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OrbWeaver
BECAUSE FALCONER
Er...actually Pellaz, I'm not sure if I still have that collection or not. I cleared out a TON of books from my room at my parents' house, and donated all the hardcover ones to my old high school.
Sadly, even after clearing out a ton of books, I still don't have enough shelfspace for my remaining books.
Sadly, even after clearing out a ton of books, I still don't have enough shelfspace for my remaining books.
Yippee38
Living the dream!
Bah. You have to read, and have the paperback version of The Elric Saga with the artwork by Robert Gould:
Elric of Melniboné
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate
The Weird of the White Wolf
The Vanishing Tower (aka The Sleeping Sorceress)
The Bane of the Black Sword
Stormbringer
Then go back and read the newer stuff:
Fortress of the Pearl
Revenge of the Rose
The Dreamthief's Daughter
The Skrayling Tree
The White Wolf's Son
The first six books are the true Elric Saga. Everything after seems almost like it was written by a different author. They're good, but they don't have the same feeling as the original six. That's why I think you should read those first. When you read the rest of them, move on to the Corum books (both trilogies).
Elric of Melniboné
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate
The Weird of the White Wolf
The Vanishing Tower (aka The Sleeping Sorceress)
The Bane of the Black Sword
Stormbringer
Then go back and read the newer stuff:
Fortress of the Pearl
Revenge of the Rose
The Dreamthief's Daughter
The Skrayling Tree
The White Wolf's Son
The first six books are the true Elric Saga. Everything after seems almost like it was written by a different author. They're good, but they don't have the same feeling as the original six. That's why I think you should read those first. When you read the rest of them, move on to the Corum books (both trilogies).
kittybeast
Member
Yippee38
Living the dream!
BTW, I'm reading Exile from The Dark Elf Trilogy. For some reason this trilogy was on my shelves in the wrong order, so I read Sojourn (the 3rd book) second. Oops.
OrbWeaver
BECAUSE FALCONER
That's the issue I had with the Elric Saga, Yipp. After the first six, I just sort of went "Wait...what???" He lost me completely after that. I mean, come on...
If you've read the series, you may understand my consternation.
It really did seem like a completely different series.
If you've read the series, you may understand my consternation.
It really did seem like a completely different series.
Pellaz
Tigron of Immanion
Heathen! You have to read all of THOSE with the Michael Whelan covers!
(Or, read the books and just buy all of Cirith Ungol's albums, which accomplishes the same thing.
)One reason why I didn't list the books that way is because those old, glorious paperbacks are getting realllly hard to find.
I'll agree with this. Keep in mind that MM was typically writing his earlier books in 3-5 days, as fast as possible, since he and his wife were poor. Oddly enough, his writing speed never seemed to hurt those books much.
By the time he wrote Fortress et al., his writing style had changed (most critics would say it 'matured'), and he had several awards and nominations under his belt, including a Nebula Award and a short-listing for England's highest award (he was only beaten out by Salman Rushdie). It's fair to say the later books are more developed, but the manic frenzy of a young struggling writer is gone.
Agreed, although I liked the first trilogy a bit more. I think I like the first trilogy a bit more than the Elric books, actually. (!)
Heretical, I know....but Metallica's Kirk Hammett agreed with me, so I have good company.
Harvester
The Promoter
I've been burned out on fantasy for a while (other than Martin). However, I decided to give "A Darkness Forged in Fire" by Chris Evans a try. It gets a big thumbs up from me for character development, politics, and humor alone. I'm sure I'll be in a long line of readers hoping for a spin-off from one of the side characters (a bitter as hell dwarf). The concept is familar ground although he brings a bit of Novik influence into the world (i.e. The Iron Elves Regimen use muskets and hate the forrest).
Pellaz
Tigron of Immanion
Oh, I don't mind the Gould ones either; hell I own several of them (as well as al the Whelan covers in some form or another). MM doesn't much care for several of Whelan's, either.
MM's overall preference is actually for Jim Cawthorn's artwork, which I thought was okayyyyyyyyy......
The best Elric depiction, IMO, is Whelan's, on the cover of Elric At the End of Time.
