2016-09-15 09:38:42

Ahoy all
Aye, its another one of those topics, please recommend some ebooks
lol
But seriously, since a last few months it seems like I haven't come across anything good I'd like to read,hence this topic
Any genre is fine accept the dreaded romance,
Here are a few books I've read and really like a lot. in no specific order
Lee child's we all know the series I'm talking about,eh? :d
Game of thrones by grrm (anything well written with characters dieing off or realistic instead of fluffy would be neat)
Robin hobb every book with fitz in it, the Soldier Son series.
all books by Andrew Vachss (fiction)
bernard cornwell, the sharpe series,the Saxon Chronicles (something similar to this or lee child or the berk series  would be quite great)
C.S forester hornblower
stephen salor the rome series
Colleen McCullough masters of rome
Conn Iggulden Genghis Khan series, (loved these)
Rather obscure, the falcon banner series liked this a lot,too
everything by Mark Lawrence (this guy can write!)
Almost all books by stephen pressfield specially the virtues of war, although alexander addressing us was a bit jarring.

Anything you are able to recommend after reading this long list as long as they are similar to the books listed above or according to you something I'd
like will be really appreciated, as I'm going through a book famine here

There are certainly a few other titles I've missed that I like,but then if I were to write down each and every book I've read and liked this post would
grow rather long.
oh, Naomi Novik's dragon series is quite awesome too! although it does have certain romance elements which make me shudder but eh.

Thanks in advance!
grryf

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
Follow me on twitter

2016-09-15 10:45:31

Maybe Aztec by Gary Jennings?
I haven't read it, but a friend of mine rates it as very good, and I trust her opinions on books.
If you like Genghis Khan and books about Rome, I'm thinking Aztec might be something you'd enjoy.

2016-09-15 13:31:10

I can't say ebooks specificallysince I prefer reading with a human myself, but as to recommending books that's very doable.

First, have you checked other books by some authors you like? I can highly recommend cornwell's Warlord trilogy, aka the winter king, enemy of God and excalibur. these are about King arthur in a historical sence so would probably also tie in to your liking of settings about Rome, ---- btw, My lady has recommended Coline Mculluf to me they're on my victor at the moment.

I also enjoyed Cornwell's starbuck chronicles about the american civil war, though I've only ever read one of that series, the rfirst called Rebel.

In a similar vane, I haven't yet read a bad book by robin hobb, indeed I finished the rainwild chronicles recently. Imho Liveship is actually her best series, I liked it even better than the fitz ones.

As to other books, for fantasy anything by Tad Williams or patrick rothfus, both very good fantasy and while not quite like grrm certainly realistic with unsafe characters, Williams otherland series is good to.

if you like books with huge battles about epic war try anything by David Gemmell, both his fantasy books like Drenai tales, and his more historical ones about settings like Troi.
In particular his first book Legend is an awesome display of a siege against overwhelming odds, ---- oh and characters definitely are not safe there either :d.

I can also heartily recommend Justin Cronin's passage trilogy, ie, the passage, the twelve and the city of mirrors.
you didn't mention anything post appocalyptic in your list of recommendations, but as I recall your a we're alive fan i know you have no objection to zombocalypse, so long as they're well written with amazingly good characters.
Cronin has to be  not only the best zombocalypse I've read, but the best general books, indeed calling them zombocalypse is a bit of a disservice as though you see a bit of the origins of how everything goes to hell, most of the books are set 90 years after the appocalypse and about the communities that have formed, how they exist and survive and interact.
This is a series where you really! love the characters and care about them, and where the world itself is fascinating, certainly much more than just the usual munchy munchy run from zombies you'd expect, a real epic.

I could go on all day about books I like, heck I'm rereading Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson at the moment with the intention of reading all books in the series, which is pretty awesome if you like fantasy.
I would also suggest going to www.fantasybookreview.co.uk, since one thing that comes up when you look at a given book is books of a similar type by other authors, or books in the same series, there are also lots of reviews by yours truly, see My list of reviews here

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2016-09-15 20:19:08 (edited by grryfindore 2016-09-15 20:20:34)

Hello there

Thank you both,dark and Mirage for the suggestions

I would give Aztecs a go, but a quick search tells me its written in the form of letters a story telling type I truly dislike, plus I don't know what it is with american indians (Aztec  are one of them, I suppose?) and me,but they always seem to put me off.
So not really my cup of tea, sorry.

I couldn't really say why, but I didn't really like the liveship series as much as anything else really written by robin  hobb. but then I haven't really given the rainwild cronicles a go yet so I couldn't say how that compares to liveships
The ships being alive was a really unique and good concept that I liked, the serpents and all the other stuff I liked too, it was the romantic elements that put me off.
admittedly, all the books featuring fitz have a bit of that romanticism mixed in too,but I like the character too much to stop, plus the communicating with the animals keeps me on as nothing else could have, and her writing is quite good as well so that doesn't hurt,either.

Coming onto bernard cornwell's warlord series, I have tried to sink my teeth into that one,but I just couldn't carry on. perhaps now would be a good time to try it,again. It feels more like fantasy series to me rather than historic fiction,  I should say cornwell doesn't do the former as well as he does the latter but then again I could be just mistaken or the book just doesn't ring for me. Most probably I'll give it another shot and see if I'm able to carry on

David Gemmell, is one author I've been recommended quite a few times now,so I suppose its time to go  look for his  books.

Tad Williams I think I have tried before and I didn't particularly like his writing style but then again its not exactly eazy finding books written by him. although I don't think I have tried the otherland series, so I'll look for specificly that
rothfuss, I have heard loads of good things about,again but he is a little too slow for my tastes, but it might be that he falls in the same category as cornwells warlord series and I need to try him again.

