What Are You Reading? vX.x

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

I just finished the Assassin's Quest earlier this summer, and The Liveship Traders is next on my list. I'm currently in the middle of the "Red Seas Under Red Skies", the follow up to the "Lies of Locke Lamora". I'm enjoying both of these authors, while I wait for Brandon Sanderson to complete the Wheel of Time and get back to the Stormlight Archive.

On top of that some friends have loaned me the first several of R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt novels. They are intriguing if not near as good as the rest of what I read.

I missed this when it was posted months ago. Glengoyne, did you end up getting to the Liveship Traders? I have now read the follow up trilogy to the first Assassins trilogy, and I enjoyed it. There are definitely some things to take from the Liveship Traders trilogy that enhances reading the Tawny Man trilogy.

Interesting that you go to the Locke Lamora series. I loved those books, but it seems the author had some issues and kinda went off the deep end for a bit there. Last I checked the third book in the series is currently set for release in September 2013, but that is after having been pushed back several times. Which is a shame, because the storyline for that one looks terrific. I certainly hope he is finishing that one and will return to regular publishing soon.

Usually, you have to have some long-established success before you can get away with the George R.R. Martin publication schedule.

[cadmus2166]

I am nearing the end of The Girl Who Played With Fire, the 2nd book in the The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy. I absolutely love this series, it's a shame that Steig Larsson passed away before writing more. Lisbeth Salander may be one of the best characters ever created by anyone in the history of books.

[Young Drachma]

Picked up The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss last night.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Started reading American Gods yesterday.

I am very confused by this book.

Spoiler

Shadow's wife just paid him a visit the night of her funeral.

I'm not sure I can read any more of this book. It is not very engaging.

Spoiler

Shadow, Wednesday have robbed the bank and gone to the joint where they are supposed to meet up with some folks at a carousel.

Is it going to get interesting at any point?

[rowech]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

I'm not sure I can read any more of this book. It is not very engaging.

Spoiler

Shadow, Wednesday have robbed the bank and gone to the joint where they are supposed to meet up with some folks at a carousel.

Is it going to get interesting at any point?

I gave up on the book when I read it a couple years ago. Just was boring to me.

[Chief Rum]

To each their own. I actually enjoyed it.

[Chief Rum]

Although I will say that my enjoyment was from the interesting characters involved. The story itself seemed rather aimless and all over the place. I was never quite sure where it was going or what the point was.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Although I will say that my enjoyment was from the interesting characters involved. The story itself seemed rather aimless and all over the place. I was never quite sure where it was going or what the point was.

I'm with Chief on this one. I loved the hell out of the book, but it was more a character-driven love than a story-driven one. I was very curious to see where Gaiman was taking it, but it was a pretty random journey.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

I decided to re-read the Dragonlance Dragons series...just wanted a decent and fun fantasy read, plus they are out on the kindle now.

I've recently been amusing myself with Weis' and Hickman's follow-ups to the Chronicles series, the Lost Chronicles. They basically tell the behind-the-scenes stuff that you don't see in the original series: Kitiara, Laurana and Raistlin seem to be the main focus. It's good, light, fun fantasy.

[Edward64]

FWIW I really enjoyed Rothfuss "The Name of the Wind" and "Wise Man's Fear". Not alot of action but great character development. I think if you liked Hobb, you will also like Rothfuss.

Currently reading "Red Country" by Joe Ambercrombie. 5th book in his world. If you guys like gritty action, you should like Ambercrombie.

I'm also a Zombie fan so have JL Bourne's third book on order.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

I've recently been amusing myself with Weis' and Hickman's follow-ups to the Chronicles series, the Lost Chronicles. They basically tell the behind-the-scenes stuff that you don't see in the original series: Kitiara, Laurana and Raistlin seem to be the main focus. It's good, light, fun fantasy.

I was excited to try these, and read the first one but couldn't stomach any more. I don't remember exactly why but I think I was very disappointed by the writing. The mystery of what Raistlin was up to when he disappeared off the ship in the original stories has been of great interest to me since I was in elementary school, yet I still couldn't bring myself to read their take on it.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Autumn

I was excited to try these, and read the first one but couldn't stomach any more. I don't remember exactly why but I think I was very disappointed by the writing. The mystery of what Raistlin was up to when he disappeared off the ship in the original stories has been of great interest to me since I was in elementary school, yet I still couldn't bring myself to read their take on it.

