What Are You Reading?

coffee_cake

Fian wrote: »

Finished the first book in teh prince of nothing series (the darkness that comes before). Was decent but for some reason i was looking forward to finishing it and getting on to something else.

Moved on to the last wish, first book in the witcher series. I am playing the witcher 3 atm, and enjoying it, so maybe that is why i was impatient to finish darkness that comes before. The last wish is pretty good, very much in keeping with the tone of the game. Its a series of short stories, in chronological order, rather than any larger story arc. a bit like the missions you do in teh game too actually.

Author is from eastern europe but he used irish words in naming the tribes on some in book islands - skellige. In the game these tribes are voiced using different accents from these islands - scottish, cornish, dublin, belfast etc.

Yeah it was cool seeing the irish stuff in there, i think there was glen of blathanna or something too

ixoy

Finished "Daughter of Eden" by Chris Beckett, the third book in his Dark Eden series. The first half of the book was very slow and repetitive but the story takes an interesting turn halfway that I was able to get into far more. The ending had both closure as well as leaving it open for a sequel series. It's not an amazing trilogy but there's some interesting ideas in there - it could just probably be cut down into two books.

Now 56% into "The Bands of Mourning", the third book in Brandon Sanderon's Wax & Wayne series, which is arc 1.5 of his Mistborn worlds. It's light and breezy and the magic system is used brilliantly. Sanderson's writing style here is simple but crisp and he's got a great eye for describing action scenes. A nice light read.

kirk buttercup

Legend was fun. will have to wait for Christmas now as I'm sure I'm going to get Fire and blood (I'm a slow reader compared to some on here and usually read a couple of books at a time of different Genres, weird I know but I've always done it like this ).

Lady Haywire

Went off on a weird tangent & read the Soul Screamers series. Bit meh, nice concept along the teen 'otherworldly creatures' genre but light reading.

Then read the first Mistborn book. Took me a while but got into it and have the others to read & will get to them after I finish Gaiman's Neverwhere.

nhur

Lady Haywire wrote: »

Then read the first Mistborn book. Took me a while but got into it and have the others to read & will get to them after I finish Gaiman's Neverwhere.

Loved Neverwhere though I read it a long time ago. The mistborn stuff I thought was OK but a bit straightforward for my liking... The stormlight series by the same author was way better.

I've started reading the Culture books... Well just finishing the first one Consider Phlebas. Its barely keeping my attention... Are they all like this? Or should I keep going?... Ive heard such great things

keane2097

nhur wrote: »

Loved Neverwhere though I read it a long time ago. The mistborn stuff I thought was OK but a bit straightforward for my liking... The stormlight series by the same author was way better.

I've started reading the Culture books... Well just finishing the first one Consider Phlebas. Its barely keeping my attention... Are they all like this? Or should I keep going?... Ive heard such great things

Yeah Consider Phlebas is practically not considered a Culture book to be honest. It's not up to much really, many of the 'proper' Culture books are excellent.

Dades

nhur wrote: »

I've started reading the Culture books... Well just finishing the first one Consider Phlebas. Its barely keeping my attention... Are they all like this? Or should I keep going?... Ive heard such great things

I thought Consider Phlebas was fine, but the subsequent books get better and better (with some exceptions - I'm looking at YOU, Excession!)

Try Player of Games for a proper introduction to the Culture. Next in the series after that, Use of Weapons is widely regarded as one of the best.

Amazon's decision to make Consider Phlebas as the first instalment of their TV adaptation is a misstep, imo.

Thargor

Dades wrote: »

I thought Consider Phlebas was fine, but the subsequent books get better and better (with some exceptions - I'm looking at YOU, Excession!)

Try Player of Games for a proper introduction to the Culture. Next in the series after that, Use of Weapons is widely regarded as one of the best.

Amazon's decision to make Consider Phlebas as the first instalment of their TV adaptation is a misstep, imo.

