Bozimus

Re: Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

I'm not 14 any more, I MIGHT have slightly more tolerance now. I actually read 4 or 5 of the Covenant books before I gave up...

Sounds kind of interesting. I liked Hardwired better, I think, than Neuromancer. Not as philosophically mind-warping, iirc. The Cybersnake, However, still makes me a little squeamish. Mostly because after use, it retracts back into the MOUTH! Ick.

 

Liked most of the rest, though.

 

What did I just finish reading? I can't remember. I am 1/3 way through 1634: the Galileo affair, but I have been stalled there for a couple weeks. Just kind of annoyed, frustrated, bored.

 

Have you read S. Andrew Swann's "Forests of the night" etc series? I really enjoyed them. He has a conspiracy fetish, I think but some good writing. Someone on the board, iirc is a friend of his.

Walter Jon Williams (author of Hardwired) also wrote "Voice of the Whirlwind", a very decent SF book you might like.

Yes, I read and very much enjoyed the first two books in S. Andrew Swann's Forest of the Night series. The third book was a bit of a let down, IMO. Yes, a poster on these boards is a close friend of Swann, but I can't remember who.

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

Celestial Matters by Richard Garfinkle

 

Oh, it's pretty good. It drags in spots but the weird take on "hard science" is very well done, and the story is compelling. It's not in my top five, but it is one of the few novels I will re-read. Recommended.

Thanks! I will definitely keep an eye out for it!

Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan

I normally don't review a book before I finish it, but as I will be stuck in jury duty Monday when I WILL finish said book, here goes...

If the book continues through to the end in the pacing/quality it has exhibited since the beginning, I will give it an 8 out of 10.

I have a secret love of cyberpunk and while this isn't Neuromancer or Hard Wired, it has many cyberpunk elements. Body augmentation, AI's, computer hacking, but most importantly, what happens to a person/society when you can change bodies (called sleeves) like a suit of clothing.

Warning - Those that threw down 'Lord Foul's Bane' because Covenant was a rapist, just do yourself a favor and don't even try to read this book. The protagonist is not a nice man. Not your 'knight in shining armor'. Those of you that need your heroes squeaky clean are warned - T. Kovacs is a flawed protagonist.

I am glad this is now a series and the second book is now in print - Broken Angels. I look forward to reading the sequel.

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

Another book I read recently that would make a great Fantasy Hero campaign is

Celestial Matters by Richard Garfinkle. It is a quote "hard science fiction" novel unquote, if your "science" is the science of Aristole. In this universe, the Earth is at the center, there are crystaline celestial spheres, the whole nine yards.

This is on my list of possible books to read. Did you enjoy it? What ranking would it deserve?

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

I just finished the Charmed Sphere by Catherine Asaro

(clip).

 

The real point of interest is the magic system.

All magic in the setting is drawn from SHAPES.No,I'm not kidding.Essentially,the more sides an object has,the more power a shape-mage can draw from it,with spheres being the most powerful shape (as they effectively have an infinite number of sides).Of course,only the most powerful mages can use spheres.

Worse yet,shape-magic is divided into the various colors of the spectrum (from red to violet),and shape-mages cannot use magic of a higher color,with the possible exception of Queen Iris who is the only known rainbow mage in the country.(A rainbow mage's shape-magic encompasses every color,with sapphire (i.e. blue) dominating).

I could rule that world with my tye-dyed baseball-sized 30 sided die!

MuhAHAHAHAHA

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

How about another grade A primo Conan quote?

Conan: Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, and why we died. All that matters is that today, two stood against many. Valor pleases you, so grant me this one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, the HELL with you!

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

Yeah, Lee had let all his slaves go, save for the one caring for his invalid Wife and his daughters. he told her he was going to pay her if she wanted to stay or pay her to head North.

 

I'll admit, I thought his portrayal of all historic characters in the book thus far have been rather good. I'm enjoying it, it's not like 'I can't put it down" kind of book, but it's enjoyable. Behind this one I have the Conan Chronicles by Robert Jordan waiting. I'm fearful of it, after what Jordan has done to the Wheel of Time series, but Conan books were always fast paced, so I hope to find a happy medium in there somewhere. I got it at a used bookstore in Mint condition (Hardback edition) for 4.95, so I couldn't pass it up. Conan rocks, but it's Jordan writing, but it's hardback and in primo condition. My 'Conan kicks ass' side overruled any other judgments and I grabbed it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mongol General: We have won again. That is good! But what is best in life?

