What Are You Reading?

Tragedy

I've heard of a lot of people reading the first book and not liking it.

Too complex I think, plotlines started in the first book can take 6 or 7 books to fully develop, and things mentioned in passing suddenly take on new relevance a couple of thousand pages later. Meticulously detailed, crafted and planned.

I liked A Song of Ice and Fire, but found it be lacking in 'epic', and a more stereotypical(though excellently written) fantasy series. Malazan, you'd be well served taking notes as you read it just to remember all thats happening

Perhaps it's because I began with Toll The Hounds that I didn't enjoy it as much as you did.

Although, I take issue with saying that A Song Of Fire And Ice is 'stereotypical' in any way. It is less epic, that's true, but it is probably one of the most original fantasy tales ever written.

• The main characters from the first book are nearly all dead two books later.
• The magic elements of the story are barely mentioned for two books.
• Battles are described mostly summarily, to supplement the political intrigue, rather than for the sake of the battles themselves.

The only cliché in those books is the actual setting - a feudal world with the story revolving around the nobles and the knights for the most part.

Tragedy

Deleted User wrote: »

Perhaps it's because I began with Toll The Hounds that I didn't enjoy it as much as you did.

Although, I take issue with saying that A Song Of Fire And Ice is 'stereotypical' in any way. It is less epic, that's true, but it is probably one of the most original fantasy tales ever written.

• The main characters from the first book are nearly all dead two books later.
• The magic elements of the story are barely mentioned for two books.
• Battles are described mostly summarily, to supplement the political intrigue, rather than for the sake of the battles themselves.

None of that is particularly original, in my experience. I have about 800 sci-fi/fantasy books, and I'd be surprised if a tenth didn't have at least one of those three elements in it.

Whenever I have this argument with people(and I've had it a lot over the last 10 years), people always bring up your first point, as if that's some amazing new plot device that no-one has ever tried before.
I scoff at them.

Pshaw!

I can understand why people don't get on with the Malazan books, just like I can understand why people don't get on with Monet, Nirvana, The Wire, etc etc - but The Malazan books are fairly widely regarded as being the seminal piece of fantasy fiction in recent times.

Tragedy

Tragedy wrote: »

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None of that is particularly original, in my experience. I have about 800 sci-fi/fantasy books, and I'd be surprised if a tenth didn't have at least one of those three elements in it.

Whenever I have this argument with people(and I've had it a lot over the last 10 years), people always bring up your first point, as if that's some amazing new plot device that no-one has ever tried before.
I scoff at them.

Pshaw!

I can understand why people don't get on with the Malazan books, just like I can understand why people don't get on with Monet, Nirvana, The Wire, etc etc - but The Malazan books are fairly widely regarded as being the seminal piece of fantasy fiction in recent times.

There's not much original in the Malazan Book of The Fallen, from what I've read anyway, which is the 8th book I believe (I should have started from the beginning, but I'm just working from my awful local library and bookshops).

Are they regarded so? I can't find reference to a single claim that they are the seminal piece of fantasy fiction although I suppose it may be widely claimed by sources not mirrored online. Who am I to know?

Tragedy

Deleted User wrote: »

There's not much original in the Malazan Book of The Fallen, from what I've read anyway, which is the 8th book I believe (I should have started from the beginning, but I'm just working from my awful local library and bookshops).

1) The whole 10 book arc was preplanned/broadly written before the first book was completed, and hasn't deviated from that
2) The series is told in a non-linear fashion
3) I think it's the first series to have 3 books(book 2, 3 and 5) all occuring at the same time in-universe.
4) It has the most detailed world/universe of any non-collaborative fantasy series
5) The sheer amount of characters, and characters that have an impact, a story, a part to play is amazing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Malazan_Book_of_the_Fallen_Characters is a small amount of them, but gives you an idea
6) Did i mention the detail? Steve is a trained Archaeologist/Anthropologist which I'm guessing goes a looooooong way as to why and how he writes the way he does
7) You have no idea what is going on, who's good, who's bad, and everytime you think you know someones motivations, something is revealed that suddenly makes sense of something you read 2000 pages ago to show you you were wrong.
8) The sheer scale of the thing is mind-boggling to read, nevermind to try comprehend how two people created and made sense of it
9) It never overtly explains magic, society, politics to you. It's up to you to figure(or imagine) how it all works
10) There's no real mythology or folklore
11) After writing and publishing one book, two(!) publishing companies offered him over £500,000 to write another 9. That doesn't happen in Sci-fi/Fantasy. It just doesn't!

