Comparing LW to Aliens is pretty accurate. There are some scares and whatnot, but it does flow more like an action movie more than anything in those cases really.
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What are you reading? (May 2013)
- Thread starter Maklershed
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Comparing LW to Aliens is pretty accurate. There are some scares and whatnot, but it does flow more like an action movie more than anything in those cases really.
Tragicomedy
Member
Just finished American Gods. My mini-review (from the 50/50 thread):
American Gods by Neil Gaiman. ★★★ -- This book felt dense, given that it's only 500+ pages in length. There were entire passages dedicated to historical/apocryphal recounts of the settling of America, and my interest really waned through those sections. The strongest elements were the characterization of the protagonist, the personifications of the various gods, and the general darkness of the setting. I wasn't crazy about the dialogue in general, and several scenes came across as downright annoying. All in all, this didn't live up to the hype I've heard about it, but it was still an enjoyable read.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman. ★★★ -- This book felt dense, given that it's only 500+ pages in length. There were entire passages dedicated to historical/apocryphal recounts of the settling of America, and my interest really waned through those sections. The strongest elements were the characterization of the protagonist, the personifications of the various gods, and the general darkness of the setting. I wasn't crazy about the dialogue in general, and several scenes came across as downright annoying. All in all, this didn't live up to the hype I've heard about it, but it was still an enjoyable read.
Thanks for the info. I kept reading today and really enjoy it. Great characters and so far excellent pacing.
FnordChan! Where've you been, dude? I've been hurting for book recommendations.
I've been slacking! I keep thinking, "Man, I really enjoyed that book, I should ramble on about it on GAF" and then a couple of months go by and I think, "I've got too much rambling to cover". That's okay, I dunno if I can help much with recommendations at this point, since I'm apparently reading old news like Mistborn and a thirty year old Stephen King novel.
Apparently I haven't posted in this thread since sometime late last year, so, for what it's worth, here's what I've read over the past half year or so:
Where The Summer Ends: Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner Vol. 1
Cold Days by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files 15)
Steel's Edge by Ilona Andrews (Edge 4)
Homeworld by Harry Harrison (To The Stars 01)
Wheelworld by Harry Harrison (To The Stars 02)
Starworld by Harry Harrison (To The Stars 03)
The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers
The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer (Shattered Sigil 1)
The Tainted City by Courtney Shafer (Shattered Sigil 2)
Necessity's Child by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (Liaden 16)
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (Final Empire 1)
The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson (Final Empire 2)
The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson (Final Empire 3)
I'd been meaning to read more Karl Edward Wagner for ages, since he was a local author and I found "Sticks" to be pretty damn creepy when I read it in college, so I was delighted to hear that a nice two volume retrospective was coming out. Unfortunately, I can't really recommend the first volume since it now goes for stupid money, but if you can find a collection of his to read I'd recommend it if you're interested in Lovecraftian, Weird Tales style horror stories. Wagner's particularly interested in The King in Yellow and there's a disturbing erotic aspect to a lot of the stories I'd read.
Cold Days kicked ass and does all sorts of things to shake up the Dresden Files series. Damn it, Jim Butcher, why are you only publishing two novels a year? Write faster! Ahem. Sorry, got carried away there for a moment.
Ilona Andrews wrapped up their urban fantasy romance Edge series very nicely with Steel's Edge. Everything I said about the series earlier still applies and I like that the authors said, "Hey, we don't have brilliant ideas for another book so we're going to end things here for the time being." Thankfully, the husband/wife team recently sold another series, so they're safely staying in the two books a year camp, which my ravenous hunger for their writing approves of.
I've always loved Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat novels (well, at least the first five or so) but never got around to reading any of the man's other work, so I dusted off a copy of his To The Stars omnibus that had been laying around for ages. It's early 80s space opera about an engineer who's part of the social elite on a world where the lower classes are pretty ruthlessly repressed. He becomes radicalized and things get complicated from there, culminating in Space Revolution. It's relentlessly okay; I'm glad I read 'em but I dunno if I'd recommend 'em.
Necessity's Child is the latest Liaden novel and, I gotta say, I wasn't feeling it. The Liaden books usually come off as being fairly mannered, but they generally make up for it with a nice romantic angle and space opera charm. Here, the main character is an early teenage guy with a stick up his ass who meets a space gypsy girl, except the space gypsies are mannered and uptight in a way that's slightly different from the Liaden folks. It's pretty bland and not very exciting. It looks like their next novel, Trade Secret is also going to take a side character and fill them out a bit. Hopefully this ties into some grand plan to progress the overall storyline, but after Necessity's Child I'm a bit dubious.
