I'm in the midst of the first Thomas Covenant series. I'm not entirely sold on it, mostly due to Donaldson's extensive use of similes, but it's not a bad read.
I started reading that today and am 100ish pages in. I'm liking it. I'm also listening to The Lies of Locke Lamora at the same time. Lord Foul's Bane grabbed me pretty fast while Lies took me a while. At this point I'm looking forward to finishing both. I've got a long walk/run planned for tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it mostly for a 2 hour Lies listen.
I've read everything Stephen Donaldson has written, and love all of it except the most recent series.
If you finish Covenant, or just want a change from the sheer emotional howl of it all, I really recommend the two Mordant's Need books. The central philosophical conceit is sort of a reciprocal of the one in Covenant - someone is magically summoned, but believes that they may not have really existed before the summoning. But apart from that it's a different book entirely - much more positive, quite romantic, with some cool heroes and villains... as well as some of the pathos and intensity that Donaldson does so well.
They are perhaps my favourite of his books, and in my top 5 ever, I'd say.
I'm reading Pynchon's Inherrant Vice and for some reason it's been really slow going. It's not bad, but I can't get into it and I really need to finish before the next Neal Stephenson book comes out.
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Finished John Scalzi's Old Man's War. Very quick and enjoyable read. Very much influenced by Heinlein.
OMW was tasty! Go for the sequel, it's also good. I didn't read book 3 - I'd had my fill of his style by then. however, I did buy Fuzzy Nation, and enjoyed it.
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AstaerethIn the belly of the beastRegistered Userregular
Currently reading the second "Girl with a Dragon Tattoo" book. I don't know why I had it in my head that a best-selling thriller would actually be not trash, but anyway. Disappointing. Not that it isn't kind of enjoyable, and it's so simply written that they read really fast (hell, so does Dan Brown), and the Salander character is really quite good; but so far they're poorly paced, with broken mysteries* and way too little Salander.
(The first book's mystery: intriguing setup, but way too many suspects to keep track of or care about. Oh, it turns out it's one of the suspects? You don't say.)
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VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
I'm reading A Game of Thrones . It's...okay. I tend to loathe fantasy, and while this is better than a lot of the other stuff I've attempted, I don't feel any urgency to tear through the next four books. I'll be quite happy to return to my corner and read my snobbish literature.
I'm finishing Circle of Enemies, the third book in the Twenty Palaces series by Harry Connolly. It's not Shakespeare but it's pretty good, and I suspect anyone who likes the Dresden Files books will really like this series too. Plus, the hero is not a twerp like Dresden. (Full disclosure: I read the first Dresden book on a recommendation from several friends, didn't think much of it, and was told "Yeah, it gets a lot better around the third book." WTF? Life's too short.)
The fact that you made that disclosure at all makes it obvious you know how silly it is to be recommending things based on what you think a twelve-book series is after reading only the first (and the second-most mediocre). But maybe I'll check it out anyway :P
Making my way through the Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne. Pretty cool urban fantasy, reminds me of Dresden Files but with a less heroic protagonist. I mean, he's a nice guy and all, but he was born in the Iron Age and can be a bit callous about people dying.
Probably going to read the Wardstone Chronicles by Joseph Delaney next, because I have an addiction to YA fantasy.
Iron Druid third book spoilers:
I thought Hammered was a massive let-down after the first two. Hearne goes nuts and has his hero slaughter like half of the Norse pantheon for pretty much no reason. I think he spent too much time figuring out how to make it epic, and not nearly enough time figuring out how to make it interesting or believable. I did enjoy the five stories and the last three or four pages, though.
what the hell? build up build up build up .... end
no climax?!
I almost don't feel like reading anymore Wheel of Time =/
Lord of Chaos had no climax ???????
WTF book were you reading?
ok, so there was a fight and rand got let out of his box .... after 700 or so pages, I kind of figured there would be a bit more.
Did you miss the part where people started exploding?
I mean, if you were talking about Crossroads of Twilight or (to a lesser extent) Path of Daggers I'd agree with you and understand. Lord of Chaos had one of the better finales. Nothing can match book 9 for awesome ending fights, but Lord of Chaos tries really hard.
what the hell? build up build up build up .... end
no climax?!
I almost don't feel like reading anymore Wheel of Time =/
Lord of Chaos had no climax ???????
