2018-04-07 08:10:08

I finished the book The Long Way To A Small Angry Planet recently. It's pretty incredible. I don't think you've ever read a book with aliens that developed, and the story itself was really enjoyable.

Prehistoric terror.
My github.

2018-04-07 13:56:06

Also currently reading through the Dresden Files, since one of my friends won't quit telling me to....yeah, that's anothr good series.Also going through the Highlander books, very, very good

Warning: Grumpy post above
Also on Linux natively

2018-04-07 22:16:20

@Flacus Yep, agreed about King, though even at his good moments he still has issues, for example he often uses profane language or explicit descriptions not so much to further the story, but more because he's king and just does that, I also notice that a lot of his so called "good" characters are randomly occasional arse holes too, plus in at least some of his books he does have a tendency to make all his female characters "wet tissues" as my lady put it, ie, women who spend most of their time crying.
Actually its the gender thing and the characters being randomly arsy which is taking away from The sTand for me at the moment, since to have Stue redman point out to Harald that there is no need to rape women if a man can use his hand, this after noting that "there are some girls you can own and this probably wasn't one" doesn't make me exactly like Stue that much despite the fact he's supposed to be this super nice guy.

ditto with knick decideding to sleep with a female psychopath the instant he meets her basically for no reason whatsoever, -its like the random scene in the mist where the main character sleeps with someone for no reason.
Then again there is so much good stuff, description, atmosphere, and actually characters who are likable when they aren't! being arse holes or fantassising about women's breasts that this is quite a shame.

--- @Darth vader why did you hate Catniss in the Hunger games/
I confess I was never a fan of the Percy jackson books. They were fun, seeing Crusty's bed emporium" and depicting hephaestus as a greasy mechanic, indeed in general I loved the repurposing of griek myths, however I just got totally sick of Percy himself being a real arse, celestial bronze used to basically kidify all of the fights and make things lack any sort of real tention, everyone saying how great he was, the attempt to write an intelligent character by basically just have her talk about architecture and above all the very very veeeeeery! blatant harry potter ripoffs!

From a magical summer camp, to a prophecy, to a best friend who is supposed to be clever (although she never really seemed that bright to me), not to mention spending the final book finding out about the bad guy's past, and having every group of allies in the series return for a final battle it all seemed a bit too blatant, ---- accept of course for the fact that nobody actually ever got hurt.

They weren't bad by any means, but even compared to other Ya literature they were just a little too overly fluffy for my liking, one reason why I've not picked up any of riorden's others.

Dresden I did enjoy, albeit I got very sick of Dresden himself by the end of the series, particularly how he kept on picking up random powers and then still getting either kicked around or blatantly manipulated by everyone around him who he couldn't fireball!

I did love some of the action sequences and awesome ideas, and some of the supporting cast who aren't! the winy wizard of the title rocked (I loved Michael), but in general Dresden is pretty much why I'm not crazy on urban fantaysy, --- all glitz and no go.

Then again I love! the SEanon Mcguire October day  and indeed buffy the vampire slayer so maybe I shouldn't be too off against all! urban fantasy big_smile.

As to a long way to a small angry planet, Mrs. Dark and I are probably going to read that together when we've done Sanderson, as it sounds absolutely amazing! I love to see realistic average characters thrown into weird situations and have to cope, and it sounds like angry planet is full of that, as well as a fascinating world, so thanks again for another recommendation, we'll bump that one further up the list big_smile.

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.)

2018-04-08 04:38:48

@dark, one of my problems with catness... I think that’s how it’s spelled, is her a, randomly flipping out and remembering stuff from her past, she seemed pretty close to the edge after the first book. B, she seemed to kind of toy with Peter and Gail, basically acting like she loved both of them until the end when she thaught gale killed her sister, or something, that ending kind of confused me. C, she killed coin, I mean, why? She voted for the hungergames to continue, and then did that? Split personality disorder, anyone? And those are just a few problems I have with her.
With all that said, the fact the narrator sounded like she was drunk and high probably made things sound worse than they actually were.

2018-04-08 15:52:05

Well Darth my lady would totally agree with you about Peter and gale, particularly because she was always! a fan of Peter and got royally annoyed at Catness for hovering between the two, and only finally! seeing the truth at the end.
It wasn't so much about Gale killing Prim though, it was more Gale's attitude, since Gale was quite prepared to go in for mass destruction, and it was exactly that sort of calous thinking that got Catness sister killed, which finally! clued her in to the fact that Peter was actually a nice guy, ---- something which my lady was cursing her for not! getting all the way through the trilogy big_smile.

