What are you reading?

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
I enjoyed it a lot. I thought Aslan did a great job of simplifying a lot of complicated material and research into a coherent narrative.
 
I'll have to read it then. Being fascinated by the historical Jesus, I was excited about the book when it first came out but decided to wait for the paperback edition. And then I completely forgot about it altogether. :ganishka:
 
Just finished all around the same time

End of Eternity
RE:Zero Volume 3
Spice & Wolf Volume 2
Tokyo Ghoul Volume 1-4

Now veering away from manga and light novels to a book called One Second After my friend recommended me to read. I'm sure it'll be awesome.
 

residentgrigo

Excitement and Enjoyment!
Thrawn by Timothy Zahn. It´s his best book and the 2nd best new canon Star Wars novel after Tarkin. The quality difference with most of the new stuff and all that de-canonized Legacy rubbish is night and day. The no nonsense military narratives in my 2 recommendations even reminded me of Robert A. Heinlein. The highest prase i can give and books are my job.
Just stay away from the often ridiculed Aftermath trilogy, as even i didn´t bother with slogging though all of that (canonically important) mess, and go for one with the most appealing dust cover blurb.
You will likely pick a winner and the Marvel comic line is another keeper. Especially art wise. Well done Disney, you brought balance to the force!
 
Recently discovered Metabarons and The Incal by Alexandro Jodorowsky. (Filmmaker of El Topo, Holy Mountain) And holy shit, where has this been all of my life! It's pretty savage, if I could see Berserk fan's apprecaiting the stunning art and story. I sometimes get a H.R. Giger feel from it, which makes sense as these two were suppose create a 14+ hour DUNE movie together. I really opened a can of worms on this one for personally, it really made my day. I don't know how this one went over my head for so long as a filmmaker I loved and studied Alexandro Jodorowsky's films for more than a decade. I never heard he was into novel and comic book writing.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Death May Die said:
Recently discovered Metabarons and The Incal by Alexandro Jodorowsky.

The Incal is great and a must-read but personally I would not recommend The Metabarons.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
I've been reading the Legend of Galactic Heroes novels, which have been released (finally) over the course of the past year. For the uninitiated, LoGH is a sci-fi known primarily for its 100+ episode animated series (OVA) that ran from the late 80s-early 90s. The OVAs are based on a series of five novels from the 80s.

I'm two books in right now, and in many ways I like these books even more than the OVAs-- which is quite a lot. The Kindle editions are $9 each. So for those who have already enjoyed the animation, I'd say buying these is seriously a no-brainer. Though it's hard for me to say though whether going in cold -- novels first -- would be the best way to experience the story. I think seeing the character and ship designs of the OVAs first helps make things easier to follow, overall.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
I finished reading Children of the Night and No god but God and started reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.
 
Walter said:
I've been reading the Legend of Galactic Heroes novels, which have been released (finally) over the course of the past year. For the uninitiated, LoGH is a sci-fi known primarily for its 100+ episode animated series (OVA) that ran from the late 80s-early 90s. The OVAs are based on a series of five novels from the 80s.

I'm two books in right now, and in many ways I like these books even more than the OVAs-- which is quite a lot. The Kindle editions are $9 each. So for those who have already enjoyed the animation, I'd say buying these is seriously a no-brainer. Though it's hard for me to say though whether going in cold -- novels first -- would be the best way to experience the story. I think seeing the character and ship designs of the OVAs first helps make things easier to follow, overall.

I'm half way through the OVA series and i love it, it only gets better and better. I'm curious, how do you like the english translation/adaptation from VIZ? I know that there is probably no way to check the accuracy but how do you feel about the release itself?
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Kaladin said:
I'm half way through the OVA series and i love it, it only gets better and better. I'm curious, how do you like the english translation/adaptation from VIZ? I know that there is probably no way to check the accuracy but how do you feel about the release itself?

I'd call it a little unbalanced, overall. The dialogue sometimes feels unnatural, which could be the fault of the writer, but then there are these portions where the translators clearly got to play a bit with the similes used to describe the destruction of space warfare. I like that stuff, even if it's almost predictable at times.
 
Currently reading RE:Zero volume 4

Finished:
One Second After
Spice & Wolf Vol 3
Dragonlance: War of the Twins
Grimgar of Fantasy & Ash Vol 1
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Finished reading Frankenstein and Who Goes There? (for those who are unaware, this is the short story John Carpenter's The Thing was based on).

Right now, I'm in the middle of reading The Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft. :void:
 

XionHorsey

Hi! Hi!
The Darkness that Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker! The Prince of Nothing series and I am LOVING it!!1 I actually found it through this site when someone mentioned it with some comparisons. I finally started reading it when my hard drive failed, leaving me without a comp.

Maybe things happen for a reason. ;)

Some of the characters remind me of Berserk characters.
 
I recently finished A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay. I don't know if I had too high expectations going in but I was disappointed. :sad:
 

XionHorsey

Hi! Hi!
Current still reading the "Prince of Nothing Series", actually called the Second Apocalypse. I'm the Aspect Emperor Book 2: White Luck Warrior. I love this series, warts and all.
 
