Book Thread Continued

[Logick]

Just started reading China Mieville's latest book, "Railsea". Such an odd book, about a sea of train tracks, and people sail this "ocean" on trains hunting giant moles.  Classic Mieville :P

[Starmongoose]

I just got to Part II of The Hunger Games. Right after they announce

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that 2 people from the same district can win without having to kill each other. It appears to be an obvious setup for things to come, but I'm not so sure

The book has gotten progressively better, and I'm pretty much hooked at this point. I just need to find the time to sit down and plow through it.

Maybe you'll be surprised.

[Dincrest]

^if you like dystopian future novels then Hunger Games #3 will tickle you pink. While it does it's own thing and I really liked it, it's a pretty good homage to 1984 in ways.


Ok so I'm about 1/2way through Clash of Kings and I just read:

The part where Renly was killed by Shadow Link. I'm not sure if I like this direction since so far (yeah I'm only on the 2nd book) this series has been about the political side of things and that's what I was expecting. Yeah sure the one chick hatched some dragons but I didn't think they'd introduce some sort of magic in this way. Please no spoilers that explain what happened!

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i think that by the end of the first book it sorta implies magic is coming back slowly and i think this the first hard evidence aside from the dragons hatching. i'm not sure when or who says it (so i'm sorry if this is too spoilery) but someone says that when the dragons are reborn magic comes with them whether that is truth or opinion of a character they sorta leave it for you to decide.

I think that we the readers know as much about magic as the inhabitants of the book.  It's something of a mystery (because it's been absent/suppressed from the world for so long) so when we're scratching our heads about magic, so are the people in the book (many of whom fear the arcane that they don't know about.)  Maybe it's like how the Mayan calendar says that in X year magic will somehow return to Earth, but it's all speculation how magic truly works in that world. 

In other words, Song of Ice and Fire doesn't have a fleshed out magic system like, say, Mistborn. 

[Yoda]

I can dig that. I was more or less just surprised.

[Dincrest]

...as were/are the denizens of the books:P 

But I too am curious as to what Martin has in mind to flesh out how magic fits in the world, especially since you have "natural resource" type magic (what with all the creatures like wights and others) and more arcane yet methodical magic like what the Red Priests and Priestesses do. 

[Vanguard]

Just started reading China Mieville's latest book, "Railsea". Such an odd book, about a sea of train tracks, and people sail this "ocean" on trains hunting giant moles.  Classic Mieville :P

He is on the list of people to read on my quest to dig fantasy books.

[Starmongoose]

I've only read Perdido Street Station by him, but I do recommend. It's not as deep as it can appear, but the imagination is fantastic.

[MeshGearFox]

Started reading Babel 17.

[Tooker]

Okey dokey.  Finished the Mistborn trilogy.  Finished The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene - it's a primer on string theory.  Way more serious than what I usually read.  It was both interesting and good for me. :)

Then I read Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  I had just finished listening to a series of podcasts on the US civil war, which helped me recognize some of the actual people and events.  It was a good book - I didn't realize it was written in a documentary style.

[kyuusei]

Finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo at some point last week and started The Girl Who Played With Fire. Or well, I'm halfway through now. It got interesting a lot quicker than the first book did.

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At least that fuck Bjurman is dead. :P

[Yoda]

GoT #2

Just got to the part where Theon is searching for Bran... In the following 2 chapters Tyrion and Cat find out they were killed :(

I hope that's not the case

[GrimReality]

Finished The Hunger Games. The short of it is that I liked it a bit more than I expected. Great protagonist surrounded by mostly bland side characters. A quick and intense read. The ending was a bit too predictable, though. The book definitely lacked in back story. I wonder if book 2 explains things any better. I'll most likely read it after a few others in between.
Back to The Sandman for now.

[beLIEve?]

GoT #2

Just got to the part where Theon is searching for Bran... In the following 2 chapters Tyrion and Cat find out they were killed :(

I hope that's not the case

that part bummed me out.

[dyeager]

Finished The Invisible Gorilla: http://www.amazon.com/The-Invisible-Gorilla-Intuitions-ebook/dp/B0036S4EYQ/ref=kinw_dp_ke?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2

[Yoda]

The thing I don't get about GoT is if they're constantly raping and killing all the peasants A) how can there be any people left B) why don't they rebel.