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0 Subject: Sci-Fi & Fantasy book chatter

Posted by: Perm Dude
- [39858209] Thu, Sep 20, 2007, 17:26

Rather than clog up the Robert Jordan thread anymore, at TB's suggestion here is a thread to discuss sci-fi & fantasy books, websites, news, and suggestions.
1Khahan
      ID: 486552412
      Thu, Sep 20, 2007, 17:55
PD, yes: the game of thrones is apparently part of the Song of Fire & Ice series. Reading his site is good, but I wouldn't recommend reading fan sites or review sites. They often spoil who dies which can easily ruin a lot of the fun of the first read-thru.
2TB
      Sherpa
      ID: 031811922
      Fri, Sep 21, 2007, 02:11
I bought George RR Martin's A Game of Thrones years ago after reading so many people say it was great. I never could get into it, but it sounds like I gave up on it too easily. I will try again at some point.
3Perm Dude
      ID: 48532519
      Thu, Sep 27, 2007, 00:37
Just picked up the Martin title and will give it a look tomorrow.

I finished the first book of an interesting series, The Glasswright's Apprentice by Mindy L. Klasky.

Also, I went back recently and read two classic titles: The Hobbit by Tolkein and The Earthsea Trilogy by Le Guin. Good stuff. I might even root around for A Wrinkle in Time and really go fantasy retro!
4Khahan
      ID: 486552412
      Thu, Sep 27, 2007, 01:18
Wow, a Wrinkle in Time. I may have to dig that up. I almost hate to say this, but I've recently picked up the Harry Potter series. I can't put it down.

I think its helped my interest immensly that I've seen and enjoyed the movies. Now reading the books, I have great visuals in my head of the action going on. But its a good series. I'll be finishing it before moving onto anything else, but A Wrinkle in Time would be an interesting retro choice.
5Perm Dude
      ID: 48532519
      Thu, Sep 27, 2007, 02:01
My wife read the first couple of Potter titles before I picked up the first one. I remember opening up the first book in bed, and my wife looked over to me and said "I envy you." That is, she envied the enjoyment of opening up the first page of the first book of a great series.
6TB
      Sherpa
      ID: 031811922
      Thu, Sep 27, 2007, 08:30
I started reading the series to my son when he was six (about 9 years ago). He was only good for about 15-20 pages a night before he fell asleep. The second night I was so into it after he fell asleep that I read a another 100 or so pages. I remember reading to him the next night and being so eager for him to fall asleep so I could get on with the story, lol. The books are so much better than the movies, but that is almost always true.
7Perm Dude
      ID: 16838277
      Thu, Sep 27, 2007, 08:38
LOL!

We've been reading it to my son as well (he's now 10) and he's three books into it. My wife refuses to let him see any of the movies (at least, for now), so as not to ruin the images he already has of the characters, scenes, and so on. That will probably change soon, but he really does like the series.
8blue hen
      ID: 16322314
      Thu, Sep 27, 2007, 10:23
I'm just about done Year 5 at Hogwarts. There's YouTube of Weasley Is Our King - great stuff.

In about 100 pages, I'll start hitting stuff I don't already know about, and THAT is going to be fun.
9RecycledSpinalFluid
      Dude
      ID: 204401122
      Thu, Sep 27, 2007, 11:03
LOL! OK, I'm not the only one...

A month or so ago I saw all the paperbacks of Harry Potter (1-6) on sale for 6 bucks each. I realized I hadn't really been reading anything but technical manuals for probably 20 years now, so I decided to pick them up to read to the kids.

Like TB, I read about 15-20 pages a night to my two oldest boys. So far, we've only nearly finished Book 1. Of course, like TB again, I read ahead. I'm the first 100 pages of Year 5.

Having seen the first 4 movies (we were unable to get to the theatre to see Phoenix), we'll talk about the differences in the book and the movies. I think this was my primary reason for wanting to read them. Most specifically, why in Year 3 they called "Peter Pettigrew", but yet in Year 4, they called him "Wormtail". Of course, I have the answer now...

Fun stuff.
10Khahan
      ID: 486552412
      Thu, Sep 27, 2007, 13:29
To be honest, I don't see really any material differences between the books and the movies. The movies were made very true to the original text. I love that. I've seen all the movies so far (didn't like Goblet of Fire, it seemed forced. In most of the movies/books the character development occurred by way of the plot. However, it seemed the whole point of Goblet was to show character growth/development. I liked the other movies/books much better when the character growth was a natural by-product of good plots and stories).
11blue hen
      Leader
      ID: 710321114
      Fri, Sep 28, 2007, 00:09
I watched all five movies in a week without having read a page of the books. It was pretty awesome - you really felt completely immersely in an epic story.

That night, I started reading the books. I haven't stopped. They're better. Prisoner of Azkaban has been my favorite book and movie so far. The book is really superb - really puts you inside the story that took place so long ago. I also like the flashback in year 5.

I work and associate with a lot of nerds so there is no shortage of Potter-maniacs.
12Perm Dude
      ID: 5093716
      Tue, Oct 02, 2007, 00:11
I'm about a third of the way into A Game of Thrones and am enjoying it quite a bit.

On a library run earlier today, however, I spied R. A. Salvatore's latest title, The Orc King which might make me put down the Martin book for a few days. If you haven't read the Salvatore series about Drzzt the Elf, it is very worth it.

The Wizards of the Coast (publishers of the Forgotten Realms books) seem less interested in coherant author series than that are just cranking out as many books as they can. It is bewildering the stuff they are putting out, and the various series (with various authors) are hard to keep track of. The Salvatore Drzzt books, however, are really a force unto themselves. Homeland is the first in the series, and the best place to start.

