What Are You Reading?

Thargor

keane2097 wrote: »

I still think Malazan Book of the Fallen is the best fantasy series by a huge margin.

I used to think that, but then I read The Second Apocalypse series by R. Scott Bakker and it beats it imo.

Nody

unreg999 wrote: »

Just coming to the end of 'memory, thorn and sorrow' by Tad Williams... enjoying it a lot!
Can anyone recommend something for me to read next please?

My favourite is classic fantasy though I do enjoy anything post-apocylyptic too!

Favourite authors are Tolkien, Sanderson, Martin, Feist, Hobbs, Wurtz, Pratchett... that kind of thing!

Thank you in advance

Hmm, so not something to heavy but with a good story hobbling along you say. A few you could check out:

• The Demon Cycle series by Peter V. Brett - pacing (last 50 pages tend to have the book story accelerate to mach 1 from more or less walking speed the rest of the book) could be improved but generally you go "just one more page"
• Prince of Thorns series - Brilliant trilogy which each book "ending" on it's own and the world building will blow your mind away by the end of book 3. Second series is slightly connected but no where near as strong imo but good if you want more world building information.
• The Blade Itself (The First Law series) by Joe Abercrombie. Think you know fantasy? Well here's a much more kick in the balls and poke their eyes out while fighting style of it. No good guys; only a bunch of bastards playing dirty to win. Wonderful stuff but it can get gory at times.
• Blood Song (Raven's Shadow series) by Anthony Ryan. People loved this book but found the second book lacking which honestly surprised me. Personally I think the following books are just as strong and I'd highly recommend the series but be warned the books tend to be 600+ pages each.
• The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard) by Scott Lynch - Personally I still love this series but some people don't like the later books. Once again each book tends to be relatively self fulfilling but leave a follow up hook to the next one. Oh and no good guys to cheer; they are all backstabbing selfish thugs.
• Gotrek and Felix trilogies; up to 3 or 4 by now all in the Warhammer world but no previous knowledge is really required. Now to give you a bit of background Gotrek is a dwarf slayer; that's a dwarf so ashamed of something he's done that he seeks to die in combat by going after the biggest monster he can get to and go berzerk basically. Felix is a human who in a drunk stupor agreed to document Gotrek's death to let his kin now and the books follow their travels around the world of Warhammer and their (mis)adeventures there. The world in warhammer is very grim; chaos magic causes people to mutate and be thrown out from their society; the forest are full of werewolfes and goblins and the vampire lords always try to raise more undead and invade.

Well that should keep you busy for a while :P

Ragnar Lothbrok

Nody wrote: »

And also a big warning Goodkind's writing goes from right wing American to all out "bloody towel heads leave a glass parking lot on their homes" American in around book 3 or 4 due to 911...

Really? Heven't noticed this in Naked Empire so far. Maybe he got all of his right wing 'Mericun patriotic crap out of his system before Naked Empire?

unreg999

unreg999 wrote: »

Just coming to the end of 'memory, thorn and sorrow' by Tad Williams... enjoying it a lot!
Can anyone recommend something for me to read next please?

My favourite is classic fantasy though I do enjoy anything post-apocylyptic too!

Favourite authors are Tolkien, Sanderson, Martin, Feist, Hobbs, Wurtz, Pratchett... that kind of thing!

Thank you in advance

wheel of time. take the winter and have a good go at it.

the black company books by glen cook

malazan books as given above

patrick rothfuss first two (but warning, not finished yet and signs on him dragging them out)

joe abercrombies first law trilogy (warning- dont go looking for heroes in these ones)

personal current fave is the r scott bakker prince of nothing series, which im working through again in advance of reading two newest ones. deliciously nasty, big-scale stuff and im digging his writing style

Igotadose

unreg999 wrote: »

Just coming to the end of 'memory, thorn and sorrow' by Tad Williams... enjoying it a lot!
Can anyone recommend something for me to read next please?

My favourite is classic fantasy though I do enjoy anything post-apocylyptic too!

Favourite authors are Tolkien, Sanderson, Martin, Feist, Hobbs, Wurtz, Pratchett... that kind of thing!

