Paused in the middle of The Dark Tower in order to read the latest of the Expanse novels by James SA Corey (I wouldn't normally do that, but I had to run by the library for something for my daughter and it was there, on the shelf and begging for me to take it home. Alas, it was also with the latest WildCards book so the Dark Tower waits a little longer). The Expanse is, quite possibly the best SF I've read in a very long time. Nemesis Games isn't the strongest entry in the series, but, I think it does a great job of fleshing out a number of the characters and setting up the next arc.
Ultimately, if you like SF, give the Expanse a try (before SyFy either makes in mainstream or screws it up).
Just wrapped up the latest Wild Cards mosaic - Low Ball. I continue to love the world and appreciate the effort made to continue to introduce new characters into the 'real time' of the story to reflect the ongoing passage of time.
It's kind a a fascinating concept in that there was a world before the books but Wild Card Day changed everything so profoundly that it was effectively like being at the beginning of that world.
In the case of this new book, time has continued to march on. That means that there is only passing reference to the old standards (with few exceptions) and that they're really continuing to build the new generation of characters. Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of most of the new characters (at least since the Committee).
Still, it was a quick and enjoyable read though the ending was abrupt. I have a feeling that the next been is going to see a major reveal.
I loved the Wild Card books as a teenager. I keep meaning to re-read them.
Similar to what you're experiencing now, though, I lost interest as the characters I began with started to drop off. I think that a number of the most interesting characters were created by writers who had enough on their plate already, so we rarely got to re-visit them after their initial one or two stories. I think I read the first ten or so books, but my interest began to wane after volume 4. It was a little hit or miss after that.
Honestly, book 4 almost killed my enthusiasm for the series. The last three -four (Jumpers and The Mechanic) of the pre-Baen books have a lot of amazing things going on in them.
Baen's Card Sharks cycle was, for me, hit and miss but the stuff since then has been well done, if different. It's just the last two that have really left me with characters that I'm less enthusiastic about.
Honestly, book 4 almost killed my enthusiasm for the series. The last three -four (Jumpers and The Mechanic) of the pre-Baen books have a lot of amazing things going on in them.
Baen's Card Sharks cycle was, for me, hit and miss but the stuff since then has been well done, if different. It's just the last two that have really left me with characters that I'm less enthusiastic about.
I think that was why my interest began to wane, because 4 was all over the place. It made sense to expand the story worldwide, and I think it was the last book that still featured a sizable amount of the original characters. I didn't realize it as I was reading it at the time, but it was something of a turning point for the series, and not in a good way. After that there were a few books that focused on one storyline, rather than the anthology approach I enjoyed, and I began to drift away. I know I read at least one book after the political convention novel, but it was so long since I'd read any of them that I felt adrift. I'll definitely have to re-read them.
A few years ago I downloaded a torrent of all of them, because I think at the time most of them were out of print. I had actually sold my collection for a sizable amount on eBay, so I guess they were fairly hard to come by at one point.
Honestly, book 4 almost killed my enthusiasm for the series. The last three -four (Jumpers and The Mechanic) of the pre-Baen books have a lot of amazing things going on in them.
Baen's Card Sharks cycle was, for me, hit and miss but the stuff since then has been well done, if different. It's just the last two that have really left me with characters that I'm less enthusiastic about.
I think that was why my interest began to wane, because 4 was all over the place. It made sense to expand the story worldwide, and I think it was the last book that still featured a sizable amount of the original characters. I didn't realize it as I was reading it at the time, but it was something of a turning point for the series, and not in a good way. After that there were a few books that focused on one storyline, rather than the anthology approach I enjoyed, and I began to drift away. I know I read at least one book after the political convention novel, but it was so long since I'd read any of them that I felt adrift. I'll definitely have to re-read them.
A few years ago I downloaded a torrent of all of them, because I think at the time most of them were out of print. I had actually sold my collection for a sizable amount on eBay, so I guess they were fairly hard to come by at one point.
I thought they got back on track, and back to some of the original characters, for a fair number of the follow ups. My big obstacles, when back in New York, were the Bagabond and Sewer Jack stories.
Wrapped up the Dark Tower and the Wind through the Keyhole. Overall, I enjoyed the series, thought I think that Wizard and Glass was actually my favorite of the series. I will confess that I'm one of the ones that King referred to in his afterword that thought the last few books were too meta. There were some really strong moments in the last few books, but a fair amount of stuff that I found to be a slog.
I would most certainly read more things like Wind. I think that I'm more enamoured with the world(s) than the characters.
Wrapped up the Dark Tower and the Wind through the Keyhole. Overall, I enjoyed the series, thought I think that Wizard and Glass was actually my favorite of the series. I will confess that I'm one of the ones that King referred to in his afterword that thought the last few books were too meta. There were some really strong moments in the last few books, but a fair amount of stuff that I found to be a slog.
