| Anyone read any good novels? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: 20th February 2007 - 08:42 PM (1,543 Views) | |
| Azhtabak | 17th May 2007 - 02:22 PM Post #46 |
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Packlord Azhtabak
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Yep, tawny man series. I wouldn't call it simplistic, personally - just that little of it is used. You can have small areas with loads of detail, or larger areas that are only briefly mentioned - in a shameless advertisement, I'll point to my own book as an example, which contains a well-developed city as the main setting, as well as a world, which, while also fleshed-out, isn't used much. |
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| Lt Merthak | 17th May 2007 - 03:10 PM Post #47 |
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Rat of many titles
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Attention: If you're into Georgian-era naval stuff, get something by Alexander Kent, NOW. Unless you're French, because they have a lot of exploding Frenchmen... Come on, it's Georgian naval warfare! Can't have that without foreigners blowing up! No, that's a despicable thing to say. Sheep are far more fun to blow up. *Dynamite is placed in pastures across Britain* Baaa-aaaa FRAKA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!! Fraka-boom is my favourite onomatopaeic effect. Ever. First read in a Spider-Man comic where that exploding guy who works for Kingpin... Ignition or whatever his name is... blew up lots of crime lords. Even Hammerhead! |
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| Llamarama | 17th May 2007 - 03:21 PM Post #48 |
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Retired CoXIII
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Try out the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust. Link to it on Amazon...only 10 bucks (US) for 3 books. I won't get into the plot much but I'll just say it's about a wise-cracking assassin for a mob (in a fantasy world where sorcery essentially rules). It's a very personal look at that vocation. The series is known mainly for just having fun and a good sense of humor. Check out the amazon reviews if you're more interested. No one I've met has ever heard of him or these books until I force them to read the books but they all get hooked after that. ![]() I actually had the privilege to meet Brust randomly at the Minnesota Renaissance Fair; he seems like a cool guy. Actually some of you might have read his wife's books, he's married to Emma Bull. The series is getting pretty long now. The three books in that trilogy I linked are his earliest books (he didn't write them entirely in chronological order though). His later books are hit or miss; I love Vlad but I hated Teckla, Athyra, and Orca. Issola was awesome though. Enough digression, check it out. ![]() |
...And all this time I thought there was only one way to "retire" from the Council! What you call "retire", I call a "stay of execution"..whats in a word? DM Mik!![]() Please make an effort to read the stickies before posting. Use the 'mutate' button in the upper right of your post instead of posting another in succession. Forum rules, etiquette, and trade policy | |
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| Demagorgon | 17th May 2007 - 03:37 PM Post #49 |
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Demaaaaargh
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Not exactly High Literature, but the Necromunda books by Will McDermott are significantly better than the rest of the range. In my opinion he's one of the best writers working for the Black Library. Lasgun Wedding is my favourite so far. Also, seconding Life of Pi. Or possibly fourthing, I haven't been keeping count. @Warlord Bloodfang. I remember Goosebumps! I had the lot. I sold them all at a car boot sale for 50p each years and years ago. They weren't exactly heartattack-inducing, especially once they ran out of ideas and started having things like possessed bath sponges, but the one with the scarecrows creeped me out for ages. Bloody scare-crows |
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| Skaskrit Venomclaw | 17th May 2007 - 03:37 PM Post #50 |
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Ex-Councilrat
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Are the books self-contained, or is this one of those interminable stories that stretch on for decade after decade with no end in sight? (you know whom I mean...) I've heard good things about this series, but would like to know that before checking it out. Anyway, I've just finished the Joe Abercrombie's second book, "Before they are hanged." Which, besides having a cool title, is the sequel to "the blade itself", his fantasy series. The story is pretty ordinary for fantasy. There's a quest, there's an invasion of Orcs by another name and some religious fanatics in the south led by an evil priest. Except... it's not your average farmboy fantasy. This is written by a cynical modern mind and is thoroughly unheroic. The protagonists are an incredibly arrogant and selfish young duelist, a barbarian who has more or less given up on life and now just waits and sees where the fates take him, since the last time he tried to fix things he ended up helping a tyrant grab power over his home country, and a war-hero turned amoral crippled torturer after being captured and tortured himself for two years. Add in some definite doubts about whether the seemingly simplistic good versus evil story is anything more than a propaganda stunt, and it's quite interesting. Plus, it's funny at times. Highly recommended if you're looking for new fantasy authors and know all the other big names. (even if it's not quite as good as Martin, or Cornwell's warlord chronicles.) |
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"I have a post-Armageddon vision. We and all other large animals are gone. Rodents emerge as the ultimate post-human scavengers. They gnaw their way through New York, London and Tokyo... within 5 million years, a whole range of new species replace the ones we know. Herds of giant grazing rats are stalked by sabre-toothed predatory rats. Given enough time, will a species of intelligent, cultivated rats emerge?" Richard Dawkins, The Ancestor's Tale | |
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| Frankensqueek | 17th May 2007 - 03:40 PM Post #51 |
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Doomwheel Driver
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The exploits of Mr Richard Sharpe and Mr Nathanial Starbuck are sure winners in my book. James |
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| Llamarama | 17th May 2007 - 04:59 PM Post #52 |
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Retired CoXIII
