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Major dialing down of everything that made his earlier books so enjoyable - and the really sucky bit is that he has to write two more to finish the trilogy before we can expect anything else. :(
Well, he tweeted that he finished the draft of the second one a couple days ago. Say one thing for Abercrombie, say he's a quick one :)
I'm currently rereading the Dresden Files (out of order) since they're quick and easy reads, so I can tear through one every day or two even while I'm fairly busy with stuff at the moment. Once I'm done with what I've got (everything up to and including Turn Coat) I'll buy the ones I'm missing and catch up.
Recently, I've tried to get into Brandon Sanderson.
Overall, I liked the Mistborn trilogy but put down book 3 about 200 pages in. It became a slog. I bought book one of his new series "The Way of Kings". I'm about 500 pages into this monster, and I've abandoned it just last week. I found the pacing to be too slow between major scenes, this happened to me with David Weber's "Off Armageddon Reef". Sanderson was a hair better with pacing, but I still don't get all the accolades.
Currently, I'm rereading the Malazan series by Steven Erikson. I was up to the Bonehunters (book 6?) previously, but took way too long getting back to the series with other books. So, I'm restarting the series.
In all honesty, Erikson has great pacing that keeps you turning pages well into the wee hours and his world-building/setting is wonderful. I do get that some readers aren't too excited by his characterizations based on Gardens of the Moon. Normally, most critics will give just the first book of a series a try and review that before moving on to something else. This will never do Erikson justice with some critics. Gardens of the Moon into Deadhouse Gates, while excellent on their own are just preludes/introductions to the series as far as characterization goes, IMHO. Later books focus a little more on specific characters like Fiddler, Kalam, Sorry/Apsalar, etc. and expand on other races/characters like the Tiste people, the T'lan Imass, Jaghut, etc.
This makes the series hard to review (again IMHO). In a sense, reviewing Gardens of the Moon is like reviewing 1/10th of a book.
YMMV of course as some readers, need to be grabbed from the start or they dump the book. Honestly, I think I can be like that at times, mostly because my overall reading time is limited and I try to choose books that I think will grab me right away. As an example of this, "A Song of Ice and Fire" comes to mind. I'm glad I was patient in the beginning of Game of Thrones and didn't drop it like my wife did, she barely got off the ground and was put off by the multitudes of characters early on before Martin started building on them. She loves the show and tells me she plans on getting back to it eventually. :)
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I'm currently rereading the Dresden Files (out of order) since they're quick and easy reads, so I can tear through one every day or two even while I'm fairly busy with stuff at the moment. Once I'm done with what I've got (everything up to and including Turn Coat) I'll buy the ones I'm missing and catch up.
If you are looking for other sources of short and fun reads, I have a couple of recommendations you might want to check out:
1) Repairman Jack - those books are remarkably similar to the Dresden Files in some ways, yet certainly different enough to be worth the read. They follow the adventures of the urban mercenary Jack as he stumbles upon supernatural forces with a Lovecraftian flavor. I did an interview with the author, where we give a relatively spoiler free discussion of the books.
2) If you somehow haven't read Terry Pratchett yet, you should totally do so. His books are short, charming and surprisingly good at making you flip those pages. A true classic. In particular, the Night Watch series set on Discworld is awesome, and if you are looking for a stand alone, GOOD OMENS is simply great.
3) There's a series called "Tales of the Ketty Jay" - the premise is "Steampunk Firefly", and that's enough said about that. The books are short and packed to the brim with adventures and wit. Not as good as the other two recommendations but they could fit your needs.
I'm currently rereading the Dresden Files (out of order) since they're quick and easy reads, so I can tear through one every day or two even while I'm fairly busy with stuff at the moment. Once I'm done with what I've got (everything up to and including Turn Coat) I'll buy the ones I'm missing and catch up.If you are looking for other sources of short and fun reads, I have a couple of recommendations you might want to check out:
1) Repairman Jack - those books are remarkably similar to the Dresden Files in some ways, yet certainly different enough to be worth the read. They follow the adventures of the urban mercenary Jack as he stumbles upon supernatural forces with a Lovecraftian flavor. I did an interview with the author, where we give a relatively spoiler free discussion of the books.