I don't think I've got much to say about Mistborn that a lot of folks haven't already said in these threads, but I certainly enjoyed it. I'm wondering what Brandon Sanderson doorstop fantasy series I should tackle next.
One thing I can enthusiastically recommend, at least, is Tim Powers' The Drawing of the Dark. It's the story of a soldier of fortune in the early 1500s who is hired to be the bouncer of an inn in Vienna that turns out to brew a very special beer. Then an army of Turks roll up and all hell breaks loose. To say too much would spoil things here, so I'll just say that every Tim Powers novel I've read has been completely wonderrful and I don't know why I haven't already torn through his entire bibliography.
The other recommendation I'd make is for The Whitefire Crossing and The Tainted City, two thirds of a fantasy trilogy by new author Courtney Schafer. The first novel introduces us to two characters: Dev, a former Tainted thief who became a wilderness guide after losing magic powers at puberty, and Kiran, a young magician on the lam. Dev takes on the job of trying to smuggle Kiran out of their hive-of-scum-and-villiany city and into a more enlightened one across a treacherous mountain range. Things get very complicated from there. There's a lot of neat world building here, combining a detailed magic system with the concept of the Tainted, kids with powers who are invariably recruited as thieves. In addition, Schafer switches viewpoints between Dev and Kiran throughout both novels and does a great job setting up very distinct characterizations and creating tension with the disconnect between what each one knows about the plot at any given time. I'm eagerly awaiting the third novel in the trilogy.
So, yeah, looks like I could muster up some recommendations after all!
FnordChan
Finished Leviathan Wakes last night. I love shutting a book and going "That was really good" and then looking up at the bookshelf and seeing the next book in the series just waiting there. Life's small pleasures.
Just add my voice to the chorus. It's great fun. Enjoy, Nezumi!
Onto Caliban's War tonight. Oh yeah.
Just add my voice to the chorus. It's great fun. Enjoy, Nezumi!
Onto Caliban's War tonight. Oh yeah.
joeyjoejoeshabadoo
Member
If you are interested, there's a sequel to Talisman called Black House. It was decent, not as good as Talisman but more overt with its connection to the Dark Tower.As far as the remaining Vorkosigan novels go, I'd agree that Cryoburn is not quite up to par. Like Cyan says, this isn't to say that it isn't a good novel, but it just ain't up there with the rest of the series. There is, however, one moment that really makes it worthwhile.
However, if Cryoburn is a bit dodgy, I'm pleased to report that I enjoyed the hell out of Captain Vorpatril's Alliance, which is very much in the same vein (romantic mayhem) as A Civil Campaign. If it turns out to be the final Vorkosigan novel then at least Bujold gave the series a nice high note to go out on.
Meanwhile, I'm about two-thirds of the way through Stephen King and Peter Straub's The Talisman and it's thoroughly engrossing so far. I've never read Straub before, but his writing seems to be meshing with King's very well; if you'd told me this was a solo King novel I'd never have noticed otherwise. I've always loved the Dark Tower series, rushed ending and all, and The Talisman has a lot of the same vibe to it. In particular, the protagonist of The Talisman reminds me more than a bit of Jake from The Dark Tower.
Also, I recently read Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy and that proved to be a very pleasant way to spend a couple of thousand pages of doorstop fantasy novels.
FnordChan
MoGamesXNA
Unconfirmed Member
Have many of you read anything from George Macdonald? On a whim I decided to start reading Phantastes tonight. I'm about a third of the way through and I'm really impressed.
I always liked books on secret worlds as a kid but hadn't really touched anything since.
40k isn't known for half-measures.
Filthy Slug
Crowd screaming like hounds at the heat of the chase/ All the colors of the rainbow flood my face
Man, I'm reading Kavalier and Clay right now and it's incredible. There are all these smaller, entirely personal moments scattered throughout the book that are fucking beautiful and so natural, all the while there's this grand history going on around the characters. Best book I've read in a while, and Chabon joining one of my favorite comics is some serendipitous shit.
MoGamesXNA
Unconfirmed Member
Awesome work. I'm a huge fan of the cover artwork on this. While I'm waiting for Hamilton to complete his next novel, I might make my return to the genre with this.
Maklershed
Member
Being back in the Mistborn series reminds me how perfect it'd be for a video game. Would make for some pretty cool movies as well.
