L. Marcus Posted September 30, 2008 Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... . . . You're not talking about the Pratchett book, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted September 30, 2008 Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... No. Night Watch, by Sergei Lukyanenko. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Cross Posted October 1, 2008 Report Share Posted October 1, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I recently finished reading the entire trilogy,and I have to warn you-the second movie in the trilogy,Day Watch, is really just a continuation of the first film,not a actual adaptation of the novel,as it ignores at least two major plot points in the second book,plus the Chalk of Fate doesn't operate in the same way in the movie as it does in the novel.It's still a major artifact,though... And the movie is still worth watching,especially for a certain impressive stunt involving a car.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted October 3, 2008 Report Share Posted October 3, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I read Hero by Perry Moore. It's a YA novel, set in a world where superheroes are so common that the League has membership numbering in the hundreds. Our narrator is the son of a former hero, Major Might, who stepped down in disgrace after his heroic actions killed nineteen thousand people. Thom is hiding several things from his father, foremost among his secrets being that he's gay. Thom also has superpowers, which his father looks down on. Then one day, he steps in to help during a supers fight, and is offered an audition to join the League. I really enjoyed it, even if the world was a bit darker than I'm used to in comic books. Thom's sexuality is a major conflict in the novel, and very few people are accepting of it. He's kicked off his basketball team over it, despite his status as the star player. When he's publicly outed, his lawn is set on fire, spelling out epithets and death threats. And when he falls in love, he's so terrified of rejection that he nearly ruins the friendship he's built with the young man he's fallen for. Despite its status as a YA novel, I didn't ind it simplistic or "easy reading." It was actually quite compelling, and the ending brought several surprises I hadn't anticipated. I highly recommend this book to anyone, comic book reader or no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Cross Posted October 4, 2008 Report Share Posted October 4, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I would as well.I can see Bruce Willis playing Major Might (if they ever make a film adaptation of it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigJackBrass Posted October 4, 2008 Report Share Posted October 4, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Partly because I'm using them as research material for an upcoming adventure and partly because I haven't read them for a while I'm working through the Jerry Cornelius stories and novels, primarily by Michael Moorcock with contributions from several other writers and artists. There isn't really a single comprehensive edition of the short stories, but you can piece them together in The Lives and Times of Jerry Cornelius (the more recent American version loses The Dodgem Decision but collects several additional stories) and The New Nature of the Catastrophe; The Cornelius Quartet and A Cornelius Calendar are the easy way to get the novels and novellas. The older I get the more I get out of these stories, rooted in contemporary culture but universal enough to outlive their direct inspirations, be they the war in Vietnam or the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Hilarious, terrifying and brutally satirical. The experimental forms may not be as fresh as they were forty years ago but they still sparkle. Despite a couple of shelves groaning under the weight of my Moorcock books I notice that the man has no sympathy and continues to keep writing... A new Cornelius story appeared recently, as yet uncollected. You can also read one of the Cornelius stories, The Spencer Inheritance, online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Dead to me by Anton Strout. Psychometricist policeman and department investigating weird happenings. Surprisingly light in a lot of places. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Well of Ascension, the second in the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. Did NOT see that ending coming. May have to take the third out of the library; I suspect I won't be able to wait for it to come out in paperback to find out how it ends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Astounding Hero Tales. A fun collection of stories set in the pulp-era. I picked it up for 75% off in a clearance bin, but would have paid cover price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted October 5, 2008 Report Share Posted October 5, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Other Americas, by Norman Spinrad, a collection of his short stories. Spinrad's Cyberpunk/Dystopian near future settings are generally all about the ways the American Dream can be suborned and driven astray by the actions of the wealthy and powerful, and it's getting scary how close to his vision (most of his work I've read is from the 80's) we're getting. Street Meat, the first in the collection, for instance, is all about the efforts of a private cop to retrieve her employers cocker spaniel from the guy who grabbed it, because 40 pounds of meat is treasure! At least, it is when half the population is living on the streets eating government issued people kibble and it's next to impossible to find a job that pays enough to let you take out a 40 year mortgage to buy a room in a co-op condo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Hard work, stress, and long hours go with fall in the grocery industry like ..something with something. Anyway, bad for the immune system. So it caught up with me this weekend