Justin Cronin's passage trilogy I have also read a lot about, many times from you in fact big_smile so that's one I'll start with I think
And indeed, I don't really tend to limit myself to any genre as such (romance being an exception),as long as its
1: well written and I can stand the authors writing style,
2: not sappy,
I'm good


I really really and I mean! really love dogs and animals of all sorts actually, so any book that has them as a character I almost always end up liking as long as its not terribly written or truly a mindfuck.
a truly good example of a book with a animal in it as a side character I really love  would be the burk series by andrue vachss, although they aren't  lite reading considering the subject matter they cover, they are well written and even though they contain some of the usual cliches I.E a sexy woman needing help and so on, all in all they are totally worth a read and pansy (the dog) makes them worth reading no matter what.

As to Reading vs listening I think we've discussed that before a few times tongue but I only consider listening to a book when it has a truly exceptional narrator I.E stephen fry etc, of which sad to say  there are far too few.

But aye Instead of Ebooks just books should've done,because nowadays you can almost get the book in any format you prefer be it audio or text so the format  doesn't really matter but the books suggested, eh?

Thank you both again.
oh and dark, I looked at the link you posted above,and after reading your review of the red dwarf books, I whent ahead and downloaded them, since from your review they do sound like my thing and indeed, what I have heard so far (this is far better heard than read) they are truly fun,
although to me they read more like they are some old radio show rather than novels, but fun none the less.
Although I wonder if I would be missing out on some details as I haven't really watched the show nor heard of them before your review

I think I'll end this post here before it turns into harry potter and the deathly hollows, or some other novel as huge as that. big_smile
grryf

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
Follow me on twitter

2016-09-15 20:51:06 (edited by Phil 2016-09-15 20:53:28)

grryfindore,
For my favorite mysteries, thrillers and fantasy:
Alan Bradley, Flavia deLuce Mysteries,
Carol Lea Benjamin, Rachel Alexander and Dash series,
Dan Brown, Robert Langdon series,
Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, Pendergast, Wyman Ford, Gideon Crew,
Edna Buchanan, Britt Montero, Cold Case Squad
Jeffery Deaver, Lincoln Rhyme, Kathryn Dance,
Jim Butcher, Harry Dresden, Cinder Spires, CODEX ALERA
Nelson DeMille, John Corey series,
Robert Galbraith, Cormoran Strike series,
Rod Duncan, The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire series,
Stieg Larsson, Lisbeth Salander, The Millennium series,
Tessa Harris, Thomas Silkstone series,
and of course,
Lee Child Night School
A Jack Reacher Novel21
Available November 7, 2016

2016-09-16 00:12:30

@Grryf, aztechs were actually a south american civilization with cities, economy etc, rather similar to egypt I think although other than the fact they did massive amounts of human sacrifice and built huge pyramids I'm not that up on the civilization, which is quite surprising given there is one of the early doctor who stories set in Aztec times big_smile.
So not exactly American Indians in terms of being like a western I think.

Warlord is actually not fantasy, since it has a historical period, and there is no actual magic in the series, or at least none that is identifyable for all there are druidic and other mythic rituals, again I'd very much recommend these.

I'm not a massive fan of cliches or romances, indeed that is one of my issues with dresden in temrs of "oh the beautiful woman needs help" etc, however Liveship and Hobbss writing in general are not like that, for all they do involved relationships and yes, occasionally people falling in love, but hay that happens even in the most unlikely of circumstances (look at me), indeed you'll be hard pressed to find a book with good characterization which doesn't! have something about that sort of thing, albeit if it is done well it can work extremely, indeed all of the books I recommended have it at some point, though it's not a cliche wridden predictable situation.

As to red dwarf, yes indeed the books need to be heard, since Chriss barry is such an amazing narrator, and no, as I said in my review, the books retell the story from the beginning, indeed in many ways they form a more coherent story than the episodic series which is good, indeed I do intend to write a final reivew of the two alternative final volumes, last Human by doug nailer and backwards by Rob Grant which both end the series in different ways (imho lst human is far the superior but hay).

As to Cronin, hope you like.

Gemmell is good if you want something with lots of epic war, albeit I don't like the fact that pretty much every single one of his books ends with the good guys besieged under overwhelming odds.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2016-09-16 04:27:37 (edited by magurp244 2016-09-16 04:29:07)

Hmm, Piers Anthony's Xanth Series is pretty good and has lots of Puns. There's also the rather huge Dragon Lance series which was written by a number of people, more than 50 novels if you feel like wading into the magic and dragons, heh. Theres also Mercedes Lackey and her Valdemar Novels, the Arrows of the Queen series seemed more coherent. Oh yes, and the RedWall series by Brian Jacques, which is a fantasy series ivolving anthropomorphized animals.

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2016-09-16 10:35:02

Redwall by Brian Jack is fun as a one off, but I confess they were a little too nicy nice for my liking, indeed the very obvious good guys and bad guys and the excess of cutesy among the good animals rather put me off, I have read several of them but don't particularly plan to read more since they're very obviously aimed at kids and unlike a lot of the kids books I like, they are a bit too simplistic for an adult to enjoy. Indeed in one sence they could be called "racist" sinse pretty much any animal classified as vermin eg stoats, weasels, rats etc automatically behaves like the most cliche sort of fantasy orc, full of just plane eeeeevil!

Ironically a friend of mine said when she and her sister were 10, her sister was bought the Redwall books, and hshe was bought the Detford mice series by Robin jarvis, which, though again classified as kids are just plane bloody evil and anything! but cutesy, featuring heads wripping off, animal sacrifice to dark gods, impailings and a lot! of characters being literally skinned alive (really the books are just plane vile, and those you can! read as an adult).

apparently the contrast was quite stark big_smile.

As regards the Valdamar books, i did read and review the first trilogy, heralds of valdamar ie arrows of the queen, arrows flight and arrow's fall, (I do intend to read the mage winds series that follow on from them).

they were decent enough stories, but the problem was they felt waaaaaay too safe and free of conflict and also if Grryf doesn't like romance that series might not work, indeed Mercedes Lackey is the only author I know who has basically a series all about a teenaged girl growing up in the first two books, finding a handsome man to sleep with apart from the man she adores, and then suddenly remembering she is supposed to be writing a fantasy series in the third book and having said girl horribly and graphically tortured! big_smile.

