What fantasy/science fiction book are you reading RIGHT NOW?

[emotional leper]

Sucked in by Feist once again, am re-reading the Riftwar books. On Silverthorn already.

--A

Betrayl at Kronder was the best computer game ever released.

You can download it for free on the internets at various places. Legally, too, as Sierra released it as freeware a few years before it went Defunct.

It's one of the greatest games of all time, and the best computer RPG I ever played. If you can actually find a copy, or want to eBay one, of the original game on CD, it's well worth it over the downloaded version, as it has orchestrated music and a few extras video clips on CD.

I've never read any of the Riftwar Series (just couldn't get into it,) but the story behind BAK was excellent.

[pat5150]

Inexplicably, this latest offering by acclaimed author C. S. Friedman has been flying under the radar since last January. And given its quality, this sad state of affairs continues to baffle me. Feast of Souls marks Friedman's return to the fantasy genre. That, in and of itself, should be reason enough to buy this book! Like many other readers, I have been waiting for this moment since Crown of Shadows was published.

And yet, having read both Rothfuss' The Name of the Wind and Williams' Shadowplay earlier this year, I decided to wait a while before giving this one a chance. I try to balance everything by reading titles from various publishers -- an attempt to spread the joy, if you will. However, electing to wait before reading Feast of Souls proved to be a dumb move on my part, for the first volume of the Magister trilogy is without a doubt the very best of Daw Books' "big guns" of 2007.

More epic than dark fantasy this time around, Feast of Souls is a compelling opening chapter in a tale which appears vaster in scope than anything C. S. Friedman has written up until this point. Having said that, I feel that it's also the least self-contained novel the author has ever written. Whereas each volume of the Coldfire trilogy was more or less stand-alone -- even though part of an overall story arc -- Feast of Souls is definitely an introduction to a much more ambitious and complex fantasy epic.

Imaginative and entertaining, with an ending that I never saw coming, Feast of Souls is probably the most underrated fantasy book of 2007. Give C. S. Friedman's latest a shot, lest it remains this year's best-kept secret!

Check the blog for the full review.

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

[Spiral Jacobs]

I finally started on Reaper's Gale yesterday, yay. I feared I'd have to re-read stuff first, but I managed to get into it rather quickly, after browsing a bit through Midnight Tides and The Bonehunters.

I'm only about a 100 pages in, and already Erikson's given me a few 'whoa' moments.

oh yeah!!! finished it about a week or so ago!! Fabulous! there are some great moments!!

Like when Icarium steps of the boat and the gods starts weeping? Oh man. I'm gonna quit my job and read full-time.

[gyrehead]

Currently going back and forth between Cities of Coin and Spice by Catherynne Valente and bits and pieces of the second volume of Martin's Dreamsongs

[Avatar]

Sucked in by Feist once again, am re-reading the Riftwar books. On Silverthorn already.

--A

Betrayl at Kronder was the best computer game ever released.

You can download it for free on the internets at various places. Legally, too, as Sierra released it as freeware a few years before it went Defunct.

Yeah? I'll have to checkmy favourite Abandonware sites.

Anyway, read Smoke & Mirrors and squeezed in all 3 Krondor interludes this weekend (Betrayal, Assassins & Tear of the Gods) while waiting for my Darkness at Sethanon to be returned (couldn't wait), but I've got it now. So that, then on to the Serpent War series. (This is as far as I go, both in that I don't own any of his others, and in that they went rapidly downhill from Shards of a Broken Crown IMO.)

--A

[Mortice Root]

Gyrehead, what bits and pieces specifically? I am a big fan of Martin also, and have the "Rretrospective" collection, which is an older version of the two Dreamsongs volumes. I think that a lot of his shorter works are just brilliant. "Pear-shaped Man" always creeps me out, but I'm not sure if that would be in volume 2 or 1 of Dreamsongs.

[danlo]

Could you tell us this Martin's first name? I know GRR Martin, but of whom dost thou speak?

[Mortice Root]

Sorry, danlo. This is the same George RR Martin. "A Rretrospective" and "Dreamsongs Vol1 & 2" are two versions of short fiction collections of his, largely stuff from the late 70s and early 80s. Pre Song of Ice and Fire stuff. I don't think Dreamsongs has officially been released in the US yet, though I think it has overseas.

[danlo]

Cool! Good to know (I need to announce that at the Martin forum at the Hangar the idea of which was stolen by the Watch.)I've read Tuf Voyaging and a couple of Wild Cards...but need to read older stuff like Windhaven and Fevre Dream.

[Mortice Root]

Fevre Dream was great. Windhaven, while it had it's moments, was just ok, IMO. But make sure you check out his first novel, Dying Of The Light, which is probably my favorite pre-Ice and Fire novel. It's short, but very poignant.

[Dragonlily]

I loved WINDHAVEN because of the experience of flying. Can't remember the rest, it was decades ago.

[SoulBiter]

I bought this book for my son and after he finished it I thought I would read through it to see what kind of reading it was. Well its definetly on a young to young adult level but dang if I didnt find it a very entertaining read. The Last Apprentice: Curse of the Bane. However its the second book of a series.


So now Ive ordered the first and third.

"The Last Apprentice (Revenge of the Witch)"
Joseph Delaney

The Last Apprentice: Night of the Soul Stealer (The Last Apprentice)"
Joseph Delaney.

[Brinn]

The Black Company by Glen Cook.

[I'm Murrin]

I've started reading Michael Moorcock's The Eternal Champion.

[duke]

Tonight I'm going to continue my journey to The Dark Tower with DT4, Wizard and Glass.

[pat5150]

Having loved John Twelve Hawks' The Traveler, I couldn't wait and immediately plunged into the sequel. Though it's once again an entertaining read, I felt that The Dark River didn't have as much substance as its predecessor. Indeed, this novel is a more a full fledged techno thriller.

The pace is intense, from start to finish. So much so that I feel that several sequences were a bit rushed. I felt that certain portions should have been more fleshed out, especially the events occurring in Berlin and Ethiopia. In my opinion, John Twelve Hawks could have elaborated a bit more without losing the rhythm he established in The Traveler.

The storylines comprising The Dark River showed a lot of promise. And yet, the fact that the author speeds through most of them in the narrative doesn't allow him to exploit their potential to the fullest. I'm acutely aware that I don't say this very often, but this book should have been longer.

Regardless of those shortcomings, the reader keeps turning those pages. Short chapters that jump from one POV character to the next create a nice balance between the "good" and the "bad" guys. All in all, another good one!

Check the blog for the full review.

Patrick
www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

[Avatar]

Rise of a Merchant Prince.

--A

[SoulBiter]

I've started reading Michael Moorcock's The Eternal Champion.

Awesome book(s)!
I havent read them in years but Michael Moorcock has some really good series out having to do with the Eternal Champion.

[duke]

130 pages into the 800+ page monster that is Dark Tower 4, Wizard and Glass, and loving it. King's really ripping it up in this novel, everything's just right, plot, characterisation, the small touches, humour, pathos, and the grand scale of the search for the Tower.

When King is "on", he's really, really good.

[Luke The Unbeliever]

DT4 is great! a real tear jerker and a real insight to just who Roland is.

Jusr finished "Sword of Shannara" by Terry Brooks....got it for $2.50 at the local used book store.

Now I'm on to "Memories of Ice" and then "House of Chains"