Reading in May 2011

snurrig said:
Finished Midnight tides the other day, definately the best and most focused book in the malazan series so far, for me. Went straight to bonehunters. Hope it wont be another house of chains, that book took me so long and so many start/stops to finish.
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I burned through Bonehunters in 2 weeks (my fastest Malazan novel), so don't worry. But things do start to get bogged down with the next two books after that.
 
algernoninc said:
I had a similar problem with this, I think it's not only about the new characters, the plot was rather forgettable compared with the first two Chalion books, and even the humor seemed to have lost its sparkle.
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Yeah. I'm confused. I'm trying to figure out if this book is set in the future, some time after The Paladin of Souls, because they keep on talking about a hallowed king. Also, I'm confused because the stuff that's going on isn't ever mentioned in the other books, or if it is, it was very briefly mentioned. So now, after thinking I understood Chalionese culture I'm left with a "What?" moment.


While I'm not very far along in the book I'm thinking I have a very similar plotline going on as in the second book. We've got a dude who's got some power, but he denies it (sounds like Ista to me), and then he is sent to investigate a murder. Sounds similar to something going on in the second book too. Hopefully there's something big to switch it up.
 
NickeeCoco said:
Yeah. I'm confused. I'm trying to figure out if this book is set in the future, some time after The Paladin of Souls, because they keep on talking about a hallowed king. Also, I'm confused because the stuff that's going on isn't ever mentioned in the other books, or if it is, it was very briefly mentioned. So now, after thinking I understood Chalionese culture I'm left with a "What?" moment.
.
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I think it is set 200 years or so in the past; from Wikipedia:

"The Hallowed Hunt (2005) is a prequel taking place in the Weald, a land to the south of Chalion, several hundred years before."


The idea was that Ms. Bujold will write a novel for each of the five gods, but as of now it is unclear if the other two will be written. I really liked Curse of Chalion and The Paladin of Souls but this one was only ok, though it has its moments if you persist. I tend to dislike this trope
werewolves
and the book uses it crucially
 
I read an interview with Bujold a couple months ago in which she mentioned that it was still her intention to write the last two Five Gods books at some point, but that the ideas for them hadn't yet finished building up.

Finished God's War by Kameron Hurley, which is sort of secondary world fantasy with science-fiction bones and guts. Brutal, bloody fun, with a plot incredibly tangled for such a short book and very personally and culturally complex characters.

Making an attempt to finish Kate Griffin's A Madness of Angels now, after which I think I feel The White-Luck Warrior coming on.
 
I just finished Redick's Red Wolf Conspiracy, and I gotta say Wow! I love this story, I remember when this was coming out and thinking this aint for me. Well written, cool characters, good map. I had to reread what I read the night before cause I would've missed out on things. Already started the second book, Ruling Sea.
 
suciul said:
I think it is set 200 years or so in the past; from Wikipedia:

"The Hallowed Hunt (2005) is a prequel taking place in the Weald, a land to the south of Chalion, several hundred years before."


The idea was that Ms. Bujold will write a novel for each of the five gods, but as of now it is unclear if the other two will be written. I really liked Curse of Chalion and The Paladin of Souls but this one was only ok, though it has its moments if you persist.
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Ah. That is enlightening. Now I'm not going to be so confused. Thanks.
 
Been gone from the forums for a while but thought I would jump back in. Here's my last few.

I finished Feast For Crows. I had recently read/reread Game Of Thrones, Storm of Swords, and Clash of Kings. All good thought I found Feast For Crows the most difficult to get through. Looking forward to Dance With Dragons.

I took a break in there somewhere to read Hounded by Kevin Hearne. Not a bad book at all. Pleasantly surprised and will gladly pick up the next two in June and July.

I just picked up A Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin in anticipation of the June Book of The Month read. If anyone is interested, it's $3 for the Kindle right now. :)
 
Broken Mirrors by T A Pratt. Last book of Marla Mason Series. Very good, best urban fantasy series I've read last years.
 
s271 said:
Broken Mirrors by T A Pratt. Last book of Marla Mason Series. Very good, best urban fantasy series I've read last years.
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The last published or the last book in the series and the series is finished?
 
