Trizee

Finished The Kite Runner and Best Served Cold. I thought Kite was a very good book, but it wasn't really my type, so I don't think I'll be reading more of Husseini's books. Best Served Cold was a definite step up from the First Law trilogy, I really enjoyed it. I'm now reading Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch and it is amazing.

I finished The Last Argument of Kings, the third book in the First Law trilogy. I thought the trilogy was good, but not amazing. I'm now reading The Kite Runner and am enjoying it, I'll soon start Best Served Cold which is some kind of sequel to First Law.

I finished A Blade Itself and its sequel Before they Are Hanged. Both are good solid books, but nothing amazing. I made an attempt at Jack Vance's Lyonesse and discovered that it is totally lacking in plot and character and stopped. Currently reading the third book in the First Law series, Last Argument of Kings.

I finished the Andromeda Strain, and though I enjoyed it, I did have a few issues with it. Crichton goes on and on about the amazing technology they have, but it doesn't really seem all that amazing to me, probably because it was published in 1969. Also, I didn't like the book's ending so much. I loved the Chosen, but I'm curious. I am a Jew myself, and was wondering whether this book appealed to non-jews as well. So if you're comfortable saying- are you Jewish? And if not, what drew you to this book? Next I'll be reading The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

Finished Red seas under Red skies. It was a really good book, but not mindblowing like Lies. I'm now reading The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton and am thoroughly enjoying it.

WOT spoilers (if you've read through LoC you're safe) You can't get much more awesome than that.

I finished The Lies of Locke Lamora which was fantastic, and am now reading the second book in the Gentleman Bastards series- Red seas under Red Skies.

To the list of pre- Jordan High Fantasy authors you can add Terry Brooks, David Eddings, and Stephen R. Donaldson.

Actually the word is "yom" which means "day". Though I do believe that it is quite possible that is a metaphorical day, especially since the sun was only created on the fourth day, and how do you have a day without a sun?As for myself, I'm an orthodox Jew

Wow, it's been a month since I lasted posted here. This is what I've read: Calamity which was amazing Bluescreen by Dan Wells, though it was a decent book, I felt it wasn't on par with the rest of Dan's work. I heard that it's to be the first book in a long series, so I hope the following books are better. This is what happened with the Partials series- I thought the first book was only okay, but the next two books were amazing. I made an attempt at both Card's Lost gate and Jim Butcher's Storm Front, but stopped in the middle of both because they were just too 'dirty' for me. I read Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns and though while reading it I found it hard to put down, I've decided I didn't like it. The main character is just a horrible person, rape and murder are everyday actions for him. I just couldn't make myself like him. I'm now reading The Lies of Locke Lamora, and though I'm only 50 pages in, I' m thoroughly enjoying it. The prose is beautiful and thw dialogue is great, so that I have big hopes for this book. I would also like to add my voice to those who say they enjoy a slower pacing. I think that for a book to be truly grand it needs to have a slower pace. I too am of the opinion that CoT was a great book. I would only like to mention that I think writing such books takes a certain skill rhat not all writers possess, and we can't blame authors for not being Jordan or Martin.

I would recommend the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson. It's an epic fantasy where the main character, Thomas Covenant, is probably one of the more complex and interesting characters I've read about. Donaldson is also one of the authors with the most beautiful prose out there, so the books are worth it just for that. Other books I would recommend are Sailing to Sarantium by GGK- the book's protagonist, Crispin, is really a wonderful character. You might also want to try Dune by Frank Herbert- Paul Atreides is quite an interesting character.

The Icemark Chronicles by Stuart Hill

Since last time I posted I reread Firefight in anticipation of the upcoming Calamity. Reread A Night of Blacker Darkness by Dan Wells (delightful), and by then BoM and Secret History came out so I read both of those- both blew my mind. I'm now reading The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke, which is interesting so far. This is the third book of Clarke's I'm reading- I read Childhood's End, which I thought was superb, and Rendezvous with Rama, which was okay. Any Clarke fans out there?

Although I would agree that the next few books of Runelords drop in quality, books 2-4 are still pretty good. And though 5 is truly horrible, 6 and 7 are rather awesome, and I remember thinking the eighth was pretty good too.

