What are you reading ?

I just started the new novel by Stephen king called Under the dome. And I gotta say, wow! Amazing book so far. I'm only at page 250, and it counts over 1000 pages, so I have a lot of reading still to do. But the story so far is amazing!

I finished reading Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon a day or so ago. So I've gotten on with Legends as edited by Robert Silverberg, starting with The Little Sisters of Eluria by Stephen King

Originally Posted by Dwagginz
I finished reading Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon a day or so ago.

That's the first book in the Paksenarian (or something like that) trilogy, right? If so, definitely good reading from start to finish.

Originally Posted by dteowner
That's the first book in the Paksenarian (or something like that) trilogy, right? If so, definitely good reading from start to finish.

Yes, it's the first book in The Deed of Paksenarrion, although I disagree with your thoughts. I found it an incredibly bumpy ride and I'm undecided if I'm going to continue or not.

Once again The amazing Maurice and his educated Rodents - what a masterpiece, from a philosophical perspective !

It has grown to become one of my favourite books.

I'm reading this compilation now.

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection and here

Almost done, after 2 weeks in Hawai'i (inc. 1 week of recovering in the shade from a Naproxen induced photosensitivity and resulting sun allergy reaction)…

There's some truly excellent short stories here.

This series of compilations is great for discovering less well-known authors to further explore.

Finished Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. Enjoyed it, though it was not as good as the First Law trilogy. Plus, Schenkt was way too convenient and seemingly added as an afterthought. I like the world these books have been set in and will read his latest "Heroes" when it comes out on paperback. Because I'm cheap.

Best Served Cold was indeed a good book. I didn't read the First Law trilogy yes, might try that one soon. I really liked Schenkt until.. well, u know. Won't spoil it for the other people.

Just finished "The Jennifer Morgue" by Charles Stross. Another Excellent read with a major twist on the generic Spy theme done in the "Laundry" Universe. Next up "Elemental -Destiny's Embers".

Guards! Guards! by Sir Terry Pratchett. I tried it a few months ago and couldn't get into it, but I picked it up again last night and I'm really enjoying it.

I think it borders on being too silly, though.

Finished "best served cold". I liked it a lot but as evilmanagedcare said it's not as good as the "first law" trilogy. I would suggest first law at any time. I loved most of the characters. Can't wait for "heroes"!

Hello.

For those whom, like myself, fear the Human females more than D&D's Tarrasque, I suggest :

Without Embarrassment: The Social Coward's Totally Fearless Seduction System By Michael Pilinski.

An eye opener.

Finished Dan Simmon's Song of Kali. Excellent stuff.
Been trying my best to advance with Kostova's The Historian, but it is boring me to tears…

Just finished The Judging Eye, from R. Scott Bakker (creator of the Darkness that Comes Before trilogy). Great book, really interested in the way the story will evolve.

A collection of strips about Hägar The Horrible.

The Black Library has a promotion where it offers free Warhammer Audio and Ebooks every Friday. They're calling it Free Book Friday. They have one book already up for grabs and another one will be available in about 10 minutes. I'm not sure about the quality or anything since I just found out about it, but for any Warhammer fans out there who enjoy the books here's a chance to get some for free.

You can download either the Mobi or epub version. I have no idea what that is since I don't read……..or rather did not used to read books online. They say Mobi is the Kindle format and epub is a general format for most programs.

I just found out about a new novel set in the Darksun universe. It's called City Under the Sand by Jeff Mariotte. I am not currently reading this, but I will be soon

Oh, I totally forgot to mention it.

I'm reading Mogworld by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw.

The Book Of Three

Finished it late last evening.

I have very much mixed feelings about it.

- First : the setting : It is so … so … different than anything I read of. Since Lloyd Alexander drew from Welsh mythologies (and Tolkien, too), I can see a glimpse, a few sighs from afar which are in both works (Lord Of The Rings and The Book Of Three), but apart from that - everything is different.

There are especially two events which are SO MUCH out of place that nobody would do them in any RPG nowadays. Gamers ould simply call them immersion-breakers, although they are actually part of this world. (Spiral Castle and The Fair Folk)

- The language : I think this book was meant to be for younger readers. Hence its language is a bit … plain simple, EXCEPT within the speeches. The more intelligent protagonists speak in a … what's the word ? - dict.leo.org suggests the word "plangent" - … a language that reflects as if its speakers lived several hundreds of years ago … Well, not exactly, because they don't use too old words but their speeches are longish and … boing. Too many words, like people who had grown up in a different culture which uses a different kind of wording ( I can only TRY to compare it so something else … It would be perhaps as if an Amish would speak american English - just take the image this creates in your mind, not the exact, real outcome of it).

And of course there are lean-words from Welsh mythology.

- The protagnists : First, forget everything if you have seen the Disney movie "The Black Cauldron". This is a bit different. Not entirely, but noticeable. Like the whole movie is like some kind of summary (as it seem to me) of the books 1-2 … or so. Since I have read only book 1, I can't say.

The main protagonist is an anti-hero. He is stupid and he is rough. His profession of an "Assistant Pig Keeper" speaks very well of how he is. He is not brutal, though. Only stupid and rough.

On stark contrast against him are almost all other protagonists - save the Bard and Gurgi, maybe.

The bard (who looks quite different than in the movie) and Gurgi (I could include him as he looked like in the movie, although in the descriptions he has longer arms) are the only "middle" protagonists … Well, because their actions speak of more kind of sanity.

But the other protagonists - especially Eilonwyn - act so that they form a really stark contrast to Taran. They are intelligent, clever, and of higher classes in society, which means they are not stupid and not rough at all either.

All in all, this book leaves me unsatisfied. I really don't want to read more about an Assistant Pig-Keeper who is so stupid it hurts - and manages to grow some kind of hatred inside of me.

I just don't want to read about an anti-hero who is oh so easily surpassed by everyone else, in terms of wits etc. . Maybe I'm just biased, but this is how I was impressed.

On the other side, I'm intrigued. I really want to learn more about this setting, this world, which is - although seemingly written for youngsters - so much different than any fantasy world I know of.

Of course, some parts of it look from today's view highly generic, but I think this is only because we are already know so many different fantasy settings we can choose from. We are like kind of … overflowed, flooded by fantasy settings of today.

But then, when the book was written (within the 60s of the last century), this was something almost entirely new. The Hobbit was already known, and The Lord Of The Rings was still in the making. And both partly drew from the same resources : Welsh mythology.

Plus, if Taran gets a chance to grow, it might become better. But I don't know. My only hope is that the Newbery awards came in justified. I really hope it gets muchbetter than this, because Taran's stupid and rough behaviour just turns me off - for an protagonist. Antagonists are supposed to behave like that.