I would most certainly read more things like Wind. I think that I'm more enamoured with the world(s) than the characters.
I tend to agree. I just finished off 'Wind...' Too and thought it flowed on really nicely from Wizard and Glass. I would love to read his full Jerico Hill story, which he's said he'd love to write, but can't figure out how to fit it in to the larger story. I'd also love to read anything else from a young Roland.
I'm a couple hundred pages into wolves now, which starts a little slow, but gets going. This is the first novel you talk about going a bit Meta.
Wrapped up the Dark Tower and the Wind through the Keyhole. Overall, I enjoyed the series, thought I think that Wizard and Glass was actually my favorite of the series. I will confess that I'm one of the ones that King referred to in his afterword that thought the last few books were too meta. There were some really strong moments in the last few books, but a fair amount of stuff that I found to be a slog.
I would most certainly read more things like Wind. I think that I'm more enamoured with the world(s) than the characters.
I tend to agree. I just finished off 'Wind...' Too and thought it flowed on really nicely from Wizard and Glass. I would love to read his full Jerico Hill story, which he's said he'd love to write, but can't figure out how to fit it in to the larger story. I'd also love to read anything else from a young Roland.
I'm a couple hundred pages into wolves now, which starts a little slow, but gets going. This is the first novel you talk about going a bit Meta.
Agreed on all counts. I wasn't as bothered by the Meta until Song, which took it full tilt. I also wasn't a big fan of Susannah so it was a bit of a drag for me.
Wrapped up the Dark Tower and the Wind through the Keyhole. Overall, I enjoyed the series, thought I think that Wizard and Glass was actually my favorite of the series. I will confess that I'm one of the ones that King referred to in his afterword that thought the last few books were too meta. There were some really strong moments in the last few books, but a fair amount of stuff that I found to be a slog.
I would most certainly read more things like Wind. I think that I'm more enamoured with the world(s) than the characters.
I tend to agree. I just finished off 'Wind...' Too and thought it flowed on really nicely from Wizard and Glass. I would love to read his full Jerico Hill story, which he's said he'd love to write, but can't figure out how to fit it in to the larger story. I'd also love to read anything else from a young Roland.
I'm a couple hundred pages into wolves now, which starts a little slow, but gets going. This is the first novel you talk about going a bit Meta.
Agreed on all counts. I wasn't as bothered by the Meta until Song, which took it full tilt. I also wasn't a big fan of Susannah so it was a bit of a drag for me.
Susannah the character or book?
That is my least favourite of the series, I must admit.
The first is a bit of a shame for me too. I love it for all the threads it sets for the rest of the books. But it's not the best book to get someone hooked and onto 'Drawing'. A few people I know have never got past The Gunslinger.
Wrapped up the Dark Tower and the Wind through the Keyhole. Overall, I enjoyed the series, thought I think that Wizard and Glass was actually my favorite of the series. I will confess that I'm one of the ones that King referred to in his afterword that thought the last few books were too meta. There were some really strong moments in the last few books, but a fair amount of stuff that I found to be a slog.
I would most certainly read more things like Wind. I think that I'm more enamoured with the world(s) than the characters.
I tend to agree. I just finished off 'Wind...' Too and thought it flowed on really nicely from Wizard and Glass. I would love to read his full Jerico Hill story, which he's said he'd love to write, but can't figure out how to fit it in to the larger story. I'd also love to read anything else from a young Roland.
I'm a couple hundred pages into wolves now, which starts a little slow, but gets going. This is the first novel you talk about going a bit Meta.
Agreed on all counts. I wasn't as bothered by the Meta until Song, which took it full tilt. I also wasn't a big fan of Susannah so it was a bit of a drag for me.
Susannah the character or book?
That is my least favourite of the series, I must admit.
The first is a bit of a shame for me too. I love it for all the threads it sets for the rest of the books. But it's not the best book to get someone hooked and onto 'Drawing'. A few people I know have never got past The Gunslinger.
The character.
I was good with Gunslinger. There's a pretty interesting chronology happening there, and quite honestly, that's the one element of the meta that I dug - this story of the gunslinger being something that was hanging in the back of King's mind throughout his writing career. The three short stories that made up Gunslinger started pretty early in his career and then popped up again quite a few years later.
The biggest issue that I had was with the tremendous gap between Drawing and Wizard. That gap, combined with the incredibily dissatisfied feeling I had with the ending of Drawing (soooo incredibly continued!) almost kept me from coming back.
Ultimately, I'm glad that I did. I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending, but King did warn the readers that there was a good place to stop and I ignored it.
Wrapped up the Dark Tower and the Wind through the Keyhole. Overall, I enjoyed the series, thought I think that Wizard and Glass was actually my favorite of the series. I will confess that I'm one of the ones that King referred to in his afterword that thought the last few books were too meta. There were some really strong moments in the last few books, but a fair amount of stuff that I found to be a slog.
