What Are You Reading?

Nody · 21-06-2013 10:04am

mcgovern wrote: »

I forced myself to read the first 3, but I agree, they are terrible.

Finished they all; they don't really get any better sadly

AnCapaillMor · 21-06-2013 10:15am

Playboy wrote: »

Well different strokes and all that. R. Scott Bakker has been a fav of mine for years... Read the first book soon after it was published and have been waiting patiently for years for him to conclude that series. I've been banging the drum on here for quite a while now but he isn't everyone's taste as he is quite dark, heavy on the philosophy and his books read like a Greek tragedy with little to no comic relief.

Just a bit into the thousand fold thought, really is dark, that scene with Esmenet admitting to what happened to her child really freaked me out. And Kellhus i don't know what to make of him, he's such a ****. Achiaman is about the only one you can have sympathy\partially like in the book.

ixoy · 21-06-2013 11:13pm

Just started Brandon Sanderson's "Emperor's Soul". Only 3% into this novella and already he seems to be starting up a magic system more intriguing than most can manage in a trilogy. Looking forward to him keeping up the same standard I've found with the rest of his work.

keane2097 · 21-06-2013 11:21pm

Finished the Wise Man's Fear the other day. Definitely better than the first one but still disappointing enough. They're weird books because they're enjoyable while you're reading them, the characters are mostly really good and you're happy to be following their story along, but it's annoyingly slow-burning.

A minor annoyance:

Bast is a very annoying character, out of everyone in the two books he tilts me hard. Rothfuss also annoys me in trying to bash the reader over the head with the fact that he and Kvothe are close by having Bast call him Reshi in probably 80%+ of his sentences. I get it, please stop.

When Rothfuss writes about music it's terrific stuff.

keane2097 · 21-06-2013 11:22pm

Started reading the second Gentlemen Bastards book. Already loving it after just a couple of chapters. The dialogue is just superb in these books.

Liamalone · 21-06-2013 11:25pm

Jumped back into The Dark Tower series last night after a hiatus, read GRRM's song and only getting back to the path if the beam now, book five 'Wolves of Calla', onwards to the end from here!

shootermacg · 21-06-2013 11:40pm

If you liked the name of the wind take a look at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_Earth its the usual escapism, easy to read but has a western slant which is a nice change.

Bits_n_Bobs · 22-06-2013 9:51am

keane2097 wrote: »

A minor annoyance: When Rothfuss writes about music it's terrific stuff.

That drove me all manners of insane too! Just irritated the pants off me in a completely non-rational but rage inducing manner

Paddy Samurai · 22-06-2013 6:07pm

At the moment I am reading two........

I Travel by Night by Robert McCammon
A horror book about Vampires ,set in the old west.

SAMPLE CHAPTER http://subterraneanpress.com/store/product_detail/i_travel_by_night

A Crown Imperiled by Rayond E Feist
Previously I had decided to give up on Feist ,but since this is the 2nd last one(I hope) I will finish out the series.

shaneor · 23-06-2013 2:08pm

ixoy wrote: »

Just started Brandon Sanderson's "Emperor's Soul". Only 3% into this novella and already he seems to be starting up a magic system more intriguing than most can manage in a trilogy. Looking forward to him keeping up the same standard I've found with the rest of his work.

That was a really interesting short read. Sanderson comes up with the most amazingly innovative magic systems I can think of. They often would make the book worth reading even on their own!

He's also very close to finishing the sequel to Way of Kings (based on twitter comments from him) so very much looking forward to that!

shaneor · 23-06-2013 2:16pm

I finished "Magicians End" a few weeks back. It was better than a lot of his recent books and I was happy enough with how it all ended. I've been following that series for so long it's going to be very strange not having a new one to look out for in the future!

Also read "Shift" the "Wool" sequel from Hugh Howey. A good read with some interesting ideas. I thought it was well inwoven with the story from Wool. Looking forward to the third in the series!

Just finished "Among Others" by Jo Walton a few days ok. It won a Hugo and a Nebula recently and it was well written. Worth a read but nothing spectacular.

About 30% into "Abbandons Gate" from James SA Corey and loving it just like the first two in the series. It's one of the best new SciFi series I've read in a good while!

Valaquenta · 23-06-2013 5:23pm

shaneor wrote: »

I finished "Magicians End" a few weeks back. It was better than a lot of his recent books and I was happy enough with how it all ended. I've been following that series for so long it's going to be very strange not having a new one to look out for in the future!

!

