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Reading at t'moment?

#13941 User is offline   D'iversify 

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Posted 14 September 2014 - 04:24 PM

View PostAndorion, on 14 September 2014 - 02:28 PM, said:

View PostGraablick, on 14 September 2014 - 02:21 PM, said:

And two books after you feel sorry that he did.


I do seem to have heard a lot of bad things about the sixth book. Lets see. Chapter 14 and going strong.

Now there' bloody Arthurian elements entering with "a sword in the stone" and in the New Spring there were mentions of Artur Hawkwing, Artur Pendraeg, which I consider a very clumsy way of paraphrasing Arthur Pendragon.
The sixth book? Personally I mostly hear the eighth book as the one people point as a significant downward turn (though I actually thought The Path of Daggers was mostly pretty good; but then I regard only Crossroads of Twilight as truly bad).

Regarding the Arthurian elements, they're actually fairly legitimised by the series' approach to human history (the clue is in the series' title). Also, Jordan was quite deliberate in incorporating large chunks of extant non-fantasy mythology into his work (he's very much following Tolkien in doing so, e.g. Tolkein's repurposing of the Atlantis myth into the story of Numenor, right down to the Sindarin name of the Downfall as Atalanté).
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#13942 User is offline   Ukjent 

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Posted 14 September 2014 - 04:48 PM

Think it was from the 7. it went downhill. But I may remember it wrong,
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#13943 User is offline   D'iversify 

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Posted 14 September 2014 - 06:09 PM

View PostGraablick, on 14 September 2014 - 04:48 PM, said:

Think it was from the 7. it went downhill. But I may remember it wrong,
Well Crown of Swords is a bit padded but the action in Illian and Aridhol overall make it a very enjoyable book. Don't see why Lord of Chaos would be getting slagged off given its got an epic climax at Dumai's Wells.
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#13944 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 12:25 AM

It's CROSSROADS that is the bad one. Luckily Illy gave me the jist so I didnt have to read the whole blasted waste of pages.
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#13945 User is offline   Andorion 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 01:02 AM

17 chapters. Things are improving, If things go according to plan, I'll be opening a seperate thread for this soon. Enjoying Jordan's prose style so far. While he doesn't have Tolkien's command over the language, he is loads better than quite a few authors I have read. From the angle of epic, legendary infodump, I really enjoyed the story of Aemon. What I want now is a short batlle or a skirmish scene to see how he handles intense action sequences.
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#13946 User is offline   Serenity 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 01:00 PM

200 pages into Meluch's The Myriad. Loving it.
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#13947 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 01:22 PM

Alternating between reading Peter David and Pop Mhan's SPYBOY run, and have finally started GGK's LORD OF EMPERORS.

There is like 3 of 4 books I'm patiently awaiting release and while I do I find there is little that can hold my attention fully.
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#13948 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 03:02 PM

View PostD, on 14 September 2014 - 06:09 PM, said:

View PostGraablick, on 14 September 2014 - 04:48 PM, said:

Think it was from the 7. it went downhill. But I may remember it wrong,
Well Crown of Swords is a bit padded but the action in Illian and Aridhol overall make it a very enjoyable book. Don't see why Lord of Chaos would be getting slagged off given its got an epic climax at Dumai's Wells.



View PostQuickTidal, on 15 September 2014 - 12:25 AM, said:

It's CROSSROADS that is the bad one. Luckily Illy gave me the jist so I didnt have to read the whole blasted waste of pages.


For me, it's #7 CROWN OF SWORDS. #6 LORD OF CHAOS was great, brilliant even. It ends leaving the reader feeling like the series is about to go into overdrive awesome. But after that high point, CROWN was just not even close ... it was good enough, but not great, and the first hint that the wheels had come off the creative process train.


8-9-10 were just tedious, frustrating even, and (with the possible exception of a single sequence in 9) just not worth hardback money. I just waited for the mmpbs or clearance sales.

I'm told that reading them back-to-back it's not as bad, so perhaps ymmv, or maybe just being able to skim those leaves enough good bits in the thinkymeatz to make it worthwhile.

