[LadyMTL]

I finished Butcher's "Grave Peril" last night and now I've started "Steel Remains". I need to go and get the other Dresden novels but not right away, I need a bit of a break. GP was good but I found it a bit predictable too, so I figured if I read other things for a few weeks I'll be able to properly appreciate them later on.

This post has been edited by Maia Irraz: 13 November 2011 - 10:12 PM

[Dolorous Menhir]

Maia Irraz, on 13 November 2011 - 10:11 PM, said:

I finished Butcher's "Grave Peril" last night and now I've started "Steel Remains". I need to go and get the other Dresden novels but not right away, I need a bit of a break. GP was good but I found it a bit predictable too, so I figured if I read other things for a few weeks I'll be able to properly appreciate them later on.

Maia - many others will tell you this, but if there is a hump to clear in the Dresden series, it comes at books 3 & 4. Once you're past that and onto book #5. Death Masks, it gets much smoother. Get past #7, Dead Beat, and it's plain sailing all the way. You'll find it hard to stop.

[amphibian]

McLovin, on 13 November 2011 - 09:02 PM, said:

Still, GRRM at his worst is light-years better than a lot of authors at their best. So depending on how ADWD turns out, I'll forgive him AFFC.

You do know that A Dance With Dragons already came out, right?

[Binder of Demons]

Just finished THE WISE MAN'S FEAR and I really enjoyed it. ROTHFUSS has such an easy writing style, and the story is really engaging. Really looking forward to seeing how he completes this trilogy, and whether it also serves as a kicking off point for another trilogy (I've my fingers crossed for that).

Anyone have even a vague idea as to when the next installment comes out?


As for what I'll read next, I'm not sure yet as most of my "To read pile" is sitting in a shipping container on it's way around the world. Will have to see what I have on my bookshelf from a few years ago and see what takes my fancy.

[McLovin]

amphibian, on 14 November 2011 - 12:25 AM, said:

You do know that A Dance With Dragons already came out, right?

Indeed, I own it. But I have not touched it because I wanted to re-read the entire series and refresh my memory. (Turns out I forgot A LOT of stuff).

Finally, I have completed my re-read. However, and possibly ironically, I am now loath to begin ADWD because I'm worried about burnout.

I am a complicated man.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 13 November 2011 - 07:44 PM, said:

After the heady/complex nature of USE OF WEAPONS I needed something that abyss might refer to as typical widget-quest style fantasy, so I thought I'd give James Barclay's DAWNTHIEF a go.

Heh... it's a total widget quest, but not bad at all. I get the various problems some people have for Barclay, there's a basic level of fantasy lit fun to his Raven series at least, and his writing does improve over time.

I'm about halfway thru ELFSORROW and it's more good widget-quest fun. The characters are more intersting having had three books' worth of development by now. And while for a inute there i was put off when Barclay went all nature-fucker with (some of) his elves, he turned it around enough that i'm actually enjoying that element of the story.... these aren't nature loving glade singing tree massaging frog sniffing reclusive elves... these are frikkin fanatics who kill people for littering and then feed them to the local critters. There are even subsects of elves virtually competing for the pleasure...

I also have to give Barclay credit for giving his villains a fair amount of texttime and making them interesting.

Dolorous Menhir, on 13 November 2011 - 10:20 PM, said:

Maia Irraz, on 13 November 2011 - 10:11 PM, said:

I finished Butcher's "Grave Peril" last night and now I've started "Steel Remains". I need to go and get the other Dresden novels but not right away, I need a bit of a break. GP was good but I found it a bit predictable too, so I figured if I read other things for a few weeks I'll be able to properly appreciate them later on.

Maia - many others will tell you this, but if there is a hump to clear in the Dresden series, it comes at books 3 & 4. Once you're past that and onto book #5. Death Masks, it gets much smoother. Get past #7, Dead Beat, and it's plain sailing all the way. You'll find it hard to stop.

I am Abyss and I agree with Dolorous Menhir.

