By the end of the book you'll start to get a much better idea of the overall story arc I can assure you. Still the favourite of many people in the series so far.
December's here! And you're reading....?
- Thread starter Pyan
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I already like after 70 pages that he is building on his world really well.
Its not as action filled start as the first but its a quality,fun read.
I have to finish the series soon, almost sad the series has ended.
I have read other urban fantasy series, no one has created as interesting hero like Pitt. Dresden looks like a wannabe now
I'm also kind of sad the series has ended. Joe Pitt is an intriguing character.
Re: Dresden
I've been struggling to connect with this character. I'm on book 2 of the series and I don't feel particularly motivated to finish the book.
Connavar
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I finished the book last night and was mad i didnt have book 3.
Joe Pitt is very intriguing character. He was royally played in No Dominion but he was still awesome,smart,hardcore For a vamp that has no trouble putting down people i was glad he came away with alot of money,blood in the end of the book. He did win something unlike the first book.
Dresden book if you dont like the wizard,demons angle of the story it isnt for you. Harry Dresden himself is alright but a bit knock off on Phillip Marlowe type golden hearted hero.
Would have been better if he was tougher,better at looking after himself.
ratsy
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murphy
Well-Known Member
With respect to the Dresden files, the books do improve as you keep reading. At least try the third book.
I normally introduce my thoughts on a book with the words: "I've just finished reading...." In this case, I have to admit to finishing the book a couple of weeks ago, although I've only just finished reading the novel, which describes itself as a trilogy. Anyhow....
The book was The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie and the novel/trilogy was The First Law. As some of you may know, I mostly read SF rather than Fantasy, but make exceptions for well regarded books in the latter genre. (Miéville's Bas Lag books and A Song of Ice and Fire are the kind of thing I'm thinking of.)
In The Blade Itself, Abercrombie's writing is not quite up to the standards** of those two authors, but there is no shame in that, as few authors achieve their heights. Particularly towards the beginning of the book, there were unnecessary repetitions, as if the author did not quite trust the reader to remember some things. Abercormbie also has a habit of using a comma where there should be a semi-colon or full-stop. However, I'm being more than a bit picky.
The book itself is very good, with interesting characters (POV and otherwise) and a deep vein of dark humour. I was pleased to see (when wearing my Aspiring Writer's hat) that the POV styles vary greatly between the POV characters. For instance, Inquisitor Glokta's POV is full of thoughts in italics, which do not play much of a rôle in the other POVs. This technique inserts Glokta's continual wry commenting into the paragraphs of other characters dialogue, providing the main source of humour in the book, in spite of the horror-bound nature of most of Glokta's work. (To be fair, Abercrombie has a habit of putting the POV's thoughts - with or without italics - in other characters' paragraphs; once the reader is used to it, though, the technique works well.)
In my usual way, I won't provide spoilers, but I will say that the various characters grow quickly from their rather 2D tropes into well-rounded creations. The world into which the deceptively simple plotlines are woven is vivid, harsh and believable and there are plenty of unhappy endings. (I ought to mention that the fighting is described in a way that someone - I mean me - who's not that interested in them devoured every paragraph.)
All in all, I felt that I had no option but to leap straight into the sequel (or, in my view, Volume 2 of the three-book novel), Before They Are Hanged, before reporting my views here.
Highly Recommended.
** - As many of you will know, the writing styles of Miéville and GRRM are very different.
The book was The Blade Itself, by Joe Abercrombie and the novel/trilogy was The First Law. As some of you may know, I mostly read SF rather than Fantasy, but make exceptions for well regarded books in the latter genre. (Miéville's Bas Lag books and A Song of Ice and Fire are the kind of thing I'm thinking of.)
In The Blade Itself, Abercrombie's writing is not quite up to the standards** of those two authors, but there is no shame in that, as few authors achieve their heights. Particularly towards the beginning of the book, there were unnecessary repetitions, as if the author did not quite trust the reader to remember some things. Abercormbie also has a habit of using a comma where there should be a semi-colon or full-stop. However, I'm being more than a bit picky.
The book itself is very good, with interesting characters (POV and otherwise) and a deep vein of dark humour. I was pleased to see (when wearing my Aspiring Writer's hat) that the POV styles vary greatly between the POV characters. For instance, Inquisitor Glokta's POV is full of thoughts in italics, which do not play much of a rôle in the other POVs. This technique inserts Glokta's continual wry commenting into the paragraphs of other characters dialogue, providing the main source of humour in the book, in spite of the horror-bound nature of most of Glokta's work. (To be fair, Abercrombie has a habit of putting the POV's thoughts - with or without italics - in other characters' paragraphs; once the reader is used to it, though, the technique works well.)
In my usual way, I won't provide spoilers, but I will say that the various characters grow quickly from their rather 2D tropes into well-rounded creations. The world into which the deceptively simple plotlines are woven is vivid, harsh and believable and there are plenty of unhappy endings. (I ought to mention that the fighting is described in a way that someone - I mean me - who's not that interested in them devoured every paragraph.)
All in all, I felt that I had no option but to leap straight into the sequel (or, in my view, Volume 2 of the three-book novel), Before They Are Hanged, before reporting my views here.
Highly Recommended.
** - As many of you will know, the writing styles of Miéville and GRRM are very different.
Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
Knivesout no more
Still reading Despair by Nabokov. It's written in a sly, self-aware first person voice that plays games with words and with narrative certitude - very interesting stuff with an almost Phildickian blurring of reality at times due to the extremely unreliable narrator.
