Reading in May 2010

Hobbit

Hobbit

Cat Wrangler and Reader
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Jul 16, 2001
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Just in case you didn't know, this is where you tell us what you've been reading in Fantasy/Horror this month. Good or bad, we want to know what and why.

This month's book for discussion in May 2010 is the WFA winning Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner.

Feel free to join in the discussion HERE!

Over in SF they're looking at Blindsight by the currently in-the-news author Peter Watts HERE.

Mark
 
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Still rockin' Robin Hobb's 'Assassin's Apprentice' and its got my attention for the time being. There are a few faults with it that I've noticed... the main problem is that I dislike Fitz. :(
 
Orbison said:
Still rockin' Robin Hobb's 'Assassin's Apprentice' and its got my attention for the time being. There are a few faults with it that I've noticed... the main problem is that I dislike Fitz. :(
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Ouch. I don't think the next books will make you change your mind over Fitz. So...proceed with caution I guess. ^^

I'm still waiting to get House of Chains(book 4 of Malazan), but due to volcanic ash and the post offices deciding not to work, I'm getting the feeling I'll be returning to Malazan in the next year. :(
 
Just finished reading Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie. I really enjoyed the book, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the trilogy ends. However, before I get to that, I'm going to read A Storm Of Swords by GRRM: very much looking forward to this one!
 
Still reading Under Heaven by GGK, its a great book but it has been slow going. So far I'd say it is my favourite book by him after Lions of Al-Rassan.

After that I'll be reading The Emerald Storm by Michael J Sullivan. Really looking forward to this one, Sullivan has quickly climbed my favourite authors list.
 
Orbison said:
Still rockin' Robin Hobb's 'Assassin's Apprentice' and its got my attention for the time being. There are a few faults with it that I've noticed... the main problem is that I dislike Fitz. :(
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Uh oh. I've found that readers who dislike Fitz usually end up disliking the series, or are unable to finish it.

Personally I loved Fitz (even named my cat after him), which is why I love the series so much.
 
AlvinFlummox said:
Just finished reading Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie. I really enjoyed the book, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how the trilogy ends. However, before I get to that, I'm going to read A Storm Of Swords by GRRM: very much looking forward to this one!
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I'm just starting The Blade Itself (enjoying it so far), and just finished my 3rd reading of A Storm of Swords. You are in for a treat; it's one of the best books I've ever read, in any genre.
 
Darksbane said:
Still reading Under Heaven by GGK, its a great book but it has been slow going. So far I'd say it is my favourite book by him after Lions of Al-Rassan.

After that I'll be reading The Emerald Storm by Michael J Sullivan. Really looking forward to this one, Sullivan has quickly climbed my favourite authors list.
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I have Under Heaven on order and just received Lions of Al-Rassan. Looking forward to finally reading GGK. Tigana has been on my pile for ages. Maybe in the next month or two I will finally find time to get into GGK.

The Emerald Storm was great. While still a standalone, there are a few things to tie up and it will make you pray for Wintertide to arrive soon.

I just finished Spellwright by Charlton, I really enjoyed it. One of the first books of 2010 that I have actually enjoyed as I have not been impressed with the majority of debuts I have read this year.

I did find the magic system interesting and at times confusing but, I liked the idea even if the ending to the first book was a bit obvious.

Moving on to The Desert Spear by Brett. I enjoyed The Painted Man and hope that the negative reviews that I have read do not do the book justice. Eight points of view should be interesting to say the least.
 
I just finished Servant of the Empire by Feist and Wurts, during my re-read of this trilogy. I remember liking it so much the first time around, many years ago, that I plowed right into Mistress of the Empire. This time, though, I thought it was a step back from Daughter of the Empire - about 200 pages longer, with no real corresponding increase in anything substantial related to the plot. It seemed like more happened in the first book in 200 fewer pages. I still liked it, but not as much.

Now I'm reading Lisey's Story, by Stephen King. I'm having a hard time getting into it so far. King's always big on making up vocabulary specific to individual characters, and phrases of power that keep getting repeated over and over, but it's going to the extreme of plain babble in this one. Bool? "Strap it on"?

