Opted for light fantasy and picked up an FR book I never finished in 1999: Silverfall: Stories of the Seven Sisters. It's seven novellas linked together. To date they're pretty decent except that the transitions can be clunky. I find I'm appreciating the subtleties a lot more this time around.
I went and ordered up a small stream of more Greenwood so I'll probably be reading those for the next week or two.
Gene Wolfe - Home Fires
So far (50 pages or so) this feels like it was straight out of the heyday of Heinlein and Asimov, with cool ideas but really minimal description of settings/characters.
Have not been reading too much ever since I scored a PlayStation 2 (I'm so cutting edge!), but I did manage to finish The Invisible Man.
I don't know why, but I didn't enjoy it nearly half as much as I did Wells's other classics (Time Machine, War of the Worlds, Island of Dr. Moreau). I think it's because I kept picturing Claude Rains.
Which is ironic, of course, because Claude Rains hardly appears in the film!
No, I kid. It had nothing to do with Claude Rains.
Speaking of my PlayStation 2, I am obsessed with Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires. I have conquered China in the guise of Liu Bei, Meng Huo, Yuan Shao and, last night, Sun Jian.
I saw Red Cliff when it came out, of course, but has anyone read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms? And is it worth it?
Scored several of the trade collections of Hellboy from a friend who was upgrading to a collector's omnibus. Plus a few B.P.R.D collections. Very cool reading, and about all I can handle at this point in my busy cycle
Bathtub reading: Ian Rankin's Dead Souls
Outside the bath, Naamah's Blessing just arrived. Yay for sexy half-fre... half-d'Angeline, half-el... half-Tuatha de Da... half-Maghuinn Dhonn world-travellers and their Chin bad boy boyfriends.
"The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack" by Mark Hodder, an alternate steampunk history.
George RR Martin's and Gardner Dozier's Warriors 1 after just polishing off The Hedge Knight and Sworn Sword, Martin's adventures of Dunk and Egg. Great stuff.
Also Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions.
I Shall Wear Midnight - Pratchett. To be followed by The Night Angel Trilogy - Weeks. Then A Dance with Dragons - Martin and Ghost Story - Butcher.
Brian
Scored the complete annotated stories of Sherlock Holmes in an impressive 2-volume set (moving the inlaws-FiL already had another set.) I haven't actually read much of L Conan Doyle's stuff save Hound of the Baskervilles a while back so I am going to dip my toes into Victorian London. If nothing else, should allow me a few good yoinks for my PbP when they get back to Sigil ...
... Then A Dance with Dragons ...
Yeah when I get my copy this pretty much wipes the rest off the map until finished.
... Then A Dance with Dragons ...Yeah when I get my copy this pretty much wipes the rest off the map until finished.
me too. I just hope I remember to go to work!
After letting the library hold on to it for a couple of weeks, I'm almost finished with The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham. I like it a whole bunch, and even find the plotline about banking and capital investment to be the most interesting of the bunch. Weird.
The whole "12 races of humanity" thing feels a lot like D&D. Would you like to play a chitinous bugman (Timzinae), a merperson (Drowned), or a long-eared warrior (Tralgu--I keep thinking of Jar Jar Biggs, though I'm sure that's not what Abraham had in mind)?
Also, Abraham's got a pretty distinctive voice and since I've only read his Long Price Quartet, I keep picturing his characters as Asian, though they aren't.
Anyway, the book overcomes it's whole setting-things-up-for-the-rest-of-the-series feel and I can't wait to see what comes next!
Finished Silverfall and quite liked it, but the anthology of novellas concept didn't do the plot weaving through them many favors. There were multiple independent schemes (drow infiltration of a city, slaving, and ultimately a plot to steal some godly power) that all appeared to be interconnected, but the integration was not enough. I think the idea was that the existing schemes were being manipulated to trap one of the co-protagonists into the endgame, but it never became clear if this was the case or if there was some kind of additional master plan. Knowing Greenwood, I'm guessing the answer is "yes but he wrote a few hundred pages too many and most of it got cut."
