Fantastic Journeys: What're You Reading? Oct 2009

I'm currently varying The Good Soldier (coursework - doesn't count, I think) with Sea Glass. I'd much rather be focusing on the latter. ^-~ But once I finish the coursebook, I'll be juggling the other with Arthurian Romances (also for courses, but actually counting towards the fantasy books. ^-~)

I'm reading His Majesty's Dragon. Having a hard time getting into it though.

I'm about halfway through my first foray into Sexy Cover Urban Fantasy: Strange Brew. I'm not exactly sure what I think of it or the subgenre yet. It's... different.

I'm almost done with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies! One of the funniest things I've read all year. Definitely my type of humor.

I just finished Shaman's Crossing. It was okay; I was a little annoyed that she kept belaboring certain points over and over, and I'm more than a little over the "hero-in-denial" cliché, but I'm willing to try Forest Mage when it becomes available at the library again.

I'm half way through Wicked now. I'm still enjoying it. As I keep reading I'm amazed at how the musical turned out, they are so different.

I'm reading Kate Elliot's Jaran series (maybe it's sci-fi though and doesn't count?) Finished the first book and loved it, although I hear the next three are not as good.

>#1 I loved Sea Glass! - I thought it was better than Storm Glass, which was great because I had the opposite experience with the Study series.

I read Something From the Nightside by Simon R. Green. It's a pretty standard paranormal detective story focusing a lot on world building and setup, but it was good.

Just started Red Seas Under Red Skies. The criminal adventures of Locke and Jean continue!

I'm reading The Forest House while I wait for The Forest Mage. It's all right, but nowhere near Mists of Avalon, unfortunately.

I'm reading Michael Swanwick's The Dragons of Babel, so far just as twistedly inventive & engaging as The Iron Dragon's Daughter.

I just finished reading Janny Wurts stand alone book, To Ride Hell's Chasm over the weekend. Great book. Today I found there is an interview with her:

http://www.keepingthedoor.com/2009/10/06/master-of-light-and-shadow-janny-wurts-...

Just finished Elizabeth Haydon Elegy for a Lost Star and started David Eddings Guardians of the West both of these have been sitting in my TBR pile for most of the summer. The first book was enjoyable but near the end was getting anxious to be done, this had more to do with the fact I was reading this series consecutively. So I decided to take a break and move on to Eddings for a bit.

I read Agents of Light and Darkness by Simon R. Green, second book in the Nightside series.

Also finished Darker Angels by M.L.N. Hanover. Doesn't quite have the cachet of Abraham's Long Price Quartet, but it's good.

I'm reading two right now: Un Lun Dun by China Mieville, which is like a modern trip down the rabbit hole. Very well done. And, The Child Thief by Brom, both with great artwork by the authors themselves.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is next!

Done my last, ready to plunge into Treason's Shore to see how Sherwood Smith finishes Inda's story.

Just finished Pratchett's latest, Unseen Academicals.

hey hmn..
i'm reading Animal Farm George Orwell, pretty good, then i'm trying to read Vampire Diaries, but i'm not enjoying it at all, then i'm reading Hobbit too - just finishing it, really funny!-

#7 Might be I'll have that feeling about the Study series then. I thought the narrative of Sea Glass was far weaker than in Storm Glass.

I'm still stuck on the Arthurian romances, but in the meantime I've finished Sea Glass and The Little Bookroom and have Throne of Jade lined up as my 'distraction book of choice'.

Decided to take my first steps in the Malazan Empire with Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson.

Finished The Forest House and moved on to Lady of Avalon. This one seems better, although I might not bother with any of the others in the Avalon series.

Just started Colours in the Steel by K.J. Parker. The Orbit pb I have uses an ugly font and is poorly edited which is off-putting but the story itself is promising so far.

Finished reading Defenders of the Scroll a few days back.

Almost finished with Sherrilyn Kenyon's Bad Moon Rising, the latest book in the Dark Hunter series.

I finished My Dead Body, last book in the Joe Pitt series by Charlie Huston. It was pretty good. All the usual good stuff and it had a lot of plot resolutions. I was somewhat surprised by the positive ending.

