What Are You Reading?

keane2097

wyrn wrote: »

Is The Blade Itself good? I have it sitting on the shelf, haven't read any of Joe Abercrombie's books before.

Just finished the Mistborn trilogy. I enjoyed it was different from how I imagined the direction it would take. Loved the first book and the others while good, seemed different.

Read the first one and about half the second one. They were grand but pretty bland tbh. From memory, the characters were decent enough, the

snooty lordling type

particularly was decent, and the dialogue was decent as well, but really there was precious little in the way of actual plot.

I remember just kind of laughing to myself at the end of the first book about how long it had taken and how little had actually happened.

I'd say give it a go if you're stuck for something else to read but I wouldn't be skipping it to the top of the queue or anything.

wyrn

Cheers, I'll give it a go next. I started Fortune's Pawn last night. It's a sci fi about a female mercenary which (for me) is pretty interesting. It's refreshing to see a strong female protagonist who doesn't suddenly fall in love and gets overshadowed. Well not in the first 32% anyway.

fenris

Half way through a Way of Kings re-read, I have forgotten enough for it to be really enjoyable.

TwoShedsJackson

Reading The Girl With All the Gifts, about 20% through and it has started well, very promising.

OwaynOTT

wyrn wrote: »

Cheers, I'll give it a go next. I started Fortune's Pawn last night. It's a sci fi about a female mercenary which (for me) is pretty interesting. It's refreshing to see a strong female protagonist who doesn't suddenly fall in love and gets overshadowed. Well not in the first 32% anyway.

You might find this worth reading so Gods-War-Dame-Apocrypha by Kameron Hurley. I've only read the first 20 pages or so but found it very interesting and will definitely read it in full soon.

keane2097

I'm reading Mort by Terry Pratchett at the moment. Quit the Discworld books for years after Equal Rites because I thought it was crap but struggled to get into anything since I read Blood Song and had the DW audiobooks downloaded so gave it a spin.

This one is very good, very funny.

Nody

keane2097 wrote: »

I'm reading Mort by Terry Pratchett at the moment. Quit the Discworld books for years after Equal Rites because I thought it was crap but struggled to get into anything since I read Blood Song and had the DW audiobooks downloaded so gave it a spin.

This one is very good, very funny.

The City watch novels are (imo) the strongest once by far in terms of story and style. They do slow down towards the latest releases but still worth reading and quite easy to get into with lots of jokes tuck in. The witches arcs (both sets) are more an aquired taste; I hated them at the start but they grew on me over time (esp. the Nac Mac Feegles).

keane2097

Nody wrote: »

The City watch novels are (imo) the strongest once by far in terms of story and style. They do slow down towards the latest releases but still worth reading and quite easy to get into with lots of jokes tuck in. The witches arcs (both sets) are more an aquired taste; I hated them at the start but they grew on me over time (esp. the Nac Mac Feegles).

I was never really able to get my head around how they're divided up as there were so many of them by the time I ever started. Any idea if there's any site that explains the various plot/time lines knocking around?

Nody

keane2097 wrote: »

I was never really able to get my head around how they're divided up as there were so many of them by the time I ever started. Any idea if there's any site that explains the various plot/time lines knocking around?

The Discword forum will help and specficially this stickied post on read order.

A slightly more recent version is here (updated until Q1 2013) which include the second witch arc.

shazzerman

Rereading a lot of Dick novels lately. Currently reading Dr Bloodmoney. Read Counter Clock World, The Simulacra, Time Out of Joint, and Ubik in the last couple of weeks. He had one great imagination.

Dades

Half-way through Zoe's Tale (#4 Old Man's War series) and failing to see the point of it, if I'm honest.

Concentrating on the same timeline as books 2/3 from the POV of another character was only ever going to work if there's a reason to tell the story again. I've learned nothing new of any importance and am basically reliving the same story as a teenage girl.

Someone tell me it gets relevant at some point!

OwaynOTT

Nody wrote: »

The City watch novels are (imo) the strongest once by far in terms of story and style. They do slow down towards the latest releases but still worth reading and quite easy to get into with lots of jokes tuck in. The witches arcs (both sets) are more an aquired taste; I hated them at the start but they grew on me over time (esp. the Nac Mac Feegles).

The Fifth Elephant is one of my favourites. Colon being in charge was just too funny.

keane2097

Dades wrote: »

Half-way through Zoe's Tale (#4 Old Man's War series) and failing to see the point of it, if I'm honest.

Concentrating on the same timeline as books 2/3 from the POV of another character was only ever going to work if there's a reason to tell the story again. I've learned nothing new of any importance and am basically reliving the same story as a teenage girl.

Someone tell me it gets relevant at some point!

Jaysus, the parallels with Ender's Game heading quickly into complete rip-off territory! Didn't realise they did an Ender's Shadow effort in that universe as well.

Enjoyed the first book all the same, were the 2nd and third any use?

Thargor

Reading the Mistborn trilogy and loving it so far, was going to go straight to the Stormlight Archive but glad I didnt now.

Dades

keane2097 wrote: »

Jaysus, the parallels with Ender's Game heading quickly into complete rip-off territory! Didn't realise they did an Ender's Shadow effort in that universe as well.

