The Reading Corner.

[Bearu]

Arguments and Arguing: The Products and Process of Human Decision Making, third edition by Thomas A. Hollihan and Kevin T. Baaske.

[Buster's Uncle]

The Runes of the Earth by Stephen R. Donaldson.

Fatal Revenant by Stephen R. Donaldson.

[Lorizael]

The Invention of Science by David Wootton, which makes the case that the Scientific Revolution was (a) real and (b) fueled at least in part by unambiguous discoveries (and the concomitant realization that such a thing was possible), such as Columbus finding America and Brahe carefully observing a nova.

[E_T]

The Invention of Science by David Wootton, which makes the case that the Scientific Revolution was (a) real and (b) fueled at least in part by unambiguous discoveries (and the concomitant realization that such a thing was possible), such as Columbus finding America and Brahe carefully observing a nova.

James Burke's Connections (1), 2, 3 & The Day the Universe Changed all have shown the same thing...

[Unorthodox]

Uno, I'd say Iron Druid is right up your alley. While the characters and settings are different, the deeper I get into it, the more parallels I find.

So, I picked up the first book....

I'm about 10 chapters in, and I can't stand the protagonist.  All we've had for 10 chapters is how utterly great the guy is.  Blocks swords with his arms, one punches bad guys to death, beds every woman he has a passing interest in, including at least one goddess, whilst bragging to the reader about other conquests, smarter than anyone because he figured out how to use iron and magic at the same time, and his care about whether people live or die is solely centered on how inconvenient it might make HIS life. 

There hasn't been a single thing to like about him yet. 

[Elok]

The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer.  She takes a somewhat eccentric view of historical scholarship, but it's all distinctly readable, which is a big advantage over a lot of history books.  It took me fifteen minutes to get through three pages of a history of the French Revolution I checked out recently.  No doubt it was all meticulously checked against historical records, but . . . uuuuggggghhhh.

I tend to read mostly history books these days, not because I dislike fiction but because fiction is so utterly hit-and-miss.  Even a rather incompetent historian will have some interesting tidbits I can use for writing inspiration.  I slogged through a few pages of the French Revolution book, learned a lot about the state of France in 1785 or so, and decided I didn't need to know more badly enough to dig through the remaining four hundred pages.  Bad fiction, well, you get ten pages in, throw it in the back-to-library heap and you're none the better off for the experience.  You're just stuck with one more clunky chunk of dead tree to keep the kids from scribbling in.

[Unorthodox]

Uno, I'd say Iron Druid is right up your alley. While the characters and settings are different, the deeper I get into it, the more parallels I find.

So, I picked up the first book....

I'm about 10 chapters in, and I can't stand the protagonist.  All we've had for 10 chapters is how utterly great the guy is.  Blocks swords with his arms, one punches bad guys to death, beds every woman he has a passing interest in, including at least one goddess, whilst bragging to the reader about other conquests, smarter than anyone because he figured out how to use iron and magic at the same time, and his care about whether people live or die is solely centered on how inconvenient it might make HIS life. 

There hasn't been a single thing to like about him yet. 

Finished.

Really don't care for Atticus. 

He's an ass.  Even the (anti)climactic battle was an arrogant retelling of how much better than everyone else he is. 

Outside of this, the book is inconsistent in it's approach to mythology.  Rules that apply to one set of mythology, don't apply to the next.  Nothing wrong with that, necessarily, it's his world, it's just clearly very biased. 

Speaking of mythology, it's clear the author is trying to make a modern retelling or connection that Atticus ~ Lugh. 

Thus when Aenghus comes for Atticus, he's horrendously equipped by irish folklore standards.  Oh sure, he has a lesser magic sword.  Why is Atticus given one of the four treasures, and we're led to believe Aenghus goes after him without acquiring one of the others?  Really?  Where was the Spear?  Either Gae Assail or Aeredbhar would have sufficed as a much better counter.  Heck, the cauldron of Dagda would have even been interesting (through which he could have literally eaten the strength of the demons, witches, werewolves, or pretty much whoever else he wanted), especially if teamed with the club (which can both kill and resurrect).  I clearly have too much knowledge on the subset of mythos for this book, however. 

I get that it's the first book and maybe some of these other treasures come into play later in the series. 

Bottom line:  I found the mythos interesting, if flawed.  Most every character outside of Atticus was enjoyable. 

Too much Atticus is uber awesome and nigh invincible whilst being a sex god with a middle school humor level. 

Now, a series about the Viking vampire lawyer trying to become powerful enough to kill Thor, and having this [jerk, sphincter] druid client keep making awful situations for him.  THAT I want to read. 

