lapsedgamer Posted February 22, 2010 Report Share Posted February 22, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I see a lot of hatred for Thomas Covenant, and I have to admit that I did not like the series that much either. I remember liking the Mordant's Need books (A Man Rides Through and so on) more. Did anyone else have that reaction? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted February 22, 2010 Report Share Posted February 22, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I see a lot of hatred for Thomas Covenant' date=' and I have to admit that I did not like the series that much either. I remember liking the Mordant's Need books (A Man Rides Through and so on) more. Did anyone else have that reaction?[/quote'] Yes. I read the second set first and I remember him being more heroic in that set, then I read the first set. I think I read the Mordant between them. I think that I prefer more active heroes in my fiction. They don't have to be heroic. Sven from David Gunn's Death's head is not heroic. Neither are most Hammer's Slammers. They just have to be active. I found that I can't pick up anything else by Donaldson. It's like he killed his writing for me. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karmakaze Posted February 22, 2010 Report Share Posted February 22, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I see a lot of hatred for Thomas Covenant' date=' and I have to admit that I did not like the series that much either. I remember liking the Mordant's Need books (A Man Rides Through and so on) more. Did anyone else have that reaction?[/quote'] "A Mirror of Her Dreams" filled me with the constant and frustrating urge to violently smack the main character and scream "Grow an EXPLETIVE backbone!!!!" I found her even more annoying than Thomas Covenant, whose incessant whining was at least generally not about stuff he could easily fix on his own. Teresa's issues all seemed to be in the form of "Oh, no, I saw a problem coming and didn't lift a finger to prevent it and now I have this terrible problem. Oh, woe is me, why do all these terrible things keep happening to me?" I did not make it to the second novel. I've liked several of Donaldson's short stories, but he has a gift for writing novel protagonists who aren't just unsympathetic, but actively annoying to share mental space with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted February 23, 2010 Report Share Posted February 23, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Back to books just finished, read Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan. Percy Jackson and friends have to save Artemis from a fate worse than death. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted February 23, 2010 Report Share Posted February 23, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished reading Coyote Horizon by Alan Steele Slightly disappointed for 2 reasons 1) The introduction of telepathy. I saw the Coyote series as a fairly hard science fiction series, and the introduction of telepathy kind of screws with that 2) The introduction of a "rationalist" religion which apparently most of the galactic aliens believe in. Not only proposes a religion that sentients _can't_ corrupt (a fantasy in itself), but He creates a "STRAW MAN" christian religion (The Church of the Dominion) as its foil. (It also almost forgets an existing religion that doesn't believe in God per se - Buddhism). In fact they seem to be echoing buddhism Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vondy Posted February 23, 2010 Report Share Posted February 23, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I see a lot of hatred for Thomas Covenant' date=' and I have to admit that I did not like the series that much either. I remember liking the Mordant's Need books (A Man Rides Through and so on) more. Did anyone else have that reaction?[/quote'] Why I find Thomas Covenant both unsympathetic (whiny) and reprehensible (immoral), I didn't have a particularly visceral reaction to him. I could invest that deeply because, mostly, I found the first book boring and hard to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted February 23, 2010 Report Share Posted February 23, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just finished The Revolution Business, book five of The Merchant Princes series by Charles Stross. Overall, I'm enjoying the series. It's been a while since I read books 1-4, so I found the lack of a synopsis at the beginning more than a little jarring. I considered re-reading the whole series, but I really don't have time right now. Fortunately there's just enough exposition to remind readers without eidetic memories what happened in the previous installments, without slowing things down. Nicely done, that! And of course, the *&^%$#@! thing ends with yet another cliff-hanger, so I'll be waiting to scoop up book 6 as soon as I can. Warning -- if cliff-hanger endings annoy you, don't start reading this until the whole series is out! I'll have a review of the whole series once it's concluded. So far, I like it. Next up, Coyote Horizon, the fourth in Allen Steele's series about a colony on an alien world. Fortunately, they're all pretty much 'stand-alone' novels. Interesting characters, pretty good writing; but I give the man an F-minus in planetology. Don't look at me, Xavier Onassiss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archon Posted February 23, 2010 Report Share Posted February 23, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The two books coming are prequels to the Deed of Paksenarrion. Both were originally released about 10 years ago. One tells the store of Gird. The other the story of Luap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted February 23, 2010 Report Share Posted February 23, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The two books coming are prequels to the Deed of Paksenarrion. Both were originally released about 10 years ago. One tells the store of Gird. The other the story of Luap. Actually, Oath of Fealty, due out March 16 is brand new material taking place after the last book in the Deed series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender42 Posted February 23, 2010 Report Share Posted February 23, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished _One Jump Ahead_, don't recommend, because of a Deus Ex Machina. Have finished _Axis_ and _Spin_, and enjoyed them. _Blind Lake_ a little less so. Been reading the Merchant Prince series, but was disgusted with book 2 - super huge plot holes. But some of the concepts are nice, what I think _Conquistador_ (Stirling) should be doing in his next book or two (planet as an exploration vehicle). And I've recently read _Better to Beg Forgiveness_ which was basically a one book re-write of Weber's _March (Upcountry, to the Sea, to the Stars)_ with humans instead of aliens. And excluding