Mongol Warrior: The open steppe, fleet horse, falcon on your wrist, wind in your hair!

Mongol General: Wrong! Conan, what is best in life?

Conan: To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women!

Mongol General: That is good.

(couldn't resist)

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

Do Horror Novels count??

I have no objections! Like many other readers of Sci-Fi/Fantasy, I enjoy reading Horror...

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

Perdido Street Station by China Melville.

Very good. What happens when someone offers a scientist money to help him get back something they have lost ? what happens in a city where you have railways and skyrails, airships and various species co-existing when something really evil gets loose ?

marvellous. I'm leaning towards 9.5 out of 10.

O' Mighty Quatrotrinticali Devourer,

Have you read "King Rat" or "The Scar", both by China Mieville?

A Feast for Crows

FYI George R. R. Martin fans!

A Feast for Crows (book 4, Song of Ice/Fire) is now due out June 24....

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

2004!!!!

Commence with the drooling!

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

So far, most of my reading has been in four series:

 

The Shadow

Doc Savage

The Spider

Pellucidar

 

Of those, the one I'd recommend the least is Doc Savage. Somehow he just doesn't resonate with me the way other pulp heroes do, probably for the same reason Superman doesn't -- he's too good. He can do too much, he has no real restrictions.

 

I love the Shadow stories, though the early ones are a little slow. As the series goes on, they pick up a little.

 

The Spider tends to have lots of action, but the series is spotty because it was written by multiple authors, rather than one author throughout.

 

The Pellucidar books are great if you like "lost worlds" stories. Burroughs is by far the most skilled writer among this particular group.

 

As I read more, I'll report further.

Steve,

Meant to thank you earlier for the recommendations.

Thanks!

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

Have to much time on my hands, being laid-off and all.

 

I just finished

 

Thief of Lives By: Babr & J.C. Hendee

 

Magiere a Dhampir(half-Vampire) thinks her nights of hunting vampires over. She lloks to quite days, until Bela's town council oaffera generous bounty to hunt the vampire that killed a prominent councilman's daughter. Only Lessil here Half-Elf partner can persuade Magiere to follow her destiny--before more innoncents are claimed by darkness.

It is like Antia Blake or buffy in a standard fanstay world. I give it a 8/10. a very enjoayble read.

 

I have purchased "Dhampir" (book 1) and "Thief of Lives" (book 2). After I read "Bloodstone" by Gemmell and the third book in the Varrayan(sp?) Memoirs series by Shelley, I want to try these...

Deathstalker by Simon R. Green

Finished "Deathstalker", first book in the (you guessed it) Deathstalker series.

This book took darn long to finally get through the setup phase. Combat (which I love) was sprinkled throughout and kept me reading but seriously, 350 pages (roughly) is too much setup for this old swamp rat. It is also a little simplistic for my tastes, but hey, space opera and simplicity go hand in hand...

I decided to finish it off, eventhough I had decided not to pursue this series further. But the ending was stronger than expected and left me wanting more.

I give it a "5.5". A little note about my personal ranking system. I give a "5" to books that are evenly balanced between "Gee, I wish I could get those wasted hours of my life back..." and "I am marginally glad I read it."

So, the ending redeemed it a bit, but not by much.

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

I'm in the midst of a year-plus worth of reading pulp stories to gear up for writing Pulp Hero. The last one I finished was At The Earth's Core' date='[/i'] by Edgar Rice Burroughs; I'm currently in the midst of a couple of Spider stories.

I would love to read a good pulp book! Can you recommend any that stand out?

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

I'm not sure if it qualifies' date=' but I just finished [i']The Stand[/i], the unabridged version. Not scary, but very engrossing. I never think of a sneeze as just a sneeze anymore. I'd give it a seven out of ten.

I think it qualifies as Post Apoc science fiction with a little supernatural horror thrown in.

Of course, most Post Apoc has liberal doses of mundane horror...

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

I finished the first two books of the Windsinger's Quartet by Megan Lindholm who also writes as Robin Hobb.

This has an unusual heroine a gypsy teamster. I give it a 7/10.

 

Currently reading Perdido Street Station by China Melville. Now this is really good.

