What Are You Reading?

mcgovern · 01-12-2011 10:19pm

Finished The Road, fairly crap ending. Now reading The Parasite by Asher. Not as good as his Agent Cormac stuff, but pretty decent and you can see a lot of similarities with his later work.

ixoy · 01-12-2011 10:43pm

mcgovern wrote: »

Finished The Road, fairly crap ending. Now reading The Parasite by Asher. Not as good as his Agent Cormac stuff, but pretty decent and you can see a lot of similarities with his later work.

Mr Golem is one of the most obvious bits

Mentions of augs, etc as well make it seem like a bit of a fore-runner for his Polity-based works.

OwaynOTT · 02-12-2011 1:32am

Just finished Red Seas Under Red Skies. Excellent follow up book and I couldn't put it down.

In my view better than the first book. The flashbacks in the first book affected the flow and slowed down the pace a bit, although I did find some of them interesting, whereas here the time shifts weren't as frequent and they werent so far back in the past.
I enjoyed the high seas bits immensly and didn't feel they were a flaw in the book, like some reviews felt.
Best bit in the whole book is near the, when you find out how Locke and Jean benefit from the scam.

Have to say that was irked at the cliffhangerish ending though and more so when it looks like the next book is still miles off.

9/10

Up next Sea of Ghosts, funnily another book involving the sea going excursions

Zapp Brannigan · 02-12-2011 7:10am

I liked the flashbacks in the first books. Led in to some great humour.

Like when Locke hears about the Bondsmage and then as soon as we're back in the present day; "Nice bird, arsehole"

pH · 02-12-2011 12:29pm

Read "Ready Player One" a few weeks back - enjoyable enough but if you are into old video games and the 1980's then it's a must!

Currently struggling with Stephenson's "REAMDE", about quarter way through, and it reads like a lecture by an idiot into how he would have designed an online MMORPG. Silly plot, crap writing, unlikeable characters, glacial pacing and a lot of it reads like the author is lecturing and trying to show how clever he is (to be fair I hated Cryptonomicon for much the same reasons after loving the earlier work).

mcgovern · 02-12-2011 1:51pm

ixoy wrote: »

Mr Golem is one of the most obvious bits Mentions of augs, etc as well make it seem like a bit of a fore-runner for his Polity-based works.

Yep, and AI's, big weapons etc. Was a good read, worth the few euro it cost, I wonder if it will tempt him or others to ditch their publishers and go down the self-publishing route...

Decided to go back to Malazan books and started Memories of Ice next.

gufnork · 02-12-2011 5:36pm

mcgovern wrote: »

ixoy wrote: »

Mr Golem is one of the most obvious bits Mentions of augs, etc as well make it seem like a bit of a fore-runner for his Polity-based works.

Yep, and AI's, big weapons etc. Was a good read, worth the few euro it cost, I wonder if it will tempt him or others to ditch their publishers and go down the self-publishing route...

Decided to go back to Malazan books and started Memories of Ice next.

I was reading malazan, but kinda got tired of em after finishing the second one. I've heard memories of ice is one of the best though so I'll almost certainly continue with them at some point. Am reading The Alloy Of Law at the moment. Highly recommended. Am enjoying it immensely. Also reading the second volume of The wildcards series too. I'm liking them. They're a nice little diversion from my usual fare.

OwaynOTT · 02-12-2011 9:22pm

gufnork wrote: »

I was reading malazan, but kinda got tired of em after finishing the second one. I've heard memories of ice is one of the best though so I'll almost certainly continue with them at some point. Am reading The Alloy Of Law at the moment. Highly recommended. Am enjoying it immensely. Also reading the second volume of The wildcards series too. I'm liking them. They're a nice little diversion from my usual fare.

The wildcard books are great. Think I'd read first 4 of them. Pity the guy who wakes up with new abilities, croydan?, isn't in it more.

Memories of Ice is excellent. Read it years ago and it was unlike anything I read at the time. Strangely though I never picked up another Malazan book after it, I do now have Gardens of the Moon in my to read pile.
Unfortunately so are Alloy of The Law, Dragons Path, Scar Night, City and the City, songs of a dying earth, chronicles of amber and it goes on.

Sea of ghosts is what I'm currently reading and it's a book that I can't put down. Simple plot but the trimmings are highly inventive.

edit Just finished it in work and I really liked the book but the ending was a bit slight and felt rushed and kinda ended on a cliffhanger. Looking forward to the next one but hope some of the secondary characters get fleshed out a bit. Brilliant line in it near the end, "Hows that for some accelerated entropy" or something along those lines.

gufnork · 05-12-2011 12:12am

OwaynOTT wrote: »

gufnork wrote: »

I was reading malazan, but kinda got tired of em after finishing the second one. I've heard memories of ice is one of the best though so I'll almost certainly continue with them at some point. Am reading The Alloy Of Law at the moment. Highly recommended. Am enjoying it immensely. Also reading the second volume of The wildcards series too. I'm liking them. They're a nice little diversion from my usual fare.