Thank you in advance

Always enjoyed Tad William's Tailchaser's song. Yeah, it's about a heroic cat.

Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy, though she's not the greatest writer when it comes to describing intimacy. Has some interesting ideas, you do have to suspend credulity from time to time.

For Science Fiction, lately been jonesing on Alastair Reynolds. "Revenger" is a good and a reasonably quick read that presents most of the aspects of his universes that pop up in his other books and short novels.

Sleepy

Sleepy wrote: »

Is The Fitz and The Fool Trilogy anywhere as good the original Farseer Trilogy?

EDIT: just realised I need to read the Tawny Man trilogy before I can progress to Fitz & The Fool!

I'll break from the other responses to this to say that all three fitz/fool trilogies are well worth reading and imo far better than the liveship books

newest trilogy as good as first. middle one still easily worth yr time

Glebee

Glebee wrote: »

Still only half way through The Dark Tower:Wizard & Glass. Need to try and give more time over to reading in the evenings, Netflix taking over.....
Think ill take a break from The Dark Tower for a while when I finish this.

personal advice: take a permanent break at this stage. it absolutely goes to sh1te hereon in (after kings accident)

Sleepy

Deleted User wrote: »

I'll break from the other responses to this to say that all three fitz/fool trilogies are well worth reading and imo far better than the liveship books

newest trilogy as good as first. middle one still easily worth yr time

Finished the Tawny Man series and taking a break from Hobb with Trudi Canavan's "The Magicians Apprentice" after finding it in a second hand store on lunch recently. Nearly finished it and it's whetted my apetite enough to give her "Black Magician's Trilogy" a spin after this...

hmmm

anything ive read or heard about that has been lukewarm at best but thats the beauty of a book i spose

probably nothing new to a fantasy thread 6000 posts long, but i picked up the earthsea tales for the first time last summer and absolutely flew through them. ideal for a younger reader but magic even for an aul sod like me

coffee_cake

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

Really? Heven't noticed this in Naked Empire so far. Maybe he got all of his right wing 'Mericun patriotic crap out of his system before Naked Empire?

The first book or two were okay. He goes absolutely bat**** the rest of the series and stays there. One of the books is a terrible ayn rand ripoff, very blatant. The characters spend a lot of time giving each other speeches

I'm on to the next Witcher book, i think it's lady of the lake

To the Tad Williams poster, i loved otherland. I basically couldn't get into the first book, skipped ahead, seriously loved the read of the series.
The Kingfountain series is good - light reading, nothing heavy, but you get into it

Neames

kirk buttercup wrote: »

I Read the first in the series years ago and enjoyed it . must read more at some stage. recommended ?

I think that all of the Charlie Parker series are excellent. My advice would be to read them in order, although they can be read as stand alone you'll pick up on some details from previous books if you read them in order.

He's on his 16th offering now so you're in for a treat in my view. Get down to your local library and get stuck in!

Buford T. Justice XIX

bluewolf wrote: »

The first book or two were okay. He goes absolutely bat**** the rest of the series and stays there. One of the books is a terrible ayn rand ripoff, very blatant. The characters spend a lot of time giving each other speeches

I'm on to the next Witcher book, i think it's lady of the lake

To the Tad Williams poster, i loved otherland. I basically couldn't get into the first book, skipped ahead, seriously loved the read of the series.
The Kingfountain series is good - light reading, nothing heavy, but you get into it

+1, light reading but I found myself invested in the main character nonetheless, unlike similar series.


Reading The Tiger's Tale(Chronicles of an Imperial Legionary Officer, book 4)from Marc Alan Edelman. Much longer than previous novels but I'm enjoying it, again very much light reading.

nhur

Igotadose wrote: »

For Science Fiction, lately been jonesing on Alastair Reynolds. "Revenger" is a good and a reasonably quick read that presents most of the aspects of his universes that pop up in his other books and short novels.

Revenger, eh? haven't heard of that one - and i've read the rest recently!

I'm currently struggling through the Peter Hamilton Reality Dysfunction first book... it's tolerable but just doesn't draw me in like the other scifi/fantasy I've read and loved... I don't even like it as much as his Pandora's Star books....

ixoy

65% into "The Rhesus Chart", the fifth book in Charles Stross's Laundry series. This time around he's taking on vampirism, again told through the prism of the author's techie mind (the vampires hold Scrum meetings amongst other things and it's the first time I've seen map/reduce mentioned in a novel..).

