Reading in March 2011

I've already finished The Alchemist by Paolo Pacigalupi and The Executioness by Tobias Buckell and Death Wing by Margaret Weis.
 
The other week, I really couldn't decide which of my new books to read, so I decided on a re-read of Carol Berg's Son of Avonar (book one of the Bridge of D'Arnath series) instead. I recall that when I first read this book, I stopped somewhere in the middle of it and didn't continue for many, many months. There was ... just something about it that I couldn't quite get into. I recall that I was hooked by the end though, and the rest of the series was enjoyable. So I was curious to re-read it again and see what I thought.

Interestingly, I did find that once again, I struggled through the first half of the book. I think the problem with it is its shifting timeline (part of it is flashback, part set in the present). I found the flashback chapters a bit hard going and was especially annoyed by them because I was far more interested in the main story. It took me a long time to warm to the characters in the flashbacks (maybe because I knew what was going to happen to most of them and so didn't feel as compelled to make the effort to read about them) and that made the flashback chapters a real hindrance for me.

At around page 150 or so though, I began to enjoy the story. By this point, I was enjoying both the past and present storylines. I'm about 100 pages off of the ending, and definitely glad I made the effort to re-read. Shame I can't remember much at all about book two except that I liked it. Guess I'll get to refresh my memory soon when I re-read that one next.
 
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I'm a few pages over halfway through Modesitt's Imager, and it's absolutely brilliant. The plot is starting to shape up now, but it's still not completely clear where it's heading. Something tells me that little will be resolved this book, with the next (Which I get for Easter, or maybe a little earlier if the Mother is generous) tying up some loose ends and so forth.

I also have a nagging urge to pick Moon's The Deed of Paksennarion back up...
 
Finally received Wise Man's Fear in the mail today, will be turning the first page soon!
 
algernoninc said:
Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte : it's not fantasy but it should appeal to fans of action heroes (Abercrombie, Gemmell) . There are overt references to The Three Musketeers, the author has done a great job recreating the Spanish society around 1620, a Golden Age fed by the gold from the Americas, but with signs of the decadence to come. "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition" according to Monty Python, but in this story they play an important role.
This is very much the first book of a longer series, and as such the action may seem lacking, with a lot of pages devoted to worldbuilding and the introduction of secondary characters. The narration alternates between first person fom Inigo, the young page, and third person.
The main character deviates slightly from the mold of D'Artagnan, Zorro or Pardaillan by being a man of few words and open to a little cheating if the situation requires it. He also has a fondness for theatre and poetry.
The main appeal for me was in the beautiful, evocative language of Perez-Reverte. The translator did a good job, but I wish I were able to read this text in original.
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I've been looking at picking up a book by this author. Looks like some good old-fashioned swashbuckling mayhem. Is this a good place to start?
 
So far...

Read through much of the Vorkasigan series-- well read isn't really correct, I had my iPad read them aloud using text-to-speech.
Went from the first book(with Miles's mom), to Diplomatic Immunity(this one is boooring, so I've quit for now) in the last month or so.
If I had to actually read them instead of just listening as I work I doubt I'd have gotten very far... the series doesn't really get good until Mirror Dance.


The Wise Man's Fear, it was pretty good-- has some issues, but definitely worth reading.

Was reading The Pride of Chanur by CJ Cherryh, it is the first book in this Chanur Saga omnibus I've got. I'm almost done with it, but I don't think I'm going to continue reading any more of this series. The pigeon English the aliens speak is incredibly tiring to read. CJ Cherryh burns hot or cold for me, and this one is cold.


The Dying Earth, had this sitting around for years, just started reading it and I like it so far.
 
I think I'm going to read The Wise Man's Fear a few pages at a time. I find the parts that deal with the music and tavern very hard to get through.

So, at the same time, I've decided to read Douglas Hulick's Among Thieves. The first few pages hint at its potential to be a good read.
 
Gilgamesh said:
So, at the same time, I've decided to read Douglas Hulick's Among Thieves. The first few pages hint at its potential to be a good read.
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Really interested to see what you think of this one. It sounds really interesting to me, but I haven't seen too many comments on it yet.

