[Andorion]

Reading Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.

Really like it, I think Gaiman has heavily influenced Catherine Webb/Kate Griffin/Claire North as this book is similar to the Matthew Swift books as well as A Sudden Appearance of Hope.

Also reading The Necronomicon by Lovecraft. Was sooooo happy to finally read these lines

"That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die."

Lovecraft is actually a pretty good writer.

[Yllana]

oh yeah, I'm also reading Lovercraft on the side at the moment. The annotated version is great. But his stories are a bit of hit-and-miss for me. The famed Call of Cthulhu did nothing for me, whereas I found Shadow over Innsmouth or the Thing on the Doorstep extremely creepy.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 12 April 2018 - 03:46 PM, said:

Abyss, on 12 April 2018 - 03:24 PM, said:

Macros, on 12 April 2018 - 11:55 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 12 April 2018 - 10:39 AM, said:

Man I'm way behind on Mark Lawrence... I need to read read more. I think I read the original Jorg trilogy and that's it. It seems he's got another couple of series out now right?

There's the red war trilo, set in the broken empire.
Road brothers, a collection of shorts from the broken empire
And then first two of his latest trilo, red and grey sister

RED QUEEN'S WAR, actually. Completed trilo, and utterly totally worth your eyes, time, and brainzez.
One of my favorite reads of last year. If you enjoyed the Jorg trilo even a little, you will likely love this.

RED QUEENS WAR is my fave Lawrence jam no question, and Jalan is my fave character he's invented.

QuickTidal, on 12 April 2018 - 03:55 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 12 April 2018 - 03:47 PM, said:

I can second that. Jalan is an anti-hero who's actually likeable, unlike Jorg. And Snorri is just awesome.

And Jalan + Snorri makes for such an incredible duo.

This. So much this. Great great GREAT characters, brilliantly written.

[worry]

I thought of Jalan as a young Chris Geere (Jimmy from You're the Worst) and it worked perfectly.

[Baco Xtath]

Just finished listening to Starship Grifters, a satirical sci fi in the vain of Hitchhiker's Guide. I almost quit listening about 30 minutes in but I'm glad I hung in there. It turned into a riot of a book. Definitely recommend it if you're in the mood for some slapstick comedy. Currently listening to the Night Dahlia, R.S. Belcher's sequel to Nightwise. About two hours in and not really feeling it. Hopefully it gets better.

Reading Four Roads Cross by Max Gladstone. Just as good as his previous Craft books. Will hit Ruin of Angels next.

[Puck]

Just finished The Court of Broken Knives. I... How should I put it? Monty Python meets Mark Lawrence. And not in a good way. Right at this moment, I'm tired as all hell of reading about how beautiful and perfect and sparkly a certain someone is. This isn't fucking Twilight. I stopped counting how many times per page the word perfect was used at some point.

I mean, I tried to like it, first because my best friend does and we have a pretty similar taste in books, second because of the glowing reviews. I kept waiting for something to like, but it never came, and contrary to what some of my opinions may seem like, as long as I find something I enjoy I'm usually happy enough. But there was nothing. I felt like the writing was trying too hard, especially towards the end. It was trying so hard to be poetic and beautiful (beautiful, get it already, like, oH so beautiful) and deep and meaningful that it forgot that clever metaphors are nice and dandy (flowers selling like human skin, for no good reason), but if you just throw them around unrelated and wrapped in the most cliched wordings ever you're not going to be doing much more than scratching the surface. I feel like it works for Bakker, whose influence is visible here, because he has more to say than just death and blood and shit and sparkles and rainbows and with him, everything ties in thematically. It all felt so alienatingly clean to me. So much over the top gore and it still manages to come off so squeeky clean and empty and thus unintentionally comedic. My eyes hurt from rolling them.

Also...

Spoiler

that fucking plot armour stinks to the high heavens. It's calling itself grimdark, but not only does every character the author obviously likes survive, no, they do so with barely a scratch.

