Reading in May 2009

[Skulldelight]

Right now I'm reading Memories of Ice by Erikson, and while I'm enjoying the Malazan series, I'm having a hard time getting into this one. I had planned on continuing with the Malazan series, but I've decided it's better to maybe read something simpler as kind of a break. I was thinking maybe a shorter, completed series, similar to Brandon Sanderson or Brent Weeks. Any suggestions?

How far had you got into the book? It had quite a slow start but it really picks up.

As for me, I just finished House of Chains, and I'm probably going to pick up Midnight Tides, because other than Malazan I'm at a loss at what I should read next

 

[BrightStar]

"Not impressed"? Hopefully, that's an understatement...

Gave it up after 25 pages. I haven't quit on a book so quickly since I tried reading book one of Wheel of Time. Stormcaller was awful. Just awful. I couldn't even get to the end of the second chaper! Biggest problem I had with it: it didn't make any sense! Character's motivations just didn't seem to exist.

Really terrible.

I'm ashamed to even admit I spent my money on it.

Moved on to The Sword which is book one in The sword, the ring and the chalice series by Deborah Chester. Don't know what to expect with this one either, but the first chapter was at least an improvement on Stormcaller.

 

[Julian]

Say one thing for The Blade Itself, say that it lives up to the hype

Really?

I read it before the hype, I guess - and it was fine, as are its sequels, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings.

This is good, swift fantasy, written with style and with a lot of intelligence and humour. Oh, and it coils, and hovers - and then packs quite a bite (for which you should read the entire series)!

That's about it, though. Abercrombie doesn't challenge anything, doesn't discuss anything and his characters have a basic indifference to life that dispells any really meaning immersion.

This is escapism at its best. Witty, well wrought, and contemporaneously bloody. It's still escapism, though.

So - I'm not too sure about "the hype"?

 

[Haliax]

How far had you got into the book? It had quite a slow start but it really picks up.

As for me, I just finished House of Chains, and I'm probably going to pick up Midnight Tides, because other than Malazan I'm at a loss at what I should read next

I'm about 150 pages in. I don't think its the pace that I'm having a hard time getting into, its the constant bleak out-look that seems to be present in the series so far. I don't mind pessimistic fantasy generally, but having just gone through Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy, I think delving into another rather dark series right away was a bad choice. I think I'll finish Memories of Ice, since I hate starting a book and not finishing it, but I think I'm going to look for something more optimistic to read before getting into the next Malazan book.

 

[AuntiePam]

After just 150 or so I'm having difficulty remembering that Simmons is talking about Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins - the characters he presents might have fared better had he not identified them with such literary landmarks. Well, I'll see where it goes...

I loved Drood, not so much for the horror aspect as a look at the daily lives of Collins and Dickens, what it was like to write and publish in Victorian times. I've read Dickens and Collins but don't know anything about them as people. I imagine Simmons played fast and loose with their personalities (especially Collins -- was he really so jealous of Dickens?) but I was fascinated by it. It was almost like an alternate history, or an alternate bio.

I'm reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. It's a ghost story set in an old manor house in England just after WWII. The haunting didn't start until I was about halfway in, but I gotta say, I was afraid to turn the lights out last night.

 

[sic's mom]

I just finished Unshapely Things by Mark Del Franco. Enjoyed it enough to pick up the second one Unquiet Dreams. This is an urban fantasy story where the main character, Connor Grey, is a druid. He has lost most of his powers and has to learn to live life without them. It is more of a murder mystery than anything else and Del Franco has set this up pretty well. The reason I picked this up is because I love the Dresden Files and was told this was like that. If you compare it to Storm Front which does start off a little slow, and the series just gets better, then I have a lot to look forward too. We'll have to see how the second book is. I do like the setting, which is an area in and around Boston and there are some good secondary characters. Mostly the fey and all of their prejudices against each other.

 

[BrightStar]

I'm still undecided whether I want to read the entire series, but right now, I'm enjoying The Sword which is book one in The sword, the ring and the chalice series by Deborah Chester.

I couldn't recall the author's name straight away, but I was reminded earlier today when I was checking Amazon.co.uk that I have read something by this author before. I enjoyed that, and this is promising to be entertaining enough, so I'll hopefully enjoy this.