Actually, the Ptsd Catness experiences is pretty accurate. it doesn't mean multiple personalities, just occasionally feeling or experiencing things from the past without warning, actually it was the fact that the books finally ended with Catness as definitely scarred that was for me a pluss.

I thought though that it was pretty obvious why she killed Coin and had nothing to do with instability, basically it was the fact that Coin was clearly going down the same power hungry path as Snow had already done, and when its suggested to start a new hunger games with the capital's people as participants Catness saw enough was enough, after all Catness had been used as a symbol, both for the revolution generally and for Coin's rise to power.

I actually liked Catness as a character myself, and the fact that Colins didn't go down the path of least resistance with that sort of plot and break out that hory old cliche "sometimes you must kill to survive!" but  started from the other way up and began! with someone who was quite prepared to kill to survive and then only showed what it  her as time went on.

While I did have problems with the series, they were mainly to do with the way the plot was constructed with the second and third books devolving more into interconnected scenes without as much progression between them and a lot of excuses for action as opposed to the very strong direction of the first book, but character, and especially Catness was something I thought Colins did well.

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.)

2018-04-08 18:26:40 (edited by bookrage 2018-04-08 18:33:57)

currently guys, I'm reading the complete collected works of Immanuel Kant. He was a late 18th-century German philosopher. Got it on my kindle from the Delphi collected works series. Very good series if you like the classics as they are dirt cheap (usually costing less than 3 united states dollars at the most) for entire collections of works by authors.

They have a main series, I think they are on Series nine now, an ancient series which is Greek and Roman stuff, an artist series, and recently they started a master composer series with links that are easily accessible on a kindle fire.

Plus every single one of their books is text-to-speech enabled. They might be running low on major authors, but in the U.S. theoretically a lot of authors go public domain next year as the line that seperates copyright from public domain will probably finally move unless congress changes the law again.

2018-04-08 18:40:49

Hmmm Bookrage, you actually paid! for the works of Kant?
That is sort of nuts given that everywhere from wikisource to project gutenberg has them freely available online, I used such things a lot throughout my degree whenever I had to read Kant, Descartes, Locke, Hume, even Rawls and Marks, not to mention any of the griek philosophers.

Cant I am afraid I am no fan of. From his aesthetics to his ethics he just seems a super cold fish with an over inflated idea of human reason general, and his own reason in particular, hell any man whom other people used to set their watches by because he always took a walk at precisely! the same time every day doesn't seem to be someone in a good position to comment on any sort of basic human virtue or pleasure at all, since I doubt he's got experience of much big_smile.

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.)

2018-04-08 19:34:34

I got a philosophy degree actually and I specialize in ethics. I don't get Kant's limitations he tries to put on certain questions and although I'm a huge fan of ethics, I don't think Kant's morality works in the real world. However, I am very much an advocate of reading people you disagree with. So to paraphrase Niezche here, "Never have I read something and found with every sentence, no, no, no, no!" I think there is some validity  to wanting to read folks you disagree with. It helps you formulate your own stance and view it more critically, and also helps you prepare counterarguments against ways of thinking you disagree with.

I admittedly pay for my books, and btw I also have the complete works of Karl Marx from the same series, but the price is so negigeable for such convenience with easy navigation, scholarly commentary, good organization, and included criticisms, biographies, and in many cases, personal correspondence, I think the $1.40 I paid for this was worth it. I get everything Kant wrote in a single volume for peanuts and I've found that the organization, navigation, and completeness of the collections are definitely worth it.  And I read the entire thing from front to back before moving onto another book, so it keeps me occupied for quite some time. I imagine I won't be done with Kant for several weeks. I also enjoy the commentary in the beginning of each source, the knowledge I'm getting a good translation (I've read Kant in his original German back in college but no longer have the works as I speak German and A lot of those online sources aren't great on that.) and also having everything in one place. as I use my fire despite everything it can do for reading only. I don't read on my computer if I can help it, for some reason the kindle is easier, faster, and more comfortable, though I also have issues because I don't have the foreign voices for JAWS to read in other languages coherently or know how to adjust the speech reading language on the kindle if I wanted to read German books.

Also, I'm not reading Kant for school right now but for my own personal enrichment. I can find almost any subject interesting, as I've even bought extensive chemistry books for my own personal amusement.

