Susano Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... It was better as a novella' date=' IMHO.[/quote'] A comment I've heard about Zelazny's Damnation Alley. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Read Mainspring by Jay Lake. In an Earth hung on rails, circling a lamp that is the sun, an apprentice clockmaker is charged with winding the mainspring of the world. It was okay, but I can't recommend it. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tadk Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Read Mainspring by Jay Lake. In an Earth hung on rails, circling a lamp that is the sun, an apprentice clockmaker is charged with winding the mainspring of the world. It was okay, but I can't recommend it. CES I on the other hand have already read it and have recommended it to several people. I just picked up the sequel Escarpment, not started it yet, got like 3 in front of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tadk Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Last week finished this book The Clockwork King of Orl Good fantasy, little Tomb Raiderish in parts, heroine always wins and her ex b/f is the best archer ever, etc. but some really nice parts to it. Got it at B&N so with the discount it was worth the price of admission. Good enough that I am looking for the others in the series and want to check out the other series from the publisher. Likely I will like them because. Back to book, some almost clockwork / magic elements, good ideas for traps in a few spots, some cool other ideas I could so steal for gaming. Felt rather MMORPGish in spots, so keep that in mind if you get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Shardik -- I'll admit' date=' I loved [i']Watership Down[/i] when I first read it and now own a copy of that and Tales from Watership Down. So, I picked up two more Richard Adams's novels. I found The Plague Dogs in a used book store and struggled my way through that. I also found [shardik[/i] and tried to read that, but gave up after ~100 pages. The prose was dense and slow going and overall it didn't hold my attention. It's hard work, but it does stay with you.... I also read Greg Bear's Eon. Greg Bear. Ick. Great ideas, clumsy execution I'm now reading Look to Windward' date=' another Culture novel.[/quote'] Yes, well you won't get the "dated Tech" thing from Banks. I'm betting you'll love his nanotech assassin. Blood Music by Greg Bear. Still, the idea of sentient, sapient, super-colonies of intelligent cells as well as memories being passed down in genetic material was interesting, as was the visuals of North America being consumed by the cellular equivalent of "gray goo." Unlike Eon I think I'll keep this. A friend tells me that this was his first novel (and a good one it is), but his later books go bizarre and contain absurd theories which apparently Bear says is how things really work.... I don't think I read anything more of his. See my comments above. Just finished re-reading The Dragon Waiting. Still a very evocative book, with some great ideas, but not as awesome as I remembered. A Also read the Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe. It's the kind of book that people who like this kind of book will like, if you know what I mean. Distinctly Wolfe, and compulsive reading - I went through it in a couple of sessions, but at the end ... I felt ... I dunno ... kind of disappointed. No, I don't know why. Probably because like the Book of the Long Sun, you're left with the feeling that there's more to the story - but that it hasn't been written down. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... So here I am at the age of (mumble mumble), having been an avid RPG player since I first discovered the hobby in 1976.....and I just red my first Conan story, by Robert E. Howard. Wow! I did myself a SERIOUS disservice by not picking this up sooner! I totally GET how so many gamers pattern things on Howard (although Conan in the books is much, much more complex a character than most gamer "homages"). I bought the entire Howard collection. Im glad I did Conan is armed with a sword of pure awesome. He's one of those iconic characters who earned their iconic status the hard way, by Crom! I re-read all the Conan stories again last year. I last read them about 30 years ago, when I was still at school and I was amazed at just how good they were and how well they stood up to my fond memories. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted July 15, 2009 Report Share Posted July 15, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Yes' date=' well you won't get the "dated Tech" thing from Banks. I'm betting you'll love his nanotech assassin.[/quote'] I've now read all of his Culture novels and have enjoyed them all. I'm also trying to buy them all, and was able to score Excession at a used book store -- in a UK edition! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thag13 Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I recently purchased the Savage Sword of Conan collection of Marvel comics material from the 70s. Fun comics. I just finished Simon Greens first Omnibus of Nightside books. Urban fantasy of a dectective that has a gift of finding lost items. The setting is a dark part of London that is between the spaces so to speak. Fun stuff. Nothing award winning but sure gave some ideas to inflict on my gaming group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted July 16, 2009 Report Share Posted July 16, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Read Death's Head: Maximum Offense by David Gunn. More space opera with Sven being lent to out from his army to another hegemony controlling the galaxy. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted July 24, 2009 Report Share Posted July 24, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I recently read "Devil's Cape" (but i'm damned if i can remember the author). As a novel about supers I really enjoyed it. It didn't seem to start out well with a considerable body count in the beginning, but I enjoyed reading about the "rise" of the new heros to replace the ones that were killed. Dark at times but good stuff. Next up was an "Honor Harrington" novel "In Enemy Hands". Also fun (I enjoy Honor !) if the ending was a tad predictable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted July 24, 2009 Report Share Posted July 24, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I recently read "Devil's Cape" (but i'm damned if i can remember the author). As a novel about supers I really enjoyed it. It didn't seem to start out well with a considerable body count in the beginning, but I enjoyed reading about the "rise" of the new heros to replace the ones that were killed. Dark at times but good stuff. Next up was an "Honor Harrington" novel "In Enemy Hands". Also fun (I enjoy Honor !) if the ending was a tad predictable. Rob Rogers who sometimes posts on the boards is the author of Devil's Cape CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Cross Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I recently read Nicor! by Peter Tremayne.A solid B-Movie plot featuring an oil-rig being attacked by a giant marine dinosaur (or whatever you call a marine reptile that should have died out millions of years ago). Prior to that, I read Bard by Keith Taylor,and it got me wondering why they didn't base the 3.5 D & D bard on the lead character. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... China Miéville's The City & The City A modern crime/detective story set in a unique urban fantasy setting. Two citys that exist in the same space, and overlap at areas of "crosshatching". Citizens in Ul Qoma and Besź hold on to their identities as separate nations by unseeing and unsensing citizens from the other city. To notice in areas of crosshatching is to move over to that city and to breach. Breaching is a major crime and involves the mysterious oversight policing force known as Breach. They have more power than either city's police force but only deal with crime involving the illegal travel between cities. If you breach, you disappear. Children are brought up in the cities to never breach. Visitors that breach are transported outside of the cities. The main character is a detective from the Extreme Crimes squad in Besź who is investigating the murder of a visiting Canadian archaeologist. It leads into a co-Ul Qoman investigation into the rumours of a third city - Orsiny existing between the two and who may be secretly manipulating both cities for their own ends. The book is divided into three major sections. The first is Besź, the second is Ul Qoma and the third is Breach. While the premise of his latest book is more complex and convoluted than his previous books, I found it more readable than his Bas-Lag books. His narrative style flows better here. Possibly because it's all first person as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... China Miéville's The City & The City A modern crime/detective story set in a unique urban fantasy setting. Two citys that exist in the same space, and overlap at areas of "crosshatching". Citizens in Ul Qoma and Besź hold on to their identities as separate nations by unseeing and unsensing citizens from the other city. To notice in areas of crosshatching is to move over to that city and to breach. Breaching is a major crime and involves the mysterious oversight policing force known as Breach. They have more power than either city's police force but only deal with crime involving the illegal travel between cities. If you breach, you disappear. Children are brought up in the cities to never breach. Visitors that breach are transported outside of the cities. The main character is a detective from the Extreme Crimes squad in Besź who is investigating the murder of a visiting Canadian archaeologist. It leads into a co-Ul Qoman investigation into the rumours of a third city - Orsiny existing between the two and who may be secretly manipulating both cities for their own ends. The book is divided into three major sections. The first is Besź, the second is Ul Qoma and the third is Breach. While the premise of his latest book is more complex and convoluted than his previous books, I found it more readable than his Bas-Lag books. His narrative style flows better here. Possibly because it's all first person as well. It took me a bit to understand the idea behind the cities. Initally I thought perhaps the cities were overlaid on one another and glimpsed as ghosts... then I realized that no, the cities were in fact "side-by-side" and were interlaced after a fashion. Very strange, but very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... It took me a bit to understand the idea behind the cities. Initally I thought perhaps the cities were overlaid on one another and glimpsed as ghosts... then I realized that no' date=' the cities were in fact "side-by-side" and were interlaced after a fashion. Very strange, but very interesting.