They were her first books though and it's entirely possible they continue later, indeed I do enjoy Lackey's rather offbeat take on super heroes the secret world chronicle. You can find my reviews for the three heralds of Valdamar books on fantasybookreview.co.uk.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2016-09-16 14:03:34

Ahoy all

Thank you Phil,Magurp244 for the suggestions

I have just started with the passage by justin Cronin and can say this one's going  to be good
I have no Issues with how the author writes, in fact based on how well he writes I might pick up other books by him, but I'll hold off on doing that until after I have gone on with this one a little more to be sure.

All the characters are well done,and I can actually feel them as actual humans not your usual 2d characters so that's a point in its favor.
I am so far upto chapter 8 I believe and things are coming to ahead, that is they are moving to something significant,but will this significant event is the type that will drag upto the end of this book or will come off to something soon, I have yet to see.
All in all, quite good I'm just hoping something or the other doesn't put me off but that's highly unlikely at this point imo


Dragonlance books I have actually read before and they vary in terms of how good they are depending on who has written them.
I think I have had a look at almost all the books in the dragonlance world and read the ones I like although that's one series I could begin rereading as I haven't reread those and a few of them are good enough to reread.

Piers Anthony's Xanth series again I have read upto the 7th? or somewhere at that point, but after a while they felt a bit dull to me,although it might have been just that book or 2 in the series. but then again I don't usually hop around from 1 book to the other in a series that is skipping a few here and there I prefer to read in order or as much in chronological order as I can.

I have also read the RedWall books although not all of them, and while they were fun for like 1 or 2 books, they felt a bit too much of black and white to me.
In essence what dark said.
I think I also have jarvis's books with me, not sure, are they worth reading?

Coming back to Aztecs,
Thanks dark for clarifying that for me, I have no clue what makes me lump in the Aztecs with the american indians, and no the westens is not what I mean.
By american indian (although to be honest I only have a wague idea about them) I ment the different tribes of people that inhabited the american continent, something like the african tribes, with their own different culture and customs
I guess it might be something worth reading.

Speaking of Egypt, I have read books on rome from when it was made to its emperors, of the middle 900 to 1400s of Europe and England, I'm wondering if there are any books on Egypt that you guys would recommend?

I did not mean to write that Robin hobb's liveships series was filled with cliches, like you said Hobb's work rarely is, Its just the often times the book seem to focus too much on the romantic relations of characters rather than the plot. there were points where I was just wishing that the book would just move on.
Its not like I'm allergic to anything having love or romance in it, but when it reaches a certain point I just tend to call it quits.
I.E the liveships was getting too much like those romance flics for me to stick with, I.E the main character and the one she loves having a misunderstanding, getting apart, all the angst  that goes along with it, obviously having read the fitz series I have a idea how they end up and so on.

In some cases I'm willing to stick with it, like I said for the books with fitz in it because the good things outweigh the parts that cause me to cringe, although to be honest I don't think the romance in any book containing fitz if it can be called as such is at all cringe worthy
mostly,anyway.

I have picked up the warlord series for further reading or a try for times when I'm done with passage or need a break for   other books smile

Even though the passage is proving to be a excellent read so far, keep the suggestions coming if you can think of any, the more to read I have the happy I am big_smile

All the book releases I'm looking forward with anticipation to  are coming out either in October or November which is bloody awful since I have my uni exams coming up at that point sad
night school by lee child, the 10th book in the Saxon Chronicles, the assassins fate by robin hobb has been pushed forward to  march 2017!
And who the hell knows when winds of winter will be out,anyway.

grryf

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
Follow me on twitter

2016-09-16 18:48:43

@Grryf, glad your l9iking the passage, the characters are awesome and very 2D, it's a lovely series for not going as you expect.
the only thing I'll warn you of that threw me first time I read the book is that part way through there is a huuuuuuuge! time skip and you have to come to know a hole new series of characters. it's not a problem, the new characters (who are actually the ones you spend most of the trilogy with), are just as good as those you've met thus far, and of course you'll be seeing some people again, but it did feel a trifle jarring for a bit first time, albeit i got used to it quickly. I can say the other two books in the series, The Twelve and City of mirrors are just as good as the passage, indeed probably better, although as I had to read them as Cronin wrote them there were fairly big gaps, I only just finished City of mirrors recently, hence why i did a review of it.

Dragonlance I'm not sure of, since there are soooo bmany books, where to start is a bit difficult, plus I've got plenty of very good fantasy to read like Brandon Sanderson at the moment, I am also a stickler for chronological order as well with any series.
Oh and btw, if you've not read anything by Sanderson I can highly recommend his books, especially the stormlight archive, ie, way of kings and words of radience (hopefully the third will be out soon),  and his mistborn series that I am reading at the moment, ie, The final empire, the well of assention, the hero of ages, the alloy of law, the shadows of self and the bands of mourning.
Sanderson's stuff is always good fun and very readable, albeit I'm not one of these people who thinks sanderson is next to God the way some people do, however his stormlight stuff is absolutely amazing! as is mistborn, which I'm just getting a good idea of second time around.

Robin Jarvis stuff is very different from Redwall. They're about animals who use magic and have war and such, but set in our own world though the animals (mostly mice), have human intelligence and also do a few things like wear clothes.
It's odd, in some ways the series is definitely a kids series, it has very black and white villains and some bits that are clearly stuck in for fun, plus they move at a quick pace, however in other ways it really! isn't. This is particularly true in terms of all the blood, guts, gore, death and murders! really i don't think i know that many adult books who have so many cast members die, and what's more die in horrible ways, indeed Jarvis often writes endings that wouldn't be out of place in Game of thrones :d.

So yes, definitely a kids series, albeit one which I suspect makes a lot of kids run in terror big_smile.