2018-04-08 22:54:11

I'm (hopefully), just finishing a phd in philosophy following a masters and a degree, albeit I want to do something else when finished.
Agreed on reading people you disagree with, that was why I myself have read so much nietzsche, though I only dipped in and out of Cant  that was when I was taking my degree and had a lot of essays on ethics to write big_smile.

Maybe I will go back to it at some point, but right now I'm sort of wanting to do something else with my life once I've got the PHd out of the way and hopefully they don't screw up my marking again like they did last time around.

Oh and the PHd involves writing a new definition of disability if you were wondering.

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.)

2018-04-08 23:15:17

sounds cool, not going to go too off-topic but I'm actually on my own trying to bring certain aspects of care ethics and the categorical imparitive within Rule utilitarianism.

Knowing what you do and what I've experienced talking to people, you probably have rated me a step down for being a utilitarian, because it has huge problems, but from my own view of what Ethics is for, it suits my own viewpoint best. I think bringing in certain aspects of the categorical imperative and care ethics as guidelines for forming rules and a definition of utility will reduce some of the pitfalls in rule utilitarianism as a whole, but good to see another philosopher here.

2018-04-09 08:26:25

I don't actually mind utilitarianism as much, indeed my tutor is a fan of it himself, albeit more the mill style utilitarianism based on liberty rather than the strict benthem formulation posited by idiots like Peter Singer.

I actually thought Mill had a very good point when he simply noted that if the minority are always under threat of sacrifice to the majority,  that makes everyone worse off big_smile.

These days I confess I've grown a little too synical both about the process of academic philosophy  the progression of moral argument, and the general relation of power in the world and how moral changes actually occur in human society to have much truck with theoretical ethics anymore.

I used to be a fan of a system I referred to as "perception empathy" which was probably similar to the idea of care ethics with a general utilitarian sentiment, but these days I'm no longer convinced either humans, or human society, or indeed the process of philosophical enquiry itself would do much good, one reason why I'm so eager to get rid of this bloody anoying thesis so that I can do something else, ---- -like write fiction!

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.)

2018-04-09 12:08:59

hey there. wel. let's see which books i've read recently and which id o like
i'm actually reading robert jordan's books. they are great so far, i'm on the third book of the wheel of time.
before that i was reading brent week's lightbringer saga which is pretty good. the plot is good although some thigns doesn't make sence. There are 4  books out now and he's still writing so there'll be another out next year
i've also read the vinse flyn's mitch rap serie. That's about a man called mitch rap who becomes a CIA assasin and kills terrorist. there are 16 books out and although some of them are rather short it's over all a very good serie.
for anyone who wants a long storry you should go and read raymond e feist's riftwar saga. that one very good and ther eare over 5 series that continues the storry over time to new characters etc. really worth looking in too since they are amazing and you got a long storry to follow.

2018-04-09 12:36:03

let me also post my recently-read boks here:
I've recently completed the first 3 books of the Sigma Force series. It's basically about an organization that tries to bring groups of terrorists to justice. The thing is that this series is centered around mythical events or objects. for example in the third book you have a terrorist group which tries to recreate an experiment done by hitler and they want to create some kind of super soldier.
I like this series because it is very well written and has good characters.

2018-04-09 12:55:34

If you like that sort of stuff, you might want to look into either "Superbolan" or "Stonyman Farm." They are pretty  run of the mill but are entertaining if you like spy/black ops stuff. Superbolan is basically a super-spy that acts on his own on solo missions given by Stonyman (a farm that's really a Secret US spy base) where Stonyman is stories about tactical teams sent out from there.

There's a lot of war on Terror ideology in there and if you don't like that, it might be a snag. But on the plus side, the author doesn't engage in a lot of racial stereotyping, frequently putting people of ethnic minorities or foreign countries outside of Europe in positive heroic roles. Often his villains are white upper-class rich Americans, or if they are foreign such as being Middle-Eastern, he makes sure to point out through the narrative that they are exceptions to the rule. I'd say more often than not with named characters, Middle Eastern characters are on the good side.

