Glad to hear that the sequel is better. I definitely intend to read it soon, because I am very curious to see how the war against the Primes is resolved and find out what the Starflyer is.
I recently read Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained. Judas is a bit better, mostly because Pandora did all the heavy groundwork of putting the characters in motion.
But Hamilton has this annoying tendency to just introduce a bunch of character threads and then keep them separated for most of the book. It can be tedious to follow, before you remember each one and who's side they are on. They all tie together at the end of the Judas book - but there's got to be a better way of writing than that.
His best book is still Fallen Dragon IMO... And even that one I have some reservations about.
That didn't stop me from picking another book from him, though(I must be desperate for reading material) - I am now half-way through The Dreaming Void, a much removed sequel to Pandora's Star/Judas Unchained. It is interesting so far, but hard to judge, since no clear-cut adversary has presented itself yet. (like the Prime)
SF/F Books: Chapter Two - What Are You Reading?
- Thread starter Neroon
- Start date
Recently finished DS9 - The Soul Key. Much better than Fearful Symmetry. I'm not sure why the pacing of the last few DS9 novels has just felt wrong and choppy. Whether it's the characterizations being off or just the flow, they've been a bit of a slog for me.
Fate of the Jedi - Abyss - Only half way in this one and have to admit that Troy is doing a good job with a not so great set of story Lego to work with. I get that you need conflict to drive a story but dumping on the heroes permanently like the HP novels gets a bit thin after a while. I'm so looking forward to the Imperial Commando novel (shame about Traviss bailing from the SW novels) and DeathTroopers as more standalone or 'not Fate of the Jedi' novels. I'm hoping there's a really good payoff from this series beyond aligning with the Legacy comics because I was fine with a missing 75+ year gap.
Fate of the Jedi - Abyss - Only half way in this one and have to admit that Troy is doing a good job with a not so great set of story Lego to work with. I get that you need conflict to drive a story but dumping on the heroes permanently like the HP novels gets a bit thin after a while. I'm so looking forward to the Imperial Commando novel (shame about Traviss bailing from the SW novels) and DeathTroopers as more standalone or 'not Fate of the Jedi' novels. I'm hoping there's a really good payoff from this series beyond aligning with the Legacy comics because I was fine with a missing 75+ year gap.
Finished reading Bradbury's Dandelion Wine and the recent sequel Farewell Summer [thought I'd read DW as a kid but I think I only started it]... they were quite satisfying, only borderline-fantasy but still both grounded and otherworldly in a strangely combined way.
Now halfway through The Knight by Gene Wolfe. 'nuff said!
Now halfway through The Knight by Gene Wolfe. 'nuff said!
Not really a whole lot of competition, though, is there?
Sadly, no. But still, some of them were good. I particularly liked "Clark's Law", if only because it gave us a small glimpse into one of the shows major villans that for some weird reason I still don't understand, wasn't fleshed out enough on the series itself. Even the book failed in that regard, but it was an effort.
I still have one or two or the older ones to read, plus the Psi-Corps trilogy, and the Techno-mage trilogy.
Oh yeah, I forgot about the Centauri trilogy.
And in regards to canon, that was my understanding too, particularly since all the trilogies say "Based on an original outline by JMS". He even said in the intro to "To Dream..." that all of the books operate "more or less within canon". That's not an exact quote, but it's pretty much what was said.
Sadly, my Christian History class has been postponed until Spring. So, I'm back into SFF for now. Currently reading our very own Star Trek author David Mack's The Calling. It's a pretty good, standard fantasy yarn about a cosmic battle between good and evil and the people who hear prayers and answer them. I'll reserve my actual judgment until after I've finished, but so good so far.
And, with any luck, I'll be reading Ground Zero, the new RJ book, by Monday.
And, with any luck, I'll be reading Ground Zero, the new RJ book, by Monday.
That does make it sound kind of interesting. The only Panshin I've read is Rite of Passage, more than twenty years ago, though I remember liking it.
But I've read a lot of Vance. Not lately, but in the '80s I bought everything I could find with his name on it. I think I started with The Dying Earth, and then Emphyrio, and then I had to have everything, though there were a few duds along the way. There's no one else quite like him.
I just finished To Dream in the City of Sorrows. It is the first Babylon 5 novel I have read and I really liked it. I had always wondered what happened to Catherine Sakai after Season 1, and it was nice to get some answers.
I just started reading The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski. It is one of the novels that the PC RPG The Witcher is based on.
I hope Sinclair found her after traveling into the past. The letter Marcus reads at the end seems to imply that he did.
The first two sequel books to City of Ember.
The People of Sparks deals with the surviving Emberites emerging into the post-disaster surface world and their meeting with the town of Sparks, one of the known human settlements that has moved beyond bare survival and has begun to truly prosper. Both populations have to deal with the issues that survival forces into focus, like how limited goods are distributed, altruism vs "survival", Us and "the other".
The Prophet of Yonwood-Lina and Doon, the first two Emberites to escape and discoverers of the route out of Ember found a journal of a woman who was one of the original members of the Ember project. She originally lived in the Carolinan town of Yonwood as the world was building up to the Disaster. A "prophet" saw the signs of the impending doom and it laid her low. Another townsperson took it upon herself to "interpret" the utterings of the Prophet and it proceeded to turn the town upside down. Musings on Fate vs destiny, Faith vs fanaticism...good stuff.
The People of Sparks deals with the surviving Emberites emerging into the post-disaster surface world and their meeting with the town of Sparks, one of the known human settlements that has moved beyond bare survival and has begun to truly prosper. Both populations have to deal with the issues that survival forces into focus, like how limited goods are distributed, altruism vs "survival", Us and "the other".
The Prophet of Yonwood-Lina and Doon, the first two Emberites to escape and discoverers of the route out of Ember found a journal of a woman who was one of the original members of the Ember project. She originally lived in the Carolinan town of Yonwood as the world was building up to the Disaster. A "prophet" saw the signs of the impending doom and it laid her low. Another townsperson took it upon herself to "interpret" the utterings of the Prophet and it proceeded to turn the town upside down. Musings on Fate vs destiny, Faith vs fanaticism...good stuff.
Similar threads
