Each of the sequels relegate the previous main characters to supporting roles, along with time a time skip between each. If you really liked Thorne's story, but don't click with the new characters, I can see it being a bit of a let down. On top of 3 new YA-aged leads in Half a War, it's still an Abercrombie book, so don't expect all of your favourites to be treated all that well.
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What are you reading? (April 2017)
- Thread starter Maklershed
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Each of the sequels relegate the previous main characters to supporting roles, along with time a time skip between each. If you really liked Thorne's story, but don't click with the new characters, I can see it being a bit of a let down. On top of 3 new YA-aged leads in Half a War, it's still an Abercrombie book, so don't expect all of your favourites to be treated all that well.
Reckon it won't be a problem, as I find it hard not to warm up to any character Abercrombie creates. He's a master at that. I also don't mind if he puts them in the most dire of situations, that's a pillar of fiction.
I was mainly talking about the setup: the way I see it, as unoriginal as it may be, an
all-out war
FWIW, The Peripheral is standalone (or at least for now), so it's unrelated to his previous Blue Ant trilogy.
On these last weeks I started and finished both Way of kings and Words of Radiance, by Brandon Sanderson. I also picked up Salem's lot again, by Stephen King.
My reading habit several improved after I installed an e-book reader in my smartphone. I still love physical books, but being to read at any time is very convenient.
My reading habit several improved after I installed an e-book reader in my smartphone. I still love physical books, but being to read at any time is very convenient.
More_Badass
Member
First time getting into ebooks?
AngmarsKing701
Member
I've got about 30 pages left in Half a War and while it is entertaining, Half the World is (imo) the best of the series. Thorn is just such a great character. While she's in the 3rd book, she's not the focus.
Fuuuuuuuu...
So I just read two short stories and I had to say how good they were. Well, I'm not really in love with the first one, 'The Professor's Teddy-Bear' by Sturgeon, but there is no denying the creepy as shit factor. It reminded me of some segment of an 80's horror movie anthology about a god child. This text shows me once again how wrong people thinking old texts must be less scary often are. There is a body horror sequence in it that would not feel out of place in a Barker book.
But while it was creepy and inventive as hell, I can't say I loved it. The plot is really barren.
And I just continued The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu. 'Reborn' was super dense and the next story is its polar opposite. 'Before and After' is just two pages of a neat stylistic play on form. The moment when I realized 'oh, so that's why you write those heinously long sentences since the beginning of your story' was just super cool. No plot interest, but that was clearly not the point, just an elegant text from an author having fun with how the content of a story can inform its form.
Two stories in and I must say that Liu is a personnal revelation. If there are more sf writers like him I can say I have missed out by not reading the genre.
So I just read two short stories and I had to say how good they were. Well, I'm not really in love with the first one, 'The Professor's Teddy-Bear' by Sturgeon, but there is no denying the creepy as shit factor. It reminded me of some segment of an 80's horror movie anthology about a god child. This text shows me once again how wrong people thinking old texts must be less scary often are. There is a body horror sequence in it that would not feel out of place in a Barker book.
But while it was creepy and inventive as hell, I can't say I loved it. The plot is really barren.
And I just continued The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu. 'Reborn' was super dense and the next story is its polar opposite. 'Before and After' is just two pages of a neat stylistic play on form. The moment when I realized 'oh, so that's why you write those heinously long sentences since the beginning of your story' was just super cool. No plot interest, but that was clearly not the point, just an elegant text from an author having fun with how the content of a story can inform its form.
Two stories in and I must say that Liu is a personnal revelation. If there are more sf writers like him I can say I have missed out by not reading the genre.
Jag
Member
I agree and I'm also one of the people that said it peaks in Book 2. I just loved Thorn. Book 3 does a nice job of finishing out the series.
Don Quixote!
Way back in 2011, two books got me started on reading actual books (as opposed to "five or so a year, plus a lot of manga") again: Rereading The Count of Monte Cristo (xoxo Cyan) for the GAF Book Club, and reading Don Quixote. It's been long enough now that I feel nostalgic thinking about it.
