Joe Haldeman's Forever War is a must read, couple of days at most I would say.
What book are you reading...
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Joe Haldeman's Forever War is a must read, couple of days at most I would say.
Soldato
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i'll look into that thanks
finished the Three Body Problem, its acclaims are well derserved. it starts of a bit slow, but just gets better and better.
now on to the second in the trilogy. The Dark Forest - Cixin Liu
just the book summary thingy, but gives stuff away in first book.
read a few books that have appeared on the tested podcast and they've all been excellent
now on to the second in the trilogy. The Dark Forest - Cixin Liu
just the book summary thingy, but gives stuff away in first book.
read a few books that have appeared on the tested podcast and they've all been excellent
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My favourite book series that I've read. I love the characters, the story and simply the way that Cornwell writes. Book 10 is out next month (Oct
).I'm currently halfway through The Lies Of Locke Lamora and I'm not particularly enjoying it compared to other fantasy books I've read. I don't particularly like any of the chraracters, or the world, and I don't like the way the slightly interesting main story is being interrupted continually with the very much not so interesting story of when Locke was a child. If they had been kept seperate, I could see myself enjoying both, but not as it currently is. Will persevere.Really fancy some Fantasy after that, the only book I have read in that genre is The Lies Of Locke Lamora (I'm new to this reading lark!) It's difficult knowing where to start with fantasy as there are so many different, highly recommended series!
I'd definately recommend The First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie. Great series.
Thanks for the recommendation - I've just bought the trilogy so will give it a go after I have finished this series. Currently on the third book (The Last Kingdom Series) now The Lords Of The North and I'm still enjoying it and finding it a very easy read that I am struggling to put down.
As for Lies of Locke Lamora - Its worth sticking with in my opinion... It is a bit jarring when it flicks back and forth from his youth to present day but I still enjoyed it.
Some people have said that the next two books are not as strong as the first... What are people opinions on here? Also - do the next 2 books have a similar writing style in that they go back and forth in time?
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Agree: 1>2>3. But book three finally shows what the big over-arching plot will be, and things may liven up now.
As for the "hopping back-and-forth" thing, if people are struggling with that then I think they need to be very careful what they read. It's one of the oldest tricks out there (even the Iliad does it from memory), and it's all but impossible to avoid. That said, it doesn't always work, and the third Lynch book shows why: in some cases one of the two stories is so much better than the other you begrudge any time spent on the less interesting one.
Occasional flashbacks is fine, but it really only works if no more than 20% is set in one time period (80% flashback works as well as 20%). Of course there are no rules - some books work fine no matter what the time track is doing.
As for me, I'm nearing the end of the original six books of Maurice Druon's "Accursed Kings" series. Some of you may have seen GRRM talking about the books. They are fun, and make me want to read a lot more French history. When I was young I did catch part of the first French TV series based on it, but I only recently realised what it was I had been watching.
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mastery by robert greene
Soldato
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The Origins of the British
Only 50 pages in, quite interesting if heavy stuff. It's about the historical and genetically demonstrable history of the UK populations. In particular ideas on migrations and cultural changes. I'm enjoying it.
Only 50 pages in, quite interesting if heavy stuff. It's about the historical and genetically demonstrable history of the UK populations. In particular ideas on migrations and cultural changes. I'm enjoying it.
I love the Black Tide Rising series. It's a wonderfully self-contained story and the description of the start of the apocolypse and the nature of the virus itself makes it almost realistic. FYI, there is also an anthology of short stories set in the same universe that I'm just working through now too. It's as good as the main books.
My one reservation is his apparent liking for rather too young girls but I kind of just added 5 years to each of the girls subconciously.
The Reckoners series is great too. I'd love to know what happens with Oblivion though.
Currently going through book 2 of Black Tide Rising, completely agree that the ages of the girls are just weird, I mentally add a few years every time they're mentioned.
I'm really struggling to get into Assassin's Apprentice. I've never really been the biggest fan of first person narratives, but happy to ignore that for the time being. It just seems so wordy and wandering... I'll stick with it as I've wanted to read her stuff for ages, but finding it very tedious at the start.
Yes, I found the same. She does ramble on a bit and the story is quite slow (and Fitz is quite annoying). I struggled through the first 2 books but can't bring myself to read the 3rd.