11 was marginally better and suggested that RJ was getting things back on track, but then, sadly, he passed.

I enjoyed everything Sanderson did with the series after that and pre-ordered hardbacks each time and felt like i got my money's worth.
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#13949 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 03:07 PM

View PostSerenity, on 15 September 2014 - 01:00 PM, said:

200 pages into Meluch's The Myriad. Loving it.


Glad to hear (read) it. My reco of that series generated responses all over the love-hate spectrum, so i'm happy to see when someone else enjoys it.


When you're done, consider grabbing WOLF STAR. You won't be sorry.

...and then the rest of the series, well... i'm a fan...
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#13950 User is offline   T77 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 03:19 PM

Read a few books since my last post. As posted in the official thread, finished Working God's Mischief by Glen Cook and thoroughly enjoyed it.

I read The Stand by Stephen King and thought it was good, not great. I've heard so much about this book and I felt it was a bit overrated.

Finished The Two Towers by Tolkien and thought it was very good. As old and dated as this is it still holds up for me. I just love being in this world.

Read Castleview by Gene Wolfe. I thought it was good, especially the last 30% or so when things kicked into high gear. Wolfe continues to blow me away with his prose and imagination, second to none.
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#13951 User is offline   Ukjent 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 03:22 PM

View PostQuickTidal, on 15 September 2014 - 01:22 PM, said:

Alternating between reading Peter David and Pop Mhan's SPYBOY run, and have finally started GGK's LORD OF EMPERORS.



I just love Lord of Emperors, Sailing to Sarantium is safely placed on my top 10 list over books/series. The prose is just stunningly beautiful..
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#13952 User is offline   Serenity 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 04:05 PM

View PostAbyss, on 15 September 2014 - 03:07 PM, said:

View PostSerenity, on 15 September 2014 - 01:00 PM, said:

200 pages into Meluch's The Myriad. Loving it.


Glad to hear (read) it. My reco of that series generated responses all over the love-hate spectrum, so i'm happy to see when someone else enjoys it.


When you're done, consider grabbing WOLF STAR. You won't be sorry.

...and then the rest of the series, well... i'm a fan...


Hee, well I have the omnibus edition, so I already have Wolf Star ready to go :) If I carry on enjoying it this much I'll be heading off to Forbidden Planet later in the week to pick up the rest :)
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#13953 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 04:09 PM

View PostGraablick, on 15 September 2014 - 03:22 PM, said:

View PostQuickTidal, on 15 September 2014 - 01:22 PM, said:

Alternating between reading Peter David and Pop Mhan's SPYBOY run, and have finally started GGK's LORD OF EMPERORS.



I just love Lord of Emperors, Sailing to Sarantium is safely placed on my top 10 list over books/series. The prose is just stunningly beautiful..


Yeah, you really can't go wrong with GGK's prose. He's a wordsmith.
"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
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#13954 User is offline   EmperorMagus 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 07:11 PM

Reading Blade of Tyshalle.

I read Heroes Die a year or so ago and despite the fact that I loved Cain's attitude, I thought the overall storyline was mediocre.
I'm now finding the second book much better than the first book, also the suspense in this book is scary(and a little delicious tbh). I can't seem to sit down for more than 15 minutes while reading it. I still don't understand all the rage about Cain's cursing though.
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#13955 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 07:45 PM

View PostSerenity, on 15 September 2014 - 04:05 PM, said:

View PostAbyss, on 15 September 2014 - 03:07 PM, said:

View PostSerenity, on 15 September 2014 - 01:00 PM, said:

200 pages into Meluch's The Myriad. Loving it.


Glad to hear (read) it. My reco of that series generated responses all over the love-hate spectrum, so i'm happy to see when someone else enjoys it.


When you're done, consider grabbing WOLF STAR. You won't be sorry.

...and then the rest of the series, well... i'm a fan...


