What other fantasy books do YOU read?

[Snowdog]

Happy New Year Barrow Downs! Hoping I will be a bit more active here this year? We'll see.

What the tale end of 2011 brought me book-wise was the Steve Erikson book series "The Mazatlan Books of the Fallen'. I'm just now reading book 1 which is Gardens of the Moon'. So far I like it!

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Snowdog

What the tale end of 2011 brought me book-wise was the Steve Erikson book series "The Mazatlan Books of the Fallen'. I'm just now reading book 1 which is Gardens of the Moon'. So far I like it!

I tried that book. Couldn't get through it. Unfortunately, there's no library even remotely near where I live (the only relatively decent one is over a thousand miles away) so each book I read must be bought. What a pain.

[Lalwendë]

Has anyone read The Green Child by Herbert Read? This came up as the lead item on Wikipedia the other day and I was intrigued by it.

The Green Child is the only completed novel by the English anarchist poet and critic Herbert Read.[1] Written in 1934 and first published by Heinemann in 1935, the story is based on the 12th-century legend of two green children who mysteriously appeared in the English village of Woolpit, speaking an apparently unknown language.[2] Read described the legend in his English Prose Style, published in 1931, as "the norm to which all types of fantasy should conform".[3]

I know about the legend of the Children of Woolpit, but I've never heard of this novel before. From the synopsis, it strikes me that Guillermo del Toro might have read this before he penned Pan's Labyrinth...

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by Galadriel

I never stated that he was pathetic or whiny. Just confused.

I know - I was mostly thinking back to my long debates about Jon Snow's nature with a certain Hookbill the Goomba who doesn't exactly agree with me.
I actually like the coldness you speak about, but I can see why it might turn people against him - his Brothers included.

Originally Posted by Mister Underhill

Did I just not push in far enough? Rothfuss seems to be a divisive writer. What do you guys think of the many complaints I've seen that Kvothe is the epitome of a Mary Sue character?

I'm now about midway through the first book, and for the first 100 pages or so I wasn't sure if I liked it enough to finish it. It's got better after that, and even though I still think every now and then that I've seen it all before, Rothfuss has some surprises in store and I've been positively surprised more than once. Based on what I've seen so far, I don't think you'll miss a lot even if you don't read it, but it's entertaining enough. Except if all you want of literature is the absence of Gary Stus (thanks B-berry! ) because I think I can see where the people who complain about it are coming from.

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Can't remember the colour of his eyes.

They're green. Sometimes a very dark green if he's in the right mood and there's a certain light, I seem to remember.

Originally Posted by Snowdog

Happy New Year Barrow Downs! Hoping I will be a bit more active here this year? We'll see.

I totally cracked up at your post title. And not just two, you see: there's Galadriel, Galadriel55 and Nerwen!

The part of my holiday that I didn't spend roleplaying was spent reading Neil Gaiman: Neverwhere and Anansi Boys. I enjoyed both tremendously. He's a truly talented writer who can create both interesting plots and many-layered characters.

Don't know yet what I'm going to read after The Name of the Wind - I might try The Wise Man's Fear, or then something else. Has anyone read anything by Joe Abercrombie - another writer I was recommended?

[Oddwen]

I've read The Blade Itself trilogy. It was different, but I'm not sure if I liked it or not - a re-read would cement a feeling about it but I don't want to yet. That and Watchmen have been the only things I've read that made me step back and bleat "What did I just read??", so take that as you will.

I do want to read his other series(es?) in the same world though.

[Aganzir]

I take back what I said about Rothfuss.

He's brilliant. Can't remember when I last lost so much sleep because of a book! It probably tells something that I've read about 600 pages on since my last post, and since I obviously read English slower than Finnish, I consider it an impressive achievement.

And no, I haven't really seen it all before. It just took me a while to realise it - but then, I tend to be a tad too quick to judge everything anyway.

[HerenIstarion]

Reading became easier affair ever since I treated myself to Kindle Now I keep carrying it around in my bag reading snatches of stuff whenever there is a break in anything going on during the day (time previously dedicated to idle fiddling with the phone and other pointless activities of the kind)

In this fashion I found myself able to reread quite a few of my favourites, like Goblin Reservation by Clifford Simak (not quite fantasy, rather sci-fi, to be precise, but still with Goblins, Trolls, Banshees and a dragon in it I hope it wan't get frowned upon as not in compliance with the thread topic)

Out of ongoing fantasy reading, rereading Harry Potter series (fer meself) and reading Chronicles of Narnia to my kid

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

I take back what I said about Rothfuss.

He's brilliant. Can't remember when I last lost so much sleep because of a book! It probably tells something that I've read about 600 pages on since my last post, and since I obviously read English slower than Finnish, I consider it an impressive achievement.

And no, I haven't really seen it all before. It just took me a while to realise it - but then, I tend to be a tad too quick to judge everything anyway.

What's sleep anyway?

Glad you are enjoying him. Scrooge that I am, I am waiting for the second one to come out in paperback.