I slowed down on reading The Last Wish when I realized what a tool Sapkowski is . I like the games alright and I love the idea, but just learning that soured me on the whole affair.
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What are you reading? (May 2015)
- Thread starter Maklershed
- Start date
Meh, I don't get what's so terrible about what he said. I certainly don't think it diminishes the actual work he did, which is still magnificent no matter the opinions he holds outside of that work.
I mean he's kind of right. The games are great, and I love them, but they're not actual sequels in a way. It just can't really be compared to the original creator and their work.
It's really got to be overall kind of weird to be him and to be asked so much about an adaptation/sequel of your work that you had no actual part in and really don't have a clue about. It's hard not to get some quotes that sound rather odd when you think about it in that context. And I don't think we can sit around blaming a 66 year old man for not being enough into video games to play them.
I think you're going to run into a lot of hostility between some older authors and adaptations quite a bit. Newer authors seem to be able to roll with the punches, probably because they're used to seeing a lot of adaptations and probably partook in them, themselves.
I feel like it was more what he said than how he felt about it, and some of that could be down to translation but it just felt disingenuous to me to act as though the games weren't a huge part of why the novels do well here. I dunno. I do agree though that he's pretty old and the games aren't sequels per se, but.. just rubbed me the wrong way.
Which here are you talking about? A few of them aren't even translated to English. I kind of doubt they honestly did all that well to begin with, and I doubt he's making much of anything off them. It's entirely possible he hasn't noticed much of a bump at all from the games. He probably will do a bit better after this game's hype and release, though.
Then again, that could understandably make him even more frustrated, that it took someone else's work before his stuff was even really given much of a chance.
The US, but I assume much of mainland Europe also. I don't know anything about book sales data but I would assume from the cover art they all use that they rely at least a bit on the game series to help boost sales. When was the first book translated vs the release of The Witcher? Actual question, no idea. Did they translate more after the success of the first two games?
And yeah, I can definitely understand his frustration, I just think he took sort of a close-minded view on adaptations.
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith- Hands down the best book I have read this year and there were some good ones (Stranger in a Strange Land, Ancillary Justice and Ancillary Sword to name a few). The book is a lot of things, it is a morality piece, it is a human horror story (set in a Soviet Russia in 1953), it about hope, and redemption just to name a few things. Very strong main characters and a good plot it turns out are important to a story and this book has both. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has glanced at it with interest.
On my to-read list now. My top three this year so far for fiction is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, A Little Life, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
I just added Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell to my list, happened across it while looking for the Child 44 sequel without luck.
sassy robot
Neo Member
I'm finishing up A Dance with Dragons again (wanted to be freshly caught up so I could post vague, angry statuses about how this season ruined the books), but I'm about to start the Malazan series after seeing it mentioned in every fantasy circle I'm in for the past 10 years.
Excellent. It's a wonderful English faerie tale.
I am currently reading The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hadayet and You're An Animal, Viskovitz! by Alessandro Boffa. Viskovitz is quite funny and The Blind Owl is fantastically surreal.
I want to read all of Sanderson's books, but it's hard for me to convince myself to read Elantris. It was his first book, and it's generally regarded as the worst.
I would, however, like to read Emperor's Soul. Do you guys think I would be better off just reading that and being done with the Elantris world, or should I go ahead and read both?
I would, however, like to read Emperor's Soul. Do you guys think I would be better off just reading that and being done with the Elantris world, or should I go ahead and read both?
cheezcake
Member
I finished The Name of the Wind. There are a lot of little annoying things in that book, by the end of the book almost every chapter was finished with some variant of "But little did I know how bad things would get", we get it. Kvothe supposedly being incredibly smart but acting quite dumb in a lot of scenarios. I do like the magic system a lot, really anything to do with the university was very fun to read. I'm going to read The Martian next but I'll definitely pick up the sequel to reads afterwards.
