What are you reading? Options

[ghastley]

Just finished reading "Guards, Guards!" and it was the dragon in that which steered me back to playing Skyrim - and then the series made me select Ghenghiz Cohen as the new character.

I'm trying to ration my reading, as the late Sir Terry won't be adding any more, so #9 of the series hasn't even been downloaded onto my Nook yet. I don't know how long I can hold out, though.

[Kane]

The last post in the thread titled "What are you reading?", in the General Discussion section of the Chorrol.com forums, redirected from http://www.chorrol.com/

[Decrepit]

At 2225 yesterday evening, May Day 2017, I concluded my initial reading of Our Revolution by Sen Bernie Sanders. I read a chunk of it earlier this year, only to set it aside when the urge to return to Westeros became to strong to resist. The first part of the book documents his candidacy during our recent US presidential primary, along with a relatively brief glimpse at his life up to that point. His take on the primary held no shocking revelations for me, having followed it both during and after the fact. If anything I know more about it than Sanders chooses to reveal here. The rest of the book is devoted to his "platform". This was of more interest to me, as it provides a great deal more in-depth analysis on what he sees at the major issues currently facing the Nation and our world, along with how he would rectify them, than MSM allowed the voting public to hear. I knew the gist of this too beforehand, but appreciate the wealth of detailed justifications backing his claims. In this latter section he is less inclined to "pull his punches" than in part one.

This being political in nature I will not discuss stances and the like except to mention that I was right pleased to see that Sanders concludes his "message" with a sufficiently lengthy discussion of the dangers of a modern day mainstream news media controlled by a mere handful of "players" who between them determine what is newsworthy and how we ought to react to it, while suppressing and/or condemning all else. I mention this only because, by sheer coincidence, I recently touched on the same thing elsewhere on these forums (before having read Sanders' take on the matter).

I have now resumed A Feast of Crows, just finishing a chapter in which we find Cersei plotting/fabricating Margaery's downfall. I now realize Cersei herself is the main reason I have set Feast aside as often as I have. Book Cersei (more so than TV Cersei) is for me the most despicable of Martin's creations. Her actions/demeanor remind me far too strongly of what I see the increasingly irreversible dominance of those in power in our "real world" who seem hell bent on enriching themselves regardless of the costs to others and the planet. I had not noticed this comparison during prior reads. Than again I last read Feast in 2011, after passage of Citizens United but before its affects on US politics became glaringly obvious.

Yeesh, I can't seem to type a paragraph within veering into unsafe waters. One of those days, I reckon.

ADDENDUM: For what it's worth...nothing...I "edited" my final entry in the now defunct "old" official forum's General Discussion reading thread to include the above. It keeps those forums alive to an infinitesimal degree for the zero percent who might think to check that thread following its close.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: May 2 2017, 12:11 PM

[Decrepit]

At 1507 this afternoon I concluded my fourth read of George R.R. Martin's A Feast of Crows. One book more and I'll have completed another reading of the entire A Song of Ice and Fire series as it stands (unfinished) today.

I had no trouble with the book's one remaining Cersei chapter. Yes, it begins with her as vile as ever, further insuring Margaery's downfall. But...it's also the chapter in which she herself is brought to task by the new High Septon, and loses control of King and Council. Brienne's storyline, much different from the TV series at this point, remains of interest. As best I recall, her final chapter, which ends in something of a cliffhanger, is the last we hear of her to date, discounting her portrayal on TV.

If my current reading rate holds true, I will end the year having read fewer books than ever before since entering adulthood. (I did not read novel length books for pleasure in youth, save a few isolated exceptions.)

[SubRosa]

Yesterday I read Shattered Empire. It was pretty neat. It is a 4 volume comic that starts during the Battle of Endor, and goes up to a few months after. It's main character Shala is an A-Wing pilot, who gets in adventures with Han, Leia, and Luke in the second, third, and forth episode. After that she musters out to go home with her hubbie (who was one of the Rebel commandos on Endor), and young son. Oh, and her husband's last name? Dameron.

Which takes me to Poe Dameron. I managed to read the first three in the series today. It is also pretty good. It starts out with Poe being given the assignment of finding Max Von Sydow. So this is a lead up to The Force Awakens. My guess is that it is not intended to be a continuing series, but rather probably just a one shot mini-series like Shattered Empire was. But with more volumes.

