Author Topic: Books (Read 158586 times)

Dhyerwolf · « **Reply #25 on:** January 26, 2008, 01:44:33 AM »

I liked the massive size of the books. Since I usually read an hour before falling asleep, it meant that I wasn't needing new reading fodder constantly.

Ranmilia · « **Reply #26 on:** February 05, 2008, 10:11:11 PM »

Well, finished Feast for Crows. Somewhat disappointing, the direction feels quite lost by this point and Martin leans too heavily on cliffhangers, tricks and sex to hold my interest most of the time. Where I started the first book inhaling every word, by the end of the fourth I'm skimming chapters to get to the obligatory surprise/dramatic moment I know is at the end of them.

The format and writing are both heavily character-centric, which alternately helps and hurts. Introducing Jaime as a narrarator is the most awesome thing to happen in the series, and he's the most interesting character by far at this point. I'm not actually sure whether his ending in Crows is a trick or not, where I've been sure on all other supposed cliffhangers. Jon, Arya and Tyrion are also neat - shame they were mostly left out of Crows. A chapter with a good narrator is usually guaranteed awesome.

On the other hand, too many characters are boring, unlikeable, or both. Something like a third of Crows is spent on revealing the Greyjoy and Dorne subplots through the eyes of a host of minor characters we've never heard of before and likely never will hear from again. No attachment, and no real interest in those subplots, either - they seem pretty much irrelevant to everything else going on.

Daenerys has the same problem, of course, but at least it's obvious she's going to wreak some havoc and meet all the other main characters before the series finishes. It looks like Dorne may be her link in there, but the Greyjoys don't even have that. Blarg.

The plot itself... well, it does actually move, albeit glacially, has its flashes of awesome, and there are real honest to goodness dragons. Props for that.

Dhyerwolf · « **Reply #27 on:** February 10, 2008, 12:27:42 AM »

Brandon Sanderson- Mistborn. Decided to pick this up since he's the one semi-ghost writing the final WoT. Good book, interesting premise. Definetely awaiting when the sequel comes out in paperback.

BaconForTheSoul · « **Reply #28 on:** February 11, 2008, 05:21:19 AM »

The Mammoth Encyclopedia of the Unsolved- Discusses TONS of random unsolved/mysteries of the world. Atlantis, Man in Iron Mask, Agatha Christie, etc. There's like 65 different chapters each with a focus. It's a fun read and pretty informative at time, the problem is that after about 3 chapters the author ignores being unbiased.

Initially the chapters discuss possible things that could have happened, and then gives evidence for an against. Later on though, the author decides that certain things are "fact," such as Poltergeists, Ghosts, Psychics, etc. This kind of kills half the chapters because his own silly views skew them. Lines like "There are too many eyewitness to even begin to ignore _________________" (Insert Loch Ness Monster, Ghosts, etc.)

That may have been plausible back in 2000 when he wrote the book, but in the age of cell phone cameras... shit that can get caught on camera WILL. 1000 people have eyewitness accounts of "seeing" the Loch Ness Monster, yet no one got a good picture? I'd wager that everyone who fucking goes to the Loch brings a camera, so wtf. More examples, but you all get the idea.

The chapters on the non paranormal are fun. Discussing a different Mona Lisa, Agatha Christie's insanity, who the Man in the Iron Mask might be, and so on is actually interesting, and I'll finish the book because of it. As for him criticizing scientists for not keeping an open mind about the paranormal. Meh, without a picture eyewitness accounts don't mean jack shit to me.

Ultradude · « **Reply #29 on:** February 11, 2008, 05:39:58 AM »

Aldous Huxley - Brave New World.

Yeah, 1930's version of the "happy communism" that people seem to like these days. Anyways, a bit extreme at some points, lacking a middle ground between the extremes of society and the "savages", but he himself acknowledges this in the forward. Pleasant read though with some nice satire and predictions that are prevalent even nowadays. Characters were pretty cool, and Hux's writing style is solid and to the point.

Dark Holy Elf · « **Reply #30 on:** February 12, 2008, 04:40:03 AM »

Late in catching up with this topic, but...

For all that we have pretty much reversed opinions on some of the chapters (Dorne >>>> Jon; the absence of the north entirely is why Feast is either my favourite or second favourite book in the series), Alex pretty well puts a finger on a lot of my problems with ASoIaF.

