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Demigod

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True. But it must be said Jordan never says something in a hundred words if a thousand will do, and he seems to have serious issues with women.

 

I’ve read then for the story line rather than the books themselves if that makes sense. The story has promise but from book seven, and to some degree before that, he has mired it in unnecessary wordage and extraneous plot.

 

I just hope the next book is as good as a new spring ( the prequel I got the name wrong above)

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  • 1 year later...

Dragging up an old thread here, and some of you may think this is sissy, but I've just finished reading "The time travelers wife" by Audrey Niffenegger and it would have to be the most captivating literature I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Any of you guys familiar with it?

 

I'm not a book reader at all usually, but having a look through this thread, I'm certainly gonna put some Neil Gaiman on order for christmas time. Sounds right up my street... any recommendations from people?

Cheers

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Just finished reading Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett (passable, but not his best IMO), and the Black Magician Trilogy by Trudi Canavan (pretty good, and I think they're her first published books).

 

I'm also most of the way through The Dark Mirror, the first book in the Bridei Chronicles by Juliet Marillier, which is very good; it's set in ancient Britain and revolves around druidic practises and mythology. Very dark, very well written.

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I still recommend the Ice and Fire series by George R R Martin. It's far superior to more popular fantasy series such as Jordan and Goodkind produce.

Also Bernard Cornwell for books based more in historical fact. His 'Sharpe' series is the best known, but he's written a lot of other great books based on all periods of English history, manly based around various real historical wars. The archer trilogy based on the travels of a Longbowman on the search for the grail set in and around the battle of Agincourt is a great read. No one writes better battle scenes. You get a real gritty flavour of what those nose to nose medieval melee slaughters must have been like.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

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You've read all 4 books already? Do you read books in English or do you get a German translation?

What are book stores like in Germany, is there a large English section with books all in their native English? I imagine there are a lot of Germans who can read English and would prefer to read them like that.

The next in the series should be out in a few months, and I can't wait. At least this is a definite 7 book seres with a structure and ending and he isn't going to go on endlessly cashing in on it like Jordan.

Martin actually laid out the basis of whole plot for all 7 books before he even started, while it's obvious that Jordan is just making it up as he goes along.

Tyrion's actually a decent guy really, so it's not a bad comparison :)

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

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I still recommend the Ice and Fire series by George R R Martin. It's far superior to more popular fantasy series such as Jordan and Goodkind produce.

Jordan has become the milkmaster of the fantasy series reader. I lost my last ounce of interest in book #7 after reading it felt like nothing was achieved or progressed for the major or supporting characters. I'm amazed in retrospect that I hung on for as many as I did :angry:

 

The series you mentioned has been recommended by a buddy of mine. What are the 4 books so far and their sequence?

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A Game of Thrones

A Clash of Kings

A Storm of Swords

A Feast for Crows

 

It's not typical fantasy, it's heavily character based with political intrigue and regular warfare rather than magic swords and fireballs, also be prepared for your favourite characters to die unexpectedly at any minute, this is not the sort of book where the main characters get though all sort of tight corners with a few scratches, just in time to be ready to barely scrape though the next close call.

 

I also followed Goodkind's Sword of Truth series even though it's been going downhill, but at least there is only one book to go in that series, and it started off with a really great book, Wizard's First Rule, which at least gave me some impetus to stick with the series on the basis that he might reach that level again.

I really can't understand why anyone would have bothered with the Wheel of Time series at all, I managed most of the first book, but I found it heavily derivative, tedious, and not even well written.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

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You've read all 4 books already? Do you read books in English or do you get a German translation?

 

Yes. I usually read most books in English. Especially fantasy is not so nice in german IMO. English language fits it much better.

 

What are book stores like in Germany, is there a large English section with books all in their native English?

 

Don't know. Before the internet was available there was a big book stoer in Vienna with a very good enligsh section, but nowadays I usually order on Amazon.

 

I imagine there are a lot of Germans who can read English and would prefer to read them like that.

 

Me for example. :)

 

The next in the series should be out in a few months, and I can't wait. At least this is a definite 7 book seres with a structure and ending and he isn't going to go on endlessly cashing in on it like Jordan.

