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| Author | Message |
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virtuadept
 
(frozen)
| | #1 posted April 6, 2007 at 1:18pm (EST) |
What was the last book you read? Post about it here.
I just finished Shadowrun #4 - Drops of Corruption (from the recent line of SR novels). I really enjoyed #1-#3, but #4 is a bit harder pill to swallow. First of all, 1-3 were a trilogy and all involved mostly the same characters. #4 has a couple of cameos from a few of the characters I liked in 1-3, and one character that I didn't like so well in 1-3 plays a more central role in #4. So I guess it was a bit frustrating at first not having all my "friends" from the series in it.
The plot in #4 however, I thought was very well done, if a tad slow moving. I can see why he did it the way he did, however. It involves the mafia, and one character who was basically a good person slowly getting trapped into working for the mob and how they hooked him in. There are a lot of nasty characters in this book as one might expect from a book dealing with organized crime. Even the main character, who was as I said essentially good, was hard to like for other reasons I can't get into without spoilers. So having a cast of essentially unlikable characters didn't help my enjoyment of the story too much either.
But as I said the plot was well done, and in the end, a rewarding story that actually did have a "lesson" or whatever. There were some really cool scenes in the book, and overall I felt this was a book worth reading especially for Shadowrun enthusiasts like myself. Not my favorite in the series, but I did end up enjoying it, even though it was a slow read for me and I set it down several times before I finally got into it.
This is not a novel I can heartily recommend to anyone. If you enjoy books about organized crime, this book might be for you, with the caveat that it is completely fictional and not all that realistic, plus set in a fantasy future. If you like Shadowrun, this book is definitely worth picking up for a couple of reasons. First, it's a good in depth look at how the mafia in Seattle operates, and secondly it involves a bit of Tir Tairngire, which was interesting, and of a mage who has "burnt out" so you kind of get a feel for how that would work. This book is not a "fan fiction" work, the writing is good quality writing, but the subject matter is such that essentially it will appeal to a limited set of eyes.
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MaxRebo
 
| | #161 posted July 31, 2007 at 7:08pm (EST) |
Breakfast of Champions.... well I'm currently reading it. |
nihon
  
| | #162 posted August 1, 2007 at 2:03am (EST) |
I used to eat the Breakfast of Champions.
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bill
 
| | #163 posted August 1, 2007 at 8:46am (EST) |
Max - How are you liking it? I've heard lots of good things about Breakfast of Champions. I want to read more Vonnegut. I read Cat's Cradle last year and liked it but didn't love it. |
MaxRebo
| | #164 posted August 1, 2007 at 10:55am (EST) |
I only on chapter 8 and haven't gotten much into it. But I like the way its written. The absurd little things it talks about. They make me chuckle. |
virtuadept
(frozen)
| | #165 posted August 1, 2007 at 11:21am (EST) |
I read Breakfast of Champions and it was fairly good. I think some of his ideas had been used before in TV or something because it all seemed so very familiar.
Visit virtuadept's RPG forum! or virtuadept's blog! |
sgtshaggy
  
| #166 posted August 1, 2007 at 11:29am (EST)
edited August 1, 2007 at 11:30am (EST) |
I enjoyed Breakfast of Champions in high school; I have fond memories of the absurd little bits that Max mentions that made me chuckle as well. I'd like to read it again one day.
shags
"Fair seedtime had my soul, and I grew up
Fostered alike by beauty and by fear."
- William Wordsworth |
Helen
 
| | #167 posted August 1, 2007 at 2:19pm (EST) |
Read The Undercover Economist while sitting in the waiting room for jury duty.
Now reading The Da Vinci Code... fun stuff. |
LiL_Ramsey
 
