[Aptorian]

The Vampire with the Dragon Tattoo.

Because some people just want to watch the world burn.

[polishgenius]

You joker.

[Baco Xtath]

polishgenius, on 26 September 2013 - 08:39 PM, said:

Holy shit, I completely failed to realise On The Steel Breeze is out. That'll be on the list as soon as I have money. Cheers for that!

Anyone have any idea when the audiobook for this will be released? I've googled it to no avail.

[Macros]

Tigana was so poor I think its the only Kay book Ive read, didn't bother with anything else.

in other news got myself Perdido Street Station, Alloy of Law and Cloud Atlas for my reader. Will be starting one of them tonight after RAF

[lastname]

Bought Blood Rites (Butcher) and The Drawing of the Three (King). Getting close to the closing act of FoD at the moment.

[Dolmen 2.0]

I bought the rest of Sandersons Mistborn series, Hero of the Ages and the Well of Ascension.

Also on a whim, inspired by the trend of "oh what the hell" going rampant on the forum, I picked something that really stood out for me. It's called: Gameboard of the Gods
an age of X Book by Richelle Mead.

She has a following thanks to her debut books, "the Morganville Vampire Series". I have decided to overlook this alarm bell because she seems to introduce themes I didn't expect from a YA Novelist.

Reading the back spread caught me as it wasn't quite something I could peg:

Quote

In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America (RUNA). Raised in an aristocratic caste, Mae is now a member of the military’s most elite and terrifying tier, a soldier with enhanced reflexes and skills.

When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger. As their investigation races forward, unknown enemies and powers greater than they can imagine are gathering in the shadows, ready to reclaim the world in which humans are merely game pieces on their board.

Gameboard of the Gods, the first installment of Richelle Mead’s Age of X series, will have all the elements that have made her YA Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series such megasuccesses: sexy, irresistible characters; romantic and mythological intrigue; and relentless action and suspense.

This post has been edited by Dolmen+: 28 September 2013 - 06:00 PM

[Macros]

That sounds truly awful. Its like you are all trying to find the worst books possible, just save the effort and go read John Ringo.

[Mentalist]

I've had an hour+ long job interview today. Then, since I was in the area, I visited some Russian bookstores....

long story short:

Robert Silverberg's "Majipoor" trilogy--in one beautiful volume

2 books from the " "Enclaves" of Vadim Panov" series--Panov wrote the original 5 "Enclaves" books, which were an awesome, Russian shadowrun-style series, but with an epic scope. And then, based on the end of that series, he turned the leftovers into an open universe fro other writers to write in (this happens a lot in Russian SFF lit). So got those, will be a great palate cleanser when I want some post-apoc hacker/magic mil sf.

last one was an impulse buy--Vasiliy Yan, a historical fiction trilogy titled "Mongol Incursions". Will be interesting to try reading this and Stephenson's "Mongoliad" side-by-side.

[QuickTidal]

Mentalist, on 30 September 2013 - 07:28 PM, said:

I've had an hour+ long job interview today. Then, since I was in the area, I visited some Russian bookstores....

Oh gods...I read that as "visited some Russian hookers"...

I nearly spat out my water.

Unintentional funny of the day!

[Morgoth]

QuickTidal, on 30 September 2013 - 07:30 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 30 September 2013 - 07:28 PM, said:

I've had an hour+ long job interview today. Then, since I was in the area, I visited some Russian bookstores....

Oh gods...I read that as "visited some Russian hookers"...

I nearly spat out my water.

Unintentional funny of the day!

Yeah, Russian hookers are for fridays.

[Abyss]

Macros, on 27 September 2013 - 04:51 PM, said:

Tigana was so poor I think its the only Kay book Ive read, didn't bother with anything else.
...

I too disliked TIGANA, but you're cheating yourself by not checking out LIONS or SARANTINE MOSAIC at least.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 30 September 2013 - 08:47 PM, said:

Macros, on 27 September 2013 - 04:51 PM, said:

Tigana was so poor I think its the only Kay book Ive read, didn't bother with anything else.
...

I too disliked TIGANA, but you're cheating yourself by not checking out LIONS or SARANTINE MOSAIC at least.

