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It was a comic before it was a graphic novel but ok.. I thought maybe you were going to tell me there was a non-graphic novel about.
 
Beerfish said:
It was a comic before it was a graphic novel but ok.. I thought maybe you were going to tell me there was a non-graphic novel about.
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I've only ever heard of the Graphic Novel actually.

Started reading Fiona McIntosh's Odalisque, good author
 
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Also can't wait for the new Dark Tower novel, The Wind Through The Keyhole.

April 24 I think.
 
The new one sits between books 4 and 5 and fills in a gap.

I'm hopeful the series will eventually make it to HBO.. in my lifetime.
 
Also.. King is apparently writing a sequel to The Shining to be published next year sometime.

Hmm..
 
Yeah definitely. Strontium Dog, Slaine, Robohunter, D.R. & Quinch, ABC Warriors, Rogue Trooper.. the list goes on. :D:thumbsu:
 
So.. read the first Jack Reacher novel in less than 24 hours.. uh.. yesterday.

It's the second one I've read and it ended in similar circumstances (couldn't put it down that is).

I can't help but get a Mills & Boon for guys vibe..
 

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Beerfish said:
I can't help but get a Mills & Boon for guys vibe..
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Couldn't agree more. Finished the third one and don't think I'll read anymore. It's just the same story with different settings/character names.

I just finished reading Jerry Scheff's autobiography. Man he's played with an interesting spread of bands/people. Had no idea his son replaced Peter Cetera in Chicago.

Way_Down_Jerry_scheff.jpg
 
My 2 cents;

- Non fiction; Passion of the western mind. Awesome awesome book. Hard to describe, but just has to be read.

- Fantasy; Robin Hob and George Martin. No point reading anything else until those two authors have been exhausted...

- Science fiction; I don't read a lot of it, but have read the classics (Asimov etc). The Red Mars (kim s robinson) series stuck with me.

- Random others; Shantarum (makes you feel like you've been a drug runner in India without the risk factor). Captain Corelli's mandolin (flawless book).

- Always worth reading some Dickens or George Elliot. Takes you outside time...
 
Martin's overrated. Hobb is good but a few series are a bit contrived (Tawny Man trilogy was set up so Fitz could get back with whats-her-name and wasn't necessary) and can also get a bit repetitive. The assaissins trilogy were her best books.

McIntosh, Feist, Eddings are all comfortably better
 
eth-dog said:
Martin's overrated. Hobb is good but a few series are a bit contrived (Tawny Man trilogy was set up so Fitz could get back with whats-her-name and wasn't necessary) and can also get a bit repetitive. The assaissins trilogy were her best books.

McIntosh, Feist, Eddings are all comfortably better
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Serious?!
What was that Eddings book, The sapphire knight or something? Utterly unreadable even at the age of 17 when i would read almost anything. The Belgarion series was good if you could overlook zero character development.
The Magician series was fantastic especially considering it was reasonably ground breaking at the time. But in a direct comparison it cannot match the sophistication of Martins story telling. I actually think The Daughter of the Empire series was almost as good as Feist did, but he clearly needed the assistance of Wurts to make such a well rounded story.
I've got a lot of nostalgia for those guys, and plenty of others, but Martin and Hobb took it to another level.
 
hurlygurdy said:
Serious?!
What was that Eddings book, The sapphire knight or something? Utterly unreadable even at the age of 17 when i would read almost anything. The Belgarion series was good if you could overlook zero character development.
The Magician series was fantastic especially considering it was reasonably ground breaking at the time. But in a direct comparison it cannot match the sophistication of Martins story telling. I actually think The Daughter of the Empire series was almost as good as Feist did, but he clearly needed the assistance of Wurts to make such a well rounded story.
I've got a lot of nostalgia for those guys, and plenty of others, but Martin and Hobb took it to another level.
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Belgariad really only developed Garion well I agree, and then Silk and Eriond in the Mallorean. Sapphire Knight I loved, but nothing can compare to the wholeness of the Belgariad-Mallorean-Belgarath the Sorcerer-Polgara the Sorceress chronicals for me. If you re-read them (BtS-PtS-Belgariad-Mallorean) it truly covers all the bases of fantasy writing. That's what I love about them.

Feist is the best writer of this genre. He just writes so purely. Martin, while I agree that he's a good writer, just kills off all the half-decent people. Feist just has the writing ability combined with the ideas that just make it... work.

Hobb did well in dividing the magiks and she's expanded on it, but all her series seem to be the same (Soldier son went exactly the same way as the assaisins, Tawny Man did differ enough but Live Ship isn't as strong). One thing is clear though, I've read a few modern fantasy books and the old type fantasy is dying. It's quite sad, really
 
eth-dog said:
Belgariad really only developed Garion well I agree, and then Silk and Eriond in the Mallorean. Sapphire Knight I loved, but nothing can compare to the wholeness of the Belgariad-Mallorean-Belgarath the Sorcerer-Polgara the Sorceress chronicals for me. If you re-read them (BtS-PtS-Belgariad-Mallorean) it truly covers all the bases of fantasy writing. That's what I love about them.