[/quote'] It is, but the way it's written it seems like the areas that are wholey one city or the other are actually rarer than the parts of city that crosshatch. Or possibly its just that the main charactes are always in the crosshatch areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vondy Posted August 15, 2009 Report Share Posted August 15, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Simon R. Green is a hack. Many years ago I enjoyed Blue Moon Rising, Blood and Honor, Down Among the Dead Men, and Hawk and Fisher. It wasn't great fiction, but they were the literary equivalent of fantasy genre "popcorn flicks." And they had some amusing bits. But after that I kept running into... crap. I tried to read the Deathstalker Series. No go. Hack writing. I tried to read the last novel of the Forrest Kingdom serioes. Oh dear Lord no. Hackmeister City. I tried to read Mistworld and the Man With the Golden Torc. Ugh. Uninspired Cliched Drivel. For some reason lots of people love his fiction. That's great. Eye of the Beholder and all that. But for some reason, the few books I enjoyed keep me looking for something else by him despite the fact that the majority of what he's written makes me shudder. So, in the mood for urban fantasy, I take a shot at Something From the Nightside. AAAAAAAAAAGH!!! It was an interminable cliched overwritten run-on novel. And you get there by going into a maintenance closet in the subway system that has a payphone in it and saying "nightside" into the receiver. That's it? That's the extent of the inspiration? What? Two chapters in I chucked it. I give it 0/5 Stars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireTiger Posted August 22, 2009 Report Share Posted August 22, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft (Dreams of Terror and Death) Del Rey Fantasy; Arkham House, ©1995 (ISBN #0-345-38421-0) This is a compilation containing 25 of Lovecraft's stories (of which, two are collaborations). This set of stories features those tales set partly or wholly in Earth's Dreamlands and beyond. Some of the included stories only barely touch the Dreamlands, and seem to appear in this volume based on even a mention of a character or place from the Dreamlands. This volume includes: Azathoth (fragment) The Descendant (fragment) The Thing in the Moonlight (fragment; opening & closing paragraphs by J. Chapman Miske, the rest from a letter of Lovecraft's to Donald Wandrei) Polaris Beyond the Wall of Sleep The Doom That Came to Sarnath The Statement of Randolph Carter (the title character is a recurring one through several stories) The Cats of Ulthar (the first tale in this volume set wholly in the Dreamlands) Celephais From Beyond (more a weird science tale than otherwise) Nyarlathotep (an introduction to this servant of the Elder Gods) The Nameless City (introduces a location later used by Derleth in some of his works, and the couplet 'That is not dea, which can eternal lie / and with strange aeons even death may die) The Other Gods Ex Oblivione The Quest of Iranon The Hound Hypnos What the Moon Brings Pickman's Model (the iconic Lovecraft ghoul tale) The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath (novella) The Silver Key The Strange High House in the Mist The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (novella; might be a little predictable to today's reader, but still a good story) The Dreams in the Witch-House Through the Gates of the Silver Key (sequel to The Silver Key, collaboration with E. Hoffman Price) A good mix of better-known stories with those lesser known. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireTiger Posted September 2, 2009 Report Share Posted September 2, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Transition of H.P. Lovecraft (The Road to Madness) Del Rey Fantasy; Arkham House ©1996 (ISBN #0-345-38422-9) This is a compilation of 29 stories (of which, four are collaborations), detailing the concept of horror-induced madness and madness-induced horrors. This particular collection brings together some of the better-known "Cthulhu Mythos" stories (a term Lovecraft himself never used). This volume includes: The Beast in the Cave The Alchemist Poetry and the Gods (collaboration with Anna Helen Crofts) The Street The Transition of Juan Romero The Book (fragment) Dagon The Tomb Memory The White Ship (a tale that would have found a good home in the Dream Cycle volume) Arthur Jermyn The Temple The Terrible Old Man The Crawling Chaos (collaboration with Elizabeth Berkeley) The Tree The Moon-Bog Herbert West—Reanimator (one of the most well known stories to the general public, thanks to the film) The Lurking Fear The Festival The Unnamable (a Randolph Carter tale not set in the Dreamlands) Imprisoned with the Pharaohs (collaboration with Harry Houdini) The Shunned House He The Horror at Red Hook Cool Air (this story—along with Pickman's Model—had been done on the TV series Night Gallery) Nathicana (poem) At the Mountains of Madness (novella, and one of Lovecraft's best stories, in my own opinion) In the Walls of Eryx (non-mythos sci-fi, collaboration with Kenneth Sterling) The Evil Clergyman These collected books are a good way to read more of Lovecraft's work that the few stories most often mentioned or featured elsewhere. As usual with a compilation, some of the best work is here along with some of the least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted September 3, 2009 Report Share Posted September 3, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... C. J. Cherryh, Regenesis. On the bright side, a return to the Alliance-Union Universe. For an author with such an intense interest in the interiority of the human condition, Cherryh sure likes her winsome aliens. Me, not so much. On the not-so-bright side, more azi, her tape-educated clone slaves. I know that Cherryh won a Nebula for the prequel to Regenesis, the three volume, not-quite-resolved murdery mystery, Cyteen, so the science fiction reading public must be comfortable with this fairly squicky enthusiasm of hers. Me, not so much. Anyway, it is a good book, squicky stuff apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted September 13, 2009 Report Share Posted September 13, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Read Precious Dragon by Liz Williams. Chen and Zhu Irzh are back saving the Earth from Heaven and Hell with the help of Zhu Irzh's girlfriend, a delegate from heaven, a living ghost, and a kid born in Hell. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank. An excellent after the bomb novel. Much like Lucifer's Hammer, it start before the bombs fall and continues after. Unlike On The Beach, it offers a glimpse of hope that man will survive, although even the novel states it will be centuries before the world is anything like it was before "The Day." However, it does seem a little dated in that it offers a hope of survival... these days, such an exchange with exterminate everyone I fear. My copy is rather battered, I may try and replace it with a more recent printing (my copy is circa 1977). Next? I may just start on The Postman, to continue my PAH reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished Ella Enchanted, now reading the first Sharing Knife. I liked both the movie and the book of Ella - although they are almost entirely different from each other. There is far less cheese in the book Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted September 20, 2009 Report Share Posted September 20, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Read Shadow Pavilion by Liz Williams. Detective Inspector Chen's badger comes to the front of a case to show Indian tiger demons what happens when the prey has no problem biting back. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted September 20, 2009 Report Share Posted September 20, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Alas' date=' Babylon[/i'] by Pat Frank. An excellent after the bomb novel. Much like Lucifer's Hammer, it start before the bombs fall and continues after. Unlike On The Beach, it offers a glimpse of hope that man will survive, although even the novel states it will be centuries before the world is anything like it was before "The Day." However, it does seem a little dated in that it offers a hope of survival... these days, such an exchange with exterminate everyone I fear. My copy is rather battered, I may try and replace it with a more recent printing (my copy is circa 1977). Next? I may just start on The Postman, to continue my PAH reading. For Postman, you have the advantage that you're looking for a battered copy. Hopefully missing the last half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Cross Posted October 1, 2009 Report Share Posted October 1, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... House of Cards by CE Murphy. The sequel to Heart of Stone,it features the heroine Margrit being drawn further into the secret world of the Old Races (dragons,djinni,gargoyles,selkies and vampires),despite the protests of Alban,her gargoyle lover. (For those who haven't read the first novel,these races are immortal beings who can all assume a human form,and all possess different magical powers). The plot of the novel is as follows: Somebody is murdering the dragonlord Janx's criminal lieutenants,and he recruits Margrit and Alban to protect Malik,his djinni second-in-command.This is all tied in with the selkies being reaccepted into the world of the Old Races,despite their interbreeding with humans. (Yes it all ties together.Despite what you might have thought if you haave read the previous books,selkies can be quite ruthless in getting what they want,even making deals with their ancient enemies the djinni in order to do so). Well worth reading (for the airborne love scene alone). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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