But you'll have to buy a new Kindle :smokin:

If it broke of its own accord (like if you haven't danced a jig on it or did not flush it in the toilet or something very obviously damaging to it), more likely than not amazon will replace it free of charge (apart from shipping expenses I believe)

Very generous :eek: No hidden agenda?

No hidden aganda at all, in fact, the object is very overt: to flood the market with their product (as well as underpricing their units), and thus crush the competition.

In the immortal words of Duncan McLeod, "There can be only one!"

No need to buy a new Kindle even if you did flush it down the khazi (and why would you do that, unless you were reading Breaking Dawn?) - you can simply download the necessary app for free, to use on your computer, smartphone or spanky android tablet.

Now there is nothing to stop everyone from downloading fantastic and witty new books, eh?

I do have FBreading apps on my phones (see up there), but I still think if my kindle broke (I hope it won't), I will still go for a new one (but not a touchscreen, just the keyboard one I have, Kindle 3 that would be) - it just feels like I'm reading a 'real' book when I'm reading with it (specially as I've bought a leather cover to go with it so now I'm holding it with both hands lying on my back - very bookish feeling for me, you know) :)

As for Amazon's generosity - they always used to be like that. I remember back in 2000 or maybe 2001, one of my orders was late (like, couple of months, maybe three) - so I figured it was lost for good and wrote about it. The replacement was sent to me free of charge - but that's not the point of the story - actually it so happened that original shipment turned up in a couple of months more - so I ended with two sets of identical books for half price. I wrote to Amazon yet again to inform them about it asking for the way of returning extra - the answer was - please do keep it for we value our customers etc etc. Apart from being impressed, I had much less trouble in my birthday gift selection process for my friends that year :D

Edit: And to keep up the pretense of at least trying to stay on topic - currently rereading Harry Potter with said piece of equipment :D (which reminds me... I should proceed back to the couch I left my HP-ed Kindle on...)

Personally, I love (most of) Robin Hobb's books because of her superb storytelling and the books' huge "awwww-ing potential". I can see that the slowish everyday life and emotional zigzag of the main character could annoy somebody but I like it - maybe because I feel for the main character and can sympathise with him. Maybe it's an age thing? I first read the books as a teenager and I have had a soft spot for them ever since although I don't relate with Fitz so much anymore. I also like the way Hobb picks the most ridiculous clichés and turns them into something captivating, and I find the characters very likable. Some of them seem a little flat, yes, but I'm blaming it on the narrator's subjectivity as it's just the main character speaking. Maybe that's one more reason I like the Farseer series and the subsequent Tawny Man trilogy so much - they have a likeable and complicated enough first person narrator which is (a little sadly) quite rare in epic fantasy.

Nerwen and others - if you're bored of fantasy literature just recycling the same old ideas, I would suggest authors like Neil Gaiman and China Miéville, or maybe even the crazy Hal Duncan. None of it is traditional "high fantasy" though.

Last year I didn't read maybe as much fantasy as I normally do, but I did for example finally read some stuff I had been meaning to read for years, such as Lord Dunsany's King of the Elf-land's Daughter, Frank Herbert's Dune (which I would classify as science fiction, though) and The Princess Bride by S. Morgenstern/ William Goldman. They were all definitely worth reading, but had their weak points too. I also acquainted myself with aforementioned China Miéville and Kage Baker, a humoristic fantasy author, whose style left me a little confused. Of course, I also read more of one of my definite favourites, Guy Gavriel Kay, and was amazed again (just how can someone write in such a beautiful and epic manner?), and reread George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. He's now been promoted to be included in the list of my favourite authors. ;)

Lastly, I read two collections of "short" stories by supposed masters of the fantasy genre, named Legends and Legends II and edited by Robert Silverberg. Based on what I read there, I'd like to ask a question: are Orson Scott Card and Terry Goodkind worth a closer acquaintance? I quite liked their stories in these collections.