Evil Agent said:
I burned through Bonehunters in 2 weeks (my fastest Malazan novel), so don't worry. But things do start to get bogged down with the next two books after that.
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I guessed it's different for everybody, as I thought Reaper's Gale was also pretty great (have yet to read Toll the Hounds). I've enjoyed every Malazan novel so far (although Esslemont's stuff's not as good), and I can't really say that they have dipped in quality since book 3 as many seem to think.

I loved the 200 pages intro in House of Chains, establishing one of the major characters of the series.

Midnight Tides was very focussed and started to tie together a lot of seemingly random stuff that happened in the previous books. Also some great characters in the city, which we gladly revisited in Reaper's Gale.

Toll the Hounds is largely said to be the worst, so I'll reserve judgement on that. I should be reading books 8-10 in a row later this year.
 
s271 said:
Broken Mirrors by T A Pratt. Last book of Marla Mason Series. Very good, best urban fantasy series I've read last years.
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I read the first Marla Mason book a couple of months back, and overall I enjoyed it but didn't say much to me at the moment. I'm planning on continuing the series though, are the sequels better than the first?
 
I've decided to hold off on The Hallowed Hunt by Bujold. I'm having a hard time getting into it. I know exactly why too. It's because I became involved in the time period, the land within that time period and the characters living in it and now that it's all been switched around, I feel a little jilted. That's the problem with prequels, I think, or at least, that's my problem with them. I invest all this time, energy and emotions on a certain set of parameters (time, setting, characters) and then I'm jolted out of them. I'll read it later, when the others aren't so fresh in my mind.

So, I've started reading the fourth book of the Sharing Knife series by Bujold. The third book fell a bit flat for me. I thought it needed to expand on its theme, because it was so similar to the first two books. The fourth book, while not really grabbing me, at least has some interest as Dag gets some answers. This definitely is not my favourite series, but I do gain some enjoyment out of it.
 
Just started The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan, and so far I'm enjoying it immensely.
 
Bastard said:
I read the first Marla Mason book a couple of months back, and overall I enjoyed it but didn't say much to me at the moment. I'm planning on continuing the series though, are the sequels better than the first?
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Not considerably better in the sense of writing skill. Guess it's a question of individual tests. However both characters and world are fleshed out eventually. There is also a prequel about Marla Mason apprenticeship.
 
Astra_ said:
The last published or the last book in the series and the series is finished?
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Last self-published, specifically to close story arc of the previous book. The series most probably finished in near term. Of cause it can continue if there is order from publisher...
 
I'm in the middle of Best Served Cold right now. I'm enjoying it, but the characters seem much more caricaturish than in the First Law. I definitely prefer First Law so far, but we'll see how I feel at the end. Also, the narrator for First Law was MUCH more suited to Abercrombie than this narrator is (I listen to most of my books these days).
 
I'm starting in on N. K. Jemisin's 100,000 Kingdoms for next month's book club read.
 
After Broken Mirrors started Nex by T.A.Pratt. Kind of guilty pleasure - it's not especially original, the plot is overused in SFF genre, is it's somehow YA which I don't usually read(with few exception), but it's page turner and fun.
 
Finished the Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson - it was OK, but not anywhere near best pick of the year for me. It had some good parts, mainly in epic scope, and straightforward storytelling. And I had issues with it, dealing with actual content versus number of pages [bloated], dealing with the heavy role playing game influence on the magic system and character development, but most of all dealing with uber-powerful, hollier-than-thou, can-do-no-wrong main actor Kaladin. I liked the idea of focusing the story on only 3-4 actors, but when Kaladin POV takes about half the book and I fail to warm up to his struggles, it makes reading more like a chore to be finished than a pleasure trip.

Now I'm back to Princeps Fury by Jim Butcher and, for something completely different, Song for the Basilisk by Patricia McKillip. Beautiful prose in the second one, right from the start.
 
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