What Are You Reading?

Dades

Trojan wrote: »

I think that apart from a macro level where the fantasy genre has grown and evolved since that was written, at a micro level even Feist himself dramatically improved his own writing. After A Darkness at Sethanon, he started co-writing the Mara series with Janny Wurts, and he attributes a lot of credit to her in helping him write better.

I found his writing evolved even during the first three Magician books. Book one started as a merry jaunt that was cliched but enjoyable, but evolved into something more adult towards the end and into the second and third.

Raif Severance

Dades wrote: »

I found his writing evolved even during the first three Magician books. Book one started as a merry jaunt that was cliched but enjoyable, but evolved into something more adult towards the end and into the second and third.

The Adventures of Erik and Roo (Serpentwar Saga), is where I think Feist has grown as a Writer. Wurts influence is Unmistakable here.

Though it's possibly his Best behind the Empire Trilogy. I myself, cannot re-read it, unlike some of his Books.

The Death of so many of my Favorite Characters, makes me uncomfortable Reading them again.

Fvck you, Feist! Jimmy should have been the Main Chara, not Stupid Pug.

Zapp Brannigan

Finished the Rift War trilogy. Fantasy has moved on but I can definitely see why they're so popular. Don't know if I'll be rushing out to read Feist again any time soon though.

Decided to treat myself to some lush prose so have picked up some Guy Gavriel Kay (most of his books are cheap on Amazon.co.uk) reading Sailing to Sarantium. I love how this man writes.

shrapnel222

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

Finished the Rift War trilogy. Fantasy has moved on but I can definitely see why they're so popular. Don't know if I'll be rushing out to read Feist again any time soon though.

Decided to treat myself to some lush prose so have picked up some Guy Gavriel Kay (most of his books are cheap on Amazon.co.uk) reading Sailing to Sarantium. I love how this man writes.

re Feist, i agree the trilogy is enough and then it gets pretty bad/bland, but i really recommend the daughter of the empire trilogy he did with wurtz. really enjoyable.

re Kay, absolutely love almost all his books. his latest, river of stars, is an absolute joy to read.

keane2097

What's the best place to start with Kay shrap?

shrapnel222

keane2097 wrote: »

What's the best place to start with Kay shrap?

tigana is a great standalone book so a good place to start.

the 2 volumes of the sarantine mosaic are also brilliant and more historical fiction with a light fantasy twist as is most of his later stuff.

Probably easier to point out the ones i didn't like rather than the ones i did: Ysabel, A song for Arbonne, and the last light of the sun, were poor imo, but i loved everything else.

david75

Finished The Wise Mans fear...Glad i didnt give up, Kvothe was becoming unbearable for a while there..

do we know when the follow up is due? wonder if it's a trilogy or an ongoing series?

OwaynOTT

david75 wrote: »

Finished The Wise Mans fear...Glad i didnt give up, Kvothe was becoming unbearable for a while there..

do we know when the follow up is due? wonder if it's a trilogy or an ongoing series?

It's meant to be a trilogy, as to your second question your guess is as good as any.

Raif Severance

shrapnel222 wrote: »

tigana is a great standalone book so a good place to start.

the 2 volumes of the sarantine mosaic are also brilliant and more historical fiction with a light fantasy twist as is most of his later stuff.

Probably easier to point out the ones i didn't like rather than the ones i did: Ysabel, A song for Arbonne, and the last light of the sun, were poor imo, but i loved everything else.

What?!!!

And to add, read also Lions of Al-Rassan.

shrapnel222

Raif Severance wrote: »

What?!!!

Not sure why tbh, but just didn't like it when i read it originally. It's the only one i haven't read multiple times so i might give it another bash.

Dan_Solo

Finished the Sand anthology and I have to say I thought it was quite poor. The sand diving mechanics were OK, but more or less in the realms of magic, not SF. The story around it was vague to the point of incoherence and I didn't find it to be well written either. 3/10.
Older fantasy is next on the rotation, so it's book 7 of the greatest fantasy series ever by the greatest fantasy writer ever, The Wazir and the Witch by Hugh Cook.

