Reading in January 2009

[Gilgamesh]

I am curious about it too. I will read as soon as it is being published as ebook in MS Reader.lit format

Are you using an e-book reader?

 

[ObtusePunubiris]

I finished the DARK ELF trilogy. Should I read the ICEWIND DALE Trilogy? Or go on with the LEGACY OF THE DROW trilogy??

The Icewind Dale trilogy is weakest subset of Salvatore's Drow books, but there are some important events in it that will be referenced in later books. Plus, it's a fun easy read. I say go for it.

Just finished reading C. S. Friedman's upcoming Wings of Wrath, the sequel to Feast of Souls. Man, what a ride!

Hands down, one of the fantasy books to read in 2009!

Patrick

That is good to hear. I enjoyed the Coldfire books and have been wanting something new from Friedman for a long time.

 

[xvart]

re: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

I am curious about it too.

I started it recently, but got distracted by some advance reading copies I received. I really like it so far; there is something magical about the writing style. I look forward to finishing it (hopefully soon).

xvart.

 

[pockiiee]

Just finished reading C. S. Friedman's upcoming Wings of Wrath, the sequel to Feast of Souls. Man, what a ride!

Hands down, one of the fantasy books to read in 2009!

Patrick

Lucky you!
I can't wait for this one, sounds like it is as good as the first.

I'm in the mood for something different - finished Soul of Fire by Sarah Hoyt - didn't love it, but it was enjoyable enough -I have to give her points for the interesting setting (Victorian India) with magical flying carpets and shape shifters. This is one of those books where I liked the side characters better than the main characters.

Haven't picked a new book yet but I'm going to buy an ebook to put into my new device.

 

[Apathy]

Just finished reading C. S. Friedman's upcoming Wings of Wrath, the sequel to Feast of Souls. Man, what a ride!

Hands down, one of the fantasy books to read in 2009!

Patrick

Ahh, author of Black Sun Rising? Loved the darkness of that world, too bad none of the others in that series could live up to first one's excellence.

I will prob check out this new friedman book...

 

[suciul]

I finished the Kushiel series, reading the last 4 books in 4 days since books 3-5 were so compelling I literally could not put them down. Book 6, Kushiel's Mercy was a bit of a let down because of its main plot device which I completely dislike, but it had enough good stuff to enjoy it and the ending was superb.

Books 3-5 are some of the best and most enjoyable fantasy books I've ever read and the series is absolutely great.

Book 1 started a bit slow, setup and all, but after about half it became a page turner not to be put down, while book 2 was a bit of a let down, meandering a lot after a great start though with a strong ending, but from book 3 on the series became unbelievably good and my reservations about the last book are only because of the "everyone forgets, hero remembers, everyone thinks hero mad" plot device that I hate since it just cannot pass my suspension of disbelief test

Next I want to finish Feast of Souls in preparation for book 2 Wings of Wrath.

 

[Toma]

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:

An old gypsy moth, her beauty ruined by a lifetime of singeing herself against nothing but arc lights at night games, paused by him for a moment. "Sonny, we couldn't agree with you more," she said. "Love is all that matters, and all that other stuff is as shadow. But there's just something about a good fire."

 

[Dark Wolf]

I finished my review of Ekaterina Sedia's "The Secret History of Moscow", which was one of my favorite reads of last year. Her novel made me discover a new interesting author I'm looking forward to read "The Alchemy of Stone" and her anthology, "Paper Cities".

 

[BrightStar]

Just finished reading C. S. Friedman's upcoming Wings of Wrath, the sequel to Feast of Souls. Man, what a ride!

Hands down, one of the fantasy books to read in 2009!

Patrick

I loved the Coldfire trilogy, but I was quite a bit dissapointed by Feast of Souls. I was of the belief that the next book in the series was already released, but I guess not.

I wonder, how much better is the second compared to the first book?

I'm still reading Flightless Falcon at the moment. I'm about 2 chapters away from the ending, so I expect to (hopefully) get it finished up today if time allows. I'm already looking forwards to beginning something new. Flightless Falcon isn't all that great (at first, I thought it was just typical fantasy, which I can deal with, but since I reached the last five chapters or so, things have started to get a bit... contrived and I'm getting bored. The sense of conflict, though still somewhat present, seems to have lost its effect on me) so I'll be glad to finish it.

 

[annkent]

I've just read...

I've just read several books. My fav is "Majee Legends", book 1 of a new fantasy series by B.K. Fuller. Its a must read. I can't wait for the next book. Left me hanging.

I also just reread HP 6 & 7 because I never really cemented the details of the "ending" in my head.

I've read and recomment as well "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis. That's a quick read and I've been digging into some of the early fantasy by George MacDonald, C.S. Lewis and the people that inspired them...books like "The Place of the Lion", "The Silver Trumpet", "Phantastes & Lilith" and so on.

First stop for anyone looking? Majee Legends!!! Cover art is interesting as well. Enjoy!

 

[Justin2209]

Just finished Empire In Black and Gold and really enjoyed it. Thought it was a pretty unique world and the use of the insects was original (at least to me).

I just started The Painted Man and I'm already really enjoying it even though I just scratched the surface.

