What Are You Reading?

Trojan · 21-02-2013 02:57PM

The Black Company book 4 - Silver Spike (the Case one). He's surprisingly less annoying as a narrator than I expected

OwaynOTT · 21-02-2013 03:36PM

fenris wrote: »

Yep, I remember when they came out, winters heart was viewed as a blip but crossroads seemed to confirm that the magic was well and truly lost.

Both of those books were to be endured rather than enjoyed, but at least I know that there are goodies on the far side!

Bit unfair on Winters Heart, after all it was only really Perrin who dragged it out.

Trojan · 21-02-2013 05:22PM

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Bit unfair on Winters Heart, after all it was only really Perrin who dragged it out.

Jordan deserved a right smack for dragging that storyline out on us.

AnCapaillMor · 21-02-2013 05:28PM

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Bit unfair on Winters Heart, after all it was only really Perrin who dragged it out.

There was the whole elayne succession thing too, that just took waaaay too long, all that my near sister crap that went on too long and not 1 bit of girl on girl action. Perrins bit was epic compared to that.

OwaynOTT · 21-02-2013 06:10PM

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

There was the whole elayne succession thing too, that just took waaaay too long, all that my near sister crap that went on too long and not 1 bit of girl on girl action. Perrins bit was epic compared to that.

Selective memory is a great thing, forgot all about that.

fenris · 21-02-2013 09:29PM

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Selective memory is a great thing, forgot all about that.

Mental balefire - it's the only way to be sure!

All those uber-descriptive descriptions of dresses, jewelry and hair etc. then just mention "pillow friends" and move on, give us a break, the white tower seems to be all girls together BDSM central but describe it, ohhhh no, there are skirts to be smoothed!

pH · 24-02-2013 12:58PM

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Light-Kefahuchi-Tract-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B009AE768Q/

Just finished Light (Kefahuchi tract trilogy) by John Harrison. Seems for many reviewers to be a book you either love or loathe - but for me it was just alright.

Bits of it were great, parts terrible and even though it's very much a SF novel, for me it didn't push the right "SF novel" buttons in my brain. Strangely compelling, quite different and I can see why others either love it or hate it.

GalwayGuy2 · 24-02-2013 06:55PM

A Perfect Blood, by Kim Harrison. A good few flaws with this series, not least of all rather vague power categories, but she does have distinctive relations and settings (Anybody who reads it probably want to live in a church now:P)

keane2097 · 26-02-2013 12:20PM

Anybody read Perdido Street Station by China Mieville?

Started it last night and a couple of chapters in am finding it very weird indeed, but strangely compelling!

Bits_n_Bobs · 26-02-2013 12:50PM

I read Perdido St and it's not the easiest book to read. Just about worth sticking with it. I find most of his books walk a similar 'can I be arsed reading the rest of this or not' line.

old hippy · 26-02-2013 12:57PM

"Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch. Magic and skulduggery on the streets of London. Cracking read. Reminds me a bit of Neil Gaiman's stuff crossed with Douglas Adams.

old hippy · 26-02-2013 12:58PM

keane2097 wrote: »

Anybody read Perdido Street Station by China Mieville?

Started it last night and a couple of chapters in am finding it very weird indeed, but strangely compelling!

I think I have that one but haven't got round to it, yet. I recently read "The City and the City" which was a detective story set in the oddest city on the planet...

keane2097 · 26-02-2013 01:21PM

old hippy wrote: »

I think I have that one but haven't got round to it, yet. I recently read "The City and the City" which was a detective story set in the oddest city on the planet...

You reckon he's worth the effort?

The thing that struck me immediately on starting the book was that the author was almost using the narrative as the vehicle for writing extremely aesthetic descriptions of the city rather than using the city as the canvas for a narrative, which is somewhat unusual but when done well can be a hallmark of brilliance, not sure if Mieville will hit the mark or not yet but tempted to go about finding out.

Interestingly the only review of Perdido I looked at on Goodreads seems to echo that idea, suggesting that the whole point of the book is to house Mieville's imagined living, breathing city.

ixoy · 26-02-2013 02:23PM

keane2097 wrote: »

Anybody read Perdido Street Station by China Mieville?

Excellent book and one of my favourite authors. His use of language can be very strong and he's got a fierce imagination. I understand that it can be as much about the New Crouzobon setting as anything else but it's one of the most original entries in the last decade in the fantasy genre.

keane2097 · 26-02-2013 02:25PM

ixoy wrote: »

Excellent book and one of my favourite authors. His use of language can be very strong and he's got a fierce imagination. I understand that it can be as much about the New Crouzobon setting as anything else but it's one of the most original entries in the last decade in the fantasy genre.

