Griffinmoon wrote:

Got 2 books from the library sale. Deadhouse Gates/Steven Erikson. One of a--so far--10 book series. Very complicated landing in the middle of a world. The other one is Dragonhaven/Robin McKinle. Took that one because of her "Sunshine" book.

Starrting Malazan is brave enough, starting with volume 2?  I read 1-3 and at times had a hard time understanding what was going on.

Sadly, I must confess that I'm just not up to picking up new books.  I'm not sure I'm even interested in the next "Alliance" book from CJC.  I can't explain why, I don't understand it myself.  Maybe it's like an old comfortable pair of shoes or a coat, it's a feeling of self-security.  My favorite writers, with a few exceptions, have crossed the blue-event horizon to other universes.  Of the remainder, their directions aren't going in the same path that I'm wanting to go.  So, I've been reading old stuff, but even that is starting to pall.  Must be old age creeping in......

I didn't get very far recently with the Emily Tesh Hugo Award novel. It kicked me out hard very early on and I haven't been able to work out exactly why, though I do have my suspicions.

.I've drifted back to a mixture of crime novels in the sub-genres of nordic and tartan noir leavened with literary fiction to keep me going until the new Ian MacDonald and CJC books turn up in the next several weeks or whenever.

I'm also working slowly in parallel on a separate track of loosely related non-fiction works,

And yes, I know I still owe you the promised explanation or description of exactly why that Robert Barry book managed to king-hit me as hard as it did a couple months back but tbh I'm still struggling to articulate that to myself let alone explain it to anyone else.  But I will say this - it's definitely related to my reaction to MacDonald's Hopeland.


 

Surtac wrote:

I didn't get very far recently with the Emily Tesh Hugo Award novel. It kicked me out hard very early on and I haven't been able to work out exactly why, though I do have my suspicions.

.I've drifted back to a mixture of crime novels in the sub-genres of nordic and tartan noir leavened with literary fiction to keep me going until the new Ian MacDonald and CJC books turn up in the next several weeks or whenever.

I'm also working slowly in parallel on a separate track of loosely related non-fiction works,

And yes, I know I still owe you the promised explanation or description of exactly why that Robert Barry book managed to king-hit me as hard as it did a couple months back but tbh I'm still struggling to articulate that to myself let alone explain it to anyone else.  But I will say this - it's definitely related to my reaction to MacDonald's Hopeland.


 

Sorry you didn't take to the Tesh book, I thought it was outstanding in a lot of ways.  It's not unusual for me to bounce off a book that I later go on to read and enjoy. For rme the previous book(s) and my mood can really impact whatever I read next. 

I recently finished the Tad Williams 'Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" (massive) trilogy. Very euro/Tolkien fantasy. The books were easy reads but probably way too long (although that contributed to the "feel" and pacing).

Now working on Guy Gavriel Kay's "Fionivar Tapestry", another (not quite as massive) eurro/JRRT style fantasy, with some sex thrown in for variety (non explicit).  The main characters are all 20-somethings, so fair enough, that's how brains and hormones work at that age.  I nearly stopped, early on, when it was revealed to be set in a multiverse, with Fionivar as the main/primary world. Cough, Amber, cough. At any rate I took it as an homage not a rip off and plowed on. Turns out to not be a key to the storyline, at least not yet. In book 2, we encounter .... King Arthur. Sigh. My immediate reaction was, yeah no, but I stuck with it. Turns out one of the main characters is Guinevere. Of course. And now we've found Lancelot to compete the threesome. Character Arthur's reaction to this: "Oh hell. Well, come on I suppose".  I eagerly await book 3 and the arrival of Harry Dresden and/or Bigfoot. 

Amidst all that modern stuff, I read the first 3 Elric books. Utterly different in storyline, as the novels/novellas/short stories are loosely connected. Formitive to the fantasy field, in particlar the anti-hero genre. Must reads (at least some if not all) along with Fritz Lieber's Fafred/Gray Mouser books. 

I'm really going to have to read some hard SF next. 

Kroyd wrote:

I found the Tapestry work to be ok as it was some of his earliest work.  His later stuff is quite good. The Sarantium books are some of my favorites, and he continues to develop a lyrical/poetic style. I keep his stuff in the same bookcase as my Moorcock collection (developed since the late 70s.)  Currently working thru some Neil Gaiman, started with Good Omens, then American Gods, Anansi Boys, and just finished Neverwhere.  Up next? Alliance Unbound and then Wind and Truth, which is the 5th book of the Stormlight Archives by Sanderson.

I've never read any Sanderson. What's his best work ?