I could go on, but you really need to read the first two books to get a sense of it. Jumping in at book 8 is never, ever going to be fun as even people who have read the previous 7 multiple times will find parts confusing

Gardens of Moon is good but not great(much better second time round), Deadhouse Gates is simply sublime. You should be able to pick up both for a couple of euro new in Chapters, presuming you're in Dublin.

Are they regarded so? I can't find reference to a single claim that they are the seminal piece of fantasy fiction although I suppose it may be widely claimed by sources not mirrored online. Who am I to know?

There's no real sci-fi/fantasy stuff online, most book series have fan sites(WoT, Robin Hobb, etc etc) but there's no such thing as a broader community - it's still all based around print magazines and yearly books(both of which I try pick up second hand, but no-one in Ireland seems to buy them )

1) Nice piece of Trivia, not really a feature of the books, but I get how it would lead to a nice sense of coherency in the story.

2) Wow, just like A Song of Fire and Ice :pac:

3) That is pretty cool, although it is just the product of it's epic-ness and the non-linearity mentioned up there.

4) 5) 8) I'm getting the sense that it's epic.

9) Many authors do this. I much prefer books that describe things simply by unfolding the story and allowing the background to be just that.

10) That's pretty good. A bit of folklore is nice too though.

11) Well that shows me how well people regard them - but I was already getting that sense from somewhere... :P

I know I'm ribbing you here, I do take your word that it's a great series, and I'll definitely try get copies of some of the books. I was just being defensive of A Song of Fire and Ice. I do believe it's quite original.

From your description of The Malazan Book of the Fallen series, a lot of the points seem to apply to A Song of Fire and Ice.
Seems if you prefer epic fantasies, then The Malazan Book of the Fallen trumps A Song of Fire and Ice, but I don't; I'll take a single fantasy book if the story is worth reading. So maybe that's why I love the series so much.

travnett

I'm reading City Boy by Geraint Anderson, it's based on the Authors time working in the square mile in London on the Stock exchange and gives some insight into the running of it and what goes on with the dealers etc..

It's a good read, more humors than series which is good.

Geraint Anderson breaks the Square miles code of silence to reveal explosive secrets about life in the devious, murky and often corrupt heart of Europe's biggest money market

I'm also starting with the 1st Harry Potter book only this time the German version of it.

Tragedy

I really enjoyed A Song of Ice and Fire, it's head and shoulders above most Fantasy, it genuinely is - and George R.R. Martin might be a better writer than Steven Erikson. Probably is in fact, but I'd argue that the latter is the better Author because a book is about more than just it the writing it contains.

I'd argue the same with Alastair Reynolds and Richard K. Morgan, Morgan is the better writer, but Reynolds is the better sci-fi author.

Aoibheann

ToasterSparks wrote: »

Just finished this. Book 6 of 6. Loved it. If you're into some magic and swords, it's good. It's got a Roman-Empire-esque feel to it, and doesn't have unpronounceable names and elves and dwarves. It has other races of beings, but unique ones done very well. The magic style is good. The characters are really, really good and you'll warm to them - even the baddies (the sign of a great book).

Try the first book - Furies of Calderon. You won't regret it!

Have you read his other series - The Dresden Files? It's AMAZING. There's been 12 books so far, with at least 8 more to come and the standard of writing improves with every book. Also, it's modern fantasy so it's completely different to the Codex Alera series - his versatility is unreal!

EverybodyLies

I'm a few pages into Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Not sure if I like it. Has anyone read it? Does it get better?

Pygmalion

Alice likes to do kinky things with teddy bears. Bob has erotic fantasies about marble tables.

Yeah, that's a direct quote from Applied Cryptography by Bruce Schneier.
It has the best examples ever.

Jamie Starr

Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. To think he wrote it at 24 (as well as all his other books) after spending a lot of his youth in a shoe-blacking factory- genius!

EuropeanSon

Tragedy wrote: »

A Song Of Ice And Fire is the work of a child compared to The Malazan Book of the Fallen series, genuinely. It isn't a patch on it in any way.

Unlikely. That series ranks up there with Tolstoy's War And Peace as the best work of fiction I've ever read. Nothing could make it seem "the work of a child" if War And Peace didn't.

