What Are You Reading, Part 2

[Dunkum he/him]

4 hours ago, Left said:

The first book of Temeraire, probably the first two books, are the best parts of the series. The ending is pretty good too. You should be aware that the middle drags pretty badly though. Glad you enjoy it! 

I enjoyed the middle books of Wheel of Time, albeit less than most of the others, so I expect i will be ok, but it depends a bit on exactly how it drags.  so far it is fun, but I have some issues with the characters and dialog that don't seem like they will be going away.  will still likely finish out the series, though

 

2 hours ago, Briar King said:

I love Alera so much. Such a neat meld of Rome and Pokémon that Butcher took on as a challenge. One of my favorite series.

It is kind of interesting, but it just doesn't do all that much for me.  but that might just be because my tastes tend to run heavier toward world-building and interesting magic systems, and the furies just aren't all that interesting to me as they are.

Edited June 11, 2017 by Dunkum

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Dunkum said:

5/6 of the way through the Codex Alera books, just waiting for the last one to be available fromt he library.  they're not bad, not great, and I don't really feel any need to reread them later, but no real complaints either.

while I am waiting on that, I picked up the first Temeraire book and am making my way through that.  liking it so far.

Codex Alera was an uneven story for me. I runs on interesting premises, it is even a pretty story from book 2 to 4, but I felt it went downhill starting onto book 5. At some point, I felt the author merely decided every single characters would be bland. I thought there was so many opportunities with other characters to further develop, but they were never taken. I became frustrated over it starting in book 5. Book 6, I thought, was weak and slagging. I'll wait and see what you think of it, but I thought it was the weakest. Book 3 and 4 definitely were the best.

[Ammanas]

1 hour ago, Left said:

Has anyone read Sherrilyn Kenyon or Patricia Briggs? I think there are some serious fans at my library because the new books shelf Always has at least one book by one of them, and has for the past several years. The covers, titles, and descriptions aren't exactly convincing me to even try the books, but I'm running out of fantasy authors....So anyone have any opinions on either of their books? Since they have kind of large libraries, if they are worth reading, where should I start? 

I have not, but I have looked into them. From what I rememeber they are part of a huge group of books that are female urban fantasy that features a lot of sex scenes...they are basically romance novels with faeries and vampires thrown in. If anyone has actually read them and has a different take then please correct me...this is just my impression upon reading reviews. You would be better off reading Dresden if you havn't already imo.

[AngelEy3 he/him]

2 hours ago, Ammanas said:

@AngelEy3 The guy who did the cover is Richard Anderson. He is also the one who did the cover for The Forgetting Moon which I told you about in a pm a while back. Tor did a article on him recently:

http://www.tor.com/2017/05/17/richard-anderson-art-sff-book-covers/

Thanks for the link. That was a good read. I have the Unhewn Throne books as well and the cover for the first one was a big part of selling it to me. 

[Dunkum he/him]

1 hour ago, maxal said:

Codex Alera was an uneven story for me. I runs on interesting premises, it is even a pretty story from book 2 to 4, but I felt it went downhill starting onto book 5. At some point, I felt the author merely decided every single characters would be bland. I thought there was so many opportunities with other characters to further develop, but they were never taken. I became frustrated over it starting in book 5. Book 6, I thought, was weak and slagging. I'll wait and see what you think of it, but I thought it was the weakest. Book 3 and 4 definitely were the best.

that's not too far off from my thoughts after book 5.  the vord were somewhat interesting in the earlier books, but as a main enemy later on, they mostly just have overwhelming numbers, and it is a bit boring, to be honest.  I'm not the biggest fan of Butcher.  of the things I've read by him, the only one that stands out to me is The Aeronaut's Windlass.  Codex Alera has been alright, but nothing great; and the little bit of his Dresden stuff that I have read didn't do much for me.  Aeronaut's Windlass had a much more interesting setting and more fun characters.

[Briar King]

How far did you get in Dresden?

[Dunkum he/him]

9 hours ago, Briar King said:

How far did you get in Dresden?

not very.  I didn't make a concerted effort at it or anything.  I think I have only ever read the occasional short story from it that popped up in an anthology I was reading.  the on in the Dangerous Women anthology, in particular I remember reading.  it was alright, but I wasn't a huge fan.

[Left he/him]

10 hours ago, Ammanas said:

I have not, but I have looked into them. From what I rememeber they are part of a huge group of books that are female urban fantasy that features a lot of sex scenes...they are basically romance novels with faeries and vampires thrown in. If anyone has actually read them and has a different take then please correct me...this is just my impression upon reading reviews. You would be better off reading Dresden if you havn't already imo.

Ah, that's what I was afraid of. Pity, it's always nice to find new authors with a large body of work already done.

