February's Feast of Fantastical Fiction and Fact...

[Spade]

Armor - 3.5/5

Parts 1 and 4 are fantastic. Part 3 is great, but parts 2 and 5 are so boring that it really drug this book down. A novella about Felix would have been nice. I never got interested in Jack Crow. It's a pity because I'd heard such great things about this book. All the 5-star reviews on Amazon got me really excited. When it all boiled down to it, there is a very good novella hiding in a mediocre book.

Next up: God Emperor of Dune... I'm going to try to work my way through this Heretics, Chapterhouse, Hunters, Sandworms, and then Paul of Dune.

 

[nj1]

Just finished GRAVE THIEF by Tom Lloyd. Part three of his Twilight Herald series. Not a bad book but the others were better imo. this one was just a build-up to the next book with a shock at the end. 6 out of 10.

Next i'm finally getting round to THE RELIGION by Tim Willocks, have been looking forward to this one for some time.

 

[murphy]

Just finished GRAVE THIEF by Tom Lloyd. Part three of his Twilight Herald series. Not a bad book but the others were better imo. this one was just a build-up to the next book with a shock at the end. 6 out of 10.

Next i'm finally getting round to THE RELIGION by Tim Willocks, have been looking forward to this one for some time.

I loved that book and can't wait for the next one.

 

[j d worthington]

Having finished my reread of The Dragon in the Sword (which grows on me more each time I read it), I'm now almost finished with Kenneth Hite's Tour de Lovecraft: The Tales. Though I frequently disagree with his views, the least that can be said about this one is that is is lively, enjoyable, and full of quirky yet often intriguing views -- and no few valuable insights into various points in the stories. A lovely, sometimes irreverent, and always affectionate (though by no means uncritical) romp through the Lovecraftian oeuvre....

 

[Rosemary]

I have been in between books from the few series I am reading; so to pass away the time I read my eldest’s book, ‘Deltora Quest 3’ which is the authors four books in one.
For a YA book it was very well written; some good and bad characters and all things associated with magic and quests. There were a few pieces of ‘mild gruesomeness’ in it but not too much. My 12 year old enjoyed it and so too did one of the 10 year old twins.

I do hope Grave Thief is as good as the previous books were for me.

 

[Lobolover]

Finished The Dunwich Horror. Haven't gotten around to read almost at all this week, and I hav so many stories that I have to read.

 

[soulsinging]

I just finished 'The Name of the Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss and all I can say is WOW. It's not often books live up to the hype surrounding them, but I loved it! His writing is very good and Kvothe is one of the single most fascinating characters I've encountered. Can't wait for the next book in the series!

Now I'm taking a step away from fantasy to read 'A Simple Plan' by Scott Smith. Then it's time to dive back into Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn... it's somewhat less appealing after the smooth narrative pace of Rothfuss's book, but I know it will drive me mad not to finish it so...

 

[nj1]

[/b]

I loved that book and can't wait for the next one.

Well i've managed to quickly read the prolouge and about 5 pages into the first chapter and all i can say is wow that was the bloodiest start to a book i think i've read. Definately not for the faint hearted i think, luckily it's just up my type of book

 

[GOLLUM]

Well i've managed to quickly read the prolouge and about 5 pages into the first chapter and all i can say is wow that was the bloodiest start to a book i think i've read. Definately not for the faint hearted i think, luckily it's just up my type of book

Still have to get Grave Thief, will probably pick it up in the following weeks from my specialist SFF shop who already have it in stock.

Starting to progress with the much heralded "spanish-language novel of the decade" in Roberto Belano's matserpiece 2666. Originally mooted for a 5 book series (avaialable in this format in paperback only), I've got the single HB edn. weighing in at 900 pages. Really interesting and engaging 'surrealist come modern day serial murder hunt' that is still at the stage of introducing various characters. Be warned though, this is clearly a fairly dense and literary work, e.g. it helps if you know your German and South American authors from the past 100 odd years as there are multiple references to these in the opening sections. Belano seems to have a great control over language, which seems to jump out at you from the page. This is the first work of his I've ever read but he was clearly a very fine writer. More to come....OH and I'm continuing argentian writer Julio Cortazar's intriguing surreliast novel set in 1950s Beunos Aries during the reign of Peron and 'Evita'.....another book that makes copious references to other South American works.

