[polishgenius]

Reading Shogun. Weird one - it reminds me of some of Neal Stephenson's stuff in that it does everything wrong on a technical level, yet is still really good. Somehow. Blasting through it.


Before that I read Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord, a highly enjoyable fairytale of African-type folklore.

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 04 September 2013 - 08:57 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

Abyss, on 04 September 2013 - 02:12 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 31 August 2013 - 05:42 PM, said:

Blood Rites! Via Vignettes (Side Jobs)!

Tiste Simeon, on 02 September 2013 - 12:42 AM, said:

Dead Beat!

Tiste Simeon, on 03 September 2013 - 11:15 PM, said:

Proven Guilty (via Something Borrowed in Side Jobs)!

The Dresdencrack is even better the second time!!

Tiste Simeon, on 04 September 2013 - 11:46 AM, said:

White Night!

You're down to like 12 hrs per book Tiste... what. the hell?!?!??

Mrs Tiste has started her new job. I haven't we don't have tinternet up & running in our new house yet & while the X Box is working I just am hooked once again on the books. Having new albums by Turisas & Karnivool to devour also helps me to literally read for hours. It won't last!!

[QuickTidal]

polishgenius, on 04 September 2013 - 08:55 PM, said:

Reading Shogun. Weird one - it reminds me of some of Neal Stephenson's stuff in that it does everything wrong on a technical level, yet is still really good. Somehow. Blasting through it.


Before that I read Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord, a highly enjoyable fairytale of African-type folklore.

A good summation. It's OVERLY dense, and seems obscenely verbose...but yeah, for whatever reason in Clavell's work....it works.

[Tiste Simeon]

"Its my Birthday Too" & "Heorot" from Side Jobs then onto Small Favor!

[D'iversify]

The Incredible Kitsu, on 02 September 2013 - 08:07 PM, said:

Finished Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World the night before last. As I mentioned elsethread, I loved it enough to immediately order IQ84. I know some of you guys on here are fairly well versed in his works, what would you consider to be the must-haves of Murakami? There's enough of it I feel I need to ask for a little bit of direction here.

Have only read The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Norwegian Wood. My fiancée has pretty much read the lot though - easiest birthday/Christmas present for her is a Murakami book. Which is why the fact there's a new one out in translation next year is great. The film of the short story Tony Takitani is very good as well. The Norwegian Wood film is pleasant cinematography and well acted but a bit superficial - not bad, but second to the book.

Was just on a Guardian story on Murakami's being (perennial) favourite for the Nobel Lit Prize - a lot of commenters really didn't like 1Q84 apparently. http://www.theguardi...rize-literature.


By the way, this a pretty funny tribute to Murakami motifs: http://www.incidenta...kami-bingo.html

[T77]

Finished White Gold Wielder by Donaldson and enjoyed it. I thought it was the best of the second chronicles. Now reading Lord of Chaos by Jordan and really enjoying it so far.

[dietl]

Finished Blade of Tyshalle, which was a bit of a dissappointment for me. So instead of CBK I'll start Ein Kind by Thomas Bernhard and/or Blindsight by Peter Watts today.

This post has been edited by dietl: 05 September 2013 - 03:47 PM

[champ]

Just finished Malice by John Gwynne.

This is one that I would seriously recommend, new author, new series. Page turner indeed, multiple POV epic fantasy fest of Good vs Evil! Giants, magic, big assed wolves and action galore!

Aye, there was some of the type cast characters but it was well written and normally with the multi POV there is always one character I find boring, not here!

First book in a series of four, The Faithful and the Fallen, I believe the 2nd one was finished December 2012.

Not up there with Lawrence's debut - for me - but I was surprised by how good this book was!

Second book will be bought on release! Check it out!

edit

dietl, on 05 September 2013 - 03:46 PM, said:

Finished Blade of Tyshalle, which was a bit of a dissappointment for me. So instead of CBK I'll start Ein Kind by Thomas Bernhard and/or Blindsight by Peter Watts today.

