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Bozimus

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Posts posted by Bozimus

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

     

    Harbingers by F. Paul Wilson. Repairman Jack learns that all of his family's deaths are due to the Ally wanting a weapon to deal with his enemy.

    CES

     

    Just a friendly reminder...please be careful about unannounced spoilers. Readers of the Repairman Jack novels may want to find this tidbit out through the natural course of reading.

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

     

    I read them (the first three books) a LONG time ago (late 80's). I actually thought gewing was talking about the Julian May "Golden Torc" in his recent post until an Amazon.com check revealed that, yes, Simon Green DID write a book with a similar title! I enjoyed them at that time...and I think I would enjoy them if I re-read them now, but I am not certain of that. Twenty-something Bozimus had a different taste in books than does forty-four year old Bozimus.

     

    I will say that I still remember one of the character's names...Aiken Drum, what a magnificent bastard!

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

     

    I just read " The Man with the Golden Torc."

     

    Simon R. Green is good old fashioned fun. In MY house anyway!

     

    Also re-reading a lot of the Dresden Files.

     

    Try Simon R. Green's "Nightside" books. I have read three of that series and found them to be quick/fun reads.

     

    I am considering re-visiting his "Deathstalker" series. I read the first book and for some reason I cannot recall, did not continue. I need me some 'grand ole space opery'! :D

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

     

    Anyone have any opinions on the Black Company books?

     

    I only read the first three Black Company books. I thought the first book was great. The second book was pretty good, but not quite up to the standards of the first. The third book was the weakest of the three, but still pretty good IMO. To sum up, I enjoyed the first three books. I was warned by a friend to stay away from all subsequent books in that series.

     

    I am currently reading the third book (Memories of Ice) in Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series. (Thus far) this is a VERY good fantasy series!

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

     

    On the other hand' date=' I've finished all four of the [i']War Against the Chtorr[/i] novels and now wait for volume 5, supposedly due out in late '08 or early '09.

     

    I cannot believe that they are producing more books in this series after such a long hiatus! Reminds me of the time I read "In Conquest Born" by C.S. Friedman. Twenty years later, a sequel pops out of nowhere! Was the author in a coma? Was she kidnapped by aliens and only recently returned?

     

    Susano, obviously you like the "War Against the Chtorr" series. How does the 4th book stack up (in terms of enjoyment) against three older books?

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

     

    CJ Cherryh has a rather eclectic writing style that I quite enjoy. She has a tendency to make palatable things that would be long stretches of boredom in a lesser author.

     

    Good point. The first Cherryh books I actually finished were the Chanur books. They were fun space opera, even though they contained more angst than desired. I tried to read "Downbelow Station" (because it won the Hugo) on several occasions, yet I never made a significant dent. I admit to not giving it a fair shot.

     

    There are three Cherryh series I have an interest in...The Faded Sun books, The Alliance-Union books, and the Fortress books. A friend, whose opinion on books coincides somewhat with mine, has recommended the Fortress books. Next time I need a new fantasy series, I might start there.

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

     

    Just finished "Destroyer", book 1 of the 3rd Foreigner series by C.J. Cherryh. I surprised myself when I re-visited this series after the 2nd Foreigner series failed to live up to my expectations. I am glad I gave it a second chance, since I enjoyed reading "Destroyer".

     

    It is a mystery as to why I have enjoyed (for the most part) the Foreigner series. These books are short on action (which I crave like a crack addict) and long on soap opera (which I usually detest in the extreme). Maybe her writing style makes these books more palatable?

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

     

    Finished "Ysabel" by Guy G. Kay. It took a little while to get going, but once book 2 started, I eagerly finished it. In my opinion, "Ysabel" is not as captivating as the Fionavar Tapestry series or even "Tigana", but it was better than "Last Light of the Sun".

     

    I am now starting "Memories of Ice" by Steven Erikson. Third book of the Malazan series. I have VERY high hopes for this one!

     

     

     

     

     

    *******************Ysabel Spoiler Alert*********************

     

     

     

    The ending was a bit anti-climatic, but not much of a let down. I like it when the villains of a story are capable of random decent acts and are not maniacally evil (see 'Tyrion' of A Song of Ice/Fire series). But this book's antagonists were a little too civilized for my tastes.

