Reading in January 2013

[Hobbit]

Welcome to 2013!

This is where you talk to us about your monthly Fantasy and Horror Reads: whether good or bad, we want to discuss with you what you thought.

A couple of heads-up: our Fantasy review of 2012 is HERE; our SF review of 2012 is HERE; and our review of 2012 films and TV is HERE.

You may also want to vote on your favourite books of 2012 HERE. Please read the instructions in the first post.

 

[Wilson Geiger]

After finishing up Mark Lawrence's excellent King of Thorns and Felix Gilman's unheralded Half-Made World, it's time to get back to Joe Abercrombie. Best Served Cold, coming up.

 

[Pub]

Got to be A Memory of Light atm the im also reading The War with Mein by David Durham bit hard to get into but its picking up.

After this i might do a quick re-read of of the last 2 WOT books to catch up

 

[DurzoBlint]

Finished up Abercrombie's Red Country. It is classic Joe, but not as good as his previous installments. It was nice to see a "bloody" friend again. I enjoy a western every now and then and this was a good one, but just not like his previous novels.

Currently reading The Half-made World by Felix Gilman. Publisher sent me both books in the series and trying to make a dent in Mount ToBeRead early in the year. About 30 pages in this morning and so far so good. Just have some football taking my time away from me. Bulldogs need to step it up in the second half and take down them Huskers.

 

[Rulkez]

Finished up Abercrombie's Red Country. It is classic Joe, but not as good as his previous installments. It was nice to see a "bloody" friend again. I enjoy a western every now and then and this was a good one, but just not like his previous novels.

Currently reading The Half-made World by Felix Gilman. Publisher sent me both books in the series and trying to make a dent in Mount ToBeRead early in the year. About 30 pages in this morning and so far so good. Just have some football taking my time away from me. Bulldogs need to step it up in the second half and take down them Huskers.

I only just realised The Rise of Ransom City was a sequel to the excellent Half-made World, so I guess that just jumped right to the top of the Tbr pile.

 

[DurzoBlint]

I only just realised The Rise of Ransom City was a sequel to the excellent Half-made World, so I guess that just jumped right to the top of the Tbr pile.

I hear it is even better than Half-made World. So keep me posted on your thoughts.

 

[utherdoul]

Prince of Thorns, by Mark Lawrence, 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami, and then getting caught up on Abercrombie.

 

[algernoninc]

still reading The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett. I was hoping to include it in my top reads for 2012, after seeing here a lot of positive reviews. I like the story well enough, but the prose doesn't quite rise to the same heights as the imaginative powers of the author. I found the dialogue to be the main culprit in pulling me out of the intended dark mood.

 

[scumby]

still reading The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett. I was hoping to include it in my top reads for 2012, after seeing here a lot of positive reviews. I like the story well enough, but the prose doesn't quite rise to the same heights as the imaginative powers of the author. I found the dialogue to be the main culprit in pulling me out of the intended dark mood.

The Troupe made the "honorable mention" section of my best reads of 2012, but it was close. I read over 80 books in 2012 (hard drive failure combined with poor back-up habits leaves the number a bit sketchy), so this is a very good book. I spent a bit of time debating whether to put it above "The Rook".

- Jeff

 

[Luke_B]

The King's Blood: Book Two of the Dagger and the Coin by Daniel Abraham. It's pretty much on par with the first one, so far, which is a fine thing indeed.

 

[cgw]

Reading Dark Currents by Jacqueline Carey. OK light reading. Funny how young protagonist written by middle age authors have middle age tastes.

 

[Rob B]

I'm finishing off The Gathering Storm by Jordan and Sanderson, easily the best Wheel of Time since A Crown of Swords

 

[pat5150]

Just finished Ian Cameron Esslemont's Blood and Bone. . .

The weakest Malazan installment to date and a major, major disappointment to start off the year.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Patrick

 

[ezchaos]

For some reason, I had never read Glen Cook's The Black Company. I attempted to read this one years ago but failed. I'm not sure why because this time around it was quite enjoyable.

Next, I'll either read the follow-up, Shadows Linger or Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns.

 

[Seak]

Finally tackled and finished The Crippled God. A fitting ending to possibly my all-time favorite series. I feel like a huge part of my life is over, but at the same time there are plenty of other Malazan books to get to and on the way. I'm doing a reread of Gardens actually and it's pretty much a completely different and easily understandable book for some reason.

Also listening to Ready Player One by Ernest Cline and read by Wil Wheaton. It's just plain nerd-candy. Not often do I look forward to my audiobooks this much. At first I was excited about Wheaton, and for the most part he's great, he just tends to slow down and leave gaps at certain points, which takes you out of the story and makes you realize you're listening to someone read to you.

 

[scumby]

I'm reading Cold Days by Jim Butcher. 150 pages in and I'm really enjoying it. I've been afraid that after so many books Butcher was bound to drop the ball, but so far it's a great read. - Jeff

 

[Haliax]

I've been reading Brent Weeks' The Blinding Knife. Has Weeks always come across as sexist as he does in this book? I'm enjoying the story well enough, but I could live without the constant objectifying of women and comments on gender roles. It's almost as bad as WoT in that regard. The whole "ends justify the means" crusade with The Color Prince is also getting tiresome, along with Liv's broken record of "Why did my daddy and the Chromeria never treat me like this?!"

Somewhat frustrated with it.

 

[Daddy Darth]

Back to The Wise Man's Fear. Riveting!

 

[Skynjay]

I started my year off trashy. A YA book called Falling Kingdoms that is going to get a lot of buzz, but is thoroughly mediocre. Almost done with Pariah, a Warhammer 4k novel. I did reread Wyrd Sisters by Pratchett, which was as good as it ever was.

 

[NickeeCoco]

I finished The Bonehunters, book six of the Malazan novels by Erikson a few days ago. What a book. This is the novel in the series where all the different threads are being woven together. The beginning of the climax. Exciting stuff.

After that mammoth of a book, I needed something lighter, so I read the first two books of the Lyra series by Patricia C. Wrede (Who, I just found out, used to be in a small writers group with people like Steven Brust and Pamela Dean. Didn't know that. Huh.). All the books in this series are stand alones, and the only thing really connecting them is the fact that they take place in the same world. I decided to read them in publishing order, because Shadow Magic, the first book of the series, was also Wrede's first published book. Sometimes it's fun to see an author's progression. It's glaringly obvious that it was a first novel. It is not as good as Wrede's later work, that is for sure. It was fun, though. If a tad bit fast paced, even for a children's novel (10-12, I'd say). Daughter of Witches was better than the first novel, but still a little shaky. There's still three more novels in this series to go, but thus far, they're nowhere near as good as the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, which I think are some of the best childrens novels in fantasy ever.

I am now about to start Son of Avonar by Carol Berg.