| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Dennis |
Posted - 10 Nov 2010 : 06:49:05
There's this series of books by one of our funny local writers...'THE 1001 Books You Should Read Before...' First is before you surrender your virginity (which I know is a No-No topic here at the 'Keep), then before you raise a dog, followed by before you slaughter a pig or chicken, then before you decide to go to hell ---er, be vegetarian (yes, that's the title, with the '-er'), before you face the altar and say 'I frickin' do,' before you decide to have literally bouncing babies, before you cut your husband's *****, and finally the TOPIC of this thread....
If you were to make your own list of 1001 Books You Should Read Before You DIE for someone or some people, would you include your TOP 3 FR novels in it? What would they be? And most importantly, why?
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| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 05 Jun 2012 : 03:17:57
quote:
Originally posted by Fellfire
Thank you, entreri. I finished them up just a few weeks back. Excellent books. Can't wait for the next one.
Glad to hear you enjoyed them. I also can't wait for Book 3, which unfortunately looks like it will be a long while. |
| Fellfire |
Posted - 05 Jun 2012 : 00:56:17
Thank you, entreri. I finished them up just a few weeks back. Excellent books. Can't wait for the next one. |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 05 Jun 2012 : 00:50:45
quote:
Originally posted by Fellfire
I decided to put this here instead of in the What are you Reading thread because I liked it that much. With my recent interest in all things piratical, I decided to search out fantasy pirate books. Disappointingly, I didn't find much. But, I just finished On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers and it was a heluva good book. Full of swashbuckling pirates and voodoo magic. Now this is the book that the fourth Pirates of the Carribean was LOOSELY based on, but if I didn't read that I never would have known. I give it 4 1/2 stars. Next up is China Mieville's The Scar.
If you are looking for a good pirate fantasy novel then I would recommend Scott Lynch's Red Seas Under Red Skies. It is Book 2 of his Gentleman Bastards series and book 1 is amazing as well...though severely lacking in the pirate category.  |
| Fellfire |
Posted - 04 Jun 2012 : 19:56:36
I decided to put this here instead of in the What are you Reading thread because I liked it that much. With my recent interest in all things piratical, I decided to search out fantasy pirate books. Disappointingly, I didn't find much. But, I just finished On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers and it was a heluva good book. Full of swashbuckling pirates and voodoo magic. Now this is the book that the fourth Pirates of the Carribean was LOOSELY based on, but if I didn't read that I never would have known. I give it 4 1/2 stars. Next up is China Mieville's The Scar. |
| Thauranil |
Posted - 02 Jun 2012 : 11:30:53
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
quote:
Originally posted by Thauranil
Oh and Shatterpoint by Mathew Strover, one of the best Star wars novels ever written.
Of course, because it's by Matt Stover. Probably the best SW fiction writer to ever grace the printed pages of that galaxy so far, far away. Aside from James Luceno, Elaine Cunningham, and, now, Jeff Grubb, that is. 
You are correct sir. I loved all of his books. Though it seems that we will unfortunately not be seeing anymore Star wars books by Elaine Cunnigham, I am looking forward to reading Jeff Grubb's Scourge. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 02 Jun 2012 : 01:15:42
quote:
Originally posted by Thauranil
Oh and Shatterpoint by Mathew Strover, one of the best Star wars novels ever written.
Of course, because it's by Matt Stover. Probably the best SW fiction writer to ever grace the printed pages of that galaxy so far, far away. Aside from James Luceno, Elaine Cunningham, and, now, Jeff Grubb, that is. |
| Thauranil |
Posted - 01 Jun 2012 : 16:45:08
Oh and Shatterpoint by Mathew Strover, one of the best Star wars novels ever written. |
| Thauranil |
Posted - 01 Jun 2012 : 16:43:32
The Haunted Lands trilogy,
The Twilight War trilogy, these are the realms at its best.
The Crystal Shard for nostalgia's sake if nothing else.
and of course Lord of the Rings. |
| coach |
Posted - 01 Jun 2012 : 01:07:21
City of Ravens
Sellsword trilogy |
| Dennis |
Posted - 31 May 2012 : 07:14:26
quote:
Originally posted by entreri3478
There are many realms books which i have read only to end up forgetting 80% of the storyline a few years later. This doesn't happen with non-realms fantasy books that i read though.
That doesn't happen to all the Realms books I read, though. Some I even memorized a couple of lines, specially those of my favorite characters by my favorite authors. |
| swifty |
Posted - 01 Apr 2012 : 22:42:44
id pick halflings gem.city of ravens and prince of lies. |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 29 Mar 2012 : 18:07:20
There are many realms books which i have read only to end up forgetting 80% of the storyline a few years later. This doesn't happen with non-realms fantasy books that i read though. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 29 Mar 2012 : 16:58:55
I read them far too fast I can barely remember the details now, so I might have to reread them someday. The pace was incidental, as I needed to finish them quick to jump to another series, which, if memory serves, was either Feist's Demonwar or Weeks' The Night Angel.
