Sundog Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished Patricia Briggs' Blood Bound, sequel to Moon Called. Nice piece of urban fantasy set in Washington state. I like her characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GestaltBennie Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Late to the party, I recentky finished listening to the audiobook of A Game of Thrones, Very well done, if gritty fantasy. But most of you probably know that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamond Spear Posted March 7, 2007 Report Share Posted March 7, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Late to the party, I recentky finished listening to the audiobook of A Game of Thrones, Very well done, if gritty fantasy. But most of you probably know that. If you stop after the third book you'll be happy. Feast for Crows (book 4)suffers from slow pacing, the addition of too many POV characters, poor writing, and a continuation of the downward spiral for any character that has the tiniest shred of decency. What was refreshingly different in the first book is now so boringly perdictable (and just plain BORING) that it baffels the imagination. I will most likely finish reading Feast but only after I exhaust every other book I own and haven't read (which is about 30 or so). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted March 15, 2007 Report Share Posted March 15, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished One Door Away from Heaven by Dean Koontz. Has a lot of his common stereotypes crammed into one book. Heroines with tragic childhoods, serial killer who kills for a cause, eccentric background characters, unhelpful authority in one scene, quantum mechanics as God's imagination, and hero who wants to change the world if he can survive being hunted by bad aliens. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vestnik Posted March 15, 2007 Report Share Posted March 15, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished One Door Away from Heaven by Dean Koontz. Has a lot of his common stereotypes crammed into one book. Heroines with tragic childhoods, serial killer who kills for a cause, eccentric background characters, unhelpful authority in one scene, quantum mechanics as God's imagination, and hero who wants to change the world if he can survive being hunted by bad aliens. CES No superintelligent dog and/or cat? No implanted memories? This is INNOVATION for Koontz! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentor Posted March 15, 2007 Report Share Posted March 15, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I am reading the Scoundrel Worlds(Star Risk) series by Chris Bunch, whom I really liked for his Sten series. Two dimensional, unlikable, characters and repetetive, unbelievable action have resulted in a rather disappointing read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted March 16, 2007 Report Share Posted March 16, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... No superintelligent dog and/or cat? No implanted memories? This is INNOVATION for Koontz! I have only seen three intelligent animals if that dog in Tick Tock was a dog, and two implanted memories. I am more bothered that half the protagonists/heroes of his books have a defective DNPC, bad family relations backgrounds, and develop the same set of super abilities. One Door/comatose sister, Velocity/comatose fiance, By the light of the moon/autistic brother, frankenstein/autistic brother, Bad Place/down's syndrome off the top of my head. The super powers tend to be teleportation/gating, clairvoyance, some psychometry, and at least two examples of remote telekinesis CES. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spence Posted March 16, 2007 Report Share Posted March 16, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... SPOOOOON!!!! Oh wait. My bad. Tick Tock, not the Tick...... Nevermind..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gojira Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Tick rules. I got done with Perdido Street Station by China Miéville. Great book, nearly perfect. China Miéville has prodigious powers of description, although he uses "desultory" a tad too often. Get it, read it. Five out of five stars from me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I recently finished X-Files: Ruins by Kevin J Anderson. It was alright but does not capture the real feel of the X-Files for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I am reading the Scoundrel Worlds(Star Risk) series by Chris Bunch' date=' whom I really liked for his Sten series. Two dimensional, unlikable, characters and repetetive, unbelievable action have resulted in a rather disappointing read.[/quote'] Yup. I really enjoyed the Sten books, but I just haven't been able to get into anything Cole or Bunch have done since. Shame, as they were a good team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vestnik Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I have only seen three intelligent animals if that dog in Tick Tock was a dog, and two implanted memories. I am more bothered that half the protagonists/heroes of his books have a defective DNPC, bad family relations backgrounds, and develop the same set of super abilities. One Door/comatose sister, Velocity/comatose fiance, By the light of the moon/autistic brother, frankenstein/autistic brother, Bad Place/down's syndrome off the top of my head. The super powers tend to be teleportation/gating, clairvoyance, some psychometry, and at least two examples of remote telekinesis CES. I've read more Koontz than I care to admit, and I think he's used the implanted memory/total brainwashing idea at least 5 times. Speaking of cheesy horror, I just finished Richard Layman's book Amara. It's EC-style junk goodness, with grotesque characters, subplots that barely link up to each other, and Layman's weird sexual obsessions. I rather enjoyed it. Edit: My favorite Koontz superpower was the power of teleportation one of his villains got. How did this villain acquire the power you may ask? His hermaphroditic mom/dad used dope, messing up the genetic code, impregnated himself/herself, and the child was born with its testicles inside its body. Ergo, he can teleport. I'm not kidding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vestnik Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Tick rules. I got done with Perdido Street Station by China Miéville. Great book, nearly perfect. China Miéville has prodigious powers of description, although he uses "desultory" a tad too often. Get it, read it. Five out of five stars from me. PSS was a GREAT book. However I think that the two following books in the Bas-Lag series, especially and ESPECIALLY Iron Council, suffer grievously from Mieville's insistence on inserting his politics into them in a very heavy-handed manner. In IC I found myself rooting for the militia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Edit: My favorite Koontz superpower was the power of teleportation one of his villains got. How did this villain acquire the power you may ask? His hermaphroditic mom/dad used dope, messing up the genetic code, impregnated himself/herself, and the child was born with its testicles inside its body. Ergo, he can teleport. I'm not kidding. I think that was Cold Lightning. It it was, that whole family was messed up. The lesbian incestous sisters that could control cats. The other brother who could teleport but mixed things up, and that's what saved the day at the end of the book. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... PSS was a GREAT book. However I think that the two following books in the Bas-Lag series' date=' especially and ESPECIALLY [i']Iron Council[/i], suffer grievously from Mieville's insistence on inserting his politics into them in a very heavy-handed manner. In IC I found myself rooting for the militia. I haven't read the Scar but I agree with Vest's thoughts. The various cast members of Iron Council acted in ways that flew in the face of logic for the most part. The only ones that stood out as acting like normal human beings with normal motives were Toro, the priest, and the whisper smith. Everybody else had whole blocks devoted to explain how their actions weren't fanatical craziness but instead the march of history whatever that is. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Edit: My favorite Koontz superpower was the power of teleportation one of his villains got. How did this villain acquire the power you may ask? His hermaphroditic mom/dad used dope, messing up the genetic code, impregnated himself/herself, and the child was born with its testicles inside its body. Ergo, he can teleport. I'm not kidding. I think that was Cold Lightning. It it was, that whole family was messed up. The lesbian incestous sisters that could control cats. The other brother who could teleport but mixed things up, and that's what saved the day at the end of the book. CES I think yer thinking of A Bad Place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vestnik Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I think that was Cold Lightning. It it was, that whole family was messed up. The lesbian incestous sisters that could control cats. The other brother who could teleport but mixed things up, and that's what saved the day at the end of the book. CES Yeah, that was it. I want that as the origin for my next super character: "I have superpowers because I am the product of incest and my parents used drugs." Koontz writes a lot of crap, but I really did enjoy The Face and Velocity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vestnik Posted March 19, 2007 Report Share Posted March 19, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I haven't read the Scar but I agree with Vest's thoughts. The various cast members of Iron Council acted in ways that flew in the face of logic for the most part. The only ones that stood out as acting like normal human beings with normal motives were Toro, the priest, and the whisper smith. Everybody else had whole blocks devoted to explain how their actions weren't fanatical craziness but instead the march of history whatever that is. CES Mieville is a Trotskyist, a member of the Socialist Worker's Party I think. Like most Trots, he seems to be compelled to put his politics into everything. And Iron Council is a thinly veiled reworking of the Bolshevik Revolution as seen through the eyes of a Trot. This is also really obvious in King Rat IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I think yer thinking of A Bad Place. No, I think COld Lightning is the right book. The Bad Place has the reporter trying to figure out how this guy can be in place to save lives across country. He has mulitple personality and one half is the hero while the other half is the villain. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Mieville is a Trotskyist' date=' a member of the Socialist Worker's Party I think. Like most Trots, he seems to be compelled to put his politics into everything. And [i']Iron Council[/i] is a thinly veiled reworking of the Bolshevik Revolution as seen through the eyes of a Trot. This is also really obvious in King Rat IMO. I don't know anything about politics so I can't make a call on that. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... No, I think COld Lightning is the right book. The Bad Place has the reporter trying to figure out how this guy can be in place to save lives across country. He has mulitple personality and one half is the hero while the other half is the villain. CES I do believe you've got them confused. Well, either you or WikiPedia, and I wouldn't put it past them. The Bad Place and Cold Fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vestnik Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I love these uninventive Koontz titles that tell you absolutely nothing about what is in the book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Gunslinger- Stephen King 3/5 Overall not bad. The story started out slow, which made it a little difficult to get into. It did pick up the pace though and became quite interesting. The use of uncomfortable (to me) sexual situations made me like the story less. The ending was rushed. The Drawing of the Three- Stephen King 4/5 Great book. Moved seamlessly, with some real fast paced goodness towards the end. The ending was a little rushed and felt somehow forced, but this hardly mattered to the overall story. Wastelands - Stephen King 4/5 Another great one. This one was slower, with some (in my opinion) unnecessary scenes. One the other hand, there was some interesting exposition into the nature of the Dark Tower and Roland's world. So good, in fact, I finished the book with a hunger to read more about it. Some of the scenery and wildlife were very descriptive and some of the color illustrations of the Wasteland critters just begged to be stated out for a post-apoc or fantasy game. I'm presently reading Wizard and Glass. I'll get back with another review when I'm finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... In regards to Koontz, I still think his best story was Twilight Eyes. The Odd series ain't bad either, though the comment about the screwed up nature of his characters' family lives was spot on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vestnik Posted March 20, 2007 Report Share Posted March 20, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... In regards to Koontz' date=' I still think his best story was [i']Twilight Eyes[/i]. The Odd series ain't bad either, though the comment about the screwed up nature of his characters' family lives was spot on. I liked False Memory. It had a good totally evil villain. Koontz does totally evil villains with no redeeming qualities well. I only read Odd Thomas, but IMO 1) Koontz has a tendency to make his protagonists too squeaky-clean for my taste, including in that book, and 2) making Dead Elvis into a character rubbed me the wrong way. I liked all the Gunslinger books. Wastelands was my favorite. (However, if I ever build a killer robot, remind me not to put its source of power where it can be easily shot off. Who designed those things?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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