and I spent a long time lying on my side reading the kind of book you can read when you're distracted by . ...things. Which would be... Walter Jon Williams, Dread Empire's Fall: The Praxis. This book has been out since 2003, but literally the only sign of it I saw was a book reviewer's advanced copy in a used book store (bad, bad reviewer). I don't know why. I've enjoyed reading every Williams book that has come my way, one exception aside. Even the ones that have left me troubled at the end (Metropolitan and especially Days of Atonement) were compelling enough at the time. So why the neglect of this one? If there's one thing that David Weber has proven, it's that the "Regency intrigue novel crossed with Jane Austen crossed with Napoleonic naval action, only in spa-a-ace" formula sells. And quite frankly, I would expect Williams to do it way better than Weber ever could. That said, I had no idea that that was what I was getting when I cracked Dread Empire's Fall. Which I am very glad I did, now. Literally everything in the formula, from back story to characterisation to space action is done so much better than a Weber or a Drake that there is just no comparison. I suspect that the physics doesn't work out, but this is really the new frontier --low tech space opera. (Oddly enough, and going to the point about lack of promotion, when I went to my local megabook store to get the sequel last night, I found no trace of it, but a trade edition of Sean Willingdon's "Risen Emperor" duology, a very similar sort of work with a very similar feel that I recommend too. But why Willingdon and not Williams?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Legacy of Gird, by Elizabeth Moon, an omnibus edition combining Surrender None and Liar's Oath into one volume. It's the prequel to the Deed of Paksinarrnion, telling how Gird became the hero and demi-god he is in Paks's time. It wasn't bad, and certainly I found it a page turner. It wasn't as good as Deed, but I think part of that was Deed was more fresh and longer -- it follows Paks more in depth, while Surrender None skips over long periods of time. In fact, since Surrender None covers so much more time, many characters that Moon spends time introducing tend to vanish suddenly. In some ways this is effective, as it keeps one on their toes about who's going to make it. but it is a little frustrating to learn of a character's fate in passing and to have others just sort of drop out of the narrative. Liar's Oath suffers from having a frankly unlikable protagonist (Luap), but makes up for it by introducing some interesting (and far more likable) secondary characters with more compelling stories. Over all it was a good read and has solidified my thoughts that for a D&D knock-off setting, Moon's world isn't bad. She uses some common tropes well and I like how she handles the various 'non'-human races (elves, dwarves, gnomes) and so on. Legacy of Gird is less D&D-ish then Deed was and I feel would be best suited by using Hero System to simulate the powers of mages and paladins. Speaking of which, I like how Moon handles her paladins, especially their horses. Gird himself I know realize is a proto-paladin. He can't heal, or bring forth light, but he's brave, strong, an inspiring leader, somewhat fearless (when needed), and has almost an infallible sense of right and wrong (or, better yet, sense of what is good and what is evil). In Liar's Oath we get to see how his example in life leads to the first paladins after death, and there is a sense of excitement when you realize you're seeing the first paladin in action at one point. Now, this said, I've been told (and I've adhered to this advice) to not bother with anything else she's done. Some may feel otherwise, but right now I'm content with my five volumes of her fantasy setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caris Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Now' date=' this said, I've been told (and I've adhered to this advice) to not bother with anything else she's done. Some may feel otherwise, but right now I'm content with my five volumes of her fantasy setting.[/quote'] For what its worth, I've read here sf set books, and prefer them over the fantasy novels. I've re-read several of the sf books, but have never had the urge to go back to the fantasy books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Legacy of Gird' date=' by Elizabeth Moon, an omnibus edition combining [i']Surrender None[/i] and Liar's Oath into one volume. It's the prequel to the Deed of Paksinarrnion, telling how Gird became the hero and demi-god he is in Paks's time. It wasn't bad, and certainly I found it a page turner. It wasn't as good as Deed, but I think part of that was Deed was more fresh and longer -- it follows Paks more in depth, while Surrender None skips over long periods of time. In fact, since Surrender None covers so much more time, many characters that Moon spends time introducing tend to vanish suddenly. In some ways this is effective, as it keeps one on their toes about who's going to make it. but it is a little frustrating to learn of a character's fate in passing and to have others just sort of drop out of the narrative. Liar's Oath suffers from having a frankly unlikable protagonist (Luap), but makes up for it by introducing some interesting (and far more likable) secondary characters with more compelling stories. Over all it was a good read and has solidified my thoughts that for a D&D knock-off setting, Moon's world isn't bad. She uses some common tropes well and I like how she handles the various 'non'-human races (elves, dwarves, gnomes) and so on. Legacy of Gird is less D&D-ish then Deed was and I feel would be best suited by using Hero System to simulate the powers of mages and paladins. Speaking of which, I like how Moon handles her paladins, especially their horses. Gird himself I know realize is a proto-paladin. He can't heal, or bring forth light, but he's brave, strong, an inspiring leader, somewhat fearless (when needed), and