The Book Wyrms - a Magistream Book Club - OPEN

[sweetvampwriter]

@Selina I only read up to Ink Exchange. But I've samples of the other books on my Nook. I really like that with my Nook I can read samples of books before buying them. Then I can see if I'm going to like the book or not. By what I've read so far I would have to say Ink Exchange. It shows that if you work really hard at something you'll get it. Also the lengths that a friends do just to protect them. (Something that this guy I know can't see that I was protecting him form some very awful rumors.) I like that determined to show The Summer Queen (I just hate it when you can't remember a name until later) that he loves her and would do anything for her, even if it will get him killed. (Again I would do anything for this one guy, I would also would do any thing for my friends) Gosh I just realize that this book somehow tells my life. except that one friend I was protecting didn't go off and gotten a tattoo, at least I don't think. Then again we're not really talking anymore, cause of this one person.

I really don't like the Seeline Queen. Somehow she always know that something is about to happen before Clary and her friends does. Also that they are masters of dodging direct questions. With the faeries they just don't do favors, they also wanted something in return.

[Selinea]

@Selina
If you feel any better about City of Bones

Spoiler

Jace isn't actually her brother, it gets all cleared up/straightened up, explained in City of Glass.

Eh, it's not that it weirded me out. Angel Sanctuary actually uses

Spoiler

incest

as the main premises and I still started reading that. It's just that the book made it so freaking obvious to the reader that it's annoying when the characters themselves don't notice. I just brought up that scene because that was one of my biggest, "Yep, the entire book just utterly failed at subtlety. It was definitely just clubbing me over the head with future events the entire time." I thought there would be something redeeming about the ending, some little thing I'd get wrong, but nope, everything happened exactly the way I thought it would. Also, I just didn't ship them very much in the first place. It's hard to be invested when other parts of the book are blatantly telling you they'll end up together and that it won't go well. I want more uncertainty in my ships.

Going with that, I also hate books where characters get an all revealing dream, and then wake up and not remember the dream. Any book that has a scene like that is automatically terrible in my opinion, because that's the ultimate telling the reader the plot instead of showing them what's going on.

Arg, I seem to be spewing a fountain of negativity. Sorry guys.

@Selina I only read up to Ink Exchange. But I've samples of the other books on my Nook. I really like that with my Nook I can read samples of books before buying them. Then I can see if I'm going to like the book or not. By what I've read so far I would have to say Ink Exchange. It shows that if you work really hard at something you'll get it. Also the lengths that a friends do just to protect them. (Something that this guy I know can't see that I was protecting him form some very awful rumors.) I like that determined to show The Summer Queen (I just hate it when you can't remember a name until later) that he loves her and would do anything for her, even if it will get him killed. (Again I would do anything for this one guy, I would also would do any thing for my friends) Gosh I just realize that this book somehow tells my life. except that one friend I was protecting didn't go off and gotten a tattoo, at least I don't think. Then again we're not really talking anymore, cause of this one person.

I really don't like the Seeline Queen. Somehow she always know that something is about to happen before Clary and her friends does. Also that they are masters of dodging direct questions. With the faeries they just don't do favors, they also wanted something in return.

I definitely think the books get better as they go. The only thing I didn't like about Ink Exchange was how rushed the ending seemed. The Seelie Queen plays a larger role in the next two books.

Cool. Relating to books always seems to make them more vivid.

[BBkat]

Has anyone else here read any of the Xanth novels?

[Bookaholic]

I love books, let me in!
Username: Bookaholic
Favourite books/authors/genres: A Tale of Two Cities, The Hobbit, Ella Enchanted, The Little Prince, The Tale of Desperaux (yeah, I'm a sucker for fairytales :p)/J.R.R. Tolkein, C.S. Lewis, Charles Dickens/fantasy, classics, mystery, historical fiction, young-adult
Recommend ONE book! Tell us why it's great! The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1). I know this is actually a series, but I really like it (especially the first book). I'm sure all those into fantasy have heard of this. I haven't read this in a while, but I remember when I first read, I went through them like crazy. The action was fast-paced and Riordan's writing kept my attention. I know they're books for pre-teens/teens, but I've heard a lot of adults like them too!

[sorakaji]

I read the first Percy Jackson book, and I didn't like it at all for some reason. I thought it was really bland and trying too hard to be clever, and that it relied heavily on tell-not-show.
But I know soooo many people who love that series, so I'm tempted to borrow the 2nd one from a friend and see if it gets better.

