[Jusentantaka]

Darkwatch, on 28 October 2009 - 03:11 AM, said:

Just finished "Foundation and Empire" by Asimov. Far more solid than the "Foundation" but still lacking a bit in plot development.

I always thought all of his books were lacking one way or another to the point I never understood why they were so popular. Changing times maybe.

Les Miserables is perhaps the greatest book ever written though, even more so if its an original french print.

[Salt-Man Z]

I still think Asimov's "Robot Mysteries" are the best books he ever wrote.

[Bauchelain the Evil]

Are you talking about those with Daneel Olivaw and Eliah wht's his name?
Because then I have to agree. Cave of Steel is Asimov's best novel.

[Deornoth]

Finished reading 'The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 20', not all the stories worked for me but every one of them had me gripped and kept me reading. My full review is over Here. Not sure what to read next...

[Salt-Man Z]

Bauchelain the Evil, on 30 October 2009 - 03:24 PM, said:

Are you talking about those with Daneel Olivaw and Eliah wht's his name?
Because then I have to agree. Cave of Steel is Asimov's best novel.

Yeah. Elijah Bailey and R. Daneel Olivaw. (And Giskard!) I found The Caves of Steel to be pretty dry, personally, but I love The Naked Sun and The Robots of Dawn.

About 5 years ago, I read all of his Robots/Empire/Foundation books back-to-back, and never really found anything to get excited about with the Empire or Foundation books.

[Deornoth]

Finished reading Morgan Howell's 'Candle in the Storm', second book in the 'Shadowed Path' trilogy. Despite the formulaic Dark Lord and 'black and white' reasoning I really found myself getting into this book, couldn't help thinking that I'd read it all before though... My full review is over Here. I'm now well into the latest Elric collection 'In the Dream Realms'...

[Salt-Man Z]

Sometime today I'll be finishing up Glen Cook's The Tower of Fear which has left me completely impressed. I love his Black Company stuff (the only other Cook books that I've read) and this might be even better. Cook shows that he's the master of the "gray" character, filling the book with multiple, overlapping POVs from all factions involved. Barring one or two characters who are just plain jerks, there are no real bad guys here; just men and women doing what they feel they need to for a cause that they feel is just.

The plot revolves around the middle-east-flavored city of Qushmarrah, formerly ruled by the dark lord Gorloch and his sorceror Nakar, now occupied by the monotheistic Herodians and their mercenary Dartar tribes. Throw in an underground Qushmarrahan rebellion called The Living, who seek independence for their city; and Nakar's widow, intent on resurrecting her deceased husband. Then put a carpenter and his family smack in the middle of all of it.

All of this in a standalone novel under 400 pages. Wow.

[Abyss]

I'm trying to finish THE LOST SYMBOL, really i am... but Y:THE LAST MAN keeps distracting me and i was just at the start of the best part of Reaper's GALE in reread and THE GATHERING STORM is sitting there on my to-read-pile and people are buzzing about it and it's not looking good for Dan Brown...

- Abyss, ...losing the LOST SYMBOL pdq...

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 03 November 2009 - 07:51 PM, said:

I'm trying to finish THE LOST SYMBOL, really i am... but Y:THE LAST MAN keeps distracting me and i was just at the start of the best part of Reaper's GALE in reread and THE GATHERING STORM is sitting there on my to-read-pile and people are buzzing about it and it's not looking good for Dan Brown...

- Abyss, ...losing the LOST SYMBOL pdq...

Yeah, I hear that. There's likely 10 of the 12 books in my t0-read pile that would have ousted THE LOST SYMBOL halfway through.....alas I didn't have a replenished horde at the time, so I trugded through the whole damn thing. Sigh.

I have since gone on to read ACADEM's FURY by Butcher and Jim does a great job of cleaning the bad taste Brown left in my mouth out.

[LadyMTL]

At the moment I'm reading a book by Alison Weir about the Wars of the Roses (it's very good but maaaaaan, there are a lot of names to remember!). The thing is, after this book I have nothing new to read...I'm debating what to buy, I've heard good things about Alan Campbell's Deepgate Codex and Tim Lebbon's "Dusk" series but I'm not sure if I'd like them.

Anyway, worst case I can just re-read some of my other books, lord knows with 4 bookcases stuffed full I'm not lacking for choice!

[Deornoth]

Finished reading 'Elric in the Dream Realms', the latest collection of Elric tales. The three main stories were well worth a look, the supporting stuff was hit and miss but still worth the read. My full review is over Here. I'm now reading Jeff Vandermeer's 'Finch' and I've got a couple of others on the go as well.

[Bauchelain the Evil]

Maia Irraz, on 04 November 2009 - 01:10 PM, said:

At the moment I'm reading a book by Alison Weir about the Wars of the Roses (it's very good but maaaaaan, there are a lot of names to remember!). The thing is, after this book I have nothing new to read...I'm debating what to buy, I've heard good things about Alan Campbell's Deepgate Codex and Tim Lebbon's "Dusk" series but I'm not sure if I'd like them.

Anyway, worst case I can just re-read some of my other books, lord knows with 4 bookcases stuffed full I'm not lacking for choice!

