Book Thread Continued

[(Tunnels)]

I agree that Sansa and Catelyn are best when accompanied by someone. I think that's why Bran is so insufferable for me. He seldom has anyone major to play off of.

I've only read through the 3rd book, so I can't speak for these characters in the latter books, but...

Bran's chapters get much more interesting nearer the end of the 2nd book, and he has some really good chapters in the 3rd book. While not major, he does get some people to play off of, which definitely improved his chapters in my eyes.

I really like Sansa. Like Neal mentioned, she deals with a lot of cruel shit for a girl her age.

LINK BELOW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BOOK 2
This video sums up my feelings for Sansa, although I think the author exaggerates a bit (Sansa, while capable, is no master of the political game). Despite this exaggeration, the author makes a good point about one of Sansa's scenes near the end of book 2. To me, Sansa is the anti-Cersei, and that scene really paints that image.

[Dincrest]

I hope you like it!  I am always nervous when I've recommended a book to people, and never more so than in this case. :)

I've read the first few chapters of book 1 and it is great!  The writing is really vivid and raw.  So different than the watered down/sanitized Ramayana the coalition of Indian parents tried to teach us at biweekly religious group meetings when we were kids.  I'll bet they'd be shocked by how raw those first couple of chapters are.  If I had this when I was 12 years old, I'd have been more interested in "Sunday school."

Oh, and when the Pisacas were first mentioned, I envisioned the Pisacas from Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne.  

I feel like I did as a kid when I was first introduced to Amar Chitra Kata comics (they're an Indian comic book company who do comics of Indian mythology).  I was used to American superhero comics like Superman and Spiderman where the good guys win, the bad guys lose, the people are saved, and no blood is shed.  So reading ACK was raw!  There was blood.  People really died.  The good guys weren't "all good" and had flaws.  Good guys actually KILLED bad guys.  The writing was also no-nonsense and didn't kiddie-fy stuff.

EDIT: I've also been thumbing through my new coffee table book "I'm in the Band" by Sean Yseult (aka "the chick in White Zombie" to quote Beavis and Butt-Head).  It's really good.  Okay, I'm biased since she was my first and only celebrity crush (I was hot for her back in high school) but to this day I'm still attracted to women like her.

[GrimReality]

The Black Jewels Trilogy -

*most likely spoilers* and rambling...


What started out as a very interesting series in the first book, took a nosedive in the second, and then flatlined in the third. This is most definitely one of those series that is more about the characters than the story, as the story is incredibly boring, with very little ever actually happening. There's plenty of build up, with no proper "finish", if you know what I mean. The ending alone renders everything that came before it moot. It's obvious the author just loves her main characters, and just couldn't get to the point of being a bit more realistic about their fates. Good thing there were plenty of red shirts(aka cannon fodder) around to fill the void.
Then we have the ultra lame antagonist(s) of the story. I never once had an inkling that their ridiculous schemes would work. It often felt like the author realized that nothing was going on, so she would fill the void with yet another scheme that had no chance in hell(ha!) of working. Then she would get back to ultra powerful witches and warlords literally crying over every little thing. It's hard to take the High Lord of Hell seriously when he blubbers over every little thing. I understand that it was not meant to be the Satan character that we all know and love so well, but COME ON.
The character of Janelle was so frustrating. There was so much potential there. She's this crazy powerful witch, but we never actually get to see her do much. It's mostly just talk. Even in the end, when she unleashes her power, it's kind of boring. I would have liked some different perspectives on what exactly happened. I wanted to read about the carnage!
Another part of the ending that I hated was how she kept most of the main characters "leashed" in the Keep. I wanted them to go to war! I wanted to see what this group could do! For some reason The Harry Potter ending just popped in my head. Probably because J.K. Rowling didn't chicken out. There was a freakin' battle, and main characters actually DIED. That's what should have happened here.
I guess maybe I was expecting too much. My wife professes these books to be some of her favorite ones EVAR, and was trying to get me to read them for a long time. I'm not sorry I read them, as they do contain some interesting characters. I guess she just underestimated my need for action over emoting.