taking back the empire (in _We, Few_). But I laughed a fair amount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Checkmate Posted February 24, 2010 Report Share Posted February 24, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just finished The Revolution Business' date=' book five of [i']The Merchant Princes[/i] series by Charles Stross. Overall, I'm enjoying the series. It's been a while since I read books 1-4, so I found the lack of a synopsis at the beginning more than a little jarring. I considered re-reading the whole series, but I really don't have time right now. Fortunately there's just enough exposition to remind readers without eidetic memories what happened in the previous installments, without slowing things down. Nicely done, that! I absolutely despise a synopsis in books. It's not that I have a great memory, it's just that chances are if I've forgotten it between books, I'm gonna forget it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vondy Posted February 24, 2010 Report Share Posted February 24, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I absolutely despise a synopsis in books. It's not that I have a great memory' date=' it's just that chances are if I've forgotten it between books, I'm gonna forget it again.[/quote'] The real master of synopsis in a series/saga was Patrick O'Brien. He was really good at making the synopsis both readable and seem like it could have been background for a standalone book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Haven't read much in the way of novels for a very long time. Picked up the Dresden Files books and whipped through them again. The only one I hadn't read was Small Favor (at least of the ones I own). Upon the second reading of the series, I have an even greater appreciation of the titular character and of the subtle behind the scenes story that is unfolding. Wish I could find Turn Coat in the store still. Even though the Dresden books follow the same basic formula, I love the increasing depth of the characterization. Honestly, I could probably read another ten books in that series and not tire of them. Next up is The Gathering Storm by Brandon Sanderson, taking up the Wheel of Time mantle. I took a peak at the first chapter and am so far liking his style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Netzilla Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Wish I could find Turn Coat in the store still. The paperback version is being released on the 2nd according to Amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted February 27, 2010 Report Share Posted February 27, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I believe it is at the grocery store depending where you live. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted March 5, 2010 Report Share Posted March 5, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Read Battle of the Labyrinth by Riordan. Percy Jackson descends into the mythical labyrinth to save his camp from the army of Kronos. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted March 5, 2010 Report Share Posted March 5, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Read Downbelow Station. All I can say, is based on having read the Chanur Saga and now Downbelow Station, Joshua Talley's life certainly sucked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted March 5, 2010 Report Share Posted March 5, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I recently finished The Mysterious Island, by Jules Verne. The wild, over the top movie of the same name with the same characters is only tangentially based on the book. There are no giant crabs, giant wasps, or diatrymas in the book. It's kind of vanilla. If you want to read about a bunch of guys cast ashore on a desert island with nothing at all and building it into a pretty decent living space, read away. If you want the crazy sci-fi stuff Verne has come to be known for, you won't get it from him...you need to see Ray Harryhausen's treatment of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted March 5, 2010 Report Share Posted March 5, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Read Downbelow Station. All I can say' date=' is based on having read the Chanur Saga and now [i']Downbelow Station[/i], Joshua Talley's life certainly sucked. Of course, this presumes that "Tully" from the Chanur novels and Joshua Talley are one and the same person. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoneDaddy Posted March 5, 2010 Report Share Posted March 5, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Whitechapel Gods by S.M. Peters 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. Just read this one myself, and I recommend it highly to anyone attempting to see new possibilities in the Steampunk Genre. It takes things in a different directions than I have seen before, some dark but good, some dark but iffy, but all at least somewhat thought provoking. The characters are a bit thin, but the possibilities are rich enough that the book is certainly worth reading. Maybe a good campaign environment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted March 5, 2010 Report Share Posted March 5, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Hey, look who it is! Where ya been, Bone Daddy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DusterBoy Posted March 6, 2010 Report Share Posted March 6, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished Del Rey's "Kull: Exile of Atlantis". Briefly it has all of Howard's strengths, and all of his flaws. Headlong action? Check. Nigh-indestructible hero who is a giant amongst men? Check. A blend of history and mythology backing it up? Check. But: underclad, mostly useless women characters? Check. Overuse of faux-archaic language? Check. Maunderings about the nature of time and space? Check. Barbarians tough and civilized people weak, degenerate and corrupt? Check. Too much comparing the male characters to the big cats and wolves? Check. I do think that "By This Axe I Rule" is the superior version of "Phoenix On the Sword". Nor can I accuse Howard on not focusing on the political problems Kull faces as an outlander "barbarian" on the throne of Valusia, much of which come from the arch-conservative chief counsellor, Tu. I did like the stories though, for all their flaws. Howard's writing just takes me that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted March 7, 2010 Report Share Posted March 7, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The advertising for the latest Dresden Files is about Harry's son. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Title? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted March 8, 2010 Report Share Posted March 8, 2010 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Title? Changes I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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