July's Jubilant Joust At New Books

[Hilarious Joke]

Well I'm obviously a massive Hobbs fan, but I would definitely recommend Shaman's Crossing. It's a really good novel in its own right. I really liked Forest Mage as the betweener of the trilogy, but was somewhat disappointed by Renegade's Magic.

[Culhwch]

Doesn't sound promising, but I might give Shaman's Crossing a look-in if I see it at the library...

[Hilarious Joke]

I have two copies, and I'd send one to you, but I'm still fuming about Queensland winning.

[Culhwch]

Fair enough. I'm sure my library has more than enough copies that I'll see one sooner or later. They tend to stock up on the big names to the detriment of the smaller ones.

[Serin]

I am currently reading A Portrait Of Jennie by Robert Nathan, which incidently is where the 1948 b/w ghost film of the same name came from.

[AE35Unit]

Originally Posted by Hilarious Joke

I have two copies, and I'd send one to you, but I'm still fuming about Queensland winning.

Oh how the mighty are divided by something as simple as sport...

[Ursa major]

I've just finished Neuromancer by William Gibson.

Let me state that I don't particularly seek out books where the main character is a drugged up loser on his uppers, moving from deal to deal with the expectation that each day may be his last. However, I did like this book. To some extent, it shows its age (I've been reading a lot of Alastair Reynolds recently), but I can see why it's seen as such an important book. There is a good balance between the world building (you're told what you need to know), story, character and concept and its pace is such that this reader did not dwell on any inconsistencies.

Now that I know that there are two sequels, I shall seek them out.

[The Procrastinator]

Eeek, I'm another who hasn't gotten around to Robin Hobbs yet...

I just finished the Bitterbynde Trilogy by Cecilia Dart-Thornton, new for me, and may I say it was delightful to read. A little draggy-on occasionally with all the travelling, but the author's language skills more than made up for that - some of those sentences would have been worth wading through slime for, let alone putting up with a little bit of draggy-on now and then. Great plot, too. I think my favourite of the trilogy was the first book, The Ill-Made Mute, which I bought purely on the strength of the title. I was not disappointed, and the Mute is a great character, too. But I won't be sure until I reread, and I was impressed enough with the trilogy to know I will reread it someday.

Also finished another reread of the Silmarillion (inspired by last months read of Children of Hurin) by Tolkien. And now that I've gotten onto another Tolkien kick, I couldn't help myself, I have started reading the Hobbit again, and we all know where it will lead once I finish that...By the by I always forget how funny the Hobbit is...

[Hilarious Joke]

Ha ha ha, Culwhch I'm not that mean. Actually one of the copies is my friend's, I don't know how I ended up with it but he's probably looking for it...RIGHT NOW. So I can't send it to you, but you should still read it!

Procrastinator, get into Hobb!! I love Cecilia Dart-Thornton, she's one of my top three fantasy writers, along with Robin Hobb and George R R Martin. I adored the Bitterbynde trilogy a lot more than her latest quartet (the Crowthistle Chronicles), but having said that The Iron Tree, the first book in that quartet, is one of my favourite books ever. If you found the Bitterbynde draggy, you might find this worse - a lot of it is set in the same place, but for me I couldn't get over how good it was, I totally immersed myself in the stunning description and the pure joy within.

And though not as good, the others in the quartet are worth reading as well.

[Ice fyre]

I would sugest that reading the Liveships for Hobb after the Assasins series then the trilogy known as the "Tawny Man" or the fool books as someone described them.

I read Neromancer a while ago and it while the technology has changed remains a good book with an interesting plot line. A kind of noirish feel to it.

I read the first book in the ill made mute and was looking forward to the second but got a bit bored with it towards the end.

[Nikitta]

*stands up*
My name is Nikitta and I have also never read anything by Robin Hobb
*sits down*

I'm now done reading Glasshouse, which I found very disturbing for more than one reason. It also didn't help that I was moving at the same time, but it was still a good read.

Now getting settled in a having my books back on a bookshelf, I've started in on Ash, a Secret History again and see if I can concentrate on the story better this time.

[Ice fyre]

Poor Poor nikita!

Whats glasshouse about?

[Rosemary]

Originally Posted by The Procrastinator

Eeek, I'm another who hasn't gotten around to Robin Hobbs yet...

I just finished the Bitterbynde Trilogy by Cecilia Dart-Thornton, new for me, and may I say it was delightful to read. A little draggy-on occasionally with all the travelling, but the author's language skills more than made up for that - some of those sentences would have been worth wading through slime for, let alone putting up with a little bit of draggy-on now and then. Great plot, too. I think my favourite of the trilogy was the first book, The Ill-Made Mute, which I bought purely on the strength of the title. I was not disappointed, and the Mute is a great character, too. But I won't be sure until I reread, and I was impressed enough with the trilogy to know I will reread it someday.

Bitterbynde Trilogy is one of my favourites, glad to hear you enjoyed it as well. Cecilia Dart-Thornton has a writing style all of her own.

I tried really hard not to but my feet took me into the bookshop! I came out with the latest by Sara Douglass - The Twisted Citadel

[Orion]

So, now you guys got me interested in the other robin hobb books. Question though.

Is the Liveship Traders Trilogy and The Tawney Man Trilogy, even tho connected in some ways, stand alone? Thing is, I'm not too into the whole ship-life thing but am really interested in more stuff with Fitz so just wondering.

[Lenny]

Liveship can be read alone, but the Tawny Man shouldn't really be read without having read the Farseer Trilogy.

I wasn't into the Liveship idea when I first got the books but when I got into them, all that changed. It's a brilliant trilogy.