What Are You Reading?

mcgovern

Sleepy wrote: »

Lord of the Rings was the first fantasy I attempted to read when I was about 13. I got about 2 chapters in and went back to my thriller novels (James Clavell, Robert Ludlum, Len Deighton etc.). It was nearly 15 years later before I read another fantasy novel.

I must give it another try at some stage but my memory of it would be of utterly awful prose.

I remember getting it out of the class library when I was in 5th or 6th class, and then getting in trouble at home as I brought it everywhere with me and wouldn't put it down.
I don't know why but I didn't read many other fantasy books after it though until my 20s. Mostly horror and then sci-fi. Now I usually alternate between fantasy and sci-fi but find there is much more good fantasy out there than good sci-fi.

Thargor

Adrian Tchaikovsky has a new one out, Cage of Souls, one-off set in the last city on a dying Earth, not read it yet.

Children of Time by the same author was a one-off about generation ships leaving a dying Earth aswell but apparently he's decided to write a sequel, it was a good read so happy with that, out this year. He seems to release a new book a few times a year!

ixoy

Thargor wrote: »

Adrian Tchaikovsky has a new one out, Cage of Souls, one-off set in the last city on a dying Earth, not read it yet.

Children of Time by the same author was a one-off about generation ships leaving a dying Earth aswell but apparently he's decided to write a sequel, it was a good read so happy with that, out this year. He seems to release a new book a few times a year!

'Children of Ruin' is out in May and then he's got another one out 11 days after that! The man is an absolute machine!

ixoy

'Lord of the Rings' was one of my first introductions to fantasy as well. I clearly remember it was the first time I went to the Adult section of the library, away from the kid's section (where I had read 'The Hobbit'). I was blown away at the time although I still hated Tom Bombadil. Also the endless, oh so long, Council of bloody Elrond.

I also moved on to the likes of David Eddings. It was fun but I could see the repetition in some of the ideas - Belgarian was the same as Sparhawk in his two series.
The other big one though was the Dragonlance series, which seemed to have introduced many people to fantasy in the early '90s. Raistlin was awesome, especially for the nerdy weak teenager!
Terry Brooks got a look in too with the Shannara series.

Then moved on to Hobb, Jordan, Feist and Wurts who I continued with whereas the earlier authors I've dropped (never could really get into the various other Middle-earth tomes). I won't revisit those earlier authors as I fear I'd find them lacking, especially as these days there's so much great fantasy out there.

Thargor

ixoy wrote: »

'Children of Ruin' is out in May and then he's got another one out 11 days after that! The man is an absolute machine!

What is the book coming 11 days after called?

ixoy

Thargor wrote: »

What is the book coming 11 days after called?

'Walking to Aldebaran'. Okay, it's more of a novella but still releasing two full-length novels and one novella in under two months is impressive..
I've got 'Children of Ruin' lined up to be my holiday novel as I really loved 'Children of Time'.

ancapailldorcha

Blood & Bone by Ian C Esslemont. I might actually finish the Malazan series. Loving the Amazonian/Aztec vibe of it.

Paddy Samurai

Finished Senlin Ascends which I though was pretty good.When I get time I hope to track down the next two in the series.

Just started Priest of Bones by Peter McLean today and I am already 50 pages in.This is a real page turner and so far I am really enjoying this one.:D

"The first in an unmissable series, Priest of Bones is a fresh and compelling take on grimdark fantasy. Mashing together soldiers, gangsters, magic and war into a heady mix that is a hulking big brother to The Lies of Locke Lamora."--Anna Stephens, author of Godblind

Paddy Samurai

So finished Priest of Bones and enjoyed it a ton.Looking forward to part two.
I would describe it as peaky blinders with swords and magic .:D

Next up is Deadman’s road by Joe R Lansdale.
Apparently according to the blurb it’s Deadwood meets The Walking Dead.

DeborahLQ

Lord of the Rings was the first fantasy I attempted to read when I was about 13. I got about 2 chapters in and went back to my thriller novels (James Clavell, Robert Ludlum, Len Deighton etc.). It was nearly 15 years later before I read another fantasy novel.

