[Traveller]

I just got 'The Many Deaths of the Black Company.' (Omnibus with Water Sleeps and Soldiers Live).

I love these books. I like the way the series changes in style as the annuls are picked up and written by different characters, so the story continues but the perspectives change.
Great stuff. (Although by now you'd think that when they finally capture a centuries-old nemesis, who has previously been killed and believed to be dead, they would just BURN THEM! And Not tie them up 'to deal with later...')

This post has been edited by Traveller: 28 March 2012 - 09:08 AM

[Abyss]

Serenity, on 28 March 2012 - 07:39 AM, said:

...
Added another one to my TBR pile on the way home last night:

Gates of Fire - Steven Pressfield

Oh, you are in for a treat.
Forget everything you think you know from 300 because this book, THIS.
IS SPARTA!!!!

[Serenity]

Abyss, on 28 March 2012 - 02:15 PM, said:

Serenity, on 28 March 2012 - 07:39 AM, said:

...
Added another one to my TBR pile on the way home last night:

Gates of Fire - Steven Pressfield

Oh, you are in for a treat.
Forget everything you think you know from 300 because this book, THIS.
IS SPARTA!!!!

Can't wait

[QuickTidal]

Serenity, on 28 March 2012 - 07:39 AM, said:

acesn8s, on 27 March 2012 - 12:11 PM, said:

I enjoyed the Jack Whyte Arthur books.

Good to know - I'm quite looking forward to them.

I second these. Though Whyte has slipped in his more recent books, his Arthurian books are the unassailable champion of the Arthur-mythos for me. All of them (SKYSTONE, SINGING SWORD, EAGLES BROOD [my personal fave], THE SAXON SHORE, SORCERER I: THE FORT AT RIVERS BEND and SORCERER II: METAMORPHOSIS are the main series, UTHER is a sidelong book that is events from EAGLE'S BROOD, (but seen through the eyes of Uther instead of Merlyn and answers questions you will have from book 3) and then there is CLOTHAR THE FRANK (intro of a new narrator), and THE EAGLE (the final book).

Every last one of them is worth the read and the only stutter in them is that Uther is told in the 3rd person, while the rest of the series is told in the 1st person from the POV of Publius, Caius, and then Clothar respectively.

Seriously, I went out and found large trade paperback versions of them with a lovely deckle/rag edge to them...and even have a first edition copy of THE SINGING SWORD which Whyte himself claims he does not own. There is also a post on his website about the first and second books being VERY RARE in first ed. deckle-edge trade paperbacks...and I somehow stumbled across both in my used bookstore travels years ago. They are my most prized rare books. They are a pride and joy. I have a buddy who keeps a dog-eared copy of EAGLES BROOD in his car so whenever he needs a book to read when he is out somewhere, he can re-read it.

You are in for a significant treat.

Ooooh, I can feel a re-read coming on....

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 28 March 2012 - 03:08 PM

[Serenity]

QuickTidal, on 28 March 2012 - 02:48 PM, said:

Serenity, on 28 March 2012 - 07:39 AM, said:

acesn8s, on 27 March 2012 - 12:11 PM, said:

I enjoyed the Jack Whyte Arthur books.

Good to know - I'm quite looking forward to them.

I second these. Though Whyte has slipped in his more recent books, his Arthurian books are the unassailable champion of the Arthur-mythos for me. All of them (SKYSTONE, SINGING SWORD, EAGLES BROOD [my personal fave], THE SAXON SHORE, SORCERER I: THE FORT AT RIVERS BEND and SORCERER II: METAMORPHOSIS are the main series, UTHER is a sidelong book that is events from EAGLE'S BROOD, (but seen through the eyes of Uther instead of Merlyn and answers questions you will have from book 3) and then there is CLOTHAR THE FRANK (intro of a new narrator), and THE EAGLE (the final book).

Every last one of them is worth the read and the only stutter in them is that Uther is told in the 3rd person, while the rest of the series is told in the 1st person from the POV of Publius, Caius, and then Clothar respectively.

Seriously, I went out and found large trade paperback versions of them with a lovely deckle/rag edge to them...and even have a first edition copy of THE SINGING SWORD which Whyte himself claims he does not own. There is also a post on his website about the first and second books being VERY RARE in first ed. deckle-edge trade paperbacks...and I somehow stumbled across both in my used bookstore travels years ago. They are my most prized rare books. They are a pride and joy. I have a buddy who keeps a dog-eared copy of EAGLES BROOD in his car so whenever he needs a book to read when he is out somewhere, he can re-read it.