WTF book were you reading?
ok, so there was a fight and rand got let out of his box .... after 700 or so pages, I kind of figured there would be a bit more.
Did you miss the part where people started exploding?
I mean, if you were talking about Crossroads of Twilight or (to a lesser extent) Path of Daggers I'd agree with you and understand. Lord of Chaos had one of the better finales. Nothing can match book 9 for awesome ending fights, but Lord of Chaos tries really hard.
My beef wasn't the fight, but the lack of any information after the fight. What happened between Perrin and his annoying wife? What happened to the bad Aes Sedai that weren't killed? What was the Towers reaction? Why can a woman channel like a man? Did they find the weather bowl they spent the whole book yammering about? I dunno, I left the book with more questions than answers.
what the hell? build up build up build up .... end
no climax?!
I almost don't feel like reading anymore Wheel of Time =/
Lord of Chaos had no climax ???????
WTF book were you reading?
ok, so there was a fight and rand got let out of his box .... after 700 or so pages, I kind of figured there would be a bit more.
Did you miss the part where people started exploding?
I mean, if you were talking about Crossroads of Twilight or (to a lesser extent) Path of Daggers I'd agree with you and understand. Lord of Chaos had one of the better finales. Nothing can match book 9 for awesome ending fights, but Lord of Chaos tries really hard.
My beef wasn't the fight, but the lack of any information after the fight. What happened between Perrin and his annoying wife? What happened to the bad Aes Sedai that weren't killed? What was the Towers reaction? Why can a woman channel like a man? Did they find the weather bowl they spent the whole book yammering about? I dunno, I left the book with more questions than answers.
what the hell? build up build up build up .... end
no climax?!
I almost don't feel like reading anymore Wheel of Time =/
Lord of Chaos had no climax ???????
WTF book were you reading?
ok, so there was a fight and rand got let out of his box .... after 700 or so pages, I kind of figured there would be a bit more.
Did you miss the part where people started exploding?
I mean, if you were talking about Crossroads of Twilight or (to a lesser extent) Path of Daggers I'd agree with you and understand. Lord of Chaos had one of the better finales. Nothing can match book 9 for awesome ending fights, but Lord of Chaos tries really hard.
My beef wasn't the fight, but the lack of any information after the fight. What happened between Perrin and his annoying wife? What happened to the bad Aes Sedai that weren't killed? What was the Towers reaction? Why can a woman channel like a man? Did they find the weather bowl they spent the whole book yammering about? I dunno, I left the book with more questions than answers.
It's not the last book in the series.....
I know, but after 700 or so pages, I'd like to feel like I know a little bit more
Finished reading Mark Twain's Letters From the Earth. As terrible as it is that Life took a shit on him in his later years, I enjoy the snarky, misanthropic side of Twain that resulted from it in this collection, because there's some great observations on humanity and snark/wit that had me laughing out loud. The excerpts from A Tramp Abroad and his other assorted essays/clips were great too. Especially his literary criticism regarding Last of the Mohicans.
Now I'm reading Dan Abnett's Legion and Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage.
what the hell? build up build up build up .... end
no climax?!
I almost don't feel like reading anymore Wheel of Time =/
Lord of Chaos had no climax ???????
WTF book were you reading?
ok, so there was a fight and rand got let out of his box .... after 700 or so pages, I kind of figured there would be a bit more.
Did you miss the part where people started exploding?
I mean, if you were talking about Crossroads of Twilight or (to a lesser extent) Path of Daggers I'd agree with you and understand. Lord of Chaos had one of the better finales. Nothing can match book 9 for awesome ending fights, but Lord of Chaos tries really hard.
My beef wasn't the fight, but the lack of any information after the fight. What happened between Perrin and his annoying wife? What happened to the bad Aes Sedai that weren't killed? What was the Towers reaction? Why can a woman channel like a man? Did they find the weather bowl they spent the whole book yammering about? I dunno, I left the book with more questions than answers.
It's not the last book in the series.....
I know, but after 700 or so pages, I'd like to feel like I know a little bit more
This is a fair complaint.
Except for the Aran'gar stuff, that all gets dealt with during the next book (which also introduces the controversial Mat/Tylin storyline, if I recall correctly). The seventh book also resolves one of my most hated story elements, so I've always been a big fan.
Spoiler for Crown of Swords:
The Nynaeve/Lan relationship drama and her block.