Right now I'm reading The Last Page by Anthony Huso. Having a hard time getting into it right now, but I'm not very far in. Hopefully it picks up a bit.
 
TheEvilKing said:
I've been looking at picking up a book by this author. Looks like some good old-fashioned swashbuckling mayhem. Is this a good place to start?
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I understand his contemporary thrillers (The Club Dumas, The Flanders Panel) have received better reviews, but for me this is the first taste of his work. I could draw some parralels with Richard Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell, but with better style and less over-the-top action. I need to read more in the Alatriste series to have an informed opinion, but it was a pretty good start.
 
Finished The Crippled God last night, what an epic finish. Could only imagine what the series would have been like if the later books were as tight and focused as TCG. Still quite a few loose ends that were not tied up, but I'm not complaining.

Moving on to Kate Elliott's Crossroads series.
 
Last night I started our own Wayne Thomas Batson's latest novel, Sword in the Stars, the first novel in a new series entitled The Dark Sea Annals. I blew through over 100 pages yesterday so you might say it reads nicely and I'm enjoying it.
 
Just about hit the two-thirds mark in Imager. It's really not what I was expecting, yet I don't care. I really like it. :D
 
I'm still reading The Wise Man's Fear, either I am a slow reader or you all had arcs or something:)
 
Doing better than me, Leiali: my copy has not arrived yet!

To be honest, ARC copies are very very rare, and there was a late release date (in the UK at least!) - very very close to the release date.

Guess we're all rabid readers... :D

Mark
 
I aught to put Wise Man's Fear on my to buy list. However, I feel like I need a re-read of the first book first, and my copy sadly got lost at some point when I moved house. I haven't gotten around to replacing it just yet, and I don't much care to pay out for two more books at the moment (I have so many other things to read!) so it'll have to wait a bit.

For the time being, I just finished Carol Berg's Son of Avonar earlier today, so I'm trying to decide what to read next. I'm intending to re-read the whole series, but right now, I feel like something new. It bothers me having so many new books waiting to be read. I guess this is why I don't re-read much anymore.

But I'm thinking of reading Under Heaven next. I've heard good things about it, but am a little concerned it might not be for me. I've not had much success with the author so far, and the plot and setting of this one doesn't really appeal to me too strongly. But, I haven't even started it yet, so I'm going to remain open minded and see how I like it.

I think I'll go back to Carol Berg's series when I've done with Under Heaven.
 
Just finished Midnight Tides.

It was a joy to explore a new continent comprised of new cultures and kingdoms with this fifth installment of the series from Erikson.

About the first third of the book started out extremely slow for me and I was fighting to stay awake while reading it. However, it eventually picked up considerably and I was very satisfied with the ending.

The characters Tehol and Bugg are hilarious and the comic relief they provide is brilliant, adding some levity to such a dark, gritty novel.
 
PogiRunner said:
Just finished Midnight Tides.

It was a joy to explore a new continent comprised of new cultures and kingdoms with this fifth installment of the series from Erikson.

About the first third of the book started out extremely slow for me and I was fighting to stay awake while reading it. However, it eventually picked up considerably and I was very satisfied with the ending.

The characters Tehol and Bugg are hilarious and the comic relief they provide is brilliant, adding some levity to such a dark, gritty novel.
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That is the next book in the Malazan series for me. Glad to hear it was satisfying.
 
I finally finished The Wise Man's Fear and it was one of the most frustrating books I've read in a long time - some of the best stuff and some of the most boring one in a package that I still do not know how to evaluate; one thing though I am very curious about is how Mr. Rothfuss will finish the story in one more book even of 1000 pages considering that he advanced Kvothe a little more than a year here and only very few of his advertised exploits in TNoW have been covered; the next book will have to be really fast moving or the series will go more books; cutting all the university stuff and maybe another 1/3 of the rest and expanding Kvothe's adventures would have made this pure awesomeness, this way it is a combination between self-indulgence of the worst sort - editors where are you when needed? - and awesomeness....
 
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