Reading Tokyo Ghoul Vol 11 atm.

Finished:
Grimgar of Fantasy & Ash Vol 2
Spice & Wolf Vol 4
Re:Zero Vol 4
Knights of Sidonia Vol 1 and 2
In The Garden of the Beasts
 
XionHorsey said:
I am now on the Unholy Consult, the final book for the Second Apocalypse.

That's not quite true. It's the last published book in TSA as of right now. But there will be a third series that Bakker is working on currently.

When Bakker was first developing this world when he was in college, the conclusion of The Unholy Consult was where he had envisioned ending his pipe dream of a sprawling, dense, esoteric fantasy epic. That was in the late 80s. But there are interviews as early as 2004 where he talks about developing a trilogy, and then each book in The Second Apocalpyse morphing into its own subseries. The Aspect-Emepror is only Act 2.

It's amusing XionHorsey, because I got into Berserk talking with a friend about series that we were quite fond of and I was struck by how similar Miura's story sounded to Bakker. I've been a fan of the latter's series since 2010. There is a nice symmetry between Kellhus:Achamian:Esmenet and Griffith:Guts:Casca.

Though Kellhus could destroy Griffith without blinking an eye. :slan:
 

XionHorsey

Hi! Hi!
Oh yea, you're right. The Third one is supposed to be the No God. I'm about 20% complete with the Unholy Consult.

Speaking of Berserk, I found out about Bakker ON THIS VERY FORUM when someone made some comparisons! LOL!
 
XionHorsey said:
LOL! I actually ended up rage quitting the Unholy Consult and will now the starting the Malazan series.

From what exactly if I may ask? Just curious what compels someone to go from loving a series to rage-quitting over the span of one book. I myself feel rather mixed on this novel, but the actual text, story beats, tone or thematic exigencies weren't anything different than what I would expect of Bakker.
 

XionHorsey

Hi! Hi!
Overall, I LOVE the series. I have no regrets getting into it and highly recommend it. TBH, I rage quit for reasons that had nothing to do with the overall quality and everything to do with my own biased/arbitrary reasons.

It had to do with
The death of Proyas and the way it happened
and when I found out what happens afterward, I saw no reason to continue. Other characters were either no longer compelling enough or never were for me to go on.

I read the ending though and tbh, I LOVED that.

FTR, he's the only author ever who got me to "tap out/rage quit". In other cases, I just lose interest/bored. Not this case. The rule of the slog is "no weepers" and I wept a great deal.
 
XionHorsey said:
Overall, I LOVE the series. I have no regrets getting into it and highly recommend it. TBH, I rage quit for reasons that had nothing to do with the overall quality and everything to do with my own biased/arbitrary reasons.

It had to do with
The death of Proyas and the way it happened
and when I found out what happens afterward, I saw no reason to continue. Other characters were either no longer compelling enough or never were for me to go on.

I read the ending though and tbh, I LOVED that.

FTR, he's the only author ever who got me to "tap out/rage quit". In other cases, I just lose interest/bored. Not this case. The rule of the slog is "no weepers" and I wept a great deal.

Really?—Interesting. So are you just talking about Kellhus making Proyas the scapegoat for the Cannibal Ordeal, hanging him on the Arobindant to die of exposure or are you talking about his actual death scene, the reunion with Cnaiur and then the mercy killing from Moenghus?

I think it's a fitting end, as much as like Proyas. As much I can like any of Bakker's characters. He was the number two of the Antichrist basically, Proyas had presided over the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people during the Unification Wars. The Sack of Sarneveh, the Purge of Mongilea etc. etc. All these cruelties and evils committed for the Greater Good: defeating the Consult and saving mankind. I think it's resonant to finally be at the threshold of ending all this misery, to be literally within sprinting distance of Golgotterath, and for Kellhus to finally sacrifice Proyas himself all for the greater good.
 

XionHorsey

Hi! Hi!
Really?—Interesting.
So are you just talking about Kellhus making Proyas the scapegoat for the Cannibal Ordeal, hanging him on the Arobindant to die of exposure or are you talking about his actual death scene, the reunion with Cnaiur and then the mercy killing from Moenghus?

Pretty much all of it. I read up to the point to where
he was kicked down and left hanging.
Beyond that, I looked for spoilers and boy did I find them. Like I said, I saw no reason to continue.

I'm aware of what Proyas was involved in, but I also remember that
he would negotiate surrenders only for Saubon to be the one killing every one.
My anger had a lot to do with the WAY it happened and the fact that his downfall was set up. I felt like it was just subversive for the sake of being subversive. I really believe that there could have been alternatives.
 

Menosgade

Not all those who wander are lost
I'm currently reading Dracula. No doubt why it's considered a classic - it's very well crafted. The first part is specially good and intriguing, when the birttish lawyer, wich I forgot the name, is sent to the Dracula castle and writes his daily notes.

Definitively berserk-inspired.
 
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