Reading in February

[ezchaos]

I guess I'll start this thread for this month!

I just finished The Eye of Night by Pauline J Alama. It was a good read by this new author. And best of all, it's a totally standalone book! Quite refreshing. I posted a review if anybody's interested.

Next, I'm going to dive into The Briar King.

 

[DrBloodmoney1]

I'm in the middle of The Monarchies of God series by Paul Kearney and loving it. Militaristic, interesting magic system where mages are not all powerful by any means, and very interesting elements of mystery.

 

[Dominus]

Yeah, so got caught up in school, so have to finish Fortress Draconis and When Dragons Rage, then I'll start Ship of Magic to see if I like that series.

 

[Nimea]

Take a guess: Heroes Die by Stover.

And a bit of 'The Gutenberg Revolution' by John Man.

 

[Cygnus]

Just finished The Briar King and I loved it! It left me with the same feeling I had after reading George RR Martin's books. Not a cheery thing exactly, but quite good anyway.

I also recently read The Ruins of Ambrai by Melanie Rawn. I liked it, but it was a little heavy on political intrigue for me. Also there are so many characters and the storytelling jumps erratically along the timeline that I was often quite confused. Not an unsual state, mind you, just one I don't want to experience while reading!

 

[TheElusiveCamel]

I'm re-reading Tad Williams stuff and the first book is really badly made about 50 pages have fallen out

 

[DarthV]

I'm just about halfway through Stephen R Donaldson's Mordant's Need Vol 2: A Man Rides Through and loving every single page. At least a lot of the mystery of who the enemy of Mordant has been cleared up... it should be interesting to see how many more twists and turns there will be in the next 300+ pages.

 

[Aoibheil]

I read "Pillars of the World" and "Shadows and Light" by Anne Bishop over the weekend. They were both pretty good, and if you liked her Black Jewels Trilogy, then you should definately check these out.

Now I've started on "The Briar King"... I'm not very far into it yet, but so far it's very good.

 

[Rose of Sharon]

Just finished the second book of the Bitterbynde trilogy, and must find something to read until the third book is released in the US. I thought I should probably try the Farseer books by Robin Hobb.

 

[Twelve]

Originally posted by TheElusiveCamel
I'm re-reading Tad Williams stuff and the first book is really badly made about 50 pages have fallen out

Watch out: Tad is one of my favorite writers. Alright, he might have messed up a bit recently, but...

Once it comes in the mail, I'll be reading Michael Moorcocks new fantasy THE SKRAYLING TREE . It's the sequel to The Dreamthief's Daughter. Can't wait 'til it comes.

12

 

[DrBloodmoney1]

I finished up The Monarchies of God series by Paul Kearney. Outstanding series. I'm glad that it finally made it into print here in the US. Great military fantasy with understated magical influences. A bit of the horror thrown in for that crowd. I suggest picking it up.

Now working on The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Good stuff so far. DrB

 

[James Barclay]

At long last, I've started to read Ash. That'll take up most of the reading time this month, no doubt but any spare and I've a couple of texts on Napoleonic warfare, one on fuedal Britain and another on Greek mythology.

Yep, it's research time...

 

[Hobbit]

Hurrah!

Going to be very interested in what you think, NOM.

'Nuff said!

Hobbit

 

[horribleman]

I'm reading Deadhouse gates still.

There's so much in this book that works even though it shouldn't, and I've even had dodgy dreams based on the bit at sea!!!

 

[Cardo]

I just finished The first chronicles of Thomas Covenant.
Or rather I now read the last 150 pages, because I continued from the place where I got stuck some half a year ago.
And to my suprise the last 150 pages were fabulous now, and I can't understand how I could get stuck in it.
So in the end I'll have to say that the book was very good,IMHO.

 

[fluffy bunny]

Omnibus 1 of H.P. Lovecraft's work: At the Mountains of Madness and other stories

 

[Eventine]

I have just started reading Memories of Ice, which has recently been released in MMPB here in Australia.
Wow. This book compounds upon me the sheer scope of what Eriskon is writing. I'm only a hundred or so page sin and already I want to go back and reread the first two books, just looking for hidden clues and the like.
One thing about getting dropped into the thick of things with the first books is that you don't realise what little snippets you're passing over.
I'm not sure if I'll be able to continue waiting for thse books to come out in paperback...

 

[DrBloodmoney1]

Just finished up Slaughterhouse 5 by Vonnegut. Outstanding classic that I've never read before. Loved it.

Starting Baudolino by Umberto Eco. After The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum I'm really looking forward to this one.

DrB

 

[Ntschotschi]

I haven't posted for a while cause I've been busy keeping the students in check but read quite a few good books.
Alas there've been a few disappointments as well.
Terry Brooks - Never read anything by him so I had the need to close this "Bildungslücke" (education gap). I was so bored - I read the first Shannara series and there was only one story told over and over again. There's really only one interesting character and that's Allanon. My only concern through the four odd novels was that Brooks could in some attack of crazyness decide to kill him off.
After that I was dubious about Michelle West's Sunsword series because I'd ordered all the four of it same as with Brooks, convinced they had to be good in some way cause people recommended them.
But what a relief- these books are real gems and a joy to read. The writing style is awesome and the characters are deeply involving. The path of development is slow but the chracters are so deep that you can just delve into this world - or worlds as you might say - cause there are a few completly different mindsets for you to experience the world.
I'm hunting for the older books by her which she wrote under another name but they're out of print.
From there I went to something completely different - from an over elloborated set of characters to something very blunt and straightforward - "The Deed of Paksenarrion" by Elizabeht Moon.
And the first pages were a complete let down regarding writing style and sophistication. But then I started to appreciate its own qualities. It's down to earth professionel writing with a very appealing heroine and once you get the parallels to legends of saints it draws you in as a fantasy retelling of deeds of medieval holy knights.
After that "Croosroads of Twilight" arrived and I finished this today. What can I say: It's a complete let down - the worst I've read so far by Robert Jordan. Disregarding the writing quality - in this regard it's quite good - but he completely killed any hopes his fans might still be holding in bringing this tale any farther.
I'm no Jordan "Fan" but I appreciated his books - but everyone must concede that this last book is pathetic after all the time his fans had been waiting for it.
He didn't solve any of the developments he set in motion in the last books and he even left two cliffhanger endings at the end!!
Am I reading a newpaper series of sevenhundred pages or what?
To all fans - you have the right to be furious about that.
Anybody else - if you haven't read anything by Jordan till now, don't pick this book- You will understand nothing.

 

[DarthV]

DrBloodmoney1,

Have fun keeping track of all the groups and such in Foucault's Pendulum. I found it very hard to try and keep track of what was what. Interesting book though.

I finished up Stephen R Donaldson's Mordant's Need Vol 2: A Man Rides Through last week. Another quality piece of work by Donaldon. I can't wait to dig into his SciFI The Gap series.

I started Guy Gavriel Kay's Sailing to Sarantium last weekend and I'm really enjoying it so far. The journey to the city made me think of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales - Crispus kept meeting up with interesting people and they joined him on the trip.