Author Topic: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions  (Read 15147 times)

Renoard

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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #15 on: April 17, 2009, 01:15:14 AM »
Since we're on the cusp of designer genes and tailored clones, Frankenstein seems pretty pertinent.
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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #16 on: April 17, 2009, 01:37:23 AM »
Ok, don't be put off by the fact that this is YA... but you asked for Scandinavian Trolls done well, and East by Edith Pattou (I think) fits the bill.  It's not dark, but it's not all rainbows and light either.  If nothing else, pick up the book and at least scan the sections that describe the trolls and their society.
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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #17 on: April 17, 2009, 06:40:58 AM »
Is The Darkness that Comes Before the first book of the Prince of Nothing series?  If so, then I can firmly say I did not appreciate it one whit.  If you are interested in setting, and setting only, it may prove fascinating: the author does a decent job in inventing a new, moderately rich, interesting setting.  However, the plot is weak (driven primarily by sex and violence—if this is your thing, it may work for you), and the philosophy in it is particularly poor, IMO.

Now, if you really enjoyed the later books of the Sword of Truth series, there's a decent chance you'll enjoy the Prince of Nothing.  In my case, I found it less than satisfying.

Edit:  I'm going to add that his "conlanging" for the book is quite superficial—it's a naming language, only.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2009, 06:52:13 AM by The Jade Knight »
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ErikHolmes

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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #18 on: April 17, 2009, 06:43:44 AM »
Ok, don't be put off by the fact that this is YA... but you asked for Scandinavian Trolls done well, and East by Edith Pattou (I think) fits the bill.  It's not dark, but it's not all rainbows and light either.  If nothing else, pick up the book and at least scan the sections that describe the trolls and their society.

Sold. I've actually read the story that it is based on, its an old fairy tale that I think I first read about in one of Andrew Lang's Fairy books.
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Bookstore Guy

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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #19 on: April 17, 2009, 03:43:32 PM »
Is The Darkness that Comes Before the first book of the Prince of Nothing series?  If so, then I can firmly say I did not appreciate it one whit.  If you are interested in setting, and setting only, it may prove fascinating: the author does a decent job in inventing a new, moderately rich, interesting setting.  However, the plot is weak (driven primarily by sex and violence—if this is your thing, it may work for you), and the philosophy in it is particularly poor, IMO.

Now, if you really enjoyed the later books of the Sword of Truth series, there's a decent chance you'll enjoy the Prince of Nothing.  In my case, I found it less than satisfying.

Edit:  I'm going to add that his "conlanging" for the book is quite superficial—it's a naming language, only.

Im going to disagree with you. It isn't driven by sex and violence. Those themes are there (though not really in terms of violence - it isn't super violent at all), but the main themes revolve around manipulation and its varied forms. The plot isn't weak at all, especially considering where it goes over the course of the following two books. However, it IS a darker toned series. For many people it is too dark, which is why I always warn people before they read it. Also, it is nothing like Terry Goodkind. Most people who dig R Scott Bakker tend to end up anti-Goodkind. Terry Goodkind isn't dark in the least, and his plots revolve around blind luck to resolve the conflicts.
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Patriotic Kaz

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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #20 on: April 17, 2009, 05:13:57 PM »
Ok while certain parts of WoT do drag you can't say that any book other than a holy book has more happen than the entire series.

PS you may want to watch the way you phrase things our wild fans may come after you :P
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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #21 on: April 17, 2009, 05:49:19 PM »
I can pretty much mirror just about everything that BookstoreGuy has said.

Darkness that Comes Before is awesome.  (As are the rest of the books in the continuing series)

Thus, it follows that I am anti-Terry Goodkind.  Vehemently.

Malazan is incredibly complex (although, he's still trying to convince me to read them.  Only made it through book 2 part-way for the second time last year, and just this morning was contemplating a THIRD try at it...)

Abercrombie and Lynch are really quite good.

For my own two cents, I've also REALLY enjoyed KJ Parker.  She's a keeper.  Although, not much Fae in her stuff.  Sorry.  :)
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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #22 on: April 17, 2009, 06:28:31 PM »
My problem with East was that I thought the original fairy tail was done better than the book.  Anyway, if you don't mind "girl" books and want to read about Faerie, I would suggest:

Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones
Snow White and Rose Red by Patricia C. Wrede
Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan
Winter Rose and Solstice Wood by Patricia McKillip
Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

Only the first one of these is in a modern setting.

Also, the third book in the Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs deals a lot with the Fae.  The first book is Moon Called and the third is Iron Kissed.  Depending on your tolerance for content, I would also recommend Tinker by Wen Spencer.  I loved the setting for this one: the Chinese build a wormhole gate which whenever it is on makes Pittsburgh on the opposite side of the world transfer into an alternate dimension where the Fae rule.

For authors in general, I second (or third or fourth?) the support for Erikson.  I also recommend Glen Cook, Jasper Fforde, Naomi Novik, Terry Pratchett, Karl Schroeder (he's sci-fi), Martha Wells, Michelle West, Liz Williams, and Walter Jon Williams.
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Bookstore Guy

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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #23 on: April 17, 2009, 06:53:35 PM »
Ok while certain parts of WoT do drag you can't say that any book other than a holy book has more happen than the entire series.

PS you may want to watch the way you phrase things our wild fans may come after you :P

Sure I can. More happens in the first 3 Erikson novels than in the whole WoT series so far. Not to mention the characters are far more colorful. When you add the 5 other Erikson novels published to the first 3, and the 3 short stories, and the 2 novels by his friend, I can safely say that MUCH more has happened. I also have more attachment to the characters and the world Erikson created because his characters are amazing, and they are in real danger of dying (which many do). I find it impossible to worry about characters in WoT, because none of them are in any real danger of coming to harm.

