Reading in June 2009

[Cranky Hamster]

That quote alone has persuaded me to give it a read. I think the fantasy genre has improved significantly this decade, but the whole 'grim/low' fantasy thing seems to be developing into a cliche itself. I'm finding that I'm bored of characters who are predictably 'against the norm'.

I agree with all points (and am glad that you'll be taking a look at Wells) but just want to caution that I've only read 40 pages, so if it does jump off a cliff later I abdicate all responsibility as a recommender.

 

[suciul]

What the hell? I just checked Amazon this morning to make sure and did not see that. Oh well, I ordered it from Ebay and it came out just a bit cheaper than ordering from Amazon and it is also new. So no real loss. Going to end up ordering Jasmyn from the UK though.

Amazon search sucks big, big, big (could do 10 big here) time; if you do not know exactly what you are looking for it's just hit and miss.

http://www.amazon.com/Ninth-Circle-...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245938954&sr=1-1

 

[suciul]

But the Inexplicably Underrated Author is sort of my white whale -- I really want to find one, because in all other cases I haven't had much trouble figuring out why someone didn't hit it big

Sometimes it's just a matter of luck, market timing and all; not quite a fantasy author (though he wrote two superb fantasies in Metropolitan and City on Fire which I highly, highly recommend with the caveat that the story is not finished, no cliffhangers or anything, just not finished and unclear if it will ever be) but Walter Jon Williams is a name that always pops-up when the above question is asked; he is well known no question about it, but...

 

[Nickbjorn]

I agree with all points (and am glad that you'll be taking a look at Wells) but just want to caution that I've only read 40 pages, so if it does jump off a cliff later I abdicate all responsibility as a recommender.

Ha ha, don't worry I'll accept full responsibility for my decision to read it after page 40

 

[PeterWilliam]

I've finished Legend and begun James Enge's Blood of Ambrose. I've not posted on Gemmell's book yet, but it won't be too difficult. Gemmell's characterization and heroic fiction seem definitive to me.

 

[Astra_]

Just finished The Last Argument of Kings...

Mixed feelings.
Definitely it is not worth re-reading, otherwise it would be like Logen, pissing into the wind. Real life is depressing enough, why make it worse?
I didn't expect a happy ending, but everything, absolutely everything to be bad? While you have to be realistic is a good motto, the ending is not realistic because life is s**t and people do not change is overplayed.

I believe the story is not finished. I am sure, there will be at least one more trilogy. I know, I will give it a try. But if it ends up like this one, it will be the last for me.
I am unsure between rating it 6 or 8 out of 10.

Next book is going to be either Fevre Dreams(the first book by G. Martin for me) ot Neverwhere (the second and maybe the last chance for Gaiman).

 

[kater]

Just finished The Blade Itself, well behind most I know, thoroughly enjoyed it and am kicking myself for not ordering books 2+3 sooner. Going to try Lies of Locke Lamora while Amazon hopefully hurry up with my order

 

[Nickbjorn]

Just finished The Last Argument of Kings...

Mixed feelings.
Definitely it is not worth re-reading, otherwise it would be like Logen, pissing into the wind. Real life is depressing enough, why make it worse?
I didn't expect a happy ending, but everything, absolutely everything to be bad? While you have to be realistic is a good motto, the ending is not realistic because life is s**t and people do not change is overplayed.

I believe the story is not finished. I am sure, there will be at least one more trilogy. I know, I will give it a try. But if it ends up like this one, it will be the last for me.
I am unsure between rating it 6 or 8 out of 10.

Next book is going to be either Fevre Dreams(the first book by G. Martin for me) ot Neverwhere (the second and maybe the last chance for Gaiman).

I totally agree I thought the ending was awful. Despite the cynical tone of the trilogy, there was a general upbeatness about it, partly because of the humour, partly because the majority of the characters were learning to be more selfless, that the ending of Last Argument of Kings really undermined. As I was reading it I convinced myself that the publishers had persuaded him to write it that way to fit with the gritty style the market is seen to desire. It reminded me a lot of the ending of Perdido Street Station, but at least that fit into the context of the book.

 

[Seak]

Just finished Legend by David Gemmell. It was great. I was riveted the entire time. Great characters and great heroism theme.

 

[NickeeCoco]

So, I just wandered out of sci-fi land with Sheri S. Teper's The Margarets, which I thought was absoloutely brilliant. I've now gone into some historical thriller territory with C. C. Humphrey's Vlad: The Last Confession. I'm only about 75 pages into it, but it's held my interest. It was one of those impulse buys at the bookstore. Dunno what I'm going to read next. I would like to read Stephen Hunt's The Rise of the Iron Moon, but I think I'm going to wait until it comes out in paperback. While I enjoyed his last book before this one, it didn't carry my interest like Court of Air did. I think for my next foray into fantasy I'm going to just wander the bookstore and see if anything catches me interest. There is nothing I really want to read until August.