Cover says it's a Space opera. I normally don't read a lot of sci-fi so I'm not familiar with all the subgenres. All I know is that I'm halfway through Leviathan Wakes and I really love it.
Easystride
Member
Finished Looking for Alaska, and started:
Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Peter F. Hamilton? Any idea what he's working on?
There's a video game coming this fall, supposedly. Perhaps we'll see it at E3?
Also a film is in the works, but i doubt it will ever get made really.
Didn't find Vorkosigan saga books, nor anyhting else i was really looking (well, to be honest, i kinda forgot what i was looking for) but found the first Honor Harrington book (On Basilisk Station) and bought it, someone recommended it in one thread.
David Weber's early works are actually available for free from the internet, but as i've noted, i can't stand reading from a display.
Kinda regret getting Mistborn Adventure RPG as digital format (was cheaper) but on the plus side, i get free updates for it as revisions are made.
It is space opera but has quite many realistic elements. Not hard scifi though, and not "near future scifi".
"I give over fifteen years of my life to climbing a two-mile pile of garbage, i can spare a few hours for three feet of genius"
<3
amazing work.
MoGamesXNA
Unconfirmed Member
sparky2112
Member
Abnett, or it didn't happen...
Another Commonwealth novel? Great!
Love the 'verse, the series. Got me into reading Hamilton's works.
I saw that King and Straub had also co-written Black House but wasn't sure if it was connected to their previous collaboration or not. I'm enjoying The Talisman enough that I was planning on taking a flyer on it at some point either way, but the Dark Tower connection has completely sold me on picking up a copy. Thanks for the heads up!
Damn straight. By the way, has anyone here read the Ciaphas Cain novels? I've heard them described as Flashman meets Warhammer 40K and that sounds pretty great to me.
FnordChan 40,000
peanutbutterlatte
Member
So started reading the Wild Cards series on a friend's recommendation. A bit of a slow start with Jetboy's story, but much more interesting now shit has hit the fan.
I FINISHED COLLEGE TODAY AND CAN READ BOOKS FOR FUN AGAIN!
I've got some comics I grabbed on Free Comic Book Day I'll read between now and the weekend, but on my list for the month iS:
- Batman Inc. by Grant Morrison (finish the first trade and catch up on issues)
- Maus by Art Spiegelman
- Fables by Bill Willingham (from trade #3 onward, try and grab as many as I can from local libraries)
- A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
- The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larrson (finally get to finish these)
- The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Most of these are books I've started in some capacity throughout the academic year, but never got to finish. In some cases I'll re-start the book, in others I'll just finish it.
I've got some comics I grabbed on Free Comic Book Day I'll read between now and the weekend, but on my list for the month iS:
- Batman Inc. by Grant Morrison (finish the first trade and catch up on issues)
- Maus by Art Spiegelman
- Fables by Bill Willingham (from trade #3 onward, try and grab as many as I can from local libraries)
- A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
- The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larrson (finally get to finish these)
- The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert
- Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Most of these are books I've started in some capacity throughout the academic year, but never got to finish. In some cases I'll re-start the book, in others I'll just finish it.
I'm reading Se questo è un uomo right now. Learning some stuff.
Finished Le Comte De Monte Cristo last week, a masterpiece.
I've read a lot of these, it's very hit and miss, but the first one is one of the bests.
Finished Le Comte De Monte Cristo last week, a masterpiece.
I've read a lot of these, it's very hit and miss, but the first one is one of the bests.
I actually enjoyed Blackhouse more for some reason. It's a totally different kind of book but I wasn't as impressed with the Talisman as many seem to be.
Maklershed
Member
Sweet! The Commonwealth Saga was great. Looking forward to more of that.
Great news. Congratulations!
peanutbutterlatte
Member
Ah. I'm starting there, wonderful! It's a weird style. It's split up into differing viewpoints like Game of Thrones, and it has a clash between "found" literature; i.e. witness accounts, field reports, newspaper headlines, and omniscient narration. Pretty interesting though.
Finished these the last few weeks
Good premise, decent aliens. Terrible characterization and disjointed personalities between "old" and "new" lives. Main character is a brilliant soldier for no reason and manages to survive everything
OMG. One of the best books I've read in a while. Everyone that like post apocalyptic books should pick this one up. AMAZING.
It's a two part book and I finished book one and stopped. Writing is bad and characters are cliche.