[Rusty Edge]

Uno, I'd say Iron Druid is right up your alley. While the characters and settings are different, the deeper I get into it, the more parallels I find.

So, I picked up the first book....

I'm about 10 chapters in, and I can't stand the protagonist.  All we've had for 10 chapters is how utterly great the guy is.  Blocks swords with his arms, one punches bad guys to death, beds every woman he has a passing interest in, including at least one goddess, whilst bragging to the reader about other conquests, smarter than anyone because he figured out how to use iron and magic at the same time, and his care about whether people live or die is solely centered on how inconvenient it might make HIS life. 

There hasn't been a single thing to like about him yet.

Sorry. I would have said to stop after the first 10 chapters if you didn't like the protagonist. I love his dog, so that keeps me reading. I also sympathized with him for being pawned by the devious Irish gods.

In the course of the series, every problem he solves has consequences... that require him seeking more favors and creating more consequences until he's risking the world. Much as you might enjoy him being punked by Coyote, or chastised by Jesus, or pawned by the vampire... if you don't like him he's too much of a presence in the series.

In later books he takes on a female apprentice, and recovers his teacher from an island of time so slow it's practically frozen. The teacher constantly berates him for being a fool/idiot/ ass. When the other two characters are established it becomes a 3 story chapter rotation.

So I don't think it's worth any more of your time. Sorry.

Maybe if there's a movie and some fan does a Phantom Menace edit on it... the plot to kill Thor was kind of interesting , because there was no shortage of recruits. But Thor's family being warrior-gods made it a bad idea.

[Spacy]

Guns Germs & Steel - rereading.  Read about 15 odd years ago when it first game out and thought at the time it was good, as it took new perspectives.  Now as I go through it again I find some basic assumptions that are flawed and it is driving me crazy.  Still, a good read I would recommend to anybody with a history bend. 

[Rusty Edge]

Guns Germs & Steel - rereading.  Read about 15 odd years ago when it first game out and thought at the time it was good, as it took new perspectives.  Now as I go through it again I find some basic assumptions that are flawed and it is driving me crazy.  Still, a good read I would recommend to anybody with a history bend.

My sense of it was that it explains advantages / handicaps of various civilizations, but that he takes it a little too far.

[Spacy]

Been a fan of the Honor Harrington stories for a long time.

I am sick and tired of David Webber, however.  Of the last 4 books he has written and gotten published, I think that there is only 2-3 chapters of story plot advancement.  The rest is just rehashing the same old story plots from different perspectives.  Fine, I get it.  Everybody sees things slightly differently, and everybody has a different point of view.  Big whoop de do da doo.  Can I just get to the story, and see what happens?!?  If he cannot come up with new plot, than just kill everybody off and give us all some closure already!

His latest, Shadow of Victory, I have an Advance Reader Copy.  There are, I think (going off kindle counting here) 12 pages out of 600 that advance the plot.  The rest is just dross.  2%.  That works out to 2% new material, and 98% old stuff just from different views.  It is all from tertiary characters as well.  I have investment in the main characters in the HH Universe, not these throw offs.  It is also about all sorts of places never heard of before in his universe - and done in such a way as to make you wonder "am I on the czech world, or the polish world" due to his constant forcing of clunky (to english readers eyes) naming. 

This book reminds me of an old man trying to relive his glory days while suffering through alzheimer's.  Sad.

I am about to give up on him as an author, as it is just so frustrating instead of enjoyable. 

[Lord Avalon]

Curious. I just reread On Basilisk Station as a free ebook from Baen Books. Now rereading The Honor of the Queen.

[Unorthodox]

My son brought home the Michael Vey books, guess they are all the rage with the teen crowd right now.  He's read most of them.  Halfway through the first book, I sat him down and correctly guessed the plot points for the rest of this book, and through book 3.  Incredibly obvious foreshadowing, that series.  Nearly comic book ease of reading, too. 

[Buster's Uncle]

The Runes of the Earth by Stephen R. Donaldson.  -I didn't make it through the summary of the previous two trilogies before I fell asleep; barring a spot of insomnia, I'm going to hate reading about Linden in the real world for two months before she finally gets to the Land...

Against All Things Ending by Stephen R. Donaldson.  -This is the one that made it 103 pages before anyone left the spot the previous book ended and the plot commenced...

[E_T]

And Donaldson's writing is as if he randomly tossed a dictionary in the air and picked a word out of the page that fell open at random at times.  You would get a gist of what he was saying, but durn it, if I wanted to read a dictionary, I'd go and read it....