june gloom on 12/11/2009 at 23:50
Quote Posted by Aerothorn
Oh god. I picked up the first one in a bookstore just to page through it, and...it was bad. I mean, it's not like MGS is known for its brilliant prose in the first place, but I'd read the script over that any day of the week.
How this writer will handle the ending of MGS2 should be....interesting, though.
My main issue with it is that he completely gives away the big reveal in the first 20 minutes. Anyone who's ever played the game would know who Master Miller
really is- but only towards the end game, the 20 minutes or so before the big reveal. The novel, however, practically tells it to you right off the bat.
I am interested in seeing how he handles the end of MGS2, though.
Scots Taffer on 13/11/2009 at 01:03
Quote Posted by Stitch
Here's the thing, though:
it has to be well written. If the first paragraph reads like a laundry list of fictitious world details mixed in with dubiously spelled names--you know, such as "Two of the three moons of Arm'rr had set upon the Talnasion sky, the yrkk-hide skins of brittle wine long since depleted as Christoph'rr and Jef paused and gazed out across the broken splendor of the Everdeath Wastes," that sort of thing--I am fucking gone.
That's why I couldn't even get into what I was told was a great fantasy series:
Malazan Book of the Fallen. I hate that terrible fantasy naming convention bullshit.
I'm currently reading
The Lies of Locke Lamora. It might be up your street.
suliman on 13/11/2009 at 01:54
Quote Posted by suliman
A Fire upon the Deep.
..well, that was pointless. Some interesting ideas and background fluff that don't really go anywhere, which would have been excusable were it not a 600+ PAGES book.
Tonamel on 13/11/2009 at 03:00
Got through the Farseer Trilogy in record time, and then moved on to a couple forum favorites: The Man Who Was Thursday, of which I still don't know what to think about the end, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles which I've just started, and am thoroughly enjoying.
Stitch on 13/11/2009 at 03:22
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
I'm currently reading
The Lies of Locke Lamora. It might be up your street.
That was one of the books I looked into. I was a bit turned off by a bad review and the whole "book one in an eight volume series" thing, but if you're getting a kick out of it I probably will too.
Scots Taffer on 13/11/2009 at 03:30
Yeah, tell me about it. Why can't any of these fuckers write a decent self contained novel for once.
I'll let you know how I go with it.
frozenman on 13/11/2009 at 05:40
Quote Posted by Stitch
But all recommendations are welcome :)
I've been waiting to post and this seems like a good place to jump in:
I just finished a book called
Chromos by Felipe Alfau and I thought it was fantastic. It's basically a meta-fiction adventure of a Spanish immigrant in New York City in the 1940s. It was written back then but never published till 1990 cause the author lived in obscurity working as a translator, which I think is interesting because it has stylistic elements similar to Pynchon or Nabokov, but living within it's own hermetic seal. The narrator travels around with his friend who is writing a novel set in old Spain. Throughout the book the friend will read off sections of his book trying to get the opinion of the narrator. The whole book has a stories-within-stories feel but very well done. There's also a delightful vignette about a man who falls in love with a mannequin.
Namdrol on 13/11/2009 at 07:33
Quote Posted by Andarthiel
Is it as long as Romance of the Three Kingdoms because that is some heavy reading(beats Tolkien in size and scale).
It's a 4 volume set and I've only seen the 1st volume. But it's big...
It's better known as "Monkey" which was one of my favourite programs as kid.
Stitch, what about Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa?
It's
the classic samurai novel.
Epic in length and subject. It was originally written for a newspaper in serial form and each chapter is self contained little gem.
SubJeff on 13/11/2009 at 09:20
Stitch - Fucking Book of The New Sun.
4 books but it could have been one big one. Its not really fantasy and its not really science fiction. Its also very odd, very sad (if you've ever loved a woman) and uses an interesting literary device in a very interesting way. Its rated highly by many sci fi and fantasy authors of good standing and I'm pimping it hard because it seems I'm the only TTLGer who has read it and when its mentioned I want at least one other person replying/thinking "Hell yes".
I haven't read The Farseer stuff but the name is equal to The Kingkiller Chronicles. At least New Sun has an awesome name ffs. :mad:
Thirith on 13/11/2009 at 10:36
I'm currently reading China Miévilles The Scar. I enjoy the writer, although occasionally his love for weird vocabulary gets the better of him. So far The Scar is great, though; it's tighter and less Grand Guignol than Perdido Street Station (which I love), feeling like a steelier Miéville tale. So far it's less political than the other novels I've read.
