Reading in May 2011

[Hobbit]

This is where you talk to us about your monthly Fantasy and Horror Reads: whether good or bad, we want to discuss with you what you thought.

Our Fantasy Book of the Month is The Keep by F. Paul Wilson. Bit of a horror classic, that one. Discuss here.

Our SF Book of the Month is BlackOut by Connie Willis. One of my recent favourites and recently announced as a Hugo award nominee with its other half. Discuss here.

Mark

 

[Evil Agent]

Still reading Erikson's Toll The Hounds. I'm enjoying it, but it's already been 5 weeks and I'm only 2/3 through (page 800). I guess I'm just really slow, but this is why I find myself reading less and less big fat fantasy novels these days. I just don't have time to spend two months reading one book.

The quickest Erikson book for me was Book 6, which took me 2 weeks.

The longest was Book 3, which took me 10 weeks!

 

[Luke_B]

I finished The Fallen Blade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. I'll try to gather my thoughts and post something a bit more about it, but in summary I thought it was good -- good enough for me to check out the next volume of the trilogy -- but not great. Grimwood has done some very interesting things with this book and it's worth reading. More soon...

Now onto The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan. I'm already about fifty pages into this -- good so far.

 

[Nausikaa]

I just finished The Bonehunters by Erikson. Wow! That was the fastest Malazan book for me too...really, really good. Can't wait to read the next one, but I think I'll take a break between. Those books are complex.

Re-reading Tigana, still good but I think I liked The Lions of Al-Rassan more.

That's it for now, I think.

 

[Loerwyn]

I've not updated my progress in a short while.

I've breached the 100 page mark in Mark Charan Newton's City of Ruin, and I'm somewhat enjoying it. My current mood isn't exactly conducive to reading so my progress has been rather poor, and I've already gotten confused at times due to forgetting who is who. There's a lot of characters to get used to in a short space of time, which I think is made a little easier to deal with by a good number of them being returning characters from the first book.

It would have been nice to have a map of the world again, like at the start of Nights of Villjamur, but the inclusion of a map of the city is a nice touch.

 

[DailyRich]

I'm about halfway through The Lies of Locke Lamora and I can't figure out why I'm not warming up to it. Maybe it's the switching between the present day and past that's keeping me from gaining any sense of momentum.

 

[DurzoBlint]

Finished Moore's Island of the Sequined Love Nun, it was funny but not his best work. I have a hankering for Erikson so Midnight Tide is what I will be starting today after work.

 

[algernoninc]

I have also finished one of Christopher Moore : You Suck, A Love Story. Great fun, especially with the introduction of Abby Normal and a certain Smurf lady of the night. I think I will slip more of his books as an entertainment intermezzo in between some epic doorstoppers.

I have also finished Dan Wells : I Am Not A Serial Killer, and it is a well written book by a promising author. However, I couldn't make myself care about John Wayne Carver or his adversary. I'll check if there is a thread on this book with spoilers because I was bothered by some of the plot turns.

Today I'm back to The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint, which I'm liking more and more as I progress through the story. it is quite a dark tale but I think what sets de Lint apart from the "gritty" crowd is that he actually tries to balance the darkness with the goodness of people, believing in them without being blind to the trauma and danger waiting around the corner.

I've also started, finally, the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson with The Way of Kings. I don't have high hopes of this, after being mostly dissapointed with the third Mistborn book and with Warbreaker, but I'm curious why so many members here voted for him in last year's poll. I'm also a little wary of waiting too long for the next volume, but Sanderson is usually a fast writer.

 

[pox]

I think I'm about to order A Game of Thrones, which puts me in the wrong forum completely, but my wife's watching the series on TV and I'm not into TV. That is all.

 

[Gilgamesh]

Finished Steven Erikson's House of Chains last night. I really enjoyed it but I didn't love it as much as his Deadhouse Gates or Memories of Ice.
Once more his world building is impressive (I almost wrote "second to none") and his characters are memorable. I promised myself that I'm going to read Midnight Tides very soon.

