Reading in January 2010

I just finished At The Gates Of Darkness by Raymond E Feist. I didn't enjoy it as much as Rides A Dread Legion but it was still a good read and has left me looking forward to the 3 remaining books.

I am going to read Terry Brooks' A Princess of Landover next, it's been a long long time since I have read this series and I don't have the other books for a refresher but I'm looking forward to seeing how it is.
 
I just finished reading Black Angel (by Graham Masterton) today.

Still can't decide whether I think this book is good, or just okay. Whilst the early chapters were extremely graphic and shocking, much of the middle of the book seemed ... a little lacking. There was horror and gore, but ... I guess it was just that the supernatural elements of the story were, for the most part, a lot less disturbing because I didn't find them as believable. The ending was really good though, and I could barely put the book down once I reached the final chapter.

Black Angel is not a book I'm going to forget in a hurry, but I don't know whether I'm going to be as eager to read more by the author immediately. I probably will at some point though. I certainly prefer Mastertone to Koontz.

Not sure what to read next; I'm hoping my Carol Berg book will show up tomorrow, and don't want to start anything new in the meantime. I finished Black Angel earlier than I expected, since its ending was so gripping.
 
Just finished reading an ARC of a debut novel by Liane Merciel. The book, The River Kings' Road: A Novel of Ithelas, is also the opening volume in a series.

As far as describing the story goes, I would say it reminded me somewhat of Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy. Merciel's work is more limited in scope. Merciel's work doesn't have the "super-powered" artifacts and characters that Weeks does. Merciel's tale is regional in concentration, with some possible ramifications for the wider world, while Week's seemed continental in scope. Merciel has multiple POVs, but has a smaller cast of characters than Weeks did. Many of these things could change with future installments. I really liked this and will read the sequels.
 
Just finished reading First Lord's Fury by Butcher, and thought that it ended the series very well. I think that Butcher left enough openings that he could possibly come back to the story, so we'll have to see what he ends up doing with that. Overall a very good series.

Now I'm moving onto The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman. Should be a good one.
 
Okay, onward. I'm moving on with Barclay's Elfsorrow. I need to ease out of my Gene Wolfe state of mind with something comfortable, so it's the Raven. Raven to me!!
 
I'm currently 2/3 through Mark Charan Newton's Nights of Villjamur... It's brilliant stuff... I'm loving it.
 
Finished The Drawing of the Three, book 2 of Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Brilliant stuff. I didn't realise there was such gritty, dark, intriguing fantasy before ASOIAF hit the scene. 9/10

I'll probably move straight onto book 3 The Waste Lands next.
 
Finished The Lies of Locke Lamora quickly, fantastic read, can't say enough good things about it and waiting impatiently for the second book to fall through the letterbox. In the meantime, moved on to Glen Cook's Return of the Black Company - been a while getting back to this after splitting the story in these collections and wow does the opening make it hard to remember what was going on. Once you understand what's happening to Munger though the writing just sucks you straight back in. Looking forward to seeing Croaker and Lady get even.
 
Started reading Jonathan Maberry's Patient Zero. I'm only about 50 pages in, but I'm really liking it so far. The depiction of Joe Ledger, Our Hero, sidles right up to the line between super awesome badass and over-the-top parody, and I'm not quite sure where it's going to shake out overall, but either way it's a lot of fun. Really hope the rest of the book lives up to its beginning.
 
I read Kitty's House of Horrors, the seventh entry in the Kitty series by Carrie Vaughn. More plot and less character development for Kitty this time around, but it was still quite an entertaining edition to the series.

I also made short work of John Scalzi's novella from Subpress, The God Engines. It's a blending of science fiction and fantasy in which gods are used to power spaceships, hence the title. Scazli's first foray into fantasy takes an interesting look at the nature of faith with a solid, intriguing story.

I think my next book will be The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld.
 
Halfway through Deadhouse Gates by Erikson at the moment, really enjoying it. All the POVs have been interesting so far, although he's managed to make me really dislike Felisin (even though her POV parts are really interesting)!