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Yesterday I read Shattered Empire. It was pretty neat. It is a 4 volume comic that starts during the Battle of Endor, and goes up to a few months after. It's main character Shala is an A-Wing pilot, who gets in adventures with Han, Leia, and Luke in the second, third, and forth episode. After that she musters out to go home with her hubbie (who was one of the Rebel commandos on Endor), and young son. Oh, and her husband's last name? Dameron.

Which takes me to Poe Dameron. I managed to read the first three in the series today. It is also pretty good. It starts out with Poe being given the assignment of finding Max Von Sydow. So this is a lead up to The Force Awakens. My guess is that it is not intended to be a continuing series, but rather probably just a one shot mini-series like Shattered Empire was. But with more volumes.

Well it's possible the one about Poe could go beyond the events of TFA right?

This post has been edited by TheCheshireKhajiit: May 9 2017, 02:22 AM

[SubRosa]

Yesterday I read Shattered Empire. It was pretty neat. It is a 4 volume comic that starts during the Battle of Endor, and goes up to a few months after. It's main character Shala is an A-Wing pilot, who gets in adventures with Han, Leia, and Luke in the second, third, and forth episode. After that she musters out to go home with her hubbie (who was one of the Rebel commandos on Endor), and young son. Oh, and her husband's last name? Dameron.

Which takes me to Poe Dameron. I managed to read the first three in the series today. It is also pretty good. It starts out with Poe being given the assignment of finding Max Von Sydow. So this is a lead up to The Force Awakens. My guess is that it is not intended to be a continuing series, but rather probably just a one shot mini-series like Shattered Empire was. But with more volumes.

Well it's possible the one about Poe could go beyond the events of TFA right?

I suppose it is. But it could get dicey if the comic gets ahead of the movies. Sort of like how the Game of Thones tv show passed the books. But then again, it looks like the movies releases are fixed, and won't be delayed by GRR Martin...

[Decrepit]

Am a bit over halfway through George R.R. Martin's A Dance With Dragons. Unlike all other ASOIAF entries, this will be only its second complete read. My favorite POV character thus far this volume? Reek. (It rhymes with Freak.)

18 May addendum:
I've read another 100 pages or so of A Dance With Dragons. Was very surprised to see the brief reappearance of a certain character whose storyline I thought was over and done with until the release of book six. It is odd that I have no recollection of having read this info during the book's first reading, especially as I've been curious about the character in question's fate ever since.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: May 18 2017, 02:04 PM

[Callidus Thorn]

I'm reading The Lord of the Rings again. Just because I love it.

[SubRosa]

I finished the original Thrawn trilogy by Tim Zahn today - Heir the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and Last Command. They are a historic set of books, since they essentially gave birth to the Expanded Universe that followed in both novels and comics.

One interesting thing about re-reading them is how different Zahn's take on clones, and the Clone Wars, is. Like I thought back then, Zahn gives the impression that the Clone Wars were a case of the Republic vs. some mysterious clone masters who had armies of clones. Still, he left it vague enough that it still mostly fits in even with the prequels that came out a decade after his books.

The way his clones have a wrongness about them in the Force does not fit in of course. I am sure Yoda, Mace, Plo-Koon, and company would have noticed that with the Grand Army of the Republic clones if it existed in their time. But they treated all the clones the same as any other natural-born people. In the first Clone Wars episode, Yoda even tells the clones with them that even though they all started out the same, they are all individuals, with their own fates, and their own impressions upon the Force.

But Zahn's clones were grown at an accelerated rate. About four weeks instead of the ten years in the case of the Republic clones. Zahn also made a point of telling us that the faster rates caused clone madness, which the C'Baoth clone had. So maybe we can also attribute that to their weird impression upon the Force? Well, it sounds good anyway.

Anyway, I really enjoyed Mara Jade this time out. She is a much better rounded character in this than in some of the later Zahn books she is in, where she can seem Mary Sue-ish. Ironically those books take place when she was younger, and still in the Emperor's service. While in the Thrawn trilogy she has lost her Force powers, and is just learning to use them again with Luke's help.