McLovin, on 14 November 2011 - 03:05 PM, said:

... I am now loath to begin ADWD because I'm worried about burnout.

I am a complicated man.

I totally get what you're saying, especially after slogging thru AFFC.

I think that I'd even recommend another short book, something frivolous or at least non-fantasy, before jumping to DANCE.

[HiddenOne]

QuickTidal, on 19 September 2011 - 01:00 PM, said:

Ugh....this Green Ghost book is.....bad so far. Is he always this repetitive? He repeats himself over and over from sentence to sentence. Like he'll talk about how dark and malevolent a presence is, and then talk about haw dark and malevolent a presence is (in slightly different words) in the next sentence. It happened all throughout the first 30 pages of the book so far...is this normal for Simon R. Green?

I'm a bit put off so far...

I can't get into Green's "Nightside" or whatever that series is called, I've read a few and meh...

I did like the Deathstalker series, "space opera" genre enough to buy the entire series to see what happens; IMO the earliest books are the best



EDIT: To the OP, I have finally got my hands on ADWD and am loving it fully, was 5 minutes late for work today because I had to finish the chapter I was reading. I had the frantic "What am I forgetting?" sensation at first, but GRRM's little reminders brought me back up to speed in no time. Now, I have to try not to neglect my responsibilties in order to read more. Maybe I can send my wife to the in-laws...

EDIT2: Abyss is correct above, I read a Stephen King short story collection to cleanse my palate beforehand. I wanted to re-read the series first, but I don;t have time and it's not MBotF, of course.

This post has been edited by HiddenOne: 14 November 2011 - 08:20 PM

[Abyss]

HiddenOne, on 14 November 2011 - 07:55 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 19 September 2011 - 01:00 PM, said:

Ugh....this Green Ghost book is.....bad so far. Is he always this repetitive? He repeats himself over and over from sentence to sentence. Like he'll talk about how dark and malevolent a presence is, and then talk about haw dark and malevolent a presence is (in slightly different words) in the next sentence. It happened all throughout the first 30 pages of the book so far...is this normal for Simon R. Green?

I'm a bit put off so far...

I can't get into Green's "Nightside" or whatever that series is called, I've read a few and meh......

I've read three, and a few related short stories. I found them formulaic, reptitious and ultimately boring. I was given three more for free and passed them on.

I did like his first Drood/Secret Histories book tho', and i have the second in the TRP. It takes the outlandish stuff that i liked from the Nightside stuff but isn't nearly as repetitious or by-the-numbers.

[stone monkey]

Just finished Blackout by Connie Willis. Despite one of the historians having the data implanted on when and where each bomb will fall, there's still a palpable sense of menace about this book. Polly may know how the bombs will fall, but all of the people she works with, lives with and encounters don't - and death may only be seconds away for any of them.

And there's still the plight of our timelost historians to consider. There's a fantastic "Oh crap!" moment when the reader realises, somewhat before the characters do (they eventually find out for themselves in All Clear, that the only other historian within reach of them is actually in Bletchley Park... in 1940... Oops...

Right then, people need to read this book and the sequel - they're actually one long novel; but Willis' publisher balked at releasing a 1600 page novel for some reason. Willis is on the form she showed in Doomsday Book. Blackout is thrilling, terrifying, inspiring, hilarious (the Odbins are a fantastic comic creation; you love them as you want to throttle them), depressing, romantic, the whole gamut. Willis brings home the sheer randomness of death raining from the skies and highlights the unimaginable strain this must have placed on the the ordinary people who lived through it. She also tells a cracking sf tale of time travellers lost in a world they know all about but barely understand.

To some extent the books could be considered a further contribution to the mythos of the Blitz Spirit , it does ignore some of the real and complex problems Britain faced during WW2 - the miners strike for instance. But they tell a real story, and tell it really well.

A further thought is that if you know someone who reads, but hates sf, these are great books to introduce them to. They're sf to the core, of course, but have none of the shiny spaceships and rayguns that people like to mistakenly assume is all there is to see in the genre.

