recently knocked out two more Codex Aleria books. so i'm starting book 5 Princeps Fury. as is typical with butcher each book pulls the camera back a notch and you get a story with larger and larger scale. i love this stuff!
Is Butcher's fantasy novels like your typical fantasy novel? I got burned out on the fantasy genre years ago,which is one reason I have never read any of the Codex series.
define the "typical" fantasy novel. if you mean typical 'High" or "Tolkein" fantasy like david eddings Belgariad (which is fantastic by the way), terry brooks Shannara, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time (which is aweful by the way), Star Wars, etc...farm kid goes off on an adventure and confronts the big bad (empire) forces of the world and comes of age while meeting a motly collection of allies...yeah kinda. the world is new and the take on magic is a little different but generally in very broad terms it is the classic fantasy story just written with Butcher's unique perspective.
recently knocked out two more Codex Aleria books. so i'm starting book 5 Princeps Fury. as is typical with butcher each book pulls the camera back a notch and you get a story with larger and larger scale. i love this stuff!
Is Butcher's fantasy novels like your typical fantasy novel? I got burned out on the fantasy genre years ago,which is one reason I have never read any of the Codex series.
define the "typical" fantasy novel. if you mean typical 'High" or "Tolkein" fantasy like david eddings Belgariad (which is fantastic by the way), terry brooks Shannara, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time (which is aweful by the way), Star Wars, etc...farm kid goes off on an adventure and confronts the big bad (empire) forces of the world and comes of age while meeting a motly collection of allies...yeah kinda. the world is new and the take on magic is a little different but generally in very broad terms it is the classic fantasy story just written with Butcher's unique perspective.
That is exactly what I meant Random. I have come to enjoy the Robert E Howard Conan style fantasy more than the "High" fantasy. But then I ,and I know I lose geek cred for this,never liked LotR.
Just finished Star Wars: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows on Mindor. It read quick but nothing seemed to happen, more precisely it wasn't really memorable. Also, the first and last chapters were only really there for a joke. I thought that the first chapter might have had serious consequences while setting the tone for the story that would be laced through the story. Instead there were things mentioned that we're played for humour
not at all @dubbat138 generally i agree with you Tolkien bores the hell out of me.
See I read the Hobbit and loved it. Read the first LotR book and it was ok. Started reading The Two Towers,and it bored me so much I gave up about halfway through it.
Picked this novel up today at a used bookstore. Had never heard of it. But the cover caught my eye. DC Universe Helltown by Dennis O'Neil. From reading the blurb on the back cover it seems to be a novel version of the first 12 issues of O'Neil's great Question comic book. No clue when I will get to read it. Cause I am currently reading 4 books. But I do like that there is a Question novel and it is written by O'Neil.
Picked this novel up today at a used bookstore. Had never heard of it. But the cover caught my eye. DC Universe Helltown by Dennis O'Neil. From reading the blurb on the back cover it seems to be a novel version of the first 12 issues of O'Neil's great Question comic book. No clue when I will get to read it. Cause I am currently reading 4 books. But I do like that there is a Question novel and it is written by O'Neil.
Helltown was a pretty enjoyable book. Possibly the best of the DC Universe books that I recall reading.
not at all @dubbat138 generally i agree with you Tolkien bores the hell out of me.
See I read the Hobbit and loved it. Read the first LotR book and it was ok. Started reading The Two Towers,and it bored me so much I gave up about halfway through it.
I don't know what you guys are talking about. I read the books, loved them, couldn't get enough of them to the point where I went on to read the Silmarillion. Never found any of them boring at all.
not at all @dubbat138 generally i agree with you Tolkien bores the hell out of me.
See I read the Hobbit and loved it. Read the first LotR book and it was ok. Started reading The Two Towers,and it bored me so much I gave up about halfway through it.
I don't know what you guys are talking about. I read the books, loved them, couldn't get enough of them to the point where I went on to read the Silmarillion. Never found any of them boring at all.
I think part of it was by the time I read the LotR books I had read a bunch of books that were inspired by them. Plus I was getting burned out on the "High" fantasy genre.
I finally finished Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. As I said earlier, it has much f the vocabulary of a Stephen Donaldson book without the endearing bastard rapist protagonist. As I was reading it, I promised myself that, if I didn't get it finished before it was due back to the library, it was going back regardless. It actually got fairly interesting. However, the ending was such a letdown.