2) If you somehow haven't read Terry Pratchett yet, you should totally do so. His books are short, charming and surprisingly good at making you flip those pages. A true classic. In particular, the Night Watch series set on Discworld is awesome, and if you are looking for a stand alone, GOOD OMENS is simply great.
3) There's a series called "Tales of the Ketty Jay" - the premise is "Steampunk Firefly", and that's enough said about that. The books are short and packed to the brim with adventures and wit. Not as good as the other two recommendations but they could fit your needs.
I'll check out 1 and 3 on the list. Discworld I'm well aware of, only one I haven't read yet is Raising Steam. I've read most of his other stuff too, except for the recent stuff he's been collaborating with Stephen Baxter on.
One of these days I'm going to have to finish collecting all of Simon R Green's Nightside and Secret History novels as well. Very fun short reads, urban fantasy again. The Secret History is basically an urban fantasy Bond homage, as you can tell from the names of the books, including titles like The Man With The Golden Torc, Daemons Are Forever and The Spy Who Haunted Me
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McKillip is one of the best writers -- not just fantasy writers, but writers -- out there, so it's a shame to skip her.
As in Patricia McKillip?
The Riddlemaster of Hed books had some interesting magic, but didn't wow me.
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, on the other hand (which I just re-read a week ago), pretty darn amazing.
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As for more recently, I've been re-reading some of my old books on breaks at work, including one of my favorite authors I always forget, Walter Jon Williams. Hard Wired, Angel Station and Voice of the Whirlwind are very different stories, more or less cyberpunky or even post-Starship-Troopers-esque, and yet cover a recurring theme with Williams, of people dealing with their way of life becoming obsolete, and being forced to find new ways to get by in an everchanging world. Unlike the cowboys they seem to serve as metaphors for, they have jobs like space smuggler or ex-soldier-of-fortune-on-alien-worlds, but the theme remains the same, the struggle to adapt to a world that is evolving to no longer need your particular skill set (or put up with your particular attitude...).
Neat stuff. And, as a Zelazny fan, it's interesting to see how William's writing starts to take on a bit of Zelazny influence. They collaborated on the Wild Cards series, and I'm not sure if that's where the influence comes from, or if it predates that (since I doubt they actually physically met at that time).
It solves the whole "dont cause a paradox!!!" issue by making the course of history unalterable, anyone trying to mess with events is targeted for elimination by History itself, much like a Final Destination movie.
I also liked what Steven King did in 11/22/63, which I enjoyed a great deal.
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I gave in and read The Spellsong War, the second book in L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s "Spellsong Cycle." As the GoodReads reviewers said, it was pretty much par with the first book in the series. Lots of politics. The only thing I liked less than the first book was that the ending felt rushed. I get the feeling that I'm probably going to complete the series, if it isn't too long. At least not Wheel of Time long.
Now I'm reading Ken Follett's Hornet Flight. Mr. Follett spoke at my school yesterday and I got my copy autographed. I don't normally read WWII thrillers, but this one has been entertaining so far. I've also heard good things about his The Eye of the Needle. I like this one because it involves airplanes. :)
Rereading The Black Company books. So much goodness. They improve with age and re-reading.
I have a wicked yen to read Lord of Light, but Roger Zelazney's books are not available on Nook because of some awful family struggle. It's also out of print. It may be one of the few books I kept, but it's back in storage in St. Louis. :(
I, Row-Boat, by Cory Doctorow.
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Oh, so I finished The Dark Defiles. The ending was... odd. I had to reread it a couple times. Plus there were lots of loose ends. Not how I would have ended that trilogy, but all in all I enjoyed all three books.
The I read The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss. I was glad it was short. There was definitely something intriguing about the way the whole thing was written, but I don't think Rothfuss is the kind of writer who could pull it off. He does better when he is writing at a fast pace. At times, the way he was writing about Auri seemed almost creepy, more like a voyeuristic fantasy than a real flesh-and-blood character. I imagine someone else could read the same novella and get a different impression, but there it is. I will still gladly read book 3 of his trilogy, since I expect it will play to his strengths better.
Now I am re-reading The Catcher in the Rye since I have not done so since high school.
