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[aidan]

Very good so far, but quite different in tone and structure compared to The Long Price quartet.

 

[Dresden]

aidan, you lucky motherfucker. /envy envy envy envy envy

Still reading:

About halfway through.

 

[Ratrat]

Say I wanted to get into Clive Barker. What should I read first? And just how bloody are his books?

 

[Salazar]

You oblique son of a bitch, Dresden.

 

[BronzeWolf]

I am reading

It's a great book for the scientifically oriented people

 

[Tim the Wiz]

http://aidanmoher.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/the-dragons-path-by-daniel-abraham.jpeg

Very good so far, but quite different in tone and structure compared to The Long Price quartet.

Major envy overload.

 

[J Tourettes]

Say I wanted to get into Clive Barker. What should I read first? And just how bloody are his books?

Books of Blood are as good a place as any. Cabal, Damnation Game and Hellbound Heart are also good reads. His later stuff is more fantasy than horror.

 

[The Chef]

For whatever reason I got to around page 200 and stalled reading it for months. Picked it back up and so far really really enjoy it. Man, samurai are freakin INSANE.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Finished Child 44 and here are some thoughts I had on it:

Done. In the end I felt it was a satisfying entertaining read. It wasn't mind blowing but it was a good adventure. The book was bleak and at times during the first 1/3 the sense of dread and paranoia was almost a bit much for me. That feeling does dissipate as the book goes on and turns into a typical murder mystery but the beginning did do a good job of building how hopeless this world can be.

Spoiler

The Vasili character was a bit too Snidely Whiplash for me. He was evil just for the sake of being evil and he had no reason to hate Leo. His comeuppance was a bit anti-climactic as well. There was no real payoff for him other than to see him die.

I thought Leo's arc was handled pretty well. I thought he was a bastard for the first 1/4 of the book and didn't see myself rooting for him at all. However, as soon as he became passionate about the murders he started to turn around for me. It was a nice little arc.

Raisa was probably my favorite character in the book. She was a strong woman who really held her own against a world dominated by men. My only complaint about her story was the skeevy doctor. We see him once in the beginning acting like a perv then once at the end. No real point to the character. I was waiting to see if he was really behind Leo getting demoted or not. I'm willing to bet he had something to do with it but nothing was ever said about it.

 

[aidan]

aidan, you lucky motherfucker. /envy envy envy envy envy

Major envy overload.

 

[Manics]

Just finished:

About to begin:

 

[Blatz]

Abercrombie's First Law trilogy is mentioned often as a must-read, but I find the first book pretty disappointing so far. Some of the characters (like Glokta) are great, but the chapters with Jezal are just a chore to get through. In the course of one chapter and 2 convos he decides to go through with fencing after all. This wouldn't be an issue, but it doesn't come off as convincing. 'Prove her wrong! Yeah that's it!'
I finished Rothfuss' Name of the Wind before this and this book just feels so poorly written in comparison. The dialogue is great, but I find it hard to get a feel of the world the action takes place in. His writing style is pretty sparse, which on the upside makes for a quick read.

I'm almost halfway through so I'll at least finish the first book, but I'm not really a fan of this so far.

Try to stick with the series. Of all the characters, Jezal probably changes the most through the trilogy. He got on my nerves early also. As a trilogy I thought is was excellent.

P.S. I really enjoyed the Rothfuss book also. Look forward to book #2.

 

[aidan]

Try to stick with the series. Of all the characters, Jezal probably changes the most through the trilogy. He got on my nerves early also. As a trilogy I thought is was excellent.

Agreed. The First Law really rewards you for sticking through to the end. Everything you think you know about the characters, the world and the conflicts is turned completely on its head by the third novel.

 

[LocoMrPollock]

I'll vouch for The First Law trilogy as well.

It took a while for me to warm up to it, but once I did, I was thoroughly hooked and read through all three books in a couple of weeks time and then immediately jumped into Best Served Cold (which I also love and recommend) after that.

Abercrombie writes some of the best action scenes I've ever read. One POV in particular is just pure awesome. I would sometimes have to put the book down after reading it just to let it soak in.

So yeah, stick with and I can almost guarantee you will want to start the second book once you finish.

Thirded. The first book could be a chore at times, but by the end of the trilogy I was glad I'd stuck with it. Good stuff.

The follow-up, on the other hand... well, I suppose I have no way of knowing, seeing as I didn't stick with it all the way.

Ah man.. you missed some good stuff.

 

[Blatz]

Love the covers! How does this triology compare to her Assassin's Apprentice one, if you've read it? I loved Assassin's Apprentice, but thought it got a little too weird in the third book.