I would most certainly read more things like Wind. I think that I'm more enamoured with the world(s) than the characters.
I tend to agree. I just finished off 'Wind...' Too and thought it flowed on really nicely from Wizard and Glass. I would love to read his full Jerico Hill story, which he's said he'd love to write, but can't figure out how to fit it in to the larger story. I'd also love to read anything else from a young Roland.
I'm a couple hundred pages into wolves now, which starts a little slow, but gets going. This is the first novel you talk about going a bit Meta.
Agreed on all counts. I wasn't as bothered by the Meta until Song, which took it full tilt. I also wasn't a big fan of Susannah so it was a bit of a drag for me.
Susannah the character or book?
That is my least favourite of the series, I must admit.
The first is a bit of a shame for me too. I love it for all the threads it sets for the rest of the books. But it's not the best book to get someone hooked and onto 'Drawing'. A few people I know have never got past The Gunslinger.
The character.
I was good with Gunslinger. There's a pretty interesting chronology happening there, and quite honestly, that's the one element of the meta that I dug - this story of the gunslinger being something that was hanging in the back of King's mind throughout his writing career. The three short stories that made up Gunslinger started pretty early in his career and then popped up again quite a few years later.
The biggest issue that I had was with the tremendous gap between Drawing and Wizard. That gap, combined with the incredibily dissatisfied feeling I had with the ending of Drawing (soooo incredibly continued!) almost kept me from coming back.
Ultimately, I'm glad that I did. I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending, but King did warn the readers that there was a good place to stop and I ignored it.
I think she's probably the weakest character out of the Ka-tet, but still like what she brings to the story. I'd like to see Danai Gurira (Michonne - Walking Dead) play her in the movie... If it ever gets made that is.
See, I'm lucky in so much as I didn't start reading the series until it had been completed. But I can see how frustrating that wait must have been.
I like the ending. It felt natural within the rest of the books, later readings I feel King was dropping major hints thought most of the books. And after all... Ka is a wheel.
Been a while since I've posted an update here - got my hands on a few volumes of the old Time Life WWII series and dropped everything else for them.
Since then, I just wrapped up the first of Greg Rucks's Queen and Country novels - A Gentleman's Game. It was maybe a little too linear, but overall, I quite enjoyed it and immediately picked up the second.
Been a while since I've posted an update here - got my hands on a few volumes of the old Time Life WWII series and dropped everything else for them.
Since then, I just wrapped up the first of Greg Rucks's Queen and Country novels - A Gentleman's Game. It was maybe a little too linear, but overall, I quite enjoyed it and immediately picked up the second.
They are pretty great, especially when taken in context with the comic series. It's actually a little weird, as major things happen in A Gentleman's Game that has an actual impact on the comic, and you're missing out if you're not reading both. I have never seen another property have a multimedia continuity where one side doesn't supercede the other. Even the later books feel very much like just the next volume of Tara Chase's story. But if you haven't read the aerie I would suggest at least catching up with the last volume before moving on to Private Wars.
Been a while since I've posted an update here - got my hands on a few volumes of the old Time Life WWII series and dropped everything else for them.
Since then, I just wrapped up the first of Greg Rucks's Queen and Country novels - A Gentleman's Game. It was maybe a little too linear, but overall, I quite enjoyed it and immediately picked up the second.
They are pretty great, especially when taken in context with the comic series. It's actually a little weird, as major things happen in A Gentleman's Game that has an actual impact on the comic, and you're missing out if you're not reading both. I have never seen another property have a multimedia continuity where one side doesn't supercede the other. Even the later books feel very much like just the next volume of Tara Chase's story. But if you haven't read the aerie I would suggest at least catching up with the last volume before moving on to Private Wars.
I've read the four volumes available from Oni. Is there more or am I misremembering something?
The digest sized ones? Then nope, that's it. But Gentlemans Game occurrs between Saddlebag and Red Panda, which are in volume 3, and Private Wars is right after that. V4 is the collected edition of Q&C: Declassified which is technically a companion series. So if you haven't read Red Panda recently and are jonesing for more Tara Chase, I'd at least read that again before moving on to Private Wars since it acts as a bridge between the two.
Just picked up a used book from my childhood. My grandmother had an amazing library of paperbacks - westerns, pulps, sci-fi and fantasy mostly. I'd regularly drag home stacks of books. When she passed away a few years ago, we helped to go through much of the estate. All I really wanted were a few of the paperbacks that held fond memories. Unfortunately, most were long gone. I recently managed to find one of them used - Colin Kapp's The Ion War from 1978.
I'm not going to pretend that it's good science, but it's a rip roaring action adventure. I'm about 4 chapters in and basking in the nostalgia.