Hee, well I have the omnibus edition, so I already have Wolf Star ready to go :) If I carry on enjoying it this much I'll be heading off to Forbidden Planet later in the week to pick up the rest :)


Just go now and save yourself some time later.
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#13956 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 07:47 PM

View PostQuickTidal, on 15 September 2014 - 04:09 PM, said:

View PostGraablick, on 15 September 2014 - 03:22 PM, said:

View PostQuickTidal, on 15 September 2014 - 01:22 PM, said:

Alternating between reading Peter David and Pop Mhan's SPYBOY run, and have finally started GGK's LORD OF EMPERORS.



I just love Lord of Emperors, Sailing to Sarantium is safely placed on my top 10 list over books/series. The prose is just stunningly beautiful..


Yeah, you really can't go wrong with GGK's prose. He's a wordsmith.


Thirded.


...or fourthed, whatever, GGK is a master.
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#13957 User is offline   amphibian 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 07:53 PM

View PostEmperorMagus, on 15 September 2014 - 07:11 PM, said:

Reading Blade of Tyshalle.

I read Heroes Die a year or so ago and despite the fact that I loved Cain's attitude, I thought the overall storyline was mediocre.
I'm now finding the second book much better than the first book, also the suspense in this book is scary(and a little delicious tbh). I can't seem to sit down for more than 15 minutes while reading it. I still don't understand all the rage about Cain's cursing though.

Cain cusses up a storm because he's perpetually angry (which is something that started when he was a child in a very messed up family situation, which BoT, Caine Black Knife and Caine's Law explore in much greater depth).

It sort of became a trend around this forum to humorously exaggerate that.
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#13958 User is offline   Abyss 

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Posted 15 September 2014 - 07:54 PM

View PostEmperorMagus, on 15 September 2014 - 07:11 PM, said:

Reading Blade of Tyshalle.

I read Heroes Die a year or so ago and despite the fact that I loved Cain's attitude, I thought the overall storyline was mediocre.
I'm now finding the second book much better than the first book, also the suspense in this book is scary(and a little delicious tbh). I can't seem to sit down for more than 15 minutes while reading it. I still don't understand all the rage about Cain's cursing though.


Heroes Die is a fun book, but Blade of Tyshalle is fucking brilliant for a completely different set of reasons. Part of the beauty of BLADE is that, without spoiling anything, it takes the characters (and reader) to a much darker place than HEROES ever went, and holds them there longer than any book should. And i mean that in a good way.

The cursing is more of a thing in bk3 CAINE BLACK KNIFE, and truthfully, it's mostly a running joke we just can't let fucking die.
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#13959 User is offline   Serenity 

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 07:26 AM

View PostAbyss, on 15 September 2014 - 07:45 PM, said:

View PostSerenity, on 15 September 2014 - 04:05 PM, said:

View PostAbyss, on 15 September 2014 - 03:07 PM, said:

View PostSerenity, on 15 September 2014 - 01:00 PM, said:

200 pages into Meluch's The Myriad. Loving it.


Glad to hear (read) it. My reco of that series generated responses all over the love-hate spectrum, so i'm happy to see when someone else enjoys it.


When you're done, consider grabbing WOLF STAR. You won't be sorry.

...and then the rest of the series, well... i'm a fan...


Hee, well I have the omnibus edition, so I already have Wolf Star ready to go :) If I carry on enjoying it this much I'll be heading off to Forbidden Planet later in the week to pick up the rest :)


Just go now and save yourself some time later.


Noooo, I want to go on my day off so that I have more time - I have a list of books I want. Volume 2 is top of that list now. These things have to be savoured . . .

Mind you, if I get there and they don't have it in stock I'm going to be pretty pissed off :)

I'll probably finish The Myriad today - got about 60 pages left.
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#13960 User is offline   Chance 

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Posted 16 September 2014 - 07:38 AM

Finishing up Ancillary Justice which was good, even great on occation but I like my SF with at least some Science in it not merely fiction taking place in a future with some technobabble. Its astonishing really how some SF could really be set in a fantasy setting and very little except the view would have to be changed significantly. Still a solid book and will be picking up the next one when it comes out in a few months.

This post has been edited by Chance: 16 September 2014 - 07:39 AM

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