I asume the Orson Scott Card story you are referring to is The Grinning Man and that therfore you are asking if it is worth persuing his Alvin Maker series (his Ender's game stuff is quite different). I'd say yes, they are a very well written series (just bear in mind that there is still one more book to go, but Card has been slow to write that one) besides the books (Seventh Son, Red Prophet, Prentice Alvin, Alvin Journeyman, Heartfire, and The Crystal City) there's one more short story "Yazoo Queen" (you can find that in the Swords and Sorcery anthology) and "Prentice Alvin and the No Good Plow" which is a long epic poem that outlined the whole plot of the series before Card wrote the books (and therfore has clues about what is going to happen in the last book")

Thanks Alf! I did indeed read The Grinning Man, and actually Yazoo Queen was also in one of these collections. So maybe once I've read the books in my shelf borrowed from library and from my parents (a pile of classics I need to read for a literature course and a few others) I will probably make a reservation for Seventh Son in the city library.

Actually, it's the poem that's going to be the tough one to locate, that hasn't been reprinted much. I think your best chance (once you read all the books) is to ask your library if they have a copy of Maps in a Mirror, a HUGE book that collects a lot of Card's short story work (reading that will also give you an idea about the other stuff he has done) Alternitively (if you are lazy) you can try and find/download the audio collection "The Elephants of Poznan" which has Card reading the poem. The fist of this also re-prints the Tolkein tribute story Card did for After the King

Oh and one piece of advice for going through the series, do not even TRY to work out what the actual date is, you are just going to go crazy. You're going to meet a lot of historical people through the series, but thier life stories are so different, and history has gone such a different that trying to pin down a date is nearly impossible (I've always guessed sometime between 1820 and 1860, but that is just my guess)

Ah, that one, regardless of double R in the middle of his name that brings home nice reminiscences, I could not force myself past the chapter the whole lot of them (can't remember the names for the life of me) find direwolf cubs and proclaim these to be tied with the fates of their clan. Just got stuck there and went to read something else instead (It was Space Trilogy of C.S.Lewis IIRC)

Anyway, I hope it was not a total waste of money (as I've got all 5 Kindle editions, again, IIRC, maybe it's four, can't remember whether book 5 was already out by then) and one day, someday, I will turn back to the series and read them and, hopefully, enjoy them

Maybe I was just in no mood for it first time, but it seemed to lack certain knack for me. Though I definitely abstained from watching the movie so far, saving my judgement till I finally get over books (if I do read them after all)

If you're suspicious of GRRM just because of this kind of stuff, please go on and read him. Out of all fantasy writers I've read, Martin probably handles prophecies and religion the way I like the most. Stuff works, but it is ambiguous. All the characters/factions interpret omens and prophecies in their own way and it's impossible to say who is right. There are dozens of gods, and it's impossible to judge whether they exist or not, because they kind of are there and kind of not. Characters have prophetic dreams, or maybe you just think they they are prophetic because something that vaguely fits them happened later. And maybe even later happens something else that makes you see the dream or prophecy in a completely different light. And if you keep your eyes open you could probably predict so much stuff based on random dreams and quotes of withc women at markets and who knows what but it's kind of impossible to keep track - but in retrospect it all makes sense. It's very cool.

And yes, Martin is using the over-used connection with wolves, but while the family Stark whose sigil is the direwolf might seem like the central one in the beginning, it eventually spreads out so that they are just one family among others, there are wolves and dragons and lions and fish and eagles and roses and krakens and suns and stags and who knows what kind of epic sigils with the great houses of the kingdoms, and you're not rooting just for the wolf family anymore - or at least that's what happened to most people I know who read the books.

I warmly recommend Martin's novels to everybody who doesn't mind the huge scale of it or the ugly realism (war happens so people die - even major characters, and people are beaten, raped, robbed, tortured, abused, some freeze to death, innocents are slaughtered and so on). Martin writes really well, his characters grow to unforeseen dimensions and picking favourites or taking sides becomes almost impossible as the saga goes on and the writer is always one step ahead of you so you keep picking up your jaw from the floor. Furthermore, the sort of realism I mentioned - even in all its ugliness - is really refreshing in the fantasy genre, and the world is interesting and carefully constructed.

