[Andorion]

Finished Felix Castor 1. It did definitely get better. But I continue to maintain that Castor made his own life far too complicated.

[Macros]

I've only read Felix one, vaguely recall enough to agree with you.

[Morgoth]

Been on a kind of Kingfisher binge. Started with Minor Mage, which was on a kindle sale the other day. A charming, almost Gaimanesque, story about a twelve year old mage who knows all of three spells and is sent by his village to find the rain. He travels with his familiar, a sarcastic and glum armadillo named Armadillo.

I enjoyed the light and charming way the story was told. I guess I needed a break from all the dark and darker and grimdark stuff I've been reading lately. This was a welcome reprieve, so I figured I should try out her (I think it's a her) duology starting with the Clockwork Boys and ending with the Wonder Engine. I enjoyed those too, for much of the same reason, though I am not sure I'd describe them as "great" in any particular way. Fun, I guess. She is genuinely funny at times, which is rarer than it should be I think.

[QuickTidal]

Finally got around to starting Kate Elliott's THE BURNING STONE (had to retake it out from the library because never got round to it the first time I took it out), and it's already really amazing. I'm surprised just how immersive these books are for me. Like I sink into every page and relish the story. Only 140 pages into it so far, but already a tonne of shit is happening.

Also, not enough Theophanu currently. One hopes that is rectified.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Been reading Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane. This is my second attempt in 4 or 5 years. I'm maybe 60 pages in (Lena's mom just found out what Covenant did to Lena), and it's just not doing it for me.

Does it get better?

[Abyss]

Andorion, on 17 November 2019 - 01:39 AM, said:

Finished Felix Castor 1. It did definitely get better. But I continue to maintain that Castor made his own life far too complicated.

Macros, on 17 November 2019 - 10:27 AM, said:

I've only read Felix one, vaguely recall enough to agree with you.

Qualified agreement - elements of Castor's story seem contrived in the 'why would any sane person do that' sense, but as the series evolves these start to make sense.
That said, Carey is very much a 'let the reader work it out themselves' type author.

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 18 November 2019 - 03:38 PM, said:

Been reading Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane. This is my second attempt in 4 or 5 years. I'm maybe 60 pages in (Lena's mom just found out what Covenant did to Lena), and it's just not doing it for me.

Does it get better?

Speaking as someone who had to start that book three times and never did not skim large chunks of the beginning, yes, it does.
But there are elements that remain, and if by about halfway through the story hasn't caught you...
I suspect that if i had gotten to THOMAS COVENANT later in life with more epic fantasy already read, i may have bailed entirely. Maybe. I'm split because i recall (vaguely, its been a few decades) some genuinely original and interesting characters and world-building in the midst of what are now painfully overdone tropes in the genre. Even Covenant's denial of what he's experiencing is fairly novel for portal fantasy where virtually every idiot transported to their neighboring fantasy world just accepts that it's really happening.

All of which is to say you'll have to make up your own mind (tho i can do that for you for a small fee and some scarring).

[Abyss]

Just Finished Chris Kattan's Saturday Night Live memoire BABY DON'T HURT ME acquired courtesy of an audible.com sale and a passing desire to read something light and non-fictiony.
Interesting read... i was not watching SNL much during the late 90s-early 00s period he covers, so knowing very well what happened before Kattan joined this was a way to fil in the next stage. None of it is wildly earthshaking from an SNL perspective, but as always with these there are that are interesting parts... his relationships with Lorne Michaels and Will Ferrel, his place as a 'character actor' and a very physical comedian. His personal life isn't wildly interesting (to me... i'm sure some readers find his parents' divorce and childhood as a nerdy comedian kid fascinating) but it frames the rest of his experiences well. And some of his celebrity stories are hysterical, notably re Charlize Theron (i would never have guessed she would do that) and Tom Cruise (totally as expected, funny).



Then into Alex Verus 10, FALLEN. Fine so far but 4 chapters in it felt like a lot of catch up and revisiting old points... i get the need to treat any book in a series as it may be someone's first, but FFS this is book TEN, who are we kidding? And when what appears to be the big plot kickoff happens, it's annoyingly similar to a Big Plot Kickoff we've seen at least twice already in the series. Am still in to see what happens next.

[amphibian]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 18 November 2019 - 03:38 PM, said:

Been reading Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane. This is my second attempt in 4 or 5 years. I'm maybe 60 pages in (Lena's mom just found out what Covenant did to Lena), and it's just not doing it for me.

Does it get better?

Yes. The consequences of this act and many others are explored in detail and depth. The characters are wonderful and most people love Hile Troy and his battle scenes.

I have read the entire series (all ten books!) and they're much better than some series people happily power through.

Also, Abyss, Fallen moves from a holding pattern to "things finally get moving in a big way". I think Jacka finally gets off his writer's keister here and gives us a big shift in how things will go.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 18 November 2019 - 04:06 PM, said:

Then into Alex Verus 10, FALLEN. Fine so far but 4 chapters in it felt like a lot of catch up and revisiting old points... i get the need to treat any book in a series as it may be someone's first, but FFS this is book TEN, who are we kidding? And when what appears to be the big plot kickoff happens, it's annoyingly similar to a Big Plot Kickoff we've seen at least twice already in the series. Am still in to see what happens next.

amphibian, on 18 November 2019 - 05:00 PM, said:

Also, Abyss, Fallen moves from a holding pattern to "things finally get moving in a big way". I think Jacka finally gets off his writer's keister here and gives us a big shift in how things will go.

Good to read!

...because

Spoiler

the council going after Alex and Ann, again, was frankly eyerollingly repetitious, even if it did give Arachne a Moment of Awesome, and trigger a dragon.