Only one answer to that... Fuck!

This post has been edited by champ: 05 September 2013 - 07:17 PM

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 04 September 2013 - 11:31 PM, said:

polishgenius, on 04 September 2013 - 08:55 PM, said:

Reading Shogun. Weird one - it reminds me of some of Neal Stephenson's stuff in that it does everything wrong on a technical level, yet is still really good. Somehow. Blasting through it.
...

A good summation. It's OVERLY dense, and seems obscenely verbose...but yeah, for whatever reason in Clavell's work....it works.

The wordiness sort of works within the overly flowery language and tedious customs that characterize the setting, esp when the protag periodically busts through it.

dietl, on 05 September 2013 - 03:46 PM, said:

Finished Blade of Tyshalle, which was a bit of a dissappointment for me. So instead of CBK I'll start Ein Kind by Thomas Bernhard and/or Blindsight by Peter Watts today.

What (the fuck ) didn't you like about BLADE?

BLINDSIGHT is brilliant and an utter mindfucker of a book. despite the occassional stall.

champ, on 05 September 2013 - 07:16 PM, said:

Just finished Malice by John Gwynne.

This is one that I would seriously recommend...

Noted.

Still cruising thru EMP OF THORNS and loving it, but meanwhile the same mp3 player that gave me an unfortunate Anita Blake relapse also had a copy of THE HUNGER GAMES.

While i can't say it was brilliant, i can see why the book received positive attention. As a metaphor for high school it's clever and moves along fairly quickly despite the occassional stall. The narrator for the audio book was really weak tho'. One of the most annoying i've ever listened to.

[Imperial Historian]

champ, on 05 September 2013 - 07:16 PM, said:

Just finished Malice by John Gwynne.

I also enjoyed this one, not particularly original but entertained me throughout. It's still a typical 'chosen one' story, but the cast is well written, and it isn't particularly black and white as many tend to be. I'll be picking up the next one at some point.

I've recently been reading Dave Duncans, man of his word trilogy, which was a very enjoyable traditional fantasy.

[polishgenius]

Malice was a really weird one for me because of the way it sits smack bang in the middle of (good, early) Eddings/Feist type story with farmboys consorting with princesses and the like, and a clearly aSoIaF-inspired political plot with a backstory/mythology that's almost Bakkerian.

It's fun, though.

[dietl]

Abyss, on 05 September 2013 - 08:17 PM, said:

dietl, on 05 September 2013 - 03:46 PM, said:

Finished Blade of Tyshalle, which was a bit of a dissappointment for me. So instead of CBK I'll start Ein Kind by Thomas Bernhard and/or Blindsight by Peter Watts today.

What (the fuck ) didn't you like about BLADE?

BLINDSIGHT is brilliant and an utter mindfucker of a book. despite the occassional stall.

Hm I didn't really care about any characters other than Caine (which was FUCKING awesome, of course) or maybe Ma'elKoth. Also...

Spoiler

...what happened to Kollberg, who I kinda liked in the first book as a character, was a bit too abstract for me. I didn't really get why the Blind God chose his body. Generally, the who Blind God thing felt a bit forced to me. I saw no reason why it acted the way it did.
The point where I really struggeled was the ending, which was just to long (and "happy") for my taste. Couldn't Stover just have let it ended with the FUCKING brilliant scene where Caine gets Vilo?
The virus thing was something else. Pallas Ril must have had the antivirus ready where she was killed by zombie-Berne or Caine couln't have gotten it into his blood. So why wasn't it floating around already in the end considering how fast it spreads?

I'm in no way saying that BoT is a bad book, quite the FUCKING opposite, but those litte things bugged me while reading. I'm still going to read CBK and CL but I just need a little break to not let the negative feeling influence my experience with those books, for which I still have quite FUCKING high hopes.
How do they compare?

