Reading in January 2009

[Apathy]

Alright, picked up Mystic Art of Erasing Death, and The Steel Remains. and ordered Evil Ways. Those should keep me for a while.

 

[ObtusePunubiris]

Just finished Phantom by Goodkind. There are sections of this book where Goodkind reaches a whole new level of annoying. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, my plan was to knock out this book and Confessor so I could be done with the series. Right now I'm having serious doubts about whether I can take that much Goodkind all at once. I'm going to try, but I may wind up having to read something else in between.

 

[Apathy]

The Steel Remains will be returned since I am just truly not into main characters that are into homosexual practices. HOWEVER, the book may be good for those that are not bothered by that element.

The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston on the other hand was great (as expected). What stuck out most in my mind was that the book came across as genuine. It was very gruesome, but not in a nasty, vile way was some authors put it across (John Connoly). I also found the book extremely funny. It was really odd, but the main character reminded me ALOT of my brother(unexpected). It hit on a lot of good points with me. Mental characters, action, a man that likes GIRLS (freaking steel remains), a lot of humor, and an undercurrent of ...goodwill? chivalry? in people. Very enjoyable book.

 

[Tanaros]

Just finished Phantom by Goodkind. There are sections of this book where Goodkind reaches a whole new level of annoying. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, my plan was to knock out this book and Confessor so I could be done with the series. Right now I'm having serious doubts about whether I can take that much Goodkind all at once. I'm going to try, but I may wind up having to read something else in between.

Hey, I have the same problem with Jordan. After I had finished Fires of Heaven I decided I can only stand one WoT book a year. That is how long it takes for me to forget how annoyed I was.

 

[columbob]

And that way I would be happy, and he would FORCED to focus on Drizzt, since no one else lives....

You skipped an entire 4-book story arc between Passage to Dawn and the Hunter's Blades trilogy. Granted, 2 of those books don't feature Drizz't at all, but The Silent Blade and Sea of Swords focus pretty much exclusively on him.


Jarlaxle is a pretty cool character. For more on him and Entreri after Servant of the Shard, check out the Sellswords series, with Promise of the Witch King and Road of the Patriarch. Only one dwarf appears in those books too, but quite a few half-orcs.

 

[...]

Just finished God's Demon over the weekend and I was quite impressed. Very interesting topic, albeit, a rather predictable plot. I moved onto Thunderer yesterday and so far its just meh. Hopefully its gets better.

 

[Aurian]

Just started Sanderson's Hero of Ages.

I`ve been getting this trilogy from the library since the stories are good enough to read, but I don`t really feel like buying them and adding them to my collection. Somehow I enjoyed Elantris a lot more, but I can`t quite put my finger on why. I do like the characters more in Elantris, but I think there is something else too....

 

[Eldanuumea]

Aurian, have you read Mistborn and Well of Ascension? The world in that series is so complex, I can't imagine anyone getting into Hero of Ages and knowing what is going on If you didn't read the first two, I hope that you do before continuing with Hero. This trilogy is, IMHO, one of the greatest achievements in creation of a richly-imagined world. I rank it among my top five favorite fantasy series of all time.

As for my January reading, I've just read Melusine, The Virtu, and The Mirador by Sarah Monette; all of the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris; and I'm rereading Macbeth with my seniors.
(Hey, there are witches, so it's fantasy, right? LOL)

 

[bossfan2000]

After I read and had lots of fun with Jennifer Fallon Tide Lords 1 - Immortal Prince - at the end of 08, I could not resist and ordered books 2-4 form Australia and they finally arrived on Friday, so on Friday night I stayed late to finish book 2 Gods of Amyrantha (US/UK release summer 09) and today I read book 3 The Palace of Impossible Dreams.

Suciul, how does this series compare to her earlier stuff. I LOVED the Second Sons Trilogy, thought it was pretty excellent. While I like her second series (only read the first 3, own the second 3), I didnt love them as much as Second Sons. Is the Tide Lords similiar to either of her other series?

 

[suciul]

Suciul, how does this series compare to her earlier stuff. I LOVED the Second Sons Trilogy, thought it was pretty excellent. While I like her second series (only read the first 3, own the second 3), I didnt love them as much as Second Sons. Is the Tide Lords similiar to either of her other series?

If you liked Second Sons, you will love this one since is a sort of "super" Second Sons - not literally in setting or story - but in twists, turns, smart and funny dialogue and characters that will stay with you for a long time.

The only other series I had this much pure fun with in a long time was Night Angel - though the two series are completely different, the only commonality being twists, turns, major unexpected revelations - Tide Lords has several major characters, there is no focus on one as in Night Angel, though there are maybe three that could be said that anchor the series (Arkady, Cayal and Declan) but lots of others, Immortal, human or Crasii have lots of POV pages, and there is even one character that appears only in volume 4 as POV that steals the show in a "Banksian" way whenever he appears

I finished book 4 Chaos Crystal and now I am rereading the whole series at leisure - I reread volume 1 once and parts from volume 2 and 3, but only now I can appreciate the subtlety of scattered clues for where the series goes. And again book 4 managed to surprise me profoundly at the end - I had an inkling about "half" of the major revelations/twists but the other "half" just came as a shock, though in hindsight they are actually predictable to some extent.