(Spoiler warning)

Also, zuh? I've never even considered the idea that Jaime might be dead after that scene. And I was fooled by some of the others... well, at the very least, I was fooled by Theon's in book 2.

EDIT: Never mind, I was confusing Jaime's book 4 ending with Brienne's. I've... honestly forgotten how Jaime's entry to that book ended. Can someone remind me?

ALSO EDIT: Of course, since a major character has yet to die in one of those ambiguous "death" scenes (Jaime book 2, Arya book 3, Davos book 2, Theon book 2, etc.), it is possible I am just completely desensitised by Martin's overuse of the mechanic to the point where a character dying in such a way would now completely shock me. I bet that's his plan. <_<

Ranmilia · « **Reply #31 on:** February 12, 2008, 04:54:02 AM »

(More spoilers!)

Jaime's cliffhanger is whether or not he's actually going to go back and fight for Cersei. He tells them to toss her letter in the fire, like he isn't going to go... but he might anyway. I'll bet you're right about there being an actual jarring death, though if it's Davos (Feast mentions him being killed offstage several times) I'll be quite sad. Oh, and don't forget The Many Deaths of Bran.

Cotigo · « **Reply #32 on:** February 12, 2008, 09:55:57 AM »

Theon had a fake maybe death in Book 2? Uh. Could have sworn he died for real there. Unless you're not talking about his final chapter?

Also, Bran is Tower of Salvation.

Dark Holy Elf · « **Reply #33 on:** February 14, 2008, 09:49:29 PM »

(spoilers continued)

Theon survives that chapter and is taken prisoner by Crazy Bolton Jr. As of yet this hasn't been a very important plot point, since Theon's own countrymen turn their back on him following it and we haven't seen Crazy Bolton Jr. since, though presumably SOMEBODY is going to have to go kick his ass out of Winterfell sooner or later.

Alex: Right, forgot that. Not sure what to make of that either.

Ranmilia · « **Reply #34 on:** February 14, 2008, 10:30:24 PM »

(Even more spoilers)

I thought that was covered when Bran & co emerged from the crypts and found Maester Luwin? Winterfell's burnt to ruins and deserted now, definitely not occupied. Hence why Stannis wants to rebuild it and put someone there. Theon may or may not be dead, he got axed in the back but it's Martin so who knows. I don't recall reading anything after that that hints he's still alive, though.

Dark Holy Elf · « **Reply #35 on:** February 14, 2008, 10:41:59 PM »

(more spoilers!)

Bolton Sr. outright tells Robb that Theon is his son's captive, shortly before the Wedding. He has a flayed piece of Theon skin to prove it. It's possible that this is a lie, but given that Bran and Co. don't find Theon's body in Winterfell (whereas they do find and note his other northmen, not hard to do since IIRC he only had like half a dozen left at that point) I see no reason to assume it is.

D'oh, you're right about Winterfell being torched, I guess Theon was taken back to the Dreadfort then? I just know the Bastard has control of that general part of the country, probably why I made that mistake.

Strago · « **Reply #36 on:** February 14, 2008, 10:47:11 PM »

(Spoilers!)

Yeah, Theon's a captive in the Dreadfort these days.

Cotigo · « **Reply #37 on:** February 14, 2008, 11:13:44 PM »

Oh, yeah, I completely forgot about that. It was a fairly minor point given what events follow the information, in fairness.

Clear Tranquil · « **Reply #38 on:** February 19, 2008, 06:21:23 PM »

Currently on a James Herbert and Dean Koontz spree. Might also browse the horror shelves at the library and see if there are any other interesting books/series by other authors to discover. Haven't done that for a while.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #39 on:** February 25, 2008, 06:40:53 PM »

Good Omens- Everything about this is awesome. Read, minions.
Particulars? *shrug* It's a book that's more about the philosophies than the plot proper. Certain elements are vaguely contrived, but it doesn't matter because it's really about the interesting takes on such matters as predestination, Divine ineffability, the antichrist, etc etc etc. Awesome. Also noteworthy, watching the Horsemen assemble was a lot of fun. Particularly liked War.
Read it.