I've not read piers anthony, so can't speak for those, and lee child is less my thing. I unfortunaytley don't know any books set in egypt specifically which is a shame, since it's an interesting part of the world and having visited there I'd definitely enjoy something like that, though if you want something heavy on egyptian mythos, albeit set in mostly 19th century england (it has time travel), try the anubis gates by tim powers, a very fast, pyrotechnic novel with lots of adventure and action and rather liekable characters plus some awesome plot twists.

Liveship I'm afraid is probably my favourite of hobbs series, I liked it rather more than the books with fitz, but then again anything with both pirates and! dragons is sort of written for me big_smile.

On a very different tack, my lady and I are currently reading another book by David brin. these are scifi with a really unique premise, set in a universe where one species uplifts another, ie, makes an animal into a sentient race through a combination of genetic breeding and training.
Humans are unusual in that they have no patron race who uplifted them, and they're very much looked down on by some older galactic clans, ie, patron races and their clients.

the really cool thing is that they feature earth animals who humanity has uplifted, so star tide rising which we're reading now, is about a spaceship crewed by humans and intelligent dolphins.
Star tide wasn't quite as well paced as the uplift war, but we're now halfway through and everything is coming to a head, plus it's cool to see a starship story where many of the characters speak in dolphin poetry and don't think the way we do.

the Uplift war is also worth reading, though I said most of my thoughts on that in the review on fantasybookreview.co.uk.
They're not massive military fiction, but if you want some really fun sf with a detailed universe, some great ideas and a rather amusing and quite funny writing style they might be your thing.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2016-09-17 22:06:42

Completely off topic, but the Aztecs were in modern Mexico, which is in North America.

2016-09-18 09:10:18

Ahoy there

When I say American I don't mean the country america or united states of America I should say,but the continent as a whole.

I just finished reading the passage and I will be getting all the other books written by Justin Cronin. goddam but this guy can write.
This is what I call a whopping good read.
The postscript felt like a suckerpunch from the blue, specially the last few lines, though I hope its not what it looks like....

Can't wait to start the 12, although I think I'll pick up one of cornwell's warlord books  or one of the other recommendations by dark
I can read through all the passage trilogy without taking up another book but Justin Cronin is so good that I'd like to take it slow, saver the books, ration them as it were. big_smile
Thank you,dark!

The series by david grin sound fasinating again,animals are sure to get me interested every time, although the rest depends on the authors style of writing and the plot.

I haven't given Brandon Sanderson's writing a go actually so that is one thing I ought to do in the future, although the reason why I haven't done it so far is exactly because of the fans that make him up to be great and the next coming of god. Most often than not authors or books or movies or such that are  touted  so much by people are nothing but a steaming pile in the end or not to my liking. Examples being the hunger games,divergent, twilight (toilet) and so on.

I'll be sure to check out the  anubis gates although to be honest I have yet to come across a good book that includes timetravel

I also  have been looking for something like military fiction or something that includes less of sorcery and the magics and more of guns, tanks, ships or some such. speaking of which its quite a shame about the falcon banner series, I was looking forward to the next installment but there hasn't been anything from the author in the last 6 7 years so the release of the black prince as the book was to be titled, is highly unlikely.

slightly OT, but  something that made me laugh quite a lot when I was looking for books to read the other day was, a post written for people who were looking for books that were similar to the game of thrones in which a song of ice and fire series was 11th! I mean how the hell could the first 10 books be more similar to the book game of thrones than the rest of the series itself? lol some people,seriously.

grryf

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
Follow me on twitter

2016-09-18 13:15:03

Glad you liked The Passage Grryf. The ending is quite a stinger, but you will see more of that in The Twelve, however now imagine me having to wait two years before reading the twelve and then another three before city of mirrors big_smile.

Cronin will I think though be joining william Horwood and tolkien on my frequent rereads list.

David Brin is fun. I will say his stuff is a little different in style since he gives you a lot of character viewpoints, especially those from neo dolphins or neo chimps who don't really think the same way humans do, and his uplift universe has some of the best ideas for truly alien aliens I've ever seen. If you were going to try Brin I'd suggest reading The uplift war first, since even though star tide rising was published first the books pretty much happen simultaniously on two different planets, and are referenced in each other (it's a very big galaxy with lots of nasty aliens, and even though  there are many more advanced clans than humanity startrek this is not, and every alien clan has their own way of doing things, some of which are dam nasty, albeit the books are not super dark and are actually rather fun, even if you do have a lot of different ideas to keep track of.

As to Sanderson I fully agree on being careful about the hypek, however also bare in mind that occasionally something gets all the praise and the hype and actually is! something good (look at Harry Potter). The majority of Sanderson's books, the reckoners trilogy, rythmetist and warbreaker are pretty good and very readable, though stronger in characters, plot, world  building, magic and action than in pure writing style, and Sanderson has had a couple of less good moments, eg, Elantris.

Mistborn that I'm rereading now is definitely at the higher end, though if you want the truly! exceptional stuff by sanderson check out way of kings and Words of radience (hopefully the third book will come out soon).

the only major problem I have with Sanderson in Mistborn, and indeed in many of his other series is that the books have huge and detailed  fantasy worlds, then spend their entire time stuck in just one place, indeed Mistborn pretty much the two first books are set in the same city, albeit with a major siege and battle in the second book.
Call me old fashioned but there is something for the journey story and seeing diverse locations, then again according to a friend of mine apparently mistborn does improve on this in the second trilogy.

The Anubis gates is just a rollocking fun adventure story, but the time travel used in it is! rather clever, then again as a Dr. Who fan I'm used to good time travel stories, speaking of which i really! wish we'd see the black prince soon, though whether it's going to come out I don't know, I also wish Darker projects would carry on with their audio adaptation since that was pretty awesome.