I hope you enjoy it. It has a lot of fun metafictional layers.
I'm glad you like it so far. It is excellent good stuff.
I didn't see this posted here anywhere, but there is a Brandon Sanderson Humble Book Bundle going on right now if anyone is interested.
Taken from his website, here is what's included:
Taken from his website, here is what's included:
Finished Carlo Rovelli's "Seven Brief Lessons on Physics". Exactly what it says: seven short chapters on various big theories. Explains them simply and effectively. It's even quite touching at times.
Now, nearing the end of Dashiell Hammett's "Thin Man". It's a nice little detective yarn. But holy shit how that detective drinks. Can't go two pages without liquor, usually poured by his wife.
Now, nearing the end of Dashiell Hammett's "Thin Man". It's a nice little detective yarn. But holy shit how that detective drinks. Can't go two pages without liquor, usually poured by his wife.
Well, as said above I kinda hope to be of a different opinion by the end of War. We'll see. The fact that I'm not Thorn's biggest fan may help (not that I don't like her, just to clarify).
Zelenogorsk
Banned
I went ahead and picked up Nicholas Eames' Kings of the Wyld yesterday and it's pretty great so far. I've also got Mark Lawrence's Red Sister arriving the mail any day now. I'm super close to finishing Wise Man's Fear and I can't wait to read some books that are under 500 pages.
AngmarsKing701
Member
Mark Lawrence
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
House of Leaves is melting my brain.
More_Badass
Member
Okay, yeah, Mistborn is great so far. Just finished the first book's first act. Whoever classified this as "young adult" in their reviews/articles is crazy
Is the rest of the first trilogy as good, and is the second trilogy as interesting as the first?
Is the rest of the first trilogy as good, and is the second trilogy as interesting as the first?
I've been wanting to read it for like seven years, havent gotten around to it yet
I got a notification from the nearby post office that they have a package for me, should be the copy of House of Leaves I ordered from Amazon a good while back. Pretty excited to (hopefully) check it out later today!
e: ayy got em
Bigger than I thought. I might read a bit tonight, but I'll finish some of the other books I'm currently reading before starting it for real.
I know absolutely nothing about this book, except that it's supposedly pretty... Experimental. I guess I'm still supposed to start reading it like any other book, from the beginning and one page at a time?
;p
I'll recommend two of the usual ones: Sapkowski (even if it's not too dark) and Bakker (whose books are more than dark, they're downright bleak).
TheExhaustedWalrus
Member
I finished The Waste Lands (Dark Tower 3) on Sunday. I ended up really enjoying it. So far, it's the most epic of the series and it really sees the characters going places in King's weird world which is why I wanted to read the series in the first place.
Onto The Disaster Artist. Been waiting a while to read this one.
Onto The Disaster Artist. Been waiting a while to read this one.
Funyarinpa
Member
RageWaffles
Member
Don't skip the footnotes, but, in my opinion, it's okay to skim the appendices. Enjoy.
I just finished John Darnielle's Universal Harvester. At times it gave me the same (spoilered for Muntu's sake)
uncanny
a hobbyist spliced their films into others'
red herrings
Sorry for getting back to these replies late.
Maybe its just how I read. I have 1.5 hr commute in the morning and then again on the way home. I usually like books which keep me alert and draw me in right away. Not necessarily thrillers but something which engages me right away. With this book I am 60 some pages in and its a struggle to stay interested.
Maklershed
Member
Just realizing now I forgot to update between books. I finished News of the World (meh) the other day and started The Unseeing. Yay for Victorian London!
The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola
The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola
So much so that I personally ended up with darkness-induced apathy. An asteroid strike would have been a mercy kill for the world.
This was fantastic. It's near-future Sci-Fi involving a simulated mars mission by three astronauts for a Space-X like company in preparation for the real thing.
Except what it really is, is a wonderful character story following the inner lives of the three astronauts and those around them. The whole novel is told though the inner voices of the characters showing their thoughts and reactions to events, including the occasional stream of consciousness as they get lost in thoughts or memories. It's far more Le Guin then Baxter.