Now on to Swords of Eveningstar, where I'm about a hundred fifty pages in. It got off very poorly with me by rehashing one of my least favorite cliches: taking a haughty aristocrat on an involuntary tour through how the other half lives on the theory that this will turn the victim into a decent human being. Apparently taking a walk through the woods and fearing for your life a little bit whilst having to bathe in a river rewrites your entire personality. Interlaced with that there's a kind of neat plot about a wizard using some artifact or something to kill his rivals and steal their knowledge, and a lot of teenage yokels wishing they were on an adventure with their friend who is dragging the aristocrat through the woods.
But Our Heroes just got an official adventuring charter from the king and are now off to actually have some adventures so it shall hopefully pick up. The writing appears much more solid here than in Silverfall, which is odd considering it's the same guy and he wrote both long after he first started writing commercially. Maybe he got a better editor. I understand that his first TSR novel was written in a mix of thick middle English and that substrate tends to show through in Ed's FR books a lot, but it's appearing here in a more comprehensible and positive way. The characters have a distinct, shared way of speaking (Questions are "Think you" rather than "Do you think", etc) which is either much more pronounced here than in earlier work or I've become much more sensitive to it.
I have the next three in the series and I'm pretty sure I'll read the lot, but depending on how this one develops I might read something else in between. I don't hate it so far, but about a hundred page of foreplay that's spoiled on the back cover blurb before getting to the main event is a little much. It's why I've never been able to force myself to reread Fellowship of the Ring. I don't mind taking a slow start, but the slow start plus the bucolic bumpkins is pushing it.
Just finished off The Dragon Reborn - This was the first WOT novel I ever picked up. My primary selection criteria for books when I was in college was *thickness* and when I saw this book on the shelf years ago, I thought Perfect! That should keep me busy for a while. I eventually went back and read the first two books and then continued on with the rest of them, but book 3 was where I met all of the main characters, and I still have a soft spot for it.
In the hopper
The Shadow Rising - I'm a huge fan of the Aiel Waste. The scenes that take place in Rhuidean are some of my favorite in the whole series.
Thinkertoys - Best in small doses.
My Sister's Keeper - Fiancee is still reading it to me :)
Almost done with Dumas' Twenty Years After (my second time through). The Bragelonne ones are next!
Kirth,
What's the deal with the two Dumases? I could look it up, but I'd rather you just tell me.
After letting the library hold on to it for a couple of weeks, I'm almost finished with The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham. I like it a whole bunch, and even find the plotline about banking and capital investment to be the most interesting of the bunch. Weird.
The whole "12 races of humanity" thing feels a lot like D&D. Would you like to play a chitinous bugman (Timzinae), a merperson (Drowned), or a long-eared warrior (Tralgu--I keep thinking of Jar Jar Biggs, though I'm sure that's not what Abraham had in mind)?
Also, Abraham's got a pretty distinctive voice and since I've only read his Long Price Quartet, I keep picturing his characters as Asian, though they aren't.
Anyway, the book overcomes it's whole setting-things-up-for-the-rest-of-the-series feel and I can't wait to see what comes next!
I kinda lost my way with this book for a while, but I am picking it back up now. No real reason, just various other books catching my attention. I do have to admit the banking thing is quite interesting.
I liked that all the sentients were considered 'humanity' rather than distinct subspecies. I also got a feeling that this world could be far in the future where the various races (other than the firstborn) were genetically engineered. The Tralgu I always think of as WoW trolls, with the whole long-ear thing.
I am also reading The Golden Bees, a fascinating dissertation on Napoleon Bonaparte's family. I had no idea he had such a large one, or the fact that he married them into many of the royal families of Europe. Or the fact that many of them worked at cross-purposes to his plans.
What's the deal with the two Dumases? I could look it up, but I'd rather you just tell me.
As I understand it, Dumas (pere), the dad, was the "real" Alexandre Dumas. Dumas (fils), the son, was more or less capitalizing on his name. In contrast to Pere Dumas' bold, swashbuckling romances, Dumas (fils) tended to write angsty stuff about unhappy women and illegitimate sons (the latter being close to home for him).
Just finished off The Dragon Reborn - This was the first WOT novel I ever picked up. My primary selection criteria for books when I was in college was *thickness*
That's funny when you know The Dragon Reborn to be the thinnest of the WoT-books. (Except for the prequel, which might just be my favourite in the series.)
