Kevin's Watch

It rocks. 'Nuff said.

Ok.I have now read Runes and FatRev over ten times each.And listened to the audio boks four times each.

Two things have changed for me.


One: I now love BOTH books totally.

Two: Linden is now not just ok in my books,but I like her !

So,I am hereby tossing my THOOLAH membership aside.

Manny Calavera wrote: So,I am hereby tossing my THOOLAH membership aside.

So be it. Persecution to commence immediately.

You've already listened to FR 4 times!??!? That's pretty much non-stop since it was released

And welcome to the Light!

I do post little, 'tis true,

But this deserves another..., near the end of the present 14 pages to say:

The Runes Of The Earth...is high art; for me the best of the bunch...

I regret many are not able to discern this from a few readings. I begin my 5th tonight and never fail to find wonder. Perhaps many should look again...

It remains true; Much is scattered to the four winds... Much goes wanting for understanding...; is wordy, even ......, er..insequential......

But it is as intended and planned, I have no doubt!! ..and in the greatest forms in the changes in character and total prep. of new plot and staging...It is just D--- near unsurpassed....

I would also suggest a careful reading of postings by the wordy.., but always eloquent Wayfriend...not for support of my position, but for understanding of where Donaldson was, and IS going with this...

Regards!! ellll (Johnny, John, Cont...)

I liked it.

Glad to find another willing to say they liked it....

It is I believe, equal to Fatal, and much is actually surpassing in many areas...

Regards, ellll (John)

I just started a re-read, and I can barely put the damn thing down. I really like it.

Okay, I've just finished my first reading of Runes and am (impatiently) waiting for my copy of FR to arrive at my local bookstore.

I have to agree with the people that have said that it wasn't as "moving" as the previous books. Having said that, SRD is obviously setting us up for the following three books.

And the last chapter - wow - completely unexpected!

It has got me wondering whether -

Spoiler

Jeremiah has actually been in the Land the whole time - I mean, before Linden got there. His condition suggests that it's possible that he was elsewhere while Linden was caring for him.

If that is confirmed in FR, don't tell me. I don't want to know until I've read it!

High Lord Tolkien wrote:Is anyone disappointed in Runes?
I was answering a question in the General SRD forum about what was my favorite chapter.
I went through all six books in my head and had many from each one to choose from or fight over.
But when I went to Runes.......nada....zip.
It was just.....ok.
Nothing really moved me.
And I've read it 2 times and browsed it several times.

I was never struck with any kind of wonder with Runes.
Am I just getting older and hard to please?
Or is it a different writting style of SRD?
Anyone else feel this way?
I'm not disappointed in Runes, I loved it.
But there was definitely no wonderful "What the Hell" reading moments for me.

I'm half way through my second, slow and considerate read through (I've previously browsed and raced through all of the chapters many times) and I have to say that although it does flow a little faster the second time around I'm sticking to my original premise of no exciting "what the hell"? moments.

I will say though that after reading FR I'm picking up a TON of more hints of future events that I never noticed before. Everything Anele says is vitally important and reveals so much (unfortunately I assume that we won't know it all until the end).

So, again I say,

The meat is there for the seeker.

I found the issues to be rather exciting and forward looking; with a taste of exotica as well..., as surely intended by the author. After 5 readings, ( I believe...), I still am thrilled by the amazing disconnect Anele places on Linden (AND Linden accepts in wonder, which is also "a wonder"), like behind the waterfall; in the kresh battle...., and others as well. Impossible to allow this to go unappreciated...

Perhaps it's just a matter of what we are seeking in this series. I am in it for the wonder of DEPTH in this powerful author!!! The use of obscurities of all kinds is a wonder. The use of world religious symbolism, in some volumes, the ships named, even Hittite and Roman, in The One Tree... and this vilume continues the past, and a new way...

MANY other areas do so as well. through the series, and also in Runes in new ways. For example, questions of ETHICS that are suggested in "almost questions", but.., never really answered other than by the reader... also, surely as this author intended, through the whole series..

The Runes remains one of the top two or three volumes in this series for me.

Regards, ellll (John Cont)

Don't forget, guys, that no matter what happens, the next two books will NOT be like the previous 8.

The second Chrons was distinct from the first, and the final are also different.

Some authors just write the same book over and over (ad nauseum), but I can honestly say that each and every one of SRD's books (even within the same series) is a unique read for me. That's one of the reasons I like him.

I thought "Runes" was good, in and if itself, and also as a set-up for the following books. The first chapter/book/act/episode ( in any medium) always tends to be a bit boring, simply because it's becessary to set up the story, and lay things out. Only after this has been done, can the story really start picking up speed. NBD. Have faith, my friends !

Creator wrote:While I liked Runes ... it is a set up.

Nothing specific 'moved me' as much as say ... the meeting of the Giants in the Wonderd Land ... Covenants joy in seeing them again was honestly matched by my own. Poignant.

Runes did not affect me so. [Tho the ceasure scenes - once I knew that formication wasn't ... well, you know ... made me itch! ]

Did Alice meet them too?

I just finished Runes...

The only part that gave me those good ol' tingles, a sense of surprise and wonder, anything drawing me in, was the very, very ending. I was very surprised and wonderfully pleased.

