I certainly recommend reading the rest of the books. I was the same about finding out what happened to Fitz so I managed to completely miss the existence of Liveship Traders books when I discovered the Tawny Man books and it wasn't till I was well into the first Tawny Man book that I realised I should have read Liveships first! Anyway by that point I decided to just carry on with the Tawny Man books. It's not a complete disaster to read the trilogies in the wrong order but I would have interested to see if I picked up on certain events / characters that overlap the books.
Hope you get around to reading them and enjoy them as much as I have!
My sister has just started reading Assasins Apprentice - she's read A Song of Ice and Fire series and also David Eddings' stuff so I recommended this series. I think she'll like it. I loved all 3 trilogies, but didn't enjoy the Soldiers Son Trilogy at all. Shes got the Rain Wild Chronicle trilogy as well but haven't read that yet.
I'm halfway though the Little Drummer Girl by John le Carré and it's getting really exciting now!!
My sister has just started reading Assasins Apprentice - she's read A Song of Ice and Fire series and also David Eddings' stuff so I recommended this series. I think she'll like it. I loved all 3 trilogies, but didn't enjoy the Soldiers Son Trilogy at all. Shes got the Rain Wild Chronicle trilogy as well but haven't read that yet.
I'm halfway though the Little Drummer Girl by John le Carré and it's getting really exciting now!!
Haven't read of any David Eddings books so might be one to try. Do recommend A Song of Ice and Fire although it can be hard going!
I had heard Soldiers Son Trilogy was a bit below par but will certainly be reading the Rain Wild Chronicle trilogy in the near future.
Haven't read of any David Eddings books so might be one to try. Do recommend A Song of Ice and Fire although it can be hard going!
I had heard Soldiers Son Trilogy was a bit below par but will certainly be reading the Rain Wild Chronicle trilogy in the near future.
It was just too convoluted and didn't grip me enough! I know the Fitz stories can be quite sad but I like him as a character which I think is important.
LOVED the Ice and Fire books - read all 5 in about a month and am enjoying the tv series too.
Nor me. What happened to Rose was almost like karmic justice because she was certainly no angel! I thought the book had great potential but became farcical towards the end.
Currently reading The Ritual by Adam Nevill - a story about a group of university friends whose hike across the Swedish wilderness turns into a terrifying nightmare. I'm only a few chapters in, but the book grabbed me immediately.
Yes, it did get a bit surreal! I liked that though because the book had been slow paced up until then. Rose's passiveness really annoyed me too, it was like she was staring through a window at it all happening to someone else. She never really seemed to react to anything until almost the end
The Ritual sounds intriguing, I love those kind of thrillers.
I am currently reading Mary Anne by Daphne DuMaurier. I'm really enjoying it so far.
I've just finished Phantom by Jo Nesbo. I can't say as I actually enjoyed it, but it is a fantastic read as are all the other Harry Hole books. But the bleakness of it just got to me. By about half way I was starting to dread what was going to on the next page.
I've just finished Phantom by Jo Nesbo. I can't say as I actually enjoyed it, but it is a fantastic read as are all the other Harry Hole books. But the bleakness of it just got to me. By about half way I was starting to dread what was going to on the next page.
Oh dear. I've been putting off getting this because, much as I love Harry Hole and admire Jo Nesbo, the unrelenting downside of his last couple of novels has put me off. I think he's gone too far with Harry's angst ridden life, and the series has become too unrealistic.
Haven't read of any David Eddings books so might be one to try. Do recommend A Song of Ice and Fire although it can be hard going!
I had heard Soldiers Son Trilogy was a bit below par but will certainly be reading the Rain Wild Chronicle trilogy in the near future.
I really liked Edding's books, I've read the Belgariad and The Malloreon which are both a quintology/pentology and follow on from each other. I think they've got good character development.
I couldn't get on with ASOIAF, I kept forgetting who was who!
Can you believe it is fifteen years since the death of Princess Diana (or at least it will be on August 31)? Conspiracy theories have all but disappeared since the London inquest delivered its “unlawful killing by grossly negligent driving” verdict four years ago. But despite the thoroughness of that inquiry, many intriguing questions remain unanswered – questions such as why was driver Henri Paul driving so fast? He had been drinking and was being followed by the paparazzi but was there another reason why he was so frantic to take a route which was taking him away from Dodi’s apartment? Where had he been for three hours that evening? Who gave him the $2,000 cash later found in his pocket, and what for? Who were the two men caught on security cameras hanging around outside the Ritz Hotel for hours that afternoon and evening? They have never come forward despite many public appeals. What was the true extent of Henri Paul’s involvement with the British and French security services? What was the connection between chief paparazzo James Andanson and the British, French and American security services? What were the spooks really up to on the fateful night? We know that the Americans had been bugging Diana in the months leading up to her death. We know that the British had been bugging Diana and playing dirty tricks on her for most of her married life and beyond. Could it be that she became inadvertently embroiled in something bigger and even more sinister that was going on in Paris that night? For a possible explanation read my ‘faction’ thriller ‘The Decoy’ which is available now on Kindle – a kind of JFK meets The Da Vinci Code approach. The background to the book is explained more fully on my website www.chesterstern.com.
I really liked Edding's books, I've read the Belgariad and The Malloreon which are both a quintology/pentology and follow on from each other. I think they've got good character development.
I couldn't get on with ASOIAF, I kept forgetting who was who!
I must put Eddings on my 'to read' list. Always on the lookout for for something new to try.
I know what you mean with ASOIAF but it is worth it - I just hope it will reach a conclusion eventually.