 

[Wybren]

I have Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch as my upstairs book and A Game of Thrones by GRRM as my downstairs book

 

[Ursa major]

I have finished reading City at the End of Time by Greg Bear last night.

First line/paragraph:

Coming to the Broken Tower was dangerous.

(There were three short quotations, and possibly one of the most useless maps ever placed in a book, before that.)

To put it simply, this was a slog. After the first few chapters, every time I picked up the book, I had to force myself to do so. Bear has chosen a big theme and a complex way of dealing with it. Neither he nor his structure are up to the job. That wouldn't be such a problem except that his characters are barely two-dimensional. (Actually, they are boring and in spite of the "talents" most of them have, could hardly be more dull or less memorable**.)

So what's it all about? Nothing less than the whole of creation. Bear has wound together various threads of modern cosmology with ancient religious ideas, and then spent a lot of time draining both of sense and vigour. There is an awful lot of doing nothing in this book and yet the subject matter demands a bit more life. (One thing Bear has succeeded in is encapsulating the feeling that trillions of years are passing, but not in a good way.)

I understand (having just read some of the comments on Amazon) that this is not a typical Greg Bear book. If it was, I wouldn't want to pick up another of his.


** - This is both ironic and completely in line with the story.

 

[HoopyFrood]

The Crescent and the Rose: Islam and England during the Renaissance by Samuel Chew.

 

[Nikitta]

I've now read Proven Guilty and am, almost needless to say, moving onto White Night

 

[dask]

Due to a couple of strong recommendations at another forum I am now alternating between the book I am currently reading - THE BIRDS AND OTHER STORIES by Daphne du Maurier - and Stephen King's DANSE MACABRE. Haven't completed either yet but so far du Maurier is great and King no less so.

 

[AE35Unit]

Finally finished The Kraken Wakes and boy was it dull! A great idea that in other hands could have been a gripping read!
Next I'm gonna try 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne and going to try to read it on my DS!

 

[soulsinging]

I have Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch as my upstairs book and A Game of Thrones by GRRM as my downstairs book

I generally find it impossible to read more than one book at a time, but I may end up mixing A Stone of Farewell with A Simple Plan... Tad Williams is so dense it's tough to get through without breaks.

 

[Foxbat]

Reading two just now - The Samurai and the Sacred and re-reading (for the first time in many years) Rendezvous With Rama

 

[dask]

Reading two just now - The Samurai and the Sacred and re-reading (for the first time in many years) Rendezvous With Rama

I really enjoyed RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA. Read it right after RINGWORLD. Thought it would be cool reading two BIG idea hard sf books in a row, and it was.

 

[Fried Egg]

Lately I've been alternating between short stories in M.R.James and R.E.Howard collections I have but now I'm taking a break from these and reading "Sirens of Titan" by Kurt Vonnegut.

 

[Taltos]

Got "slightly" sidetracked from reading Morgan Steel Remains - managed to finish three other books instead.
Simon Green The Unnatural Inquirer - interesting as other Nightside stories have been. At the same time it seems that John Taylor needs another strong enemy after the Lilith war or some other things happening in the background - otherwise the series might become stale.
Philip Pullman Northern Lights - picked up as I saw the movie and wanted to know how much it's differs from the book. As it turned out - the movie follows book pretty closely. I'll have to pick up the following books at some point.
Glen Cook Cruel Zinc Melodies - so far the only disappointment in this series has been Angry Lead Skies (i.e. book 10) It seems that there is material for at least couple more Garrett books at least the happenings in the background seems to suggest continuation. Books story was nicely twisted and kept me guessing until the end.
Now continuing with Morgan.