Reading Wheel of Time is strange because you can almost see the point where Jordan decides to go a little bit longer than his original plan. I personally think the moment Cadsuane shows up is the moment he starts viciously padding things out, and Crossroads of Twilight is just irritating. Once you finish book 9 let us know and maybe we'll sum up the events of book 10 so you don't have to actually read the damn thing.
what the hell? build up build up build up .... end
no climax?!
I almost don't feel like reading anymore Wheel of Time =/
Lord of Chaos had no climax ???????
WTF book were you reading?
ok, so there was a fight and rand got let out of his box .... after 700 or so pages, I kind of figured there would be a bit more.
Did you miss the part where people started exploding?
I mean, if you were talking about Crossroads of Twilight or (to a lesser extent) Path of Daggers I'd agree with you and understand. Lord of Chaos had one of the better finales. Nothing can match book 9 for awesome ending fights, but Lord of Chaos tries really hard.
My beef wasn't the fight, but the lack of any information after the fight. What happened between Perrin and his annoying wife? What happened to the bad Aes Sedai that weren't killed? What was the Towers reaction? Why can a woman channel like a man? Did they find the weather bowl they spent the whole book yammering about? I dunno, I left the book with more questions than answers.
It's not the last book in the series.....
I know, but after 700 or so pages, I'd like to feel like I know a little bit more
This is a fair complaint.
Except for the Aran'gar stuff, that all gets dealt with during the next book (which also introduces the controversial Mat/Tylin storyline, if I recall correctly). The seventh book also resolves one of my most hated story elements, so I've always been a big fan.
Spoiler for Crown of Swords:
The Nynaeve/Lan relationship drama and her block.
Reading Wheel of Time is strange because you can almost see the point where Jordan decides to go a little bit longer than his original plan. I personally think the moment Cadsuane shows up is the moment he starts viciously padding things out, and Crossroads of Twilight is just irritating. Once you finish book 9 let us know and maybe we'll sum up the events of book 10 so you don't have to actually read the damn thing.
Thank God
edit: WoT is easily the strangest series of books I have ever read. I can't think of another series where I dislike most of the characters and fall asleep reading the books, but can't stop reading.
I'm reading A Game of Thrones . It's...okay. I tend to loathe fantasy, and while this is better than a lot of the other stuff I've attempted, I don't feel any urgency to tear through the next four books. I'll be quite happy to return to my corner and read my snobbish literature.
To each their own...
Out of interest, what do you usually read then?
what the hell? build up build up build up .... end
no climax?!
I almost don't feel like reading anymore Wheel of Time =/
Lord of Chaos had no climax ???????
WTF book were you reading?
ok, so there was a fight and rand got let out of his box .... after 700 or so pages, I kind of figured there would be a bit more.
Did you miss the part where people started exploding?
I mean, if you were talking about Crossroads of Twilight or (to a lesser extent) Path of Daggers I'd agree with you and understand. Lord of Chaos had one of the better finales. Nothing can match book 9 for awesome ending fights, but Lord of Chaos tries really hard.
My beef wasn't the fight, but the lack of any information after the fight. What happened between Perrin and his annoying wife? What happened to the bad Aes Sedai that weren't killed? What was the Towers reaction? Why can a woman channel like a man? Did they find the weather bowl they spent the whole book yammering about? I dunno, I left the book with more questions than answers.
It's not the last book in the series.....
I know, but after 700 or so pages, I'd like to feel like I know a little bit more
You do. You know alot more. What you don't get is a complete resolution to all the subplots raised in the book. It just doesn't all collapse back into a neat little package at the end.
Which is the point and why the book is book-ended by the 2 scenes with Demandred.
what the hell? build up build up build up .... end
no climax?!
I almost don't feel like reading anymore Wheel of Time =/
Lord of Chaos had no climax ???????
WTF book were you reading?
ok, so there was a fight and rand got let out of his box .... after 700 or so pages, I kind of figured there would be a bit more.
Did you miss the part where people started exploding?
I mean, if you were talking about Crossroads of Twilight or (to a lesser extent) Path of Daggers I'd agree with you and understand. Lord of Chaos had one of the better finales. Nothing can match book 9 for awesome ending fights, but Lord of Chaos tries really hard.
