[Dutch]

Finished Stonewielder yesterday and I have interrupted my Malazan read for.................


More Malazan!!!!!!!

Was planning to read Crack'D Pot Trail after I was done with my reread of DoD\TCG but I couldn't help myself
since I haven't read it before and it's only about 200 pages or so.

Just a few pages in, have to get used to the style since it is quite different from the other KB&B novellas.

[MWKarsa]

Finished A Storm of Swords yesterday and I'm still blown away by how great it was. Just a fantastic fantastic book chock full of great storylines, characters and hard hitting emotional scenes. Outside of the scene I mentioned earlier in this thread this part was awesome.

Spoiler

Tyrion escaping with Jaime's help and getting to strangle his turncoat whore Shae and then killing his piece of shit father while on the privy no less. I actually fist-pumped reading that part and re-read it multiple times smiling each time. Fucking loving this series- completely amazing.

Thought about going straight into A Feast for Crows but I want to digest all that has happened and stretch the time I can enjoy this series. About a 100 pages into Dead Beat for a return to a Dresden fix and it's highly enjoyable as always.

[QuickTidal]

So I finished PLAYER OF GAMES by Iain M. Banks last night...

holy

fucking

shit

THAT was a good book. I was MORE than impressed, and funnily enough it's a bit of a strange story overall but man what a cracker! I stayed up reading it till I finished. Great stuff. Can't wait to move onto USE OF WEAPONS.

I do have one question about PLAYER Of GAMES for those who are Culture fans and have read it:

Spoiler

Was Mawhrin-Skel actually never Mawhrin-Skel? Was it always Flere-Imsaho (and therefore ALWAYS an agent of Contact)? AKA, at the beginning of the story when it attacks and blackmails Gurgeh to get it back into Contact...was it already in Contact, just in disguise to get Gurgeh to do their bidding?

Anyways, consider me a Banks/Culture fan officially now. Just amazing.

Tonight I will be starting DEATH OF KINGS by Bernard Cornwell...can't wait to get back into Uhtred's story!

[Abyss]

 Briar King, on 24 October 2011 - 10:12 PM, said:

Currently reading Dragonfly Falling and The Magic of Recluse. I switch them every other day.

Doesn't that get confusing? What with the Black Ant Order Mages running around?

 Dutch, on 24 October 2011 - 11:02 PM, said:

... planning to read Crack'D Pot Trail ...
Just a few pages in, have to get used to the style since it is quite different from the other KB&B novellas.

 Briar King, on 25 October 2011 - 12:14 AM, said:

How are those novellas anyway? Ive never read one.

The first three are worth your time. Sort of like Malazan sitcoms.

 MWKarsa, on 25 October 2011 - 12:27 AM, said:

...About a 100 pages into Dead Beat for a return to a Dresden fix and it's highly enjoyable as always.

Just wait. Just you wait.

[Use Of Weapons]

 QuickTidal, on 25 October 2011 - 12:56 PM, said:

I do have one question about PLAYER Of GAMES for those who are Culture fans and have read it:

Spoiler

Was Mawhrin-Skel actually never Mawhrin-Skel? Was it always Flere-Imsaho (and therefore ALWAYS an agent of Contact)? AKA, at the beginning of the story when it attacks and blackmails Gurgeh to get it back into Contact...was it already in Contact, just in disguise to get Gurgeh to do their bidding?

I think it's one of those things you're meant to be left wondering at the end of the book. IMO

Spoiler

Given how important names seem to be in the Culture, I always read it as Mawhrin-Skel being merged (or 'corrected') into a more compliant SC drone. But it can easily be read the other way, and adds to SC's aura of danger and mystique either way.

Quote

Anyways, consider me a Banks/Culture fan officially now. Just amazing.

You ain't seen nothing yet!

[QuickTidal]

 UseOfWeapons, on 25 October 2011 - 04:17 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 25 October 2011 - 12:56 PM, said:

I do have one question about PLAYER Of GAMES for those who are Culture fans and have read it:

Spoiler

Was Mawhrin-Skel actually never Mawhrin-Skel? Was it always Flere-Imsaho (and therefore ALWAYS an agent of Contact)? AKA, at the beginning of the story when it attacks and blackmails Gurgeh to get it back into Contact...was it already in Contact, just in disguise to get Gurgeh to do their bidding?

I think it's one of those things you're meant to be left wondering at the end of the book. IMO

Spoiler

Given how important names seem to be in the Culture, I always read it as Mawhrin-Skel being merged (or 'corrected') into a more compliant SC drone. But it can easily be read the other way, and adds to SC's aura of danger and mystique either way.

Ah okay:

Spoiler

I actually started to really THINK about the fact that Mawhrin-Skel is the narrator and it relishes in the epilogue that when it "wasn't there to see for itself" it just made it up! and so I started trying to figure out all the time it wasn't there to see things, and I realized that the entire excursion and near miss Azadian sex with the two con women with Za could be entirely fabricated on the part of a rascally Drone who didn't care for the ways of Azad to begin with. My brain can't even begin to express how impressed I was by that final passage. Just amazing!