 

Well, that's what I hope. Jordan also didn't start with the intention of letting it go... :)

 

Martin actually laid out the basis of whole plot for all 7 books before he even started, while it's obvious that Jordan is just making it up as he goes along.

 

That might be. He claims otherwise, but I guess he wouldn't tells us that. ;)

 

Tyrion's actually a decent guy really, so it's not a bad comparison :)

 

I know. In the beginning I didn't like him, but in fact when he developed he became a very decent guy. I also didn't mean this as in insult, but that was just like it happened when I read it. :)

Gerhard

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Jordan has become the milkmaster of the fantasy series reader. I lost my last ounce of interest in book #7 after reading it felt like nothing was achieved or progressed for the major or supporting characters. I'm amazed in retrospect that I hung on for as many as I did :angry:

 

I still hope that it will continue any time soon, with a decent finished, but I don't hold my breath either.

 

Actually up to #7 it's not so bad, but after that it starts to drag a lot. And when a new book comes out I've lost track, so I would have to reread them. The first ones I like to read, but it's really a pain for the latters. Last time I didn't even bother to reread because of that, and it took me quite some time until I managed to get back in. But still, as you said, there is almost no progress.

 

In fact with the Fire and Ice story, I had the impression that the author also got a bit to broad with all his plots, but he managed to get it back on track. I was quite shocked with the way he did it, but it was still consistent, so there is no complaint. Only a small one. :) I would have rather liked one of the characters to survive, but I don't want to spoil it for you. :)

 

There is not much magic in his books, but the way how the live is protraid sounds quite good and realistic. Not so touched with extreme honour and cleanliness as on other books. In many books the heroes are perfect white and the bad guys perfectly bad, but in Martins books they seem to be much broader than that with all kind of shades depending on their current situation and goals.

Gerhard

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Yes, Martin's writing is refreshing in many ways, also the narrative structure not having chapters, but just having sections that follow events from the perspective of one character, and sometimes you see the same events being interpreted differently by two characters.

I'm not sure if this has been done before in a novel, but I haven't read any like this.

I like the idea of main characters dying along the way, it's quite shocking at times, simply because you are so used to books and movies where the main characters always survive to the end and live happily ever after, no matter how unrealistic it is.

 

IF you like this sort of gritty and realistc world, where peope are neither good nor bad, but just do what they have to do, you will also like Bernard Cornwell's books.

You should at least read the Archer's Tale trilogy - Vagabond, Harlequin and Heretic.

George R R Martin is also a fan of Bernard Cornwell and recommends those books.

Civillisation will not attain perfection until the last stone, from the last church, falls on the last priest.

- Emil Zola

 

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Just out of curiosity, why is that? Is it something about grammar/vocabulary, or just a matter of what you associate with English/German?

 

First of all I always loved the english language, so I started to nag my parents for words when I was about 5. :) Later on I thought that reading would be a good way to improve my english as I hadn't had access to to many speakers. When I was younger I also watched all the movies in original language, which also helped a lot. And some movies are much better in the original version then synchronized (independent of their original language). The most extreme example that I watched was Officespace which is a very funny movie, but when I watched the german version with my wife it was horrible, because all the fun was taken out with the voices. Unfortunately my wife doesn't want to so original movies, so I don't see them so often now.

 

On the weekend I watched Red Dwarf in original and this is also hillarious. There is translation available so my wife can't complain (so much). :)

Gerhard

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That's interesting, because the first time I watched Run Lola run on DVD the default soundtrack was dubbed into English, which I didn't realise until afterwards, but I noticed that the voice didn't "fit" the character during the film. I then viewed it again using the German soundtrack with English subtitles and it was much better.

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That's interesting, because the first time I watched Run Lola run on DVD the default soundtrack was dubbed into English, which I didn't realise until afterwards, but I noticed that the voice didn't "fit" the character during the film. I then viewed it again using the German soundtrack with English subtitles and it was much better.

 

It's not only the dubbing. When the dialogues use a lot of play of words, or culture dependent jokes, tehn it's hard to translate. But in case of Officespace, I definitely could have done a better job to get the jokes across in some cases. Also the voices didn't fit, because a lot of fun came from the way the actors talked.

 

I can only recommend this movie to anybody, especially if he has an IT related background. :)

Gerhard

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