My beef wasn't the fight, but the lack of any information after the fight. What happened between Perrin and his annoying wife? What happened to the bad Aes Sedai that weren't killed? What was the Towers reaction? Why can a woman channel like a man? Did they find the weather bowl they spent the whole book yammering about? I dunno, I left the book with more questions than answers.
It's not the last book in the series.....
I know, but after 700 or so pages, I'd like to feel like I know a little bit more
This is a fair complaint.
Except for the Aran'gar stuff, that all gets dealt with during the next book (which also introduces the controversial Mat/Tylin storyline, if I recall correctly). The seventh book also resolves one of my most hated story elements, so I've always been a big fan.
Spoiler for Crown of Swords:
The Nynaeve/Lan relationship drama and her block.
Reading Wheel of Time is strange because you can almost see the point where Jordan decides to go a little bit longer than his original plan. I personally think the moment Cadsuane shows up is the moment he starts viciously padding things out, and Crossroads of Twilight is just irritating. Once you finish book 9 let us know and maybe we'll sum up the events of book 10 so you don't have to actually read the damn thing.
Thank God
edit: WoT is easily the strangest series of books I have ever read. I can't think of another series where I dislike most of the characters and fall asleep reading the books, but can't stop reading.
See, I find the characters for the most part fascinating. Rand is an amazing depiction of someone saddled with too much responsibility too soon and watching a guy who just wanted the simple life be faced with massive life or death decisions is riveting. Moiraine, at the time, was an awesome send up of the "Mysterious stranger" that was a living breathing trope of Fantasy fiction. Perrin is painted as the big, dumb lummox from the beginning but actually turns out to be a gifted leader and politician. Nynaeve, despite all the braid-tugging and skirt-smoothing, gets more amazing every time I re-read the series. Elaida, despite becoming a cartoon at the end, starts off with a lot of depth. Morgase inhabits some of the most tedious and annoying chapters in the entire series but I find her character hypnotic. Padan Fain becomes something truly weird and effective which I like a great deal, and there are dozens of minor characters like Aludra and Hurin and Verin that I just find fascinating to read.
There are still a lot of things that I dislike about the books and even the world, but that's just the way of things. I don't like instantaneous travel, I think it cheapens the whole thing. I like that there's a nice build-up in terms of travel speed as the books go on (starts with walking slowly through the woods, then horses, then The Ways, then Portal Stones, then Skimming, then T'e'l'a'ar'an'rh'i'o'd, then straight up traveling, then huge groups walking across the world in a day) but as a rule think instant is just a little TOO fast. But other than Egwene my biggest complaint with the whole series is the villain. I mean... he's the Dark One. He wants to destroy everything, or something, or some things, maybe, I don't know.
I like my villains to have a reason for doing what they do that goes beyond "Because I'm evil." Mistborn is an interesting example of this, Song of Ice & Fire is perfect (with a couple of exceptions), the Xanth books, etc. but for the most part it seems that fantasy fiction has their Big Bad always be some ultimate source of ultimate unparalelled evil and malice. Lost Swords was guilty of it at the end, Wheel of Time, Harry Potter, Sword of Truth, Young Wizards, 1984...
There's more to the Dark One then meets the eye, I'd guarantee it. There is something beyond the obvious going on there.
Though in the end, he's still evil. He's the fucking devil after all. He's like the embodiment of evil. Although not quite even that since he's more like another God besides the Creator. And you can only have one universe at a time or something so the DA wants to destroy the other guys so he can have his chance.
But again, even that may not be quite certain.
Elaida, despite becoming a cartoon at the end, starts off with a lot of depth.
Elaida's one of those funny ones. On reread, like Nynaeve, what's going on becomes alot mroe obvious. She doesn't really become a cartoon at the end. Rereading the first books, you can see exactly the kind of person she becomes there at the start. She's a nasty women who likes to push around those she has power over. She just hadn't had enough power before.
I often don't have tons of time for reading-for-pleasure during the semester, but if I do find some, I would like to try some Lovecraft short stories. Does anyone know of a good collection to start with? I read The Shadow Over Innsmouth a year or two ago and really liked/was creeped out by it. Bonus points for being on amazon!
The American Library volume has most of the high points:
Woah, 850 pages! I see that it includes a dozen or so stories and two novellas/short novels though, so the length makes sense. Thanks for the recommend!
Ah Wheel of Time, so many fond memories reading those books on the train to and from school. I really need to pick up book 12 I got distracted reading every Neil Gaiman book I could get my hands on while waiting for the paperback, then I just forgot about it.
