What you want to read this year - Totals and specifics

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Royce

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« Reply #120 on: September 22, 2015, 08:32:02 am »
I am almost through Paul Kearneys Monarchies of God series, and I have to say it is quite brilliant. I never thought I would enjoy military fantasy, so that was a pleasant surprise.

I thought of the movie Braveheart a lot during this series, especially one of the characters(Corfe) is almost a mirror image of William Wallace in Braveheart.

I highly recommend this series to any fans of military fantasy. I can also mention that the fantasy aspect is very toned down.

I wasn't sure what to read next, but now I think I might have found it, thanks!

I finished Echopraxia by Peter Watts, a 'sequal' to Blindsight.  It was pretty good, mostly more of the same though.


I just finished the series and my above comment still stands, although the last book was rather disappointing. Finishing a series in a satisfactory way seems like a very difficult task:). The ending was poor, but not unexpected.

That being said, the first four books are very captivating and as a whole the series is a must read.

I am going to start on his Macht series now.

Wilshire

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« Reply #121 on: September 23, 2015, 08:50:44 pm »
Finished Reaper's Gale. I think that makes 8 books read this year.
« Last Edit: October 03, 2015, 02:06:11 pm by Wilshire »
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SilentRoamer

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« Reply #122 on: September 25, 2015, 12:29:57 pm »
Ok guys - I'll update everyone's postings tonight.

I finished Timothy Zahn: Heir to the Empire a few days ago. I enjoyed this book, it almost feels a cheat in that Zahn can draw on existing characters and ideas and has little back story to establish. Overall though the writing was solid, the pacing was just about right and Zahn avoided the "omg Jedis can do everything" sort of clichés I was expecting. Solid book.

H

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« Reply #123 on: September 25, 2015, 12:58:29 pm »
Zahn's Star Wars books are easily, and far and away, the best written ones.  I've read Zahn's Conquerors‍ '​ trilogy, but that was a long, long, long time ago, however I recall them being decent.
I am a warrior of ages, Anasurimbor. . . ages. I have dipped my nimil in a thousand hearts. I have ridden both against and for the No-God in the great wars that authored this wilderness. I have scaled the ramparts of great Golgotterath, watched the hearts of High Kings break for fury. -Cet'ingira

Alia

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« Reply #124 on: September 25, 2015, 03:57:44 pm »
Ok guys - I'll update everyone's postings tonight.

You can mark my Corwin cycle as read, somehow never got to mentioning it here.
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake

Garet Jax

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« Reply #125 on: September 25, 2015, 04:56:34 pm »
Finished my "re-read" of Leviathan Wakes this last Tuesday.  I can't put my finger on it, but I really like the writing style in this book.  Also, it was one of the first times, in my experience, that an author went into detail about how people would deal with "high-g" maneuvers and the "science" behind things like that... 

Solid 4/5 for me.

Now I am moving on to Caliban's War.

Cheers.

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« Reply #126 on: October 01, 2015, 02:32:27 pm »
Finished Caliban's War this morning.  Another good book by the Corey duo.  I like Leviathan Wakes more than this book by a very slim margin.  This book was as a refreshingly easy read as the first one in the series...  Pretty sure that this was "what I couldn't put my finger on" in regards to their writing style.


Mostly good stuff all around.  Other than a couple white elephants, there weren't too many times that it was blatantly obvious what was going on, so I think the duo made progress on that front from book 1 to book 2.


Time to order books 3 and 4 and get after those.


Peace from the Desert.

H

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« Reply #127 on: October 02, 2015, 02:15:31 pm »
Finished my "re-read" of Leviathan Wakes this last Tuesday.  I can't put my finger on it, but I really like the writing style in this book.  Also, it was one of the first times, in my experience, that an author went into detail about how people would deal with "high-g" maneuvers and the "science" behind things like that... 

Solid 4/5 for me.

Now I am moving on to Caliban's War.

Cheers.

I just finished Leviathan Wakes myself.  It was good.  I find I can't read fantasy now, it all just makes me sad and angry that I can't be reading TUC, so more sci/fi it will be.

I'll start on Caliban's War next week.
I am a warrior of ages, Anasurimbor. . . ages. I have dipped my nimil in a thousand hearts. I have ridden both against and for the No-God in the great wars that authored this wilderness. I have scaled the ramparts of great Golgotterath, watched the hearts of High Kings break for fury. -Cet'ingira

mrganondorf

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« Reply #128 on: October 04, 2015, 07:35:28 pm »
nearly finished listening to The Things That They Carried.  it's a Vietnam novel read by Bryan Cranston (Cranston) (Cranston) ([(CRANSTON)])

SilentRoamer

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« Reply #129 on: October 05, 2015, 01:17:55 pm »
Ok guys - all updated.

I'm now reading Ancillary Sword which is a sequel to Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. Was slow going last night but I was tired.

I remember finding the first awkward to read - mainly because of using feminine form for all neutral gendered pronouns which I found less more of an irritant than a ground breaking change. First one left me disappointed but was quite enjoyable in certain elements.


Alia

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« Reply #130 on: October 05, 2015, 07:15:26 pm »
Finally got to reading "The Republic of Thieves". But considering how little time I seem to have right now (between my two jobs) it might take me until Christmas :-(
That is, unless we get more of utterly boring and lenghty staff meetings. That is the time that I secretly devote to reading.
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake

Wilshire

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« Reply #131 on: October 12, 2015, 01:39:37 pm »
Webinars  are the best but I'm impressed you do it during staff meeting :)
« Last Edit: October 14, 2015, 01:06:35 pm by Wilshire »
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Wilshire

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« Reply #132 on: October 14, 2015, 01:08:21 pm »
Finished Toll the Hounds. That was a lovely read, one of the best endings so far as it felt like there was actually some resolution.
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H

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« Reply #133 on: October 14, 2015, 03:47:36 pm »
Just finished Caliban's War.  It was good, but I think I prefer Leviathan Wakes a little more.

I think I need a break from sci/fi for a book though.  Not sure what I'll read next though.
I am a warrior of ages, Anasurimbor. . . ages. I have dipped my nimil in a thousand hearts. I have ridden both against and for the No-God in the great wars that authored this wilderness. I have scaled the ramparts of great Golgotterath, watched the hearts of High Kings break for fury. -Cet'ingira

MSJ

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« Reply #134 on: October 14, 2015, 08:27:24 pm »
H, have you read A Land Fit for Heroes, by Richard Morgan? Its a great series with a lot of great characters. Its really, really Grimdark and has maybe the next most horrific scene behind Inchoroi raping that guy in front of family. Morgan is right behind Bakker on my list of best fantasy authors.
“No. I am your end. Before your eyes I will put your seed to the knife. I will quarter your carcass and feed it to the dogs. Your bones I will grind to dust and cast to the winds. I will strike down those who speak your name or the name of your fathers, until ‘Yursalka’ becomes as meaningless as infant babble. I will blot you out, hunt down your every trace! The track of your life has come to me,