MM's overall preference is actually for Jim Cawthorn's artwork, which I thought was okayyyyyyyyy......
The best Elric depiction, IMO, is Whelan's, on the cover of Elric At the End of Time.
Yippee38
Living the dream!
Yeah. I like that one. I do have that book, though I never read the rest of the Dancers stuff.
Neuropath - R. Scott Bakker
Wow...philosophical serial killer a la Heartsick by Chelsea Cain but much deeper. Seriously, this was the darkest, most nihilistic & twisted thriller I've read in a while. Set in the near future where wetworks on the human brain basically prove that there is no free will, that all we see or do is an illusion, a former NSA operative, Neil, sets out to "prove" this argument in the most perverse ways imaginable. And life for his best friend, who the FBI use to track Neil down, just goes from bad to worse to horrific.
Highly recommended--this book has stuck in my head for a couple of weeks now. And what's funny is that I saw Dark Knight two days after finishing this book, and there was the Joker using many of the same arguments that surface here. Many of the theories aren't new, but the implications of them can be truly frightening.
For those that can't wait for the US edition from Tor next March, there are a few copies of the Canadian (I think) edition floating around Amazon.
:Smokin:
Wow...philosophical serial killer a la Heartsick by Chelsea Cain but much deeper. Seriously, this was the darkest, most nihilistic & twisted thriller I've read in a while. Set in the near future where wetworks on the human brain basically prove that there is no free will, that all we see or do is an illusion, a former NSA operative, Neil, sets out to "prove" this argument in the most perverse ways imaginable. And life for his best friend, who the FBI use to track Neil down, just goes from bad to worse to horrific.
Highly recommended--this book has stuck in my head for a couple of weeks now. And what's funny is that I saw Dark Knight two days after finishing this book, and there was the Joker using many of the same arguments that surface here. Many of the theories aren't new, but the implications of them can be truly frightening.
For those that can't wait for the US edition from Tor next March, there are a few copies of the Canadian (I think) edition floating around Amazon.
:Smokin:
STILL trying to finish Bonehunters. I think I have about a hundred pages left.
I finally got Scott Lynch's Red Sea Under Red Skies in paperback - freakin' Books A Million is 0 for 2 in getting in new books on release day, so I had to make a fairly long trip out to the local Barnes & Noble just to get it. It's turning out almost as good as the last one so far, although I kinda rolled my eyes at the fast-forward on Locke's trip through self-pity. That was only a minor stumbling spot, though.
That R Scott Bakker looks interesting, too... is it *as* philosophy-heavy as the previous trilogy? I think he did interesting things with it but pushed it so hard that I lost interest in a lot of places.
I finally got Scott Lynch's Red Sea Under Red Skies in paperback - freakin' Books A Million is 0 for 2 in getting in new books on release day, so I had to make a fairly long trip out to the local Barnes & Noble just to get it. It's turning out almost as good as the last one so far, although I kinda rolled my eyes at the fast-forward on Locke's trip through self-pity. That was only a minor stumbling spot, though.
That R Scott Bakker looks interesting, too... is it *as* philosophy-heavy as the previous trilogy? I think he did interesting things with it but pushed it so hard that I lost interest in a lot of places.
I haven't read his fantasy trilogy, but I've heard others say it was heavy on the philosophy. Neuropath does get kinda heavy and talky in a few places, but it's only for a couple pages here and there. Just as I would be thinking, "Alright, let's move this along," it would.
The general Da Vinci Code reader would likely give up...but most of the people around here could easily cope.
Locust0311
Shopping Ape
Finished this a little while ago. I enjoyed it, dunno if its as good as the first but it was definitely fun. I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.
Now I'm about 100 pages into Neal Stephenson's The System of the World. So far it hasn't put me to sleep yet
Pellaz
Tigron of Immanion
I just finished Fleet Of Worlds and was extremely pleased. For those who have read Larry Niven's "Known Space" books and stories, this is a great, unprecedented look at his celebrated alien species, the Pierson's Puppeteers, and their flight from the massive supernova explosion at the galactic core.