Feist is the best writer of this genre. He just writes so purely. Martin, while I agree that he's a good writer, just kills off all the half-decent people. Feist just has the writing ability combined with the ideas that just make it... work.

Hobb did well in dividing the magiks and she's expanded on it, but all her series seem to be the same (Soldier son went exactly the same way as the assaisins, Tawny Man did differ enough but Live Ship isn't as strong). One thing is clear though, I've read a few modern fantasy books and the old type fantasy is dying. It's quite sad, really
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Well this has been educational... I really would not have thought anyone would see things that way. To me, Eddings was endlessly repetitive in all his character interactions which was fine if you were a kid like i was, but not as an adult. A bit similar in that way to Robert Jordan, which i only could read through sheer bloody-mindedness after book 6. Feist seemed drained of ideas after his initial 6 books (half co-written) . Prince of the blood and those stand alone books set in Midkemia were really weak and struck me as a grab for cash.
Hobb on the other hand wrote a variety of series that were really astoundingly different. Assassin series was nothing like Ship of Magic series which was nothing like the Soldier series etc.
So there you go, we think completely differently ;)
 
eth-dog said:
Belgariad really only developed Garion well I agree, and then Silk and Eriond in the Mallorean. Sapphire Knight I loved, but nothing can compare to the wholeness of the Belgariad-Mallorean-Belgarath the Sorcerer-Polgara the Sorceress chronicals for me. If you re-read them (BtS-PtS-Belgariad-Mallorean) it truly covers all the bases of fantasy writing. That's what I love about them.

Feist is the best writer of this genre. He just writes so purely. Martin, while I agree that he's a good writer, just kills off all the half-decent people. Feist just has the writing ability combined with the ideas that just make it... work.

Hobb did well in dividing the magiks and she's expanded on it, but all her series seem to be the same (Soldier son went exactly the same way as the assaisins, Tawny Man did differ enough but Live Ship isn't as strong). One thing is clear though, I've read a few modern fantasy books and the old type fantasy is dying. It's quite sad, really
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A left field favorite of mine was Riddle master of Hed. There was a trilogy that was really unique.
 
SherbertLemon said:
worst call.

so so over rated.

It's good.

But it ain't that good. Quality of the books went to s**t after the 5th.

A Song of Ice and Fire takes a hot steamy dump all over it.
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Yeah, nah. Books 6 and 7 were the best, book 4 was by far the worst. This definitely belongs here.
 
eth-dog said:
Yeah, nah. Books 6 and 7 were the best, book 4 was by far the worst. This definitely belongs here.
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Have to disagree here. IMO most people who really loved Harry Potter were either a) young, or b) never read good fantasy before. I would take Orson Scott Card, Robert Jordan, Raymond E. Feist, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Scott Lynch, even Anne McCaffrey over any Harry Potter book any day. And I haven't even considered sci fi. Is this post tongue in cheek?
 
Max Headroom said:
Have to disagree here. IMO most people who really loved Harry Potter were either a) young, or b) never read good fantasy before. I would take Orson Scott Card, Robert Jordan, Raymond E. Feist, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Scott Lynch, even Anne McCaffrey over any Harry Potter book any day. And I haven't even considered sci fi. Is this post tongue in cheek?
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I consider myself a fantasy nerd. And Harry Potter is different to the authors you mentioned, it's not archaic and based in ancient times, there's no great big adventure over a massive continent. It took fantasy and put a modernised touch on it, changed it. It's an unfair comparison, just like nobody would compare Star Wars to The Imitation Game, both are fantastic in their own right but they're different. In any case, how is Douglas Adams not Sci Fi? Harry Potter got Generation Y back into books. I don't know of a single person between the ages of 20 and 30 that hasn't read them, including people who haven't picked up a fiction book outside of them and the ones that were on the school list.

Harry Potter cannot be overrated. That series had the single biggest impact in terms of getting kids reading again that it's worth cannot be understated.
 
eth-dog said:
I consider myself a fantasy nerd. And Harry Potter is different to the authors you mentioned, it's not archaic and based in ancient times, there's no great big adventure over a massive continent. It took fantasy and put a modernised touch on it, changed it. It's an unfair comparison, just like nobody would compare Star Wars to The Imitation Game, both are fantastic in their own right but they're different. In any case, how is Douglas Adams not Sci Fi? Harry Potter got Generation Y back into books. I don't know of a single person between the ages of 20 and 30 that hasn't read them, including people who haven't picked up a fiction book outside of them and the ones that were on the school list.

Harry Potter cannot be overrated. That series had the single biggest impact in terms of getting kids reading again that it's worth cannot be understated.
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Just because it had a great impact doesn't make it a great fantasy novel. Now, I've never read it nor seen the movies so I can't comment on whether it's good or not but you're arguing a different point. Twilight sold over a hundred million books, it doesn't make it good.
 
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