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Whatcha readin now? (book, books, reading, read) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter shuke
- Start date
Don Quixote
Footballguy
All Quiet on the Western Front and A Farewell to Arms are the classics in that area. It has been awhile since I've read them, but I remember liking both.
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Ash
Footballguy
Finished this. Solid and worth a read but could have been better, and not as good as his first two books for me. There was a little bit of a surreal/fantasy element in this one, and it didn't work for me. Just felt awkwardly inserted and distracting. I would have enjoyed it more as a straight story.
Also finished Guy Gavriel Kay's "Under Heaven". Just outstanding, best book I've read in a long time. If you like character driven historical fantasy and you haven't read one of his books you really should. I've also read "Tigana" and "Last Light of the Sun", which are also both fantastic.
I've also read Tom Holland's "Rubicon", which tells the story of the final hundred years or so of the Roman Republic, one of the most interesting periods in one of history's most interesting civilizations. Roughly from the time of the rise of populist politicians like the Grachi brothers, through the careers of Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Caesar and Octavian/Augustus. The most focus is on the career of Caesar (expected, given the title). Well told narrative history, not written for academics (as so many are) but without being lazily researched or sensationalist. Once you get away from general histories, some are a slog to get through as they're not really written for a general reader, this is definitely not one of those. Definitely worth a read if you have more than a passing interest in Roman history, or any history really.
Edit: I've read the Name of the Wind books, and the First Law Trilogy recently, what fantasy series should I look at next?
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Apes with Guns
Footballguy
Glad you liked it! I also enjoyed The Hero, which is the story of a darheel(?) soldier trapped in a bad spot. It was filled with action, and in the Posleen universe. Cally's War was tough to get through. She sort of sucks as a character, IMO. Like every role ever played by Cynthia Rothrock.Possum said:
SEAL Team 666 sounds similar to me. Here is the Amazon write up.
Weston Ochse's SEAL Team 666 follows Cadet Jack Walker. Halfway through SEAL training, he's still green but showing incredible promise when he's whisked away to join four SEALs—and their dog—for a special ops mission. Walker soon finds himself in a whirlwind of otherworldly creatures and events as he finds out the true nature of this “special ops” team: SEAL Team 666. Battling demons, possessed humans, mass-murdering cults, and evil in its most dark and primeval form, SEAL Team 666 has their work cut out for them. And it’s not long before they realize that the threat isn’t just directed against the U.S.—an ancient and deadly cult has bigger plans, and Walker is at the center of a supernatural conflict with the entire world at stake.
it's just probably always going to be outside of my Kindle budget. I like savings, and only make exceptions about $5 for books I know I will love. This one doesn't fit the bill. But if it drops to $2.99, I'm all over it.
dal_boys_phan
Footballguy
Thanks for this post. Was poking around on my library e-site looking for a Kindle book prior to my vacation two weeks ago and it was available, so I took a flyer as this is not normally my genre of reading and really enjoyed it. Thought that it was really good and definitely kept my interest.
Abraham
Footballguy
Finishd Dr. Sleep last night. First fiction I've read/finished in a really long time. I enjoyed it and am motivated to read more fiction, but a few observations.
All in all I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who shared my view that King has been off his game for a while. This is a good book but far from his best.
1. I had high expectations because I'd heard a lot about the book and heard it was good. I had low expectations because King has been awful for a long time now IMO.
2. I enjoyed reading the book but it doesn't even come close to his "best" stuff. For a 500 page book, it ends abruptly.
3. The fact that none of the main protagonists dies or is even injured seems odd for King. Billy and Dan both surviving the end seemed to PG13. Maybe I'm just older now so his writing doesn't resonate with me like it did when I was 17.
4. The passage about the baseball boy was hard to read. Good writing by King on that one.
5. The bartender guy showing up in the shed was a nice touch, but it could have been fleshed out better that Dan had brought help.
6. Why didn't his Dad get involved? He was on the platform but wasn't helping? Huh?
7. Rose the Hat seemed to not be all that powerful after all. Her end seemed a little too easy.
8. I figured out they were related pretty quickly.
9. Deenie and the Candy kid ended up not being a big deal at all...? "oh well, I should have said something years ago and been free of this burden. The end."
10a. I appreciate that he left out the torture porn that had been in some of his latest works.
10b. At no point did I think any of the main characters was in real peril or danger. 20 years ago, he would have spent 15 pages with Dan choking Abra instead of half a paragraph.
