[Traveller]

It does... but so far I'm finding it a bit like the intro to an rpg. You know, training, making a sword, getting into fights with people to test skills etc.

Just seems a bit run of the mill on the back of the Thorns and Caine series, without even the entertaining prose of Abercrombie to keep it interesting. So far it's just a fairly basic record of events and descriptions.

Guess I've been spoiled lately, have read some fantastic books this year. Gods, Peter Clines Ex's series was so much fun too.

This post has been edited by Traveller: 27 October 2013 - 08:01 AM

[Ukjent]

Done with Sullivan's The Rose and the Thorn, Maybe his best work until now. And now I'm reading Wooding's The Ace of Skulls and I highly enjoy it.

[QuickTidal]

Traveller, on 27 October 2013 - 07:59 AM, said:

It does... but so far I'm finding it a bit like the intro to an rpg. You know, training, making a sword, getting into fights with people to test skills etc.

Just seems a bit run of the mill on the back of the Thorns and Caine series, without even the entertaining prose of Abercrombie to keep it interesting. So far it's just a fairly basic record of events and descriptions.

Guess I've been spoiled lately, have read some fantastic books this year. Gods, Peter Clines Ex's series was so much fun too.

It's AFTER the training stuff is done that the story really ramps into gear, that's what happened to me anyways. At first when I was reading it, I was like "What's everybody seeing here that is so good?" But by the time I was halfway through I couldn't' put the bloody thing down.

Graablick, on 27 October 2013 - 09:58 AM, said:

Done with Sullivan's The Rose and the Thorn, Maybe his best work until now.

Cool, that's what's next on my reading list after I'm done with REPUBLIC OF THIEVES.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 27 October 2013 - 02:01 PM

[polishgenius]

Traveller, on 27 October 2013 - 07:59 AM, said:

Just seems a bit run of the mill on the back of the Thorns and Caine series, without even the entertaining prose of Abercrombie to keep it interesting. So far it's just a fairly basic record of events and descriptions.

Well if you're comparing it to Lawrence, Stover and Abercrombie then yeah, it's not nearly as good as those.

I did like it though. There's charm about it.

[Solidsnape]

I was reading midnight tides, but this thread just got way more interesting. )

[lastname]

Imperial Historian, on 26 October 2013 - 11:58 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 26 October 2013 - 11:07 AM, said:

Imperial Historian, on 26 October 2013 - 10:12 AM, said:

Use Of Weapons, on 26 October 2013 - 09:39 AM, said:

Currently reading:

Bujold: _Brothers In Arms_ -- this is where the Vorkosigan universe starts its first real climb towards its best. The three books in internal chronology of which this is the first -- the other two are _Mirror Dance_ and _Memory_, and are waiting in the wings -- are simply the best sequence of space opera I have ever read, as well as some of the best character studies, with tremendously quotable lines and intensely memorabl;e scenes that stay with you for years after reading. hugely looking forward to reading them all again.

While those are on the go, Tad Williams's _Happy Hour In Hell_, the second Bobby Dollar novel, is on hold.

Enjoy, personally I think the komarr/civil campaign duology is better... But it isn't really space opera anymore at that point (I once tried to describe them and the best I could get was detective-scifi-political thriller-regency romance-comedy, those books take genre bending to a new level)

Not heard of those books but they sound ace! Will be checking them out!

Edit: Bujold seems to have a mass of books on Kindle where would be the best place to start?

Well the vorkosigan series which we are talking about officially starts with Shards of honor and barrayar which are about the main character, miles vorkosigan, parents, personally I wouldn't recommend starting with those (as they are her first books, and in my view some of the weakest, though others would disagree, it's worth coming back to read them later, as individuals in them show up in all the rest of the series, personally I enjoyed the miles books more knowing that there was a lot of backstory that I (and indeed the main character of the rest of the books) didn't know)

The main series, with miles vorkosigan, starts with warriors apprentice which is where I started, and would recommend starting.

Then continue chronologically from there. Here is the list http://www.goodreads...a-chronological

Baen used to have most of the series available to freely download as ebooks, but I can't find that anymore.

Imperial Historian has covered things nicely but I thought I'd add a couple of quick points:

- There are five omnibuses (omnibi?) that, between them, cover virtually all the Miles stories - everything except Memory (the one dull book in the series IMHO), Dreamweaver's Dilemna (slightly obscure novella collection) and Cryoburn (recently released novel). There's also an omnibus that covers the prequel books (Cordelia's Honor includes Shards of Honor, Barrayar and a short called Aftermaths). So basically omnibuses are the way to go.

- This is a nitpick but Bujold didn't write Barrayar right after Shards. Barrayar, in fact, was published a couple of years after Brothers in Arms (which is mentioned above). Barrayar still goes after Shards in terms of reading order. Anyway, I personally started with Shards and quite enjoyed having some background information before jumping into the Miles stories. As IH says, that isn't strictly necessary.

- If you just want a taste of Bujold's writing, The Curse of Chalion isn't a bad place to start. Its the first book in a trilogy but stands just fine on its own.

[T77]

Finished Soldier of Sidon by Gene Wolfe. I thought it was fantastic, one of his best books. The man is on another level. His writing ability and imagination are leaps and bounds above anyone else. The book ends on a cliff hanger, at his age I doubt we will see a final book. But, let's hope.

[amphibian]

T77, on 29 October 2013 - 02:28 PM, said:

Finished Soldier of Sidon by Gene Wolfe. I thought it was fantastic, one of his best books. The man is on another level. His writing ability and imagination are leaps and bounds above anyone else. The book ends on a cliff hanger, at his age I doubt we will see a final book. But, let's hope.

