What book are you reading at the moment? Part 2

[Chris T]

I thought a great number of characters were fodder and starkly (boom boom?) unrealistic. It read like an exercise in world-building with a only a small small story underneath.

That's funny because when I started it I felt that he was trying to do an epic story over a vanilla fantasy world. But it does get more complicated and interesting further down the track.

You're right about the dragon girl but I get the feeling GRRM may agree with you too (most of the characters' arcs are anything but predictable) which is why progress with the latter novels has been slow: he's tied the plot into a "gordian knot" as he puts it on his blog. I imagine it would be really easy to finish it with one glorious epic battle in the next book with X establishing a great noble dynasty bringing peace and prosperity to the realm but that would be uncharacterstic compared with everything else that's gone before.

[thingfish]

Just started The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov.

[Wolfshead]

Just started The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov.

Good book Thing. Originally bought it in Pb a long time ago but enjoyed it so much I later went and got a hb copy.

herb

[thingfish]

Just finished it earlier Herb and i couldnt agree more!
Its put me in the mood for more from the good doctor so im away to start Pebble in the Sky.

[Lamont Cranston]

Finished the Tiptree short story collection.
Overall they were pretty good, quirky, interesting, funny; just one that was a miss - what was no doubt thought to be a biting satire of the Left was really just hamfisted & juvenile.

Now to the Penguin Classics The Count of Monte Cristo.

[Wolfshead]

Just finished it earlier Herb and i couldnt agree more!
Its put me in the mood for more from the good doctor so im away to start Pebble in the Sky.

Have a copy of that one around somewhere too but haven't read it in a long while. In fact it's been so long I forget most of it. Might be a good idea for a reread when I get done Von Bek.

herb

[UncleDes]

Finally found a readable and coherent "macrohistory" of China by a guy called Huang, which I am still getting into. Very illuminating.

Apparently the unity of the Chinese people is due to the need to move the population around as caused by alternate droughts and floods, yet maintain a stable agrarian system. People started believing in the complete "top down" system of government because it resulted in great benefit to them.

The Discourses of Mencius is also a work considered to be the bedrock of Chinese thought.

Des

[thingfish]

Am away to start Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene.
Cheers Des!!

[Guzzlecrank]

Back in Blood.

[In_Loos_Ptokai]

Just finished Janus, by Andre Norton. It's a sort of fantasy/science fiction cross-over, and I can now see just where she got the idea for the Witchworld from. It's based in the same universe as her Dipple (Displace Persons) books, but it flows into a Witchworld cast of mind.

Still one of my favourites by her - Catseye and Beast Master are two of my Most Favoured Andre Norton Reads. Black Trillium was good, but I was sadly disappointed in her Elvenbane books. She could've done so much better.

[Katy]

Black Trillium was good.

I thought that was one of Jullian May's books

[johneffay]

Black Trillium was good.

I thought that was one of Jullian May's books

It was co-written by the two of them plus Marion Zimmer Bradley.

[Wolfshead]

Even Money by Dick & Felix Francis

[thingfish]

Am now about to read The War Amongst the Angels by Our Fearless leader.

[Governor of Rowe Island]

Just finished The Shores of Death (for the Wikiverse), and while it got better, I really couldn't connect with it. The way events raced along left me feeling disconnected from the characters. Interesting similarity with the world of Urlik Skarsol, although I think events at the end suggest they are alternatives rather than one following on from the other.

Still reading Lucifer's Hammer, loving every bit, and the weather outside has been mirroring the book! Nothing like reading of hurricanes and torrential downpours when you can hear the wind soughing and raindrops lashing your windows! Don't think we'll get the snow they're getting now though. Read a few of the stories in the Conan Doyle book, as well, and while they're quite good, they haven't really filled me with unease. Perhaps I should read them in the parlour, by gaslight, in front of a roaring fire?