It was just too convoluted and didn't grip me enough! I know the Fitz stories can be quite sad but I like him as a character which I think is important.
LOVED the Ice and Fire books - read all 5 in about a month and am enjoying the tv series too.
I am loving the tv series too, as much as the books. I also read them all quickly so will have to re-read at some point as I probably missed loads of important stuff.
Just finished The Map And The Territory by Michel Houellebecq- interesting. I've always seen a parallel between Houellebecq and Bret Easton Ellis, in that while they're very different in terms of writing, plot and subject matter, they both seem to have an existentialist quality that shades into misanthropy, and a love of controversy. And The Map And The Territory features Houllebecq himself as a character, a hideous murder and a conflicted father/son relationship, so to me it was like "what would Lunar Park be like if it was written by a French intellectual?" It's entirely different, obviously, but bloody great nonetheless.
Now I'm reading The Town That Forgot How To Breathe by Kenneth J Harvey, which I bought because all the reviews namechecked HP Lovecraft, but which so far is reminding me more of Stephen King. Not a problem, as I'm also a huge Stephen King fan... (and of course King's a huge Lovecraft fan...)
Finished Human Croquet by Kate Atkinson this morning.
I have loved all her other books, but this one just didn't do it for me.
I felt that
the fact that a good portion of the book was a "dream" when Isobel was unconscious completely ruined it. It's something you're told not to do at GCSE yet a professional author has done it.
I have now started Keeper of the Light by Diane Chamberlain.
Writer Nicky Stella--besieged by debts and responsibilities of his own--tries to save his career by finding out why poetry students who went to a party at Case Western Reserve University 20 years ago are suddenly dying in very nasty ways.
With its eclectic mixture of new technologies and classical murder mystery plot, The Violet Hour is a sleek and dark story of delayed revenge. Montanari's well-received and equally chilling first thriller, Deviant Way, is available in paperback. --Dick Adler
In the Shadow of the Sword Tom Holland
In the 6th century AD, the Near East was divided between two great empires: the Persian and the Roman. A hundred years on, and one had vanished for ever, while the other was a dismembered, bleeding trunk.
In their place, a new superpower had arisen: the empire of the Arabs. So profound was this upheaval that it spelled, in effect, the end of the ancient world. But the changes that marked the period were more than merely political or even cultural: there was also a transformation of human society with incalculable consequences for the future. Today, over half the world's population subscribes to one of the various religions that took on something like their final form during the last centuries of antiquity.
Wherever men or women are inspired by belief in a single god to think or behave in a certain way, they bear witness to the abiding impact of this extraordinary, convulsive age - though as Tom Holland demonstrates, much of what Jews, Christians and Muslims believe about the origins of their religion is open to debate. In the Shadow of the Sword explores how a succession of great empires came to identify themselves with a new and revolutionary understanding of the divine.
Comments
My sister has just started reading Assasins Apprentice - she's read A Song of Ice and Fire series and also David Eddings' stuff so I recommended this series. I think she'll like it. I loved all 3 trilogies, but didn't enjoy the Soldiers Son Trilogy at all. Shes got the Rain Wild Chronicle trilogy as well but haven't read that yet.
I'm halfway though the Little Drummer Girl by John le Carré and it's getting really exciting now!!
just started small wars by sadie jones, which i'm enjoying so far.
Haven't read of any David Eddings books so might be one to try. Do recommend A Song of Ice and Fire although it can be hard going!
I had heard Soldiers Son Trilogy was a bit below par but will certainly be reading the Rain Wild Chronicle trilogy in the near future.
It was just too convoluted and didn't grip me enough! I know the Fitz stories can be quite sad but I like him as a character which I think is important.
LOVED the Ice and Fire books - read all 5 in about a month and am enjoying the tv series too.
Yes, it did get a bit surreal! I liked that though because the book had been slow paced up until then. Rose's passiveness really annoyed me too, it was like she was staring through a window at it all happening to someone else. She never really seemed to react to anything until almost the end
The Ritual sounds intriguing, I love those kind of thrillers.
I am currently reading Mary Anne by Daphne DuMaurier. I'm really enjoying it so far.
I really liked Edding's books, I've read the Belgariad and The Malloreon which are both a quintology/pentology and follow on from each other. I think they've got good character development.
I couldn't get on with ASOIAF, I kept forgetting who was who!
I read that a few years ago and I was the same - scary stuff :eek:
I must put Eddings on my 'to read' list. Always on the lookout for for something new to try.
I know what you mean with ASOIAF but it is worth it - I just hope it will reach a conclusion eventually.
I am loving the tv series too, as much as the books. I also read them all quickly so will have to re-read at some point as I probably missed loads of important stuff.
I'm with you about the conclusion, I really cannot see how it's going to end! Whenever I think a character is doing well, he kills them off!
the ending made my cry
Now I'm reading The Town That Forgot How To Breathe by Kenneth J Harvey, which I bought because all the reviews namechecked HP Lovecraft, but which so far is reminding me more of Stephen King. Not a problem, as I'm also a huge Stephen King fan... (and of course King's a huge Lovecraft fan...)
I'd better have tissues on standby tonight then
I know what you mean! Everytime you start rooting for someone something awful happens to them.
I bought this book in 2008/2009 and still couldn't finish it by now.
I have just started Birdman as thought I should read that one first. Really enjoying it so far
That's grim too, good luck!
I have loved all her other books, but this one just didn't do it for me.
I felt that
I have now started Keeper of the Light by Diane Chamberlain.
In the Shadow of the Sword Tom Holland