     

    A BIG plus was the inclusion of two characters from the Fionavar Tapestry series....

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

     

    I just finished another Dresden Files book called "Proven Guilty" by Jim Butcher. At a time when school AND work are very demanding, it sure is nice to read a good, solid story with familiar characters that isn't challenging.

     

    I am now reading "Ysabel" by Guy G. Kay. This is his last chance. After "Last Light of the Sun" proved to be disappointing, I vowed to steer clear of Kay. I keep looking for another Fionavar Tapestry series, but Kay seems determined to venture away from that type of book.

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

     

    I just finished “Woken Furies”, the third Takeshi Kovacs’ novel by Richard K. Morgan. I loved the first novel in the series, “Altered Carbon”. That book was chocked full of action-packed goodness! The second novel, “Broken Angels” was a huge disappointment, mainly due to the long lulls in action. I am happy to report that “Woken Furies” is better than “Broken Angels”. While not quite as good as “Altered Carbon”, this third book was an enjoyable read.

     

    I give it a “7” out of “10”.

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

     

    Illium was the last one I finished' date=' I believe. By Dan Simmons.[/quote']

     

    I am about 60 pages in on "Ilium". Since "Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion" by the same author rates as my #2 favorite science fiction book of all time (I know, these are two books in reality, but I think of them as a single large book) I have high hopes.

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

     

    I just finished "Furies of Calderon (Book One of the Codex Alera)" by Jim Butcher. Upon finishing this book, I have confirmed a suspicion I voiced when I first started reading...namely, that Butcher is one of those rare writers that can write equally well in two genres.

     

    This book had interesting characters, several of which were various shades of gray-tinted morality instead of the typical 'sickeningly good' or 'thoroughly villainous'. Don't get me wrong, there were examples of stereotypical good guys and bad guys, but thankfully characters seemed to fit the bell curve in a morals distribution.

     

    The action built up to a frenzied conclusion that was very satisfying but for one minor quibble (see spoiler at the end if so inclined). I think this deserves and "8.5" out of 10. I look forward to reading the next book in this series.

     

    With the plethora of good fantasy books out there, why should the readers of the Hero Forums read this book? Simple answer...this book begs to be converted into Hero! The whole time I read "Freelancers" by Mel Odom I kept thinking, "Wow! This quasi-Frankenstein character would be cool to play in Champions.." or "Would 'Capt. Combat Skill Level' (my nickname for a character sans powers but oozing with weapons-using competence) be able to hold his own in a Champs' fight with your typical brick, etc?" The 'Furies of Calderon' stimulated thinking along similar lines, but imagine a Hero fantasy game where the characters had Champion-like powers. Not spell-based magic, but special effect based innate "furies" that felt more like super powers. The whole time I read this book I kept thinking, "We could build this character easily with Hero..." Susano or Killer Shrike (to name a few) could go nuts with this book as source material.

     

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    Spoiler Alert!!! OOOGGAAAA!!! Those who might want to read this book should not read the following:

     

     

     

     

     

    My one minor quibble....most of the major characters (both good and evil)were dying at the end of the book. Then (poof!) all of them get saved by one watercrafter! This is an authorial misstep in my opinion. Earlier, Bernard lay dying (or dead) and Isana brought him back, nearly losing her own life in the process. This made me believe that resurrection was possible but rare. This gave me the false belief that death was possible---which added needed tension to the combat scenes. That tension is now suspended for the second book. When a character falls in the future, I will probably shrug and think, "Oh well! A watercrafter will pop up to save him/her." A small problem in an otherwise very good book.

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

     

    *reads the Tim Powers comment*

     

    Blasphemy! Blasphemy! Burn the heretic!

     

    More seriously, I've recently finished his novel Declare, and I still conisder it one of the greatest "secret history" books ever written.

     

    Though I'll always have a fond spot for Drawing of the Dark (magic beer saves Western civilization) and On Stranger Tides (Blackbeard, pirates, voodoo and the Fountain of Youth... what's not to like?).

     

    Funny, "Drawing of the Dark" was another minor Powers disappointment for me. I have "Declare". I will move it up on the list of future reads...

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

     

    There are two authors that spring to mind each of which broke my heart (in a purely literary fashion).

     

    William Gibson and Frank Herbert.

     

    Herbert's "Dune" is my all time favorite book...bar none. Each book in the Dune series after that disappointed me in the extreme.