Given all that, all the little inconsistencies and artistic licences which I usually don't mind overlooking in favour of enjoying the book were just so damn distracting. Lots of tell-don't-show going on. A paradise for refugee adverbs, too.

So yeah, didn't like it at all. I'm almost ashamed of how weak I thought everything about the book was, but there it is. Tastes differ.

And because I'm masochistic like that, my next read is going to be Anna Stephens' Godblind. Just to cover the Annas.

This post has been edited by Puck: 13 April 2018 - 11:44 AM

[acesn8s]

Andorion, on 12 April 2018 - 05:06 PM, said:

Reading Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.

Really like it, I think Gaiman has heavily influenced Catherine Webb/Kate Griffin/Claire North as this book is similar to the Matthew Swift books as well as A Sudden Appearance of Hope.

Also reading The Necronomicon by Lovecraft. Was sooooo happy to finally read these lines

"That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die."

Lovecraft is actually a pretty good writer.

I think Neverwhere is my favorite of his books.

[Chance]

Going through the last chapters of Blood and Bone and just perhaps I didn't give the book the chance it should have had, I would have benefitted from going through it with more focus but just too many storylines that where meh for too long.

Puck, on 13 April 2018 - 11:33 AM, said:

And because I'm masochistic like that, my next read is going to be Anna Stephens' Godblind. Just to cover the Annas.

Hard to see you enjoying Godblind if you didn't like The Court of Broken Knives, its mediocre at best. While they aren't that similiar there are a few.

This post has been edited by Chance: 13 April 2018 - 12:03 PM

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 11 April 2018 - 02:30 PM, said:

BLACK STAR RENEGADES.

I'm not sure about this one.

Basic space opera storyline with a fun twist early on, the subtle little Star Wars refs are fun (acceptable for a book called 'a love letter to Star Wars'), decent action... but the writer suffers from serious tell-don't-show and barely 1/3rd thru it's becoming irritating.

I accept that I'm going to finish this book because i'm mildly curious to see how the intrepid band of misfit heroes rescue their friend, destroy the uber-weapon, kill the main badguys, and defeat the all powerful evil empire, with a desperate last minute plan, but this is like reading the equivalent of a 1980s sci-fi movie (think Ice Pirates or Battle Beyond The Stars) with an overabundance of monologues delivered while looking off into the wonders of space.

[polishgenius]

Chance, on 13 April 2018 - 12:00 PM, said:

Hard to see you enjoying Godblind if you didn't like The Court of Broken Knives, its mediocre at best. While they aren't that similiar there are a few.

I didn't like Godblind nearly as much as Broken Knives, I don't think any of the things Puck didn't like about Broken Knives apply to Godblind.

I do massively disagree with Puck on the book though, mostly because

Spoiler

I feel that the sparkly perfection was supposed to be a deliberate dissonance from the madness of what was actually going on. Kind of a Terrence-Malick's-Badlands theme. There's a 'silently screaming inside' vibe towards the end of the book that I really enjoyed.

But each to their own.

[Puck]

polishgenius, on 13 April 2018 - 05:43 PM, said:

Chance, on 13 April 2018 - 12:00 PM, said:

Hard to see you enjoying Godblind if you didn't like The Court of Broken Knives, its mediocre at best. While they aren't that similiar there are a few.

I didn't like Godblind nearly as much as Broken Knives, I don't think any of the things Puck didn't like about Broken Knives apply to Godblind.

I do massively disagree with Puck on the book though, mostly because

Spoiler

I feel that the sparkly perfection was supposed to be a deliberate dissonance from the madness of what was actually going on. Kind of a Terrence-Malick's-Badlands theme. There's a 'silently screaming inside' vibe towards the end of the book that I really enjoyed.

But each to their own.