Have you read his first book -"King Rat"? I bought "The Scar" (Mieville's third) by mistake. I thought I was getting the first book put out by that author.

Currently reading "Altered Carbon".

Black Company book 1

I finished the first book in Glen Cook's "The Black Company" series surprisingly titled...you guessed it..."The Black Company"!

I liked it - quite a bit. I am still kicking myself for having repeatedly passed this series over for the last decade or so. I cannot tell you how many times I reached for this book, only to put it back and buy some drivel instead.

I give it an "8" out of "10".

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

If you like gritty, realistic fantasy that portrays the protagonists as more grey than lily white, you could do far worse.

Gonna have to try Cook's "Garrett Files" soon...

Re: A Thread for Random Musings

Hi. My name's Jack and I'm an alcoholic. Today marks 18 years to the day since my last drink.

Congratulations! I assume that takes a lot of willpower and constant vigilance. You deserve to take pride in your accomplishment.

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

I know SOME of you have completed a book in the last 10 days!

(Imagine you are sitting next to Ben Hur, on that galley, rowing...rowing...rowing... The drum begins to beat, Bozimus cries out and cracks a whip near your ear!)

Write a review, damn you! Put your thumbs into it! Battle speed!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Circus of Dr. Lao

by Charles G. Finney (not the religious guy)

It is short, only 100 pages long. It was written in 1935 and carries its age fairly well, with the exception of frequent racial slurs (mainly against Chinese, but a few aimed at African-Americans). This last point made me feel a little guilty enjoying this fine book. I kept wincing as various racial slurs kept bringing my reading to a grinding halt. I detected no malice on the author's part...people 60 odd years back probably talked this way frequently.

But I must warn people that while the book is very enjoyable, there are numerous racial slurs thrown about without apparent malice. If you are sensitive to certain words, you might want to pass this one by...

I would have given it an "8" of "10". But I deduct 1 point for the slurs...

Originally posted by Doug McCrae

I'm an enormous Moorcock fan.

I found myself with lifted eyebrow upon reading this statement....

Re: Re: Death Masks by Jim Butcher

Originally posted by zornwil

My wife likes those, she initially got into them because of James Marster reading them but she's also read the books of course now. It's not the kind of thing she used to like, but she's started edging more into such things in the wake of having been a Buffy/Angel fan.

I find myself wanting to defend The Dresden Files from your attempt to categorize it with "Buffy/Angel".

But the more I think on it, they are the same basic genre. But I would like to add that while I stopped watching Buffy after Season 1, I have continued with the Dresden Files.

Might be an age thing. If I were in my twenties, the Buffy TV series might have more appeal and Dresden book series might not be as enjoyable...

But alas, I am old and toothless...

Death Masks by Jim Butcher

Just finished Book 5 of the Dresden Files.

If you want a very quick light read, with lots of action, the Dresden Files' series fits the bill. So far, all 5 books have been thoroughly enjoyable.

I did groan over some wisecracks made by the modern day wizard/standup comic, but these were minor irritations at best.

I give it an 7.5 out of 10.

a bit snobby, but full of good sources

Follow this link and see what this person thinks of your favorites.

http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/

Many of my favs got 1 and 2 stars.

Don't get me wrong, I am used to having tastes in movies/music/books that are not shared by many others. But if my favorites got 1 to 2 stars and this guy is rating some authors at 5 stars...maybe I should check them out as possible authors to investigate?

I have been looking at starting the Lyonese books of Jack Vance before visiting this site. Now I am going to try the Demon Princes series after reading the Vance entry.

Other notable authors that I had never before encountered -

Ernest Bramah, The Wallet of Kai-Lung

Charles G. Finney, The Circus of Doctor Lao

(Can you tell that I liked Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds?)

Anyhow, I hope that some of you will find some recommendations from this persnickety individual's website.

Finished "Way of the Wolf" by E.E. Knight, book 1 of "The Vampire Earth" series.

Not bad, but drags in many places. Strong ending that finally ignited that page flipping frenzy. I admit to being prejudiced in favor of the book because the author was kind enough to appear on a discussion board that I sometimes frequent.

Perfect, flawless heroes are too simplistic for my taste. I want three-dimensional protagontists that make mistakes and have flaws.

I will probably try book 2 and hope that this new author makes a more believable hero next time out...

I give it a 5 of 10.