Challenge: 50 Books discussion

1. Gentlemen Prefer Succubi -**- Bad way to start the new year. Theres only one word to describe it: slutty

Snergf! I would think the title says it all!

Yeah, I have no excuse. Oh dear

2. Mystic and Rider -****- Ah much better. Not quite Samaria but still good

3. Heart of Gold -**- I enjoyed it, but I just could not agree with the ending

4. The Shape-Changer's Wife -*****- Magical, comforting and just a little sad, like all the best fairytales are.

5. Trick of the Light -***- I ruined this for myself by reading the first few chapters of the second first by accident, doh

6. The Grimrose Path -***- I think it tries to be too clever and points that out a lot. Zeke is pure genius. (Plus it has is a mean little preview of Blackout)

7. Voices of Dragons -***- One authors crusade to bring back virgin sacrifices

[Reread] The Sandman Vol. 2: The Doll's House -****- Better 2nd time round

[Reread] Dream Country -****- Sandman takes a few issues off its main arc. The artwork here is particularly beautiful

8. The 199 Steps -**- Not really a thriller, romance or ghost story, but something like that

9. Archangel's Consort -****- yay guild hunter! Still love Elena but need more Illium and Aodhan

Picked one of the other two 1/25 purchases. Was it as good as the preview?

Sorry Donna, not sure what you mean

10. Magic Bites -***- The series has potential but the first was just ok

Lin wrote: "Sorry Donna, not sure what you mean


Sorry. Archangel's Consort. I picked up 3 books the other day and want to know if I should punish myself for picking one of the others first. Or more to the point, will it be worth the wait?

I would say yes its worth it. Its not as fast paced as the first 2 and it raises more questions than it answers, but its still Guild Hunter goodiness that I hardly put down. Can't wait for #4 now

11. At Grave's End -***- Cat get's horrendously hurt and healed by vamp blood so many times it got boring

12. Fahrenheit 451 - *** - At 4am this made sense

[short] Air by Sharon Shinn - *** - I was suspicious all through this but it was sweet in the end

13. A Mermaid's Ransom -***- Bad guy without redemption

14. The Hunger Games -****- Yeah you know the plot of Battle Royale? Basically that but YA and more reality TV. Still it was really good.

[reread] Night Watch -******- Love, love, love. My absolute fav book and character x2

15. Catching Fire -*****- So glad I have Mockingjay waiting

16. Mockingjay -****- The ending to the hunger games trilogy is massive but not quite as good as it could have been. In my mind she defaulted her choice between Gale and Peeta

Funny how everyone has different feelings about that. I completely understand her choosing Peeta.

Donna wrote: "Funny how everyone has different feelings about that. I completely understand her choosing Peeta."

Ah now there's the thing- (view spoiler)[I do agree that her and Peeta should have ended up together, but I don't think she ever really made the choice. Gale just left. I wanted a scene where she made a definite choice, it just seemed as if she went: Gale's gone, Peeta's here, yeah I want him. (hide spoiler)]

Your read is fresher. In my brain she did make a decision about Gale not so much Peeta, but I'm the victim of rapidly shrinking estrogen levels, so...

As you say it seems to have divided the world :-)

17. Blackout -*****- Cal Leandros is one of my v.fav series and the new book does not disappoint

Next up The Wise Man's Fear which might just be the longest thing I've ever attempted. Loved The Name of the Wind so much though

18.The Wise Man's Fear-*****- I still love Kvothe and Denna. Can't wait for the third. (I know it took me ages but life got in the way.)
"It is quite a thing. There are so many men, all endlessly trying to sweep me off my feet. And there is one of you, trying just the opposite. Making sure my feet are firm beneath me lest I fall."

19. Lord of Misrule -***- I know a YA book 1000 pages long would be too much, but this series is pretty much that, just split up into separate short bindings

20. Howl's Moving Castle -****- Lovely.
"Look. Survey. Inspect. My hair is ruined! I look like a pan of bacon and eggs!"

21. Grimspace -****- I haven't read anything vaguely spaceoperaish is ages. Fun
"You don’t know what it’s like to be alone until you’ve had someone inside your head."