At this point, I'm not particularly inclined to pick up another one by Mieville. Fortunately, Cook has a new (to me) collection of Dread Empire books and a new (to me) Instrumentalities of the Nightbook and, for painfully unpleasant characters, R. Scott Bakker has a new(ish) Aspect Emperor book.
not at all @dubbat138 generally i agree with you Tolkien bores the hell out of me.
See I read the Hobbit and loved it. Read the first LotR book and it was ok. Started reading The Two Towers,and it bored me so much I gave up about halfway through it.
I don't know what you guys are talking about. I read the books, loved them, couldn't get enough of them to the point where I went on to read the Silmarillion. Never found any of them boring at all.
I think part of it was by the time I read the LotR books I had read a bunch of books that were inspired by them. Plus I was getting burned out on the "High" fantasy genre.
Sometimes it helps to ignore the books that were inspired by the original -- they usually just copy the surface details and ignore/overlook what's at the heart of the original classics. If it helps any, put LOTR in its historical perspective, as Tolkien's reaction to WWI and to an increasingly industrialized worldview, and then reflect on how a lot of the book was written during WWII. The book takes on a different flavor when you make those real world connections to the writing.
not at all @dubbat138 generally i agree with you Tolkien bores the hell out of me.
See I read the Hobbit and loved it. Read the first LotR book and it was ok. Started reading The Two Towers,and it bored me so much I gave up about halfway through it.
I don't know what you guys are talking about. I read the books, loved them, couldn't get enough of them to the point where I went on to read the Silmarillion. Never found any of them boring at all.
I think part of it was by the time I read the LotR books I had read a bunch of books that were inspired by them. Plus I was getting burned out on the "High" fantasy genre.
Sometimes it helps to ignore the books that were inspired by the original -- they usually just copy the surface details and ignore/overlook what's at the heart of the original classics. If it helps any, put LOTR in its historical perspective, as Tolkien's reaction to WWI and to an increasingly industrialized worldview, and then reflect on how a lot of the book was written during WWII. The book takes on a different flavor when you make those real world connections to the writing.
One day I will try to read them and finish them. But right now I got close to 400 unread books sitting in my room. I totally see why LotR is loved by so many people. But I have come to realize that I have different tastes. Even in "geek circles" I have very different tastes that most people. Example I am a huge horror movie fan. Most horror movie fans love The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby and consider them classics of that genre. I hate both films and find them completely boring.
.... I am a huge horror movie fan. Most horror movie fans love The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby and consider them classics of that genre. I hate both films and find them completely boring.
.... I am a huge horror movie fan. Most horror movie fans love The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby and consider them classics of that genre. I hate both films and find them completely boring.
:-t =(( :((
The books come from a con 2 years ago. A booth had cheap paperback books. And the last hour of the con all books were 10 cents and buy 4 get 1 free. So I went through them and grabbed anything that looked interesting. Weirdly people in the horror fan circles tell me that The Exorcist film works better if you were raised Catholic. Well I was raised half Catholic half Buddhist. And still the film bores me. But I did read the novel a few years back and the novel was really good. It actually scared me some. But I have always thought The Omen was a better film than Exorcist or Rosemary's Baby.
The books come from a con 2 years ago. A booth had cheap paperback books. And the last hour of the con all books were 10 cents and buy 4 get 1 free. So I went through them and grabbed anything that looked interesting.
I hear that one. I just recently did the same thing at this years Foolscap convention here in Seattle. Nowhere near 400 books, but a whole box of freebies that I need to sort through and start reading.
The books come from a con 2 years ago. A booth had cheap paperback books. And the last hour of the con all books were 10 cents and buy 4 get 1 free. So I went through them and grabbed anything that looked interesting.
I hear that one. I just recently did the same thing at this years Foolscap convention here in Seattle. Nowhere near 400 books, but a whole box of freebies that I need to sort through and start reading.
What had happened is a guy that use to go to every Coast Con had passed away earlier in the year. He had left notes telling his sons to take his huge collection to the Con and sell them cheap. First day books were 2 bucks,second day they were a buck,last day they were 50 cents. But the last hour the sons didn't feel like having to carry all of them back to the truck. So they dropped the price to 10 cents. Plus I am always getting books from our local library and a local used bookstore. Then one of my Uncles is constantly sending me books. So even though I read on average 2 or 3 books a week I have a huge backlog.
not at all @dubbat138 generally i agree with you Tolkien bores the hell out of me.
See I read the Hobbit and loved it. Read the first LotR book and it was ok. Started reading The Two Towers,and it bored me so much I gave up about halfway through it.
I don't know what you guys are talking about. I read the books, loved them, couldn't get enough of them to the point where I went on to read the Silmarillion. Never found any of them boring at all.
