[JPK]

I've got about 50 pages left until I finish SOUL MUSIC, which I expect to chew through tonight. This has been my least favorite DEATH book so far, but it has had it's fun moments.

Spoiler

The biggest issue I've had with the story is the lack of DEATH. As usual, he has owned every scene he's been in though. The top two of which have to be Drunk DEATH and the third party recounting of his army battle.


I'm also a sucker for all of these classic rock puns.


Susan... gets better, right?

I'm strongly considering making a terrible decision for my next read and finally starting DANCER'S LAMENT. Why is that a terrible decision, you ask? Well, I'm still listening to MIDNIGHT TIDES in transit.

[polishgenius]

@JPK: yeah, Susan gets better. Soul Music is okay, but Hogfather and Thief of Time are excellent books.

[amphibian]

Susan is best in The Thief of Time, where she has better writing.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Senlin and I are beginning our ascent.

[QuickTidal]

Briar King, on 17 May 2017 - 07:10 PM, said:

Yeah I looked up on Amazon and asked that page if it was only those 3 in series. I wanted to avoid spoilers so didn't look to hard it other then what popped up 1st.

There are 6 books actually. Book 2 (THE SEVENTH SCROLL) is kind of a non-main story sideline book which takes place in the present and features modern day adventurers seeking the tombs and treasure from the first book, and then books 3-6 once again are all Ancient Egypt and deal with main character Taita. Though it should be noted that only RIVER GOD is in the 1st person with us in Taita's head...and all the rest of the books are 3rd person.

I LOVED the first book, and just finished the second sidelong book (which I also liked, but not nearly as much....but that's because it was modern day and I wanted to be in Ancient Egypt), and I've got WARLOCK (book 3) to read soonish.

[acesn8s]

Been in a rut since Aeronauts Windlass. Couldn't get into Senlin Ascends (I'll go back to it, just not right now) or the Conan compilation. Started Greatcoats #3.

[Andorion]

Reading Courtney Scafer's second book of her Shattered Sigil trilogy - The Tainted City, and so far it is superb.

Witcher: The Sword of Destiny continues to be very good.

In the Paradiso section of Dante's Divine Comedy and I firmly assert that the Inferno part was the most interesting.

[Cyphon]

JPK, on 17 May 2017 - 06:44 PM, said:

Snip

I'm strongly considering making a terrible decision for my next read and finally starting DANCER'S LAMENT. Why is that a terrible decision, you ask? Well, I'm still listening to MIDNIGHT TIDES in transit.

Just finished Dancers Lament and it was excellent. I think up there with SE in MBtotF. Plus it's not a spoiler for what you're listening to now. It was very tempting to do what BK is doing now and picking up the rest of the series for a reread. I just about managed to hold out.

Rereading the Big Over Easy which is so funny and clever. A nice palate change before I try something new next. Recommended book for anyone who hasn't tried Jasper Fforde before.

[Salt-Man Z]

Andorion, on 19 May 2017 - 01:27 AM, said:

Reading Courtney Scafer's second book of her Shattered Sigil trilogy - The Tainted City, and so far it is superb.

It is good, but man I really hated what she did to the characters in it. It was more tolerable the second time I read it, but also maybe worse because I knew what was coming. I stalled out halfway through book 3 last summer; I really need to get back to that. Plus, last night I just got my Kickstarter ebook edition of Evil Is a Matter of Perspective, which has a related short story in it...

[Mentalist]

"Blade of Black Steel" is a very fun read.

Everyone is a murderous jerk, and everyone that matters has an agenda to betray someone. And a lot of time is spent commenting on how shitty a time everyone is having, to the point the whole thing becomes a grotesque farce.

It's like Abercrombie, but there isn't even a hint it's taking itself serious.

I'm probably about halfway through, but right now this is actually shaping up to be one of those rare, super-re-readable series. I forgot a ton of stuff from Book 1, and I figure once I get Vol 3 and read that, I would be able to just pick up the series from the beginning provided the ending manages to keep form with the ride.

Kinda stalled in the "Godsdoom" re-read cuz of this (but mostly cuz I got that book on my phone now, and not a ton of reading time for that).

[QuickTidal]

Ask: Should I read The Belgariad?

