What are you currently reading?

[Vihzel]

I just finished Armageddon's Children as part of The Genesis of Shannara trilogy by Terry Brooks. Great story! Can't wait til I get the 2nd on my Nook that's incoming.

Busying myself with 1984 again.

 

[beenz]

Speaking of Shannara, I am reading the Sword of Shannara trilogy by Terry Brooks.

 

[Vihzel]

Finished the 2nd in the Genesis of Shannara series (Elves of Cintra) and now onto the 3rd in the trilogy, The Gypsy Morph.

 

[blkbeltkid17]

i no reading nothing now sad face

 

[Vihzel]

Finished The Genesis of Shannara trilogy by Terry Brooks. Awesome trilogy! Great story, great characters that you really care about (cried 3 times), etc. etc.

I REALLY recommend reading the Word & Void trilogy first because it comes before and connects with the Genesis of Shannara trilogy... so it becomes a lengthy 6 book epic.

 

[NightAngel79]

Finished The Genesis of Shannara trilogy by Terry Brooks. Awesome trilogy! Great story, great characters that you really care about (cried 3 times), etc. etc.

I REALLY recommend reading the Word & Void trilogy first because it comes before and connects with the Genesis of Shannara trilogy... so it becomes a lengthy 6 book epic.

Hmm maybe should finally give shannara another shot... read the original trilogy FOREVER ago and it seemed to similar to LOTR. Barely remember the story though

 

[Vihzel]

Hmm maybe should finally give shannara another shot... read the original trilogy FOREVER ago and it seemed to similar to LOTR. Barely remember the story though

Yeah I've read that Sword of Shannara was like LOTR. Sword is broken up into 3 parts, like LOTR. I'm not sure if that included the other two books in the trilogy (Elfstones and Wishsong). I've never read LOTR (seen the movies obviously) and for me... I'm not concerned with if there are similarities or not. Brooks said himself that LOTR was his inspiration for the book and who else to be inspired by than J.R.R. Tolkien. The most important thing for me is if the story itself is fun to read. If the story is great, then that suits me just fine.

I guess it would be like so many companies "copying" other companies. If it works out for the better for the consumer, then I'm not going to argue. hehe

Concerning the series: I was surprised by how much death and gruesome details there were. I never read any of his other books so I guess I know now what to expect! It was also surprising to me that it was all set in Midwest to West part of the U.S. (and a bit of Canada). I first thought it was going to be all set in some fantasy world. I did like the blend of fantasy but set in real world settings with actual real cities, rivers, forests, etc. READ WORD & VOID SERIES FIRST!

 

[NightAngel79]

Yeah I've read that Sword of Shannara was like LOTR. Sword is broken up into 3 parts, like LOTR. I'm not sure if that included the other two books in the trilogy (Elfstones and Wishsong).

Fun fact: Tolkien never wanted LOTR to be interpreted as a trilogy. He wrote it originally as 1 book but for obvious reasons, the publisher convinced him to separate it into 3 books.

Yea a lot of the story line was VERY similar. I don't remember if i read wishsong or not though.... probably did but for the life of me can't remember. Know i read elfstones..... after the mostly boring series i'm reading now i might go a head and give terry brooks another go. I guess you don't have to read Sword trilogy to 'get' the others?

just saw your edit, edit:
True but Sword was TOO similar IMO. Certain aspects of the story didnt even feel original AT ALL. It was a major buzzkill for me.

Read TLOR books and I enjoyed the movies way more. Books were too drawn out really, though that could be attributed to the fun fact you stated

 

[NightAngel79]

Concerning the series: I was surprised by how much death and gruesome details there were. I never read any of his other books so I guess I know now what to expect! It was also surprising to me that it was all set in Midwest to West part of the U.S. (and a bit of Canada). I first thought it was going to be all set in some fantasy world. I did like the blend of fantasy but set in real world settings with actual real cities, rivers, forests, etc. READ WORD & VOID SERIES FIRST!

OK THAT sounds pretty interesting. Sword was the typical fantasy setting so i assumed ALL the shanara books were. That though ^ sounds like something I'll want to read rather soon

(dont tell roze though)

 

[Vihzel]

I guess you don't have to read Sword trilogy to 'get' the others?

True but Sword was TOO similar IMO. Certain aspects of the story didnt even feel original AT ALL. It was a major buzzkill for me.

I made so many edits to my post. Sorry. lol I took the fun fact out because it seemed out of place but glad you got it though! lol I have a lot more about LOTR and J.R.R. Tolkien because I actually took a class on it (focused on the linguistics of LOTR but did a lot of history of Tolkien)

I guess I'll see when I read Sword tomorrow or the next day. hehe I think I will need a small little break from reading after that mentally exhausting series. I didn't realize how up and down I can feel from a book. I'm going to hope that Sword is supposed to be like LOTR and that Elfstones and Wishsong are very different. From what I understand of elfstones from Genesis... there's nothing like it in LOTR.

Word & Void series and Genesis are essentially the prequels to Shannara. They really can stand by themselves easily since I never got the impression that I needed to know something beforehand. Genesis does refer to things that occurred in Word & Void but it explained it well enough to understand.

I think you'll really like them. I can't speak for Word & Void but I know for Genesis... it's set in an "almost" post-apocalyptic world with demons, mutants, humans, elves, and monsters. Brooks really went all out on describing how terrible this new world was and how U.S. has changed geographically and with major settings in cities like Seattle (major part of 1st book). I assume Word & Void talks more about how the devastation and collapse of civilization occured in detail? I do know that they contain characters that were either in Genesis or mentioned in Genesis.