I've read both trilogies and I believe the Farseer trilogy is a good bit better than Liveship. I liked the Liveship traders, but it didn't grip me like Farseer did. But I really like the last Farseer book, so our tastes might be different.

 

[Blatz]

Thirded. The first book could be a chore at times, but by the end of the trilogy I was glad I'd stuck with it. Good stuff.

The follow-up, on the other hand... well, I suppose I have no way of knowing, seeing as I didn't stick with it all the way.

The follow-up, Best Served Cold, was good, but a First Law Book it wasn't.

 

[Guileless]

Masters of Doom is at my library, I will check it out. I've always heard good things.

 

[aidan]

The follow-up, on the other hand... well, I suppose I have no way of knowing, seeing as I didn't stick with it all the way.

I had issues with Best Served Cold, also. From all accounts, The Heroes looks to fix most of those issues. I've got a copy of it, but likely won't get to read it for a couple of weeks.

 

[LocoMrPollock]

I had issues with Best Served Cold, also. From all accounts, The Heroes looks to fix most of those issues. I've got a copy of it, but likely won't get to read it for a couple of weeks.

I think I may have liked it so much for all the reasons you didn't. It's dark, cynical and real in the sense that these characters are who they are, and some of them are miserable, unhappy and despicable people. A lot like Martin's writing in that respect.

I don't really understand why you'd want a cliche revenge story with a "happy" ending so to speak, and why you'd fault a book for not being like that.

I can certainly understand if you just didn't like it or connect with it, though.

 

[kathode]

Just finished Norwegian Wood by Murakami. Very slow start, but I started liking it a lot towards the end. The narrator becomes more likable as time goes on, and I really liked pretty much every scene with Midori.

Now starting:

Just about a chapter and a half in and already, holy shit.

 

[Flek]

hey guys about the Flashman books do i need to read them in order or is it ok to start with flesh for freedom ?

 

[Tapiozona]

FINAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLY got past the book 6-10 hump in the wheel of time series and like everyone said, am enjoying the series once again. I'm very proud of myself for making it this far. From what I hear it's smooth, enjoyable, sailing from here till the last book.

 

[Salazar]

hey guys about the Flashman books do i need to read them in order or is it ok to start with flesh for freedom ?

You don't need to read them in order. That's the one I read first.

You get a strong sense of the character pretty easily and rapidly, and his character (bastard) is what propels the whole thing.

 

[Cr0wn0]

I just finished a Clash of Kings, Which I thought was awesome! What would you guys do? Read storm of swords right away or read something like The name of the wind?

 

[Doytch]

Finished reading an assortment of Russian short stories I never got around to before. Gogol, Pushkin, Chekhov mostly. I confess this was my first time reading Gogol's The Overcoat. Loved it to death.

Now reading Dickens' Bleak House. About 10% in and it's starting to piece together, really liking it so far. I've really fallen hard for Dickens' prose over the past month. I'm about a week-and-a-half ahead in one Russian lit course, but that and my course on Nabokov are gonna start stealing personal reading time from me soon, so I'm spending a lot of time with Bleak House.

 

[Maklershed]

I just finished a Clash of Kings, Which I thought was awesome! What would you guys do? Read storm of swords right away or read something like The name of the wind?

All I can say is don't wait too long between books. I finished Clash of Kings in May or early June and put A Storm of Swords off until now and I'm finding it a bit difficult to remember some of the tertiary characters and motivations. I'm wishing I would've just went back to back to back .. to back.

 

[hey_monkey]

Halfway through Nathanael West's The Day of the Locus now. Was really getting into it until they introduced a character named Homer Simpson. Then I had to take a day off to giggle. I know it predates the show by some fifty years, but I still couldn't help but visualize this poor, sad man with a donut in his hand.

 

[BorkBork]

In The Aeneid, Vergil’s hero fights to claim the king’s daughter, Lavinia, with whom he is destined to found an empire. Lavinia herself never speaks a word. Now, Ursula K. Le Guin gives Lavinia a voice in a novel that takes us to the half-wild world of ancient Italy, when Rome was a muddy village near seven hills.

Lavinia grows up knowing nothing but peace and freedom, until suitors come. Her mother wants her to marry handsome, ambitious Turnus. But omens and prophecies spoken by the sacred springs say she must marry a foreigner—that she will be the cause of a bitter war—and that her husband will not live long. When a fleet of Trojan ships sails up the Tiber, Lavinia decides to take her destiny into her own hands. And so she tells us what Vergil did not: the story of her life, and of the love of her life.
Lavinia is a book of passion and war, generous and austerely beautiful, from a writer working at the height of her powers.

Excellent book, makes me delve into the Aeneid. I love her writing style, sparse and powerful.