Manach

Book 1 of Schooled in Magic series by Nuthall. YA and a knowing borrowing on Harry Potter but has its own style and so far worth the read.

sentient_6

I had been going well on a re-read of malazan but I've hit a block at the start of House of Chains. It's sitting hear looking at me and I've no motivation at the moment.

daUbiq

sentient_6 wrote: »

I had been going well on a re-read of malazan but I've hit a block at the start of House of Chains. It's sitting hear looking at me and I've no motivation at the moment.

You can do it - it's worth it!

Sleepy

Finished Tower Lord and wondering where to go now... Malazan is tempting...

Trojan

david75 wrote: »

Finished The Wise Mans fear...Glad i didnt give up, Kvothe was becoming unbearable for a while there..

do we know when the follow up is due? wonder if it's a trilogy or an ongoing series?

OwaynOTT wrote: »

It's meant to be a trilogy, as to your second question your guess is as good as any.

Three months ago, Rothfuss said that book three needs "about a year and some change" to be ready (and that his publishers asked him to finish Doors before he published The Tale of Laniel Young-Again - sad that he needed to be told that).

Given his form, "and some change" could be as much as a further 12-18 months. I think we're looking at best case of Spring 2016, but could be Winter 2016 or even the following year.

mcgovern

I just finished The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. Having not been a big fan of Mistborn, I didn't have high hopes, and the start further reinforced that. However, somewhere along the way things picked up, and by the end I couldn't get enough of it, and absolutely loved it.
I've now started The Abyss Beyond Dreams by Peter F. Hamilton, its also slow to get going, but hopefully it will pick up soon.

sentient_6

daUbiq wrote: »

You can do it - it's worth it!

Last night picked it up again and forced myself to finish out chapter 2 and it was well worth it:

the attack on the town, karsa getting caught, escaping again and the introduction of malazans more importantly

.

keane2097

I was shocked upon reading through the Tor re-read that apparently a lot of people disliked the opening of that book. I thought it was unbelievable!

Witness...

Thargor

Loved that bit aswell, Karsa was amazing, the series would have really suffered if Errikson hadn't put him in.

keane2097

Thargor wrote: »

Loved that bit aswell, Karsa was amazing, the series would have really suffered if Errikson hadn't put him in.

His development over the course of half a book is amazing. It continues obviously but that section in particular is just brilliant.

djjdomahony

Finished Jack Reacher series. I need something very similar. Love these books! Any ideas?

Viyonillornori

Just finished 20,000 leagues by Verne. Fantastic little book. Mysterious island is apparently some sort of follow up,anybody read it?

I don't want to look it up in case I accidentally read something that ruins it on me.

Zapp Brannigan

Finished Sailing to Sarantium. Wow. Usually this kind of political fantasy would not appeal to me but I ate this up. A true testament to a good writer. Went right in to the second book Lord of Emperors.

ixoy

26% into "Jupiter War" by Neal Asher, the final book in his Owner trilogy. Definitely prefer his Polity stuff over this overly-harsh dystopia but it does have some good moments and you got to stand back in awe at just how ruthless his characters are and the scale of it.

djjdomahony

Anyone? tried repairman jack series and it didnt do it for me

Buford T. Justice XIX

Just started 'The Letter For The King' by Tonke Dragt.

My 12yo enjoyed it but it feels a good bit dated, written in 1962, so lots of development in fantasy since.

It's translated from Dutch so it may have lost a bit in translation but it's enjoyable if undemanding so far.

Sleepy

mcgovern wrote: »

I just finished The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. Having not been a big fan of Mistborn, I didn't have high hopes, and the start further reinforced that. However, somewhere along the way things picked up, and by the end I couldn't get enough of it, and absolutely loved it.

‎Words of Radiance is worth it too. Sanderson considers The Stormlight Archive to be his Wheel of Time: a 10 book epic in two 5-part arcs... Definitely the grandest thing he's attempted so far.

Currently reading Alloy of Law, it's a pretty lightweight story set in the same world as Mistborn.

ancapailldorcha

Sleepy wrote: »

Finished Tower Lord and wondering where to go now... Malazan is tempting...

There's a thread on that series here. Read it first.

mcgovern

djjdomahony wrote: »

Anyone? tried repairman jack series and it didnt do it for me

If you are looking for something closer to Jack Reacher, you might be better off asking in a different forum.
For Sci-Fi, the closest I can think of would be Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan.