Metal Reviews

I'd just like to thank everyone here who suggested A Song of Ice and Fire. Just got done reading A Feast for Crows. I have to say this is my favorite series of books to date. Now reading The Watchman.

The Seventh Scroll by Wilbur Smith. His Egyptian series OWN. River God, Seventh Scroll, Warlock, The Quest, all awesome.

From them I learned that the Egyptians believed that the Milky Way was the result of Amon Ra jacking off. That's fucking metal right there.

Damn... Still, going to Greece is awesome. How long are you there for, and why are you going?

And I'm going to go between both your friends. There were aspects of the ending I liked, and aspects I didn't. Verity's sacrificeis poignant, as is Fitz's final isolation (though maybe not so final... I hear the Tawny Man trilogy is about him too). On the other hand, there was too little resolution. We spend the whole book travelling with Fitz and trying to figure everything out and then the whole Regal and Red Ships plotlines are resolved in about ten pages, with some of the most important aspects of the trilogy, like forging, explained in a paragraph as an afterthought. The dragons kind of just felt like a deus ex machina, especially when after Verity's sacrifice, Fitz was able to wake about 50 of them with the greatest of ease- so what was the point?

But all in all, a good trilogy. It had its weak points, though (most notably Regal, who was a pretty bad villain, as well as the aforementioned quick resolution). 8/10 for the trilogy, 8/10 for Apprentice, 9/10 for Royal Assassin, and 7/10 for Assassin's Quest.

Well it's home and I'm done studying so I'm going back.. maybe forever .. maybe until I get sick of it and move someplace else.



I totally agree with you on your views about the ending. I felt the same things. Still, I enjoyed it very very much. I haven't had the chance to read the next trilogy though. Maybe sometime later.

Oh and I just bought the following two books:
Roger Zelazny - The Chronicles of Amber (Fantasy Masterworks #6)
Timothy Zahn - The Icarus Hunt

I hope they are as good as they sound, look and as I herd.

Only Zahn I've read are his Star Wars books way back in the day. From what I remember, they were the only star wars books that can perhaps be called somewhat decent. Never heard anything about his non SW books.

Boissier- Cicero and his Friends: A Study of Roman Society in the Time of Caesar

Both him and RA Salvatore wrote decent SW novels and that is an impressive feat.

I'm now starting to get into CS Lewis. I bought his "Signature Set" on Amazon.com, and I will begin reading it when it comes in this week.

I dunno. I thought Shadows Of The Empire was a fun read, even though Prince Xizor was probably more like Jabba The Hutt than Darth Vader. And some things, like a plant shop in an underground mall, didn't seem very "Star Wars"-ie to me.

Oh ya, that book was pretty good (though I hated the fact that a major character died by smashing into a... rock)- there was also a pre star wars Han solo trilogy that was pretty good. Still, I can't believe how much of those crappy books I read as a kid.

Also read the Han Solo trilogy sadly.

Just finished Charles Bukowski's 'Tales of Ordinary Madness'. A really good collection of plotless, stream of consciousness short stories.

Now reading:

AJ Ayer - Language, Logic and Truth
Nietzsche - Ecce Homo
Henry Miller - Tropic of Cancer

Currently reading:

Gene Wolfe - The Knight (1st book of the Wizard Knight)

I've been looking forward to reading some Wolfe, so I just bought the first two books of the Book of the New Sun (in one lovely volume). How are you enjoying him?

Is it "The Shadow and the Claw" ? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-New-Sun-Fantasy-Masterworks/dp/1857989775
I have this volume and the next one. Honestly and seriously, I will not try to use adjectives in the next few sentences because I simply don't feel worthy enough to praise Gene Wolfe's masterpieces. I simply feel those are two (or four) of the best books I've ever read. At first it may feel a bit strange or slow or too weird but keep on reading and you will never regret it. And at times, it's also worth reading aloud, Wolfe's writing is that beautiful.
As for "The Knight" it's still too early to make comments (page 70) but eventhough it feels like a very simplistic fairytale I'm strangely compelled to keep on reading whenever I get the chance.

I've read the first Han Solo book (The Paradise Snare) and enjoyed it. Although the ending was kind of lame. I haven't read the other two books.

Truce At Bakura I tried reading many times, but the book just bored me. Sad, too, since the story (taking place immediately after Return Of The Jedi) had so much potential.

Getting into books I actually enjoy, I've just started reading Mere Christianity by CS Lewis.

Truce at Bakura did suck. I read so many of those dismal novels.

Yep, Shadow and the Claw it is. Your recommendation pretty much confirms everything everyone else has been saying about it, so I can't wait to read it.

Scott Bakker- Neuropath

Apparently the most disturbing fiction book I will ever read. So far it hasn't dissapointed, with an incredibly frightening scene in which the villain alters a woman's brain so that she receives sexual pleasure while her head is being sawed open, causing her to ask for more. Daaaaaaamn.

So I started reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy today, and damn, it's one of the toughest things I've ever read. I think noodles mentioned earlier that he read it all in a day, and I don't know how the fuck he did that...it's written in sentence fragments with minimal description and lots of metaphors so you basically have to concentrate on each word just to pick up what's going on. Still, I'm gonna read further (just 25 pages in) because it's supposed to be amazing and so far it is quite good, just really difficult.

Callisto by Torsten Krol