Lord of Runes by Dave Gross.
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Ended up starting Elizabeth Varon's Disunion! The Coming of the American Civil War 1789-1859. Got a really good session in before my brain threw up and insisted I had spent too much time with it. It's really good, though her presentation style is a bit backwards from what I'd prefer. She likes, so far, to take ostensibly unrelated issues and drill down to slavery, where I prefer to take slavery and build up to them.
Was gonna read some more Whitman, but I can't find it, so I guess I will re-start A Game of Thrones.
Reviewed Forge of Ashes. Snipped version posted here, full version posted on The Grassy Gnoll (full version may contain spoilers).
'Pornland' by Gail Dines; made me think, at least, but hasn't brought me around to her way of thinking.
'Handbook for a Coup D'Etat' by Edward Luttwak, which I liked
'Thruppenny Opera' by Berthold Brecht
'Hunters of Gor', 'Marauders of Gor' and about 60% of 'Tribesmen of Gor'
Which I finished off today, along with the remains of the Dragonlance trilogy (just book 3) and 'Pool of Radiance', which wasn't much cop, to be honest.
'Pool of Radiance', which wasn't much cop, to be honest.
I am shocked, shocked!, that the D&D novel based off the video game wasn't awesome.
That being said, I just had nostalgic flashbacks to playing the video game in middle school over Charlie McDonald's house. Thank you for the trip down memory lane.
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'Pool of Radiance', which wasn't much cop, to be honest.I am shocked, shocked!, that the D&D novel based off the video game wasn't awesome.
That being said, I just had nostalgic flashbacks to playing the video game in middle school over Charlie McDonald's house. Thank you for the trip down memory lane.
Video games in middles school?! In middle school, you should have been reading Philip Jose Farmer's werewolf (um, and a lot of other stuff) porn. That's what I was doing!
Sorry, what was that about a lifelong psychological impact? Well, I think I turned out fine, so I guess I don't recognize the premise of your question!
Babies in the Well: Archaeological Evidence for Newborn Disposal in Hellenistic Greece.
Babies in the Well: Archaeological Evidence for Newborn Disposal in Hellenistic Greece.
Well, that sounds depressing...
Hammered by Elizabeth Bear.
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That being said, I just had nostalgic flashbacks to playing the video game in middle school over Charlie McDonald's house. Thank you for the trip down memory lane.
It is my very particular pleasure.
Today, fact fans, is Thomas Hardy's 150th birthday.
However, I intend to follow up on Hitdice's suggestion and seek out tales of filthy human sows. Sounds like a winnah!
Lengthy Backstory That's Just a (Possibly Boring) Summation of Stuff I've Already Posted Before
About 2002, 2003, somewhere around then, in Boston, The Black Goblin's Wicked Hawt Parsi girlfriend was going on and on about these great books she was reading, A Song of Ice and Fire, but how the author was taking way too much time in between each book. She was quite frustrated and the subject came up, time and time again, about this writer, George R.R. Martin, and how he was "being a wicked dick" to his readers. I was intrigued, because she was so emotionally attached, but wary, because, you know, I don't need that kind of hassle in my life. I decided that I wouldn't read them until the series was done or Mr. Martin shuffled off this mortal coil, which, of course, I hope never happens.
Fast forward a bunch of years and me and The Black Goblin find our way back from Boston to New Hampshire. The HBO show comes out and I maintain my vow. The Black Goblin buys the first season on DVD. He watches the whole thing; I refuse to watch even a minute. He finishes and promptly starts watching it again with a roommate (my Tattoo Artist Former Player-Turned-Dungeon Master). I refuse to watch even one minute. He finishes and promptly starts watching it again with a different roommate (Buddhist Monk Former Player Whom I Haven't Seen in a While). I break down and watch the first episode. Am blown away.
(Parenthetically, watching the first season of Game of Thrones three times in a row had a deleterious effect on The Black Goblin. He bought a Westeros cookbook and started drinking a lot of mulled wine. Speaking of winters, that one around the D&D table was terrible.)
Anyway, I run home, dig my copy of A Game of Thrones that I had bought for a quarter at the East Boston Public Library donations bin out of a box and read the first half in 24 or so hours before I finally get a hold of myself, throw the book across the room, and maintained my vow. I did, however, watch the first half of the season up to where I stopped reading.
