I'm pending incoming copies of Codex Alera book 5 and Caine Black Knife, as well as The Lord Protector's Daughter, which is from L. E. Modesitt's Corean Chronicles.
I already covered my thoughts in the malazan thread (hey, this one dropped off the face of the forums :P) but The Prince of Nothing is quite decent. He can't write combat for crap, but the rest of it is good.
Basically: maintains good parts of Prince of Nothing, makes strides on weaker parts, but is more self-aware to being part of a trilogy, so very little gets resolved in the novel itself.
Also, takes place 20 years in the future, which is a bit of a o_O to me.
The First Law is an excellent trilogy, a self contained and beautifully constructed world with a variety of interesting characters and interlocking plot elements. I'd definately recommend it, and actually think that a few of the characters in here are better than many in ASoIaF, simply because there are far fewer main characters so they can be much better developed.
Prince of Nothing is good too, although I believe the main problem is that the authors answer to any dead space in the book was "Uncomfortably explicit sex scene". Seriously, his main character was just at it all the time when he really had far more important things to be doing. Still, another great series.
Wise Man's Fear may have been delayed again actually.
And The First Law trilogy was good but I didn't like the third book as much as the first two. I felt like he was building up to something in the first two books and then just veered off into a wall in the third.
I hated the Tawny Man trilogy. It felt like she hated being such a bastard to Fitz in the first Farseer books and wanted to go easy on him for a while instead.
Sort of. I do agree that it was meant to be the "happy ending" the first trilogy lacked, but I'm kind of a sucker for happy endings, as are a lot of people... I wasn't satisfied with the shit sandwich Fitz was given at the end of the Assassin books. I like to love characters, and I hate seeing people (even fictional people) I love get hurt.
But I don't think Fitz by any means had an easy time of it in the Tawny Man trilogy, except right at the end, and as I said, that's okay by me.
I'm biased, though. Hobb is my favorite fantasy author alive today.
OremLK on
My zombie survival life simulator They Don't Sleep is out now on Steam if you want to check it out.
Wise Man's Fear may have been delayed again actually.
And The First Law trilogy was good but I didn't like the third book as much as the first two. I felt like he was building up to something in the first two books and then just veered off into a wall in the third.
I can agree with that, it was a perfectly acceptable book, but didn't quite gel with the confrontation you felt he was building up to. I have a feeling we may see a "The Second Law" trilogy to follow it, since while the First Law did have a satisfactory conclusion, there were elements of the story which were left hanging which had been sold as far more important in the earlier books than those story elements which were resolved.
I hated the Tawny Man trilogy. It felt like she hated being such a bastard to Fitz in the first Farseer books and wanted to go easy on him for a while instead.
It lacked focus too. It was basically "Fitz's life: the not-so-shitty edition". No overall story really.
Also, it features the Wayne's-World-style "Mega Happy Ending!!!!".
You and I, we see eye-to-eye on Mrs. Hobbs' books. The ending really bothered me, not just because it was saccharine as hell, but also
one of the key pieces of emotional truth from Assassin's Quest was that Fitz and Molly weren't really in love.
I hope it takes less than 8 years for "His Fathers Fist" to come out.
Yea. I was fortunate enough to have just read Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle about 3 months ago, so this was very opportune. But frankly, I've been reading ASoIaF since it first came out. I know what a long haul is.
However, I've also been inexplicably drawn into Shadow & Claw. I usually don't like "far future = fantasy" trope, but it's so subtle it's barely noticeable. The writing is good in a way that seems effortless. The author doesn't lean on genre conventions or anti-conventions, but you get a sense that his world existed far before the book started.
Inexplicably?
Oh, I'll make it explicable for you:
This man, right here, this is Gene Fuckin' Wolfe. Don't let his mustache and potbelly fool you. He's commonly referred to as one of the best writers alive.
EDIT: whoa, just saw in his wiki article that he lives in Barrington, Illinois. I was just there a few days ago. Dammit, I should have stalked him.
I hated the Tawny Man trilogy. It felt like she hated being such a bastard to Fitz in the first Farseer books and wanted to go easy on him for a while instead.
It lacked focus too. It was basically "Fitz's life: the not-so-shitty edition". No overall story really.
Also, it features the Wayne's-World-style "Mega Happy Ending!!!!".
You and I, we see eye-to-eye on Mrs. Hobbs' books. The ending really bothered me, not just because it was saccharine as hell, but also
one of the key pieces of emotional truth from Assassin's Quest was that Fitz and Molly weren't really in love.
Really? That's not quite how I saw it...
