Reading in April 2009

[Numenorian]

I'm 100 or so pages in to Cry of the Newborn by James Barclay. It's the first fantasy book I've read since last December when I stupidly decided to try the entire collection of Terry Brooks I'd amassed but never read in one long go. After two grim, dogged weeks I realised the keyword about reading Terry Brooks is don't.

Anyway, James Barclay. He's an author I've been wanting to read for quite a while and so far so good. Like the Roman-esque world, and the powers of the Ascendants are interesting, the pace is good and characterization is pretty rounded. It hasn't blown me away and contains a couple of those "she concentrated harder than she had ever done in her life before" sentences that always seem to tell rather than show, but all-in-all I'm enjoying it.

 

[Sfinx]

okido, reading in April (and yea, two are SF but tbh I rarely visit the dedicated forum and for me good SF and fantasy are one and the same thing: intelligently made up stuff with an interesting story and characters in an uncommon setting - anyway enuff of that):

- Consider Phlebas, Iain M Banks; I felt i had to read something by mr Banks, this is it. Good stuff sofar.

- The name of the wind, Patrick Rothfuss; name & title rang a bell when browsing the bookstore's shelves, so i thought what the heck. It turns out to be ok - no more than that i'm afraid. Didn't really grip me initially and the whole episode in the woods, drugging the dragon and saving the village had me thinking "is he kidding or is seriously mean to write this stuff?". Will check reviews later to check whether i'm minority or not

- Ilium, Dan Simmons; Simmons is a good writer, theme is interesting, so should be a good read.

Cheers, Sfinx.

 

[Apathy]

Well I just finished Raymond Feist's Rides A Dread Legion. It was ok. I'm a fan so I'm jaded. I won't bother with a bias review.

Waiting to start something new till Turn Coat comes out next week. I might actually get some studying done this weekend.

Haha, that has been on my mind the past two months so much that I have not been reading anything else. I am waiting. Like a large anaconda waiting for a juicy human to walk past...

Man I REALLY hope Butcher's TURN COAT can live up to his Dead Beat, or his White Night and his Princeps' Fury. Although I hope I do not judge it too harshly, usually when I find something REALLY good I tend to be hyper critical, since I am looking for PERFECTION at that point...

 

[BrightStar]

I'm 100 or so pages in to Cry of the Newborn by James Barclay. It's the first fantasy book I've read since last December when I stupidly decided to try the entire collection of Terry Brooks I'd amassed but never read in one long go. After two grim, dogged weeks I realised the keyword about reading Terry Brooks is don't.

Unfortunately, Cry of the Newborn turned out to be a big dissapointment for me. I wanted to like it, but just found myself unable to connect with the characters and fast became bored. I hope you have more fun reading it than I did.

I just finished The Fade. And... oh wow! I can't remember the last time I read a book in which the ending blew me away, but I was stunned, awed by the author's skill at drawing together the two timelines so effectively. I'd been hoping that it would make sense at the end as to why he'd chosen such an unusual way to organize his story, but it makes total sense. I cannot imagine the book working if it was organized in any other way.

Utterly brilliant! I even found myself crying outloud in shocked protest a few times at some particular events. Didn't see the ending coming at all, and it was totally rewarding. Loved how all the threads came together to make perfect sense.

Can anyone tell me about any of the other books this author has written? I believe he's written The Braided Path which is actually on my to read pile, but other than that----am I right in thinking anything else he's written is children's books?

 

[Astra_]

Yesterday, I finished Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb, Liveship Traders, Book 3.

Fantastic series. One of those that you cannot put down.
It was a re-read after 7 years since the first time I read it and before I read Tawny Man Trilogy.
No regrets about re-reading Farseer and Liveship Traders trilogies. Brilliant books.
I think Hobb is now firmly on a third place in my top any-number list.

I am going to read a few stand alone books before I read Tawny Man.


Cannot decide which one to read though...
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
or
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak...
or maybe
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
?

