[QuickTidal]

Vengeance, on 15 June 2012 - 06:51 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 15 June 2012 - 04:32 PM, said:

Approaching page 400 of SHOGUN, and damn if this isn't a totally immersing book to read! It's REALLY, really good and I can see why it was so lauded when it came out and has such a devout following. Wonderful characters, situations, action scenes and plot threads. So far Mariko is my fave character.

Shogun is a brilliant book I suggest that you continue and read Taipan also. It is a smaller read but just as good. The only one of his books that I wasn't able to get into was Whirlwind.

Indeed, thanks! I've got the rest of the Asian Saga on my list now, Tai-Pan and Gaijin especially are on the fast track next time I read Clavell.

[Nocturnal]

Still on The Steel Remains, god but the amount of violence/sex/torture in this book puts Martin or Erikson to shame.
And on the 2nd book of Vish Puri's witty cases - The Case of the Man Who Died Laughing, I think I'm getting addicted to the simplicity of the writing style and odd Indian culture.

This post has been edited by Nocturnal: 15 June 2012 - 08:23 PM

[Mentalist]

I'm GIving Tom Lloyd's "STwilight Reign" series another shot. just finshed Twilight Herald again.

here's my thoughts about it before:

Mentalist, on 28 March 2009 - 11:37 PM, said:

i read it and felt that it had promise, there were several ideas in it I liked.

then I read the second book, and just couldn't get into it. I mean, all the classical stuff was there, he even had a nice convergence where stuff would happen, but I just didn't find myself interested in any of it.

Character development seemed to take a nosedive, and I felt like Lloyd tried to put too much into it.
The ending was just kinda "bleh"

too much left untold, a lot of vague hints, and an even vaguer prologue for book 3..

anyone has any idea how many books this series is supposed to take up?

Mentalist, on 29 March 2009 - 12:01 AM, said:

yeah, I found myself wondering about the Menin a lot more than I was about what was actually happening is Scrye (sp?)

and that's saying something about the pace of the book.

I think I lost interest at the point where


SPOILERS

Spoiler

the menin got to the necromancer's place.. and were immidiately attacked, and everything just went to shit from there. the writing was chaotic--I mean, I understand that the atmosphere in the city's chaos, but the author should be above that. and after that fight, he just kept building and building and building up to... what?
the showdown between Vampires and the theatre troop wasn't rally special, and Isaac's fight and defence of the temples, which I believe was supposed to be the high point, just felt really... forced.
I don't know, it's hard to put my finger exactly on what was wrong,but at that point the story just deteriorated rapidly.

and yeah, I kind of finshed the book on autopilot, but I didn't really feel it.

A lot of that still holds true. I'm still far more interested in the world than I am in Isak + Co.
However, having done a paced re-read (seriously paced due to the job-related lack of time to swallow a book in a day), I find myself appreciating the subleties of this series. It remains to be seen if Lloyd will deliver on the few interesting themes I've noticed now that weren't really there before, or if it'll remain just a tantalizing glimpse at what could've been.

but it's enough to make me retract my statement that I'd want my money back for these books. And it makes me happy that at some point I have (reluctantly) picked up The Grave Thief , so I can jump into it now.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 16 June 2012 - 02:40 AM

[Fist Gamet]

QuickTidal, on 15 June 2012 - 07:27 PM, said:

Vengeance, on 15 June 2012 - 06:51 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 15 June 2012 - 04:32 PM, said:

Approaching page 400 of SHOGUN, and damn if this isn't a totally immersing book to read! It's REALLY, really good and I can see why it was so lauded when it came out and has such a devout following. Wonderful characters, situations, action scenes and plot threads. So far Mariko is my fave character.

Shogun is a brilliant book I suggest that you continue and read Taipan also. It is a smaller read but just as good. The only one of his books that I wasn't able to get into was Whirlwind.

Indeed, thanks! I've got the rest of the Asian Saga on my list now, Tai-Pan and Gaijin especially are on the fast track next time I read Clavell.

Read Shogun last year for the first time and I loved it, a really terrific story and sooooo well written. How anyone can pick anyone BUT Toranaga as their favourite character is beyond me...

Me, I finished Legend and am focusing on my DoD re-read along with The Winter King.

[QuickTidal]

Fist Gamet, on 16 June 2012 - 07:46 PM, said:

How anyone can pick anyone BUT Toranaga as their favourite character is beyond me...

Oh he's up there certainly, but there's just something about Mariko when she's on the ship as they are escaping Osaka picking up a katana and going to town on some grays....badass!

[Captain Beardface]

Finished The Black God's War (the full length novel not the novella), started to read David Constantine's The Pillars of Hercules, I may get back to MY WoT read after I finish.