Actually, Elnakam is a nonfiction account of a member of the Lehi- a group of Jewish freedom fighters who tried to achieve jewish autonomy in Israel during the time of the British mandate by force. Elnakam was the code name of the author, who is also the main character in the book.

I'm now reading Horizon Storms, the third book in Kevin J. Anderson's Saga of the Seven Suns. Its been pretty decent so far, and I hope I can finish it before BoM comes out. I also just finished a book in Hebrew called Elnakam (אלנקם)- highly recommended if there are any Hebrew speakers out there.

I recently started reading Kevin J. Andesrson's Saga of the Seven Suns series. I finished the first book (Hidden Empire) and am now reading the second (A Forest of Stars). Though I'll admit its no masterpiece, its a fun space opera to read. The first book starts off with a lot of different POV characters, but somehow Anderson makes it work and it isn't confusing at all. Instead I was swept right in to the book, despite the fact that it isn't so very well written.

At first I was really annoyed by Ben's temper tantrums, I mean they were just plain pathetic. But when I realized that he's not really evil and is trying really hard to be evil like Vader against his own nature, I understood that the tantrums weren't actually genuine- he was just trying to act more like a dark lord. One interesting tidbit is that I speak Hebrew, and "ben" in Hebrew means "son" (that's where the "ben" in Benjamin comes from...). That really threw me when Han called out "Ben!". For a moment I thought- since when does Han speak Hebrew?- before I realized that was his son's name.

Shadowsmarch by Tad Williams. It's the first of his books that I'm reading and I'm not yet sure what I think of it. Both main characters (Barrick and Briony) are rather weak, they seem to spend most of their time complaining. The book also kind of feels like children's literature, and lacks anything that I would name original. Still, there's something endearing about the book that makes me keep reading.

1. Smaug 2. Norbert (Harry Potter) 3. Saphira 4. Thorn 5. Glaedr 6. Shruikan 7. Temeraire 8. Laetificat 9. Maximus 10. Lily (3-6 are from the Inheritance cycle, and 7-10 are from the Temeraire series. I'm sure I don't need to mention where number 1 is from...) WLIU name 25 books by Orson Scott Card

I read this a few weeks ago. The first novella, The King's Justice was everything I love about Donaldson- beautiful prose and an interesting protagonist along with cool worldbuilding. But I just couldn't get through the second novella- Augur's Gambit, it was just plain boring, as if it had been written by a different author. I'm currently reading Anthony Ryan's Blood Song, and am thoroughly enjoying it. It reminds me a little of The Name of the Wind and Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy.

Tripoli (I think that's how you spell it) Adis Ababba

I haven't posted on this site for ages, but I suddenly felt in the mood to get back into it... I most recently started reading Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. I thought His Majesty's Dragon was a pleasant read, and am now reading the second book- Throne of Jade.

I finished Memories of Ice and was not very impressed. I'll admit that there were some cool parts, but when every other person seems to have enough power to destroy a planet, I don't get all that excited when someone shoots a fireball. What I'm trying to say is that if everyone's awesome, no one's awesome. Aside from that, there were exactly zero characters that I felt like I could even feel anything for (a problem I didn't have with the first two books), and everyone seems to have constant internal monologues discussing vague philosophical points. Including the drunk caravan guard. In short, I don't think I'll be reading any more Erikson unless I'm desperate for something to read. On a brighter note, I'm currently reading Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men and it is delightful!

I basically agree with what everyone else has said, but I'll try and add something new... The thing I was missing the most in this story is the rationale behind the mutiny. I wasn't even sure whose side I should be on, for all I knew, they had a perfectly good reason to mutiny... Also, at the end, Jared calls in the watch, clearly expecting them to be upset about the mutiny- they're on Bryon's side- so why doesn't Bryon get their help to defeat the mutineers instead of facing 3:1 odds (I think their were 6 of them?). Furthermore, what would the mutineers do if they managed to kill Bryon- they would probably just get arrested- did they have a plan? About the execution of the mutiny itself- why did they come armed mostly with clubs? Couldn't they at least find some knives? Despite these drawbacks, the story was well written and Bryon was definitely a likeable character!