What did you just read?

gogusrl · May 9, 2014

After finally starting to read books in english (shit was all in my head, I work in an english speaking environment), I've been catching up on all the good stuff. Going by this list atmhttp://i.imgur.com/6Z32S.jpg(about half way there).

Finished the Night's Dawn series by Hamilton (amazing books with a pretty shitty ending) and now I started on the Culture series (Consider Phlebas / The Player of Games and Use of Weapons so far).

ToeMissile · Jun 1, 2014

Just finished book 3 of The Black Company. Started the series after seeing the recommendations here, living up to the hype.

Needless · Jun 2, 2014

Finished Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive #2), god damn amazing book. I'm going to whither away before book 3 comes out

11 stars out of 5~

Szlia · Jun 2, 2014

The other day, I ran out of small format books to read during my short commutes. My father had a pocket book version of the screenplay of Woody Allen'sHusbands & Wives. Well... a screenplay is really an odd beast, it's really just a trace of the movie and you have to kind of piece it back together in your mind, imagining the line delivery of the actors, their body language, the pace of it all... I am pretty sure reading the screenplay is 10 times less entertaining than seeing the movie as most of the comedy happens on the set and in the editing room, not much on the page.

iannis · Jun 2, 2014

AngryGerbil_sl said:
Just finishedDialogue with Death: A Journey Through Consciousness: Eknath Easwaran: 9780915132720: Amazon.com: Books

Also has been re-released asEssence of the Upanishadswhich isn't much help describing to it Westerners either.

Why wouldn't you just read the Upanishads? They're really not hard to read. Easier than the Gita. The Gita starts to get really dense and difficult.

I most recently gave up on Molly Fyde. It's hard to believe that series was written by the same man that wrote the wool series -- and that he stopped writing Wool because he liked Molly Fyde better. Honestly, as good as Wool is that's how bad Molly Fyde is. And it just keeps getting worse. Talk about phoning it in.

Maybe that's why he liked it better. If it paid more and was less work, you'd have to be an idiot not to like it better.

Szlia · Jun 7, 2014

Just finishedRed Seas Under Red Skies(Gentlemen Bastards book 2) and it left me a bit skeptical. The guy needs to find a plot structure consultant or something because, like the first book, it's a lot of build up for an underwhelming and hasty resolution. The build up is pleasant enough though with enjoyable characters and entertaining dialogues and the pirate theme that occupies about half the book was fresh enough for me since I don't think I ever read a naval adventure book since... Treasure Island?

Sharinel · Jun 9, 2014

Just read the new Robin Hobb book "Fool's Assassin" which is out in the usual torrent sites ( 2 months before release, I have no willpower ). Poor Fitz just can't grab a break

Grimmlokk · Jun 9, 2014

Seriously? 6 books of him getting shit on to get a bit of a happy ending and she couldn't just let it go at that? Kind of makes me not want to read it.

Needless · Jun 9, 2014

I just started The Lies of Locke Lamora but i'm having a really hard time getting into it.
Theres magic or some shit eventually right?... just reading some oceans 11 esque stuff isn't my thing lol

Randin · Jun 9, 2014

I was given the Sword of Truth series recently, and just finished book 2. For the first 70% of book 1, I honestly couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about with this series (really, for a lot of book 1, if you set aside some of the more unpleasant imagery, the language used makes it read like it was written for an audience that's maybe 13 years old), but most of the way through the first book something clicked, and I found myself really enjoying it.

I vaguely recall hearing somewhere that the series starts to get weird later on down the line, but I'm sufficiently hooked at this point to see it through to the end.

khorum · Jun 9, 2014

Needless_sl said:
I just started The Lies of Locke Lamora but i'm having a really hard time getting into it.
Theres magic or some shit eventually right?... just reading some oceans 11 esque stuff isn't my thing lol

Yeah but the magic stays subdued and hasn't taken center stage so far even in the latest book, which is based in the world's magic capital. It never comes close to dragonballz flying hadoken malazan magic. Either way if the oceans twelve revenge plot thing isn't your bag you prolly wouldn't enjoy the rest of the series.

Olscratch · Jun 9, 2014

Just read The Guns of August and it was probably one of the best books I've ever read. After chapter 1 I decided to keep my dictionary handy. Still missed out on a lot of the french phrases but overall just enjoyed the hell out of it. Admittedly I love war history so there's that.