Haven't read Dusk but I did like Scar Night and I would reccomend it. Great worldbuilding, an awesome villain, some cool action scenes and an interesting concept. However I have to warn you that the book starts a bit slow before the plot tightens

[Salt-Man Z]

Ready to start a new book last night, I initially picked up Gene Wolfe's Free Live Free, but then figured that since I'm planning a December reread of The Book of the New Sun, maybe I'd give The Book of the Long Sun a try first.

[Tuberski]

reading The Night Angels trilogy by Brent Weeks.

Pretty good read so far, just finished book one.

[Mentalist]

I read Dusk recently, liked it. Haven't read Dawn yet, though, because Chapters doesn't carry it, and I swore not to submit my huge online "I'm done law school applications, which cost a fortune, so now I can waste a small fortune on books and it'll seem tiny by comparison" order untill work mails me vacation pay check, and they are taking their sweet time with it.
Dus also got SE's endorsement going for it.

"Scar night" is all right--the setting's pretty interesting, and it has some really cool moments.

I finished "Curse of the Mistwraith"--book 1 of Janny Wurts' "wars of Light and Shadow".

I'm not sure I'm 100% sold on her style and pacing, but she's got some awesome worldbuilding ideas, and I like the plot enough to spring for 2 more volumes (since I accidentally bough vol 4. first and only THEH volume 1).

Also I devoured "The return of the Black Company" omnibus--the first half of the Glitterring stone cycle. I liked Bleak Seasons A LOT. She is the darkness.. not so much.

right now i'm debating between book 2 of "the wars of light and Shadow" or the first two books in Codex Alera. I read the first one a while ago, but wan't too impressed. I'm giving this series another chance to wow me, otherwise i'm just gonna stick to Dresden in the Butcher section.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 04 November 2009 - 07:32 PM

[Edielin]

I'm just reading Paul McAuley's The Quiet War, which I'll be reviewing next. JUst finished And Another Thing, which I was... Well, a little wary about reading, but turned out brilliant. Put off Empire in Black and Gold.

[T77]

Salt-Man Z, on 03 November 2009 - 05:49 PM, said:

Sometime today I'll be finishing up Glen Cook's The Tower of Fear which has left me completely impressed. I love his Black Company stuff (the only other Cook books that I've read) and this might be even better. Cook shows that he's the master of the "gray" character, filling the book with multiple, overlapping POVs from all factions involved. Barring one or two characters who are just plain jerks, there are no real bad guys here; just men and women doing what they feel they need to for a cause that they feel is just.

The plot revolves around the middle-east-flavored city of Qushmarrah, formerly ruled by the dark lord Gorloch and his sorceror Nakar, now occupied by the monotheistic Herodians and their mercenary Dartar tribes. Throw in an underground Qushmarrahan rebellion called The Living, who seek independence for their city; and Nakar's widow, intent on resurrecting her deceased husband. Then put a carpenter and his family smack in the middle of all of it.

All of this in a standalone novel under 400 pages. Wow.

This is in my TBR pile and I will read it once I'm done working my way through the Black Company
and Garrett books. I'm reading Shadow Games now and it is brilliant.

I just finished Old Tin Sorrows and it was incredible. I just started Dread Brass Shadows
and it only seems to get better. I'm not sure if I like the Black Company or Garrett books
better. I highly recommend that you give the Garrett books a shot. I'm a huge Cook fan
and I can see myself re-reading both these series many times.

[caladanbrood]

Just started a re-read of Scott Lynch's Red Seas Under Red Skies, and I'm determined to try and work out where this book went wrong. Tal Verarr is an awesome setting, and the first few chapters are pretty damn good. But no one has liked it very much, that I know. Don't have particularly strong recollections either way of my own, so hoping to form a fresh opinion on it.

[Deornoth]

Finished reading Charlaine Harris' 'A Touch of Dead', a collection of Sookie Stackhouse short stories. I had a lot of fun reading these but they were very clearly aimed at long term fans who've read the whole series (which I haven't...) My full review is over Here. Now it's back to 'Finch'...

[Salt-Man Z]

caladanbrood, on 05 November 2009 - 03:18 PM, said:

Just started a re-read of Scott Lynch's Red Seas Under Red Skies, and I'm determined to try and work out where this book went wrong. Tal Verarr is an awesome setting, and the first few chapters are pretty damn good. But no one has liked it very much, that I know. Don't have particularly strong recollections either way of my own, so hoping to form a fresh opinion on it.

I just read this for the first time last month, and I loved it. I thought it was almost as good as the first. The only real knock(s) against it that I could come up with were the fact that the transition from the "casino heist" plot to the "pirates" plot was awkwardly done, and that the two were tied back together rather abruptly. Thinking about it more, I think maybe it might have worked better had the pirate stuff been the "main" plot, with the Sinspire job told in flashback. (Though what Lynch would have done with the flashbacks told during the Sinspire plot, I don't know.)

T77, on 05 November 2009 - 03:17 PM, said:

I just finished Old Tin Sorrows and it was incredible. I just started Dread Brass Shadows and it only seems to get better. I'm not sure if I like the Black Company or Garrett books better. I highly recommend that you give the Garrett books a shot. I'm a huge Cook fan and I can see myself re-reading both these series many times.

Good to hear. I've tracked down the 2nd and 3rd Garrett books so far, but am waiting to find the 1st before I start reading them. (By the same token, I've got 4 of the Dread Empire books, 1-3 and 6, and only the first Instrumentalities book.)