Started Bridge of Sighs by Olen Steinhauer. So far it's a pretty well-written, pulpy, soviet-themed hardboiled detective novel. Not quite mindless but simple enough that I can just read along for the ride. I need this sort of book every now and then.
About half-way through 'The Golden Compass'. As far as being the "atheist Narnia" I have to say that so far it has vastly superior writing and characters than what Lewis managed.
About half-way through 'The Golden Compass'. As far as being the "atheist Narnia" I have to say that so far it has vastly superior writing and characters than what Lewis managed.
While I agree, I would call the golden compass equally if not more ham-handed with the concept than Narnia is.
Are the Golden Compass books really that good? I plan to read the Narnia books to my children and have it not turn them into religious nutjobs. I have full faith they will be just as dense as their father and never pick up on the hidden meaning behind any piece of media.
I got about halfway through the first one and stopped reading. Pullman tries to make his argument on religion seem sharp and intellectual when it's really just heavy handed and nauseating at times in it's simplicity.
Are the Golden Compass books really that good? I plan to read the Narnia books to my children and have it not turn them into religious nutjobs. I have full faith they will be just as dense as their father and never pick up on the hidden meaning behind any piece of media.
I think if you read it to your kids they would enjoy it for the worlds and races that Pullman creates. I thought that was fascinating enough to keep me interested.
I finished The Judging Eye. It's great spending time with the characters, but a plot would be nice! Please? Oh, and not a Mines of Moria ripoff please, nor Dune Messiah.
The Judging Eye's primary weakness is that it doesn't stand alone from The White Luck Warrior. The gap between the two is little more than an intermission, and the latter is where all of the meat lies. There is, at least, actual meat.
Good to know. I'll get onto White Luck Warrior a soon as possible then. I really enjoyed the Judging Eye, even more than The Thousand Fold Thought, but the Ordeal didn't seem like much of an ordeal, the Mines of Moria sequence was too predictable and the parts with the slave cult and Esmenet and Kelnomas had zero payoff.
I just finished The Darkness that Comes Before, and frankly wasn't crazy about it. It felt like a less engaging Sword of Fire and Ice. I'll probably give the second book a chance, but if I don't love that one, I'm done with the series.
On the other hand, I just started American Gods, and have to force myself to stop reading so I can go to sleep. That book is amazing.
Do you mean the book that gave me a hernia when I picked it up off my doorstep this morning?
You ordered the Wheel of Time books too? Don't worry there's only one more book to go! Thankfully he died so he can't draw the damned series out any longer!
seriously, I was pissed when I found out he died. I wanted to go and dig up his corpse, revive it like Frankenstein and force him to finish!
Don't worry there's only one more book to go! Thankfully he died so he can't draw the damned series out any longer!
I thought his spouse was going to hire a ghost writer (pun seriously not intended) to finish it using the notes that were leftover. Is this not a thing?
I finished all of the extant Song of Ice and Fire last week, and my wife demanded I buy my own nook so she can use hers again. Looks like A Dance With Dragons is going to cost me quite a bit. I'm not sure I liked the editorial decision for the last book (explaining it would probably make it sound worse than it is, and spoil the plot as well) but we'll see how it pans out. Is this latest supposed to be the last book in the series?
Don't worry there's only one more book to go! Thankfully he died so he can't draw the damned series out any longer!
I thought his spouse was going to hire a ghost writer (pun seriously not intended) to finish it using the notes that were leftover. Is this not a thing?
Jordan spent his last year alive bringing Brandon Sanderson up to speed on the Wheel of Time, going over all his notes, back story, etc. and generally getting him to where Jordan wanted the series to end. Sanderson was the one who co/wrote the last two novels and is set to bring us the final one this coming May if reports are to be believed.
I rail a bit much about the Wheel of Time series but only because I loved it so much. I was torn between anger and sadness when I learned Jordan had passed. I guess that sort of this happens when you read a series over the course of two decades but what can you do? I am really happy that he had the fore sight, and ability, to bring someone else in to help him finish it.