Right now I'm reading Good Luck Yukikaze. I don't know if anyone here has read the first book but I loved the way he handled the idea of the difference between humans and machines, also jet planes are pretty cool I guess.
There's more to the Dark One then meets the eye, I'd guarantee it. There is something beyond the obvious going on there.
Though in the end, he's still evil. He's the fucking devil after all. He's like the embodiment of evil. Although not quite even that since he's more like another God besides the Creator. And you can only have one universe at a time or something so the DA wants to destroy the other guys so he can have his chance.
But again, even that may not be quite certain.
Elaida, despite becoming a cartoon at the end, starts off with a lot of depth.
Elaida's one of those funny ones. On reread, like Nynaeve, what's going on becomes alot mroe obvious. She doesn't really become a cartoon at the end. Rereading the first books, you can see exactly the kind of person she becomes there at the start. She's a nasty women who likes to push around those she has power over. She just hadn't had enough power before.
I'm sure there's more going on, but that's more a matter of having faith in RJ's ability to create a world and spin a story. There hasn't been any motivation shown for the Dark One other than "EVIL! Pure and unstoppable evil from the 8th Dimension!". So while I personally believe that R.J.Sanderson won't disappoint with the final book there's nothing in the text to back that up.
There's more to the Dark One then meets the eye, I'd guarantee it. There is something beyond the obvious going on there.
Though in the end, he's still evil. He's the fucking devil after all. He's like the embodiment of evil. Although not quite even that since he's more like another God besides the Creator. And you can only have one universe at a time or something so the DA wants to destroy the other guys so he can have his chance.
But again, even that may not be quite certain.
Elaida, despite becoming a cartoon at the end, starts off with a lot of depth.
Elaida's one of those funny ones. On reread, like Nynaeve, what's going on becomes alot mroe obvious. She doesn't really become a cartoon at the end. Rereading the first books, you can see exactly the kind of person she becomes there at the start. She's a nasty women who likes to push around those she has power over. She just hadn't had enough power before.
I'm sure there's more going on, but that's more a matter of having faith in RJ's ability to create a world and spin a story. There hasn't been any motivation shown for the Dark One other than "EVIL! Pure and unstoppable evil from the 8th Dimension!". So while I personally believe that R.J.Sanderson won't disappoint with the final book there's nothing in the text to back that up.
Hasn't there always been an aspect of "Without struggle there is no world" to the Wheel of Time books, and the Dark One was created to be the adversary in that eternal struggle which repeats again and again. He's the only one who remembers the cycle however, other than the creator, and he's sick of the whole thing so he's trying to simply destroy everything this time around. I always thought there was an aspect of the dark one in that he's just as desperate for freedom from the whims of destiny as Rand is.
We should have a link to this group's Goodreads page in the OP. And speaking of which, a reminder to go there and vote for the next group read. Voting ends Sept. 20 with the read starting Oct. 1.
Anyway, I've been reading a few things. I just finished Love in the Time of Dinosaurs. It was actually really good, although far from perfect.
I'm currently reading an Advanced Reader copy of The Leftovers, which I'm only getting around to reading now. It's...odd. I'm hoping there's going to be more of a payoff for it. Basically, it's a novel where a Rapture-like event occurs, although it's not really the Rapture, but some believe it is and other don't. Millions around the world from all backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, etc., simply vaporize, seemingly at random. The book follows how society, and a particular group of individuals, copes with this event. Some cults appear, religious leaders who were left behind deny that this was the Rapture, some people simply breakdown after having loved ones vanish, and so on.
I'm also reading Meg: Origins. We'll see how this one turns out, but so far not so good. My take on the Meg series goes:
Meg: Really damn good! Couldn't put it down.
The Trench: Okay, but a definite disappointment when compared to the first book.
Meg: Primal Waters: This one is just silly.
Meg: Hell's Aquarium: This one is just stupid.
Meg: Origins: I'm not sure why I care anymore.
for the most part it seems that fantasy fiction has their Big Bad always be some ultimate source of ultimate unparalelled evil and malice. Lost Swords was guilty of it at the end, Wheel of Time, Harry Potter, Sword of Truth, Young Wizards, 1984...
Does Big Brother count as a Big Bad? We never see him in person and he never does anything that directly affects the protagonist or vice versa. In fact it's very possible that he doesn't even exist.