Enjoyed the first book all the same, were the 2nd and third any use?

The first two were brilliant... the third not quite as good - which is annoying - as it's the one being mainly retold in book 4!

Nody

Dades wrote: »

Someone tell me it gets relevant at some point!

There's some information and universe lore at around 80ish percent but I can't recall if it's been told in the other books or not. If you find that one slow though I'd stay away from the fifth one for now.

TwoShedsJackson

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

Reading The Girl With All the Gifts, about 20% through and it has started well, very promising.

Finished this, it was extremely good, an interesting spin on the zombie apocalypse story. Recommended.

Dades

Nody wrote: »

There's some information and universe lore at around 80ish percent but I can't recall if it's been told in the other books or not. If you find that one slow though I'd stay away from the fifth one for now.

Gave up on it this morning. Old Man's War turned into Teen Angst War.

Life's too short and the reading list is too long. :pac:

old hippy

The Bloody Red Baron - Kim Newman. Second book in the Anno Dracula saga, looks promising. I loved the first book, it reminded me a little of Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Manach

Starting Frank Chapman's "Forever Engine" - part Steampunk part Alt-Universe. Has a Dan Brown type super-professor as the main protagonist but apart from that, fairly good read especially with a suitably nihilist Tesla as the villain.

RoboAmish

Finished Crossroads of Twilight last night. It was as tedious as I had been warned about... woof...

Last four are on the way from amazon now *taps foot impatiently*

Trojan

Just finished Eliza Green's debut novel "Becoming Human".

Summary: A dystopian Earth government has colonised an inhabited planet with a mysterious low-tech local species. Protagonist's wife is missing. Plot twist.

Started well, but felt somewhat slow paced. I know it's the first of a trilogy but I thought it needed to grab the reader's attention a bit more. There is a lot of character building, particularly of seemingly unimportant side characters. Added to the pacing and short length, this felt to me like the first half of a single volume.

It's self-published but has a lot of polish that is often missed by authors going that way. I noticed one or two minor continuity & grammar issues, but not enough to disrupt reading significantly.

6/10. Overall I liked it, a decent read. "Altered Reality", part two of the trilogy, is available so I'll give that a go next.

It's great to see an Irish author in the sf genre!

mcgovern

Finished On The Steel Breeze, its definitely an improvement on the first one, and I'll read the next in the series when it comes out.
Started the Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu. It's different so far, but fairly confusing.

OwaynOTT

mcgovern wrote: »

Finished On The Steel Breeze, its definitely an improvement on the first one, and I'll read the next in the series when it comes out.
Started the Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu. It's different so far, but fairly confusing.

Yeah, it's fairly light with information but at least the dreaded Sanderson info dump doesn't make an appearance :pac:
It becomes clearer after a while.

Thargor

O/T but does anyone ever notice Amazon are fcukers for emailing you a promo about the next book in a series you've read and saying "You might be interested in this" then you click through all excited and its release date October-November 2014! They only do it with my sci-fi fantasy recs aswell, never other fiction or non-fiction.

And then other times Ill remember a series when Im sitting on the bus or something, google it to check it out and see theres been a new book available for the past few weeks, no email from Amazon even though I bought the first few books from them.

bradyle

Just finished the first 3 books in Peter V Brett's Demon Cycle series. Really enjoyed it loved how each successive book gave you someone elses point of view so when reading the books previous you see them as a "bad guy" but then when you get to see everything from their point of view its really interesting. Great books! Cant wait for the next!!!

ixoy

19% into "The Flames of Shadam Khoreh" by Bradley P. Beaulieu. It's the final book in his "The Lays of Anuskaya" trilogy.
Still enjoying this series, which is a nice breath of fresh air taking a Russian-influenced land as opposed to the standard-Western European one. Building on nicely from the previous two books.

OwaynOTT

ixoy wrote: »

19% into "The Flames of Shadam Khoreh" by Bradley P. Beaulieu. It's the final book in his "The Lays of Anuskaya" trilogy.
Still enjoying this series, which is a nice breath of fresh air taking a Russian-influenced land as opposed to the standard-Western European one. Building on nicely from the previous two books.

Reminds me that I must get around to reading the second and third.

ronoc 1

just finished reading the name of the wind,good enough read, felt it was a bit drawn out.liked it but wasnt blown away by it like a lot of people seem to be.

is it worth getting the sequel

Dan_Solo

Finished book 1 of War of the Spider Queen. While I'm a bit of a D+D book addict beyond reasoning with, I just find the setting a bit too "high-powered" for my liking. I prefer my heroes grubbing about in the mud for a rusty knife than casting world changing magic from the back of a dragon. Don't know if I'll see out the series. Maybe.
Moved on to Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick. A good "who am I?" style mystery from the start, with lots of the trademark PKD paranoia, drugs, sex etc. I'm just waiting for somebody to find out they're not who they thought they were, are inside someone else's dream or somesuch... it always happens eventually!
Also, even written in 1974 it's quite dated now. Running out of change to use a phone in a hotel lobby? In the future? Oh dear.