10 PM, said:

BLACK SUN RISING by Friedman...page 125...eh....does anything start to happen?

I'm about ten pages from Lemon Law-ing this book man. I think 100 pages is plenty to give this a chance, but so far not much has happened that keep my interest.

I felt the same way. Loved the prologue, but after that it was a struggle to stay awake. I strongly preferred Feast Of Souls.

Ah okay. Glad to hear I'm not alone.

The writing is fine, and the descriptions are lovely...but the plot is just kind of juddering along.

[Abyss]

Kruppe, on 18 June 2013 - 01:22 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 18 June 2013 - 01:10 PM, said:

BLACK SUN RISING by Friedman...page 125...eh....does anything start to happen?

I'm about ten pages from Lemon Law-ing this book man. I think 100 pages is plenty to give this a chance, but so far not much has happened that keep my interest.

I felt the same way. Loved the prologue, but after that it was a struggle to stay awake. I strongly preferred Feast Of Souls.

Communists, the both of you.


I will acknowledge that it's a slow build... and Friedman does do the 'gradual build to big finish' thing that irritates me with many authors... but i thought her world was fascinatingly original, and when she finally starts the pay-off for RISING it's pretty damn impressive, albeit more in a dark fantasy characters in conflict sort of way than in a clash of thousands.

Anyhoo, it's your thinkymeatztime. I thought the books were fairly great, and a reread a year or so ago didn't change that.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

I think that's my problem with a lot of books. The prose has to be blowing me away, in order for me to enjoy a "slow build." Otherwise, my brain goes into powersave mode, and I get nothing out of the book from that point on...

Anywho...

122. Take Me To Your Leader: Weird Facts, Bizarre Stories, And Life's Oddities by Ian Harrision - Want to see pictures of body-painted cats? Need to know how to make a giant fish stick to feed said cats? This book is for you.

123. The Half-Made World by Felix Gilman - Someday, steampunk...someday I will enjoy you. But thus far, it seems like you are always narrated by the teacher from Ferris Bueller. My kingdom for some entertaining prose!

124. Tome Of The Undergates by Sam Sykes - Wanted to like this one, but it felt like maybe two chapters-worth of story stretched to fill nearly 500 pages...

125. The Magicians by Lev Grossman = Harry Potter + Narnia + adult situations. This one has mixed reviews, but I really enjoyed it.

126. Count To A Trillion by John C. Wright - I've enjoyed Wright's Titans novels, but I just can't seem to get into his science fiction.

127. Return of the Crimson Guard by Ian C. Esslemont - Much improved over NoK. I almost thought I was reading an SE book. My only criticism is that he seems to have adopted one of SE's bad (imo) habits of overdoing it on the ancillary characters whose mention seems to serve no purpose other than to pad a giant dramatis personae list.