[Abyss]

Andorion, on 27 December 2014 - 07:45 AM, said:

Finished Stackpole's Queens Command. Started the second book Of Limited Loyalty. 30 chapters in and the book just turned on me. So far it had been pretty straightforward exploration, with mystery, a mild bit of politics and a miniscule bit of combat. The magic system was being gradually laid out. Then BOOM and it goes all Cthulhu-shit. So now we have tentacled monster visaged temples, magical glyphs, also old magic resurfacing. In fact the last chapter or two reminds me a lot of Peter Hamilton's Reality Dysfunction, only fantasy, not sci-fi.

Do you mean this in a good way or a bad way?

[Andorion]

Abyss, on 28 December 2014 - 12:12 AM, said:

Andorion, on 27 December 2014 - 07:45 AM, said:

Finished Stackpole's Queens Command. Started the second book Of Limited Loyalty. 30 chapters in and the book just turned on me. So far it had been pretty straightforward exploration, with mystery, a mild bit of politics and a miniscule bit of combat. The magic system was being gradually laid out. Then BOOM and it goes all Cthulhu-shit. So now we have tentacled monster visaged temples, magical glyphs, also old magic resurfacing. In fact the last chapter or two reminds me a lot of Peter Hamilton's Reality Dysfunction, only fantasy, not sci-fi.

Do you mean this in a good way or a bad way?

Umm I am not really sure. The first book At The Queens Command was almost too vanilla to believe, though it did improve towards the end. This book, and I am now 75% through, significantly improves around the halfway mark and keeps going. The stakes have increased, the magic system is getting fleshed out in great detail, but I continue to have two grievances: Firstly the author tends to randomly infodump, so a week or so worth of events are suddenly condensed into a couple of paras and announced, and secondly the protagonists group continues to be a bit too straight-and-narrow. But at least the political manuevring has improved. What this book cries out for is a couple of non-good guy POVs

[Tiste Simeon]

I finished the 2nd Night Angel book. It was pretty good and once again the build up to the finish was intense and fast paced.

However, every single character seems to spend the whole time moping and going through a bunch of internal emo crises. Sure, I get why they do and it does add to their depth and whatnot but when even the all powerful Godking started worrying if a pretty 16 year old likes him I groaned.

Definitely going to read the 3rd one now as there are some ace plot lines - Logan hopefully becoming leader (though his capitulation to that stupid woman annoyed me) the whole thing with the sword, the sisters and Uly, Vi... I just hope they don't spend as long in teen angst in this book.

[Solidsnape]

The Prince LeStat.

[Maark Abbott]

I finished the GN Way of Shadows earlier. It didn't take me more than two days! Yikes.

Onto Book 3 of Applecrumble's First Law trilogy we go.

[QuickTidal]

Tiste Simeon, on 28 December 2014 - 08:31 AM, said:

I finished the 2nd Night Angel book. It was pretty good and once again the build up to the finish was intense and fast paced.

However, every single character seems to spend the whole time moping and going through a bunch of internal emo crises. Sure, I get why they do and it does add to their depth and whatnot but when even the all powerful Godking started worrying if a pretty 16 year old likes him I groaned.

Definitely going to read the 3rd one now as there are some ace plot lines - Logan hopefully becoming leader (though his capitulation to that stupid woman annoyed me) the whole thing with the sword, the sisters and Uly, Vi... I just hope they don't spend as long in teen angst in this book.

Vi is the best.

[Andorion]

Finished Stackpole's Of Limited Loyalty. A bit predictable in the end. Starting Kelly Mcculough's Broken Blade.

Want to read N K Jemisin next. Anybody know anything about her books?

[Abyss]

Andorion, on 29 December 2014 - 04:07 AM, said:

Want to read N K Jemisin next. Anybody know anything about her books?

I liked THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS. Didn't love but the characters and setting held my attention despite a fairly predictable plot and some overworn tropes. I'll read the rest of the trilo eventually.

[polishgenius]

The trilogy gets stronger as it goes, in my opinion. The first one is good but has a few flaws, but the second and third really build on it well. I absolutely love the world she paints in the series, too.