The tone is the usual something cynical geek Bob and it's fairly easy to read. There's not much happening really but it's entertaining and doesn't really require much knowledge of the previous titles. A bit of a sorbet between trying to finish a number of other series.

Nody

Nody wrote: »

Finished Desert Spear and started book 3; Day war by Peter Brett.

Finished book 3 & book 4 (The Skull Throne) and started on book 5 The Core. Book 4 surprised me in the number of characters killed off going a bit Game of Thrones on the readers. Not in a bad way as it shakes things up quite a bit as well but still unexpected based on earlier books. With this one I should be fully up to speed again on the series and I think among the best part of it all is the information about the world.

ixoy

40% into "The City of Mirrors" by Justin Cronin, the third and final book in his "Passage" trilogy. It's been a fair while since I read the second book so it's a bit like coming to the series fresh but Cronin moves the story at a leisurely pace (not much has really happened in these first 240 pages).

His style reminds me a lot of some of Stephen King's work: somewhat old fashioned characters with the horror as backdrop as much as anything. It's well written, although the sheer almost conservative American nature of it all can grate at time (much as it can with King in my opinion). Still it's easy to read and, from what I can recall, the pacing - despite being slow - is better than "The Twelve" was. Hopefully it'll ramp up a bit more.

Curious also how the upcoming TV adaptation of this series will work and which strands of the books it's going to focus on.

Xofpod

ixoy wrote: »

40% into "The City of Mirrors" by Justin Cronin, the third and final book in his "Passage" trilogy. It's been a fair while since I read the second book so it's a bit like coming to the series fresh but Cronin moves the story at a leisurely pace (not much has really happened in these first 240 pages).

His style reminds me a lot of some of Stephen King's work: somewhat old fashioned characters with the horror as backdrop as much as anything. It's well written, although the sheer almost conservative American nature of it all can grate at time (much as it can with King in my opinion). Still it's easy to read and, from what I can recall, the pacing - despite being slow - is better than "The Twelve" was. Hopefully it'll ramp up a bit more.

Curious also how the upcoming TV adaptation of this series will work and which strands of the books it's going to focus on.

Liked the first one, without loving it. I've had the second one on my shelf for quite a while now; how slow is slow, as regards the pacing of the Twelve?

ixoy

Xofpod wrote: »

Liked the first one, without loving it. I've had the second one on my shelf for quite a while now; how slow is slow, as regards the pacing of the Twelve?

I'll be honest and say my memory's a bit fuzzy - I think the first half was quite slow, with them pottering around a bit and it only picked up in the second when they started focusing on the titualar Twelve. It didn't matter hugely because Cronin writes well but there wasn't much of a sense of urgency. At least in the first book you had the beginning of the end.

ixoy

Just finished "For Love of Distant Shores", the third collection of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Apt short stories. These were closer to novelletes in length with just four of them, using an explorer to showcase different areas of the world and new Kinden. Best of the short story collections so far.

Of particular note, for those reading his new "Echoes of the Fallen" series:

The reason it seemed a bit derivative is because they're set on the same world - the Apt continent bonded with insects, the Echoes crowd bonded with animals. There's a small crossover story here that directly sets up events in the Echoes series.

. It's made me more interested in the Echoes series.

Dades

Finished Scalzi's The Human Division.

Good fun, even if almost every human character is a sarcastic smartass.


Am starting The Trench: Meg 2 now, ahead of seeing The Meg over the next week.

Read "Meg" a few years back. Can't beat a bit of Shark Lit !!

Trojan

Dades wrote: »

Am starting The Trench: Meg 2 now, ahead of seeing The Meg over the next week.

Read "Meg" a few years back. Can't beat a bit of Shark Lit !!

There...


there's a BOOK? wtf.

Is there a Sharknado bestselling series of books I don't know about?