I would not say that it is anything particularly special, but the pacing seems good, the characters, world and descriptions all well written.

 

[Cranky Hamster]

Hmm, maybe I'll take a look at The Sword if I ever feel like trying Deborah Chester again.

My first and only attempt at reading her work was The Pearls (first of The Pearls and the Crown duology), which was billed as "fantasy romance" and, true to my dismal experiences in that subgenre, was impressively awful. Darc und Evul hero + TSTL uber-goodie heroine + plot transparently and nonsensically designed to get them together so that she can redeem him with the power of the magic hoo-ha = me dumping the book within 50 pages.

Some of the prose was not bad, and there were glimmers of ideas that could have been interesting with a different treatment, so I'm willing to believe her other work might be substantially better than The Pearls. Then again, it's not like that would be hard.

 

[BrightStar]

The only other series I've read by Deborah Chester was the Ruby Throne trilogy, and I enjoyed that quite a bit, too. I guess tastes differ though, and without having read the Pearls series myself, I can't really say whether you'd like The Sword, the Ring and the Chalice. It really does seem like typical fantasy to me so far, nothing overly new about it, but a fun read anyways.

So far, I wouldn't be rushing off to recommend it, as there are plenty of better books out there, but if you do end up with a chance to read it, I guess it's worth a go. I might think about checking out the Pearls series, if/when I finish with this current trilogy. The Ruby Throne had some elements of romance which I gladly didn't find too sickening, so I'm hoping that I might like Pearls.

Though I have so many books on my to read list, I really need to get down the pile a bit first before I buy yet more books!

 

[Cranky Hamster]

Well, The Pearls isn't a fantasy with romantic elements. It's a fantasy romance. The romance is the entire story; it takes place in a fantasy setting, but the entire book is concerned with these two characters getting together on the thinnest of pretexts.

As I've said in other threads before, I like romance. It's an incredibly tough genre to write well and it hardly ever gets a fraction of the respect it deserves. But every one of the fantasy romances I've tried has made it abundantly clear why this is the most universally trashed genre in the bookstore. Because they are bad. Really really gaaack-barf bad. Embarrassing fanfic bad.

Which is pretty much how The Pearls comes off: wish-fulfillment fanfic wherein incredibly evul hero is redeemed by magic hoo-ha of Mary Sue heroine whose Overflowing Love For All Creatures(tm) somehow mystically makes up for her room-temperature IQ.

It gets a big old Not Recommended stamp from me. I feel it is my civic obligation to warn away anyone not interested in that very specific plot.

But if my TBR list runs low I'll take a look at The Sword.

 

[Trinuviel]

I'm currently alternating between a Mark Charan Newton's Nights of Villjamur and Daniel Abraham's A Betrayal in Winter. I positively raced through A Shadow in Summer and am now completely enamoured by this series.

 

[suciul]

I finished two more books:

Shadow by KJ Parker - loved it despite that I knew a lot about it since I started with book 2 and it depends a lot on the reader and main amnesiac cahracter's reaction and misdirection; I put book 2 on hold to wait for this one once I got hooked; now back to it and hope it will erase the bitter taste left by a highly awaited trilogy ending that fell completely apart for me:

Fall of Thanes by B. Ruckley - very disappointed - characters become one dimensional and the book just has no redeeming qualities except a good pace; reminded me a lot of Shout from the Dead by J. Barclay,same reaction after a great first book in Cry of the Newborn

I hope it's just me having a bad reading day and others enjoy the Fall of Thanes since I truly loved the first two books

 

[Dirty Hands]

Reading the Wings of Wrath by C.S. Friedman. I'm about halfway through the book, and enjoying it so far.

 

[mjolnir]

Finished The Judging Eye, Book 1 of The Aspect Emperor. [Well, that was in April, but still...] Truly great stuff. Couple wee niggles, but when you have to descend to complaining that the repeated use of the word "okay" seems to go against the book's arcane, fairly weighty and formal style in order to find something to criticize then the book was clearly pretty good. Entirely lived up to its billing in my opinion.

