I think they will be quite happy to let this quiet little forum continue on with only the lightest of touches on the rudder from time to time...http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...miles/wink.gif

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Mouse

[This message has been edited by Mouse (edited 09-14-2001).]

Im kind of uncertain what to review next but well Ill take a shot with John le Carre's The spy who came in from the cold.

To start with I supose I should begin by screaming at the top of my voice READ THIS BOOK NOW because to be utterly frank its bloddy excellent. Everything about this book is truly wonderful the imagry is stunning le carre paints pictures with the ease you and I see them in real life. His description is masterful showing what he thinks behind the visions he presents us with which make everything utterly coherent and at the same time fluid something very few authors achive.

The charecters give everything I want from a book , they are so touching and human, and then all of them by turns are vicous or stupid. The people within these pages I cared about, they were bewildering in the complex plot but without a doubt never anything but believalble as they tried to balance morals with their emotions and their duty in a grey world that cares nothing for them that only tests them to see if they will break. Most especially the main charecter as he tried to get out of everything he hated still trying for revenge.

The plot as I stated is very complex with many many layers of deception and duplicity, this was made worse(or rather better) by the fact we dont really get into his head for a while so we merley try to understand from observation. I found that the level of detail for technicality here was something only Le Carre could have provided with his background in Intelligance and it really makes the book shine.

Through it all Le Carre is amazing in everything the book does, the pacing is some of the best Ive ever seen and while i could wibble on all night about it but i would much rather you go get the book. A review in one word? ok then : Masterpiece.

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[This message has been edited by jabidas (edited 09-14-2001).]

Well how can i resist then????? http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...les/icon20.gif

All right then...it will be the next book i read! Im almost done a copy of this book called Griffin & Sabine. Its an artistic knd of thing blending story with pictures, postcards on a page, removable letters etc. Its not too bad actually.

But I will hit the library this weekend and if not there...then the shops!

now I have tried reading those titles you mention but couldn't get into it....
I think my favorites are: Dead Zone, firestarter, the shining, it, and the green mile

aside from E. Cummings (now that's an interesting last name now I think of it...) and RASalvatore's books, are there any other books that has an appearance of drow? (good or bad I don't care)
it' doesn't have to be just Forgotten Realms

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bad homepage

The latest in an occasional series of brief reviews

The Fire Dragon by Katherine Kerr
Ohmigawd!!!!! Finally it looks like the Deverry Series may be coming to a conclusion. According to KK, it looks like there is only one book to go and everything will be wrapped up (and after only 14 books lol - Wingrove eat your heart out http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif ). I have been reading these books on and off for years. I don't know why, but I find them strangely appealing. Sort of like putting on a favourite pair of slippers.
There is nothing really groundbreaking in this book, it's fairly standard fantasy stuff, in fact not a great deal seems to happen at all, but because you tend to care about the characters, KK gets away with it. I suspect that the series finale is going to be a whizz bang all action blockbuster (or then again perhaps not lol).
A word of warning, this book and others in the series have multistranded plots running over different time periods where the major characters souls are tracked across different incarnations. This can make your head hurt http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...s/Eyecrazy.gif

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Regards

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Mouse

[This message has been edited by Mouse (edited 09-17-2001).]

Well this is what happens when I am off work ill – I read a lot!
Here are another two quick reviews. Unusually for me, they are both collections of short stories.

The Dream Archipelago by Christopher Priest
This is a bit of a strange one for me. Though I can appreciate the author’s craft, I found the individual stories strangely uninvolving. The major themes explored are loss and emotional desolation and the characters are all damaged goods to some extent or another. There is not a lot of cheer here, but I would not give it the thumbs down. Think gloomy Bradbury or Gene Wolfe a la “Fifth Head of Cerberus” and you kind of get the picture.

A Second Chance at Eden by Peter F. Hamilton
I just picked this up by chance. Lucky me! This is the sort of sci-fi that reminds me why I started reading the genre in the first place. Intelligent and insightful without being hectoring or over elaborate, this is makes me want to go out and hunt down more of the author’s writing. In brief, this is a collection of differing short stories set within an alternative timeline. It contains amongst others, a detective story, an entertaining twist on the rollerball/violent future sport theme and a whole slew of fresh ideas nicely presented. Good work Mr. Hamilton http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...iles/smile.gif

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Regards

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Mouse

[This message has been edited by Mouse (edited 09-18-2001).]

Thanks Mouse.

The Hamilton SF book sounds pretty cool. What year was it published?

Jabidas I checked for Le Carres book at the library today and couldnt find it. But maybe it was because i spelt his last name as one word?!??! I'll try again tomorrow as: LE CARRE. If no luck i'll start to hit the used shops.

Mouse, I havent read that Peter Hamilton book but have read some of his stuff. I liked Mindstar Rising, the first in a three book series which I enjoyed a lot. The main protagonist is Greg Mandel, a former member of the Mindstar Battalion who is now a private investigator. He is hired by a large corporation and the story goes on form there. The series is pretty much 3 separate stories but with common characters. I thoroughly recomend them. I also read books 1 and 2 of The Reallity Disfunction series. The first two were ok but I put the third one down after awhile. He should have wrapped that one up in two books I think.

I have a couple reviews coming, one good, one bad that I'll try to post soon. Hope all 6 of us read it http://www.ironworksforum.com/ubb/no...les/tongue.gif

I suppose that as long as we talk about books, it's okay. If this thread started on politics or so, though, then I suppose they'd help. And if we only talked about Fantasy RPG books here, it'd be boring, to be honest.
Does anyone here read Shadowrun? It's a very interesting sci-fi RPG series, however I can't bring up the energy to summarize it right now.

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Kazara

Sapphire Dragoness of ALSB
Waitress at Cloudy's Cafe