Books

[Captain K.]

The Shadow Rising:  From here on, I will be referring to Rand as Guv, since Guv's Gigaslash animation is the same as Rand's Power Sword Thingy.  That makes Perrin=Yangus (axes and hammers) and Mat=Angelo (bows and staves).  Still not sure who Jessica is, maybe next book I'll decide on that one.

Anyway, good book.  Best of the series so far.  There were far fewer dull parts, and they didn't last as long.  Not like the train wreck of the Cairhien arc a few books back.
</supertrolling>
Especially liked the Farebury stuff with Yangus and Red.  Not so much the Pickham story with Elayne and Nynaeve, but it was still passable.

[Dhyerwolf]

To Green Angel Tower (Tad Williams)- Finished this trilogy...or 4 book series. Tricked because I accidentally bought two versions of the same book since book 3 and 4 also had a condensed book 3 and 4 version, so now I have two book 4s. This was kind of funny, because I was reading the giant one (Since the only book 4 was noted To Green Angel Tower Part 2 despite book 3 not being named that...), and completely thought there could be another book until right at the end. I guess this is to say that the ending felt very abrupt considering how very slowly Tad Williams likes to build things up. Both the final resolution and some of the randomly thrown in plot twists.

Also, Maegwin's view kind of rocked after Skali's defeat.

[Grefter]

Knife of Dreams - Had a small break from this because Elayne being a continuous string of epic fail put a damper on it.  But yeah picked it back up and onto Egwene.  Wow, this is some of the best RJ from a female point of view since the (rare) Moiraine stuff.  Awesome.  I could read the rest of the book full of this.  Ignoring the strong central focus on the metaplot like some chapters have and bring it back to character focussed and his writing is much better and more enjoyable.  This is win.

I meant to comment on this back on the 7th when Dhyer first posted, but is that part of his Otherlands stuff Dhyer?  Cause that stuff is pretty good mix of cyberpunk and fantasy from what I read.  Waaaay to huge for me to get into at the time, giant books that are pretty non-stop in a long series is daunting and put me off finishing it.  Good stuff though.

The name Maegwin reminds me of Katherine Kerr, have you ever read her stuff Dhyer since you seem to have a taste for the slightly pulpy fantasy, she has some shades of Sara Douglass.  Less confronting, but still a bit on the trashy side while being kind of fun.

Edit - Oh and it does have that tragic romantic thing that you have going as well.

[Taishyr]

To Green Angel Tower's a completely different series, IIRC; far more fantasy-focused from what I remember, but I never managed to finish the first book due to my habit to spontaneously shift books and forget I even owned the previous book.

I'm good.

[Sierra]

Go back and finish it, Tai (you know, when you're not in China any more). Also seconding Grefter on Katharine Kerr. Nothing revolutionary, but it's fun stuff.

[Taishyr]

I will when I can be bothered to find it in the organized mess that is my room.

Nothing's usually on the floor except desk/mattress (Fun fact: I do not use a bedspring or a bedframe. Why? Iunno.)/dresser/string bass/a few plastic crates/bookshelves.

The desk is immaculateish.

The rest of the place is a bloody mess and is likely more so since my family's had free use of it.

So yeah, once I find the book I'll read it.

[Grefter]

It still spins me out for all that Katherine Kerr has minor pulpy fantasy I consider her Sci Fi to be her Magnum Opus.  Palace is that fucking good.  It is done with someone else who may have been the majour influence though.  I only just now checking up on stuff find out that there is a sequel I didn't know about and I need to find.

Edit - Though Polar City Blues  is pretty damned sweet as well and is all her.

[CompmanJX3]

I case anyone was worried (yeah right), I'm still alive.

After reading Ringworld (which sucked), I thought of you all and read all four released books from A Song of Ice and Fire (which didn't suck).

A SPOILER or two!
 
Book one and two were pure awesome in their ability to pump out exciting plot developments and keep me turning pages.  I've mostly read more cliche fantasy fare, and I kept waiting for the "right thing" to happen, but was pleasantly surprised when it continued to not happen, although he ought to deliver occasionally.  Cliche it might have been, but Sandor and Gregor Clegane fighting to the death would have been pretty much awesome. 