Spoiler

To be fair, I saw that. In fact it was impossible not to see that, because she spells it out on the page. Several times. My problem lies more with how unsubtle, repetitive and comically over the top it came across to me. I appreciate the dissonance and it's one of the few things I liked about the book, or at least the attempt, but it did not click with me. Too unsubtle. As I've already said, the themes are there (and I was looking forward to getting to explore them, maybe that's part of why I'm so disappointed with the book), but for me Spark only scratches around on the surface and never dives deeper and beyond the bare minimum of 'Look, that's how it is, and that's terrible, and also beautiful, here are some adverbs about how terrible and beautiful it is'. Having awkwardly unnamed faceless mooks scream 'Death! Death! Death!' has no thematic value unless you take the time to show the reader why they should care. Same goes for Thalia fawning over Marith and seeing rainbows and sparkles in the midst of a chaotic battle that's only chaotic in name, because every darn step of it is explained in clinical detail. It's tell-don-t-show. It flat-out tells the reader how to feel. I personally find that extremely annoying.

It's like the book is written.. well, by the book (sorry for the terrible pun). This happens, and then this happens. A to B. Great Lord Tanis, yadda yadda, beware that anything happens to a character who's important. That includes completely ignoring physics and stuff. That was a very clean and tidy and cosmetic palace fire there.

Again, my main issue is with how shallow the entire thing is despite the flowery language and jarring swearing, not with any lack of themes or story. Though to be fair, due to the A-to-B natury of the story it didn't feel particularly mad to me, as much as the book wanted me to believe that. It was entirely predictable, which would've been fine if it had used that to explore the themes it's trying to present.

But again, as I've said above: tastes differ. I can see people enjoying this book, it's just not the grimdark masterpiece it's tooted as, is all. For me anyway. I didn't hate it and certainly likes some aspects, but the overall thing was just meh for me.

This post has been edited by Puck: 13 April 2018 - 06:17 PM

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Brust's The Book Of Jhereg (omnibus of the first 3 Vlad Taltos books).

Extremely badass.

[Andorion]

Puck, on 13 April 2018 - 11:33 AM, said:

Just finished The Court of Broken Knives. I... How should I put it? Monty Python meets Mark Lawrence. And not in a good way. Right at this moment, I'm tired as all hell of reading about how beautiful and perfect and sparkly a certain someone is. This isn't fucking Twilight. I stopped counting how many times per page the word perfect was used at some point.

I mean, I tried to like it, first because my best friend does and we have a pretty similar taste in books, second because of the glowing reviews. I kept waiting for something to like, but it never came, and contrary to what some of my opinions may seem like, as long as I find something I enjoy I'm usually happy enough. But there was nothing. I felt like the writing was trying too hard, especially towards the end. It was trying so hard to be poetic and beautiful (beautiful, get it already, like, oH so beautiful) and deep and meaningful that it forgot that clever metaphors are nice and dandy (flowers selling like human skin, for no good reason), but if you just throw them around unrelated and wrapped in the most cliched wordings ever you're not going to be doing much more than scratching the surface. I feel like it works for Bakker, whose influence is visible here, because he has more to say than just death and blood and shit and sparkles and rainbows and with him, everything ties in thematically. It all felt so alienatingly clean to me. So much over the top gore and it still manages to come off so squeeky clean and empty and thus unintentionally comedic. My eyes hurt from rolling them.

Also...

Spoiler

that fucking plot armour stinks to the high heavens. It's calling itself grimdark, but not only does every character the author obviously likes survive, no, they do so with barely a scratch.

Given all that, all the little inconsistencies and artistic licences which I usually don't mind overlooking in favour of enjoying the book were just so damn distracting. Lots of tell-don't-show going on. A paradise for refugee adverbs, too.

So yeah, didn't like it at all. I'm almost ashamed of how weak I thought everything about the book was, but there it is. Tastes differ.

And because I'm masochistic like that, my next read is going to be Anna Stephens' Godblind. Just to cover the Annas.

I read Court of Broken Knives last year and Iwas struckbyhow utterly OTT it was at times and how the girl's pov was so incongruous with the overall tone.

I preferred Ed McDonald's Blackwing.

[carjug]

Wretched Readers, I have failed to find something that could sate my need for fantasy, thus I have backslided into Bauchelain and Korbal Broach. Weak, though I am, I have read some good non-fiction, including a book about cussin' in French, and a really neat thing about slang cutters (doctors) use when they don't think anyone of merit is listening. (Oh, and books 1--3 of Game of Thrones. on tape, read aloud by a fellow who is slowly growing hoarse, but has set a record for the number of pretend voices on an ear-book.
Bah. Troll carjug is leaving.

