I finished Bloodline a few days ago. It was good, but the ending was a downer, which kept it from being great. I don't entirely blame the author though. The book tells the story of the decay of the New Republic's Senate, which led to the creation of the First Order. The good part of it is it also depicts the creation of the Resistance. But a few things happen at the ending that left a bad taste in my mouth.

I started Lost Stars, also by Claudia Gray. So far so good. I like her writing.

Oh so the First Order isn't just the Imperial Remnant?

It is in part. For example the young General Hux we see in The Force Awakens is the son of Brendol Hux, an Imperial Commandant and former officer in Grand Army of the Republic. After being defeated at Endor and Jakku he and his son fled with the remnant of the Imperial Fleet beyond the Outer Rim. That remnant would form the core of the First Order military, along with new troops like Fin who were conscripted as children and raised to be warriors.



This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 30 2016, 02:22 AM

Yeah that is pretty depressing. Sounds like an interesting read otherwise though. I like Star Wars lore a lot. Especially the ancient Jedi and Sith stuff.

Just a progress update from me. I'm now on page 505 of Tad Williams' Stone of Farewell, with some 225 pages to go. The tale is holding up rather well, as it always does. Barring the unexpected I should have the series completed (for the sixth time) before publication of volume one of Williams' return to the land of Osten Ard early next year. No way am I not gonna buy that book, though as a general rule I find that authors who revisit the scene of their early triumphs following decades of neglect tend to disappoint to one degree or another, and occasionally fail miserably. (I'm looking at YOU, Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.)

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Nov 2 2016, 09:12 PM

Agreed. Has me worried for what will happen to "A Song of Ice and Fire" since GRRM started writing it in 1991; and was last going strong with it in 1996-1998. By 2000 he had begun writing other things and traveling around making public appearances. The next two books were 5 years and 6 years apart each while he did other things. It has been 5 years, and of the two books he had projected he has already changed the title of one from a very themed title to one that doesn't even feel connected to the story and won't inspire someone to throw gold down for it. I think he is rightfully enjoying his success, but worry that the future books of the series have to suffer from the lack of concentrated focus on them that the original works had in abundance.

At 1845 this evening I concluded my sixth reading of Tad Williams' Stone of Farewell and will move on to To Green Angel Tower. Part 1 by day's end. It's gonna be tuff picking my "favorite re-read of the year" this year. So many fine contenders! On the other hand, "favorite new read of the year" has been all but 100% certain since New Years Day. Gonna be hard to top that book/series.


I hear ya. I hope Martin holds firm to his once stated vow (?) that the now further along TV series will not influence future SoIaF book releases.

I finished Lost Stars by Claudia Gray a few days ago. It was really good. It follows two best friends and pilots from their childhood on the same backwater world, to their days together in an Imperial Academy, and finally through there careers in the Imperial Fleet and Rebel Alliance. It shadows the events of the original Star Wars trilogy, with both being either present or at least near the destruction of the Death Star, Hoth, and Endor. It even goes beyond the films to show us the Battle of Jakku, and ends shortly afterward.

Today I started Rise of the Empire. It is a compilation of Tarkin, A New Dawn, and three short stories. I read the first short story - Mercy Mission, and liked it. The main character is Hera Syndulla, long before The Ghost and the Rebels crew. She is a pilot on someone else's ship, and the story is about them smuggling a shipment of medicine into Ryloth past the Imperial garrison. It was good, though it introduced so many characters in such a short space that it was difficult to keep them all straight.

I just barely started Tarkin, and cannot say much about it. Except that it begins 5 years after Order 66, and he is overseeing the construction of the Death Star.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 9 2016, 11:45 PM

At 0005 this morning, just after midnight, I concluded my fifth reading of Tad Williams' To Green Angel Tower, Part 1 and am already 80 pages into Part 2. Personally I'd have preferred less reading and more (any) sleep during the night, but what can ya do? (Admittedly, I did nap fairly early yesterday evening. Not sure how long. Certainly no more than three hours. Likely appreciably less. I'm guessing maybe two hours, two and a half tops.)

At 1536 this afternoon I concluded my fifth reading of Tad Williams' To Green Angel Tower, Part 2, drawing the curtain on Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. I amazed myself in reading its almost 800 pages from start to finish within four days, quite a feat for a slow reader sunk uncomfortably into his dotage with a tendency to lose concentration at the drop of a hat. The book kept me spellbound most of the way through, especially as the final confrontation approached. I admit to having tears streak down onto my pillow as I lay in bed reading its final pages.

Each year for the past some years I dole out meaningless awards for what I consider my favorite (and sometimes least favorite) reads of that particular year. So meaningless are they that I post them on online forums without bothering to save copies on my computer, so that with a year or two it's all forgotten. This year's best "new" read was, barring the unexpected, pretty much set in stone with my very first read of the year. Best "re-read" is gonna be tough! I've re-read so many worthy books this year!!!! Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is most definitely amongst the contenders.

My problem now is how to follow it up.

As for me, I´m currently reading the manual to the original Deus Ex. It´s elaborate but quite far from 800 pages...

I finished reading Tarkin today, by James Luceno. It was good. But the author relies a lot on telling rather than showing. That keeps it from being great. Likewise, his characters feel very remote and almost emotionless. Maybe that is because they are Tarkin and Darth Vader. But I cannot help to compare his writing to that of Claudia Gray's Star Wars books, and how she wrote her characters so vivid and filled with life.

