Printable View
Be careful what order you read her books in. The Darkglass Mountain Trilogy tied everything in together, The Axis series, Beyond the Hanging Wall, Threshold, Serpent Mountain series.Quote:
Originally Posted by UltraMarginal
Also try the Nightside & Deathstalker books from Simon R green,about 20 books all up, bloody good reading there!
I'll agree with BigTransformerTrve on the "Shatnerverse" Star Trek books, but mostly because they are co-written (well mostly written I would say) by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens my favourite Trek writers. They are Star Trek fans and you can always tell that when you read their stuff (like James Roberts in MTMTE) that they've thought about, care about and have interesting thoughts about these characters and universe. Their "Federation" is the TOS/TNG crossover that the movie couldn't be and is highly recommended (although canonically inaccurate now).
The last book I read was actually a non-Trek book by the pair called "The Search" which was good but a little bit too "Da Vinci Code"-esque. Their earlier action/adventure books all pretty great though too though (Icefire, it's sequel Freefall; and Quicksilver). If you like Matthew Reilly's stuff they'd appeal.
I haven't read Birmingham's serious novels, but his trilogy of Alternate History ("Weapons of Choice" is book 1) was quite enjoyable: International battleships from the near future accidentally get sent back in time to World War 2 just days before the attack on Pearl Harbour.
My favourite Alternate History books though are Harry Turtledove's World War four part series (and the Colonisation sequel trilogy). Basic setup: An alien reptilian species (The Race), come to earth to claim it for their Holy Emperor and expect to easily conquer the knights on horseback their scouting probes filmed. Instead they find that in the 1000 years they spent planning, mankind's technology has evolved much quicker than their's ever did (apart from better space-travel the aliens have the same level of technology as we did in the year 2000). And what's worse the major world powers are not only prepared for war, they are in the early days of World War 2! There's a mix of real life and fictional characters from many different cultures and perspective (America, German, British, Russian, Chinese) and there's fair share of story told from the invaders perspective too so they are not just generic bad guys.
I also agree with Kazza and have enjoyed Chuck Palahniuk's books but the most recent two or three weren't great. Definitely agree that "Invisible Monsters" is one of his best.
I have a few favourite books on my shelf that have been turned to movies, but I like the books so much I refuse to see the films. "The Time Traveller's Wife" is a timey-wimey romance, "Life of Pi" was a real pageturner, and "World War Z" is first person accounts of a zombie outbreak are scarily realistic. None of the movies could live up to these books IMO.
Thank you, I'll keep that in mind, I've read the Battleaxe Trilogy and the following Trilogy but that's all so I'll have to be careful which I eventually read next. I have a couple more of her books from the Troy Game series but I haven't actually cracked any of them yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by fatbot
I totally missed BTT's post, I know, how could I.Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulbot
I've read some of those Trek books and they were great. I've found many of the un-numbered star Trek books to be great reads. Peter David always does a good job.
Finished reading the latest Discworld book: Raising Steam
It was responsible for me being hungover all yesterday as I got it late Friday night and I tend to sit and read them in one go, so sat up reading and not paying attention to how many drinks I was consuming. Went to bed at 1am leaving a finished book and a stupid amount of empty bottles behind me :o:p
I hate to say it, but in the end this was as dissapointing as the last two Discworld books (Snuff & The Science of Discworld 4). Since Pratchett has developed whichever particular brand of Altzimers he has, poor bugger, his writing has gone downhill. In fact now he dictates to someone who types it down for him as he is no longer physcially capable.
The Discworld books would have to be about my favorite long-running series of books ever, and I have certainly had to replace many paperback copies with hardback ones as I wear them out with multiple reads. But the last three books have been reading more like a David Eddings book. By this I mean that all the heroes are too competent. No matter the situation the heroes are always about 3 moves ahead of the bad guys, you never feel like there is any peril or a real danger of anything going wrong and that the whole time the situation is completely in hand. Also the brilliant humor that characterized all Pratchetts earlier works is practically non-existent now. If you were to read an earlier Discworld book like The Last Continent or Thudd, you would swear that the author of the current works is a pale imitator of the author that came before.
With Raising Steam, it focuses on the Discworld getting its first train and the hero is Moist Von Lipwig, who was the central character in Going Postal and Making Money. Going Postal was a brilliant book and Making Money wasn't bad. In this they could have used most any other character, the Von Lipwig character never has any real need to call upon his street smarts or his old criminal skills that served him well in the last two. Most of the characters are becoming more one-dimensional and they are all too proficient at what they do. I don't want to delve into the plot much in case others read it, but lets just say its not particularly riveting.
If you are a massive Discworld fan, then you can probably not resist picking up this book. If you are not, then sadly don't bother - you are not missing much.
It's a shame. I noticed it with Snuff too. While it was a pretty good book, it didn't really do Vimes justice, which was a bit disappointing as he is my favourite Discworld character (with Moist a close second).Quote:
Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev
I have just got back into readin actually. I stopped forms while but have got back into the Wheel of Time. As of last night I have 6 down, 9 to go :o
The Thomas Harris Silence of the Lambs trilogy is fantastically well written.
I finished reading 'Doppelganger', by Michael Parker, the school novel for this year for me. It's kind of boring at the start, but it does get pretty good towards the middle and end. I like the seperate universes concept. Short book, but it's pretty good all in all.
I also read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, which is a REALLY good book IMO. Good insight into other people's minds.
yup davids eddings last series he did was a big disappointment for me.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev
Currently reading Bonehunters, book 6 in The Tale of the Malazan Empire by Steve Erikson. It's great if you like a bit of violence, fantasy and sorcery. There are 10 books in this series. One of the things I love about this series is you should read it more than once because some things that you read early on make more sense the later in the series of books you get. Like a puzzle. Or how like in Futurama season 4, you find out Nibbler pushes Fry into the tube, then going right back to the first episode you see Nibbler's shadow. And subsequent episode of that fateful moment you see references to Nibbler lol.
But I digress. Bonehunters has really got me hooked that I don't want to put it down.
I'd also recommend a series by Markus Heitz called Dwarves. 4 books but one of the best series I've read.
Used to read heaps of books back when I was still in school and while I'm reading less now, I haven't "grown" away from fantasy books that are aimed at 7-14 year olds. My absolute favourite books are:
- Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan: funny, clever and entertaining. The author perfectly mixes Greek myths into a contemporary setting, and the series gets better as it gets along. You have to read the last book, The Last Olympian, to see how well the author had planned the whole series together, as everything fits perfectly and there are so many minor details that are significant to the plot as a whole. Forget about the movies and the follow up series, Heroes of Olympus, they're nowhere near the same level.
- Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer: once again, clever and funny. The earlier books are better in that they have sophisticated plans that play out throughout the story.
- The Bartimaeus Sequence by Jonathan Stroud: the level of sarcasm from the main character's narration is hilarious. Once again, in the third book, everything fits together so well and resonates with you.
- Deltora Quest 3 by Emily Rodda: a classic epic fantasy, the final book is the highlight and creates a perfect ending.
- Last Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill is amazing in it's intense struggle of a young ruler against the might of an invading country. The good part is that you see the journey of house the ruler create alliances with surrounding countries who were originally enemies and the strategy/tactics that come with warfare.