[Tiste Simeon]

Salt-Man Z, on 04 May 2016 - 04:01 PM, said:

FoD reread was great. That book is a slooooow burn; dense and weighty and rich, punctuated only occasionally with brief bursts of action or revelation, and virtually no humor to balance things out. And even on a second read I had trouble keeping track of many of the (often similarly-named) characters, since most of them only appear in a single chapter in each quarter of the book. That said, it's still brilliant stuff, beautifully written. My only real complaint is how much of the mystery of the Tiste races is not so much revealed as it is

Spoiler

made completely banal. "Oh, these people you thought were birthed of elemental forces, with skins of pitch black and blinding white? They were actually originally just a race of regular fair-skinned dudes." Kind of kills much of the wow factor.

But, hey, it's SE, he's probably got a great reason for it. It just makes me raise an eyebrow a little.

I'm now on Chapter Four of Fall of Light, which is good, pretty much just a straight continuation of FoD thus far.

I'm finding it much the same - really good but pretty ponderous! If anything, it is harder the second time around...

[worry]

I found it maybe slightly more gripping the second time, but yeah the Shakespearean stuff can be a real mouthful (and so far in FoL it's cranked up to 11 -- gotta love it).

As far as the "great reason" you ponder above...

Spoiler

I think you already answered your own question: killing the wow factor. Elves were, are, and always will be self-important dork-ass nerds, and skewering them rules.

[Mentalist]

Finished "Zoo City". It got ke-razy dark quickly, but the plot seriously picked up, and the ending was good. Recommended for a really original look at UrbF standalone in a pretty "exotic" setting (we don't get a lot of South African-themed SFF round these parts)

Now, onto FoL!!!

[Salt-Man Z]

Oponn Relationship, on 04 May 2016 - 10:08 PM, said:

I found it maybe slightly more gripping the second time

Yep, same here.

Oponn Relationship, on 04 May 2016 - 10:08 PM, said:

As far as the "great reason" you ponder above...

Ha! It could very well be.

[Abyss]

Mentalist, on 05 May 2016 - 12:02 AM, said:

Finished "Zoo City". It got ke-razy dark quickly, but the plot seriously picked up, and the ending was good. Recommended for a really original look at UrbF standalone in a pretty "exotic" setting (we don't get a lot of South African-themed SFF round these parts)

Cool, it's in the TRP and I've wondered.

[polishgenius]

If something like a cross between Altered Carbon and a dark Northern Lights/Golden Compass sounds like a good idea*, Zoo City is the book for you.



*Hint: it's a good idea.


I think Broken Monsters is Beukes' best work, but it's very close between it and Zoo City. Broken Monsters is a very different sort of story, though.

[West33]

Finished Traitor's Blade. So much to admire about the book, from the characters to the humor to the fight scenes. But the plot creaked a bit for me. There were too many times when I scratched my head and said, really? I'll definitely read the next in the series, but I don't understand some of the rave reviews Traitor's Blade gets.




On to Red Country by Abercrombie next. Can't believe I haven't read this book before now.

This post has been edited by West33: 06 May 2016 - 12:21 PM

[QuickTidal]

Rounding the final 3rd of the FoD re-read...and I STILL hate Kadaspala. The guy is such a nazel-gazing clown.

Can't wait to finish as I've got GGK's new one staring at me from the ToRead pile....SO excited to get back into his Alt-Europe fantasy universe!

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 06 May 2016 - 01:13 PM

[Morgoth]

Fall of Light. When spaced more widely apart I find myself having missed SE's slow winding philosophy. It is quite unique for the genre.

[Macros]

Abercrombie's sharp ends has just arrived.
But I want to read Joel's book as well.

First world problems

[worry]

Intersperse them? Might be easier since Sharp Ends is a short story collection.

[Salt-Man Z]

Received a copy of Neal Stephenson's SEVENEVES for review yesterday. I read the first sentence and then the first couple pages and then had to force myself to put it down (which was hard!) 'cause man I'm only 100 pages into FoL.

This post has been edited by Salt-Man Z: 07 May 2016 - 02:02 PM

[Mentalist]

200 pages into FoL.

K'rul's first chapter was MINDBLOWING.

[worry]

Halfway into FoL, it's unfolding slowly but sumptuously like one of those giant flowers that blossoms once every decade. Ah yes, it's called the corpse/carrion flower. Totally apt.

This book owns.

[Itwæs Nom]

Because I have to wait a week and a half to order Purge of Ashes I picked up Silmarilion after 3 or 4 or so years of hesitation to do so after I left it halfway through, been lying there on my shelf unopened by me since.

I've actually started first unofficial Malazan reread with GotM and got over 100 pages in (it's awesome) but I'd go for PoA anyway once it arrived so this was better option for me

Looking forward actually because I love Middle Earth as seen in LotR and Hobbit and the bits I stumbled upon of it's mythology on the internet were interesting. I couldn't get through first time before because of the lack of the lack of character PoV and I wasn't particularly interested in the bible-like world creation and the music stuff at the beginning, it all felt too heavy and hard to remember.

Haven't opened it yet but decided to!

[Mentalist]

Oponn Relationship, on 07 May 2016 - 10:56 PM, said:

Halfway into FoL, it's unfolding slowly but sumptuously like one of those giant flowers that blossoms once every decade. Ah yes, it's called the corpse/carrion flower. Totally apt.

This book owns.

I'm somewhere by the 400 pgs mark, and so far there's more answers than new questions, which is pretty much a first for SE.

Loving it. The philosophizing does ramble on sometimes, but it's no worse than TBH, which is my second favourite Malaz book

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 09 May 2016 - 01:06 PM

[QuickTidal]

Started on Terry Pratchett's MOVING PICTURES, which so far is great!

[Andorion]

Three chapters left to go in FoL!

[Baco Xtath]

QuickTidal, on 09 May 2016 - 01:45 PM, said:

Started on Terry Pratchett's MOVING PICTURES, which so far is great!

That and Soul Music are two of my favorites.

Almost finished with Paul McAuley's Into Everywhere, sequel to Something Coming Through. Both are fantastic. Highly recommended. The only other book of his I've read is Fairyland which I loved. After these, I'll definitely be checking out more of his stuff.

Also listening to Joel Shepherd's Renegade. It's alright. Not blown away but not disappointed.

Finished reading Hard Luck Hank: Basketful of Crap. The first book was alright. Decent setting and fairly funny. This one, book 2, was a lot of fun. I've already downloaded his next one, Prince of Suck, and will be listening to it next.

Edit: Dammit. Narrator for Prince of Suck is terrible.

This post has been edited by Baco Xtath: 09 May 2016 - 09:55 PM

[West33]

Macros, on 06 May 2016 - 04:02 PM, said:

Abercrombie's sharp ends has just arrived.
But I want to read Joel's book as well.

First world problems

I'm curious to know what you make of Sharp Ends. Abercrombie put one of the stories, Two's Company, up at Tor.com. It should have been amazing, because Whirrun is in it, but I thought the humor was really forced.

Loving Red Country, though. The scene with Logan in the tavern was brilliant, but Cosca is stealing the show for me.