I've read a lot of sci-fi fiction, and Salvatore has the best (hands down) one-on-one fighting descriptions.
13TB
      ID: 538192913
      Tue, Oct 02, 2007, 00:47
I enjoyed the first Drizzt trilogy, but not so much the ones that followed. For me, most of Salvatore's work is at the Dragonlance level.
14Khahan
      ID: 486552412
      Wed, Oct 03, 2007, 23:57
PD, I gave up on the Drizzt stuff a few years ago. I think about the 10th book he wrote about them? The title was something about a Daughter.

Basically gave up on the whole FR series. They seem rather elementary these days after reading epic series such WoT, George Martin, Terry Brooks etc. But Salvatore always did distinguish himself from the rest of the mass produced Forgotten Realms and DragonLance series (except the 1st DL series - Dragon of Autumn Twilight, Winters Night and Spring Dawning...still one of my all-time favorites).

Oh, and I'm half way through Goblet of Fire for Harry Potter. I got more out of the first 2 chapters of the book than I did for the movie. I'll have watch the movie again, but right now I'm thinking it was just poorly adapted.
15blue hen
      Leader
      ID: 710321114
      Mon, Oct 15, 2007, 23:46
I finished Harry Potter this weekend. All seven books. It flew by, and these books are like crack. I am having some serious withdrawal issues.

I avoided spoilers of any kind as long as I could. Especially Wikipedia. So as soon as I finished, I devoured that site and one called HP-Lexicon. I'm glad I did it - most of the surprises surprised me, even the ones from books where I'd seen the movies.

The best part of Harry Potter is the timeline. Obviously, you see Harry from ages 11-17, but at the same time, you see all other characters over that same 7-year span. I won't give any spoilers, but it was interesting seeing people we'd seen for several years at Hogwarts out in the real world.

My favorite books, in order...
1. Half-Blood Prince (6)
2. Prisoner of Azkaban (3)
3. Deathly Hallows (7)
4. Chamber of Secrets (2)
5. Order of the Phoenix (5)
6. Goblet of Fire (4)
7. Sorcerer's Stone (1)

Don't get me wrong; they were all good. I just liked some better than others. I also noticed that I enjoyed reading about some characters more than others, particularly Dumbledore, Snape, Lucius, Draco, and any of the founders.

16holt
      ID: 587112719
      Tue, Oct 16, 2007, 05:07
I'm reading a book called Confluence by Paul J. McAuley (actually, I think it's a trilogy bound in one hardback edition). It started out much like a fantasy novel, but it's getting more sci-fi'ish as the story goes along. Just wondering if anyone here has read it.
17 Steven Werley
      ID: 20946200
      Sat, Oct 20, 2007, 02:47
Hey, I'm the author of a future fantasy book series called the Sahdia Book Series, at least thats what it is called for now. You can check us out online at the Website
18Perm Dude
      ID: 50955206
      Sat, Oct 20, 2007, 08:59
Thanks, Steve. Are all the books still to come? The website seems, well, future-oriented.

Meanwhile, shocking news (soon to be on FOX News): Dumbledore is gay!
19 Steven Werley
      ID: 20946200
      Wed, Oct 31, 2007, 20:49
Yes, all the books are still to come, I am working on a book version of the history, then on to the dictionary.
20Perm Dude
      ID: 251071711
      Mon, Nov 19, 2007, 00:00
Just finished the book Daggerspell by Katharine Kerr. An interesting book that looks to be the first in a series called Deverry (though the book stands on its own well, IMO). A little slow going at first, but pay attention to the names since there is a bit if timeshifting due to a reincarnation theme. Well worth it.

Just finished Feist's Krondor the Betrayal. What a rich world Feist writes about. I'm tempted to plow right into the nexdt book, but I just picked up a book by an author I've never read, Gail Z. Martin, The Summoner, Book I of the Chronicles of the Necromancer (or, the George W. Bush Years). Looks like an interesting book.
21Khahan
      ID: 486552412
      Mon, Nov 19, 2007, 06:48
Glad this is preserved in writing. I'd never remember all these names.
22Perm Dude
      ID: 81139157
      Sun, Dec 16, 2007, 18:19
Just finished Terry Goodkind's Confessor. It looks to be the last (11th) book in his series. As expected, lots of boring speechmaking surrounding by good action and surprisingly good technical descriptions and analysis of magic. At least, magic in that world.

The last book is a good wrapup volume, if you can get through the political stuff. The guy is seriously anti-religion.

Yesterday I picked up The Phoenix Unchained by the authors of The Obsidian Trilogy. That was an excellent series--can't recommend it enough. In fact, it caused me to start reading many of Mercedes Lackey's many earlier books.
23Khahan
      ID: 373143013
      Tue, Jul 13, 2010, 16:12
A buddy at work and I were discussing the Song of Fire & Ice Series. Made me think of this thread. Found some good links to some good info on it:

Wikipedia page Duh, Wikipedia is easy enough to find.

Also found this gem
George RR Martin
24Khahan
      ID: 373143013
      Mon, Apr 25, 2011, 10:09
George RR Martin finally announced the release date of Dance with Dragons - July 11, 2011.

Can't wait.
25Perm Dude
      ID: 5510572522
      Mon, Apr 25, 2011, 23:05
Nice! We've been waiting too long for that one.
26TB
      ID: 1001623
      Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 21:02
I finally got around to reading A Game of Thrones about two years ago and quickly followed that by reading A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows. Fell in love with the series and went to the book store to get the next book. I was crushed when I found out he hadn't written it yet and have been going through withdrawls since. It's good news to hear A Dance with Dragons is coming out soon, but knowing there are at least two more books pending after this means years before it's completed. Maybe with the series on HBO he will regain some passion for completing it.
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