Tony’s Comments (group member since Dec 19, 2018)

Tony’s comments from the Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy group.

I finally finished Lotus Blue and I quite enjoyed it. I have discovered that being on holiday in Thailand doesn't leave quite as much reading time available as being on holiday at home 😛

I would recommend The Lord of the Rings, which doesn't have dragons (although they are mentioned), although its prequel - The Hobbit - does have a dragon. Also, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a good choice (although, again, no dragons).

I have started reading Lotus Blue. I have been friends with Cat for more years than either of us would care to mention, so I really should have got around to reading her book well before now.

I have finished Swords Against the Shadowland. Not bad, but not as good as the Leiber originals. I'm happy to have read it, but if I do a reread of the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories, I wouldn't include it.

Andrea wrote: "Finished reading The Butlerian Jihad...there are two more books to go covering this story arc. Gah."

Are you aware that there are 3 short stories in that arc as well? One set before each of the 3 main books - Hunting Harkonnens, Whipping Mek, and The Faces of a Martyr.

Bryan wrote: "...but he's probably reached the point where some people just stop caring altogether because what's the point, any character they like will probably die."

There are also a lot of people who have just given up on waiting for him to finish Winds of Winter. The HBO series provided a resolution to the story (however unsatisfactory it was) and George seems to have lost interest in continuing the book series. They have always taken him a long time to write (the series started in 1989), but it has been over a decade since Dance with Dragons. I'm not sure Winds of Winter will get finished (by him, at least), and I certainly don't expect the 2 or 3 books he has planned to finish the series will ever get written.

I think the other problem Martin was having was that he had pretty much killed off all the characters that the readers cared about by the end of the 3rd book. Yes, he had introduced some new characters, but I don't think they grabbed the audience to the same degree.

Jim wrote: "I liked King's early books, but he got wordier as he aged."

Yeah, I find his earlier stuff better. He reached a point at which he was popular enough to be able to say to his publisher that he didn't need an editor, or that the editor wasn't allowed to make substantial cuts. His ideas are still good, but his stuff is generally overwritten.

I have started reading Swords Against the Shadowland. This is an addition to the chronicles of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser that is approved by the estate of Fritz Leiber

I have finished The Song of Roland. As an example of heroic literature it bears little resemblance to actual historical events, but is a good read.

I finished The Savage Sword of Conan, Volume 14. A slight change of direction occurs during this volume - previously the Savage Sword stories had been primarily single issue stories, or maybe two issues. About halfway through this volume they started doing a continuing storyline, based on the article "A Probable Outline of Conan's Career".

New month, almost halfway through the year.

Andrea wrote: "I am curious about the "sequel", The Massacre of Mankind so I'll put that on reserve at the library to read next month"

I read the novel (not the graphic novel) earlier this year and rated it 4 stars. Full review (pretty much spoiler free) here:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I bought a bunch of translated science-fiction graphic novels (mostly French) from Humble Bundle (an excellent deal - over 50 graphic novels for 25 USD).

I started by reading Aldebaran (english version) - volume 1 - The Catastrophe, which is the first of 12 graphic novels that tell the whole story.

The pace is slowish, as it concentrates more on world-building than action, and the dialogue is a bit clunky in places (perhaps not a great translation?)

Overall, it's a nice story and it shows the difference between Eurocomics and American comics.

I have started The Song of Roland, which will fill one of my Bingo slots, although I'm not sure which one yet. It could be pre-20th century, or translated, or alternate form (poetry).

I have finished The Third World War, August 1985: A Future History. Written as a near-future prediction / warning of what might happen, it now probably classes as alternate history. It is also written in the form of a history of the war, not as a novel of the war, so it has a much higher information density, and that makes it a slower read - also filled with the many, many acronyms that the military and bureaucracy love :)

Haldeman has said that Forever Peace isn't a sequel to Forever War, but rather a companion novel - it examines some of the issues of the original from an angle that didn't exist when he wrote Forever War in the early 70s.

Bryan wrote: "And after reading a few reviews I won't be trying Strange new worlds either."

I don't know which reviews you have read, but I am really enjoying Strange New Worlds - it's the best Trek I have watched in ages. For me, it captures the feel of the original series.

Janny wrote: "Brilliant author, spectacular prose, master of deep allegory bar none.
...

Shame on the obit listings that placed her as 'YA and childrens' - she absolutely wrote with adult concept and depth."

I can't believe that anyone who has read any of her books would list her as a YA author.

I have finished The Citadel of Weeping Pearls. I enjoyed it, despite having trouble getting into it - largely a product of work being stupidly busy - and it's a universe that I will venture into again. This nicely fills the Silkpunk slot in my Bingo.

I have started reading The Third World War, August 1985: A Future History. Written by an Aussie who was a top NATO general, it was (at the time of writing) a cautionary story of what NATO feared may happen in the future. These days it would count as alternate history.