If you want something funnier along those lines, go for "the Executioner." The books were mostly written in the 70s and 80s but the series was revived in the 2000s and I think might have either been revived again or simply kept going. The story is about Rimo Williams, a cop who is whisked away from a prison after a fake execution and recruited by the government to be trained by a North Korean assassin (who is obsessed with US soap operas.) to fight threats to the US. The stories are pretty farcical, with enemies including Soviet spies trying to recruit an army from a set of dim-witted UFo Enthusiasts, and other equally silly set-ups. It parodies things like the Rubix cube, conspiracy theories, telephone operators, and lots of other stuff that is profoundly 70s and 80s though a lot of it though I'm too young to have lived it still rings as funny. However, some of the humor is not exactly Politically correct, with a couple parodies of feminism and although Chiun (the North Korean Assassin) is a fully developed character with as complex and unique a personality as anyone in the series, it sometimes slips into ancient Asian master stereotyping. On the other hand, it parodies super-spy thrillers incredibly, with Remo often reaching feats of superhuman abilities that are so outlandish that they become funny from being so over-the-top.  There is some B-movie version of the first book or at least the basic idea of the series called something like "Remo Williams: the adventure begins" (I know for certain "Remo Williams" is in the title.) but I haven't seen the film.

2018-04-09 14:39:18

@Sito, Wheel of time is indeed good, my lady is a massiveJordan fan and actually I bought her a sterling silver Aise Sidai ring and green Aja pendent for christmas last year. Actually that is amusing in itself since we've had arguements about what Aja she is, but I'm fairly sure she's a green,  I bought her a green pendent (her personality is far more that of a green despite her liking the idea of healing).

I will say the series slumps in the middle somewhat, but if you can persist through books 6-10, it picks up at book 11 big time and the ending is great.

I will confess I rather gave up on spy fiction as a teenager, I began to get far too sick of  cardboard characters, ham fisted political messages  and very excessive jingoism, sadly more often than not American jingoism to want to dive into that sort of thing too much.

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.)

2018-06-20 17:45:21 (edited by flackers 2018-06-20 17:47:35)

I finally finished Memory Sorrow and Thorn a few days ago. Can't believe it's been two months. I've read quite a few other books alongside it, and there was a few weeks during the start of book 2 where I didn't touch it at all, and thought I better get back on the bike or I'll never finish. It picked up after that and I got more and more into it. But like with all things Tad Williams, my gripe is the same: there's a great story in there, it just could be leaner for my own personal taste. I personally would have pruned the entire Princess Maegwin thread. She was a really dull character and so was her whole story. It brought nothing to the table. Princess Mariamele on the other hand was the star of the show, even more than Simon. I thought her story once she teamed up with Cadrach was the highlight of the plot. Their relationship had the kind of spark I really enjoy. Even though Simon and the troll's story was a good one, and I liked them both, they didn't have the dynamic that the princess and the monk had, and neither of them had that is-he-good-or-bad grey area that Cadrach had. And when Duke Isgrimnur joined them, it got even edgier. That's one area I wish Tad would have made more of: the clash between the duke and the monk. It had great sardonic comic potential, but I'm not sure how much Tad was aware of that. Can't say I held much feeling for the two brothers Josua and Elias though. I found them both pretty dull, but credit where credit's due for a great villain in Pryrates. Not quite up there with Otherland, but pretty good on the whole.
The other books I've read in the meantime are: Adventures among Ants by Mark Moffett. Really dry non-fiction is all I can read using the voices on my phone. A pretty interesting look at the life of ants. I also read I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie by Pamela Des Barres. I didn't read it for the smut your honour, I heard of the G.T.O.s via Frank Zappa and particularly the book written by his former secretary Pauline Butcher, who sort of managed the girls during their brief stint as a piss-poor band. I listened to their album Permanent Damage, and thought it was interesting, and after hearing Miss Pamela and Miss Sparky talking about their schooldays, I was interested to read her book. I did think during the opening chapter, why have I just spent 8 quid on this drivel from a teenage girl's diary, and not even an interesting teen, just a vacuous one who just thinks about boys and little else, but I'm fascinated by California in the late 60s,  oh to see The Doors live at the Whisky, and she did a good job of describing that period from right in the centre of it. Didn't finish it though. Got a bit tired of her just going on about banging one rock star after another. I also read The Watcher by Charles MacLean, and my God that was a belter. It starts off with a really unpleasant act that made me think it was going to be cruelty porn, and I hate that kind of shit, but boy did it go off into strangeville. I'll have to reread it, but I know I'll still be wondering what I'm supposed to think. And finally I just finished Bridge to Terabithia, which took about an hour or so, being a kids book. But a kids book with an aspect you dont' find in most children's literature, and it was very well done. I heard someone on the radio mention it in passing, and the comment made me curious. I sure know what they meant now. So that's it. I'm on holiday from Friday, so it's going to be a week of dry non-fiction on the phone I think.

