What Are You Reading?

Nody

mcgovern wrote: »

I forced myself to read the first 3, but I agree, they are terrible.

Finished they all; they don't really get any better sadly

AnCapaillMor

Playboy wrote: »

Well different strokes and all that. R. Scott Bakker has been a fav of mine for years... Read the first book soon after it was published and have been waiting patiently for years for him to conclude that series. I've been banging the drum on here for quite a while now but he isn't everyone's taste as he is quite dark, heavy on the philosophy and his books read like a Greek tragedy with little to no comic relief.

Just a bit into the thousand fold thought, really is dark, that scene with Esmenet admitting to what happened to her child really freaked me out. And Kellhus i don't know what to make of him, he's such a ****. Achiaman is about the only one you can have sympathy\partially like in the book.

ixoy

Just started Brandon Sanderson's "Emperor's Soul". Only 3% into this novella and already he seems to be starting up a magic system more intriguing than most can manage in a trilogy. Looking forward to him keeping up the same standard I've found with the rest of his work.

keane2097

Finished the Wise Man's Fear the other day. Definitely better than the first one but still disappointing enough. They're weird books because they're enjoyable while you're reading them, the characters are mostly really good and you're happy to be following their story along, but it's annoyingly slow-burning.

A minor annoyance:

Bast is a very annoying character, out of everyone in the two books he tilts me hard. Rothfuss also annoys me in trying to bash the reader over the head with the fact that he and Kvothe are close by having Bast call him Reshi in probably 80%+ of his sentences. I get it, please stop.

When Rothfuss writes about music it's terrific stuff.

keane2097

Started reading the second Gentlemen Bastards book. Already loving it after just a couple of chapters. The dialogue is just superb in these books.

Liamalone

Jumped back into The Dark Tower series last night after a hiatus, read GRRM's song and only getting back to the path if the beam now, book five 'Wolves of Calla', onwards to the end from here!

shootermacg

If you liked the name of the wind take a look at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_Earth its the usual escapism, easy to read but has a western slant which is a nice change.

Bits_n_Bobs

keane2097 wrote: »

A minor annoyance: When Rothfuss writes about music it's terrific stuff.

That drove me all manners of insane too! Just irritated the pants off me in a completely non-rational but rage inducing manner

Paddy Samurai

At the moment I am reading two........

I Travel by Night by Robert McCammon
A horror book about Vampires ,set in the old west.

SAMPLE CHAPTER http://subterraneanpress.com/store/product_detail/i_travel_by_night


A Crown Imperiled by Rayond E Feist
Previously I had decided to give up on Feist ,but since this is the 2nd last one(I hope) I will finish out the series.

shaneor

ixoy wrote: »

Just started Brandon Sanderson's "Emperor's Soul". Only 3% into this novella and already he seems to be starting up a magic system more intriguing than most can manage in a trilogy. Looking forward to him keeping up the same standard I've found with the rest of his work.

That was a really interesting short read. Sanderson comes up with the most amazingly innovative magic systems I can think of. They often would make the book worth reading even on their own!

He's also very close to finishing the sequel to Way of Kings (based on twitter comments from him) so very much looking forward to that!

shaneor

I finished "Magicians End" a few weeks back. It was better than a lot of his recent books and I was happy enough with how it all ended. I've been following that series for so long it's going to be very strange not having a new one to look out for in the future!

Also read "Shift" the "Wool" sequel from Hugh Howey. A good read with some interesting ideas. I thought it was well inwoven with the story from Wool. Looking forward to the third in the series!

Just finished "Among Others" by Jo Walton a few days ok. It won a Hugo and a Nebula recently and it was well written. Worth a read but nothing spectacular.

About 30% into "Abbandons Gate" from James SA Corey and loving it just like the first two in the series. It's one of the best new SciFi series I've read in a good while!

Valaquenta

shaneor wrote: »

I finished "Magicians End" a few weeks back. It was better than a lot of his recent books and I was happy enough with how it all ended. I've been following that series for so long it's going to be very strange not having a new one to look out for in the future!

!

I'm a coupla books behind in the series. Was huge into it for about 2 yrs and got distracted with other stuff waiting for the next one to be released. Gonna need a bit of a refresher but always rated that whole series as one of the best I've read

Nody

Finished "Old Man's War"; not overly impressed (but still an interesting read) but I ordered the next three in the series in the hope it develops the story more; over all it reminded me of "War is an Orphanage" series by Robert Buettner in style (which is a nice and easily read series as well).