Alright, that's a resounding yes to the worth the effort question then!

TwoShedsJackson · 26-02-2013 03:37PM

'The City & The City ' is excellent, that is well worth a read.

donegal_man · 26-02-2013 05:07PM

old hippy wrote: »

"Rivers of London" by Ben Aaronovitch. Magic and skulduggery on the streets of London. Cracking read. Reminds me a bit of Neil Gaiman's stuff crossed with Douglas Adams.

Just finished the second in the series "Moon Over Soho", brilliant stuff. Only picked the two of 'em up because I saw them as a pair in the second hand book shop in Letterkenny and decided to give them a go. Looking forward to getting the third now.

old hippy · 26-02-2013 05:13PM

donegal_man wrote: »

Just finished the second in the series "Moon Over Soho", brilliant stuff. Only picked the two of 'em up because I saw them as a pair in the second hand book shop in Letterkenny and decided to give them a go. Looking forward to getting the third now.

Oh, a third? Excellent, I picked up the first two second hand and I'm glad I did.

growler · 26-02-2013 09:26PM

Finishing up The Iron Council by China Mieville, finished The Scar last week. Thought The Scar was an excellent read, on a par if not better than Perdido Street Station, Iron Council is much tougher going but certainly original.

czech · 26-02-2013 09:57PM

Just finished The Help good read:)
Started the Life of PI yesterday hope its good:)

Zapp Brannigan · 27-02-2013 02:52AM

Finished the first 'Black Company' anthology. I enjoyed it but have no real desire to launch in to the next one.

Instead I decided to get the first book of Goodkind's 'Sword of Truth' series, only because I got the second one for free. Will see how this goes.

TwoShedsJackson · 27-02-2013 07:48AM

old hippy wrote: »

Oh, a third? Excellent, I picked up the first two second hand and I'm glad I did.

Fourth one due out later this year too.

shockwave · 27-02-2013 10:04AM

Just started The Daylight War, book 3 of The Demon cycle series by Peter V Brett.

Enjoyed the first 2 books and third one is good so far.

old hippy · 27-02-2013 12:35PM

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

Fourth one due out later this year too.

Crikey, only a matter of time before they make a rubbish telly show out of it!

Dades · 28-02-2013 12:46PM

Finished "The Forge of God" by Greg Bear. Liked it. Will probably read the sequel.

Just started Ursela LeGuin's "Lathe of Heaven".

Dan_Solo · 28-02-2013 03:19PM

growler wrote: »

Finishing up The Iron Council by China Mieville, finished The Scar last week. Thought The Scar was an excellent read, on a par if not better than Perdido Street Station, Iron Council is much tougher going but certainly original.

I've read King Rat, Perdido and The Scar. I do like him alright, but Perdido was the wrong side of novelty stuff for novelty stuff's sake where Scar wasn't IMO.
King Rat's nothing like them mind you.
While he is good, I'm not sure if he's quite as good as all the awards he gets make out?

keane2097 · 28-02-2013 03:37PM

Dan_Solo wrote: »

I've read King Rat, Perdido and The Scar. I do like him alright, but Perdido was the wrong side of novelty stuff for novelty stuff's sake where Scar wasn't IMO.
King Rat's nothing like them mind you.
While he is good, I'm not sure if he's quite as good as all the awards he gets make out?

FWIW after some early misgivings I'm enjoying Perdido massively now, although I suppose I'm still probably only 1/3 of the way through.

OwaynOTT · 28-02-2013 10:30PM

old hippy wrote: »

Oh, a third? Excellent, I picked up the first two second hand and I'm glad I did.

Prepare yourself for a fourth coming later this very year. I like to think of it as an english Dresden but written better.

Ah I see I was too slow.

Valaquenta · 01-03-2013 09:33AM

Perdido was one of the very rare instances that i very nearly gave up on it, the ending is ok but I really didn't think it was worth the effort. Think this was also in the midst of the Dune prequels which are still up there with my favourite books

Dan_Solo · 01-03-2013 09:58AM

Valaquenta wrote: »

Perdido was one of the very rare instances that i very nearly gave up on it, the ending is ok but I really didn't think it was worth the effort. Think this was also in the midst of the Dune prequels which are still up there with my favourite books

There was just too many under-developed ideas in it for my liking, but by all accounts he has reigned in his overexuberance somewhat lately. I certainly have more of his books on my to read list.
For example, that Garuda in Perdido. With all those steam powered cybernetic slaves, his antwoman girlfriend, skyscraper high fossil bones and transdimensional spider gods around the place, was it really so jawdropping to have a guy with wings walk into your shop?:)

What Are You Reading?

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