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What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...


Bozimus

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

Yes I read it and I was disappointed that it was a part 1 of 2 with no indication on the cover. If you scroll up far enough in this thread I posted a review of Pandora's Star which gripes about that very thing.

 

 

I'll read it anyway. Despite his shortcomings, Hamilton tells a great story and developes his characters. I'm in.

 

Okay, I've now finished it - The good news - NO DEUS EX MACHINA!!!

 

Excellent couple of books. Possibly a tad too sentimental in parts, but well done.

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

Just started Eckert's Myths for the Modern Age. Wold Newton essays from Farmer and many others, creating a coherent world mythology perfect as the basis of a Pulp or Super-Hero campaign. It's not a great tale in and of itself (for that, I'd look at the Other Log of Phineas Phog, Tarzan Alive, or Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life), but it is an excellent resource for gamers. Highly recommended.

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

Reminded me more of his Amber books than a LOT of his other writings.

Roadmarks, Eye of Cat and Damnation Alley still hold special places in my heart tho, right after the Corwin series.

 

Why is it that Lord of Light, Creatures of Light and Darkness and Jack of Shadows never get any love?:mad:

 

As for the Great Book of Amber, I bought it in Maryland a couple of months back - but Kath had already bought me the Fantasy Masterwork volume with just the first 5 stories, when she was in London. Like Mike, I could care less about the second series, so I exchanged the GBoA for the new Game of Thrones book at Borders in Seattle last week. Chain stores are good for something! :D

 

cheers, Mark

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

Why is it that Lord of Light, Creatures of Light and Darkness and Jack of Shadows never get any love?:mad:

 

As for the Great Book of Amber, I bought it in Maryland a couple of months back - but Kath had already bought me the Fantasy Masterwork volume with just the first 5 stories, when she was in London. Like Mike, I could care less about the second series, so I exchanged the GBoA for the new Game of Thrones book at Borders in Seattle last week. Chain stores are good for something! :D

 

cheers, Mark

don't get me wrong, I like them too... just not QUITE as much. I read Lord of Light right next to Lord Demon, and it got a bit overawed is all.

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

Why is it that Lord of Light, Creatures of Light and Darkness and Jack of Shadows never get any love?:mad:

 

 

cheers, Mark

 

 

I liked them when I read them, but I haven't read them lately. The last thing I have read by Zelazny is Frost and Fire and that was a while ago.

CES

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

I just finished Wolf Moon by Charles deLint. Takes place during some kind of pre-medieval period, where faeries and magic exist, but most people don't believe in them. It's about a werewolf who's being hunted down by a bard. In an interesting twist, the werewolf just wants a place where he can fit in, and the bard's evil.

 

VERY evil.

 

Parts of it made me squirm - there's some disturbing stuff in there - but overall, it was a good book. I recommend it.

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

Zelazny is always a favorite. I have an oooold copy of Creatures of Light and Darkness - I'm very careful with it. Would love to pick up a later edition.

 

I just finished "Kitty and the Midnight Hour" by Carrie Vaughn (plugged by the author, who frequents Fark.com, which is why I picked it up), yet another modern wolves/vamps fantasy novel - and Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan modern witches/faeries/wolves/vamps/elves novels. The second were the better read, but Kitty was decent. I've read the Anita Blake novels a few times, but unfortunately, while I *like* the sex in the books, they are getting to be a bit excessive. I'm certainly not offended by them.

 

I recently re-read Julian May's metapsychic Galactic Milieu Trilogy (Jack the Bodiless, Diamond Mask, and Magnificat). Decent albeit not as good as her Saga of Pliocene Exile.

 

And I'm working through George R R Martin's latest "A Feast for Crows". Good stuff, but I'm starting to skip over parts that I'm not interested in. Some details are a bit much. Good story though.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

I've just finished David Webber's At All Costs. It is Webber's usual fine work. If anything Webber has actually gotten better at integerating certain aspects of exposition, so you understand a little better why certain characters think/do/say certain things.

 

It just has one flaw for me, and that is the way that a lot of the things Webber uses to move Honor's non-military, non-political life forward seems a little forced/contrived to me. I don't want to say which one, because of spoiler issues, but it is the one that you know is coming as soon as you finish chapter six. At least that is where I saw it.

 

Let me repeat the book is excellent, and a fun read. What I'm mentioning is just a point that bothered me somewhat.

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

I've just finished David Webber's At All Costs. It is Webber's usual fine work. If anything Webber has actually gotten better at integerating certain aspects of exposition, so you understand a little better why certain characters think/do/say certain things.

 

It just has one flaw for me, and that is the way that a lot of the things Webber uses to move Honor's non-military, non-political life forward seems a little forced/contrived to me. I don't want to say which one, because of spoiler issues, but it is the one that you know is coming as soon as you finish chapter six. At least that is where I saw it.

 

Let me repeat the book is excellent, and a fun read. What I'm mentioning is just a point that bothered me somewhat.

