Trebuchet Posted January 27, 2005 Report Share Posted January 27, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Is anyone else here a Sterling Lanier fan? I really enjoyed (in a completely RPGesque way) his Hiero series (Hiero's Journey' date=' and [i']The Unforsaken Hiero[/i]), and was unhappy when I realized the third in the series would never come out.I love Hiero's Journey (and just loaned it to Mentor a few months back), although Unforsaken Hiero was nowhere near as good. I first read HJ way back in high school in the 1970's. It's influence on mentalists in many game systems is clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casualplayer Posted January 27, 2005 Report Share Posted January 27, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished System of the World by Neal Stephenson. The third in a trilogy amounting to 3000 pages total, The Baroque Cycle blew me away. I found myself unable to read for prolonged periods because I would have to chew over and digest what I had read before proceeding. For those unfamiliar it is historical fiction set in the late 17th-early 18th century, primarily in London. The three main characters are fictional but Isaac Newton, Baron von Leibniz and King Louis XIV are integral to the plot. The trilogy ties into Stephenson's other novel Cryptomancer on too many levels to mention. If you can read this trilogy and not salivate to play 7th Sea, you are a better man than I. There are so many code monkeys on this board that people have to be familiar with Stephenson's other works, Snow Crash and The Diamond Age. He has nudged Heinlein down one spot on my favorite authors list. I can't imagine him writing anything in the future better than this. But I will gladly give him the option to try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted January 27, 2005 Report Share Posted January 27, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished System of the World by Neal Stephenson. The third in a trilogy amounting to 3000 pages total' date=' The Baroque Cycle blew me away. I found myself unable to read for prolonged periods because I would have to chew over and digest what I had read before proceeding.[/quote'] I've read the first book, but am holding off on getting the trilogy until all three are out in softback. There are so many code monkeys on this board that people have to be familiar with Stephenson's other works' date=' [i']Snow Crash[/i] and The Diamond Age. He has nudged Heinlein down one spot on my favorite authors list. I can't imagine him writing anything in the future better than this. But I will gladly give him the option to try. Actually, nearly everything Stephenson has written is interrelated. The skateboarder in SNOW CRASH has a cameo in THE DIAMOND AGE. CRYPTONOMICON has references to character in SNOW CRASH. The Baroque Cycle makes mention of the "Cryptonomicon." It's all one universe! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maelstrom Posted January 30, 2005 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Eight Skilled Gentlemen. Amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished the Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. I liked. Nano technology and the love of books. Wonderful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Well, not recently, but I found Kushiel's Dart, Chosen, and Avatar to be awesome books. Jacquelin Carrey is the author, I think. Excellent books, but mature themes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garou Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Actually' date=' nearly everything Stephenson has written is interrelated. The skateboarder in SNOW CRASH has a cameo in THE DIAMOND AGE. CRYPTONOMICON has references to character in SNOW CRASH. The Baroque Cycle makes mention of the "Cryptonomicon." It's all one universe![/quote'] The Big U is an exception, I believe. I certainly did not note any correlation between it and the other books. Likewise, Zodiac (well worth reading, BTW) seems to be on it's own as well. And Enoch Root is in the Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle. (Currently reading vol 1, so no spoilers, please!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished the Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson. I liked. Nano technology and the love of books. Wonderful. It would have been better if Stephenson had figured out how to end it. As an aside, I'm reading a nonfiction book, Dragon Hunter , by Charles Gallenkamp. It's about Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions (which found the huge amount of dinosaur fossils in the '20s). It touches on the political and social upheavals of China and Mongolia at that time, and features many scenes that were apparently "lifted" by Stephenson from the Chinese revolution. Though I'm pretty sure Gallenkamp hadn't read Stephenson's work, it was interesting to observe the parallels. YMMV, JoeG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I haven't finished one...but... I head over to London, UK on the 22nd, bought two books to read. 1) Knight by Wolf, don't know anything about it but it's big, 2) The Warlock's Last Ride by Christopher Stasheff; I've read the entire series, plus all the books about his children and this is the last one. It makes me sad. Sure, somewhere along the road he became a romance novelist with trappings of science fiction, complete with heaving busoms and rippling sweaty chests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tancred Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished reading Man-Kzin Wars X:The Wunder War by Hal Colebatch. Never heard of this author before. Had to keep looking at the cover and his name to remember that I wasn't reading David Weber (meant as a compliment). A full 10 out of 10. I cannot WAIT to read this guy's next book. If you don't know the series, Man-Kzin Wars is Larry Niven letting other authors play in Known Space. MANY good stories in this series, by many excellent authors. If you like Niven but haven't read this series, go get them all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantine Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I haven't finished one...but... I head over to London, UK on the 22nd, bought two books to read. 1) Knight by Wolf, don't know anything about it but it's big, 2) The Warlock's Last Ride by Christopher Stasheff; I've read the entire series, plus all the books about his children and this is the last one. It makes me sad. Sure, somewhere along the road he became a romance novelist with trappings of science fiction, complete with heaving busoms and rippling sweaty chests. Same with the Anita Blake books by Laurell K. Hamilton. Started off as an excellent horror/mystery series, and seems to have devolved into sex, sex, and more sex. The stories have become secondary to the descriptions of sex. But read 'em up to Obsidian Butterfly, and then read the others at your peril... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hyper-Man Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I Just read Shadow of the Giant by Orson Scott Card. This is the latest installment of the Ender's Game storyline that focuses on Bean and Peter(Ender's older brother). Great story and still room for more. Highly Recomended. HM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Same with the Anita Blake books by Laurell K. Hamilton. Started off as an excellent horror/mystery series' date=' and seems to have devolved into sex, sex, and more sex. The stories have become secondary to the descriptions of sex. But read 'em up to Obsidian Butterfly, and then read the others at your peril...