[Salt-Man Z]

amphibian, on 30 October 2010 - 07:28 PM, said:

Better than the Zahn books?

I enjoy Zahn's stuff, but there's really nothing outstanding about his writing. Stover brings a certain brand of gravitas and/or depth to whatever he tackles, and I don't think any SW novel has captured the personalities of the original trilogy characters better than Shadows of Mindor.

[Lousy]

ansible, on 26 October 2010 - 04:54 PM, said:

I'm at the very end of The Book of the Long Sun, and somehow I picked up Mistborn from the shelf and accidentally started reading it. I bought the first one so I could start the series if I wanted, but I had to go buy the next two right away. I'm on Hero of Ages now. Enjoying the series a lot, tore through the first two books, but slightly disappointed at a plot twist near the end of Well of Ascension. Ah, well.

How did you (or anyone else) like this? I've had my eye on & off this series for some years now and have simply never gotten around to it ... is it worth it?

[Defiance]

Return of the Crimson Guard for the first time. Finally finished RG on my reread. Had this baby sitting on my shelf for months.

[Salt-Man Z]

Lousy, on 01 November 2010 - 03:38 AM, said:

ansible, on 26 October 2010 - 04:54 PM, said:

I'm at the very end of The Book of the Long Sun,

How did you (or anyone else) like this? I've had my eye on & off this series for some years now and have simply never gotten around to it ... is it worth it?

I assume you're asking about TBotNS? In which case, I'm a huge fan. It definitely grows on you, though. I've read it twice now, and do an annual reread every December. The first time I read it, I enjoyed it, I rated it 3.5 out of 5 stars. After the second time, I gave it a 5. It's very much like Malazan in that there's so much you miss the first, even the second time, through. But it's very different as well. If you're looking for lots of action and adventure, you'll likely be disappointed. One suggestion I'd make to anyone attempting the series is to remember what Wolfe is trying to do here, which is essentially to bring you Severian's autobiography as written by Severian; keeping this in mind addresses (I think) most of the complaints I've read about the series. Not that it will necessarily change one's enjoyment of the Book, but knowing this might allow one to at least appreciate what Wolfe is doing even if they don't enjoy it.

[amphibian]

Salt-Man Z, on 01 November 2010 - 04:03 PM, said:

I assume you're asking about TBotNS? In which case, I'm a huge fan. It definitely grows on you, though. I've read it twice now, and do an annual reread every December. The first time I read it, I enjoyed it, I rated it 3.5 out of 5 stars. After the second time, I gave it a 5. It's very much like Malazan in that there's so much you miss the first, even the second time, through. But it's very different as well. If you're looking for lots of action and adventure, you'll likely be disappointed. One suggestion I'd make to anyone attempting the series is to remember what Wolfe is trying to do here, which is essentially to bring you Severian's autobiography as written by Severian; keeping this in mind addresses (I think) most of the complaints I've read about the series. Not that it will necessarily change one's enjoyment of the Book, but knowing this might allow one to at least appreciate what Wolfe is doing even if they don't enjoy it.

Wolfe is so good at making the reader pick up on things that may not have happened exactly as the narrator describes them. Severian claims to have a perfect memory and not to lie, but you can tell that he's kind of hiding certain things or not giving the same importance to events that another person would. It's fascinating reading and the story of each Sun series (New, Long and Short) is dramatic enough to hold your attention.

The unfortunate reality is that these Sun series are quite a time investment. They're long books, packed full of exquisite writing and characters, but they will take a while to finish. Read them. There are few books on this planet that are as good as they are. I loved the Short Sun books the most, as they have perhaps the most personal narrative of any of Wolfe's books. The father-son stuff in it made me tear up like the end of Deadhouse Gates.

[QuickTidal]

I was getting pretty annoyed by the fact that the last 3 books I gave a go from the TBR pile were shiiiiiiit....so I decided it might be time for a CODEX ALERA re-read to cleanse the palate. I also have a spankety new copy of SIDE JOBS to get busy on too. Hopefully it will be a Butcherific week.

[Primateus]

Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince.

Yes, I know...

[Astra]

QuickTidal, on 01 November 2010 - 08:11 PM, said:

the last 3 books I gave a go from the TBR pile were shiiiiiiit

and they are...?

[stone monkey]

Severian is pretty much the textbook Unreliable Narrator. He may not be deliberately lying, but he's certainly slanting his story to his own advantage. That feeling of having to look beyond what he's saying to what really happened is part of the fun of reading The Book of the New Sun, I feel.

[pat5150]

My review of Jordan and Sanderson's Towers of Midnight is now up!

