Kevin's Watch

Zoo City, another stand alone by Lauren Beukes. I really enjoyed Moxyland. If Gibson had been gritty instead of slick, that's what it would be like. I'd love to see a sequel.

Been told this one is better, so let's see.

--A

I've just begun The Godless, by Ben Peek.

Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett.

--A

Dreams of the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn. She usually writes urban fantasy with werewolves and stuff, but this series is based in a world where superheroes are commonplace. The first book was called After the Golden Age and the main character was Celia, the daughter of two members of the city's celebrated superhero team. Unlike her parents, Celia has no super powers, and so criminals kept kidnapping her to keep her parents busy. This book is set several years later, and the main character is Celia's daughter, who *does* have super powers but who doesn't want her parents to find out. Because teenager. It's cute so far, but I'm not very far into it yet.

I ended up liking the Carrie Vaughn a lot. You guys who are into comic books would probably enjoy these books.

Um, so, I confess that I had already started Erikson's Willful Child and set it aside to read Dreams of the Golden Age. Erikson's wasn't grabbing me -- the captain seemed like too much of a cartoon version of Captain Kirk, at least at first. But I'm going to give it another shot and will let you know how it goes.

Nymphomation by Jeff Noon. Just been lent it by a colleague. Never heard of him.

--A

The Cycle of Arawn (trilogy) - Edward W. Robertson

SoulBiter wrote:The Cycle of Arawn (trilogy) - Edward W. Robertson

$3.99 on kindle. Heh

So if it sucks... Im out $3.99...

I'm always looking for a deal.

Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind is $2.25 on Kindle right now. Or it was yesterday. I haven't read it yet, so I picked it up.

Willful Child got better. I think Scalzi did a better job of skewering Star Trek, but Erikson's take ended up not being too bad.

Finished Game of Thrones and am waiting for A Clash of Kings to come in from the library. In the meantime I read deer's Blackbirch Woods, and am now moving on to ali's Lulie.

Hawk by Steven Brust. Fun read.

I keep almost starting The Way of Kings: Book One of The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. For some reason, whenever I try to start the audio flowing something in my head says "wait, maybe it sucks a lot. Don't start it yet" so I don't.

WTF is wrong with me? I liked the only other Sanderson book I've even attempted to listen to, Steelheart. Why am I wussing out on this?

Wildling wrote:I keep almost starting The Way of Kings: Book One of The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. For some reason, whenever I try to start the audio flowing something in my head says "wait, maybe it sucks a lot. Don't start it yet" so I don't.

WTF is wrong with me? I liked the only other Sanderson book I've even attempted to listen to, Steelheart. Why am I wussing out on this?

Yeah, you should seek professional help

Having read most of Sanderson's work, I'd say The Way of Kings is one of his best. That said, it is worlds different from Steelheart (which I also enjoyed). Steelheart is Sanderson kinda underwriting. The Way of Kings is Sanderson Overwriting...like a lot. That's not to say nothing happens: quite a bit does. But it is definitely a different style.

I'm also not sure how I feel about audio for The Way of Kings. There is a little bit of a visual element to the book as well, which I do not know how (if) they handle in the audio version. There are also interludes that, though they do not add or detract too much from the main story offer nice little goodies for those that have read a bunch of his other books.

Orlion wrote:

Wildling wrote:I keep almost starting The Way of Kings: Book One of The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. For some reason, whenever I try to start the audio flowing something in my head says "wait, maybe it sucks a lot. Don't start it yet" so I don't.

WTF is wrong with me? I liked the only other Sanderson book I've even attempted to listen to, Steelheart. Why am I wussing out on this?

Yeah, you should seek professional help

Having read most of Sanderson's work, I'd say The Way of Kings is one of his best. That said, it is worlds different from Steelheart (which I also enjoyed). Steelheart is Sanderson kinda underwriting. The Way of Kings is Sanderson Overwriting...like a lot. That's not to say nothing happens: quite a bit does. But it is definitely a different style.

I'm also not sure how I feel about audio for The Way of Kings. There is a little bit of a visual element to the book as well, which I do not know how (if) they handle in the audio version. There are also interludes that, though they do not add or detract too much from the main story offer nice little goodies for those that have read a bunch of his other books.

Well then, maybe I should ease my way in with the Mistborn stuff.

Or seek help. Whichever is cheaper.

Mistborn will be cheaper. I got a freebie with the first few chapters of Mistborn in it at WFC this year. I'm gonna have to read the rest of the book now...

aliantha wrote:Mistborn will be cheaper. I got a freebie with the first few chapters of Mistborn in it at WFC this year. I'm gonna have to read the rest of the book now...

Oh, it starts with just the Mistborn book... then you decide you'll just finish the trilogy... then you you start reading his other fantasy novels... soon enough you start reading his YA books and buying any anthology that contains his shorter work, but it's never enough! You want more! And though Sanderson is by far one of the faster contemporary fantasy writers, it's never fast enough!

Just finished Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie. It was fine and I read it quite quickly. However, I read Ancillary Justice last year (the first in the series) and I thought that it was excellent. If I remember correctly I felt that it was almost too rich, as if she'd packed all the good stuff into one book. I feel now that I was right. The second book felt to me as if all the characters were watered-down versions of those in the first book. It's still a good book, but it lacked the intensity and emotional punch of the first book. The pace seemed slack and almost nothing of importance happened. It felt like there was more emphasis on the importance of delph than on some of the characters!

I'll definitely read the third one (so long as there's only one more) as it will have to be more exciting by the simple fact of having to reach some sort of conclusion.

u.

ussusimiel wrote:Just finished Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie. It was fine and I read it quite quickly. However, I read Ancillary Justice last year (the first in the series) and I thought that it was excellent. If I remember correctly I felt that it was almost too rich, as if she'd packed all the good stuff into one book. I feel now that I was right. The second book felt to me as if all the characters were watered-down versions of those in the first book. It's still a good book, but it lacked the intensity and emotional punch of the first book. The pace seemed slack and almost nothing of importance happened. It felt like there was more emphasis on the importance of delph than on some of the characters!

I'll definitely read the third one (so long as there's only one more) as it will have to be more exciting by the simple fact of having to reach some sort of conclusion.

u.

Ah, the curse of the middle book in the series...

Well, I thought it was excellent. It's a smaller, quieter story, but really well done. Very political.