Tuesday, September 20, 2011

What am I reading?

I check the blog daily to see if anything is going on and since its been a while since we've posted anything, it is time.

Two weeks ago we started a new campaign. Everyone is playing their new characters to the hilt and is eager to get back into the swing of things after taking most of August off. We'll be enjoying a small interlude as I attempt a TPK using a rather over-powered boss from an adventure path we have yet to play (we're missing people this weekend).

I continue to zip through novels. In the last couple months I've read about half of Michael Moorcock's Elric books, and the first Chronicles of Amber. I quite enjoyed the first one but I put the second Chronicles down about half way through book 2 (or book 7) and never picked it back up. Not sure why I didn't like the second as much. It just had a very different feel from the first series and I didn't get into it as much.

My grand plan is to read the entire Wheel of time series start to finish. The last time I did it was about 10 years ago which involved reading parts 1-10. With the final book being released in April, I figure it will take about 6-7 months to read the first 13 volumes again. I have yet to read part 13. What to read until I start my Odyssey in October? Poking through my digital book collection, I discovered that I had Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series. It seemed logical that since he was finishing the Wheel of Time I should check it out.

I am pleasantly surprised. The first book was very enjoyable and I'm constantly trying to find time to work on book 2. The world is logical but mysterious, the "magic" systems make sense, and he writes interesting and realistic characters. The plots are well laid out and make sense, the point of views are easy to follow and he has good pacing. I'm always a bit apprehensive starting a new series because I tend to try to stick it out even when they are almost unreadable (I'm looking at you Steven Erikson). But at the mid point of book 2, I'm still quite happy with my decision to read them and I can honestly say I'm not really sure where he's going to take the series. I highly recommend it.

4 comments:

Rognar said...

I have recently discovered John Ringo. He is a military SF writer with a lot of free books available online (check out his wikipedia entry for links). I am currently reading his Posleen War series. It's odd, I certainly wouldn't describe his writing style as good. He tends to meander all over the place and it is very easy to get lost in an avalanche of military jargon. But I can't seem to stop reading. His alien invaders, the Posleen, are thoroughly detestable and I'm always eagerly anticipating the next time they get their noses bloodied.

Tayloritos said...

I have a lot of Ringo books (on paper). Let me know if you want to borrow some. They are light weight, but I do enjoy stuff getting destroyed.

Rognar said...

I might take you up on that. For some reason, I can't seem to read the online versions with my iPad, only on my desktop. It really cuts into my late-night reading options.

Rognar said...

Btw, O, I was also reading a lot of Moorcock over the last month or so. I reread Elric of Melnibone, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate and The Weird of the White Wolf in quick succesion. Then I started The Sleeping Sorceress and my old Moorcock ennui kicked in again. That was it, time to put the Elric books down for another decade.