Currently almost half way through the first book of the First Law Trilogy and although it's different to what I'm used to, I'm really enjoying it. Takes a bit of getting used to after reading so many crime stories and such! Glad someone recommended it though as it's a lot of fun to read. And they should keep me busy for a while
No problem, they are great and I love all of his books.Currently almost half way through the first book of the First Law Trilogy and although it's different to what I'm used to, I'm really enjoying it. Takes a bit of getting used to after reading so many crime stories and such! Glad someone recommended it though as it's a lot of fun to read. And they should keep me busy for a while
I finished The Lies of Locke Lamora and unfortunately it didn't get any better for me. In fact, the ending was very disappointing with the last fight way OTT and quite silly, and the outcome of the story was entriely predicable. I'm glad I read it, but I won't be moving onto the next one.
I'm currently reading The Korean War by Max Hastings. I've been reading a lot of fantasy recently so decided to have a rest before I return to book 10 of The Last Kingdom series.
I finished The Accursed Kings, which were all the fun GRRM promised. I now need to find a decent book on medieval French history to find out how much was true.
Since then I've read:
Three Moments of an Explosion, a collection of short works by China Mieville. His novels are brilliant and original, but if anything his short stuff is better. Some of it is VERY odd. Brilliant.
Existance by David Brin. Worked extremely well until about 80% of the way through, then the book started to do a set of jumps into the future which really jarred. Whole stories from the first part were closed off with little more than a throwaway sentence. Average.
Nod by Adrian Barnes. End of the world book, extremely well written. However, a little too far up the Soft end of SF for many here I suspect. The author was diagnosed with serious brain cancer (I don't think there's any other kind) a while ago, but I can't find a definitive report as to whether he is still alive. Brilliant, but literary.
The War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. One of the earlier modern urban fantasies. I'm qualifying that because fantasies set around real life are a very old plot. But sometime around the late Seventies it came back to life. Peter S Beagle is probably the main starter, but it also includes things like Anne Rice's books. This was one of the better ones. For a start, it's a standalone, not the first of an interminable series. Second, the "wow is that really an X" bits were handled very quickly, and then the people just got on with things. But most importantly, there was just one aspect of fantasy, in this case, the fae. There's a tendency for many weaker writers to throw in the whole thing - vampires, werewolves, fae, ghosts etc - and they it just becomes Monster Top Trumps. There's nothing wrong with mixing different monsters, but it generally works much better if all your creations are original (see Mieville above, or Gaiman). Otherwise, stick to one type.
I'm now on history: 1759 by Frank McLynn. His book on king's Richard and John was massively biased, but this seems better. Thos with a knowledge of British history will recognise the year as the "Annus Mirabilas" (there are others, but this was the first that was called that at the time as far as I am aware), when Britain took over from France and Spain as the foremost power in the world.
Since then I've read:
Three Moments of an Explosion, a collection of short works by China Mieville. His novels are brilliant and original, but if anything his short stuff is better. Some of it is VERY odd. Brilliant.
Existance by David Brin. Worked extremely well until about 80% of the way through, then the book started to do a set of jumps into the future which really jarred. Whole stories from the first part were closed off with little more than a throwaway sentence. Average.
Nod by Adrian Barnes. End of the world book, extremely well written. However, a little too far up the Soft end of SF for many here I suspect. The author was diagnosed with serious brain cancer (I don't think there's any other kind) a while ago, but I can't find a definitive report as to whether he is still alive. Brilliant, but literary.
The War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. One of the earlier modern urban fantasies. I'm qualifying that because fantasies set around real life are a very old plot. But sometime around the late Seventies it came back to life. Peter S Beagle is probably the main starter, but it also includes things like Anne Rice's books. This was one of the better ones. For a start, it's a standalone, not the first of an interminable series. Second, the "wow is that really an X" bits were handled very quickly, and then the people just got on with things. But most importantly, there was just one aspect of fantasy, in this case, the fae. There's a tendency for many weaker writers to throw in the whole thing - vampires, werewolves, fae, ghosts etc - and they it just becomes Monster Top Trumps. There's nothing wrong with mixing different monsters, but it generally works much better if all your creations are original (see Mieville above, or Gaiman). Otherwise, stick to one type.
I'm now on history: 1759 by Frank McLynn. His book on king's Richard and John was massively biased, but this seems better. Thos with a knowledge of British history will recognise the year as the "Annus Mirabilas" (there are others, but this was the first that was called that at the time as far as I am aware), when Britain took over from France and Spain as the foremost power in the world.