/end rant :D



ps. Thanks for the advice! Fortunately, although I study history I've always been lousy with dates, and the US history has never been my speciality, so I think I will be able to ignore the temptation to put it too strictly into historical context. ;)

Mainly just A Song of Ice and Fire, big fan of George RR Martin. :)

I'm a bit late to the party but I agree entirely, especially with the bit I've put in bold. I don't think I can remember the last time a novel shocked me in this way. I've become too used to plots being predictable!

I've also read the Patrick Rothfuss novels mentioned earlier and thoroughly enjoyed them both.

Estelyn, for what it's worth, I've read all of the Shadowmarch Chronicles. I enjoyed the first two but after my favourite (and in my opinion) the most promising character was killed off, I lost interest a bit. The ending of the final book was also a bit of a trial. Like the ending of the RotK movie it just seemed to go on and on and on...
I actually enjoyed Tad Williams' earlier series 'Memory, Sorrow and Thorn' much more.

I've recently discovered China Mieville. His books are 'fantasy but not as we know it,' so to speak. Definitely weird and thought provoking. His 'The City and The City' made my brain hurt but was a terrific read for all that!

Hmmmn. I'm always looking for new authors to read, but I rarely get the chance to buy new books (even on the lovely, wonderful, spectacular Kindle), and nearly as rarely to *gasp* visit the library. This means, of course, that I have a great big list of works I would like to read, but a considerably smaller list of ones I actually have read.

I've read the first book in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R. R. Martin, but not been terribly impressed. I don't dislike it, and think I might have been kept off of it for too long by a comment somewhere (I believe I was linked to it from this very site) that greatly exaggerated, to my mind, the quantity and graphicness (?) of the . . . ugly realism, as Thinlomien puts it? In other words, I really should get the second book, and would recommend the bit of it I know to anybody who is interested in some highly morally grey fiction.

I'm rather impressed by "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss, which I'm currently rereading (rather less so by the sequel, sadly, but that's another subject) - I like the main character a lot, and it's one of the few books I've read that actually manages to put me in a state of suspense as to the outcome.

I recently reread Perdido Street Station which, though intriguing, isn't one of his best works (at least in my opinion - I mean, it's well written but it just can't hold my attention for very long), and Iron Council, one of my favourite books ever. It's a steampunk western with socialism, imperialism, terrorism, gay rights, and golems.
Before that, I acquainted myself with Embassytown which is his most recent novel, and I really liked it. While Miéville's Bas-Lag novels have steampunk as a common element, Embassytown is good ol' science fiction.

I wasn't terribly impressed by the first book, either - as a matter of fact, I didn't read A Clash of Kings until a year later, and it was only then I understood why people whose literary judgement I normally trust had been praising the series.

I've also reread Jeff VanderMeer's short story collection The Secret Life, and it was a disappointment given that he was one of my favourite writers as a teenager. Now his (sometimes experimental) style didn't sit well with me at all, and I found most of the stories boring and pointless. I still like his Veniss Underground novel, though.

I just started to read 'Perdido Street Station' yesterday after finishing 'Kraken' last week. I'm having a similar problem. It's well written and the characters are even weirder to imagine than usual, but I'm finding it a bit harder to immerse myself this time. It's early days yet, so I'll see how I get on.
I'll look out for 'Embassytown' and 'Iron Council', thanks for the recommendations. :)

In an earlier post someone mentioned Joe Abercrombie's 'First Law' series. I loved those, Inquisitor Glokta is one of my favourite characters in a novel....ever! The other stand alone novels set in the same world: 'Best Served Cold' and 'The Heroes' are also very good. He's writing another at the moment....when he can tear himself away from Skyrim; according to his blog!

I just finished the fourth book of A Song of Fire and Ice, and as much as I was dreading the fourth book (Because of Hookbill telling me of it). I don't venture into fantasy books that often, being the only other series I have read was Tolkien and Raymond E. Feist.

I absolutely love the series for its realism, and curse the lack of the 5th book anywhere. So I figure when I am in England this summer I will have to pick up a copy.

