[Maark Abbott]

worry, on 30 August 2021 - 10:07 AM, said:

That's okay, I'm also in a rush.

You'll never entirely replace Neil, but make him proud man

[worry]

I will remain peart.

[Tiste Simeon]

So I finished the last Uthred book. Fitting end to the series I think and I've had a lot of fun reading them.

Picked up a thriller I read a few years ago called Orphan X. Quick paced and fun, not too deep. Read the entirety in a couple of sittings more or less.

I am now reading House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski. Heard lots of weird and wonderful things about this and I think this will be a fun challenge to read it.

[JPK]

BK, stay strong! Don't start yet another book!

[Mentalist]

Finally finished "Faded Sun" Trilogy.... it gets going towards the end, where you get multiple PoVs and actual insight into how different species are thinking; but it's a slooooooow burn.

Gonna look into any more omnibuses by C.J. Cherryh eventually, but.... not any time soon.

Next gonna read the second Moorcock "London" Novel, King of the City . Hopefully, this one doesn't take me all of autumn.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 07 September 2021 - 11:50 PM

[Mentalist]

worry, on 30 August 2021 - 06:01 AM, said:

I'm gonna read The Monarchies of God series by Paul Kearney. I got the two omnibuses/omnibi. They seem to be low key well-respected books, but if they're no good I will LAY the HAMMER on DOWN.

Books 2-4 are great.

The first one is weak, and doesn't really go anywhere until the end, and the last one... sets up a weird conspiracy that doesn't quite work out in the "make this ending make sense" way.

but the middle books are straight-up some of the juiciest military fantasy out there.

[QuickTidal]

Finished O’Brians HMS SURPRISE and loved it. Have at least the next 4 books ready to rock, but I’m taking a breather for palate cleansing sake first.

Started Ken Liu’s GRACE OF KINGS...why did no one tell me how unbelievably good this book is?! I’m not even 10% into it yet and I’m thoroughly engrossed!

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 05 September 2021 - 06:28 PM

[polishgenius]

I was sure Grace of Kings was a book me and QT had given the much dreaded did-not-finish double stamp of hate, so I checked and it was.

You only read a little bit though.

[QuickTidal]

polishgenius, on 05 September 2021 - 10:15 PM, said:

I was sure Grace of Kings was a book me and QT had given the much dreaded did-not-finish double stamp of hate, so I checked and it was.

You only read a little bit though.

Yeah, I recall starting it once to try, but didn’t get into it. This time I’m in like Flynn.

[QuickTidal]

Briar King, on 06 September 2021 - 12:53 AM, said:

I still need to get that collection of his that has Good Hunting in it.

I believe bk 3 of Dandelion hits this year to.

Yup 11/2! And dayum 1008 pgs!

And split into two, so a 4th volume is coming too.

[QuickTidal]

Fell off the GRACE OF KINGS road at about the 20% mark. It's fine, but not much seems to be happening? Will return to it as I was still enjoying, but wanted something more.

And of course I fell right back into Aubrey & Maturin by Patrick O'Brian with book 4, THE MAURITIUS COMMAND....I swear to god these books are so unbelievably addictive. Settling back into the narrative had me feeling things were "right" that had been wrong.

[amphibian]

My impression of Grace of Kings was that it was oddly flat in terms of how the characters were written. I believe that to be a stylistic choice, as he did a great job translating the two Liu Cixin books I read. That style didn't change throughout the book and clearly many people like it, but I didn't follow up with Wall of Storms.

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 07 September 2021 - 02:01 PM, said:

My impression of Grace of Kings was that it was oddly flat in terms of how the characters were written. I believe that to be a stylistic choice, as he did a great job translating the two Liu Cixin books I read. That style didn't change throughout the book and clearly many people like it, but I didn't follow up with Wall of Storms.

It feels like a sort of history lesson? Like oddly distant from the characters themselves? Nothing wrong with that, and I didn't hate it, but I found that I was not enjoying it as much as I would if I was in the mood for something like that once I was 20% into it.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 07 September 2021 - 12:32 PM, said:

Fell off the GRACE OF KINGS road at about the 20% mark. It's fine, but not much seems to be happening? Will return to it as I was still enjoying, but wanted something more.

