Favorite Books and Current Reads

[zamisk]

that is the best tl;dr ever. I will pick it up.

[Maxine MagicFox]

^_^; t-thanks?? ........ sorry if I'm too long winded for you, Zam.

[Ryuza]

Awesome to see a forum with so many readers. I'll have to backtrack through the pages to look for some interesting books to check out.

I just recently finished up the Incarnations of Immortality series from Piers Anthony, definitely an awesome read, it's really interesting since all of the books tie into each other but they don't take place sequentially, so you end seeing a lot of events from the early books later on from a different point of view. My Dad had a copy of the first book when I was younger and I thought it was a one shot for the longest time.

Jack of Shadows is another good one and probably one of my favorites, it takes place in a world where the planet doesn't rotate, the light half of the planet is ruled by technology and the dark side is ran by magic. The main character makes a really interesting transformation throughout the book too.

The same author, Roger Zelazny, has another good series called the Chronicles of Amber, it starts out a bit boring but gets better later into it. It's a 10 book series with the first half following one character and second half following his son. The second half is definitely a lot better, but it doesn't make any sense unless you've gone through the first five books.

[Maxine MagicFox]

Awww, Piers Anthony~ I have spent many hours curled up in bed with one of his Xanth books. I never did break out of that particular series of his, though.


Let's see, as for Amber, I have the thick huge omnibus of it with all the books in one ("borrowed" from my uncle). I have sadly never made my way through it. The intro was fascinating and it is a great concept, but you're right. I hit the part that started to slog and I never did manage to break through. I gave up thinking "meh, well... it was fun while it lasted." That and the main character became hard to identify with since ultimately I decided he was an ass right along with the rest of his family ^_^. Hrrrm... maybe I should give it another whirl. I'd have to start over from book one, though, since that was like... seven years ago that I tried to read it? If not longer. I can't remember how far I got. I think on my Goodreads account I marked that I got through 1-5, but that was just some easy way to mark that I had read through some portion of the series. Honestly, I think I only made it to book 3ish or so.

[Reynard-Miri]

[Ryuza]

[Maxine MagicFox]

Yes to everything in the last paragraph. My thoughts exactly.


Yeah, there's SO many books in the Xanth series and a lot of them are hit and miss. Some are REALLY REALLY good while others are... dramatically bad. They were all fun, though, and for a teenager who was just learning greek and roman mythologies and really starting to get into the potential of fantasy (I hadn't even read Fellowship of the Ring, yet, when I picked up my first Xanth book, Heaven Cent), it was drool inducing. (The naughty parts were great, too.)

I have heard some people mention that the Xanth series has really gone down hill recently, though, and probably a bit too sex-callous. Well, no, I'll come out and say it in whole. The author reminds me of one of those 4channers who think "LOL the boss raped me" is the most hilarious statement ever. Rape is not taken very seriously in his books and sex is thrown around just a little too frivolously for my tastes. I've heard the more recent books have only gotten worse. But in that same token he also picks fun at it (see Adult Conspiracy) and well... *shrugs* I dunno how bad it has gotten, but the books I have read it was never serious enough to bother me and it made me laugh quite a few times. *shrugs*

[Ryuza]

[zamisk]

Bought Darkly Dreaming Dexter, it was pretty good. They're starting a monthly Dexter comic book based on the books in febuary, which is awesome.

[Maxine MagicFox]

Spell for Chameleon is actually the first book in the series.

And yes, some of them are sequential.

However... I have no idea what it is like to read them in order. I never have. I only own four of the Piers Anthony books I've ever read and they were purchased by my parents. ^_^; I found Heaven Cent (the first one I ever read) in my dad's nightstand drawer.

I am still shocked the school allowed me - an eleven/twelve year old to carry it around openly as I did.... and it's rather obvious that I have no shame:



ANYWAYS! I've always enjoyed the books from my local library or flea markets and yard sales... and raiding my dad's and uncle's book library. I knew I was missing out on things series wise - there are still a few infuriating "what happened?!"s that I would like to know, but on the whole I don't think it did anything to my experiences enjoying the books.

My knowledge is sketchy but I remember three basic groups. The Spell for Chameleon cast (and their children) then the Heaven Cent cast and then a cast of characters that included some girl with no sense of direction who had a cat. The point being: the characters are always changing anyways and most of the books are very stand alone-ish. There is no high arching plot in any of the books.

[SirthOsiris]

Gave in and started reading The Hunger Games when I ended up at work with nothing at lunch.

Found out my sister may have sold the rest, so I bought them.

[Maxine MagicFox]

You know... as much as I love the Maze Runner series (of which I'm on the third and last book) there is one thing that irks me - not that it's good or bad. It's very good, except that it still gets on my nerves a little.

I have no clue what's going on. Which in turn means I have no bloody clue who the hell the villain is!

In Hunger Games, it's obvious. Kat should do this, shouldn't do that: oh, shit, she did this, so you EXPECT some shit to come down on top of her head.

In Maze Runner series you're not introduced to a villain of ANY sort. Not really. It's there on the fringes. "Is this gov. agency good or bad? Is what these kids being put through good or bad? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!!!" And by the third book this fucking confusion still has no abated. As the character makes choices I am in the seat of: I DON'T KNOW!! OMG IS WHAT THOMAS DOING GOOD OR BAD?!

There is no feeling of 'relief' or even a feeling of 'triumph'. Hell, I'm not even sure if what I've read in half of the books is even true.

I love it, but I hate it all the same. It weighs on me as I read. I can't 'feel' if the ending is going to be happy or sad. Even once Hunger Games is over, you get a sense that at some point THOSE ASSHOLES ARE GOING DOWN! ....... In this book I'm not even sure still if Thomas is a villain or a hero himself.

[Hong]

I spot Waldo almost immediately upon gazing over the page.

It is not the same as it once were.

[SirthOsiris]

Finished the series off.

I ended up really liking it. Probably one of my better reads.

But something is telling me to not watch Mockingjay in theatres. One word that should describe why, because I was totally reminded of it:

[Reynard-Miri]

Started reading Neuromancer last night for a book club. I'm not very far into it (only on page 10), but I am digging the world building. The book both expects you to pick up things from context AND gives you good context to pick them up from.