Kevin's Watch

Thanks--to the library I go! (My favorite used bookstore had only Riddlemaster.)

I recently read Wolfe's new book The Knight and was thoroughly impressed. Now I'm trying to finish up Wolfe's Latro books. After that, it's Zelazny's Amber books.

I've only read Wolfe's Soldier of... series, with which I was seriously impressed (I minored in classical studies and occasionally remember that fact ).

Has anyone here ever read C S Friedmans Coldfire trilogy? I picked them up a few years back because the cover art was so cool and absolutely loved them. If you enjoy fantasy with a touch of scifi then you will enjoy the Coldfire series.

Book 1: Black Sun Rising
Book 2: When True Night Falls
Book 3: Crown of Shadows

Take care,
Matthew

As soon as I drag myself the rest of the way through One for Sorrow (turned out not quite as good as I'd hoped), I'll start Gardens of the Moon.

I'm reading "Snow Queen" by Joan D. Vinge.... It's a SF novel loosely based on H.C. Andersens fairytale with the same name. It's interesting... full of people that aren't just good or evil, but real people with bit of both...

Having read some of these posts, I have tried to get hold of Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. However, maybe I am a fool, but I don't know what order to read them in. There seems to be a number of different orders recommended by various sites. Can anyone here advise? Thanks

I'd go with the method that fits closest to the availability of the books. God knows I've tried to read Asimov's Robot & Empire stuff it order, but when you have parts 7-9, and can't find part 6.....

Thanks. Right, I shall just read in whatever order and have done! You are no doubt right as always superdAN!

I prefer reading stuff in the order it was first published, but then again, I avoid large series of books...

Ermingard, I read Vinge's Snow Queen many years ago. It was a good book. That was back in 1981, the year I call my "Year of the Woman Author," when female writers dominated.

That year I read M. K. Wren's fantastic Phoenix Legacy trilogy, Julian May's The Many-Colored Land and Jean M. Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear, along with Joan Vinge.

Usually my reading tends to favor male writers, but 1981 was different.

I recently finished Guy Gavriel Kay's The Last Light of the Sun. It was a good, but not great book, lower than my high expectations. I thought there were too many POV characters and I didn't get the emotional pay-off that Kay's novels usually give me. It was not nearly as good as Tigana or The Lions of Al-Rassan.

Now I'm reading Peter F. Hamilton's Pandora's Star, and again, it's not measuring up to my admittedly high expectations. The first 200 pages were glacially paced and ponderous. It's steadily improving since, but a lot of the plot seems superfluous. Hopefully Hamilton will tie it all together. I'm not finding the novel nearly as satisfying as Night's Dawn or Fallen Dragon.

Ah, well.

Bring on Dark Tower VI, Song of Susannah and Runes of the Earth.

Roland, I am fervently enthusiastic about Julian May's Many-Colored Land series and the Remillard books that follow them. No one has responded to my tentative mentions of them -- anywhere on the net! At last you give me proof they are not figments of my imagination.

Yes, Joy, I'm a huge fan of Julian May. My favorite female author, closely followed by Dorothy Dunnett.

The Saga of Pliocene Exile should be required reading for any serious student of the sf-fantasy genres. I also like the Galactic Milieu trilogy - Marc Remillard is one of the best villains in all of science fiction. I also like her Rampart Worlds trilogy, more than a lot of readers, I think. I didn't find them nearly as tongue-in-cheek as others, I guess.

And I just recently finished her new epic fantasy debut novel, Conqueror's Moon. It's not up to the level of say, Martin's Song of Ice and Fire or King's Dark Tower or Donaldson's Covenant trilogies, but it's a fine start and I have high hopes for future books in the series.

Roland not only tells me, with favoritism, that Julian May has a new book out. He likes Dorothy Dunnett. Roland, you have leapt onto my radar.

Do you remember that scene before Jack's wedding, with the top hat? I think it's in MAGNIFICAT. I still laugh when I remember that, years later. A pricelessly funny moment in an intense, vastly complicated tale.

And which of Dunnett's series do you prefer?

After some intensive sleeping-in this morning, I went out to find CONQUEROR'S MOON. I always like to start a vacation with a sabarytic bookbuying spree and a slice of pizza from the place across the street from the book store.

Well, I must have been saving money for too long. I spent $150! No self-control at all. Well, maybe a little. I didn't buy a $20 copy of DOCTOR DOOLITTLE ON THE MOON. I filled in several gaps in my Babylon 5 book collection and finally found Hugh Lofting's THE TWILIGHT OF MAGIC. In case I lose all the unread books I have at home.

I finished Gardens of the Moon last night. It was a pretty good book, but one thing I didn't like so much was that all of the PoV characters were likeable - Shadowthrone, Sorry, Rake, and even the Jaghut Raest included. None of them seemed to me to be 'bad guys', as such.

I've finally made it up to book 5 in my reread of the Gap (why I haven't been around much the last few days -- Donaldson has pulled me in. )

Since its been years since my original reading, I;ve been avoiding the Gap forum until I get my reread done. While I can remember the overall plot arc, I have forgotten many of the details.

I'll be starting Deadhouse Gates tonight. I'm not sure about one thing though - in Gardens it seemed like Kalam and Quick Ben were a team who had worked together for years, it just seemed a bit strange that Kalam would go off with Fiddler and leave Ben with the Bridgeburners....

I've heard that that guy's books will finally be released in my country this summer. Looking forward to giving him a try.

I am still working my way through the Gap...also a fantasy book called The Riddle of the Wren by Charles de Lint...