But apart from that, it was almost like reading a Dan Brown novel...

...but not quite that bad.

I am reading RotE for the first time right now actually. I have shelved the book twice in the last few days as I found this one to have a very slow plot and quite a few new words, that I have never heard of, have been written throughout the novel (as SRD loves doing). With these new words I have to get a dictionary or thesaurus to look them up and then I find I am pulled out of the story very often. Luckily I have now gotten to part II where actually some things are being explained and now I feel the story is going somewhere. But it took 300 odd pages to get there . I hope it is worth it when I get to read Fatal Revenant, although I do believe SRD is setting it all up for the remaining books. I want to know how it all ends.

krillarbran wrote:I am reading RotE for the first time right now actually. I have shelved the book twice in the last few days as I found this one to have a very slow plot and quite a few new words, that I have never heard of, have been written throughout the novel (as SRD loves doing). With these new words I have to get a dictionary or thesaurus to look them up and then I find I am pulled out of the story very often. Luckily I have now gotten to part II where actually some things are being explained and now I feel the story is going somewhere. But it took 300 odd pages to get there . I hope it is worth it when I get to read Fatal Revenant, although I do believe SRD is setting it all up for the remaining books. I want to know how it all ends.

At the risk of spamming here (I don't have any stock in this anyway), I hear that Amazon's Kindle has a word research feature. I would buy one if I could, the books for it are less than half the price of a hardcover. I would also check to make sure the Kindle version I'm buying has the word research ability.

TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:

krillarbran wrote:I am reading RotE for the first time right now actually. I have shelved the book twice in the last few days as I found this one to have a very slow plot and quite a few new words, that I have never heard of, have been written throughout the novel (as SRD loves doing). With these new words I have to get a dictionary or thesaurus to look them up and then I find I am pulled out of the story very often. Luckily I have now gotten to part II where actually some things are being explained and now I feel the story is going somewhere. But it took 300 odd pages to get there . I hope it is worth it when I get to read Fatal Revenant, although I do believe SRD is setting it all up for the remaining books. I want to know how it all ends.

At the risk of spamming here (I don't have any stock in this anyway), I hear that Amazon's Kindle has a word research feature. I would buy one if I could, the books for it are less than half the price of a hardcover. I would also check to make sure the Kindle version I'm buying has the word research ability.

To me that is blasphemic. For me to own E-books will never happen in the near future. . I want to keep the physical book economy going for as long as it can make its dying legs drag along. I have tried reading different e-books in the past and I find it doesnt compare to a proper crisp smelling book, also I get distracted when reading e-books way too often.

Nice suggestion though. Never knew e-book readers had those kind of features.

krillarbran wrote:

TheWormoftheWorld'sEnd wrote:

krillarbran wrote:I am reading RotE for the first time right now actually. I have shelved the book twice in the last few days as I found this one to have a very slow plot and quite a few new words, that I have never heard of, have been written throughout the novel (as SRD loves doing). With these new words I have to get a dictionary or thesaurus to look them up and then I find I am pulled out of the story very often. Luckily I have now gotten to part II where actually some things are being explained and now I feel the story is going somewhere. But it took 300 odd pages to get there . I hope it is worth it when I get to read Fatal Revenant, although I do believe SRD is setting it all up for the remaining books. I want to know how it all ends.

At the risk of spamming here (I don't have any stock in this anyway), I hear that Amazon's Kindle has a word research feature. I would buy one if I could, the books for it are less than half the price of a hardcover. I would also check to make sure the Kindle version I'm buying has the word research ability.

To me that is blasphemic. For me to own E-books will never happen in the near future. . I want to keep the physical book economy going for as long as it can make its dying legs drag along. I have tried reading different e-books in the past and I find it doesnt compare to a proper crisp smelling book, also I get distracted when reading e-books way too often.

Nice suggestion though. Never knew e-book readers had those kind of features.

The same person who told me about this also said his wife doesn't believe in e-books.

However, paper books are ridiculously over-priced. Back in the 1970s, when I first started reading books, they were less voluminous than they are now, and much cheaper. Then, over night, the volume of the same books increased and the prices skyrocketed. That seemed really arbitrary since they were the same books, with exactly the same number of words, only more pages were being crammed in between the covers. Ever since then I've felt ripped off every time I buy a new book.

Re-reading ROTE for the third time I believe, perhaps the fourth. Started in January with LFB and am reading one book a month. Every book so far has pleased me, and I have gotten something new from each book so far. But all I can say about ROTE, almost halfway through, is:

This book still sucks.

It just feels disjointed and bloated. The story stumbles from one bland scene to the next. Halfway through, there is still no point. Linden Avery is just wandering around the southern Land clueless, she has no purpose, no plan, just kind of staggers around in everyone else's wake. She is not learning anything, not doing anything. I just don't get it.

I thought maybe this time around it would feel a little different. But it is just a bad book. It takes everything I have just to pick it up again and try to limp through to the end. I probably won't ever read it again. If I re-read the chronicles again ten or fifteen years from now, I think I would be better off just skipping Runes and instead reading the last part of WHGB in FR.