I don't remember if she's beardless, but there is a female.....oh geez, whatintheheck is she, hang on, I'll have to go look it up, I forget whether they call the race a dwarf or a goblin, I *think* it's a dwarf.....anyway, small-statured character in The Tempering of Men by Bear and Monette. Trust me, though, you wouldn't like the book.Originally Posted by Loerwyn
Need a series or two to tide me over till the releases of A) ADWD "green" edition, B)The Unholy Consult and C) JV Jones last Sword of Shadows novel, and my subsequent reading and rereading of those series. The series' I'm looking at are...
Kearney - Monarchies of God
Marco - Tyrants and Kings or Eyes of God
Abraham - Long Price (read the first years ago and was underwhelmed, but heard it gets better)
Elliot - Crown of Stars
Cherryh - Morgaine
Williams - Shadowmarch
Any opinions on which or other recs? For the record, my favorite authors presently are GRRM and GGK, with Bakker, Hobb and Jones all fairly close behind.
Haven't read any of your list there. But have read Abraham's new Dragon's Path, it was pretty good. Just finished Among Thieves, I liked that. And I'm, on the third Chathrand book, River of Shadows, by Redick. I love this series. Give it a shot.
Based on all of the above, I would recommend going with either Kearney, Marco or Williams. If I had to pick from those three series, I'd say Kearney.
Ive considered these, but Im not looking to start any unfinished series. I hear Redicks series is still going.
That's unreasonable reasoning. Unacceptably acceptable.
Well, Redick's only has one book left I believe.
Finished series? Oh man, there has to be a thread on that, I cant think of many right this second, unless you like the older stuff.
I've come to weigh in on a couple of the recommendations I've gotten here in the past. Thanks again to Seak and Rob
First Law - I suspected I would feel somewhat lukewarm about this series given that I'm not the biggest adherent of Bakker or Erikson, but boy was I wrong. The series kicks ass, mainly due to the pacing and the characterization. Not quite as funny as I was led to believe but everyone's tastes are different. Very efficient prose. Seriously though, how many people actually suck their gums? Probably near the top of tier II for me.
Kingkiller - Firmly entrenched in Tier I with McKillip, LeGuin, Tolkien, Gaiman and Zelazny. Words fail me at the moment. Utterly engaging and it lingers in the best possible way. Made a fantasy fan of my fiance
Gentleman Bastards - Good, but I didn't quite enjoy it as much as I though I would. Quality setting and characterizations, the funniest of the lot, entertaining plot. Can't quite figure why I didn't like it as much.
The Way of Kings - About what I expected, solid worldbuilding, workmanlike otherwise but worth a read. Probably comparable in quality to Jordan but without the nostalgia probably Tier IV. Seems like the book could use a bit more seasoning.
Empire in Black and Gold - Was hoping for something epic with great worldbuilding. Was pretty disappointed. The ideas behind the cultures/races was interesting but the execution was sorely lacking and the plot, prose, characters and setting detail struck me as insipid. I only read the first one, so let me know if there's dramatic improvement in the series but at this point I doubt I'll move forward. Right now above the Eddings, Brooks, Goodkind crowd but not by a wide margin
Next on the queue for me is the most recent Thursday Next (the last disappointed me slightly so I'm hoping for a return to quality), some Steinbeck and the Dragon's Path (I couldn't find the Long Price completed at any of the local bookstores so I opted for the more recent release). Any thoughts on what I can expect from the last?
Last edited by mshnd06; February 16th, 2012 at 12:04 PM.
You'll have to wait for Tor to reissue them in Omnibus format, the first of which Shadow and Betrayal comes out in about a month
Thanks Rob, I'll have to pick it up. I love me some omnibi. I've heard excellent things about his work
Or you can just order the UK versions from The Book Depository for a similar price and have them now
Also thinking about starting in on some K.J. Parker. Where would be the best place to start? I was thinking the Company sounded pretty interesting, as did the Engineer trilogy (being an engineer myself) but the synopses all suggested elements that I believe would appeal, so I think I'd be open to any of her/his work.
K J Parker - I would suggest leaving The Company for latter. Start with Devices and Desires - the first Engineer book or with The Hammer. If you like the writing style, then I would continue with the rest of the Engineer books, the Scavenger series (Shadow, Pattern, Memory) ; The Folding Knife ; Fencer (The Colours in the Steel; The Belly of the Bow; The Proof House). This is about my order of preference, and I'm looking forward to Sharps later this year.
Not sure if I should post this here or on the "general" board...
I'm looking for a new author. I've taken a break from Fantasy/Sci Fi and have been reading mysteries and thrillers and whatnot for the last few months. Anyway, I find myself in the mood to read some like Crichton, or Preston/Child. But I've read all of them to death, so I'm looking for something new
Specifically, something in the "thriller" genre, preferably of the (what I always think of as the) Scooby Doo school (oh noes! a ghost/monster/whatever is killing people alot! Oops, it was a man in disguise/science experiment gone wrong/what have you all along!).
I am a huge fan of Relic and the rest (or at least most of) the Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child books, and I think alot of Crichton falls into that category as well. So if anyone knows of something comparative, I'd appreciate a recommendation! Thanks!
It would be best in the General board, but I'll try give an answer.
How about James Patterson? Basically "crime thrillers" (I read the first two books of his Women's Murder Club series) and very much airport throw-away stuff, but I enjoyed them as much as I could.
I'm not sure as to how what they're like, but maybe Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins book? I know Hobbit/Mark recently reviewed one for the site.
I keep meaning to read Phil Rickman, but his novels are long-ish and I keep meandering off to other works. Still, from what I've heard of them, Loerwyn's suggestion sounds good.Not sure if I should post this here or on the "general" board...
I'm looking for a new author. I've taken a break from Fantasy/Sci Fi and have been reading mysteries and thrillers and whatnot for the last few months. Anyway, I find myself in the mood to read some like Crichton, or Preston/Child. But I've read all of them to death, so I'm looking for something new
Specifically, something in the "thriller" genre, preferably of the (what I always think of as the) Scooby Doo school (oh noes! a ghost/monster/whatever is killing people alot! Oops, it was a man in disguise/science experiment gone wrong/what have you all along!).
I am a huge fan of Relic and the rest (or at least most of) the Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child books, and I think alot of Crichton falls into that category as well. So if anyone knows of something comparative, I'd appreciate a recommendation! Thanks!
For other suggestions, at one end of the spectrum, there's the old psychic detective stories. The best known are by William Hope Hodgson, featuring Carnaki, and Algernon Blackwood, featuring John Silence; these are in short story form. To a degree they are forerunners of more recent detectives trolling the mean streets, like Glen Cook's Garrett, P.I., and Jim Butcher's Dresden. I've heard quite a lot of good things from readers whose tastes nearly match my own about Mike Carey's novels featuring Felix Castor.
There may be a slightly different variation on this, though, with John Connolly's Charlie Parker. I've only read the first, but from what I've heard there's the implication of the supernatural impinging on the story without too much direct contact with the supernatural. I will attest that the first one, Every Dead Thing, is really creepy. And it does read like a thriller, but not one of those where it's all action with no time for the characters to pause and regain their bearings.
Randy M.
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