I didn't like either A Feast for Crows or A Dance with Dragons and I was sort of hoping that the show would remedy a lot of the problems I had with those books. At the moment this season has just been generally disappointing though.
I didn't like either A Feast for Crows or A Dance with Dragons and I was sort of hoping that the show would remedy a lot of the problems I had with those books. At the moment this season has just been generally disappointing though.
Elantris is cosmere (and a character from it is in WoK) so it's worth reading for that aspect.
I didn't completely hate it FWIW. Has some issues in the latter half but is still fairly interesting.
sassy robot
Neo Member
I found The Name of the Wind to be extremely overrated. It wasn't bad by any means, and the actual story was pretty engaging, but you hit the nail right on the head about the writing style. I found myself rolling my eyes at moments.
I'm normally one of those awful book elitists, but I actually am enjoying the show more than the books this season! The last two books were poorly paced, so they actually reduced all of the unnecessary details and plot lines and turned it into what the books should have originally been.
I didn't even know it was regarded as one of his worst! Maybe it's because I still have a guilty pleasure for YA fairy tales, but I quite enjoyed Elantris. With that said, it's definitely not very deep and reads more like a stand alone YA book than anything else.
cheezcake
Member
That's exactly what I was hoping they would do, cut a lot of the fat from the last 2 books. Most of my complaints with this season are actually not related to the story, I feel like some of the acting is weak and whoever directed episode 4 has no business directing fight scenes,
also it was really annoying that a patrol of armed Unsullied and Barristan Selmy, one of Westeros' greatest fighters, got trampled by a bunch of presumably untrained guys with shivs
Tragicomedy
Member
Yes, please.
I just finished Eye of the World over the weekend. It's definitely epic fantasy for better or worse but I still enjoyed it. I think I was really worried going into it, that it would turn out like the Terry Brooks Shannara books. I'm generally not too picky when it comes to reading but those might have been the worst fantasy books I've ever read. I couldn't even finish them and that's coming form someone who was able to go all the way through Goodkind's monstrosities.
1 down, 13 to go.
Finished Rules of Attraction and was going to start Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon. However I recently saw Ex Machina. I really enjoyed it and found out that Alex Garland's next film is going to be an adaptation of Annihilation, which you guys kept posting in previous threads so I decided to start this today instead:
I just finished Eye of the World over the weekend. It's definitely epic fantasy for better or worse but I still enjoyed it. I think I was really worried going into it, that it would turn out like the Terry Brooks Shannara books. I'm generally not too picky when it comes to reading but those might have been the worst fantasy books I've ever read. I couldn't even finish them and that's coming form someone who was able to go all the way through Goodkind's monstrosities.
1 down, 13 to go.
How aren't you a shell of a human being at this point?
Depending on who you ask, I might be.
sparky2112
Member
Well, I mean, being one of his worst doesn't mean it's bad. Sanderson has a really good track record.
Christoff Yurievich
Member
Finished Rules of Attraction and was going to start Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon. However I recently saw Ex Machina. I really enjoyed it and found out that Alex Garland's next film is going to be an adaptation of Annihilation, which you guys kept posting in previous threads so I decided to start this today instead:
wait, what? Googles furiously. Oh. Huh. Natalie Portman actually fits that role pretty well when I stop and think about it.
*crosses fingers*
But you just know they're going to write the ambiguity out of the ending if they make it that far.
Finished it a few days ago, your in for something weird but well written.Finished Rules of Attraction and was going to start Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon. However I recently saw Ex Machina. I really enjoyed it and found out that Alex Garland's next film is going to be an adaptation of Annihilation, which you guys kept posting in previous threads so I decided to start this today instead:
I pictured someone like Danny Boyle directing in my mind while reading but Alex Garland will do.
It's going to be a cinematographic challenge for sure. There's just so many things you can't do with pictures that you can do with words, but also things that you can do with pictures you can't do with words, that it'll be interesting to see how they adapt the more "weird" segments without resorting to immersion breaking CG fests.