This Hugo and Nebula Award winner tells the sweeping tale of a desert planet called Arrakis, the focus of an intricate power struggle in a byzantine interstellar empire. Arrakis is the sole source of Melange, the "spice of spices." Melange is necessary for interstellar travel and grants psychic powers and longevity, so whoever controls it wields great influence.

The troubles begin when stewardship of Arrakis is transferred by the Emperor from the Harkonnen Noble House to House Atreides. The Harkonnens don't want to give up their privilege, though, and through sabotage and treachery they cast young Duke Paul Atreides out into the planet's harsh environment to die. There he falls in with the Fremen, a tribe of desert dwellers who become the basis of the army with which he will reclaim what's rightfully his. Paul Atreides, though, is far more than just a usurped duke. He might be the end product of a very long-term genetic experiment designed to breed a super human; he might be a messiah. His struggle is at the center of a nexus of powerful people and events, and the repercussions will be felt throughout the Imperium.

Just finished it today for the first time, and I was immediate struck by how ambitious this was. It blows my mind that it was more than written 40 years ago. A bit uneven and overlong, but well deserving of the Nebula and the Hugo.

 

[nakedsushi]

All I can say is don't wait too long between books. I finished Clash of Kings in May or early June and put A Storm of Swords off until now and I'm finding it a bit difficult to remember some of the tertiary characters and motivations. I'm wishing I would've just went back to back to back .. to back.

I went back to back to back and even then I had trouble remembering some of the characters who don't get real important till the later books. It really wasn't a choice for me. After I finished Game of Thrones, I *had* to read the rest of the series, so far.

 

[tirminyl]

I am reading A Storm of Swords. I've just gotten to a part that has royally pissed me off and I am about to just stop reading it, lol.

 

[ScrabbleDude]

Just finished Gardens of the Moon. Good stuff. So I picked up:

Also got this as a present:

The stories in it sound noir-ish, so that would be cool.

 

[Laurentius]

Just finished it today for the first time, and I was immediate struck by how ambitious this was. It blows my mind that it was more than written 40 years ago. A bit uneven and overlong, but well deserving of the Nebula and the Hugo.

(I'm not exactly sure ehy it being written 40 years ago should make the quality a surprise ot anything...)

Anyway, I read Dune for the firat time a few months ago as well. Really amazing book. Easily one of the deepest books I've read, and I think it even affected the way I look at the world on some levels.

 

[Bananakin]

My third kindle purchase. Not too far into it. Seems alright so far. I thought the Talisman was pretty good, but I didn't love it or anything.

 

[Bii]

Finished Child 44 and here are some thoughts I had on it:

Done. In the end I felt it was a satisfying entertaining read. It wasn't mind blowing but it was a good adventure. The book was bleak and at times during the first 1/3 the sense of dread and paranoia was almost a bit much for me. That feeling does dissipate as the book goes on and turns into a typical murder mystery but the beginning did do a good job of building how hopeless this world can be.

Spoiler

The Vasili character was a bit too Snidely Whiplash for me. He was evil just for the sake of being evil and he had no reason to hate Leo. His comeuppance was a bit anti-climactic as well. There was no real payoff for him other than to see him die.

I thought Leo's arc was handled pretty well. I thought he was a bastard for the first 1/4 of the book and didn't see myself rooting for him at all. However, as soon as he became passionate about the murders he started to turn around for me. It was a nice little arc.

Raisa was probably my favorite character in the book. She was a strong woman who really held her own against a world dominated by men. My only complaint about her story was the skeevy doctor. We see him once in the beginning acting like a perv then once at the end. No real point to the character. I was waiting to see if he was really behind Leo getting demoted or not. I'm willing to bet he had something to do with it but nothing was ever said about it.

I enjoyed the book as well. However, the ending of the book just felt like a cop out...

Spoiler

...when everything went in favor to Leo/Raisa's escape. It just felt like anything that could have stopped them from getting captured again, fell apart. From the train, to the village, to the fake family, to the driver, etc. And the way Tom Rob Smith handled the confrontation with Leo and Andrei was underwhelming. Maybe I was expecting more from Andrei's character.

I might have missed it but was February's book picked already? I have A Game of Thrones sitting next to me and if what a few of you are saying holds true (I should read the series back to back, so that I don't get lost with the characters that pop up), maybe I'll hold off reading it until after February's book.

 

[nakedsushi]

On Child 44:

I enjoyed the book as well. However, the ending of the book just felt like a cop out...

Spoiler

...when everything went in favor to Leo/Raisa's escape. It just felt like anything that could have stopped them from getting captured again, fell apart. From the train, to the village, to the fake family, to the driver, etc. And the way Tom Rob Smith handled the confrontation with Leo and Andrei was underwhelming. Maybe I was expecting more from Andrei's character.

