At 2314 yesterday I concluded my sixth reading of Guy Gavriel Kay's The Wandering Fire. I immediately started in on book three, The Darkest Road but read only a few pages before falling asleep.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Nov 15 2015, 11:07 AM

I wish I was able to read more than I do. Unfortunately I have an eye condition that sometimes sort of "blur" the text I´m reading (even in this box I´m writing in), essentially obscuring the black text with the white background. Hard to explain, but that´s the main reason I don´t read even books I know I like. It´s hard to appreciate any book when that keeps happening. I can sort of control it a little but it takes effort and is tiring.

Glad you´re able to enjoy your litterature though, Decrepit

I commiserate with you, Mirocu. I loved reading my whole life, and not being able to without massive effort has killed one of my favorite pastimes for me.

Tried reading The Ill-Made Mute, by Cecilia Dart-Thornton. It's the first part of a trilogy that I'm not going to complete. I couldn't even finish the first book. It's got issues.

For one, the pacing is terrible. Sections of very little substance are dragged out for far longer than they deserve, followed by bursts of action where so much happens so quickly that I honestly couldn't care about any of it because it was over as soon as it began.

The setting suffers for this, because having so much thrown in so quickly makes a lot of it seem gratuitous, which in a fantasy novels brings it to the realm of weird for the sake of weird.

But the biggest problem with the book is the main character: A mute, waifish girl with amnesia and a massively disfigured face, who's apparently utterly helpless on her own. So the result is this hugely passive character of no apparent significance who is coddled and carried from one scene to the next by one far more competent man or another. Frankly, I don't think I've ever read a book with a worse female character in it.

I got three quarters of the way through the book, hoping it would improve once it got going, completely baffled as to why this girl was even in the story, and still without anything having been revealed about her, before I gave up. The story had launched into a painfully drawn-out romance with her most proficient protector yet, that I really couldn't be bothered with because I couldn't care less what happened to her, and the moon-eyed drivel about how perfect he was was just annoying.

As much as I'd like to read a fantasy story that I haven't read before, I'd rather re-read one I've got for the dozenth time than subject myself to that. I think I might just go back to Lord of the Rings again.

This post has been edited by Callidus Thorn: Nov 19 2015, 01:26 PM

At 1021 this morning, just prior to lunch, I concluded my sixth reading of Guay Gavriel Kay's The Darkest Road and The Fionavar Tapestry, of which it is volume three. These books pack quite an emotional wallop for me, closet romantic that I sometimes am. My eyes misted a goodly number of times throughout the three books, especially the last, where I experienced a few gully-washers ere the end. I can't recommend these highly enough for someone seeking Tolkienesque old-school high epic fantasy. My problem now is how to follow them up. Just about anything I pick up is bound to be a letdown by comparison.




A terrible plight to find oneself. I myself go through days-long periods when one eye or the other goes out of focus. I've taken to wearing a patch over the affected eye at those times. Always scary when it occurs, but thankfully all such episodes have been temporary . . . knock on wood . . . except for the very first which led to my needing reading glasses during the early 90s.

Rereading this post, it dawns on me that I too read Ill-Made Mute, and had much the same reaction as you. If memory serves, the very beginning held promise. It soon after went downhill, becoming rather trite. I believe I struggled through to the bitter end, and might even have attempted volume two. If that's so I didn't finish it. (I'd have had to have bought the first two books together. I can't see myself buying book two after reading the first, though I won't rule it out.)

At least it's nowhere near as bad as Robert Newcomb's The Fifth Sorceress. That, for me, is bottom-of-the-barrel fantasy.

As for myself, I decided to stay with Guy Gavriel Kay, and am now re-reading book one of his two volume Saratine Mosaic, titled Sailing to Sarantium.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Nov 25 2015, 12:59 PM

Yeah, early on the story had some things going for it, but they dropped off pretty quickly. It's always a shame to see a good opening go to waste.

I'll add The Fifth Sorceress to my list of books to avoid.


And I'm back to reading Lord of the Rings again

At 1406 this afternoon I concluded my third reading of Guy Gavriel Kay's Sailing to Sarantium and will almost certainly begin book two, Lord of Emperors, ere day's end. I'm very glad I decided to stay with Kay after finishing Fionavar Tapestry. The works are sufficiently different so as not to seem like more of the same, yet equally masterful in their separate ways. If I harbor a slight preference for Fionavar this go-round, it is only because at the time of reading Fionavar I craved Tolkenesque epic fantasy.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Dec 3 2015, 09:29 PM

I just read Report: Disaster at Ionith...

Finally got around to reading Stardust, but Neil Gaiman. I picked it up cheap a while back for my kindle.

To be honest, I was disappointed.

I've always thought books better than the films based on them, and while it may be cringeworthy early on, I love the film Stardust. But I can't honestly say that the book is better.

The film is different from the book, quite noticeably, but in this instance it's a good thing. It allows the film to present a full story, while the book leaves the impression that more of the story has been left untold than was actually in the book. At least, that's the impression I had of it.

And personally, I thought the ending was so anti-climactic that it rather ruined things.

