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Indeed. I managed about one-third and now I've given up again. The sudden, unexplained trip to space was the straw that broke the camel's back.I read this trilogy ages ago and for the life of me I can’t remember any of it. So that tells you something I guess. I mean I do have a bad memory, but I can usually remember at least how a book made me feel. And all I remember was that the cyber-ideas were interesting. I think Gibson throws a bit too much into his stories with multiple threads and chars and lots of ideas. Which is fine, but it makes the stories go wide, not deep.
I love both authors, but I'm on the other side of that fence.Over the past month I have just revisited the entire Hitchhiker's Guide series. Never grow tired of it. Sublime.
Last time I did this was probably ten years ago and since then, joining Litopia in the interim, I have been pointed in the direction of Terry Pratchett's stuff.
Now I know this won't be a popular opinion, but I have to say I think Adams has it in spades over Sir TP. For me Pratchett's work is far too meandering and unfocused. Whacky for whackiness sake. None of his characters can seem to walk from A to B without a multitude of diversions as a device to crowbar in some kind of, at best, an occasionally moderately amusing joke.
Please, fellow Litopians, don't hate me. You know who you areI really so wanted to love his stuff. But sadly... for me it's a no.
Being honest, of the seven titles of his I have read, I have warmed to only two. I have found the other five irritatingly convoluted. To the point of just having bailed on Moving Pictures after 3 chapters this very day. As with the others, I lost all interest in the characters and the plot. But in this case I now can't be bothered to care to struggle to the end.
And please hear me out. I've given Sir TP a good go. And, sure, he's not in any way terrible, he's just not just my cup of Darjeeling. In comedy terms I feel he's rather twee - sort of the Two Ronnies v the sharp, cutting genius of The Office or Fr. Ted.
Maybe I have chosen the wrong titles - but, sad to say, I think I see a pattern forming that will never float my boat.
You didn't choose the wrong titles, but may have had the wrong expectations. Pratchett was primarily a satirist. The Discworld is a distorting mirror held up to our world, with savagely wise things to say about racism, power, business, religion and education in particular, but he casts his net wide.
As you may have guessed, I'm a bit of a Pratchett fan, but I do think Good Omens is a bit YA (I love it, but it's mostly surface), and The Colour of Magic is really only interesting to understand how the series develops. I love Unseen Academicals, although it's not universally popular amongst hard-core fans...Yeah, I got the satirical side of his stuff and I enjoyed Mort & Unseen Academicals a lot.
But the others I read, especially the TP & Neil Gaiman collaboration, Good Omens, and Discworld 1. The Colour of Magic, had me longing for the end even before getting halfway through them.
I realise I'm something of an outlier here on this subjectand maybe I might try something else, as I get 15 free hours audiobookery from Spotify each month.
Can you recommend any worth a punt.
Just finished re-reading Shades of Grey by Japer Fford (note the absence of 'Fifty').It's not that I'm stuck for reading anything at the moment, but it's nice to know what Litopians are reading - might provide valuable material for a writer or a pleasant diversion away from the genre s/he are writing in. I was going to say 'Bookshelf,' but that's recently been mentioned as a possible scam. But it would be quite nice to peruse our own 'Litopian Library' as an accompaniment to local bookshops/Amazon, etc.
Someone in the Welcome Lounge mentioned writing about walking the entire UK coast with his dog, and I asked whether he'd read The Salt Path and Five Hundred Mile Walkies.
No need to write a review, just author, title and genre (if not apparent).
I've just finished Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis a YA Horror. I'm now reading Colin Wilson's Ritual in the Dark (the terrifying thriller of murder most macabre) and for the past few months I've been dipping into Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies, Essays and Interview -Various Authors. The latter has been brilliant for ideas with my WiP and it led to me reading Colin Wilson who I'm enjoying and may never have otherwise discovered.
Anyway, just floating it out there.![]()
Thanks. Some of those subjects do resonate. Particularly the music related ones.Recommending something is difficult, as it will depend on your interests. Pratchett was amazing at getting into a world and subverting it from the inside... If you like opera (or operatic musicals such as Phantom of the Opera), I recommend Maskerade, if rock and roll, Soul Music, if you enjoy stories of the fae, Lords and Ladies (shades of The King of Elfland's Daughter) may interest you, and as a writer, the invention of printing in The Truth may resonate.
OK, I'm a quarter of the way through Red Side Story, and it isn't disappointing me. After a slightly dull start, Fforde is back on form, and I'm enjoying it tremendously.Just finished re-reading Shades of Grey by Japer Fford (note the absence of 'Fifty').
Published in 2011, it's a post-apocalyptic dystopian fantasy, which, quite frankly is generally not my thing at all. However, Fforde is a remarkable world-builder, and his strictly Rule-based Chromatographic (yes, you read that right) society is so real, normal and believable(!) that you find yourself in the world so completely that it has solidity.
Everyone's place in society is determined by their colour-perception. Those who can see Yellow are at the top, and the Greys are proles without family names. Truly immersive, it's a rollercoaster of a ride, and well worth the time.
I re-read it in preparation for reading the sequel, Red Side Story, which came out earlier this year...
I'm the same. I absolutely loved The Liveship Traders trilogy and went on to read The Assassin's Apprentice expecting to like that series just as much, but, like you, it was no more than OK so I didn't read the sequel. I remember most of The Liveship Traders trilogy but only snippets of The Assassin's Apprentice.I just finished reading "Assassin's Apprentice" by Robin Hobb.
I dunno. At no point did I think I wouldn't finish it. But I didn't love it. The plot meandered along. The MC didn't want anything for himself enough to go after it. He just accepted his lot in life as things were thrown at him. There were some cool magic systems in there, and some characters I liked, but the ending wasn't as satisfying as I wanted it to be. It kind of fell flat.
I'd be very curious to hear what others who read it thought.
Well, that was a ride! There were some wobbly bits early on, but with the clarity of full-colour hindsight, a gripping and entertaining read. The adventures of Eddie and Jane, taken up again by Fforde after more than a decade as a lost plot, spins its way to a most satisfying conclusion. As the book progresses, so does the confidence that it was worth writing, worth reading, and worth every scrap of red, and every spoon, it took to bring it all together. Sequels are rarely as good as the original; this is.OK, I'm a quarter of the way through Red Side Story, and it isn't disappointing me. After a slightly dull start, Fforde is back on form, and I'm enjoying it tremendously.
Thanks for the sanity check Hannah!I'm the same. I absolutely loved The Liveship Traders trilogy and went on to read The Assassin's Apprentice expecting to like that series just as much, but, like you, it was no more than OK so I didn't read the sequel. I remember most of The Liveship Traders trilogy but only snippets of The Assassin's Apprentice.
Just checked the reviews: no further words published, BUT the average has sunk from the 5* single review at the time I filed mine mysteriously to 3.2*. (Is this 5+2, divided by 2 = 3.5?? Or possibly 5+2 +3 averaged = 3.2??)I'm testing Amazon with a 2* review for Craig Brown's Voyage Around the Queen.