What's the deal with the two Dumases? I could look it up, but I'd rather you just tell me.As I understand it, Dumas (pere), the dad, was the "real" Alexandre Dumas. Dumas (fils), the son, was more or less capitalizing on his name. In contrast to Pere Dumas' bold, swashbuckling romances, Dumas (fils) tended to write angsty stuff about unhappy women and illegitimate sons (the latter being close to home for him).
Thanks!
I kinda lost my way with this book for a while, but I am picking it back up now. No real reason, just various other books catching my attention. I do have to admit the banking thing is quite interesting.
I liked that all the sentients were considered 'humanity' rather than distinct subspecies. I also got a feeling that this world could be far in the future where the various races (other than the firstborn) were genetically engineered. The Tralgu I always think of as WoW trolls, with the whole long-ear thing.
I am also reading The Golden Bees, a fascinating dissertation on Napoleon Bonaparte's family. I had no idea he had such a large one, or the fact that he married them into many of the royal families of Europe. Or the fact that many of them worked at cross-purposes to his plans.
Yeah, I just finished it five minutes ago. It really picks up towards the end. It's funny, because if you read Werthead's comments on the Daniel Abraham page, you'll see that he talks about a character that loses the reader's sympathy. If I'm right, I know (and probably you do, too, but I'm being vague for non-spoilers sake) who he means, but I still found him to be my favorite character by the end of the book.
Re: the 12 races--Abe doesn't do too much world explaining, but
Am I going to have to wait a year for the next one? Sigh.
Did you read the Long Price Quartet? I loved that.
Re: The Bonapartes--The story of his nephew, Napoleon III, and how he became the second emperor of France is pretty interesting. You can read about it in Karl Marx's The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon.
Next up for me: Revisiting Captain Nemo and the Nautillus. This time I'm going to read The Mysterious Island, too.
Now note that Augustus the Strong is a larger-than-life noble, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, who...had many, many mistresses (the story is that he had 365 illegitimate children)
I just noticed this.
Wow.
I guess it IS good to be the king.
Just finished off The Dragon Reborn - This was the first WOT novel I ever picked up. My primary selection criteria for books when I was in college was *thickness*That's funny when you know The Dragon Reborn to be the thinnest of the WoT-books. (Except for the prequel, which might just be my favourite in the series.)
I remember Path of Daggers being shorter than Dragon Reborn. Regardless, it is funny that among the shortest of Jordan's books is longer than the normal output of many other Fantasy writers! When I picked up this book at the used bookshop, it was the only thing by Jordan on the shelf and dwarfed many books around it!
Changes by Jim Butcher. Getting ready for Ghost Stories. The Dresden Files is by far the most read series in my collection.
The Plantagenet Chronicles by Elizabeth Hallam and The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman.
That should cover my reading of the English dynasties for a while.
Tried reading the The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, but found the writing stilted and maybe a little dated. Probably will read Richard Matheson's version of it in Hell House instead.
I'm reading the "Deathstalker" series, by Simon R. Green. I'm well into its second volume, "Deathstalker Rebellion."
Last year, I started a thread on this board saying that I was looking for a good "space opera" novel. I griped about so many space stories making heavy use of archaic tools. People have spacecraft, but must rely on swords? Why not futuristic ray guns? People use ornery riding beasts? Why not flying cars? People fight ancient, Cthulhuesque horrors? Why not robots? And so on.
So in that thread, I got many suggestions, and started reading some of the novels / series suggested. One of the first suggestions I got was the "Deathstalker" series. So I picked the first Deathstalker book up in the library, and one look at the cover picture discouraged me. It clearly showed the hero wielding a sword. What is it with science fiction authors and those bleeping swords?!? Apparently, in the "Deathstalker" universe, the power sources of handheld energy weapons take several minutes to recharge after each time they're fired, so people have to use their swords in between. I mean, really! Couldn't someone just invent a weapon with "rotating" power sources?
Nevertheless, I gave the series a shot. Of course, a work of literature it ain't. It's got heroes who habitually triumph against impossible odds, due to a combination of astronomical coincidences, stupid "Bond" villains, Deus Ex Machina devices, etc. Those heroes eventually seem to take these things for granted. If you plan to read this series, prepare to roll your eyes a lot.
But if you're looking for a fun space-romp, it's OK. It has starships, cybernetics, AIs, clones, espers, aliens, a galactic empire, "Gibsonesque" cyberspace, and a slew of other SF cliches.