I felt the same way, but wasn't that upset with it.

Spoiler

The whole book seemed a little Hollywoodish to me, so it makes sense that it would have a Hollywood ending. I did think that the whole Andrei thing was clumsily done. Why did he cut out all the stomachs? Just to feed the cats? And why is he all of a sudden BFF with cats now?

 

[Karakand]

To the rescue, motherfuckers.

✔ soulja boyz
✔ british persons of privilege
✔ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flashman#Flashman.27s_ladies
✔ svejkarna
❒ karakand

have fun though i'm pretty sure i bookmarked the series once in my 'books to read' bookmarks so there was something redemptive about it

 

[Salazar]

have fun though i'm pretty sure i bookmarked the series once in my 'books to read' bookmarks so there was something redemptive about it

The wit. I love an anti-hero, and Flashy is pre-eminently that.

 

[Ratrat]

The follow-up, Best Served Cold, was good, but a First Law Book it wasn't.

I'm sorry, what was so 'good' about it? It was horrible. Dumb protagonist and nothing made any sense or was remotely believable. Also, awful writing.

 

[ScrabbleDude]

My third kindle purchase. Not too far into it. Seems alright so far. I thought the Talisman was pretty good, but I didn't love it or anything.

I hated the Talisman, but I've heard that Black House is different and awesome.

 

[Krauser Kat]

Finished the Light Fantastic
now im on to Sourcery also by Terry Pratchett. I love his irreverent style of description. I think im a little tired of Rincewind. Will move onto the death story line after this.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

I'm sorry, what was so 'good' about it? It was horrible. Dumb protagonist and nothing made any sense or was remotely believable. Also, awful writing.

Really? I liked the First Law series more, but I also really enjoyed Best Served Cold. I agree that Monza was pretty lame as a character, but I quite liked all of the other characters.

What about the writing was so awful? I see this get thrown around a lot. What constitutes awful writing in your opinion? Examples would be great, too, if it's not too much trouble.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Thanks to recommendations in these threads, I'm currently reading The Long Ships on my new Kindle. This is my first historical fiction book, but I'm really enjoying it. I'm still only 15% in it, but the story gets moving rather quickly and is written very humorously.

 

[Salazar]

What about the writing was so awful? I see this get thrown around a lot. What constitutes awful writing in your opinion? Examples would be great, too, if it's not too much trouble.

Another quarrel embedded itself in his cheekbone. Uexkull stumbled forward, his continuing scream unbroken. His mouth was wide open in a raw, carnassial rictus.

From the Warhammer 40K pulp I am reading. I am enjoying it - don't get me wrong - but it is animatedly poor.

 

[Ratrat]

Really? I liked the First Law series more, but I also really enjoyed Best Served Cold. I agree that Monza was pretty lame as a character, but I quite liked all of the other characters.

What about the writing was so awful? I see this get thrown around a lot. What constitutes awful writing in your opinion? Examples would be great, too, if it's not too much trouble.

Monza being a terrible character is problematic because she starts off pretty baddass, as does the book itself.

Spoiler

In the end what did she actually do? She's an incompetent delusional powerless little bitch. Her whole revenge plot would have failed numerous times if she hadn't been miraculously saved by someone. Or have them do the killing for her.
That scene with the poisoner killing his apprentice.

That whole scenario was so hilariously bad I'm not sure what else I can say about it. And this is more of a personal opinion but he tries way hard to be shocking.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

I hated the Talisman, but I've heard that Black House is different and awesome.

If you are into the Dark Tower lore at all it will flesh out the

Spoiler

Breakers

a bit but other than that it really doesn't work well as a stand alone novel. In fact it felt more like a Dark Tower side story than a sequel to Talisman.

 

[LocoMrPollock]

....

Might want to spoiler some of that.

 

[tsurugi no mai]

Just finished Kafka on the Shore this weekend. So weird. It was hard to follow.

 

[lightless_shado]

Just started, taking it slow.

Pretty good stuff actually. I've been really getting into nonfiction as of late. I usually lurk in this thread looking for good fiction to read.

Also I'm on the fourth scott pilgrim book. I got them in a pack

 

[Vyer]

I am reading A Storm of Swords. I've just gotten to a part that has royally pissed me off and I am about to just stop reading it, lol.

Which?

 

[Narag]

Dune by Frank Herbert


Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice


Life of Pi by Yann Martel

From the Warhammer 40K pulp I am reading. I am enjoying it - don't get me wrong - but it is animatedly poor.

WH40K stuff is such a guilty pleasure of mine but most of the authors are awful.