What Are You Reading?

unreg999

Mickeroo wrote:

Love all the Robin Hobb books. You're missing out on a lot of stuff by skipping the books not involving Fitz though, I wouldn't really view them as separate at all. The Liveship trilogy sets up a lot of what happened in The Tawny Man. Haven't started the new one yet but I'd imagine Rain wild chronicles will surely have had an influence on events there too.

Yeah me too.. I've read them all now, well apart from the last 2 Liveships... The Farseer & Tawny Man 6 were my favs by far but did enjoy the Rainwilds... Didnt read them all in the right sequence though! Lol

Actually haven't read the Soilder Son Trilogy now that I think of it!

Mickeroo

unreg999 wrote: »

Yeah me too.. I've read them all now, well apart from the last 2 Liveships... The Farseer & Tawny Man 6 were my favs by far but did enjoy the Rainwilds... Didnt read them all in the right sequence though! Lol

Actually haven't read the Soilder Son Trilogy now that I think of it!

I haven't read Soldiers Son yet either, it's a completely different universe to the above I think.

shrapnel222

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

Stephen Donaldson

in fairness i only ever tried the Covenant chronicles which i gave up every time i tried after about 100 pages.

might give the gap series a go .

croot

SpaceSasqwatch wrote: »

bored the tits of me tbh.Dont know how many times I tried to read the series but gave up.

I've said it before and I'll say it again his 'the gap' series has to be some of the best science fiction I have ever read.If you haven't read it yet put it on your to read list

Agree 100%. Just gave up on Covenant but 'the gap' is among the best Sci Fi I've read.

Dan_Solo

Super... even if Donaldson doesn't float my boat for fantasy I'll make sure to have him in the mix for my next SF read.

fenris

Reading "A long time until now" by Michael z Williamson.
Small groups of various cultures dropped back to paleolithic time, us marines, Romans, etc.
Not riveting but keeps you coming back, perfect commute fodder

shazzerman

I have to admit that, despite Donaldson's love of the ole purple prose, I really enjoyed the Thomas Covenant series - the first trilogy, at least - back when I read them. The character of Covenant himself was not the usual heroic type (didn't he commit rape and kill innocents at some stage?), and I welcomed that as an attempt to present a less-cliched character.
The Gap Series is something else, though. Brilliant stuff. It reminded me a lot of Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination (an sf classic and must-read).

mcgovern

shazzerman wrote: »

I have to admit that, despite Donaldson's love of the ole purple prose, I really enjoyed the Thomas Covenant series - the first trilogy, at least - back when I read them. The character of Covenant himself was not the usual heroic type (didn't he commit rape and kill innocents at some stage?), and I welcomed that as an attempt to present a less-cliched character.
The Gap Series is something else, though. Brilliant stuff. It reminded me a lot of Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination (an sf classic and must-read).

Yep, and he goes on to do similar but worse, but I won't say what in case I spoil it. I didn't like them at all, think I've read the first four. I have to get back to the Gap series though.

coffee_cake

unreg999 wrote: »

Yeah me too.. I've read them all now, well apart from the last 2 Liveships... The Farseer & Tawny Man 6 were my favs by far but did enjoy the Rainwilds... Didnt read them all in the right sequence though! Lol

Actually haven't read the Soilder Son Trilogy now that I think of it!

I've just ordered the latest in the new Fitz trilogy, book 2 i think it is?
excited!!

Thargor

Dades wrote: »

I've had it a while now and it's exactly that that's putting me off!

I've been trying in vain to find a synopsis of the first two books to at least give me a fighting chance of knowing wtf is happening.

Back to reading Pandora's Star after a brief foray into Shark-lit with "Meg".

Its ridiculous, Im 100 pages in and I still dont know who the 2 or 3 sides are, who are the enemy army? What happened to the street urchin who became a brother but was then enthralled to the evil long lived demon lady? Where is the rest of that order of battle brothers they were in since they were kids? That and the country they were defending just seems to have disappeared.

I can remember the first book perfectly well and none of whats in 3 lines up with it, think Im just going to have to abandon it tbh.

unreg999

bluewolf wrote:

I've just ordered the latest in the new Fitz trilogy, book 2 i think it is? excited!!

