Fitz and the Fool - I've finished the trilogy!

                                       

I've now finished the final book in this trilogy.

This was awesome.

A really satisfying conclusion to 15 books (I think!) I was so pleasantly surprised that the Liveship Traders and The Dragon Keepers were incorporated into the conclusion of the Fitz and the Fool story.

The Furthest Station

I was away in London for a couple of nights last weekend, so what better time to read this Peter Grant novella by Ben Aaronovitch with its London setting and the the Tube used as a plot device.

Again an enjoyable read but I do sometimes find myself wondering how the plot moves along. Perhaps a second reading would make things clearer and I probably will one day when the series concludes.

The latest book has now been published but I'm happy to wait until I can pick the kindle version up for a good price.

Rain Wild Chronicles Conclusion

Last  night I finished the last book of Robin Hobb's Rain Wild Chronicles. Whilst the story maybe not as strong as some of her previous efforts, the characters were still interesting enough to make this a worthwhile read.

Beginning the Rain Wild Chronicles by Robin Hobb

As New Year is coming up I thought I'd better get up-to-date with recording my reading as I've recently completed Books 1 and 2 of the Rain Wild Chronicles by Robin Hobb.

It's taken me sometime to read this, not any fault of the books themselves but the fact that I've seemed to have little time for reading. Evenings are currently occupied by watching Buffy and Angel box-sets and figure painting and football take-up my time during the day.

Anyway, Book 3 awaits and I'll continue until I finish all four books in the series.

Summer Holiday reading

We've been away for 4.5 weeks on  a massive trip to New Zealand and this has given me the opportunity to read some books and digital comics on my Kindle.

I've read quite a bit of the stuff I've picked-up in the Amazon sales recently. I've read

Amazing Spider-man Mastworks vol 14 and vol 15
Black Widow by Mark Waid Vol 1 and Vol 2
The Irredeemable Ant-Man Vol 1and Vol 2
Star Wars Vol 4
"The Hanging Tree" by Ben Aaronovitch

and I'm 60% of the way through "Tarkin" by James Luceno

Maybe not as much as I thought I might, considering we were away for a month, but still a reasonable amount.

The digital comics, both old and new, were great. I am so happy reading stuff in this format. That's something I didn't think I'd be saying 12 months ago. I will happily get more when the price is right. I wish DC comics were as cheap! I'd be able to get more.

Nevertheless, it's so nice having time to read....

Another book read - Peter Kay

I seem to have cracked on with a few books recently and this autobiography of Peter Kay is the latest one to be completed.

Not as many laugh out loud moments as I expected but still an enjoyable read. He's a really funny man.

What I...read on my Summer Holiday

I actually got to read THREE books whilst on the family holiday to Italy. Part of the reason for that is because the Kindle is so damn easy to carry around -so you can pull of the book to read anytime. Like when my wife and son were queueing for rides in Gardaland.

I read books 4 and 5 of Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series. Number 4 "Broken Homes" wasn't that great but did have a shocking ending. Book 5 was a big improvement.

I've read "Railway Adventure" years ago but wanted to re-read this great book before I go to the Talyllyn Railway again in August. 

Ace of Skulls by Chris Wooding

                                                  

Just doing a quick review on the blog and noticed that I'd not posted about finishing the Saga of the Ketty Jay when I finished "The Ace of Skulls" a few weeks ago.

A great series. A satisfying ending too.

I've not had much to post about recently as I've been reading Star Wars RPG material and I've been buying gaming stuff too.

However, I have bought volume 3 of a series I've been reading and am currently reading that before I look at some more comic material.

     

The Iron Jackel

This was my holiday read. It's the third book in the "Tales of the Ketty Jay" series.

My first proper read on a Kindle. Nice.

Already started book 4 (on Kindle again. Tee hee).

Tales of the Ketty Jay: The Black Lung Captain

This was great. There is nothing to criticise about this series and, if I was able to write novels, this would be the type I would want to write.

Action, humour, romance, heroism and lots of great fantasy/sci-fi ideas.

The next one will be read via my new Kindle but first it's back to a certain adventuring party.

Retribution Falls

Great book. Bit steampunky and even though it wasn't set in space it did remind me of Firefly quite a bit.

Will read the sequel v v soon!

Crewe Alex - After Dario

Besides being a bit of a geek - I love footy. In fact, I spend just as much on football related stuff as I do on my comics and gaming hobbies.

After Dario by Jules Hornbrook is a good read recounting the trials and tribulations of the last three seasons of the team I support, Crewe Alexandra.

Babylon Steel by Gaie Sebold

I read this whilst on holiday in Rhodes. Nice and simple Sci-Fi/Fantasy with a likeable main character and a fast paced plot. An enjoyable holiday read.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

It's taken me quite sometime to read this. Took a bit of time to get into it and then it was generally lack of time to sit down and read. But it was a good book. Well plotted.

Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch

This is the third in the Peter Grant (what if Harry Potter became a policeman sorta series). I read the first two earlier this year. See here and here if you don't believe me!

An enjoyable read. Some laugh-out-loud moments and likeable characters. A bit too many characters for me to keep track of reading this over the last few weeks but I just let the details of the plot wash over me and enjoy the ride.

Star Wars: Darth Plagueis

This took me about 5 weeks or so to read. Partly because I've not had that much time to read it as I've been busy doing other stuff in the holiday period (including painting figures and reading the rules for Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG) but also because, althought interesting and never boring, this wasn't edge of your seat excitement.

Instead James Luceno has crafted a clever tale which describes Palpatine's rise to power and his apprentership to Darth Plagueis. The last few chapters of the book run parallel to The Phantom Menace and we get to see what was going on behind the scenes. Very interesting. It was very clever how Luceno managed to tie and explain all the plot points together.

I also learnt a great deal more about the Star Wars universe. Lots of refering to Wookiepedia to check what the various alien races looked like. Great prep for the RPG later this year.

Moon Over Soho

I've just finished the second book for this month and the second Ben Aaronovitch. Slightly better than the first but there was lots of characters (as is typical in a mystery I guess) which made it (very) slightly difficult to follow.

Rivers of London

Last weekend (after posting my last blog entry) I finished this novel which the first in a series about a policeman who is an apprentice wizard and investigates magical crimes in London.

Although on occasion is was a little difficult to follow, what made this a worthwhile read was the characters and humour.

It was also fun to see places that I knew mentioned. Forbidden Planet got a name check!

Blackout by Mira Grant

I finished this book last night. It certainly took me a lot less time to read than Deadline which I only finished at the beginning of the month, not because it was any better but just because I had more time as I've caught up on a lot of TV.

I think these last two books were not as good as Feed. They were a bit predictable and I felt the explanations of what was going on (particularly in regards to the medical virus stuff) could have been made clearer. Still, they were enjoyable enough but I wouldn't be wanting to re-read at any time in the future.

Deadline by Mira Grant

Well rather than posting about what I've bought, this week I can actually say I've read something.

Deadline is the second book in the Newsflesh triolgy. I read the first part Feed last year. I don't know why it took me a month to read it because I enjoyed it. It was probably due to getting distracted  with painting figures, footy etc.

I've gone straight into book three.