Catalyst: A Rogue One Story came today. I might start reading that next. Or I might keep on going with The Rise of the Empire (which Tarkin was a part of). It still has A New Dawn and two short stories.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 15 2016, 11:37 PM

Currently "Seraphim", an unfinished manga by Satoshi Kon and Mamoru Oshii - which is an absolutely class piece of illustrated story telling.
Makes me wish, even more, that I could draw!!

I started A New Dawn. I am liking it a lot. The writing is solid, and I am already a big fan of the two main characters: Hera and Kanaan from Rebels. It is different from many Star Wars stories in that the main antagonist is not a Sith or Military Guy. Instead he is a corporate efficiency expert, who is expert at enslaving worlds. To him, murder is just one more tool in the executive's tookit. I have to say, he is really despicable, and definitely menacing, as a villain should be.

One thing I have really been noticing reading all the new Star Wars books lately - Lost Stars, Ahsoka, A New Dawn - is that a common thing in all of them is the Empire recklessly destroying the environments of worlds for quick, short-term gains. They deforest entire planets, strip mine them, poison the soil, even weaken their cores so much that they are on the brink of literally breaking apart, and so on. When they are done they just leave the planet a devastated wasteland and move on to the next place to exploit.

I don't remember seeing that in the older Star Wars books. Though granted I stopped reading around the time of Truce at Bakura. Back then they concentrated on portraying the Empire's evil in more human terms. It was more about political and military tyranny, even when they did destroy Alderaan in A New Hope, it was a political act, not the result of ruthless and short-sighted economics.

Or am I wrong?

I think this is probably result of the writers of the new books seeing these same things IRL. Which in a way is kind of nice. It is good to see real issues put in the sci-fi context. It is also good to see another face of the Empire, because these stories are showing us life for the regular people under Imperial domination. Being forced to work double shifts every day of the week, all the while their planets are being devastated around them, and anyone who complains is arrested, tortured, and killed.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 17 2016, 01:34 AM

Searching for a suitable followup for Memory, Sorrow and Thorn I settled on Brian Ruckley's Winterbirth. I first read it May 2008 and, truth to tell, wasn't overly impressed. I figured it was due reassessment. Turns out I've not changed my opinion. Spent a whole day attempted to read it. Didn't get very far. It just couldn't hold my interest.

Looking for something else to tackle I spotted Guy Gavriel Kay's Children of Earth and Sky. I began it earlier this year but, having recently re-read a number of Kay's novels, decided I needed a change of pace so set it aside and moved on to other things. Me being me, I forgot all about it... until now. Picked it up where I left off rather than backtrack. This was detrimental as first, but I'm now back into the swing of things. I don't know that this will end up being a favorite Kay novel, but anything of his is top-notch in my opinion.

Heh - even though I've not read this one, I will agree on general principles with this assessment of Thomas Covenant-related material.
The original books represent a low-point in my fantasy education. I had to force myself to plough through them as part of a school book project back in the day but I ended up hating them - entirely because of the protagonist - Thomas Covenant was for me without a doubt one of The Most Unlikable and Un-Empathetic [sic] characters it has ever been my misfortune to meet.

he's a hideous creation and if you managed any more than the first three books then you, sir, have my utmost respect!!

In an earlier contribution, I mention, stated differently, that I consider The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (but NOT the inferior third set) the best fantasy literature that I do no normally recommend to others. As for me, it literally blew me away the first time I read them. They hold the honor being the books that converted me into a fantasy addict circa 1984, a genre I had little interest in previously, despise my love of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Hobbit. I've read those first two Chronicles numerous times since, and still think quite highly of them. What's more, I consider Thomas Covenant one of fantasy's greatest characterizations.

And yet I know from personal experience that the books are highly divisive. Folk to tend to love them or, as in your case, hate them. And yes, I've found that much of that hatred comes from one's stance of Thomas Covenant himself. I suspect that the actions he takes that turn haters off are the very ones the endear him to those in my camp. (Strange as this may seem to some, I tend to view those first two chronicles, especially the first, as love stories (but certainly not romantic), though there's more to them than that.) But again, because so many see them as you do I am reluctant to recommend them, or at least not do so without sufficient warnings.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Nov 21 2016, 06:51 PM

Hmm...
I could have sworn I replied to this thread earlier... Oh well.

I do agree with you D, don't get me wrong I really, Really wanted to like the books but I just could not get past the main character.
It's a real shame and to be honest doesn't happen very often at all...

I'm currently bouncing back and forth between the third book of the Malazan series, and Stephen King's On Writing

At 1657 this evening I concluded my first reading of Guy Gavriel Kay's Children of Earth and Sky. As mentioned, I read the first half earlier this year, then after a months-long break picked up where I left off and finished it out. It's a decidedly good book, an an easy recommendation for Kay fans. It is not, however, one of the books I'd recommend to someone new to Kay. That honor goes to either the two volume Sarantine Mosaic (Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors) set in a fictitious early Byzantine Empire, and/or the two separate but related works Under Heaven and River of Stars, set in a fantasy Chinese Tang Dynasty. I also recommend Kay earliest published fantasy work (discounting Tolkien's Silmarillion, which he helped Christopher Tolkien prepare for publication) Fionavar Tapestry, which unlike his later novels is indeed more or less "traditional" Tolkienesque epic fantasy on a grand scale.


This sort of ties in to my recent discussion with Phon on our conflicting views about Thomas Covenant. I purchased Malazan: Gardens of the Moon after having read numerous glowing testimonials. Turns out the book did nothing for me. I struggled to get through it, and have no interest in continuing the series.