I'm a coupla books behind in the series. Was huge into it for about 2 yrs and got distracted with other stuff waiting for the next one to be released. Gonna need a bit of a refresher but always rated that whole series as one of the best I've read

Nody · 23-06-2013 9:29pm

Finished "Old Man's War"; not overly impressed (but still an interesting read) but I ordered the next three in the series in the hope it develops the story more; over all it reminded me of "War is an Orphanage" series by Robert Buettner in style (which is a nice and easily read series as well).

TwoShedsJackson · 24-06-2013 7:57am

Just started reading 'The Lies of Locke Lamora' again and decided to check to see if 'Republic of Thieves' was anywhere nearer being pubilshed. Official announcement from the publishers it will be out in October!! I know this is old news (was announced in March), but it's cheered me up

bradyle · 24-06-2013 12:12pm

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

Just started reading 'The Lies of Locke Lamora' again and decided to check to see if 'Republic of Thieves' was anywhere nearer being pubilshed. Official announcement from the publishers it will be out in October!! I know this is old news (was announced in March), but it's cheered me up

I'm just about to finish this for the first time. Its a really good book!! Rerally enjoyed it!

pH · 24-06-2013 1:04pm

shaneor wrote: »

Just finished "Among Others" by Jo Walton a few days ok. It won a Hugo and a Nebula recently and it was well written. Worth a read but nothing spectacular.

I read it recently as well. I'm no sure what I think tbh.

Basically it's "urban fantasy" ie magic and stuff set in our world, but in this case the magic veneer is so thin it's almost undetectable, and that coupled with the main characters tragic existence most of the book left me wondering if it was fantasy (literary) or the imaginings of a troubled young mind. Her love of classic SF was a bonus point for me, but as a "fantasy" novel it came up short. Well written and hauntingly poignant in places but not totally my cup of tea.

Sadly I seem not to be able to pick a book - I've had more bad reads and unfinished novels recently than ever before.

Generic Dresden novel #? (Jim Butcher)
More of the same about some fairy war, finished it but it's the last one for me.

Anti-Copernicus (Adam Roberts)
A "novella" or short novel that was meant to deal with the Fermi Paradox (which fascinates me) was ultimately a confused mess that made little sense and added nothing to it for me.

Atopia Chronicles (Matthew Maher)
Some utter tosh about PSI (virtual reality etc) and a floating metropolis - complete rubbish and unfinished.

Fire Watch (Connie Willis)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Watch_(story)

I'd heard about this award winning series about time travelling historians so I started at the beginning (this is a short story). It's about a time traveller who goes back to the London blitz to fight fires on St Pauls. However there is absolutely no point to any of it. The story revolves around his nightly efforts to keep fires at bay, the "time travelling" aspect has no effect on the story - it was pointless. Tried to read some of the other short stories in the collection but I so disliked the style I gave up.

I hope the next Aaronovitch which I'm looking forward to doesn't disappoint!

Trojan · 24-06-2013 1:38pm

I just finished Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey, my first Pern novel. Not bad, I wasn't blown away, but considering it was written in 1968 it has aged pretty well. 7/10.

Will give Dragonquest a look next.

--

Nody wrote: »

Finished "Old Man's War"; not overly impressed (but still an interesting read)

I'd say similar for most of the series - a fairly solid 6/10, comfort reading. I really like what he did with inter-species conflict in the series.

ixoy · 24-06-2013 1:49pm

Reading "Mindgames: Fool's Mate" by Neal Asher, a novella that he re-published for the Kindle. It's one of his first works and it's a little rusty - it's basically Doctor Who's "War Games" where fighters from different eras in human history are pitched against each other. Not too bad but far from his best (as he'd admit himself). Still only cost a couple of quid so no complaints.

shaneor · 24-06-2013 4:23pm

pH wrote: »

I read it recently as well. I'm no sure what I think tbh.

Basically it's "urban fantasy" ie magic and stuff set in our world, but in this case the magic veneer is so thin it's almost undetectable, and that coupled with the main characters tragic existence most of the book left me wondering if it was fantasy (literary) or the imaginings of a troubled young mind. Her love of classic SF was a bonus point for me, but as a "fantasy" novel it came up short. Well written and hauntingly poignant in places but not totally my cup of tea.

That's not far how I felt about it actually. I'm still not sure how much of it was in the main characters head or whether it was an actual "fantasy" novel! Some of the SF references were great though (although it just made me realize how much I hadn't read!).

Dades · 24-06-2013 5:05pm

Just finished The Ghost Brigades and enjoyed it as much as Old Mans' War.