TwoShedsJackson

Just started reading 'The Lies of Locke Lamora' again and decided to check to see if 'Republic of Thieves' was anywhere nearer being pubilshed. Official announcement from the publishers it will be out in October!! I know this is old news (was announced in March), but it's cheered me up

bradyle

TwoShedsJackson wrote: »

Just started reading 'The Lies of Locke Lamora' again and decided to check to see if 'Republic of Thieves' was anywhere nearer being pubilshed. Official announcement from the publishers it will be out in October!! I know this is old news (was announced in March), but it's cheered me up

I'm just about to finish this for the first time. Its a really good book!! Rerally enjoyed it!

pH

shaneor wrote: »

Just finished "Among Others" by Jo Walton a few days ok. It won a Hugo and a Nebula recently and it was well written. Worth a read but nothing spectacular.

I read it recently as well. I'm no sure what I think tbh.

Basically it's "urban fantasy" ie magic and stuff set in our world, but in this case the magic veneer is so thin it's almost undetectable, and that coupled with the main characters tragic existence most of the book left me wondering if it was fantasy (literary) or the imaginings of a troubled young mind. Her love of classic SF was a bonus point for me, but as a "fantasy" novel it came up short. Well written and hauntingly poignant in places but not totally my cup of tea.

Sadly I seem not to be able to pick a book - I've had more bad reads and unfinished novels recently than ever before.

Generic Dresden novel #? (Jim Butcher)
More of the same about some fairy war, finished it but it's the last one for me.

Anti-Copernicus (Adam Roberts)
A "novella" or short novel that was meant to deal with the Fermi Paradox (which fascinates me) was ultimately a confused mess that made little sense and added nothing to it for me.

Atopia Chronicles (Matthew Maher)
Some utter tosh about PSI (virtual reality etc) and a floating metropolis - complete rubbish and unfinished.

Fire Watch (Connie Willis)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Watch_(story)

I'd heard about this award winning series about time travelling historians so I started at the beginning (this is a short story). It's about a time traveller who goes back to the London blitz to fight fires on St Pauls. However there is absolutely no point to any of it. The story revolves around his nightly efforts to keep fires at bay, the "time travelling" aspect has no effect on the story - it was pointless. Tried to read some of the other short stories in the collection but I so disliked the style I gave up.



I hope the next Aaronovitch which I'm looking forward to doesn't disappoint!

Trojan

I just finished Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey, my first Pern novel. Not bad, I wasn't blown away, but considering it was written in 1968 it has aged pretty well. 7/10.

Will give Dragonquest a look next.

--

Nody wrote: »

Finished "Old Man's War"; not overly impressed (but still an interesting read)

I'd say similar for most of the series - a fairly solid 6/10, comfort reading. I really like what he did with inter-species conflict in the series.

ixoy

Reading "Mindgames: Fool's Mate" by Neal Asher, a novella that he re-published for the Kindle. It's one of his first works and it's a little rusty - it's basically Doctor Who's "War Games" where fighters from different eras in human history are pitched against each other. Not too bad but far from his best (as he'd admit himself). Still only cost a couple of quid so no complaints.

shaneor

pH wrote: »

I read it recently as well. I'm no sure what I think tbh.

Basically it's "urban fantasy" ie magic and stuff set in our world, but in this case the magic veneer is so thin it's almost undetectable, and that coupled with the main characters tragic existence most of the book left me wondering if it was fantasy (literary) or the imaginings of a troubled young mind. Her love of classic SF was a bonus point for me, but as a "fantasy" novel it came up short. Well written and hauntingly poignant in places but not totally my cup of tea.

That's not far how I felt about it actually. I'm still not sure how much of it was in the main characters head or whether it was an actual "fantasy" novel! Some of the SF references were great though (although it just made me realize how much I hadn't read!).

Dades

Just finished The Ghost Brigades and enjoyed it as much as Old Mans' War.

Started The Final Colony to complete the trilogy.

RoboAmish

Just finished "Red Seas Under Red Skies". It's not quite as good as its (excellent) predecessor but the banter and characterisations of Locke and Jean remain strong. As a rule, I usually hate the section in a fantasy book (which was rampant for a long time) where the character would take to the high seas. Tended to bore me to tears. So, the premise was slightly off putting at first, but Lynch injected enough personality and did it in a unique enough fashion to keep me entertained. Looking forward to "The Republic of Thieves"!