2. I enjoyed reading the book but it doesn't even come close to his "best" stuff. For a 500 page book, it ends abruptly.
3. The fact that none of the main protagonists dies or is even injured seems odd for King. Billy and Dan both surviving the end seemed to PG13. Maybe I'm just older now so his writing doesn't resonate with me like it did when I was 17.
4. The passage about the baseball boy was hard to read. Good writing by King on that one.
5. The bartender guy showing up in the shed was a nice touch, but it could have been fleshed out better that Dan had brought help.
6. Why didn't his Dad get involved? He was on the platform but wasn't helping? Huh?
7. Rose the Hat seemed to not be all that powerful after all. Her end seemed a little too easy.
8. I figured out they were related pretty quickly.
9. Deenie and the Candy kid ended up not being a big deal at all...? "oh well, I should have said something years ago and been free of this burden. The end."
10a. I appreciate that he left out the torture porn that had been in some of his latest works.
10b. At no point did I think any of the main characters was in real peril or danger. 20 years ago, he would have spent 15 pages with Dan choking Abra instead of half a paragraph.
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mad sweeney
Footballguy
I've read Lions of al-Rassan 3 or 4 times already. Absolutely love it. I haven't read Under Heaven yet but I just figured out what my next book will be, thanks.
Also, Krakauer's similarly titled "Under the Banner of Heaven" is a great simultaneous account of the history of the Mormons as well as the story of fundamentalist groups and 2 brothers who killed the wife and baby of a third brother because she was speaking against the fundmentalist society's oppression of women. Pretty damn chilling.
Sand
Footballguy
Got to the halfway point and dropped it. At least to that point it was pretty methodical and not terribly interesting. Unless it takes a huge kick up I don't think I'll finish this one. Sad, as I was hoping for better here.
-fish-
Footballguy
Vortex was pretty good. Better than Axis. Wilson's a really good storyteller, and the premise of Spin evolved through Axis and Vortex in an interesting and thoughtful way.
Overall, one of the better trilogies I've read in a while. Thanks to whoever recommended Spin to begin with.
SmoovySmoov
The Way of the Samurai
Just got a three volume Library of America collection of Philip K ****. Can't wait to jump in to these.
CletiusMaximus
Footballguy
I'm looking for advice on Ender's Game for a 9 year old. I read to my son every night. We just finished Harry Potter, have also enjoyed the Hobbit, and the Narnia books. Is it appropriate for a 9 year old?
Sand
Footballguy
I think so, though I doubt it will have nearly the impact if he was 13. Tried the Maze Runner books? My kid loved those.
-----
Also, never seen this before, but Humble Bundle is selling a group of Audiobooks. Satanic Verses, Blood meridian, and others. Only one I've read is the Piers Anthony book (first of 7, I think). It was excellent.
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Ramsay Hunt Experience
Footballguy
I think it's probably better to leave for him until he's reading YA himself. There are pretty harrowing scenes of hazing/bullying and I'm not sure a 9 year old will really get the horror that Ender feels when the enormity of the genocide sinks in. Even if your kid is an uncommonly bright and sensitive 9 year old.
Uruk-Hai
Footballguy
I'm on The Abominable by Dan Simmons. I'm only about 1/4 of the way in and haven't gotten to the real meat of the story yet, but a couple of observations:
Simmons has developed a habit of showing all of his work, to the point where he takes these long Melville-like excursions that - while sometimes interesting - can grind the momentum of the story to a halt. He did it in Drood, The Terror, Flashback, and especially Black Hills (where he spent a zillion pages on the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, which had nothing to do with the novel's plot). Some of this stuff is very cool, but could be severely trimmed in the finished work without losing anything. I knew going in to this book that I'd get more mountain-climbing info than I could ever use (or make sense of), but he's already taken some excursions that I'd bet will have little to do with the overall storyline.
The editing leaves a little to be desired. There are places where it appears Simmons wrote a passage a couple of different ways to see what worked best, but didn't cut all but one out when the book was ready for publishing. So you'll read a paragraph at the top of a page, then you'll read almost the same thing at the bottom - just worded a little differently. It's happened probably half a dozen times already and is a little jarring. I'd expect it in a self-published debut, not in a work from a major author.
Those two nitpicks aside, I'm enjoying the book so far and am interested to see where Simmons takes it. If you like his stuff, you'll probably like this one too.