Tragedy

EuropeanSon wrote: »

Unlikely. That series ranks up there with Tolstoy's War And Peace as the best work of fiction I've ever read. Nothing could make it seem "the work of a child" if War And Peace didn't.

I've read both(and Tolstoy too for that matter).
Have you?

Nice post count btw!

ToasterSparks

Aoibheann wrote: »

Have you read his other series - The Dresden Files? It's AMAZING. There's been 12 books so far, with at least 8 more to come and the standard of writing improves with every book. Also, it's modern fantasy so it's completely different to the Codex Alera series - his versatility is unreal!

Nope, but it's next on my list! I picked up Furies of Calderon by chance in the bookshop and then devoured the other five books afterwards. From his website, it seems like most people did it the other way around (read some of the Dresden Files stuff and then read the Codex Alera series).

His blog has some really awesome advice for potential authors too!

Aoibheann

ToasterSparks wrote: »

Nope, but it's next on my list! I picked up Furies of Calderon by chance in the bookshop and then devoured the other five books afterwards. From his website, it seems like most people did it the other way around (read some of the Dresden Files stuff and then read the Codex Alera series).

His blog has some really awesome advice for potential authors too!

I was given the first two Dresden Files books as a present for Christmas, and I caught up far too quickly, so I've been eagerly awaiting each book every year for the past aaaages. I started reading the Codex Alera when Furies of Calderon came out, as I'd pretty much fallen in love with his style of writing by that point. I love both series, I'd favour the Dresden Files as I love the humour - and there's so many more books. Quality AND quantity. \o/

Jay P

I'm reading a lovely book called "Introduction to C++" or something along those lines. I've read the first chapter, and I'm pretty sure the stuff has all clicked now, which I'm happy with. It should been a tad less work for second year...

A Neurotic

Doing a bit of study ahead for second year.

almostnever

I WAS reading The Journals of Sylvia Plath, but I lost it. I must get my sister to look for it, she's good at finding stuff/generally not being blind.

baileyjackson

EverybodyLies wrote: »

I'm a few pages into Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Not sure if I like it. Has anyone read it? Does it get better?

All 3 book are excellent.
Dirty as Sin, but hilarious and intelligent!

Tragedy

On a more positive note, has anyone ever read any of Paul Kearney's books? He's an Irish Fantasy author, and although his books are fantastic he never really gets much press.

Even if you don't like Fantasy, A Different Kingdom is an amazing book - and usually for sale in chapters for €2 - €3.

If you like fantasy, Monarchies of God is a brilliant series, which manages to be epic, complex and immersive while only managing 2-300 pages per book.

Arcade Panda

Absolutely brilliant! Go forth and read this book. Ye'll thank me later!



Finished this a week ago, took me ages to read! Kept reading other books and forgetting about it, finally finished it and whoa...

What a twist, I did not see that one coming!

Corkfeen

A Neurotic wrote: »

Doing a bit of study ahead for second year.

Reminds me that I should use that for revision for history in first year arts.

bythewoods

My Mam bought me this-



It's meant to be really good and great and awesome and.... it's shit. SHIT.

I've read one of Emma O Donohue's other books recently and, although also average, it wasn't incredibly shit.

Novella

almostnever wrote: »

I WAS reading The Journals of Sylvia Plath, but I lost it. I must get my sister to look for it, she's good at finding stuff/generally not being blind.

I have it, if you wanna borrow it? I could bring it next Friday and give it to you!

cheesefiend

I'm reading The Cather in the Rye and I'm loving it. I was a bit wary when I started reading it because I thought I might be a tad too old to really get it but I'm thoroughly enjoying it!

Jay P

Arcade Panda wrote: »

Finished this a week ago, took me ages to read! Kept reading other books and forgetting about it, finally finished it and whoa...

What a twist, I did not see that one coming!

I vaguely remember what happened... Not really though. I must read it again! I remember loving it :P

TheCardHolder

Still devouring the works of Bret Easton Ellis.

So entertaining; om nom nom books.

Namlub

Arcade Panda wrote: »

Absolutely brilliant! Go forth and read this book. Ye'll thank me later!

YES! So much ... and now they're making a movie of it. With Ann Hathaway

I'm reading Nothing To Envy: Real Lives in North Korea - tis awesome, and I NEVER read non-fiction

A Neurotic

Finally started reading this today:



So far, so good. Just as in A Short History of Nearly Everything, it's full of fascinating little anecdotes and historical character profiles. Love it.