Now back to Sanderson and "Warbreaker".

Gerry Kerr

Just started reading Stephen Baxter's the long war and finding it slow to start. I did like its predecessor, the long earth

Gerry

pH

I'd also forgotten about my second foray into time travelling SF -
The Last Roman (Edward Chrichton)

I'd read some utter tripe recently, but this once topped it all. It starts with the premise that in the near future the world has gone downhill, and the Vatican (yes the Catholic church!) needs its own SAS/Delta force squad to deal with their enemies. After a bizarre time traveling accident a Vatican SAS squad (with a suspicious number of members fluent in Latin) arrive in ancient Rome and with gleeful abandon use their modern weapons to mow down legions and savages alike in great numbers in support of the great Roman emperor Caligua.

Sadly I'm unable to report how this book ends.

Valaquenta

pH wrote: »

I'd also forgotten about my second foray into time travelling SF -
The Last Roman (Edward Chrichton)

I'd read some utter tripe recently, but this once topped it all. It starts with the premise that in the near future the world has gone downhill, and the Vatican (yes the Catholic church!) needs its own SAS/Delta force squad to deal with their enemies. After a bizarre time traveling accident a Vatican SAS squad (with a suspicious number of members fluent in Latin) arrive in ancient Rome and with gleeful abandon use their modern weapons to mow down legions and savages alike in great numbers in support of the great Roman emperor Caligua.

Sadly I'm unable to report how this book ends.

haha, that sounds horrendous!!

Dan_Solo

pH wrote: »

I'd also forgotten about my second foray into time travelling SF -
The Last Roman (Edward Chrichton)

I'd read some utter tripe recently, but this once topped it all. It starts with the premise that in the near future the world has gone downhill, and the Vatican (yes the Catholic church!) needs its own SAS/Delta force squad to deal with their enemies. After a bizarre time traveling accident a Vatican SAS squad (with a suspicious number of members fluent in Latin) arrive in ancient Rome and with gleeful abandon use their modern weapons to mow down legions and savages alike in great numbers in support of the great Roman emperor Caligua.

Sadly I'm unable to report how this book ends.

There's an old Time Tunnel episode that reminds me of called "Revenge Of The Gods". GIs with Tommy Guns join the Greeks to mow down no end of Trojans...

shaneor

pH wrote: »

I'd also forgotten about my second foray into time travelling SF -
The Last Roman (Edward Chrichton)

I'd read some utter tripe recently, but this once topped it all. It starts with the premise that in the near future the world has gone downhill, and the Vatican (yes the Catholic church!) needs its own SAS/Delta force squad to deal with their enemies. After a bizarre time traveling accident a Vatican SAS squad (with a suspicious number of members fluent in Latin) arrive in ancient Rome and with gleeful abandon use their modern weapons to mow down legions and savages alike in great numbers in support of the great Roman emperor Caligua.

Sadly I'm unable to report how this book ends.

Well that sounds .... unusual!

It's free on Kindle at the moment though so I think I'll get it & if I ever feel like a laugh some time it'll be there!

Bits_n_Bobs

RoboAmish wrote: »

As a rule, I usually hate the section in a fantasy book (which was rampant for a long time) where the character would take to the high seas. Tended to bore me to tears.

Totally agree and delighted to hear someone else moaning about it!!

Paddy Samurai

pH wrote: »

I'd also forgotten about my second foray into time travelling SF -
The Last Roman (Edward Chrichton)

I'd read some utter tripe recently, .......................
Sadly I'm unable to report how this book ends.

Reminds me of a book I read as a teenager,but in reverse .At the time I thought it was brilliant. A Roman Gladiator in the modern age..........

The Far Arena

The Far Arena is a novel by Richard Sapir, writing as Richard Ben Sapir. It chronicles the adventures of Eugeni, a Roman gladiator from Domitian's period, who, due to an unlikely series of events, is frozen in ice for 1900 years before being found by the Houghton Oil Company on a prospecting mission in the N. Atlantic.

sentient_6

Playboy wrote: »

sentient_6 wrote: »

I've started The Blade Itself.......& after 100 pages i'm thinking of putting it down. Really not feeling it.

Keep at it... Took me a while to get into it but so glad I stuck with it

Well. Above quotes are from 5 months ago and I did indeed go back to it. Moving on to Last Argument now. They are brilliant!

mcgovern

Finished Shadow and Betrayal, and it was a real slog. Nothing happens in the book.
Started The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Interesting so far.