There's more to the Dark One then meets the eye, I'd guarantee it. There is something beyond the obvious going on there.
Though in the end, he's still evil. He's the fucking devil after all. He's like the embodiment of evil. Although not quite even that since he's more like another God besides the Creator. And you can only have one universe at a time or something so the DA wants to destroy the other guys so he can have his chance.
But again, even that may not be quite certain.
Elaida, despite becoming a cartoon at the end, starts off with a lot of depth.
Elaida's one of those funny ones. On reread, like Nynaeve, what's going on becomes alot mroe obvious. She doesn't really become a cartoon at the end. Rereading the first books, you can see exactly the kind of person she becomes there at the start. She's a nasty women who likes to push around those she has power over. She just hadn't had enough power before.
I'm sure there's more going on, but that's more a matter of having faith in RJ's ability to create a world and spin a story. There hasn't been any motivation shown for the Dark One other than "EVIL! Pure and unstoppable evil from the 8th Dimension!". So while I personally believe that R.J.Sanderson won't disappoint with the final book there's nothing in the text to back that up.
I mean there's more going on with the Dark One. There's many hints (especially in the first books when he didn't think the series would end up being as long, and in the last books for obvious reasons) that the confrontation between Rand and the DA isn't going to be simple good vs evil cause there's something not quite expected going on.
And while the DA himself may seem one dimensional, I like that his followers are often interestingly varied. His main underling actually has probably the most interesting reason for going evil I think I've seen. And the rest have a variety of reasons that are refreshingly realistic.
There's more to the Dark One then meets the eye, I'd guarantee it. There is something beyond the obvious going on there.
Though in the end, he's still evil. He's the fucking devil after all. He's like the embodiment of evil. Although not quite even that since he's more like another God besides the Creator. And you can only have one universe at a time or something so the DA wants to destroy the other guys so he can have his chance.
But again, even that may not be quite certain.
Elaida, despite becoming a cartoon at the end, starts off with a lot of depth.
Elaida's one of those funny ones. On reread, like Nynaeve, what's going on becomes alot mroe obvious. She doesn't really become a cartoon at the end. Rereading the first books, you can see exactly the kind of person she becomes there at the start. She's a nasty women who likes to push around those she has power over. She just hadn't had enough power before.
I'm sure there's more going on, but that's more a matter of having faith in RJ's ability to create a world and spin a story. There hasn't been any motivation shown for the Dark One other than "EVIL! Pure and unstoppable evil from the 8th Dimension!". So while I personally believe that R.J.Sanderson won't disappoint with the final book there's nothing in the text to back that up.
I mean there's more going on with the Dark One. There's many hints (especially in the first books when he didn't think the series would end up being as long, and in the last books for obvious reasons) that the confrontation between Rand and the DA isn't going to be simple good vs evil cause there's something not quite expected going on.
And while the DA himself may seem one dimensional, I like that his followers are often interestingly varied. His main underling actually has probably the most interesting reason for going evil I think I've seen. And the rest have a variety of reasons that are refreshingly realistic.
Yeah Ishmaul being a nihilist is pretty good. I think Demodred's is good as well. Its written like the classic "best friend who couldn't live with being second to his friend and so went evil" story in there with him being right about Lew Therin not being good enough to win the war.
Ian McEwan's Exile. Reminds me of his Amsterdam - I didn't like that one either. I am a big fan of Enduring Love and Atonement, and I even enjoyed Saturday (which was slammed by lots of reviewers)... but when he tries to be funny, he doesn't amuse me all that much. Part of that is that he overtells his joke, part of it is that I tend to find his humour smug and snide.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Currently reading: "1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus" and it's fantastic. Highly recommended.
Yeah, I really want to read this one and 1493. They look really interesting.
I mentioned the Repairman Jack and Adversary Cycle books by F. Paul Wilson in the old thread, and saw one person saying they're alright. I also wanted to ask about the Jackelian series by Stephen Hunt. Anyone read these and have an opinion?
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I've read everything Stephen Donaldson has written, and love all of it except the most recent series.
If you finish Covenant, or just want a change from the sheer emotional howl of it all, I really recommend the two Mordant's Need books. The central philosophical conceit is sort of a reciprocal of the one in Covenant - someone is magically summoned, but believes that they may not have really existed before the summoning. But apart from that it's a different book entirely - much more positive, quite romantic, with some cool heroes and villains... as well as some of the pathos and intensity that Donaldson does so well.
