What are you reading?

[electrongirl]

I just finished reading "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett. It was really good. They have just made a movie based on the book too.

I am about to start reading the Game of Thrones books just as soon as my library gets the first one in.

[CronicBadger]

I've recently read the first four books in "A Song Of Ice And Fire" (aka Game Of Thrones). Absolutely enjoyable, some of the best reading I've encountered since Robin Hobb's books.

I'm now reading "Ronan's Rescue" by James Bibby. It's a swords & sorcery fantasy written around the character of a female warrior, an inept magician and a talking donkey. Very tongue-in-cheek, but the quality of writing is patchy and the anachronisms (such as metaphors that refer to modern day electrical devices) are jarring. The "humour" is, for the most part, contrived and drawn out.

However, I'm persevering because the basic storyline is interesting and the book as a whole is not as dire as some of the official D&D novels I've had the misfortune to encounter.

[Blitz]

"an inept magician"...gosh! - someone has finally written a book about me!

What's your all time favourite fantasy sword and sorcery book?

Kim

[CronicBadger]

I've read many hundreds of novels (and probably thousands of short stories). Mostly in the SF&F areas, but also historical fiction and "literary" works.

Heroic Fantasy is one of my favourite genres. Unfortunately there is a lot of dross out there. I completed "Ronan's Rescue", and cannot recommend it. Derivative, contrived, poorly written. To its credit, it has a sense of fun, interesting characters and some good (but badly executed) ideas, but it just tries too hard be everything to everybody, and ends up being unfocused and shallow.

If there was any one book (or set of volumes) I could recommend, it would be Robin Hobb's "Farseer Trilogy" series. The tale of a king's b*****d trained to be an assassin in a small kingdom beset by social decay, internal dissent and treachery, and continually assailed by its enemies. Noone is truly who they appear, and the book continually peels away the layers from the characters, revealing new motives and possible choices. An utterly enjoyable read, easily in my top ten all time Fantasy novels.

[Blitz]

Thanks for the heads up. I want to try something in this style but there is a lot out there...so I didn't want to pick up just anything and find dross. I'll look it up and see how I go.

Kim