LIONS is not only the best of GGK's work, but it's also in my top ten of all time.

[Mentalist]

QuickTidal, on 30 September 2013 - 11:59 PM, said:

Abyss, on 30 September 2013 - 08:47 PM, said:

Macros, on 27 September 2013 - 04:51 PM, said:

Tigana was so poor I think its the only Kay book Ive read, didn't bother with anything else.
...

I too disliked TIGANA, but you're cheating yourself by not checking out LIONS or SARANTINE MOSAIC at least.

LIONS is not only the best of GGK's work, but it's also in my top ten of all time.

lies. Sarantine Mosaic beats everything Kay's ever written.

imho, ofc

[lastname]

Didn't care for Lions at all. I had other peeves but basically Ammar annoyed the hell out of me (spoilered below). The Sarantine duology was my intro to Kay and is probably still my favourite among his books with Under Heaven a close second.

Spoiler

Ammar, for a kingkiller, got way too much respect and was too much of a paragon of every damn skill and virtue ... even by Kay's standards. Yes, I do realize that his characters tend to be that way sometimes but I thought this got ridiculous.

[champ]

The Blood Song by Anthony Ryan!

Heard a lot of good things about this - looking forward to it!

[polishgenius]

Lions is an amazing book for the first two-thirds and a distinctly poor one for the last third.

Under Heaven is GGK's best book (unless River of Stars tops it, not read that yet).

[Grief]

I'd be interested in the order people read Kay, since expectation is usually a big factor. For me it certainly wasn't overhyped since I found it at a second hand shop and hadn't heard of him. A bit slow in places, but I thought it touched on themes much more interesting than most fantasy does, looked at aspects of the genre that aren't looked at much.

My biggest gripe probably comes with the behaviour of certain characters seeming a bit unrealistic given their motivation, just a bit shoe-horned to fit the plot.

Not the best fantasy I've ever read, but I did think it was good.

Seems the main complaint is that it doesn't live up to his other works. The amount of variation in what Kay people think is best seems like it's really a point in his favour, versatility wise. This just suggests to me that I really should read more of him.

[QuickTidal]

champ, on 01 October 2013 - 11:30 AM, said:

The Blood Song by Anthony Ryan!

Heard a lot of good things about this - looking forward to it!

Enjoy! I loved that book so much.

[Mentalist]

Grief, on 01 October 2013 - 04:49 PM, said:

I'd be interested in the order people read Kay, since expectation is usually a big factor. For me it certainly wasn't overhyped since I found it at a second hand shop and hadn't heard of him. A bit slow in places, but I thought it touched on themes much more interesting than most fantasy does, looked at aspects of the genre that aren't looked at much.

My biggest gripe probably comes with the behaviour of certain characters seeming a bit unrealistic given their motivation, just a bit shoe-horned to fit the plot.

Not the best fantasy I've ever read, but I did think it was good.

Seems the main complaint is that it doesn't live up to his other works. The amount of variation in what Kay people think is best seems like it's really a point in his favour, versatility wise. This just suggests to me that I really should read more of him.

Order read in:

Fionaovar Tapestry

then, much later, within a fairly short span of time:

Song for Arbonne

Tigana

Sailing to Sarantium/Lord of Emperors

Lions of Al-Rassan

Last Light of the Sun


Once it was released:

Under Heaven


Order of Enjoyment:

Santine Mosaic

Under Heaven

Arbonne

Fionavar

Lions/LLotS

....





....





....



Tigana





Ysabel I haven't read since that's the one Kay work that's universally disliked

[lastname]

Reading order:
1 - The Sarantine Mosaic
2 - A Song for Arbonne
3 - Last Light under the Sun
4 - Under Heaven
5 - The Lions of Al-Rassan
6 - The Fionavar Tapestry - gave up halfway through book 2 (or maybe it was 3) once a major character hit the wall and was magically turned into alt-Guinevere.
I bought Tigana a while ago but haven't read it yet as #5 and #6 (my last 2 Kay reads) were pretty disappointing for me.

Ranking (or whatever):
1 - The Sarantine Mosaic
1b - Under Heaven
3 - Last Light
3b - Arbonne
...
99 - Lions
100 - Fionavar