Christoff Yurievich
Member
Without getting too specific: The third movie (if they get that far) will be difficult to film.
It's going to have to be specific, and the constant viewpoint changes are going to confuse if not handled well.
I don't think they would do the movies following the books (in 3 books = 3 movies). I guess book 2 is going to be trimmed down hard.
Half through Absolution Gap (Alastair Reynolds) and i like (in the whole series) that some developments just get skipped where other writers/books would write it out. Really a good series imo. Going to read all the side books/short stories too.
If Annihilation does well enough on the big screen to create leverage with investors, I can see another movie for Authority and a mini series for Acceptance.
Southern Reach is a weird series and screen adaptation will have to take weird approaches.
Or they can just Lucifer it and turn it into a cop procedural.
Southern Reach is a weird series and screen adaptation will have to take weird approaches.
Or they can just Lucifer it and turn it into a cop procedural.
BotchPoppaPump
Member
Just finished Thomas Pynchon's "V".
Struck me as an incredible work for someone's debut novel. Disparate groups of people separated by history and continents connected only by a single ill defined and evolving idea. Seems oddly prescient for the modern day despite being written in 1963. Though of course that must be the mark of good literature.
Going to attempt to stay in order. "The Crying of Lot 49" next.
Struck me as an incredible work for someone's debut novel. Disparate groups of people separated by history and continents connected only by a single ill defined and evolving idea. Seems oddly prescient for the modern day despite being written in 1963. Though of course that must be the mark of good literature.
Going to attempt to stay in order. "The Crying of Lot 49" next.
Yeah the early Discworld books were rough, more straight parody of exsisting works( damn he shat all over the dragonriders of pern) and they don't really hit their stride until they become satire and real world commentary dressed in fantasy trappings.
Beaniedude
Member
I just finished Pratchett's collected short fiction and now I'm moving on to A Slip Of The Keyboard.
I've only read a couple of entries so far but it is really nice to get a behind the scenes view of Pratchett's life and his musings.
I've only read a couple of entries so far but it is really nice to get a behind the scenes view of Pratchett's life and his musings.
cheezcake
Member
The Culture Vulture
Member
Finished -
A Walk In The Woods
Really enjoyed it. Humorous account of the author's undertaking of walking the Appalachian Trail sprinkled with insightful side tangents about history and science related to the trail.
Started -
The Postmortal
A Walk In The Woods
Really enjoyed it. Humorous account of the author's undertaking of walking the Appalachian Trail sprinkled with insightful side tangents about history and science related to the trail.
Started -
The Postmortal
obin_gam
Member
Will be done with Blood Meridian tomorrow I think. The prose has been good and bad at the same time. It's starting do drag a bit and feel really repetitive now so I hope something huge is going to happen as a climax.
Next up on my to read list, is a little hardcore military fantasy with Promise of Blood.
Next up on my to read list, is a little hardcore military fantasy with Promise of Blood.
Thanks! I'm glad it's working for you, and I hope you enjoy the remaining stories.
Thanks, Mumei!
To anyone else who wants to read it, but doesn't have a Kindle, drop me a PM and we'll see if we can work something out.
Yep. That's definitely the easiest option.
It's here:
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/digital/fiona/kcp-landing-page?ie=UTF8&ref_=kcp_pc_mkt_lnd
Finally finished this:
Essentially James Bond in the Warhammer 40k universe. Dan Abnett, as usual, excels at lending unique voices to each character. His fight scenes are lacking, though, which is why the climax suddenly creeps up on when you least expect it and then it's over before you know it.
A good read but now I'm going back to something a bit more lighthearted, like the Ciaphas Cain novels.
Essentially James Bond in the Warhammer 40k universe. Dan Abnett, as usual, excels at lending unique voices to each character. His fight scenes are lacking, though, which is why the climax suddenly creeps up on when you least expect it and then it's over before you know it.
A good read but now I'm going back to something a bit more lighthearted, like the Ciaphas Cain novels.