has almost an infallible sense of right and wrong (or, better yet, sense of what is good and what is evil). In Liar's Oath we get to see how his example in life leads to the first paladins after death, and there is a sense of excitement when you realize you're seeing the first paladin in action at one point. Now, this said, I've been told (and I've adhered to this advice) to not bother with anything else she's done. Some may feel otherwise, but right now I'm content with my five volumes of her fantasy setting. I liked much of the stuff with GIRD, but hated LUAP. I would say that Gird was probably a full Paladin, he just never realized it! He never even realized there was something unusual about his horse, I suspect he could have manifested the (later)traditional powers if he had ever tried. The only thing I liked about LUAP was the thought of him being able to teach Paks and the others I held off from the Trading in Danger series until my wife had already read the first two. I have to say, they have been very good. I started reading ONce a Hero, and put it down, as I recall. There are certain things I have a great deal of trouble stomaching, and she used one of them in that and in Deed of Paksenarrion. I still wish it hadn't been in DoP, but... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... For what its worth' date=' I've read here sf set books, and prefer them over the fantasy novels. I've re-read several of the sf books, but have never had the urge to go back to the fantasy books.[/quote'] I recently re-read Deed and really liked it. Different tastes, I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I liked much of the stuff with GIRD, but hated LUAP. I would say that Gird was probably a full Paladin, he just never realized it! He never even realized there was something unusual about his horse, I suspect he could have manifested the (later)traditional powers if he had ever tried. The only thing I liked about LUAP was the thought of him being able to teach Paks and the others I held off from the Trading in Danger series until my wife had already read the first two. I have to say, they have been very good. I started reading ONce a Hero, and put it down, as I recall. There are certain things I have a great deal of trouble stomaching, and she used one of them in that and in Deed of Paksenarrion. I still wish it hadn't been in DoP, but... I might try some of her other stuff then. Right now I have a collected set of Black Company stories and the collected Orcs stories to read through before I start looking for more of her stuff. Actually, after those two books, I'm going to start in on my various classics I've picked up -- Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe, Louis Carrol, and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Nation by Terry Pratchett. Well written YA fiction mostly set in a victorian-like era on some islands in the southern hemisphere. All about tribes and shipwrecks, nationhood and belief. Quite good. A bit dark for kids perhaps - as it deals with the shock of loss. As good as his recent Discworld books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I might try some of her other stuff then. Right now I have a collected set of Black Company stories and the collected Orcs stories to read through before I start looking for more of her stuff. Actually' date=' after those two books, I'm going to start in on my various classics I've picked up -- Gulliver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe, Louis Carrol, and so on.[/quote'] I wish I was interested in re-reading my Black COmpany books. Then I read about the Bridge Burners in "Gardens of the Moon" and the other books by Steven Erikson, and kind of decided the Black company was not as interesting. I have been telling people we are in a golden age of Fantasy, with Erikson, Butcher, etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Well, I've never read any of Glen Cook's Black Company stuff, and this was a steal -- The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose, all in one volume for $16.00 (and that's before my Borders coupon). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Well' date=' I've never read any of Glen Cook's Black Company stuff, and this was a steal -- The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose, all in one volume for $16.00 (and that's before my Borders coupon).[/quote'] The Black Company setting would make for a kickass FH setting. Can't wait for you to get inspired and start writing it up for your site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Black Company setting would make for a kickass FH setting. Can't wait for you to get inspired and start writing it up for your site It would be good, but imo either the Malazan books of the Fallen or Butcher's Furies books would be better. I would rather play in the world of Cook's Garrett books than the Black company anyway. not as dark, more hotties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Can you give me a list of specific titles and authors, then? What I've read so far of the Black Company (1st chapter while doing 30 minutes on the bike) was interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattern Ghost Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Black Company books are good. And a royal PAIN to track down. I'm not even sure if they're all still in print. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Yes, there's two collections out -- Chronicles of the Black Company and The Book of the South. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattern Ghost Posted October 10, 2008 Report Share Posted October 10, 2008 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I had Chronicles from the Science Fiction Book Club. I need to get another one and read it again before getting Book of the South. Though, I'm not sure if those two combined have all the stories or not. Definitely good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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