 

I read it again a week or two ago. Very good, but I found myself going "OH MY GOD, THEY ACTUALLY DID IT!" I think you know what I mean :eek:

 

Last night I re-read Lloyd Alexander's "The High King." One of my favorite series as a kid, My first D&D character was named "Taran". ;)

 

Then I re-read Weber's "The Service of the Sword." Some good stories, some great.

 

Then I went to sleep about 0330. :(

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

Still working on The Chronicles of Master Li and Number 10 Ox. I'm about 3/4 of the way though Eight Skilled Gentlemen.

 

Then I start on the new Del Ray Conan collection. And I'll be taking lots of notes. :D

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

:thumbup:

Still working on The Chronicles of Master Li and Number 10 Ox. I'm about 3/4 of the way though Eight Skilled Gentlemen.

 

Then I start on the new Del Ray Conan collection. And I'll be taking lots of notes. :D

 

 

I have STILL been unable to find the third book. :(

 

Number 10 Ox is not exactly "lucky in Love" but...

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

I just finished reading 1632 by Eric Flint, which isn't so much a fantasy or scifi as a weird twist on historical fiction.

 

For reasons unknown, the entire town of Grantville, West Virginia, is transported in time and space to Germany in the middle of the Thirty Years' War.

 

The historical detail is quite interesting, and the author does a lot to get the "feel" of the times down, which is missing in a lot of history texts I've read. He's very careful to not portray the Americans as superior to the people they meet. One line, spoken by the history teacher in reference to the five languages a philosopher they meet is fluent in, is, "You didn't actually think you were SMARTER than them, did you?"

 

Good stuff. I recommend it. If not just for the neat role the "war gamers" play in the book.

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

Just finished "A Kiss of Shadows" and "A Caress of Twilight" by Laurel K Hamilton.

The first two of her Merry Gentry, Unseelie Princess books.

Went into them a bit leery... I've heard some bad opinions about them on the boards, but I have to say that I rather enjoyed them.

The Sidhe were done well... much more like the feel of some of the older tales... quite overwhelming.

 

Yeah, there was a lot of sex.

Yeah, it was a little kinky.

No, its not what I'd call perverted.

In fact, from a perverts POV, they're actually pretty tame.

 

When I finished the first book, thought "that reminded me of the way Niamh and I are when we're together.". Gave her the book to read. She finished it and said to me "It was a lot like the way we are."

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

Still working on The Chronicles of Master Li and Number 10 Ox. I'm about 3/4 of the way though Eight Skilled Gentlemen.

 

Then I start on the new Del Ray Conan collection. And I'll be taking lots of notes. :D

 

Ah, fantastic stuff. I read them every time I get jaded.

 

ATM I've just finished 'Down The Bright Way' by Robert Reed (rather intriguing SF with no interstellar travel in the established sense) and I'm just getting into '1610: Sundial In A Grave' by Mary Gentle.

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

I just finished reading 1632 by Eric Flint, which isn't so much a fantasy or scifi as a weird twist on historical fiction.

 

For reasons unknown, the entire town of Grantville, West Virginia, is transported in time and space to Germany in the middle of the Thirty Years' War.

 

The historical detail is quite interesting, and the author does a lot to get the "feel" of the times down, which is missing in a lot of history texts I've read. He's very careful to not portray the Americans as superior to the people they meet. One line, spoken by the history teacher in reference to the five languages a philosopher they meet is fluent in, is, "You didn't actually think you were SMARTER than them, did you?"

 

Good stuff. I recommend it. If not just for the neat role the "war gamers" play in the book.

 

 

I like the series, some weaknesses imo, but fun. I'm a little bit behind on it though, only read three or four books.

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

I just finished The Praxis by Walter Jon Williams, and am halfway through the second book The Sundering.

 

Good Space Opera - almost as good as Lois McMaster Bujold.

I haven't read it yet and may have to. I was a big WJW fan but haven't read anything in a long time. I've read The Rift, Angel Station, Hardwired, Metropolitan, City on Fire, and Voice of the Whirlwind. Only book of his I actually picked up but couldn't get into was Aristoi. How many books in that series?

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

I thought there were only 3 books out in the series . . .?

 

 

1632, 1633, 1634 The Galileo whatever, RIng of Fire (short story collection) and I don't know teh details of the Grantville Gazette.

 

actually, I think the Gazette is the only thing I haven't read. Hm, that $25 gift card at Hastings I just got...

 

 

:D

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

1632, 1633, 1634 The Galileo whatever, RIng of Fire (short story collection) and I don't know teh details of the Grantville Gazette.

 

actually, I think the Gazette is the only thing I haven't read. Hm, that $25 gift card at Hastings I just got...

 

 

:D

Ah, okay. I wasn't sure how those titles were related, but I did see those were available.

 

I can't remember who was telling me, but apparently Eric Flint wrote a 'fanfic' about Grantville, where he put in all the elements people had been urging him to. So he added a monastery full of ninjas, several martial arts schools, stuff like that.

 

Must've been Ted who told me. Sounds like a Ted-like thing to tell me.

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