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Messages - Bookstore Guy

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16
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: June 07, 2011, 04:13:08 PM »
Quote from: hubay on June 06, 2011, 10:35:30 PM
Quote from: Sigyn on June 06, 2011, 08:22:39 PM
I loved Empire of Black and Gold, though it did have some weaknesses. I'm hoping those are due to this being the author's first book.

Oh, don't worry. I just finished the Scarab Path and mmmm that was good. You get this extremely personal struggle within the city, but there's also this epic battle that comes when two armies clash. Best of both worlds.

It was also awesome to see a more-or-less Inapt city and learn more about the magic, but they also tossed in new technology with Totho and a new wasp artificer. Again, best of both worlds.

And then there's this a great mystery throughout the novel, and the story really expanded on his world, which is one of Tchaikovsky's greatest strengths.

It was by far my favorite of his so far, and I think I'll be ordering the UK version of the Sea Watch just so I can get it early.

Amen to all this.  I just posted the review of Scarab Path over at Elitist Book Reviews.  The battle fought at the bridge toward the end of the book is one of my favorite actions scenes in this whole series.

17
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: May 25, 2011, 10:45:36 PM »
Yeah, Shades of Milk & Honey was pretty solid.  As for the Hugos, I'm not surprised actually.  She isn't high enough on the popularity ladder yet.  It has nothing to do with actual quality.

18
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: May 19, 2011, 04:02:01 PM »
Quote from: Sigyn on May 18, 2011, 07:37:05 PM
I just started Empire of Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It looks good so far.

A solid series.  It gets better as you go along--mostly due to Tchaikovsky becoming a better writer.  He has some PoV issues in the first book that slowly go away as the series goes on (they are essentially gone in book 5).  And the dude pumps out 2 books a year in that series.  The UK is about to get book 7.  The series gets really good once the history of the world starts getting explored.  So awesome.

19
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: May 09, 2011, 04:44:50 PM »
Quote from: dhalagirl on May 07, 2011, 03:32:25 AM
Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead was fantastic!  I decided to put off reading The Windup Girl so I could read Monster Hunter International before Mr. Correia comes to town next week.

That's a good idea.  Larry's stuff is fun and fast.  Windup Girl was slow and sloggy.  I can see why people liked it to a degree, but I felt it was poorly plotted and paced, with the actual Windup Girl in the novel only being there for shock value purposes to alleviate the boredom.  I hope you like it much better than I did.

20
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: May 02, 2011, 07:36:36 PM »
Quote from: WriterDan on May 01, 2011, 06:58:09 AM
So I think I'm going to have to go visit Barnes&Noble to see how much the published book differs from the ARC I read, because there weren't 60 pages tacked onto the end that I remember.  More like 6.

Clockwork man rocked the house.  Totally awesome.  Loved it.

Finally getting to The Heroes, by Abercrombie.  Good stuff.

Oh the last 6 pages were even more tacked on, but overall I felt the last 40-60 were kinda meh.

21
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: April 28, 2011, 08:10:16 PM »
Sorry for the double post.  A friend of mine bought me a copy of Erikson's the CRIPPLED GOD in trade paperback format.  It doesn't exactly match my hardback collection, so I figured someone here may want it at a heavily discounted price.  It's normally $20.  If someone wants it for $12 let me know--I intend to roll that into my hardback purchase of the novel.  Send me a PM.

On another note, I am mostly done with WOLFSANGEL, and really enjoy it so far.  Of course the ending is coming up, and from what I understand it is poorly done.  We'll see.
EDIT: So the book ends, and I discover there are 60 pages left.  It feels very much like that series of tack-on endings from the movie version of The Return of the King.  Still even with the crappy beginning and the odd ending (maybe could have been the beginning to book 2 instead?) this book was very enjoyable.  The savagery of it was impressive and perfectly fitting.

22
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: April 28, 2011, 04:24:51 PM »
I'm actually really upset that Twelve wasn't Hugo nominated, or that Kent wasn't Campbell nominated.  Man, that ending made everything so much more awesome.

