Light on purchases this month.

June Purchases:

Dan Simmons: Endymion - Softback good condition.
£2.50 from British Heart Foundation.

Raymond. E. Feist: A Darkness at Sethanon - Softback decent condition.
£2.50 from British Heart Foundation.

Ian C. Esselmont: Stonbreaker - Softback excellent condition.
50p from a market stall.

My thoughts on this

Baseline Humans - Physically speaking I always thought of the Scylvendi or Galeoth as the biggest and toughest of these. We all know Cnaiur is the Most Violent of All Men.

Dunyain - Essentually Uber humans. I mean we know Cnaiur was a beast to all Men except Kellhus who is at a significant advantage.

Nonmen - We know Nonmen are stronger and bigger than humans, the ones left alive are also hardened from age and experience. Mekeritrig loses to Kellhus and resorts to Sorcery so I rank Dunyain tougher than the Nonmen. There are tales that Ciogli the mountain broke a Wracu's neck, although if this is a hero's tale you have to assume that it must have been an extraordinary feat and so rank Wracu's higher.

Sranc - Basically in a 1 vs 1 Sranc are probably the bottom of the list, smaller and weaker than humans.

Bashrag - These could be the underdog here and take it, I mean they are designed as tanks.

Skinspies - We've seen a lot of their martial expertise, higher than humans.

Wracu - We've not seen much Wracu but from what we have seen I think theyr'e probably top of the list.

Inchoroi - We've not seen much of their fighting but I think they might be fairly tough.

So with that in mind:

1. Wracu*
1. Dunyain*
3. Bashrag**
3. Nonman**
4. Inchoroi
5. Skin Spy
6. Human
7. Sranc

*I'm just not sure if the Wracu could ever hit the Dunyain.
**Again I just can't call it. I expect the top Ishroi would smash an average Bashrag but maybe a big Bashrag could kill a low tier Nonman.

Had Titirga grasped the Psukhe or was it something less literal?

Edit: The False Sun is one of my favourite pieces of the series overall, I would like to read more Atrocity Tales set in the times of Antiquity.

Reviewing it, SR?

Yes definitely giving this one a review. Been working on a lot of site redesign stuff but starting to get the reviews back up to date soon.

Hey SR/anyone, did you read Night's Dawn by Peter F Hamilton? I think it starts with The Reality Dysfunction.

I read Nights Dawn a while back. I really enjoyed it when I first read it as it was the First Hamilton I read. I think its the weakest of the larger series though (although the Void series lost its way in the second trilogy).

I wouldn't say it's essential reading but as with most Hamilton it does really well with big ideas.


Ok so I have been and updated my own reads. 11/20 so far so looks like I *might* make my target. I'll try and update everyone else's totals when I get home this evening.

Great participation from everyone

Managed to snag a Subterranean Press limited edition of Midnight Tides.
http://subterraneanpress.com/store/product_detail/midnight_tides_preorder

Its lovely.

That really is lovely.

Last few months purchases:

March:

J.R.R.Tolkien: The Silmarillion
J.R.R.Tolkien: Tree and Leaf; Smith of Wootton Major; The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth
Both paperbacks £1.99 for both. Arthirits UK. Both matching softbacks.
Robert Jordan: Wheel of Time #1: Eye of the World
£1.99 Arthiritis UK. Softback.
David Gemmell: Rigante #1: Sword in the Storm
£2.00 British Heart Foundation - Excellent condition Softback.

April:
Gene Wolfe: The Knight - £2.00
Gene Wolfe: The Wizard - £2.00
Gene Wolfe: The Book of the New Sun Volume 1 Shadow and Claw - £2.00
Raymond Feist: Silverthorn - £2.50
John Scalzi: Old Man's War - £2.50
John Scalzi: The Ghost Brigades - £2.50
John Scalzi: Last Colony - £2.50
John Scalzi: Zoe's Tale - £2.00
Softbacks from British Heart Foundation. Silverthorn in excellent condition.

May:
Anthony Ryan: Blood Song - £2.50
David Gemmell: Dark Moon - £2.00
Peter F. Hamilton: Pandora's Star - £2.00
David Gemmell: The Legend of Deathwalker - £2.00
All softbacks from British Heart Foundation. Deathwalker in excellent condition, Pandora's Star is a bit worn.

Welcome - a great opening salvo of thoughts.

Prediction: Akka discovers more of the Truth of Seswatha and we finally link the Apocalypse to the past - the clues begin to make sense and we discover Seswatha is a filthy liar - if a good intentioned filthy liar.

Question: Will Akkas kneeling before Kellhus be an act submission or in dominance.

Question: Will we see more of the Mithrulic Artifacts and learn if Kellhus can create these.

Question: What effects does eating Sranc have - similar to Chanv and Qirri?

Prediction: We will learn the source of Chanv and it IS NOT dead sorcerers - their value comes only from the material value of salt to a medieval economy. Chanv comes from something entirely more distasteful than a salted sorcerer.

Why would anyone sell an ARC!?

Bunch of ungrateful and undeserving sranc, should have been left to howl at the gates.