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So what are you reading now (Part 4)?

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I'm reading Star Wars Outcast which is the first book in the Fate of the Jedi series. I'm having a hard time getting through it. It's not that exciting. Someone tell me the series gets better...!

Sorry, but Star Wars is just going downhill fast and there really aren't many new ideas left in that universe. It's time to call it a day and give it up. Star Wars has jumped the shark.
It may be time to reboot the novel series. They should probably dump everything after the Thrawn trilogy. It seems like each new series gets further and further away from being Star Wars like. It's gotten darker and darker as it's gone along. Where's the fun?
 
I'm reading Star Wars Outcast which is the first book in the Fate of the Jedi series. I'm having a hard time getting through it. It's not that exciting. Someone tell me the series gets better...!

Sorry, but Star Wars is just going downhill fast and there really aren't many new ideas left in that universe. It's time to call it a day and give it up. Star Wars has jumped the shark.
It may be time to reboot the novel series. They should probably dump everything after the Thrawn trilogy. It seems like each new series gets further and further away from being Star Wars like. It's gotten darker and darker as it's gone along. Where's the fun?

Well, the Thrawn Trilogy is incompatible with the prequels anyway. And I actually think that New Jedi Order was pretty awesome; most of the stuff before that was TOO happy/fun and light, but that struck the right balance, at least for me.

But it's not just a question of light or dark, I think it's becoming a larger philosophical hole in the SW universe. If you think about it, aside from the NJO invasion, just about all of the many trillions of dead from The Phantom Menace to Fate Of The Jedi have been caused by some bad idea or other of a Skywalker, or a fight between Skywalkers. Jacen going evil just did the same cycle over again. And those that weren't caused by Skywalkers were usually caused by some other evil Force-sensitive.

I'm starting to really sympathize with Palpatine. If I were an everyday citizen of some random planet, at this point I'd probably think the Jedi were more trouble than they were worth too.
 
I'm still stuggling with Seven Deadly Sins. It's OK, but nothing special overall.

Must confess I feel the same. Have now bought Lustrum by Robert Harris so will be putting Seven Deadly Sins down again to read that.
 
I intended to reread Ex Machina this week, but my available reading hours are low, so I'll take it with me on vacation on Sunday. I'm also bringing along Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Gambit: Siege.
 
What I am rather enjoying is The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen

Not even the icy temperatures of a typical New England winter can match the bone-chilling scene of carnage discovered in the early morning hours at the chapel of Our Lady of Divine Light. Within the sanctuary walls of the cloistered convent, now stained with blood, lie two nuns - one dead, one critically injured; victims of an unspeakably savage attacker. The brutal crime appears to be without motive, and the elderly nuns in residence can offer little help in the police investigation. But medical examiner Maura Isles' autopsy of the dead woman yields a shocking surprise: twenty-year-old Sister Camille, the order's sole novice, had given birth before she was murdered. The disturbing case takes a stunning new turn when another woman is found murdered in an abandoned building, her features obliterated. Together, Isles and homicide detective Jane Rizzoli uncover an ancient horror that connects these terrible slaughters. As long-buried secrets come to light, Maura Isles finds herself drawn inexorably toward the heart of an investigation that strikes closer and closer to home, and toward the dawning revelation - too shattering to consider - of the killer's identity. As spine-tingling as it is mind-jolting, The Sinner finds Tess Gerritsen in peak form. Beneath its layers of startling insight into the souls of its characters, and the richly wrought depiction of the everyday war between good and evil, beats the unstoppable heart of an irresistible thriller

Hmm. I've been seeing ads for an upcoming new TNT series called Rizzoli and Isles, with Angie Harmon in the former role. I guess it's based on this. (Is this book part of a series?)


Well, the Thrawn Trilogy is incompatible with the prequels anyway.

How so?
 
Well, the Thrawn Trilogy is incompatible with the prequels anyway.

How so?

It posits completely different methods for cloning, describes several old technologies that then weren't actually seen, has several mentions of clone wars jedi that married and had children, and most importantly has the timeframe of the clone wars off by over 20 years.