Simmons has developed a habit of showing all of his work, to the point where he takes these long Melville-like excursions that - while sometimes interesting - can grind the momentum of the story to a halt. He did it in Drood, The Terror, Flashback, and especially Black Hills (where he spent a zillion pages on the building of the Brooklyn Bridge, which had nothing to do with the novel's plot). Some of this stuff is very cool, but could be severely trimmed in the finished work without losing anything. I knew going in to this book that I'd get more mountain-climbing info than I could ever use (or make sense of), but he's already taken some excursions that I'd bet will have little to do with the overall storyline.
The editing leaves a little to be desired. There are places where it appears Simmons wrote a passage a couple of different ways to see what worked best, but didn't cut all but one out when the book was ready for publishing. So you'll read a paragraph at the top of a page, then you'll read almost the same thing at the bottom - just worded a little differently. It's happened probably half a dozen times already and is a little jarring. I'd expect it in a self-published debut, not in a work from a major author.
Those two nitpicks aside, I'm enjoying the book so far and am interested to see where Simmons takes it. If you like his stuff, you'll probably like this one too.
CletiusMaximus
Footballguy
Thanks RHE and Sand. I'll think we'll wait on Ender. He checked it out of the school library yesterday morning and the librarian emailed my wife later expressing some concern.
Not sure if this book has been mentioned before, but currently reading:
The Nefilim Return, Total Change written by Clifton H. Bush, copyright 2008
from the back cover:
"The race that created Humans, the Nefilim of the Old Testament, returns to Earth with a mission to effect long overdue changes before we destroy ourselves and the planet. Government secrecy and duplicity, corporate greed and religious ignorance have reached a zenith. Their demise extols the true strength of the Human spirit. Old concepts crumble, new ideas emerge and mankind is renewed. But beware gentle reader; this path requires a spirit of adventure and an open mind! Grounded in history and based on hope for our future, come! Let me tell you a story..."
Bought the book at a dollar store when I went in looking for a new crossword puzzle book. (Yes, I love crossword puzzles...) Good read so far...
The Nefilim Return, Total Change written by Clifton H. Bush, copyright 2008
from the back cover:
"The race that created Humans, the Nefilim of the Old Testament, returns to Earth with a mission to effect long overdue changes before we destroy ourselves and the planet. Government secrecy and duplicity, corporate greed and religious ignorance have reached a zenith. Their demise extols the true strength of the Human spirit. Old concepts crumble, new ideas emerge and mankind is renewed. But beware gentle reader; this path requires a spirit of adventure and an open mind! Grounded in history and based on hope for our future, come! Let me tell you a story..."
Bought the book at a dollar store when I went in looking for a new crossword puzzle book. (Yes, I love crossword puzzles...) Good read so far...
krista4
Footballguy
Matterhorn is going to be (if it isn't already) considered one of the best war books ever written. I'd read it again if it hadn't given me nightmares the first time.
-fish-
Footballguy
the only character that appears in a significant way in Axis from Spin is Diane.
Axis is a significantly different book. The third, Vortex, follows two of the characters from Axis. Vortex is really good storytelling.
All are worth a read. Axis is probably the weakest.
Bull Dozier
Footballguy
Just finished "The Long Snapper." Brian Kinchen's tale of being called out of retirement to finish the season with the 2003 Patriots. Easy read, interesting story, but if you're bothered by giving glory to God, don't bother with it.
The_Man
Footballguy
I will check that out (literally) next.
I thought "Cloud Atlas" was an amazing book - can't understand how they made it a movie, which I still haven't seen - and I'm now reading "The 1,000 Autumuns of Jacob de Zoot" by the same author. It definitely took a little while to get moving, but now - just wow. It's set in 1800 Japan on the one tiny spit of landfill that Dutch traders are allowed to use as their base as Japan's only gateway to the outside world.
I am torn between wanting to tear through the rest of it over the next day or two and slowing down to let it last. Plus, it's pretty clear some bad things are going to happen and I'm not looking forward to that.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
Keep passing by Matterhorn - maybe I need to check that one out soon.
George RR Martin's vampire novel didn't get any more interesting for me. Was pretty disappointed in that one.
Got a small pile of military/war books a couple weeks ago. Read The Good Soldiers first. Liked it, but not 100% what I was looking for. Seemed a little detached - horrible reading about some of the stuff they went through, but at the same time it didn't feel like I knew many of the soldiers that he was describing. Now I am reading Jarhead. I could see this book rubbing a lot of people the wrong way. I find it interesting to get a different perspective from somebody who really was cursing his decision from the outset. About 1/3 the way through now.
On the counter I have House to House, One Bullet Away, and The Warrior Elite waiting for me.