Needless · Jun 10, 2014

khorum_sl said:
Yeah but the magic stays subdued and hasn't taken center stage so far even in the latest book, which is based in the world's magic capital. It never comes close to dragonballz flying hadoken malazan magic. Either way if the oceans twelve revenge plot thing isn't your bag you prolly wouldn't enjoy the rest of the series.

lol'd at trying to picture their crew doing dragonball z hadoken malazan shit, but yeah i figured. I'll finish it anyway, i've only read the prologue and the first chapter (1.25-1.5hour chapters wtfff). I think going from Words of Radiance to this was too much of a change when all i want is more of the stormlight archive lol

Grimmlokk · Jun 10, 2014

The prologue of Locke Lamora got me instantly hooked on the character. He's such an unrepentant thieving little fuck, it's awesome.

As for Sword of Truth, whee are you seeing a lot of fuss over it? I don't think I've ever found anyone who came away from the series with a positive review. The first book sure, even though it turns pretty generic. The series does get weird and rapey and S&M some later for sure. More than that though it just gets boring and predictable. And he more and more uses it as a platform to shove his politics down your throat. Did you know communism is bad? If not JUST KEEP READING!

Intrinsic · Jun 10, 2014

Just finishedAncillary Justiceby Ann Leckie (Amazon.com: Ancillary Justice eBook: Ann Leckie: Books). Think it has won pretty much all the Sci Fi awards this year and is up for the 2014 Hugo as well. Was not bad at all and think that she did a good job with a concept that on paper could be very confusing and difficult to write for. I do have a couple of complaints about how the main character's internal dialogue was presented (or leaps in judgement, something that just didn't sit right with me). But, as the introduction to a much larger story it fit well and I feel like it ended decently. I also don't think the main character's motivations are entirely clear or developed.

I think she's getting a lot of praise because it is her first book. And it is a good book, but you can see the areas she needs to improve. I have high hopes for the next in the series.

Finally going to start the new Dresden Files and then think I'll read the other Hugo nominations. I like Charles Stross and haven't read his nomination yet.

khorum · Jun 10, 2014

Needless_sl said:
lol'd at trying to picture their crew doing dragonball z hadoken malazan shit, but yeah i figured. I'll finish it anyway, i've only read the prologue and the first chapter (1.25-1.5hour chapters wtfff). I think going from Words of Radiance to this was too much of a change when all i want is more of the stormlight archive lol

Well it definitely won't have the flying dragonballz duel like kaladin+szeth or anything remotely close to the stormlight stuff. So if you're still buzzing after finishing that this might not be the best series to follow up with.

Randin · Jun 10, 2014

Grimmlokk_sl said:
As for Sword of Truth, whee are you seeing a lot of fuss over it? I don't think I've ever found anyone who came away from the series with a positive review. The first book sure, even though it turns pretty generic. The series does get weird and rapey and S&M some later for sure. More than that though it just gets boring and predictable. And he more and more uses it as a platform to shove his politics down your throat. Did you know communism is bad? If not JUST KEEP READING!

*shrugs*it got a tv adaptation, I figure it needed to have a sufficiently large fan base to warrant that.

And yeah, I noticed the communism thing. So far, it's been low-key enough (mostly) that I wasn't rolling my eyes too much, but it's not a huge shock to learn they he gets worse about it. That said, I'm still engaged enough at this point to try and see the series through.

Needless · Jun 10, 2014

khorum_sl said:
Well it definitely won't have the flying dragonballz duel like kaladin+szeth or anything remotely close to the stormlight stuff. So if you're still buzzing after finishing that this might not be the best series to follow up with.

Yeah for sure lol, I was debating holding off on it and starting malazan since i haven't tried that series yet.

khorum · Jun 10, 2014

Oh read Malazan then. Start at deadhouse gates then read gardens of the moon AFTER. It'll make slightly less sense in that order (not much less if at all) but it will be infinitely more enjoyable.

In fact, when you get to Karsa Rapetrain you'll forget about Kaladin and Szeth altogether.

Grimmlokk · Jun 10, 2014

Don't read it out of order. People who suggest that are evil commies that should be sworded with truth.

Read it right. Some people complain about the first book being hard to follow, they are dumbheads. Read it in the right order, don't skip anything. It's an awesome series start to finish(except for large chunks of Toll the Hounds, but even that pays off at the end like every book in the series).

I went in to the series blind, and there's 7,000 posts here that can attest to how dimwitted and slow to pick up on details I am. I had no trouble with book one, and if anything the later books get way more dense with all the characters you have to keep track of all over the world.

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