[Puck]

Fearsome Journeys, another short story collection. I'm going to get clubbed over the head for this, but I thought Scott Lynch's contribution was rather.. well, not meh, but not yay either. Which saddens me. Well, there's still Glen Cook, K. J. Parker and Elizabeth Bear to look forward to...

[Andorion]

Abyss, on 29 December 2014 - 07:07 AM, said:

Andorion, on 29 December 2014 - 04:07 AM, said:

Want to read N K Jemisin next. Anybody know anything about her books?

I liked THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS. Didn't love but the characters and setting held my attention despite a fairly predictable plot and some overworn tropes. I'll read the rest of the trilo eventually.

polishgenius, on 29 December 2014 - 11:27 AM, said:

The trilogy gets stronger as it goes, in my opinion. The first one is good but has a few flaws, but the second and third really build on it well. I absolutely love the world she paints in the series, too.

OK. So will give it a go. The blurb of the first book seemed to imply a lot of intrigue. Hope its not just poiticking and no action.

Broken Blade is shaping up nice. Just a chapter in, but its giving off some familiar vibes.

[Macros]

Man I didn't like the hundred thousand kingdoms at all.

[Chance]

Got through A Shadow in Summer on an impulse and found it fairly good, easy to see where some elements of Abrahams later books developed.

Macros, on 29 December 2014 - 06:26 PM, said:

Man I didn't like the hundred thousand kingdoms at all.

I got the "wanted to be a romance novel" wibe of it and found it rather boring, surprised each time someone recommend it.

This post has been edited by Chance: 29 December 2014 - 06:31 PM

[polishgenius]

Andorion, on 29 December 2014 - 05:28 PM, said:

OK. So will give it a go. The blurb of the first book seemed to imply a lot of intrigue. Hope its not just poiticking and no action.

Whatever you're imagining; it isn't like that.

[JPK]

I finished listening to Chasm City a few days ago. I liked it and will listen to The Prefect in the near future.

After that, I did something that I don't do very often: I opted for non-fiction. Acid Dreams: The Complete Social History of LSD: the CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond by Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain. This was a very interesting listen for me as I have always been curious about the culture that thrived during the peak of LSD popularity. It also sheds some light on some of the absolutely terrifying things the US government has done in the past. I'm definitely interested in more like this but I don't really know where to start. I was thinking of Hunter S. Thompson, but if anyone here has any recommendations I would love to hear about them.

I've also managed to finish Ex-Purgatory. It was most definitely a slow start, but really picked up halfway through. I'm sad that there aren't any more of these yet. Oh well, someday. In the meantime, can anyone recommend his other works?

Next up I'm going to be focusing on taking out the last 250 pages of The Black Prism tomorrow, and then starting the audiobook for Sethra Lavode after my personal weekend away from work.

This post has been edited by The Incredible Kitsu: 30 December 2014 - 10:46 AM

[QuickTidal]

Rounding the last 100 pages of Tad Williams STONE OF FAREWELL and I gotta say this has been an even more enjoyable reading experience than the first one was. Love the world and the characters, and especially love some of the stuff that's been happening to them in this volume. Can't wait to finish up.

[Andorion]

6 chapters into Broken Blade. Things are getting more interesting as the background inclouding the magic is getting fleshed out. But its more through hints than infodumps which I like

[Abyss]

Halfway thru Aaronovich's FOXGLOVE SUMMER ...it's great. The FOLLY series won't displace Dresden for sheer urban fantasy epic awesome anytime soon, but it's fast becoming my second favorite.

[McLovin]

Began HONOUR GUARD. Ending the Saint arc at the beginning.

[Kruppe's snacky cakes]

Okay, I pooped out on listing everything, so I'm just going to give my 2014 total and mention the most recent standouts:

280-ish

Adventures In Funeral Crashing by Milda Harris - Fun, quirky YA mystery.

The Dark Citadel by Michael Wallace - Great start to a new fantasy series. I was surprised it was among Amazon's "createspace" self-published stuff. Wallace is the real deal. Reminded me of stuff by Glenda Larke or Col Buchanon.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - The (true) story of a girl coming of age during the Iranian revolution. If you're a fan of (non-superhero) graphic novels and you haven't read this one, slap yourself in the face and then go read it.

Stonewielder by ICE - Better than NoK, not as good as RotCG.

Well, there are many more I could list, but that would cut into my reading time.