Compare some books you've read recently. Give one good book and one bad book. Discuss them and get feedback from others.

Noone is allowed to mention twilight as I'm trying to not start a trollfest

Good Book:

Wolf in shadow

Currently I've been reading a book called wolf in shadow. Its about a man by the name of Jon Shannow. The world has ended and he is searching for the lost land of Jerusalem. Its a pretty good book. So far I've read up to chapter 4. Which is pretty good for someone of my reading pace.

I cant put it down most of the time I pick it up. I think to myself. Ill just read a few pages then ill go to sleep. I check the clock half an hour later and I'm a chapter ahead. David Gemmell is definitly a good author.

Bad book:

Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases

Although I did enjoy the series and the manga this book... God I don't even know where to start with how awfully written it was. First of all it begins to repeat itself. I managed to figure out where it was going by the second repetition of "Hey, you know what we should do? Go to the next crime scene" and just describing L's general behaviour. I feel they got that quite well but before I could get any further through it, it just became a shit storm of confusion. I got lost in the plot and ended up with a conclusion in my head that L was the murderer and was just under the guise of a detective. Obviously either I was completely wrong or the book is just messed up enough to turn L into the criminal just to fuck with our heads.

So anyway, if you have any comment on these books share it. Tell us about your books or just start a flame war because you didnt like the book i did or you're too much of an obsessive fanatic about the book i chose for my bad book to let it be criticised.

GB: 2061: Odyssey Three

It used a lot of big words I don't understand, but I loved it. Very sci-fi, which I like.

BB: The Outsiders

BORING AND STUPID.

I can't give feedback since I've read none of these...

Actually, I believe I read The Outsiders back in highschool, but I don't recall much about it. I remember thinking that it was pretty good in-spite of myself...

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Two books I've read recently, both by Leo P Kelly.



The Mythmaster.

I bought this because I wanted to read some funky 1970's SciFi. Unfortunately Kelly's writing style is extremely clumsy, it's sort of like:
"Shannon went to the door because he heard knocking, so then he opened the door to see who was doing the knocking that he had heard on the door. He reached out and opened the door and the knocking stopped. It was Starson behind the door, it was he who had been knocking on the door, Shannon could tell because Starson still had his fist raised to knock at the door."
I'm paraphrasing the style there, you won't literally find that passage in the book, but it really IS that painful at times throughout- needless repetition and far too much explanation in descriptions.
The story is about a psychotic amoral space pirate called Shannon. He used to be the executive officer on a peacekeeping military patrol vessel, but lost his job because of a compassionate attempt to save some prisoners that endangered his ship and crew. So he developed into a man who doesn't care for anything or anyone. As the Mythmaster, he and his crew raid planetary populations by first dropping hallucinogenic pellets from the air (the Mythmaster drug), landing in pods and selectively harvesting genetic material from the captive population. In the initial sequence they remove fertilised eggs from newly pregnant women. He then delivers his bounty to specialist clients. The main thrust of the story is Shannon's fight against his slowly reforming humanity/conscience brought about by a complex and strange love triangle between himself, his gay astrogator Starson, and Starson's prostitute ex-wife Reba Carlo.
(A copy and paste of my review for Amazon)
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And, The Man From Maybe (aka Time : 110100)



This one was a LOT better, at least everything until the ending. The ending was a bit of a let down. -_-
In the beginning, a man is awoken from stasis accidentally by a black bird escaping from a storm. A tree is brought down by lighting and crashes through the door to the building in which the man is housed... The bird was in the tree at the time. It flies around inside the building in panic and gets caught up in some wires, which results in them disconnecting from the man's stasis coffin.
Anyway, after he wakes, he knows nothing, not even his name. Naked, he goes out into the world outside to find out who he is. There he encounters various simulacrums- human robots with bizarre, exaggerated personalities. The forst one he meets calls himself "The Studmaster", a tall athletic tanned man with sort cropped blonde hair, dressed in a stretchy skintight fitting suit, bare at the arms, with a great big codpiece. Studmaster lives up to his description, being comically addicted to sex with an infinite variety and female simulacra that he's able to dial up on a computer, like a vending machine. He names the man "Smith".
And so begins Smith's voyage of self discovery as he encounters others with strangely symbolic and over exaggerated parasitic character traits- lust for War, Self pity, Fantasy, Narcissism, Fatalism, Self justification, and so on.
With the help of "Rachel", a human woman he meets, they try to unravel the mystery of the world they find themselves in.

This is all very interesting and at times extremely amusing, especially when "Marsman" (a simulacra with a lust for war and conflict) decides to foist his conservative opinions on Studmaster's bevy of willing sex-bots. He converts them all to chastity, abstinence and good family values, much to Studmaster's abject horror and dismay. :)
It's really fun to see these aspects of human character traits illustrated and expanded upon like that and the persistent mystery of the world provides a driving interest.

...Unfortunately it all turns a little disappointing at the end when the mystery is uncovered and we find out what actually happened. It strips away a lot of the magic that the surreal adventures with the robotic people were building up. But overall it's a LOT better written then Mythmaster and a much better book overall.

ozoneocean
Actually, I believe I read The Outsiders back in highschool, but I don't recall much about it. I remember thinking that it was pretty good in-spite of myself...

I don't even read books. Well, I mean for fun, and out of my own will. Aside from Graphic novels/comic books anywho. But I read that freshman year (because we had to pick a book to read, and my friend suggested it) and I actually really liked it. There was something about it, I can't quite explain. But it's one of those books I could actually imagine what was going on.

Much unlike the books we've read this year in my school, all old British/English novels, which very different language. Which makes it even harder for me to understand, especially for someone who doesn't read to begin with. Right now we're finishing up on Frankenstein, and personally, I don't like it.

Good:

The Stand - Good boy King. Goooood Boy. I like almost all of Kings things. Favorite author. Not saying the book didn't have some bad points (like the 70 something page long denounment and stupid goddamn Fran/Nadine/killing Harold!!!...I liked Lauder...he was crazy...and stupid...and an AWESOME character at times!)

Bad:

Wicked - Didn't like as expressed in my review on the art and lit forums. Kinda read it a while ago but, whatever. Did like musical though...minus the happy ending and stupid Fr...Fiyero. He was the worst of all. Lameness made the show good. Idioticness made book boring...and three weeks of reading...suffering to get through it.

Good Book:
The Stupidest Angel
Where do I begin? It's about a boy in California who thought he saw someone kill Santa. And now Christmas is ruined! But what's this! A cerebrally challenged angel has the mission of granting one child a Christmas wish...and this boy wishes that Santa were alive again.
And Zombie Santa counts.
So really, how could it NOT be awesome? I mean, this is the opening line,
"Christmas crept into Pine Cove like a creeping Christmas thing: dragging garland, ribbon, and sleigh bells, oozing eggnog, reeking of pine, and threatening festive doom like a cold sore under the mistletoe."

Bad Book:
World Without End
Oh god, where do I begin? I forced myself to finish this book to prove to myself that I had the attention span to do so. Every time you think something is actually about to happen...it doesn't. In fact, they push off ALL the mysteries into the sequels. This book could have easily been a third of the length without losing anything. And I can't bring myself to read the sequel because it's just not worth wading through all the filler to find out what's going on.

ImaginaryGirl
Bad Book:
World Without End

Is this the Ken Follet one that is sort of a sequel to the cathedral one? I loved the first one, but the one after that (the one I think you are talking about) was utter garbage. It was like the first book all over again, except he changed the characters' names, and gave them nothing to do and no conflict to resolve. 700 pages of that, awesome.

skoolmunkee

ImaginaryGirl
Bad Book:
World Without End

Is this the Ken Follet one that is sort of a sequel to the cathedral one? I loved the first one, but the one after that (the one I think you are talking about) was utter garbage. It was like the first book all over again, except he changed the characters' names, and gave them nothing to do and no conflict to resolve. 700 pages of that, awesome.

