Just read through Blood Song and Tower Lord as well.
I didn't find either that engaging, really, and the second was pretty disappointing.

Like, yeah, Vaelin's story is pretty interesting sometimes, but there are a few plot points that just never really get a proper conclusion; Erlin, for instance, shows up once or twice then fucks off forever. His arc, if you can call it that, is concluded by Nortah and the mute girl whose name I forgot. (Sella?) Malik dies offscreen, as do most of the masters. Wasted opportunities galore.
Lyrna is at first shown to be willing to do anything for power, then suddenly isn't.

The pacing is off, too. First quarter of the book is slowly showing Vaelin's development, and I'd thought it'd be like that all through the book, y'know? Like HP and how it shows Harry learning magic and then, at the end of the year, a mystery is resolved.
Nope, it suddenly skips through a few tests until the test of the Sword. And then it skips ahead again, over the formation of the new army - which could've been pretty interesting - to the assassination of someone who isn't even important in the long run. And then it skips again until the war with the Alpirans.

Not to mention the Blood Song is just basically Plot Sense. Somewhere he needs to be? Blood song. Someone he needs to persuade? Blood song. A decision he needs to take? Blood song.
It just solved all his problems for him; it was too convenient.

The Volarians being portrayed as ALL EVIL, ALL THE TIME was just weird. The author couldn't have taken a moment in Frentis' PoV to show that just because they're slave holders, they're not all megaHitler?

They were good timewasters, yeah. But not much more than that, sadly.

 

Erlin's story is concluded in the third book

 

This really isn't how you should end a series. QoF was a huge disappointment... It's like his writing quality has been steadily decreasing across the 3 books.

Anyway, the sequel to The Fell Sword should be released in a few months.

 

The Providence of Fire (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne #2) . Second book in the series was very very good. I dont know if it was better than the first one, but it was a very good read. Highly recommended

 

My copy of Abercrombie's HALF A WAR is arriving tomorrow, or the day after.

My body is ready.

For those who are looking for gritty/GRRM-style fantasy, or who are liked the First law books, you should definitely try out Abercrombie's Shattered Sea series.

 

Meh, I've read the first one in the series ( Half a king) and it didnt live up to its predecessors. I mean The Heroes was amazing(top 3 fantasy books i`ve read), but this last one wasnt that good. I`m gonna read Half a War just in case it gets better

 

I finished Memories of Ice yesterday and I still can't seem to find the right words to describe the experience. My mind's been all over the place today.

What I can say, though, is that Steven Erikson is a magnificent bastard. I was looking forward to a lot of things going into this series, but nothing could have prepared me for this kind of emotional roller coaster. I thought it couldn't get worse after the devastation that was the end of Deadhouse Gates, but boy was I wrong.

 

Does anyone know some good revenge stories?

I rather enjoyed The Count of Monte Cristo, but I don't know of any other books with a good revenge story without the message eventually becoming forgiveness or whatever halfway through.

 

The Lies of Locke Lamora.

Plenty of revenge being handed out in this one, and it's glorious.

 

Awesome, thanks. I'll read that next.

I appreciate the recommendation.

 

Paul Auster - The New York Trilogy

Thinking about this book makes my brain hurt. Then it makes me feel good again; but soon it will start hurting once more, I just know it.

I'm not quite sure what to say, as my emotions while reading went from being utterly confused, to being even more confused, to getting the feeling of grasping, at last, the idea behind it all, then losing that feeling again, until the ride ended and left me, in a very strange way, utterly satisfied yet still confounded.

This book will definitely stay with me for a while; already it occupies a cozy corner in my brain, and I find myself reconstructing the tale to the best of my abilities, trying to look for more hidden meaning. The prose as well is oddly compelling. It is neither incredibly elaborate, nor an attempt at lyricism and poetry, but it kept me reading without really wanting to put it down once. The way each sentence flows into the next is incredible; same for the paragraphs, really.

It's not too long, and was well worth the investment of time and money.

My conclusion: would buy again, and will definitely read again (once, twice, thrice, who knows?)

 

What is it about?

 

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. To an extent, A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin, and also Sandman Slim (can't remember the author, and that's almost recommended in DLP terms).

 

I'm not sure if I can adequately put it into words, so here's the description of GoodReads: "Paul Auster's three stories explore the nature of identity. He uses the detective, spy and friendship genres as vehicles to delve into the relationships between different groups of people."

That somehow fits. Not really, and if I were to try myself at diving further, I think I'd give away a lot of things. The three stories have to be experienced to really get what they're about. 'A detective story that isn't' would be my nearest attempt at description, but that feels lacking, too. Wikipedia throws around words like meta-mystery.

 

Hmm..so something kind of similar to cloud Atlas?

 

I can't say as I haven't read Cloud Atlas. Is it good?

 

Well, I finished The Lies of Locke Lamora... And I'm halfway through Red Seas Under Red Skies. Thanks again Trig, definitely a good recommendation. 5/5

Thanks! The title alone seems promising. I've got Best Served Cold, it's next on my list after I finish Red Seas, and I'll have to check out the others later.

 

You should try Abercrombie's First Law series too. If it's a revenge story that you're after, his Shattered Sea trilogy is fantastic too.

 

Excellent, I'll put that on my list too. Thanks!

 

Anyone have any good humorous stories?