I've been on a manga spree so far this weekend reading After School Nightmare along with the first couple volumes of Tail of the Moon and Vassalord volume 3. I've also started the novel of Armed & Magical by Lisa Shearin and am pleased that so far I can keep up with the story despite the fact that I barely remember anything about the first book, Magic Lost, Trouble Found.

I just finished Death's Daughter by Amber Benson for a RL book group. Thought it was awful.

Now reading Troll by Johanna Sinsalo set in modern day Finland, but with real trolls.

I just started reading Nyphron Rising the third novel in the Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan

I've been reading The Forest Mage these past two days...it's entertaining enough, but I get the idea it's not Hobb's best work.

I am reading Polgara the Sorceress by Daivid and Leigh Eddings

Right now I am just finishing Daniel Quinns' Ishmael. (Not really a fantasy - more of a ecology manifesto/dialogue. But it features a telepathic gorilla, so that should count for something). Anyway - I am thinking about diving into a big epic. Maybe Hobbs' Liveship Trilogy or maybe Gardens of the Moon, the first of the Malazan "tenology" (or whatever you call a series comprising of ten books). Joe Abercrombies' "First Law" trilogy looks interesting too though.... mmmm... any suggestions?

Rereading the Fionavar Tapestry and have just bought the Darkwar Sage series (Feist) - up next.

Regards

Kevin

@30 Spiritual Alien, I see you have GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire series in your library and if you liked that then I suggest you give the Malazan series a go. I've just finished Gardens of the Moon and thoroughly enjoyed it. Joe Abercrombie's books were good also and are worth a read.

Almost finished Storm Rider by David Gemmell - carried it on a road trip for the paperback convenience. So far, I've liked it best, of the Rigante series.

I'll be back to Treason's shore directly, but I have a neighborhood book club read to finish by Thursday, Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill.

@32 AHS-Wolfy - I actually got as far as finishing A Storm of Swords in the Song of Ice and Fire series. I really did enjoy it, but my 50-something year old brain had a real hard time keeping track of all the players in this Game of Thrones. I spent as much time referring to the Dramatis Personae in the back of the books as I did reading the actual story, and by the time A Dance With Dragons arrived I had almost completely forgotten who and what all the characters were! (I once had some pills to help my memory, but I kept forgetting to take them...).
I see that the Malazan epic is on a similar vein, but I am going to give it a serious shot none the less.

About halfway through Return of the Crimson Guard by Ian C. Esslemont. It infringes a bit on Erikson's turf, but I'll withhold judgement until I'm finished with it.

I'm reading an urban fantasy called Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews. I wasn't totally impressed with the first book of this series, but the main character and the writing is growing on me.

Another series starter book for me this go around, The Darkness that Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker.

Just finished Syren, the fifth book in the Septimus Heap series--an entertaining children's fantasy series that has elements of Harry Potter and of Lemony Snicket without being derivative of either.

I'm reading Quatrain.

Just finished Elizabeth Hand's Black Light. I enjoyed it, but it didn't compel me quite as much as her loosely related novels Waking the Moon, Mortal Love, and Generation Loss. I like that she keeps doing variations on a theme: the incursion of the Old Gods/rites into the modern day.

I just started "Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett, and I have By the Mountain Bound by Elizabeth Bear waiting in the wings...I'm also working my way story by story through Lovecraft Unbound, which, while not strictly fantasy (more like weird horror), may still have appeal to a lot of you!

I just finished Canticle by Ken Scholes. It still has some of the weakness of Lamentation, but overall it's stronger than the first book. I'm looking forward to what happens next.

I ordered seven books from Amazon a while back but was too busy to start on them when they arrived. They were "The Dragon Keeper" which I started earlier this week and I'm at page 333 and it has me enthralled. The other books were "Poison Study" & "Magic Study" by Maria Snyder; "The Gift" & "The Riddle" by Alison Croggon and Trudi Canavan's "The Magician's Apprentice". The seventh book only arrived yesterday as it was a pre-booking but it will jump the queue to be next to read. It is "The Gathering Storm". "The Silver Mage" is on my get at the first opportunity list.

I've delayed my start on "The Gathering Storm"; thought I'd re-read "Knife of Dreams" first so that I can thread myself back into the story properly.
Loved "The Dragon Keeper" and look forward to the next.

I've just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I'm now reading The tales of Beedle the Bard.