Patrick

[kcf]

I finished up Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson a while ago, but I just posted my review (12:00 AM EDT). I really liked it as I expect most fans will. Though I anticipate a few complaints. It's not as good in my opinion as The Gathering Storm which was much more thematically coherent, but it's still quite good. Sanderson is doing a great job with the series.

I'm still finishing up the Swords and Dark Magic anthology edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan. It's good, but most stories are only good with not very many that excel.

[Lousy]

Great to hear the positive reviews about Wolfe's Sun books, I'll definitely bump those up the list (how long have I been saying that? But now I MEAN IT!) ;p

And, wow, hadn't expected the new WoT book to be out. But, um, yikes! If it's not even as good as TGS then... Well, I'll have to give these 2 previous poster's reviews a read before going any further w/ that.

[QuickTidal]

kcf, on 02 November 2010 - 04:16 AM, said:

I finished up Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson a while ago, but I just posted my review (12:00 AM EDT). I really liked it as I expect most fans will. Though I anticipate a few complaints. It's not as good in my opinion as The Gathering Storm which was much more thematically coherent, but it's still quite good. Sanderson is doing a great job with the series.

I'm still finishing up the Swords and Dark Magic anthology edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan. It's good, but most stories are only good with not very many that excel.

The Lynch story and the Abercrombie one are the best, easily.

[QuickTidal]

Astra, on 01 November 2010 - 08:22 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 01 November 2010 - 08:11 PM, said:

the last 3 books I gave a go from the TBR pile were shiiiiiiit

and they are...?

THE WINDUP GIRL by Bacigalupi (review over at IceberInk)

GEIST by Phillipa Ballantyne (couldn't even get 100 pages in)

ASSASSIN'S SONG by Vassanji (It's two stories, one in the past (in India) and one in the present (In Canada), and while the one in the past is awesome and enthralling...sadly the one in the present is so pedestrian as to be boring)

Thankfully, I have sat down now with John Scalzi's OLD MAN'S WAR and I after a bit of a rough start, I am thoroughly enjoying it now.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 02 November 2010 - 12:55 PM

[Salt-Man Z]

QuickTidal, on 02 November 2010 - 12:50 PM, said:

kcf, on 02 November 2010 - 04:16 AM, said:

I'm still finishing up the Swords and Dark Magic anthology edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan. It's good, but most stories are only good with not very many that excel.

The Lynch story and the Abercrombie one are the best, easily.

I've only read a handful of them so far, but I've like what I've read. Erikson's piece was great, and I loved Wolfe's. The Morlock story was amusing; the Elric story was okay. The weakest one (so far) I thought was the Black Company story, and I say that as a big BC fan.

[QuickTidal]

Salt-Man Z, on 02 November 2010 - 03:48 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 02 November 2010 - 12:50 PM, said:

kcf, on 02 November 2010 - 04:16 AM, said:

I'm still finishing up the Swords and Dark Magic anthology edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan. It's good, but most stories are only good with not very many that excel.

The Lynch story and the Abercrombie one are the best, easily.

I've only read a handful of them so far, but I've like what I've read. Erikson's piece was great, and I loved Wolfe's. The Morlock story was amusing; the Elric story was okay. The weakest one (so far) I thought was the Black Company story, and I say that as a big BC fan.

I really dug the Morlock story actually...but BLOOD OF AMBROSE was a bit of a tougher sell for me.

[stone monkey]

Just finished Nazi Literature in the Americas by Roberto Bolano - which was great, but would have been a hell of a lot better, I'd imagine, if I knew a lot more about South American Literature and could therefore get all the jokes and veiled references.

Just received Blindsight by Peter Watts from Amazon, so I'll be starting that one next. This one's had a few recommendations (most notably a positively glowing one from Morgoth at the BBQ) which make it sound like it'll be right up my street. I guess we'll see about that over the next few days.

[Harvester]

Put Gilman's Thunderer-which is really good stuff, but also very slow in pace-aside for the moment to start with Jasper Kent's Twelve. I read through the first 100 pages this morning and so far it's fairly good, nowhere near the awesomeness that is Necroscope, but at least the vampires are monsters of the brutal, ruthless and non-sparkling kind.

[amphibian]

stone monkey, on 03 November 2010 - 08:13 PM, said:

Just finished Nazi Literature in the Americas by Roberto Bolano - which was great, but would have been a hell of a lot better, I'd imagine, if I knew a lot more about South American Literature and could therefore get all the jokes and veiled references.

I gave up on 2666. It's odd because I have a lot of patience for South American stuff. Even watched The Secret In Their Eyes (Argentinean movie) a couple weeks ago.

Is that book indicative of Bolano in general as an author?

[QuickTidal]

Just finished the fantastic OLD MAN'S WAR by John Scalzi and I have the follow-up THE GHOST BRIGADES ready to go now.