That is funny to read because I totally had a similar expereince. I struggled through LOTR when I was that young, but had a blast reading spy novels, and Len Dieghton was absolutely some I read. My favorite of that genre was'Day of the Jackel', what a book!

But back to sci-fi. I have read a what feels like a million sci-fi books over the years, and right now I am finishing a trilogy by Linda Nagata called The Red Trilogy. It is easy reading and decent. It is near-future special ops type stuff, but pretty cool and fun.

To get to my desk here I just walked by a bookcase and noticed an awesome author I've read, Iain M. Banks. His Culture books were really fantastic. I was thinking how ironic (and sad) it was that he died of a brain tumor, being that his brain was his best feature.

Dades

DeborahLQ wrote: »

To get to my desk here I just walked by a bookcase and noticed an awesome author I've read, Iain M. Banks. His Culture books were really fantastic. I was thinking how ironic (and sad) it was that he died of a brain tumor, being that his brain was his best feature.

Well, unlike most of us when we're gone, his Mind will live on with generations of readers.

Glebee

Just started The Queens Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler Got a free Kindle Unlimited sub and its the only thing on it that I could find that might interest me. What are peoples thoughts on Wheelers stuff???

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29103028-the-queen-s-poisoner

Conall Cernach

I'm re-reading Feist's A Darkness at Sethanon for the first time in over 20 years. God it is awful tosh.

Buford T. Justice XIX

Glebee wrote: »

Just started The Queens Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler Got a free Kindle Unlimited sub and its the only thing on it that I could find that might interest me. What are peoples thoughts on Wheelers stuff???

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29103028-the-queen-s-poisoner

I read them last year, enjoyable if not very taxing. I read the first 6 books, got them on sale and they passed away a few evenings nicely.

coffee_cake

Finally got to pick up the kindle again and read tiamats wrath. Finished it there and now my life is empty. MOAR

pixelburp

Finished Senlin Ascends and the best praise I can give any book is that I'm in a hurry to pick up the second. Ends on a perfectly pitched note of adventure. A credit to any writer that can take a fairly unlikeable lead character and slowly mould him - and the audience really - into someone worth following...

ixoy

42% into "Kings of the Wyld" by Nicholas Eames, the first book in his Band trilogy. Really enjoying it so far - sort of a lighter version of Joe Abercrombie's grizzled 'The Heroes'. The characters are distinct and there's a nice line in humour and it manages to not go too grim-dark either. It's fast paced and the snappy chapters means it's so far a breezy read.

Before that I read "Moon Rising" by Ian McDonald, the final book in his Luna trilogy. A satisfying conclusion although I found the states of the various factions and alliances confusing at times. I'd have liked to have spent some more time with certain characters that got somewhat sidelined in this book but it was a neat tale. It again mentions it was optioned for TV but I can't see it happening and certainly no mainstream network would touch it. It'd almost be worth it to see some sections of America's heads explode if they were faithful to some of its views on social issues in the future.

Drumpot

bluewolf wrote: »

Finally got to pick up the kindle again and read tiamats wrath. Finished it there and now my life is empty. MOAR

Just got Leviathan on Kindle, thats book one of this series, right ?

Nody

ixoy wrote: »

42% into "Kings of the Wyld" by Nicholas Eames, the first book in his Band trilogy. Really enjoying it so far - sort of a lighter version of Joe Abercrombie's grizzled 'The Heroes'. The characters are distinct and there's a nice line in humour and it manages to not go too grim-dark either. It's fast paced and the snappy chapters means it's so far a breezy read.

It's a great series but be warned that the second book (unlike the first) is one coherent story rather than "chapterized" as much as the first and it goes much darker on the feelz as well. Still a great book but it do take a turn to the dark side so to speak and one of the new fantasy series I simply did not want to put down

coffee_cake

Drumpot wrote: »

Just got Leviathan on Kindle, thats book one of this series, right ?