Is it out already!?? I have to say that the first one wasn't my favourite... I wasn't mad about the daughter's pov chapters and I missed Nighteyes!!

Not sure how to do spoilers but it did get a bit better when a certain other character turned up...

In general i found it a bit slow and drawn out... But having said that I will definitely read it!!

coffee_cake

yeah i only found out when robin hobb was on facebook apologising about a misprint!! it's only out a week or two i think
i love all the stories about them and i do miss nighteyes too but i definitely got into it

reading johnathan strange and mr norrell at the moment, it's brilliant

Mickeroo

bluewolf wrote: »

reading johnathan strange and mr norrell at the moment, it's brilliant

Great book, really enjoyed the recent BBC adaptation too.

Manach

Finishing off "Nice dragons finish last"
Apart from a YA vibe, a well written and pleasant book.

SpaceSasqwatch

Mickeroo wrote: »

Great book, really enjoyed the recent BBC adaptation too.

couldnt get into it at all...might give it another go

wyrn

Manach wrote: »

Finishing off "Nice dragons finish last"
Apart from a YA vibe, a well written and pleasant book.

I really like Rachael Aaron/Bach's books. They are YA but they're interesting and not too complicated.

I'd recommend her Paradox Trilogy if you're interested in a series with a kick ass female protagonist.

Trojan

Read some more Asher: The Brass Man, Polity Agent, Line War.

ElWalrus

Finished Fall of Hyperion, really enjoyed the first two books in the Hyperion Cantos so decided to progress on to Endymion. Early days, but liking it so far.

Thargor

Dont forget Illium and Olympos afterwards aswell, different universe but very well done.

shrapnel222

Thargor wrote: »

Dont forget Illium and Olympos afterwards aswell, different universe but very well done.

FWIW, his two historical fiction books are outstanding also.

"The terror", and "abominable"

Thargor

Never heard of them thanks.

AbusesToilets

Thargor wrote: »

Dont forget Illium and Olympos afterwards aswell, different universe but very well done.

Phenomenal books, two of the most enjoyable books I've read in a long time.

Zapp Brannigan

I'm doing it!

I'm finally reading Dune.

wyrn

I'm between books. Not sure what to read next.

reece289

the forever war

do it do it do it do it do it do it

OwaynOTT

wyrn wrote: »

I'm between books. Not sure what to read next.

Rivers of London. do it.




Currently reading Redshirts by that John Scalzi. It's the second book I've tried by himself, with Old Man's War being the first and not overly impressing me.
A good bit through Redshirts, not because its a cracking read but rather because it's as slight and bare-boned story.
No real descriptions of anything, which is in stark contrast to Luminaries which is rich in detail.
Ok descriptions for description sake, ala Jordan, isn't ideal but Scalzi here skimps back on trivial stuff like character descriptions and any environment flourishes.
The thing is, it's not that I don't like streamlined books that is character focus with loads of dialogue but the problem with Redshirts is that the characters are bland and fail to stand out from each other.
The way I see it is, there a four characters in the book that has a much larger cast. There's the main male character, his male helper characters, the female character and the non-helper characters.
And also he tires for witty but it's not coming across as Sanderson level humour.
I'm going to finish it, to see if he can wrap it all up well but so far I can't see why Scalzi has such as good reputation.

Trojan

Just finished Line War by Asher.

I got the same kind of feeling as from Gridlinked, not sure I can articulate exactly what the problem is, maybe it just feels like he's leaving a lot unsaid, while over-explaining elsewhere. Given the epic scale of the story and universe - and my propensity to space opera - this should be like crack to me but it just ain't doing it. 5/10, barely.

mcgovern

I finished Words of Radiance, it was still really good but perhaps not as good as the first, it was a little bit too predictable I think.

Now onto The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin. I'm about 20% in and there isn't a whole lot happening yet.

Dan_Solo

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

I'm doing it!

I'm finally reading Dune.

Pivotal to the canon. One of the very few books I've read twice TBH, I'm not sure why but even a lot of the best SF+F books I've read have no re-read value for me when there's so much other stuff to try.

Thargor

Queen of Fire picked up a bit once the main plot got going so thats a relief, took about 300 pages of a 700 page book though, and its still just fairly generic fantasy as it is, struggling to understand why the internet seemed to go mad over the first book now.