Fast forward a bit more and I start going out with La Principessa. She keeps going on and on about how I have to read A Song of Ice and Fire. I tell her about my vow. She doesn't care. She keeps telling me about this article* my Independent Maoist-Inclined Red Historian Rival for Her Affections (Since Vanquished) has written, and if I won't read them and talk to her about them, I guess she'll have to talk to somebody about them... (She really, really relishes this game of trying to drive me insane with jealousy, but doesn't respond at all well when I tell her about how I bought a copy of The Land of Oz for a female comrade in Boston a couple of months before I met her, and how happy that female comrade was, how she brightened up when I handed it to her and...Baby, put that down! Why are you so angry? She doesn't mean anything to me, I love you, baby!)
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*I've never read it and take no responsibility for anything it might say.
Spoilered for Disgusting Goblin Sexiness
Anyway, I was trying to figure out what to read after The Whispering Swarm and realized that I was going down to Brooklyn this coming weekend, so I call up La Principessa:
"Hey, baby, I was thinking, you want me to read A Song of Ice and Fire so we can watch the tv show together, right?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, well, I'm thinking that I'll start reading them now and we can start watching the first season this weekend."
"You will? Yay!!!!"
"Yeah, and I was thinking...you know, I was thinking we could play a, kind of like, a drinking game while we watched the show..."
"A drinking game? Hmm, well, I'm sure there must be all kinds of Game of Thrones drinking games on the internet..."
"Well, not really a drinking game, just kind of like a drinking game..."
"What do you mean?"
"I was thinking that we could watch the show and, you know, stop everytime they have sex and, uh, have sex."
After a 20-second pause, "I like this idea."
"Yeah? I was thinking that, you know, we could stop when they were having sex and do whatever they're doing on the screen."
She involuntarily makes a sound that is half-moan/half-gasp and says "Baby, I really like this idea."
"Yeah?" "Yeah." "Where are we going to get a little person?"
She laughs. "Well, his sex scenes are mostly just him in bed with giggling prostitutes..."
"Baby, I can't wait!"
Worth breaking my vow for, I think.
Anyway, I made a joke about posting about it on the FB page of My Independent Maoist-Inclined Red Historian Rival for La Principessa's Affections (Since Vanquished) and she said "What have I told you? Facebook is public. You can't talk about our private lives in public." She must have heard my frown through the phone because she then added, "But I don't care if you want to tell all your little friends on Paizo."
Also, a big shout out to Comrade Curtin who gave Mr. Comrade and I a car full of books. We have yet to divy them up, but once we do, never fear, fellow Paizonians, I'll write up a list.
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...do whatever they're doing on the screen...
Um, just a word of very serious warning:
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I'm reading Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind, when I read. I want to read more but I'm always too busy with other more interactive, less relaxing stuff... I really need to stop. Relax. Read.
Read this when it first came out. It was a nice book. Didn't care too much about the
Started reading the sequal when it came out,
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Finished reading Portal by Eric Flint and Ryk E. Spoor over the weekend. Picks up where Threshold leaves off.
First 2/3 went as I expected, but I was pleasantly surprised by the ending. Still a fun read.
Started Impulse: Lightship Chronicles Book 1 by Dave Bara. This is the first book he has published. 150 pages in, looks promising.
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...do whatever they're doing on the screen...Um, just a word of very serious warning: ** spoiler omitted **
Babies in the Well: Archaeological Evidence for Newborn Disposal in Hellenistic Greece.Well, that sounds depressing...
Indeed, I can say that it is not the most cheerful article of classical scholarship ever written. Although, frankly, there are quite a bit blacker topics to be found as well. Middle of the road, I guess?
** spoiler omitted **...do whatever they're doing on the screen...Um, just a word of very serious warning: ** spoiler omitted **
I omitted the part where she requested a "too creepy, pass" proviso.
Anyway, she sent me a message earlier today about shopping online for the pattern to the dress Daenerys (or whatever) wears throughout Season something or other.
I'm reading Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind, when I read. I want to read more but I'm always too busy with other more interactive, less relaxing stuff... I really need to stop. Relax. Read.Read this when it first came out. It was a nice book. Didn't care too much about the ** spoiler omitted ** in the middle of the the book, but I was okay with it.