 

[Winter]

- The name of the wind, Patrick Rothfuss; name & title rang a bell when browsing the bookstore's shelves, so i thought what the heck. It turns out to be ok - no more than that i'm afraid. Didn't really grip me initially and the whole episode in the woods, drugging the dragon and saving the village had me thinking "is he kidding or is seriously mean to write this stuff?". Will check reviews later to check whether i'm minority or not

I read The Name of the Wind some time ago and came to basically the same conclusion. It is an average novel and no more than that. Where it excels is in its sheer readability, which makes it a relatively quick read. Unfortunately I felt that it gained this through simple prose.

The part of the novel that involved the Draccus did nothing for me except bring the pace of the novel to a screeching halt. It bogged down my reading from the beginning of the section to the end of it. Overall I felt that it was unnecessary and though I won't say that it should have been left out, I will say that it was overlong.

 

[BrightStar]

Cannot decide which one to read though...
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
or
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak...
or maybe
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
?

I'm not too sure whether it'd be considered as a fantasy, but I read The Time Travellers Wife a few years back and utterly loved it. I can't think what else to say about the book without giving away spoilers-and the book is so much more enjoyable the less you know about it-so I'm afraid I can't say much more. Except that I would strongly recommend it as the next choice on your reading list.

 

[Seak]

Finally finished Memories of Ice. That was one insane conclusion. Loved it. This is my favorite of the series probably although I really loved Gardens of the Moon. I'm now on House of Chains and again find myself in that awkward opening stage I'm in at the start of each of these books. I like what I'm reading, but I'm not sure about what's going on. I've been able to get into this one much more quickly though.

 

[Astra_]

I'm not too sure whether it'd be considered as a fantasy, but I read The Time Travellers Wife a few years back and utterly loved it. I can't think what else to say about the book without giving away spoilers-and the book is so much more enjoyable the less you know about it-so I'm afraid I can't say much more. Except that I would strongly recommend it as the next choice on your reading list.

It is probably more of a Sci-Fi with a strong romance infusion?

Started it

 

[Hobbit]

Fantastic series. One of those that you cannot put down.
It was a re-read after 7 years since the first time I read it and before I read Tawny Man Trilogy.
No regrets about re-reading Farseer and Liveship Traders trilogies. Brilliant books.
I think Hobb is now firmly on a third place in my top any-number list.

Funny you should mention this, Astra. Coincidentally, hot off the presses:

To help celebrate the launch of the brand new Voyagerbooks.com website, Harper Collins have teamed up with six of the best SF, Fantasy and book blogs/ websites from around the world to run a series of exclusive interviews with a selection of Voyager’s top authors. The partner blogs/sites include Futurismic, Big Dumb Object, SFF Chronicles, SFFWorld, Speculative Horizons and Book Geeks.

Across early April each of these partner websites/ blogs will run an exclusive interview with one of the following Voyager authors: Kim Stanley Robinson, Cory Doctorow, D. B. Shan, Raymond Feist, Robin Hobb and Stephen Hunt. And this won’t be your standard interview stock either. Each partner site will be encouraging their readership to submit questions to be put forward to their allotted author.

Questions will be requested from the partner site’s respective readerships in early April and each of these interviews will go live on a specific day during the week-commencing 20th April 2009.

By giving such unprecedented access to 6 of Voyager’s most recognized authors, Harper Collins is underlining its commitment to the digital medium and emphasizing the new online opportunities available through the launch of Voyagerbooks.com.

And we have the chance to exclusively question Robin Hobb!

So if you (or anyone else) would like to get your thinking cap/s on, feel free. I'll set up a new thread.

However, we will need those questions by 12pm Thursday, UK time....

Mark

 

[suciul]

I finished Wonderful World by Javier Calvo and it was a wonderful book indeed

The book has a very cinematic feel and it reminded me a bit of Pulp Fiction the movie in themes, though do not expect a precise comparison

I just loved it - unexpectedly so for me based on subject, but when I opened it at the bookstore I knew I needed to get it *that day* and so I did

 

[Sfinx]

[...]
or maybe
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
?

If I may: leave Cryptonomicon on the shelf. Great idea - lousy writing. Must admit i haven't read the other two titles you mention - but i'm fairly sure they're better reads

Cheers, Sfinx.

