Reading in May 2010

[DurzoBlint]

Haha, maybe that's when I'll buy it, when I need an anchor for my battleship.

I'm very slowly going through Dante's Journey - not because it's not entertaining, only because I'm in the middle of finals.

Also reading some SciFi at the moment.

Seak, had no idea you were in the market for a battleship. Good to know, I'll look to see if there are any in the Asian countries up for grabs.

Dante's Journey was a good light read. Nice Debut, glad to see that he sent you a copy.

 

[Gilgamesh]

I'm very slowly going through Dante's Journey - not because it's not entertaining, only because I'm in the middle of finals.

I'm curious to hear what you're going to think of it. DurzoBlint liked it and I'm going to read it soon as well.

Good luck with the finals. "Merde!" as French would say.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I'm dancing with squid at the moment.

 

[Crono]

I just finished The Gathering Storm, by Robert Jordan and Sanderson. It was very enjoyable! I don't know if it's the new writing (which isn't hugely different, expect for maybe paragraph length), or if things are finally coming to an end and everything is moving fast.

Next I'll be finishing The Judging Eye by R Scott Bakker, of which I have like 50 pages. I had to drop it because I was going on vacation and needed a big read.

 

[nquixote]

Finally made myself go finish The Name of the Wind. On the plus side, there are some walking-around-in-nature sequences, which I like. Also, there was a lot of genuinely good prose.

I'm left thinking that Patrick Rothfuss would be a better writer of realist fiction than of fantasy fiction. He lacks the ability/desire to make stuff seem mysterious and magical. But he's good at doing portraits of characters and finding elegant turns of phrase. He should try his hand at non-genre fiction.

 

[Shayna]

Finally saw this book in hardbound in the used book store and all I have to say is good luck. If you end up hating the novel you can always use it as an anchor for a battleship or aircraft carrier. That is one massive book.

In the first place, it isn't the size of the book that counts...it's what is inside! Second...have you read the book? have you read any Stephen King novels?

Boneshaker is a good read...maybe it isn't your type of book, but it is a fun read!!

 

[Gilgamesh]

In the first place, it isn't the size of the book that counts...it's what is inside!

Do you mean "the size of the font"?

Just kidding, of course!

 

[mjolnir]

finished At the Gates of Darkness, this year's Raymond Feist. Like most recent Feist, it felt very much like a book going through the motions: no heart, no soul, just a whole bunch of magical explosions and talk about certain doom and how said doom must be stopped. The plot is fairly slight, consisting mostly of moving from one place to another finding a series of pieces of information about the book's big bad evil guys -- demons in this case -- and then going and whooping them once all the information is acquired. The cast is kept fairly small, with only a few of the curtain-calls for once-important characters which have become so common in Feist's recent books; the focus seems to be on getting the whole thing over with absolutely as quickly as possible. I don't think there are any circumstances at all under which I would recommend this, and I'd urge even Feist-junkies who feel the need to read the series to the bitter end to hold out for the paperback; there's just nothing that substantive here.

Now part-way through switching between three books at once, all of which are varying degrees of good: Spellwright by Blake Charlton, The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer, and The River Kings' Road by Liane Merciel.
________
DIGITAL VAPORIZER

 

[SeaBeast]

Finally made myself go finish The Name of the Wind. On the plus side, there are some walking-around-in-nature sequences, which I like. Also, there was a lot of genuinely good prose.

I'm left thinking that Patrick Rothfuss would be a better writer of realist fiction than of fantasy fiction. He lacks the ability/desire to make stuff seem mysterious and magical. But he's good at doing portraits of characters and finding elegant turns of phrase. He should try his hand at non-genre fiction.

You probably should have thrown a few "IMO's" in there... There's quite a huge crowd out there who have a vastly different view of his writing.

 

[Erfael]

I think there's an assumption that just about anything posted in this thread is an IMO...at least, there should be.

 

[nquixote]

What? Oh, no. Most people's opinions actually are just opinions, whereas MINE are incontrovertible scientifically proven facts...

 

[Shayna]

Do you mean "the size of the font"?

Just kidding, of course!

lol...

I just wanted to put a laugh and a smiley face, but nned to write something here! lol So...did you read the book!