I'm not really the sort for military fiction, it just never got my interest, plus in a lot of wars like the second world war I'm a little too aware of the real history and how many people died to want to go and read "smash the evil nazis" type of stories.

that being said, one of my lady's favourite books that I read and remember very much enjoying when i was a teenager is Hms Ulyses by Alistair Mcclaine. Mcclain wrote a lot of spy, crime  and military fiction back in the fifties, and much of it is a bit dated, and indeed often a little too blatantly super powered for my taste. But some of his books really rocked, and ulyses was one, particularly since in that one he actually did write about realistic characters, stuck on a British war ship protecting a convoy up in the north sea near the arctic circle, where the temperature gets so cold it can literally freeze people's skin off.
It also has probably the most amazing captain ever! in fiction before Picard, indeed it wouldn't surprise me if picard was partly based on Captain Vallery from ulyses.

I really enjoyed that one when I was a teenager, and actually have it on my victor now and intend to reread it since it's one of my lady's favourite books.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2016-09-19 05:44:46

I can't wait to read Star Tide Rising, and that series. It sounds fantastic!
I love The Passage too, but I forgot there were more books in the series, so I'll definitely be checking those out.
And I guess I'll be in the minority and say I love the Redwall books. I read them one or two at a time, then I let time pass before I read the others. That way, it's not so much "kid stuff" all at once.
But I guess I would like them . . . my friends called me an elf in college, because I was so happy about every little thing, all the time. So maybe that kind of book just fits with my personality.

God I love book recommendation threads! :-)

2016-09-19 10:59:33

@Mirage yeah, I love these sorts of threads too, one reason i got into writing reviews, I've already done one for the uplift war, and will write one for star tide rising when my lady and i have finished it.
What is particularly cool about Star tide rising is that after reading about a spaceship crewed by nio dolphins, I spent last night on wikipedia reading up on actual dolphins and whales just to get some background big_smile.
I have stroked a dolphin before which was fairly amazing, but Brin really does his homework with his other species, even while making them very real characters which is why i wanted more info. I'll give Star tide rising lots of credit for doing things with Dolphins I'd never even considered, ---- eg, ever imagined a dolphin thug? or a dolphin scientist?
It also has one neochimp character who is absolutely hilarious, though I'll say more when I write the review.

The passage is awesome, though I think the twelve might actually be even better, it's certainly darker, and yes it is possible to have a book that is darker than the book in which most of the world's population get killed off big_smile.
i love the way Cronin deals with characters so that even his bad guys come off as very human, indeed that's one thing which rocked about city of mirrors, you get Fanning's full life story and understand why he is the way he is.
this doesn't make him any nicer, but it does make him more than just a stock villain who wants to destroy the world because he is eeeeeeevil!

It's odd, I've read several kids books as an adult, indeed I've occasionally enjoyed series that weren't around when I was a kid (I definitely appreciated the how to train your dragon books, and not just because they are read by David Tenant). But Redwall is just a bit too  nicy nicy for me I think.
I've read several of them, five or six, but compared to Jarvis or indeed someone like Roald dahl they just read as far too symplistic in characters.
Yes, they're charming and sweet and have fun moments, but I tend to find that can't carry for the length of one entire book, then again I confess my tolerance for "charming" has rather increased since I got married big_smile.

At the moment I'm still finishing up the second mistborn book, Well of assention. one thing I do notice about Sanderson which is a miner negative, is that he really doesn't know how to write characters with low self isteme. he tries it with Vin in mistborn, but more often than not she just comes across as irrational, or as if she has random voices in the head rather than having a serious problem, likewise like a lot of writers he really can't do ptsd or traumatic childhoods much as he tries very hard with vin. Indeed I get the strong impression Sanderson himself is a very confident and outgoing sort of guy, so he has trouble with characters who oppose that personality, one reason why most of his main characters tend to be pretty outgoing types and even when quiet, like Cereen in Way of kings they have a habbit of mouthing off.

it's not a problem, and the books are very readable, but this is one thing I think that makes the second mistborn book a little less captivating than the first, since the first went at such a pace Vin's character conflict wasn't quite as noticeable, while the hole "am I worthy to marry him, he is such a good man" thing in the second is a little too much, or at least it doesn't have a flavour of reality.

Still as I recall hero of ages, the third book was an extended climax and sanderson does very much know how to keep tention going even if he has trouble with traumatized characters, so the series is good, though perhaps not exceptionally awesome the way stormlight is.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2016-09-20 06:12:58

That is one of my dreams, to pet a dolphin or swim with them!
I do the same thing though. Whenever I read a book, I'll always look around online to see what else I can learn about the subject.

If you like fascinating dolphin stories, try "Ripple" by Tui Allen.
It is such a unique story, that I really can't describe it. All I can say is that it is written beautifully. Basically, it's about the life of a dolphin named Ripple, who lives in the distant past, and it tells about the impact she made on humanity.
It's available on Kindle.

2016-09-20 09:59:06

Sounds interesting and definitely worth reading, there actually aren't that many dolphin stories though i have noticed dolphins come up in other series, eg, Anne Mccaffry's dragon riders (she even has a hole book dedicated to them, the dolphins of pern), or Alan Dean Foster's spellsinger, which is about a fantasy world populated by anthropolmorphic animals and there is a section involving dolphins.

I think though Brin is the first author I've seen who actually writes about dolphins as distinct and realistic characters, ---- and interestingly enough, not just nice ones either, since some of the dolphin characters in Star tide are definitely not! pleasant people, albeit are anything but two dimentional.

i'll have to see if I can get Tui allen's story in audio, since I really! don't like reading stuff actual literature with a synth voice. The Rhythm, the cadence, especially in dialogue it's just off putting to me. I try with each new synth that comes out, and I have played through games like the Cog titles, but I've never found one that is adequate, indeed the only full length book I've read with a synth (other than text books), is the falcon banner series because I couldn't get them any other way, though even there I did find myself becoming disengaged and occasionally losing the plot.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2016-09-20 14:03:08

Dark,
I just finished Ransom Riggs' 3 book series starting with,
Miss_Peregrine's_Home_for_Peculiar_Children, then    Hollow_City, and finally, Library_of_Souls.
It is a young adult fantasy mainly about unusual children with unusual talents. Think of the circus freak show.
The first book is about to become a movie.
The interesting thing about this series is that it is based on real photographs, of real people with some of the photos manipulated to show unusual images such as a girl levitating while holding onto a chair, probably done by securing the chair to a wall and letting her hang from it wile shooting the photo with the camera sideways.

