April's Aspiring Adventures Along Allegorical Avenues

[Lady of Winterfell]

Lady, the flashbacks are the best part so far. The meat of the story has nothing to keep me turning. Its not often I read a book so slow...there is so much I have that I want to read but I usually refuse to put a book down. I will finish it, just might take another month!

I agree. The present day story had great potential, it sure sounded like an interesting storyline. I just felt it never lived up to it. But I shall say no more until you finish it.

 

[Grunkins]

Finished Michael J Sullivan's The Crown Tower. Fun book, just as anyone who read his Riyria Revelations series would expect. It was a very quick read with great pacing. Sullivan has said he doesn't want Royce and Hadrian to overstay their welcome with too many books, but the pair's adventures still feel crisp and vital, and there's the possibility for lots of stories about them. Hopefully they stick around a while longer. I'll pick up the next of his Riyria Chronicles, The Rose and the Thorn soon.

 

[Connavar]

Waterfront Fists and Others:The Collected Fight Stories of Robert E. Howard

Discovering yet another side, genre REH was talented with. Mostly im enjoying the humorous Steve Costigan stories that are intense, brutal boxing stories mixed with nice humour.

 

[j d worthington]

Waterfront Fists and Others:The Collected Fight Stories of Robert E. Howard

Discovering yet another side, genre REH was talented with. Mostly im enjoying the humorous Steve Costigan stories that are intense, brutal boxing stories mixed with nice humour.

I'm wondering what you'd think of his more straightforward boxing stories, such as "Iron Men" and the like. While I think he did very well with the Costigan stories (and, for that matter, the Breck Elkins stories, and others in the tall tales genre), I think he did a fine job with the more serious sports stories as well, often making a particular sport in which I am, to put it mildly, very seldom interested, come across as quite absorbing, and the characters very human....

 

[kythe]

I just took a break from Asimov to read "1984" by George Orwell. That is by far the most depressing dystopian story I've ever read. It's an interesting take on government and economics though. It was written at the end of WW2, which explains why the author was concerned with the direction some of the superpowers wanted to take the world.

 

[Mouse]

So very nearly finished The Death Collector. Reckon I might even finish it this eve.

I bought a Kindle, finally, so started a book on there. Scrap Metal by Harper Fox. It's a romance.

Will need to read a paperback when I go to bed, so plan to pick up The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman after I've finished The Death Collector, as springs says it's really good.

 

[Perpetual Man]

I've just finished and really enjoyed The Noise Within by Ian Whates and moving on to the chapbook, What Gets Left Behind by Mark West

 

[TheShadowsandSilence]

The First Book of Lankhmar (Fantasy Masterworks edition) - Fritz Leiber

I've read some of his horror short stories before which were fantastic and being a big sword and sorcery fan this seemed essential reading. Just finished Swords and Deviltry and I'm loving it.

 

[j d worthington]

The First Book of Lankhmar (Fantasy Masterworks edition) - Fritz Leiber

I've read some of his horror short stories before which were fantastic and being a big sword and sorcery fan this seemed essential reading. Just finished Swords and Deviltry and I'm loving it.

It will be interesting to see what you think of the series as you go on. It runs the gamut from straightforward fantasy adventure to chilling horror to bawdy farce, and Leiber seldom makes a false move... though the last volume in the series did put some people off with certain aspects, I suspect, even there the stories were quite strong....

 

[Perpetual Man]

In very near record time I can say I've finished What Gets Left Behind and will eventually move on to Fade To Black by Francis Knight (Kissmequick as she is known around here)

 

[Ice fyre]

I have just finished Jingo by Terry Pratchett, loved it, very funny. Now moving on to the Suicide Exhibition, an alternative history story that would make David Ike's day! Aliens and Nazis sounds good so will plod on with it.

 

[Lord Soth]

Just finished The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley - altogether a decent book but on occasion ruined by a few cliches and unnecessary characters. After the excellent The Thousand Names by Django Wexler its was a bit of an anti-climax. I will probably read the sequels, but I won't rush out to do so.