It's not nearly on the same level as the original Chronicles, but I wonder how much of that is because of how old I was when I first read those. I've re-read the Chronicles many, many times (literally wore the cover off Dragons of Autumn Twilight), and they still seem like much better books than the newer versions. I still love the universe and characters though, so they're entertaining.

[Senator]

What the hell. I have a long recovery from surgery soon, so it's time. Bring on the Proust.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I missed this when it was posted months ago. Glengoyne, did you end up getting to the Liveship Traders? I have now read the follow up trilogy to the first Assassins trilogy, and I enjoyed it. There are definitely some things to take from the Liveship Traders trilogy that enhances reading the Tawny Man trilogy.

Interesting that you go to the Locke Lamora series. I loved those books, but it seems the author had some issues and kinda went off the deep end for a bit there. Last I checked the third book in the series is currently set for release in September 2013, but that is after having been pushed back several times. Which is a shame, because the storyline for that one looks terrific. I certainly hope he is finishing that one and will return to regular publishing soon.

Usually, you have to have some long-established success before you can get away with the George R.R. Martin publication schedule.

I did just finish the liveship Traders. I really enjoyed it. I think I would have jumped right into the Rain Wild Chronicles, if I hadn't done a bit of research to find that it wasn't centered on the characters in the Liveship series. Rather I jumped into Joe Abercrombie's latest, Red Country. Loving to get back to Logen.

Are you a Robin Hobb fan? I'm wondering where to go next after the Farseer and Liveship series. Is Tawny Man the next in chronological order or the Rainwild Chronicles?

Oh and on the Drizt novels...I'm really hard pressed to get through those. Just not cutting it for me.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

I did just finish the liveship Traders. I really enjoyed it. I think I would have jumped right into the Rain Wild Chronicles, if I hadn't done a bit of research to find that it wasn't centered on the characters in the Liveship series. Rather I jumped into Joe Abercrombie's latest, Red Country. Loving to get back to Logen.

Are you a Robin Hobb fan? I'm wondering where to go next after the Farseer and Liveship series. Is Tawny Man the next in chronological order or the Rainwild Chronicles?

Oh and on the Drizt novels...I'm really hard pressed to get through those. Just not cutting it for me.

I have only read the Liveship Traders and the two Fitz-Chivalry trilogies by Hobb, although that's a lot of Hobb, so, yes, I am a fine.

I would read Tawny Man next, just because it definitely involves characters you have read about before (in the Assassins' trilogy).

I haven't read the Rain Wilds Chronicles yet, although I figured to eventually take a look at the remaining series in the world that Hobb has created here.

I haven't read the Drizt novels.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

I've recently been amusing myself with Weis' and Hickman's follow-ups to the Chronicles series, the Lost Chronicles. They basically tell the behind-the-scenes stuff that you don't see in the original series: Kitiara, Laurana and Raistlin seem to be the main focus. It's good, light, fun fantasy.

I have held back on these, I will definitely have to take a peek though.

[Chief Rum]

I completed the latest Jack Reacher A Wanted Man, which was another solid read.

BTW, the first half of the movie out right now is an excellent snapshot of who Reacher is and how he does stuff. Although the second half of the movie went more toward an action flick than the more intelligent (but still action-oriented) take the books tend to take.

I am currently reading Altar of Bones by Philip Carter, which is another entry in the Dan Brown/Steve Berry archae-history thrillers. I'm nearly done with it, and it's decent, although I don't know that it sets itself apart from the genre too much.

I have the next Alex Delaware novel Victims by Jonathan Kellerman on queue to read next.

After that, I am unsure where I will go for fictional reading. I may look for new scifi/fantasy, or I might read the latest SM Stirling if my bro gets it for me for Christmas (still possible, we meet up in January, and it's on my amazon list).

[tyketime]

Originally Posted by Edward64

FWIW I really enjoyed Rothfuss "The Name of the Wind" and "Wise Man's Fear". Not alot of action but great character development. I think if you liked Hobb, you will also like Rothfuss.

I also liked the first two books. Can't wait for the 3rd one to come out.

[Landshark44]

I just finished John Grishams "The Racketeer", and liked it.. Now I'm halfway through Dan Baldacci's "Zero Day"... Just Ok, for me...

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I'm also a Zombie fan so have JL Bourne's third book on order.