They are perhaps my favourite of his books, and in my top 5 ever, I'd say.
Live - MrObersmith
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OMW was tasty! Go for the sequel, it's also good. I didn't read book 3 - I'd had my fill of his style by then. however, I did buy Fuzzy Nation, and enjoyed it.
(The first book's mystery: intriguing setup, but way too many suspects to keep track of or care about. Oh, it turns out it's one of the suspects? You don't say.)
what the hell? build up build up build up .... end
no climax?!
I almost don't feel like reading anymore Wheel of Time =/
Lord of Chaos had no climax ???????
WTF book were you reading?
Iron Druid third book spoilers:
ok, so there was a fight and rand got let out of his box .... after 700 or so pages, I kind of figured there would be a bit more.
Did you miss the part where people started exploding?
I mean, if you were talking about Crossroads of Twilight or (to a lesser extent) Path of Daggers I'd agree with you and understand. Lord of Chaos had one of the better finales. Nothing can match book 9 for awesome ending fights, but Lord of Chaos tries really hard.
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Taramoor on Youtube
My beef wasn't the fight, but the lack of any information after the fight. What happened between Perrin and his annoying wife? What happened to the bad Aes Sedai that weren't killed? What was the Towers reaction? Why can a woman channel like a man? Did they find the weather bowl they spent the whole book yammering about? I dunno, I left the book with more questions than answers.
It's not the last book in the series.....
I know, but after 700 or so pages, I'd like to feel like I know a little bit more
I read Darkness at Noon for class, too. It was alright.
I bought it years ago, but never got around to reading it.
Now I'm reading Dan Abnett's Legion and Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage.
This is a fair complaint.
Except for the Aran'gar stuff, that all gets dealt with during the next book (which also introduces the controversial Mat/Tylin storyline, if I recall correctly). The seventh book also resolves one of my most hated story elements, so I've always been a big fan.
Spoiler for Crown of Swords:
Reading Wheel of Time is strange because you can almost see the point where Jordan decides to go a little bit longer than his original plan. I personally think the moment Cadsuane shows up is the moment he starts viciously padding things out, and Crossroads of Twilight is just irritating. Once you finish book 9 let us know and maybe we'll sum up the events of book 10 so you don't have to actually read the damn thing.
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Thank God
edit: WoT is easily the strangest series of books I have ever read. I can't think of another series where I dislike most of the characters and fall asleep reading the books, but can't stop reading.
To each their own...
Out of interest, what do you usually read then?
You do. You know alot more. What you don't get is a complete resolution to all the subplots raised in the book. It just doesn't all collapse back into a neat little package at the end.
Which is the point and why the book is book-ended by the 2 scenes with Demandred.
See, I find the characters for the most part fascinating. Rand is an amazing depiction of someone saddled with too much responsibility too soon and watching a guy who just wanted the simple life be faced with massive life or death decisions is riveting. Moiraine, at the time, was an awesome send up of the "Mysterious stranger" that was a living breathing trope of Fantasy fiction. Perrin is painted as the big, dumb lummox from the beginning but actually turns out to be a gifted leader and politician. Nynaeve, despite all the braid-tugging and skirt-smoothing, gets more amazing every time I re-read the series. Elaida, despite becoming a cartoon at the end, starts off with a lot of depth. Morgase inhabits some of the most tedious and annoying chapters in the entire series but I find her character hypnotic. Padan Fain becomes something truly weird and effective which I like a great deal, and there are dozens of minor characters like Aludra and Hurin and Verin that I just find fascinating to read.
There are still a lot of things that I dislike about the books and even the world, but that's just the way of things. I don't like instantaneous travel, I think it cheapens the whole thing. I like that there's a nice build-up in terms of travel speed as the books go on (starts with walking slowly through the woods, then horses, then The Ways, then Portal Stones, then Skimming, then T'e'l'a'ar'an'rh'i'o'd, then straight up traveling, then huge groups walking across the world in a day) but as a rule think instant is just a little TOO fast. But other than Egwene my biggest complaint with the whole series is the villain. I mean... he's the Dark One. He wants to destroy everything, or something, or some things, maybe, I don't know.