[Vanguard]

Finished Walking Dead Books Two and Three. I'm having fun comparing and contrasting the show with the comics.

Finished A Clash of Kings. I liked this book a lot. I think I'm going to just dive into the third one, against my better judgement.

[Yoda]

Finished up Mockingjay... not a good book to read if you're in the mood to be cheered up haha.

A good end... but I can't see this being translated well into a movie.

I'll discuss feelings on the series more after I process things,

[GrimReality]

Finished up Mockingjay... not a good book to read if you're in the mood to be cheered up haha.

A good end... but I can't see this being translated well into a movie.

I'll discuss feelings on the series more after I process things,

Now I want to read it! I've been himming and hawing about the series, and had already decided that I at least should read the first one. My wife read the first, and part of the second before calling it quits. Then again, we don't exactly see eye to eye on quality reading. She gave up on Dancing With Dragons, too. Not cool.
Think I'll pick up the first one over the weekend.
I'm now reading the 4th volume of Sandman, "Season of Mists" or whatever it's called.

[Yoda]

Thoughts; satisfying ending, very grim and more or less realistic. By the end I sympathized with the characters so that's a plus.

My cousin's 11year old read it and I thought that was surprising since the last book is incredibly violent. It goes beyond the kind of violence in the 1st book/movie. I won't say more b/c that'd give away plot

[Esper_Crusader]

Almost done of The Hunger Games and it's very good but very delpressing.  Looking forward to watching the movie when i'm done.

[MeshGearFox]

Second part of Dune sort of turns into a JRPG :| Also still sort of feel like Jessica is the real main character.

Good god I never realized how much Avatar ripped off this too.

[ZeronHitaro]

Still trying to keep reading 'Eon' but if nothing happens soon I'm going to probably wind up pitching it. Think I'm like between the 1/4th to 1/5th mark and it feels like the plot is somehow crawling. If this is what all 'political intrigue' stories are like you can totally count me out. XP I think it makes for a much better background plot than a foreground one. The Obsidian Chronicles had plenty of small political shenanigans going on in the backdrop while still remembering to throw an action bone every so often.

[kyuusei]

I finished Mass Effect: Ascension (yeah I know...) which was not as good as Revelation. I actually mean to get the Game of Thrones books next, because I'll be in need of a lot of reading material this summer. And I won't get to see the TV show until who knows when anyway.

[Tooker]

Read Mistborn last week.  I started it on a borrowed copy and decided I liked it enough that I bought the original trilogy.  Had a hard time deciding between physical and digital copies, because I don't really need more books hanging around... but the digital copies cost more than I could get the books for these days, and I don't want to support that.  Finally decided on physical because I learned that Tor does a crappy job of error checking their ebooks.

[MeshGearFox]

Dune:

1. Chani's face is elfin as FUCK.
2. 'Usul' is really close to the Inuktitut word for penis. The fact that it means "base of a pillar" does nothing to sooth my giggles.

The Navajo Verb: A Grammar for Students and Scholars:

Up to chapter six. Goddamn this is well written. I need to buy a paper copy instead of using the GoogleBooks version. It builds up the morphological and phonological rules in a logical manner without babying the reader

[Daggerstrike]

Read Mistborn last week.  I started it on a borrowed copy and decided I liked it enough that I bought the original trilogy.  Had a hard time deciding between physical and digital copies, because I don't really need more books hanging around... but the digital copies cost more than I could get the books for these days, and I don't want to support that.  Finally decided on physical because I learned that Tor does a crappy job of error checking their ebooks.

Good series. The follow up, The Alloy of Law is pretty good too. I really like the way that Sanderson writes. I really can't wait for the new Stormlight Archives books.

[Eusis]

Only Dune book of the original six I don't own is God Emperor, and that's because I checked it out from the library and blitzed through it. I should get around to reading Heretics and Chapterhouse sometime, shame that rather than get a proper ending there we got his son and Kevin J. Anderson writing fanfiction.

Why is Viagra the third result when I google Kevin J Anderson?