2018-06-21 03:43:45

Hi.
Well this is a really fun topic! Right now I'm working my way through the DCI Banks series by peter robinson. They are good books, although the main character, Alan Banks is a little dull, he's a police detective who lives and works in a fictional part of Yourkshire. From the reviews I've read, it seems he gets more interesting in the later books, so I'm hanging in there.
Right now I'm on the eighth book, innocent graves. It's good, although I'm struggling with it, because Banks isn't really the focus of the story, and the character who is the main part of the story is a stuck-up jerk! I can't really relate to him, but I'm trying hard to get through it, because the ninth book, blood at the root, sounds a lot better.
I've also got a book on kindle to read, called the white tower by Michael Wieshart. It is set in a world where magic is outlawed, because wizards of long ago used magic to wage war on each other, and so now magic is feared, and anyone who has it, is taken to the white tower, some sort of prison for magic wielders. It sounds intriguing, but I was a little putoff by the title, because the white tower is a place in the wheel of time series, which makes me concerned that it will be some kind of wheel of time knock off. But despite that, I'm willing to give it a chance. I signed up to the author's mailing list to get a free novella, and when you get signed up you become part of the wielder's council. After I'm into the book, I'll let you guys know if it's worth it.
@Flackers, if you want a fantasy series with tighter writing, try brent weeks's novels. They are fantasy, but very fast paced! There are a lot of cool things in there, assassins, battles, interesting magic systems, and plenty more. I recommend you start with the night angel trilogy, which begins with the way of shadows. If you enjoy that, you can continue with lightbringer, which has a little more complexity. Also lightbringer has some small connections to the night angel world.
Hth.

Guitarman.
What has been created in the laws of nature holds true in the laws of magic as well. Where there is light, there is darkness,  and where there is life, there is also death.
Aerodyne: first of the wizard order

2018-06-21 06:01:54

@Flacus, interesting reading your thoughts on MST I admit I didn't have your issue with maegwin since I loved the bit where she met Simon in the road of dreams.
its one of these points that would be a deus ex if we didn't know fully well why Maegwin is there and what's she's giving up.
Cadrach sort of irritated me with him being a complete creep and total wuss,  I really liked William's take on a powerful magician, indeed in general in that series it seemed that any Gandalf or other potentially highly powerful mentor characters got knocked off and left everyone else to figure things out on their own which I sort of liked, after all having the guy who works out all the ancient magic plot be something of an absent minded priest with failing eye sight who isn't sure what he's doing is far better than just another all powerful wizard.

I also didn't mind Josua myself since it was interesting to have the essential aragorn of the series be someone who was just rather quiet and wanted to go off and do something else.

The one plot that did irritate me was all of the political stuff regarding the nabanai queen and her astrologer, indeed while I get that tad williams was supposed to be showing a world shattering  I wish he'd concentrated on bits of the world that actually affected his main plot.

I really need to reread that series albeit  there is so much else around.

Bridge to Terabithia,  is one of my lady's favourites that she wants me to read at some point, which would be nice, though not heard of The Watcher.

@Guitarman I believe my dad has read the DCI banks ones, I'll also  have to ask my lady who still enjoys crime fiction more than I do.
I wouldn't automatically assume any book with a white tower is a WoT hommage just for the name, of course if there is an organisation of shifty female magicians or similar (you might have to rethink, especially given in WoT all the stuff with male channelers going insane.


My lady and I are also reading Joana Harris Chocolat together.
This is a really interesting book with some truly beautiful writing, about a woman with magic powers who opens a confectioners in a small French village where everyone is afraid of the overthetop oppressive catholic priest.
On the one hand, the writing is gorgious, and most of the characters are three dimensional, indeed Harris could have easily made the protagonist a mary sue by just making her awesome but manages to avoid.
On the other, the thing is so sterreotypeical. The breast beating priest who woffles on about sin and indulgence and good moral character is such a cliche its not funny, indeed at the start he was so overthetop he's amusing but now he's  riots he's less so.

