[acesn8s]

 QuickTidal, on 18 March 2016 - 12:07 PM, said:

 Zoolanderis Derake, on 18 March 2016 - 09:57 AM, said:

That's what I hope to find out.

I hope he's buddies with "Bruce" Leroy Green, and they solve mysteries and kick ass together. THE LAST DRAGON 2: THE LEGEND OF LAMONT'S GOLD.

[Andorion]

 Mentalist, on 18 March 2016 - 03:37 AM, said:

This week has been hell at work in the "my brain is melting"-exhaustion type of way.

so I've been reading.... this thread, mostly. Started from the beginning and up to page 170 in a diff. tab. As I read, I fix up my Goodreads history and expand my TRP. I find it incredibly therapeutic.


In terms of "real" reading, on my commute I'm blasting through Moorcock's collection of Jerry Cornelius stories, Jerry Cornelius: His lives and times Early stories tied in with the themes in the Cornelius Quartet later are becoming ever more contemporary. It's absurd, at times but totally entertaining and just the kind of light read I needed this week. Expecting to finish it tomorrow and move onto the second Corum trilo next week.

At home, I'm also reading "Grace of Kings". It's an interesting, but "not exciting" book. Its overall tone reminds me of those edutainment programs for kids that are 60% narrator voice and the rest are characters blurting out script lines. The story is VERY believable however (because Liu does a good job exposing all sides of the conflict, their backgrounds and motivations-and his world-building is very solid). The "feels like a history textbook" thing may not work for everyone, but I've always been a self-professed history nerd, so I absolutely LOVE that narration style. I'm looking forward to having more time on the weekend to really sink my teeth deeper into it, but so far, it's an entirely plot-driven pursuit for me. Which makes it easy to put down when my body tells me it's ready to shut down for the night.

Is it true that this book has airships and battlekites?

[QuickTidal]

 acesn8s, on 18 March 2016 - 12:34 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 18 March 2016 - 12:07 PM, said:

 Zoolanderis Derake, on 18 March 2016 - 09:57 AM, said:

That's what I hope to find out.

I hope he's buddies with "Bruce" Leroy Green, and they solve mysteries and kick ass together. THE LAST DRAGON 2: THE LEGEND OF LAMONT'S GOLD.

One of my FAVOURITE movies.

[Mentalist]

 Andorion, on 18 March 2016 - 12:58 PM, said:

 Mentalist, on 18 March 2016 - 03:37 AM, said:

This week has been hell at work in the "my brain is melting"-exhaustion type of way.

so I've been reading.... this thread, mostly. Started from the beginning and up to page 170 in a diff. tab. As I read, I fix up my Goodreads history and expand my TRP. I find it incredibly therapeutic.


In terms of "real" reading, on my commute I'm blasting through Moorcock's collection of Jerry Cornelius stories, Jerry Cornelius: His lives and times Early stories tied in with the themes in the Cornelius Quartet later are becoming ever more contemporary. It's absurd, at times but totally entertaining and just the kind of light read I needed this week. Expecting to finish it tomorrow and move onto the second Corum trilo next week.

At home, I'm also reading "Grace of Kings". It's an interesting, but "not exciting" book. Its overall tone reminds me of those edutainment programs for kids that are 60% narrator voice and the rest are characters blurting out script lines. The story is VERY believable however (because Liu does a good job exposing all sides of the conflict, their backgrounds and motivations-and his world-building is very solid). The "feels like a history textbook" thing may not work for everyone, but I've always been a self-professed history nerd, so I absolutely LOVE that narration style. I'm looking forward to having more time on the weekend to really sink my teeth deeper into it, but so far, it's an entirely plot-driven pursuit for me. Which makes it easy to put down when my body tells me it's ready to shut down for the night.

Is it true that this book has airships and battlekites?

Yep. Yesterday I read about one of the characters in a besieged city flying over the besieging army on a kite and challenging anyone that dares to fight him in the air. It's one of the coolest moments so far.

[Andorion]

 Mentalist, on 18 March 2016 - 01:05 PM, said:

 Andorion, on 18 March 2016 - 12:58 PM, said:

 Mentalist, on 18 March 2016 - 03:37 AM, said:

This week has been hell at work in the "my brain is melting"-exhaustion type of way.

so I've been reading.... this thread, mostly. Started from the beginning and up to page 170 in a diff. tab. As I read, I fix up my Goodreads history and expand my TRP. I find it incredibly therapeutic.


