Reading in April 2009

[Erfael]

This is where you tell us what you're reading in Fantasy and Horror this month. Good or bad, please let us know what you thought.

Over to the Book Club....

The book club this month is discussing a Chinese-themed book, Dragon in Chains, by Daniel Fox.

Joey.

 

[LBRapid]

I am currently reading Water for Elephants just because everyone keeps telling me to read it.

I plan on reading Dragon in Chains as I really think that the book club here is a great idea. I think I also want to finish the farseer trilogy this month with Royal Assassin

 

[Astra_]

Almost 3/4 into Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb, The Liveship Traders, Book 3.
The worst possible thing that could happen has happened....not in a mood to continue now...

 

[Dark Wolf]

I finished "Twelve" by Jasper Kent. It comes as blend between historical fiction and vampire story, but I believe that the novel is much more than just this. I find it hard to categorize this novel, but I really enjoyed it. The author does a great job with his war descriptions and the images, atmosphere and the questions it raised put me well on thoughts.

 

[algernoninc]

my holiday from fantasy extends in April: I'm having too good a time with Dorothy Dunnett's "House of Niccolo" and jump from one volume to another without intercalating lighter / thinner books in between. I'm now on the 4th out of 8: "Scales of Gold" and sailing to the western coast of XV century Africa.
This series should appeal to epic fantasy lovers - it has all the ingredients minus magic: powerful empires, mercenary armies, political and religious plotting, swordmanship, castle sieges, romance , humor, larger than life main character that goes from kitchen boy [apprentice] to companion to kings and emperors before he is 25.

 

[BrightStar]

I was quite relieved to have finished Naked Empire today. By skimming a lot of the political rants and needless retelling of previous events (it started to get a bit much when it extended to events that had happened not just in previous books, but also in Naked Empire itself) I managed to get through the book without too much stress. It wasn't all that enjoyable a read, and there were points when I just had to shake my head in dissapointment and disbelief.

And now that I'm done with Naked Empire though, it's on to Song of Kali, which I'm sort of dubious about. It's been on my to buy pile for ages though, and it was going for a good price so I figured to pick up a copy whilst it was cheap. It doesn't quite sound like my kinda thing, but we'll see.

 

[Randy M.]

I finished "Twelve" by Jasper Kent. It comes as blend between historical fiction and vampire story, but I believe that the novel is much more than just this. I find it hard to categorize this novel, but I really enjoyed it. The author does a great job with his war descriptions and the images, atmosphere and the questions it raised put me well on thoughts.

I haven't read this, but from the description of the story I wonder if you'd be interested in Connie Willis' "Jack," a novella in one of her collections (Impossible Dreams, I think).

Randy M.

 

[Aurian]

Taking a break from Robin Hobb and reading Eric Nylund's Mortal Coils. Not too far into it yet, so no real impressions other than its readable.

 

[Daddy Darth]

Hi all. I just finished Steven King's the Dark Tower series and I am sad it is over. I thought I would go back into the SOT series but I still have not purchased Naked Empire (The Pillars of Creation kinda took the wind out of my sails). I do want to finish the series at some point however I am determined to find Naked Empire at my local used book store - but so far no luck. Instead I have just started Steven Erikson's Malazan series - I have seen a lot of good feedback about it and I learned he is Canadian and I like to support local talent.

 

[Seak]

Instead I have just started Steven Erikson's Malazan series - I have seen a lot of good feedback about it and I learned he is Canadian and I like to support local talent.

Good Choice! I'm almost done with Memories of Ice and loving every word of it. Just to warn you, if you feel at all lost, keep going, you'll be rewarded once things start clicking.

 

[Rob B]

I've finally wended my way back to Brent Weeks's Night Angel Trilogy as I'm about 1/3 into Beyond the Shadows. Boy do the pages fly by quickly in this book. I read about 150 pages in one sitting.

 

[suciul]

I finished two books that are not strictly fantasy but are "associational", so much so that one of them got nominated for the Gemmell award desptie being straight historical fiction with not even a hint of the fantastic.

