Which book are you reading currently? #4

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Book 3 of the Wheel of Time (again).
Shoot me. Please.

 

Currently trying to tackle Gardens of the Moon again and I am teetering between getting into it and getting bored of it, need to read it more.
I've just started Fool's Errand as well. Before anyone jumps on me; it's because it's the first Hobb book I found for cheap on eBay, alright?!

 

Possible. Or he's going for versimilitude; that sort of stuff happens, unpleasant though it is.

 

Oh, I'm sure it does. But it doesn't have to happen in a fantasy novel. There are a lot of things that go on in this world that I really don't want to hear about. Why have it included in my fictional reading?

The book is riddled with it: pogroms, torture, mass executon. If I wanted to read about that I would sit down and read accounts of Nazi Germany's concentration camps. Not something I would pick up and enjoy reading on a rainy day.

 

A perfectly understandable sentiment. What you're learning, I think, is that Erikson shouldn't be read to escape from the horrors of the world. To be frank, though not, I hope, insulting, I'm surprised you didn't realize that during the first book of the series.

 

It wasn't as blatant in the first one. It fit into the bill of the book and did not seem overly excessive (if torture and death can be called not excessive). There was enough interesting sub plots and entertaining characters to divert from the morbidity in Gardens of the Moon. There was a story.

Deadhouse Gates seems to spend it's time trying to turn us off. The prison survival, the bloodflies, and all the previously mentioned acts. It seems like he went out of his way to make us squirm and to realize the horrors of his world. We know what happens, Mr. Erikson. Chances are if we are reading your books, we are intelligent enough to know what happens in war. No need to beat us over the head with it.

The purpose of a fictional book is to entertain, especially in a fictional world. If he is writing to make his world more realistic, he did not need to tread this path. It seems very morbid indeed to describe such acts of evil. Hey, I am not one for babying the reader when it comes to realism but am I the only one who found it excessive? I know Steven Erikson is a very detail oriented person, which works to his favour most of the time but not in this case. Discretion please.

The same kind of thing with The Passion of the Christ. Why the hell would I sit down and spend two hours of my life watching a man getting tortured to death? I cannot imagine what he went through but no need to slam it in my face. Is it morbid fascination for some people? It does nothing for me.

 

I'm reading some fairy tale book written in 1969 which I pivked up at that bookfest. The author wasn't afraid to make it blatent Christian/conservative propaganda...

 

After a somewhat lengthy (for me at least) time off from reading due to my being on a week long course I have only just got around to finishing reading Faded Steel Heat. It was quite a lot better than the previous book in the series, which was just plain bad, but not quite up to some of the earlier books in the series. Still, if I happen upon the next book for a cheap price I may give it a chance.

I have started on Storm Front by Jim Butcher. So far it has been o.k. but nothing really special. It reads like a second rate knock-off of Laurell Hamilton's earlier Anita Blake novels. That still makes Storm Front much better than Hamilton's last several books though.

 

I bought an AWESOME book today. It's a sort of anniversary edition of all the Conan stories from back in the day! A lovely leather bound volume that wouldn't look out of place on a shelf in Faerun, it's full of great sketches that accompany the tales of everyone's favourite homoerotic barbarian.

 

I'm currently reading The Halfling's Gem, looking forward to moving on to The Legacy soon!

 

I finished Storm Front, my intitial impression was pretty much dead on - o.k. but nothing special. I am starting on book 2, Fool Moon.

 

I just finished Avatar Trilogy's second book. It was better than I expected. Can't wait to get the third and final book! It is so exciting!

BTW I didn't know Elminster was such a...well...

Anyway, I really expect a lot for the third book. Though I already know the basic consequences of the trilogy...

I really look forward for Bhaal's demise. Playing as a Bhaalspawn was so much fun in BG series that I like Bhaal somewhat. Poor Bhaal. A shame what is going to happen to him.

 

@Silverstar

I agree, I enjoyed the Avatar trilogy as well, but (and this isn't a spoiler because it's a "given" like the Bhaal thing) the way they handled Cyric's transition is one of the worst things I've ever read

 

Ah, I've just passed through The Gardens Of The Moon (Black Company, hello!?) and going to start with the Deathhouse Gates now. All this agitation makes me curious. And Sorry is such a fine romantic character. A true heroine!

 

The fourth book of the "Paths of Darkness" -serie. For some reason Salvatore has a habit to make poor endings. In the first one it was obvious that he just couldn't pity to kill off Drizz and thus ended up being not only forced, but predictable. In the second one Wulfgar's lament was pretty interesting, but you could already see that Salvatore is intent on returning him back to the group and like nothing had happened. Don't agree with Drizz x Catti romance either... Lastly,in the third book he just blatantly turned Artemis Entreri into a good guy when he saved that *itch enemy of his for no other reason than her being a woman. Pfeh.

 

I finished Fool Moon, it was decent but not great.

SPOILER: I kept everytime the main character came across another bunch of werewolves. Near the beginning we had a nice little explanation about the "four different types of werewolves" and sure enough we had to have a group of each type show up at some point. Come on, what are the odds of the main character having never run into a werewolf before and then withing 48 hours running into four seperate groups with each group being a seperate type of werewolf?

I have started on Grave Peril (book 3). So far it has been better than the first two books in the series.

 

The Private Life of the Cat Who... by Lillian Jackson Braun.

One that looked interesting at Chapters was The Diary of Dr. Victor Frankenstein.

 

Just finished Peter David's Knight Lite, and it's easily one of the five most entertaining (not "best") fantasy books I've read. Very, very funny.

 

Just finished Prince of Fire, Silva's streak is still up and he hasn't disappointed me yet.

Now for the Name of the Rose. Really!

 

Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn...So ready for a change of scenery from Hobb, Martin, Goodkind, and Jordan...They are all great authors(or started out as) But you can only read their works so many times before it gets old.