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Not sure who you are referring to here but if it's me it depends on which Brust books you're talking about. He has two main portions of his world: the Vlad Taltos tales and then a big lump of books that is pretty much just backstory for the Vlad tales. Vlad himself is an "Easterner" (human) so his lifecycle is short as a normal humans would be. Thus, his tales are very compact timewise. Jhereg (the first book) pretty much describes his intital involvement with the House of Jhereg. The following books in his series just chronicle his life in the criminal underworld; I'm not sure exactly how long they are meant to last timewise but most of the books take place pretty much one right after the other. Many of the other characters are Dragaerans (in fact, nearly all of them); the Dragaerans live for thousands of years (and are much larger, 7-8' and stronger). This means that the books not dealing with Vlad are more historical setpieces for the characters in the Vlad stories. But to answer your question more directly, all of the main books are pretty much all in the same 5-10 years (just a guess) with essentially no breaks in between. It all takes place during Vlad's prime years. The stories themselves usually take place over the course of a couple days, a month at the most. In chronological: Taltos, Yendi, Dragon, Jhereg, Teckla, Phoenix, Athyra, Orca, Issola, Dzur I do, however, highly recommend reading Jhereg first. It gives the best introduction to Vlad and it's a good story as well. Other backstory ones not in the same time period: The Phoenix Guards, Five Hundred Years After, The Paths of the Dead, The Lord of Castle Black, and Sethra Lavode. If you do end up checking them out I'd be interested to hear what you thought of them. ![]() |
...And all this time I thought there was only one way to "retire" from the Council! What you call "retire", I call a "stay of execution"..whats in a word? DM Mik!![]() Please make an effort to read the stickies before posting. Use the 'mutate' button in the upper right of your post instead of posting another in succession. Forum rules, etiquette, and trade policy | |
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| Skaskrit Venomclaw | 17th May 2007 - 06:41 PM Post #53 |
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Ex-Councilrat
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Yeah, I was talking about Brust. Didn't notice Demagorgon posting 3 seconds before me. Thanks for the info, but I was actually referring to our time. I.E. has the author been writing these books for decades with still no end in sight, and are the books self-contained stories, or simply parts of a larger tale stretching out over the entire series? Your answer seems to indicate the former, they're seperate stories. Which is better. I'll see if they're available around here... preferably in the library or second-hand. |
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"I have a post-Armageddon vision. We and all other large animals are gone. Rodents emerge as the ultimate post-human scavengers. They gnaw their way through New York, London and Tokyo... within 5 million years, a whole range of new species replace the ones we know. Herds of giant grazing rats are stalked by sabre-toothed predatory rats. Given enough time, will a species of intelligent, cultivated rats emerge?" Richard Dawkins, The Ancestor's Tale | |
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| Bodacious | 17th May 2007 - 06:59 PM Post #54 |
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Doomwheel Fanatic
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The books I've been reading lately: "The Children of Húrin" by J.R.R. Tolkien "Magic: the Gathering, Time Spiral" by Scott McGough "Magic: the Gathering, Planar Chaos" by Scott McGough I'm hoping to get me some money to buy the future sight novel as well. I love magic novels . Children of Húrin was a great read as well, it really fleshes out the stuff you read in the silmarillion and can even be read as an independant story.Cheers, Bodacious. |
My Blog - My Army Diary - Twitter: @DaanofWar - Steam: DaanofWar
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| Llamarama | 17th May 2007 - 07:09 PM Post #55 |
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Retired CoXIII
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Oh, sorry. Yeah, I misinterpreted your question. He churns out books a pretty good clip but he's been focusing mainly on the backstories of late (which I don't find as interesting). Generally a book every year or so. [/color]
Most of them can be read in any order. I would just strongly recommend Jhereg first. I would also say there are two "phases" of his work. First phase can be read in basically any order: Jhereg, Yendi, Taltos, Dragon, and Teckla. I didn't like Teckla that much to be honest. Any of the stuff in South And. or with Cawti I generally found tedious. Dragon just seemed out of place from the rest of the series in my opinion. Second phase: Phoenix, Athyra, Orca, Issola, Dzur. The end of Phoenix kinda changes the series quite a bit so I would really advise reading phase two (in order) after you finish the first 4. I pretty much hated Athyra and Orca and if I were less of a fan I would almost say to just read a summary of them online and skip reading them. He has stated repeatedly, however that the rest of the books (19 total planned) will not necessarily go in order. For example, if you look at that list Dragon was pretty early in Vlad's career but it was just released in 1998. His last two however (Issola and Dzur) are the farthest we've seen in Vlad's life. I thought Issola was great but Dzur wasn't (more Cawti/South stuff). I would say it won't be much longer before he wraps up the "main story" with bookends then just fills in the middle with more stories. Who knows though. ![]() Let's put it this way....if he died tomorrow I would be quite sad but I wouldn't feel like I wasted my time with the series (*cough*Wheel of Time*cough*). Reincarnation is a major theme throughout, so the end is never really the end anyway. You can imagine whatever you want as the ultimate end to it all.(A sad note: I was actually discussing the WoT series a couple months ago with a friend and we joked that he might die before he finishes it. I went online and it turns out that Robert was diagnosed with primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy in January of 2006. Average life expectancy is 4 years. Luckily he has gotten a little better since then and I hope he can somehow make a full recovery. :() |
...And all this time I thought there was only one way to "retire" from the Council! What you call "retire", I call a "stay of execution"..whats in a word? DM Mik!![]() Please make an effort to read the stickies before posting. Use the 'mutate' button in the upper right of your post instead of posting another in succession. Forum rules, etiquette, and trade policy | |
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| Thraskittar | 17th May 2007 - 07:53 PM Post #56 |
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Shatterskar
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The Crusader by Michael Alexander Eisner. Yay for historical fiction.