[Decrepit]

At 1512 this afternoon I completed my second reading of George R.R. Martin's A Dance With Dragons. This might well be my favorite volume this cycle, simply because, unlike previous series entries, there were whole chapters I had absolutely no recollection of whatsoever.

Having exhausted ASOIAF I have no idea what I'll start in on next.

ADDENDUM:
I continue my practice of adding the above as an ADDENDUM to my final post in this thread's equivalent at the now closed old official Beth forums. It seems fitting somehow, what with that posting being the thread's final entry when the lights went out.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: May 20 2017, 09:36 PM

[Decrepit]

Set down to supper yesterday only to realize I had not yet decided on anything to read. As I always read physical books during sit-down meals (except breakfast, which is consumed at the computer) I hastily settled on the first thing that popped into my mind, another reading of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Read almost the whole of Eye of the World's prologue during the meal. At that point I wasn't sure I'd stick with it. I'm still not sure I want to tackle another LONG series so soon after ASOIAF.

I suspect my thoughts turned to WoT due to having recently watched this rather rancid 2016 pilot video of the series' prologue, slapped together to keep Red Eagle Entertainment from losing rights to the franchise. (Notice how the (not in the book) prologue to the prologue does little more than mimic the intro to The Fellowship of the Ring, assuming Fellowship had been made on a shoestring budget.)

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Set down to supper yesterday only to realize I had not yet decided on anything to read. As I always read physical books during sit-down meals (except breakfast, which is consumed at the computer) I hastily settled on the first thing that popped into my mind, another reading of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Read almost the whole of Eye of the World's prologue during the meal. At that point I wasn't sure I'd stick with it. I'm still not sure I want to tackle another LONG series so soon after ASOIAF.

I suspect my thoughts turned to WoT due to having recently watched this rather rancid 2016 pilot video of the series' prologue, slapped together to keep Red Eagle Entertainment from losing rights to the franchise. (Notice how the (not in the book) prologue to the prologue does little more than mimic the intro to The Fellowship of the Ring, assuming Fellowship had been made on a shoestring budget.)

Khajiit read Eye of the World a couple of years ago while on a weeklong trip to the beach. It was... ok. Honestly, it didn't grab us like some other stories had. We started book 2 but never finished it. Was a bit disappointed because we had heard a lot of folks rant and rave about how good it is. Perhaps Khajiit didn't give it a fair shake since what he really wanted was ASOI&F book 6. We will try again some day.

[Uleni Athram]

Reading Star Wars: Dark Rendezvous to pass the time when I'm commuting to Sambo class and I'm blown away by how striking of a character Scout (too lazy to write her full name) is. Asajj is more brutal here too.

[Callidus Thorn]

I've started book one of the Fionavar Tapestry. I put them on my wishlist on Amazon a while back and forgot about them until recently, then spotted that they were down to £2.99 each. Has meant bailing on The Lord of the Rings, but in all honesty I'd pretty much stalled on it.

Anyway, the book. I'm only at the start of chapter four, but the opening has been pretty wooden. I can see why, because when you're trying to get people from the real world to willingly transport to a magical world you're writing yourself into something of a corner. The main issue for me was how trusting the characters seemed to be of Silvercloak, even after learning that he's lied to them, makes it all feel somewhat forced. But I'm at the point where things have started to go wrong, so I'm expecting the book to pick up from this point.

As an aside, I was rather confused by the map at the start of the book, because it's completely devoid of place names, despite having empty spaces where I assume they should be.

[Decrepit]

I've started book one of the Fionavar Tapestry. I put them on my wishlist on Amazon a while back and forgot about them until recently, then spotted that they were down to £2.99 each. Has meant bailing on The Lord of the Rings, but in all honesty I'd pretty much stalled on it.

Anyway, the book. I'm only at the start of chapter four, but the opening has been pretty wooden. I can see why, because when you're trying to get people from the real world to willingly transport to a magical world you're writing yourself into something of a corner. The main issue for me was how trusting the characters seemed to be of Silvercloak, even after learning that he's lied to them, makes it all feel somewhat forced. But I'm at the point where things have started to go wrong, so I'm expecting the book to pick up from this point.

As an aside, I was rather confused by the map at the start of the book, because it's completely devoid of place names, despite having empty spaces where I assume they should be.