[Selinea]

Welcome new member!

I read the first Percy Jackson book, and I didn't like it at all for some reason. I thought it was really bland and trying too hard to be clever, and that it relied heavily on tell-not-show.
But I know soooo many people who love that series, so I'm tempted to borrow the 2nd one from a friend and see if it gets better.

Eh, I wasn't a huge fan of the first book either and don't plan on reading anymore. But I just didn't like it at the time because I have my own personifications of the Greek Gods in my head, and I can't read books that have too much dissonance. Now that I've read your post, I'm realizing that it was indeed a very surface level book. I think it's really best suited for 10 to 16-year-olds. That's the age group that will think those books are "awesome" and "cool." For the rest of us, it's like reading fluff. Like reading mediocre, over dramatic romance novels, or picking up a Nancy Drew book again. As much as I love The Way of Kings (by Brandon Sanderson, *squeal*), I don't think I could read something like it everyday for a month. It'd be too exhausting. The Lightning Thief was an alright fluff book. Don't care to read more though. (Seriously? Athena with more kids than Zeus? That's rubbish from my viewpoint.)

Even finding good fluff is hard. I need something light, but apparently right now it's hip for the main character to constantly complain about his/her situation. I need a book with overflowing optimism to counterbalance Prague Winter by Madeleine Albright. Prague Winter is a non-fiction book about Czechoslovakia during World War II.

"A war--a big European war--will come and there will be great upheavals and revolutions. The allies do not want to fight along with us now [but]...they will have to fight hard...when we are no longer able to.

[sorakaji]

Seriously? Athena with more kids than Zeus? That's rubbish from my viewpoint.

Especially because Athena is a virgin. The fact that she has any kids in those books was, for me, one of the most glaringly obvious things that showed how little research Riordan probably did.
That, and they forgot Hestia entirely, even though she is one of the 12 olympian gods, too (although she is also a virgin goddess and her cabin would also have been empty).

I see what you're saying about it being mostly fluff. For me, it was mostly just bad storytelling. Not even bad writing or anything, just...not knowing how to tell a story (I wish I had the book with me so I could quote directly from it, because there are so many places, even in just the first chapter, that made me wish I could go back in time and sign myself on as Rick Riordan's editor).

[Selinea]

Yeah, the lack of any actual substantial Greek mythology was kind of annoying. Is Hestia really omitted entirely? She's not part of the 12 because she gave up her seat to Dionysus. I always just assumed she was going to show up in a later book though...

Yeah, I know what you mean. I really disliked The Fallen Blade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood, but I couldn't really put my finger on it besides I didn't fall in love with any of the characters but that happens with a lot of books I like too though. But then one person's review online talked about how it had bad storytelling. One of the main character's assassin training, which was pretty important, was reduced to like, eight pages, and another important side character never had a chapter told in his perspective although other really minor characters did. I get that a lot of it could be a setup for book 2, but I'm not even going to read book 2 because book 1 was so bad.

I gave up on Game of Thrones. I guess it's because it takes a lot of brain power that I don't have right now (stupid summer job). Reading it though, I finally realized why I struggle with most high fantasy books so much and why The Way of Kings was so amazing. I like being immersed in a total fantasy world, but reading Game of Thrones, I realized I hate it when there's more than a few main characters. Having more than two or three main characters makes it impossible for me to take an interest in any of them. I guess I just...don't feel grounded when I'm reading, if that makes any sense. I mean, I'll actually settle down and read Game of Thrones sometime, and I'll probably like it, but judging by the fact that I failed to finish it the first time around is a sign that I'm never going to be a big fan.

I started The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury. I've only read the intro and the first two stories so far and it's so...unsettling, eerily sad. It would be great if I wasn't also trying to read Prague Winter. Besides that, I have a murder mystery and Dune checked out. I'm going to need to drown in major fluff after this...or maybe I'll go take a trip to the library on Monday to find some counterbalance stuff.

[BBkat]

Wow, this place is really dead.

[ThrowingAces]

I love books, let me in!
Username:ThrowingAces
Favourite books/authors/genres:I'm all over the place, I like Fyodor Dostyevsky (probably spelled that wrong)... mostly historical non-fiction or realistic-fiction
Recommend ONE book! Tell us why it's great! From the Corner of His Eye- Dean Koontz, because that is an amazing book; not really creepy like most of his other books, but it gives a different view of the world