To break these up, I have been going back through Storm of Swords to prepare for Season 4 of Game Of Thrones.
George RR Martin's vampire novel didn't get any more interesting for me. Was pretty disappointed in that one.
Got a small pile of military/war books a couple weeks ago. Read The Good Soldiers first. Liked it, but not 100% what I was looking for. Seemed a little detached - horrible reading about some of the stuff they went through, but at the same time it didn't feel like I knew many of the soldiers that he was describing. Now I am reading Jarhead. I could see this book rubbing a lot of people the wrong way. I find it interesting to get a different perspective from somebody who really was cursing his decision from the outset. About 1/3 the way through now.
On the counter I have House to House, One Bullet Away, and The Warrior Elite waiting for me.
To break these up, I have been going back through Storm of Swords to prepare for Season 4 of Game Of Thrones.
KarmaPolice
Footballguy
Also looked a few lists for suggestions on book series like Song of Ice and Fire. Found some fantasy and sci/fi suggestions - does anybody have any input on the quality of any of these??
Fantasy:
Kingkiller Chronicles by P. Rothfuss
Farseer Triolgy by R. Hobb
The First Law Triolgoy by J. Abercrombie
Sci/Fi:
The Culture Series by I. Banks
The Uplift Universe by D. Brin
The Darkover Series by M. Bradley
Fantasy:
Kingkiller Chronicles by P. Rothfuss
Farseer Triolgy by R. Hobb
The First Law Triolgoy by J. Abercrombie
Sci/Fi:
The Culture Series by I. Banks
The Uplift Universe by D. Brin
The Darkover Series by M. Bradley
sports_fan
Footballguy
Picked up The Book of Disquiet by Pessoa today. Really liking it so far. Seems like a good book to read in short spurts. I'll probably take my time with it.
Sand
Footballguy
All three are spectacular. Though I'd avoid the Rothfuss books just because it isn't done yet. The other two are.
sn0mm1s
Footballguy
The Rothfuss novels are awesome. I would recommend those far more than the other two series. The story and writing is top notch. The only negative is that if you are expecting the same level of graphic sex and violence and language that you have in the ASOIAF series you will be disappointed. It is more of a PG-13 rating than R.
The Farseer Trilogy (and continuation with the Tawny Man Trilogy) are OK. However, the romantic interest/relationship of the protagonist is so tedious and frustrating that I rarely recommend the series. If you enjoy reading about the protagonist pining over some chick for 6 lengthy books this is the series for you. Otherwise, skip it. This is also a PG rating.
The First Law is decent, a lot of people really like the series. It is definitely R rated. The ending/reveal is great and is why most like the series. The trilogy itself is full of plot holes - big enough that I thought it really detracted from the series.
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Apes with Guns
Footballguy
Just started reading Name of the WInd. Very hard to put down...reminds me of early Jordan a bit, only better.
FYI, there have been a number of football books on sale on Amazon lately for Kindle. Today i got one on my wishlist called Getting Up Slow. It's $2; not sure for how long.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BATG1AS/ref=oh_d__o00_details_o00__i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
EDIT: interest article on entry level fantasy\sci-fi. some of the books we've discussed here are on the list(s).
http://io9.com/the-best-entry-level-science-fiction-books-to-convert-1510802842
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fantasycurse42
Footballguy Jr.
Eminence: How to Beat the Market
Highly Recommend!
Highly Recommend!
Possum
Footballguy
Kingkiller: First book is great, second book is meh. No current release date for the third book, and Rothfuss appears to be on the GRRM schedule for output. Also, given the way the story has unfolded to this point and all the stuff that's been hinted at or mentioned as yet to happen in Kvothe's story, I have a really hard time seeing how Rothfuss is going to wrap this up as a trilogy and not have to expand to four books.
First Law Trilogy: Absolutely awesome, I would definitely recommend it. Abercrombie is a super talented writer and this is his masterpiece so far.
Farseer: haven't read it
Culture series: Awesome and definitely worth a read. I think I've read six of the ten books in the series - the standouts for me so far are Use Of Weapons, The Player Of Games, and Excession. I really like Banks' writing style, it's got a lot of dry humor in it, and the Culture as he describes it is fascinating.