Just picked up a used book from my childhood. My grandmother had an amazing library of paperbacks - westerns, pulps, sci-fi and fantasy mostly. I'd regularly drag home stacks of books. When she passed away a few years ago, we helped to go through much of the estate. All I really wanted were a few of the paperbacks that held fond memories. Unfortunately, most were long gone. I recently managed to find one of them used - Colin Kapp's The Ion War from 1978.
I'm not going to pretend that it's good science, but it's a rip roaring action adventure. I'm about 4 chapters in and basking in the nostalgia.
Yeah, it's not holding up very well. Kapp tosses around terms like space bombardment and other really sci-fi-ish terms by adding space in front of some other word... space politics, space army.
Still, the general concept - breaking down the human structure just enough to semi-bond every component of the human body with ions from a selected element to provide handy characteristics like being wraithlike, or having a reduced density, is fun.
I'll need to go back and reread. Does that mean that Red Panda is the Iraq mission that she references at the beginning of Private Wars?
Yeah.
I also finished up Greg Rucka's Private Wars and Last Run. I enjoyed both quite a bit though I felt like a couple of things were just a little too easy. Private Wars, in particular had a few things coincidentally line up too smoothly... at least at first.
I just finished The Forever War. I thought it was great, but I seriously can't see how they would make a good movie about it. Especially one with Channing Tatum as a drafted physics student. Sometimes books should just be books.
Comments
Ultimately, if you like SF, give the Expanse a try (before SyFy either makes in mainstream or screws it up).
It's kind a a fascinating concept in that there was a world before the books but Wild Card Day changed everything so profoundly that it was effectively like being at the beginning of that world.
In the case of this new book, time has continued to march on. That means that there is only passing reference to the old standards (with few exceptions) and that they're really continuing to build the new generation of characters. Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of most of the new characters (at least since the Committee).
Still, it was a quick and enjoyable read though the ending was abrupt. I have a feeling that the next been is going to see a major reveal.
Similar to what you're experiencing now, though, I lost interest as the characters I began with started to drop off. I think that a number of the most interesting characters were created by writers who had enough on their plate already, so we rarely got to re-visit them after their initial one or two stories. I think I read the first ten or so books, but my interest began to wane after volume 4. It was a little hit or miss after that.
Baen's Card Sharks cycle was, for me, hit and miss but the stuff since then has been well done, if different. It's just the last two that have really left me with characters that I'm less enthusiastic about.
A few years ago I downloaded a torrent of all of them, because I think at the time most of them were out of print. I had actually sold my collection for a sizable amount on eBay, so I guess they were fairly hard to come by at one point.
I would most certainly read more things like Wind. I think that I'm more enamoured with the world(s) than the characters.
I'm a couple hundred pages into wolves now, which starts a little slow, but gets going. This is the first novel you talk about going a bit Meta.
That is my least favourite of the series, I must admit.
The first is a bit of a shame for me too. I love it for all the threads it sets for the rest of the books. But it's not the best book to get someone hooked and onto 'Drawing'. A few people I know have never got past The Gunslinger.
I was good with Gunslinger. There's a pretty interesting chronology happening there, and quite honestly, that's the one element of the meta that I dug - this story of the gunslinger being something that was hanging in the back of King's mind throughout his writing career. The three short stories that made up Gunslinger started pretty early in his career and then popped up again quite a few years later.
The biggest issue that I had was with the tremendous gap between Drawing and Wizard. That gap, combined with the incredibily dissatisfied feeling I had with the ending of Drawing (soooo incredibly continued!) almost kept me from coming back.
Ultimately, I'm glad that I did. I'm still not sure how I feel about the ending, but King did warn the readers that there was a good place to stop and I ignored it.
See, I'm lucky in so much as I didn't start reading the series until it had been completed. But I can see how frustrating that wait must have been.
I like the ending. It felt natural within the rest of the books, later readings I feel King was dropping major hints thought most of the books. And after all... Ka is a wheel.
Hoping Santa brings me something new to read tomorrow!
Any read any of the Walking Dead novels?? I got the first one for £1. They any good?
Since then, I just wrapped up the first of Greg Rucks's Queen and Country novels - A Gentleman's Game. It was maybe a little too linear, but overall, I quite enjoyed it and immediately picked up the second.
My wife and I have also nearly completed the American West series. We are missing 2 in the series.
We found a little over half of the West series in a junk store and been slowly finishing the collection the last 5 years.
I'm not going to pretend that it's good science, but it's a rip roaring action adventure. I'm about 4 chapters in and basking in the nostalgia.
Still, the general concept - breaking down the human structure just enough to semi-bond every component of the human body with ions from a selected element to provide handy characteristics like being wraithlike, or having a reduced density, is fun.