Finished re-reading the Dresden Files novels that I have so far, while I'm waiting for the remaining ones to arrive I've started reading Simon R Green's Nightside and Secret History novels. Again, urban fantasy, and in the case of the Nightside series, similar to Dresden in that the setup is a private investigator with supernatural powers dealing with the weird side of things. The books tend to be more pulp in style though, tend towards an "everything and the kitchen sink" approach in terms of what to include. Tropes from all over the genres of fantasy, sci-fi and horror living side by side, and characters from all his series tend to cross over into the others.
The Secret History series was a bit weird for me at first, I found having a protagonist who is almost completely invulnerable (and even the one thing that does hurt him in the first novel isn't what it seems to be), but after a while I just started to enjoy the over the top nature of it. The fact that all of the books are titled with parodies of Bond stories amuses me as well. Trying to track down a copy of the second book, Daemons Are Forever, at the moment.
Due to long waits for an oil change and a new tire, not only did I get a half day off (and counting, c'mon Town Fair Tire, hurry up!), I finally finished The Lost World.
Am supposed to give another class on The New Jim Crow sometime in the next two weeks, but I think I'll finally start The Princess and the Goblin. Might give me some ideas for seducing Female Comrade.
Tinkergoth, have you read Glen Cook's Garrett, P.I. series? It's fantasy noir hard-boiled detective stories in a really interesting setting. Not Bond parody, more Sam Spade.
If you're a Lovecraft fan and want to pick up a few works, check out this deal.
This collection includes 160 of H.P. Lovecraft’s works. The collection is grouped by Early Writings, Fiction, Collaborative Works, Poetry and Essays. The groups are organized in chronological order by the date that each work was written.
* Professional formatting, giving you full control over fonts, font sizes, and line spacing
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* Links to download full-length audiobooks included FREE!
Early Writings:
The Little Glass Bottle
The Secret Cave
The Mystery Of The Graveyard
The Mysterious Ship
The Beast in the Cave
The Alchemist
Fiction:
The Tomb
Dagon
A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson
Sweet Ermengarde
Polaris
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
Memory
Old Bugs
The Transition of Juan Romero
The White Ship
The Doom That Came to Sarnath
The Statement of Randolph Carter
The Terrible Old Man
The Tree
The Cats of Ulthar
The Temple
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family
The Street
Celephaïs
From Beyond
Nyarlathotep
The Picture in the House
Ex Oblivione
The Nameless City
The Quest of Iranon
The Moon-Bog
The Outsider
The Other Gods
The Music of Erich Zann
Herbert West—Reanimator
Hypnos
What the Moon Brings
Azathoth
The Hound
The Lurking Fear
The Rats in the Walls
The Unnamable
The Festival
The Shunned House
The Horror at Red Hook
He
In the Vault
The Descendant
Cool Air
The Call of Cthulhu
Pickman’s Model
The Silver Key
The Strange High House in the Mist
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
The Colour Out of Space
The Very Old Folk
The Thing in the Moonlight
A History Of The Necronomicon
Ibid
The Dunwich Horror
The Whisperer in Darkness
At the Mountains of Madness
Discarded Draft of The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Shadow Over Innsmouth
The Dreams in the Witch House
The Thing on the Doorstep
The Evil Clergyman
The Book
The Shadow Out of Time
The Haunter of the Dark
Collaborative Works:
The Green Meadow
Poetry and the Gods
The Crawling Chaos
The Horror At Martin's Beach
Under the Pyramids
Two Black Bottles
The Last Test
The Curse Of Yig
The Electric Executioner
The Mound
Medusa's Coil
The Trap
The Man Of Stone
The Horror In The Museum
Through the Gates of the Silver Key
Winged Death
Out of the Aeons
The Horror In The Burying-Ground
The Hoard Of The Wizard-Beast
The Slaying of the Monster
The Tree On the Hill
The Battle That Ended the Century
Till A' the Seas…
Collapsing Cosmoses
The Challenge From Beyond
The Disinterment
The Diary Of Alonzo Typer
In the Walls of Eryx
The Night Ocean
Essays:
Metrical Regularity
The Allowable Rhyme
At the Root
The Despised Pastoral
The Literature of Rome
Americanism
Literary Composition
Winifred Virginia Jackson: A "Different" Poetess
Supernatural Horror In Literature
Cats And Dogs
Notes On Writing Weird Fiction
Poetry (47 Works included)
Not to push any particular seller, but geez, that's a great deal!