[Tapper]

Feersum Endjinn.

As much as I enjoy Banks, and as much as I admire writing a quarter of the book in txtspk avant la lettre, Bascule's bits are giving me massive headaches.

[McLovin]

Finshed PAWN OF PROPHECY (Belgariad #1), and I gotta say, as standard as all the tropes in that series are (or have become since), Eddings did them quite well. The book has held up remarkably well in the 25+ years since first reading. And let's hear it for a fantasy author who can deliver a solid read in less than 400 pages.

I am actually itching to continue the Belgariad re-read, which, to my shock, I cannot say for ASOIAF. If you'll recall, I was re-reading the entire series in prep for ADWD. A few weeks ago, I got about 1/3 into AFFC and just burned out. Not because AFFC is the weakest book (which it is), but because I just got tired of the series. So still haven't read ADWD.

[Abyss]

 McLovin, on 26 October 2011 - 02:02 PM, said:

Finshed PAWN OF PROPHECY (Belgariad #1), and I gotta say, as standard as all the tropes in that series are (or have become since), Eddings did them quite well. The book has held up remarkably well in the 25+ years since first reading. And let's hear it for a fantasy author who can deliver a solid read in less than 400 pages. ...

Overlook the well worn tropes (which weren't quite as well worn when the book was originally written) and the work really does hit a timeless level of great.


Finished THE COLD COMMANDS. Brilliant book, dark DARK fantasy done right. Morgan remains one of my fave authors. Must re-read chunks before moving on to something else.

Considering a Silva spy novel or Aronovitch's MOON OVER SOHO for next read.

[Bauchelain the Evil]

Finished A Dance with Dragons. In the end I think I'm satisfied. It wasn't at the level of the first three but it was definitely a solid book. The first half was sloooow but after the 500 pages mark things started to pick up. Surprisisngly, I'd say that my favourite POV this time was Theon.

[QuickTidal]

Finished DEATH OF KINGS and it was everything I have come to expect from Cornwell from the Saxon stories and Uhtred. Since it is the penultimate book in the series it really does a lot to build up to the opening salvo of the finale. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Started into IQ84 by Murakami last night and sweet merciful crap, I'm only 50 pages in and not only am I totally unsure of what the story he is telling me is about, but it is also totally engrossing and mystifying me....so much so that I "lost time" on my bus ride to work today. I think that's a good sign. Still, this thing is a beast at 900+ pages. In Japan it was split up into 3 separate books published at different times, so I MAY take a break after Book 1, but it depends how much I want to finish the story. We shall see. So far so good.

[Solidsnape]

 Tapper, on 26 October 2011 - 08:59 AM, said:

Feersum Endjinn.

As much as I enjoy Banks, and as much as I admire writing a quarter of the book in txtspk avant la lettre, Bascule's bits are giving me massive headaches.

This is the only 'M banks' book I havent read. I'd be interested in your opinion when you're done.

[McLovin]

Just started DEAD BEAT (Dresden #7) by Jim Butcher.

May also start back on AFFC (ASOIAF #4).

[Solidsnape]

Crown and Country - David Starkey.

[MWKarsa]

 McLovin, on 28 October 2011 - 12:51 PM, said:

Just started DEAD BEAT (Dresden #7) by Jim Butcher.

May also start back on AFFC (ASOIAF #4).

Just finished Dead Beat yesterday and loved it- the ending is chalk full of epic win. Don't read the spoiler unless you've read it

Spoiler

Dresden riding a freaking T-Rex complete with Butters riding shotgun on the drums was fucking fantastic. It had me laughing out loud.

Great stuff.

Took a detour to The Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne and it's a fascinating read so far.

This post has been edited by MWKarsa: 31 October 2011 - 12:45 AM

[JPK]

Just finished The Cold Commands. This took me far longer then it should have. I blame it on Batman.

[MWKarsa]

 Briar King, on 31 October 2011 - 02:40 AM, said:

What is that about? Ive never heard of that one.

It's about the Comanche Indians and the American West. Part of the wonderful history of American "Manifest Destiny" policies regarding Native Americans and trying to justify it.

[Abyss]

Started Silva's KILL ARTIST and realized i had already read it. Hate it when that happens. Switched to another of his and am now halfway thru PRINCE OF FIRE now and totally engaged. Silva is really a master of the global spanning spy vs terrorist story.

[QuickTidal]

I just finished the first book section of 1Q84 (it was published as three separate 300pg novels in Japan originally) and the book has everything you could want from a Murakami book so far, and a few things I wasn't expecting.

[McLovin]

Halfway through DEAD BEAT - pure dresdencrack awesomeness.

Butters: Polka will never die.
Dresden: Damn right it won't.

Genius.

And finally, FINALLY, on the downhill side of AFFC.