[Serenity]

firvulag, on 22 March 2014 - 08:33 PM, said:

Nearly finished book one of the Shoal Sequence, Stealing Light. Pretty good space opera, not read sci fi for a while but liking this

Btw, author is Gary Gibson

I was tempted to buy this recently - good to know it's decent.


I finished Absolution Gap, really enjoyed the trilogy on the whole but it doesn't quite get the honoured place on my shelf beside Chasm City and House of Suns. Now reading the first Vorkosigan book, Shards of Honor.

[firvulag]

Love the Revelation Space series, but would love more exploration of the Greenfly.

[amphibian]

If you read the Galactic North short story collection, you'll get more Greenfly scattered throughout - and get some things that loop back into Absolution Gap.

I'm not sure why Reynolds made Absolution Gap and the short stories work that way, but he did and the novel suffers slightly as a result (although the short stories are brilliant).

[rhulad]

Finally picked up Blood and Bone, only about a third of the way through but have been enjoying it so far.

[Serenity]

amphibian, on 24 March 2014 - 04:18 PM, said:

If you read the Galactic North short story collection, you'll get more Greenfly scattered throughout - and get some things that loop back into Absolution Gap.

I'm not sure why Reynolds made Absolution Gap and the short stories work that way, but he did and the novel suffers slightly as a result (although the short stories are brilliant).

That's good to know! I'll be coming back for 'Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days', 'Galactic North' and 'The Prefect' soon-ish, as they're all sitting on my Kindle ready to go.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

It was worth the wait for this monstrosity. It's only ~1000 pages too — I don't think any of my other 1000+ page paperbacks are anywhere near this thick.

(nook for size)

This post has been edited by Whisperzzzzzzz: 24 March 2014 - 06:27 PM

[QuickTidal]

My wrists were often wrecked after an hour or two reading it. It's a beast.

[Obdigore]

You guys need to get more exercise.

Just finished Raising Steam and am in the middle of a re-read of Words of Radiance.

[Stalker]

Briar needs the opposite. His arms are so jacked that they rise on their own and soar. It must be hard on the neck to read that way, but that's me guessing.



Anyway, I just finished up H Paul Honsinger's To Honor You Call Us and For Honor We Stand. Apparently this was self-published but was so well received that the amazon imprint grabbed it. I really enjoyed them though- as they are a nice mix of Aubrey and Maturin meet Blackjack Geary. More the former though, just in a galactic war that humanity seems to be losing rather than on the seas.

[QuickTidal]

Got my Alan Bradley delivery, so I'm diving straight into the second Flavia book THE WEED THAT STRINGS THE HANGMAN'S BAG.

[Tiste Simeon]

OK guys, gonna need a bit of help...

Am about halfway through TCG and I am suddenly thinking of what to read next. I mean this reread has taken a long time and since I started a whole bunch of good recommendations have been made! You all know how heavy and involved the MBOTF can get so really I am looking for something a bit lighter or easier to read for the time being. I don't mind whether fantasy or sci-fi, but I would really like something quite different to the Malazan books. I have in the meantime dropped some books onto my Kindle:

The "Thorns" trilogy by Mark Lawrence.
"The Edda of Burdens" by Elizabeth Bear.
The "Merrimack" books by RM Meluch.

I also have "Grunts" and "Ash" by Mary Gentle on my Amazon Wishlist (which I can easily download for cheap.) Same goes for the "Ex-" series by Peter Clines. So, I will listen to sage advice from people who have read all the above. At the moment, I am thinking I will go with Thorns - Merrimack (or at least books 1-4) then Edda of Burdens. But if you think I would be better detoxing from Malazan in a different order, by all means tell me.

Thanks faithful Malazites!

EDIT: Also, breaks will be taken when reading my next series for Skin Game and Assail respectively, obviously.

This post has been edited by Tiste Brent Not Abyss Weeks Simeon: 25 March 2014 - 02:08 PM

[Abyss]

Tiste Brent Not Abyss Weeks Simeon, on 25 March 2014 - 02:06 PM, said:

OK guys, gonna need a bit of help... ...

I can't speak to the Bear book, but of the others you ref, i suspect Clines' EX series is the farthest away from Malazan, because superheroes vs zombies.
Your other options are solid tho'.

[Tiste Simeon]

How is "Thorns" re: ease of read etc? Obviously I don't want something that is so simple that it is just dumb (ala Eddings or something, which was fine back in the day but not anymore etc.) but I am still in a bit of a fantasy mode and something that is good fantasy but not Malazan level of complexity would suit me fine... Which doesn't narrow it down all that much, granted...

[HiddenOne]

1st book of Thorns is good, haven't read the others (Bear & Merrimack) yet, but they are now on my radar scope

Clines series : 1st book was finished over the weekend, I liked it, but didn't freak out with ecstasy as I was lead to believe would happen


I am now reading Warbreaker, it's moving along I suppose

[McLovin]

You suppose? Were you not there while you were reading?