Uplift and Darkover: haven't read them
this is really a great time for fantasy/sci-fi readers, as there's a whole lot of excellent authors doing series' and books right now. Some other good stuff that you may want to check out:
The Expanse Series by James SA Corey
Night Angel trilogy by Brent Weeks
Dagger and Coin series by Daniel Abraham
Blood Song by Anthony Ryan
Malice by John Gwynne
shuke
Black Ice Skeptic
Possum
Footballguy
Here's some new fantasy stuff I've read recently:
Promise Of Blood by Brian McClellan (book one of a planned trilogy): I thought this one was excellent and would give it five stars out of five. It's a fantasy novel that's not set in the traditional medieval setting - instead, it's set in a fictional country called Adopest and the technology, weapons and government are very similar to the American Revolutionary War period. There are flintlock muskets, single-shot pistols, cavalry swords, horse and carriages, and executions take place by guillotine. Also, magic is real in this world and there are three levels - Privileged, who are basically sorcerers with serious powers that use special gloves to work magic and occupy high-ranking positions as nobility, royal enforcers, etc.; Knacked, who are people that just have one special talent, like for instance never having to go to sleep or having perfect memory; and the Marked, also known as powder mages, whose powers are based on gunpowder. They can blow up powder stores from distance or make bullets curve around walls, and they can snort the gunpowder to gain short-term increased strength and perception. The concept is really cool, and the writing is excellent - this is a debut novel but the guy writes like a veteran. The novel follows Field Marshal Tamas, a powder mage and Adopest war hero, as he leads a coup against the current king and nobility and the fallout that comes with that. I highly recommend this one - the next book comes out in May and I've already marked my calendar for it.
The Emperor's Blades by Brian Stavely (book one in a planned trilogy): This book has been getting a ton of pre-release hype from the publisher and SFF book sites, and I was really looking forward to it being awesome, but unfortunately it left me kind of flat. I give it two and a half stars out of five. It follows the three children (two boys, one girl) of the Emperor Sanlitun after his assassination and their efforts to protect themselves from further assassinations, complete their training in their various roles (one is a monk's apprentice, one is a new military recruit, and the girl is a newly appointed cabinet minister), and expose the traitors who killed their father. There's some good stuff in here, and Stavely writes well when he's doing battle scenes or descriptions of places, but it's extremely predictable and the characters and dialogue didn't impress me. In fact, the characterization really reminded me of a YA-type book, something like Harry Potter for example: you get told who the bad guys are early on, and they're very one-dimensional, the main characters do dumb things to advance the plot and always fail to miss clues that are staring them in the face, and for the first 2/3 or so of the book, nothing really happens. It does pick up in the last third, and I'll probably go ahead and read book two whenever it comes out, but overall I gotta say I was really disappointed with The Emperor's Blades after all the build-up.
Malice by John Gwynne (book one of a planned trilogy or possibly quartet): Now, on the other hand, this book is a perfect example (for me) of the fact that you don't have to reinvent the wheel to tell a great story. Malice is epic fantasy with a capital E, just how I like it - much of it is going to have familiar echoes to fantasy readers, but that doesn't stop it from being a damn great book, and I give it five out of five stars. The story follows a kingdom facing an ancient, resurrected evil and a boy who may be the prophesied warrior that will lead them to victory against it - there are fantastic beasts, giants, angels and demons, mysterious swordsmen, spies, political intrigue a la Game of Thrones and black magic intertwined with religious prophesy. Gwynne is just a really excellent writer - he writes great characters, dialogue, action and his world-building is top notch. His style is somewhere between modern guys like Abercrombie/Martin and classic stuff like Tolkien or Mervyn Peake, and it's very distinctive - I actually think his writing style is one thing that brings kind of a new flavor to the story even though there are a lot of familiar ideas in it. I definitely recommend this one to anybody who's a fan of A Song Of Ice And Fire, Lord Of The Rings, etc. - you won't be disappointed.
Promise Of Blood by Brian McClellan (book one of a planned trilogy): I thought this one was excellent and would give it five stars out of five. It's a fantasy novel that's not set in the traditional medieval setting - instead, it's set in a fictional country called Adopest and the technology, weapons and government are very similar to the American Revolutionary War period. There are flintlock muskets, single-shot pistols, cavalry swords, horse and carriages, and executions take place by guillotine. Also, magic is real in this world and there are three levels - Privileged, who are basically sorcerers with serious powers that use special gloves to work magic and occupy high-ranking positions as nobility, royal enforcers, etc.; Knacked, who are people that just have one special talent, like for instance never having to go to sleep or having perfect memory; and the Marked, also known as powder mages, whose powers are based on gunpowder. They can blow up powder stores from distance or make bullets curve around walls, and they can snort the gunpowder to gain short-term increased strength and perception. The concept is really cool, and the writing is excellent - this is a debut novel but the guy writes like a veteran. The novel follows Field Marshal Tamas, a powder mage and Adopest war hero, as he leads a coup against the current king and nobility and the fallout that comes with that. I highly recommend this one - the next book comes out in May and I've already marked my calendar for it.
