What are you reading? Nov 2017

[Blue]

I .. I feel like a heretic. A fraud. You see, I just finished Guy Gavriel Kay's River of Stars, enjoying it immensely. That, in and of itself, is just fine. GGK is a great author, my only wish that he was more prolific.

But then - oh, here comes my shame - I picked up the book I had meant to read a the end of October, my yearly pilgrimage into the pages of Roger Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October.

Do not forsake me, but River of Stars shined the brighter in the comparison.

Zelazny's stories - long and short - have been long dear friends. Alas at my inconstant heart.



So, whatcha reading?

 

[Jhaelen]

I'm continuing to play through Joe Dever's Lone Wolf books. 'Wolf's Bane' turned out to be rather uninteresting: First, it's set on a different planet that represents a dystopic future earth, something I'm not fond of in the context of a classic fantasy setting such as Magnamund. Second, there's extremely few meaningful decisions to be made: Most often, forks in the storyline are either randomly chosen (by a dice roll / skill check) or you're presented a choice between two options without any additional information, i.e. "do you want to go left or right?" Meh.

I really hope the final installment in the Grandmaster series, 'The Curse of Naar', is better.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I'm just finishing up Red Seas Under Red Skies, the second in the Gentleman Bastard series. Then I'm going to try out Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind.

 

[Blue]

I'm just finishing up Red Seas Under Red Skies, the second in the Gentleman Bastard series. Then I'm going to try out Patrick Rothfuss' Name of the Wind.

I'm a huge fan of Name of the Wind. Great wordcraft on top of everything else. I will say one thing - there is a story in a story. There may be some unreliable narration going on about just how awesome (*cough*MartyStu*cough*) a character is. Or perhaps it's a longer fall from the heights. This sounds negative - it isn't, it's just a friendly advisory.

I'm also a huge fan of ... well, the first Gentleman Bastard book. It set the bar quite high, and I don't feel like the future books have returned to that level. #3 is better than #2 in my opinion - #2 felt like it ran a bit much on rails, for all that it was full of their signature chaos.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I'm also a huge fan of ... well, the first Gentleman Bastard book. It set the bar quite high, and I don't feel like the future books have returned to that level. #3 is better than #2 in my opinion - #2 felt like it ran a bit much on rails, for all that it was full of their signature chaos.

I enjoyed the first more but I like the second as well. I liked the flashback and current storytelling in the first book.

What does ran a bit much on rails mean?

I considered jumping into the third book right away but thought switching things up would be a nice change of pace.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Really enjoyed both the Kingkiller Chronicles and Gentlemen Bastards series to date. I think Rothfuss’ plotting has some flaws that are covered by how gorgeous his writing is, if that makes sense. The Slow Regard of Silent Things is amazing, probably my favorite of his works, though.

Scott Lynch’s series is arguably less ambitious, but more solidly done. I love that there’s always some plot turn or layer of scheme that I fail to guess. It’s nice to be surprised now and then.

 

[Richards]

I spent a good chunk of both Tuesday and Thursday either sitting in an airport or on a plane, so I got a fair amount of reading done.

First off, I read Poul Anderson's Twilight World, which started off post-apocalyptic, then within a few generations had mutants colonizing Mars. It was written in 1961, so I had to forgive a lot of the assumptions in the book (like the native Mars flora and fauna) but it was a halfway decent read and it kept my attention, so all in all it was half a dollar well spent.

Next up, I read End of Watch by Stephen King. It was excellent; I just wish I had known it was the end of a trilogy when I bought it; anyone interested in reading it would be best served by reading Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers first, and in that order. However, as an indicator of how much I enjoyed the book, I fully intend to pick up those books despite a great deal of their outcomes having been spoiled in this one. Most of the desire is because I really enjoy the main characters, a retired police detective and his civilian assistant - especially the assistant, Holly, who's probably one of my favorite King characters ever.

I'm now reading No Doors, No Windows a collection of horror short stories by Harlan Ellison. About seven stories in, there have been some good works; it was the rambling, lengthy introduction I could have done without. (Seriously, it's longer than many of the stories!) But still worth every one of the 50 pennies it cost me at a library book sale.

Johnathan

 

[Kramodlog]

I'm 100 pages into the first book of the Expense, Leviathan Wakes. I'm not wowed. I can see a ressemblances with Kevin J. Anderson. At least in the structure. The prose is better.

 

[neobolts]

I picked up Origin by Dan Brown, the 5th novel in the Da Vinci Code series. Brown's really good at spinning pseudo-history into edge-of-your-seat mysteries. This series is my guilty pleasure.

 

[Jhaelen]

'The Curse of Naar' proved to be a satisfying conclusion to the Grandmaster cycle of Lone Wolf books by Joe Dever. It's quite reminiscent of a planar adventure in D&D's Abyss: Yo have to make it through several quite different planes and overcome or escape their demonic rulers, collecting several key components required to make it to the home plane of Naar, the god of darkness. It also features cameos from almost all of the previous books.

What I hadn't been aware of, is that the story seamlessly continues in the 'New Kai Order' cycle. You no longer get to play as Lone Wolf himself, but one of the top leaders of the Kai Order, so the power level is similar to the beginning of the previous cycle. The first installment is called 'Voyage of the Moon Stone', and it's quite tough. I'm already at the beginning of my fifth attempt.