I thought it was more that he was too fucked up to be with her. He was playing God with her life again by not telling her he was alive. The Fool trilogy was mostly the story of Fitz becoming not-fucked-up and figuring out how to reintegrate himself with life, which is why I was okay with the ending, sugar-sweet though it was.
OremLK on
My zombie survival life simulator They Don't Sleep is out now on Steam if you want to check it out.
I hated the Tawny Man trilogy. It felt like she hated being such a bastard to Fitz in the first Farseer books and wanted to go easy on him for a while instead.
It lacked focus too. It was basically "Fitz's life: the not-so-shitty edition". No overall story really.
Also, it features the Wayne's-World-style "Mega Happy Ending!!!!".
You and I, we see eye-to-eye on Mrs. Hobbs' books. The ending really bothered me, not just because it was saccharine as hell, but also
one of the key pieces of emotional truth from Assassin's Quest was that Fitz and Molly weren't really in love.
Really? That's not quite how I saw it...
I thought it was more that he was too fucked up to be with her. He was playing God with her life again by not telling her he was alive. The Fool trilogy was mostly the story of Fitz becoming not-fucked-up and figuring out how to reintegrate himself with life, which is why I was okay with the ending, sugar-sweet though it was.
I hated the Tawny Man trilogy. It felt like she hated being such a bastard to Fitz in the first Farseer books and wanted to go easy on him for a while instead.
It lacked focus too. It was basically "Fitz's life: the not-so-shitty edition". No overall story really.
Also, it features the Wayne's-World-style "Mega Happy Ending!!!!".
You and I, we see eye-to-eye on Mrs. Hobbs' books. The ending really bothered me, not just because it was saccharine as hell, but also
one of the key pieces of emotional truth from Assassin's Quest was that Fitz and Molly weren't really in love.
Really? That's not quite how I saw it...
I thought it was more that he was too fucked up to be with her. He was playing God with her life again by not telling her he was alive. The Fool trilogy was mostly the story of Fitz becoming not-fucked-up and figuring out how to reintegrate himself with life, which is why I was okay with the ending, sugar-sweet though it was.
Kettle told him he and Molly weren't in love.
That's not exactly what she said. She said, and this out of her own judgment, that Fitz and Molly were too young to have more than a shallow "springtime" love. It wasn't "you aren't fated to be together" (which is a nonsense concept anyway) so much as "get over it, you're just a kid, you still have a life ahead of you".
OremLK on
My zombie survival life simulator They Don't Sleep is out now on Steam if you want to check it out.
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See how many books I've read so far in 2010
Basically: maintains good parts of Prince of Nothing, makes strides on weaker parts, but is more self-aware to being part of a trilogy, so very little gets resolved in the novel itself.
Also, takes place 20 years in the future, which is a bit of a o_O to me.
Prince of Nothing is good too, although I believe the main problem is that the authors answer to any dead space in the book was "Uncomfortably explicit sex scene". Seriously, his main character was just at it all the time when he really had far more important things to be doing. Still, another great series.
And The First Law trilogy was good but I didn't like the third book as much as the first two. I felt like he was building up to something in the first two books and then just veered off into a wall in the third.
Sort of. I do agree that it was meant to be the "happy ending" the first trilogy lacked, but I'm kind of a sucker for happy endings, as are a lot of people... I wasn't satisfied with the shit sandwich Fitz was given at the end of the Assassin books. I like to love characters, and I hate seeing people (even fictional people) I love get hurt.
But I don't think Fitz by any means had an easy time of it in the Tawny Man trilogy, except right at the end, and as I said, that's okay by me.
I'm biased, though. Hobb is my favorite fantasy author alive today.
See how many books I've read so far in 2010
I can agree with that, it was a perfectly acceptable book, but didn't quite gel with the confrontation you felt he was building up to. I have a feeling we may see a "The Second Law" trilogy to follow it, since while the First Law did have a satisfactory conclusion, there were elements of the story which were left hanging which had been sold as far more important in the earlier books than those story elements which were resolved.
I hope it takes less than 8 years for "His Fathers Fist" to come out.
You and I, we see eye-to-eye on Mrs. Hobbs' books. The ending really bothered me, not just because it was saccharine as hell, but also
Yea. I was fortunate enough to have just read Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle about 3 months ago, so this was very opportune. But frankly, I've been reading ASoIaF since it first came out. I know what a long haul is.
See how many books I've read so far in 2010
Inexplicably?
Oh, I'll make it explicable for you:
This man, right here, this is Gene Fuckin' Wolfe. Don't let his mustache and potbelly fool you. He's commonly referred to as one of the best writers alive.
EDIT: whoa, just saw in his wiki article that he lives in Barrington, Illinois. I was just there a few days ago. Dammit, I should have stalked him.
Really? That's not quite how I saw it...