Jordan spent his last year alive bringing Brandon Sanderson up to speed on the Wheel of Time, going over all his notes, back story, etc. and generally getting him to where Jordan wanted the series to end. Sanderson was the one who co/wrote the last two novels and is set to bring us the final one this coming May if reports are to be believ
I didn't know this much effort went into it. This is much preferred to the Dune situation. Although the extended Dune books aren't as awful as people make them out to be, the writing style is very different. Either way, the story does continue.
I think I got to like book 9 and ... found other things to do. I used to play a MUD based on WoT and seriously loved it. The world Jordan painted was pretty well reasoned. Most Fantasy authors add cruft to move the plot, but such plot devices tend to break the legitimacy of the fantasy world. I think Scrym might have talked about this at some point. Jordan did a good job with a consistent world.
I just finished The Darkness that Comes Before, and frankly wasn't crazy about it
Had that same problem. I went into it wanting to like it but after the first ten chapters it really failed to draw me in. Which is a shame as I really wanted to like the book. Coupled with the review Scrym gave I though that it would rain down cakes and blow jobs. Alas so far the cakes are a bit stale and the blow jobs a bit toothy. Wrapped up Neverwhere, man that is an awesome book. Really dug the whole setting and felt that the characters were pretty cool. My gripe was with the ending but meh. Ive also started on Krakan by China Mievalle. It was a bit low starting but has started to pick up a little bit for me. Add to this lots of dull, for normal people, History books that I endlessly chug through.
From what little I've read (which is like 3 chapters of Perdido Street Station) his style strikes me as similar to Neil Gaiman's (who is an author I don't tend to like). Was this impression valid or should I give him another chance.
Its sort of like Gaiman's but also can take its self rather to seriously at times. Over all its enjoyable for the first book of his that I've read, but so far it really hasn't set my pants on fire.
According to as much as George R.R. Martin has said publicly, there should be 2 more books to come after this newest one that just came out (A Dance with Dragons). As people have been pestering him to wrap up this series he has been very, umm... belligerent, that the books will come out when they come out. The fans have no reason to demand anything and he could choose not to write any more books in the story if he so chooses. This newest book was originally supposed to be part of the previous book, but the previous book was getting to be too long so he decided to split the story into two distinct books - and A Dance with Dragons is now longer than A Feast for Crows.
Once it was revealed that HBO would be making a mini-series based on the first book in the series it seems like the pressure has been temporarily lifted from him to write more books but now that the first mini-series is over and was a huge hit expectations are likely to return with more vigor. It was probably a really good thing that he was able to get this book released at this time and I wonder if his agent, publicist, HBO, lawyer, etc... are putting the screws to him
Wheel of Time:
Robert Jordan knew he would not live long enough to finish the series, though in his last years he had stated he would end the series with one more book (which would bring the series to a total of 12 books, not counting a prequel he later wrote after the series was well underway) even if that last book was monumentally large. He spent his last years battling a chronic and worsening condition that he knew would eventually kill him if a cure could not be found. He spent most of his attention attempting various therapies rather than writing. In the end, knowing he would not live long enough to complete the series, Jordan did make copious notes outlining the story he wanted to tell, discussed the plot with assistants and made many audio recordings. His wife, Harriet, had been his editor for years and she was very connected with his intentions and wishes.
After his passing she began the process to choose a writer to complete the series. Someone suggested Brandon Sanderson to her, and after reading one of his books and meeting him she decided he would be the one to finish the story. He had grown up reading the Wheel of Time series and was a hardcore fan. Harriet has stated how much Brandon was the obvious choice to finish the series due to his love for the series as well as his personality and writing style being suited to the task at hand. She has worked very closely with Brandon to make sure he has access to all of the notes, Robert Jordan's personal library, etc... Sanderson frequently spends days just hanging out with Harriet to discuss the story and make sure he understands Jordan's intentions and way of thinking about the story.
After Sanderson re-read the entire series, read all of Jordan's notes, and talked at length with Jordan's widow he decided that there was no way to finish the series in only one book and that Jordan probably couldn't have done it either, that it was just what he would've liked to do but there was just too much left to tell. So he settled on the goal of releasing three books in three years to finish the series. He is working on the final book now (to be titled: A Memory of Light). Just the other day he tweeted that he was shooting for early November to turn in the draft to Harriet for editing, then in 3-6 months it should be on shelves.
