What are you reading? Options

[Winter Wolf]

I am currently reading the Wheel of Time series (Robert Jordan). Years ago I finished the first four novels but got sidetracked by other books. I have jumped back to the start and are almost finished book 1. It is amazing how much of the plot line I have forgotten.

Other series I am considering later are Tad Williams (Dragonbone chair thingy) and S. Erikson (Malazan book of the fallen).

Has anybody read either of those two? Are they recommended?

[Decrepit]

I am currently reading the Wheel of Time series (Robert Jordan). Years ago I finished the first four novels but got sidetracked by other books. I have jumped back to the start and are almost finished book 1. It is amazing how much of the plot line I have forgotten.

Other series I am considering later are Tad Williams (Dragonbone chair thingy) and S. Erikson (Malazan book of the fallen).

Has anybody read either of those two? Are they recommended?

Woot, a WoT reader! I'll be interested in your thoughts as you progress through the books. As mentioned during my recent re-read of the series, this time round I changed my opinion about certain aspects of the series as a whole. I'll not rehash that now for fear of spoiling things.

The Williams is another favorite Tolkieneseque fantasy series.

As to Malazan, I confess to having struggled through volume one and washed my hands of it. Mine seems to be a minority view. You might well enjoy the series as much as the majority of fantasy readers do.

I'm still reading book three of David Eddings' The Malloreon. The further I read the more I feel it a lesser series that its predecessor The Belgariad. Despite that it's a fun, easy read...so long as I don't try to take it too seriously. Heh

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Jul 25 2018, 12:50 PM

[Winter Wolf]

Thanks Decrepit!

I love WOT and can not get enough of Rand, Mat, Trollocs and Tar Valon! I love the series so much. Shame that he passed away before completing the series, leaving it to somebody else. Later on I will check back through the threads and have a look at your thoughts of the series now. You have me curious.

Very interesting what you have said about Malazan. I downloaded the whole ten books (8000+ pages ) and tried reading the opening page. My first thought was how heavy and ponderous the writing seemed. I was wondering if the whole book was like that? Sounds like it might be...

Good luck with Mr Eddings. Is it true he wrote the exact same story from another point of view later on in the series? At least that is what the guy and my work says.

This post has been edited by Winter Wolf: Jul 26 2018, 07:37 AM

[Decrepit]

Thanks Decrepit!

I love WOT and can not get enough of Rand, Mat, Trollocs and Tar Valon! I love the series so much. Shame that he passed away before completing the series, leaving it to somebody else. Later on I will check back through the threads and have a look at your thoughts of the series now. You have me curious.

Very interesting what you have said about Malazan. I downloaded the whole ten books (8000+ pages ) and tried reading the opening page. My first thought was how heavy and ponderous the writing seemed. I was wondering if the whole book was like that? Sounds like it might be...

Good luck with Mr Eddings. Is it true he wrote the exact same story from another point of view later on in the series? At least that is what the guy and my work says.

Eddings? Yes, he did that. Twice. In his works featuring Belgarath, Belgarion, Polgara, and so on. First time he did so, with Belgarath the Sorcerer, I could see it as behind-the-scenes perspective, a telling of the "real" story behind what was portrayed in main books. He then published a followup book told from Polgara's perspective, which basically contradicted much of what was written in Belgarath and the main books. I draw the line at reading that book again. I'll go so far as to say Eddings later non Belgarath-and-Gang series feature more or less those same basic characters under other names. He definitely milked what worked so well for him in early publications. Doesn't stop me from enjoying those first few series, but can get old after that.

As to Malazan, it's been a long time since I read it. Specifics are vague. I do know little about it appealed to me, whether writing, characters or plot. Just not my thing, as we used to say.

[Kane]

Eddings is one of my favorites, and the Redemption of Althalus is my favorite book. Hands down.

[Decrepit]

Eddings is one of my favorites, and the Redemption of Althalus is my favorite book. Hands down.

<nods> Can't argue with ya about 'em. I'm reading the Malloreon for the tenth time for goodness sake. Lots of fun, though as mentioned I can nit-pick 'em to death should I choose. (Have to admit the section of Demon Lord of Karana I'm reading at the moment is one of my least favorite episodes of the first two series.)

[Winter Wolf]

He then published a followup book told from Polgara's perspective, which basically contradicted much of what was written in Belgarath and the main books. I draw the line at reading that book again. I'll go so far as to say Eddings later non Belgarath-and-Gang series feature more or less those same basic characters under other names. He definitely milked what worked so well for him in early publications. Doesn't stop me from enjoying those first few series, but can get old after that.

Yes, that must be what my friend was talking about. He finished the whole thing but said- never again!

I am currently in the home straight on WOT book 1. The whitecloaks are causing trouble, but nothing that Lan cannot handle.

[Decrepit]

At 2243 yesterday evening, 31 Jul 2018, I concluded my tenth read of David Eddings' Demon Lord of Karanda, book three of The Malloreon. I'm now several pages into book four's prologue.

Picking up book four I noticed this will be its ninth read. I assumed I must have broken off some former read-through at this point. That seemed odd, as these books are super easy reads. Not the sort of books I'm apt to give up on. Decided to investigate. Book three gives it away. I never abandoned the series at Sorceress of Darshiva. It's one reading shy of all previous Eddings books because I didn't own a copy when I first read its predecessors. I didn't own it because it wasn't published during that initial reading. It also coincided with a military oversees assignment followed by my last two years and military service followed by acclimating myself to civilian life. Didn't get around to reading Eddings again until 1994, by which time I owned Sorceress...