This post has been edited by Callidus Thorn: Dec 9 2015, 11:24 AM

At 0541 this morning, just after breakfasting, brushing and gargling, I concluded my third reading of Guy Gavriel Kay's Lord of Emperors, second and final volume of his Sarantine Mosaic, a 'fantasy upon themes of Byzantium' as he himself terms it. As with most Kay titles, this one is an easy recommendation, especially for those who treasure rich, complex plot-lines and characterizations.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Dec 14 2015, 12:20 AM

Bought myself three books this month, a little concentrated fire on certain genres to help me be more 'immersed' in them. The main course are Tom Clancy's Threat Vector and Locked On, with a side dish of Robert Harrison's An Officer and a Spy. Will buy more books like these once I get some down time.

I was given a Dead Space book for my birthday, so I'll be getting started on that soon. I also bought a copy of Harry Potter in Spanish. I'm hoping that will help me read it a little smoother, not to mention learn new words. Should be fun!

Dead Space is a book??


How do you convert a TPS into a novel?

I've just started reading Sagas of the Icelanders.

I's about the discovery of the Marker in the Yucatan peninsula, so it takes place hundreds of years before the games.

Having recently read books described by their author as 'a fantasy on themes of Byzantium' I decided to follow them up with straight history, Lars Brownworth's 'Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire that Rescued Western Civilization'. This is its third reading. It's a good book with one chief fault admitted by the author in his introduction . . . it's too short to adequately cover a thousand year empire. In consequence he has been forced to concentrate on those at the top to the near neglect of other strata of society. Despite that, it is entertaining and informative. I'm on page 109 at the moment, which by sheer coincidence deals with the period portrayed in Kay's novels.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Dec 15 2015, 06:19 PM

You just prompted me to buy the same author's The Sea Wolves - A History of the Vikings.

Though I am still on the final book of Donald Kagan's History of the Peloponnesian War.

Months ago I bought what I thought was both volumes of Henryk Sienkeiwicz' two volume The Deluge off Amazon. Only, I goofed and ordered volume one only. Come to find out the books are normally to be had only as a set. Fast-forward to tonight. I at last found a used copy of volume two alone for a reasonable price and hit the order button no questions asked. Having read the first book of Sienkeiwicz' "Trilogy", With Fire and Sword, near the beginning of 2015, I eagerly look forward to its arrival. I have read that the "Trilogy" is commonly considered Poland's literary epic. Judging from With Fire and Sword I can well believe it. (Mine are the Kuniczak English translations, which I understand are superior to competing English versions.) Estimated arrival date is the first week of January 2016.

I first became aware of Sienkeiwicz' historical novels after having watched this sabre duel clip at YouTube.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Dec 17 2015, 02:00 AM

At 0855 Christmas Eve morning I concluded my third reading of Lars Brownworth's Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization. I have not yet decided what to tackle next.

I am happy to report that my order of volume two of Henryk Sienkiewicz's two volume The Deluge appeared in my mailbox yesterday afternoon, a day earlier than its ETA and far earlier than initial delivery estimates. I'm tempted to start in on volume one, but not sure I want to commit myself to such a long book -- v1 is over 800 pages, v2 over 900 -- before the new year. We shall see.

Near year's end I sometimes provide a pointless summary of that year's reading accomplishments, such as they were. As I doubt I'll finish another novel-length book ere 2016 I might as well get it over with.

This past year I read twenty-three novel-length books. I can't recall having read so few in the course of a year, but won't rule it out. Sadly, early computerized reading logs are saved in a format none of my current word-processors read. The earliest of those I can read, 2005 and 2006, show a total of fifty-three books each.

Twelve of this year's reads were fantasy, eight history, two historic fiction, one true-crime. Eight were new reads, the rest re-reads. All were/are owned by me except the true-crime, an unsolicited loan from my brother.

Best New Read of the Year: Henryk Sienkiewicz's With Fire & Sword in the W.S. Kuniczak English translation.

Best Re-read of the Year: Guy Gavriel Kay's three book Fionavar Tapestry.

Best read of the Year: A tie between With Fire & Sword and Fionavar Tapestry.

Special Interest read of the Year Beethoven's Only Beloved: Josephine by John E. Klapproth. An exhaustively detailed justification of the author's belief that not only was Josephine von Brunsvik Beethoven's one true love (which is nowadays fairly well established) but also the Immortal Beloved (which is much contested). Being a Beethoven fanboy (and supporter of the Josephine as Immortal Beloved theory) I eat this sort of thing up, but it's no literary classic. I suspect its appeal is limited to those with a keen interest in the topic.

Pleasant Surprise of the Year: David Howarth's The Voyage of the Armada: The Spanish Story. I read this during 1981 and never since, until this May. I held no specific memories of that first read. I do recall being not overly impressed. I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that I thoroughly enjoyed the book this time round.

Biggest Disappointment of the Year: This honor goes to a new acquisition, a book not on the list of twenty-three, The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason by Charles Freeman. This is not a knock against the book but rather myself. I'm afraid I bought it too late in life. I'm too addle-headed to maintain focus on the narrative for any length of time, despite my fascination with the subject matter.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Dec 30 2015, 02:57 PM