Hah! No...apparently there are two books with the same title. this is the one I read.

Good Book
Dewey -
Great things about this book, it's got a cat! Basically Dewey is the the true story of a Library, the town, and a Librarian. It's a great read, light, easy to get through and chocked full of awww moments. There are tears and worries and Dewey is such a great animal and while I'm doing it little justice in this blurb I suggest if you just want a nice hot cocoa book, grab Dewey.

Bad Book
The Crimson Shadow-

Yeah halfway through this book I realized it is again another R.A Salvatore "MY D*** is bigger than your D***!" book. Chocked full of bad fantasy pitfalls and changing emotional states and teenage angst. The book starts off well enough but by part two degrades into a story that is less about political intrigue and a Robin Hood knock off, and more into a prostrating man and "Who can the man character bed now?" book. I Became so disgusted with the book I turned it in early to the library.

Mitaukano
Bad Book
The Crimson Shadow-

Yeah halfway through this book I realized it is again another R.A Salvatore "MY D*** is bigger than your D***!" book. Chocked full of bad fantasy pitfalls and changing emotional states and teenage angst. The book starts off well enough but by part two degrades into a story that is less about political intrigue and a Robin Hood knock off, and more into a prostrating man and "Who can the man character bed now?" book. I Became so disgusted with the book I turned it in early to the library.

Youch. I tried so hard to like R.A Salvatore but his book simply made me bang my head against the wall. At least I know I'm not alone in this.

Anyways,
Good Book

Malazan Book of the Fallen; Gardens of the Moon.

HOLY SHIIIIIEEET. This is by far the best fantasy book I've read so far in my entire life. Erikson (The Author) dumps you into the world and absolutely refuses to treat his readers like brain dead morons. It is confusing at the start and you need to read some parts a few times but it has a helluva epic payoff by the end with nice believable characters. I had trouble decided who I liked reading about the most. Everyone was badass. The Gods were badass. The Mortals were badass. The fat mage was badass. The narrative jumps around a lot as we follow around... 10 main characters. Well, more than that. I never went "Aww... I don't wanna read about this guy now.." why? Because something was always happening with every character. Everyone was always doing something, and everyone was interesting. There are a few big twists too that I didn't see coming whatsoever. Anyone can die but the deaths are never cheap. This was a Fantasy book done right and I can't believe that the author has managed to crank out these so quickly with such high quality of writing. I strongly recommend this book to anyone and everyone especially those who enjoy Fantasy. Just stick with it and you're in for a treat.


Bad Book
Wheel of Time.

Whuh? Buh. I fell asleep reading this. I honestly can't believe how big a fanbase this book series has when it's pretty much every cliche stitched together. Nothing happened in this book that I did not see coming five chapters away. It takes around 5 chapters for the characters to actually leave their hometown. The dialogue is annoying, it takes 200 pages to travel from city to city (some chapters consisted of them going to an inn, having nightmares, waking up then leaving. That is literally ALL THAT HAPPENS AT TIMES.) With 200 or so pages left in this doorstopper shitfest I threw the book away. I didn't want to read anymore because I wanted every single character to die horribly in a fire, and I knew it wasn't possible considering there is something like 14 books left. People tell me it starts getting interesting in the second book. That is too long to wait. Malazan was a book where I didn't understand things at first but it gradually became more clear and interesting. In Wheel of Time everything was clear at the start. The problem was NOTHING HAPPENED. EVER. AGH.

JabberwockyJones
People tell me it starts getting interesting in the second book

No, it doesn't. The series continues downhill from the first novel. You're right about the stitching together stuff, it borrows heavily from a lot of sources- Lord of the Rings at the start, although a lot of epic fantasy copies that one, but also Dune, which isn't typical. The Aiel (or whatever they're called) are the Freemen from Dune.
The rest of the series focuses heavily on how boys are stupid because girls are wise with shared secret knowledge... and how girls are frustrating and will never do what you tell them. Entire chapters are devoted to teeny boy-girl arguments and histrionics.
Awful.