[Salt-Man Z]

QuickTidal, on 19 May 2017 - 03:15 PM, said:

Ask: Should I read The Belgariad?

I'm sure you'd enjoy it more than I did, but that's a veeeeery low bar. (I hated it.)

[QuickTidal]

Salt-Man Z, on 19 May 2017 - 03:24 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 19 May 2017 - 03:15 PM, said:

Ask: Should I read The Belgariad?

I'm sure you'd enjoy it more than I did, but that's a veeeeery low bar. (I hated it.)

Hmmm. Okay. It's just one of those classic fantasy series everyone seems to have read but me.

I have a used copy (EDIT: Of Pawn Of Prophecy) that was about $1...and was wondering if it was worth it. I shall take your opinion under advisement!

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 19 May 2017 - 03:37 PM

[Mentalist]

My impression from years of reading this thread is that Eddings is very formulaic YA fantasy.

What I remember reading of the Elenium mostly aligns with that impression.

[Baco Xtath]

Finished Borne by Vandermeer. Very different than his usual spooky feel though it's definitely set in such an atmosphere. The writing isn't as dark as he usually is with such a setting but it's just as simple and poetic as always. Overall, great stuff though not at the Ambergris level.

Also, in the last 1/4 of Too Like the Lightning. I have really mixed feelings about this one. Sometimes it's just too much. Too deep in the world and an overwhelming attention to the setting versus the pace of action. It has it's good points and great points but I'm looking forward to being done with it. Could just be because I earbook everything and this isn't one that I'd recommend as such. It'd probably be much better read.

Also, my bedside book, Peter Watts, Beyond the Rift. It's a collection of short stories and it's damn good. I may reread the Rifter trilogy when I'm finished.

[Salt-Man Z]

Yeah, the Belgariad about as formulaic as it gets without (IIRC) having elves and dwarves and dragons in it.

A lot of people here like it, but unless I miss my guess, most of them first read it when they were younger. I first read it in my 30s just after reading the first few Malazan books. (And I started my first Malazan reread immediately after finishing Eddings. ) Outside of Tolkien, I more or less cut my fantasy teeth on Donaldson and Erikson, so Eddings was a yuuuge step backwards by comparison. (I also read the first Feist book on my wife's recommendation, and couldn't stand that one either.)

This post has been edited by Salt-Man Z: 19 May 2017 - 04:25 PM

[JPK]

What a lot of the others have been saying about The Belgariad holds a lot of truth. Things to keep in mind though - yes, it's very very trope-heavy and is not the strongest writing out there. This was also early 80's fantasy though, and this work in particular really helped establish the "Destined Farmboy" trope. They'll be really short popcorn reads for you at this point, and would satisfy a curiosity. I'd say go for it, as a way to see a work that drew a ton of kids to the genre. I mean, I read these back around the age that I was first reading the Redwall books and Piers Anthony novels. One final thought, if you decide to read these think of them as YA.

[polishgenius]

The Belgariad isn't bad as long as you go into it knowing it's very, very YA by today's standards. I mean, it's not good but it's quite witty and readable. For a dollar you might as well give it a go; you'll know pretty quickly whether it's for you. And, I mean, for everything wrong with it, it did give us Silk.


Just don't bother with anything else Eddings wrote.

[Macros]

QuickTidal, on 19 May 2017 - 03:15 PM, said:

Ask: Should I read The Belgariad?

This is a dicey one.

You're well enough read to absolutely hate this. I did a reread, last year I think, recently and god's it was painful, but more so because of the rose tinted spectacles I always viewed the series through, as it was one of the first epic series I read.
The characters are shallow, clichéd and sometimes just downright annoying.
Silk is not as cool as abyss says, he's a fucking tool who needs stuffed in a box and drowned.
The dialogue, oh god it's horrific in places, the attempts at witty banter are just.....

BUT

The first time I read it I enjoyed it cause I was early teens, and although the books look hefty enough physical size wise you can blow through one in less than a day because they're so simple.

I'm going to say go for it, because you have it there. And they're the type of books you will pick up cheap easily. Just for the love of God don't read the Mallorean, it's the same damned story told again on another continent

[worry]

Mallorean > Belgariad