Obviously they're drawn to the Idiran War for tv purposes, hope its not a dumbed down action Star Trek pisstake like that godawful Discovery...

Dades

Although there was stuff that annoyed me, I quite enjoyed Discovery.

nhur

Thanks folks - on to Player of Games - only a little way in and already it's better than the other one!

keane2097

Dades wrote: »

Although there was stuff that annoyed me, I quite enjoyed Discovery.

I thought it was a very good season of TV, but it suffers a bit from having the Star Trek name while not really being Star Trek. Also, the

mirror universe or whatever

was done in a pretty cheesy sort of way. Most of the Klingon stuff was class.

nhur wrote: »

Thanks folks - on to Player of Games - only a little way in and already it's better than the other one!

Player of Games is a good one.

Dades

keane2097 wrote: »

I thought it was a very good season of TV, but it suffers a bit from having the Star Trek name while not really being Star Trek.

There is an element of that. You could have called it "Space Drama" and that would work!

The Season 2 trailer with Pike looks good to me.

Nody

Nody wrote: »

Going with Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence next.

Finished the Grey Sister; one complaint I saw online was that the "power level" increased compared to the first book but to me it felt relatively natural ramp up. The book flowed well and while we got a bit more information on the world I feel this one will be much harder to explain. To put that in context in the first double trilogy with Prince of Thorns/Prince of Fools series you learned about the world

that it was based on earth that had been twisted from a nuclear war along with a few other incidents

. In this series I can't see how they would play a similar explanation out. Yes we do have

aliens who landed on spaceships but the cores that were there, the four alien races, the reflective moon etc.

is far far away from the explanation of the first one. And to weave in all of the explanations hence becomes much more difficult (and I really want to know). Still love the series and thankfully the repeating mini chapter from book 1 is gone.

As I've run out of my new books I'll need to go digging around to see what books I can find to read next.

ixoy

37% into "Lies Sleeping" by Ben Aarvonitch, the 7th book in his Peter Grant series. As ever, it's very enjoyable. It follows very much on from the previous book so the pace is faster than normal yet all the elements, and the "Englishness" of the series still remain. He really captures a feeling for London and its history and Peter is as ever one of my favourite narrators.

wyrn

ixoy wrote: »

37% into "Lies Sleeping" by Ben Aarvonitch, the 7th book in his Peter Grant series. As ever, it's very enjoyable. It follows very much on from the previous book so the pace is faster than normal yet all the elements, and the "Englishness" of the series still remain. He really captures a feeling for London and its history and Peter is as ever one of my favourite narrators.

Oh that's good to hear because I think the last one was quite short and they are a bit pricey for kindle books.

pixelburp

Is that novella required reading as part of the Rivers... series? I haven't picked it up (as said it's a bit pricy), presuming it a side story or not part of the overall arc(s)

ixoy

pixelburp wrote: »

Is that novella required reading as part of the Rivers... series? I haven't picked it up (as said it's a bit pricy), presuming it a side story or not part of the overall arc(s)

The last one was "The Hanging Tree" and it was full length. The novella - "The Farthest Station" was before that and I haven't read it and haven't felt like I lost anything.
He does, for what it's worth, also reference events of the "Rivers of London" comic book series too but it doesn't tie in hugely with the overall plot. Haven't read them yet either as with many comics, they're a little pricey.

lordgoat

Read Jeff Tweedy's book (non fantasy) and then Daniel Abrahams the dragons path. Really broadened out toward the end of the book. Much bigger story and world than I expected from the start. developed at a good pace once you settle into it. Not a fan of a chapter for each character. I'll start book 2 now and if I get the trilogy done that's 20 books for the year.

Johnny Storm

Finished Thin Air by Richard Morgan - violent, fast-moving, extremely entertaining :pac:

Xofpod

(Finally) finishing the Three Body Problem, by Liu Cixin. Enjoyed the historical/Cultural Revolution parts far more than the sci-fi, which tells its own story....

smacl

Xofpod wrote: »

(Finally) finishing the Three Body Problem, by Liu Cixin. Enjoyed the historical/Cultural Revolution parts far more than the sci-fi, which tells its own story....

