132 replies to this topic

[Ialti]

Ehh. Tried once, all I remember of the experience was 'Dire wolf' blah blah blah 'nekked dragon-mother lady with eggs.'

Never had that problem with other series'. ~shrugs~ maybe it was an off week.

[Silentium]

Have not watched the show, so I couldn't say. The books I enjoy though, even if they sprawl a bit.

[Ialti]

Oh, I was talking about the written works, Game of Thrones. I remember reading through the whole thing, turning the pages, but I can't recall the plot.

Ahh well. I'm more a Wheel of Time person anyway.

[Silentium]

I have heard good things, maybe this summer I can get around to those.

I have been Dorking out on altered carbon, lies of Locke lamora, and the name of the wind lately. I even dabbled in the nightwatch books, although that is a bit outside of my normal intake.

[Ialti]

Altered Carbon sounds pretty good (Snowcrash meets Ender's Game, maybe?), and Night Watch speaks to both the fantasy nerd in me and the side of me that likes things like Ludlam.

Wheel of Time is high fantasy, but informal--no queen's English schpiels--and the perspective shifts between five or six different 'main' characters. It doesn't feel too much like multi-tasking, but the scope is beautifully immense. Takes me a solid month to read in between work and play (and I'm a lit nerd).

[Silentium]

I commute 2.5 hours per day; I have the time and a kindle.

Altered.carbon is really its own thing, bit would say closer to snow crash than EG. If I had to trace its DNA, I would go with anything by William Gibson; it is more inline with his work than the other two. Ok, more like if snow crash and neuromancer got it on.

Night watch (and accompanying books) were just straight up fun reads. I feel like something was lost in translation though. I can't put my finger on it. If you ever read "On a pale horse" it was kind of like that.

[Ialti]

Well then. I suggest starting with Eye of The World (book one); New Spring (prologue book) was written some time after book nine and gives backstory that you can enjoy early on, but for introductions to the series nothing really beats Eye of The World.

I might have to pick up Night Watch, then. It's been a while since I read through an entirely new series and it sounds like good.

Ever try Stephen Brust's Taltos series?

[Silentium]

No, but I am always looking for new reads. What's it like?

I thought of this later, but if you haven't read "The Blade Itself" give it some consideration, i was pleasantly surprised.

[Ialti]

Taltos is both the main character and the namesake of the series, it's one of those hard-boiled first-person type things, built around an assassin's day-to-day life. The setting is by far one of the more original ones I've encountered, and I considered it worthwhile enough that back when I was reading through it I bought most of the books on paper.

It has been a while since I read anything with a D&D character spread, I'll add The Blade Itself to the que.

[Straften]

This summer, reading Dragon Tears [Koontz], then Hidden Empire [Orson Scott]. Anyone read these ones?

[Silentium]

No, is Hidden Empire recent?

[Ialti]

Caught me. I've been deliberately avoiding the Koontz stuff, and I'm not too experienced in OSC outside of the Ender's series.

[Silentium]

Ialti, on 04 May 2013 - 11:08 AM, said:

Caught me. I've been deliberately avoiding the Koontz stuff, and I'm not too experienced in OSC outside of the Ender's series.

Pretty much the same here. I might take a look at other OSC works, but that is a big if given how generally non-plussed I was with the later Ender and Homecoming Books.

[blinkin]

Ialti, on 04 May 2013 - 11:08 AM, said:

Caught me. I've been deliberately avoiding the Koontz stuff, and I'm not too experienced in OSC outside of the Ender's series.

everything else gets pretty friggin wierd and preachy. Ender's Game is one of the best books i have ever read, but everything else done by OSC tends to be very awkward.

[Ialti]

It all eventually goes toward the nerdy parts of Mormon theology, as far as I can tell, and in the later bits of the Ender series he chases those farther and farther.

Some of his stuff, though, manages to incorporate it without going so far that I won't imbibe. Advent Rising, for example.

[Silentium]

[BoPop]

my poll was better.

[Ialti]

[Straften]

Ialti, on 04 May 2013 - 11:08 AM, said:

Caught me. I've been deliberately avoiding the Koontz stuff...

Dragon Tears is from '92. I've heard is old stuff is better. Pretty good so far.

[IceCase88]

Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey

When I was a kid my favorite relative was Uncle Caveman. After school we'd all go play in his cave, and every once in a while he would eat one of us. It wasn't until later that I found out that Uncle Caveman was a bear.