Reading in November 2008

[afterroots]

Finished the second Malazan book 'Deadhouse Gates'. Loved this book as well and the scope of Erikson's world is awe inspiring. Can't wait to start Memories of Ice now so I can get back to Paran, Quick Ben, Whiskey Jack and hopefully Tattersail.

 

[BrightStar]

I'm still reading Descent at the moment. At first, I found the book to be pretty engrossing. The plot moved along quite rapidly and there were some interesting hooks to keep me wanting to know more.

The Chapter lengths are quite long. At this point, I'm up to about page 80 and I'm probably a quarter of the way through chapter three. Chapter one left a good impression on me, but chapter two has given me some doubts as to whether I am going to enjoy the rest of the story. The point of view character changed, and currently there's no obvious connection (though I do have some theories about how they will be connected later).

Now I've reached chapter three however, the book is starting to give me problems. The point of view has changed again, and once more I'm to get used to several more new characters, setting and conflict. And once again, I have only the vaguest of theories as to how these people are going to be connected with the other two characters and their own conflicts.

The plot seems to have slown down a bit (or just isn't as interesting) and I'm becomming rather frustrated by the absence of chapter one's main character. The situation he was left in the middle of was far more interesting than the other two's.

 

[algernoninc]

finished "In The Forests of Serre" - which confirmed my high regard for Patricia McKillip and her fairytale signature style. Now I've embarked on Lord of Snow and Shadows by Sarah Ash in an attempt to get back into epic / clasic fantasy, and from the first impressions it seems I've made a good choice. I'm reminded of Memory Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams and of Second Sons by Jennifer Fallon. I hope I will not get sidetracked [too much] by other projects and will be able to continue with this series.

 

[Miriamele]

Hi, Miriamele. I was thinking of picking up a copy of The King of Elfland's Daughter at some point (when I've worked my way through my current towering to read pile) but I think I might reconsider now. I don't like dull books.

Well as Hobbit suggested you should check out some reviews...it IS a classic, and the writing is quite lovely in itself. But the characters and plot just didn't appeal to me at all. I think the grandness of the language actually made the characters seem distant and unreal, like figures in a myth, if that makes sense.

 

[Gilgamesh]

I started to read Elantris (by Brendon Sanderson) last weekend. So far so good .

 

[Randy M.]

Well as Hobbit suggested you should check out some reviews...it IS a classic, and the writing is quite lovely in itself. But the characters and plot just didn't appeal to me at all. I think the grandness of the language actually made the characters seem distant and unreal, like figures in a myth, if that makes sense.

I haven't read The King of Elfland's Daughter, but Lord Dunsany often wrote in a manner to make his short stories sound mythic. His short work is often wonderful for its sound and feel, though his characterization left something to be desired.


Randy M.

 

[Corporal Blues]

I just finished reading The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King. It is the second book in the dark tower series and I thought it was way better than the first one in many ways. It actually helped renew my interest in the series. After reading the first book I was a little ho-hum, and decided to give the second book a go, and I am glad that I did. This series has jumped up the charts on my list of books to read in the near future.

 

[PeterWilliam]

I started to read Elantris (by Brendon Sanderson) last weekend. So far so good .

Finally got started on it yesterday. I am thoroughly geeked-out to read it...I hope I'm not building my expectations up too high.

 

[Aurian]

I'm still reading Descent at the moment. At first, I found the book to be pretty engrossing. The plot moved along quite rapidly and there were some interesting hooks to keep me wanting to know more.

The Chapter lengths are quite long. At this point, I'm up to about page 80 and I'm probably a quarter of the way through chapter three. Chapter one left a good impression on me, but chapter two has given me some doubts as to whether I am going to enjoy the rest of the story. The point of view character changed, and currently there's no obvious connection (though I do have some theories about how they will be connected later).

Now I've reached chapter three however, the book is starting to give me problems. The point of view has changed again, and once more I'm to get used to several more new characters, setting and conflict. And once again, I have only the vaguest of theories as to how these people are going to be connected with the other two characters and their own conflicts.

The plot seems to have slown down a bit (or just isn't as interesting) and I'm becomming rather frustrated by the absence of chapter one's main character. The situation he was left in the middle of was far more interesting than the other two's.

I really hate it when books do that... shifting view points with completely different sets of characters, settings, etc. Often they are unbalanced and the one that got you hooked into the book in the beginning is the one you want to get back to and keep reading. I also find that when they do too many of these shifts, I start losing track of who, where, what...

 

[Gilgamesh]

I hope I'm not building my expectations up too high.

I was feeling the same way . At first I thought I wouldn't like it very much but after a few dozen pages, I started to like it. At this stage, I've probably read a quarter of it and I'm really enjoying it.

 

[Gilgamesh]

I really hate it when books do that...

I stopped half way through this book. I stopped because my wife is about to start to read it as well so that when she catches up with me, we'll be able to discuss about the book , speculate about possible ends etc. Anyway... The thing that disturbed me the most (according to my earlier expectations of course) was that I thought the author wrote the whole book around the story developed in the first few chapters. I had thought what's covered in the first few chapters would have been the whole story. But I was surprised (not badly - being surprised is good ) to see that the book took a different turn... anyway... it's on hold at the moment.

 

[BrightStar]

Gilgamesh, have you read the Tairen Soul books yet? Book three's been out for a little while now, but I haven't actually gotten around to reading it. I'm not enjoying the thought of having to wait another few months when I reach the end of it until the final book in the series is released, so I'm waiting to wait the last two together in Jan/Feb.

Oh, and:

I stopped half way through this book.