I am now reading The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar, only a few pages in but unfortunately its coming across as far too pretentious, even the punctuation is non-standard. I'm sure I picked this up due to recommendations on this forum so I hope it does settle down, but at the moment it will be lucky if I make 50 pages with this. Life is too short after all...

 

[SirSamuelVimes]

I finished Snuff by Terry Pratchett and thought it was hilarious. I decided I hadn't had enough Terry Pratchett for the month, and I am now going to read Mort. I thought I'd give the Death series a go. The concept intrigued me.

 

[Ice fyre]

i finished snuff by terry pratchett and thought it was hilarious. I decided i hadn't had enough terry pratchett for the month, and i am now going to read mort. I thought i'd give the death series a go. The concept intrigued me.

I think you will find it quite fun.

 

[ratsy]

In very near record time I can say I've finished What Gets Left Behind and will eventually move on to Fade To Black by Francis Knight (Kissmequick as she is known around here)

Great book Perp. I devoured the series in short order. Now I think I need some bacon...

 

[Grunkins]

I finished Mark Lawrence's King of Thorns last night.

It had been a while since I read Prince, and for some reason King intimidated me a bit (some books just have a certain glower about them), so I put off reading it, and eventually forgot it was in my stacks. Finally I remembered.

This book is what I read fantasy for. It took me fully from the first page and kept me enveloped in its weird world until the end. Prince was a good read, something new in a somewhat tired genre, but King takes everything to a new level, it was deeper, richer, and grander from start to finish. The characterizations were very good, though the only character who really matters is Jorg. It's Jorg's world in every way. Jorg's POV is all enveloping. It's quite an achievement to have a reader walk away from a first person POV, and feel as enriched as if I had just read a Malazan type epic with an innumerable cast. There were so many lines that put a point to just how much it is Jorg's world, one example, from the end of the book (no spoiler here), "I got bored with watching myself and flipped the ring up so my view lay unobstructed." That line, in context, is brilliant, and in my opinion typifies much of the style, and the tone of the book.

Thrilling read.

About halfway through I ordered Emperor, and I'll be first in line to buy his upcoming Prince of Fools.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

The Best of Damon Runyon selected by E. C. Bentley (1938).

It's interesting to note that the stories in this collection of tales by an extremely American writer were selected by a Englishman. The book itself is interesting. It's a 1941 paperback, one of the original "Pocket Books," so old that it has no cover price. It was just common knowledge that they cost twenty-five cents. The covers seem to be made out of some cardboard-like substance, covered with a shiny film, and proudly announced to be "Perma-Gloss." The book is in pretty good shape for being nearly three-quarters of a century old.

 

[kythe]

I just finished "Foundation's Edge" by Asimov. It took an interesting twist I never saw coming, straight out of left field. This changes my perception of the world of Foundation. But it does have a certain feel of transcendental evolution, like in Clarke's books, so that is good.

Question: Should I read the Robot series before finishing the Foundation series, or will I understand Foundation and Earth without that background? The two series seem to mesh at this point. I already have "I, Robot" out from the library, so I guess that will be next. There are so many robot stories though.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I've just finished Patrick Ness's THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO. I was disappointed in it - I found it generic in terms of the YA style, that it relied too much on the formula of cliffhanger-resolution-cliffhanger and I quickly got bored as it didn't seem to live up to the tension promised each time. I also found the characters, especially Viola, to be a little too trope-ish for me. Having said that, I liked the talking dog (sad ) and thought the idea behind it was very good and, judging by Goodreads, I'm in the minority on this one.

On the other hand I've just started SHE IS NOT INVISIBLE by Marcus Sedgwick (not sff as it happens) and I'm thoroughly enjoying it - challenging for its target market, with a lovely flow, and teasers that move the story on at the end of the chapters and leave me wondering where it's going, not being shouted at to pay attention to something exciting.

 

[Lord Soth]

Wow, just finished The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar. As you can see by my post above, I nearly put it down a few times at the start as it just wasnt clicking for me. Then, at some point i realised I has half way through - the bits that had irritated me at the start simply faded away and I was left with a gem of a book. Cannot recommend this book more.

Now I think Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb - haven't really read anything by her before and I believe this is considered as being her best work?