Started reading the sequal when it came out, ** spoiler omitted ** I put the book down and never went back to it.
Good choice.
Read the first two or three in high school. Liked the rageporn angle. Our Hero gets angry and bad things happen, which was all nice and hormonal.
Reread when I was twenty and got further, but it was a slog. I don't recall any passages that get quite to the length of it from the first book, but they turned odious to me in the same way that slavery apologetics are odious. I'm not sure they don't belong in the same genre, to be honest.
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I'm reading Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind, when I read. I want to read more but I'm always too busy with other more interactive, less relaxing stuff... I really need to stop. Relax. Read.Read this when it first came out. It was a nice book. Didn't care too much about the ** spoiler omitted ** in the middle of the the book, but I was okay with it.
Started reading the sequal when it came out, ** spoiler omitted ** I put the book down and never went back to it.
Good choice.
Read the first two or three in high school. Liked the rageporn angle. Our Hero gets angry and bad things happen, which was all nice and hormonal.
Reread when I was twenty and got further, but it was a slog. I don't recall any passages that get quite to the length of it from the first book, but they turned odious to me in the same way that slavery apologetics are odious. I'm not sure they don't belong in the same genre, to be honest.
Even ignoring the extreme BDSM taken to a sick level in these books, the series goes downhill very fast. I read the first 3 books and found a lot that I liked (I was like 15 years old, mind) but then couldn't get past the first 200 pages of the 4th book, since all that happened in them is characters standing around reminding each other what happened in previous books.
I never felt an impulse to pick the series up again.
I'm reading Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind, when I read. I want to read more but I'm always too busy with other more interactive, less relaxing stuff... I really need to stop. Relax. Read.Read this when it first came out. It was a nice book. Didn't care too much about the ** spoiler omitted ** in the middle of the the book, but I was okay with it.
Started reading the sequal when it came out, ** spoiler omitted ** I put the book down and never went back to it.
Good choice.
Read the first two or three in high school. Liked the rageporn angle. Our Hero gets angry and bad things happen, which was all nice and hormonal.
Reread when I was twenty and got further, but it was a slog. I don't recall any passages that get quite to the length of it from the first book, but they turned odious to me in the same way that slavery apologetics are odious. I'm not sure they don't belong in the same genre, to be honest.
Even ignoring the extreme BDSM taken to a sick level in these books, the series goes downhill very fast. I read the first 3 books and found a lot that I liked (I was like 15 years old, mind) but then couldn't get past the first 200 pages of the 4th book, since all that happened in them is characters standing around reminding each other what happened in previous books.
I never felt an impulse to pick the series up again.
I feel like Terry Goodkind's works are definitely a text book example of an okay first volume for a series, which rapidly goes downhill.
In addition to A Game of Thrones, which I'm taking slow seeing as how I figure I only need to get up to Daenerys's deflowering scene because how much tv can we watch on a weekend?, I've gotten up to "Song of the Answerer" in Whitman. It's going to be hard to go back to my Collected Works of Ginsberg after this--didn't realize he was just Walt born again, except doing drugs and blowing (more) dudes.
On top of that,
[Comrade Anklebiter]
Black History and the Class Struggle No. 11: Stop the Klan! For a Workers America!
Today, fact fans, is Thomas Hardy's 150th birthday.
However, I intend to follow up on Hitdice's suggestion and seek out tales of filthy human sows. Sounds like a winnah!
Before I decided on Martin, I was gonna read Tess to make her happy, but then thought up the Westeros drinking game. Never read any Hardy before.
Man, this thread keeps exposing glaring holes in my education...
Just finished The Crimson Campaign by Brian McClellan.
Just started Side Jobs by Jim Butcher.
I've been reading a lot of Brandon Sandersons stuff lately. In the past 2 weeks I read both books in the Stormlight Archives, Elantris and Warbreaker. I'm going to start on Alloy of Law next (read Mistborn trilogy a couple of months ago), but will be looking for a new author shortly as I am almost through his novels.
On the scifi side of things, I enjoyed the first 2 novels of the Red Rising trilogy by Pierce Brown. The first book reminded me of Ender's Game meets Hunger Games, but not geared for teenagers.