Let me know if you like it. People seem to really hate the ending on Amazon.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

If you like the genre/concept of time travel and speculative fiction - here's a book that I'd really recommend, available on Kindle despite being out of print for some time:

Amazon.com: Replay: Ken Grimwood: Books

Sounds intriguing. Just bought the kindle edition.

[Groundhog]

Read 'Replay' last year. Fantastic.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

I am currently reading Altar of Bones by Philip Carter, which is another entry in the Dan Brown/Steve Berry archae-history thrillers. I'm nearly done with it, and it's decent, although I don't know that it sets itself apart from the genre too much.

I finished Altar of Bones, and as expected, it more or less conforms to the genre. Decent read and interesting, but didn't go too far out of any boundaries.

I did find out, interestingly enough, that Philip Carter is a pseudonym for a "world reknowned writer" or some such. The Interwebs was scanty on who it is. The book had a passionate love scene in it, though, which is unusual for the genre, so I am going to guess the writer is either a female mystery writer or a romance novelist.

I started Victims by Kellerman (another Alex Delaware novel), and I am also at the same time reading one of those Time Life style huge magazines on US Special Forces (been pretty neat so far) and one of those novelty "science without the science" type books, which is also interesting to read (although, IMO, there is a lot more science in there than the title claims).

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Although I will say that my enjoyment was from the interesting characters involved. The story itself seemed rather aimless and all over the place. I was never quite sure where it was going or what the point was.

I liked the "mythical" characters but Shadow was just really boring to me. The scope is what I liked the most but I'm a big fan of epics, even flawed ones, as long as they meet a certain baseline.

SI

[Scoobz0202]

What's the FOFC consensus (if there is one) on Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive)?

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

What's the FOFC consensus (if there is one) on Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive)?

I loved it.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

I loved it.

And then some.

[Scoobz0202]

Nice. I have a list of fantasy I wanted to start next so I think I'll start that. FWIW, my list was:

Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders, Rain Wilds, or The Soldier Son Trilogy
Raymond E. Feist's Magician: Apprentice
Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind
Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon
Robert Stanek's Rise of the Fallen
Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself

and as I mentioned, The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.

To Sanderson I go.

[DaddyTorgo]

Any consensus on The Sundering series by Jacqueline Carey? I'm intrigued by this idea of having the sympathetic main characters being what are traditionally thought of as the "bad" guys...

[Marc Vaughan]

Read "Schools out forever" over the holiday period - its several books wrapped up in one and well worth a look imho.

Its a gritty post acopolypse style book with a twist - the concept is that 9 out of 10 people die from a plague. The idea is that the events of the books revolve around a small group of survivors at a boarding school ... this shows very much how pecking order etc. might happen in such circumstances and some of the moral quandaries which people would go through.

(final quarter of the book or so becomes increasingly 'pulp' but the first half is very very good)

Barnes and Noble - Schools out forever

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

What's the FOFC consensus (if there is one) on Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archive)?

Best book I read in 2012. Can't wait for the next one.

/tk

[cschex]

Originally Posted by Scoobz0202

Nice. I have a list of fantasy I wanted to start next so I think I'll start that. FWIW, my list was:

Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders, Rain Wilds, or The Soldier Son Trilogy
Raymond E. Feist's Magician: Apprentice
Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind
Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon
Robert Stanek's Rise of the Fallen
Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself

and as I mentioned, The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.

To Sanderson I go.

If you haven't read Abercrombie, his stuff is the best out of all on that list IMO but you can't go wrong with any of them except Stanek, who is Goodkind-level bad.

[cschex]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Any consensus on The Sundering series by Jacqueline Carey? I'm intrigued by this idea of having the sympathetic main characters being what are traditionally thought of as the "bad" guys...

It's essentially a re-imagining of Silmarillion/LOTR from the perspective of Melkor/Morgoth and his lieutenants . I really enjoyed it because the writing is strong and the protagonists are well done and compelling, if not completely sympathetic.

[Scoobz0202]

Originally Posted by cschex

except Stanek, who is Goodkind-level bad.

After looking at it, no idea why it was on my list. Sounds terrible.

[WSUCougar]

More love for Joe Abercrombie's stuff. Outstanding.

I just finished 1633, the sequel to 1632. Very entertaining, and the series overall is an interesting concept in fiction writing.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by cschex

It's essentially a re-imagining of Silmarillion/LOTR from the perspective of Melkor/Morgoth and his lieutenants . I really enjoyed it because the writing is strong and the protagonists are well done and compelling, if not completely sympathetic.