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Recently finished Diana Pharoah Francis' 'Bitter Night', first book in her Horngate Witches four-part series. It's urban fantasy, with an apocalyptic spin. I enjoyed it enough to plough through it pretty quickly. I'm trying to decide now if I'm going to read the rest of the series. The magic system is quite interesting. The main protagonist is a woman who has been bonded to a witch and given magically-induced superpowers. There are angels in the story, as well, though they aren't the traditional variety. They rather remind me of angels one might see in anime.
Currently I'm re-reading Gene Wolfe's 'Soldier of the Mist'. It is definitely not everyone's cup of tea, since the first-person narrative is told by a man with amnesia, who is unable to form new memories and must write everything down to know what happens to him from day to day. Thus the narrator himself doesn't really know what's going on much of the time. But like all Wolfe's writing, the language is beautiful, and it's wonderfully evocative of its setting, Hellenic Greece following the Battle of Plataea. I enjoy trying to tease out what is really happening from the narrator's fractured descriptions.
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Recently finished Diana Pharoah Francis' 'Bitter Night', first book in her Horngate Witches four-part series. It's urban fantasy, with an apocalyptic spin. I enjoyed it enough to plough through it pretty quickly. I'm trying to decide now if I'm going to read the rest of the series. The magic system is quite interesting. The main protagonist is a woman who has been bonded to a witch and given magically-induced superpowers. There are angels in the story, as well, though they aren't the traditional variety. They rather remind me of angels one might see in anime.
I read this book when it came out a few years ago. There are 4 books in the series.
In the last 10 days I read 3 books.
1) Damnation by Jean Johnson, the 5th and final book of "Their's Not To Reason Why" series. I was a little disapointed with the ending, but she did leave an opening.
2&3) Board Stiff and Five Portraits by Piers Anthony. The latest Xanth novels. Board Stiff came out last year, but I never saw it. The last one I saw was Esrever Doom in October. Board Stiff was mentioned in the Author's note, but I never saw it. Turns out he is now self publishing and puting books online.
Tinkergoth, have you read Glen Cook's Garrett, P.I. series? It's fantasy noir hard-boiled detective stories in a really interesting setting. Not Bond parody, more Sam Spade.
I have not. It's something that's been on my list for a while though.
Yeah, only the Secret History series is a Bond parody when it comes to Green's work. And even then most of the Bond references are in the title, and the fact that the main character uses Shaman Bond as his cover identity as a personal joke. Mostly it's just fast paced action with a lot of comedy and stuff thrown in. Gotta love Molly Metcalf, the Wild Witch of the Woods. Also known as the Infamous Molly Metcalf, because you can't go around abducting aliens and probing them as payback for cattle mutilation without getting a bit of a reputation.
Nightside is more straight up detective stories, but again with plenty of dark comedy. It likes to up the ante pretty quick too...
If you're a Lovecraft fan and want to pick up a few works, check out this deal.
** spoiler omitted **...
Hmmmm. I think I already have all his works, but they're spread across a number of volumes. I'm tempted to grab that just to have them all in one location.
Turned into a whole day, huzzah!
But I didn't get any more reading done...
:(
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Hmmmm. I think I already have all his works, but they're spread across a number of volumes. I'm tempted to grab that just to have them all in one location.If you're a Lovecraft fan and want to pick up a few works, check out this deal.
** spoiler omitted **...
No need, really, since Lovecraft's fiction is now public domain. I downloaded a file containing all of it from here and am happy with it. There's an index with clickable links to all the stories, which is great (at least for Kindle).
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Joe Abercrombie - Before They are Hanged
Tried to go to work earlier today and after the Doodlemobile slipped off the road twice (also, I'm not a very good driver) I said "F+@% this, I'm going home. That's what union membership's for." Anyway, I should probably go check outside and see if the ice has melted off the roads yet. Or maybe I shouldn't...
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Finished reading THE DRAGON REBORN (WHEEL OF TIME #3), next objective is FALLEN DRAGON a standalone by Peter F Hamilton. I need a break from fantasy for a few weeks, and I haven't tried Hamilton yet, so a standalone science fiction by a new author sounds like a good idea to me.
