Where are you in Fantasyland: September 2011

Just to get things started . . .

I'm in Narnia ... I mean, Fillory (reading The Magicians)

I'm in Chicago with Summer Knight. It's starting with quite a bang!

Like many folks these days, I'm in Westeros. Just starting book 3, A storm of swords. The first two were pretty amazing!

Just finished traveling through the hidden village of Aecer and elsewhere with Lily and Mark in The Children of the Lost.

Robbing a bank in Depression Ohio with the dead Fireson brothers in The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers.

Like #2 I'm also in Fillory, re-reading The Magicians before I tackle the sequel, The Magician King.

I'm exhausted, wandering around Paris, with apparently not a clue. The Magician , the immortal Flamel, seems a bit, uhm, underwhelming.

I'm in King's Landing, Winterfell, Mereen, and all those other hot spots in Westeros and the Free Cities (about halfway through A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin right now.)

8>> I've read all of Scott's The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series thus far, so I'll finish it up. I can sympathize with you, though, because as the series goes on and on Scott just adds in more and more characters to the point that it does get a bit confusing and you really have trouble identifying with such a huge cast. I'll finish the series since I do want to see how it all ends, but at this point it's not one of my favorites.

i'm in The Shattered Plains reading the Way of Kings (B. Sanderson)

Walking through the meadows with Ben, who's just discovered that Landover isn't on earth, in Magic Kingdom For Sale. This story is the slowest I've read in a while.

I'm in Ireland in Seer of Sevenwaters.

Making my way thru Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams. Doing a re-read.

Struggling around Elsen and surrounding country with various characters in Grey Keyes's The Charnel Prince the second in The Kingdom of Thorn and Bone series. First book was very engaging but I'm finding this one is dragging somewhat, will perservere to the end, but if it doesn't pick up at all I think I might abandon the series.

>15 KayEluned:: I found the 2nd book as enjoyable as the first, but had to give up part way through the 3rd one as it seemed to become pages and pages of pointless random travel.

Getting ready to leave Terre d'Ange for Ch'in with Moirin in Naamah's Kiss by Jacqueline Carey.

Just left Corambis, sadly saying goodbye to Felix and Mildmay for the foreseeable future.

I'm currently at the Burrow in Deathly Hallows, as read by Stephen Fry.

About to set out on a trek across Genebackis with Bauchelain and Broach in Blood Follows.

I've been in Low Town. Reading the book of the same name.

#19 Yay!

Just finished with A Dance with Dragons. Not sure how anything's going to follow that up except its sequel, but since that's probably another five years out I'll have to think of something ... Next on deck appears to be Glen Cook and The Black Company.

On the verge of starting The Magicians by Lev Grossman.

I'm with Samuel Johnson and his dachshund Boswell as they're about (I think) to be snatched off to Hell by Mrs. Abernathy about a quarter of the way through Hell's Bells (titled in the U.S., I think, as The Infernals, the second book in Samuel Johnson vs. the Devil). It seems I've got the British title since I ordered from Amazon's British site when the book hadn't been released yet in the U.S.

#23 Cecrow; I felt exactly the same way when I finished it. To keep me going in the long wait I have searched out the short stories Martin wrote about Dunk and Egg (Aegon the Unlikely I think) which are set well before the events of ASOIAF. I was a bit frustrated at first as I could only find the graphic novel versions, which whilst looking really interesting cost about £50 each! Then I discovered the stories were published before that in three collections of short stories by various fantasy authors. If you havn't already read the D&E stories these are the three books they are published in;
Legends and Legends II edited by Robert Silverberg and Warriors edited by Martin. :)

I've been spending time in Rhomatum watching the Ring of lightning. It was very disappointing; the characters didn't really appeal to me at the start, and just grew more irritating as the book went on. Too much bickering and keeping secrets from each other for no good reason, and letting themselves be manipulated by the evil antagonist. I wouldn't have finished it except that it was the only book I had with me that day. Now I'm in SF territory on the planet Arbre in Anathem.

I'm about to be with A Werewolf in Greenwitch Village in an e-book of the same name by Vicki Lewis Thompson.

I am in an alternate Alexandria in The Rift Walker: Vampire Empire Book Two. Great speculative fiction and just as good as the first book, if not better.

Alternative America with some of the old Norse gods in American Gods by Neil Gaiman...Shadow is just beginning his travels with "Mr. Wednesday" and so far the journey is fascinating!

On a tragic quest with Elric, in the novel Stormbringer. That darn sword just killed *another* of his BFFs!

I am in Osten Ard in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams.

I'm on the Eastern continent of Erna in When True Night Falls, second in the Coldfire trilogy by C.S. Friedman. So far, it's as good as the first one. Especially interesting is Gerald Tarrant, aka The Hunter, who sold his soul a thousand years ago for power & immortality, becoming demonic, but has managed somehow to hold onto some of his humanity and some sort of honor. A very well-done ambiguous character (i.e. dark and light).

Back in Freston with Rabbit & Laurel, with all sorts of secrets coming out of the woodwork (in The King's Own by Lorna freeman).

In Ireland with The Demon of Scattery by Poul Anderson

Currently, Hogwarts (again).

Conan the Valorous by John Maddox Roberts
Conan and the Spider God L. Sprague De Camp
Conan the Magnificent by Robert Jordan
Conan the Relentless by Roland Green
Conan: the Road of Kings by Karl Edward Wagner

Exploring the world of Conan through other eyes than Howard.

The weakest book here was the Roland Green attempt. The strongest are the Karl Edward Wagner and the John Maddox Roberts.

I finished The Magicians by Lev Grossman. I disliked the book enough to actually post a review. (http://www.librarything.com/work/7789355/reviews/77644479)

38 seitherin

My wife thought it wasn't very good.

38,39>> I finished reading The Magicians but I doubt I'll bother with The Magician King.

Finished Dead Iron by Devon Monk. This steampunk western has all the right elements to be an entertaining story, but I just couldn't get into the author's writing style. I would still recommend it though as other people might like it more than I did.

Also read Den of Thieves by David Chandler. This one was pretty disappointing. Basically, the book is about a hundred pages too long because Chandler explains absolutely everything.

#38, 39, 40 I couldn't even finish The Magicians I must admit, but I figured it's because I'm very plot oriented. I got halfway through and nothing was really happening. I couldn't find a plot arc--there was no mission, problem, or quest as far as I could tell, and I lose interest without that.

39, 40, 42 : It's nice to know I wasn't the only one who disliked The Magicians. Sometimes it seems as if there must be something wrong with me because I don't like something almost everyone else thinks is the new best thing. And I'm with you, CurrerBell. I'm not the least bit interested in reading the second book.

Next up is The Blood Books Volume 1: Blood Price, Blood Trail by Tanya Huff.

I'm in a fenced-in society in the middle of The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

I'm in Ank-Morpork with Gaurds!Guards!

I'm wondering who has stolen the giant squid-god in Kraken by China Mieville.

More Conan:

Conan by Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter
Conan of Cimmeria by Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter

Alternative Chicago with Wizard/PI Harry Dresden in Storm Front by Jim Butcher

If no one minds, I'm going to start the October thread ...