[Astra]

Finished Eclipse
Started Breaking Dawn

[Bauchelain the Evil]

Astra, I beg you, don't do it. The first three were absolute shit but compared to Breaking Dawn they're the Divine Comedy

[Astra]

 Bauchelain the Evil, on 22 July 2010 - 04:39 PM, said:

Astra, I beg you, don't do it. The first three were absolute shit but compared to Breaking Dawn they're the Divine Comedy

Cannot stop now. I worry about Edward.

[Salt-Man Z]

 Astra, on 22 July 2010 - 05:06 PM, said:

I worry about Edward.

And we worry about Astra.

[Testluv]

Finished The Name of the Wind some weeks ago. Honestly, don't understand what the big deal about this book is. It seems to get such great reviews all over the place, with many people asserting that Rothfuss is the next Tolkien/Jordan/whatever.

I mean it was all right. But the pacing was incredibly slow, there wasn't very much tension, and the prose, although nice, wasn't poetic/epic.

[worry]

Astra keep fighting the good fight. If nobody had read the books, how would we know to shun them?

[Bauchelain the Evil]

Well, I read them exactly because I wanted to know how to better argue against fans and I regret it ever since.

[Baco Xpuch]

Halfway through Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds ( I'm really digging his work) and I got Urth of the New Sun and the The Book of the Long Sun on Deck.

[lobo the wolfman]

Finished my re-read of The Ten Thousand and it was still eh. Not bad, but not great. Now reading Jasper Kent's Twelve and loving it so far.

[pat5150]

Just finished Jasper Kent's Thirteen Years Later. The extremely slow start can be offputting, but when the story picks up and kicks into high gear, this one becomes an engrossing read and a great sequel to Twelve.

Check out the blog for the full review.

Patrick

[Tapper]

Vandermeer, Finch.

Perdido Street Station finished and done. Liked it, but not as much as Kraken.

[Ain't_It_Just_]

Started Dead Beat.

[Dag]

Just finished Barry Hughart's "Bridge of Birds" and "The Story of the Stone", and I really loooooved both books.

The story is set in fictional ancient China that is a mixture of historical facts, bits and pieces of mythology, old folk tales and author's own immagination. It follows the adventures of Master Li Kao, a briliant crook-turned-detective, and his assistant, Number Ten Ox, who together take on tasks of solving most gruesome and mysterious crimes and in their determination to pursue the truth don't shy away from meddling with lives of both humans and gods. Hughart's writing style is rich and colourful, the dialogues sprinkled with intelligent and slightly ironic humour, and his capability to vividly "paint" his world and his characters with words is simply amazing. The books are very short and take no more than a few hours to read, and although "The Story of the Stone" contains references to "Bridge of Birds", they can both be read as standalones.

I immensely enjoyed both books and can warmly recommend them to all of you.



Now moving on to Gaiman's "Anansi Boys".

This post has been edited by Dag: 25 July 2010 - 01:04 PM

[Tsundoku]

 Astra, on 22 July 2010 - 05:06 PM, said:

 Bauchelain the Evil, on 22 July 2010 - 04:39 PM, said:

Astra, I beg you, don't do it. The first three were absolute shit but compared to Breaking Dawn they're the Divine Comedy

Cannot stop now. I worry about Edward.

I hope you're getting sex for this humiliation. LOTS of sex. Lots of QUALITY sex. With her hot best friend too.

[Astra]

 Sombra, on 25 July 2010 - 01:04 PM, said:

 Astra, on 22 July 2010 - 05:06 PM, said:

 Bauchelain the Evil, on 22 July 2010 - 04:39 PM, said:

Astra, I beg you, don't do it. The first three were absolute shit but compared to Breaking Dawn they're the Divine Comedy

Cannot stop now. I worry about Edward.

I hope you're getting sex for this humiliation. LOTS of sex. Lots of QUALITY sex. With her hot best friend too.

I am 2/3 into it.
So far it is far from the worst of books 2&3.
Taking into account that I have one week holiday ahead, yes. Good advise. Reading the book and quality sex. Mix&match

[masan's saddle]

Finished Bakker's The Darkness That Comes Before and enjoyed it. Really well paced and after initial misgivings about the prose, particularly the internal monologue stuff, I got into it. The characters were really well written and I particularly liked Cnair, Drusas and that snivelling shit of an Emperor. That said though my fears about Kellhus were not assuaged, what a cock.

Just started Best Served Cold by Abercrombie but will definitely return to Bakker and continue the series.

[murphy72]

 Dag, on 25 July 2010 - 12:39 PM, said:

Just finished Barry Hughart's "Bridge of Birds" and "The Story of the Stone", and I really loooooved both books.

The story is set in fictional ancient China that is a mixture of historical facts, bits and pieces of mythology, old folk tales and author's own immagination. It follows the adventures of Master Li Kao, a briliant crook-turned-detective, and his assistant, Number Ten Ox, who together take on tasks of solving most gruesome and mysterious crimes and in their determination to pursue the truth don't shy away from meddling with lives of both humans and gods. Hughart's writing style is rich and colourful, the dialogues sprinkled with intelligent and slightly ironic humour, and his capability to vividly "paint" his world and his characters with words is simply amazing. The books are very short and take no more than a few hours to read, and although "The Story of the Stone" contains references to "Bridge of Birds", they can both be read as standalones.

I immensely enjoyed both books and can warmly recommend them to all of you.



Now moving on to Gaiman's "Anansi Boys".

There is a third book by Hughart called Eight Skilled Gentlemen that finishes off the trilogy.

Now reading Neal Asher's Gridlocked.

[Dag]

 murphy72, on 26 July 2010 - 06:18 AM, said:

There is a third book by Hughart called Eight Skilled Gentlemen that finishes off the trilogy.

Thanks for pointing that out, I forgot to mention it in my post. Still have to get my hands on that one, but I hope I'll be able to read it soon.

[Abyss]

Now into Cook's She is the Darkness. And it's draaaaaaaaaging now. I totally enjoyed the Books of the South, but the Glittering Stone is really going slow now. I swear he's spent the last 500 pages saying exactly the same three or four things three or four ways.

I have an RCG re-read going at the same time so i can break it up, but geez i hope Cook picks up the pace soon.

[teholbeddict]

 Abyss, on 26 July 2010 - 02:47 PM, said:

Now into Cook's She is the Darkness. And it's draaaaaaaaaging now. I totally enjoyed the Books of the South, but the Glittering Stone is really going slow now. I swear he's spent the last 500 pages saying exactly the same three or four things three or four ways.

I have an RCG re-read going at the same time so i can break it up, but geez i hope Cook picks up the pace soon.

Well I wish I could tell you it's going to pick up pace, but unfortunately it never does. The last three books of Glitter Stone just fell off completely and dragged the entire way though, not to mention they were confusing at times. I was really disappointed with them as I loved the other Black Company books. Just wait until you get to the end of Soldiers Live, I couldn't believe the way it ended.

Just finished Conspirata by Robert Harris, it was fabulous. I definitely have a new author to add to my top three for Historical Fiction, I can't believe I haven't read any of his stuff before this book and Imperium. Conspirata was full of intrigue and political manoeuvering, back stabbing, and omg moments. It also had a humorous side to it, which I didn't see in Imperium. It gave a very interesting perspective on Caesar as well. One of the first books I've read in which he is painted as a morally corrupt and manipulative villain. Pompey and Crassus are also given more of a realistic tone as well. All in all a fantastic read, can't say enough about the author and his writing. Now I'm stuck waiting for the last book of the trilogy to come out next year damn it!

On to Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth.