Ranxerox Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Admittedly, I have not read every book in the series but all the ones that I have read stood up just fine individually. The Player of Games is one of the ones that I haven't read. You tell me, is it necessary to have read Consider Phlebas to understand PoG? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... No. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozimus Posted March 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... No, I don't think it is necessary, but it may prove more enjoyable. I thoroughly enjoyed PoG when I read it even though I had not previously read CP beforehand (to be fair, I didn't know that CP existed, much less that it was book 1, when I first read PoG in the early 1990's). However, I am considered a "completist" in the sense that I very much prefer to read series in chronological order. I have been that way since I started Stephan Donaldson's second Thomas Covenant series BEFORE reading any of the previous books. I merely wanted to point out that Horza is the protagonist of both books for others like me, who value reading series in a strictly chronological order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranxerox Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Fair 'nuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... No' date=' I don't think it is necessary, but it may prove more enjoyable. I thoroughly enjoyed PoG when I read it even though I had not previously read CP beforehand (to be fair, I didn't know that CP existed, much less that it was book 1, when I first read PoG in the early 1990's). However, I am considered a "completist" in the sense that I very much prefer to read series in chronological order. I have been that way since I started Stephan Donaldson's second Thomas Covenant series BEFORE reading any of the previous books. I merely wanted to point out that Horza is the protagonist of both books for others like me, who value reading series in a strictly chronological order.[/quote'] Actually, Horza doesn't appear in Player of Games; the protagonist in that one is Jernau Morat Gurgeh. It takes place 750 years after Consider Phlebas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozimus Posted March 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Ranxerox, I apologize! I am completely in error... No excuse, I should have checked my facts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just finished Agatha H and the Airship City, the novelization of the first Girl Genius story arc. It's a fun, fast read, and really helps flesh out the world of Girl Genius. I highly recommend it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranxerox Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Ranxerox, I apologize! I am completely in error... No excuse, I should have checked my facts. No big, guy. You notice that I made an assertion that you could start the series with any book, when I haven't read all the books! Since no one has come forward with any Culture novels that aren't self-contained, I guess my statement was correct, but it could have been wrong. In which case, I would have just said, "Opps. I stand corrected." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... No big, guy. You notice that I made an assertion that you could start the series with any book, when I haven't read all the books! Since no one has come forward with any Culture novels that aren't self-contained, I guess my statement was correct, but it could have been wrong. In which case, I would have just said, "Opps. I stand corrected." Having read almost all Culture novels (several times for most of them) I'll 2nd that assertion. They all stand alone so you could although a few have 'in-passing' references to events in the others. If you're into the whole 'chronological order' thing, Consider Phlebas is the place to start; otherwise Player of Games is a good introduction to the setting. I started with Excession, having pretty much no idea what I was reading... and then I was hooked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Finally started (and finished) Good Omens. I admit I flashed on this image (and other Big Daddy Roth dragster cartoons), half-remembered from my youth, from the descriptions of Crowley as he was driving his Bentley to ruin while the M25 was completely jammed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted March 28, 2011 Report Share Posted March 28, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... That poor, poor Bentley ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clonus Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya. Apparently being God is an Independant power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burrito Boy Posted March 31, 2011 Report Share Posted March 31, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just finished Agatha H and the Airship City' date=' the novelization of the first Girl Genius story arc. It's a fun, fast read, and really helps flesh out the world of Girl Genius. I highly recommend it.[/quote'] I saw that at the library and almost grabbed it. Seems like I should go back and grab it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozimus Posted April 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just finished reading Jim Butcher's "Changes", the 12th book in the Harry Dresden series. For those of you who haven't read the book and do not want to view spoilers... Overall, I enjoyed the book. I found it to be an average installment to a series I have enjoyed greatly over the years. It is not the best book in the series, but not the worst either. It was a fun, quick read. For those that do not want spoilers, don't click on the section below... A couple of things bothered me about this book. In a previous book, Harry and the "Polkanator" Butters ride an undead T-rex in a wild romp. I thoroughly enjoyed the humor in that earlier book. It fit quite nicely. But in this 12th book, a MUCH darker book, that has Harry literally selling his soul to save his daughter, humor has no place. I speak of the "break dancing" Thomas scene where Molly throws her light show and Thomas kills vamps while break dancing. Ugh. Minor quibble, grant you. But it jarred me out of the mood. Another problem with this book is the "kitchen sink" approach. Nearly every ally Harry has ever had appears in this book. Even the aforementioned "Polkanator" makes a return visit. And what a cheap visit it turned out to be! Butters gets blown away! Or does he? Turns out he had a bullet-proof vest on! BOO! HISS! The whole book went over the top...and yet, somehow it managed to be an enjoyable read. So Butcher managed to get where he wanted to go even if I didn't like the way he did it. The book did have plenty of action...on the plus side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranxerox Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Zoo City by Lauren Beukes. This is well written piece of urban fantasy set in an alternate universe version of Johannesburg, South Africa. Ms. Beukes has a gift for vivid physical descriptions and as I read the book I spent a lot of time imagining it in comic book form - probably something published by Vertigo maybe with Giuseppe Camuncoli doing the art chores. It just seems like it would lend itself well to that kind of translation. The world of Zoo City is highly original and would make for a great low powered urban fantasy campaign. I am reluctant to give specific details about it in this review because finding out just how things work in magic of Zoo City is IMO one of the great pleasures of the book. So, I am just going to say that if you like urban fantasy but have had enough vampire/werewolf romances or just want to try something different, I recommend checking out Zoo City. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southern Cross Posted April 4, 2011 Report Share Posted April 4, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Shadow of Reichenbach Falls by John R.King. It's a well-written pastiche involving Thomas Carnacki,before he became known as the Ghost Finder, and an amnesiac Sherlock Holmes, who barely survived those deadly falls. Despite the various blurbs, this is really Carnacki's adventure, as for most of the novel Holmes is either suffering from amnesia or is possessed by the same Undying Evil that possessed Jack The Ripper and then his killer James Moriarty.(Yes,THAT Moriarty. This book is as much an origin for Moriarty the crime boss as it is for Carnacki.) Highly recommended,despite the liberties it takes with Holmesian canon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. The middle book of the Mistborn trilogy, which I am taking forever to read because real life gets in the way. Having defeated the big evil boss at the end of the last book, street-urchin-turned-allomancer Vin and her boyfriend king, Elend, discover that they've also taken out the force that was protecting the kingdom from threats both mundane and magical. Sanderson has a gift for plotting, which shows in this book as it swings from crisis to crisis in a perfectly believable fashion. Character development for the main characters is great; for secondary characters it's a little more ham-handed, but at least it's there. The unusual but original metal-driven background of the Mistborn setting gradually develops throughout the books, revealing the details to the reader as they are discovered by the characters. I also like the way the trilogy is handled--each book is a self-contained story arc, with just a few loose ends and unanswered questions carrying over to the next book. I'd give this book 4.5 out of 5 stars, and I'm only docking it half a star because I didn't feel compelled to stay up all night reading it, at least not up until the last three chapters or so. Next up, obviously, is Hero of Ages, but I might take a break and read a lightweight Chelsea Handler book first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted April 11, 2011 Report Share Posted April 11, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Are you there, vodka? It's me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler. Not entirely F&SF, of course, though for Ms. Handler's sake I hope it's at least fictionalized. An extremely sarcastic semi-autobiographical portrayal of several random episodes in her life involving family, friends, and ex-boyfriends, this book took me only five hours to finish--and that's a generous estimate. Still, it was pretty funny and definitely easy to read. I'm not sure if it really deserved to be on the NYT bestseller list as long as it was, but then again, I quit trying to understand that list decades ago. Anyway, I started on Hero of Ages. So far so good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt the Bruins Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just reread Howling Mad by Peter David. Despite being cheesed off by his more recent internet antics, I still find this a highly enjoyable satirical take on werewolves, vampires, and so forth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenrisUlf Posted April 12, 2011 Report Share Posted April 12, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just reread Howling Mad by Peter David. Despite being cheesed off by his more recent internet antics' date=' I still find this a highly enjoyable satirical take on werewolves, vampires, and so forth.[/quote'] I beg pardon for asking an OT question, but what internet antics are these? And more on-topic, I just got finished reading Freddy the Pig and the Men from Mars, originally from 1954 or so. Basically it was part of a 30-year-long series of books about a intellectual pig and his fellows animals mixing with humans, done for kids. Still a fun story though, with plenty more information available here: http://www.friendsoffreddy.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Glass Harmonica by Louise Marley. It annoyed me that this turned out to be a science fiction novel. By this I mean that the author said 'you can be haunted because of quantum entanglement' when she should have said 'maybe it's magic or something and you should suspend your disbelief'. Other than that, it was pretty good. There were at least a few characters I genuinely cared about, and it's always nice seeing Benjamin Franklin make an appearance in fiction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The first of the True Blood books, Dead Until Dark. Which I found a nice read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozimus Posted April 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Speaking of Peter David...has anyone read the "Sir Apropos of Nothing" series? A friend recommended it years ago, but I never found the time to pursue this series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt the Bruins Posted April 13, 2011 Report Share Posted April 13, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I beg pardon for asking an OT question, but what internet antics are these? Oh, he got in a flamewar a couple years ago with one of the posters at Scans Daily over someone posting images from one of his comics for discussion and ended up pitching a hissyfit that resulted in the community being deleted. (He had every right to request the removal of copyrighted material, but his response was more along the lines of "Someone in Akron, OH used my property in a way I do not approve of and made fun of me! Burn the entire city and salt the earth where it stood!") Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranxerox Posted April 14, 2011 Report Share Posted April 14, 2011 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Speaking of Peter David...has anyone read the "Sir Apropos of Nothing" series? A friend recommended it years ago' date=' but I never found the time to pursue this series.[/quote'] I thought the first book of that series was really funny and enjoyed it a lot. The second book didn't make me laugh as much but I still enjoyed it. I didn't make it through the third book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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