Also reading The Queen Of K'n-Yan by Asmatsu Ken, which could be translated better, but is quite a gripping story. I'm attracted to Lovecraftian fiction which takes something from Lovecraft's larger themes, not the 'Yog-Sothothery' as such, or uses style in interesting ways, and I'm not sure this does either (though it's hard to tell about style from what appears to be a little more than competent translation) but it's an interesting wrinkle on the Mythos. And it's interesting seeing a fellow Asian refashion some of Lovecraft's ideas from a contemporary Asian perspective.
Also reading The Queen Of K'n-Yan by Asmatsu Ken, which could be translated better, but is quite a gripping story. I'm attracted to Lovecraftian fiction which takes something from Lovecraft's larger themes, not the 'Yog-Sothothery' as such, or uses style in interesting ways, and I'm not sure this does either (though it's hard to tell about style from what appears to be a little more than competent translation) but it's an interesting wrinkle on the Mythos. And it's interesting seeing a fellow Asian refashion some of Lovecraft's ideas from a contemporary Asian perspective.
littlemissattitude
Super Moderator
Currently reading Dinosaur Summer, by Greg Bear. I suspect it was meant to be a YA book, as the protagonist is a teenage boy.
I like it a lot so far (I'm about 100 pages in). It takes as it's jumping-off point that instead of being fiction, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's was actually true, and then speculates that some of the dinosaurs found on the plateau in South America were brought out, brought to the US, and put into circuses. At the time the story begins, in 1947, the last of the circuses are closing due to lack of interest, and the dinos from the very last circus are to be transported back to their home and released into the wild. The boy's father is a photographer and writer, and he has convinced National Geographic that he should go along to document the journey, and the son is invited to go along.
Add that Bear puts Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack who, among other things, were responsible for the film King Kong into the story by having them send a film crew along (and they themselves might turn up later in the story, it seems), and you get the fun of blending real people into the story. Among the others along for the ride are Ray Harryhousen, whose special effects for films are legendary, and who just seems to belong in a story like this.
It's my bus book, and my reading before going to sleep at night, so the going has been slow, but it might move up to one of those can't-put-it-down books; I came close to reading too long and nearly missed my bus stop on the way home this evening.
I like it a lot so far (I'm about 100 pages in). It takes as it's jumping-off point that instead of being fiction, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's was actually true, and then speculates that some of the dinosaurs found on the plateau in South America were brought out, brought to the US, and put into circuses. At the time the story begins, in 1947, the last of the circuses are closing due to lack of interest, and the dinos from the very last circus are to be transported back to their home and released into the wild. The boy's father is a photographer and writer, and he has convinced National Geographic that he should go along to document the journey, and the son is invited to go along.
Add that Bear puts Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack who, among other things, were responsible for the film King Kong into the story by having them send a film crew along (and they themselves might turn up later in the story, it seems), and you get the fun of blending real people into the story. Among the others along for the ride are Ray Harryhousen, whose special effects for films are legendary, and who just seems to belong in a story like this.
It's my bus book, and my reading before going to sleep at night, so the going has been slow, but it might move up to one of those can't-put-it-down books; I came close to reading too long and nearly missed my bus stop on the way home this evening.
I like wizards and demons - not in real life of course, they can be quite annoying then
- so I started The Dresden Files with a positive attitude, expecting to like the books. But I'll continue reading and keep my fingers crossed that I'll enjoy the later books more.The "unreliable narrator" is of course something Nabokov employed to interesting effect in several of his works. It's a very intriguing novella as you say.
The 1978 Rainer Fassbinder film Despair is also worth seeing. It won the Golden Palm at Cannes and was nominated for several other awards. Not an easy film to source these days, which is a shame BUT you should try to see if you can obtain a copy.
manephelien
Transmural Feline
RAH Time enough for love, again.
I started The Confusion yesterday. It's book 2 in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle. It's got every thing you could want - great characters, witty dialogue, plot twists and political intrigue. It is more historical fiction, with very little traditional fantasy elements, but since the story involves the Age of Enlightenment , many of the accomplishments of Newton, Leibnez, Hooke, etc. seem like magic in comparison to the accepted beliefs at the time.
Jayaprakash Satyamurthy
Knivesout no more
The Queen of K'n-Yan by Asamatsu Ken was a good modern horror novel with some tense, action-packed sequences, weird imagery and an interesting weaving together of elements of the story 'The Mound' with concepts from Chinese myth and folklore. It also draws on a world war 2 atrocity that tends to be overshadowed - the experimentation performed on prisoners in China by the Japanese. A very interesting 'twin spirit' theme is also woven in. The translation was rather clunky and style is a vital part of the measure of a successful weird tale, so this rather crippled my ability to assess this novel. Still, an middling interesting read for Lovecraft fans interested in an Asian take on the Mythos.
Finally finished Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson. Apart from the two first chapters it was great!
Am now reading The Lair of Bones by David Farland. This is Book Four of The Runelords series. So far it is following on nicely to the previous books. With some great characters and strange creatures. Wars, adventures, wizards and the ways of Power. I enjoy his style of writing; strong and descriptive.
Am now reading The Lair of Bones by David Farland. This is Book Four of The Runelords series. So far it is following on nicely to the previous books. With some great characters and strange creatures. Wars, adventures, wizards and the ways of Power. I enjoy his style of writing; strong and descriptive.
AE35Unit
]==[]===O °
Ok I just finished the Zelazny novella, The Eve of RUMOKO. Man he writes weird! Reminded me a little of Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat books!
Now onto the final one in the book, We All Die Naked by James Blish. Apparently it was inspired by Philip K Dick,to who it is dedicated.
Now onto the final one in the book, We All Die Naked by James Blish. Apparently it was inspired by Philip K Dick,to who it is dedicated.
manephelien
Transmural Feline
ACC: The Songs of Distant Earth
Connavar
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