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I made it to book four and stopped reading them, but I want to start over again. I was a bit discouraged at how everyone said it all went to shit after book five or so, is that true?
The Book Thread
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I made it to book four and stopped reading them, but I want to start over again. I was a bit discouraged at how everyone said it all went to shit after book five or so, is that true?
Lies and Perfidy
Gentleman of the Road
do not fucking compare things to lord of the rings just because they are in the fantasy section
i swear to god i will choke a bitch
i swear to god i will choke a bitch
Chromatose
Squid pro quo
it maintains a consistently decent quality. (regarding the dark tower series, fuck you pyrus and chromatose!)
Anvil
Brain Bubbled
- Jun 2, 2004
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It drags out a bit, and only seems as if one or two important events happen, but it's worth reading through it, to at least get to the last couple. They're quite awesome.
LoTR isn't even that great.
I'm bored with fantasy these days, but a wildly underrated pair of novels by Stephen R. Donaldson called Mordant's Need is quite the good read.
book 1: The Mirror of Her Dreams
book 2: A Man Rides Through
I"ve been meaning to pick up the concluding series of Elric novels, but I sard.
book 1: The Mirror of Her Dreams
book 2: A Man Rides Through
I"ve been meaning to pick up the concluding series of Elric novels, but I sard.
Lies and Perfidy
Gentleman of the Road
I've been reading an astonishingly good series by R. Scott Bakker, The Prince of Nothing. The world-building is somewhere between Robert E. Howard and Tolkien, without the Victorian sensibilities of the latter or the galloping racism of the former, and with political color easily approaching the likes of George RR Martin or Steven Erikson. And these books are fucking smart - heady, philosophical stuff about human motivation and the nature of faith, mixed in with some sweeping, epic themes and truly brutal, dark violence.
The premise is reasonably straightforward - two thousand years ago, the Apocalypse came upon man, reducing the high kingdoms of the Ancient North to ruins and pushing humanity to the brink of extinction before, at great cost, the forces of evil (personified, or at least represented, by the amorphous and terrifying Mog-Pharau, the "No-God") were stopped. In the two millennia since, empires have risen and fallen, prophets have walked the earth, and all this time the No-God's cabal of lunatics and monsters has slowly plotted to resurrect their master. But ancient horror stories are the last thing on the minds of most men, when faced with the call to a Holy War - for all men of faith (and ambition) to march in the name of the Latter Prophet, to battle the heathen. Hundreds of thousands, including the particular half-dozen or so who narrate the tale, answer the summons of leaders both religious and secular, and amidst political infighting, religious persecution, and goals both higher and darker, the shadow of the Second Apocalypse lurks.
These are books that will make you work to get through them, though not through any flaws in the prose - it's a combination of the difficult themes, and the dizzying array of tongue-twisting people and places. (Hint: "Cnaiür" is pronounced "Nay-yur.") But if you want a read that is going to simultaneously entertain and challenge you - if you want to see the true potential to which the field of fantasy can and should be aspiring - check out the first book, The Darkness That Comes Before.
The premise is reasonably straightforward - two thousand years ago, the Apocalypse came upon man, reducing the high kingdoms of the Ancient North to ruins and pushing humanity to the brink of extinction before, at great cost, the forces of evil (personified, or at least represented, by the amorphous and terrifying Mog-Pharau, the "No-God") were stopped. In the two millennia since, empires have risen and fallen, prophets have walked the earth, and all this time the No-God's cabal of lunatics and monsters has slowly plotted to resurrect their master. But ancient horror stories are the last thing on the minds of most men, when faced with the call to a Holy War - for all men of faith (and ambition) to march in the name of the Latter Prophet, to battle the heathen. Hundreds of thousands, including the particular half-dozen or so who narrate the tale, answer the summons of leaders both religious and secular, and amidst political infighting, religious persecution, and goals both higher and darker, the shadow of the Second Apocalypse lurks.
These are books that will make you work to get through them, though not through any flaws in the prose - it's a combination of the difficult themes, and the dizzying array of tongue-twisting people and places. (Hint: "Cnaiür" is pronounced "Nay-yur.") But if you want a read that is going to simultaneously entertain and challenge you - if you want to see the true potential to which the field of fantasy can and should be aspiring - check out the first book, The Darkness That Comes Before.
On my once yearly visit to RC, I saw your post about this very series. I tried to locate a copy of at least the first book, but alas, it seemed lost to the depths of the Interlibrary Loan System.
I am very interested in reading it, so if it comes down to it, I'll probably buy it.
I am very interested in reading it, so if it comes down to it, I'll probably buy it.
Chromatose
Squid pro quo
-Syl-
what.where.why.
I read only four books in the last two months:
Christopher Moore: Practical Demonkeeping - funny and bizarre, recommended!
Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash - cyberpunk, average
Richard Morgan: Altered Carbon - cyberpunk, hm, hm, average but it was better than snow crash
Iain M. Banks: The Player Of Games - scienfe-fiction - it was excellent! Banks is one of the best contemporary science-fiction writers! (There are not many really good sf writers recently.)
and now I'm reading another Banks book: Excession.
Christopher Moore: Practical Demonkeeping - funny and bizarre, recommended!
Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash - cyberpunk, average
Richard Morgan: Altered Carbon - cyberpunk, hm, hm, average but it was better than snow crash
Iain M. Banks: The Player Of Games - scienfe-fiction - it was excellent! Banks is one of the best contemporary science-fiction writers! (There are not many really good sf writers recently.)
and now I'm reading another Banks book: Excession.
Lies and Perfidy
Gentleman of the Road
-Syl-
what.where.why.
Not yet, but I will. A friend of mine recommended me the book of christ's childood.
Lies and Perfidy
Gentleman of the Road
Lamb, yeah, is probably his most acclaimed book - both fucking hilarious and occasionally showing some surprising depth of character and morality. I'm partial to A Dirty Job myself, but I think a big part of that is that it takes place in San Francisco and a lot of the jokes are funnier if you know the city. It's hard to go wrong with anything he's written, though - dude is hysterical.
Chromatose
Squid pro quo
Anvil
Brain Bubbled
- Jun 2, 2004
- 8,381
- 37
- 48
DarkNoise
Grotesque Butchery Rabbit
I just bought a collection of Lovecraft stories... so yeah, that's what I'll be busy with. And Christopher Moore sounds good too.
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