The wildcard books are great. Think I'd read first 4 of them. Pity the guy who wakes up with new abilities, croydan?, isn't in it more.

Memories of Ice is excellent. Read it years ago and it was unlike anything I read at the time. Strangely though I never picked up another Malazan book after it, I do now have Gardens of the Moon in my to read pile.
Unfortunately so are Alloy of The Law, Dragons Path, Scar Night, City and the City, songs of a dying earth, chronicles of amber and it goes on.

Sea of ghosts is what I'm currently reading and it's a book that I can't put down. Simple plot but the trimmings are highly inventive.

edit Just finished it in work and I really liked the book but the ending was a bit slight and felt rushed and kinda ended on a cliffhanger. Looking forward to the next one but hope some of the secondary characters get fleshed out a bit. Brilliant line in it near the end, "Hows that for some accelerated entropy" or something along those lines.

Am nearing the end of the alloy of law and am loving it more and more. Have seen reviews that describe it as a bit of a sideline between his first 3 mistborn novels and the next 3(?) which are going to be set in a similar more urban setting, which I'm really looking forward to if they're anything like this one. I don't care how un-cool it is to say it, but I liked this more than the final empire(haven't read the next 2 yet) and I really liked that one.

Can also recommend the city and the city too. I'm not really into mystery/detective novels, but really enjoyed that one, but then I'm generally a fan of his stuff anyway. A fan that is except of the kraken, which was an unbelievable carbon copy of Neil gaimans neverwhere, and to be honest I really can't understand how he hasn't been hauled through the courts for it yet, but what do I know?

Anyway, read the alloy of law next, you'll not regret it, I promise.

constantg · 06-12-2011 3:35am

read the wiki entry on Alloy, seems a bit confusing with all of the metal guff, this the case?

gufnork · 06-12-2011 2:44pm

constantg wrote: »

read the wiki entry on Alloy, seems a bit confusing with all of the metal guff, this the case?

No, I haven't read that wiki but theres an appendix at the back of the book listing all the metals and their powers etc that would have confused me too if I hadn't already read the final empire. I'd go as far as to say the appendix in the book doesn't do anywhere near as good a job at explaining the whole metal magic system as the actual story itself. I'm reasonably confident I would have been fine with it even if I'd not read the final empire. Just don't read the appendix first, or probably, any more wikis either. Just dive straight into the story instead.

constantg · 07-12-2011 9:49am

Currently reading book #2 of Humanity's Fire: Orphaned Worlds by Michael Cobley.

Also last started the Saga of the Seven Suns: Book #1; good read, but the library were out of book #2 so working away at my HF in the meantime.

AnCapaillMor · 07-12-2011 11:05am

Tried humanitys fire, but couldn't get into it.

saga of the seven suns nearly killed, started it when book 2 came out and the yearly wait for the next in the series nearly killed me. Great books, first book and a half is basically an introduction and setting up everything.

constantg · 07-12-2011 11:07am

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Tried humanitys fire, but couldn't get into it.

saga of the seven suns nearly killed, started it when book 2 came out and the yearly wait for the next in the series nearly killed me. Great books, first book and a half is basically an introduction and setting up everything.

Hadn't read book 1 in ages and book 2 took a good while to get back into it properly!

re 7suns, read that he lets 5 yrs between book 1 and book 2. good idea or bad? i like the idea, but does it work???

ixoy · 07-12-2011 11:16am

Reading "The Modern World" by Steph Swainston, the final book in her Castle trilogy. Enjoying it so far - it's got a pretty original world.

gufnork · 10-12-2011 3:30pm

Am reading snuff by terry pratchett now. He's guaranteed to be a good light read. Also have the third volume in the wildcards series to start too. Am looking forward to that one in particular. Is supposed to be better than the first two I hear.

Dades · 14-12-2011 1:10pm

Finally finished Surface Detail after a few months sojourn.

Really liked it. Only a few Iain M. Banks left to read - I'm going to save Matter for next year.

In the meantime just started Tim Powers' On Stranger Tides (finally getting around to it after Paddy Samurai talked them up in the best fantasy books thread a year ago!)

Needed some pirates after hi-tech Culture stuff. Arrr!

Trojan · 14-12-2011 6:57pm

Finally got around to the Feist/Wurts "Daughter/Servant/Mistress of the Empire" Tsuranni trilogy - very, very good stuff. Reminded me why I liked Feist in the first place. Highly recommended, 8/10.

14-12-2011 7:11pm

Dades wrote: »

In the meantime just started Tim Powers' On Stranger Tides (finally getting around to it after Paddy Samurai talked them up in the best fantasy books thread a year ago!)