Sheriff_Battlesnake
Banned
Slaughterhouse 5, my first read! Nabbed Cat's Cradle during an Amazon sale and fell head over heels for Vonnegut.
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2010: Space Odyssey. Only 30 pages in but loving it!
&
2010: Space Odyssey. Only 30 pages in but loving it!
sparky2112
Member
Reading:
While true that I've never believed in blind patriotism, I am so utterly disappointed/despondent over the state of this country that I wanted some kind of palate-cleanser, to be reminded of a time when American wasn't *quite* the shitshow it is right now. Given the book's size and the likelihood of me moving through it rather slowly, I sort of expect some indictments to be handed down in the meantime. If not, I just might have to go onto David Herbert Donald's Lincoln, or McCullough's Truman.
While true that I've never believed in blind patriotism, I am so utterly disappointed/despondent over the state of this country that I wanted some kind of palate-cleanser, to be reminded of a time when American wasn't *quite* the shitshow it is right now. Given the book's size and the likelihood of me moving through it rather slowly, I sort of expect some indictments to be handed down in the meantime. If not, I just might have to go onto David Herbert Donald's Lincoln, or McCullough's Truman.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
That's more or less what I'm attempting to do, but there has been lots of page flipping and reference checking and reading backwards and upside down and...
Enjoy yourself
Reading:
While true that I've never believed in blind patriotism, I am so utterly disappointed/despondent over the state of this country that I wanted some kind of palate-cleanser, to be reminded of a time when American wasn't *quite* the shitshow it is right now. Given the book's size and the likelihood of me moving through it rather slowly, I sort of expect some indictments to be handed down in the meantime. If not, I just might have to go onto David Herbert Donald's Lincoln, or McCullough's Truman.
Funnily enough, I also grabbed this book from the library because of a similar sense of disappointment. I haven't started it, though!
sparky2112
Member
AND you're Indianapolis (which I just learned!). I'm Westfield! Small world...
The second set of Mistborn books are actually a quadrilogy, with the last book to be released in 2018 or 2019. I read the first two. I think that you will like them if you liked the Final Empire trilogy.
I still haven't finished it!
If you see someone wandering the aisles of the library reading, it's probably me. But I might feign ignorance if you were to ask.
More_Badass
Member
I haven't read fiction in quite a while before getting into The North Water, Rama, and Mistborn (unless you count comics and manga). But I had almost exclusively read non-fiction/history books for the last year or so
But Rama and Mistborn really sparked my interest in sci-fi/fantasy again. Already got my next reads lined up: Mistborn 2 and 3, Book of the New Sun, Lies of Locke Lamora, Hyperion
But Rama and Mistborn really sparked my interest in sci-fi/fantasy again. Already got my next reads lined up: Mistborn 2 and 3, Book of the New Sun, Lies of Locke Lamora, Hyperion
Reading:
While true that I've never believed in blind patriotism, I am so utterly disappointed/despondent over the state of this country that I wanted some kind of palate-cleanser, to be reminded of a time when American wasn't *quite* the shitshow it is right now. Given the book's size and the likelihood of me moving through it rather slowly, I sort of expect some indictments to be handed down in the meantime. If not, I just might have to go onto David Herbert Donald's Lincoln, or McCullough's Truman.
If you're in the market for biographies on American presidents I'd be remiss if I didn't plug Jean Edward Smith's biography of Grant. As far as men in American history that deserve a second look, there's hardly one as compelling as grant. 2 term president and war hero who is trashed by most textbooks and up until about a decade or so ago by most historians. As reconstruction and the civil war started to get heavily reevaluated in the back half of the 20th century so too have some of the key players in it, and while there exists plenty of recent revisionist histories on the man trying to reevaluate him I tend to find JES' biography the most pleasurable to read both in presentation and balance between early life, war years, and presidency. He's sometimes a little too forgiving of the man, but considering all the vitriol hurled at him over the years I can't blame him for veering towards a more positive look overall.