What about Deep Blue Sea?

nhur

Finished the Reality Dysfunction by Peter F Hamilton... Was nonplussed for ages... But it got really good about 70%in...and ended well... Will prob read the next but investigating alternatives

Trojan

nhur wrote: »

Finished the Reality Dysfunction by Peter F Hamilton... Was nonplussed for ages... But it got really good about 70%in...and ended well... Will prob read the next but investigating alternatives

I like PFH, but Reality Dysfunction was so-so. The Commonwealth Saga is far superior IMO. Give Pandora's Star a go.

Tristram

Great North Road is worth a go too. Tore through it there a few weeks ago.

Trojan

Tristram wrote: »

Great North Road is worth a go too. Tore through it there a few weeks ago.

Somehow I haven't read that yet - going up to the top of the list!

Dades

Trojan wrote: »

There...


there's a BOOK? wtf.

Is there a Sharknado bestselling series of books I don't know about?

What about Deep Blue Sea?

Indeed there is a book!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/105744.Meg


And some of us read it before sharks were cool. :P

Jaws was shark lit, too, before it was a movie!

unreg999

Lady Haywire wrote: »

You seem to have similar taste to me so maybe try the NK Jamesin 'Broken Earth' series that i'm just finishing up. I'm at 56% and don't want it to end
Greg Keyes' 'Kingdom of Thorn & Bone' was one i really enjoyed recently & a bit easier reading was The Raven Cycle (Maggie Steifvater)

Thank you so much for this recommendation... I'm really enjoying it!

Lady Haywire

Which one did you start unreg? NK Jamesin?

I read Tad Williams' 'City of Golden Shadow' (First book of Otherland series) & I don't know what to make of it. It was bloody difficult for me to get into as it kept flutering off to some new person & I found it very hard to tie all the strands of who's who & where and how they all fit together until the very end of the book. Which was sort of irritating, I recall looking at the book at 46% read & thinking fcuk it, if it's no more understandable at 55% I'll give up. But then it became a bit clearer & I wanted to see how some of the main characters would get out of their predicaments so ended up finishing it.
Dunno if I'll finish the series though.....just hasn't grabbed me. Is it worth it?

Am on The Gentleman Bastard books now, thoroughly enjoying them!:D

mcgovern

Lady Haywire wrote: »

Which one did you start unreg? NK Jamesin?

I read Tad Williams' 'City of Golden Shadow' (First book of Otherland series) & I don't know what to make of it. It was bloody difficult for me to get into as it kept flutering off to some new person & I found it very hard to tie all the strands of who's who & where and how they all fit together until the very end of the book. Which was sort of irritating, I recall looking at the book at 46% read & thinking fcuk it, if it's no more understandable at 55% I'll give up. But then it became a bit clearer & I wanted to see how some of the main characters would get out of their predicaments so ended up finishing it.
Dunno if I'll finish the series though.....just hasn't grabbed me. Is it worth it?

Am on The Gentleman Bastard books now, thoroughly enjoying them!:D

I recently went back to Otherland series and gave up about halfway through book 3. In my opinion it gets worse as it goes along, the plot moves at a glacial pace.

ixoy

30% into "Caine: Black Knife", the 3rd book in Matthew Stover's 'Acts of Caine' series.
This book is on a smaller scale than the second and all the better for it (I wasn't a huge fan of the second one which tried an epic scale that didn't work for me). There's the main timeline but also flash backs to a related story twenty five years previously, at the start of Caine's life and it's working quite well so far as the backstory reveals more about the current plot.
I do find Caine's constant swearing a bit irritating, although he is one of the most "hard as nails" characters I've seen in fantasy - some of Abercrombie's guys are wimps next to him!

I'm also reading "Dogs of War" by Adrian Tchaikovsky (39% into it). A short stand-alone novel, it's about bio-engineered animal / human-type hybrids used to fight wars. Chapters alternate between a human's perspective and that of the giant war dog who is gradually coming to understand the world around him. It's a very interesting idea and Tchaikovsky is a master at using animals in fantasy and getting into the mindset. Another strong entry for him.

I finished Justin Cronin's "Passage" trilogy and have to, overall, give it a thumbs down. I liked the core concept but the novel had great pacing flows and the trilogy, as a whole, bugged me with Cronin's political / spiritual views in the end. Oh well.