[QuickTidal]

Maybe it's because I've so recently watched a bunch of really solid documentaries about these events...but Conn Iggulden's second Caesar book THE DEATH OF KINGS, while decent, was not a scratch on the first book and kind of just smartly walks from one historical fact to the next without a lot of fictional embellishment for adventurey-ness. A solid effort, but a step down from book 1.

I've got MIDNIGHT FALCON on my Kindle to start next...or I might do up a Non-fiction read first as a palate cleanser.

[Abyss]

Tidhar's CAMERA OBSCURA has completely overtaken Ruckley's EDINBURGH DEAD and shoved it to the side.


My bad for overlapping two somewhat similar books, but CAMERA is brilliant and fun and moves faster. I'll finish ED'DEAD eventually, but Milady De Winter with a BFG hunting ninja and zombies in 18th century steampunk Lizard Empire Paris is too bloody good a time to delay.

[Mentalist]

Abyss, on 20 November 2013 - 04:08 PM, said:

Tidhar's CAMERA OBSCURA has completely overtaken Ruckley's EDINBURGH DEAD and shoved it to the side.


My bad for overlapping two somewhat similar books, but CAMERA is brilliant and fun and moves faster. I'll finish ED'DEAD eventually, but Milady De Winter with a BFG hunting ninja and zombies in 18th century steampunk Lizard Empire Paris is too bloody good a time to delay.

told you so....Though

Spoiler

Paris isn't part of the Empire, really. the Revolution means it's run by the automaton shadow cabinet

[MTS]

I haven't read any fantasy in ages, it's truly depressing. Haven't found anything truly compelling lately, so I've turned to historical fiction. Right now I'm reading Imprimatur by Monaldi and Sorti, a book set in a Roman inn in 1683 while the Turks are besieging Vienna. Up next is Magnifico by Miles J. Unger, a biography on Lorenzo de Medici.

[Nicodimas]

Fantasy book month going into two months straight..!!

I have read about 50 new books in sixty days just for fun and it has been a blast to catch up on some series that I have missed out on...usually its warrior/mage who starts with nothing and than reigns over everything becomes king/slays a god. You know what I am saying certain series have that appeal of something different/fun/orginal.

Overall, Promise of Blood could be very good depending on where it goes, there is the cliched element to it, but I liked the mage system. The book itself you could feel the refinement in the writing as it goes on..minus the fact the book has no real interesting twists. I like the promise it carries with it as this series could be very generic, or be very fun with the next book.

Then how did I miss the Gentlemen Bastard series..I have probably looked and skipped the series over for years, just cause. This was my favorite of what I read that is new..well it was to me! Must read..I loved it. It really took over and displaced blood song <ryan>, mainly cause I haven't read books 2 and 3 yet by Ryan.. . We will see as that series could be amazing.

My mind feels a bit melted burning through these books and so Im going into old books re-read's.

Also out of fantasy and going to read some thriller/horror-->
Reapers are the angels
Exit Kingdom

This post has been edited by Nicodimas: 20 November 2013 - 06:27 PM

[Abyss]

Mentalist, on 20 November 2013 - 04:21 PM, said:

Abyss, on 20 November 2013 - 04:08 PM, said:

Tidhar's CAMERA OBSCURA has completely overtaken Ruckley's EDINBURGH DEAD and shoved it to the side.


My bad for overlapping two somewhat similar books, but CAMERA is brilliant and fun and moves faster. I'll finish ED'DEAD eventually, but Milady De Winter with a BFG hunting ninja and zombies in 18th century steampunk Lizard Empire Paris is too bloody good a time to delay.

told you so....Though

Spoiler

Paris isn't part of the Empire, really. the Revolution means it's run by the automaton shadow cabinet

true but

Spoiler

the Lizard Empire is a running point through the world-setting.

and it sounds cooler.

And props where due, your reco prompted me to get on with CAMERA and it was totally worthwhile. Leaps and bounds improvement over BOOKMAN... even prompted me to pick up VIOLENT CENTURY.

[Mentalist]

Nicodimas, on 20 November 2013 - 06:20 PM, said:

Fantasy book month going into two months straight..!!

I have read about 50 new books in sixty days just for fun and it has been a blast to catch up on some series that I have missed out on...usually its warrior/mage who starts with nothing and than reigns over everything becomes king/slays a god. You know what I am saying certain series have that appeal of something different/fun/orginal.

Overall, Promise of Blood could be very good depending on where it goes, there is the cliched element to it, but I liked the mage system. The book itself you could feel the refinement in the writing as it goes on..minus the fact the book has no real interesting twists. I like the promise it carries with it as this series could be very generic, or be very fun with the next book.

Then how did I miss the Gentlemen Bastard series..I have probably looked and skipped the series over for years, just cause. This was my favorite of what I read that is new..well it was to me! Must read..I loved it. It really took over and displaced blood song <ryan>, mainly cause I haven't read books 2 and 3 yet by Ryan.. . We will see as that series could be amazing.

My mind feels a bit melted burning through these books and so Im going into old books re-read's.

Also out of fantasy and going to read some thriller/horror-->
Reapers are the angels
Exit Kingdom

FIFTY???

God, where do you people find the time?

Since I finished Uni and started working, I average maaaaybe a book in a week and a half (though I can still do 1-nighters, if it's a VERY absorbing book, it's a rare occasion nowadays)

[Nicodimas]

Pretty much grinding through reality. I'm in ignore mode of it, but I think I burnt myself out this last week as I'm not really feeling anybooks this last week. I am also a scan reader..I can read really-really quick, but I have to re-read. <for instance I have read Rothfuss x4 already>.

All I'm doing is reading,working out and work itself. I can't keep it going for -overtly- long and go back into the normal book a week mode soon. This is the longest I have been Hermit-mode as I call it.

