What are you reading?

[Sofia Roseburn]

I ended up reading the whole trilogy. I have to admit, the series surprised me.

When I was growing up (read 14/15) I basically went through all the books in the house which varied from Arthur C. Clarke to Jilly Cooper to some novel involving shibari bondage that I can never remember the name of (don't ask). I think because of that I read the first book with a fairly open mind, maybe more so than I would normally do with a genre that I really don't delve into very often.

I could write a bit about the series, but at the end of the day it boils down to this; they are better written than the Harry Potter novels, they don't really devalue women in any way (only people who have a stale sex life would really say that) and it's in no way as bad as Twilight.

Is it blatantly obvious what the author is trying to do half the time? Yes.
Is the character description a bit weak? Yes.
Is it a unrealistic? Yes.
Are they still a good read? In my opinion, yes.

It's a trashy erotic fiction series, and for the target audience it hits the nail on the head. For the non-target audience e.g. me, it's not to everyone's tastes. I enjoyed them though :V. Might even buy them in paperback as opposed to pirating them.

[Redmoore]

Leviathan Wakes by James S A Corey

sort of Iain Banks crossed with Peter Hamilton

Really Enjoyed

[Aramendel]

Read that a few days ago, now at the next book in that series Caliban's War, also quite nice so far.

[Hel OWeen]

Also, don't read Clausewitz, should Macchiavelli lead you to him. Waste of time. Terrible language, takes ages to tell very obvious things in said terrible, needlessly complicated way to express himself.

Agreed. Tried Clausewitz, gave up halfway through, haven't bothered to finish it. Sun Tsu gives way better quotable material.

[Tarminic]

I ended up reading the whole trilogy. I have to admit, the series surprised me.

When I was growing up (read 14/15) I basically went through all the books in the house which varied from Arthur C. Clarke to Jilly Cooper to some novel involving shibari bondage that I can never remember the name of (don't ask). I think because of that I read the first book with a fairly open mind, maybe more so than I would normally do with a genre that I really don't delve into very often.

I could write a bit about the series, but at the end of the day it boils down to this; they are better written than the Harry Potter novels, they don't really devalue women in any way (only people who have a stale sex life would really say that) and it's in no way as bad as Twilight.

Is it blatantly obvious what the author is trying to do half the time? Yes.
Is the character description a bit weak? Yes.
Is it a unrealistic? Yes.
Are they still a good read? In my opinion, yes.

It's a trashy erotic fiction series, and for the target audience it hits the nail on the head. For the non-target audience e.g. me, it's not to everyone's tastes. I enjoyed them though :V. Might even buy them in paperback as opposed to pirating them.

The wife read and enjoyed them, while at the same time bringing up all of the points you did. And I generally trust her taste in books.

[Dartzap]

Just finished Wrath of Iron. Today's shocking revelation is that most Iron Hands are complete wankers.

Angel of Fire is up next, and I have some hope for it. Bill King still ranks as one of my favourite Black Library authors.

[Diicc Tater]

On a scifi binge at the moment.

Can heartly recommend Old Man's War by John Scalzi.

The novel tells the story of John Perry, a 75-year old retired advertisement writer, who joins the Colonial Defense Forces who protect human interplanetary colonists.

Was really nice and fun.

[Sparq]

Finished The Prince, now reading The Man in the High Castle.

[Rodj Blake]

Finished The Prince, now reading The Man in the High Castle.

Both good books

[dpidcoe]

Leviathan Wakes by James S A Corey

sort of Iain Banks crossed with Peter Hamilton

Really Enjoyed

Yeah, I finished the entire thing in about 24 hours of straight reading. I need to grab the next book in the series, but I'm waiting for when I have a free weekend.

[Sparq]

Yeah The Prince was better than I expected. Though I really need to sit down and read it again in an atmosphere more conducive to mental focus, than waiting rooms and train stations.

TMitHC has started off well, I think I saw it mentioned here and then it came up in conversation again with a friend who insisted I read Fatherland instead of just watching the movie, so after I'm done with it I'm giving it to him.

[Daco]

Finished The Prince, now reading The Man in the High Castle.

I have The man in the High Castle sitting there but I haven't got around to reading it. It sounded interesting though.

[Sparq]

I'm about 150 pages in, it has been pretty good so far. I'd definitely recommend it if you have it sitting around.

Also, after getting into a discussion about the difference between a virus and a bacteria (as well as prions) last night, I tracked down a copy of The Cobra Event by Richard Preston. I haven't read it since high school but I recall that I really enjoyed it then so I'm looking forward to it arriving, hopefully in time for me to just finish TMitHC.

So I can put off Book VI of The Dark Tower a little longer <_<;

[Hel OWeen]

On a scifi binge at the moment.

Can heartly recommend Old Man's War by John Scalzi.

I like all three of them. "The Ghost Brigades" and "The Last Colony" being the other two books following Old Man's War.

[Rami]

I have started re-reading all of Jack Vance's stories since picking up Songs of the Dying Earth tribute compilation. This will last me a while.

[Tarminic]

On a scifi binge at the moment.

Can heartly recommend Old Man's War by John Scalzi.

I like all three of them. "The Ghost Brigades" and "The Last Colony" being the other two books following Old Man's War.

I really enjoyed the first book, and the others are still solid military sci-fi, but they really disappointed in the fact that it seems like the second and third books really "humanized" the alien characters. They go from fundamentally-different creatures with unknown motivations to characters that act and behave identically to humans, aside from the fact that they do shit like "rub their chitins in disappointment" instead of sighing.

Still worth reading.

[Space Panda]

Finished The Prince, now reading The Man in the High Castle.

The Man in the High Castle is one of my most favored books! one cool thing about it is, if you read other works by PKD, especially VALIS, the book willl then take on an entirely new dimension.

[orcane]

Nononono. Go away. Not VALIS. Goddamn that book

Man in the High Castle is interesting, I totally loved it but I know a few people (one of them a high school level English teacher) who totally couldn't get into it for some reason.

[Brullig]

World War Z. Tearing through it because of the writing style, it's a really easy read and the format makes it easy to read "just one more" section. It's like the fucking Civ of books.

Also, each short story gives a lot of interesting teases of the whole. It's up to you to piece together the in-betweens, with just a tiny bit of cross-reference between them. I want to know more about a lot of the characters and events, in a good "I want this to be a novelette" kinda way and not in a bad "screw you, author, you don't give me enough" way.

That vignette from the mentally-ill girl in the asylum though...that one creeped me the fuck out.

[Kalil]

I was surprised how much I enjoyed World War Z, described the book the other day to the missus and she asked me to give it to her to read. Loved the style and the changes in register between testimonies etc.

Am now starting the 3rd in the Honor Harrington series, dont usually read Mil scifi but gave it a try after this thread and am not disappointed. Cheers guys.