Sorry, that was longer than I intended, but I have been following the developments of both of these series.
Comments
The audiobook versions are done pretty well too.
On the other hand, I just started American Gods, and have to force myself to stop reading so I can go to sleep. That book is amazing.
seriously, I was pissed when I found out he died. I wanted to go and dig up his corpse, revive it like Frankenstein and force him to finish!
I rail a bit much about the Wheel of Time series but only because I loved it so much. I was torn between anger and sadness when I learned Jordan had passed. I guess that sort of this happens when you read a series over the course of two decades but what can you do? I am really happy that he had the fore sight, and ability, to bring someone else in to help him finish it.
I think I got to like book 9 and ... found other things to do. I used to play a MUD based on WoT and seriously loved it. The world Jordan painted was pretty well reasoned. Most Fantasy authors add cruft to move the plot, but such plot devices tend to break the legitimacy of the fantasy world. I think Scrym might have talked about this at some point. Jordan did a good job with a consistent world.
Wrapped up Neverwhere, man that is an awesome book. Really dug the whole setting and felt that the characters were pretty cool. My gripe was with the ending but meh. Ive also started on Krakan by China Mievalle. It was a bit low starting but has started to pick up a little bit for me. Add to this lots of dull, for normal people, History books that I endlessly chug through.
According to as much as George R.R. Martin has said publicly, there should be 2 more books to come after this newest one that just came out (A Dance with Dragons). As people have been pestering him to wrap up this series he has been very, umm... belligerent, that the books will come out when they come out. The fans have no reason to demand anything and he could choose not to write any more books in the story if he so chooses. This newest book was originally supposed to be part of the previous book, but the previous book was getting to be too long so he decided to split the story into two distinct books - and A Dance with Dragons is now longer than A Feast for Crows.
Once it was revealed that HBO would be making a mini-series based on the first book in the series it seems like the pressure has been temporarily lifted from him to write more books but now that the first mini-series is over and was a huge hit expectations are likely to return with more vigor. It was probably a really good thing that he was able to get this book released at this time and I wonder if his agent, publicist, HBO, lawyer, etc... are putting the screws to him
Wheel of Time:
Robert Jordan knew he would not live long enough to finish the series, though in his last years he had stated he would end the series with one more book (which would bring the series to a total of 12 books, not counting a prequel he later wrote after the series was well underway) even if that last book was monumentally large. He spent his last years battling a chronic and worsening condition that he knew would eventually kill him if a cure could not be found. He spent most of his attention attempting various therapies rather than writing. In the end, knowing he would not live long enough to complete the series, Jordan did make copious notes outlining the story he wanted to tell, discussed the plot with assistants and made many audio recordings. His wife, Harriet, had been his editor for years and she was very connected with his intentions and wishes.
After his passing she began the process to choose a writer to complete the series. Someone suggested Brandon Sanderson to her, and after reading one of his books and meeting him she decided he would be the one to finish the story. He had grown up reading the Wheel of Time series and was a hardcore fan. Harriet has stated how much Brandon was the obvious choice to finish the series due to his love for the series as well as his personality and writing style being suited to the task at hand. She has worked very closely with Brandon to make sure he has access to all of the notes, Robert Jordan's personal library, etc... Sanderson frequently spends days just hanging out with Harriet to discuss the story and make sure he understands Jordan's intentions and way of thinking about the story.
After Sanderson re-read the entire series, read all of Jordan's notes, and talked at length with Jordan's widow he decided that there was no way to finish the series in only one book and that Jordan probably couldn't have done it either, that it was just what he would've liked to do but there was just too much left to tell. So he settled on the goal of releasing three books in three years to finish the series. He is working on the final book now (to be titled: A Memory of Light). Just the other day he tweeted that he was shooting for early November to turn in the draft to Harriet for editing, then in 3-6 months it should be on shelves.
Sorry, that was longer than I intended, but I have been following the developments of both of these series.