What is the last book you finished, and what did you think of it?
- Thread starter Samus Aran but a man
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'Sister Alice' by Robert Reed. A good book, not the greatest sci-fi I've ever read, but entertaining enough to make me finish the thing in a couple of days.
I'm usually good with sci-fi, but the one thing which really bugged me in this book was the authors decision to keep FTL travel impossible. Which meant that most chapters skipped a few centuries forward, disorientating me and throwing me completely off the track. It's all good when not much changes, but when 30,000 years passes from one page to the next, and completely new technological concepts have to be introduced in only a couple of paragraphs, things get rather hard to keep track off.
But a good book nonetheless, liked 'Marrow' more though.
I'm usually good with sci-fi, but the one thing which really bugged me in this book was the authors decision to keep FTL travel impossible. Which meant that most chapters skipped a few centuries forward, disorientating me and throwing me completely off the track. It's all good when not much changes, but when 30,000 years passes from one page to the next, and completely new technological concepts have to be introduced in only a couple of paragraphs, things get rather hard to keep track off.
But a good book nonetheless, liked 'Marrow' more though.
Do get it. I have not read Ben Counter Grey Knights Novels, but I can tell you that it is in the first person, the main character is overcoming arrogance, and is about the events surrounding the First Armageddon War.VonKlaw said:Both on-and-off topic, the last book I read was Hammer of Daemons by Ben Counter, also about 40K Grey Knights
If you've read it, how similar is it to The Emperor's Gift (since I'm looking at getting it)?
"The Jewel in the Skull" by Michael Moorcock, now moving on to "The Mad God's Amulet" (1st and 2nd book in the Hawkmoon Runestaff Saga). I mean damn can the man write some Sword n' Sorcery. Not as good as Fritz Lieber but still brilliant.
Read Lord of the Night, Prospero Burns, Horus Rising or Only in Death. Your mind will change.saintdane05 said:
Excellent - I quite liked how Counter made them seem fairly human for oversized, stupidly strong war machines, so I'm glad that Dembski-Bowden managed to do it aswell. Looks like thats another book going on the list. :Ssaintdane05 said:Do get it. I have not read Ben Counter Grey Knights Novels, but I can tell you that it is in the first person, the main character is overcoming arrogance, and is about the events surrounding the First Armageddon War.VonKlaw said:Both on-and-off topic, the last book I read was Hammer of Daemons by Ben Counter, also about 40K Grey Knights
If you've read it, how similar is it to The Emperor's Gift (since I'm looking at getting it)?
That's how ADB usually works. If you read his Night Lords stuff, though... well, how gratuitous do you like your violence?VonKlaw said:
Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. It is easily in my top 5 books of all time. I generally agree with the points each character made and would definitely consider Roark a true hero in literature.
Behind that I read Philip Reeves' Mortal Engines. My cousin recommended it to me and despite being targeted for younger audiences, the world is well constructed and explained. My only complaints would be the issues of describing things with modern terminology (which doesn't make sense in the story) and an inability to properly address why certain things/words remained in use, while others did not over the passing of time.
Behind that I read Philip Reeves' Mortal Engines. My cousin recommended it to me and despite being targeted for younger audiences, the world is well constructed and explained. My only complaints would be the issues of describing things with modern terminology (which doesn't make sense in the story) and an inability to properly address why certain things/words remained in use, while others did not over the passing of time.
Waitng for the Emperor's Gift to be in paperback, got Void Stalker on my floor, frankly its going to have to be pretty special to top Soul Hunter and Blood Reaver.saintdane05 said:
On topic, last one I read was The Dark Tower by Stephen King. Fantastic book and excellent end to the Dark Tower series, it's a rare book that I have to stop reading becuse I tear up, but this one did.
It is. It is very, very special. In a good way.Megalodon said:
Imagine, like, the Mass Effect 3 ending. Now imagine it without the lore rape, plot holes, and general stupidity. In other words, its nothing like Mass Effect 3.
*pretentious snort*
Well, I just finished reading through Othello.
What did I think of it?
It's Shakespeare. What else is there to say, other than Iago is awesome.
Well, I just finished reading through Othello.
What did I think of it?
It's Shakespeare. What else is there to say, other than Iago is awesome.
Red Dragon by Thomas Harris.
It was good and I have it as a two in one with Silence of the lambs so I'm currently reading that.
It was good and I have it as a two in one with Silence of the lambs so I'm currently reading that.
Finished reading Stalingrad by Antony Beevor last week. I'm into my military history quite a bit. I thought it was really good, if that's the right word to describe one of the bloodiest battles in human history. I bought his book about the battle of Berlin a few days ago too. Nobody spoil the ending for me, I've heard Hitler escaped on a giant unicorn but no mention of that yet.
"Rashomon and 17 Other Stories" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and translated by Jay Rubin. Part of my project to read all the works of Japanese literature featured in the anime series "Aoi Bungaku", which adapted "the Spider's Thread" and "Hell Screen" from this collection. Akira Kurosawa's film "Rashomon" was loosely based on Akutagawa's short story by the same name as well as "In a Bamboo Grove." So far I've read "Kokoro" by Natsume Soseki and "No Longer Human" by Osamu Dazai as well.
Japanese classical literature is often depressing, kind of like reading Poe or the darker works of Mark Twain.
Japanese classical literature is often depressing, kind of like reading Poe or the darker works of Mark Twain.
Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King. As a long-time Dark Tower fan, i really enjoyed it. It fitted in nicely and took me back to the awesome atmosphere of the Dark Tower series. It also fleshed out a couple of things about the characters and added a bit more in terms of setting prior to the events of The Gunslinger (the first book in the series) Thoroughly pleased with King's work as always.