Kevin's Watch

danlo wrote:What is MT? And what is Stonewielder?

Midnight Tides, it's the Fifth book in the series. And Stonewielder is the third book in the Malazan Universe written by Ian C. Esselmont... but I didn't know it was out yet... when's the US publication date?

There is a separate series set in the same universe as Erikson's books?

Are they any good?

Not as good, but not terrible.

2nd one was better than the 1st, so I've got hopes for StoneWielder...

--A

I've never a book as slowly as Gardens of the Moon. I almost gave up on it a quarter of the way through - writing style, characters, odd worldbuilding. However, it's really getting better now. All these great hints are being delivered - the T'lan Imass, Onos Otoolan [sic], Caladan Brood, the Warrens, etc. And finally some of the characters are becoming interesting (the Adjunct). So, the book is really pulling me in.

I'm nearing the end of Gardens of the Moon (finally). It's been a tough read and I keep putting it down for a couple weeks, then reading a few pages, only to put it down again.

There's some interesting stuff here though - it's just hard to stick with it

It wasn't an easy read for me, either. I read the first 50 pages, then had to re-read them because I had no clue what was going on. The writing is not very good in the first book (pretty lousy, if you ask me), but gets much better in book 2. I had some issues with book 2 as well. I wasn't really hooked until Memories of Ice. That's a great read from cover to cover.

I suspect I'd like GotM a lot better if I re-read it, but I doubt that I will.

Meh. For what it's worth, I never got hooked even though I really wanted to love this series. The series had occasional flashes of inspiration but never enough to keep me really interested. Different strokes for different folks.

How far did you get, Brinn?

Halfway through "Midnight Tides". I'm sure I'll pick it up again and try to continue but it hasn't been an easy read for me at all.

from what i seem to remember, the people that really love bakker
don't seem to care for erikson as much, and possibly erikson people
don't care for bakker as much. odd huh.
tho, as per usual, syl poops on my theory and likes em both i think.

Not sure why that would be. Any theories?

That's interesting, every time I get near p570 in Memories I get stuck, somehow...I'm trying real hard but always want to read something else (like The Judging Eye, eg). The harder I try more books cross my way; Bear Heart, Cosmic Connections, AATE (for some really weird reason I keep reading The Celestine Prophecy, even after I dissed the heck o/o it in Gen. Lit --I guess I need to renew my vibrating energy and engage with the insightful evolutionary spiritual flow man...and here I thought it was just Springtime... )

Didn't Fist get into Erikson after trying to read Bakker?

Well, I think I'll try Bakker after The Crippled God. Need a slight break before Stonewielder

(This will be after Endymion and The Rise of Endymion, which will constitute as my break from fantasy)

Those last too Simmons books in the series do have a, kind of, fantasy feel even tho they're SF...

Drat, I'll have to balance the scales later with some hard sci-fi... well, I have been meaning to read Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear...

Brinn wrote:Halfway through "Midnight Tides". I'm sure I'll pick it up again and try to continue but it hasn't been an easy read for me at all.

MT, (and Reapers Gale (Bk 7)) are not the highlights of the series I'm afraid. Book 6 & 8 on the other hand, are.

--A

Well, I've given up on Gardens of the Moon, sorry. Kruppe killed the book for me; I just couldn't stand him, and was frustrated with the trade off between character development and uninteresting and annoying characters. Erickson seriously could have dumped three-quarters of the cast just to focus on some of the more interesting ones.

Further, I felt as though he was writing the world for himself. As though, he expects you to know the world already. Hence, there was very little exposition, leaving you confused at times.

Loremaster wrote:Well, I've given up on Gardens of the Moon, sorry. Kruppe killed the book for me; I just couldn't stand him, and was frustrated with the trade off between character development and uninteresting and annoying characters. Erickson seriously could have dumped three-quarters of the cast just to focus on some of the more interesting ones.

Further, I felt as though he was writing the world for himself. As though, he expects you to know the world already. Hence, there was very little exposition, leaving you confused at times.

In a way, he *was* writing it for himself. The series grew out of an RPG he and Esslemont came up with. And yes, there's no exposition in a traditional sense until probably book 9. I found the first several books confusing as hell for the first 100 pages or so. But I liked Kruppe, and several other characters, so I plugged away. YMMV.

aliantha wrote:

Loremaster wrote:Well, I've given up on Gardens of the Moon, sorry. Kruppe killed the book for me; I just couldn't stand him, and was frustrated with the trade off between character development and uninteresting and annoying characters. Erickson seriously could have dumped three-quarters of the cast just to focus on some of the more interesting ones.

Further, I felt as though he was writing the world for himself. As though, he expects you to know the world already. Hence, there was very little exposition, leaving you confused at times.

In a way, he *was* writing it for himself. The series grew out of an RPG he and Esslemont came up with. And yes, there's no exposition in a traditional sense until probably book 9. I found the first several books confusing as hell for the first 100 pages or so. But I liked Kruppe, and several other characters, so I plugged away. YMMV.

Yeah, I loved Kruppe instantly, and I loved not knowing what was going on... it was refreshing. At the same time, it may be tough for me to read other fantasy series as a result... you know, like what happened after I read TC for the first time until I picked up Titus Groan (Sheesh, what's up with me and ponderous tomes of literature? )