[acesn8s]

Well, I finished The Empty Throne. Another solid effort by Cornwell. On to bk3 of the Shadowmarch Saga.

[Maark Abbott]

Onto 'The Deed of Paksennarrion' I go. 1206 pages of font size 8? Good value at the very least, for £11.

[Andorion]

A few chapters into Sailing to Sarantium. Very different book from, Lion, the magic seems to be heavier here. I like it.

[amphibian]

Maark, on 15 January 2015 - 12:39 PM, said:

Onto 'The Deed of Paksennarrion' I go. 1206 pages of font size 8? Good value at the very least, for £11.

Those books are surprisingly good. I'm caught up with present day and found them to be good all the way through. Moon has a way of subverting the guided by a God thing into a story that's fun to follow along with without being full of lecture or "oh yeah right".

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 15 January 2015 - 03:01 PM, said:

Maark, on 15 January 2015 - 12:39 PM, said:

Onto 'The Deed of Paksennarrion' I go. 1206 pages of font size 8? Good value at the very least, for £11.

Those books are surprisingly good. I'm caught up with present day and found them to be good all the way through. Moon has a way of subverting the guided by a God thing into a story that's fun to follow along with without being full of lecture or "oh yeah right".

I'm going to be on the flipside of this opinion and say that my experience with the series is bad. I got about halfway through the first book and put it down for various reasons, mostly boring military gear talk and setup. The main character was poorly fleshed out and I just generally recall not at all enjoying picking it up each day.

[amphibian]

I think you must have had an off week for that one.

Paksenarrion is basically the best development of a paladin story ever written. Moon goes big on fleshing out - to the point of writing good prequels to explain the God behind the series - and the military stuff is crucial to Paks as a character.

[Stormcat]

Iron Druid - he got a lot of the mythology right and I think the story is a really great idea. I kind of soured on it when he didn't seem overly concerned that the Frost Giants would Rape a Goddess. He was going to let them take her and do whatever they wanted just so a bunch of guys could get revenge. It seemed very un-Druid like. Other than that I liked the story and loved his dog.

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 15 January 2015 - 04:37 PM, said:

I think you must have had an off week for that one.

Paksenarrion is basically the best development of a paladin story ever written. Moon goes big on fleshing out - to the point of writing good prequels to explain the God behind the series - and the military stuff is crucial to Paks as a character.

I picked it up more than once, and put it down both times. I eventually sold it off. Just not for me.

[JPK]

I finished listening to Dune Messiah. I must have gotten further in these the last time I read them than I thought. I swore that

Spoiler

Alia's possession by the dead Baron Harkonnen and/or just going insane... never really figured out which it was.

happened in this book. I plan on getting the third book when I get credits again next.

I also finished Interworld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves. I am solidly of the opinion that this work is the single least dark thing that Gaiman has had his hand in creating. It's YA and good enough for a read, but nothing that will blow anyone's minds away. I'll probably read the second one if it's loaned to me or I can get it from the library.

As for now, I'm going to start The Count of Monte Cristo on audiobook when I go back to work. I think that the Khaavren Romances gave me a bit of a taste for the general style and I've been wanting to read this one for years.

As far as dead tree goes, I'm about halfway through The Slow Regard of Silent Things (everyone is right, it's weird but good) and plan on jumping into Willful Child as soon as I finish it.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Took a break from my reread (between The Bonehunters and Reaper's Gale) to power through Fool's Assassin. While I don't feel like much actually happened, I really enjoyed it. Just being with those characters again (and meeting Bee, who I liked [did anyone else think she was autistic at first?]) was very emotional for me (the deaths even more so).

Can't wait for the second book!

[Maark Abbott]

amphibian, on 15 January 2015 - 03:01 PM, said:

Maark, on 15 January 2015 - 12:39 PM, said:

Onto 'The Deed of Paksennarrion' I go. 1206 pages of font size 8? Good value at the very least, for £11.

Those books are surprisingly good. I'm caught up with present day and found them to be good all the way through. Moon has a way of subverting the guided by a God thing into a story that's fun to follow along with without being full of lecture or "oh yeah right".

I'll admit that I felt the implied (not actual as it turned out) rape not three chapters in felt arbitrary, for want of a better term. I get that it's a vehicle for character development, overcoming adversity and whatnot, but when it feels arbitrary... eh...

Overall enjoying it so far. Not quite 100 pages in yet so still can't form a particularly valid opinion.

[QuickTidal]

Saving a few new ToRead Pile books (namely ACCEPTANCE by Vandermeer, NEVERLANDS LIBRARY Fantasy Anthology, and ENGINES OF WAR by George Mann) for my trip down south in three weeks so I've picked up Cornwell's THE EMPTY THRONE to catch up with Uhtred and company. 100 pages in and as usual it's not disappointing me. I'll be excited to see what they do with the TV show.

