What Are You Reading?

Bits_n_Bobs

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi was a most enjoyable read for me.

Just finished Assassins Apprentice by Robin Hobb. Not a bad fantasy book, narrative driven and a smidge light on world building for my taste. I'll probably read the sequels eventually.

About 20% into The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu. So far so fine, not going to change the world but seems the plot is shifting along at a reasonable pace. I have a preference for slightly heavier sci-fi, this is a bit fluffy for me and the plot contains more than it's fair share of cliches.

keane2097

sentient_6 wrote: »

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!

Does that come highly recommended yeah? Almost finished the second Gentlemen Bastards book so will need something to hop into next.

bradyle

keane2097 wrote: »

Does that come highly recommended yeah? Almost finished the second Gentlemen Bastards book so will need something to hop into next.

Whats the second Gentlemen's Bastards like? Just finished the first trying to decide whether to go straight for the second or branch out!

Cokeistan

Started the gunslinger by King a week back. I read the first 40% really quickly but have been struggling with it since

Nody

bradyle wrote: »

Whats the second Gentlemen's Bastards like? Just finished the first trying to decide whether to go straight for the second or branch out!

It's weaker then the first one but sets up for a very interesting third book (due out in October).

keane2097

Nody wrote: »

It's weaker then the first one but sets up for a very interesting third book (due out in October).

I'm not finished it so can't say overall but it's probably a bit slower than the first one.

I've found with both of these books that the dialogue and action are terrific but the prose in between them is borderline boring. A good example would be the interminable descriptions of these elderglass structures. Having given us so little back story as to where they came from I find the constant detailed descriptions of them have my eyes glazing over. Ok, they're big and unbreakable, grand - I'm happy enough to accept that ease stop going on about them. Assuming they end up being important I'll be pretty tilted that it will have taken him almost to the end of the second book (at least) to say anything interesting about them.

bradyle

Nody wrote: »

It's weaker then the first one but sets up for a very interesting third book (due out in October).

keane2097 wrote: »

I'm not finished it so can't say overall but it's probably a bit slower than the first one.

I've found with both of these books that the dialogue and action are terrific but the prose in between them is borderline boring. A good example would be the interminable descriptions of these elderglass structures. Having given us so little back story as to where they came from I find the constant detailed descriptions of them have my eyes glazing over. Ok, they're big and unbreakable, grand - I'm happy enough to accept that ease stop going on about them. Assuming they end up being important I'll be pretty tilted that it will have taken him almost to the end of the second book (at least) to say anything interesting about them.

Righteo in that case I might go to Micheal J. Sullivans Riyra chronicles. I've had the books for an age so may jump in!

AnCapaillMor

David Dalglish's the Half Orc series. As stupid as i find it at times, i can't seem to put it down.

giftgrub

Surface Detail by the late Iain M Banks.

100 pages in and really enjoying it.

Its been a while since I've read him, saying that I couldnt get into The Algebraist, the one before that was Matter.

He'll be missed

RoboAmish

keane2097 wrote: »

I'm not finished it so can't say overall but it's probably a bit slower than the first one.

I've found with both of these books that the dialogue and action are terrific but the prose in between them is borderline boring. A good example would be the interminable descriptions of these elderglass structures. Having given us so little back story as to where they came from I find the constant detailed descriptions of them have my eyes glazing over. Ok, they're big and unbreakable, grand - I'm happy enough to accept that ease stop going on about them. Assuming they end up being important I'll be pretty tilted that it will have taken him almost to the end of the second book (at least) to say anything interesting about them.

I agree with you, though the word for his prose I'd use would be more something like "awkward". It's not done in a natural way. He gets better but the most egregious example of this is in "Lies" towards the beginning, where, instead of intersecting descriptions between dialogue, he sorta dumps all such info at the beginning of the chapter and then moves on to the conversation.

It can be a bit jarring at time and his descriptions can often bring the action to a shuddering halt but he is really good at dialogue and characterisation in fairness to him.

Overall, as regards the original point though, Book Two is noticeably weaker than Book One but that's down to a weaker plot with too many moving parts. I'm sure some would say that all these jigsaw pieces are part of the charm, but it meant there was a clear lack of focus and that resolution is often rushed. The book is good, sometimes very good, but it could have shaved off a hundred pages easily and maybe cut a subplot or two.

Liamalone

Cokeistan wrote: »

Started the gunslinger by King a week back. I read the first 40% really quickly but have been struggling with it since

Struggled with that too but really enjoyed the next three, worth ploughing on through it.

AllthingsCP

Just read all of Simon Scarrow novels about two Roman officers and their struggle from Germany to Britain then right round the world and back to Rome found very entertaining. Ben Kane Hannibal and Ships of Rome all very good books i found, But on a more serious note i finish the Blueshirts by Maurice Manning, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Just started Guerrilla Warfare by the BUTCHER of LA CABANA {Ernesto Che Guevara}

growler

Started reading Greg Bear's Forge of God again while i wait for the next amazon delivery to arrive, must be 20 years since I last read it, quite original in many ways but not sure I'll stick with the series if something else pops thorugh the letterbox ...

gufnork

Reading 'Conquering Sword of Conan'. Loved the first two. This 3rd one has started off very well. I love it when he goes delving in dungeons(or the equivalent).

ixoy

Reading "The Straits of Galahesh", by Bradley P. Beaulieu the seond book in his "The Lays of Anuskaya" trilogy.
Enjoying it so far - takes a little bit of getting used to are there's quite a number of terms and Beaulieu has gone for a mix of Russian / Arabian culture as his back drop rather than the standard Western European one. It's refreshing but the prose is quite heavy so I'm not breezing through it either. Worth it so far though.