Tim Powers is well worth reading. Especially 'The Anubis Gates' and 'On Stranger Tides'

Just finished 'The Prestige'. Entertaining but the ending is a much rougher genre shift than the film. Feels a bit like the author tossed in the towel and started rushing a few hundred pages into 50 or so.

Currently reading "the first book of Lankhmar" by Fritz Leiber.

BlaasForRafa · 15-12-2011 1:33pm

Just finished 1632 and 1633 by Eric Flint, rattling good reads I have to say, fairly flew through those books. I'm not a big alternate history fan but these were so bloody readable.

I'm about halfway through The Peace War by Vernor Vinge at the moment, its a fairly trad sci-fi maguffin plot but its written well and keeps you turning the pages waiting to see what happens next.

OwaynOTT · 15-12-2011 2:56pm

This week I'll be mostly reading Dragons Path by Daniel Abraham. So far I have no thoughts on it, so might of a crap post here.

Iskar Jarak · 15-12-2011 3:59pm

Just finished the Malazan Book of the Fallen, by Steven Erikson. Best fantasy series I've ever read, hands down. Ever. Even beat King's Dark Towers, and Goodkind's Sword of Truth. Next up is either Game of Thrones, or re-reading Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy.

OwaynOTT · 15-12-2011 5:44pm

Iskar Jarak wrote: »

Just finished the Malazan Book of the Fallen, by Steven Erikson. Best fantasy series I've ever read, hands down. Ever. Even beat King's Dark Towers, and Goodkind's Sword of Truth. Next up is either Game of Thrones, or re-reading Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy.

Well Sword of Truth is fairly dodge. Try Game of Thrones next or even better Robert Jordans Wheel of Time.

Shryke · 15-12-2011 5:57pm

L wrote: »

Tim Powers is well worth reading. Especially 'The Anubis Gates' and 'On Stranger Tides'

Just finished 'The Prestige'. Entertaining but the ending is a much rougher genre shift than the film. Feels a bit like the author tossed in the towel and started rushing a few hundred pages into 50 or so.

Currently reading "the first book of Lankhmar" by Fritz Leiber.

Tim Powers is amazing. I'd love to read the Anubis Gates again soon.
On Stranger Tides was actually part of the inspiration for the Monkey Island games! It's a serious belter.

I thought The Prestige ended very well though. I'd seen the film first and expected the book to end in a similar fashion. The book definitely was superior to the film imo. The ending was so ethereal, it gave me a shiver! If The Prestige seemed good then I'd recommend The Seperation. It's not as gripping but still worth reading and really makes you think. It will wreck your head a bit after you finish it.

Iskar Jarak · 15-12-2011 5:57pm

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Well Sword of Truth is fairly dodge. Try Game of Thrones next or even better Robert Jordans Wheel of Time.

Wheel of Time is also on the reading list! Sword of Truth I thought was a great story, what let it down was the repetition. He constantly treats the reader as if you've forgotten everything that happened in the last book. Very annoying. Could've scrapped that and trimmed it down to 8 books I reckon. Other than that, well worth the read. None of it comes close to the Malazans though.

OwaynOTT · 15-12-2011 7:01pm

Iskar Jarak wrote: »

Wheel of Time is also on the reading list! Sword of Truth I thought was a great story, what let it down was the repetition. He constantly treats the reader as if you've forgotten everything that happened in the last book. Very annoying. Could've scrapped that and trimmed it down to 8 books I reckon. Other than that, well worth the read. None of it comes close to the Malazans though.

Well Wheel of Time definitely doesn't suffer from repetition and if anything it's trimmed down too much as it is.:p

I haven't read Malazan yet, only Memories of Ice, which was excellent.

AnCapaillMor · 16-12-2011 9:24am

Iskar Jarak wrote: »

Wheel of Time is also on the reading list! Sword of Truth I thought was a great story, what let it down was the repetition. He constantly treats the reader as if you've forgotten everything that happened in the last book. Very annoying. Could've scrapped that and trimmed it down to 8 books I reckon. Other than that, well worth the read. None of it comes close to the Malazans though.

I too liked the sword of truth but after reading the malazan and wheel of times you realise how bad the sword of truth books were. Wheel of time next definately, not as good as the malazan books but very good none the less,

BTW have you tried esslemont's malazan books? Set in the same world\time.

Iskar Jarak · 16-12-2011 12:34pm

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

BTW have you tried esslemont's malazan books? Set in the same world\time.

Getting a loan of Night of Knives over the next few days, so all other books now on hold

There's 3 out I think, and 6 planned.

AnCapaillMor · 16-12-2011 1:02pm

They're not a 3rd the size of the eriksson books.

mcgovern · 17-12-2011 8:32pm

Finished Memories of Ice which was good, but I can't help feeling I missed out on a lot of hints as I don't remember who half the characters etc are.
Decided to give The Hunger Games a try to see what the fuss is about. Seems to be written for a younger audience, probably teenage girls really but easy reading.

What Are You Reading?

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