I've finished The Elfstones of Shannara, which ended better than the TV series did. A solid enough book.

So, onto The Wishsong of Shannara, which is in some ways better than The Elfstones, but in some ways is worse. I'm liking the side of the book that deals with Jair: He's got a fairly clear notion of what he needs to do, has found some competent help, including a character with more than a little mystery to him, and I've just reached what I'm guessing(or hoping) is a major twist.

The side dealing with Brin, on the other hand, is rather disappointing. For one thing, the convention regarding female characters continues, so she's a Valegirl. Even though her younger brother is a Valeman. Apparently Valewomen don't exist. I'm finding this far more annoying than I probably should, but it still bugs me. But then, to be honest, I find her whole character annoying. Somehow, despite being told by Allanon that her magic will succeed where his failed, she seems to think that her two protectors(and the author really hammers this part home with the second of them) are so powerful that she won't be needed. While also being somehow paranoid about some shadowy threat that she's getting 'premonitions' about. Surely, if she thinks they're that powerful she's got no reason to be worried?

I'm pretty certain I'm not going to bother trying to find any of the other Shannara books after this(barring some dramatic and unlikely change in the story), though I might reread the first two at some point.

I'm waiting to begin my next reading project. I ordered books one and two of Stephen King's Dark Tower series off the interwebz, and naturally book two came in first.

I finished Gate of Ivrel today. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I started in on The Well of Shiuan, and so far I am liking it as well. I like the new character it starts out with. I wonder if she will be the pov character throughout this book, as Vanye was for Ivrel? I guess I will find out seen enough.

Where in Ivrel we were told of the dangers the gates possessed, in this one we see it firsthand. One moon turned into seven (I am guessing blasted into those bits by some gate-power gone wrong), and a world hurtling toward ecological disaster in the form of ever increasing floodwaters. This really hammers home the importance of Morgain's mission.

Speaking of Cherryh's "Morgaine" novels.

After finishing The Quest of the Riddlemaster the other day I couldn't for the life of my settle on anything to read. Last night, looking through my Guy Gavriel Kay collection for something that might tickle my fancy, I chanced to notice Cherryh's Fires of Azeroth with a bookmark placed partway through it. Further investigation shows that I apparently abandoned the series on page 68/69 during its most recent re-read, early 2012. For now I'm thinking to pick up where I left off, or maybe start the book afresh. Or not. We shall see.

I'm a terrible reader, not that I'm Illiterate or anything (or else would be able to interact online ) it's just I have this REALLY bad habit of reading a book than putting it down and never picking it back up again. The only book I finish was The Hobbit and that like to have bore me to death. The last book I tried to read was Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (or you might know it as The Secret of NIMH), The book was alright and covers why Timothy was so deathly ill and weak in the movie.

This post has been edited by Dark Reaper: Sep 30 2016, 12:47 AM

Lovecraft while sitting beside the ocean! Probably not the best idea, lol

Moved on to something more adventurous; Conan the Cimmerian: The Complete Tales! Currently reading "The Queen of the Black Coast".

I remain in something of a reading slump, not helped by feeling rather crappy for the past week. Since last report I have given up on the Cherryh. At a total loss as to what might appeal, I thought of Callidus Thorn's recent reading of Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn on my recommendation. I decided to give it another go, and am now on page 347 of Dragonbone Chair, not quite yet its half way point. Whether or not I stick with it remains to be seen, but having gotten so far has to be a good omen, doesn't it?

Khajiit would say so!

At 1020 this morning I finished The Image of War: 1861-1865 volume three, The Embattled Confederacy. As previously mentioned, I am reading the series at the kitchen table during meals, the books being too bulky and heavy to read in bed. I read the series in its entirety at least once before, at a time preceding my habit of annotating completion times and dates on inside covers. This particular volume commences with a chapter on the Battle of Antietam and concludes with Gettysburg. Each chapter contains a great many captioned photos prefaced by pages of text.

I'll begin volume four during tonight's supper.

Dragonbone Chair remains my in-bed book of choice.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Oct 15 2016, 05:10 PM

I finished The Morgaine Cycle. It was good, but not great. I thought the whole angle of a fantasy swords and sorcery series that is actually science fiction was neat, as was the point of view character not being the protagonist. But toward the end it seemed to be the same thing over and over. I especially got exasperated with Vanye getting captured every single book!!! The action scenes were often written rather vaguely, which made it difficult for me to understand what was happening.