That's what it sorta sounded like from the description and i saw it on some list. Glad to hear it, I'll have to check it out now!!

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by cschex

If you haven't read Abercrombie, his stuff is the best out of all on that list IMO but you can't go wrong with any of them except Stanek, who is Goodkind-level bad.

Glad to see two things here.

One is the love for Abercrombie, though I'm not sure I'd say his stuff is better than The Way of Kings.

Two is the hatred of Goodkind. I read about four or five of his big series before I woke up and realized what dreck it actually was. I guess I was just young.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Kodos

Let me know if you like it. People seem to really hate the ending on Amazon.

Finished Lights out yesterday and finished JL Bourne's Shattered Hourglass just now.

It was enjoyable to a point. Haven't read the other Amazon reviews but the ending was definitely way too quickly done. I didn't mind the result of the ending itself but the story telling was rushed, another 50-100 pages to tell it all would have been good.

Still on the Zombie kick, have Holding Their Own and Apocalypse Z next on my list.

[Landshark44]

I just finished reading "Replay", recommended in this thread a few pages back. I loved it. Can't stop thinking about it...

Can anyone recommend some more "time-travelly" type books ...

[rowech]

Originally Posted by Landshark44

I just finished reading "Replay", recommended in this thread a few pages back. I loved it. Can't stop thinking about it...

Can anyone recommend some more "time-travelly" type books ...

Flashforward

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by Landshark44

I just finished reading "Replay", recommended in this thread a few pages back. I loved it. Can't stop thinking about it...

Can anyone recommend some more "time-travelly" type books ...

Stephen King's latest 11/22/63

[Landshark44]

ok, i'll check them out. 11/22/63 seemed to get a lot of mixed reviews in this thread... was on the fence with it...

thanks

[Glengoyne]

I just finished my first Jack Reacher novel. I've got to say I'm a little under whelmed. To me, it just didn't live up to the hype.

I've read some of John Gilstrap's stuff, starting with No Mercy. I think Gilstrap's Jonathan Graves out Reachers Reacher by a significant measure. Now I'm going to go check out Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp, as he and Reacher seem to be the two big names in the genre. If you enjoy these books, do yourself a favor and check out Gilstrap.

[Chief Rum]

Which one did you read?

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Which one did you read?

The Killing Floor.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Landshark44

ok, i'll check them out. 11/22/63 seemed to get a lot of mixed reviews in this thread... was on the fence with it...

thanks

I really liked 11/22/63. Just approach it as a time travelling story and not a JFK assassination story and I think you'll like it just fine.

[whomario]

Just finished Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch, pretty much the best book i´ve read in months
On the face of it it´s a historic novel and a road-story set in 19th Century London as well as in the Age of Whaling (and succeeds in bringing both to life), but it´s also full of little observations on life, friendship and the human mind that are timeless.

The style of writing is a teeny bit like in "Life of Pi" and there´s some obvious similarities with Melville and Dickens, but it´s only around the edges with the core of the story being something unique all in itself.

Oh, and it´s not sugar coating things as they transpire and the main difference to Life of Pie is a certain "matter of fact" way of telling it´s horrifying events.

A definite must read imo

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

I still need to get my hands on another copy of Slaughterhouse Five.

Hey, I finally got around to finishing this.

[Vince, Pt. II]

On a huge Guy Gavriel Kay kick at the moment. Recently finished Tigana and loved the hell out of it. Interesting premise in that the story is about memory, and the obliteration of a culture based upon renaming something. Between this and The Lions of Al Rassan (read and enjoyed, but didn't love, his most famous work, the Fionavar Tapestry series), I have put him way up on my list.

Currently listening to the Audiobook for Shantaram - a semi-fantastical (in a hard-to-believe this is entirely true sense, not a fantasy setting sense) autobiography of an Australian who is an escaped convict from New Zealand, living in India. Incredible story so far, and the audio book performance is simply stunning. Very well written (at times it feels like the author is trying too hard, but those times are few and far between), there are several turns-of-phrase that I have really enjoyed. I would highly recommend this, and especially in audio book format.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Hey, I finally got around to finishing this.

I finally read this, too, about a month ago. It was excellent (of course, given it is a classic). I love Vonnegut's style and his comedic touch in this.