Sundog Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Ahhh... Tim Powers wrote "On Stranger Tides"... unless Drake wrote a different book with the same title. Different book, same title. Part of the Lieutenant Leary series - and an excellent read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I'm sorry. Its When the Tide Rises. My apologies. I'm waiting for it to ship to me from B&N. And it is a Lt. Leary book. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I'm sorry. Its When the Tide Rises. My apologies. I'm waiting for it to ship to me from B&N. And it is a Lt. Leary book. CES Well if you can find it, give On Stranger Tides a try. It's wild ride in a magical age of Piracy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Well if you can find it' date=' give [i']On Stranger Tides[/i] a try. It's wild ride in a magical age of Piracy. Second that recommendation. I've just finished the latest Stephen Donaldson book, Fatal Revenant, and I thoroughly enjoyed it despite having toiled through the last three. I enjoyed the original trilogy and the Wounded Land but the next three were pretty average I thought. I whizzed through this one and sat up late to finish it.... Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... To Rule In Amber: You know honestly if you ignore the sacrilege of Amber books not written by Zelazny, the Betancourt trilogy isn't bad. It's actually more coherent because it isn't being written by an author who never bothered to decide what was going to happen or what was going on. While it lacks the excitement of actually introducing new ideas, it was a competent handling of already extent elements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted April 1, 2008 Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I'm looking for the powers books I dont have. I might have to just order it online when the books I am waiting on get here. Got my 50 today, tomorrow getting my Doc Savage books. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proditor Posted April 1, 2008 Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters Book Description A thrilling new Steampunk fantasy from a talented debut author TWO GODS-ONE CHANCE FOR MANKIND In Victorian London, the Whitechapel section is a mechanized, steam-driven hell, cut off and ruled by two mysterious, mechanical gods-Mama Engine and Grandfather Clock. Some years have passed since the Great Uprising, when humans rose up to fight against the machines, but a few brave veterans of the Uprising have formed their own Resistance-and are gathering for another attack. For now they have a secret weapon that may finally free them-or kill them all... Without revealing anything from the book, I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. The story is engaging and fast paced, though there are a few moments where the story gets a little hard to follow. Nothing insurmountable, but it felt like a few extra pages would have gone a long way to making things a little clearer. One heck of a first effort though, and the setting is pretty darn awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted April 5, 2008 Report Share Posted April 5, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Finished When the Tide Rises. Commander Leary is sent to help allies who don't want to wage war for his nation. They like it even less when he decides to start cutting off the trade with the enemy. Halfway through Small Favor by Jim Butcher. Harry Dresden has been told that he has to find Gentlemen Johnnie Marconne by Queen Mab. Billy Goats gruff and Denarians coming out of the woodwork leads to things spiraling out of control. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted April 6, 2008 Report Share Posted April 6, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Hobbit or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien. That really reminded me of why I love fantasy stories and why I hate a lot of the modern "message laden" crud that passes for fantasy these days. Recently tried Feast of Souls by C.S. Friedman, but the overt "men are evil, women are made to suffer" message was just too much. I couldn't get past chapter three or so. Next, Lord of the Rings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted April 6, 2008 Report Share Posted April 6, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I'm almost done with Evolution by Stephen Baxter -- a novel depicting the evolution of Humanity, and how we became what we are. Pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I finally made it through Accelerando by Charles Stross. It wasn't quite my thing; I read it for a book club I couldn't make it to, anyway. I kept reading because I was already past the middle point of the book and wanted to see if there was a point to all of it. Basically, it's about a near-future where the internet can be integrated into people's minds, and going online is as simple as opening your eyes in the morning. Into this environment comes the ability to upload one's soul, thereby making the body obsolete. It is in this bodiless form that several explorers head out to discover the origin of an alien signature. All kinds of jargon and weirdness and fetishes on display in the book. There were a few cute touches; this is a world where the line between the virtual and actual is blurred significantly, and, at a party, the guy who walks up to Our Hero to harrass him is plonked. Some interesting Alice in Wonderland imagery, too. Essentially, though, a mind screw, and a waste of some perfectly good two dozen hours (the technical jargon took me a lot to wade through) when I could've been reading something else. Did I mention that I finished The Wizard Hunters? Well, I did. It was a lot more fun to read. Struck me as young adult, except it