FenrisUlf Posted November 28, 2009 Report Share Posted November 28, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished reading The Thrawn Trilogy, which is outstandingly good when compared to the rest of the Star Wars novels. Not least in avoiding the usual traps of newest superweapon ever and everything revolving around twinked-out Jedi Force powers. The main villain, Thrawn, isn't just described as a genius, he gets written as one, and it's done effectively, by having him do such things as worry about logistics for the Imperial fleet under him (the series is set about 10 years after the Rebels nailed the Emperor at Endor) -- most of the first and second books revolve around the Empire's desperate need for new ships and troops, and the various ways they go about getting them. He also does things like hit major agricultural and industrial worlds first, by tricks that involve clever use of 'cloaking' technology (basically, making a ship invisible; which also means the crew can't see beyond the limits of the 'cloak', but Thrawn works his way around that) among other plans. Really, they're an amazing series of books, and these three along with their sequel, The Hand of Thrawn and it's 'companion' novel I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole, both of which are done asFix Fics, are easily the very best of the Star Wars novels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted November 28, 2009 Report Share Posted November 28, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... First Lord's Fury is by Butcher is out in the bookstores. I plan to pick it up sometime. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted November 29, 2009 Report Share Posted November 29, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Finished Stirling's The Sunset Lands yesterday. I do plan to acquire the sequel, and the preceeding books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted December 1, 2009 Report Share Posted December 1, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished book 5 of the Dresden Chronicles Death Masks. I guessed the Vatican guy was probably a bad one but how it was done was really good. And nice ending, good shot Ebeneezer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywind Posted December 3, 2009 Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just finished The Gathering Storm. The 12th book in the Wheel of Time. Sanderson has done an admirable job stepping up to finish Jordan's work. You can tell that the writer changed, but Sanderson explains in his notes about not copying Jordan's style. An excellent continuation, although some changes from the previous books seem rather abrupt. Tarmon Gaidon is coming... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted December 3, 2009 Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I already finished it. VERY worthwhile imo, not free of weaknesses, but very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywind Posted December 3, 2009 Report Share Posted December 3, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just keep wondering where Damodred is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted December 4, 2009 Report Share Posted December 4, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... ... The Mordred? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywind Posted December 5, 2009 Report Share Posted December 5, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Demandred. Only Forsaken that nobody has a reasonable idea of where he is. Never post when you're tired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted December 5, 2009 Report Share Posted December 5, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... ... But that's half the fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted December 20, 2009 Report Share Posted December 20, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Read Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia. Owen Pitt throws his werewolf boss out a window and earns a job for MHI as their newest recruit. He's just in time to try to save the world from an invasion of old ones. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted December 24, 2009 Report Share Posted December 24, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... First Lord's Fury by Jim Butcher opens with death and a voyage home and ends with birth and marriage. Among the facts revealed are the birth of the Aleran country, how the high lord forced his furycrafting on the world, and the fate of the vord. Waqwaq 2 by Ryu Fujisaki has the continuing quest of Shio the fourth guardian trying to save the Kami, fight off the other guardians, and try to bring peace to the devastated wastes of his world. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted December 24, 2009 Report Share Posted December 24, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just finished The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. I'm honor-bound to preface my review by stating up front that Scott is an internet buddy of mine. We've never had the opportunity to meet, but we have known each other online for four or five years. That having been said, he's being published by Bantam Spectra and was assigned the same editor as George R. R. Martin, so that should say something about his publisher's opinion of his work. I really enjoyed this one. It's an urban fantasy, much closer in tone to Brust's Vlad Taltos novels or Leiber's Lankhmar stories than Tolkien or Howard or Jordan. It's set entirely within the confines of a single city, Camorr, which is somewhat very analogous to 17th/18th century Venice, but built on the ruins of a much older race. The title character, Locke Lamora is the leader of The Gentlemen Bastards, a crew of sharp, sophisticated con artists who prey on the city's dandified nobility. The plot is very much in the spirit of a caper film like "Ocean's Eleven," with crosses, double-crosses, and triple-crosses. Like such films, you never doubt the hero is going to pull off whatever he's trying; watching him do it is where the fun lies. Plus it's got gals who bullfight sharks. Really. It's cooler than it sounds and it sounds hella cool to me. It's also self-contained. There will be sequels (the second is due out in March, I think, and the third manuscript is nearly finished), but there aren't any huge dangling plot threads of cliffhangers left unresolved at the end. It is quite gritty and violent in places. There's also lots of coarse language, about the same as you'd encounter in an episode of "Deadwood" or "The Sopranos." Considering that most of the book's characters are criminals of one stripe or another, this shouldn't be entirely surprising. There are a couple of kind of obvious set-up bits in the book, but far more "Wow, didn't see that coming, but now it all makes sense" moments. As first novels go, it's a gem. It took me three attempts to get past the first four pages but I thoroughly enjoyed both this and the sequel Red Seas under Red Skies. Boys Own aventure mixed with Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser with a touch of Oceans 11. Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Checkmate Posted December 25, 2009 Report Share Posted December 25, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Didn't really finish but I just started the "last" book of the Wheel of Time. I quote the word last because since the original author died (Robert Jordan) his "estate" (his wife) and publisher as well as the new author have decided to make the last book, into 3 separate books (no money grubbing their huh?), so all the excitement I felt at finally being able to finish this God awful series is gone. I know, I know everyone loves it but me, I've absolutely hated the series since book 4 which, coincidentally is the last time something meaningful actually happened... well except the whole cleansing thing, but it's what 4 books now and still nobody knows that happened except the guy who did it. The problem is my O.C.D. won't let me start a series and not finish it. Some times it's a good thing (Sword of Truth) sometimes it makes me regret being born (Wheel of Time). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted December 26, 2009 Report Share Posted December 26, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Finished Dies The Fire by S. M. Stirling the other day. Somewhat mystical Post-Apoc novel, and the beginning of a series. I was entertained. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted December 26, 2009 Report Share Posted December 26, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, which is neither fantasy nor scifi, but makes an excellent Christmas read. A gripping, if bleak, tale. I found the ending to be a little weak, but that's because there is no resolution to the cause of the bleakness. Otherwise, highly recommended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson. This is book 9 of 10 (or 11 of 12 if you count the esselmont ones as well) and the whole thing is captivating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Twilight Watch - the third in the series of Russian fantasy novels that started with Night Watch. Simple, fast, easy read: I enjoyed it, and I'm relatively hard to please when it comes to fantasy novels, these days. It has all the same characters and setting as the first two books, but avoids being formulaic. cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSword Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I know' date=' I know everyone loves it but me, I've absolutely hated the series since book 4 which, coincidentally is the last time something meaningful actually happened... well except the whole cleansing thing, but it's what 4 books now and still nobody knows that happened except the guy who did it. The problem is my O.C.D. won't let me start a series and not finish it. Some times it's a good thing (Sword of Truth) sometimes it makes me regret being born (Wheel of Time).[/quote'] If it makes you feel any better I gave up on the series around Book 6 or 7, but by Book 4 I realized it was headed downhill fast. I finished Sword of Truth to see how it finished and it convinced me that I should not do the same for Wheel of Time. While I enjoyed most of the Sword of Truth novels, the last 2 were especially tedious and had some of the worst and most heavy handed dialogue this side of Ayn Rand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted January 5, 2010 Report Share Posted January 5, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... read The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordon. Percy Jackson has dylexia and ADD and been kicked out of every school in New York. That's just the start of his problems when his math teacher tries to kill him. read the Hunchback Assignment by Arthur Slade. Poor Modo is a disfigured hunchback who can change his appearance and has been adopted and trained to be an agent by a secret society in Victoria England. he has to stop another secret society from destroying Parliament with their steamworked robot. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Lord of the Rings Reading it leaves me torn. The movies are good, for what they are, but they leave a lot out. On the other hand, there's a lot of story... and to make a theatrical film you need to condense and simplify matters. I like some of what Jackson did, I understand some of what Jackson did, and I totally disagree with some of what Jackson did, but... if, IF there is ever a full adaptation of LOTR, it's going to be a 20+ hour long monster. The Hobbit While a fun read (I knocked it of in a day), I realize that as a movie it is going to need help. The dwarves are almost ineffectual during most of the book, captured and/or cornered no less than five times before getting to the mountain (that being trolls, goblins, goblins/wargs, spiders, wood elves) and rescued each time by an outside source (that being Gandalf, Gandalf, Eagles, Bilbo, Bilbo). While fine as a kid's book (since you identify with Bilbo) it'll work less well as a movie. I predict the goblins, goblin/wargs, and spiders will be more like pitched battles than the book's somewhat one-side captures from the books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted January 15, 2010 Report Share Posted January 15, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just read "The Genesis race" Unfortunately the Author thinks it is a Non-Fiction... I was reading it for alternate history ideas. Sadly, he raised a few of the topics I am interested in. Now I fear to use them. not really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted February 8, 2010 Report Share Posted February 8, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The good, bad, and the uncanny by Simon Greene. Another tour through the nightside as John Taylor helps out Puck and the Oblivion Brothers. He is also asked to take over for Walker. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Checkmate Posted February 9, 2010 Report Share Posted February 9, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Vampire Earth series my E. E. Knight. I really enjoyed it. Great campaign material there. The Vampires are actually Aliens rather than supernatural, and not really Vampires in the classic sense. I really like the world created, and recommend it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted February 9, 2010 Report Share Posted February 9, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Walter Jon Williams' latest novel, This Is Not a Game. After witnessing an old friend's brutal assassination, a producer of interactive online games incorporates the real-life murder investigation into her latest online project. The problem is, most of the players can't figure out what's real and what isn't -- where the fictional content ends and the all-too-real, possibly deadly elements begin. This Is Not a Game is an interesting near-future story about where online gaming is going, and what might happen when online communities are manipulated by powerful social engineers with hidden agendas. Imagine having a million people you can call on to solve a puzzle, locate a missing person, hack a hundred computers, deliver half a million packages...they'll do whatever you ask, because they think it's all just a game. And naturally, they're playing to win. Don't look at me, Xavier Onassiss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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