I liked the Outsiders. Especially after the awful stuff I had to read later in school. Like Jane Austen books.

Good Book - The Phantom Tollbooth. It's for kids, but as a kid I liked it.

Bad Book - Anything by Jane Austen. But specifically, Pride and Prejudice. I didn't like it because I'm not a girl.

ImaginaryGirl
Good Book:
The Stupidest Angel

Woo-hoo! A Christopher Moore fan. One of my favorite authors. Besides the whole premise of that book, I love the part where a zombie gets a face full of lasagna and complains something to the effect of, "You know I can't eat cheese! It binds me up!" Zombies with constipation concerns = comedy.

To stay on topic. . . .

Good Book:

Although I'm reading "Bite Me" now (Chris Moore's newsest), I haven't finished it yet. So, I'll instead say "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal," also by Christopher Moore. The book is hilarious, touching, and intelligent. In fact, it starts with the angel from The Stupidest Angel raising Biff and telling him it's time to write his Gospel. Biff, as Jesus's best friend since childhood, relates the journey the two of them undertook as Jesus tries to discover what the heck he's supposed to do as Messiah. His journey takes him from Arab mysticism, to Hinduism, to Buddhism before he finally puts the pieces together of what exactly he's supposed to do. Expect the typical Moore insanity and hilarity. Great, snappy dialogue, and well realized characters. One of my favorite books, period.

Bad Book:

"The Sigma Protocol" by Robert Ludlam. It's been years since I read this, so my memory is very sketchy. On the positive side, even though the story was your typical conspiracy thriller type stuff (something that doesn't generally interest me, and the only reason I started reading the book was because it was a gift), I never got bored or stopped reading it. In fact, overlooking a lot of plot implausibilities, it was a fun read. However, the plot was ridiculous and the writing was very poor. There's one segment where two of the main characters are having a conversation, and you can pick up on the main character being conflicted over what he's being told. Then, after 2 or 3 pages of this, Ludlam has a line that right out says how the character is feeling conflicted over what he's being told. I almost threw the book right there. I mean, Ludlam is far from a masterful writer, but that line just felt like padding that he might've used to write through potential writer's block and should have been enthusiastically excised in a later draft or by a competent editor. I tend to be a stickler for good writing. In fact, I can read a boring story if I enjoy the writing and can totally ignore a good story if it's written poorly. This story falls into that latter category, although the story is very outlandish and almost laughable in its thriller plot stereotypes.

Good book

The reality dysfunction by Peter F hamilton

Sci fi epic. A massive book and the beginning of one of the best space operas ever IMO. It uses a lot of pre existing and well used ideas as well as some new and weaves them together masterfully.

Bad book.

oh don't read many bad books, I usually stop reading them pretty early the last one was

Hidden empire by Kevin J Anderson
book one of the saga of the seven suns.

A lot of people have told me thgat it is a great sci fi series but I was bored to tears by the non characters, the silly concepts and just plain unconvinvcing setting. That and the really bland prose.

ozoneocean

JabberwockyJones
People tell me it starts getting interesting in the second book

No, it doesn't. The series continues downhill from the first novel. You're right about the stitching together stuff, it borrows heavily from a lot of sources- Lord of the Rings at the start, although a lot of epic fantasy copies that one, but also Dune, which isn't typical. The Aiel (or whatever they're called) are the Freemen from Dune.
The rest of the series focuses heavily on how boys are stupid because girls are wise with shared secret knowledge... and how girls are frustrating and will never do what you tell them. Entire chapters are devoted to teeny boy-girl arguments and histrionics.
Awful.

I thought Dune was very straight forward fantasy stuff, very good but certainly more star wars than actual sci fi.

I actually like the wheel of time books. But if you aren't enjoying it by halfway through the first book then don't bother.

Personally I really like the detail and the slow pace, as long as you aren't hurrying to reach the end. The last bit about the women and men... spot on, that and the politicking does get a bit tiresome.

