What book are you reading...

"Jack Four" - Neal Asher. Another new book set in the Polity/Prador universe, but this one is a standalone, not part of his usual trilogies. A blank clone wakes up, to be trafficked by a crime lord hiding in the Graveyard to the Prador for coring/thralling/experimentation. Only Jack Four isn't blank, he knows things he shouldn't, and escapes to cause chaos for everyone he deems worthy of his revenge, and to find out what happened to the person from whom he was cloned.

This is another great sci-fi action/thriller set in Asher's expansive Polity universe. There's the usual great set pieces and explosive action, and some fairly terrifying moments (such as the scene where the main character is pretty much disassembled by a mad surgeon in order to fix a broken spine while being kept awake the whole time). It's a bit more personal as we follow the main character in first person prose, rather than the big scale and massive starship battles as in many of Asher's other books.

It's another very good addition to Asher's Polity books.
 
I just finished The Other Side Of The Sky, by Arthur C Clarke, scifi short stories. It was pretty good on the whole.

Now reading The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It gets name checked by people like Stephen King as a classic horror story.
 
potatolord said:
Now reading The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. It gets name checked by people like Stephen King as a classic horror story.
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It is, but probably not of the sort you are expecting. It's purely psychological horror.

I'm near the end of "The Mirror and the Light". I'd say this trilogy has got better as it went along, or I've got more used to the writing style.
 
Rids said:
Its one of the more challenging Fantasy series initially, the first book especially. You're thrown into a world, and the book doesn't handhold you and explain how things work, which many readers find tough. It also bounces between locations and characters a lot in the first half of the series. About 90% of the cast in Book 2 are completely new, and then more of the Book 1 cast return later in the series. It can be jarring and it doesn't make it the easiest story to follow on your first time read-through.

Those are the negatives, but if we're talking positives then it is extremely well written, it for the most part strikes the perfect balance between tension and humor. There are sections of this book that will utterly break your heart, its absolutely brutal in places, but its never brutal just for the sake of it and its always to drive the story forward. It does navel gaze a little from time to time, but this doesn't detract from what an absolutely fantastic read the series is.

I've read a lot of fantasy, I doubt there is a major fantasy series out there that I haven't been through a couple of times and in my opinion this is by far the best, well clear of everything else.
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Turns out I do own the first book on my kindle and got a bit of the way through.

I may give it another shot as it sounds like it's worth it in the end.

I'm not a big reader, trying to get into it more. Could you suggest maybe some easier Fantasy reads? You sound like you know your stuff! Would love some recommendations
 
kinger8938 said:
Turns out I do own the first book on my kindle and got a bit of the way through.

I may give it another shot as it sounds like it's worth it in the end.

I'm not a big reader, trying to get into it more. Could you suggest maybe some easier Fantasy reads? You sound like you know your stuff! Would love some recommendations
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Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson is a good place to start, very enjoyable read.

If you prefer things a little bit darker give Joe Abercrombie a try, start with the 'First Law' series. The story isn't as strong as some of the more 'epic' fantasy series, but his characterisation is second to none and the dialogue between characters is frequently hilarious.

I'm not a big reader myself, nearly all the 'reading' I do is via audiobooks as it allows me to 'read' while out walking, trying to drift off to sleep, etc.
 
Rids said:
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson is a good place to start, very enjoyable read.

If you prefer things a little bit darker give Joe Abercrombie a try, start with the 'First Law' series. The story isn't as strong as some of the more 'epic' fantasy series, but his characterisation is second to none and the dialogue between characters is frequently hilarious.

I'm not a big reader myself, nearly all the 'reading' I do is via audiobooks as it allows me to 'read' while out walking, trying to drift off to sleep, etc.
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Funny that, I downloaded the sample of Mistborn this morning :D I think I will start there

Thanks again
 
Just finished The Yellow Wallpaper. Rather unsettling account of a descent into mental illness.

I am now reading The Proud Robot, by Henry Kuttner. 50s scifi, pretty funny so far.
 
PlacidCasual said:
Currently reading SPQR by Mary Beard, a change of tack from the usual Sci-Fi etc. Really well written and approachable book. Enjoying it immensely.
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Ah, a good history book is always a good story.

Roger Crowley's "Conquerors" and "Empires of the sea" are both thrilling reads. I never realised what badasses the Portugese were until I read Conquerors.

There is more swordfighting in those books than in Game Of Thrones.
 
Again, thanks to this thread I'm working through another series. This time it's Horatio Hornblower - and was hooked after the first one.

Just started book 4, and so far so good. A word of caution though , if you plan to read them in chronological order like me then skip the introduction on this one.
(They bloody mention Bush dies in a later book ! ).
 
I tried Hornblower but have up 3/4 of the way through the first book. It was just a tedious mess. Seemed to be mainly a dull version of a Haynes manual for seafaring techniques in a bygone age.
Odd because I quite liked the TV show.
 
PlacidCasual said:
@Earth[Tera].bin Glad you're enjoying them, they're a thoroughly fun romp through the Napoleonic era Navy. Although it's fiction it brings to life the nature of life back then and how hard and dangerous it was at sea.
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Definitely, and for what it's worth I actually find them an enjoyable read but of course I can appreciate they might not be everyone's cup of tea.
 
Just started reading the Game Of Thrones series by George RR Martin. About 150 pages into Book 1 so far and it’s great. Even dragging me away from Snowrunner in the evening. I would describe it as Tolkien with boobs, but actually thus far the writing is far more restrained and less decadent than HBO made the TV series. Unlike Tolkien, George seems to largely resist the urge to start writing in more archaic or formal tone. I also appreciate how each chapter is written from the viewpoint of a particular protagonist. Popping into Waterstones this afternoon to pick up the second book, ready.
 
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