Reading at t'moment?

#11121 Rictus

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 10:37 AM

King of Thorns kept me up all night; I'm so bloody tired now. The way the author teases with that copper box is just so infuriating that I can't put the book down: I need to know what happened to good old Jorgy. :blink:

#11122 Salt-Man Z

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 05:08 PM

I'm about halfway through King of Thorns myself, and the jumping-back-and-forth-between-four-years-again thing feels a little forced, and the Jorg-has-someone-screw-with-his-memory-again feels especially contrived. Doesn't make the book any less gripping and amazing, fortunately!

At one point I described Prince of Thorns as Left Hand of God-meets-Book of the New Sun, and man, I'm really getting a Severian vibe off of Jorg now. Especially that part with the sick little girl; totally made me think of Severian at the jacal in Thrax.

"Here is light. You will say that it is not a living entity, but you miss the point that it is more, not less. Without occupying space, it fills the universe. It nourishes everything, yet itself feeds upon destruction. We claim to control it, but does it not perhaps cultivate us as a source of food? May it not be that all wood grows so that it can be set ablaze, and that men and women are born to kindle fires?"
―Gene Wolfe, The Citadel of the Autarch

#11123 Ukjent

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 05:50 PM

And its just days until Emperor is out!

Just done with Nesbø's Nemesis. Way better then Red Breast. and now its over to Shadow and Betrayal by D. Abraham and the restaurant at the end of the universe by D. Adams .

#11124 amphibian

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 06:01 PM

I read No Return by Zachary Jernigan.

I'd seriously give it 8 out of 10 for a debut novel. Very fun, short book that has quite a few interesting characters and situations within it. I'd compare it to a hypothetical mix of The Steel Remains/Ian Tregillis's books/Magic the Gathering if we focused just on the warriors and wizards.

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#11125 Overactive Imagination

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 06:11 PM

The Sworn Sword by GRRM

#11126 Abyss

abyssus abyssum invocat

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 06:15 PM

Reading Benedict Jacka's Alex Verus bk 1 FATED.

About 1/3rd the way in, a little clunky at times and the first person narration is inconsistent in voise, but overall i'm enjoying.

I like Verus' particular form of magic and how it's written. And while the plot is far from original, i enjoy how new factions keep coming into play.

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#11127 Tiste Simeon

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 09:06 PM

Over halfway in Woken Furies. At this rate I will have it finished just as I arrive at my parents in order to read The Quarry. Good timing!

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#11128 polishgenius

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Posted 24 July 2013 - 09:36 PM

Just read the first Black Company book. There are a lot of flaws but nonetheless I enjoyed it enormously.

Now onto the Long War, second book in the Pratchett/Baxter collaboration.

I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you.

#11129 QuickTidal

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 12:55 PM

Finished EX-HEROES by Peter Clines.

Really solid stuff, with a great ending. Full thoughts' in Ded-thread.

Now I'm taking a break from fiction and reading a Nat Geo collection of real life modern Adventure stories called AGE OF ADVENTURE. So far it's pretty decent.

"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora

"Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone." ~Ursula Vernon

#11130 Abyss

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 01:27 PM

Abyss, on 24 July 2013 - 06:15 PM, said:

Aaaaaaand done.

Enjoyed. As a first book in a series it was stronger than Butcher's STORM FRONT or Hearn's HOUNDED, by obvious urban fantasy comparitor.
A main difference tho is while those were Butcher and Hearn's first books respectively, Jacka's been in the game writing YA stuff for a while... his writing damn well should be better than another author's first crack.

Flaws mentioned above aside, the finale was predictable but really well written and overall i enjoyed the book. Not displacing Dresden at the top of my urbfant list any time soon for me, but bks 2 and 3 are in the TRPFH and i'll read them sooner rather than later.

I think there's a ded-thread elsewhere i may go into a bit more detail, or perhaps i'll wait til i'm thru 2 and 3.

Next up, back to RIYRIA!

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#11131 worry

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 10:16 PM

What's the FH in TRPFH?

They came with white hands and left with red hands.

#11132 amphibian

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 10:27 PM

From Hell.

I survived the Permian and all I got was this t-shirt.

#11133 worry

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Posted 25 July 2013 - 10:39 PM

Ah thanks. I was hoping Abyss also had a Fantasy Hotlist.

They came with white hands and left with red hands.

#11134 Salt-Man Z

My pen halts, though I do not

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Posted 26 July 2013 - 02:43 AM

worry, on 25 July 2013 - 10:39 PM, said:

Ah thanks. I was hoping Abyss also had a Fantasy Hotlist.

I bet he does, but I'm not sure I wanna see it.

#11135 Mentalist

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Posted 26 July 2013 - 03:07 AM

The other day I finished "The Apocalypse codex" (Laundry Files no. 4). As Abyss says, it is weaker than the previous 3 books. The reason being, imho, that Stross tried to add the serious 3rd person POVs in addition to the first-person irreverent Bob Howard. This caused what is essentially a dissonance--the novel didn't know if it was gonna be like th erest of the series and be comical spy meets Cthulhu-horror type, or if it's gonna try to be more srs. As a result it feels a lot more over the place, and I have a feeling Stross may either be done with the series or take it ina whole other direction, based on the fact that

Spoiler

.

for the last 3 days I've been reading The Necropolis Archives by Tim Wagonner-another Angry Robot omnibus, this one about a zombie detective in a city of supernatural. basic story is typical masquerade trope, but inverted, in that the supernatural chose to leave Earth and create their own city. And the protagonist, a cop stumbles into it while pursuoing a case and ends up a sentient zombie. He can't go back to Earth so he sticks around Nekropolis... as a zombie detective.

The book's urban fantasy/detective mix, and so far it's pretty by the numbers, nothing too out of the ordinary. The editing's atrocious, I've noticed far too many spelling mistakes for me to simply ignore them, but the setting works, and so far it's really the setting that carries the books for me. I'll write more on this when I finish it.

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Jump Around, on 23 October 2011 - 11:04 AM, said:

And I want to state that Ment has out-weaseled me by far in this game.

#11136 Abyss

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Posted 26 July 2013 - 03:13 AM

worry, on 25 July 2013 - 10:39 PM, said:

Ah thanks. I was hoping Abyss also had a Fantasy Hotlist.

Nah i leave that to Pat.

Salt-Man Z, on 26 July 2013 - 02:43 AM, said:

worry, on 25 July 2013 - 10:39 PM, said:

Ah thanks. I was hoping Abyss also had a Fantasy Hotlist.

I bet he does, but I'm not sure I wanna see it.

Sure you do. You may go blind, but you know you do.

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#11137 Serenity

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Posted 26 July 2013 - 03:10 PM

Finished The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend. Bloody marvellous.

#11138 Ukjent

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Posted 26 July 2013 - 07:02 PM

Over half way with Shadow and Betrayal, its enjoyable if you only ignore all the "stance of sorrow, acknowledgement, submission.." i just can't stand it. Why can't people just talk..

#11139 worry

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Posted 26 July 2013 - 08:06 PM

On the contrary, why can't people just cut out the jibber jabber all together so I don't have to hear their phlegmy rusty garbled grating shrieks and belches as they blather (was my response to DA's lovely, graceful communication conceit).

They came with white hands and left with red hands.