Shale · « **Reply #40 on:** February 25, 2008, 06:50:00 PM »

Quote from: Cmdr_King on February 25, 2008, 06:40:53 PM

Good Omens- Everything about this is awesome. Read, minions.

QFT.

Quote

Particularly liked War.

I'm shocked. shocked, I say.

Grefter · « **Reply #41 on:** February 25, 2008, 08:58:54 PM »

Ehhhh anyone who doesn't like the Neil Gaiman stuff should steer well clear of it. Heaven and Angels and all that jazz is very out of the norm for Pratchett and while the humor is very him, the main plot and all the stuff it touches is massive fists loads of Gaiman.

If you like them both though, yeah it is a great book.

superaielman · « **Reply #42 on:** February 25, 2008, 09:10:08 PM »

Best of Scifi, 2003: Bought this online for two bucks for the Harry Turtledove story (Joe Steele, which kinda sucked actually). I'm about a third of the way through and the rest of the stories have been pretty good, especially the one about the Gordie Howe clone.

Hunter Sopko · « **Reply #43 on:** February 27, 2008, 12:14:25 AM »

Good Omens is definately better on a reread (was for me at least). I like most of the characters. Out of the horsemen, I liked Famine the best (SHOCK!). Also a general supporter of Anathema and whatshisname with the shitty car. Dog was also a highlight.

Taishyr · « **Reply #44 on:** February 27, 2008, 01:44:59 PM »

Reread the first four Malazan Book of the Fallen books (super, read these), the first book in the Otherland trilogy (fun, but slow), and Cryptonomicon (he does conversations incredibly well. Plot... less so. Ideas... far more so.)

Clear Tranquil · « **Reply #45 on:** February 29, 2008, 02:12:45 PM »

The horsemen have appeared from Pratchett before right? Can't remember which books but yeah. Apart from Death my favourite was also War (and his horse) Ronnie was also amusing. I remember thinking about reading Good Omens before but must've forgot <_<

**

The horror shelves were rather bare so apart from picking out a couple of books there I also checked the young adult section to see if they had anything worth while.

Angel Blood - Young adult book about deformed kids kept in a institution, their desire to escape and a pair of young adults that end up helping them. Sad ending which also confused me because I didn't know whether the picture in the sand was meant to be of the two kids or of Nick and Nicole >_>

Blood Song - Not really much of a fan of Byrony anymore - in the end I ended up liking Gudrun more o_o The cyber horse was awesme, probably my favourite character overall though the ancient machine city was also intriguing.

Devil's Tango - Left me wanting more. I hope the next book in the series is translated so we get to see what happens next and I'm also thinking about reading "Dance of the Assasins" as well.

Necroscope - The Touch - Imagine my surprise when I found that my library actually had another Necroscope book in stock!

The last one I remember reading was about some dude called Jake and then I could never get my hands on the next books in the series after that. Anyway in this one we are introduced to a new hero - Scott St John and of course the old familar faces of the E-Branch turn up. Good book, relatively chunky, kept me entertained for quite a while. Plenty of twists, turns and filler. Only thing was I didn't really enjoy the ending but yeah overall I liked the book. Wolf was awesme. I demand more Wolf.

Yakumo · « **Reply #46 on:** February 29, 2008, 02:49:38 PM »

Pratchett uses a separate set of Horsemen in the Discworld books than the set in Good Omens, if I'm not mistaken, but yes. (I haven't actually read Good Omens yet, but from what CK was saying about them in chat, I'm pretty confident in that claim.)

Shale · « **Reply #47 on:** February 29, 2008, 03:06:00 PM »

Yeah, the Good Omens horsepeople are very distinct from the ones who show up in Thief of Time. Including Death, although that one's not as striking.

Grefter · « **Reply #48 on:** February 29, 2008, 03:37:25 PM »

The four Horsemen showed up way earlier than Thief of Time, they are all the way back in Light Fantastic.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #49 on:** February 29, 2008, 04:31:16 PM »

Yeah, they're quite different. Although there's a definite familiarity about the way Death is portrayed. All caps type, same physical discription, same sort of implacable inevitability of nature vibe. Honestly I'd describe Good Omens death as the same basic character but before character development.

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Author Topic: Books (Read 158586 times)

Taishyr