Karsa Orlong

Hope you enjoy whichever one you choose I really must re-read those two, so I can go on and read the third Waylander book and Quest for Lost Heroes. Of course, I should re-read Legend as well. Oh hell, this has put me in the mood for some Gemmell. I have to read the others on my TBR pile before doing any re-reads

Cool, which ones are you going for? Good news about the house - fingers crossed for you

Fixed that (for my own benefit ) I have one of the Nikki Heat books, but I haven't read it as yet

Fantastic! I think you'll love the Troy trilogy

Really? Blimey, I think they're gorgeous, especially the lettered edition of Gardens of the Moon (bottom right in the picture) Yeah, it'd be a definitel Spinal Tap moment: "Don't touch them! Don't even look at them!" Nah, haven't got the shelf space. I've got all the PS editions of the SE novellas, but that's as far as I'll go down that line

HBO have said the show will run for seven seasons. I agree - I think moving the story from small screen to big screen is a bizarre idea. The ongoing nature of the plot(s) will likely mean the movies will have trouble pulling in audiences who've never seen the series. What are they going to do, have a half hour recap at the start of the first film? Plus, as Laura said, all the talking heads scenes that dominate the tv show would bore the average multiplex audience to tears. I don't think it would give his lordship more time to finish the books at all - if anything, he'd just spend more of his time on the screenplays, casting, production design, blah blah blah

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/mar/20/game-of-thrones-multiple-movies-george-rr-martin-franchise Just what he needs - something else to distract him from finishing the books

The Subterranean Press edition of House of Chains is available for pre-order. The lettered edition (deluxe binding, signed by SE, in a special case) has already sold out - but these were only available to customers who had bought lettered editions of the first three books, so it's not surprising. I'd love to have collected these editions - I think they're stunning - but they're way out of my price range (let alone my shelf space!). Probably need industrial-strength shelves to hold them, anyway Also noticed that PS Publishing have grouped together signed copies of the last three ICE novels. Nice, if one was collecting those editions

Plus: Gretel

Plus they must be the only books on the face of the planet that don't have GRRM's name splattered all over the covers

I'll be interested to see what you think of the Adrian Tchaikovsky books, Laura. I bought four of them, made it through two - somehow, then gave them all to charity - which, thinking about it, might not have been particularly charitable of me

It annoys me when reviewers give away so much of the plot, not to mention when the blurb on the cover sometimes does it. It's like being told who Keyser Soze is before you've seen The Usual Suspects (I will never forgive a friend of mine for this particular transgression! ). I've quickly learned not to read the introductions in the SF Masterworks editions, too, as they have a habit of telling you the whole plot

# 22, 23, & 24 The Faded Sun Trilogy by C. J. Cherryh Individual titles: Kesrith, Shon'Jir, & Kutath 1978/1979 - Daw paperback - 785 pages From Amazon: They were the mri - tall, secretive, bound by honor and the rigid dictates of their society. For aeons this golden-skinned, golden-eyed race had provided the universe mercenary soldiers of almost unimaginable ability. But now the mri have faced an enemy unlike any other - an enemy whose only way of war is widespread destruction. These "humans" are mass fighters, and the mri have been slaughtered like animals. Now, in the aftermath of war, the mri face extinction. It will be up to three individuals to save whatever remains of this devastated race: a warrior--one of the last survivors of his kind; a priestess of this honorable people; and a lone human--a man sworn to aid the enemy of his own kind. Can they retrace the galaxy-wide path of this nomadic race back through millennia to reclaim the ancient world that first gave them life? Thoughts: I didn't know whether to do three separate reviews for these, as I finished each book, or just one review to cover all three. I decided on the latter, in the end, as they are presented in one volume - so counting them as three books for my total read this year, but only one book coming off the TBR. Confuzzled! I read some of Cherryh's work back in the 80s and found it very hard going - and, as a consequence, had never been really tempted to return, until this trilogy came up in my recent trawl for space opera. The hook that initially got me was when one review mentioned that the mri were effectively a race of Samurai. That really appealed to me, for some reason. Once into the book, though, it becomes apparent that the mri are a nomadic race, more akin to the Bedouin or Tuareg people. They have a strict caste system which dictates everything they do and, beyond that, are quite alien, hiring themselves out as mercenaries, with their swords and their code of honour. I suppose they feel a little like Dune's Fremen in some ways, especially given the desert environments in which these stories take place, but that is where the similarities end. Also completely alien are the regul, the mri's masters for the past 2,000 years. They are a species whose existence is built on trade and commerce. They are, from what I could gather, somewhat elephantine, and incapable of physical combat due to their immobility - they ride around on sleds (hence their hiring of the mri to do their dirty work). Enter us lot. The regul, and therefore the mri, have been at war with mankind of the last 43 years. As the first novel - Kesrith - begins, the war is drawing to a close, the regul have signed peace treaties and are ceding planets to the humans, including the planet Kesrith, which is the mri homeworld. During the war the regul sent the mri warriors increasingly to their deaths - they have been slaughtered, and from thousands there are now only a few hundred left. What follows over the course of the three books - whilst masquerading as hard sf, or even military sf - is largely a soft sf story, cultural and anthropological science fiction, if you like. These aren't thrill-a-minute reads: the pacing is s-l-o-w, the action brief to non-existent, and the tone unremittingly sombre. Perhaps this is unsurprising when the potential for genocide is involved. It also felt a little like Dances with Wolves to me, at times - especially with regard to a particular character 'going native', so to speak (and yes, of course, the books pre-dated that movie by over a decade). But, in this case, these aren't criticisms. Cherryh is apparently something of an expert at world building (I haven't read anywhere near enough of her books to verify this) and the way she handles the three different species and their inability to understand each other's actions and motives is quite brilliant. It also means that her characters are front and centre and, for the most part, very sympathetic. I must admit that I found some of the regul sections a little uninvolving because I didn't connect with their characters at all, and they were a chore to read at times, slowing the pacing even further. But the humans are great - especially Sten Duncan - and the mri are simply wonderful. These books are full of political intrigue, philosophical questions and, above all else, alien cultures that are truly alien. There are some incredibly tense moments but, for me, the somewhat stately pacing just knocks it down a mark. Otherwise, great stuff. Cherryh's written a lot of books. I've no doubt I'll be returning to her work, sooner rather than later this time. Kesrith 9/10 Shon'Jir 8/10 Kutath 8/10 Overall 8/10

Welcome Alanna Castle's great fun - I'm sure you'll enjoy it

Went to see Riverside at the O2 Islington Academy last night. Great atmosphere. Great set list. Great band

Legend by David Gemmell. Actually, anything by David Gemmell

Oh cool, thanks for that I should probably finish the Roma Sub Rosa series first, I suppose, but 99p . . .

I'm going to wait for the extended version No! Wait! What am I saying?

Nice! Very interested in Elizabeth Bear's stuff, although not that particular series at the moment

Don't be silly, you're not a sheep!

I read Into the Deep. It really was rubbish

It's fantasy, kind of based on the Wars of the Roses.

Ditto! It was the first King I read Great review bb, interesting about what King thought/thinks of it.