2016-09-20 15:45:36

Ahoy all

I just finished reading the 12, and I don't think I could holdback enough to wait on reading the third in the series
at dark, in some ways I suppose I have been fortunate to have come so late to reading this series I'm think, as after the passage's ending the wait of 2 years would have been a long one,indeed!
big_smile
Although I liked the passage far more than I liked the 12, the authors writing style remains just as good as in the first book, however its the plot/ the story in which the book suffers
In the passage things had a way of coming out of the blue and surprising you, that sort of fear, entisipation, worry and so on for the characters. I don't think I felt much of that or not to the extent as I did in the passage
The story read a bit like a fanfiction sometimes, while things might appear to be dire, you know everything would be write in the end and all happy and so on.
I liked the unpredictability of the first book, I suppose I want to say.
Still a good read,not bad at all but I was expecting it to be better after the build up of the first.
I totally agree about cronin's ability to create fairly 2d characters where in even his bad guys aren't all baddy baddy, you can actually feel they are actual beings, with the good and the bad, that is to say complex and not symple.


I should defenetly pick up brin in that case, and funnyly enough I was also thinking I'd give the uplift war a go first, since it sounded more the type of thing I'd like

I have read a bit of alestor macline before and I'd agree they are a tad bit outdated, fare enough since they were written a while ago, but for all of that he is a fun read.
I'm not so sure on whether or not I have read the HMS Ulysses before, even though I have the book  already and if I haven't it should be quite a surprise as the name itself denotes a ship or something to do with ships, did I say I love ships and the sea? big_smile, so it should have been the first thing I read after reading its name. although I can't really remember anything,so I need to look it up.


Its not that I dislike the Redwall books, but I guess my opinion is quite similar to dark in that the characters are far too simplistic sometimes, and to me the books just got a bit flat after a while but I guess that's to do with reading one book after the other without break

I do this in an entirely opposit manner
I've always liked history and animals, and I'm the kind of guy that tends to randomly read about things, and if that thing interests me I go and see if a book can be found on them. that's indeed how I stumbled onto the stephen pressfields alexander books, the genghis khan series by Conn Iggulden the rome series by stephen salor and indeed the masters of rome by Colleen McCullough
I also loved the Animorfs series by KA applegate anyone want to take a guess as to why? lol
Ripple by Tui Allen is again another that sounds just like my cup of tea! or should I say coffee...

AT dark fare enough on  Sanderson and I will give him  a shot, in text this time since that's how I actually am able to enjoy books and anything that requires reading.
Ironically enough, I often tend to do the same as you do when reading with sinths with audiobooks, although I don't think I can stand any other sinth reading my books for me the ones I'm ment to enjoy anyway besides eloquence.

I almost forgot!, I gave the warlord book 1 another go and indeed it was just me back then ,because the book doesn't really contain that many fantasy elements, its the usual great bernard cornwell at work

I'm off to see whether I can resist the city of mirrors enough to read any other book and if yes,then which out of these many good recommendations. smile
grryf

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
Follow me on twitter

2016-09-20 18:45:45

@Phyl, sounds like an interesting series, though there is a lot of Ya stuff about kids with special powers around now, still if they're well written.
@Grryf, funny about the Twelve. I actually remember the twelve surprising me rather more than the passage particularly in the way that a lot of people you thought dead weren't, and I loved the nasty society and weerd ideas around it. The only thing I thought was a little off and slightly fanfic like was the fact that you happened to run into Wallghasts' wife and yet more links to fanning even after 90 years of the world going to pot, though what was done with her was extremely unique with her being both round the bend and yet at the same time having power against the virals.
I wasn't as keen on the sacrifice of amy plotline but fortunately that one didn't go as far.

City of mirrors is fantastic, though you can read my review over on fantasybookreview.co.uk so I won't repeat my thoughts here, suffice it to say Cronin's 2D characters are very much there in force, indeed you won't even be able to predict what happens to some of the people you already know or where they end up.

Brin is good, though not quite in the same way as The Passage, his stuff is a little closer to the format of the falcon banner with many characters you follow, though his universe and themes are entirely different, lots of politics and ideas to wrap your head around, especially in the chim characters and how they think. Again, I did share my thoughts in the Uplift war review, though as I said in that review don't expect a major war story with lots of death and violence, for all there is enough to gather what's going on, indeed Star tide rising is actually a good bit darker than the uplift war despite just being about one ship's crew rather than a hole planet.

Hms Ulysses is very much a sea story, indeed unlike most of his other works it's a very streight up account of a second world war 2 British destroyer and the problems they have in the arctic sea, so yes, if you like ships definitely read that one, indeed I'm probably going to reread it myself soon enough.
the Masters of Rome series really does sound good. My lady actually recommended them to me on the basis that if I enjoyed something like Songs of ice and fire with all the politics and dark and nasty stuff I'd probably go for those, and I do find the idea fascinating.

If you love animals I can highly recommend William horwood's duncton books though i've probably recommended them before as they're some of my favourite books of all time, particularly the first three, duncton wood, quest and found.

Glad you liked the warlord books, they're imho some of Cornwell's best and a really unique take on Arthur. One thing i find interesting is while there are no blatantly fantasy elements like dragons or magic swords or raising the dead, the way that the celtic religion is described, it's rituals and some of the effects they have do verge on the magical, something which Cornwell himself doesn't confirm, then again you'll see what I mean when you get more into the series.