Also check out his biography of Bush 43 after you get the "I want to feel a little better about my country" phase and want to read something a little more critical in nature. And by criticall, I mostly mean downright fucking vitriolic. Not that 43 doesn't deserve it, but it's a good dose of catharsis as any to someone who lived through those years, especially today as people start to think "eh, he wasn't that bad..."
In part because of her interesting life, and my love for one of her self-portraits (not the one on these covers, although that's also great), in part because I'm planning to put at least one of her paintings on my wall in a soon to be bought apartment, and in part to put something on my coffee table for people to skim through, I jumped in with three Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun purchases at once, all of which I'm currently enjoying
sparky2112
Member
Thanks for the tips!
I actually have the Grant bio (among a few others), but I haven't read it yet. Now I'm really looking forward to it.
FlowersisBritish
fleurs n'est pas britannique
Finished the Disaster Artist, was a lot of fun. Also gave The Room a rewatch and the extra bit of context makes it kind of fun. At a loss for what to read next :/ My GF is pushing me to read some comics but I'm just kinda eh on them as a whole. Kinda want to read some Kafka.
Ravensmash
Member
Enjoying Clash of Kings so far - although certain character arcs interest me FAR more.
I'm going to stop trying to overthink the series as a whole though.
I went straight from the first to Clash of Kings and I got into a nasty habit of rereading chapters/flicking back to parts a few chapters back to jog my memory of specifics.
Its just making the reading not as fun as it should be. If I forget stuff then so be it - time to enjoy the ride more.
Definitely getting into a more relaxing read after this though. I can't imagine what a single perspective novel would feel like now!
I'm going to stop trying to overthink the series as a whole though.
I went straight from the first to Clash of Kings and I got into a nasty habit of rereading chapters/flicking back to parts a few chapters back to jog my memory of specifics.
Its just making the reading not as fun as it should be. If I forget stuff then so be it - time to enjoy the ride more.
Definitely getting into a more relaxing read after this though. I can't imagine what a single perspective novel would feel like now!
Max Armstrong
Member
Just finished Autority by Jeff VanderMeer:
Simply one of the worst book I've ever read. The first one (Annihilation) was passable enough that I somewhat had an interest to check out the second in the trilogy, big mistake. The writing style is simply unbearable, once I figured that the second half of every sentence was totally unnecessary and was only added for padding, I flew by every page to get this shit done as fast as possible. This is a story that needed about 50 pages and ended up being 200 to satisfy some publisher somewhere.
Amazing quote from the book:
"The ziggurats of illogic erected by your average domestic terrorist as he or she bought the fertilizer or made a detonator took on their own teetering momentum and power."
What the fuck. I wish I took notes of some other amazing sentences because it's filled with shit like this.
Simply one of the worst book I've ever read. The first one (Annihilation) was passable enough that I somewhat had an interest to check out the second in the trilogy, big mistake. The writing style is simply unbearable, once I figured that the second half of every sentence was totally unnecessary and was only added for padding, I flew by every page to get this shit done as fast as possible. This is a story that needed about 50 pages and ended up being 200 to satisfy some publisher somewhere.
Amazing quote from the book:
"The ziggurats of illogic erected by your average domestic terrorist as he or she bought the fertilizer or made a detonator took on their own teetering momentum and power."
What the fuck. I wish I took notes of some other amazing sentences because it's filled with shit like this.
sparky2112
Member
(sarcasm)You're just not hip enough to get 'New Weird'. Do you even HAVE a beard?(/sarcasm)
Intheflorsh
Banned
I couldn't even get through Annihilation.
Kyleripman
Member
I thought Annihilation was pretty cool but not great. I expected the sequels to improve upon that, but I don't think they really did.
Just finished this:
And now reading this:
I'm really liking the standalone books. The Northmen are the best part of Abercrombie's world, so I really like some of the character and story elements that have been happening.
Also the standalone books have less comma splicing than the trilogy...a small pet peeve of mine, haha.
Just finished this:
And now reading this:
I'm really liking the standalone books. The Northmen are the best part of Abercrombie's world, so I really like some of the character and story elements that have been happening.
Also the standalone books have less comma splicing than the trilogy...a small pet peeve of mine, haha.
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