The Emperor's Blades by Brian Stavely (book one in a planned trilogy): This book has been getting a ton of pre-release hype from the publisher and SFF book sites, and I was really looking forward to it being awesome, but unfortunately it left me kind of flat. I give it two and a half stars out of five. It follows the three children (two boys, one girl) of the Emperor Sanlitun after his assassination and their efforts to protect themselves from further assassinations, complete their training in their various roles (one is a monk's apprentice, one is a new military recruit, and the girl is a newly appointed cabinet minister), and expose the traitors who killed their father. There's some good stuff in here, and Stavely writes well when he's doing battle scenes or descriptions of places, but it's extremely predictable and the characters and dialogue didn't impress me. In fact, the characterization really reminded me of a YA-type book, something like Harry Potter for example: you get told who the bad guys are early on, and they're very one-dimensional, the main characters do dumb things to advance the plot and always fail to miss clues that are staring them in the face, and for the first 2/3 or so of the book, nothing really happens. It does pick up in the last third, and I'll probably go ahead and read book two whenever it comes out, but overall I gotta say I was really disappointed with The Emperor's Blades after all the build-up.
Malice by John Gwynne (book one of a planned trilogy or possibly quartet): Now, on the other hand, this book is a perfect example (for me) of the fact that you don't have to reinvent the wheel to tell a great story. Malice is epic fantasy with a capital E, just how I like it - much of it is going to have familiar echoes to fantasy readers, but that doesn't stop it from being a damn great book, and I give it five out of five stars. The story follows a kingdom facing an ancient, resurrected evil and a boy who may be the prophesied warrior that will lead them to victory against it - there are fantastic beasts, giants, angels and demons, mysterious swordsmen, spies, political intrigue a la Game of Thrones and black magic intertwined with religious prophesy. Gwynne is just a really excellent writer - he writes great characters, dialogue, action and his world-building is top notch. His style is somewhere between modern guys like Abercrombie/Martin and classic stuff like Tolkien or Mervyn Peake, and it's very distinctive - I actually think his writing style is one thing that brings kind of a new flavor to the story even though there are a lot of familiar ideas in it. I definitely recommend this one to anybody who's a fan of A Song Of Ice And Fire, Lord Of The Rings, etc. - you won't be disappointed.
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igbomb
Footballguy
Another vote for Matterhorn. Here are my thoughts on it from right after I finished it.
Possum
Footballguy
thanks for the recommendation on this one, guys, I'm gonna have to check it out - the reviews and excerpts from it on Goodreads are pretty damn awesome.
Chaos Commish
Footballguy
Finished this. It's incredibly well done. Dispatches has always been my favorite Vietnam book (it's surreal non-fiction). There's several great novels, A Rumor of War, The Quiet American, Going After Cacciato, etc. Matterhorn goes straight to the top of the list with whatever a distant second. I'm not ready to rank it above Dispatches, but I probably should. Read both if you haven't.
The Flying Elvis
Footballguy
Took a break from fantasy since not really much out there right now. Read The Goldfinch and The Secret History. Enjoyed both. Now attempting to tackle Infinite Jest, about 100 pages in. Real dense but working through it.
Chaos Commish
Footballguy
Swing 51
Footballguy
-fish-
Footballguy
-fish-
Footballguy
Finished this, and on to the second (Johannes Cabal the Detective)
Cabal's a necromancer who sold his soul to the devil, but wants it back. The devil makes a wager with him to gather 100 souls in a year, with the use of a travelling carnival.
It's dark, funny, and witty, and pretty well written.
Goodreads and Amazon give it 4 stars.
Link
Ash
Footballguy
I liked both the Kingkiller books a lot, but agree the pacing has been pretty gentle so far and would have to change significantly to wrap up in one more book.
The sequel to Blood Song is due out mid year, I was going to hang on until then.
I really enjoyed the Night Angel books by Brent Weeks. The first half of the first book is basically a pretty generic "guttersnipe makes good, takes revenge" type story, but after that the plot takes a big step up. Bad things happen, characters you like die unexpectedly. Mostly plot rather than character driven, in that the story's told from the main characters POV only. The action sequences are well done too.
Added Malice to the (ever growing) Wishlist, just bought Promise of Blood. Kindle edition is $1.99
