[Use Of Weapons]

_Books of the South_ are on hold while I read Christopher Hitchens' _God Is Not Great_. Together with which, yesterday I bought Charlie Stross's _The Hidden Family_ and Neal Asher's _Prador Moon_, the only Polity novel I haven't read.

[Deornoth]

I've just finished David Marusek's 'Getting to Know You', a collection of his sci-fi short stories. I always find the content of books like this to be hit and miss (depends on my personal taste) and 'Getting to Know You' was so exception to the rule. When it hit the spot though it really worked for me and I'm glad I took the time to give this book a go. My full review is over Here
I'm now reading 'The Vampire Agent' by Patricia Rosemoor and Marc Paoletti...

[pat5150]

Just finished Kay Kenyon's A World Too Near, and it was another quality read.

With Bright of the Sky and A World Too Near, Kenyon has two very good yarns under her belt. I feel that she could be one of the most underrated scifi writers out there.

Check the blog for the full review.

Patrick

[Deornoth]

I've just finished reading Patricia Rosemoor & Marc Paoletti's 'The Vampire Agent', a tale of vampire experiments in the US military and strange goings on in New Orleans...
'The Vampire Agent' showed flashes of potential but was let down by an excessive dose of angst and introspection that really made things drag, I don't think I'd give the next book a go based on this one. My full review is over Here.
I'm now deciding whether to try and get back into 'The Hero of Ages' or give 'Return of the Crimson Guard' another go...

[Salt-Man Z]

Briar King, on Dec 18 2008, 02:56 PM, said:

What are these Glen Cook books about?

Think about a series of novels centered on the Bridgeburners. Not entirely accurate, but Cook was a huge inspiration for Erikson, and it definitely shows. Basically, the series follows a band of mercenaries called "The Black Company" and is told in a kind of "grunt's-eye view" by the company Annalist. Pretty groundbreaking stuff back in the 80s, from what I hear, though the most recent book was published in 2001. Gritty and realistic, and all those other great adjectives, though there's not a ton of depth to the world -- at least in the original trilogy. The later books actually get a lot richer, thematically, which is why I think I enjoyed them more, though a lot of folks seem to disagree with me.

For more info, check out the Glen Cook Wiki and Wikipedia.

[LadyMTL]

I just finished reading "The Twice Born: Book one of the King's Man" by Pauline Gedge (I give it a meh) and now I'm starting Slash's autobiography.

Oh, and Briar King, I'll second the Glen Cook recommendation.

This post has been edited by Maia Irraz: 19 December 2008 - 12:46 PM

[Hinter]

Salt-Man Z, on Dec 18 2008, 09:18 PM, said:

For more info, check out the Glen Cook Wiki and Wikipedia.

Careful with the Glen Cook wiki though, spoilers in abundance. I've only read the first three so far (which I loved) but I'm keeping away from this wiki until I finish the series.

[teholbeddict]

I'm almost on to the third of Glen Cook's Black company books (didn't have much time to read this week) and I love them so far. I would recommend trying them just off of the first two.

@Salt-Man-Z I never realized Cook's work was an inspiration for the SE. I can definitely see it though now that you've mentioned it. You are right about the Black Company being similar in some aspects to the Bridgeburners.

[Salt-Man Z]

Hinter: Good point. The overall series page shouldn't spoil anything, but definitely don't go digging any deeper! The Wikipedia page, itself, gets into spoiler territory farther down; though everything up through the "Plot Summary" section is safe.

tehol: Besides the Bridgeburners, a lot of Cook's worldbuilding -- especially in the later Books of the South and Glittering Stone -- reminds me in many ways of Erikson's work. Another aspect that I find strongly reminiscent of the MBotF was the story behind Old Father Tree -- you'll understand what I mean when you finish The White Rose.

As an aside, for those starting into the series, I would strongly recommend reading The Silver Spike immediately following the first trilogy. I know the new omnibus edition slates it as the sixth book, but TSS ties up the loose threads from the trilogy, and the next 6 books all comprise a single story arc anyway. Also, I found Shadow Games to be that much more enjoyable just because TSS made me miss Croaker's narrative voice.

On the general thread topic, I'm just starting into the third book of The Book of the New Sun (The Sword of the Lictor). It's good so far, enjoyable, the world is fascinating, Severian is cool and his narrative is compelling. But I haven't really been "wowed" yet. I hope the series wraps up with a bang, because I was really hyping this series up to myself, and I don't want to be let down.

This post has been edited by Salt-Man Z: 19 December 2008 - 04:36 PM

[kcf]

I finished The Engine's Child by Holly Phillips (full review). It's a stylistic and skillfully executed, but it failed to really connect with me.

Now I'm reading Escape from Hell! by Hal Duncan.

[ObsoleteResolve]

Tangent: but if you haven't read (heathen philistine!) Cook, read him, as much as you can.

Anywho.

Hell's Gate by Weber and some chick I can't remember.

Hey. I like me some good filler every once in a while. Especially when it's 1200 pages


And I keep trudging through A Confederacy of Dunces. Slow, slow, slow going.

This post has been edited by ObsoleteResolve: 20 December 2008 - 03:14 AM

[Coco with marshmallows]

this week i have burned through the five Codex Alera books of Jim Butcher.

they've got a similar easy-to-read-yet-entertaining style that he writes the Dresden books with.

Next up is probably a history book of some kind i think

[Salt-Man Z]

Briar King, on Dec 20 2008, 02:24 PM, said:

Also Salt, don't forget to read the follow up Codex The Urth of the New Sun.

Don't worry about me, I'm well-prepared!

[Mentalist]

well, i'm on a break, and can finally put down academic books and read for pleasure again

so, i have (finally) come back to Hamilton's "Reality Dysfunction", going through it quite actively. should be done in a couple of days.

[DarkGothicGirl]

Now reading Destiny Kills by Keri Arthur.

[teholbeddict]

Tore through Glen Cook's The White Rose this weekend, I really enjoyed the trilogy. I would say it's one of the best trilogies I've read in a while. At the suggestion of Salt-Man Z I've skipped ahead and I'm now reading The Silver Spike. So far so good, it just took me a couple chapters to get used to someone other than Croaker as the narrator.

[kcf]

I finished up Escape From Hell! by Hal Duncan (full review). It's an excellent, fast-paced, and scathing novella.

I'll probably read The House of the Stag by Kage Baker next.

[Slum]

Currently reading The Somnabulist by Jonathon Barnes. I have to say, I haven't been as tickled by the first 70 pages of novel in a long time. It's really quite great, so far.

Have anybody heard of or read this one? I gather it's been out over there for a bit. It captured my attention from the first page and has only gotten better as I go...

British writer, so some of you guys must have heard of it...

[Mentalist]

Finished "Reality dysfunction" round 2 AM yeasterday
it was a quite an enjoyable book, all in all. Some scenes were on the verge of 'ummm, this is just WRONG", but have to give him some leeway because of the context.
next up, "Perdigo Street Station" by China Meiville...

[pat5150]

Just finished Jim Butcher's Storm Front.

Very entertaining book. It's hard not to root for the down-on-his-luck wizard! I'll be reading more Dresden Files books in the near future!

Check the blog for the full review.

Patrick