| | #168 posted August 1, 2007 at 2:32pm (EST) |
da vinci code for your first time? |
Helen
| | #169 posted August 1, 2007 at 2:42pm (EST) |
Yep! One of many books my boyfriend forced me to borrow from him after being aghast that I hadn't read it yet.  |
virtuadept
(frozen)
| | #170 posted August 1, 2007 at 2:49pm (EST) |
I enjoyed the Da Vinci Code, but I will say that I felt the "prequel" to it, Angels & Demons, was even more entertaining.
Visit virtuadept's RPG forum! or virtuadept's blog! |
Helen
| | #171 posted August 1, 2007 at 2:52pm (EST) |
You're the second person to say that to me today... I'll definitely have to check that one out next. |
LiL_Ramsey
| | #172 posted August 1, 2007 at 5:00pm (EST) |
did you see the movie first? please say no. |
Helen
| | #173 posted August 1, 2007 at 5:02pm (EST) |
Nope  |
therainstormlord
| #174 posted August 2, 2007 at 6:49am (EST)
edited August 2, 2007 at 6:54am (EST) |
virtuadept wrote:
> I enjoyed the Da Vinci Code, but I will say that I felt
> the "prequel" to it, Angels & Demons, was even more entertaining.
>
Edit 1.
Ugh, I hated disliked both of those books -- the guy is a hack whose success was built far more on marketing than his ability to write something of quality.
Edit 2.
The way the backstory was woven together was quite clever and enjoyable but I had no interest in the main plot which was the murder and search.... I found Angels and Demons to have poor pacing and in general felt like a "first attempt" at writing. |
Kommie
| | #175 posted August 2, 2007 at 10:57am (EST) |
The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
RAmen
-Kommie |
Foxhoundx
| | #176 posted August 3, 2007 at 11:53am (EST) |
Into the Looking Glass by John Ringo
Visit the GTZ Pokemon Center! |
Reed
 
| | #177 posted August 3, 2007 at 2:47pm (EST) |
started reading Into The Wild, its pretty interesting so far, they are making a movie about it also...
Need a  Loan? Visit the PAYPAL LOAN FORUM! |
yoda5
| | #178 posted August 4, 2007 at 9:06pm (EST) |
Harry Potter 1 was ok, but it is more of an intro. Each book gets better. 5, 6, and 7 get really really awesome. |
AlphakirA
(frozen)
| | #179 posted August 5, 2007 at 3:23am (EST) |
I want to read the Potter books, but I know I'll hear all the jokes at work. It's bad enough I hear comment about simply reading in the first place. Anyone know if they have paperbacks or smaller versions I can fit in my back pocket?
Alpha's Wii Forum |
vDub
 
