Karsa Orlong

It doesn't normally put me off - I like long books, after all - but this one is like a brick. The Book Depository info said it was 3.5cm thick, which sounded good to me, but it's nearly twice that in reality. I should have just waited, but I got impatient having read and enjoyed the start And now, in theory, it's only a couple of days until the new edition is released in hardback, which probably means the updated Kindle edition will appear as well If that happens, I will get the new Kindle version, because I really do want to read it, and this paperback will go to the Cancer Research shop, meaning I'll probably have ended up paying nearly £20 for the book in total I never learn

Welcome Sabry Yep. It's five pages of excitement surrounded by 1,000 pages of nothing much happening

Book #53: The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell From Amazon: Continuing the outstanding success of The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman is the second installment of Bernard Cornwell’s fantastic series, following the fate of Alfred the Great ,and the forging of Britain. Thoughts: The Amazon blurb was waaaaay too spoilery to post here in full (always a problem with a series!). I don't want to go into plot details, for the same reason. It picks up immediately in the wake of the climax of The Last Kingdom, as you might expect, so I'll leave it at that. What I can say is that I thought it was every bit as good, if not slightly better than, the first book. I love the easy flow of Cornwell's writing, to the point where I almost think of his books as a comfort read. This book focuses more closely on Alfred through the eyes of Uhtred and, whilst there didn't seem to be as much action as the first book, it allows for some great character development and it still moves at a cracking pace. Plus I think Cornwell pulls off something of a masterstroke in the final third of the book when he introduces a new character called Pyrlig, who brings some welcome humour to the novel. He is a larger than life individual who has some great, laugh-out-loud lines. The action is, of course, scary and visceral, and possibly even more effective for there being a bit less of it. This is the eighth of Cornwell's books that I have read, and I do think he has a formula, as much as any writer of so many books has. But I find it a winning formula, and it works better for me here than it did in the Grail Quest trilogy. If I do have one complaint about this book it is the rather abrupt ending. But then I know there's more to come, and I'm really looking forward to it. I liked Cornwell's 'historical note' at the end, too. He's always honest about the changes he makes to historical fact in order to serve his story, and they usually make sense in dramatic terms. Unlike Conn Iggulden, he doesn't completely re-write history to his own purposes. I had to laugh at the one and two star reviews on Amazon (few as they are) because none of them have anything to do with the book. Somebody gives it one star because they haven't received it, another because it wasn't available on Kindle at the time. Blah blah blah 9/10

And, in other news, I started Prince of Thorns this morning My 'historical fiction mode' came to an abrupt end

Going by the fifty-odd pages I read before stopping, I think I will like it. The secondhand paperback arrived yesterday evening, but I was dismayed at the size of the damn thing. I thought, being an old edition, it would be the old, smaller sized paperback format, but it's the newer bigger size, and it's about 6cm thick. Not one I can fit in my work bag too easily! So now I'm annoyed again, cos it wasn't cheap even secondhand, and wishing I'd waited for the Kindle edition to be updated This book is going to end up costing me about twice what it should have ETA: I should add that the edition they sent me was not the same one shown on the Amazon page.

Don't do it! Totally agree about Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, Ooshie. They are different gravy

Yeah, The Elenium and The Tamuli are also pretty good Bearing in mind that I first read The Belgariad thirty-odd years ago, when I was in my teens, I think the biggest compliment that I can pay Eddings (and not forgetting his wife and, at the time, uncredited co-writer, Leigh) is that I still remember all the characters so well. The best description of his writing I've seen is that it's 'comfort reading', which I think is true - certainly in comparison to the newer, grittier breed of fantasy

That happens a lot on here My advice with Eddings, for what it's worth - have a look at 'The Belgariad' but try before you buy. His books are wonderful, but they're aimed at a younger audience than your Eriksons, Martins and Abercrombies

Silk rules

No, I agree, his writing's not of the same quality as SE's. Yeah, we're having this conversation in the wrong thread I'll be interested to see what you think of FoD. Only about nine months until Fall of Light arrives . . .

I blame David Eddings for my love of fantasy - he was the one who got me started on it all about 30 years ago. It's all his fault

Yeah, I keep vowing that I'll finish the series I've already started before buying any others, then stuff like the 'Thorns' series comes along, which become 'musts' At the moment, I'm halfway through Glen Cook's 'Black Company' books, have recently finished R. Scott Bakker's 'Prince of Nothing' trilogy and want to read the next, about halfway through all of David Gemmell's books, got three of Ian C. Esslemont's 'Malazan Empire' books still to read, am five books into The Dresden Files,and so on. If only more fantasy authors were like Gemmell and Guy Gavriel Kay and wrote standalone books I re-read them all (apart from Reaper's Gale) in the lead up to The Crippled God, too. But that was nearly three years ago and now I want to re-read them again, although this time I'm going to insert the Esslemont novels at the appropriate places. But I need to get my TBR pile down to 50 first!

Aaaagh! Too many series, too little time I haven't read any of Sullivan's 'Ryria' books yet (assuming that's the author you mean), or Weeks. And I've had Rothfuss's first book sitting in my TBR pile for over three years and not read it yet

Oh I know that "look". I bet frankie gave you "the look". She's been giving me "the look" ever since I got here Iggulden's as good a place as any to start, I would think. He's not big on historical accuracy - so his books are probably closer to fantasy than he might like to admit - but he tells a rattling good story. He writes a bit like David Gemmell, which is no bad thing, imo. Bernard Cornwell's well worth a look, too

Sucker!

I saw that Frederick Pohl died last week. Iain M. Banks, Richard Matheson, Jack Vance, James Herbert, Ray Bradbury, Anne McCaffrey. So many great SF/fantasy authors have died in the past couple of years

Wasps are a bunch of alcoholics at the moment The queens have finished laying their eggs, so they don't have to bring food anymore, so they're all lurching around finding fallen fruit, getting peed on it and having drunken brawls

I love it when people criticise from a position of ignorance I think Prince of Thorns will be my next fantasy read, although I'm in 'historical fiction mode' at the moment

Yeah, it is a bit, isn't it?

The Devil Delivered and Other Tales - a collection of three of SE's non-Malazan stories - is being published on 26th September 2013. I already own Revolvo, so not sure whether I'll buy it or not. Oh who am I kidding? Shall probably wait for the paperback, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe936dnLBHw

Nah, not really. I remember the bank, particularly, and I remember that description of Sipani that you mention. Abercrombie's worldbuilding is quite subtle. I couldn't come away from that book without being affected by the journey some of the characters took, though, especially Shivers. Cosca and Castor Morveer were great, too.

So I've heard - can't wait. Mark Lawrence has been having an ongoing argument discussion with the denizens of SFF Chronicles about the content of his books.

Welcome Erikson and Abercrombie are my faves I've just got the first 'Thorns' book, looking forward to it