THE DRAGON REBORN thoughts:
In this third book we seem to take a departure for Rand as he struggles with his madness, which means we don't get to experience his gradual change. He is, in fact, a minor character in the book, background noise used to set up the ending action sequence. That is an interesting choice for a book about his ascension to the acknowledged messiah. Regretfully, what we get instead of following Rand is following other, less interesting characters. Not much of substance or interest happens during most of the book, but I came in expecting that. Perrin is nice enough but very passive, Mat is annoying yet his story is rather interesting. Egwene, Nynaeve and Elayne lost a lot of my respect with their behavior at the end of the book - with their pride they never thanked Mat for saving them - they acted less humble than Moiraine, and with far less of a reason. I am interested to see if they will mature during the rest of the story.
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Finished reading THE DRAGON REBORN (WHEEL OF TIME #3), next objective is FALLEN DRAGON a standalone by Peter F Hamilton. I need a break from fantasy for a few weeks, and I haven't tried Hamilton yet, so a standalone science fiction by a new author sounds like a good idea to me.
THE DRAGON REBORN thoughts:
** spoiler omitted **** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **Finished reading THE DRAGON REBORN (WHEEL OF TIME #3), next objective is FALLEN DRAGON a standalone by Peter F Hamilton. I need a break from fantasy for a few weeks, and I haven't tried Hamilton yet, so a standalone science fiction by a new author sounds like a good idea to me.
THE DRAGON REBORN thoughts:
** spoiler omitted **** spoiler omitted **
I enjoyed the series overall, but when main characters go MIA for no reason it can get very frustrating.
Just finished Ancillary Sword. If you liked Ancillary Justice, you'll probably like this one a lot, too.
I am currently reading Turn Coat from the Dresden Files and The Graveyard Book. I read the first Dresden book last week, but the main library in my town is going through renovations so most of the fiction is packed away until next month.
I know The Graveyard Book is a children's book, but it is Neil Gaimen so it creepy, funny and imaginative. I read a third of it in an hour last night.
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Oh, right, children's books. I read The Wolves of Willoughby Chase while insomniac Tuesday night. It was great fun!
Kids books are the best.
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Clearing out the cupboard under the stairs resulted in a lot of old crap being thrown out, but I also found:
1) Two old issues of Dragon, which was nice.
2) Sacred Drift: Essays on the Margins of Islam by Peter Lamborn Wilson, which is not as mysticky woo-woo as I'd feared
3) Poor Wizard's Almanac, which I thought I'd thrown out years ago. Whoopee!
Also tried reading Montaillou by Emile La Roi Ladurie, which was very dull indeed, unless you like reading about the daily lives of 13th Century Cathar Shepherds
Tomorrow's bathtub read will be the Swedish translation of Le Petit Bijoux by this year's Nobel Prize winner, Patrick Modiano. It's only 128 pages, in a fairly large font, so if I use warm enough water it should be enough with one bath.
Did you find Harry Potter in the cupboard under the stairs?
Not the book; the boy wizard.
If Harry Potter is a bank statement from c.2009, the answer to that is a very emphatic 'yes'.
Oh, right, children's books. I read The Wolves of Willoughby Chase while insomniac Tuesday night. It was great fun!
Kids books are the best.
I picked that one up recently. Joan Aiken, right? I'd've read it already if it wasn't for my recent reading slump. :(
The Princess and the Goblin is turning out to be nowhere near as racy as I had hoped. :(
Also tried reading Montaillou by Emile La Roi Ladurie, which was very dull indeed, unless you like reading about the daily lives of 13th Century Cathar Shepherds ** spoiler omitted ** Not a keeper.
One of the more useless "facts" that I have used to impress people with over the years is that the Britishiznoid term "bugger" is derived from "Bulgar" which was in reference to the Cathar Heresy.
I learned that from an introductory essay to my edition of Candide; if it isn't actually true, I don't wanna hear about it.
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Also tried reading Montaillou by Emile La Roi Ladurie, which was very dull indeed, unless you like reading about the daily lives of 13th Century Cathar Shepherds ** spoiler omitted ** Not a keeper.One of the more useless "facts" that I have used to impress people with over the years is that the Britishiznoid term "bugger" is derived from "Bulgar" which was in reference to the Cathar Heresy.
I learned that from an introductory essay to my edition of Candide; if it isn't actually true, I don't wanna hear about it.