Almost done with Beyond Good and Evil by Nietzsche
Recently finished:
On Synchronicity by Carl Jung
Meditations on First Philosophy by Renee Descartes
Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
Black Sun Rising by C S Friedman
The Demon Lord by Peter Moorwood
The First Tail, by T.J. Burgin. I've been meaning to read it for a while for reviewing, but have only just recently had a chance to start it (had some problems getting the file to open in my reader for some reason).
It's an odd book so far. I like the concept and the story, but the writing style is a little strange, very conversational first person narration of the main character's life, and the dialogue between characters seems to jump between archaic/and or time appropriate vocabulary, to very modern expressions (some of it can be explained by the fact that the narrator is recounting her life story much later on, but it still feels odd at times.
The other thing I'm finding a little confusing is the way certain terms are just dropped in as if I'm supposed to know exactly what they mean, but the explanation doesn't come until at least a chapter or two later. For example, the main character suffers from something called the Rage at one point... that in itself gets a bit of an explanation, but in the course of the explanation they refer to it as being similar to and related to another condition called Spiralling... and it's as if I'm supposed to understand what that means. Then a few chapters later the character does goes into a state of spiralling, and it gets a brief explanation... that in turn refers back to the explanation of the rage.
I've been reading a lot of Brandon Sandersons stuff lately. In the past 2 weeks I read both books in the Stormlight Archives, Elantris and Warbreaker. I'm going to start on Alloy of Law next (read Mistborn trilogy a couple of months ago), but will be looking for a new author shortly as I am almost through his novels.
On the scifi side of things, I enjoyed the first 2 novels of the Red Rising trilogy by Pierce Brown. The first book reminded me of Ender's Game meets Hunger Games, but not geared for teenagers.
That Brian McClellan dude I've been reading was taught by Sanderson.
I think Sanderson is going to be the next new author I try to get into. I tried reading Elantris before, but was a little blah for me. But I've heard great things about his other stuff.
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I've been reading a lot of Brandon Sandersons stuff lately. In the past 2 weeks I read both books in the Stormlight Archives, Elantris and Warbreaker. I'm going to start on Alloy of Law next (read Mistborn trilogy a couple of months ago), but will be looking for a new author shortly as I am almost through his novels.
On the scifi side of things, I enjoyed the first 2 novels of the Red Rising trilogy by Pierce Brown. The first book reminded me of Ender's Game meets Hunger Games, but not geared for teenagers.
That Brian McClellan dude I've been reading was taught by Sanderson.
I think Sanderson is going to be the next new author I try to get into. I tried reading Elantris before, but was a little blah for me. But I've heard great things about his other stuff.
Elantris is his first book, and is what I would consider a flawed gem. I did enjoy it a lot, but it is not nearly as good as many of his other books.
Start with Mistborn. It's a great trilogy that showcases just how stupendously good he is with concocting fresh and interesting magic systems - Allomancy in the Mistborn book is literally like no other magic system I have ever heard of. It also has awesome action scenes, an interesting settings, some good characters and plot twists that will make you grin.
I, on the other hand, have been eyeing McClellan for a while now. Never read flintlock fantasy but it seems awesome, and the way people keep talking of him in the context of Sanderson just about means I need to pay attention to this guy.
As of my own reading... according to my Kindle I've crossed the 50% mark on the wheel of time series (which I have all in a single file), about halfway through book 7 (Crown of Swords). The last 3000 pages of so have been among the least eventful that I have ever read, but I am really determined to see this one all the way through.
The really horrid thing about Wheel of Time is that those 3000 pages aren't uneventful - if you know what they're setting up. So yes, to get the most enjoyment out of Wheel of Time, you should read it at least three or four times. ;)
(I used to have a similar opinion of Lord of Chaos and the following three books, and then I reread the whole thing when The Gathering Storm was about to come out and was shocked at how well they flowed all of a sudden.)
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The really horrid thing about Wheel of Time is that those 3000 pages aren't uneventful - if you know what they're setting up. So yes, to get the most enjoyment out of Wheel of Time, you should read it at least three or four times. ;)
(I used to have a similar opinion of Lord of Chaos and the following three books, and then I reread the whole thing when The Gathering Storm was about to come out and was shocked at how well they flowed all of a sudden.)