Edit: sorry...I know...(f-word added, not sure if done correctly, corrections appreciated :-) )

This post has been edited by dietl: 05 September 2013 - 10:30 PM

[Abyss]

dietl, on 05 September 2013 - 10:23 PM, said:

...

I'm in no way saying that BoT is a bad book, quite the FUCKING opposite, but those litte things bugged me while reading. I'm still going to read CBK and CL but I just need a little break to not let the negative feeling influence my experience with those books, for which I still have quite FUCKING high hopes.
How do they compare?

Edit: sorry...I know...(f-word added, not sure if done correctly, corrections appreciated :-) )

we can hit a dedthread in the otherlit forum for more discussion re BoT if you want, but CBK is radically different and has more action, and CL... CL sort of defies explanation in its fucking awesomeness.

[dietl]

Abyss, on 05 September 2013 - 10:45 PM, said:

we can hit a dedthread in the otherlit forum for more discussion re BoT if you want, ...

Yeah sure.
(I posted the spoilered part of my comment in the The Acts of Caine thread in the Featured Review section)

Abyss, on 05 September 2013 - 10:45 PM, said:

...but CBK is radically different and has more action, and CL... CL sort of defies explanation in its fucking awesomeness.

That sound good to me

This post has been edited by dietl: 05 September 2013 - 11:27 PM

[Overactive Imagination]

Finished Revolvo and liked it even more than The Devil Delivered. Gonna start Grandma Matchie tonight!

[Abyss]

Must needs direct your collective attention to this thread over on io9, which includes a metric fucktonne of brilliant reading suggestions.

Because if my TRPFH must grow, so must ALL OF YOURS you need more.

[Overactive Imagination]

Way to promote Malazan, Abyss!

[Tiste Simeon]

Letting you all down a bit but not sure I'm gonna finish Small Favor today...

[champ]

Abyss, on 05 September 2013 - 08:17 PM, said:

champ, on 05 September 2013 - 07:16 PM, said:

Just finished Malice by John Gwynne.

This is one that I would seriously recommend...

Noted.

Still cruising thru EMP OF THORNS and loving it,

Aye, it's one that I would check out and with regards to EMP, I've just hit that up on my Thorns reread, devoured Prince and King - they hold up really well on a reread, a full follow up post will follow - but had got my mate into reading the series and he had me EMP so I hit up Malice, glad I did! Now it's returned and loving it!

Imperial Historian, on 05 September 2013 - 08:47 PM, said:

champ, on 05 September 2013 - 07:16 PM, said:

Just finished Malice by John Gwynne.

I also enjoyed this one, not particularly original but entertained me throughout. It's still a typical 'chosen one' story, but the cast is well written, and it isn't particularly black and white as many tend to be. I'll be picking up the next one at some point.

Aye, that is something I considered putting in my original post, it's a very 'grey' introduction into the series showing the story develop from all sides.

Even though there is the originality point at play here, the characters are well written and do still seem fresh in the heavily used stereotypes.

polishgenius, on 05 September 2013 - 08:47 PM, said:

Malice was a really weird one for me because of the way it sits smack bang in the middle of (good, early) Eddings/Feist type story with farmboys consorting with princesses and the like, and a clearly aSoIaF-inspired political plot with a backstory/mythology that's almost Bakkerian.

It's fun, though.

I thought to compare it to other books/series out there but there wasn't one that I could really place it against, whilst it shares the typical elements of a fantasy story it plays itself well, mainly down to the way it was written I guess, a good read.

I guess early Feist (Magician) crossed with some GRRM gives you a good idea of what to expect. A nice way of putting it polishgenius!

This post has been edited by champ: 06 September 2013 - 06:00 PM

[Serenity]

Finished Robert Harris's Pompeii today. Very good, I thought. Now making a start on Cornwell's The Pale Horseman. After that I hope to get back to Sharon Penman's The Sunne in Splendour, as I had to give up on the Kindle version because of all the spelling errors in it. Have got the paperback on order.