It's funny. In that thread I mentioned earlier, to provide an idea of what I was looking for, I mentioned that I loved the scene in Star Wars Episode 2 with the flying cars in the streets of Coruscant. I often read scenes in SciFi stories with a few flying cars in some wilderness or borderland type of area, but the idea of a fully urbanized area with millions of flying cars boggled my mind. I wondered why I never saw a scene like that in a novel, beyond brief mentions.
One poster in that thread commented "I think flying cars are generally better to look at than read about..." Well, I beg to differ. In Deathstalker, one of the heroes rides a flying sled through a metropolis filled with similar vehicles, and is pursued by bad guys in still other such vehicles. The hero leads them on a merry chase, and finally...
More than 200 pages into book 2, I started to get bored of it. I may drop the book soon. But if I ever get a craving for Space Opera again, I think I could easily pick up the Deathstalker series from where I left off. Green's writing style is very easy to read, despite - or perhaps partly because of - his apparent difficulty in writing grammatically. For example, he makes heavy use of sentence fragments, but that might just be an attempt to sound conversational. And he painstakingly explains everything that's going on in the simplest terms. If he ever leaves out some explanation, you know that it's in order to spring it on the readers to surprise them at some dramatically appropriate time. In general, he keeps providing surprises to keep you reading.
So if you're looking for an ultra-tech space opera, you could do worse than with the "Deathstalker" series.
More than 200 pages into book 2, I started to get bored of it. I may drop the book soon.
It's funny, I had the same reaction to the Deathstalker series. I enjoyed the first book enough to pick up the second and maybe even third, but I started to get really bored with the style...
Just finished Ravenheart by David Gemmel. Loved it! Got to pick up the next in the series.
Just finished Ravenheart by David Gemmel. Loved it! Got to pick up the next in the series.
I love David Gemmell (may he rest is peace) but the last book of this series is a real let down. Have you read the Waylander series? If not, I highly recommend it.
After finishing the furiously fast "Night Angel" trilogy (loved it) I am now digging my teeth into the "Island in the Sea of Time" by S.M.Stirling.
I thoroughly enjoyed these books. In fact, I now harbor a dream to move to Nantucket in the off chance "The Event" ever occurs.
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After finishing the furiously fast "Night Angel" trilogy (loved it) I am now digging my teeth into the "Island in the Sea of Time" by S.M.Stirling.I thoroughly enjoyed these books. In fact, I now harbor a foolish dream to move to Nantucket in the off chance "The Event" ever occurs.
I read "Dies the Fire" on my visit to Australia last year (great novel btw). Then I checked about the other books in the cycle and noticed that "Island in the Sea of Time" is taking the view at the other side of the medal (and that I had owned that novel for 15 years without getting to read it).
On this Australia Trip I also read the first book from the Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks and the first novels of the Dresden Files and the Anita Blake series.
The start of "Islands..." is a bit wonky and feels jarred, as "The Event" happens directly on the first 10-15 pages. The sections start and end too abrupt. After about 100 pages the book starts to find its own voice and the rhythm feels better now.
I read "Dies the Fire" on my visit to Australia last year (great novel btw). Then I checked about the other books in the cycle and noticed that "Island in the Sea of Time" is taking the view at the other side of the medal (and that I had owned that novel for 15 years without getting to read it).
I really liked Dies the Fire. In the later books, a lot of the characters felt stale, but that one was a lot of fun.
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I really liked Dies the Fire. In the later books, a lot of the characters felt stale, but that one was a lot of fun.I read "Dies the Fire" on my visit to Australia last year (great novel btw). Then I checked about the other books in the cycle and noticed that "Island in the Sea of Time" is taking the view at the other side of the medal (and that I had owned that novel for 15 years without getting to read it).
I loved "Island in the Sea of Time" I love that whole theme of ideas and technology being dropped down in the middle of other epochs and watching what shakes out.
I never really had much desire to look at the other end of the series because the whole "The laws of physics change just enough to break gunpowder and electricity but carbon based life forms are unaffected" premise kind of breaks my suspension of disbelief. Do they address that in the other half of the series at all?