[worry]

Just finished An Autumn War, the third Long Price book. Series just gets better and better. I really appreciate the focus, at least in part, on how war affects the families left behind to worry, especially mothers. It's something SE is also very good at touching upon, though with him it's only for a few moments at a time, or in the back of peoples' minds. Abraham puts it front and center here, skillfully and empathetically, and it's quite moving.

Now I'm reading World War Z. I know I'm a latecomer to it. I'm expecting something fun and a bit popcorny, though I wouldn't mind if it surprised me.

[Abyss]

worrywort, on 15 November 2011 - 12:17 AM, said:

...Now I'm reading World War Z. I know I'm a latecomer to it. I'm expecting something fun and a bit popcorny, though I wouldn't mind if it surprised me.

you're in for a treat.

- Abyss, ...also.... brainzzzzzzz....

[acesn8s]

I was shocked to find out that Max Brooks, author of World War Z, is Mel Brooks' son.

[Hound]

About to read Ghost Story, but the idea that I than have to wait years (I guess....) for the next Dresden novel...... pfffffff..... That's very, very hard

[RolandDeschain]

Finished Wheel of time Shadow Rising.

Now halfway into Stoneweilder and I couldn't resist I started dresden files Grave Peril last night. planning on starting Summer Knight after I'm done with these two.

This post has been edited by RolandDeschain: 15 November 2011 - 07:46 PM

[Abyss]

Hound, on 15 November 2011 - 03:31 PM, said:

About to read Ghost Story, but the idea that I than have to wait years (I guess....) for the next Dresden novel...... pfffffff..... That's very, very hard

More a likely 'a year'. On average that's how long dresdencrack addicts we twitch wait between fixes new books.

RolandDeschain, on 15 November 2011 - 07:45 PM, said:

.... I couldn't resist I started dresden files Grave Peril last night. planning on starting Summer Knight after I'm done with these two.

it growz! the dresdencrack, IT GROWZ!

[Tattersail_]

RolandDeschain, on 15 November 2011 - 07:45 PM, said:

Finished Wheel of time Shadow Rising.

Now halfway into Stoneweilder and I couldn't resist I started dresden files Grave Peril last night. planning on starting Summer Knight after I'm done with these two.

3 great series your reading there, all at the same time, I don't know how you do it!! I either read WoT, Dresden or MBotF but not at the same time.

[Hound]

@Abyss: an average of a year is tough but doable (says she who still has a bit of 'Dresdencrack' left, with other words, is still 'high' and in denial of all the twitching and stuff that will follow).

[McLovin]

acesn8s, on 15 November 2011 - 03:23 PM, said:

I was shocked to find out that Max Brooks, author of World War Z, is Mel Brooks' son.

I know, right? You would expect there to be a musical number "Springtime for Zombies"...

[RolandDeschain]

Tattersail, on 16 November 2011 - 09:56 AM, said:

RolandDeschain, on 15 November 2011 - 07:45 PM, said:

Finished Wheel of time Shadow Rising.

Now halfway into Stoneweilder and I couldn't resist I started dresden files Grave Peril last night. planning on starting Summer Knight after I'm done with these two.

3 great series your reading there, all at the same time, I don't know how you do it!! I either read WoT, Dresden or MBotF but not at the same time.

Haha yeah. Well I finished Malazan books, Stoneweilder is that last I didn't read. WoT I read one every few months, I wont go to the next book in this series for a while now. I'll probably read a few Dresden back to back...

I rarely read one series at the time. I usually go from series to series. I read Dark Tower in between Malazan books hehe.

[Abyss]

McLovin, on 16 November 2011 - 01:41 PM, said:

acesn8s, on 15 November 2011 - 03:23 PM, said:

I was shocked to find out that Max Brooks, author of World War Z, is Mel Brooks' son.

I know, right? You would expect there to be a musical number "Springtime for Zombies"...

Or at least the following exchange...

"General! The civilians are revolting!"
"You can say that again, they stink!"

Also, fart jokes.