Were you talking about Descent or the book you are/were currently reading?

I've reached the end of part one of Descent now. After a bit of a "jumpy" beginning, some of the characters are beginning to converge at last. I'm a bit skeptical as to how the author can continue to keep the plot interesting throughout the entire book (it's a long book) but I'm certainly still enjoying it quite a bit at the moment.

I get the feeling that although the author could have easily made this a simple thriller type book, there's actually an intelligent and deep plot behind things and it's going to be quite interesting.

I'm really loving the religious ideas that this book includes. At the moment, in particular, the whole "Search for the real Satan" has really caught my interest.

 

[Gilgamesh]

Hey B!

(I've been quiet for a while. I've been traveling for work extensively so I didn't have time to browse through this forum. But it looks like I'm getting back some time to "live" again )

I haven't read the Tairen Soul books yet. I'm going to wait for the final one to come out. In the mean time, I decided to read a (few) standalone(s). So I started Elantris.

And yes, I was talking about the Descent. I've always liked reading about numerous personal stories converging in a book and it doesn't have to be done quickly to satisfy me. So I'm not complaining about that however the author surprised me so far with some of the characters. Their roles didn't turn out to be (so far) what I had thought when they were first introduced. But as I said, I've kinda enjoyed being surprised about the development of the plot and the characters. And as you put it, there are definitely some social aspects that are interesting in such an environment. Being an atheist myself, I'm amazed to see how religion has had its ways for being around us. "Search for the real Satan", if I remember correctly, is a prime example of an opportunism. .

 

[Miriamele]

I'm just about to start World Without End by Sean Russell. I'm looking foward to it, as I haven't read a nice thick fantasy book for quite some time.

 

[suciul]

Since I bought my new toy - the excellent Sony PRS 700 - on Saturday, I read some e-books relegating Judging Eye for a bit later

I have pdf e-arcs from 4 fantasy/related books, Pilo's Family Circus by W. Eliott, Song of Time by I MacLeod, Dragonfly Falling by A. Tchaikovsky and The Riddler's Gift by G. Hamerton.

I finished first Pilo's Family Circus and it was quite enjoyable. Not really fantasy or horror, but more of an excursion into the fantastic, it is the tale of young Jamie stuck in dead-end jobs in Brisbane who is "persecuted" by some strange clowns, Gonko, Doopy, Goshy who want him to join the circus of the title. Jamie discovers that he has little choice and he becomes the clown JJ, psychotic and with strange supernatural powers like the others. But Jamie wants to escape and not to "lose himself" to JJ so he tries to fight back...

Very entertaining excursion in the strange and grotesque, with a lot of black humor sprinkled around.

I read some from Dragonfly and Riddler and both are quite enjoyable so they are next and I hope to fit Judging Eye and the sf Chaos Space by M. De Pierres somewhere in the next several days...

Too many good books, too little time

 

[Erfael]

I'm just about to start World Without End by Sean Russell. I'm looking foward to it, as I haven't read a nice thick fantasy book for quite some time.

They're not talked about here often, but the four books in this sequence are some of my favorites. I'll look forward to hearing what you think of them, Miri. Be sure to have Sea Without a Shore on hand for when you finish. There's not much closure to WWE, as I recall it.

Nice to have you back around the site again. I miss the old faces sometimes...not that there's anything wrong with the new faces.

 

[suciul]

They're not talked about here often, but the four books in this sequence are some of my favorites. I'll look forward to hearing what you think of them, Miri. Be sure to have Sea Without a Shore on hand for when you finish. There's not much closure to WWE, as I recall it.

Completely agreed; the only (small) gripe I had is that the prequel duology was published after World Without End/Sea Without a Shore so I knew what happened in the general picture and much of the suspense was lessened. But these were books I read when published a while ago and eagerly awaited the new ones.

 

[Erfael]

Completely agreed; the only (small) gripe I had is that the prequel duology was published after World Without End/Sea Without a Shore so I knew what happened in the general picture and much of the suspense was lessened. But these were books I read when published a while ago and eagerly awaited the new ones.

I read the prequels first (didn't know they were prequels or that there were "sequels" at the time). It was interesting reading the books that were set later but written earlier after knowing what came before in the chronology. So I didn't have a sense of spoilerishness going into the prequels and it made the sequels a little richer. Though having not read the sequels there were things in the prequels that didn't make as much sense as they should have as I didn't have the proper literary future resonance set up.

I'm tempted to scratch all that because it reads in a much more confusing way than I had intended, but I'll let it stand as a bizarre internet thing.

 

[suciul]

I read the prequels first (didn't know they were prequels or that there were "sequels" at the time). It was interesting reading the books that were set later but written earlier after knowing what came before in the chronology. So I didn't have a sense of spoilerishness going into the prequels and it made the sequels a little richer. Though having not read the sequels there were things in the prequels that didn't make as much sense as they should have as I didn't have the proper literary future resonance set up.

I'm tempted to scratch all that because it reads in a much more confusing way than I had intended, but I'll let it stand as a bizarre internet thing.

Actually the above makes a lot of sense to me since that was exactly the way I felt - the prequels needed the original duology for a fuller appreciation, but then they lacked some suspense. So in either order you read them, you will get something, you will miss something.

Still a great series and I wish Mr. Russell would write more after the disastrous later "classic epic" trilogy that most likely finished his career or at least slowed it considerably. Though even that was not as bad as many people said, but it was a big, big drop-off from his quirky earlier fantasies

 

[Rob B]

I like Russell's writing very much, I think he's doing some naval novels under the name S. Thomas Russell, but nothing in Fantasy since The Shadow Road in 2004.