Started The Final Colony to complete the trilogy.

RoboAmish · 24-06-2013 6:56pm

Just finished "Red Seas Under Red Skies". It's not quite as good as its (excellent) predecessor but the banter and characterisations of Locke and Jean remain strong. As a rule, I usually hate the section in a fantasy book (which was rampant for a long time) where the character would take to the high seas. Tended to bore me to tears. So, the premise was slightly off putting at first, but Lynch injected enough personality and did it in a unique enough fashion to keep me entertained. Looking forward to "The Republic of Thieves"!

Now back to Sanderson and "Warbreaker".

Gerry Kerr · 24-06-2013 9:29pm

Just started reading Stephen Baxter's the long war and finding it slow to start. I did like its predecessor, the long earth

Gerry

pH · 24-06-2013 11:30pm

I'd also forgotten about my second foray into time travelling SF -
The Last Roman (Edward Chrichton)

I'd read some utter tripe recently, but this once topped it all. It starts with the premise that in the near future the world has gone downhill, and the Vatican (yes the Catholic church!) needs its own SAS/Delta force squad to deal with their enemies. After a bizarre time traveling accident a Vatican SAS squad (with a suspicious number of members fluent in Latin) arrive in ancient Rome and with gleeful abandon use their modern weapons to mow down legions and savages alike in great numbers in support of the great Roman emperor Caligua.

Sadly I'm unable to report how this book ends.

Valaquenta · 25-06-2013 9:10am

pH wrote: »

I'd also forgotten about my second foray into time travelling SF -
The Last Roman (Edward Chrichton)

I'd read some utter tripe recently, but this once topped it all. It starts with the premise that in the near future the world has gone downhill, and the Vatican (yes the Catholic church!) needs its own SAS/Delta force squad to deal with their enemies. After a bizarre time traveling accident a Vatican SAS squad (with a suspicious number of members fluent in Latin) arrive in ancient Rome and with gleeful abandon use their modern weapons to mow down legions and savages alike in great numbers in support of the great Roman emperor Caligua.

Sadly I'm unable to report how this book ends.

haha, that sounds horrendous!!

Dan_Solo · 25-06-2013 9:31am

pH wrote: »

I'd also forgotten about my second foray into time travelling SF -
The Last Roman (Edward Chrichton)

I'd read some utter tripe recently, but this once topped it all. It starts with the premise that in the near future the world has gone downhill, and the Vatican (yes the Catholic church!) needs its own SAS/Delta force squad to deal with their enemies. After a bizarre time traveling accident a Vatican SAS squad (with a suspicious number of members fluent in Latin) arrive in ancient Rome and with gleeful abandon use their modern weapons to mow down legions and savages alike in great numbers in support of the great Roman emperor Caligua.

Sadly I'm unable to report how this book ends.

There's an old Time Tunnel episode that reminds me of called "Revenge Of The Gods". GIs with Tommy Guns join the Greeks to mow down no end of Trojans...

shaneor · 25-06-2013 10:44am

pH wrote: »

I'd also forgotten about my second foray into time travelling SF -
The Last Roman (Edward Chrichton)

I'd read some utter tripe recently, but this once topped it all. It starts with the premise that in the near future the world has gone downhill, and the Vatican (yes the Catholic church!) needs its own SAS/Delta force squad to deal with their enemies. After a bizarre time traveling accident a Vatican SAS squad (with a suspicious number of members fluent in Latin) arrive in ancient Rome and with gleeful abandon use their modern weapons to mow down legions and savages alike in great numbers in support of the great Roman emperor Caligua.

Sadly I'm unable to report how this book ends.

Well that sounds .... unusual!

It's free on Kindle at the moment though so I think I'll get it & if I ever feel like a laugh some time it'll be there!

Bits_n_Bobs · 25-06-2013 10:54am

RoboAmish wrote: »

As a rule, I usually hate the section in a fantasy book (which was rampant for a long time) where the character would take to the high seas. Tended to bore me to tears.

Totally agree and delighted to hear someone else moaning about it!!

Paddy Samurai · 25-06-2013 1:33pm

pH wrote: »

I'd also forgotten about my second foray into time travelling SF -
The Last Roman (Edward Chrichton)

I'd read some utter tripe recently, .......................
Sadly I'm unable to report how this book ends.

Reminds me of a book I read as a teenager,but in reverse .At the time I thought it was brilliant. A Roman Gladiator in the modern age..........

