Why can't I like the "black company" books? I've only read a couple [one, couldn't stand it, peeps I trust here said "no!they're good!" read another couldn't stand it]. Really, tell me what I'm missing!Orlion wrote:Just finished Endymion. Will read Rise of Endymion.... eventually.
Now reading The Black Company by Glenn Cook.
What fantasy/science fiction book are you reading RIGHT NOW?
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Vraith
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[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
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Orlion
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Simmer down, dude, I haven't read it yetVraith wrote:Why can't I like the "black company" books? I've only read a couple [one, couldn't stand it, peeps I trust here said "no!they're good!" read another couldn't stand it]. Really, tell me what I'm missing!Orlion wrote:Just finished Endymion. Will read Rise of Endymion.... eventually.
Now reading The Black Company by Glenn Cook.
Thus far, it's fine, but I can see a huge difference between the exposition that other authors I've enjoyed and the complete lack of it in The Black Company. This will be good practice for when I tackle Ernest Hemingway.
'Tis dream to think that Reason can
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville
I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!
"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville
I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!
"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
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Orlion
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Ok, am halfway through the first book and I can say what you're missing: a soul!Vraith wrote: Why can't I like the "black company" books? I've only read a couple [one, couldn't stand it, peeps I trust here said "no!they're good!" read another couldn't stand it]. Really, tell me what I'm missing!
In all seriousness, it could be just the style of the whole thing. Most of the action is implied, and I'm not sure Cook had/has a concept of what battle casualties entail (i.e. there was a riot and thousands and thousands died like the past ten times.... W....T.....F, mate?) at the same time, this style holds something for me after I got use to it...
Until chapter 3 broke the stride. You can tell it was written separate from the book... specifically, you can tell it was written for a pulp. It got better, and I was able to get back into the groove of things.
What I think also really helps is seeing that The Black Company has influenced a lot of writers. I hear crap all the time that Jack Vance influenced everyone, but I don't see his hand in anything. You see Cook's influence on other authors.
It also does my soul good to see Sanderson's arrogant claims smacked down over and over and over again (I'm talking about how he said his Mistborn novel was the first to deal with a world/part of one that was dominated by a dark lord empire thingy.)
'Tis dream to think that Reason can
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville
I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!
"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville
I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!
"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
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Linna Heartbooger
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Oooh, we have that first one lying around our house... haven't ever read it...
"People without hope not only don't write novels, but what is more to the point, they don't read them.
They don't take long looks at anything, because they lack the courage.
The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience, and the novel, of course, is a way to have experience."
-Flannery O'Connor
"In spite of much that militates against quietness there are people who still read books. They are the people who keep me going."
-Elisabeth Elliot, Preface, "A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael"
They don't take long looks at anything, because they lack the courage.
The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience, and the novel, of course, is a way to have experience."
-Flannery O'Connor
"In spite of much that militates against quietness there are people who still read books. They are the people who keep me going."
-Elisabeth Elliot, Preface, "A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael"
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stonemaybe
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just finished Stonewielder, now onto Emerald Witch, an 'epic Irish urban fairytale'
Aglithophile and conniptionist and spectacular moonbow beholder 16Jul11
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stonemaybe
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Orlion
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Finished The Black Company. Instead of shifting to another book in another series, I'm continuing with Shadows Linger.
'Tis dream to think that Reason can
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville
I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!
"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville
I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!
"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
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I'm Murrin
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Halfway through The Bonehunters. Haven't had a negative moment in the Malazan series so far, and this one is no exception. 
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MagickMaker brought home the newest Patricia Briggs novel and said I could read it first. She's okay. 
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Fist and Faith
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Started listening to Path of Daggers (Wheel of Time #8 ) today in the bus.
Been forced to rest more than usual during the past 1-2 months, so needed a slow-paced, long audio book series that wouldn't require constant attention. Had planned to give WOT another shot anyhow, what with never having been able to footslog past the middle of Brick #5 during my first attempt some years back. Furthermore, since I greatly enjoyed Mistborn, I'm rather curious about Sanderson's treatment of the last few tomes.
Now, however, Jordan's tedious, torpid particularization of every fragging thread of lace sewn into the swooping neckline of some insignificant Faux-Oriental-Sounding-Town wench is beginning to pluck at my nerves. I kinda like Mat alongside with a soupcon of supporting characters (Verin, for the most part), but most of the fifteen bzillion people bumbling about I can scarcely identify with. I believe I've gotten so far only because I like Michael Kramer's execution and voice in general. Many boardmembers complain about Linden, but I find the forever-PMS'ing Nynaeve far more irritating than the previous on her 'whiniest' moments.
So those who have read the series: does it get any better past book 10 or so? Would I miss much if I skipped a few volumes entirely and maybe jumped straight to Knife of Dreams?
Or might it be a better idea just to shelf the whole set and restart Malazan...
Been forced to rest more than usual during the past 1-2 months, so needed a slow-paced, long audio book series that wouldn't require constant attention. Had planned to give WOT another shot anyhow, what with never having been able to footslog past the middle of Brick #5 during my first attempt some years back. Furthermore, since I greatly enjoyed Mistborn, I'm rather curious about Sanderson's treatment of the last few tomes.
Now, however, Jordan's tedious, torpid particularization of every fragging thread of lace sewn into the swooping neckline of some insignificant Faux-Oriental-Sounding-Town wench is beginning to pluck at my nerves. I kinda like Mat alongside with a soupcon of supporting characters (Verin, for the most part), but most of the fifteen bzillion people bumbling about I can scarcely identify with. I believe I've gotten so far only because I like Michael Kramer's execution and voice in general. Many boardmembers complain about Linden, but I find the forever-PMS'ing Nynaeve far more irritating than the previous on her 'whiniest' moments.
So those who have read the series: does it get any better past book 10 or so? Would I miss much if I skipped a few volumes entirely and maybe jumped straight to Knife of Dreams?
Or might it be a better idea just to shelf the whole set and restart Malazan...
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Fist and Faith
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