Now you know why I love Erikson. Characters and situations are colored in varied shades of gray. Characters solve problems through intelligence and skill rather than blindly lucking into the solution (a fate that plagues several series). Incredible.
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Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #24 on: April 17, 2009, 07:18:07 PM »
Er, I found the end to Gardens of the Moon to be very much deus ex machina. That tree thing really came out of nowhere and looked like blind luck to me. Are you saying the books after that instead have endings that come from the characters' intelligence and skill?

Or if the tree thing was a magical way of solving the problem that was implemented by one of the characters, Sanderson's First Law comes into play—I didn't understand it at all, so it might as well have been deus ex machina.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2009, 07:21:21 PM by Ookla The Mok »
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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #25 on: April 17, 2009, 07:34:34 PM »
Er, I found the end to Gardens of the Moon to be very much deus ex machina. That tree thing really came out of nowhere and looked like blind luck to me. Are you saying the books after that instead have endings that come from the characters' intelligence and skill?

Or if the tree thing was a magical way of solving the problem that was implemented by one of the characters, Sanderson's First Law comes into play—I didn't understand it at all, so it might as well have been deus ex machina.

Or the part where Paran arrived in Genabackis to take command. That was very much so blind luck.

I only got about 3/4ths of the way through that book, and quit because i found it rather boring, and the characters seemed kinda bland to me. I found myself not caring about them, and just waiting for the book to end.  Eventually I was just like "Ya know what, I don't care how it ends, so I'm gonna stop now".

Also, I don't mind things being a complex and intricate system, as long as the author doesnt shove it in your face with no explanation on anything. Maybe they explain some of the things later on, like intricacies of the magic system, and what not, but I think it's poor form writing wise to just put something out there with no explanation, and just assume the readers will catch on.  The book just jumps straight into its environment and systems of functioning with no explanation, or real hints to how things work, and assume you'll figure out. That being said, though, you can tell that his setting is very rich and well thought out, just from what I read.  It has a lot of meat to it, it just offers no explanations of why things are the way they are, and how they work.
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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #26 on: April 17, 2009, 07:55:00 PM »
it becomes clearer as you read more, and it isn't Deus Ex (tree is pretty important).  he has a habit of explaining things after the fact. i do admit that the first book if by far the weakest of them all (others might feel differently). erikson designed the books so that on subsequent read-throughs you get more out of the books. i personally love it that way - after reading the first or 4 books, you could go back and read the first one and enjoy it more because different things jump out at you. I like having to think about what I'm reading and working to pick out the clues that have been left. It isn't for everyone by any means, but i think a person should read the first 3 before they judge one way or another. I personally feel the style he uses is refreshing where so many fantasy novels plod along in cliches and predictability.
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Patriotic Kaz

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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #27 on: April 17, 2009, 07:55:54 PM »
@bookstore guy i meant singular book as that was what you phrased earlier
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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #28 on: April 17, 2009, 08:00:19 PM »
it becomes clearer as you read more, and it isn't Deus Ex (tree is pretty important).  he has a habit of explaining things after the fact. i do admit that the first book if by far the weakest of them all (others might feel differently). erikson designed the books so that on subsequent read-throughs you get more out of the books. i personally love it that way - after reading the first or 4 books, you could go back and read the first one and enjoy it more because different things jump out at you. I like having to think about what I'm reading and working to pick out the clues that have been left. It isn't for everyone by any means, but i think a person should read the first 3 before they judge one way or another. I personally feel the style he uses is refreshing where so many fantasy novels plod along in cliches and predictability.

Right, by no means am I inferring that Erikson's books are bad, just that from what I've seen so far from the first one, it's not my style. I personally prefer things to build slowly together into a beautiful tapestry of complexity, and not start at full throttle and have it broken down much later. Which is probably related to the fact that I'm a programmer, Everything slowly builds upon itself to make the final product :P
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Re: All my books are read, Looking for suggestions
« Reply #29 on: April 17, 2009, 08:08:40 PM »
it becomes clearer as you read more, and it isn't Deus Ex (tree is pretty important).  he has a habit of explaining things after the fact. i do admit that the first book if by far the weakest of them all (others might feel differently). erikson designed the books so that on subsequent read-throughs you get more out of the books. i personally love it that way - after reading the first or 4 books, you could go back and read the first one and enjoy it more because different things jump out at you. I like having to think about what I'm reading and working to pick out the clues that have been left. It isn't for everyone by any means, but i think a person should read the first 3 before they judge one way or another. I personally feel the style he uses is refreshing where so many fantasy novels plod along in cliches and predictability.

Right, by no means am I inferring that Erikson's books are bad, just that from what I've seen so far from the first one, it's not my style. I personally prefer things to build slowly together into a beautiful tapestry of complexity, and not start at full throttle and have it broken down much later. Which is probably related to the fact that I'm a programmer, Everything slowly builds upon itself to make the final product :P

makes sense. the first Erikson (bear with me here - i am programming ignorant) is like being thrown into line 200 of 1000 lines of code - you feel like you missed a bunch and you wonder how on earth you got here.

@bookstore guy i meant singular book as that was what you phrased earlier

not quite sure what you mean. you asked me to find something that compared to the complexity of the full WoT series, so I did. did you mean you wanted me to find 1 single book that has more happen in it than the full WoT series? that's rather silly, and i'm not sure what it proves one way or another.
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