That one is Gladiatrix by R. Whitfield and it's a very entertaining historical fiction of the "blood and guts" type with a twist - the title tells about the twist of course
Accurate historically - within novelistic license of course - but in terms of actions of the characters, their beliefs...
A page turner also it ends on a great note and promises much more to come

The other book The Haunting of L by Howard Norman is quite a different book - quieter mainstream with hints of the fantastic about a sinister photographer Vienna Lynn, his spiritualistic wife Muriel and the narrator who becomes Vienna's assistant and Muriel's lover, with "haunted photos" showing departed spirits as a general theme; I enjoyed this one a lot, so much so I will track down more of Mr. Norman's novels

 

[JCD]

I'm 255 pages into Lynn Flewelling's Shadows Return, book four of the Nightrunner series. As with the whole series, there are a few things I dislike - Alec's constant innocence or the seemingly omnipresent promiscuity, for instance - but it's not a bad series, I'd say. More often than not I'm reminded of Locke Lamorra.

 

[Dark Wolf]

I haven't read this, but from the description of the story I wonder if you'd be interested in Connie Willis' "Jack," a novella in one of her collections (Impossible Dreams, I think).

Randy M.

I haven't read "Jack". Is it interesting?

 

[Daddy Darth]

Hey Seak thanks for the advice on Erikson. I am barely into it and can already feel the weight of the story. I think it is going to be good. You can just kinda tell when your going to be able to get into something. I just wish I could find a nice block of time now to sit back and enjoy and get lost.

 

[Bastard]

Right now I'm reading The Great Hunt of Wheel of Time, might follow it up with one of these (don't know yet):
Dragon Reborn
The Name of the Wind
The Way of Shadows
Silverthorn

 

[PeterWilliam]

Decided to switch into a series that I knew would be great fun, the First Law trilogy. Only about 100p. into The Blade Itself (damn work), but truly enjoying all of it.

 

[Randy M.]

I haven't read "Jack". Is it interesting?

I thought so. It's set in WWII and the concept is roughly parallel to the concept you described in the book you reviewed.

Randy M.

 

[chitman13]

I recently finished The Warded Man (The Painted Man in the UK) by Peter V Brett. Excellent stuff! It's a great character driven story set in a vividly realised world. I'm not a huge fantasy reader but books like this remind me that I should read more of it. I can't wait for The Desert Spear now, luckily only a few months away in the UK

 

[BrightStar]

Hi all. I just finished Steven King's the Dark Tower series and I am sad it is over. I thought I would go back into the SOT series but I still have not purchased Naked Empire (The Pillars of Creation kinda took the wind out of my sails). I do want to finish the series at some point however I am determined to find Naked Empire at my local used book store - but so far no luck. Instead I have just started Steven Erikson's Malazan series - I have seen a lot of good feedback about it and I learned he is Canadian and I like to support local talent.

If you didn't like Pillars of Creation, Naked Empire probably won't be much of an improvement. I was pretty dissapointed with Pillars of Creation, and having just finished Naked Empire less than a week ago, I can say that it was just as bad. If not worse. I'd definitely recommend that if you're going to continue with the series, then it's best to try and get these books used (or from a library). They're not worth paying good money for.

After finishing Naked Empire, I moved on to Song of Kali, but unfortunately I didn't like it very much. Just hated the atmosphere, the prose and the setting. It's not a particularly long book, so after 50 pages, I figured if I didn't like it already, I wasn't going to like it by the end. Best not waste my time.

So, I moved on to The Fade. It's by an author that I know very little about, although I do know that I have his Braided Path trilogy on my to read pile. I like The Fade so far, thought the synopsis for it sounded interesting and have not been dissapointed yet. There's some good character interaction and a nice bit of building conflict. I really can't see where he's going with his plot, yet, but I'm enjoying the ride and finding the world quite interesting.

I believe it's only a standalone novel, so I'm probably going to be sorry when I've finished it.