In terms of "real" reading, on my commute I'm blasting through Moorcock's collection of Jerry Cornelius stories, Jerry Cornelius: His lives and times Early stories tied in with the themes in the Cornelius Quartet later are becoming ever more contemporary. It's absurd, at times but totally entertaining and just the kind of light read I needed this week. Expecting to finish it tomorrow and move onto the second Corum trilo next week.

At home, I'm also reading "Grace of Kings". It's an interesting, but "not exciting" book. Its overall tone reminds me of those edutainment programs for kids that are 60% narrator voice and the rest are characters blurting out script lines. The story is VERY believable however (because Liu does a good job exposing all sides of the conflict, their backgrounds and motivations-and his world-building is very solid). The "feels like a history textbook" thing may not work for everyone, but I've always been a self-professed history nerd, so I absolutely LOVE that narration style. I'm looking forward to having more time on the weekend to really sink my teeth deeper into it, but so far, it's an entirely plot-driven pursuit for me. Which makes it easy to put down when my body tells me it's ready to shut down for the night.

Is it true that this book has airships and battlekites?

Yep. Yesterday I read about one of the characters in a besieged city flying over the besieging army on a kite and challenging anyone that dares to fight him in the air. It's one of the coolest moments so far.

Uh... ok.... I think this at least is a pretty new thing.. I may have to read this just for the airships

[Mentalist]

If you're into airships, I HIGHLY recommend Moorcock's "Warlord of the Air". The entire "Nomad of the Time Streams" is great, but Warlord of the Air especially so

[Maark Abbott]

 Mentalist, on 18 March 2016 - 02:02 PM, said:

If you're into airships, I HIGHLY recommend Moorcock's "Warlord of the Air". The entire "Nomad of the Time Streams" is great, but Warlord of the Air especially so

Does it have any READY THE HYDRA CANNON moments?

[Salt-Man Z]

 QuickTidal, on 18 March 2016 - 09:48 AM, said:

Who is Dancer Lamont?

Dorin Rad.

[Andorion]

 Mentalist, on 18 March 2016 - 02:02 PM, said:

If you're into airships, I HIGHLY recommend Moorcock's "Warlord of the Air". The entire "Nomad of the Time Streams" is great, but Warlord of the Air especially so

I actually have not read much Moorcock. What would you recommend?

Also I have been told that The Voyage of Jerle Shannara has airships. Can anyone tell me the read order of the Shannara books?

[Mentalist]

 Andorion, on 18 March 2016 - 03:42 PM, said:

 Mentalist, on 18 March 2016 - 02:02 PM, said:

If you're into airships, I HIGHLY recommend Moorcock's "Warlord of the Air". The entire "Nomad of the Time Streams" is great, but Warlord of the Air especially so

I actually have not read much Moorcock. What would you recommend?

Also I have been told that The Voyage of Jerle Shannara has airships. Can anyone tell me the read order of the Shannara books?

Nomad in the Time Stream; Cornelius Quartet; The Ice Schooner; the End of Time novel are neat, but I haven't finished those, so I'm hesitant to recommend.

Check out the Moorcock thread in the reviews sub-forum.

As a general rule, I find his fantasy pretty dated by my current tastes; but most of his sci-fi stuff (and the things he mashes up with sci-fi) to be quite enjoyable.

[Macros]

Just finished Dancer Lament.
Easily my favourite ICE book yet.
I felt that his bigger works, especially blood and bone, really dragged and that he was much better suited to the smaller tighter stories, such a Night of Knives (my previous favourite ICE novel)

Its an interesting read, because there's so many characters that we know from later books, and this is their origin tale, you can really see what created some of my favourite characters, and what life choices took then to the places we find them at in the other works.

Looking forwar ld to book 2

[Tiste Simeon]

 QuickTidal, on 18 March 2016 - 09:48 AM, said:

 Zoolanderis Derake, on 18 March 2016 - 04:20 AM, said:

Now onto Dancer Lamont by the Ice-Man himself.

Who is Dancer Lamont?

The legendary Frenchman. Drinker of fine wines. Lover of fine women. Sings songs that will melt your heart. Dances to tunes that only he can hear. Speaks with a voice of intrigue and intense eroticism. Dancer Lamont. Hero. Lover. Man of passion and danger. Quite likes brie.

[Maark Abbott]

 Andorion, on 18 March 2016 - 03:42 PM, said:

 Mentalist, on 18 March 2016 - 02:02 PM, said:

If you're into airships, I HIGHLY recommend Moorcock's "Warlord of the Air". The entire "Nomad of the Time Streams" is great, but Warlord of the Air especially so

I actually have not read much Moorcock. What would you recommend?

Also I have been told that The Voyage of Jerle Shannara has airships. Can anyone tell me the read order of the Shannara books?