His wife got cancer and he's spent the majority of his time dealing with that and being with her, instead of doing the phenomenal amounts of research a new Latro book would require.

That's why he's kind of put out lesser stories and short story anthologies over the last few years - he's been trying to earn money in an efficient way in order to support and be with his wife.

When I found that out, I couldn't stay slightly grumpy at him for the cliffhanger. Wolfe made the right call.

[JPK]

Finished Republic of Thieves tonight. I loved it, but I've always enjoyed the stories of Locke's youth.

I'm currently in the middle of Brayan's Gold & The Great Bazaar. I've enjoyed Brett's work so far even with all of the flaws, and this is proving to be no exception.
Scratch that, I've now finished Brayan's Gold & The Great Bazaar. Exactly as I suspected it would be. Turns out his work is far tighter and less rape-y when he only has around 60 pages to work with.

Now I'm onto Last Sword of Power by Gemmell. I know that the Stones of Power books shift to become The Jerusalem Man books after this entry, so a question for anyone that has read them: Am I in for a huge tone shift?

***Edited to avoid double posting and to fix a stupid swype typo.

This post has been edited by The Incredible Kitsu: 30 October 2013 - 05:03 PM

[pat5150]

Just finished James S. A. Corey's Abaddon's Gate and it was an awesome read! Definitely one of the best SFF titles of 2013!

Check out the Hotlist for the full review. . .

Cheers,

Patrick

[Baco Xtath]

Almost done with the Grim Company and it is great, very similar to Abercrombie but with more magic and less characterization, still great though (and it's really hard to compete with Glotka, Logen, Dogman, Black Dow, Shivers, .....etc.). Also about halfway through listening to Promise of Blood which is a lot like Mistborn but better written and the world feels more, I guess "occupied" would be the term and a lot more mature.

[Baco Xtath]

Also listening to the Fractal Prince but only 30 min. a day during my workouts. 5 hrs in and I haven't a fucking clue what's going on. Still enjoying it though.

[Ukjent]

Halfway with War Master's Gate and its looking good so far. Just to bad that I lack the time to read the next days.

[amphibian]

Baco Xtath, on 30 October 2013 - 09:00 PM, said:

Also listening to the Fractal Prince but only 30 min. a day during my workouts. 5 hrs in and I haven't a fucking clue what's going on. Still enjoying it though.

Think of it as "escaped con artist/hacker has to put his memory back together in order to steal something really big, aided by warrior lady and ship, runs into Sherlock Holmes-style detective who's mutually in love with a princess on Mars". The reduction of the story's complexity to that helps some people in my experience "get" the story better.

[D'rek]

amphibian, on 31 October 2013 - 03:40 AM, said:

Baco Xtath, on 30 October 2013 - 09:00 PM, said:

Also listening to the Fractal Prince but only 30 min. a day during my workouts. 5 hrs in and I haven't a fucking clue what's going on. Still enjoying it though.

Think of it as "escaped con artist/hacker has to put his memory back together in order to steal something really big, aided by warrior lady and ship, runs into Sherlock Holmes-style detective who's mutually in love with a princess on Mars". The reduction of the story's complexity to that helps some people in my experience "get" the story better.

That's The Quantum Thief. Fractal Prince is the sequel.


I just picked up The Republic of Thieves, and will hopefully be starting that tomorrow!

[amphibian]

D, on 31 October 2013 - 04:00 AM, said:

That's The Quantum Thief. Fractal Prince is the sequel.

Whups.

Ok, with The Fractal Prince, it's "Escaped con artist/hacker has to go down into a region full of monsters to get a key to something huge. A city on the border provides mercenary treasure hunters who may or may not be running their own games as well. Warrior and ship still assisting con artist/hacker."

[Baco Xtath]

amphibian, on 31 October 2013 - 04:48 AM, said:

D, on 31 October 2013 - 04:00 AM, said:

That's The Quantum Thief. Fractal Prince is the sequel.

Whups.

Ok, with The Fractal Prince, it's "Escaped con artist/hacker has to go down into a region full of monsters to get a key to something huge. A city on the border provides mercenary treasure hunters who may or may not be running their own games as well. Warrior and ship still assisting con artist/hacker."

Tawaddud's storyline is what has me a bit confused, her and Sumanguru. "Let me tell you a story......." I love the prose but I'm, as yet, unsure of the connection between the thief and the doctor, or what's really going on with the doctor. I know it has to do with wildcode but that's about it. However, I didn't really get the first book until near the end and then it all came together so I'm not really worried about it.

Finished Grim Company; fucking great book.

40 pgs into the Dervish House and am thus far impressed.

[Ain't_It_Just_]

At long freakin' last, I have found Mieville's THE SCAR. Reading it now and it is AWESOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

[QuickTidal]

After finishing up REPUBLIC OF THIEVES (which left me with less of a book hangover than I thought it would), I've dropped back into WH40K and I'm on TRAITOR GENERAL by Dan Abnett (8th Gaunt's Ghost's book I believe)...and it's just what I was looking for. Fast-paced, stealthy Imperial Guard action! Plus, it seems to be giving me on-the-ground POV insight into Chaos finally. Good stuff so far.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 31 October 2013 - 03:06 PM

[Salt-Man Z]

Thoroughly enjoyed my second time through Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane. I was planning on catching up with the Tor.com Stonewielder re-read, but I couldn't help myself and dove right into The Illearth War.