What Are You Reading?

OwaynOTT

lordgoat wrote: »

Nope new world from what I know but the name did make me ask the same question



I'm on book 2 of his second trilogy. Enjoying it and I generally can't stand first person written books

I enjoyed the first but just never got around to reading the rest of the trilogy. I have both of the books, signed and all.

I have to say also that Mark Lawrence is a gent. I was looking for the signed numbered editions of that series online and asked a question somewhere.
He emailed me personally and helped me find them and I got talking to him then.

machalla

This book Max Gladstones - Two Serpents Rise killed my interest in reading for a while (characters forced together romantically for no good reason). I thought the first book in the series was passable but had some interesting ideas. This book, just avoid it I think. It bored me so much I couldn't finish it.

I just started The first 15 lives of Harry August and it is both very readable and engaging.

nhur

machalla wrote: »

This book
I just started The first 15 lives of Harry August and it is both very readable and engaging.

loved Harry August. Great read. And generally I'm not into anything that even hints of

time travel. (not much of a spoiler I know but better safe than sorry)

Fian

OwaynOTT wrote: »

I enjoyed the first but just never got around to reading the rest of the trilogy. I have both of the books, signed and all.

I have to say also that Mark Lawrence is a gent. I was looking for the signed numbered editions of that series online and asked a question somewhere.
He emailed me personally and helped me find them and I got talking to him then.

Yesterday he posted that he had been burgled, and they took medical equipment needed by his daughter, who has special needs. I don't imagine they knew what they were taking, pretty despicable if they did. Not that ordinary burglary is praiseworthy!

OwaynOTT

Fian wrote: »

Yesterday he posted that he had been burgled, and they took medical equipment needed by his daughter, who has special needs. I don't imagine they knew what they were taking, pretty despicable if they did. Not that ordinary burglary is praiseworthy!

That's horrendous.

OwaynOTT

machalla wrote: »

This book Max Gladstones - Two Serpents Rise killed my interest in reading for a while (characters forced together romantically for no good reason). I thought the first book in the series was passable but had some interesting ideas. This book, just avoid it I think. It bored me so much I couldn't finish it.

I just started The first 15 lives of Harry August and it is both very readable and engaging.

nhur wrote: »

loved Harry August. Great read. And generally I'm not into anything that even hints of

time travel. (not much of a spoiler I know but better safe than sorry)

Brilliant read but I just couldn't get into Touch at all. And ive never heard anything good about it from people.

lordgoat

OwaynOTT wrote: »

I enjoyed the first but just never got around to reading the rest of the trilogy. I have both of the books, signed and all.

I have to say also that Mark Lawrence is a gent. I was looking for the signed numbered editions of that series online and asked a question somewhere.
He emailed me personally and helped me find them and I got talking to him then.

That's a lovely story. I met R.E. Feist before at a booking.

I asked if he would write 'The storm had broken'. (first line of Magician) and had a little chat about why i'd like him to write that.

He wrote 'The storm had...' and told me to bring it to another signing and he would finish it off for me.

Paddy Samurai

The fourth in the Faithful and the Fallen series from John Gwynne, an epic fantasy perfect for fans of George R. R. Martin, Brandon Sanderson and David Gemmell.
Events are coming to a climax in the Banished Lands, as the war reaches new heights. King Nathair has taken control of the fortress at Drassil and three of the Seven Treasures are in his possession. And together with Calidus and his ally Queen Rhin, Nathair will do anything to obtain the remaining Treasures. With all seven under his command, he can open a portal to the Otherworld. Then Asroth and his demon-horde will finally break into the Banished Lands and become flesh.

Meanwhile Corban has been taken prisoner by the Jotun, warrior giants who ride their enormous bears into battle. His warband scattered, Corban must make new allies if he hopes to survive. But can he bond with competing factions of warlike giants? Somehow he must, if he's to counter the threat Nathair represents.

His life hangs in the balance - and with it, the fate of the Banished Lands.

Finished this last weelend and really enjoyed it big time.Overall the series was 10/10 for me.Looking forward to Gwynnes next one.

drake70

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

Finished this last weelend and really enjoyed it big time.Overall the series was 10/10 for me.Looking forward to Gwynnes next one.

Half way through book two at the moment. Really enjoying it.

OwaynOTT

Have book one of that myself, never got around to it. Some of the reviews said it was standard enough epic fantasy but with nothing really to pull it above the crowd.
I did enjoy Anthony Ryan's stuff, is it as good as that?


Red Sister is really great. Really glad I have it with me on holidays.

ixoy

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Have book one of that myself, never got around to it. Some of the reviews said it was standard enough epic fantasy but with nothing really to pull it above the crowd.

Plot wise, yeah it's fairly standard IMO. What made it good though was the writing was strong and there was good characterisation. It was just that bit more polished.

Nody

Finished Aspect Emperor book 1 and started on book 2 (got book 3 & 4 as well waiting). For me it was a turn for the better as the God Emperor became much more a C character than one of the main characters. Still enough BS about him to annoy me (see children defects) but at least no huge fights with 1324897104 different nations all having to be named inc. leader and only smaller skirmishes at sub 50 people involved so far.

