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 Post subject: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 1st, 2012, 11:03 pm 
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Joined: September 30th, 2004, 7:02 am
Posts: 2046
I just finished Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey and Redshirts by John Scalzi. The Expanse Trilogy (which LW kicks off) is primed to be one of the better SF series in the past couple of years, so I'm excited to read the sequel and then wait around a year for the last one. The Scalzi book was an emotional suckerpunch - you go in expecting one thing, you get that and something else entirely. You have to read it to know what I mean.

Starting Blindsight by Peter Watts because it's getting rave recommendations on a few sites that I frequent.


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 1st, 2012, 11:52 pm 
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Joined: November 26th, 2001, 2:54 pm
Posts: 78
Rereading eye of the world for the 4th time. So good. Also read Way of King by Sanderson and its absolutely fantastic! Great and original ideas


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 1st, 2012, 11:55 pm 
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Joined: August 17th, 2006, 2:52 am
Posts: 1133
The Terror by Dan Simmons. Loving it so far, but the last book I read by Simmons, Drood, I really enjoyed up until the last 100 pages. Hoping he finishes better this time.


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 12:06 am 
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Joined: May 11th, 2004, 3:11 am
Posts: 2588
Book 2 of the Kingkiller Chronicles and about 3/4 of the way through the Malazan series.


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 12:15 am 
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Joined: September 4th, 2010, 2:56 am
Posts: 483
Finally finished Warbreaker and the Riftwar Saga before.
Now I alternate between a book of logic&math puzzles, 'The Crippled God', which, for some reason, is taking a really long time for me to go through (ok, i think the reason is that reading about everyone being tired of war wears on you after a while), and the second book of the 'Sword of Truth' series.
And I'm up to TSR on my WoT relisten, which mostly happens on the bus or when I go shopping by myself.


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 12:20 am 
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Adirne wrote:
Finally finished Warbreaker and the Riftwar Saga before.
Now I alternate between a book of logic&math puzzles, 'The Crippled God', which, for some reason, is taking a really long time for me to go through (ok, i think the reason is that reading about everyone being tired of war wears on you after a while), and the second book of the 'Sword of Truth' series.
And I'm up to TSR on my WoT relisten, which mostly happens on the bus or when I go shopping by myself.


Yeah, I'm still on Reaper's Gale, and I'm telling you, it's slow going. The series started out great, but the last few books have been really hard for me to get through. I'm not entirely sure why because I really like the story and I'm determined to read the entire thing. I think it's just so heavy and dark that I can't just sit down and read for long periods of time.

I think that's probably why I found The Name of the Wind so refreshing. It is a much needed change of pace from Malazan.


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 12:46 am 
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Joined: October 3rd, 2009, 11:46 pm
Posts: 874
voltaire's philosophical dictionary, hesse's steppenwolf, and murakami's 1Q84. i keep reading 1q84 in spurts, put it down for a month and then read a hundred pages in a day, not really sure why. i think it's because the book is so heavy.


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 12:53 am 
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Joined: January 25th, 2012, 5:35 am
Posts: 175
Currently reading 'the curious incident of the dog in the night-time'.


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 1:48 am 
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Joined: December 4th, 2004, 1:49 am
Posts: 474
Just finished Railsea by China Mieville. Currently reading The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and about to start Infinite Jest and part two of Way of Kings. I've actually been reading a lot of young adult books lately, there's some great stuff around (if you manage to find anything that's not paranormal romance).


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 2:59 am 
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Joined: February 26th, 2011, 11:20 am
Posts: 147
Snuff
Terry Pratchett


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 4:51 am 
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Joined: June 8th, 2000, 3:59 pm
Posts: 946
I haven't got lazy, I've been very busy doing lots of writing and read very little as a result!

I just devourered the first book of the Hunger Games in 24 hours, suprisingly addictive and very enjoyable light reading.

I'm on book 6 of my WoT re-read and am now mostly skipping any chapter that describes skirt straightening or hair pulling. I'm even more in awe having started my own writing recently just how elaborate Jordans world building is... it's just a shame he goes off on a massive 3 book boring "try to fit all my world in" at the cost of the plot in latter books.

Apart from that I'm attempting to read Life of Pi which reads well but I just haven't got in to yet.


Leviathan Wakes looks great, I've read some very positive reviews and I'm desperately attempting not to buy it for fear of getting involved in another good unfinished series.

Side Note - People can you post if a book was good or bad rather than just what you're reading too, so that if I ever get back in to my 2 books a week swing I know what to look for :P


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 5:16 am 
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Joined: January 25th, 2012, 5:35 am
Posts: 175
Liena wrote:
Currently reading 'the curious incident of the dog in the night-time'.