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W/L/D - Army 13/10/5 - Skaven 0/0/0 - Tzeentch DL ![]()
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| Skaskrit Venomclaw | 17th May 2007 - 10:17 PM Post #57 |
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Ex-Councilrat
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Is that the one with the monk taking the confession of his former friend? Or am I mixing things up here? I think that's the one. It's a bit faded from my mind, but I do recall it was rather good. I liked how the narrator's hypocrisy showed in his narration without him being aware of it. |
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"I have a post-Armageddon vision. We and all other large animals are gone. Rodents emerge as the ultimate post-human scavengers. They gnaw their way through New York, London and Tokyo... within 5 million years, a whole range of new species replace the ones we know. Herds of giant grazing rats are stalked by sabre-toothed predatory rats. Given enough time, will a species of intelligent, cultivated rats emerge?" Richard Dawkins, The Ancestor's Tale | |
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| discostu3 | 17th May 2007 - 10:37 PM Post #58 |
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Stormvermin
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What are peoples opinions on the gotrek and felix series? (How many of them are there now? ). Ive never got round to reading them, but curiosity will soon get the better of me.... I will have lots of time to fill en route to the USA soon.Are there any other books with good skaven fluff in them that anyone can recommend. I've recently been reading a lot of the fluff members have been writing, and I like what I've seen, so much so that I want more! I was really impressed by sneaky rodents story in his sig - you should be an author - if you arent already The sharpe series was good until I saw the movies, which didnt seem as epic as I imagined! (Why do a lot of films do that to books? <_< ) |
| So I'm attacking your slaves with 5 chosen knights **throws dices** and horses **throws more dices** ok you are at -9 to Ld there is no way ...** a dice throw** .... F@@k ! | |
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| Bodacious | 17th May 2007 - 10:52 PM Post #59 |
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Doomwheel Fanatic
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On the Gotrek and Felix series I've read Trollslayer, Skavenslayer and Deamonslayer (books 1, 2 and 3 if I recall correctly). Skavenslayer was the most skaven-intensive offcourse and is IMO a great source of skaven background and psyche. The gotrek and felix novels were all great fun though and I've always wanted to read beastslayer (the 4th book) sometime, but I haven't found a store that stocked it yet .Official Skaven background material are black libraries 'The Loathsome Ratmen and All Their Vile Kin' and 'Vermintide' of which I have only read the first and highly reccomend it. I don't really think that Vermintide will be a bad purchase, but I've never read it because I never found it in a store. There are also some free skaven books on the web somewhere, but you'll have to search the stickies to find them I guess. Cheers, Bodacious. |
My Blog - My Army Diary - Twitter: @DaanofWar - Steam: DaanofWar
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| Thraskittar | 17th May 2007 - 10:53 PM Post #60 |
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Shatterskar
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Aye, it is that one.
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W/L/D - Army 13/10/5 - Skaven 0/0/0 - Tzeentch DL ![]()
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I had the lot. I sold them all at a car boot sale for 50p each years and years ago. They weren't exactly heartattack-inducing, especially once they ran out of ideas and started having things like possessed bath sponges, but the one with the scarecrows creeped me out for ages. Bloody scare-crows


. Children of Húrin was a great read as well, it really fleshes out the stuff you read in the silmarillion and can even be read as an independant story.


). Ive never got round to reading them, but curiosity will soon get the better of me.... I will have lots of time to fill en route to the USA soon.