 

[cantthinkofname]

Hey 1st post

Im currently reading MoI by Erikson which is pretty good so far. After that im probably going to read Matt Stover - Heroes Die. After i finish that im going to have to read Blade of Tyshalle on the computer because its impossible to get it for a reasonable price. While i read that on the computer i want to read Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist in actual book form.

 

[U-Borat]

U-Borat, just out of interest, what was it you liked about Elantris that wasn't there in Mistborn? I found everything he did well in Elantris he did better in Mistborn, and the things that were done not-so-well in Elantris were a bit better in Mistborn. I'm not saying my opinion's right, and yours is wrong or anything, I'm just interested.

can't exactly say because it's been a few years since i read elantris, but my fuzzy mind has a far better impression of elantris than mistborn. So i'll focus on where i felt rather letdown in mistborn. probably beginning with the plot which really was...meh. It felt slightly contrived and didn't flow with the fluency i remember of elantris. could be the fact it was a trilogy this time around, but i dunno.
The characters too were quite flat to me, and i didn't really feel any sort of connection with them. and in regards to the wirting, i felt that it too was a notch down from what i vaguely remember from elantris, less emotive and rather bland.

 

[suciul]

I finished a very entertaining series debut Mortal Coils by E. Nylund.

I liked a lot the only book that I read by Mr. Nylund maybe 10 years or so ago, A Game of Universes and I always kept an eye on his offerings, but he wrote mostly tie-ins and some near-future sf/thrillers which I generally avoid, so coupled with Robert's very enthusiastic recommendation I bought an arc of this one. And I have to say that Mortal Coils was a big positive surprise, funny and smart and with great characters.

Despite it's 600+ page length, it is also a very fast novel so I finished it much sooner than I expected.

It could qualify as YA with two twin fifteen year old protagonists, the twins Fiona and Eliot whose parentage is not usual.

The elder by ten minutes, Fiona is the cool, composed leader and when her special characteristics start manifesting, it's not surprising they include martial abilities. Eliot is gentler and that is also manifested in his supernatural abilities.

The book flows so well that the pages turn by themselves and you really want the twins to succeed in their "trials" and find their place between the two clans of supernatural beings they belong to by blood. Of course they may be that "new" thing that both clans are scared of since after all the Gods destroyed their predecessors the Titans "some time" ago, or they may be just regular mortals, or...

Highly recommended and the next installments - five books planned, two contracted so far - should be even more fun.

 

[Gilgamesh]

I finished a very entertaining series debut Mortal Coils by E. Nylund.
...
Highly recommended and the next installments - five books planned, two contracted so far - should be even more fun.

Apparently, the first chapters are freely available as a PDF document:

http://www.ericnylund.net/2009/01/moral-coils-reading-sample-and-cover.html

 

[kcf]

I finished up The House of the Stag by Kage Baker over the holidays. While it has its flaws, it is a fun deconstruction of the dark lord fantasy trope.

I should finish up The Hero of Ages by Sanderson soon. I'm not sure what will come next.

 

[Dr Skottie]

I am currently half way through Reaper's Gale by Erikson and loving every moment. This year I will aim to finish reading the series including the tie-ins by Essellmont.

I think I might make a start on Kushiel's Dart, i think that's the first one... I started reading it awhile ago and couldn't get into, but I think I will give it another shot.

*crosses fingers hoping the next SoIaF comes out this year...*

 

[molybdenum]

can't exactly say because it's been a few years since i read elantris, but my fuzzy mind has a far better impression of elantris than mistborn. So i'll focus on where i felt rather letdown in mistborn. probably beginning with the plot which really was...meh. It felt slightly contrived and didn't flow with the fluency i remember of elantris. could be the fact it was a trilogy this time around, but i dunno.
The characters too were quite flat to me, and i didn't really feel any sort of connection with them. and in regards to the wirting, i felt that it too was a notch down from what i vaguely remember from elantris, less emotive and rather bland.

I suggest you don't re-read Elantris then. I think you may be disappointed.

By the way these are all fair criticisms. For me I immensely enjoyed the plot, and the characters worked, but I can easily see how Sanderson's writing style may not be for everyone.

 

[BrightStar]

I had a rather pleasant surprise the other day when my book (which I ordered from Amazon Marketplace) arrived. The book in question, The War of Angels by Darren Dowler has been on my "to buy" list now for... a fair while. I hadn't gotten around to purchasing a copy because I have so many other books on my to read pile already, and this particular title seemed to be quite expensive. But, ever on the lookout for a good bargain, I happened to spot it listed for sale at Amazon Marketplace for quite a good price and figured I'd buy it. Afterall, I intended to buy the title at some point in the future anyways, so why not pick it up whilst the price was good?

I didn't think anything more of it, until my book showed up in the post last Thursday. I flipped the front cover over, and wow! The book is signed by the author. It looks genuine, too. So I was very pleased by the happy surprise.

In other news... well, I finished Flightless Falcon at last. The book turned out to be pretty medicore, and I was honestly glad to finish it by the time I got to the end. It was starting to get a bit boring.

After a bit of careful thought (is it just me that finds it so hard to choose what to read next from their to-read pile?) I decided to read book two of the Nightrunner series. I have to admit that Luck in the Shadows didn't impress me all that much, but I still want to give the series a chance.

 

[Sapph]

LAst Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie and I've got to say... I'm lovin' it!