What Book Are You Currently Reading?

[JBond]

If I recall, much about the Shrike is still in question by the end of Fall of Hyperion. I enjoyed the book FOR their stories. They're amazing.

[PsYkOoOoO]

Originally Posted by JBond

If I recall, much about the Shrike is still in question by the end of Fall of Hyperion. I enjoyed the book FOR their stories. They're amazing.

So far, I like scholar's story the best, followed by the priest's. I'm not so sure about the poet's story, though. Right now, the book reads like a very good series of Twilight Zone stories. You don't really know why things are happening but, you are going on for the ride because they are really interesting stories (most of them, anyway. Didn't care for poet's tale).

[JBond]

Didn't the poet's story have the evil tree thing?

[PsYkOoOoO]

Originally Posted by JBond

Didn't the poet's story have the evil tree thing?

No. His story is about Shrike randomly killing people in the City of Poets, and the poet being able to write the cantos because of all the killing. The Shrike became his muse, basically, but that's about it. You are thinking about the Soldier's Tale.

[JBond]

Oh, ok. I seem to recall liking the first 3 or 4 stories in increasing order, which is an odd way to remember it. So basically the middle two or so were my favorites.

I know I loved The Scholar's Tale.

[IanTheCool]

I am just about to start the scholar's tale.

[PsYkOoOoO]

OK, just finished the detective's tale. Not my favourite, since I've never been a fan of the whole cyberpunk thing. Now that I have read five stories, I have to say that I have zero clue as to how these characters are related, other than the fact that they've had some kinda contact with the Shrike, and a loose connection with the Time Tomb. Other than that, what exactly is going on here? Will any of this be explained in The Fall of Hyperion? Even if the Shrike eventually remains a secret, will the relationship between the characters be explained at all? I am having a lot of concerns right now. These are interesting stories but, right now, Hyperion reads like a collection of short stories with no clear connection between any of them. I'm not sure what the overarching purpose is.

Update: I think I am giving this book up. The Consul's story is not interesting me at all. By the looks of it, this book isn't going to have any sort of resolution either, and I dislike most of the characters.

On to the next book for me.

[JBond]

Sorry to hear.

[PsYkOoOoO]

I'm upset that I didn't like it too. I mean, some of the stories were really engaging to me (The Priest's and the Scholar's stories), but the others didn't (The Poet's and the Detective's). That is common for a series of short stories, but Hyperion ISN'T a series of short stories. I think the format worked for the most part, and it is understandable if some stories worked more than the others. In short, it felt like LOST. You know, something would happen out of nowhere, and it isn't explained at the end of the book (nor in The Fall of Hyperion), like who the hell Moneta is. It felt like deja vu.

[JBond]

I think Moneta's explained in the second book.

[IanTheCool]

Originally Posted by IanTheCool

I am just about to start the scholar's tale.

I'm about half way through it now and wow... talk about heartbreaking.

[Klimber]

Just can't enough of Ready Player One from Ernest Cline. Just finished it for the third time.

[PsYkOoOoO]

Just finished A Scanner Darkly. So far, I have read Ubik, The Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and this. I have yet to re-read Ubik yet (I read it almost a decade ago), but A Scanner Darkly... what a book! I love it. It's also probably one of the most depressing books that I have ever read.

[PsYkOoOoO]

Over the weekend, I finished Fables Vol. 18: Cubs in Toyland. I am happy that the comic book series is returning to its form, somewhat. The arc was a filler, but it was a great filler.

Next, I am moving on to Wheel of Time Book 1: The Eye of the World. Yeah, I am starting on Wheel of Time. This is going to take awhile.

[JBond]

Let my grandchildren know how it ends.

[PsYkOoOoO]

Originally Posted by JBond

Let my grandchildren know how it ends.

Well, if I take one month for each book, it will take me a little more than a year. The length has always been my reservation but, since the last three books have received generally positive reviews so far, I think it is worth checking out.

[morpheus1987]

Just started A Clockwork Orange...not sure how I feel about it yet. I'm a big fan of the movie for what it's worth.

[JBond]

I found it interesting that the book was toned down for the movie.

[Brock Landers]

The Persian Wars by Herodotus

[PsYkOoOoO]

Uh, OK, so I am almost done with Book 1 of The Wheel of Time, and I think I am already giving up on the series. I am surprised that no one from the Tolkien estate bothered to sue the hell out of Robert Jordan, because this is almost a complete rip-off of The Fellowship of the Ring. OK, maybe "rip-off" is too harsh an expression, since Robert Jordan's skills as a fantasy writer cannot be denied here. However, the journey of the characters pretty much mirror that of the Fellowship. Here's a rundown of all the similarities off the top of my head.

