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What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

Bozimus

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Susano Grand Master

Susano

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

The Ringworld Throne.

 

Not as bad as I recall from the first time I read it. It does make me want to read Ringworld's Children, just to see how it all comes out. However, I have no interest in the prequels.

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DShomshak
DShomshak

Sounds good. And speaking of one bit you brought up... I am so tired of "Chosen Ones." I prefer my heroes to be fighting the good fight because somebody has to, not because it's their Destiny.  

Nolgroth
Nolgroth

Owen is my least favorite character in the whole series. He is very obviously an author insertion character. Besides that he has the whole "rebel without a clue" and "loudmouth so Conservative that he

Pattern Ghost
Pattern Ghost

I recently finished Working for Bigfoot by Jim Butcher. It's a collection of Dresden shorts. The tone in these tends to be on the lighter side, and the stories seem relegated to the sidelines of the D

csyphrett Grand Master

csyphrett

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Read Changes by Jim Butcher. This is a pretty good entry in the series. At the end, its obvious there were two enemies at work and Harry missed it with what was going on. I wonder who the hidden enemy was. My money is on the White Council guy.

CES

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Guest steamteck

Guest steamteck

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

In answer to Susano's question' date=' Magic. Fom Mummy.[/quote']

 

Or even Labyrinth....;)

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Hierax Experienced

Hierax

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

Last fiction read

 

De Bello Lemures : the Roman War Against the Zombies of Armorica.

 

Roman Imperial Legionnaires vs. Zombies!!!

 

Makes for a pretty good gaming set up...

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Nolgroth Grand Master

Nolgroth

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

The Way of Shadows (Part 1 of the Night Angel Trilogy) - Brent Weeks

 

Synopsis: Young Azoth is a scared and hopeless street urchin who wants to train with the cities top wetboy, Durzo Blint, so he can rise above the life of squalor he is destined to live. To do so, he must turn his back on the ones he cares about and embrace the unforgiving life of an assassin's apprentice.

 

What Makes It Good: Good character and plot development make for a very entertaining read. Intrigue, double-cross and action rule the plot without ruining it with cookie cutter characters.

 

What Makes It Bad: The opening chapters of the book are extremely bleak and gritty. I don't like that kind of story so it was very difficult to get through that section and on to the rest of the story. Spoilered the main reason for that critique.

 

There are pretty graphic depictions of physical and sexual child abuse.

 

 

Other Notes: Upon reading the aforementioned opening chapters, I was convinced that this was somebody's attempt to take bleakness of the Song of Ice and Fire and dial it up a couple of notches. After getting past that section, the story becomes much less crushingly hopeless. Not to worry for those who like grit, there is plenty of that to be had in later chapters.

 

Intrigue between members of the criminal element is a dominant theme in the book. If for no other reason than that, I found it an entertaining read. I can use the inspiration from that for developing the next segment of my fantasy campaign. There are trappings of political intrigue, but it doesn't play much of a part.

 

There are a couple of scenes that were just jarring to me. They dealt with characters outside the core cast and those characters were often just plopped in suddenly. I have the other two books in the series to read, but I hope that those other characters merge with the core characters a little more smoothly in the coming pages.

 

The author uses the convenience of real weapon names. On one hand, if you are familiar with real world weapons, you can visualize immediately what he is describing. On the other hand, it might pull you out of the story a bit. On the balance, I think it is up to the individual reader whether the convenience of knowing exactly what the author is getting at outweighs the potential mar to the verisimilitude of the setting.

 

Overall Rating: 3.5 / 5

 

Published by Orbit Books (http://www.orbitbooks.net)

ISBN 13: 978-0-316-03367-1

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csyphrett Grand Master

csyphrett

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

Read the Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan. This is part one of another set of novels featuring mortals and gods coming together. Carter and Sadie Kane watch their father release Set, learn they are hosting Isis and Horus, and must save the world before the Demon Days are over while opposed by Set's army of demons and the magicians of the house of life who want to keep the gods trapped forever.

 

I liked it even though it's treading familiar ground from Percy Jackson, while changing some of the rules. There was one point where the Empire State Building was ackowledged as a problem area so I can see the potential for a crossover at one point.

 

And if Riordan does a third set with the Norse pantheon, I would not be surprised.

CES

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Lawnmower Boy Veteran

Lawnmower Boy

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

Finally read The Deeds of Paksenarrion. Paks is a wonderful character who walks the Mary Sue line and comes down on the right side. The little detail of old-timey life and campaigning was wonderfully well-handled. Except for too much David Drake-y Roman worship. No, short swords and shields are not a first-line tactical package. Hangers back up pole-arms. Even for the Romans.

One thing I only started to notice in the second book (perhaps because there was on map in my edition --I hear there's one in the new books, though) but was too lazy to keep proper track of was the way that the imagined geography was organised affectively rather than ordinantly. It reminded me very much of Andre Norton and has me ruminating on differing characteristic female and male ways of signifying spatial relationships.

However, less torture porn in the sequels, if you please, Ms. Moon.

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Checkmate Mentor

Checkmate

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Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

 

I've been reading the Desden Files myself, I've just started Small Favors. I really enjoy the stories, but the writing is driving me nuts. I really hate when the author assumes that everyone reading his book has the IQ of a turnip. He'll explain the purpose of Harry's Blasting Rod, then no more than 3 paragraphs later, when Harry whips it out again, he explains the thing all over again. He does this every time Harry uses pretty much any magic, and when you consider Harry is a wizard, it's pretty often. I absolutely hate this. I probably would have stopped reading the story, but I've known since around book 2 that Murphy was going to be a Knight of the Cross (ever since the first time Harry saw her with his Wizard's sight and saw how "pure" she was) and now at book 10 I'm hoping she'll finally get it.

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