 

[NightAngel79]

Guess I'll look into them. Definitely want to hear your opinion on Sword series after your break, lol.

I got into Terry Brooks cause he wrote a few Star Wars books and i decided to read some of his stuff. That was 15 years ago (or so) though... think my reading preference has changed some.

 

[Vihzel]

Guess I'll look into them. Definitely want to hear your opinion on Sword series after your break, lol.

Oh I'll definitely give it! I have the trilogy on my Nook and am excited to read it. I think I will read Sword and then read Word & Void (because I'm really curious on how events came to Genesis) and go back to Sword trilogy.

 

[tommy_ed]

On The Road by Jack Kerouac

 

[Skorpios1027]

I've read almost all the Shannara books, but kind of fell out of touch with Brooks. Hadn't heard about Word and Viod or Genesis. They sound interesting. I'll have to add them to my list -Thanks Vihzel

 

[Sak01]

Not a current read but I finished Wise Man Fears by Patrick Rothfuss a few weeks back thanks to NightAngel's tip off. It was great and thankfully lived up to the standard set by the first book.

2 annoyances though.
a) I felt that, for such a thick book, he didn't move the main plotline enough
b) Having to wait 3 years or so for the next installment!

 

[NightAngel79]

Not a current read but I finished Wise Man Fears by Patrick Rothfuss a few weeks back thanks to NightAngel's tip off. It was great and thankfully lived up to the standard set by the first book.

2 annoyances though.
a) I felt that, for such a thick book, he didn't move the main plotline enough
b) Having to wait 3 years or so for the next installment!

+999999999999999999999999999

I agree about the plot makes me wonder, if this is only gonna be a trilogy then how much is gonna be crammed in next book. Kvothe said story would take 3 days but what happens when story gets to the present(in tavern)
Hopefully more books, there are so many possibilities with this epic story

 

[Vihzel]

Has anyone ever read the Wheel of Time series? I'm looking for other fantasy series to add to my collection.

 

[NightAngel79]

Has anyone ever read the Wheel of Time series? I'm looking for other fantasy series to add to my collection.

Thats the robert jordan (now brandon sanderson) series right? been waiting for it to get finished before i dove in. Plus i been reading a bunch of other new stuff lately.

You read the Sword of Truth series?

 

[Vihzel]

Thats the robert jordan (now brandon sanderson) series right? been waiting for it to get finished before i dove in. Plus i been reading a bunch of other new stuff lately.

You read the Sword of Truth series?

Yeah that's right. I think it's on #13 now.

I've heard of the Sword of Truth series and actually saw the loosely based TV adaptation (Legend of the Seeker). I've never read it though. Keep in mind that it's been many years since I've read any English fantasy novels and before Shannara it was Harry Potter and before that nothing really. heh

I checked on B&N and Sword of Truth series is still only in paperback. Curses!

 

[NightAngel79]

Yeah that's right. I think it's on #13 now.

I've heard of the Sword of Truth series and actually saw the loosely based TV adaptation (Legend of the Seeker). I've never read it though. Keep in mind that it's been many years since I've read any English fantasy novels and before Shannara it was Harry Potter and before that nothing really. heh

I checked on B&N and Sword of Truth series is still only in paperback. Curses!

Still trying to get around to watching the series on hulu or something.

The terry goodkind forums have been shut down getting maintenance in anticipation for the new series but last i heard Sword was supposed to be getting digital copies by now..... surprised they are dropping ball on that

 

[Vihzel]

Hmm... I think I will have to start with reading Word & Void series before Sword of Shannara. I'm just way too eager to read about how the destruction began. I <3 apocalyptic novels. The first in the series is called Running with the Demon, which is set about 2000 years before Sword and I believe approx. 80 years before Genesis series. It takes place in Hopewell, IL (approx. 2:30 hours SW of Chicago in the middle of IL). I think he chose that location because the town is kind of desolate and with only a pop of 400 people. Thankfully I've driven around a lot in IL and close by that town so I can imagine what it looks like.

 

[Emmexx]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but anyone interested in a new series may want to consider Glen Cook's The Black Company.

That is the title of the first book in the series and the series itself. I forget how many books there are, but I truly enjoyed most of them. It is a sword/sorcery type book, well written and in first person point of view. It has a dark tone, but does not go into great detail with regards to blood and gore. I have all of the books and re-read them now and again.

The series is complete, afaik, but have heard rumors of another book possibly in the future.

 

[Skorpios1027]

Has anyone ever read the Wheel of Time series? I'm looking for other fantasy series to add to my collection.

I have read it and it is epic! According to Brandon Sanderson's website, he is about 12% (based on 300K words in The Eye of the World, that would be about 36K words) done with the first draft of the final book (due out in March 2012).

 

[Sak01]

Has anyone ever read the Wheel of Time series? I'm looking for other fantasy series to add to my collection.

I would recommend A Song Of Ice And Fire series by George RR Martin. more commonly known as Game of Thrones (thanks to the new TV series).

The best fantasy series I've ever read.

 

[Vihzel]

I would recommend A Song Of Ice And Fire series by George RR Martin. more commonly known as Game of Thrones (thanks to the new TV series).

The best fantasy series I've ever read.

I think I'm going to wait until he gets close to completing the series. It seems as though Martin takes forever to write them. I came across some other shorter series that's dark fantasy that is quite interesting.

I think I should first go through what I have before getting anymore. lol Already almost $400 in all sorts of Nook Books. They'll last me a good while. hehe

Currently reading: Running with the Demon by Terry Brooks