[polishgenius]

Tiste Brent Not Abyss Weeks Simeon, on 25 March 2014 - 03:38 PM, said:

How is "Thorns" re: ease of read etc? Obviously I don't want something that is so simple that it is just dumb (ala Eddings or something, which was fine back in the day but not anymore etc.) but I am still in a bit of a fantasy mode and something that is good fantasy but not Malazan level of complexity would suit me fine... Which doesn't narrow it down all that much, granted...

Yeah, Thorns is pretty easy to read- it's not dumb at all, but it's straightforward compared to Malazan.


Haven't read Merrimack, but out of all the others, I think none of them are anything at all like Malazan, apart from maybe Ash with the grand-campaign-of-war theme going on (and it's also by far the most weighty undertaking of the lot, so if you're looking for a detox, leave off Ash for a while).

[Abyss]

I really enjoyed the Thorns series. It was nicely original in parts, moves along at a solid pace, and i enjoyed the protag and his first person narration. Definitely different from Malazan and if you still want fantasy i think it suits the bill.

Merrimack is milsf/sf/space opera/popcorn-mostly-not-entirely. It's not so rooted in the how/why of the science parts that i can call it complete fantasy detox, but hey, spaceships, aliens.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

Okay, time for my e-book update. Most of the these are cheap/free self-published stuff from Amazon. I've placed these in order from awful to awesome.

51. Bears, Recycling and Confusing Time Paradoxes by Greg X. Graves - This was just plain stupid. Short stories that end with a "moral" that's meant to be funny, but usually just makes no sense whatsoever.

52. MachoPoni: A Prance with Death by Lotus Rose - A "my little pony" spoof. Again, meant to be funny (I assume), but I just found it strange.

53. Box 13, Volume 2: The Pandora Process by David Gallaher and Steve Ellis - A so-so digital only comic. May have made more sense if I had also read volume 1, but only volume 2 was free.

54. A WORLD WITHIN (Wielder Saga #1) by JAMES SOMERS - A "nothing special here" self-published fantasy novel.

55. Steam & Sorcery (The Gaslight Chronicles) by Cindy Spencer Pape - Steampunk, I still don't like you. Please stop stalking me, or I'm getting a restraining order.

56. The God King: Heirs of the Fallen Volume 1 by James A. West - Ditto #54.

57. Nocturnal Academy by Ethan Somerville - About a school for kids who are monsters. Or something. Your kid will like it. I didn't.

58. Saving The World Boxed Set I: The Amazing Stories of The Greatest Superheroes Ever (Superhero Sagas) by Dean King - A fun read about the comic book origins of three superheroes. Read like a junior high book report, awkward grammar and all, so author is very much an amateur. But it was free, what do you want?

59. The Girls From Alcyone by Cary Caffrey - Bad girls who kick some ass, with the obligatory gratuitous sexiness.

60. Night of the Purple Moon by Scott Cramer - YA dystopia. I've read better, I've read worse.

61. Bear Heart (Klawdia, Book #1) by K. J. Colt - YA fantasy. Ditto above.

62. Magic of Thieves by C. Greenwood - This was interesting at first. But then nothing much happens for the rest of the story, and I don't really feel like paying money for <200 page future installments where nothing interesting happens.

63. Night of Wolves: The Paladins #1 by David Dalglish - A fun beach-read type book, but nothing particularly special.

64. The Days of Peleg by Jon Saboe - Genesis + apocryphal oddities from The Book of Enoch + Zecharia Sitchin weird "ancient technology" theories = this book. An interesting read, just due to the uniqueness of the plot.

65. Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue: The Bern Saga Book 1 by Hugh Howey - Didn't blow me away, but good enough to make me look forward to the (supposedly way better) Wool series.

66. Alpha Girl Volume 1 graphic novel by Jeff Roenning - Tough girl vs. zombies. Yes! This is exactly the fun type of comic that I like to read.

67. Fat Vampire by Johnny B. Truant - When you become a vampire, you are eternally "stuck" at whatever age / health condition you exist in when you're turned. Unfortunately, main character Reginald is a bit out of shape when it happens to him. This book manages to be hilariously funny, awesome, and emotionally touching at the same time. After reading, I immediately wishlisted the omnibus version.

[amphibian]

If you're on the hunt for free books, read Worm by John McCrae/wildbow. It's stupendous, long and complex - so much so that I'm becoming an evangelist for it much like I did with the Malazan books.

[Stalker]

I agree! I started reading last summer as it was coming to the conclusion and read the entire series over 2-3 weeks, just in time for the big finish. I think it is said to be equal to about 22 full length novels, not sure I believe that, but either way there is a lot of content that is well written and generally error free, thanks to the readers mentioning mistakes. More importantly, the story is great and so are the heroes and their powers. Some very cool ideas in there.


His new serial started off well too, but I've stopped reading to wait for more to be available.