A few days ago I stared Ahsoka, and am now half way through. I am liking it tremendously! It is set a year after Order 66, with Ahsoka in hiding from the new Empire. She is all on her own now, and is learning to walk the deadly tightrope of remaining hidden vs. using her abilities to help others. All of her actions have consequences, often unforseen.

We get an excellent view into her head. I reallly loved how she is always thinking of her old comrades in arms, be they Rex, Obi-Wan, Yoda, or Anakin. She often finds herself thinking what they would do in similar situations that she is in, often with very amusing results. But more than that, it really hammers home the loss she feels. Because she has been severed from all of these people, and it is painfully clear every time she meditates and reaches out with the Force, she only finds emptiness out there.

So far the only issue I have had is that the writer seems to expect the reader to have a great deal of foreknowledge of not only Star Wars in general, but Ahsoka and the Clone Wars tv show in particular. For example in one scene she is helping a group of new rebels sabotage some Imperial walkers. But the writer never describes the walkers, or even gives a model number of what they are (AT-AT, AT-ST, AT-TE, and so on). So if you have never seen Star Wars, you would have no clue what they were sabotaging. And even if you have, you are still left puzzling it out.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 21 2016, 01:22 AM

I finished Ahsoka. It was outstanding! It tells the story of how Ahsoka created her white lightsabers, joined the Rebellion, and became Fulcrum. I would love to read more by the same author. Especially if they are more Ahsoka novels in the future.

The only drawback is as I have previously stated, it does require one to have watched The Clone Wars, as it relies heavily on the events and characters from it.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 21 2016, 03:11 AM

Ahsoka was this one's favorite part of The Clone Wars. Khajiit found her dynamic with Anakin very interesting. It was heartbreaking when .

Ahsoka was definitely my favorite character in The Clone Wars. Because she was a Padawan, she was the one character with the most character development still before her. So we got to see her learn and grow as the show went on. The other characters were all basically established into who they were, so changed little, if at all. One of the strongest things about her eponymous novel is that in it she is still growing and changing as a person, and still finding her place in the galaxy.



I was so excited to see her in Rebels. I even guessed at who she was in that beforehand. She is probably my favorite Star Wars character all together, followed by the Clone Wars version of Obi Wan. He was always so much fun. At one point in the novel, Ahsoka was on a dull and boring planet where nothing ever happened, and thought: Master Obi-Wan would have said Raada was a good place to relax and then somehow stumbled on a nest of pirates or a ring of smugglers or a conspiracy of Sith. Obi-Wan was always stumbling into something, whether he liked it or not! And I loved his bizarre friendship with Hondo.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 21 2016, 03:36 AM

Khajiit also enjoyed Obi Wan's strange relationship with Hondo. Very amusing!

I've finally given into the temptation to reread The Magicians, though I'm not going to blitz it this time

At 1323 this afternoon I concluded my sixth reading of Tad Williams' The Dragonbone Chair. I'll begin book two, Stone of Farewell, later today.

I started reading Bloodline, by Claudia Gray. So far so good.

Compared to some of the sci-fi and fantasy others have been reading, I've been into some pretty dry stuff.

Right now I'm working my way through The Guns at Last Light by Rick Atkinson. It's the third in his Liberation Trilogy, which takes us from the invasion of North Africa through Sicily and Italy and on into D-Day and Europe. Yup, I'm a long-time WWII history buff, and I'm starting to get into the Korean Conflict and WWI.

Slowly though, as the only time I read is at mealtimes.

I've finished The Magicians, which is a bloody good book. Though from what I've read online about it you either love the characters or you hate them. The whole setup starts with a magic school, but in these books magic is hard. You've got to be highly adept at ancient languages and advanced maths, every spell requires specific hand positions, and needs to be tailored to fit the Circumstances.

So in order to be a Magician, you've got to be a genius, possess magical aptitude, and be depressed and obsessive enough to actually learn magic.

Part of the book takes place at the school, and part take place elsewhere. Anything more would constitute a spoiler, methinks.


I'm now reading the second book; The Magician King. And while I do like it, I do have a few issues with it, but I'll just give you the highlights. It bounces back and forth a lot to tell the story of a character who was pretty minor in the first book, making the whole thing a little disjointed. But the biggest problem for me is how it deals with the ending of the first book. Because either the author forgot a lot of what happened after the big fight, or he decided to ignore anything from it that would get in the way with the second book. The competency of the main character from the first book goes out the window, and no reason for this is ever presented. The inconsistencies bug me.