Oh picked up Divergent after watching the movie trailer...Dystopian's ftw.

This post has been edited by Nicodimas: 21 November 2013 - 01:55 AM

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Continuing my Abercrombie binge with The Heros. He is a super fun read.

[QuickTidal]

Went back and finished up Linda Buckley-Archer's final Gideon book THE TIME QUAKE (had about 50 pages left)....URG! Such a great, fun and well written series...with such a lackluster, un-timey-wimey ending! Maybe it's cause of all the Time travel stuff I've consumed in my life...but...

Spoiler

...they went back and stopped the first event from happening, and thus everything in that timeline was set aright and the splinter timelines cease to be....tadaaaa!....is just such a cop out and lazy ending! It's like a Bob Newhart-style "It was all a dream." and I loathe that sort of thing....the trope...not Bob Newhart...Bob Newhart rocks!

Great book, weak ending to the series.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 21 November 2013 - 02:30 PM

[yuna_anomander25]

FINALLY finished with Richard K Morgan's WOKEN FURIES,, this took quite some time,, maybe it's because from the Detective Noir premise of the 1st ALTERED CARBON, which i loved to Mars exploration and Space Ship Mystery of BROKEN ANGELS to something that feels sort of incomplete and/or that it has no certain plot that makes it stand out,, it feels like a filler (at least for me) and the ending feels so anti-climactic,, and Kovacs himself acts like a whiny b****h and very cynical who i don't like in this 3rd book,, i even -

Spoiler

want his younger self to win,, so he could have another chance/make it all right again

making a VERY SLOOOOOW progress with THE ILLEARTH WAR,, just read another chapter of this,,

now back to Abercrombie's THE HEROES,,

ETA: will read a few books more before reading Morgan's THE STEEL REMAINS,,

This post has been edited by yuna_anomander25: 23 November 2013 - 12:05 AM

[Pig Iron]

Miles Cameron's The Red Knight, nice read. He describes it as "Excalibur vs Aliens", which is pretty accurate but I'd add some Abercrombie. Part of it is Warcraft (the RTS game)/ Starcraft also Good fighting, including mage-mage which I always like. Beware spoilers (including interviews with the author), as it's fun to see the thing unfold.

[JPK]

Finished The Last Dark. Wow. Just wow. This was an action packed shit is hitting the fan kind of read.

Spoiler

Everything involving the Lurker was awesome, but the scene where it was using Covenant to hack off it's raver possessed limb was just plain awesome. And then the death of Turiya right afterwards was just breathtaking. Felt the lurker's mommy should have been much much scarier than it turned out to be though.

Now I'm trying to convince myself that I want to read A Meeting in Corvallis to finish off the first Change trilogy by Stirling instead of the pretty little hardcover of Crooked Little Vein sitting on my coffee table. If I tell myself something enough times it becomes true, right? Right?

[Salt-Man Z]

Finished my reread of Donaldson's The Illearth War yesterday. Wow, just epic. Now I remember why it was my favorite of the first six books. Starting in on The Power That Preserves.

[Pig Iron]

Finished Cameron's The Red Knight, and it was great. Just kept getting better and better. Besides the ones mentioned above it made me think of everything from War and Peace to Black Company and Last of the Mohicans. And Erikson, for sure. Fastest switching of POV:s I've seen and he made it work very well (if you doubt somewhere in the middle, everything does come together) without losing tempo or involvement in the characters.

[Baco Xtath]

About halfway through listening to Transition and Finch and I've no idea what the fuck either are about. I think Finch is about Finch trying to solve a double murder and an exploration of the new Ambergris and the social dynamic of the gray caps. It's good, even if I'm not entirely sure what's going on. Transition is about Transitioning, and Mrs. M and the Culture is nowhere to be seen. Really hoping this one gets better.

Reading Tyrant's Law, 25% in and par (which is good). Also just started Dread Brass Shadows (Garrett P.I. #5). Also getting ready to start Thousandth Night by Alastair Reynolds.

[worry]

Finished This River Awakens. I took it slow, but read that last 100 pages in a sprint (which felt entirely familiar). It was dark and beautiful, as I expected, but it was those things and also brutish and ugly and haunting, all in ways I didn't expect. Like watching Kilmandaros punch a dragon to death. My guts feel churned and I think it will lodge in my brain for a long while. Even the title feels different after having read it (but that's true of all his novels).

On to lighter fare, I'm finally gonna get around to Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach.

[Stormcat]

Briar King, on 23 November 2013 - 06:29 AM, said:

Ok so double post cause I think Abercrombie is worth it. BSC was the SHIT!! Wow just epic...

Here's to The Heros. Starting in 3...2...1

I love Abercrombie. If you have read all of the first law books make sure you read Red Country. Good stuff.
I just started The Bone Season seems okay so far.

[Abyss]

The Incredible Kitsu, on 23 November 2013 - 08:44 AM, said:

...I'm trying to convince myself that I want to read A Meeting in Corvallis to finish off the first Change trilogy by Stirling instead of the pretty little hardcover of Crooked Little Vein sitting on my coffee table. If I tell myself something enough times it becomes true, right? Right?

On the one hand you have the satisfaction of finishing a long running post-Apocalyptic series you have read and enjoyed and gone this far with, by a solid author. On the other hand you have Warren Ellis writing a detective story that involves Godzilla Bukkake.


Tough call.

[Baco Xtath]

Baco Xtath, on 24 November 2013 - 02:34 AM, said:

About halfway through listening to Transition and Finch and I've no idea what the fuck either are about. Transition is about Transitioning, and Mrs. M and the Culture is nowhere to be seen. Really hoping this one gets better.

Just found out that Transition is not a Culture novel. No wonder I was confused.