Anyway, things started slowing down in book three, to the point where I was looking forward to some characters and wanted others to get their chapter's over with.  Also it was like 30% Tyrion, which is fine because he's a great character, but it got old, really.  There were some awesome exceptions to the lower quality of this one, though (Red Wedding caught me COMPLETELY by surprise, and then I laughed at myself because Martin dropped about a zillion hints.)

And things REALLY got slow in Feast for Crows.  Jaime was the only character I really liked that got a whole lot of face time.  A few other interesting people made appearances not often enough and every once in a while something cool happened.  But Cersei was more or less insufferable.  Gah, I wish it hadn't been prophesied that she'd outlive her kids THEN die, because both of her living offspring are way cooler than her.

Anyway, looking at other people's comments, no way in hell do I think Jaime goes back for Cersei.  He rightly hates her crazy annoying personage at this point.  And the next book will probably be better just because it will star Jon and Bran and Dany and Tyrion and those characters are usually a good time.

[Lord Ephraim]

WHOMG IT'S GLOMPMAN!

Yes, we didn't forget about you.

[Grefter]

Knife of Dreams - Finished.  ARGH FUCK YOU ELAYNE JUST DIE SO I STOP HAVING TO READ ABOUT YOU.  Yay more her being a stupid irrational bitch and then pissing and moaning about being an irrational bitch.  Where the hell was more Egwene dammit?

Mat stuff was good.  A lot more pleasing over all than the Perrin plot really (Perrin should have been tied up ... a book ago I think, but that is nothing new with Perrin plot, always slow even though it has its moments).  Glad they tied everything up with the plot of Mats they did there, I was expecting it to have been held back for next book.  Sets up the badly needed truce.  Rand getting fucked over was... well the plot points behind it and the myth callbacks for it of course are great, he kind of gets the idiot ball there a bit (at least they didn't kill Semirhage.  Another ressurected Forsaken would have been annoying at this point) like why didn't he just Balefire her after the battle was over?  He could easilly have had enough power to blast her out of existence for 5 minutes or however short the battle would have been, he certainly blast Rahvin out a good what 30 minutes?  Should have been trivial.  I guess this way Logain and other Ashaman don't know the weaves for it (Wow at Logain by the way.  Still being a solid character with not enough screen time even now.)

Mazrim Taim plot continues to be a bit overwrought.  Meh.  Oh well.

Still I liked it, best book since oooh probably Shadow Rising I guess.  Crossroads of Twilight had a great finish which justified like the whole book, but Knife of Dreams was a lot more consistant the whole way through.  Also worth noting that it is the first book I can think of in the series that didn't really pull out all the stops and wrap up something huge in the last few pages in this giagantic climax.  There was plot resolution throught the whole book instead of a book of setup for a million things with no pay off for any of it other than tying up one thing started 3 books back.

[Captain K.]

Fires of Heaven - This book sucked as much as the last one rocked.  950 pages and they couldn't fit in a single chapter with Perrin?  He's like the Neville Longbottom of this series.  Book 5 - He's a really important character!  Book 6 - Neville who?

So sick of reading about Elayne and Nynaeve.  Oh she wished her hair were in a proper braid so that she could give it a good tug!  Somebody kill me.

On a positive note, Gareth Byrne kicks ass.  And Moraine finally did something useful.

[Grefter]

For what it's worth, at this point Perrin is emasculated fail still, but he gets a liittle bit in the next book, he doesn't do much huge for a couple of books though.  Nynaeve gets a bit better later! and then stops being POV.  Elayne always is shit though.  Hell I think even Rand has a book where he has no point of view maybe?  I know later there is one where he doesn't do much, but he still has some and ends it with a bang.

But hey, at least the Battle of Dumai's Well was cool right?  FoH is an entire book of setting stuff up so it makes for a blah read.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Closest thing to a Rand-less book is The Dragon Reborn (irony, it is funny). Dumai's Wells is Lord of Chaos. Elayne is awesome.

[Cotigo]

You're the only one I've ever seen talk about the series who has come away with that conclusion.  I think it's safe to say you're alone on that bit of horrible taste.

[Captain K.]

Elayne would be fine if she would stick with one personality.  She's different for every book (and sometimes switches more than once in the same book).  In this one, she's become some kind of pyscho dominatrix.

[Grefter]

It is differing a lot and yet it is always retarded.