I like my villains to have a reason for doing what they do that goes beyond "Because I'm evil." Mistborn is an interesting example of this, Song of Ice & Fire is perfect (with a couple of exceptions), the Xanth books, etc. but for the most part it seems that fantasy fiction has their Big Bad always be some ultimate source of ultimate unparalelled evil and malice. Lost Swords was guilty of it at the end, Wheel of Time, Harry Potter, Sword of Truth, Young Wizards, 1984...
Oh look, TvTropes has it covered: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ForTheEvulz
Warning: TvTropes!
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Though in the end, he's still evil. He's the fucking devil after all. He's like the embodiment of evil. Although not quite even that since he's more like another God besides the Creator. And you can only have one universe at a time or something so the DA wants to destroy the other guys so he can have his chance.
But again, even that may not be quite certain.
Elaida's one of those funny ones. On reread, like Nynaeve, what's going on becomes alot mroe obvious. She doesn't really become a cartoon at the end. Rereading the first books, you can see exactly the kind of person she becomes there at the start. She's a nasty women who likes to push around those she has power over. She just hadn't had enough power before.
Woah, 850 pages! I see that it includes a dozen or so stories and two novellas/short novels though, so the length makes sense. Thanks for the recommend!
Right now I'm reading Good Luck Yukikaze. I don't know if anyone here has read the first book but I loved the way he handled the idea of the difference between humans and machines, also jet planes are pretty cool I guess.
I'm sure there's more going on, but that's more a matter of having faith in RJ's ability to create a world and spin a story. There hasn't been any motivation shown for the Dark One other than "EVIL! Pure and unstoppable evil from the 8th Dimension!". So while I personally believe that R.J.Sanderson won't disappoint with the final book there's nothing in the text to back that up.
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Hasn't there always been an aspect of "Without struggle there is no world" to the Wheel of Time books, and the Dark One was created to be the adversary in that eternal struggle which repeats again and again. He's the only one who remembers the cycle however, other than the creator, and he's sick of the whole thing so he's trying to simply destroy everything this time around. I always thought there was an aspect of the dark one in that he's just as desperate for freedom from the whims of destiny as Rand is.
You'd be surprised.
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Anyway, I've been reading a few things. I just finished Love in the Time of Dinosaurs. It was actually really good, although far from perfect.
I'm currently reading an Advanced Reader copy of The Leftovers, which I'm only getting around to reading now. It's...odd. I'm hoping there's going to be more of a payoff for it. Basically, it's a novel where a Rapture-like event occurs, although it's not really the Rapture, but some believe it is and other don't. Millions around the world from all backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, etc., simply vaporize, seemingly at random. The book follows how society, and a particular group of individuals, copes with this event. Some cults appear, religious leaders who were left behind deny that this was the Rapture, some people simply breakdown after having loved ones vanish, and so on.
I'm also reading Meg: Origins. We'll see how this one turns out, but so far not so good. My take on the Meg series goes:
Meg: Really damn good! Couldn't put it down.
The Trench: Okay, but a definite disappointment when compared to the first book.
Meg: Primal Waters: This one is just silly.
Meg: Hell's Aquarium: This one is just stupid.
Meg: Origins: I'm not sure why I care anymore.
I mean there's more going on with the Dark One. There's many hints (especially in the first books when he didn't think the series would end up being as long, and in the last books for obvious reasons) that the confrontation between Rand and the DA isn't going to be simple good vs evil cause there's something not quite expected going on.
And while the DA himself may seem one dimensional, I like that his followers are often interestingly varied. His main underling actually has probably the most interesting reason for going evil I think I've seen. And the rest have a variety of reasons that are refreshingly realistic.
Yeah Ishmaul being a nihilist is pretty good. I think Demodred's is good as well. Its written like the classic "best friend who couldn't live with being second to his friend and so went evil" story in there with him being right about Lew Therin not being good enough to win the war.
:^:
I need to pick it up as soon as my budget allows. Fucking medical bills..
Steam: Chagrin LoL: Bonhomie
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Yeah, I really want to read this one and 1493. They look really interesting.
I mentioned the Repairman Jack and Adversary Cycle books by F. Paul Wilson in the old thread, and saw one person saying they're alright. I also wanted to ask about the Jackelian series by Stephen Hunt. Anyone read these and have an opinion?
― Marcus Aurelius
Path of Exile: themightypuck
What was wrong with the end?