My lady is irritated since Harris yet again has a one dimensional cardboard cutout "look at the evil christian!" since she would prefer if people didn't constantly make christians arseholes.
I see her point, but for me its just the cliche of the situation, heck there is even a husband who beats his wife who wears plad shirts, has a bald head and checks out any other woman in his vicinity, then winjes about his wife costing him money and talking too much like a character in a fifties sitcom.
Indeed, to say the book was written in 1999 and mentions video casettes which place it at least in the eighties, there is a real fifties feel about it.
Maybe there are! really traditional, out of the way villages like this, but again goig "look the insular village that hates strangers where husbands beat their wives and where the catholic church is oppressively insanely nasty" is just so trite.

A real mixed bag, since the writing is just plane gorgious, especially in the descriptions of chocolates and scents and the main characters'really nuanced skills at magic, still my lady has been quite disappointed with this one.

For me, At the moment I confess I have a lot of work so am reading  things that are generally lighter, either that or doing audio dramas.

I read Rona Munro's novelization of the 7th doctor tv story (and final story of the classic series), survival.
I'm always hesitant around novelizations since they tend to more often than not fall into just being narrated film scripts with little of atmosphere or actual writing in them.
There are exceptions, EG MAtthew Stover's revenge of the sith but I will confess to being disappointed more often than not, heck much as I enjoy his own stuff Alan Dean Foster's novelizations of both the alien films and starwars were down right dry.

Survival though worked relatively well, it wasn't great, and I really wish it had given a little more detail, since a planet that causes people to mutate into cat people and grow an unimaginable bloodlust which is tearing people apart has so much more potential for atmospheric description.

Munro didn't disappoint entirely hear, but at the same time she definitely could have done more to flesh out the premise, especially around Ace and her old friends.

I'm now reading the novelisation of death to the daleks which is sadly a terrance dicks one. There's nothing wrong with terance dicks, but he's very much a wysiwyg author, everything is jolly good fun and pretty much the same as  on the screen and it sounds like a grand adventure all the time.
this is okay for something brief, light and fluffy, accept that doctor who is rarely if ever fluffy, and the Daleks particularly don't do well as just being reduced to a "oooh look its a monster and its scary"

Then again, the action is still there, there are still great escapes, evil traps and because everything is! there from the tv we get things in detail, albeit I would've liked a bit more background and internal monologue and a bit less "the doctor happened to see the trip wire so carefully avoided it" type of stuff.


Still I really admire John Colshore who's reading it since my god can he do a good third doctor voice. John Pertwee was one of these people who's voice was so distinct you'd recognize anywhere, I'm really sorry he died three years prior to big finish since heck he loved playing the doctor and began his career on radio and definitely would have come back.The problem is finding anyone to even give an impression of him is damnably difficult, though Colshore makes it sound easy.

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.)

2018-06-21 11:29:58 (edited by flackers 2018-06-21 11:38:02)

Thanks guitarman for the recs. Memory Sorrow and Thorn Spoiler alert! Yeah, the bit with Simon and Maegwin on the road of dreams was the kind of delayed gratification that was enjoyable rather than something to be endured while you waited for the inevitable saving of the central character. She was a pivotal character in many ways, I just think the whole bit about her losing her family and kingdom didn't really amount to anything and didn't warrant an entire thread. It could have been covered in passing as part of a brief discussion around the fire about how the world's gone to hell. As for Cadrach, he's my second favourite character in the book after Mariamele. I don't see him as a wuss, but as a damaged person with a very low self esteem, hence the attempt to destroy himself with alcohol. He could have skulked off at the end, yet he stuck around and redeemed himself by giving his life so others might live. So in a way, he turned out to be braver than someone like Camaris, who went into every battle knowing he was going to slay everything he touched, and even blew a horn to let every one know the arse kicker is about to arrive so now's your chance to vamoose. Sure he did it because he hated to kill and wanted to give people a chance to escape, but it also showed he had supreme faith in his battle chops. And even though Cadrach did a heroic deed at the end, I still would have liked him if he'd done a runner. I just think complex losers have a bit more to offer a storyteller than straight forward heroes. I think it's more human, and there's more scope to have them do surprising things. Like Simon for instance could never have wilfully betrayed someone, and so his character is in a way limited. In fact one of my cravings that hardly ever gets fulfilled is to have a book where it opens with an interesting and lovable loser, who doesn't grow into a well-adjusted type by the end, as a form of satisfactory resolution. I hate when a lovable screw-up becomes well-adjusted. If they'd started off straight-forwardly normal we wouldn't have found them lovable and interesting so how's that a happy ending? An odd example is the animated film WALL-E. The best thing in that film, and in my opinion the only bit worth watching, is the start where he's a lonely machine filling his days by collecting oddities from the scrapheap. It all goes to shit once the story devolves into boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. I'd have happily watched a whole film of him twatting around on a junk heap with his little insect pal.