Its a little slow so far in terms of anything really happening, but interesting because it's written from the perspective of a 15 yr old autistic boy. Will let you know more tomorrow when I've finished it. I'm only up to chapter 107 atm (not as high as it sounds. the chapters are just a few pages each and are only prime numbers :P) but its the kind of teenage fiction that you can get through in a day.


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 5:28 am 
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Joined: December 4th, 2004, 1:49 am
Posts: 474
Mangler wrote:
Apart from that I'm attempting to read Life of Pi which reads well but I just haven't got in to yet.

I remember Life of Pi starting slow, but it gets crazy and weird and awesome very quickly. And the ending tore me to shreds.


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 6:21 am 
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Joined: April 5th, 2008, 3:24 pm
Posts: 1818
Location: The place where ponies go to die.
Rereading the Honorverse, which is all available free online here: http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/22-M ... ofHonorCD/

Legally free too, I should point out.

Still terrible names.


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 10:45 am 
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Posts: 2588
Alima wrote:
Book 2 of the Kingkiller Chronicles and about 3/4 of the way through the Malazan series.


The first book of the Kingkiller Chronicles, called The Name of the Wind was really good. I highly recommend it. It's a really nice balance of light reading and depth, even dark at times. I'm on the second book now and it's just as good.

Malazan...well bleh. It's a great story, but in the later books it's almost a chore to get through the books. I'm not sure why to be honest. I want to finish them but it's slow going :(


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 11:06 am 
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Joined: June 8th, 2000, 3:59 pm
Posts: 946
I think the problem with Malazan is that after the truly epic legendary stories of immortal gods and powerful mortals doing battle with magic that starts off the series, it rather descends in to a bit of a slog about how soldiers have a raw time of things. So the setting is still amazing, and some of the characters you want to see are still there (but in the fringes) while the books get somehow further from the epic majesty of the start of the series.


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 11:08 am 
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Joined: September 30th, 2004, 7:02 am
Posts: 2046
Leviathan Wakes was great. It primarily focuses on two very different protagonists and does a really splendid (and fairly unique) job of mixing horror noir and space opera. Characterization is top-notch and the pace (which is the most critical element of a book, IMO) was excellent.

Redshirts was a very quick read -- it's the first book that I've finished in one sitting in a long, long time.* At first blush, it's a satirical take on Star Trek and bad sci fi television, but it becomes a very meta/philosophical piece on the nature of creativity, the nature of fictional characters, the consequences of bad writing, etc. Very interesting read that had an ending that came out of nowhere and just tore me to shreds. Highly recommend it if you're writing fiction yourself now. Definitely found some lessons that I'll take to heart if I ever get around to writing more.





*My internet being down from a storm may have played a part in that.


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 11:10 am 
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Mangler wrote:
I think the problem with Malazan is that after the truly epic legendary stories of immortal gods and powerful mortals doing battle with magic that starts off the series, it rather descends in to a bit of a slog about how soldiers have a raw time of things. So the setting is still amazing, and some of the characters you want to see are still there (but in the fringes) while the books get somehow further from the epic majesty of the start of the series.


Yeah, I completely agree with this.


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 11:25 am 
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Alima wrote:
Mangler wrote:
I think the problem with Malazan is that after the truly epic legendary stories of immortal gods and powerful mortals doing battle with magic that starts off the series, it rather descends in to a bit of a slog about how soldiers have a raw time of things. So the setting is still amazing, and some of the characters you want to see are still there (but in the fringes) while the books get somehow further from the epic majesty of the start of the series.


Yeah, I completely agree with this.


Also, the writing itself is awful.


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 Post subject: Re: Mangler got lazy -- what are you reading now?
PostPosted: July 2nd, 2012, 11:28 am 
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Faul wrote:
Alima wrote:
Mangler wrote:
I think the problem with Malazan is that after the truly epic legendary stories of immortal gods and powerful mortals doing battle with magic that starts off the series, it rather descends in to a bit of a slog about how soldiers have a raw time of things. So the setting is still amazing, and some of the characters you want to see are still there (but in the fringes) while the books get somehow further from the epic majesty of the start of the series.


Yeah, I completely agree with this.


Also, the writing itself is awful.


It's not the worst I've read (*coughSoTcough*), but it's definitely not the best writing. It definitely ranks higher than WoT. I dunno, it's just a weird series. I really want to finish it, I like the story but it's...hard. It's not a relaxing read, that's for sure. Also, the biggest negative about the books is that you have these amazing characters in the first few books that NEVER reappear in later books and there's nothing to fill the void. It's very disappointing.


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