 

[Scrambles]

Reading Lies of Locke Lamora, good so far, don't much care for the jumping back and forward but it seems necessary to help with the plot.

 

[Kazz Wylde]

Reading Lies of Locke Lamora, good so far, don't much care for the jumping back and forward but it seems necessary to help with the plot.

O'h man, that might have been my favorite part, The flashbacks with Father Chains!

 

[pat5150]

Just finished Brian Ruckley's Fall of Thanes. Dark, bloody, unforgiving, with what could likely be the largest body count of major characters in the history of the genre, this book is a great conclusion to one of the very best fantasy series of the new millennium.

Patrick

 

[Amaunette]

I believe the story is not finished. I am sure, there will be at least one more trilogy. I know, I will give it a try. But if it ends up like this one, it will be the last for me.
I am unsure between rating it 6 or 8 out of 10.

If you can answer this without giving away spoilers to those who haven't finished Abercrombie's first trilogy, do you think you can explain what kind of ending you expected? Or what kind of ending would have satisfied you? I'm not trying to be argumentative or criticize your opinion of the book, but I have seen this opinion a lot and I'm a little unclear about what the right ending would have been.

 

[Astra_]

If you can answer this without giving away spoilers to those who haven't finished Abercrombie's first trilogy, do you think you can explain what kind of ending you expected? Or what kind of ending would have satisfied you? I'm not trying to be argumentative or criticize your opinion of the book, but I have seen this opinion a lot and I'm a little unclear about what the right ending would have been.

Don't think I can coherently explain it, and without spoilers. The only thing I can say it that The Blade Itself starts with a chapter 1 - End, and The Last Argument of Kings ends with the last chapter - Beginning.
It explains a lot. In the beginning the main characters were in shi*t, and in the end they wandered into the same sh%t.
Nothing really has changed. Protagonists didn't really developed, changed, improved. The whole trilogy's goal was to hammer home a point:
'Our minds never change!'
'You never change'
'Nothing has changed. I still need vengeance.'
'A man can change,' whispered Logen...yet he stood alone...

 

[DailyRich]

Just finished a week and a half flurry of tearing through the Farseer trilogy and really enjoyed it. Didn't see the whining complaints some have mentioned. Now moving on to the Liveship Traders.

 

[NickeeCoco]

If you can answer this without giving away spoilers to those who haven't finished Abercrombie's first trilogy, do you think you can explain what kind of ending you expected? Or what kind of ending would have satisfied you? I'm not trying to be argumentative or criticize your opinion of the book, but I have seen this opinion a lot and I'm a little unclear about what the right ending would have been.

I expected what most fantasy trilogies offer: victory and resolution. Abercrombie's trilogy offered the same, but not in the way I was expecting.

 

[Apathy]

Just finished Brian Ruckley's Fall of Thanes. Dark, bloody, unforgiving, with what could likely be the largest body count of major characters in the history of the genre, this book is a great conclusion to one of the very best fantasy series of the new millennium.

Patrick

Haha, liked your comment about the story having a large body count. Ever watch anime(Jap cartoons)? Some of those animes are ridiculous, where in quite a few of them the story ends when every main character is killed off. In those I find it difficult to get attached to any character since you never know if by the end of the arc they will be dead or not. Some of those "kill em all dead" endings are totally unexpected...like when a light hearted comedy turns ugly in the last 3 or 4 episodes of a 26 episode series.

Thanks for the warning and praise about Ruckley's series. I will give it a try if I see a copy lying around somewhere.

 

[Cranky Hamster]

Took a detour to read (or, more correctly, skim, because actually reading this thing would have reduced me to a drooling wreck) an '80s romance of phenomenal and brain-destroying badness: Kathleen Woodiwiss' The Wolf and the Dove. Oh man. Oh man. Ahahaha words fail me.

The '80s were the best time ever for craptastic incomprehensible romance. Like the heroine is described as having "heaving bosoms," un-ironically, in the very first chapter and frequently thereafter. Her bodice gets ripped (also in the first chapter!). She falls in love with Hero of the Magic Penis despite the fact that he rapes her (repeatedly) and keeps her mom as a kitchen slave with a rope tied around her neck. It is just unspeakably terrible and I'm horrified that it has a 4.5 star average rating on Amazon.

As far as I'm concerned that book totally qualifies as horror so I don't think it's off-topic to post here.

After that I went back to The Death of the Necromancer. 90-odd pages in (yeah, I'm taking this one slow) and it's still very good.

 

[Astra_]

liked your comment about the story having a large body count.

Liked the comment as well, but for entirely different reason. It is a warning for me to stay away from the series. I don't enjoy deaths of likable protagonists.