What are you reading (Feb 08)?

[Mallus]

House of Chains was, sometimes, a rough going. Overall I still liked it. I hope I like Midnight Tides.

Midnight Tides has two of Erickson's best... well, most likable/entertaining characters, plus an interesting new venue for the action. I found it much easier to get into than the daunting "All Karsa, all the time ("Attend! I'm parodying Conan. Sort of!")" first act of HoC. Actually, I enjoyed MT far more overall.

 

[Pozatronic]

Let me ask all you Erickson readers a question: Do you need to read these books in order? Is it a full fledged series, or is it more episodic? Can you start with any one of them, or do you need to read "Gardens of the Moon" (or whatever it's called) first. Because I couldn't get through that one. I just could not get into it. But I keep on hearing how great it is from everybody, and I know all the descriptions I read of the various titles make it sound interesting, but man, after the first twenty or so pages of that first one it went downhill fast for me, and by the time that little animated doll started walking around I closed it's covers.

And speaking of covers, I won't even mention how awful that first one is. I try not to let that effect my opinion of the book, because I know it's not the authors fault.

 

[Mistwell]

Let me ask all you Erickson readers a question: Do you need to read these books in order? Is it a full fledged series, or is it more episodic? Can you start with any one of them, or do you need to read "Gardens of the Moon" (or whatever it's called) first. Because I couldn't get through that one. I just could not get into it. But I keep on hearing how great it is from everybody, and I know all the descriptions I read of the various titles make it sound interesting, but man, after the first twenty or so pages of that first one it went downhill fast for me, and by the time that little animated doll started walking around I closed it's covers.

And speaking of covers, I won't even mention how awful that first one is. I try not to let that effect my opinion of the book, because I know it's not the authors fault.

First, I had the same problem you did. The first half of the first book was really bad in my opinion (though in retrospect better than I thought at the time). I just grit my teeth and bared it until I finally got to the good part about half way through (though I also failed the first time through, and restarted it years later). I now love the series however, despite it's many flaws.

You do not need to read them all in order. However, some are directly related to others. They are continent-themed for the most part.

You could start with Deadhouse Gates, then go to House of Chains, then Bonehunters (I believe). Those are all "subcontinent of Seven Cities" themed.

Meanwhile, Gardens of the Moon and Memories of Ice are "continent of Genabackis" themed.

A third possible entry point is apparently Midnight Tides, which is apparently on yet a third continent (and earlier than the first book in the series).

 

[Tolen Mar]

I loved it, but it took me a few chapters to get my head around his writing style.

See...I just couldn't get past his style long enough to enjoy any of his work.


On the other hand, I have a clear slate for now, more or less. I just finished Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman. Every bit as fun as I expected from those two. I wish they'd work together more often.

That leaves me with my stack of Alternity books. I've been eying this game for some time now, and I am going to switch to it for our last four sessions as a group before the split. We've been running SilCORE lately, and we've found it to be TOO simple. So I've redrafted the PC's as closely as the rules allow (which wasn't all that hard), and we'll continue the same setting and story arc. I've been just loving the Dark*Matter book so far. I figure my next read will be 'Beyond Science,' on the off chance we need arcane powers.

 

[megamania]

The Dreaming dark Trilogy by Mr. Eberron himself.


First book was okay. Second is getting better. Hope third is better yet.

 

[Knightfall]

Well, I'm going to be writing a forensic argument for my Rhetoric class on the death of Julius Caesar so I've been reading parts of Caesar: Life of a Colossus by Adrian Goldsworthy and a website version (English translation, of course) of The Life of Julius Caesar by C. Suetonius Tranquillus, which is Book I of his The Lives of the Caesars.

 

[Megaton]

I'm reading the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe. Some of the stories have a hard time keeping my attention, but I really enjoy most of it.

 

[Bloodcookie]

Well, I finished A Brief History of the Druids, and now I'm reading Ed Greenwood's The Temptation of Elminster. I really have to be in a certain mood to enjoy Greenwood's fiction, but when I am, I really do

 

[BadMojo]

I'm reading the complete works of Edgar Allan Poe. Some of the stories have a hard time keeping my attention, but I really enjoy most of it.

If you're skipping the poems (I hope not), give "Ulalume" a try. That's a good one. One of my favorites, actually.

It never really clicked for me until I heard Jeff Buckley read it on "Closed on Account of Rabies", a very cool two CD set of various famous folks reading Poe. Christopher Walken reads "The Raven". Seriously.

 

[Tolen Mar]

Anyone here read 'Crystal Rain' by Tobias Buckell? I picked it up from the library yesterday. I'm hooked, though I haven't made it very far.

My internal reader keeps stumbling over the 'native' accent, bit I can push past that I think, especially since I just read a seriously creepy chapter earlier. I mean I kept imagining how it would play out on screen. Way cool.

First impression: I will definately have to look for the sequal.