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Right now I am re-reading Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novel "Saint Camber" because of the inspiration it provided for the D&D psionics system. I put it aside a few days ago when i picked up Mira Grant's "Deadline". It is the new novel in her post zombie apocalypse series and the sequel to "Feed". Mind boggling good meditation on the media and the culture of fear that I can not put down.
Right now I am re-reading Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novel "Saint Camber" because of the inspiration it provided for the D&D psionics system.
I read a bunch of the Deryni books when I was prepubescent and loved them, but I've been too scared to read them again. I've generally been disappointed by the fantasy novels that I read as a child and revisited as an adult:
Spoilered in a probably vain attempt to stem anger and indignation
How does Kurtz hold up?
Right now I am re-reading Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novel "Saint Camber" because of the inspiration it provided for the D&D psionics system.I read a bunch of the Deryni books when I was prepubescent and loved them, but I've been too scared to read them again. I've generally been disappointed by the fantasy novels that I read as a child and revisited as an adult:
Spoilered in a probably vain attempt to stem anger and indignation
** spoiler omitted **
Does that include the Magic Kingdom of Landover series? :) I have fond memories, but haven't revisited.
Does that include the Magic Kingdom of Landover series? :) I have fond memories, but haven't revisited.Right now I am re-reading Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novel "Saint Camber" because of the inspiration it provided for the D&D psionics system.I read a bunch of the Deryni books when I was prepubescent and loved them, but I've been too scared to read them again. I've generally been disappointed by the fantasy novels that I read as a child and revisited as an adult:
Spoilered in a probably vain attempt to stem anger and indignation
** spoiler omitted **
Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold!?
Yeah, I'm afraid so. But that's the only one I've read--twice.
After finishing the furiously fast "Night Angel" trilogy (loved it) I am now digging my teeth into the "Island in the Sea of Time" by S.M.Stirling.I thoroughly enjoyed these books. In fact, I now harbor a dream to move to Nantucket in the off chance "The Event" ever occurs.
LOL, better bring your wallet along ...
But yeah, I'm a big SM Stirling fan. Loved the Emberverse series, and if the physics are a bit wonky, so be it. I swallow flying dragons and magic spells in other books.
Of course, the only time he mentions my area, it is inhabited by Eaters so primitive they can't even make their own tools ... blerg.
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I read a bunch of the Deryni books when I was prepubescent and loved them, but I've been too scared to read them again. I've generally been disappointed by the fantasy novels that I read as a child and revisited as an adult:Spoilered in a probably vain attempt to stem anger and indignation
** spoiler omitted **
How does Kurtz hold up?
The Deryni stuff holds up pretty well for fantasy written 30+ years ago actually. A bit dry at parts but overall well thought out and entertaining.
I finished Matthew Reilly's Scarecrow about a week ago. Not his best book, but for a modern pulp pallet cleanser it did it's job. Currently reading Stephen King's On Writing because I figured if I wanted to learn this stuff, I may as well learn from a master.
I finished Matthew Reilly's Scarecrow about a week ago. Not his best book, but for a modern pulp pallet cleanser it did it's job. Currently reading Stephen King's On Writing because I figured if I wanted to learn this stuff, I may as well learn from a master.
If you are interested in the story elements of RPG's On Writing is an excellent resource in addition to being really useful for writers.
Did a quick re-read of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to prepare myself for The Mysterious Island. Skipped a lot of the passages detailing the fishies because I had read it relatively recently when I worked at the airport.
Unfortunately, The Mysterious Island was checked out of the library this morning, so I'll fly from the depths of the cold, cold sea through even colder space to the fourth planet from the sun and read ERB's The Warlord of Mars and finish up the three-volume work I've got before going back on the used book store hunt for the rest of the series.
Currently reading Stephen King's On Writing because I figured if I wanted to learn this stuff, I may as well learn from a master.
'On Writing' has to be one of the most entertaining 'how to' books ever. I love his reaction when he hears the money coming his way on publishing 'Carrie'. And his wife's reaction is even better. A great story.
I just finished David Gaider's Dragon Age novels, the Stolen Throne and the Calling. I love the games and the setting, and the style was recognizable. Mostly for fans.
Next up: Ken Follett The Pillars of the Earth.
Just finished rereading the first three books of A Song Of Ice And Fire, and finally read the fourth book, in preparation for A Dance With Dragons in a couple more days. :)