Reading in June 2009

[Hobbit]

June already? This month is an equinox, so the middle of Summer or Winter, depending where you are in SFFWorld...

In case you haven't realised, this is where you tell us what you're reading in Fantasy and Horror this month. Good or bad, please let us know what you thought.

The Fantasy group are keen to read Jhereg by Steven Brust this month. Feel free to join in here.

Mark

 

[lillumultipass]

Hi to all!

First poster in June!
I take this as an occasion to say that I hate you guys (and girls!). No, I really do!
Indeed, just by reading the previous April and May topics I got sooooo many books I wanted to buy, I had to order them through Amazon.
But the thing is, before that I had already ordered quite a few, such that books 5-7 in the Malazan story, or Hamilton's Juda's Unchained and Pandora's star.
Also, as I was looking for some specific books (that I didn't find) in a second-hand English bookstore in Paris, I found the 1st 3 books in Kate Elliott's Crown of stars series, which I had always wanted to try. Then, I also found the Name of the Wind, which I had always sworn I wouldn't buy until the trilogy is over, and the last 2 books in Marco's "Eyes of God" trilogy.
But of course, then, I had to order the first one, and the last four of Kate Elliott's.
Oh, and didn't I tell you about the Mistborn trilogy? Yes, another idea I picked up in the forum. And when I thought the craving was over, I read about Adrian Tschekovsky's books. Since I found the setting quite appealing, I ordered the first two as well.
Well, now my order is being shipped, but still, last night I got intrigued by Twelve, the Engineer trilogy (K.J. Parker) and above all by the Night Watch trilogy by Sergei Lyukanenko.
I haven't ordered them...yet, but I was on the verge of doing so. Hence, now I think I must have ordered/bought something like 30 books (not all sci-fi: some take even more time to read than a Erikson's book, like The Penguin History of the World by J. Roberts)) since the beginning of May and I have more than 50 books in my to-read pile!
Well, I guess my excuses are twofold: first, since the exam I have been working on for the past 5 months takes place next Saturday, I will have plenty of time on my hands afterwards (and no finance books to read!); second, its good for my english that I read that many books in english. Yeah, I know, pretty lame excuses

Well, as to what I am reading right now, in-between exam books, after finishing The Pillars of the Earth (by Ken Follett), which was a great book IMHO (even though one could argue that it gets tiring to see the good guys going through all these hardships, but always prevailing at the end), I am now reading Ship of Magic by Hobb. I had read the Apprentice series a few years back, but I was a bit reluctant to start this one because of the "talking ships" thing. However, I really like it, and it certainly has something to do with Hobb's writing, which, once again, is amazing.

Well, I guess my venting is over

 

[ChrisW]

Just finished the second Gaunt's Gost omnibus The Saint. Pretty good military scfi/fantasy. Now I've just gotta wait for the next omnibus

 

[LordScorch]

Reading Deception Point by Dan Brown. Awesome book so far, and I can't wait to get till the end.

 

[intensityxx]

lillumultipass, you sound like me when I first came here. That was thousands of book purchases ago.

 

[lillumultipass]

lillumultipass, you sound like me when I first came here. That was thousands of book purchases ago.

Yeah, well, was it supposed to cheer me up?
That's the reason why I don't lurk too much in this kind of forum, I can't resist the urge to buy
I guess I am a "bookaholic"!

I think I am going to order the Night Watch trilogy finally...

 

[Seak]

I did the same, but for me the thread that did me in was the Top 10 of your favorite fantasy books.

I just finished New Spring on audiobook and it was really good. It made me like Lan, Moiraine, and Swan much more. Swan always bugged me in the main series, but when I do a re-read I think I will sympathize more with her.

It was also interesting to find out...

Spoiler

...that they already found out about the Black Ajah before anything even started in the main procession.

 

[Seak]

I swear this always happens, but I finished Lies of Locke Lamora today as well as New Spring.

I guess I just have to say that it more than lived up to the hype. What a great read. I have stayed up on numerous nights, easily sacrificing sleep for this book. The characters were just great, the thief "games" were incredibly inventive, and the magic was creative, though not very predominant. By magic, I guess I just mean the Bondsmagi and their order was really interesting.

This book had it all and I was hooked till the end. Thanks Scott Lynch.

 

[Criselle]

I finnished A Feast For Crows earlier sometime...It was really good and made me really curious to see what happens next. I hope that the next book comes out early (though looking at the dates for the otehr books in the series it doesn't seem likely )

I am about halfway through Gardens of the Moon, first Malazan book, and I am not sure about it. It is hard to get into...I have a real issue trying to imagine the charecters and I don't completely understand the magic and mythology. I think "mildly interested" describes my view of the book...its good, but I am not anxiously turning the pages to find out what happens next. I will continue reading, however, because most of the posts on this site say that it starts out like that, but the books get much better.

I barely also started Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb, but I am having trouble reading it because I have a free ebook copy, not a real book. Being stingy, I don't want to spend money on a book if I have the ebook for free. I am having issues reading it on the computer screen and will probably emd up buying it as soon as I have money to.

That's all for me!

 

[SallyC]

Two very contrasting experiences in the last couple of days.

Devoured Carol Berg's Flesh and Spirit and Breath and Bone in very short order. I love her writing -it draws me in to an alternative reality and (to my family's disgust) keeps me there to the very last page.

I then tried Gail Z Martin The Summoner, and gave up very very quickly. Trite, shallow, derivative, repetitive - shouldn't this sort of book come with a health warning?

 

[Miriamele]

Probably tomorrow I'll be starting Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin. I don't know if you'd call it fantasy or historical fiction or what. I guess I'll have to read it to find out.

