csyphrett Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I've got this one on order from "Amazon" . Hasn't got to Australia yet (and may NOT get here until DECEMBER ! Grumble !) Sounds cool ! They're advertising a second book already, Barbara. Council of Evil, I think. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Terry Pratchett's Thud! was finishedby me last night (or early morning. It's all down to perspective). It grows from a re-read, I tell you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I read The Hero and the Crown, which is a prequel to The Blue Sword. It tells the story of Aerin, who set the precedent for a lot of things we see in the later novel, and who brought the sword home. She spends half the book ill or severely injured, so we feel her skepticism when she's told she's really strong and powerful, and we're right there with her when she questions her abilities and doesn't feel strong enough. I could've done without the love triangle aspect, because I felt like the magician-type guy could've been attached to her without wanting to jump her bones, and the whole "bittersweet parting" thing took away from the near-end of the book. Overall, though, it was a good read, with a strong heroine and good supporting characters with good reasons for doing what they did (except the Bad Guy, but whatever . . .), and a satisfying ending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoneDaddy Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Well, yes, I'm sure you can, but I'm quite poor, you see. I liked Anansi Boys (I borrowed it from a friend), though it's definitely a different story from American Gods. I completely missed a very prominent feature of most of the characters, though. Gaiman only bothers to describe people's skin color if they're white in that book. Just read it last week. I loved it. I also appreciated that detail. Gaiman impresses me a great deal, and some of his lines had me laughing out loud on the train. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... . . . The Taxi Quest made my day. ". . . My taxi driver had turned into Travis bickle . . ." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted June 11, 2007 Report Share Posted June 11, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just read it last week. I loved it. I also appreciated that detail. Gaiman impresses me a great deal' date=' and some of his lines had me laughing out loud on the train.[/quote'] He certainly does have a way with language. I'm always snickering over his blog posts. ^ v ^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
st barbara Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... They're advertising a second book already, Barbara. Council of Evil, I think. CES ANOTHER "Amazon" order coming up then. It'll be the first time i've had overlapping orders at "Amazon". Most annoyingly "Astounding Hero Tales" is on the same order as "Robot Titans Of Gotham" (among other stuff) and IT hasn't arrived yet either ! In fact, out of an order of 10 books and two DVDs i've got TWO of the books (2 copies of the English translation of Otto Rahn's "Crusade Against The Grail") and ONE DVD ("Mystery Men")! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... ANOTHER "Amazon" order coming up then. It'll be the first time i've had overlapping orders at "Amazon". Most annoyingly "Astounding Hero Tales" is on the same order as "Robot Titans Of Gotham" (among other stuff) and IT hasn't arrived yet either ! In fact' date=' out of an order of 10 books and two DVDs i've got TWO of the books (2 copies of the English translation of Otto Rahn's "Crusade Against The Grail") and ONE DVD ("Mystery Men")![/quote'] I have around 6 books due and not shipped because I pre-ordered some and then asked them to make as few shipments as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Confoundo Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Perdido Street station and The Scar' date=' by China Meiville. New Cobruzon is a nasty, nasty, but very, very cool city. [/quote'] I'm about halfway through Perdido Street Station, and enjoying it immensely. I had heard good things about Chine Mieville, but was a little wary of trying his stuff... I'm really glad I did. I've already picked up two of his other books for my future reading pile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I'm about halfway through Perdido Street Station' date=' and enjoying it immensely. I had heard good things about Chine Mieville, but was a little wary of trying his stuff... I'm really glad I did. I've already picked up two of his other books for my future reading pile.[/quote'] He has a kids book out now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished reading William Hope Hodgson's Boats of the 'Glen-Carrig' in about two and a half hours. Amazingly good read for being 100 years old; rather dry in spots, but a truly creepy situation with utterly Lovecraftian monsters (who thankfully are not immune to well-placed steel) makes this one of the best pulp horror/adventure novels I've read in years. This is one of the books that reminded me why I love heroic fantasy so much -- I could just imagine cribbing mercilessly from the book for a pulp or fantasy adventure. I'd be very surprised to learn that Bob Howard and/or H.P. Lovecraft never read this book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished reading William Hope Hodgson's Boats of the 'Glen-Carrig' in about two and a half hours. Amazingly good read for being 100 years old; rather dry in spots, but a truly creepy situation with utterly Lovecraftian monsters (who thankfully are not immune to well-placed steel) makes this one of the best pulp horror/adventure novels I've read in years. This is one of the books that reminded me why I love heroic fantasy so much -- I could just imagine cribbing mercilessly from the book for a pulp or fantasy adventure. I'd be very surprised to learn that Bob Howard and/or H.P. Lovecraft never read this book. I think I have two or three published adventures on my shelf that cribbed mercilessly from it... Yeah, it was a pretty good read overall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I read Castle