My grandmother has called me a little bugger more times than I can remember.
just borrowed a collection of Brother Cadafel stories (medieval monastery detective), which is currently waiting on the bed.
recently re-read Neal Stephenson 'Snow Crash' which is great if you remember the early days of internet.
linking Neal Stephenson and Cathar heresy, I can very much recommend the Mongoliad (although Stephenson isn't actually on the team for book 5 which is the one with catharites).
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Yesterday I finished off volume 1 of Robert Jordan's Conan stories, or Pornan the Bare Hairy'un, as I've decided to call it. I've never come across so many nipples since I last read an Andrew J. Offutt book.
I've also started a blog about kakky fantasy novels, which can be viewed here. Anyone expecting Samnellesque levels of research and erudition needs to prepare themselves for a great deal of disappointment.
I've also started a blog about kakky fantasy novels, which can be viewed here. Anyone expecting Samnellesque levels of research and erudition needs to prepare themselves for a great deal of disappointment.
Meh, that guy's overrated.
Meh, that guy's overrated.
I've also started a blog about kakky fantasy novels, which can be viewed here. Anyone expecting Samnellesque levels of research and erudition needs to prepare themselves for a great deal of disappointment.
Some of us don't think so=)
Going to wade through William King's Tyrion and Teclis trilogy over the holidays: Blood of Aenarion, Sword of Caledor and Bane of Malekith.
I've mentioned re-reading the Dragonlance novels on this thread many times this year. Back in the 1990s, I bought and read dozens of those, and of course, I found some authors of those books to be better than others.
Among the lesser authors I would include the team of Paul Thompson and Tonya Carter. Their books had some good ideas and some bad ideas, but even their bad ideas weren't their biggest problem. I just found their books boring. Another author could have mixed the same ideas into a nice blend of subplots and major events, but Thomson's and Carter's books sometimes plodded on, in a way to make it seem like nothing was happening, even when something WAS.
Among the better authors I would include Douglas Niles. His novels moved quickly, and bulged with interesting characters and events. Heck, there were times when his books would briefly mention characters and events that I wished I could have seen EXPANDED into lengthy subplots, making an even longer novel!
I mention those authors in particular because of the Elven Nations trilogy, which depicted the founding of Qualinesti. The Thompson and Carter team wrote books 1 and 3 of that trilogy, and Douglas Niles wrote book 2, so it came as no surprise that felt kind of ho-hum about 1 and 3, and loved 2. In the early 2000s, when I re-read some of my favorite Dragonlance novels, I gave book 2 a second reading, and not 1 and 3.
Flash forward to the present year. My son asked me to tell him a story, and he had already played quite a bit of D&D and Pathfinder. So I told him the Dragonlance story. He loved it, and made me tell the story of dozens of Dragonlance novels in as much detail as I could remember. The novels that I had re-read I remembered better. I was rather sketchy about the novels I hadn't re-read.
And of all the novels I hadn't re-read, the first and third Elven Nations books left me the most curious as I related them. What WERE those details I hadn't remembered? What did some of those characters do to cause or solve those problems?
I grew so curious that I took the first Elven Nations book, "Firstborn", off my shelf, and I'm now more than 95% through re-reading it. My opinion of the novel is completely unchanged. Those characters could have caused or solved those problems in much more exciting and memorable ways. More generally, the ideas in that book could have been written so much better. It's a pity.
EDIT: Just to be clear, Thompson and Carter weren't BAD. They just weren't all that great.
I've mentioned re-reading the Dragonlance novels on this thread many times this year. Back in the 1990s, I bought and read dozens of those, and of course, I found some authors of those books to be better than others.
Among the better authors I would include Douglas Niles. His novels moved quickly, and bulged with interesting characters and events. Heck, there were times when his books would briefly mention characters and events that I wished I could have seen EXPANDED into lengthy
Flash forward to the present year. My son asked me to tell him a story, and he had already played quite a bit of D&D and Pathfinder. So I told him the Dragonlance story. He loved it, and made me tell the story of dozens of Dragonlance novels in as much detail as I could remember. The novels that I had re-read I remembered better. I was rather sketchy about the novels I hadn't re-read.
I really liked the Moonshae trilogy back in the day. Can't remember much about it, except for the magical beasts, and the dog.
Yeah, the Moonshae trilogy never quite made my wishlist, but it came close, just because of the author. I suppose if I were to buy a D&D novel anytime soon, there's a good chance it would be Darkwalker on Moonshae.