So what is your August majesty reading?

[soulsinging]

Just finished Robin Hobbs Farseer trilogy with Assassin's Quest. I confess I was a little disappointed and frustrated. She tells a good story that I enjoyed immensely but why, oh why did she have to make her main character, Fitz, so unlikable. I simply can't sympathise with him at all. I almost abandoned this book one third in, I found that the good storytelling only just compensates for my annoyance with Fitz. Really don't know if I will go on to the sequel series, do they all still have Fitz in them? One other complaint, I found that her characters are either too dumb or she gives us too many hints. Time and again I had figured out what was coming whilst all the characters were groping around in the dark. And I'm not generally that good at spotting twists. Consequently I kept finding myself wanting to shake the characters and shout at them "open your eyes - its obvious what's heppened/is happening/is going to happen."

That last part is why I gave up on Tad Williams' MS&T series.

I felt the same way about Hobb. I gave up almost halfway through book two after the 2nd or 3rd "meanwhile monsters roamed the land so Fitz was dispatched to fight them." It was like she felt the need to stick some action in, but opted for the same thing every time. She's a great writer stylistically, with excellent prose, and some of the characters are fantastic, but she has trouble with plot and pacing that kind of killed her books for me.

 

[Vertigo]

Interesting... I loved TW's Otherland series but wasn't so impressed with MS&T though didn't really analyse why, could be that, but it was a while ago. Also with his Shadowmarch series it's been so long since I read the first two I would have to read them again before reading the last two and I'm not sure I can motivate myself to that.

Oh well, I'm giving Feist a whirl but not totally sure about him either, and then I'm going to give Rothfuss and Abercrombie a try.

It's all a bit frustrating as I'm finding brilliant SF authors at the moment but just not having the same joy with fantasy.

 

[Connavar]

Interesting... I loved TW's Otherland series but wasn't so impressed with MS&T though didn't really analyse why, could be that, but it was a while ago. Also with his Shadowmarch series it's been so long since I read the first two I would have to read them again before reading the last two and I'm not sure I can motivate myself to that.

Oh well, I'm giving Feist a whirl but not totally sure about him either, and then I'm going to give Rothfuss and Abercrombie a try.

It's all a bit frustrating as I'm finding brilliant SF authors at the moment but just not having the same joy with fantasy.

Magician is the only Fiest i have read and its pretty good standard epic fantasy.

Heh im having the opposite of your problem finding very good,great fantasy writers and not enough of quality SF authors.

Maybe you should get away from epic fantasy and read older less formula fantasy or contemporary fantasy of other types. Powers,Meiville,other types of fantasy authors.

 

[Vertigo]

Yes I'm beginning to think the same - but I do love the big epic SF series from the likes of Hamilton and Reynolds, just doesn't seem to work for me in fantasy. Meiville is very much on my TBR list - maybe I'll move him to the front.

 

[Ursa major]

As someone who geerally prefers SF to Fantasy, I can recommend both Abercrombie (well, The First Law Trilogy; I haven't yet read Best Served Cold) and Miéville (my favourite being Perdido Street Station).

 

[Connavar]

Yes I'm beginning to think the same - but I do love the big epic SF series from the likes of Hamilton and Reynolds, just doesn't seem to work for me in fantasy. Meiville is very much on my TBR list - maybe I'll move him to the front.

It depends too much on the writers you read i like the sound of big epic SF series but the writers who write them dont fit my taste. Similar with certain types of fantasy.

With respect for Meiville i would recommend Tim Powers before him in the same field. Look up his his dark historical fantasies like Drawing of the Dark.

 

[HareBrain]

i would recommend Tim Powers

Me too. If you're at all interested in poker or the tarot, try Last Call. If you're interested in magic and cold war espionage, try Declare. The man is like no one else.**

As for me, I've been severly disappointed with the second half of Steven Erikson's Deadhouse Gates, and am not much motivated to continue with the series.


** if he actually is like someone else, can I have their names please?

 

[Diggler]

After, what has been literally months, I finished Dies the Fire. I have no interest in reading the other books in this series. This one plodded along with delusions of a post apocalyptic Lord of the Rings, with all the monsters replaced by cannibals and Sauron, replaced by some nerd that thinks he's a latter day reincarnation of Richard the Lionheart.

I'm now onto Algis Budrys Rogue Moon, which I'm hoping to flit through as it is extremely enjoyable so far.

 

[J-WO]

As someone who geerally prefers SF to Fantasy, I can recommend both Abercrombie (well, The First Law Trilogy; I haven't yet read Best Served Cold) and Miéville (my favourite being Perdido Street Station).

Absolutely agree here. Vertigo--you'd be crazy not to listen to this toy bear.
TBR code 1!

I, too, am a predominant SF reader, but these aforementioned books are stunning.

 

[Vertigo]

Well thanks all for the recommendations, I already have Abercrombie and Mieville on my TBR and shall move them up a bit and I have added Tim Powers (that TBR is now over 250 books ). Right now I am already well into Feist's Silverthorn, and I am finding it somewhat better than Magician, it is rather template fantasy quest but seems to flow much more smoothly than Magician, maybe because it is his second book and shows the greater writing experience (I did find the second half of Magician better). It is still not exactly a life changing experience but enjoyable. After that I plan on some more SF so those other guys will have to wait just a little .

 

[AE35Unit]

I'm now onto Algis Budrys Rogue Moon, which I'm hoping to flit through as it is extremely enjoyable so far.

Now there's a name we don't hear much on here! Yet to read any of his works, tho I did enjoy the film 'Who?'

 

[AE35Unit]

Me too. If you're at all interested in poker or the tarot, try Last Call. If you're interested in magic and cold war espionage, try Declare. The man is like no one else.**

Ah there's 2 books for me to avoid then

 

[HareBrain]

Ah there's 2 books for me to avoid then

Hmm ... maybe I shouldn't have said that, since I wasn't interested in those things before I read those books either! (Nor have I been since.)

Anyway, those two of Powers's books are superbly written and intriguing, blending history with unique ideas about the supernatural -- even though they might be about the tarot, poker, spies and/or djinn.

 

[Diggler]

Now there's a name we don't hear much on here! Yet to read any of his works, tho I did enjoy the film 'Who?'

This is my first foray into Algis Budrys writing. I have to say I am very impressed. It feels kind of like PKD, with a dab of J.G. Ballard's unhinged characters mixed in.

 

[jojajihisc]

Those Who Watch - Robert Silverberg
The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi
*Son of Man - Robert Silverberg



*in progress

 

[J-WO]

*Son of Man - Robert Silverberg



*in progress

Any good? I've a copy I haven't read yet.

 

[jojajihisc]

Any good? I've a copy I haven't read yet.

It is. I'm reading it much slower than I typically do and it has taken a while for me to get into it, but I'm partial to post-human themes so that has helped. There is an esoteric element in it that I've not seen (or don't remember) from other Silverberg books I've read and I like that. There's some sex in it and even though it is done tastefully I keep wondering if his mind was more in his softcore porn mode than sf while he was writing it.

 

[murphy]

Just finished Blameless by Gail Carriger, a fun, funny and fast read. It's the third book in the series and the best so far.

Now reading The Black Prism by Brent Weeks.

 

[ravenus]

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett was great fun, even if the climax was rather rushed and generic. Right now into The Imago Sequence & Other Stories by Laird Barron, which 3 stories in has a damn good Ligotti-Lite element (but with more gore than Ligotti cares to spill).

 

[AE35Unit]

And so on to 2010: Odyssey 2