And of course I fell right back into Aubrey & Maturin by Patrick O'Brian with book 4, THE MAURITIUS COMMAND....I swear to god these books are so unbelievably addictive. Settling back into the narrative had me feeling things were "right" that had been wrong.

QuickTidal, on 07 September 2021 - 02:24 PM, said:

amphibian, on 07 September 2021 - 02:01 PM, said:

My impression of Grace of Kings was that it was oddly flat in terms of how the characters were written. I believe that to be a stylistic choice, as he did a great job translating the two Liu Cixin books I read. That style didn't change throughout the book and clearly many people like it, but I didn't follow up with Wall of Storms.

It feels like a sort of history lesson? Like oddly distant from the characters themselves? Nothing wrong with that, and I didn't hate it, but I found that I was not enjoying it as much as I would if I was in the mood for something like that once I was 20% into it.

I enjoyed GRACE, not love but it held my attention right through.
WALL otoh i only just stuck with at times, because some of the attempts to incorporate supposedly historical events into a fictional setting were painfully blunt.

I will probably pick up the next book.

[Abyss]

Mentalist, on 04 September 2021 - 10:07 PM, said:

worry, on 30 August 2021 - 06:01 AM, said:

I'm gonna read The Monarchies of God series by Paul Kearney. I got the two omnibuses/omnibi. They seem to be low key well-respected books, but if they're no good I will LAY the HAMMER on DOWN.

Books 2-4 are great.

The first one is weak, and doesn't really go anywhere until the end, and the last one... sets up a weird conspiracy that doesn't quite work out in the "make this ending make sense" way.

but the middle books are straight-up some of the juiciest military fantasy out there.

1 is pure setup.
2-4 are great on the military fantasy front and ok on the second major plotline.
5 is a mess but does wrap up the story well enough to finish the series. Barely.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 07 August 2018 - 04:01 AM, said:

Salt-Man Z, on 07 August 2018 - 12:12 AM, said:

...
Then I read Into the Drowning Deep (written under her pseudonym Mira Grant) which I could not put down. "Science vessel hunts killer mermaids" is a good 5-word synopsis, and I loved it from start to finish.

In the next night or two, I will be finishing up her Indexing, which is a kind of urban fantasy about a covert government team trying to keep fairy tale narratives from intruding into the real world. It's fantastic; the concept is great, and McGuire really kicks things up a notch around the halfway point. There's a sequel out that I'll be reading next.

DEEP's been high on the TRP for some time, I think you just bumped it up. Will consider INDEXING if I like.
...

Am halfway into INDEXING and I like!

[worry]

Okay, I'll read book 1, then book 5, then books 2-4 to save the best for last.

[JPK]

I'm still slowly chipping away at Wolfe's Solar Cycle. I've polished off Urth again and have a more positive opinion of it than I did the first time through.

Spoiler

It's a much more interesting book when you know Sev ends up as a Godling at the end of it and are able to look at it as him writing 'The Gospel of Severian' as an autobiography.

Now I'm a chapter into Nightside the Long Sun. It's nice to have a new protagonist, though I am finding an interesting potential link back to New Sun even in the first chapter.

Spoiler

Quote

"Yet all these were as nothing. It was the voices that mattered, only the paired voices (although there were more, he felt sure, if only he had ears for them)..."

"... but he never forgot the voices that were in fact but one voice, and what they (who were one) had said;..."

Two in one, that in fact are many more... I can't imagine why that sounds familiar.

Edited because I accidently added an s to all the spoiler tags

This post has been edited by JPK: 07 September 2021 - 09:11 PM

[amphibian]

There's so much that links back to New Sun. I think Long Sun sees a little less self serving than New Sun in terms of who writes it and why they go this way or that way with descriptions of events. But the flip side is that things don't necessarily make sense until you realize the bigger picture later in the series, upon which things will snap into place.

[Mentalist]

I'm still wating for the 3rd Dandelion dynasty book to be out before reading Wall of Storms.
"Grace of Kings" was quite good, but the "divinely intended tragedy" plot was a downer, as it always is.


I'm about 100 pages into "King of the City", and it's fantastic . For a book about a paparazzi suddenly finding his job to be a pariah in the wake of Princess Di's death (just as he stumbles onto probably the biggest story of his life) that takes place in the 90s, the social commentary is scarily on point. And the book's a delight.