Very much my take on it as well. Different time period entirely, but in a similar vein, I thoroughly enjoyed Under Heaven.

Finished the Brilliance trilogy recommended on here which was great action filled fun without being too heavy. Reminded me quite a lot of John Scalzi's Lock In for some reason. Started the King Beyond the Gate for my Christmas read which I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy.

Buford T. Justice XIX

I'm reading Soul of the World by David Mealing atm and really enjoying it.

Told from the perspective of an army commander and a poor artist, both of whom are magic users and colonists on a new continent and a native guardian on that continent, it has great pace and sympathetic characters.

I have a few other books that I was meaning to read over Christmas but this one has taken over.

Manach

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. The first Sci-fi of his that I've read.

IrishZeus

Manach wrote: »

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. The first Sci-fi of his that I've read.

How do you find it? Have read most of his stuff, but not this

Igotadose

Finished the "Draconis Memoria" by Anthony Ryan that I learned about here. It got better as it went along. Had some interesting ideas, the 'sort-of magic + steampunk' mix, but it felt 'formulaic' and I could kind of predict the plot before it happened. Too much 'deux ex machina' to conclude chapters. Still, it's not like it was tedious and I'd been fighting a cold so it was handy. Now reading "Blood Song " in his 'Raven's shadow' trilogy, lots of similar ideas and same style of naming characters, the style is a bit better in that not every chapter leaves a character at the edge of death and switches to another location (to the view of some character to be left at the edge of death at the end, when we switch back perhaps and somethings come in from left field to save a character, only eventually to leave them at the edge of death...)

Also read Susanna Clarke's book of short stories "The Ladies of Grace Adieu" which are companion stories to the amazing "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell." Excellent read, goes fast. FWIW I've never seen an episode of the TV adaptation of "Strange and Norrell," I hear it's pretty good, the novel's an all-time great. Hopefully she'll do a sequel eventually, though who knows maybe she simply doesn't have it in her, lots of writers do one great work and that's it.

s8n

The lovers guide

coffee_cake

I just read The Girl with all the gifts.

The characters were great and i enjoyed it but

the very ending seemed a bit rushed. the kids are all attacking and there's a big fight and suddenly they're ready to sit down and learn?

Paddy Samurai

About 150 pages in and loving it .Although a bit early , I am already thinking about part two.
Top Notch!......so far

Aranthur is a student. He showed a little magical talent, is studying at the local academy, and is nothing particularly special. Others are smarter. Others are more talented. Others are quicker to pick up techniques. But none of them are with him when he breaks his journey home for the holidays in an inn. None of them step in to help when a young woman is thrown off a passing stage coach into the deep snow at the side of the road. And none of them are drawn into a fight to protect her.
One of the others might have realised she was manipulating him all along . . .
A powerful story about beginnings, coming of age, and the way choosing to take one step towards violence can lead to a slippery and dangerous slope, this is an accomplished fantasy series driven by strong characters and fast-paced action.

ixoy

66% into "Acceptance" by Jeff VandeerMeer, the final book in his Southern Reach trilogy (best known for the film "Annihilation" based loosely on the first book).
The book has some beautiful prose in it, again leaving a weird dreamlike quality to everything. I strongly suspect though that the plot will be a bit of a failing and there won't be any proper conclusion or answers so I'm going to just enjoy the nice writing.

Before that I read "The Expert System's Brother" by Adrian Tchaikosfky, a novella that I very much enjoyed. Somehow he still managed to get wasps into it..

smacl

Finished The King Beyond the Gate, which while enjoyable, felt a bit like playing an extended game of World of Warcraft. A pleasant enough way to pass a few hours, but not much beyond that. Started into A long way to a small angry planet which so far seems entertaining and a bit different to other stuff I've been reading recently.