Well, I did notice that the books are setting up something. It's actually well done and subtle, and there are like a billion behind the scenes things going on. There are many small clues that things are not as they seem, and (paradoxically) I wouldn't be surprised to find out that later books in the series have some fun and hard to predict twists.
But.
You can't have 5 consecutive books that don't have any merit except setting up later ones. A book needs to stand on its own as a story - I don't mean each book has to function as a stand alone, I meant that a good narrative is one that keeps the audience engaged throughout - the middle part can (and most of the times even should) be less interesting than the beginning or the end, but it should have *some* value. Me, I'm just as sick of Nynaeve as I've ever been of any humanoid in fiction.
I've been reading a lot of Brandon Sandersons stuff lately. In the past 2 weeks I read both books in the Stormlight Archives, Elantris and Warbreaker. I'm going to start on Alloy of Law next (read Mistborn trilogy a couple of months ago), but will be looking for a new author shortly as I am almost through his novels.
On the scifi side of things, I enjoyed the first 2 novels of the Red Rising trilogy by Pierce Brown. The first book reminded me of Ender's Game meets Hunger Games, but not geared for teenagers.
That Brian McClellan dude I've been reading was taught by Sanderson.
I think Sanderson is going to be the next new author I try to get into. I tried reading Elantris before, but was a little blah for me. But I've heard great things about his other stuff.
Elantris is his first book, and is what I would consider a flawed gem. I did enjoy it a lot, but it is not nearly as good as many of his other books.
Start with Mistborn. It's a great trilogy that showcases just how stupendously good he is with concocting fresh and interesting magic systems - Allomancy in the Mistborn book is literally like no other magic system I have ever heard of. It also has awesome action scenes, an interesting settings, some good characters and plot twists that will make you grin.
I, on the other hand, have been eyeing McClellan for a while now. Never read flintlock fantasy but it seems awesome, and the way people keep talking of him in the context of Sanderson just about means I need to pay attention to this guy.
As of my own reading... according to my Kindle I've crossed the 50% mark on the wheel of time series (which I have all in a single file), about halfway through book 7 (Crown of Swords). The last 3000 pages of so have been among the least eventful that I have ever read, but I am really determined to see this one all the way through.
Elantris and Warbreaker are definitely his weaker works so far, but I still enjoyed both of them. I honestly think the Stormlight Archive is stronger than Mistborn, but only has the first 2 books out so far.
I think my favorite part of his works isn't his ability to create interesting worlds built around his magic systems, which he does better than almost anything else I can think of. Instead, I think it is his ability to write competent characters that still have flaws who can get beaten in their specialty by people who aren't necessarily just better than them at it.
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Elantris and Warbreaker are definitely his weaker works so far, but I still enjoyed both of them. I honestly think the Stormlight Archive is stronger than Mistborn, but only has the first 2 books out so far.
Warbreaker is probably my favorite of his books so far. but it's a pretty close competition with Mistborn and I haven't yet read the Stormlight Archive.
The really horrid thing about Wheel of Time is that those 3000 pages aren't uneventful - if you know what they're setting up. So yes, to get the most enjoyment out of Wheel of Time, you should read it at least three or four times. ;)
(I used to have a similar opinion of Lord of Chaos and the following three books, and then I reread the whole thing when The Gathering Storm was about to come out and was shocked at how well they flowed all of a sudden.)
Well, I did notice that the books are setting up something. It's actually well done and subtle, and there are like a billion behind the scenes things going on. There are many small clues that things are not as they seem, and (paradoxically) I wouldn't be surprised to find out that later books in the series have some fun and hard to predict twists.
But.
You can't have 5 consecutive books that don't have any merit except setting up later ones. A book needs to stand on its own as a story - I don't mean each book has to function as a stand alone, I meant that a good narrative is one that keeps the audience engaged throughout - the middle part can (and most of the times even should) be less interesting than the beginning or the end, but it should have *some* value. Me, I'm just as sick of Nynaeve as I've ever been of any humanoid in fiction.
Agreed. A Crown of Swords through Winter's Heart can be a tough slog mostly because of the lack of action. The good news is, Crossroads of Twilight ramps back up nicely to the amazingess of the final three.
Elantris and Warbreaker are definitely his weaker works so far, but I still enjoyed both of them. I honestly think the Stormlight Archive is stronger than Mistborn, but only has the first 2 books out so far.Warbreaker is probably my favorite of his books so far. but it's a pretty close competition with Mistborn and I haven't yet read the Stormlight Archive.