23
Books / Re: Peter Orullian's first book
« on: April 27, 2011, 07:11:41 PM »
This seems to be following the same path that Eldon Thompson's novels traveled.  The opening book being completely derivative and predictable.  While the subsequent volumes may spin everything on its head, I think it's too late for that.  The damage has already been done, and the perception is already out there that this is a poor copy of Jordan's first novel.  Everyone knows I don't exactly care for for Jordan's work, but I actually found myself feeling a tad miffed at the blatant similarities.  Guess I have a soft spot for Jordan after all.

24
Books / Re: Peter Orullian's first book
« on: April 27, 2011, 06:46:17 PM »
High-five--I'll go fix them.

What do you think?  Think that was a good, non-ass-whupping negative review?  I didn't want to be too harsh on the guy, but the book was legitimately bad.

25
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: April 27, 2011, 04:19:48 PM »
WOLFSANGEL is an odd novel so far.  The first 60 pages feel like you're reading a disjointed mythology tale.  Then the novel completely changes into an almost strictly 3rd Person Limited gritty historical fantasy novel.  Once you get past those first 60 pages, the novel is actually really fun and slightly reminiscent of Gemmell.

26
Books / Re: Peter Orullian's first book
« on: April 27, 2011, 04:14:30 PM »
The review of this book is up over at EBR.  My least favorite novel of 2011 so far.

27
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: April 25, 2011, 10:45:50 PM »
Quote from: fireflyz on April 23, 2011, 08:26:56 PM
@Bookstore Guy  Thanks for the suggestions!  I'll check out Jasper Kent next week for sure (and some of the others if I have time).  As an aside, do you go to a lot of the cons?  I went to World Fantasy per Peter's suggestion/help and made some good connections (met Dan Wells there also), but I haven't been to any of the others yet.  Part of it is that I'm on the East Coast and both WorldCon and World Fantasy are West this year.

I try to go to 1 major Con a year--usually either WorldCon or World Fantasy.  This year I'm going to WorldCon, but I may hit World Fantasy as well depending on my vacation/money situation. Going to Cons is how I made enough connections to start a good review blog.  The people at the various publishing companies already knew me when I sent out emails saying, "Hey!  I'm a reviewer now!  Send me books!"  This year WorldCon is kinda a two-part trip - 1) Pitch novel.  2) Get on panels where I can point at myself saying "Look!  I'm a reviewer!  Vote for me in the Hugos next year!"

Next year WorldCon is in Chicago and World Fantasy is in Toronto.

28
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: April 23, 2011, 05:32:46 AM »
@fireflyz - I found the 3rd Joe Ledger novel to be better than the 2nd one.  I love reading his stuff.  Dan shares his agent with Jonathan Maberry, and was how i heard of the guy in the first place.  Read Patient Zero and completely loved it.  Finally convinced Dan to read it--of course he loved it.

I'd suggest you pick up James Barclay, Tom Lloyd, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Jasper Kent.  the first novels of those first 3 authors a a tad rough, but after that they are completely awesome.  Jasper Kent's novels are just completely awesome all the way around--he was my top Hugo nomination this year.

29
Books / Re: What are you reading, part 3
« on: April 22, 2011, 06:31:04 PM »
Done with THE UNREMEMBERED.  Bad.  I don't understand why the industry insists on trying to find another Robert Jordan story--well actually I do.  Money.  But still.  We don't need another clone.  We just need good, original, entertaining stories that are well written.  Orullian is a good dude, but as my favorite NFL commentators say, "C'mon man!"

Also finished THE ALCHEMIST IN THE SHADOWS (sequel to THE CARDINAL'S BLADES).  Not the best book ever, but there is just something about musketeers that is SO fun to read about. 

Before I read THE SCARAB PATH, I promised Dan I would read WOLFSANGEL so we could discuss it and the review we are going to write up.

30
Books / Re: Peter Orullian's first book
« on: April 22, 2011, 06:24:05 PM »
This book was not good.  It was not even mediocre.  It was bad.  I actually felt awful about it because Orullian is a nice dude.  This is a near carbon-copy of THE EYE OF THE WORLD.  I actually asked Tor if they wanted me to not even write a review for it.   Turns out they actually value our honest opinion, even if it is negative. 

Review will be published next week or the week after.

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