[Salt-Man Z]

QuickTidal, on 10 January 2015 - 02:01 PM, said:

Started Patrick Lee's RUNNER last night. Good stuff so far, and man does he get to the action right away. The book takes off like a shot on like page 2!

I have to assume you finished this up with 48 hours. What did you think?

[Andorion]

Done with Sarnatium, awesome read, but now halfway into Nk Jemisin's Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and I like it a lot. Its strange because if anybody had summarised the major plot points for me I am not sure I would have been that attracted, but now that I am halfway through the book, I absolutely love it. The narrative style, the plot, the created world, everything seems to click with me.

[Abyss]

Andorion, on 19 January 2015 - 05:11 PM, said:

Done with Sarnatium, awesome read,

heh, called it!

Quote

but now halfway into Nk Jemisin's Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and I like it a lot. Its strange because if anybody had summarised the major plot points for me I am not sure I would have been that attracted, but now that I am halfway through the book, I absolutely love it. The narrative style, the plot, the created world, everything seems to click with me.

I had a similar reaction.... knew little/nothing read/enjoyed, then read the blurb and decided it was a goods thing i hadn't.
It's even more perplexing because i then read the blurb for the next book and it's put me off reading it.

In audio, now listening to Marie Brennan's A NATURAL HISTORY OF DRAGONS. If i were dying for something fast paced and heavy in fantasy this wouldn't work for me, but as background while i'm doing other stuff, it's a decent story that avoids a lot of the more obvious traps, even if it spends a bit too much time telling us how wonderful the (admittedly vain) first person narrator is.

In pretty pictures, am building to X-MEN BATTLE OF THE ATOM on the Marvel Meth by reading the x-books for about six issues before. I have to say that while i originally thought bringing the teenage original five x-men forwad in time was a hideously lame idea, they made it work far far better than i expected.

Also tracked down the original Marvel run of STAR WARS comics... just finished the Han Solo Magnificent Seven story... the Chaykin art more than makes up for the dated dialogue. Plus Jaxxon the seven ft carnivorous green rabbit is legend.

In reading... gah... the E/TRPs are an evil thing... LAND OF ICE AND FIRE is tempting but i think i'll wait til WINDS OF WINTER has a street date circa 2020. The KETTY JAY crew have been tempting me fore a while but so are Campbell's LOST FLEET .... i also have the entirety of Stirling's AFTER THE FIRE/ISLAND IN THE SEA OF TIME in dead tree... was thinking of saving that for some upcoming beach-reading, but could get a head start on the series...

[QuickTidal]

Salt-Man Z, on 19 January 2015 - 04:58 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 10 January 2015 - 02:01 PM, said:

Started Patrick Lee's RUNNER last night. Good stuff so far, and man does he get to the action right away. The book takes off like a shot on like page 2!

I have to assume you finished this up with 48 hours. What did you think?

Actually, I put it down (not because I wasn't enjoying it) because I wasn't in a thriller mood, but I'll be picking it back up after Cornwell.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 19 January 2015 - 06:09 PM, said:

Salt-Man Z, on 19 January 2015 - 04:58 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 10 January 2015 - 02:01 PM, said:

Started Patrick Lee's RUNNER last night. Good stuff so far, and man does he get to the action right away. The book takes off like a shot on like page 2!

I have to assume you finished this up with 48 hours. What did you think?

Actually, I put it down (not because I wasn't enjoying it) because I wasn't in a thriller mood, but I'll be picking it back up after Cornwell.

Considering how addictive his first trilo of books were, that's not a good sign.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 19 January 2015 - 06:12 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 19 January 2015 - 06:09 PM, said:

Salt-Man Z, on 19 January 2015 - 04:58 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 10 January 2015 - 02:01 PM, said:

Started Patrick Lee's RUNNER last night. Good stuff so far, and man does he get to the action right away. The book takes off like a shot on like page 2!

I have to assume you finished this up with 48 hours. What did you think?

Actually, I put it down (not because I wasn't enjoying it) because I wasn't in a thriller mood, but I'll be picking it back up after Cornwell.

Considering how addictive his first trilo of books were, that's not a good sign.

Oh, not at all. It's fully on me and my reading mood. What I read of it (about ten pages) was really solid, fast-paced stuff. I just needed to read something non-thriller-y after the Vandermeer I'd just read.

[Nicodimas]

The providence of Fire.

Good book...feels very like Malaz, just smaller in scope...i would say lots of good worldbuilding, character building too.

Gods/lesser gods/immortal beings/humans...

[Chance]

Getting through book 3 and later of the Gap Cycle and must say it improves conciderably (being very good before) once the plots on and around earth gains a larger space. Anything including Hashi is easily some of the best writing I've read well at least in a couple of months not least his own point of view. The only problem with this is that the Trumphet/Highland parts of the story becomes a lot weaker in comparison.

This post has been edited by Chance: 20 January 2015 - 01:06 PM