Warbreaker had an issue where I didn't like 2 of the 3 protagonists for most of the book. I absolutely loved the magic system and setting, but the 2 female leads did not mesh with me.
Sanderson is currently and probably will remain for some time my absolute favorite author ever.
However, I am not reading Sanderson at the moment, I am reading Garth Nix. Specifically, the Old Kingdom/Abhorsen series. Coming up just on the end of Lirael now. Very much thinking I want to pick up Keys to the Kingdom and Seventh Tower when I'm done... after I take a break to read through Dave Gross's new Lord of Runes which I just got on preorder.
Sanderson is currently and probably will remain for some time my absolute favorite author ever.
However, I am not reading Sanderson at the moment, I am reading Garth Nix. Specifically, the Old Kingdom/Abhorsen series. Coming up just on the end of Lirael now. Very much thinking I want to pick up Keys to the Kingdom and Seventh Tower when I'm done... after I take a break to read through Dave Gross's new Lord of Runes which I just got on preorder.
Keys to the Kingdom is marvelous, though I prefer the earlier books to the latter ones.
The Seventh Tower... I haven't read that since I was in early high school. Man, that takes me back. I remember enjoying it, but I can't remember much else, aside from the use of crystals for magic and some kind of bonding with creatures from another world as familiars (I think they replace their shadows with them or something? Can't quite recall).
There's a prequel to the Old Kingdom trilogy out, Clariel. Haven't picked it up yet. If you can find a copy, I seem to recall Shade's Children is worth a read as well. It's a standalone novel.
Unfortunately, as much as I love his work, my enjoyment of it was marred somewhat when I met him at a convention and found him to be a bit of a prat. He didn't even say hello, just signed the my Old Kingdom books and waved me away. He could have been having a bad day I suppose, but it just left me feeling a bit sour about his books.
Trudi Canavan on the other hand (author of The Black Magician trilogy, one of my favourite fantasy stories ever), was the loveliest person I could have hoped to have met that day, and didn't even bat an eyelid at the fact that I'd had to go and buy new copies of the trilogy to get signed since my cousin had borrowed my current ones, and could only find already signed editions... so she happily signed them again and personalised them for me, as well as having a chat about our favourite moments of the series and telling me how happy she was that I'd understood that while the death of a major character (won't name for spoilers) was a heartbreaking moment, it was a necessary part of the story that gave it real emotional weight.
Kind of polar opposite experiences really.
Game of Thrones drinking game is going really well. Will omit the details (for now).
Went out to lunch with a comrade yesterday. Smoked a bowl before I went and brought Whitman. Didn't get to read "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" while, um, crossing into Manhattan, but did get to read about the camaraderie of working-men and then looked up and saw a crew of ironworkers. Got to lunch, at some point comrade asks me what I'm reading. I tell her and she trumps me by revealing that she's reading Ezra Pound.
Also blew through
[Comrade Anklebiter]
Black History and the Class Struggle No. 12: South African Powder Keg: For Black Proletarian Power![/Comrade Anklebiter]
Just finished Name of the Wind, and I am now starting on Wise Man's Fears. Overall great book
Probably my favorite part was all the stuff dealing with the University. It's obvious the Author spent a lot of time at college and mingling with Academia, because the magical University that the main character eventually attends is very much a magical version of a modern university, down to overworked postdocs, PhD Defenses, and the whole "College town" vibe. It was great seeing fantasy parallels to stuff I am all too familiar with.
If I am going to dock points, it's probably for Kvothe being a tad too competent. Kvothe is quite literally awesome at everything he does, whether its music, magic, fighting (inferred to happen in later books) or just overall wit. I get that we are getting the first chapter of the backstory of a legendary character...but it hard to take any challenge seriously when he so effortlessly handles them. He is a underdog...essentially attending university with no income or support...but the stakes are just not there to be all that concerned.
I'll contrast that with the recent Loch Lamora books, which also feature a genius character, but one who doesn't have any skill with magic or much skill with fighting, and who is usually the underdog but with a lot higher personal stakes at play.
Also...I got to say the dragon sidequest that made up most of the climax was...errr. Just didn't gell with me. It was a bit too random and out of now where, where I expected something that would tie in more with the Chandrian or something.