The universe isn't bad and the first half of the book moves along well. The detective became a bit too obssessive imo getting near the end. I liked everyone in the crew except Holden. Same problem I had with the main guy in Old Man's War. I just find it unbelievable that they become military superstars
Started on
. So far it's a nice change of pace.
Good premise, decent aliens. Terrible characterization and disjointed personalities between "old" and "new" lives. Main character is a brilliant soldier for no reason and manages to survive everything
OMG. One of the best books I've read in a while. Everyone that like post apocalyptic books should pick this one up. AMAZING.
It's a two part book and I finished book one and stopped. Writing is bad and characters are cliche.
The universe isn't bad and the first half of the book moves along well. The detective became a bit too obssessive imo getting near the end. I liked everyone in the crew except Holden. Same problem I had with the main guy in Old Man's War. I just find it unbelievable that they become military superstars
Started on
Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis. Alternative/fantastical take on WW2, involving a secret war between Britain's Lovecraftian-esque warlocks and Nazi psychic experiments. Of course, a big focus on the poor human bastards throughout it as well. Definitely enjoying it so far; looking forward to reading the other two books of the Milkweed Triptych.
MoGamesXNA
Unconfirmed Member
For sure! Hopefully Hamilton was hinting at a cameo by Paula Myo in that quote too. She's a great character
^ That cover artwork for Bitter Seeds is great.
Enjoy. A colleague bought that for me and it ended up becoming one of my favourite novels.
She's good but Ozzie's better. So crazy.
I've noticed that i like Hamilton's characters quite a lot, with some exceptions (especially in Night's Dawn trilogy, some of the returned were really meh)
Maklershed
Member
That was my guess when he said about not having to be a detective.
Tragicomedy
Member
Started on. So far it's a nice change of pace.
My favorite book of all-time. All-time, I tell you!
Between that and Cryptonomicon, Stephenson cemented himself as my favorite sci-fi writer. Too good.
MoGamesXNA
Unconfirmed Member
Great call. Ozzie became one of my favourite characters as well. Such an amazing universe.
More Paula Myo would always be a good thing!
Slightly on the topic of Neal Stephenson and Snow Crash, has anybody read his Anathem? It was suggested as a good read on the 2K forums in a Bioshock Infinite thread
I listened to the audio drama, it was a vanilla 40K "survivor who survived by
falling to chaos (bonus points, to Nurgle!)
Tragicomedy
Member
I have not and mean to correct this deficiency at some point in the near future. My problem is that 1,000+ page books are my kryptonite, and I usually only tackle one or two per year. Even ridiculously good monstrosities like Cryptonomicon took me a freaking month. I'm not a slow reader, but Stephenson's stuff is fairly dense and I find myself re-reading portions.
I'm saving The Way of Kings as this year's mammoth read.
EDIT /\ Eh, mary sue character?
Yes, very amazing...
And Pandora's Star has very, very memorable ending.
Yes, very amazing...
And Pandora's Star has very, very memorable ending.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me!"
Nah, Robert Langdon is the Mary Sue in those stories.
Oh, wait, we talking about Dan Brown? Figures.
MoGamesXNA
Unconfirmed Member
LOL. That made me choke on my toast.
Edit: I'm still going to read Inferno. I just hope it's better than The Lost Symbol
I posted this last month as a Let Read title, but there wasn't much interest:
I'm about a third of the way through, it's about the Dublin Lockout in the early 1900's, but it's fiction. Very well done, great characters, great dialogue. I am really enjoying it.
Looks really interesting. Just bought the ebook. Thanks for the suggestion!
His description of an assassin a few pages letter is just as bad. I honestly don't even remember too much about The Lost Symbol other than the villain being so absurdly over the top it wasn't even funny. I feel like his writing has gotten worse but it probably was just as bad in A&D and Da Vinci. Like I said though, I do get entertained by the web of intrigue so I'll suffer through another!
Tragicomedy
Member
"Her eyes, though a gentle brown, seemed unusually penetrating, as if they had witnessed a profundity of experience rarely encountered by a person her age."
I've never read a Dan Brown book, but that is hot garbage. "Hey, let's add some gravitas to this character with as little effort as possible!" Doesn't help that she's basically perfect.
Reading that rekindles my hope of publishing my novel someday. I have the first two chapters written, and according to a few trusted sources, they're fairly good. The issue is I never actually sat down and established the central story I want to tell. It's basically just literary masturbation at this point. Solid setting, good descriptive language, interesting characters, decent dialogue...and NOTHING else. I'm guessing that's the single worst way a person can set out to write a story, and it shows. :/
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