Yep! Enjoy!

facehugger99

I'm about 10% of the way through the Helliconia Series - just finished the story of Yuli.

It's not really doing it for me. Is it worth sticking with or is it another 90% of the same to go?

shootermacg

Fian wrote: »

Just started "the Thousand names". Only barely into it but I already know I will enjoy it.

I think I got it on a recommendation from this thread - thanks to whoever recommended.

Read this. It wrapped up well, but I don't know if it's me or what, but it was a bit of a slog.

shootermacg

lordgoat wrote: »

Really enjoying the Dagger and Coin Series - Daniel Abraham. About to start the last book. Thoroughly recommend.

Also finding this to be a bit of a slog. I'm on book two now, it's well written, things happen etc, but just hasn't grabbed me.

smacl

Haven't been reading much sci-fi of late but currently about half way through How long until black future month which is a collection of short stories by N.K.Jemesin. Personally, I love short stories as you can dip in and out of a book over an extended period while also reading/doing other stuff. She explains in the foreword her decision to write a book of short stories as a mechanism to improve her novel writing, but I think this books stands out as a gem in its own right.

Fian

shootermacg wrote: »

Read this. It wrapped up well, but I don't know if it's me or what, but it was a bit of a slog.

Occasionally I go through phases where i find reading something I would ordinarily enjoy a bit of a slog, I notice you felt the same way about the next book you read. Most often happens to me when i have somehting else lined up to read that I am looking forward to and I want to finish the book I am reading to get to it. Or when I read too many books in a series in a row without taking a break for something else.

For me the thousand names was pretty great from the beginning. OFC it might be that it just didn't grab you and the above paragraph is entirely irrelevant.

ATM I am reading mistress of Empire, having read daughter & servant immediately beforehand. I read them previously but it was 15-20 years ago. Really enjoyed them, was surprised how little of the plot I remembered. Great books. Even so, now I am in the final 40% of the final book, I am looking forward to finishing them, probably because I have 4 Mark Lawrence books lined up on my kindle to get to next - The red sister trilogy and a short standalone book i think.

shootermacg

Fian wrote: »

Occasionally I go through phases where i find reading something I would ordinarily enjoy a bit of a slog, I notice you felt the same way about the next book you read. Most often happens to me when i have somehting else lined up to read that I am looking forward to and I want to finish the book I am reading to get to it. Or when I read too many books in a series in a row without taking a break for something else.

For me the thousand names was pretty great from the beginning. OFC it might be that it just didn't grab you and the above paragraph is entirely irrelevant.

ATM I am reading mistress of Empire, having read daughter & servant immediately beforehand. I read them previously but it was 15-20 years ago. Really enjoyed them, was surprised how little of the plot I remembered. Great books. Even so, now I am in the final 40% of the final book, I am looking forward to finishing them, probably because I have 4 Mark Lawrence books lined up on my kindle to get to next - The red sister trilogy and a short standalone book i think.

Might be so alright, I've noticed my eyesight is starting to go a little which also wouldn't help. I loved the Red Sister trilogy.

smacl

shootermacg wrote: »

Might be so alright, I've noticed my eyesight is starting to go a little which also wouldn't help. I loved the Red Sister trilogy.

Pretty crap eyesight myself. Great thing about the kindle is that you can just notch the font size up a bit.

shrapnel222

facehugger99 wrote: »

I'm about 10% of the way through the Helliconia Series - just finished the story of Yuli.

It's not really doing it for me. Is it worth sticking with or is it another 90% of the same to go?

wow, blast from the past. remember reading those in the 90s. Never enjoyed them to be fair, and gave up half way through the series.

shootermacg

smacl wrote: »

Pretty crap eyesight myself. Great thing about the kindle is that you can just notch the font size up a bit.

Yeah I have a Kobo Aura myself. Light is a must have on these. Just bought one of the new Kindle paper whites for my wife. I don't really see myself buying a Kindle for myself, I don't like being stuck with mobi.

Trojan

Finally reading Great North Road, about 2 years after getting it. Interesting but slow so far, 15% in.