There's a prequel to the Old Kingdom trilogy out, Clariel. Haven't picked it up yet. If you can find a copy, I seem to recall Shade's Children is worth a read as well. It's a standalone novel.
I didn't see Shade's Children on Amazon (I do all my reading on Kindle), but I might have just missed it. I did pick up Clariel, along with Over the Wall (a collection of short stories, looks like).
I guess I'm fortunate in that I really don't care what the author themselves is like as long as their books are good. An author who's a great person outside that is all the better, admittedly - one of the main reasons I like Butcher and Sanderson is because of how open and conversational they are with fans, and clearly connected to the hobbies that most of their audience is - but for some reason discovering something I don't like about the author never added a negative to the reading experience. Maybe it's just me.
There's a prequel to the Old Kingdom trilogy out, Clariel. Haven't picked it up yet. If you can find a copy, I seem to recall Shade's Children is worth a read as well. It's a standalone novel.I didn't see Shade's Children on Amazon (I do all my reading on Kindle), but I might have just missed it. I did pick up Clariel, along with Over the Wall (a collection of short stories, looks like).
I guess I'm fortunate in that I really don't care what the author themselves is like as long as their books are good. An author who's a great person outside that is all the better, admittedly - one of the main reasons I like Butcher and Sanderson is because of how open and conversational they are with fans, and clearly connected to the hobbies that most of their audience is - but for some reason discovering something I don't like about the author never added a negative to the reading experience. Maybe it's just me.
If I'd just heard second hand that he was a jerk, I'd not care. Takes a lot for someone I've never met to annoy me to the point that their work loses it's shine (Orson Scott Card on the other hand...). But experiencing it first hand is what really made me sour on it. He couldn't even say hello to someone who was clearly just really excited to meet him (I grew up reading his books, and this was the first time I'd ever had a chance to go to a convention). I didn't need a conversation or anything, just him saying hi would have made my day. Thankfully I met Trudi Canavan after him, so it didn't spoil the rest of my day.
I do still read his novels, it just means I'm a little less excited for them than I would be otherwise
Yeah, I remember being mad at China Mieville after he ripped the head off that android and crashed his space ship on Charlize Theron. ;-)
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Taking a break from Jim Butcher's Side Jobs anthology to finish Brian McClellan's Powder Mage Trilogy with The Autumn Republic.
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Just finished Name of the Wind, and I am now starting on Wise Man's Fears. Overall great book
** spoiler omitted **
Name of the Wind was great, but Wise Man's Fear is a serious dip in quality. I too loved the same parts that you did about the first book, but got completley sick of them in the sequel. It feels like the story lost all direction and momentum. Even the Wheel of Time took longer to get there than that. It is still very well written, though.
Speaking of the Wheel of Time, finished Crown of Swords today. Despite most of the book being the slogfest I became so used to lately, some good signs at the end make me cautiously optimistic about the future - namely, some very annoying characters are seeming to make first hesitant steps on the path to being tolerable. There was also literally a moment where the main character just woke up and remembered he is capable of doing things, after which things happen. The correlation is quite shocking yet undeniable.
One part in patricular in the book was exceedibly cringe worthy to me, though
There is also another scene where Rand is being bathed by a gaggle of women as his girlfirend watches, the women making remarks about his looks the whole time. This, too, is supposed to be a funny moment.
That these harmful, humiliating moments are considered funny manages to be doubly offensive - because not only are men degraded and reduced to sexual objects, but women are being presented as harmless - "oh look at that cute little queen cutting off the clothes from the protesting man who wouldn't dare resist on fear of death".
Look, the characters have been through a lot. I wouldn't expect someone like Mat to react with emotional trauma to rape after facing soul devouring monsters and some of the most powerful forced of evil in the world, but... still, a negative reaction would have been more appropriate.
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Blew through As Red As Blood—Finnish YA crime fiction with fairy tale allusions. Loved the moment where the anti-feelings heroine is forced to accept a grateful hug and is horrified that her life might become a nightmare pit of friendly hugs from then on. My only aviso is that it includes constant references to how cold it is—have extra blankets handy if that sort of thing bothers you.
Now I'm reading Skim while I wait for my hold on As White As Snow to come through.