And yeah dammit Dumai's Wells was LoC.  Well shit.   What was there that I liked in FoH again?  I know I came out of it satisfied when I read it in my teens.

[superaielman]

There's not much point to having a Perrin PoV (To quote the author, all he was doing was being a newlywed and rebuilding the two rivers). The other plot arcs were more important.

Fires of Heaven Gref? It has three major arcs- Rand travelling out of the wastes and learning from Asmodean, Nynaeve and Elayne travelling across the whitecloak country and Gheldean, and the start of Salidar. Notable happenings include Mat forming the band of the red hand, Moiraine/Lanfear vanishing, Rand bedding Ahvendia, Nynaeve causing the riots of Samara, Logain/Min/Leane/Siuan running into Gareth Byrne and accidently giving the Aes Sedai rebels a general, and the 'birth' of Bridgette Silverbow.

And Elayne's the weakest major PoV character in the series by a lot.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Book 5 is good stuff, yeah.

Elayne feels much more real than most of the other PoVs to me, on the other hand - the very thing Captain K describes is something I see more of a strength of hers. She is both kind and bitchy, highly intelligent but does some stupid things, etc. It helps that her thought process is a lot like mine, I'll freely grant, but even so I can take that as proof that she is actually rather real, so thumbs up to that, as that is something a lot of fantasy has issues with.

I find her a far superior character to Mat, who feels summed up by being a character designed to appeal to teenage boys, and Perrin, a generic nice guy who ultimately doesn't really provoke much thought. Nynaeve too, I am not quite sure what to make of. She has moments certainly but overall she doesn't make a super-strong impression on me. On the other hand Rand is <3 and Egwene is solid too.

Though I suppose I see people here who identify with Mat, so eh. Even the characters I don't like I will give RJ some credit for. And it speaks more highly of the series to have a generic rascal than to have a generic do-gooder, if you have to have either.

[Captain K.]

There's not much point to having a Perrin PoV (To quote the author, all he was doing was being a newlywed and rebuilding the two rivers). The other plot arcs were more important.

And what's wrong with throwing ten pages in to say that?  Why does every chapter have to be DRAMATIC CONFLICT DRAMATIC CONFLICT DRAMATIC CONFLICT?  Your characters will seem more human when you show them being human - kicking back and relaxing after a hard-won victory.

And then there's Elayne at the opposite end of the spectrum.  There's a difference between showing a variety of emotions and being fucking Sybil.

[Grefter]

In the head the Elf is a drama queen?  You are lucky you can drive I guess.  Make useful and all that.

[Captain K.]

Lord of Chaos:  Apparently Robert Jordan heard my complaints about the last book and wose from his gwave to change this one to my liking.  Especially liked how Egwene matured this book - her scene where she admitted her toh to the Wise Ones was very powerful.

Mazraim Taim is evil!  He is so evil!  The only thing he's missing is a railroad track to tie Tess Trueheart to.  Which probably means he's going to be the unexpected good guy who saves everyone in the end.

Also, I have the strange suspicion that Sorilea is Cadsuane in disguise, even though Cadsuane hasn't been mentioned outside of New Spring.

[superaielman]

Score, just bought the first worldwar bucks for six and a half bucks. Need to find which Colonization books I still own (I found aftershocks at least).

[Dunefar]

Barbarossa, a history of the Eastern Front in the Second World War: Picked this up at Barnes and Nobles on a whim. It's a decent if dated examination of the Eastern Front of WW2.  It's nothing ground breaking if you're a student of history, but I found his tendency to make the more sane players in the entire war sympathetic interesting.

[Captain K.]

Crown of Swords:  Another good book, this one rocked pretty steadily from beginning to end.  Also, apparently I summoned Cadsuane by mentioning her name in my last post.

[Grefter]

Illuminatus! - I am halfway through book 2 or so.  Not that it really matters with the trilogy in one book edition (which I am glad I am reading instead of individual books, it flows to well to break it up).  It is still super stream of consciousness still (even more so just where I stopped with having just had someone writing actual stream of consciousness stuff while cutting backwards and forwards with a guy babbling incessantly in a stream of consciousness as he was physically and mentally coerced).  This book is great.  It is so full of stuff that is very me and yet completely and totally nothing like my style.  Great stuff.  Highly reccomend it.