With Sanderson I confess that well of assention is sort of annoying me at the moment. not as tightly plotted as final empire and things are just rather draggy, particularly dealing with the various emotional conflicts with characters that Sanderson doesn't really handle well, indeed quite often the plot seems to stall for a large part of the book and then get resoved in a very quick and well described but ultimately fairly brief action sequence, and part of me is thinking "why all the wandering around! why didn't you do that earlier!"
Still a couple of things are going on in the book that are interesting and it's definitely leading somewhere, indeed I get te strong impression Sanderson didn't quite have enough plot for the trilogy, so I'll see where it goes though i am not sure if I'd recommend it over all, while the first volume of mistborn, Final empire was good, well of ascention is merely okay, were I to score them i'd probably give final empire 8-10 and well of assention 6, though admitedly I've still got about five hours to go in the book so that might change if it has a big climax.

As to reading, as I said it's humans for me all the way. While I have got to the point of playing the cog games and other gamebooks with sinths I wouldn't want that for an actual novel. Also i confess I really! don't like eloquence, but that is probably because the eloquence Uk English accent is really not great and of course i find it easier to read and write with a sinth that has the same accent I do, hence why i use either orphius human voice Alan, Realspeak daniel, or more lately the male Siri voice on my Iphone (for some reason daniel has sounded rather harsh for the last few Ios iterations and as I have an Iphone 5 I can't use alex, ---- besides Alex is american anyway).

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2016-09-21 17:43:01

Ahoy there

I actually am in the middle of the city of mirrors and so far I feel its picking up to going good again after the passage
I don't really know what it was about the 12 but the characters felt a bit different? or not the same as they were in the first book
I.E alisha (hope I haven't mangled her name up)

I don't really go for all this love amd romance stuff in books because I feel more often than not they are nothing but fluf added for the people who enjoy that kind of thing or think things like that actually happen. My thought on love and romances aside, Justin cronin has really done a fabulous job with the city of mirrors specially 0's background, I think that's my favorite ark of the whole series.
All the good and the bad and the rest form together a mixture of what I' call is a human and a human life.
Although be it a rather dark one, considering the things he ended up doing.

I realised why I missed out on reading the HMS Ulysses even though I had it and was interested just from its names.
Its because I got it in the days when  there was no amazon kindle and hardly any accessible books to read, turns out it was a pdf containing nothing but images.
Thanks  for giving me a reminder about this one. now to see if I can find it either on bookshare or kindle unlimited?

The masters of rome series is indeed excellent, in fact its one of the series I have reread which I don't do very often.
It paints quite a good picture of the hole old roman civilization and how the people actually lived back then, and aye in certain ways its like the game of thrones, what with characters trying to be the masters of rome big_smile
Although I really wasn't a fan of the last book in the series,but I'll let you reach your own conclusion after you are done reading.
and indeed I'd be interested to here your reviews on em when you are done reading.

and aye, you've indeed recommended the William horwood before and I have tried his books a few times, but again I think it was duncton wood that started a bit romancy for my liking.
I.E the main mole meeting the female,and they both having that instent lovey dovey connection?

I totally agree about cornwells warlord series, although my favorite would probably be the Saxon Chronicles much owing to the style and manner of the main protagonist which I can't help but like
I intend to go on with the first book in the warlord series as soon as justin cronin lets me go big_smile

grryf

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
Follow me on twitter

2016-09-21 19:27:28

Glad your liking city of mirrors.
I don't remember things being too different in the twelve, but then again it's been a while since I read it, I certainly don't recall  Lish being such a different person in The Twelve, then again what she goes through there is so very extreme it's not surprising it changes her a bit. The Webmaster of fantasybookreview.co.uk actually asked me to review the twelve but it's rather too long since I read it so it'll probably have to wait until I read it again, which I will.

In general I'll say romance in books doesn't bother me in and of itself if the characters are good and it is clear why they like each other and what they both get out of being together, ie, so long as it's more character than cliche.
On that basis I'd suggest giving Duncton another go. Duncton wood was Horwood's first novel and is a little way rough about the edges, but a romance it isn't, even though the romance between Bracken and Rebecca is central to the plot, and certainly by Duncton Quest romance is not on the cards.

Btw, my laydy didn't like the duncton series, especially Quest and found because she said they were too dark, and too full of characters you like having intensively bad stuff happen to them :d.

then again speaking of romance last night my lady and I were actually comparing our own experiences to romantic cliches which was a little scary given that we really did have a lot of the standard moments, then again people who've met us say we act as if we're living in a disney :d.

I think you'll like Ulysses, it's an awesome storyk, my lady is quite fond of it, and what I recall of reading it as a teenager was pretty good, of all people my gran actually recommended it to me and even got me a copy on audiotape from the library, then again while not a reader of fantasy, sf or speculative stuff she was an avid reader of all sorts of other types of fiction.

Cornwell's warlord series are probably my favourite by him, though I have read and do remember very much enjoying the bfirst of his starbuck series about the american civil war, I also enjoyed Gallows thief, a stand alone story about a captain in Georgian England who's asked to clear someone of a murder charge, lots of really interesting stuff about the 19th century british attitude to crime and punbishment and how the penal system works (btw, if you've any allusions on hanging being a kind way to go don't read this book).

it's odd, I got interested in Cornwell because he wrote the sharpe series which i've enjoyed several of, such as sharpe's siege, Sharpe's tiger  and sharpe's regiment, however several others rather got on my whick particularly when Cornwell started putting Sharpe in crazy circumstances to get him at things like the battle of Trafalgar, the battle of Denmark and the chillian revolution.

while I've enjoyed several, imho Cornwell is better away from his most famous character, or at least I find the sharpe novels less good as they go on in publication order.

I have had a fansy to read the Saxon books since it's a rather distant and alien period of history like the Warlord ones rather than a comparatively more familiar time, and i am interested in how the stories go, so I might give the saxon stories a try albeit right now I've got so many other things to read it's unbelievable.

I've nearly finished well of assention and while it is picking up towards the end I didn't rate it as much as the first book. I'll probably have a quick break before going on to hero of ages though and read something else, maybe a short story collection.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2016-09-23 08:09:13

Ahoy there

Finished reading the city of mirrors today, more like yesterday since I've just gotten up, atended college and am now sitting down to write this but eh. big_smile
If I had to rate all the books in the passage trilogy I'd rate the passage highest, with perhaps phannings background in the city of mirrors along with it,
City of mirrors after the the passage and the 12 after that.