I've read Fionavar numerous times and consider it one of the great Tolkienesque epic fantasies. That said, I agree with you 100% about its opening, and for the same reason(s). Stick with it. Once in the "realm" proper things do improve quickly, as you are apparently beginning to see.

Personally, I think most fantasy novels involving earthlings transplanted to other worlds (or our past) get it wrong one way or another. The closest a writer has come to getting it right, in my opinion, is Stephen Donaldson in his Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant..., both trilogies. (Forget the much later written Last Chronicles..., which I find a tragic letdown.) For me the title character acts far more like a "real" person might under similar circumstances.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: May 31 2017, 11:55 PM

[Callidus Thorn]

Well, I'm coming up to the end of the first book.

I'm enjoying the story and the setting, I like most of the characters(not Diarmuid though, really don't like him), and the way that the powers are taking a hand in events. It did get slightly confusing with one of the characters being separated, just because he overlapped events and made the timing of things a bit awkward. So, on the whole, I'm liking the book.

There are two things that I don't like. The villain thus far comes off as being evil for the sake of evil. That whole sequence with

seems to serve no purpose other than demonstrating this, and leads into my other issue. It feels like the author is forcing things. Sometimes it'll be the actions of characters, other times it feels like he's forcing the scale of things. And there have been a couple of instances where he's straight up abused coincidence to do so, for instance:


And it's made worse by comparison with Dave's part, which in my opinion has been the highlight of the book, and completely avoids the issue. I'm hoping that this is simply the author setting things up, and that it won't continue to be a problem.

Edit: 80% of the way through the second book. It's continuing to be a problem.

This post has been edited by Callidus Thorn: Jun 4 2017, 10:22 AM

[Callidus Thorn]

I've just finished reading the Fionavar tapestry trilogy, and I'm gonna be honest, I didn't like them.

The author is far too heavy handed, in my opinion, all too often at the expense of his characters.

The worst instance of this I mention in my previous post; the villain being evil for the sake of evil in the first book. As it turns out, not only is this exactly what it looked like at the time, it's also one of the dumbest things I've ever seen a villain do.

And there is absolutely no excuse for the character Diarmuid.

Also, and this is more of a pet peeve than anything else, I utterly despise the way the author decided to crowbar some Arthurian legend into the books. For one thing, it reeks of the author forcing the scale some more, drafting in King Arthur and then Lancelot to fight the evil. And he then spends way too much time on the relationship between the three of them, which has no actual grounding in the books. He just has one of his characters suddenly become Guinevere(no, really, this is what actually happens) after King Arthur turns up and then simply goes from there.

I'll give them a second read at some point or other, but I doubt my opinion of them will change much.

Edit: Sorry for the tvtropes links, but they were just convenient.

This post has been edited by Callidus Thorn: Jun 7 2017, 09:49 PM

[Decrepit]

I finished my seventh reading of Robert Jordan's Eye of the World at 1642 this afternoon. Whether or not I will continue on with the series remains to be seen. I'll almost certainly know by bedtime.

[Decrepit]

I've just finished reading the Fionavar tapestry trilogy, and I'm gonna be honest, I didn't like them.

The author is far too heavy handed, in my opinion, all too often at the expense of his characters.

The worst instance of this I mention in my previous post; the villain being evil for the sake of evil in the first book. As it turns out, not only is this exactly what it looked like at the time, it's also one of the dumbest things I've ever seen a villain do.

And there is absolutely no excuse for the character Diarmuid.

Also, and this is more of a pet peeve than anything else, I utterly despise the way the author decided to crowbar some Arthurian legend into the books. For one thing, it reeks of the author forcing the scale some more, drafting in King Arthur and then Lancelot to fight the evil. And he then spends way too much time on the relationship between the three of them, which has no actual grounding in the books. He just has one of his characters suddenly become Guinevere(no, really, this is what actually happens) after King Arthur turns up and then simply goes from there.

I'll give them a second read at some point or other, but I doubt my opinion of them will change much.

Edit: Sorry for the tvtropes links, but they were just convenient.

I've an idea for you. Look at my at-the-moment non existent list of favorite fantasy novels. Make sure you never read anything on that list. You should do well.