[/quote'] Sorry, but I have to comment - excellent? Wouldn't that require some basic writing skills first? Sorry, sorry. I've started to read several of those books, and my impression is that her writing is trite, unrefined and just generally BAD. I understand she does improve over time, but I'm not interested enough in plowing through the sludge just to find the line between where the books are entertaining and where they become bogged down with sex. I mean you no offense, so please don't take it as a personal attack. I just can't understand what it is that people find appealing about her writing, if it's not the guilty pleasure of all that rampant sex without the fuss of having to peruse the erotica section. Susano and Beetle 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I mean you no offense' date=' so please don't take it as a personal attack. I just can't understand what it is that people find appealing about her writing, if it's not the guilty pleasure of all that rampant sex without the fuss of having to peruse the erotica section.[/quote'] The setting came across as cool (esp. since I love monster-hunter manga), but after a while the idea that all weres were into heavy fetish life-styles, and excessive sex, and other factors turned me off big time. That and Amanda ended up getting so damn powerful she was boring to read about. (And yes, Arucard in HELLSING is uber-powerful, but he has some limits and there are others that can give him a tough fight. Besides, he's just so damn cool! Besides, Seras (and Integra) is the far more interesting character, Arucard is more background.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The setting came across as cool (esp. since I love monster-hunter manga), but after a while the idea that all weres were into heavy fetish life-styles, and excessive sex, and other factors turned me off big time. That and Amanda ended up getting so damn powerful she was boring to read about. (And yes, Arucard in HELLSING is uber-powerful, but he has some limits and there are others that can give him a tough fight. Besides, he's just so damn cool! Besides, Seras (and Integra) is the far more interesting character, Arucard is more background.) Yeah, she definitely has a good concept, and a very interesting version of the world to work in. I'm not knocking her imagination and creativity. It's her ability (or lack thereof) to communicate all this awesome stuff in her head that I'm complaining about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Yeah' date=' she definitely has a good concept, and a very interesting version of the world to work in. I'm not knocking her imagination and creativity. It's her ability (or lack thereof) to communicate all this awesome stuff in her head that I'm complaining about.[/quote'] Don't even bother with the fairy princess stuff. Porn for women, basically, and an utter turn off (to me). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beetle Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just re-read the books of The Gandalara Cycle for the first time in years after stumbing across them in a used book store. I like 'em. Brief synopsis - an aging, terminally ill professor on Earth suddenly finds himself in the body of a young, non-human man in what appears to be a completly different desert world. The professor attempts to figure out what happened, and for what purpose he was brought to Gandalara. Lots of swords, mental powers and large cats (like sabretooths). Politics, intrigue and some geology. Very interesting and well-written books. A believable yet "alien" culture, and a decent protaganist who doesn't always do the right thing. Loved the idea of the All Mind. I recommend picking them up if you can find them(the seven books come as Gandalara Cycle Volume I, Gandalara Cycle Volume II and The River Wall). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted March 14, 2005 Report Share Posted March 14, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Man am I slacking. I can't remember the last time I finished a book. We're literally talking years here. Best I've done is read some short stories (Lately from Shadow over Baker Street.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted March 15, 2005 Report Share Posted March 15, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... What does it mean that the last eight things I've read (since, uh, last Tuesday) have all been gaming supplements or game-related? Essentially, I'm rereading some of my old Judges' Guild materials to see what campaign I'm going to run next. So far, it looks like Glorantha is a strong contender... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted March 15, 2005 Report Share Posted March 15, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Can't go wrong with Glorantha. Still my favorite fantasy game setting to this day. Made better if you stick with the original Runequest mechanics (Not the HeroWars stuff that succeeded it or some D20 convolution) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted March 15, 2005 Report Share Posted March 15, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Can't go wrong with Glorantha. Still my favorite fantasy game setting to this day. Made better if you stick with the original Runequest mechanics (Not the HeroWars stuff that succeeded it or some D20 convolution) [minor derailment] Can't completely agree. RQ was grand, but the newer HeroQuest (not Hero Wars, which still had some rough spots) is really, really good. Possibly some of Robin Laws' best work on game system design. Plus, Thunder Rebels and Storm Tribe are awesome books. [/minor derailment] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinanju Posted March 15, 2005 Report Share Posted March 15, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just finished (re)reading Octavia Butler's PATTERNMASTER novels. Specifically, PATTERNMASTER, MIND OF MY MIND and WILD SEED. Great stuff...if you don't mind a grim, depressing worldview. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted March 17, 2005 Report Share Posted March 17, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just read book four in Simon R. Greens "NIGHTSIDE" series. Now to find 2 and 3... I really enjoyed them. Twilight zone meets neverwhere meets tales from the Darkside, meets Nightmare gallery, etc.... I don't even want to THINK about writing up the main character! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superskrull Posted March 17, 2005 Report Share Posted March 17, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just read book four in Simon R. Greens "NIGHTSIDE" series. Now to find 2 and 3... I really enjoyed them. Twilight zone meets neverwhere meets tales from the Darkside, meets Nightmare gallery, etc.... I don't even want to THINK about writing up the main character! Ah, "Hex In The City". I just finished that myself. Books 2 & 3 are pretty good too. I also just finished "Deathstalker Coda", his last in his Deathstalker sci-fi series, right before that. You're right, I'm not sure where to begin writing up Taylor's "find things with his psychic third eye" power. It seems simple but then he pulls another rabbit outa the hat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlHazred Posted March 17, 2005 Report Share Posted March 17, 2005 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I'm about to start Keith Baker's The City of Towers, the first novel in the Eberron line, me being such an Eberron fanboy and all. Has anyone else read it? Is it any good? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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