 

[DurzoBlint]

I'm curious to hear what you're going to think of it. DurzoBlint liked it and I'm going to read it soon as well.

Good luck with the finals. "Merde!" as French would say.

Gil you haven't started the book? Best get a move on. Hope you at least have The City and the City finished.

In the first place, it isn't the size of the book that counts...it's what is inside! Second...have you read the book? have you read any Stephen King novels?

Boneshaker is a good read...maybe it isn't your type of book, but it is a fun read!!

I have not read The Dome, the last few King books I have read have been awful. Last decent books from King I read were The Long Walk and Salam's Lot.

Boneshaker was not very good but that is the nice thing about books there is always another book that will grab your interest. I did enjoy reading about Seattle as that is my hometown, but beyond that I just could not care about Priest's characters.

Glad you enjoyed it but it was not my mug of beer.

 

[Gilgamesh]

lSo...did you read the book!

Nope, not yet. I read all of his earlier works as I was a real fan but I haven't read many of his more recent books. I liked the idea behind Under the Dome so I'll give it a try some time soon... hopefully...

 

[nquixote]

Just started The Briar King...I was wondering which series I should read next, and the answer turned out to be "whatever happens to be on the shelf at my favorite local used bookstore"...

 

[suciul]

I finished "Blue and Gold" the short 100 page novel by KJ Parker tbp late 2010 (or novella - though like Purple and Black this one has a feeling of completeness while for example the excellent A Rich Full Week from the Swords/Dark magic anthology has the novella episodic feeling)

I actually read it several times to get all its nuances since it's packed with stuff whose true meaning becomes apparent only gradually; a first person narration from self-confessed unreliable narrator, philosopher, writer, criminal and genius alchemist Saloninus aka Nino, former college chum and current court alchemist and brother-in-law to prince Phocas who rules the respective country; the prince wants to find the secret of transmutation (base metals in gold), while his ambitious, beautiful and vain sister Eudoxia wants the elixir of immortality Saloninus hinted at in one of his famous works, while Saloninus wants only to get away, or so we are led to believe...

Of course things are much more complicated and there are layers of meaning and past happenings that are only slowly and exquisitely unraveled but the first lines are just superb:

"...In the morning I discovered the secret of changing base metal into gold. In the afternoon I murdered my wife"

Of course Saloninus is a self-confessed unreliable narrator...

Just awesome

As longer novels go, I am still on page 60 from Kraken, though I am half into Spring Heeled Jack the Marc Hodder "steam opera" debut, but the latter after a great start became a novel that does not really know what it wants to achieve, switching between modern but "historical" Victoriana - which is somewhat of a misnomer since in its alt hist universe the Queen has been assassinated in 1840 and now it's 1861, but with the same paraphernalia/realistic stuff (Lazarus Club, Meaning of Night, even Drood) and steampunk Victoriana (Bookman, Affinity Bridge) with its inventions and sense of wonder and a little over the top action/characters; so far the balance has not been achieved and I find it occasionally hard to suspend disbelief; the writing is good enough though so I will finish it and hope it will either achieve balance or settle into one mode

 

[Slack Bladder]

Just finished The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Vol I by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. I thought that it was great fun. Both writing and art were top-notch. It reminded me a little of Kim Newman's excellent Anno Dracula.

About to embark on Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle. I've had the one volume Victor Gollancz hardback mocking me from the shelf for years now and I've decided that it's time to give it a try. Will probaby intersperse it with the other 3 volumes of LoEG to lighten to load, as it were.

 

[Hobbit]

*ASH radar activated*

Be interested to read what you think, SB.

Mark

 

[Slack Bladder]

*ASH radar activated*

Be interested to read what you think, SB.

Mark

That radar's pretty sensitive!

A quick google around this forum tells me you're something of a fan, Hobbit. Looking forward to reading it now. The reason I picked this up oh-so-many years ago was because of a rave review in Interzone. I'll update you when I'm done, though it could take a while.

 

[Hobbit]

LOL. Amazed to realise it's over ten years since I first read it. I thought it would take me a while, but if I remember right, it was less than a week.

Have fun!

Mark