[Dark Reaper]

I bought another political book today to go along with my other political book from Dr. Ben Carson. The book that came in is from Judge Jeannie Pirro.

[Decrepit]

At 1429 this afternoon, 8 Aug 2018, I finished my ninth read of David Eddings' Sorceress of Darshiva, book four of The Malloreon. Four down, one to go. I'll surely begin the concluding volume, The Seeress of Kell, by days end, likely during supper.

[Decrepit]

At 1917 this evening I concluded both The Seeress of Kell and its series The Malloreon. Seeress is a ninth read. Malloreon is a mixture of ninth and tenth reads. Enjoyable as always. My eyes misted several time before the end, as they always tend to do.

Haven't thought about what I'll tackle next. Can take the easy way out and begin Eddings next two-series combo. No not.

[Kane]

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archiv...-debate/565769/

[Decrepit]

Keep forgetting to report that, having finished David Eddings' Belgariad and Malloreon I decided to tackle The Redemption of Althalus. I attempted it once before but gave up at page 360. (My bookmark was still in place.) I'm now on page 392, just shy of the halfway mark. (This is a long volume by Eddings standards.)

Must admit the book failed to impress me that first try. In fact I recalled nothing more than that when picking it up again earlier this month. Not one character or incident stayed in memory. Most unusual for me.

This time round I'm again not overly impressed. We shall see if that opinion changes ere the end.

The book is credited to both David and Leigh Eddings, supposedly the case with earlier novels but not officially acknowledged.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Aug 25 2018, 08:55 AM

[Winter Wolf]

I am almost finished on 'Day of the Jackal.' The start was slow with too much tell for my liking, but is now starting to ramp up as the French police hunt for their man. It also borders on the ridiculous why the Jackal does not pull out and plan for a later hit. Oh well, I thought the gunman was a professional.

I need to plan the order that I read all my fantasy books. I do know that WOT book 2 is next.

[SubRosa]

I have been re-reading Karl Edward Wagner's Kane books for the first time in decades. I started with his three novel length stories: Bloodstone, then Darkness Weaves, and just finished up Dark Crusade.

I like how Kane ultimately works out to be a good guy in the end, but only by accident. Don't mistake me, Kane is evil plain and simple. But he tends to ally himself with even more evil creatures (The Bloodstone, Efrel, the Avatar of Sataki) in the pursuit of power. Of course he always intends on betraying and destroying them (just as they plan on doing to him). Usually Murphy's Law happens as some point, and Kane ends up wiping out the badder guys, and losing everything in the process. He is a fantastic anti-hero.

Its funny, because being Kane's enemy is not a very safe thing. But being his ally is even worse! Not many of his 'friends' survive him. Arbas and Teres are among a lucky few to still be alive after being around him.

[Decrepit]

At 1702 today, while preparing supper, I finished my first reading of David & Leigh Eddings' The Redemption of Althalus. I've tentatively started in on a second read of Robert Harris' historical fiction novel Pompeii.

[Burnt Sierra]

Last night, I finished E.L. Doctorow's "The March", about General Sherman's march into the south near the end of the American Civil War.

I'm honestly not sure what I made of it.

It's got multiple points of view, a huge cast of characters, Doctorow himself called it his "Russian Novel" which I can kind of see. The writing is beautiful, the characters were really well drawn. Technically it might be one of the finest examples of writing I've ever read.

And yet...

It took me ages to finish, I struggled more than thirty pages at a time, there was just no urge to see what happened next. So yeah, hugely impressive in some regards, but just didn't grab me on an emotional level at all.

This happened to anyone else? I can't think of another time I've had this experience of really, truly respecting a piece of writing, but just not really enjoying it.

[SubRosa]

I sometimes get that. Tim Zahn's recent Thrawn novel did it to me. He's an excellent writer. He has solid plots and interesting and intelligent characters. But there was just no one in the novel for me to like. At the end of the day, if his protagonist was shot dead, I would not have felt sad. Instead I would have thought that the galaxy would be better off. The same with all the other characters. So it was hard for me to really enjoy the book, because I really did not care about what happened to the characters.

[Decrepit]

I suspect my most recent incident of such behavior occurred while reading Guy Gavriel Kay's most recent release to date, Children of Earth and Sky. Kay has long been my favorite fantasy author. I consider most everything he's published to be cream of the crop. Certainly I like some titles better than others, but it's all well worth reading. Yet Children didn't do much for me, comparatively speaking. I even set it aside partway through and couldn't bring myself to pick it up again and continue on until months later. The things I like about Kay are all present within its pages. Yet somehow it never hooked me, except during isolated episodes.

(My recommendation for someone new to Kay remains the two volume Sarantine Mosaic, consisting of Sailing to Sarantium and Lord of Emperors, set in a fictitious early Byzantine Empire. If you don't cotton to those I suspect you're not gotta care much for anything of Kay's.)

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Sep 1 2018, 07:21 PM

[treydog]

Probably The Golden Compass. I was all prepared to dive in and enjoy a massive "alt history" read. Reviews were extremely positive, etc.

I got about... 20 or so pages in and just could not compel myself to care.