dealt with death, gods, war and suicidal ideation pretty head-on. I guess that doesn't disqualify it, and there was no sex (or even kissing) in it, but I'd expect a ten-year-old to have a few questions for me if he or she picked up this book. Basically, it's about a world under siege for years, when they find the portal to the enemies' home base. When they trace it back, they find it's on another world, one very suspicious of magic users. The invaded people use magic fairly readily, so it's a bit of a culture shock. The key to destroying the invaders, though, is in a magical sphere in the possession of a girl with a dark past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just got a new bookshelf, so I was able to shelve away my "recent" reads, or partial reads. Neil Gaiman, Stardust. Turns out this comics-writing guy also does modern fantasy. Hey, anyone else heard about it? Fun book, with very little of the great quack, Joseph Campbell. Larry Niven, Rainbow Mars. Way better than Number of the Beast, so gotta give it credit for that. Robert Charles Wilson, Darwinia. I can just see what was going through his mind. "What a great concept, and what an excellent opportunity to see how many levels a book can fail on!" Please tell me that this is a fix-up. Connie Willis. Passages. Sheer brilliance. Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint and Dave Freer, Wizard of Karres. Started out a pleasant enough tribute, then went downhill to the point where I'd nominate the author of the mid-chapters to to write episodes of King of Queens. Ursula K. LeGuin. Planet of Exile. Neither a new book nor a first-time read, but here's a textbook for several of the authors above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Stardust is a lot of fun. If you liked it, I highly recommend Neverwhere, Good Omens, American Gods, and Anazasi Boys. (I may have misspelled that last one.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Logan D. Hurricanes Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Stardust is a lot of fun. If you liked it' date=' I highly recommend Neverwhere, Good Omens, American Gods, and Anazasi Boys. (I may have misspelled that last one.)[/quote'] Anansi Boys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... ". . . My taxi driver was turning into Travis Bickle . . ." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted April 9, 2008 Report Share Posted April 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Death's Head by David Gunn. Sven, a legionnaire and almost primitive, is taken by the Elite Death's Head and sent out to war. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted April 19, 2008 Report Share Posted April 19, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Finished Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child. Picked up a book by Rob Thurman called Madhouse. Brothers Cal and Niko are in the monster detective business. Their latest case is Sawney Beane coming back to life and snacking on New Yorkers. I think I am going to hunt up the other two books and see if they are as good. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted April 19, 2008 Report Share Posted April 19, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Small Favor by Jim Butcher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 19, 2008 Report Share Posted April 19, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Medicine Road by Charles de Lint. Different setting than most of his other stuff, and he played with the themes a bit, but I enjoyed it immensely. It was a really quick read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 25, 2008 Report Share Posted April 25, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I've been reading The Dark is Rising during my lunch breaks, and finished it yesterday. I could barely remember a thing about the book, as the last time I read it, I had pneumonia. It stands up well to the test of time. Too bad the makers of the movie couldn't give it the benefit of the doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted April 25, 2008 Report Share Posted April 25, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I have the whole series and read "Over Sea Under Stone" a few months ago. I need to finish the rest of the series. When I was in middle school, I was totally addicted to the books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted April 25, 2008 Report Share Posted April 25, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I loved the first books, but never finished the last one. Very strange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 25, 2008 Report Share Posted April 25, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I remembered Over Sea, Under Stone much better than The Dark is Rising. I wonder why? Perhaps I reread it fairly recently, or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted April 26, 2008 Report Share Posted April 26, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I've been reading The Dark is Rising during my lunch breaks, and finished it yesterday. I could barely remember a thing about the book, as the last time I read it, I had pneumonia. It stands up well to the test of time. Too bad the makers of the movie couldn't give it the benefit of the doubt. I remember reading those books a couple of times. Was the movie any good? CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 26, 2008 Report Share Posted April 26, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... No. Well, okay, the movie might've been halfway decent, in its own right. I don't know. But it was so far removed from the book that I fully understand why the title was changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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