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Dunkum said:

that's not too far off from my thoughts after book 5.  the vord were somewhat interesting in the earlier books, but as a main enemy later on, they mostly just have overwhelming numbers, and it is a bit boring, to be honest.  I'm not the biggest fan of Butcher.  of the things I've read by him, the only one that stands out to me is The Aeronaut's Windlass.  Codex Alera has been alright, but nothing great; and the little bit of his Dresden stuff that I have read didn't do much for me.  Aeronaut's Windlass had a much more interesting setting and more fun characters.

Yeah... I had similar issues. When the enemy is made out to be impossible to beat, victory always feels stretched and implausible. It made me think of the Sword of Truth where the ending had the heroes being pitched against impossible number which meant only deus ex machina could save them. Arguably, Codex doesn't end with deus ex machina, but it was still unsatisfying to me. One of my other thought is I felt the author played Tavi too strongly: sure he is the hero, but he doesn't have to be the one who wins all battles. I wished characters such as Maximus and Crassus were further developed and not forced to remain lackeys. Still, it was an alright series: I did read through all of it and I did enjoy the middle books. I was just disappointed it fell to grow within the last books.

[Oversleep]

Anybody read Craft Sequence by Gladstone? Is it any good?

[Ammanas]

1 hour ago, Oversleep said:

Anybody read Craft Sequence by Gladstone? Is it any good?

I couldn't get into it, but a lot of people who I share tastes with love it. Definitely recommend trying it at least; I did like some of the ideas in there.

[Sunbird she/her]

I read through the entirety of the graphic novel Nimona in one 2-hour sitting last night. I enjoyed it a lot. The artwork felt whimsical, the dialogue had me literally laughing out loud, and I found the anachronistic juxtaposition of plate armor, swordfights, and Ren-Faire clothing against radio comms, ray guns, and modern-style news broadcasts highly entertaining.

[DreamerWeaver13 she/her]

On ‎6‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 8:54 PM, Left said:

Has anyone read Sherrilyn Kenyon or Patricia Briggs? I think there are some serious fans at my library because the new books shelf Always has at least one book by one of them, and has for the past several years. The covers, titles, and descriptions aren't exactly convincing me to even try the books, but I'm running out of fantasy authors....So anyone have any opinions on either of their books? Since they have kind of large libraries, if they are worth reading, where should I start? 

 

I have read most of the Mercy Thompson's books by Patricia Briggs. As someone mentioned, they are female urban fantasy books, which contain some sex scenes but not a lot compared to other books with werewolves. Overall, I enjoyed the series as well as the ones by Ilona Andrews.  To me they were worth reading.  But they are not at the level of Brandon Sanderson.  Even though I believe that Brandon is a great author, I enjoy a good romance over the course of a series.  The romance in the Brandon's book that I have read so far is not as strong as other authors.  You may like the Elantra series by Michelle Sagara. 

[Ammanas]

About 50 pgs into The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neil Stephenson and Nicole Galland. It is a delight thus far; it has magic, time travel and humor.

Edited June 15, 2017 by Ammanas

[AngelEy3 he/him]

Alright, back in the game tonight to work on House of Chains. Only about 150 pages left. 

[+Slowswift]

On 6/13/2017 at 3:22 PM, Sunbird said:

I read through the entirety of the graphic novel Nimona in one 2-hour sitting last night. I enjoyed it a lot. The artwork felt whimsical, the dialogue had me literally laughing out loud, and I found the anachronistic juxtaposition of plate armor, swordfights, and Ren-Faire clothing against radio comms, ray guns, and modern-style news broadcasts highly entertaining.

I LOVED NIMONA

[Briar King]

Been trying to make some progress on Safehold 8 past few days so I'm on about 145 pgs in HoC. I'm getting to the bits connecting Deadhouse Gates now. Witness!

[AngelEy3 he/him]

Witness! I've grown to enjoy Karsa

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

Can anyone explain book one of the Dark Tower to me? 

[Orlion Blight he/him]

41 minutes ago, Curious Anamaximder said:

Can anyone explain book one of the Dark Tower to me? 

Yes 

[StormingTexan he/him]

55 minutes ago, Curious Anamaximder said:

Can anyone explain book one of the Dark Tower to me? 

In the same boat here. It has been a while since I read it and that was as far as I got. 

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

1 hour ago, Orlion On a Cob said:

Yes 

Okay please do so

[AngelEy3 he/him]

My 14 year old self remembers a beach,  and giant crabs, and a magic door, and Roland being cool, and being pretty sure that the Man in Black mostly fit the mold for Hoid... And that's about it. I should go through it again before the movie. 

[Ammanas]

25 minutes ago, Curious Anamaximder said:

Okay please do so

Its been a long time since I have read it...don't remember much, but Wikipedia has a good summary of it:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower:_The_Gunslinger

[Briar King]

9 hours ago, AngelEy3 said:

Witness! I've grown to enjoy Karsa

Told you so and you still have much yet to enjoy of him! I can't wait to start hearing your thoughts when you get to 5. 

 

On DT bk 1 is short and sweet but it's the worst of the bunch. Bk 4 is one of my top 5 favorite books I've ever read in my life. It's beautiful.