in the Air, which is a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. The characters show up in quite interesting ways, and the new protagonist's take on them is pretty good. It follows the story of Abdullah, a young man who works as a carpet merchant in the city of Zanzib, who's sold a magic carpet that, when he sleeps, takes him to the garden of a beautiful, sheltered woman named Flower-in-the-Night. Several nights later, the woman is stolen right out from under his nose, and so he sets out to rescue her, meeting up with a surly genie, the villain from the stories he's made up, djinns, cats who transform into panthers, and retired soldiers along the way. Overall, it's a fun read, but I recommend people read Howl's Moving Castle first. Oh, and it's YA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Speaking of YA, my current job here at NASA HQ is to spend 15-20 minutes installing an update on over 600 machines (I get 200 of them). So I've finished The White Mountains and The City of Gold and Lead. I'm working on The Pool of Fire. I'm thinking of building a YA section to my library. I'll start with The Chronicles of Narnia (which I own), add in these three, and then start looking for others. I liked Howl's Moving Castle and will now look for Castle in the Air. I also used to adore The Dark Is Rising series, and wonder, has anyone read it recently? How does it stand up after 25 years? (I read it over and over when in middle/high school). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I picked up the whole series at a used bookstore, but haven't gotten around to rereading it. But a friend had also lent me the first of the books as something she thought I'd like to read now that I'm older, and she has excellent taste in books. So I'd venture that they probably hold up well. Most of Diana Wynne Jones's stuff is good to read as an adult. You may also want to add Coraline by Neil Gaiman, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit and Carl Hiaasen's Hoot. I read YA pretty unabashedly these days. It's a fast, fun read, and often goes just as deep as (or deeper and better-written than) most adult "fluff." Oh, Robin McKinley's another good one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Stormfront by Jim Butcher, the first of the Dresden files. I liked it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... . . . Wanna read The Dark Is Rising too . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I picked up the whole series at a used bookstore, but haven't gotten around to rereading it. But a friend had also lent me the first of the books as something she thought I'd like to read now that I'm older, and she has excellent taste in books. So I'd venture that they probably hold up well. Most of Diana Wynne Jones's stuff is good to read as an adult. You may also want to add Coraline by Neil Gaiman, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit and Carl Hiaasen's Hoot. I read YA pretty unabashedly these days. It's a fast, fun read, and often goes just as deep as (or deeper and better-written than) most adult "fluff." Oh, Robin McKinley's another good one. I own Coraline by Neil Gaiman and liked it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Josh read it aloud to me on a long car trip. He swears the Coraline/Caroline dialogue was in there to trip up people just like him. ^ v ^ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I also want to get the complete Harry Potter series (in softback) when it comes out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I want to pick-up and read Un Lun Dun by China Miéville. It's another YA fantasy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundog Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Stormfront by Jim Butcher' date=' the first of the Dresden files. I liked it.[/quote'] Just purchased it, having enjoyed the TV series. Haven't cracked it open yet though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Finished Balefires by David Drake. Its a book of short stories, some of which have been collected in other books before. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I'm thinking of building a YA section to my library. I'll start with The Chronicles of Narnia (which I own)' date=' add in these three, and then start looking for others. I liked [i']Howl's Moving Castle[/i] and will now look for Castle in the Air. I also used to adore The Dark Is Rising series, and wonder, has anyone read it recently? How does it stand up after 25 years? (I read it over and over when in middle/high school). I read YA pretty unabashedly these days. It's a fast' date=' fun read, and often goes just as deep as (or deeper and better-written than) most adult "fluff."[/quote'] Let me chime in a vote for the YA series, The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander. I'm re-reading it now (up to 'Taran Wanderer') and I've been delighted to find that it's every bit as much fun now as when I was in sixth grade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted June 15, 2007 Report Share Posted June 15, 2007 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I read Castle in the Air' date=' which is a sequel to [i']Howl's Moving Castle[/i]. The characters show up in quite interesting ways, and the new protagonist's take on them is pretty good. It follows the story of Abdullah, a young man who works as a carpet merchant in the city of Zanzib, who's sold a magic carpet that, when he sleeps, takes him to the garden of a beautiful, sheltered woman named Flower-in-the-Night. Several nights later, the woman is stolen right out from under his nose, and so he sets out to rescue her, meeting up with a surly genie, the villain from the stories he's made up, djinns, cats who transform into panthers, and retired soldiers along the way. Overall, it's a fun read, but I recommend people read Howl's Moving Castle first. Picked it up last night and read it today while doing software installs. It was a lot of fun, and makes me want to find a copy of Howl's Moving Castle. And I really like Abdullah as a character! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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