What I mean by characters feeling a bit different  in the 12 from the passage is,they did not really seemed the same people as they were by the end of the passage. nothing big mind you,but just little things here and there that made me think I was reading about slightly redesign versions of the characters I had come to like in the passage

They are still excellent reads, for all that,though. Like I said, Justin Cronin is a fantastic writer although I hope his other books aren't as full of religious fervor as the passage trilogy was, although I think he didn't let that get it too out of hand as some other authors tend to.

Dark, if the warlord series is your favourite out of all bernard cornwell's works, then I think you'd defenatly enjoy the Saxon Chronicles
Its a bit of sharpe and Derfel mixed in one
As to having too many things to read, I say that's never a bad thing in my book big_smile

Talking of cornwell makes me want to continue on with the warlord series so I think that is what I'll do next, although I really like the sound of Gallows thief...
decisions, decisions!

I'm fine with romance really, as long as it comes slow, is done realistically, and doesn't have too much fluff
Romance also being central to the plot I.E the main line while everything else takes the second seat to it, I don't tend to enjoy much, but I've always liked the sound of the duncton series the way you described it, its just the romance in the very beginning and the way it was done, made me think oh my god. if the beginning is like this what of the rest...
Although all your recommendations so far have been quite excellent and just my sort of thing so  I'll give this a go again

I think I'll read through the winter king (I'm so much a fan of GOT that anything with winter in it makes me go, winter is coming) lol
first, then start with some of these awesome sounding books just for variety or a change,as it were.

Reading/listening to a book through a synth or a narrator I guess comes down to nothing but personal preference in the end, I guess but then again I guess I have been spoiled by listening to stephen fry as my very first narrator and jim dail that other narrators just seem a bit bland in comparison.
At dark, speaking of listening to books, and narrators I can't stand, how did you manage to go through the entire  song of ice and fire (GOT) with roy dotrice as the narrator?
Oh my god, but IMO he is one of the most acclaimed and the worse reader of books I have ever come across...
I was hoping that the series had a alternate narrator, but that came to nothing in the end with john lee having read only 1 or 2 of the books in the series.

grryf

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
Follow me on twitter

2016-09-23 13:51:40

So, I've now finished well of assention. The end was rather good and did build up nicely so methinks Hero of Ages will pick things up a bit, though I'm having a brief break and reading a rather fun ya novel my lady recommended callled Dragons milk by Susan fletcher, about a girl in a fantasy kingdom who goes to find a cure for her sister's illness by milking a dragon and in return baby sitting her dracklings, (I love that term for baby dragons).
A bit too early to say what it's like, though the dracklings are just plane cute, I'm a bit of a sucker for anything with dragons, and with impish, baby dragons who are at the same time very much like real puppies or kittens, well you've got me big_smile.
As to the rest of the book we'll see as I'm still comparatively close to the start, I'll be writing a review though, though it's also likely my lady and I will finish star tide rising today as well which i'll also write a review for.

@gryf, I can't really say on Cronin's books and character because I read them so wide apart, but I'll pay some attention when i reread the series, still remember that the twelve does take place five years on from the passage and city of mirrors is even longer in time so characters should change a little.

As to religious furver, one thing i really respected in Cronin was the fact that he included mystical or religious if you like allusions, but does not tie them to any specific tradition or attempt to ram one idea or cosmology down your throat. horwood actually does this in Duncton with some of the mole's spiritual experiences, but he rather cleverly does not tie them either to a specific religion or make them elements of fantasy either, it's a nice touch if a writer can make it work.
Beware! Cronin spoilage ahoy!
The only bit I felt was a little off in Cronin in terms of his spiritual side was having Carter actually meet up with Rachel. We know Rachel is very much long dead, and though Carter has been trapped in a semi mystical dream of her garden for goodness knows how long, it's implied this is not actually the afterlife, but rather like the platform harry visits in deathly hallows, a sort of stepping stone partly made of Carter's own thoughts.

therefore having Rachel appear felt a little too far into obviously mystical teretory, then again on the other hand i loved the description of Rachel and Carter and Rachel's kids so much that i didn't really want to quibble with the mood.

As regards romance, well the relationship betwene Bracken and Rebecca is central to the plot of Duncton wood, but if you think it's a standard romance your entirely wrong, both because both Rebecca and Bracken have distinctly interesting stories and definitely odd relationns, they don't exactly adore each other either constantly, nor do they have all the affairs and  mistaken identity and cliches either, it's just a realistic relation between two friends who come to love each other and consequently who's first meeting has a little more significance later on.

Also i'll say there is a specific reason Rebecca was looking for Bracken uniquely, which you learn at the start of the book.

duncton Wood is a bit rough in places, and has occasional uneven pacing issues, but is a great book over all, though duncton quest and found are completely amazing and some of the best books I've ever read, and you need to read wood before going onto them.

I'll have to check out the Saxon stories, utrd did sound like a unique character, though I'll miss the paralells with arthurian myth you get with durval.

As to roy dotrice, well as I said I'd much rather have a human narrator than a synth one any day, this even goes for a crappy human. I don't know why, it's something to do with vocal rythm and cadence I think.
roy dotrice  however I didn't mind too much, he's not the best narrator I've heard, but neither is he the worst, I actually like a few of his voices and his narration makes me think of a wise old man,. ---- probably because he is! a wise old man, ---- well he's an old man anyway, whether wise or not, who knows! :d.

I was quite amused that he's actually been in the series as the head Pyromancer Tyrion talks to when he's arranging the wild fire for the battle of blackwater.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2016-09-24 08:45:08

Thanks to both of you for making me reread The Passage.
I don't usually reread anything, but after reading this thread, I wanted to check out the other two books in the series, and thought I should reread the first one, since it's been six years ago that I read the first one.
I forgot how spellbinding Cronin's writing can be!