 

[Aurian]

I loved the Time Traveller's Wife. I guess it could fit into fantasy or sci-fi (the time travelling method is vague enough to be either). The story and interaction of characters is awe-inspiring though.

I hope the author's next work later this year will be just as impressive.



I am almost finished Martha Wells' City of Bones. I feel like the author had some great ideas for the setting and the world, but the story didn`t feel like it took full advantage of it. The plot itself feels fairly forgettable, and the characters didn`t really engage me. I`m just finishing it for the sake of finishing it now....

Wings of Wrath will be next for me.

 

[PeterWilliam]

Finishing up the last bits of The Blade Itself. I really like the characters in this story. Logen Nine-Fingers, to me, is reminiscient of Gemmell's John Shannow. Abercrombie catches the heady arrogance of youth perfectly with Jezal. Jezal, in that sense (young arrogant/ignorant), reminds me of Fitzchivalry Farseer a bit. I can see people liking, and bagging on, the character. Inspector Glokta, however, is my favorite. A miserable old goat who keeps on keepin'-on without any real clue as to why. I can't wait to get to the next two in the series (to say nothing of picking up Best Served Cold).

 

[Luke_B]

Funny. I never saw Fitz as arrogant, but quite the opposite. I thought he lacked confidence, whcih was a character flaw that led to some of his mistakes.

 

[kcf]

I finished up The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks. My feelings are mixed - it's a readable epic fantasy and I'll certainly read the sequels, but it seemed more uneven than many of the recent debuts that have received similar buzz. At times it read a bit too much like fan-fic.

Next up is World's End (Age of Misrule) by Mark Chadbourn.

 

[DarthV]

Started Thomas Harlan's Oath of Empire series. Still not sure what to make of it so far. The first 1/4 has been decently slow, but hopefully once the war begins it will pick up the pace a little I think Kearney's The Ten Thousand has whetted my appetite for blood!

 

[BrightStar]

I'm reading Beg for Mercy at the moment. I think it's supposed to be a romantic fantasy, and I just kinda picked it up because... I don't know why - I felt like a break from yet another book one of a series. Anyways, Beg for Mercy is a bit of a trash read, I'm not enjoying it all that much, and there's nothing particularly remarkable about any of it. But it's keeping me distracted, and I'll probably be done with it today or tomorrow.

 

[PeterWilliam]

Funny. I never saw Fitz as arrogant, but quite the opposite. I thought he lacked confidence, whcih was a character flaw that led to some of his mistakes.

Agreed. I didn't describe clearly what I meant by, "Jezal, in that sense (young arrogant/ignorant), reminds me of Fitzchivalry Farseer a bit. I can see people liking, and bagging on, the character."

The "a bit" I was leaning toward is the stubborn ignorance of youth. Fitz seemed to concentrate on situations as he felt they were, rather than shifting his paradigm and finding a way to make it work. Later, Fitz did indeed, but after having learned some difficult lessons.

Jezal, by contrast, is starting to consider what the circumstances might look like from another pair of shoes. Also, by way of contrast, Jezal appears to be maturing, albeit minutely, before our eyes in The Blade Itself. Jezal does, however, have that youthful, stubborn arrogance that nearly has him trapped in a perspective dominated by it's own ignorance.

The two certainly aren't carbon copies as there is more than plenty of contrast between the two. The mild similarity, I think, had me wondering, in a subconscious manner, if the pitfalls preying upon the characters involved is more a function of youth than anything else. As much as I like and enjoy Hobb (and Fitzchivalry Farseer), I'm enjoying Abercrombie's character a bit more, even though I'd prefer to be trapped "on the island" with Fitzchivalry over Jezal.

Make sense? Probably not.

 

[columbob]

Inspector Glokta, however, is my favorite. A miserable old goat who keeps on keepin'-on without any real clue as to why. I can't wait to get to the next two in the series (to say nothing of picking up Best Served Cold).

Not so old, Glokta's described as being in his mid-30's. He's a cripple, though, and almost toothless, so he must eat with a straw (so to speak). Maybe that's why we (I also first pictured him as an older man, late 40's or 50's) think he's an old coot.

He was a dashing officer not so very long ago, I think the war against the Gurkish ended 7 years before or so.