It's worth finishing, not only because otherwise you won't catch the references in the later books, but in my experience it's overrated.
Also, don't forget to check out The Scar - it's very good too!

I intend to read the Abercrombie series when I have the time (or rather, when I feel like it, because I always have time for reading), but now I have some Gene Wolfe, Sandman comics, and Hungarian folktales on their way from the library.

Oh come on! :p

Amazon has been weird to me, I did look up the 5th book but at first Amazon told me July 12 2012, then that page which I can get now. Even my local bookstores don't have a copy, and they are all decked out with the Game of Thrones show popularity.

I saw someone reading a copy on the train 3-4 weeks ago, so it is presumably avaiable somewhere. And it looked like a normal run book, not an advance galley copy.

Does anyone else absolutely love The Weirdstone of Brisingamen?

Well, davem pointed this out to me earlier. The trilogy is due to be completed this August. I'll be outside the bookshop at 9am for this one, I'm very excited.

I don't agree with Phillip Pullman that Alan Garner is 'better than Tolkien' because he's simply a very different kettle of fish. However, he is comparable to CS Lewis and trumps him on all accounts.

Since I first read the Weirdstone as a child, I've thought of Alderly Edge as a magical place, rather than the exclusive haunt of Man U footballers. And the passage with the tunnel is so vivid I even have dreams about that now.

Anyone else love it?

A Dance with Dragons is in the local bookstore here. However, with the recent popularity, it costs ridiculous money. And, all the library copies are out (with a line up of about 15 people - which is more than I've seen for HP when it came out). I'm waiting for all the excitement to go down to get a copy.

Anyone around here read 'The Hunger Games'? I'm not sure if it's fantasy, but I've been hearing a lot about it, and to be truthful I'm a little sceptical. I mean, girl and boy chosen to kill other children in a dystopian world where adults rule? Let me guess: the girl and the guy will be prolific, and the girl will end up being some kind of 'leader', and she'll never do anything wrong with intent, because she's only ever forced to do bad things, and she and the guy will have some kind of forced romance...

I think I'd better stop. The number of flat protagonists these days are kind of getting to my head. :rolleyes:

Me! Me! I have well thumbed copies of The Weirdstone and its sequel 'The Moon of Gomrath' on my bookshelf, and there's a space just crying out for the last part of the trilogy!
Thank you so much for the link...I'm unbelievably excited!!

I'm reading Weirdstone again now, spurred by the news. My copy is very well read (in the front, it says I bought it in Skipton in 1984 ;)) but I'm bursting with excitement at all the new things I'm picking up reading it now. I've just looked up a bit about Alan Garner and he grew up in Alderley Edge, descended from a family that had lived there for centuries - one of his great grandfathers carved the 'wizard' that's on the rocks in the woods. His family passed down the folktales of the area to him, as they weren't skilled readers, and he wove them into his stories.

There was also something on the Wikipedia entry about his love of language and the local Cheshire dialect (apparently it's possible to read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in the original, if you know the Cheshire dialect - which is interesting as the 'Green Chapel' isn't very far away). And a lot of the places mentioned are still very much there, such as 'Llyn-dhu' and Radnor Mere, and of course The Wizard pub.

It's also chiming with a lot of the language and stories of the North West that I picked up as a child.

This is a fantastic book. I love it even more than ever. :cool:

I finished Weirdstone yesterday and still being in the frame of mind to devour a book, I picked up a copy of The Hunger Games today. My interest was piqued because it's dystopian SF and I'm always interested in that, so I wanted to see what a 'young adult' novel would make of what sounded like a lift from the plot of Battle Royale.

I've read three-quarters of it since this afternoon, and it's pretty good. There's vivid scene-setting, the characters aren't flat and predictable at all, and the narrator isn't a 'Mary Sue' but has some definite failings and flaws. The whole concept of people forced to fight to the death has now been done a few times, but it still works. It also makes you feel a bit angry/disgusted, which is always a plus point with dystopian stories. Not finished it yet though, and I've read more than enough novels with poor endings lately, so I shall see....;)

I wonder - could you call dystopian SF 'fantasy'? Where does one stop and another begin?