Of course, all of that was based on information that Lucas's people gave him when he wrote the trilogy that was then changed when Lucas got around to making the prequels. It wasn't Zahn's creations that conflicted with Lucas's, but just another instance of Lucas changing his mind a lot.

Anyway, I suppose any individual error could be fixed (and indeed several have been spackled in later novels), but in aggregate it paints a really different picture than the prequels did.
 
What I am rather enjoying is The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen

Not even the icy temperatures of a typical New England winter can match the bone-chilling scene of carnage discovered in the early morning hours at the chapel of Our Lady of Divine Light. Within the sanctuary walls of the cloistered convent, now stained with blood, lie two nuns - one dead, one critically injured; victims of an unspeakably savage attacker. The brutal crime appears to be without motive, and the elderly nuns in residence can offer little help in the police investigation. But medical examiner Maura Isles' autopsy of the dead woman yields a shocking surprise: twenty-year-old Sister Camille, the order's sole novice, had given birth before she was murdered. The disturbing case takes a stunning new turn when another woman is found murdered in an abandoned building, her features obliterated. Together, Isles and homicide detective Jane Rizzoli uncover an ancient horror that connects these terrible slaughters. As long-buried secrets come to light, Maura Isles finds herself drawn inexorably toward the heart of an investigation that strikes closer and closer to home, and toward the dawning revelation - too shattering to consider - of the killer's identity. As spine-tingling as it is mind-jolting, The Sinner finds Tess Gerritsen in peak form. Beneath its layers of startling insight into the souls of its characters, and the richly wrought depiction of the everyday war between good and evil, beats the unstoppable heart of an irresistible thriller

Hmm. I've been seeing ads for an upcoming new TNT series called Rizzoli and Isles, with Angie Harmon in the former role. I guess it's based on this. (Is this book part of a series?)
Yes, The Sinner is part of the Rizzoli and Isles series which began with The Surgeon. The television series, which starts tonight on TNT, is based on these books.

  1. The Surgeon (2001) introduces police detective Jane Rizzoli
  2. The Apprentice (2002) introduces medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles
  3. The Sinner (2003)
  4. Body Double (2004)
  5. Vanish (2005)
  6. The Mephisto Club (2006)
  7. The Keepsake / Keeping the Dead (US / UK, 2008)
  8. Ice Cold / The Killing Place (US / UK, 2010)

I'm looking forward to it, and I hope to pick up Ice Cold sometime too, when my finances improve.

As an aside, the medical thriller books are also excellent reads. Harvest was an excellent debut genre shift from medical romance to medical thriller.
 
I have not yet seen Rizzoli and Isles but I have it on the DVR. One problem I have with the series is one of stupidity. Maura Isles is NOT blond. If you read the 3rd book, The Sinner (I just finished it Monday morning), it clearly tells us that she is not blond. They did that same stupidity when they had Angie Harmon as the blond lead in the Womens Murder Club series. The lead there was supposed to be a blond and not dark hair. It's details like this that can totally ruin a TV show/movie.

Now the books are very good. I've read the first 3 and enjoyed them very much. Looking forward to the 4th one, Body Double.
 
I'm still stuggling with Seven Deadly Sins. It's OK, but nothing special overall.

Must confess I feel the same. Have now bought Lustrum by Robert Harris so will be putting Seven Deadly Sins down again to read that.

The alternate universe story with Sisko was/is (still plodding through it) is a real hard one to get through.
 
I finished Diane Carey's Starfleet Academy. It was kinda like a YA book (which I kinda expected) but was enjoyable. Do any of these kids show up again in other books? Or do I have to make do with the one-line destinies on the end screen of the old SNES game (which I had to cheat to see, so long ago :lol:)?

I've now started Stargate: Rebellion by Bill McCay, the first of four Stargate R-something books. It's a fascinating continuation of the Stargate film that predates SG-1's reinterpretation of the universe. Five pages in and we've been told that Daniel Jackson discovered the Stargate (or, annoyingly, "StarGate") and that Jack's late son (Tyler in the film and Charlie in the series) is called Jack Jr :wtf:. Otherwise I'm enjoying it.

