Now Reading...

I finished Sherrilyn Kenyon's Acheron a few days ago and was quite impressed. Despite being tagged -- almost inevitably -- as supernatural romance, there was surprisingly little romance in it, and a lot of history, and a LOT of pain and brutality. The author intended her large audience to understand the...difficult...background of Acheron, her marquee character in the Dark-Hunter series and she succeeds admirably, to the point of warning her longtime readers in a foreword that this book is much darker than her previous outings. And she's right about that.
It's easy to see why it was the publishing event of the year for St. Martin's Press and became one of Sherrilyn's four New York Times #1 bestsellers during 2008. (!) Deservedly so.
 
I just finished Stephen King's Dark Tower series (seven volumes - begun YEARS ago!!). Even though a couple of volumes were slow, the last two books were amazing!! Overall, I'd rate this story as some of the BEST (science?) fiction I have ever read - up there with Tolkken and Hebert. The story is amazingly complex and involves parallel worlds to this, vampires and other creatures that are unique to this series. There are doors that lead not only to different worlds, but different "whens". There are "beams" that hold the worlds together and the Dark Tower is at the apex of the beams. The central figure is kinda like the Last Samuri with a six-shooter (picture John Wayne in Star Wars), the last of the "Gunslngers". King actually wrote himself into the plot!! This gets pretty trippy!! :goggly: IMHO, this is easily King's best work.

The entire story is based on Robert Browning's poem, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came". He started the story in the '70s and actually got stuck after 4 volumes. After a several-year layoff, I guess he got inspired again. This is a LONG read, but when I got close to the end, I didn't want it to end.

Peace,
Chris :rock:
 
Finished the Amber series. Started to read Wagner's Kane books. They seem interesting enough but wasn't really in the mood. Will pick it up again later.
 
SavaVIDude said:
King actually wrote himself into the plot!! This gets pretty trippy!! :goggly: IMHO, this is easily King's best work.

Peace,
Chris :rock:
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I was really into the Dark Tower series up through Book IV, but this is where King lost me. I felt like he had a *brilliant* beginning to the story, but then couldn't figure out how to finish it. I actually haven't bought any new Stephen King books since the day I closed Book VII. (OK, "threw it across the room" is probably more accurate...) :)

I just picked up some New Year's reading:

Eckhart Tolle - The Power of Now
Shakti Gawain - Creative Visualization

And for fun...

J.K. Rowling - The Tales of Beedle the Bard
 
I am currently reading Jonathan Maberry's "Zombie CSU," a weird non-fiction/speculative fiction hybrid about how law enforcement would effectively deal with a zombie uprising. So far it leans more towards how the police investigate crimes - so much so that it feels more like a book to introduce people to investigation techniques with the zombie element as more of a "hook."

Maberry is a good writer, though. He is obviously a fan of zombie pop culture and the book has some genuinely funny bits. It reads as if you are talking directly to Maberry himself.

I recently finished three ghost books. Dianna Avena's "Roswell: History, Haunts, and Legends" focuses on Roswell, GA (not New Mexico!) and its hauntings. Dianna runs an excellent ghost tour there for anyone who lives in the area. I also read Corrina Underwood's "Haunted History: Atlanta and North Georgia," which was a handy compilation of several ghostly encounters in that area. And the third was Leslie Rule's "Ghost in the Mirror." This was my least favorite of Rule's ghost books, but she is my favorite writer on the topic.
 
I tried but failed repeatedly to get into King's Dark Tower series... Hell I think I even have all the books for it too...

Pellaz - thanks for the heads up on the 'Acheron' book.. I just read one of her books for the first time, 'the Dream Hunter'.. It was ok - I dig the whole Greek Mythology thing but the story plot itself kinda left me wanting to punch the main chick in the book... The fact that the Acheron is darker makes me want to atleast see if she can grab me within the first few pages...
 
JenniferLynn said:
Pellaz - thanks for the heads up on the 'Acheron' book.. I just read one of her books for the first time, 'the Dream Hunter'.. It was ok - I dig the whole Greek Mythology thing but the story plot itself kinda left me wanting to punch the main chick in the book...
Click to expand...


I'm not totally sure of Sherri's output and which book fits in where.... I think that's a Dream-Hunter book rather than a Dark-Hunter book, and the latter series is what I have tentatively been getting into. (Greek and Atlantean mythology, whoohoo :))
The fact that the Acheron is darker makes me want to atleast see if she can grab me within the first few pages...
Click to expand...

It may have helped that I read Seize the Night, the immediate prequel to Acheron, right before it, thus giving me an introduction to the character (and why his background is vitally important to the overall Dark-Hunter arc). Still, I get the feeling that the first half of Acheron, which is historical in setting, is completely different from pretty much everything she's done in the Dark-Hunter series and maybe everything else, too.

I really need to find an online concordance or something for the series...one thing I really think these books could use is a "dramatis personae" listing; the number of characters involved is dizzying. :)
 
A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire

This is the third book in the Wicked Years series. I read Wicked, which was incredibly depressing, and Son of a Witch, which wasn't as depressing. This one...I don't know yet. I'm getting a lot of back history on Brr, and Yackle, so far. I've also found that, while reading these books, I get rather bored. But when I'm done, and reflect back on what I've read, I find they were worth reading. I think it has to do with Maguire's writing style. Personally, I find it to be rather dry, and it's not until I've completed the story, and think about it as a whole that I can truly enjoy it. If that makes sense.

The same thing happened to me with Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide series.
 
I didn't finish Wicked. I might some day, but I got tired of it. It just didn't seem to offer much. I realize its really about the origin of 'evil', but it just became boring after a while.
 
I was disappointed with "Wicked" because it was touted as dark look at L. Frank Baum's "Oz," but Maguire was more influenced by the popular image of Oz via the MGM film. I liked the book when I finished it (and yeah, your observation makes sense, OrbWeaver), but have not been in a rush to read the follow-ups.
 
NR: Red Star Rogue, by Kenneth Sewell and Clint Richmond, thanks to a friend at work.

This purports to be the true story -- as best it can be determined -- of the Soviet Golf II-class submarine K-129. I knew part of the story already, but did not know that the wreck had been successfully salvaged by a super-secret US operation...nor that the sub had apparently been engaged in launching a nuclear ballistic missile at Pearl Harbor at the time it sank, in 1968.

:OMG:
 
Orcs omnibus edition by Stan Nichols

I'm having a difficult time wrapping my head around orcs being the heroes for once. This is, of course, why I got this book, but so far they don't seem very different from your orcs in standard fantasy. Which isn't making me like them all that much.

But I'm only three chapters in, so there's plenty of time for me to see where things are going. :)
 
I'm getting ready to start reading 'A Death in Texas' about the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. and the events afterward... I've had the book for awhile now - it's time to read it...
 
"The Wrath of God" by Jack Higgins. My Dad lent me whole stack of Jack Higgins books. The first I read was "Brought in Dead" and it was surprisingly good. It was a police novel. I thought Jack Higgins was all spies and stuff. It was a nice surprise. This one is set in Mexico in 1922. It's interesting and an easy read.
 
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