They're a bit twee and haven't aged particularly well, but:

Sword of Shannara trilogy > Heritage of Shannara quadrilogy > Jerle Shannara trilogy

[Andorion]

 Maark Abbott, on 19 March 2016 - 06:05 AM, said:

 Andorion, on 18 March 2016 - 03:42 PM, said:

 Mentalist, on 18 March 2016 - 02:02 PM, said:

If you're into airships, I HIGHLY recommend Moorcock's "Warlord of the Air". The entire "Nomad of the Time Streams" is great, but Warlord of the Air especially so

I actually have not read much Moorcock. What would you recommend?

Also I have been told that The Voyage of Jerle Shannara has airships. Can anyone tell me the read order of the Shannara books?

They're a bit twee and haven't aged particularly well, but:

Sword of Shannara trilogy > Heritage of Shannara quadrilogy > Jerle Shannara trilogy

I was thinking about it because I heard it combined airships and exploration, which sounds very cool and interesting. I suppose i could wade through the other books. Sword of Shannara is the explicit Tolkien clone, right?

[amphibian]

The airship action is in the third Jerle Shannara book (Morgawr). But to really make sense of it, you have to at least read a few of the eight books before it and wiki-summary the rest. It's a lotta work to get to airship action that's meaningful.

I stopped reading the Shannara books (not because they're terrible, but because I found other things more interesting) just before this airship book, so I can't give an opinion on if it is indeed enough to justify the reading load for even fast readers like you and me. Might be better to test out your Brooks enthusiasm with a shorter book of his or jump right into the airship book and see if it makes sense in media res.

I got into Malazan by reading Memories of Ice first, so this can work, but... I'm pretty sure Morgawr isn't MoI good.

[Andorion]

 amphibian, on 19 March 2016 - 07:00 AM, said:

The airship action is in the third Jerle Shannara book (Morgawr). But to really make sense of it, you have to at least read a few of the eight books before it and wiki-summary the rest. It's a lotta work to get to airship action that's meaningful.

I stopped reading the Shannara books (not because they're terrible, but because I found other things more interesting) just before this airship book, so I can't give an opinion on if it is indeed enough to justify the reading load for even fast readers like you and me. Might be better to test out your Brooks enthusiasm with a shorter book of his or jump right into the airship book and see if it makes sense in media res.

I got into Malazan by reading Memories of Ice first, so this can work, but... I'm pretty sure Morgawr isn't MoI good.

I am building up an airship themed reading list. That's where I came across this.

BTW I would not have believed there were so many airship themed fantasy books!

[Abyss]

Actually if you're ok with reading the occasional ref to 'what has gone before', I'd say the Jerle Shannara trilo can be read in its own.The refs to earlier books tend to be in the nature of 'back when I went questing with your uncle black blah blah'... What little you really need to know is there.That said, I think the trilo reads better if you've read the previous two series' and the LAST KING one shot, because there is a lot of history.

[Andorion]

Finished Dagger and the Coin #5: Spider's War. Good book, but could have been better. Going to tackle Salyards next.

[amphibian]

 Andorion, on 19 March 2016 - 11:13 AM, said:

Finished Dagger and the Coin #5: Spider's War. Good book, but could have been better. Going to tackle Salyards next.

Agreed. The culminating of the Empire storyline was a lateral move too much for me. Felt like Abraham was really going for something subtle and couldn't quite figure it out on the page. I think Ty Franck pushes Abraham in the right ways (and vice versa) for the Corey Expanse books.

The ending leaves things in a more interesting place though.

[Andorion]

 amphibian, on 19 March 2016 - 12:09 PM, said:

 Andorion, on 19 March 2016 - 11:13 AM, said:

Finished Dagger and the Coin #5: Spider's War. Good book, but could have been better. Going to tackle Salyards next.

Agreed. The culminating of the Empire storyline was a lateral move too much for me. Felt like Abraham was really going for something subtle and couldn't quite figure it out on the page. I think Ty Franck pushes Abraham in the right ways (and vice versa) for the Corey Expanse books.

The ending leaves things in a more interesting place though.

The ending is interesting, but I think the author was a bit conflicted about how to end it. There are long patches of introspection and ideas like how to end war as a concept, but in the end,

Spoiler

most of the problems like Geder, the avenging armies, etc were wrapped up too neatly. A more drawn out showdown about Geder's fate with people who liked him like Aster and his father might have been better. Also after the slaves were released, Abraham kind of handwaved the impending food scarcity.
I almost feel like he left the dragon in as to not make too neat an ending