Karsa Orlong

Some of us (I.e. me!) have nothing but

Same here. I've read The Hellbound Heart and the first volume of Books of Blood, definitely want to read some more. Hmmm, Weaveworld is £3.99 for Kindle ...

I'm about 75% of the way through Remote Control by Andy McNab. I'm not particularly enjoying it - I'll be glad to finish it and get it off the TBR list!

That's okay then! I haven't read any of the novels for a loooong time.

Right with you on that one! Awful film

Clive Barker's Books of Blood http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Books_of_Blood

Hopefully not the CGI'd-up-the-wazoo version

Yeah, Arya stares down Tywin

Just read that David Gemmell's wife, Stella, has got her first solo novel coming out next year http://www.thebookse...la-gemmell.html

I recorded them - shall watch them some time this week

This is incredible!

Leading nicely into ...

Book # 31: Heretic by Bernard Cornwell Synopsis: Heretic begins with a bloody battle outside Calais in 1347, a short time before the city fell to the English. The sympathetic Thomas of Hookton is bending every sinew at the service of his master, the Earl of Northampton; after risking his life time and again, Thomas finds himself commissioned to track down the most sacred relic in Christendom, the Holy Grail. He travels to Gascony, seat of power of his nemesis, Guy Vexille. Utilising his archers, Thomas conducts a fierce guerrilla war against Vexille, and yearns for a face-to-face encounter. But then Thomas is routed and finds his campaign in shreds, facing the twin enemies of the church and the plague. Thoughts: This is the third and final book in Cornwell's 'Grail Quest' trilogy. Thomas of Hookton heads south to his family's lands of Astarac in an attempt to find The Grail. Given his own archers and men-at-arms by the Earl of Northampton, he takes control of a castle and starts raiding nearby villages in the hope that he will attract the attention of his cousin, Guy Vexille. Things start to turn sour, though, when he saves a woman accused of heresy from being burned at the stake. His men believe this will bring nothing but ill luck but Thomas has (rather quickly!) fallen in love, much to the jealousy of his friend Robbie. All in all, this is a reasonable conclusion to the trilogy, but it is somewhat of a let down on the historical side. Cornwell freely admits that only the opening and closing passages are based on real history. I guess that he ultimately had to deal with Thomas's story and his reluctant search for The Grail. The problem I found was that it became a little formulaic and predictable. Thomas falls in love, something bad happens, the odds are stacked against him, he has a seemingly neverending supply of arrows just when he needs it, etc etc. It's Cornwell's writing that saves it, with that free-flowing, comfortable style of his that makes everything seem natural. I can't help feeling that he'd put himself in a bit of a corner with this story, as he had to answer the questions he'd posed sooner or later, and veering away from the real history makes it feel slightly less authentic. Also, I don't think the characters in this trilogy have ever been as good, or the story as enthralling, as they were in his Arthurian 'Warlord' trilogy. It's still a good read, though, and I wanted to get to the end and find out if Thomas survived and found The Grail. 7/10

I watched about half an hour of it last night and turned it off - the ones I heard were all awful. Why can 'singers' not hold a note these days?? They all sound like they're gargling. The blind auditions made it unique and intriguing to watch, but now it's just another talent show. They never sing the kind of music I like - apart from the guy who tried to sing a Foo Fighters song (and made a mess of it) - so there's not much point in me watching it anymore!

He overstates things a bit, but there is a lot in there that I agree with.

Cowboys and Aliens. It could've been fun. But it wasn't.

I've given up on it, deleted the series link.

I'd say her books are definitely aimed at an older audience than Harry Potter, on the face of it (given that people of all ages seem to enjoy HP!). Purely in fantasy terms, if you take David Eddings books to be aimed at a younger audience and George RR Martin to be aimed at an older audience, then Hobb falls somewhere in the middle Best place to start is with her 'Farseer' trilogy.

No bad ones there although, apart from 'A Song of Ice and Fire', they're all fairly standard fantasy fare. The Malazan series is totally different from all of them. It's pretty unique in its feel and approach to the genre. Since finishing it I've really struggled to find fantasy books to match up to it, even George Martin's Try this: http://www.sfsite.com/05a/ma343.htm

Damn, I was hoping you'd read it and tell me if it was any good

I'm going to see them next week Although I'm mainly going to see the support act, Amplifier

It's great that you can dip in and out of his books and not have to get involved in multi-book series. Even though a lot of them are linked by the world they're set in, most of them can be read in isolation without spoiling the enjoyment, I think.

The other series being Mistborn and The Belgariad? Probably best to get that kid's stuff out of the way before moving into the big league

Rambling is good I haven't read Headhunters yet, actually. Quite tempted. I saw the film reviewed a few weeks back and thought it looked decent. Hmmm, it's £3.19 for Kindle at the moment ...