Science Fiction Book Club discussion

The biggest problem with this book was that it wasn't gripping. And this being an epic fantasy novel - well you should be able to see the problem. It did pick up for the last hundred pages or so but before I could get to that I had to read six hundred pages of story that was more informative than enjoyable. Having finished the book I'm glad I read it but I was a long and tough challenge.

Have you read anything else by Kay? I haven't read Tigana, but it was the first of his to make my TBR list.
I actually just finished Kay's The Lions of al-Rassan and loved it. I would also consider it an epic fantasy in its scale and I found it very gripping. It wasn't gripping in a fast-paced action sort of way, but more of a character and plot building way. What I liked about Kay's style in this book was that the climax of the story was not the only part of the book you looked forward to. He had so many things going on and such a great list of characters that were so well built that I found myself absorbing every little detail.
I tend to really enjoy epic fantasy that has incredible character interaction and structure as well as a tangible setting. Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy was great for this, I found.
Besides not finding Tigana gripping, how did you find the writing style? And what makes it an epic fantasy? I would be interested in your opinion before I picked this book up to read.

I'm currently reading the first book of Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy and I'm finding it a lot more intriguing than Kay's Tigana. I prefer Abercrombie's writing style. Anyway back to Tigana. It was my sister who suggested I read it, she having not read it herself but having read Kay's Fionavar Tapestry Trilogy and greatly liking it. There was a lot of character development in Tigana and there were parts of it that were gripping but on the whole I found it a bit slow and boring. It is the only book of his that I've read so I can't make a comparison with his other books but comparing it to The Blade Itself I am finding that book more interesting. I would class epic fantasy as fantasy that incorporates a lot of character development. Most long fantasy books fall into this categry because being so long they do tend to focus on the individual characters aswell as the plot. Also I find that alot of them have maps at the start of the book that is the author's own created world e.g. in Tigana or The Lord Of The Rings. I am planning on reading The Fionavar Tapestry Trilogy which according to my sister is brilliant. I haven't given up on the author I just didn't find the book that enjoyable. It wasn't the story, which was fine, it was the length he took to tell it. Hopefully the Fionavar Tapestry will be a better read. I would suggest a book which I've recently read called Tomorrow, When The War Began. I don't know whether you've read it or the whole series and it's not epic fantasy or fantasy in fact, it's also pretty short but a brilliant read.

I will take a look at Tomorrow, When The War Began. I love book suggestions! If you want to give Kay another go I would suggest the Lions of al-Rassan as well. I know the Fionavar Tapestry is on my TBR list too so I am also lookign forward to those.
I am glad to hear that you are enjoying The Blade Itself. The First Law Trilogy is by far my favourite book series and I find Abercrombie absolutely brilliant. It is actually the only series I have read one book after the other, instead of months done the road.

I think book suggestions are awesome aswell. In the area of reading series in a row I don't believe I have since my younger years. When I was around ten I read John White's Archives of Anthropos which by the way are brilliant. Thinking back now however I don't think I ever read the fifth book and I had to wait to buy the sixth, my family not having it. But they were good books as I said.

Tomorrow, When the War Began sounds alot like the movie Red Dawn. I'm definately going to have to have to read that one.

The movie of Tomorrow, When The War Began has actually just come out in Australia I think - the book being Australian. I've seen the trailer for it but I'm still unsure whether it's just the first book or whether it goes further with the story.

I have read all of Joe Abercrombie's First Law Trilogy. It is great! 5 stars. I liked the many different characters with Glokta being my favorite! His second series has started with Best Served Cold. It is good also. My favorite war book being City of Thieves. You really need to read this book.