| | #180 posted August 5, 2007 at 6:38am (EST) |
I know the first one is available in paperback, but it's not small enough to fit in your pocket without rolling it up or something
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ndrake
| | #181 posted August 5, 2007 at 8:22am (EST) |
Crooked Little Vein - Warren Ellis |
sgtshaggy
| | #182 posted August 5, 2007 at 8:28pm (EST) |
AlphakirA wrote:
> I want to read the Potter books, but I know I'll hear all the jokes
> at work. It's bad enough I hear comment about simply reading in the
> first place. Anyone know if they have paperbacks or smaller versions
> I can fit in my back pocket?
Pfft, read what you want and damn the jokes.
I finished Half-Blood Prince today--outstanding! I'm a hundred pages into the last book, and it has started out great.
shags
"Fair seedtime had my soul, and I grew up
Fostered alike by beauty and by fear."
- William Wordsworth |
nihon
| | #183 posted August 5, 2007 at 10:43pm (EST) |
Exactly. Read what you like when you like, and forget about people making fun of you because you haven't read what they think you should have read.
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-- Utah Speculative Fiction Council |
AlphakirA
(frozen)
| #184 posted August 6, 2007 at 1:40am (EST)
edited August 6, 2007 at 1:41am (EST) |
well, it's not the people making fun of me part, I can take a joke and dish one out pretty damn well. I just don't feel like being bothered by it is all. It's more an annoyance than a fear or anything. And we're not talking about intelligent people here, we're talking about Postal workers  The last time most of them read a book it involved how to cheat their way into getting a green card, for the others it was probably flashy pictures in The Enquirer.
I'll likely choose the first as my next book though. Fudge the annoyances, I've heard too many good things to let it pass me up.
Alpha's Wii Forum |
sgtshaggy
| | #185 posted August 6, 2007 at 7:28am (EST) |
I'm the delivery supervisor here at work, and my book is always parked on my desk. I catch a random, good-natured heckle about this or that; I did 4 years in the Navy, though, so I'm pretty well immune to the lightweight banter around these parts, hehe. Most people, even if they don't read, are more interested in the book instead of wanting to give me a hard time, though. A lot of people have asked me just how good Harry Potter is, in the last coupla months, and I told them to read them, they're awesome books  .
shags
"Fair seedtime had my soul, and I grew up
Fostered alike by beauty and by fear."
- William Wordsworth |
therainstormlord
| #186 posted August 6, 2007 at 12:45pm (EST)
edited August 6, 2007 at 12:46pm (EST) |
You would think that just seeing so many college-level aged people and up reading the HP books would be an endorsement, wouldn't you? It's always so easy to ridicule someone out of ignorance.... |
nihon
| | #187 posted August 7, 2007 at 12:24am (EST) |
I rebelled at first because so many people liked it and were raving about it. I finally gave in before the first movie came out and read all of them up to that point (I think the first three). I enjoyed them all.
--
-- Apple/Mac Forum
-- Utah Speculative Fiction Council |
Candle_Jack
| | #188 posted August 8, 2007 at 3:39am (EST) |
I just finished reading The Screwtape Letters. |
vDub
| | #189 posted August 8, 2007 at 5:03am (EST) |
Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory
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Foxhoundx
| | #190 posted August 9, 2007 at 3:21pm (EST) |
The Ruins by Scott Smith
Visit the GTZ Pokemon Center! |
virtuadept
(frozen)
| | #191 posted August 9, 2007 at 5:49pm (EST) |
Still reading World War Hulk, which is amazingly awesomeness. Comics haven't been this good in a while. Also reading Sword of Shannara.
Visit virtuadept's RPG forum! or virtuadept's blog! |
nihon
| | #192 posted August 9, 2007 at 8:48pm (EST) |
 Sword of Shannara
It's definitely not my favorite of Brooks' work.
--
-- Apple/Mac Forum
-- Utah Speculative Fiction Council |
virtuadept
(frozen)
| | #193 posted August 9, 2007 at 10:00pm (EST) |
This is my 5th or 6th attempt to read it. But I'm further along than ever before, and I'm actually kind of enjoying it now. |
Reed
| #194 posted August 10, 2007 at 12:05am (EST)
edited August 10, 2007 at 12:05am (EST) |
(harry potter, chamber of secrets spoiler)
"He pulled Harry's wand from his pocket and began to trace is through the air, writing three shimmering words:
Tom Marvolo Riddle
Then he waved the wand once, and the letters of his name rearranged themselves:
I Am Lord Voldemort"
badass!!!
Need a Loan? Visit the PAYPAL LOAN FORUM! |
Reed
| | #195 posted August 10, 2007 at 3:51am (EST) |
just finished Harry Potter 2, started "I Am Legend".
Need a Loan? Visit the PAYPAL LOAN FORUM! |
paulbert7
| | #196 posted August 13, 2007 at 2:39pm (EST) |
I justed finished Deathly Hallows 5 minutes ago... I'm sad... It's over.  |
sgtshaggy
| | #197 posted August 13, 2007 at 2:40pm (EST) |
I'm going to finish it tonight...150 pages left. I'm dyin' to see what happens, but I'm gonna be hella sad too .
shags
"Fair seedtime had my soul, and I grew up
Fostered alike by beauty and by fear."
- William Wordsworth |
nihon
| | #198 posted August 13, 2007 at 9:18pm (EST) |
Interesting choice of words there, shags... 
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-- Apple/Mac Forum
-- Utah Speculative Fiction Council |
lando786
| | #199 posted August 13, 2007 at 11:53pm (EST) |
The Hobbit - Tolkien right after finishing One Hundred Years of solitude in spanish(this is by far the best novel ive read)
Starting soon - Children of Húrin - Tolkien |
Reed
| | #200 posted August 14, 2007 at 2:07am (EST) |
Just finished "I am Legend"
awesome, go read it.
Need a Loan? Visit the PAYPAL LOAN FORUM! |
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