The Far Arena

The Far Arena is a novel by Richard Sapir, writing as Richard Ben Sapir. It chronicles the adventures of Eugeni, a Roman gladiator from Domitian's period, who, due to an unlikely series of events, is frozen in ice for 1900 years before being found by the Houghton Oil Company on a prospecting mission in the N. Atlantic.

sentient_6 · 26-06-2013 9:32pm

Playboy wrote: »

sentient_6 wrote: »

I've started The Blade Itself.......& after 100 pages i'm thinking of putting it down. Really not feeling it.

Keep at it... Took me a while to get into it but so glad I stuck with it

Well. Above quotes are from 5 months ago and I did indeed go back to it. Moving on to Last Argument now. They are brilliant!

mcgovern · 27-06-2013 9:20am

Finished Shadow and Betrayal, and it was a real slog. Nothing happens in the book.
Started The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Interesting so far.

Bits_n_Bobs · 27-06-2013 9:46am

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi was a most enjoyable read for me.

Just finished Assassins Apprentice by Robin Hobb. Not a bad fantasy book, narrative driven and a smidge light on world building for my taste. I'll probably read the sequels eventually.

About 20% into The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu. So far so fine, not going to change the world but seems the plot is shifting along at a reasonable pace. I have a preference for slightly heavier sci-fi, this is a bit fluffy for me and the plot contains more than it's fair share of cliches.

keane2097 · 27-06-2013 3:04pm

sentient_6 wrote: »

Well. Above quotes are from 5 months ago and I did indeed go back to it. Moving on to Last Argument now. They are brilliant!

Does that come highly recommended yeah? Almost finished the second Gentlemen Bastards book so will need something to hop into next.

bradyle · 27-06-2013 3:29pm

keane2097 wrote: »

Does that come highly recommended yeah? Almost finished the second Gentlemen Bastards book so will need something to hop into next.

Whats the second Gentlemen's Bastards like? Just finished the first trying to decide whether to go straight for the second or branch out!

Cokeistan · 28-06-2013 1:51am

Started the gunslinger by King a week back. I read the first 40% really quickly but have been struggling with it since

Nody · 28-06-2013 5:55am

bradyle wrote: »

Whats the second Gentlemen's Bastards like? Just finished the first trying to decide whether to go straight for the second or branch out!

It's weaker then the first one but sets up for a very interesting third book (due out in October).

keane2097 · 28-06-2013 10:55am

Nody wrote: »

It's weaker then the first one but sets up for a very interesting third book (due out in October).

I'm not finished it so can't say overall but it's probably a bit slower than the first one.

I've found with both of these books that the dialogue and action are terrific but the prose in between them is borderline boring. A good example would be the interminable descriptions of these elderglass structures. Having given us so little back story as to where they came from I find the constant detailed descriptions of them have my eyes glazing over. Ok, they're big and unbreakable, grand - I'm happy enough to accept that ease stop going on about them. Assuming they end up being important I'll be pretty tilted that it will have taken him almost to the end of the second book (at least) to say anything interesting about them.

bradyle · 28-06-2013 11:09am

Nody wrote: »

It's weaker then the first one but sets up for a very interesting third book (due out in October).

keane2097 wrote: »

I'm not finished it so can't say overall but it's probably a bit slower than the first one.

I've found with both of these books that the dialogue and action are terrific but the prose in between them is borderline boring. A good example would be the interminable descriptions of these elderglass structures. Having given us so little back story as to where they came from I find the constant detailed descriptions of them have my eyes glazing over. Ok, they're big and unbreakable, grand - I'm happy enough to accept that ease stop going on about them. Assuming they end up being important I'll be pretty tilted that it will have taken him almost to the end of the second book (at least) to say anything interesting about them.

Righteo in that case I might go to Micheal J. Sullivans Riyra chronicles. I've had the books for an age so may jump in!

AnCapaillMor · 28-06-2013 2:57pm

David Dalglish's the Half Orc series. As stupid as i find it at times, i can't seem to put it down.

giftgrub · 28-06-2013 3:47pm

Surface Detail by the late Iain M Banks.

100 pages in and really enjoying it.

Its been a while since I've read him, saying that I couldnt get into The Algebraist, the one before that was Matter.

He'll be missed

RoboAmish · 28-06-2013 6:49pm

keane2097 wrote: »

I'm not finished it so can't say overall but it's probably a bit slower than the first one.