22. and Falling, Fly -**- The book doesn't live up to its fantastic title. The plot is almost incomprehensible but the writing is beautiful
"What if Eve had answered, 'I chose to eat this'?"

23. Born of Night -****- Who doesn't love big brooding scifi assassins?
"Don’t reach out for the stars. They’ll burn you until there’s nothing left"
"Then let me burn"

24. The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories -***- The eternally unpronounceable one
"Then, bolder than the stories Cyclops, great Cthulhu slid greasily into the water and began to pursue with vast wave-raising strokes of cosmic potency."

25. A Game of Thrones -***- This star rating is an average as there are some truly rubbish bits (ie the beginning 300 pages) and some really quite cool bits.
"Winter is coming" ...Too cliche?... "You are no ranger, Jon, only a green boy with the smell of summer still on you"

You realize the latest installment of this series is about two YEARS overdue, right? Of course they're long enough you might just be caught up by the time George finally gets it off the burner.

Yeah I figure it's going to take me a long time to catch up. They're hard work, but I wanted to watch the TV series and I prefer not having the book spoiled (TV I don't mind so much)

26. A Clash of Kings -*****- It took me most of the first book to come to like the characters and get into the story but now I'm sold
"The longer he lived, the more Tyrion realised that nothing was simple and little was true"

One of the best things about the series is how, over time, some of the characters you hate at the beginning become characters you start to root for.

True but it bugged me like hell at the beginning - I was thinking- yeah I quite like him and then - oh crap he just did what?!

I'm loving that now though, how you can't trust anyone completely. (Apart from Jon, god help GRRM if he turns him.)
(view spoiler)[Theon (hide spoiler)] really took me by surprise.

There are still more than a few characters that I'm thinking could go either way. And then there are characters I like for some aspects of their personality but dislike them for others - Catelyn especially

Jaime is the one that I find myself completely turned around on. No one more surprised about that then me.
And it kills me that Sean Bean plays Eddard in the HBO series. I love Sean Bean. I see sobbing in my future.

Oh yeah definitely. Already feeling teary eyed after poor Lady

I truly believe the world would be a better place if Sean Bean gave Kit Harrington a hug.

Oh, Jon Snow... the GBPL better have this series on order or I'm going to be oh so unhappy.

27. A Storm of Swords -*****- Holy, just whoa, I mean woo. That was, whoa, yeah
"You know nothing, Jon Snow"

28. A Feast for Crows -****- I can now join all those waiting anxiously for Dance with Dragons, O joy!
"Behind her loomed the Iron Throne, its barbs and blades throwing twisted shadows across the floor."

I've gone grey...

After a whole load of epic I decided to take things down a bit, oh dear

29. Fantasy Lover -**- I don't think I've ever read a worse fight scene than the one at the end of this

30. City of Fallen Angels -**- Took me about fifty pages to remember I don't actually care for any of these characters
"And does that not suit him better, a soul that soars like a bird in flight, rather than falling like Lucifer

31. Born of Fire -***- Pretty standard scifi rom but a little cheesy. Man I hate epilogues
"Didn't anyone ever tell you that men have a specified word count set aside for each day and if I don't stop talking, my tongue will explode"

32. Kiss of Snow-***- I was actually underwhelmed by Hawke/Sienna. The story parts were awesome - but them as a couple was tame. Walker/Lara were more interesting. And Judd/Ghost continues to rule all
"Taking the paperweight she’d knocked off her desk out of his pocket, he put it in her hands. “It’s fixed. As long as you don’t mind more than a few scars."

Lin wrote: "32. Kiss of Snow-***- "

Nalini Singh is having a signing Wednesday downtown. I'm deciding if it's worth 2 hours in rushhour gridlock to try and smuggle my Guild Hunter books in for an autograph.