Scott’s Comments (group member since May 05, 2014)

Scott’s comments from the A Foray Into Fantasy group.

Steven wrote: "Well I finally finished it and I have no desire to continue the series. I might give it a shot eventually but there are tons of books I actually want to read waiting for me. "

I think most of us seem to have had the same response to this book. I can't fathom how it's rated 3,86 but I guess there must be a lot of fans to balance it out.
I'm definitely not carrying on with this series either I don't think- too many other books to read.

Didn't post in here yesterday but I made a few notes of what I wanted to say when I got around to posting..

As with everybody else, it seems I had the same issue with his age. At first, I thought they were all of an age (which I struggled with enough, as a band of 13 year olds would hardly strike any great fear into people), but having found that he was in fact leading grown man- that seemed even more difficult to believe.

The constant use of the word 'Brother ...' was something else that I confess not to be a huge fan of. Whenever one of them was referred to as Brother whoever at the start, I found myself picturing a monk or novice opposed to some kind of bandit or outlaw. Probably not the desired effect but...

I didn't particularly hate the start of the book, nor do I really dislike it now I've read further, but if you asked me to talk about it and what happens, I think I would really struggle to say all that much.

This thread is somewhere to post a final comment or review about Prince of Thorns. Did you like it and why (or why not)? How would you rate the book?

No spoiler tags are necessary in this thread as it's generally understood that posters have read the entirety of the book. :)

This thread is somewhere to post about the characters in the book, and how they develop and appear throughout.

Again, please post specific descriptions of events in spoiler tags to prevent ruining future events for other people :)

Thread to discuss what you thought when you first started reading this book.

Please post descriptions of specific events in spoiler tags :)

It's almost July so it seemed appropriate to add a book to read together, Prince of Thorns. There were only a few comments on that suggestions thread so I'm not entirely sure if everybody is still interested or not, but people should of course feel free to get involved if they can. :)

Just some suggestions from my to-read list now as well. BTW if any of these suggested novels grab you then please feel free to second them.

The Emperor's Knife
The Oathbreaker's Shadow
The Dragonbone Chair
The Whitefire Crossing
Among Thieves
Prince of Thorns

Admittedly, some of these don't have all that many ratings and reviews, but I don't think that should something off-putting anyway. Any more suggestions?

Hi everyone!

July seems like a great time to have our first group-read. All of the responses to the poll seem positive, receptive at the least, to the idea so we are going to forge ahead.

Does anybody have any suggestions of books that we could read? Is there something you've been itching to read for a while that might work well as a group-read? If so, post below and we'll work out which book we are going to read together next month. :)

Cheers

Halfway through listening to The Blinding Knife, and about halfway through Romeo and Juliet.

Cas wrote: "Scott wrote: The problem is the main character is the weak part of the book (in my opinion). He seemed really quite stupid in numerous places, and tended to switch between being extremely timid and..."

I think so. I'm listening to the second one (book three is only due out in the autumn) and I am really enjoying it, though I don't feel quite as strongly against the main character. I do actually agree about the more minor characters being really quite interesting, so there may be something in what you're saying.

I liked the first book well enough (gave it 3 stars) but at the moment (~40% through book two), I think this one is a four star.

Cas wrote: "I'll be honest and say there are parts of the book that feel disjointed for me, which makes sense because I skipped the first book. When he talks about the magic kakare that lives within the Night ..."

hmm... That's interesting. I haven't read that series- just the Lightbringer series, so was looking at how they would stack up against each other. I rated The Black Prism a three. I definitely agree about his plots being fantastic- I really enjoyed the plot and there are some aspects of it that are quite unlike any fantasy I've read before.

The problem is the main character is the weak part of the book (in my opinion). He seemed really quite stupid in numerous places, and tended to switch between being extremely timid and extremely brave and self-confident. Overall, I enjoyed the story though. Listening to the second one as an audiobook at the minute. :)

Cas wrote: "Shadow's Edge -- the second in Brent Weeks' Night Angel trilogy. Someone gave us the second and third, but I'm still missing the first. Hmm. Guess I should have started there. "

How are you finding Shadow's Edge? I've just finished the first book in his other trilogy (The Black Prism) and wondered how you've been finding it.

I'm reading two books at the minute, that I took a bit of a break from a couple of months ago and have just come back to.
1- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
2- Die Herren von Winterfell (A Song of Ice and Fire part i) by GRRM

This folder is just a place to generally discuss any fiction that isn't high fantasy, whatever genre it may be. Feel free to create threads for books/series that you wish to talk about and discuss!

If you want to discuss HIGH FANTASY books, then you should do so in this folder.

As this is a relatively new group, we've only created folders for a few of the really big fantasy series. As we grow, more folders will appear for other popular books/series.

In the meantime, if there are any HIGH FANTASY series that you would like to discuss, you can do so in this folder by creating a page for that particular work.



If you want to discuss any other genres of fiction, then you should do so in this folder.

Who is your favourite POV character in A Song of Ice and Fire and why?

[If you haven't finished reading the series yet, please be aware that the discussion may lead to things inadvertently being spoilt.]

How do you guys think the HBO TV show Game of Thrones compares to the book series?

For some reason, it took me the longest time to watch the TV series after reading the books.. I really have no idea why. I like the TV show well enough now, even if I don't think it can really compare well to the books. I think it is more of a void-filler for me, whilst we wait until GRRM releases The Winds of Winter..

There is a poll at the bottom of the main group page asking about the possibility of starting group reading activities. Make sure to answer and if you have any extra thoughts to add, feel free to post them in here!

An obvious question for a group like this: We all have our favourite fantasy books/ series, so what's yours?

I am in the huge crowd of people who would say A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin is their favourite fantasy series. I'm sure I don't have to convince many people why it's my favourite, because so many aspects of the books are fantastic. I do think A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow is somewhat of a weak link in the series (I really struggled with this book in particular), but on the whole I absolutely loved it.

As well as A Song of Ice and Fire, I really enjoyed the Farseer/ Tawny Man trilogies by Robin Hobb and the Riyria Revelations/ Chronicles by Michael J. Sullivan.

Your turn! Feel free to latch onto what other people are talking about and give an opinion too, but again, try to be mindful of spoilers on this part of the group.

This topic is just a place to come and tell everyone about what you're reading at the minute, fantasy or otherwise.

For example, I'm reading Mistress Of The Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts. I've really enjoyed this trilogy so far and am kind of sad that I'm getting towards the end, aha.