[worry]

Felt like some contemporary fiction, so I've started reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith, knowing nothing about it except its very positive reputation. Turns out, it's yet more London culture clash stuff, which I suppose is the English equivalent of America's obsession with deconstructing/satirizing the suburbs. That's not a complaint. I mean, it's always nice picking out which role Om Puri will inevitably play.

[Defiance]

Just dived into The Bonehunters last night. This will be my third time through, and it's still my favorite book in the series. Hoping to get it and the next four ready before The Forge of Darkness comes out.

[JPK]

Finally finished A Betrayal in Winter last night. I am firmly in love with Abraham's writing now. Does anyone know which of the p.o.v.s he wrote for in Leviathan Wakes?

I also happen to be so close to the end of Mort that I can taste it. This was actually the only other Discworld book that I had read before I started up the series a couple months back, and I am really happy to have reread it. Way too much fun.

Finally, I've started up The Spirit Lens by Carol Berg. Been awhile since I've read any of her work, but I fell in love with both Song of the Beast and her Rai-Kirah trilogy a few years back so I've really been looking forward to getting into this.

[Morgoth]

Just finished Calibans War, and thoroughly enjoyed myself all the way through. It's not particularly deep, and the political manouvering is not very impressive. Yet you get a proper, epic kind of space opera with just the right amount of explosions, banter, mysteries and enigmatic alien technology to keep you entertained.

[LadyMTL]

I finished Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age yesterday and though I liked it, I felt like Snow Crash was far superior. One thing that bugged me about Diamond was how quickly time seemed to go by...Nell starts off as a young girl and them boom, it's two years later and then boom again, it's another two years later and so on. Still, it was enjoyable just not as enjoyable as Snow Crash.

Now I've moved on to John Connolly's Bad Men and after that, I'm thinking maybe some Glen Cook as I have An empire unacquainted with defeat waiting for me on my Kindle.

[Salt-Man Z]

A quarter of the way through Orb Sceptre Throne and loving it.

[Abyss]

Finished Mieville's RAILSEA.
Totally enjoyed. Great setting, fun very human yet interesting characters. Plot moves along at a good pace and the narrative style is very different from any book of his i've read before but it works nicely.

Recommended.

I have Farrow's murder mystery ICE LAKE standing by but i also have John Ringo's entire LOOKING GLASS mil-sf series on my reader and it's demanding more of my attention. I think i'm just in the mood for a 1000+ pages of shot em up special forces vs aliens goodness.

[yuna_anomander25]

just finished Crossroads of Twilight - will be lining up Knife of Dreams as soon as i got hold of this one,

next stop - Summer Knight Dresden Files, i put this off in favor of continuous read of COT, now i'll be focusing on this one, as i have yet to purchase KOD and will be adding up Towers of Midnight on queue as well,

[QuickTidal]

Briar King, on 19 June 2012 - 03:27 AM, said:

Just finished bk 1 in the Night Angel Tri. and I'm diving straight into bk 2. Wow that was a glorious holds no punches first book.

Note: Book 2 starts slower and for about 50 pages or so it's a bit ho-hum...then it picks up and gets awesome and book 3 is all cream.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 19 June 2012 - 10:47 AM, said:

Briar King, on 19 June 2012 - 03:27 AM, said:

Just finished bk 1 in the Night Angel Tri. and I'm diving straight into bk 2. Wow that was a glorious holds no punches first book.

Note: Book 2 starts slower and for about 50 pages or so it's a bit ho-hum...then it picks up and gets awesome and book 3 is all cream.

Seconded. the whole trilo is a bunch of fun.

[Hound]

Afer putting Blade of Tyshalle by Stover aside for a moment (I do enjoy that book, but at the moment not in the mood for that kind of story), I read Sailing to Sarantium by GG Kay. And damn, what a beautifully written story, I so love his way of writing. It is very powerful, but not overdoing it, actually very subtle. And great characters, even the minor ones, like that Imperial courier.

Not really sure what to read next, maybe Lord of Emperors, or something completely different and a bit lighter, like Best Served Cold by Abercrombie. And then after BSC, further on in the Sarantine Mosaic.....

[HiddenOne]

Reading "Last Light of the Sun" by GG Kay, I love this book. It makes me nostalgic for when I was a kid reading fairy tales, classic works of adventure & fantasy, and the like.

This is my first Kay book, been looking for a while, but his work is usually overpriced in the US, but I got lucky at the 1/2 price bookstore.

[Abyss]

Hound, on 19 June 2012 - 01:34 PM, said:

Afer putting Blade of Tyshalle by Stover aside for a moment (I do enjoy that book, but at the moment not in the mood for that kind of story),....

Heretic.

Burn him.

[Hound]

Abyss, on 19 June 2012 - 08:38 PM, said:

Hound, on 19 June 2012 - 01:34 PM, said:

Afer putting Blade of Tyshalle by Stover aside for a moment (I do enjoy that book, but at the moment not in the mood for that kind of story),....

Heretic.

Burn him.

Him? Her, actually