     

    Gibson's "Neuromancer" was once a favorite book of mine but "Count Zero" and "Mona Lisa Overdrive" sucked worse than a Barry Manilow's greatest hits album.

     

    I almost added Tim Powers to this list of heartbreakers, but he puts out a good book every now and then. Kinda hard to top "The Anubis Gates", but at least "On Stranger Tides" and "Last Call" reminded me of why I like Powers' writing style.

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

     

    Have you ever read a book in the distant past (in this specific case, first read in the early 90's) and remembered enjoying the experience to such an extent that you longed for years to re-read said book? Then you become immensely disappointed upon actually re-reading it? So disappointed, in fact, that you wonder if Frankensteinian gremlins had secretly switched out your brain for a totally DIFFERENT brain one late evening, somewhere in time after your first reading but before the re-reading took place?

     

    This happened to me recently when I finished "Carpe Diem" by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

     

    Years ago, I was thrilled when a triology of books titled "Conflict of Honors", "Agent of Change", and "Carpe Diem" were released in an omnibus edition called "Partners in Necessity". I had read "Agent of Change" in the early 90's and loved it! I had started "Carpe Diem" but never finished it, which is fairly typical for me. I often become distracted by new, highly anticipated books and fail to finish current books through no fault of their own. During the years, I lost both books in a series of moves.

     

    To make a long story short, these books were notoriously hard to re-acquire until this omnibus was made available. Being a completist, I decided to start at the beginning of the triology and read them in order. "Conflict of Honors" was painful to read...full of sickly-sweet romance and other filler material. As I had with "Carpe Diem", I put it down at page 130 or so. But my desire "to get to the good stuff" compelled me after a several year lapse to finish it. Like a good little trooper, I waded through the fluff. Alarm bells started to faintly tingle at this point. How could the same authors who created such a fine book as "Agent of Change" also put out this sub-standard fare? I pushed these thoughts aside and began to reap my reward, the actioney goodness known as "Agent of Change"!

     

    Only one problem...upon finishing "Agent of Change", I still didn't get my non-stop action fix. It was better than "Conflict of Honors", but it wasn't the remembered thrill ride that I had lusted for these many years. I started to doubt the fact that I had, in fact, read "Agent of Change". Maybe it was "Carpe Diem" that I had first? Maybe "Agent of Change" was the book I had failed to finish the first time?

     

    I know that many of you (those that haven't nodded off by this point) are saying, "Bozimus, surely you can remember if you read a book or not especially once you've re-read it?" Well, one must remember that I wait until the specific details of a book have been forgotten until I attempt a re-read. All I remembered about "Agent of Change" (or was it "Carpe Diem"?) was the impression of virtual non-stop space-opera themed actioney goodness. All that touchy-feely love crap must have been suppressed.

     

    So, after finishing book 2, "Agent of Change", I began to entertain the fact that maybe my action payoff will happen in book 3, "Carpe Diem".

     

    :mad:

     

    Having trudged through 846 pages of text, I ended up with maybe 15 pages of actioney goodness and approximately 830 pages of diabetes-inducing love fluff.

     

    The Bozimus has been tricked by his failing memory! And worse yet, I must now take insulin!

     

    I give these books 2 stars out of 5. If you like romantic fluff, you should read them.

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

     

    "The Fall of Reach" The first HALO novel. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It's not the best book I've ever read but for a based-on-a-video-game book it was above average. It covers the events leading up to the first video game and I will say is that the author made many fewer mistakes than most people who write about the military.

     

    The author, Eric Nylund, is a very capable writer IMO. I didn't finish "The Fall of Reach" but I greatly enjoyed two of his other books, "Dry Water" and "A Game of Universe". Soon his "Mortal Coils" book will be released. I may read it if it sounds interesting.

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

     

    But "The Stand" counts as apocalyptic(religious) in my opinion...and I read it years ago.

     

    I read "Damnation Alley" recently. Although I am a BIG fan of Zelazny, I didn't like it.

     

    Kinda looking for a "Jitterbug" type of book, but better.

     

    I am considering McDevitt's "Eternity Road". I wish he would write a book like "A Talent for War" again...

     

    But thanks for the recs anyway, Susano. I may give "Lucifer's Hammer" another try!

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