I'm currently reading Mark Charan Newton's The Book of Transformations. The book started very well. It feels like it's going to be great ride from the beginning until the end. I buckled up tightly.

 

[NickeeCoco]

I'm re-reading Tigana by GGK so that I can report to DaddyDarth. I've just started the second act with Dianora. She's my least favourite character, with Catriana at a close second. The women in this book irritate me a bit. I do like the prose though.

 

[Astra_]

Deadhouse Gates [The Malazan Book of the Fallen #2] by Steven Erikson.
So far, I like it!

 

[cgw]

Still picking away at Wise Mans Fear. I'm not very motivated. It is meandering all over the place. I am 1/3 the way thorugh. Does it pick up the pace and focus any time soon?

 

[Haliax]

Still picking away at Wise Mans Fear. I'm not very motivated. It is meandering all over the place. I am 1/3 the way thorugh. Does it pick up the pace and focus any time soon?

I don't know what you mean when you say it's meandering all over the place, as I certainly didn't find that, but I think if you aren't enjoying it 1/3rd in, you probably won't enjoy the last 2/3rd's either. It gains a more definite focus (I guess), but the pacing remains about the same.

I'm still working on River of Shadows by Robert V.S. Redick. I'm enjoying it, especially now that I seem to be remembering more of the first couple books. Redick does a good job of plucking at the important bits from the earlier books to give slight reminders as to what happened, without being repetitive. The story is solid, and has been moving at a good pace. There are certain bits that grate on me a bit, and it seems a little darker than the first couple books, but overall enjoyable so far.

 

[PeterWilliam]

Still picking away at Wise Mans Fear. I'm not very motivated. It is meandering all over the place. I am 1/3 the way thorugh. Does it pick up the pace and focus any time soon?

I would say not very much. I really liked the book, but can tell that it is largely meant to continue to build, or elaborate upon, the legend/myth that is Kvothe - or at least that's the direction it seemed to be going in for me.

 

[Seak]

Finished Steven Shrewsbury's Thrall and can't say I'd recommend it. I know it was meant to be heroic fantasy, character-driven, etc., but you still have to have some world-building, some set up, some setting of the scene.

Plus there were way too many grammatical errors. This usually doesn't bug me much, but it was blaring.

Great concept, but just poorly executed.

I'm now debating picking up On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. I love pirates, so I don't really think I can go wrong with this one.

 

[PogiRunner]

Just finished a reread of The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. Several years later it still remains one of my all time favorites.

I am going to proceed with rereading the entire Wheel of Time series. I will not be finished before the anticipated release date of the final volume (not planning on reading each book exclusively). I will still hold off on A Memory of Light though until all rereads are completed.

I rarely reread books as my reading time is limited and there is so much great stuff out there. However, for this series I will make an exception. It was very enjoyable reliving the adventures and picking up some details missed on the first pass. Once I get there the middle part of the series may be tough to get through, but I will try my best.

 

[Eventine]

I recently finished up The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor, an alternate take on the Alice in Wonderland story. There was plenty of potential here, but I think it was done better by Tim Burton, and even then that was a pale comparison to the original story.

Now reading the much more compelling (non-genre) Born to Run by Christopher Macdougall.

 

[s271]

Dragon path by Abraham, liked it a lot. His his Leviathan wake space adventure was completely unreadable though.

 

[Eddy Gemmell]

I'm about halfway through The Lies of Locke Lamora and I can't figure out why I'm not warming up to it. Maybe it's the switching between the present day and past that's keeping me from gaining any sense of momentum.

I have tried to read this twice and stopped both times. It begins brilliantly; moody, evocative, great characters, then when they are trying to rob/kidnap some guy (I forget which) I lost interest. I wondered if he'd poured weeks and months in to the first 100 pages and then cracked through the rest a bit too quickly. I'm sure that's not the case but for me after a hundred pages or so it lost some of its richness and momentum. I have it on audio now as well to see if I can get through it as many many people praise it highly.

I hope you have more luck than me!