Currently reading, about halfway through two books:
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist - good and intriguing but dark I'm not about to stop reading it; I haven't seen either of the movies based on this book
Crossfire by Miyuki Miyabe - a story of crime and pyrokinesis; it centers around a 20-something woman who is a vigilante that possesses pyrokinetic abilities and a 40-something woman who is a police detective on the arson squad; it dragged a little at first but once I got past the first 3 or 4 chapters I thought the story got to be much more interesting
Currently reading, about halfway through two books:
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist - good and intriguing but dark I'm not about to stop reading it; I haven't seen either of the movies based on this book
I'm the opposite - I've seen both films, but never got around to reading the book. I'll have add that to my Amazon wishlist.
Both films are good in their own way. I'd recommend checking them out when you finish. The US version really bombed, which surprised me, because it was quite good.
Currently reading, about halfway through two books:
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist - good and intriguing but dark I'm not about to stop reading it; I haven't seen either of the movies based on this book
I'm the opposite - I've seen both films, but never got around to reading the book. I'll have add that to my Amazon wishlist.
Both films are good in their own way. I'd recommend checking them out when you finish. The US version really bombed, which surprised me, because it was quite good.
I was very surprised at how good the US version was. I figured they would leave out the lil "girl's: secret. But besides that it was very close to the original film.
When you're done follow it up with The Regulators (if you havn't already). Same story told by "Richard Bachman". they are very cool back to back.
Regulators is my second favorite Bachman book. With Rage being my favorite.
I hated The Regulators. To me it seemed incomplete and disjointed. I've also got Desperation, but am yet to read. I've heard Desperation is better, I hope so because I actually liked the story, just not the way it was written. This is the only King book I've read that I really didn't like.
I'm about 100 pages into Insomnia right now and liking it so far. @dubbat138 I know you were not a fan of this. I'll have to give you my final thoughts when done.
When you're done follow it up with The Regulators (if you havn't already). Same story told by "Richard Bachman". they are very cool back to back.
Regulators is my second favorite Bachman book. With Rage being my favorite.
I hated The Regulators. To me it seemed incomplete and disjointed. I've also got Desperation, but am yet to read. I've heard Desperation is better, I hope so because I actually liked the story, just not the way it was written. This is the only King book I've read that I really didn't like.
I'm about 100 pages into Insomnia right now and liking it so far. @dubbat138 I know you were not a fan of this. I'll have to give you my final thoughts when done.
both books kind of feed off each other so i can certainly understand the "disjointed" feeling. and while being very different they contain similar themes. the Bachman version is significantly more violent i think. King's version has something closer to a happy ending.
Comments
See I read the Hobbit and loved it. Read the first LotR book and it was ok. Started reading The Two Towers,and it bored me so much I gave up about halfway through it.
I think part of it was by the time I read the LotR books I had read a bunch of books that were inspired by them. Plus I was getting burned out on the "High" fantasy genre.
At this point, I'm not particularly inclined to pick up another one by Mieville. Fortunately, Cook has a new (to me) collection of Dread Empire books and a new (to me) Instrumentalities of the Nightbook and, for painfully unpleasant characters, R. Scott Bakker has a new(ish) Aspect Emperor book.
8-} :-t
=((
:((
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist - good and intriguing but dark I'm not about to stop reading it; I haven't seen either of the movies based on this book
Crossfire by Miyuki Miyabe - a story of crime and pyrokinesis; it centers around a 20-something woman who is a vigilante that possesses pyrokinetic abilities and a 40-something woman who is a police detective on the arson squad; it dragged a little at first but once I got past the first 3 or 4 chapters I thought the story got to be much more interesting
If you enjoyed the comic then I would suggest you get this as well it's really well written in my opinion.
Both films are good in their own way. I'd recommend checking them out when you finish. The US version really bombed, which surprised me, because it was quite good.
I was very surprised at how good the US version was. I figured they would leave out the lil "girl's: secret. But besides that it was very close to the original film.
6 chapters in and loving it. Tak!
Regulators is my second favorite Bachman book. With Rage being my favorite.
John Constantine Hellblazer Subterranean by John Shirley
About 2 chapters into it so far.
Approaching Oblivion by Harlan Ellison
So far just read the foreword and Harlan's author's note. But it is a mid 70s collection of Ellison's short stories.
Bry
I'm about 100 pages into Insomnia right now and liking it so far. @dubbat138 I know you were not a fan of this. I'll have to give you my final thoughts when done.