Next should be at least the first part of House of Chains, by Erikson.

Ken
 
Evil Agent said:
Uh oh. I've found that readers who dislike Fitz usually end up disliking the series, or are unable to finish it.

Personally I loved Fitz (even named my cat after him), which is why I love the series so much.
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I've decided that it's not the character I dislike, but rather the author for being, dare I say it, a woman... :eek:

There have been 2 whole chapters now where Fitz messes up a little bit and spends the next 20 pages of each chapter being horribly depressed, wanting to die, and just being downright unbearable.
 
Orbison said:
I've decided that it's not the character I dislike, but rather the author for being, dare I say it, a woman... :eek:
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Wow. Be careful... that's a pretty offensive comment. I'm assuming that maybe what you meant to say was that the author, being a woman, is not portraying a convincing first-person male character?
 
In a roundabout way, I suppose. It's a risque comment but it's got its foundations in truth. I've never had good experiences with female writers writing fantasy fiction based around male characters. It doesn't work as it should for obvious reasons.
 
Orbison said:
I've decided that it's not the character I dislike, but rather the author for being, dare I say it, a woman... :eek:

There have been 2 whole chapters now where Fitz messes up a little bit and spends the next 20 pages of each chapter being horribly depressed, wanting to die, and just being downright unbearable.
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And what exactly does the authors gender have to do with why you dislike the book? Care to elaborate further? I'm not going to argue that Fitz's self pity and bouts of depression was annoying (because it was) but I don't see how this has anything to do with gender.
 
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Still plodding through Midnight Tides. It is getting better, but, man, I cant keep all these facts in my head from 5 books, what the hell am I going to do after this one..

:)
 
DurzoBlint said:
I have Under Heaven on order and just received Lions of Al-Rassan. Looking forward to finally reading GGK. Tigana has been on my pile for ages. Maybe in the next month or two I will finally find time to get into GGK.

The Emerald Storm was great. While still a standalone, there are a few things to tie up and it will make you pray for Wintertide to arrive soon.

I just finished Spellwright by Charlton, I really enjoyed it. One of the first books of 2010 that I have actually enjoyed as I have not been impressed with the majority of debuts I have read this year.

I did find the magic system interesting and at times confusing but, I liked the idea even if the ending to the first book was a bit obvious.
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Lions of Al-Rassan is probably my favourite fantasy book. But I do find that Kay's writing style is not for everyone, and some people have a hard time with how he write both male and female characters, but so far none of that has bothered me one bit. I hope you enjoy his work as much as I have so far.

I've been looking forward to reading Emerald Storm for quite some time now, and was very happy to see it in my mailbox the other day. I ordered it straight from Sullivan himself, and it is such a beautiful book. I love the cover art for all his books so far. I really hope he keeps up the excellent pacing all the way through the series.

I've been looking at reading Spellwright for awhile now, but did not think it would be my kind of book. Reading reviews so far makes me think that it actually just might be. Probably will be the next book I buy.
 
I'm about half way done with Riddle-Master by McKillip and just started the Chronicles of Amber by Zelazny. I got some "happy bachelor's degree" gift cards to amazon so now I'm trying to figure out what kindle books I should buy.

Choices...choices.
 
I've never had good experiences with female writers writing fantasy fiction based around male characters. It doesn't work as it should for obvious reasons.
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I'll give you points for having some guts to say what you think, Orbison (And I'm a Feminist capital F). But (and I may go start a new thread in the writing section for this if you want, because I don't want to hijack and I'm REALLY interested) what do you think women could do to write men better? I'm not "snarky" curious, I'm "genuinely asking" curious.

That aside, I think I am going to tackle either Lions of Al-Rassan or His Dark Materials as soon as finals are done. I'm still vascillating.

Then as soon as it's good weather...I'm laying out a towel on the sand and it's my annual Earthsea on the beach re-read.
 
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