You are in for a significant treat.

Ooooh, I can feel a re-read coming on....

Excellent! Thanks for that. So they might topple Cornwell's Warlord trilogy from the top of my list of favourites, then ...

I have no idea what to read next now, such a dilemma, in a good way!

[QuickTidal]

Serenity, on 28 March 2012 - 04:22 PM, said:

So they might topple Cornwell's Warlord trilogy from the top of my list of favourites, then ...

Cornwell (who's work I universally love) trilogy is my second fave for simply being amazing...I think Whyte approaches things from a different aspect and there is simply more there for past, present and future. It literally handles every last aspect of the story from beginning to end...whereas Cornwell's series is kind of Media Res as to the aspects of the world. They are both good, but different, it's just I read Whyte first and his series just resonates with me more.

[McLovin]

Agree with QT. I preferred Whyte's series to Cornwell's, for the same reasons he mentions.

I also really like Lawhead's take on the beginnings of Arthur, though obviously that's a more fantastical approach and not really comparable to Whyte/Cornwell.

[acesn8s]

I also read Whyte before Cornwell. I loved the tack Whyte took with his world . . . explaining (instead of building)?

Time to head back to the 3rd bedroom and see which books I'm missing from my series and get them in e-book so I can do a re-read too.

[Serenity]

Great, I shall look forward to reading them then

[QuickTidal]

acesn8s, on 28 March 2012 - 08:39 PM, said:

I also read Whyte before Cornwell. I loved the tack Whyte took with his world . . . explaining (instead of building)?

Spoiler

One of my fave "explanation bits" : I think it's early on in EAGLES BROOD when Caius Brittanicus is talking with young Caius Merlyn and the way he reveals the use of the statue and the metoerite ect and how the sword was crafted. That was excellent!

[Salt-Man Z]

Swung by Half Price Books today, and came across a copy of Theft of Swords. Score!

[Salt-Man Z]

Just found out I won an ARC of Orb Sceptre Throne from Tor.com! Woot!

[worry]

I bought like nine Wheel of Time books through Better World Books, most from the bargain bin, so it was a pretty sweet deal. I suppose I'll tackle it some time this year, just for kicks, though they haven't jumped to the top of my TRP or anything. I have the first ten now, but not the prequel, and I'm wondering where that fits in. Does right after #10 seem fine?

[Salt-Man Z]

Recent pickups:

Canopus in Argos: Archives omnibus by Doris Lessing
Cyteen by C. J. Cherryh
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II by Sean Williams
Transformers: Dark of the Moon by Peter David

And of course, muthaf@#$ing Caine's Law showed up in my mailbox on Saturday (and I'm almost done with it already!)

[Use Of Weapons]

Salt-Man Z, on 09 April 2012 - 04:17 PM, said:

Cyteen by C. J. Cherryh

Awesome book

[Use Of Weapons]

And today I picked up:

John Meaney: _Transmission_, the sequel to _Absorption_ which I raved about previously. Seriously, if you like hard SF, check out Meaney. Not as ker-splody or cannibal alien space-crab in-your-face as Asher, he's probably more like Morgan, but less noir, more classic hard-edged SF.

[acesn8s]

worrywort, on 09 April 2012 - 06:59 AM, said:

I bought like nine Wheel of Time books through Better World Books, most from the bargain bin, so it was a pretty sweet deal. I suppose I'll tackle it some time this year, just for kicks, though they haven't jumped to the top of my TRP or anything. I have the first ten now, but not the prequel, and I'm wondering where that fits in. Does right after #10 seem fine?

I think after 10 should be fine.

[Use Of Weapons]

Yeah, following the publication order is most people's recommendation, and it's the route Leigh takes on the Tor reread (which you could check out as you read along, if you like, though it does have spoilers all the way through for everything).

[QuickTidal]

New Amazon order:

VICIOUS CIRCLE - Mike Carey

THE MAN IN THE PICTURE - Susan Hill

THE LADIES OF GRACE ADIEU - Susannah Clarke

[Salt-Man Z]

Swung by Half Price Books today and found Paul Kearney's Corvus and for $2 the Barnes & Noble hardcover of The Iliad.

But my big score was the Subterranean Press hardcover of John Scalzi's The Sagan Diary for $8 (cover price of $45.)

Also grabbed off the clearance rack ($1 each) Sylvia Kelson's Amberlight, and C. J. Cherryh's Fortress in the Eye of Time.

This post has been edited by Salt-Man Z: 17 April 2012 - 04:24 PM