1. The protagonist is a farm boy who lives in a place called Two Rivers. The people of Two Rivers keep to themselves and are unaware of events happening on the outside (Shire). The people are somewhat ignorant, and all they want to do is to eat, sleep and smoke all day.
2. An event happens in Two Rivers one night, kinda like Bilbo's birthday party, and the protagonist had to leave Two Rivers under the guidance of a female sorcerer (Gandalf) and a "Warder", a warrior type like Aragorn.
3. Friends of the protagonist who were not meant to be in the company somehow finds out about the quest and joins in the journey too, much like how Merry, Pippin and Sam joined Frodo on his quest.
4. There is also a Dark Lord here.
5. Their first pitstop is a place that pretty much mirrors Bree.
6. They are being pursued by a rider in black cloak, and there is even a flying creature like the Nazgul's fell beast.
7. In The Fellowship of the Ring, there is a scene where the hobbits take a long bath after a long journey. Yes, the characters here also have a long bath scene in bath tubs.
8. The company also comes across a river, and they cross it by using a ferry – yep, just like Buckleberry Ferry.
9. They come across an abandoned city and, there, the company is dispersed, much like Moria without the Balrog fight scene.
10. There is a character who is a giant, and he loves trees, and he uses the word "hasty" a lot just like Treebeard.

All of that aside, I have other problems with the first book in the series:
1. The maps kinda sucks. The characters are traveling from Point A to Point B all the time, and that's fine. The problem is when they come across a bunch of villages along the way, you have no idea where exactly they are. The maps give a very vague idea of where the major cities are, but nothing in between. I find that very distracting from the story.
2. The first four to five books are supposed to be the best in the series. But I swear, the story is SO SLOW. The book is nearly as long as The Lord of the Rings combined, and the story is basically everything from The Fellowship of the Ring up until Moria. Just imagine that section of the first movie stretched out to nine hours long and you will get the idea.
3. The main characters are pretty dumb. Rand and Mat, in particularly, continuously make questionable and dumb decisions even though they seem to be in their late teens.
4. I've just finished 100 pages, literally, of the two main characters inn-hopping. Yes, they move from one inn to the other, talk to a bunch of innkeepers, meet the same "Darkfriends" who try to kill them, and then they move along again. 100 pages of that. Over, and over, and over again.
5. Unlike Tolkien, who wrote the story and created the universe to accommodate his language system, Jordan doesn't. So when he comes up with some fancy made-up language in the book, you know it's not based in some well thought out system. It doesn't give the story a lot of weight at all.
6. The pacing of the book made me miss A Song of Ice and Fire. Remember how A Feast for Crows slowed to a crawl? Well, this is even slower than that. I don't think George R. R. Martin, at his worst, was nearly as bad as Robert Jordan.
7. The character names seem arbitrary. In A Song of Ice and Fire, you can see a character's name and guess where he/she is from. Anyone from the Targaryen family would have a lot of "ae" in their names, Lannisters will have a lot of "Ty", and the people of Dorne will have a lot of "Ob". The most telling are the bastard names, such as Sand, River, Snow, Stone, etc. You don't get that kind of names here.

So yeah, I am probably going to give up on the series, especially knowing that it sinks to an all-time low between books 7 and 11 before it picks up again. I don't think I want to dedicate a year to this series. Which is good, I guess, it's a good place to stop. I don't want to have invested too much into the series before calling it quits.

[Justin]

That series always seemed to fit right into the "trashy fantasy" category to me.

[IanTheCool]

Originally Posted by PsYkOoOoO

Uh, OK, so I am almost done with Book 1 of The Wheel of Time, and I think I am already giving up on the series. I am surprised that no one from the Tolkien estate bothered to sue the hell out of Robert Jordan, because this is almost a complete rip-off of The Fellowship of the Ring.

You think that's bad? Read Sword of Shannara.

[JBond]

I had little interest in Wheel of Time before, almost none now. Thank you. :p

[Justin]

"The Man in the High Castle" by Philip K. Dick

[PsYkOoOoO]

Originally Posted by JBond

I had little interest in Wheel of Time before, almost none now. Thank you. :p

It's unfortunate, really, because I thought it'd be nice to have another giant fantasy series to occupy my time before The Winds of Winter. Besides, since Wheel of Time ended recently, I thought it was a good time to start. Well, turns out, as I was reading the first book, I was actively MISSING A Song of Ice and Fire. Like I mentioned before, the worst book in A Song of Ice and Fire (A Feast for Crows) was a better experience than this. I felt AFFC's lack of speed, but it never bored the hell out of me at any one time. This one, well, 100 pages of inn-hopping was more than enough.