EDIT - finished it now, and even though it was basically Battle Royale for younger readers, it was a decent book. Not sure I want to read the sequels, as I thought it was well rounded off, but I'm sure there would be plenty of things to discuss about it, and I can easily see this one creeping into school reading lists at some point.

I feel rather daring and frisky replying to this post, but sci fi and fantasy are two of my three favorite fictional genres.

I got through A Feast of Crows or whatever the title was of Martin's 4th book before I finally gave up on the series. While he's created an in-depth, original universe, it just wasn't enough for me. I personally look for characters I can cheer for when I read, and the ones left by the end of the 4th book were either rotten or Too Stupid To Live and I really didn't care about any of them any more.

I do understand the appeal of such an epic work, and the heraldry and family history is fascinating. I guess I just prefer a less sprawling, more focused style.

On to a cheerier subject -- writers I like, lol! Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon and the Sword and Sorceress anthologies she edited are enjoyable. I also like Orson Scott Card, both his sci fi and his fantasy. Cherryh's Fortress series is on my TBR list, and after reading some of this thread, so is Patrick Rothfuss.

I also enjoyed my daughter's Percy Jackson books. ;)

Have you tried Amazon? :P

Still not sure I want to pick it up. There are not any local libraries where I live, so I shall have to buy it - but it will be at the end of a long, long list of books I want to finish first.

A cheap second hand copy should be easy to find on teh internets. It's been a very popular book for a long time and on lots of school reading lists too, so I should think there are lots of them in circulation! It's a quick read too ;)

That was Weirdstone...but then I realised you're talking Hunger Games! :D

Well I got mine at the supermarket for £3! Brand new! So try there while it's still a bestseller. It's also a quick read.

I got a copy from the library... FINALLY!

Finished 'Perdido Street Station' at the weekend. After a bit of a slow start I actually enjoyed it very much.
Presently reading Gareth Roberts' novelisation of the Doctor Who lost tale 'Shada' from the original script by the great Douglas Adams. It's a bit of a silly romp but as a long time Who fan I'm finding it a lot of fun. Besides, it's the fourth Doctor and Romana so what's not to like!

*cries* I want a local library! :(

Decided to get it off Amazon. Luckily I will be able to get it delivered to the UK since I will be going there in some days - if I were to order it here, I would be charged over eight pounds just for delivery!

Eight pounds?! Do you live out in the wilds like Faroe or Hull or somewhere?

I decided to get the others in the series because I was curious to see what happened, and I've just the final one to finish now. I've been quite pleased with the series really. Too often dystopian novels have no sense of humanity or are so bleak you feel depressed for months afterwards, but not so with these.

No, but you could say I live far, far away. :p

I was looking at some reviews on Amazon, and they said that the series actually lacked humanity, and that the characters appeared somewhat flat and inconsistent with their own personalities. That itself was enough to turn me off again, though the book is lying in my basket...

No, they're not 'flat' at all. One thing you often find in dystopian fiction is that it's all about the situation and characters seem to be only ciphers, especially those who aren't the protagonist. But what I did like about this was that the narrator (it's first person) Katniss is very much human and reacts in a natural way. She is a tough cookie, but questions herself and changes throughout as anyone would. Nor are the other characters 'flat'.

The concept it's based around is inhumane of course, but that's the story, how people react to and deal with an inhumane situation.

Actually, I've never read dystopian novels. I am not terribly fond of futuristic books/movies - I much prefer stuff that takes me into the past, for some reason.

I *did* buy a book called Duncton Wood - it had some pretty fantastic reviews, and I'm curious to see how it turns out. An epic fantasy with moles as protagonists - intriguing. :smokin:

As kludgy as the Wheel of Time got between books 7 and 10, it really picked up towards the end. Now the last book has a release date set for next January and I'm actually excited for it.

Brian Sanderson's done one hell of a job on the last two, and I have every confidence in his ability to finish this one strongly.