[carjug]

Get your mitts on Gaiman's Norse Mythology book. It is wonderful, comparable only to Edith Hamilton's Mythology.
[/quote]

I think Neverwhere is my favorite of his books.
[/quote]

[Mentalist]

I liked "Neverwhere", but I wasn't convinced by the ending. It felt cliche'd and contrary to the rest of the book.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 13 April 2018 - 02:49 PM, said:

Abyss, on 11 April 2018 - 02:30 PM, said:

BLACK STAR RENEGADES.

I'm not sure about this one.

Basic space opera storyline with a fun twist early on, the subtle little Star Wars refs are fun (acceptable for a book called 'a love letter to Star Wars'), decent action... but the writer suffers from serious tell-don't-show and barely 1/3rd thru it's becoming irritating.

I accept that I'm going to finish this book because i'm mildly curious to see how the intrepid band of misfit heroes rescue their friend, destroy the uber-weapon, kill the main badguys, and defeat the all powerful evil empire, with a desperate last minute plan, but this is like reading the equivalent of a 1980s sci-fi movie (think Ice Pirates or Battle Beyond The Stars) with an overabundance of monologues delivered while looking off into the wonders of space.

Yeah, that didn’t get better.
On to GRACE OF KINGS.

[Tiste Simeon]

Abyss, on 12 April 2018 - 05:46 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 12 April 2018 - 03:46 PM, said:

Abyss, on 12 April 2018 - 03:24 PM, said:

Macros, on 12 April 2018 - 11:55 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 12 April 2018 - 10:39 AM, said:

Man I'm way behind on Mark Lawrence... I need to read read more. I think I read the original Jorg trilogy and that's it. It seems he's got another couple of series out now right?

There's the red war trilo, set in the broken empire.
Road brothers, a collection of shorts from the broken empire
And then first two of his latest trilo, red and grey sister

RED QUEEN'S WAR, actually. Completed trilo, and utterly totally worth your eyes, time, and brainzez.
One of my favorite reads of last year. If you enjoyed the Jorg trilo even a little, you will likely love this.

RED QUEENS WAR is my fave Lawrence jam no question, and Jalan is my fave character he's invented.

QuickTidal, on 12 April 2018 - 03:55 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 12 April 2018 - 03:47 PM, said:

I can second that. Jalan is an anti-hero who's actually likeable, unlike Jorg. And Snorri is just awesome.

And Jalan + Snorri makes for such an incredible duo.

This. So much this. Great great GREAT characters, brilliantly written.

Thanks all! Do I need to remember anything from the Jorg trilogy or is it more or less standalone?

Maybe I should just reread Jorg anyway.

In other news I have finished SW and I'm moving into the very best of them all, TTH.

[Macros]

Eh, the ties to the jorg trilogy are easy to see and are laid out in a fashion that will jog your memory without having to go reread

[Puck]

polishgenius, on 13 April 2018 - 05:43 PM, said:

Chance, on 13 April 2018 - 12:00 PM, said:

Hard to see you enjoying Godblind if you didn't like The Court of Broken Knives, its mediocre at best. While they aren't that similiar there are a few.

I didn't like Godblind nearly as much as Broken Knives, I don't think any of the things Puck didn't like about Broken Knives apply to Godblind.

Yeah. I'm not a fan of calling books 'mediocre at best' because I think that when a book reaches a certain quality it's only up to personal tastes whether it hits home or not. For which this here is a great example as I'm a quarter into Godblind now and while it may not be a masterpiece or particularly original, I'm very much enjoying it for what it is and what it's not trying to be A solid story is a solid story. I would compare it to Abercrombie's first trilogy so far. Heaps and bounds more my thing than Broken Knives. No accounting for taste, right?

This post has been edited by Puck: 15 April 2018 - 01:02 PM