OwaynOTT

ixoy wrote: »

Reading "The Straits of Galahesh", by Bradley P. Beaulieu the seond book in his "The Lays of Anuskaya" trilogy.
Enjoying it so far - takes a little bit of getting used to are there's quite a number of terms and Beaulieu has gone for a mix of Russian / Arabian culture as his back drop rather than the standard Western European one. It's refreshing but the prose is quite heavy so I'm not breezing through it either. Worth it so far though.

Thought the first book was excellent. Pity the series didn't take off for him and the problems with book publishers wouldn't have exactly helped. I think he has self published the last in the trilogy and apparently it keeps up the same level of quality.

OwaynOTT

Nody wrote: »

It's weaker then the first one but sets up for a very interesting third book (due out in October).

Have to disagree there, I felt it was the better of the two.

Dades

growler wrote: »

Started reading Greg Bear's Forge of God again while i wait for the next amazon delivery to arrive, must be 20 years since I last read it, quite original in many ways but not sure I'll stick with the series if something else pops thorugh the letterbox ...

I read and enjoyed it earlier in the year and started the sequel straight after.

Didn't grab me though and its now languishing on my "to get back to" list.

mcgovern

Finished The Windup Girl which I really enjoyed. It's a very different future that we normally get to read about, and I look forward to reading some more of his work.
After that I read a short story, The Winged Things by Caleb Casey that I got free somewhere. Its terrible. Beyond terrible, the only thing it has going for it, is that its short so its over quickly.
Now starting The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson. Only a few pages in and already confused as usual

growler

On to The Folding Knife, KL Parker, very readable but there seems to only be one character in it

Dades

Finished the last of the Old Man's War Trilogy (John Scalzi) over the weekend.

First book was really good, second was almost as good, but The Last Colony was disappointing, tbh. Much less action and a lot more talking heads. Even the settings were very localised.

Glad to have read them, though.

ixoy

Currently reading "The Stranded", the last book in Hugh Howey's Wool series. Really enjoying it - a good pay off to the previous novels. I'll definitely be picking up the prequel trilogy and sequel novel in the future.

Paddy Samurai

Just started the final part of this trilogy.About 3 chapters in and loving it so far. I like the way you have no idea how this series is going to end ,or who will be still standing at it’s conclusion.

As The Sacred Band begins, Queen Corinn bestrides the world as a result of her mastery of spells from the Book of Elenet. Her younger brother, Dariel, has been sent on a perilous mis­sion to the Other Lands. And her sister, Mena, travels to the far north to face an invasion of the feared race of the Auldek. As their separate trajectories converge, a series of world-shaping, earth-shattering battles will force the surviving children of the Akaran dynasty to confront their fates head on—and right some ancient wrongs once and for all.

David Anthony Durham has serious chops. I can’t wait to read whatever he writes next."George R. R. Martin

Ps: I like the way Durham provides a synopsis of the story so far , at the beginning of his books.I wish more authors followed his example. It makes is so much easier to dive in, especially when there’s a long interval between books in the series.

Playboy

Struggling with 'The Reality Dysfunction' at the moment. First time I have jumped from fantasy into sci-fi in many years and finding it hard going. About a quarter of the way through and it has begun to pick up but half the time I cant be bothered picking it up. Not sure whether to stick or go.

ixoy

Reading "Prince of Thorns" by Mark Lawrence. About 18% into it. It's decent so far but I haven't been bowled over by it yet, despite some high praise. Finding the prose a little weak and the main character quite unsympathetic (yeah, obviously he's meant to be tough but I'm not finding him well rounded).

Raging_Ninja

Playboy wrote: »

Struggling with 'The Reality Dysfunction' at the moment. First time I have jumped from fantasy into sci-fi in many years and finding it hard going. About a quarter of the way through and it has begun to pick up but half the time I cant be bothered picking it up. Not sure whether to stick or go.

Did not like that book, gave up on it after 2/3 way through, skimmed through the rest of it.

Reading "The Prince" by Jerry Pournelle and SM Stirling, and I'm enjoying it a hell of a lot. Wanted to read more of this series since I read "Mote in God's Eye" last year.

Arawn

ixoy wrote: »

Reading "Prince of Thorns" by Mark Lawrence. About 18% into it. It's decent so far but I haven't been bowled over by it yet, despite some high praise. Finding the prose a little weak and the main character quite unsympathetic (yeah, obviously he's meant to be tough but I'm not finding him well rounded).

crap book imho

growler

Half way through Spin by Robert Charles Wilson, another of those I found on some list of" top ten big ideas in science fiction" lists some time back, and although the idea is indeed big I'm struggling to give a s**t about what happens to any of the characters, but I'll persevere. Choice of Wool or Farenheit 451 next, Wool seems to have a lot of positive feedback here but the back cover seems to suggest it is more teenage fiction.... anyone shed some light?

ixoy

growler wrote: »

Wool seems to have a lot of positive feedback here but the back cover seems to suggest it is more teenage fiction.... anyone shed some light?

Just finished it a few days ago and I wouldn't call it teenage fiction. I thought it was very well written myself, a good character driven piece. It's got a good premise and was well thought out.

ixoy

Arawn wrote: »

crap book imho

And now in mine. Honestly, I felt it was one of the worst books I've read this year. Maybe I'm missing something but it felt like some sort of angsty teenage mood piece. Characters were under-developed, the world building was weak (despite the potential of the setting) and Jorg was such an utter s**t that I couldn't care less about him. Abercrombie's written bastards that you can like but Lawrence just made a bastard I couldn't care less about.