Kevin's Watch

I have finished Ancillary Sword. As I said above, it is really very good. The first one won all the awards; this one totally lives up to the expectations that set. Buy it.

The Amazing Maurice & His Educated Rodents - Terry Pratchett.

--A

Currently reading Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Stairs. Book's had a lot of positive press lately.

Avatar wrote:The Amazing Maurice & His Educated Rodents - Terry Pratchett.

--A

I THINK that was the first of his I read.

Just finished the "Pliocene Exile" quartet.

I've gathered together all the Erikson "Malazan" books, and intend, next week, to begin a full, uninterrupted by other books, read through.

Vraith wrote:I've gathered together all the Erikson "Malazan" books, and intend, next week, to begin a full, uninterrupted by other books, read through.

See you in a couple of months.

Vraith wrote: Just finished the "Pliocene Exile" quartet.

Good! One of my favorites. I haven't read the others, though I have recently procured them.

I've gathered together all the Erikson "Malazan" books, and intend, next week, to begin a full, uninterrupted by other books, read through.

Don't do it, man. You'll go insane! I mean, Avatar has done it, look at how he is! Toys in the attic, he's crazy!

Vraith wrote:I've gathered together all the Erikson "Malazan" books, and intend, next week, to begin a full, uninterrupted by other books, read through.

You may need more than a week for that.

Well done on both counts! I love love love the Galactic Milieu trilogy and the prequel.Haven't gotten to Pliocene yet, but will.

Malazan is among the only things I rate as high. Probably higher, but apples and oranges.

There's another writer for Malazan other than Erikson, right? Do you have those as well, Vraith?

Menolly wrote:There's another writer for Malazan other than Erikson, right? Do you have those as well, Vraith?

I don't, and right now I'm not interested in them. That may change.
I read Erikson's first, and was impressed...but I hate waiting, so decided to pretend it didn't exist until I was convinced he was done with it. [though I kinda cheated a little a couple times]
Things got in the way of the grand read till now.
I read the first Esslemont, for some reason at the time not noticing/recognizing it was part of the same world/story. Wasn't nearly as impressed.

I don't think anybody's as impressed with ICE as with SE. I'm sure not. IMO, he ranges from "not bad" to "pretty darned good". Never terrible, but never great. If he was writing something all his own, it would probably be well worth reading. I'd give it a shot, for sure. But he suffers by comparison to the incredible books of Erikson.

Orlion wrote:

Vraith wrote: Just finished the "Pliocene Exile" quartet.

Good! One of my favorites. I haven't read the others, though I have recently procured them.

Intervention and the Galactic Milieu books are better than the Exile books I think.

I've gathered together all the Erikson "Malazan" books, and intend, next week, to begin a full, uninterrupted by other books, read through.

Don't do it, man. You'll go insane! I mean, Avatar has done it, look at how he is! Toys in the attic, he's crazy!

:twisted I have done it several times in fact. Actually, I'm planning another one in a couple months.

--A

Night of Knives was OK, but I disliked Return of the Crimson Guard so much I haven't read anything else he's written.

Stonewielder was better than RotCG, (I particularly disliked the beginning of that) but I did like the whole "what happened to the Empress" bit. Orb, Sceptre, Throne was pretty good too.

--A

RotCG was my favorite of his. The only one that was really necessary, too. Otherwise, you'd be reading Erikson saying "What the hell's he talking about! Why wouldn't we see that event?"

The characters in ROTCG were almost indistinguishable from one another. Poor imitations of Erikson's soldiers.

Maybe, but Bars is pretty damn cool. And I like his Seguleh too...

(Oh wait...was Bars his or Eriksons...? )

--A

After my massive Stephen King read going on right now, I intend to check out some of the suggestions in this forum. I'm currently on Needful Things, and not enjoying it nearly as much as Bag of Bones.

Oh, I liked Needful Things. I still read it sometimes. (Wait, isn't Needful Things connected to The Dark Half? I think it may be...

--A

Aren't they all connected in some kind of Six Degrees of Steve King kind of way?