I couldn't care for many of the characters, though, despite the fact that most of them are spellcasters, the class which I'm always biased to. I suppose the dragons had to do with it. Never like them in the first place. Bloated lizards are worse than bloated catfish (aboleths). |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 29 Mar 2012 : 16:41:05
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
quote:
Originally posted by entreri3478
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
Yesterday at the bookstore, I was tempted to buy Evermeet...and I almost did. But the wise (or stubborn) part of me prevailed.
I would not re-read Evermeet, but it was enjoyable for me. It was fun reading about a land often mentioned in other books.
Considering how my reading preference changes almost as often as my mood swings, I can't say I've totally closed my door for that book.
I dislike dragons, or rather don't care much for them. Yet I read Richard's The Ruin. Same thing can happen to elf-centric books...Only time can tell. 
Did you read Rage and Rite as well? |
| Dennis |
Posted - 29 Mar 2012 : 16:20:38
quote:
Originally posted by entreri3478
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
Yesterday at the bookstore, I was tempted to buy Evermeet...and I almost did. But the wise (or stubborn) part of me prevailed.
I would not re-read Evermeet, but it was enjoyable for me. It was fun reading about a land often mentioned in other books.
Considering how my reading preference changes almost as often as my mood swings, I can't say I've totally closed my door for that book.
I dislike dragons, or rather don't care much for them. Yet I read Richard's The Ruin. Same thing can happen to elf-centric books...Only time can tell. |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 23 Mar 2012 : 13:02:48
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
Yesterday at the bookstore, I was tempted to buy Evermeet...and I almost did. But the wise (or stubborn) part of me prevailed.
I would not re-read Evermeet, but it was enjoyable for me. It was fun reading about a land often mentioned in other books. |
| Light |
Posted - 23 Mar 2012 : 08:35:23
Well since there are 1,001 books in that list I doubt it would be that hard to fight a few FR books in. As for my choices, well I haven't read enough of them (a mistake I aim to rectify) so I won't put in my opinion. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 23 Mar 2012 : 03:00:57
Yesterday at the bookstore, I was tempted to buy Evermeet...and I almost did. But the wise (or stubborn) part of me prevailed. |
| Artemas Entreri |
Posted - 22 Mar 2012 : 13:24:17
A few Realms books that I would have on the list would include: The Crystal Shard (c'mon it's the first Drizzt book!), Homeland, and Evermeet |
| Dennis |
Posted - 22 Mar 2012 : 10:46:44
quote:
Originally posted by Entromancer
Unholy--I love this sort of story where the villain has won and the rebels must face overwhelming odds to triumph.
Indeed. Near the end, I thought Aoth himself would suffer the same fate the zulkirs did. |
| Jakk |
Posted - 22 Mar 2012 : 03:40:31
I could easily (given time) make a list of 1001 books. Most (but NOT all) of them would be novels, and relatively few of them would be WotC/TSR novels. That being said, here's my Top 3 Realms novels, in no particular order:
- Elminster in Hell - partly, I'm picking this title to be different; I agree with everybody who picked The Making of a Mage, but EiH shows a completely different side of El that reminds us that he can be both feared and beaten.
- Cormyr: A Novel
- Blackstaff... although this one may get bumped by the new Elminster novel when I get my hands on it... we'll see... honourable mention goes to Bury Elminster Deep.
quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
Heh. I rather suspected you'd sour on ELMINSTER MUST DIE! when you hit the Manshoon scenes, dennis.
If it makes you feel any better, all of Manshoon's vainglorious boasting and preening is due in large part to this (I'm quoting Ed here):
The Simbul is the most visibly insane character in the book (the barking, drooling, babbling of slurred nonsense), and we already know El's sanity is long gone; he's clinging to apparent normalcy by the tips of his fingernails. Yet by far the most insane character onstage is Manshoon. We won't see the depths of that until the third of the "New Elminster" books, but the hints are there for all to spot, if they're so inclined.
So saith Ed. Who also commented that "there are much larger deceptions in this book" than Manshoon's facade of sanity. We'll get hints of them in BURY ELMINSTER DEEP, but they won't "burst out" until that third book . . .
love,
THO
I'm definitely looking forward to the third book now, THO... and I've suspected for a while that Manshoon is nuttier than a fruitcake. Let's see... stasis clones everywhere and delusions of world domination... textbook paranoid megalomania, and lots of it. Elminster, on the other hand, is somewhat more subtle, but no less grand in scope. He has these delusions of a whole other universe out there, which he visits from time to time in order to chat with some guy named Ed Greenwood... |
| Entromancer |
Posted - 21 Mar 2012 : 22:27:07
Unholy--I love this sort of story where the villain has won and the rebels must face overwhelming odds to triumph.