I would not read anything, not even the blurb about volumes 3/4 before reading volumes 1/2.

It's such a pity the marketing of the books in the US/UK sucks - in the UK they are not even scheduled for now since Orbit has rights and they are reorganizing, while in the US book 2 comes out in July, but I doubt book 3 will come out before 2010, though book 4 is announced for then. Who knows, I hope they will somehow release them faster since it's a fun, fun series and it seems that in Australia the series was a mainstream bestseller, not only genre bestseller

Anyway read book 1 and it will most likely hook you...

 

[ezchaos]

I just finished Feast for Souls by C.S. Friedman. FfS is the first Friedman book I've read and I was very impressed by it. One thing I found interesting when I first picked up the book was the somewhat vague plot description on the back cover, so, I went into it not really having an idea of what I was getting into.
Friedman does a great job of characterization and world building in FfS. The vampire-meets-wizard Magisters and their culture were fascinating as was the make up of the rest of the world. Kamala's character, among others, were fleshed out nicely.
This is the kind of story that restores my faith in secondary-world fantasy. I can't wait to pick up Wings of Wrath. BTW, for you cartophiles, I think there is a map in that book.

 

[Zsinj]

I just finished Gerald's Game by Stephen King. It is definitely one of the best works by King I have read so far. I'll tell you one thing though, I'm glad it's over, because the suspense and insanity of it all just about drove me up the wall!

 

[Enkidu]

I Just finished A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin and have been looking for something to read untill A Dance with Dragons and Robert Jordon's last book A memory of Light come out. Thanks to these Forums I have decided to start reading David Gemmel's Drenai series

 

[BrightStar]

I just finished book two (Stalking Darkness) of the Nightrunner series. Book one was a difficult read for me: I had to force myself through much of the book, and only really enjoyed perhaps 150-or-so pages at the most from the middle.

But, Lynne Flewelling has always been a particularly favorite author of mine, ever since I read her other series (Tamir Triad, wasn't it?) so I was utterly determined to give Nightrunner a bit more of a chance than I might have allowed more "unknown" authors.

I regret it. Honestly, I do. Book two was slower and more tedious than book one. I just finished it an hour or so ago, and the only thing I have to say about it really is that I'm sorry I bothered to buy book three. I don't know what it is about the series that I didn't like, but no amount of wanting to like it (and I did very much want to enjoy it!) could persuade me to change my mind.

To soothe the feeling that I've just wasted a week of my life with this book, I'm reading book one (Indigo) of Louise Cooper's Nemesis series at the moment. Only read the prologue so far, but already it's far more hooking and interesting than the entirity of Stalking Darkness.

 

[Winter]

I just finished Hal Duncan's novella, Escape From Hell! and enjoyed it a lot. It was pretty much the equivalent of a damn good action movie and that was a good thing. By the time I got to the fifty pages left mark there was no way I could put it down, it just dragged me along for the foul-mouthed blow-s**t-up thrill ride to the end. It is definitely something I would recommend to others and something that I will be rereading at some point. Enjoyable and entertaining and rather hilarious after a certain character is introduced towards the end of it.

Next up is Alex Bledsoe's The Sword-Edged Blonde since I want to keep going with some of the shorter novels on my shelf. My copy of The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death has been loaned to my mom, but she reads fast and should be done by the time I finish this one. Will definitely be reading that one next.

 

[ObtusePunubiris]

It's finally over. I just finished Goodkind's Confessor and now, knowing how the story ends, can be content with never reading him again.

This book is actually the best in the SoT series since, well I can't even remember it's been so long. It still had Goodkind's ideological and philosophical blathering, unecessary and repetitive detail, unrealistic characterizations, condescending tone and absurd contrivances, just to a lesser degree than most of the other books in the series. While there was nothing spectacular about the conclusion (other than its much needed existence), it was satisfactory.

Next up, another series finale, The Shadow Roads by Sean Russell. I like Russell, but it has been so long since I read the first two books in this series that I am not sure I'll remember enough to get the most out of this book.

 

[Eventine]

Obtuse, I really struggled with The Shadow Roads for the same reason, I'd suggest looking up some summaries or a re-read first.

 

[Randy M.]

I'm not much a fan of short story collections, but I got Peter S Beagle's The Line Between and it was mostly a wonderful read.

Favorites were a little story about a mouse that tries to be a cat because he doesn't want to be hunted, a little short story sequel to The Last Unicorn that is as wonderful as the book, four lovely fables, a story about a sister and her brother that can do magic, and Salt Wine, a tale about a man who saves a merman and the gift he receives along with its cost.

Bit from one of the little fables:

Beagle had an earlier story collection, The Rhinocerous Who Quoted Nietszche (approximate title), that is also wonderful. If you get the chance, it's well worth looking up.

Randy M.

 

[BrightStar]

It's finally over. I just finished Goodkind's Confessor and now, knowing how the story ends, can be content with never reading him again.

I do so look forward to the day when I too can finally say "I've finished it!" It'll be a while yet though: I think I've another 5 books to go!

 

[Gilgamesh]

I haven't read a SoT book for years but I still have the last 4 at home (and I haven't bought Confessor yet). Not sure when I'll read another one but I think I should finish them one day or another.