2018-06-21 13:30:13

Beware! memory sorry and thorn spoilers.

Hmmmm, I agree on Camaris indeed I sort of thought his constant breast beating was rather tongue in cheek, especially with how much of an old stickler he is when he's actually trying to instruct Simon in both swordplay and nighthood.
For Maegwin I disagree, it was seeing everything go to hell and seeing her actually be sutck with how to handle eolair which made her such a compelling character, if it had just started with her living in the hills and saying "oh yess everyone's dead" it wouldn't have given her the background for her to have that moment, indeed often I find the journey of how a character gets to where they are more than the resolution and this was certainly the case with Maegwin.
I love the scene in which poor maegwin is forced to watch as Cefa is murdered.
Okay, Cefa was a total airhead and unintentionally really mean to Maegwin, but the fact that Maegwin doesn't even think of that and actually finds the fact that Cefa is so blatantly a bimbo just another reason to feel sorry for her is something that really speaks to her as a character.

You raise an interesting question with Cadrach though.

The odd thing for me is I  hate! super heroes and characters who are like them, characters who always succeed because they have super strength or super magic or whatever, and who's only actual conflict come down to those board old "can't save everyone" or "oh my powers are so terrible" type of moments, so I'm really with you on lovable loser.

The odd thing with Cadrach though is that so much of the time he just came off as sort of a creep  and rather petty,  when you first see him and he picks Simon's pocket.

I did love the fact that there were so many occasions he redeemed himself, and he certainly had more than ample reason to go wrong, but for some reason I could never completely warm to him, maybe its because he just wasn't a very nice guy :d.

then again if I reread the series now maybe I'd feel differently, I don't know.

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.)

2018-06-21 15:51:59

Yeah, Cadrach at first came across as a calculating confidence trickster, the lowest kind of thief. I couldn't wait for Simon to catch up with him and kick his arse. It was really when he teamed up with Mariamele that I slowly started to sympathise with him, and like him despite his weasel antics. For me his alcohol addiction was the real devil, and he was more of a victim than he first appeared. That said, I still enjoyed it when Mariahmele shoved him overboard after he socked her over the head. That's what I loved about their relationship.

2018-06-23 13:49:18

Hi. I am currently reading the Imdalin series by Rebecca Ethington. It seems like a good series although I am only halfway through book 1. I will revisit this post after I have finnished the book.

Ask, and you will receive.
Seek, and you will find.
Knock, And the door will be opened for you
Mat. 7:7

2018-06-23 15:14:33

Hmmm, not heard of her before Brendon.
At the moment I'm doing doctor who audio dramas so not really appropriate for this thread, but on the other hand the webmaster of fantasybookreview.co uk has started posting up some more of my reviews:

Here's the latest one for Seanon McGuire's Chimes at midnight, the seventh book in her October Daye series.
This is a really good urban fantasy series about a half fairie detective in chicago, albeit she does  more tangling with fae politics and helping out her friends than actual detectiving big_smile.

What's awesome in this series are the characters and the setting, indeed its possibly the best  urban fantasy I've read, albeit it does have its issues hence the reviews.

The rest of my reviews can be found here

I do enjoy writing book reviews, particularly for a diverse range of books, the webmaster currently has my reviews for anne McCaffrey's dragonquest and Rose Madder by steven king, which he's hopefully going to get around to putting up in the none too distant future.

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.)

2018-06-23 18:33:06

dark: I am checking out the October Daye series as we speak. It sounds like just the right read for me.

Ask, and you will receive.
Seek, and you will find.
Knock, And the door will be opened for you
Mat. 7:7

2018-06-24 06:31:52

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the series if you do read them.
My lady and I are enjoying them, albeit some are better than others, but I won't repeat what I already said in my reviews.
the only currently annoying thing is that in composing the review for chimes at midnight, I went on the October Daye wiki to get spellings for some names and accidently gave myself a huge great spoiler for the next book, The Winterlong big_smile.

So I've told my lady we need to get to the next one so I can have that spoiler unspoilerified big_smile.

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.)