[Salt-Man Z]

Gotta jump in on the Covenant love. I didn't have an issue with them the first time, but definitely considered them his third-best series (after The Gap and Mordant's Need.) But when the 10th book came out I read them all again back-to-back-to-back and was blown away by how powerful the entire sequence was. I will say that the first book, much as I enjoy it now, is pretty much overshadowed by everything that comes after it.

[Salt-Man Z]

I finished Caitlín R. Kiernan's Murder of Angels over the weekend, and it was absolutely fantastic. Silk was great, about a group of Birmingham punk/goth young adults, with horror elements slowly creeping in at the edges of the story before finally coming to the fore near the end. The sequel, though, starts dishing out the horror/Weirdness early and often, transforming into full Weird fantasy by mid-book. Like the first book, pretty much nothing is explained, and in fact any interpretations you made of the Silk's cosmological world-building get pretty much tossed right out as Kiernan blows everything wide open, even bringing her Threshold series into the same universe (though only via a single crossover character.) Fricking amazing, and now I kinda want to reread the Threshold books again...

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

amphibian, on 18 November 2019 - 05:00 PM, said:

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 18 November 2019 - 03:38 PM, said:

Been reading Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane. This is my second attempt in 4 or 5 years. I'm maybe 60 pages in (Lena's mom just found out what Covenant did to Lena), and it's just not doing it for me.

Does it get better?

Yes. The consequences of this act and many others are explored in detail and depth. The characters are wonderful and most people love Hile Troy and his battle scenes.

I have read the entire series (all ten books!) and they're much better than some series people happily power through.

Also, Abyss, Fallen moves from a holding pattern to "things finally get moving in a big way". I think Jacka finally gets off his writer's keister here and gives us a big shift in how things will go.

Salt-Man Z, on 18 November 2019 - 05:34 PM, said:

Gotta jump in on the Covenant love. I didn't have an issue with them the first time, but definitely considered them his third-best series (after The Gap and Mordant's Need.) But when the 10th book came out I read them all again back-to-back-to-back and was blown away by how powerful the entire sequence was. I will say that the first book, much as I enjoy it now, is pretty much overshadowed by everything that comes after it.

10 books!? Shoot, I am unprepared for this!

[Salt-Man Z]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 18 November 2019 - 11:06 PM, said:

10 books!? Shoot, I am unprepared for this!

Don't fret about it too much. The first trilogy was written to be self-contained. SRD was later approached to write a second trilogy, initially didn't want to, but then had an idea for it; it too was written to come to proper conclusion, though he hid some seeds for a potential third series. Which he then got around to writing 20 years later...

So you can stop after 3 books. Or you can stop after 6. Or you can read all 10!

[Dadding]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 18 November 2019 - 03:38 PM, said:

Been reading Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane. This is my second attempt in 4 or 5 years. I'm maybe 60 pages in (Lena's mom just found out what Covenant did to Lena), and it's just not doing it for me.

Does it get better?

I made it through the first 3 earlier this year, I liked the idea of Covenant's struggle in the abstract, but actually reading the books didn't do it for me. Something just didn't really click and I didn't 'get' it. Book 2 was worth reading for me though because I saw some pretty obvious places where Erikson drew inspiration from.

[amphibian]

Dadding, on 18 November 2019 - 11:18 PM, said:

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 18 November 2019 - 03:38 PM, said:

Been reading Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane. This is my second attempt in 4 or 5 years. I'm maybe 60 pages in (Lena's mom just found out what Covenant did to Lena), and it's just not doing it for me.

Does it get better?

I made it through the first 3 earlier this year, I liked the idea of Covenant's struggle in the abstract, but actually reading the books didn't do it for me. Something just didn't really click and I didn't 'get' it. Book 2 was worth reading for me though because I saw some pretty obvious places where Erikson drew inspiration from.

The next set of three books has a different main character. So if Covenant himself was an irritant, there's less of that.

[T77]

On the topic of Donaldson, I recommend his latest series, The Great God's War, the first 2 books are out. I also enjoyed all 10 Covenant books.

[Abyss]

I finished the Second Chronicles - which did some interesting things with 'character goes back to portal fantasy world, it's years later, things are fucked' - but was never tempted to pick up the new series.

[acesn8s]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 18 November 2019 - 03:38 PM, said:

Been reading Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane. This is my second attempt in 4 or 5 years. I'm maybe 60 pages in (Lena's mom just found out what Covenant did to Lena), and it's just not doing it for me.

Does it get better?

It does get better. The first time I read LFB, I stopped. For the most part, I want to like the protagonists, couldn't stand TC. It took me over a decade later to attempt the book again. I'm glad I did.

[Chance]

Finished up Sam Sykes Seven Blades in Black and very much enjoyed it.

Think I'll test Neal Ashers Cowl next.

[Andorion]

Morgoth, on 18 November 2019 - 07:51 AM, said:

Been on a kind of Kingfisher binge. Started with Minor Mage, which was on a kindle sale the other day. A charming, almost Gaimanesque, story about a twelve year old mage who knows all of three spells and is sent by his village to find the rain. He travels with his familiar, a sarcastic and glum armadillo named Armadillo.

I enjoyed the light and charming way the story was told. I guess I needed a break from all the dark and darker and grimdark stuff I've been reading lately. This was a welcome reprieve, so I figured I should try out her (I think it's a her) duology starting with the Clockwork Boys and ending with the Wonder Engine. I enjoyed those too, for much of the same reason, though I am not sure I'd describe them as "great" in any particular way. Fun, I guess. She is genuinely funny at times, which is rarer than it should be I think.

Have you read Swordheart? If not totally read Swordheart. Excellent book with great humour.

Finished Dahak 1: Huh a Weber novel without a naval battle.