The Spectal Blaze--"I'm Baron Hasos!"
Shadowstorm--Its almost like Paul grinned after finished each chapter and said, "Think it can't get any worse?"
Runner-Up: Road of the Patriarch. Seemed like it was thicker on plot than the usual Salvatore novel. I loved the setting of the Bloodstone Lands and the story once it returned to Calimport. |
| Icelander |
Posted - 21 Mar 2012 : 18:13:35
It would be kind of interesting to see if I could name a 1001 novels that I felt everyone ought to read. Not off-hand, I'm sure.
Given time, access to databases of libraries and suchlike, I suppose I could.
Would I have space for Realms-novels?
Obviously, I haven't done the math here, so I don't know how much space my unspoken mental collection of books that people 'must' read would take. I do, however, fear that out of all the wonderful books in the world, a 1001 is actually just an insignificant fraction. It seems a lot, but you'd run out pretty quickly. And it's not even just novels, it's all kinds of books, including poetry, plays, scholarly works, travelogues, biographies, religious texts, etc.
On reflection, I don't think I could guarantee any Realms-novel a place on that exalted list. Not when I'm choosing among the millions of books in existence, less than 0.1% of which can make it on there. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 26 Nov 2010 : 17:45:03
Nah. That wouldn't work. A simple spell can rid of the tape. |
| Alisttair |
Posted - 26 Nov 2010 : 17:01:17
quote:
Originally posted by dennis
That's all right. I've got counter-spell for it.
I will tie you up with duct tape and clamp your eyes open and make you read them all  mwahaha |
| Dennis |
Posted - 26 Nov 2010 : 03:08:13
That's all right. I've got counter-spell for it. |
| Ayrik |
Posted - 26 Nov 2010 : 02:58:33
Naw, he'd simply polymorph you into some kind of ghostly speechless "guest". |
| Dennis |
Posted - 26 Nov 2010 : 02:54:07
quote:
Originally posted by Alisttair
I'm just gonna put it out there that you have to read every single book with the FR logo on it before you die.
Eh? That's too much. There are FR books that may cause my untimely death because of their sheer _______. (Better not fill it though. I know Sage will seal this thread if I do.) |
| Alisttair |
Posted - 25 Nov 2010 : 12:57:14
I'm just gonna put it out there that you have to read every single book with the FR logo on it before you die. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 15 Nov 2010 : 08:57:43
quote:
Originally posted by Sandro
quote:
Originally posted by dennis
quote:
Originally posted by Sandro
quote:
Originally posted by dennis
This is off topic...
Fortunately (or unfortunately), I was able to gather enough motivation to resume reading Elminster Must Die! Only to get further annoyed by this one word that plagues almost every page of the book: stlarn! I understand the characters' need or reflex to utter such curse, but to see it SO OFTEN is plain irritating. 
I became acclimatized to it during the Knights trilogy (which I know you've not read), myself, and now it just seems to fit. It's something only Ed does (so far as I'm aware), and it's just one of those things that makes the Realms feel real, and distinct from our world, to me; just like they have different figures of speech, why not have different swear words?
Having a different expletive is fine. But to see it in virtually every page immutably shatters my tolerance level. Here I am thinking that when I resume reading this book (which is more like a miracle as I already finished two other books since I'd taken a break from reading this, ah, *magnum opus*? )I will at least discover one or two reasons to finish, only to find more things so *wonderful* to behold!
Ye seem to be exaggerating the point, making, an, ahem, mountain out of a molehill, if you will, and letting that mountain get in the way of a book that truly is a very good read; everything I've heard from you seems to point at you wanting to enjoy the book, but also being unwilling to accept even the smallest "issue" with it.
Still, I suppose as one who loves both the content and characters of Ed's novels I'm more willing to overlook such issues, seeing the rest of the novel as outweighing the supposed negatives; your dislike for many of the characters probably dissuades you from wanting to read it to begin with, and other things just make the reading, already somewhat forced, that less enjoyable. Different strokes for different folks, as they say, and all that.
How I wish it's just A molehill. The problem is 'tis numerous molehills---thousands, if I dare count them. Put them all together and you'll have a mountain bigger than Everest.
To somehow alleviate my, ah, dislike at this very disappointing (so far) book, and to finally reach page 342, I'm listing down the things I happen to like about it. Of course, I'm also noting the Why-on-earth-do-I-have-to-see-these? things. But that's another story.
Now, will I ever include this novel in my 1001 Books You Should Read Before You DIE? Hah! Far, far unlikely! |
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