For those who haven't read Niven's stuff and would like to delve into some really good SF, I suggest the following introductory reading order, which instantly ensnared me back in high school:
The first two are out-of-print, although the stories have since been collected in other anthologies. They should be findable used, online.
From there, if you've liked what you've read, you can't really go wrong with any other Niven books, although after having finished Ringworld, the sequels would probably beckon -- The Ringworld Engineers would be next.
Up next, Student Of Kime by Storm Constantine, which just arrived in the mail
For those who haven't read Niven's stuff and would like to delve into some really good SF, I suggest the following introductory reading order, which instantly ensnared me back in high school:
- Neutron Star (short-story collection focusing on his character Beowulf Schaffer)
- Tales of Known Space (another collection but spanning the full timeframe in Known Space, in chronological order)
- Ringworld (one of the finest SF novels ever written)
The first two are out-of-print, although the stories have since been collected in other anthologies. They should be findable used, online.
From there, if you've liked what you've read, you can't really go wrong with any other Niven books, although after having finished Ringworld, the sequels would probably beckon -- The Ringworld Engineers would be next.
Up next, Student Of Kime by Storm Constantine, which just arrived in the mail
Yippee38
Living the dream!
We went to the mall tonight. I needed some stuff from the Sears Hardware dept. and I needed to pick up "Legacy," the next book in the Drizzt Du'orden series. When we left, it was drizzling. The mall is about 5 miles away. By the time we got there, it was dark. I had to turn the headlights on, even though sunset was 2 hours away. It had started raining pretty hard, so I dropped Yardley off at the door to Barnes & Noble and went to park. It let up a bit after I parked, so I didn't get to wet. As I was walking into the store, I noticed quite a lot of sirens going off. Not the kind from emergency vehicles, but the kind that go off when there's a tornado. Ut oh. I get inside and Yardely tells me that she was waiting in the vestibule and an employee came and asked her to come into the store and away from the windows as a tornado had been spotted. More ut oh. We started poking around the store a bit. I noticed that there was some kind of announcement repeating in the mall. It wasn't a "will the parents of Jimmy Thompson, please come get your brat from the customer service desk." We walked out to check it out. They were saying that a tornado warning had been issued, "please move to a service hallway and move away from all windows." Some of the stores started closing the grates that secure the store when they are closed. We went back into B&N. After a couple more minutes, they made an announcment that they were going to close the store, "please move to the hallway near the restrooms." Yardley had found a cookbook from The Berghoff Restaurant and was very excited about it. She really couldn't have cared less about a tornado. I walked over to the next isle and grabbed a book about U.S. flyers participating in The Battle of Brittain, then we went to hang out near the restrooms. We hung out there for about 10-15 minutes until mall security told the B&N employees that the tornado warning had ended. We put our books back and headed over to Sears. Got the stuff there and went back to B&N to get our books. On the way out of the B&N on the way to Sears, Yardley spotted a book and pointed it out to me. When we returned, I grabbed a copy, she got her cookbook, and I got a copy of "Legacy." We left the mall, both a bit giddy because we had each found an exciting book. Hers is the cookbook. Mine is "Jhegaala" by Steven Brust. The Vlad Taltos books are one of my all-time favorites, and I'll be reading that as soon as I finish "Exile." Drizzt will have to wait.
So the moral of the story is, if you are going to be caught out in a tornado warning, you can do a lot worse than getting stuck in a book store.
But I'm pretty damn happy that Steven Brust has released a new Vlad book!!
Pellaz, what's the story with "Elric: To Rescue Tanelorn?" Is it a collection of shorts? Are they from other authors, or they MM's works? I noticed Elric at the End of Time is included. Looks like another compilation, but I didn't have much time to thoroughly check it out. Horrible cover art though.
So the moral of the story is, if you are going to be caught out in a tornado warning, you can do a lot worse than getting stuck in a book store.
But I'm pretty damn happy that Steven Brust has released a new Vlad book!!
Pellaz, what's the story with "Elric: To Rescue Tanelorn?" Is it a collection of shorts? Are they from other authors, or they MM's works? I noticed Elric at the End of Time is included. Looks like another compilation, but I didn't have much time to thoroughly check it out. Horrible cover art though.
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