Definitely the best book I've read so far this year (although it is only my second book of the year, so I'm not really sure that means much yet...)!
 
Since Spirit Lens didn't arrive today, I'm reading Sixty-One Nails by Mike Shevdon. Sixty One Nails is an urban fantasy, so not typically the sort of thing I'd go for. But I got it as a gift, so thought I'd best try it out.

Read about 100 pages so far. The beginning felt a little rushed (main character is far too accepting of his situation) but now it's settled into a steady pace, it's not too bad.
 
BrightStar said:
I decided to take a break from the fantasy genre for a few days, and so picked out something in the horror genre (Graham Masterton's Black Angel) instead. I recall the author being recommended to me quite some years back, after I'd expressed a growing dissapointment with Dean Koontz' writing, but I just hadn't gotten around to ordering anything by him until only this month.
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Hi. I haven't read anything by Masterton -- another group of books somewhere in the TBR mountain -- but the book that made him famous was The Manitou, largely because of a cheesy '80s ('70s?) horror movie staring Tony Curtis. He appears to be, like Richard Laymon and Jack Ketcham, one of those writers appearing in the wake of Stephen King who ratcheted up the horror/gore quotient and pared away the story-telling that distinguishes King's better works. Like Laymon and Ketcham, he has a devoted readership.

Randy M.
 
Finished Haruki Murakami's AFTER DARK a couple nights ago, but sickness and the passing hope that the books I ordered would arrive left me with no desire to move on to something else. Oh well, desperation for something to read will always force my hand. Now reading DEVIL'S CAPE by Rob Rogers.
 
One thing I swore to do this year was to post more often on this forum, especially this thread. I get so many book ideas to check out here!

Unfortunately, I am between shipments of books from the library (waiting lists!) and boxes of books ordered online. So I have been reading a fair amount of non-fantasy/sci-fi since the beginning of the year (I See Rude People, How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, My Third Husband Will be a Dog amongst others).

Still no new books, so I am re-reading Jasmyn by Alex Bell. I really love the books I have read so far (the first one was Ninth Gate), and I see there is another book coming out soon. They are all stand-alones so far, with a lovely mix of fantasy into the real world. The books so far rely on unreliable first-person narrators, lovely prose, and plenty of twists and turns along the way. Definately enjoyed my re-read of Ninth Gate and now Jasmyn.
 
I'm terrible.

I just picked Wizard's First Rule back up. Must. Resist. Temptation. :(
 
Dwagginz said:
I'm terrible.

I just picked Wizard's First Rule back up. Must. Resist. Temptation. :(
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No, don't do it! Just kidding, I actually haven't read anything by Goodkind thanks to sffworld. :) But I hear that's the best one.

Just barely finished A Shadow in Summer. Start reading this now if you haven't picked it up yet. Great read and amazing world Abraham's created. Incredible it's his first published novel.
 
Seak said:
No, don't do it! Just kidding, I actually haven't read anything by Goodkind thanks to sffworld. :) But I hear that's the best one.

Just barely finished A Shadow in Summer. Start reading this now if you haven't picked it up yet. Great read and amazing world Abraham's created. Incredible it's his first published novel.
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Good to know... I just ordered the first 3 books hardcover without knowing much about it other than a couple good reviews here and there.
 
Bastard said:
Good to know... I just ordered the first 3 books hardcover without knowing much about it other than a couple good reviews here and there.
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haha, I love it slash hate it when I do that. Luckily the good folks around here can usually be trusted. :)
 
Am on the last chapter of Daniel Abraham's A Shadow in Summer, I have the omnibus of the two books so will no doubt go straight into the sequel despite Crack'd Pot Trail just arriving in my letterbox...

Am totally loving the Long Price so far, Abraham really knows how to weave a tight tale with no extraneous bull s**t. I've read Hunter's Run and I'm betting he really developed the last half of that novel mostly on his own.

Does anyone know if there is also an Orbit trade paperback omnibus of the final two novels? I'd like to keep the series in the same format...
 
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