It makes me wonder if we'll ever see that Kurt Russell/James Spader Stargate 2 when MGM is sold. That would be weird.
 
I've now started Stargate: Rebellion by Bill McCay, the first of four Stargate R-something books. It's a fascinating continuation of the Stargate film that predates SG-1's reinterpretation of the universe. Five pages in and we've been told that Daniel Jackson discovered the Stargate (or, annoyingly, "StarGate") and that Jack's late son (Tyler in the film and Charlie in the series) is called Jack Jr :wtf:. Otherwise I'm enjoying it.

Been a while since I've read those. I do remember enjoying them. Besides the points you mentioned, am I remembering correctly that O'Neil was a Marine in these books?

As for myself, I'm currently re reading Orbital Decay by Allen Steele:)
 
I have not yet seen Rizzoli and Isles but I have it on the DVR. One problem I have with the series is one of stupidity. Maura Isles is NOT blond. If you read the 3rd book, The Sinner (I just finished it Monday morning), it clearly tells us that she is not blond. They did that same stupidity when they had Angie Harmon as the blond lead in the Womens Murder Club series. The lead there was supposed to be a blond and not dark hair. It's details like this that can totally ruin a TV show/movie.

.


Okay, I haven't read the books or seen the tv show, so I don't really have a horse in this race, but I'm curious: what difference does a fictional character's hair color make, especially with regards to a detective series? The plots and mysteries and clues are all the same, right? And the characters still have the same backgrounds and personalities?

Hair color strikes me as just a random, irrelevent detail. Hard to see how it could "totally ruin" an adaptation?

Again, I not trying to be confrontational here. I'm just puzzled as to why this would matter to viewers.
 
I'm re-reading "Less than Zero" by Bret Easton Ellis to prep for its sequel "Imperial Bedrooms". Ellis is certainly an acquired taste, but I was WAY in to his books in college so I still read whatever he puts out. And since he only releases a book every 4 years or so, it isn't too much of a commitment.
 
I finished Myriad Universes: A Less Perfect Union last night. It was just as good the second time around as the first. My rating: 9/10
 
I have not yet seen Rizzoli and Isles but I have it on the DVR. One problem I have with the series is one of stupidity. Maura Isles is NOT blond. If you read the 3rd book, The Sinner (I just finished it Monday morning), it clearly tells us that she is not blond. They did that same stupidity when they had Angie Harmon as the blond lead in the Womens Murder Club series. The lead there was supposed to be a blond and not dark hair. It's details like this that can totally ruin a TV show/movie.

Why? Isn't finding the best actor more important than getting every trivial detail right?

In the books of The Dresden Files, Dresden's cop friend is named Karrin Murphy and looks like Kristin Chenoweth, 5'0", perky, and girlish. In the TV show, she was Connie Murphy (due to legal clearance issues) and was played by a Latina actress. That's because the Latina was the best actress for the role, and they would've been stupid to kick her out just because she didn't match the physical description in the books.

And need I mention the 5'3" Wolverine being played by the 6'3" Hugh Jackman?

It's called "adaptation" for a reason. It's not supposed to be an exact, perfect copy of the original. If you want the original, read the original. The idea of an adaptation is to do a new, separate work that's inspired by the original but establishes its own identity.
 
^Or True Blood, which has added entire new characters and plotlines, but still stuck to the books for the most part.
 
Just finished Time Unincorporated: The Doctor Who Fanzine Archives Vol. 2: Writings on the Classic Series, edited by Graeme Burk and Robert Smith?. Lots of stuff from Enlightenment issues over the last decade, most of which I've read, but a lot of stuff from other sources as well. And now I'm reading Miss Wildthyme & Friends Investigate by various writers, the latest in the Iris Wildthyme Doctor Who spinoff series.
 
I recently completed the Klingon Empire novel A Burning House and I am now reading the S.C.E. novel Foundations on my Nook
 
I just finished Destiny Trilogy about an hour ago. Still trying to figure out what I should read next.
 
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