[Paran]

Currently reading The Ten Thousand and The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Up next:
Blackman
Acacia
Orphan's Tale 1
Empire in Black and Gold
The Steel Remains
Wells of Ascension

This post has been edited by Paran: 16 October 2008 - 07:47 AM

[Vicodin&FantasyBooks]

Feet of Clay (Discworld series).

It's one of the two or three books of the series I haven't read so here goes. I'd love to complete my collection of Discworld books but I haven't had too much time to read these last few months.

The Wheel of Time - I recently got the first two books of the series. They seem to be pretty good too.

[Deornoth]

I've just finished reading Jonathan Maberry's 'Patient Zero' (due to be published by Gollancz in April next year), a tale of American Secret Service agents battling a zombie plague from the Middle East!
'Patient Zero' suffers from an occasional lapse into 'tech-speak' but rocks on every other level with a twisty turny plot and chilling showdowns with zombies in dark and cramped places... Definitely one for fans of zombie fiction like me! My full review is over Here.
It's time for a little sci-fi now so I'm reading Sean Williams' 'Earth Ascendant'...

[Werthead]

I've got Patient Zero as well, but not cracked it yet.

Finished The Temporal Void. Hamilton back on top form. Going through the fifth Wheel of Time book now. Will either got for Banks' Matter or maybe Adam Roberts' new one next.

[Dr Trouble]

I finally picked up Last Argument of Kings by Abercrombie again after putting it down a few months ago.

It's a very solid book, but thats not really a surprise after reading his last two. I only have 200 pages left So I'll be glad to see how it pans out.

Spoiler

One thing I wasn't happy with however, was Thunderheads untimely demise at the hands of The Bloody-Nine. Although I see how it was used to nail home the point of Logens purpose, That purpose had already been taken care of in other books. I liked Thunderhead .

[Osric]

Reading the last book of K J Parkers Engineer series. Seems better than the second book, not a hard achievement but a pleasant one.

[ch'arlz]

Just finished Neal Stephenson's Anathem. Michael Dirda of the Washington Post's Book Section wrote a better review than I could (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...8090402460.html ). FWIW, he's a big fan of SF/F as literature, but basically says that if you like Stephenson's work you'll want to read this, but it's not the Stephenson that you'll recommend to friends. Overall, I think he's a bit harsh on it because I enjoyed slogging through the 900pp of it. But yeah, if you haven't read any Stephenson, start with Snow Crash or the 3-volume Baroque Cycle.

Now starting Jay Lake's Escapement, a steampunky book not quite up to the level of Miéville, but engaging nonetheless.

[blueoccult]

A Game of Thrones, by George R R Martin. Pretty good, I must say.

[Astra]

Just finished A Sundial in a Grave: 1610 by Mary Gentle.
Quite entertaining story. Similar to the best of Dumas. Just a bit more of humour, less of tragedy, and a little bit more of sex
8 our 10.

Many people say that Ash is better. If they ever publish it in ebook format, I will definitely read it in future.

However, right now I am desperate to read more fantasy and am looking forward to read the last two books in the Crown of Stars series by Kate Elliott [book 6 (In the Ruins) and 7 (Crown of Stars)]

[Mentalist]

finished RotCG yesterday
back to "broken angels" by Morgan whenever I'll have any time to read non-academic literature again...

[Deornoth]

I finished reading 'The Watchers out of Time' (H.P Lovecraft and August Derleth) over the weekend. Very atmospheric and scary but totally let down by what felt like 95% of the book being filled with stories about impressionable young men inheriting haunted houses from creepy relatives and then being menaced by evil stuff. I mean, come on! Did none of these young men ever meet each other and get talking about all the scary houses that were suddenly on the market? What happened during the 1920s/30s to make all the creepy old relatives (just the ones in the Massachusetts area) die off all of a sudden? And why did August Derleth feel like he had to use the word 'batrachian' at least once every page?

And breathe...

My full review is over Here...
I'm now reading Gregory Frost's 'Lord Tophet' and it looks like it's going to be as good as 'Shadowbridge'...

[iscariot]

Just finished Reaper's Gale:

Spoiler

I wanted to give Erikson a good kicking for killing Trull Sengar...

ever heard of using the spoiler function? - Morgoth

Just Finished Last Argument of Kings: I wanted to give Abercrombie a good kicking for a whole different set of reasons

Am currently reading:

The Painted Man - Peter V. Brett [critical word seems good - have just started]

Kinesiology of the Musculoskeletal System by Donald A. Neumann [Yes, I know, not very SF-y - but it is S-y

[Deornoth]

I finished reading Gregory Frost's 'Lord Tophet' this morning. It's got everything in it that I loved about 'Shadowbridge' but I was left thinking that maybe a hundred extra pages would have answered all the questions that I had about it... My full review is over Here.
I'm now well into John Scalzi's 'Agent to the Stars' and it's pretty damn great so far!

[iscariot]

iscariot, on Oct 21 2008, 08:01 AM, said:

Just finished Reaper's Gale:

Spoiler

I wanted to give Erikson a good kicking for killing Trull Sengar...

ever heard of using the spoiler function? - Morgoth

Actually. no.

No other forum I play on uses it - but then as I generally play on powerlifting/ massage/ anatomy-type forums there generally isn't considered a real need to consider parts and functions of such 'spoilers'. Even alt-music fora - or, the one's I frequent - don't use it (probably have no need). Where I have seen the spoiler warning it is normally ***spoilers ahead*** followed by blank space etc [so, apologies for that]


I have a question: Is there an accepted, designated period of time under which something is no longer considered a spoiler on this forum? I half-arsed remember, for example, that some TV fora consider a period of 6 weeks enough to cancel spoiler bait...I would have thought that as RG came out over 18months ago that it would have met that criteria - obviously not. can I thereofre assume that all spoilers, irrespective of the age of source, a marked?

[Mentalist]

Each book has its own dedicated forum.
untill you have read up to that book in the series, you shouldn't go into the corresponding forums
since the general forums may be frequented by all users, including those who just picked up GotM yesterday, the "General" section of the forum is in general kept spoiler-free.
if you wanted to express your opinion on a Malazan book, you should go into a corresponding book forum, most of them have a "general comments" thread for just such a purpose.

[Dr Trouble]

I picked up The Steel Remains by Morgan, FINALLY!

Giving it a quick flick through and it seems he is up to his old bloody, sexual fantasy, vulgar self. So naturally I love it.

[DarkGothicGirl]

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

[murphy72]

The Ten Thousand by Paul Kearney. Enjoying it thoroughly.

[pat5150]

Just finished K. J. Parker's The Company.

Intelligent and well-crafted, as crazy as it sounds think about a cross between Neil Gaiman and L. E. Modesitt, jr.

Check the blog for the full review.

Cheers,

Patrick

[Deornoth]

I've just finished reading John Scalzi's 'Agent to the Stars', the tale of a Hollywood agent who is hired to introduce a benevolent (but very ugly and smelly) alien race to humanity...
This is a book that sometimes falls prey to the tropes that it is trying to play off but is otherwise funny and moving in equal measure. My full review is over Here.
I'm now finishing up on Brian Keene's 'Castaways' which is all about a reality TV show invaded by mutant ape tribesmen and is scarier than it seems...