Also finished Lamentation, by Ken Scholes, which was an enjoyable experience, a secondary world fantasy told on a fairly broad canvas, [though the Named Lands seem to be teeny], which moves briskly and with energy. The world's backstory seems interesting, and despite some initially uninspiring characters who become more likable as we learn more about them and one or two other fairly substantial issues, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where it goes. I'm not sure it's a run-out-and-buy, [the library is your friend], but Scholes has my attention.

Also read Act Iv of Elizabeth Bear's The Stratford Man, [translation: the first half of the second novel, Hell and Earth.] Have taken a break betwixt Acts Iv and V, as I didn't want to rush the ending.

Am now reading The Mirador, by Sarah Monette. At the half-way point, this is my favourite of her's so far, no contest, and I quite enjoyed Melusine and The Virtu. My problem now is that I don't want the thing to end, as I'm really keen on the secondary cast who I'm pretty sure won't be back for Corambis, the last book in the series. A very powerful character-based fantasy, in the case of The Mirador specifically focused on the consequences of great actions, and the psychological fall-out of a battle now long over, that I wish more people would discover.
________
MAINE MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY

 

[BrightStar]

As I've said in other threads before, I like romance. It's an incredibly tough genre to write well and it hardly ever gets a fraction of the respect it deserves. But every one of the fantasy romances I've tried has made it abundantly clear why this is the most universally trashed genre in the bookstore. Because they are bad. Really really gaaack-barf bad. Embarrassing fanfic bad.

I don't think I've read too many fantasy romances, though I don't mind the genre in moderation. My biggest fear is that romance can so easily become the entire focus of a plot, blotting out anything else of any worth.

Sharon Shinn's Samaria trilogy is probably classed as fantasy romance, and I really love it. She also has written many other fantasy works that have a romantic theme, and they're all equally good (though many are quite short).

I'd also recommend C L Wilson's Tairen Soul series (of which there are four books, the first being Lord of Light and Shadows) which again, has some (I felt) wonderfully written romantic aspects. I've only read the first two books so far, the fourth isn't out and I'm waiting on the third until I can read books three and four without a break. The cliffhangers that each book end with are enough to drive me crazy with suspense!

I enjoy a good romantic fantasy, but sadly so many of them are cliche, predictable and overdone. The few I mentioned might be worth a look though, if ever you're after something in that area.

 

[DarthV]

Still working on Marco's The Eyes of God.

 

[Raule]

I'm reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. It's a ghost story set in an old manor house in England just after WWII. The haunting didn't start until I was about halfway in, but I gotta say, I was afraid to turn the lights out last night.

Me, too, though I'm not as far along as you... just getting to the haunted parts. It's good to have another novel by Waters in my hand. As if on cue for my reading today, the weather has turned gloomy. I just wish I didn't have to work so I could continue reading.

 

[PeterWilliam]

Finished The First Law Trilogy last night. I'm obsessively lingering over the ending which was both bizarre and, yet, somehow appropriate. Today is the start of The Fall of Ossard. Whenever I end up on a parallel reading path with Gilgamesh, good things happen.

 

[...]

About 100 pages into the Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams, so far not too bad. Its my first forray into a Williams novel. A bit formulistic, a young boy is being mentored by a wise doctor, a king is dead and his sons hate each other, and one of the princes has a seemingly evil advisor. Another thing I've noticed is that there are a lot of words to say a few things. All in all though the story is rather enjoyable. It gets into a lot more detail than other standard fantasy writers which is nice.

 

[Seak]

I'm about 150 pages in. I don't think its the pace that I'm having a hard time getting into, its the constant bleak out-look that seems to be present in the series so far. I don't mind pessimistic fantasy generally, but having just gone through Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy, I think delving into another rather dark series right away was a bad choice. I think I'll finish Memories of Ice, since I hate starting a book and not finishing it, but I think I'm going to look for something more optimistic to read before getting into the next Malazan book.

It might be pessimistic at first, but I think it has a pretty positive spin by the end, even though it was really sad. I can't give away any more than that. But, I have to say this was an ending of a book to blow away all book endings. It's so good by the end and surprises you in so many ways.