Good book:

Angela Carter "Nights at the Circus" - on the surface it's pure grotesque, with a cast of bizarre characters like an alleged bird-woman and a whole bunch of clowns and circus-people, touring through Europe of the 19th century. Deep down, however, it's full of great insights in psychology, sociology and human condition. BAD condition. It's inteligent, it's funny, and doesn't shy from explicit humor either. For anyone out there who likes the Dresden Dolls and Evelyn Evelyn, you're going to love this one.

Bad book:

Elizabeth Kostova "The Historian" - it's so bad I actually stopped reading it. And I don't usually do that. Once I start, I have to finish the book. But there are books you just hate the moment you start reading them. The writer's style itself made me grind my teeth. I gave up after 80 pages. 80 pages of following a dull main character meeting other dull characters, all of whom are ever so cheerful, always helpful and PERRRFECTLY educated in the field of history, especially Dracula - regardless of whether they be academic professors or hotel owners. All of them talk like it's Elizabethian times again - but they prefer to communicate through letters. Cannot believe she got 2 MILLION BUCKS advance for that piece of genuine excrement.

Good Book
The Running Man - Actually really good and nothing like the shitty 80's action Schwarzenegger movie adaptation. It knew how to work that suspense and social commentary.

Bad Book
The Best Cat Ever - Fuck the best cat ever. Fuck it in its best ass ever.

GOOD BOOK: Twilight
omfg it was like 2 GOOOD. I just kept raeding it and than I red it again and agan. I even read the hole season backwardas! It was even betta! Edward is super hawt! OMFG!! lol

BAD BOOK: The Catcher in the Rye
It was soooooo gay.

gggaaaaayyyyyyy.

Ha...

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Bad book-

Day Of Wrath, by Brian Stableford.
I don't know for sure weather it truly IS a bad book though, because the start of it is so awful that I had to stop reading to protect my brain. It's a SciFi story about some villain that goes back to the past in order to mess up the future utopia where he comes from. Someone else goes back to stop him and fails or something, I dunno. This book is the third part of a trilogy apparently. From what I can work out the story of what goes on after the villian messes up the world is based on Homer's Illiad. It has an enormous forward you have to read... all the characters have names like "Mark Hawkangel" "Darkscar of Despair", Alexander Rainstar", "Christopher Blackstar", "Ralph Egalheart" etc.

Gaaaaah!!!! Stupid emo kiddy 14 year old fantasy name overload! @___@


Good Book

The Blue World, by Jack Vance.
Now, for a start I just LOVE the way Vance writes dialogue! No matter the social status or education of the character, they always speak in such a beautifully correct and educated way- not too flowery with unnecessary elaboration, just perfectly and with subtle humour.

Anyway, this book was a good example of that, but I didn't like it just for the dialogue alone- It's a SciFi story about a small settlement of people who are the 12th generation of the survivors of a crash landing on an ocean planet. Their ansestors had been criminals on their way to a prison planet, till they hijacked the ship... They all live on giant floating vegetation on the sea (there's no land anywhere). It's one of those marvellous stories about survivor settlements, like Robinson Crusoe in space. They have no metal for building materials so they use the native vegetation, the fish, and even the bones of their own dead to makes things from in all sorts of ingenious ways, and towards the end there's even some primitive science - they refine metal from their own blood and the native plant life by rigging up a clever solar furnace and even manufacture crude generators and batteries...

The plot of the story concerns a sort of a priest class and their wish to maintain the orthodoxy of their culture as well as their own prestige and privilege- and the efforts of some clever, ambitious people who want to improve things for the better.
Basically, there are these giant water creatures they call Kragens, they're like giant squid except they live near the surface. They often raid the human habitations of their food supplies and sometimes attack people. A few generations ago the people encountered a lager than normal kragen and decided to feed it rather then have it raid them. Over the years it became dependant on the people of the floats and got larger and larger, and t protected them from all the other kragen. During that time a new priest class developed who worked as intermediaries with this Kragan (called "King Kragen" ). They worked out a crude way to control it and this is where they got their power and prestige...

It's one of those books that you just can't put down, it's such a fantastic pleasure to read. ^___^