I've found with both of these books that the dialogue and action are terrific but the prose in between them is borderline boring. A good example would be the interminable descriptions of these elderglass structures. Having given us so little back story as to where they came from I find the constant detailed descriptions of them have my eyes glazing over. Ok, they're big and unbreakable, grand - I'm happy enough to accept that ease stop going on about them. Assuming they end up being important I'll be pretty tilted that it will have taken him almost to the end of the second book (at least) to say anything interesting about them.

I agree with you, though the word for his prose I'd use would be more something like "awkward". It's not done in a natural way. He gets better but the most egregious example of this is in "Lies" towards the beginning, where, instead of intersecting descriptions between dialogue, he sorta dumps all such info at the beginning of the chapter and then moves on to the conversation.

It can be a bit jarring at time and his descriptions can often bring the action to a shuddering halt but he is really good at dialogue and characterisation in fairness to him.

Overall, as regards the original point though, Book Two is noticeably weaker than Book One but that's down to a weaker plot with too many moving parts. I'm sure some would say that all these jigsaw pieces are part of the charm, but it meant there was a clear lack of focus and that resolution is often rushed. The book is good, sometimes very good, but it could have shaved off a hundred pages easily and maybe cut a subplot or two.

Liamalone · 28-06-2013 8:10pm

Cokeistan wrote: »

Started the gunslinger by King a week back. I read the first 40% really quickly but have been struggling with it since

Struggled with that too but really enjoyed the next three, worth ploughing on through it.

AllthingsCP · 29-06-2013 1:47pm

Just read all of Simon Scarrow novels about two Roman officers and their struggle from Germany to Britain then right round the world and back to Rome found very entertaining. Ben Kane Hannibal and Ships of Rome all very good books i found, But on a more serious note i finish the Blueshirts by Maurice Manning, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Just started Guerrilla Warfare by the BUTCHER of LA CABANA {Ernesto Che Guevara}

growler · 29-06-2013 8:34pm

Started reading Greg Bear's Forge of God again while i wait for the next amazon delivery to arrive, must be 20 years since I last read it, quite original in many ways but not sure I'll stick with the series if something else pops thorugh the letterbox ...

gufnork · 29-06-2013 8:48pm

Reading 'Conquering Sword of Conan'. Loved the first two. This 3rd one has started off very well. I love it when he goes delving in dungeons(or the equivalent).

ixoy · 30-06-2013 12:16am

Reading "The Straits of Galahesh", by Bradley P. Beaulieu the seond book in his "The Lays of Anuskaya" trilogy.
Enjoying it so far - takes a little bit of getting used to are there's quite a number of terms and Beaulieu has gone for a mix of Russian / Arabian culture as his back drop rather than the standard Western European one. It's refreshing but the prose is quite heavy so I'm not breezing through it either. Worth it so far though.

OwaynOTT · 01-07-2013 11:37am

ixoy wrote: »

Reading "The Straits of Galahesh", by Bradley P. Beaulieu the seond book in his "The Lays of Anuskaya" trilogy.
Enjoying it so far - takes a little bit of getting used to are there's quite a number of terms and Beaulieu has gone for a mix of Russian / Arabian culture as his back drop rather than the standard Western European one. It's refreshing but the prose is quite heavy so I'm not breezing through it either. Worth it so far though.

Thought the first book was excellent. Pity the series didn't take off for him and the problems with book publishers wouldn't have exactly helped. I think he has self published the last in the trilogy and apparently it keeps up the same level of quality.

OwaynOTT · 01-07-2013 11:38am

Nody wrote: »

It's weaker then the first one but sets up for a very interesting third book (due out in October).

Have to disagree there, I felt it was the better of the two.

Dades · 01-07-2013 12:00pm

growler wrote: »

Started reading Greg Bear's Forge of God again while i wait for the next amazon delivery to arrive, must be 20 years since I last read it, quite original in many ways but not sure I'll stick with the series if something else pops thorugh the letterbox ...

I read and enjoyed it earlier in the year and started the sequel straight after.

Didn't grab me though and its now languishing on my "to get back to" list.

mcgovern · 03-07-2013 2:13pm

Finished The Windup Girl which I really enjoyed. It's a very different future that we normally get to read about, and I look forward to reading some more of his work.
After that I read a short story, The Winged Things by Caleb Casey that I got free somewhere. Its terrible. Beyond terrible, the only thing it has going for it, is that its short so its over quickly.
Now starting The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson. Only a few pages in and already confused as usual

growler · 06-07-2013 9:52pm

On to The Folding Knife, KL Parker, very readable but there seems to only be one character in it

What Are You Reading?

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