 

[Rob B]

Today (or more likely tonight) I'll be cracking open my US ARC of Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie (link points to Mark's review).

After that, maybe I'll catch up with my favorite Yellow-pages listed wizard or some folks in the Malazan or maybe I'll finally check out A Magic of Twilight by S.L. Farrell or World's End by Mark Chadbourn or Blood of Ambrose by James Enge or The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick or The Patriot Witch by Charles Coleman Finlay or Night of Knives: by Ian Cameron Esslemont....just too much good stuff staring at me!

 

[Cranky Hamster]

Well, if I get a vote about which reviews I'd like to see, I'd pick A Magic of Twilight or Blood of Ambrose (with the latter edging out the former). Both books are not quite on my "to buy" list yet, but I've been watching the critical response to each and trying to make a decision.

 

[Cranky Hamster]

I then tried Gail Z Martin The Summoner, and gave up very very quickly. Trite, shallow, derivative, repetitive - shouldn't this sort of book come with a health warning?

Aaah, if only you'd run a search on the book title here before picking it up. Even the two or three people who didn't greet it with flamethrowers of contempt couldn't manage much better praise than "well, it won't literally make your eyes explode in their sockets."

But yes, next time, before being pulled in by the gorgeous Komarck cover art -- and it is, truly, gorgeous -- for your health and sanity, search first.

 

[Rob B]

Well, if I get a vote about which reviews I'd like to see, I'd pick A Magic of Twilight or Blood of Ambrose (with the latter edging out the former). Both books are not quite on my "to buy" list yet, but I've been watching the critical response to each and trying to make a decision.

Hobbit reviewed A Magic of Twilight last March, so there's that review. I don't know I'd do review myself after reading, but I do have the second volume A Magic of Nightfall which I would write up after reading it.

As for Blood of Ambrose I do plan on getting to it - I think I read one of Enge's short stories featuring the title character.

Regarding GZ Martin, I can only agreewith Cranky and Sally.

 

[Julian]

I finally finished Keith Donohue's The Angels of Destruction.

A few years ago, I read his debut, The Stolen Child, and truly loved it. I have some second thoughts about "Angels" though.

It's a good book, certainly. However, unlike "Child", it seems to be a bit more direct, a bit less obstuse. There's a very strong focus on the protagonist, Margeret, a middle-aged woman devestated by the loss of her daughter. That's fine, but strangely, the deeper Donohue delves into Margeret's thoughts, the less compelling she (and the story) becomes.

"Child" shone mostly by the many things that it didn't say; in this book, perhaps, Donohue says rather too much. Nevertheless, he remains an author to watch. This isn't epic fantasy, of course, nor urban horror or anything like that: this is a low-key, introspective affair, heavily dependent on Donohue's sense of language. It's good, but not as good as I'd hoped it to be.

Anyways: on to something quite different. Brian Ruckley's Fall of Thanes.

 

[NickeeCoco]

Well, I've finally finished A Game of Thrones. It only took me two years. My boyfriend gave me the book as a gift on our first date. He found me on Facebook, saw my book list and figured I'd like some Martin. I put it down 3/4 of the way through two years ago. I just wasn't into it. Too many characters to read about, when I only cared about Bran, Jon and Arya (that's her name, right?) A couple of days ago I found myself without anything to read, so I decided to finish Game of Thrones up. My opinion is still the same as it was two years ago. I will, however, finish the series, just to see what happens to my three favourites. Most likely, finishing them will take me as long as it takes Martin to write them. I won't be in a hurry.

I'm now half-way through a favourite re-read of mine. It's not fantasy, though. It's sci-fi, being Anne McCaffrey's second book in her Crystal Singer trilogy, Killashandra. Come thursday, I plan on purchasing the second book in the Mistborn series.

 

[Daddy Darth]

Good day all,
Just finished Carey's Bane Wreaker last night and I absolutely loved it. I had God Slayer lined up to read next but my supervisor has loaned me Ken Follet's World Without End so I am taking a slight fantasy break this month for some Historical Fiction. I Loved Follet's Pillars of the Earth and have been aching to read this one. It is a big read so it should take me most of the month. I am so slow. Then I will be back to God Slayer. I would not normally take a break in a series when I have the next one ready to go but my Supervisor will likely want to see the book safely returned in somewhat short order.
Cheers

 

[DarthV]

Finshed up Hobb's Shaman's Crossing and was very much underwhelmed with it. I found myself skimming a good part of the book. Fprest Mage seems to be more interesting so far. Definitely doesn't compare with her previous series

 

[Bastard]

Well, by the end of May I finally finished the Riftwar Saga with reading Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon. Not the best, but quite enjoyable. I thought they should've spent more time with Thomas and Pug... for what were supposed to be two of the main characters in the Saga, it seems to be that they were more like side characters. Arutha was clearly the main character of the whole series in my opinion.

Done with that, I read the fourth book of The Wheel of Time - The Shadow Rising. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I wish more time would be spend on Rand, especially with his point of view.

At the moment I'm reading The Blade Itself, and it's been quite awesome so far. A slow start, but that's has usually been the case anyways with almost everything I've been reading, so no problems there. But I like the dialogue, the short chapters, and the characters... I like the portrayal of the characters' thoughts too. My main complaint though is that it shifts point of view too often so it's a bit hard to get a continuation of a story. I would've like to have some 3-4 batches of chapters for a point of view before switching, especially since the chapters are short to begin with. But that's just a minor complaint at the moment.

For the rest of the month I plan on finishing The First Law Trilogy. After that I plan on reading either some more Wheel of Time or start reading some Mistborn. Maybe continue the Night Angel Trilogy... not sure yet.