Tayschren

Picked up deadhouse landing today(chapters) , second path to ascendancy book by Ian c Esslemont, looking good so far

Sleepy

On the recommendation of a neighbour (and having seen dozens of good reports here),I picked up Joe Abercrombies "Half a King" recently. About 3/4's of the way through it and loving his style of writing: I decided to read a quick chapter before sleeping last night and found myself switching off the bedside lamp 2 hours later with less than 5 hours to go before I had to be up for work!

Sleepy

Finished it last night. Superb stuff.

Trojan

Oathbringer.

ixoy

Trojan wrote: »

Oathbringer.

Ditto. 3% in! Had to read a Tor.com refresher yesterday in preparation.

Trojan

ixoy wrote: »

Ditto. 3% in! Had to read a Tor.com refresher yesterday in preparation.

Ditto

I gave serious thought to re-reading the whole thing (like I usually do*) but decided the Tor refresher should be enough...

* in fairness, I get great value for money out of my books.

drake70

ixoy wrote: »

Ditto. 3% in! Had to read a Tor.com refresher yesterday in preparation.

A link to this : https://www.tor.com/2017/08/15/stormlight-archive-refresher/

Dades

Half way through the Book of Dust.

Enjoying it, even if it seems a bit slow to go anywhere. Hits a lot of the same beats as HDM in terms of child/adult characters. Hoping it's going to go in a surprising direction, but realistically I don't know how it could hope to match the depth and span of the original books.

Trojan

Accidentally started reading Hammered by Elizabeth Bear. I've heard good things, but struggling to keep interested. A lot of different POVs mixed in with flashbacks. We'll see how it goes.

(Haven't got into Oathbringer properly because I decided to re-read book 2. Yeah, I know...)

dudara

Just finished the following:

(1) A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent (Memoirs of Lady Trent Book 1) by Marie Brennan

Written as the memoirs of a genteel Victorian type lady who has an onbsession with dragons. Reminiscent of Naomi Novik. Overall enjoyable. First book in a series of 5

(2) Landfall and Revolution - Books 1 & 2 of the Ship Series from Jerry Aubin. A YA series set aboard a mega spaceship, launched from Earth as a desperate attempt to save the human species. First book was interesting, if a little simple, but I found the second book dull. Don't know if I'll be bothered to continue with the series

david75

Fools and Mortals - Bernard Cornwell

More a historical fiction but I Heard a long interview with Bernard Cornwell and was really charmed. He has a million great stories and tells them well so got his latest one. It’s great stuff so far. Set in Shakespeare’s theatre company and from the POV of his younger brother.

Will be looking into more of his work after.

smacl

So finished the Tawny man trilogy and found it a bit of a chore. I know Hobb is popular here and well regarded generally but personally I found no real positives I could draw from the six books I've read and won't be going back to this author any time soon if ever.

Trojan

smacl wrote: »

I know Hobb is popular here and well regarded generally

There's a lot of non-fans too. I like some of her earliest work (i.e the first 3-6 books) but some or most of her last 10 or so books have not been for me. Soldiers Son - ugh. IMO in the latest series, you could rip book 1 in half, throw away the first part, and miss almost nothing.


--

Really struggling with the Elizabeth Bear book. I really want to like it, but I just don't care enough about any of the characters, and the plot isn't doing it. I'm also surprised that the editors didn't insist she cut out a whole subplot, particularly since it was her debut. I'm going to finish book 1, and try the start of book 2 to see if it improves.

Can anyone recommend a few more women or minority sf/f authors? I'm trying to diversify my reading a bit more, my reading list looks something like a Trump cabinet

david75

Trojan wrote: »

There's a lot of non-fans too. I like some of her earliest work (i.e the first 3-6 books) but some or most of her last 10 or so books have not been for me. Soldiers Son - ugh. IMO in the latest series, you could rip book 1 in half, throw away the first part, and miss almost nothing.


--

Really struggling with the Elizabeth Bear book. I really want to like it, but I just don't care enough about any of the characters, and the plot isn't doing it. I'm also surprised that the editors didn't insist she cut out a whole subplot, particularly since it was her debut. I'm going to finish book 1, and try the start of book 2 to see if it improves.

Can anyone recommend a few more women or minority sf/f authors? I'm trying to diversify my reading a bit more, my reading list looks something like a Trump cabinet

NK Jemeisin is a woman of colour and her inheritance trilogy is really brilliant.

Sleepy

Oathbringer - about a quarter of the way in and enjoying it immensely.

Between this and the Joe Abercrombie last week, I'm shattered. I thought doing a dry November would lead to more sleep but instead it's just leading to more late night reading sessions!

smacl

david75 wrote: »

NK Jemeisin is a woman of colour and her inheritance trilogy is really brilliant.

+1 one this, inheritance trilogy is brilliant, hugely fun, and a real page turner throughout. The broken earth trilogy imho if anything is even better but quite a bit more heavy going, with some pretty stunning plot development.

coffee_cake

Oh i just read the broken earth it is AMAZING

keane2097

Less than 2 quid for the first one on kindle at the moment I think.