[Hobbit]

OK - new month - again! That's come round quickly.....

Summer's on the way out here at Hobbit Towers, (well, what Summer I had! :) ) and with September arrives apples and nights that are starting to draw in. And more new books, of course!

This is the thread where you tell us what Fantasy you've been reading this month, and whether it was worth it or not!

Spread the word!

Hobbit - currently reading alternate history novel Romanitas, amongst other things.

[Beleg]

LOL! Hobbit, It's still 30th in most parts of America and 31st in the rest of the world. :p

What I will be starting in September: A re-read of William Hope Hodgson's 'The Nightland'.

[Rhaegar]

I'm reading Jack Whyte's The Skystone... very solid historical fiction, with a bit of a fantasy feel to it.

[Evil Agent]

OK - new month - again! That's come round quickly..... No kidding. I could swear I just paid last month's rent... :(

I'm almost finished The Darkest Road, the final book in the Fionavar Tapestry. It's alright, but I have to say I'm happy to almost be finished the series. I'm looking much more forward to Kay's later books, or possibly returning to some Erikson.

[ezchaos]

Last night, I picked up Looking for Jake: Stories by China Mieville. Been looking forward to this one.

[Amaunette]

I'm reading "This Is Our War," by Steph Swainson. I'm a bit irritated but I haven't completely given up on it yet. In fact, I think it's growing on me, but I can still only read a handful of pages at once. It's amusing, that much has kept me going, but it blends completely facetious moments with serious ones, so I haven't adjusted to the pace and I'm nearly halfway through it. Hopefully I'll be done with it at the end of the month.

[cheese]

I'm reading Jack Whyte's The Skystone... very solid historical fiction, with a bit of a fantasy feel to it.
Jack Whyte's sky stone is a awesome book... Anyways back to the topic. :D I have just picked up some of Feist's work and R.A Salvatores The Thousand Orcs. I am also planning to read Death House gates by Steven Erikson. Tremendously enjoyed the first in the installment GoTM.
My birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks (15 years old:) ) and am going to give my parents a huge list of books :D

[Erfael]

Technically finished in August, last Sunday I finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell in just under a week and really, really liked it. I can see where some people might complain, but I can't agree, from my perspective. I think part of the problem some people have is that it's written in chronological order rather than some narrative order. So sometimes a chapter or two seems out of place in the flow of the narrative, but it's in exactly the right place chronologically. I've heard mention of all the digressions that the book takes and that it could have used a more thorough editing, but it seemed to me that everything that happened pertained to the larger story (with the exception of footnotes, but they're just for fun). So I can't really agree with people that it was bloated or anything like that. I can agree that it was slow, but it was steady. There were no sections where things really stood still to the point of boredom.

The one gripe I had with it was that magic didn't seem to have any sort of cost to it, either in the natural world or in fatigue to the spellcaster. Now, I know that an author can set up fantasy however they want, but there seemed to be no recoil to the magic, no fatigue to the magician, or equal but opposite reaction in the environment. That made it seem a little too easy to me. Why is someone a better magician than someone else if all anyone has to do is say the right words for it to happen? What was so great about one or two of the great mages of old if it didn't take anything to perform really great feats of magic? But that's just a small complaint in a big bunch of yummy goodness. I think her next book is a buy-new-in-hardback book for me.

Also, really great ending.

[FicusFan]

Not really sure what I will read next in Fantasy. I have a SF book I am reading at the moment, and a couple of non-genre works I need to read for a book club. But I may try to get started on the 2nd book is Sean McMullen's fantasy series Moonworlds : Glass Dragons . I tried to read it before, but had to put it away for required reading. :(

[Murrin]

I'm halfway through VanderMeer's City of Saints and Madmen, and very impressed. "The Strange Case of X", and the letter that opens the appendices, completely turned my perception of the book on its head halfway through - there's a deeper story running through everything, and little clues hidden in the texts that I'm enjoying searching out. I'll definately be reading the rest of VanderMeer's work after this.