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And now for something Totally off topic :)
Ok, ok, I know, not SeIV material but I just finished the most AMAZING book. If you love sf/fantasy you HAVE to read 'Blade of Tyshalle', sequel to 'Heroes Die' by Matthew Woodring Stover. INCREDIBLE book. Which starts me on another thread, first there was 'how old are you', then 'what do you listen to', well this is 'what do you read?'. Here is mine (no particular order):
Simon R. Green: Deathstalker series http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif David Feintuch: Seafort series David Brin: Earthclan (damn it's hardcore) Orson Scott Card: Ender(what else do you need? http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif) Timothy Zahn: Conquerors series Chris Clairmont: First Flight series Ben Bova: Exiles trilogy Nivin/Pournelle: Anything, but definitly Footfall Turtledove: Worldwar series and of course Star Wars/Trek/Battletech/Dr.Who for fun. Fantasy: Too much to list but anything by Michelle West/Melanie Rawn/Laurel Hamilton/Friedman/Simon R. Green/Stover is a Must(besides the obligatory Jordan stuff http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif). Anything I missed???? ------------------ "The Empress took your name away," said Chance. Owen smiled coldly. "It wasn't hers to take. I'm a Deathstalker until I die. And we never forget a slight or an enemy." -Owen Deathstalker. |
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Well the only non-fiction books i really enjoyed were Terry Brook's 'Shannara series'
tic |
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"In Death's Ground", Insurrection" and "Crusade" by Weber/White
Raj Whitehall series (I forget the author) The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings series by Tolkein (sp) Lots of Heinlein and Norton David Drake' Slammer series bunchof other sci fi,very little (except Tolkein)fantasy lots of historical stuff on WWII |
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Because I missed those previous threads, here is my current list, which changes daily of course.
MUSIC 1) Asia http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif (was: Jeff Wayne's The War Of The Worlds) (currently playing) 2) J. Karjalainen: Marjaniemessä 3) Deep Purple: Purpendicular & Fireball HOW OLD ARE YOU 1) 37 (this changes only yearly) WHAT DO YOU READ 1) Mezieres - Christin: Valerian series 2) Sokal: Ankardo series 3) Yukinobu Hoshino: 2001 Nights series 4) Ok, those were comics, I read books too, sometimes, have you read The Brothers Lionheart? http://www.interlog.com/~wings/jane/...lionheart.html ------------------ PBEM [This message has been edited by Fuerte (edited 21 April 2001).] |
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'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay' by the guy who wrote 'The Wonder Boys'.
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Reading... hrm. My personal library's pretty varied. Recent acquisitions that come to mind include _The Color of Magic_, _The Art of War_, _On War_, _Romance of the Three Kingdoms_ (1st vol. only so far), _Journey to the West_, _A Fire Upon the Deep_, _Ethics_ (in queue), and _A Book of Five Rings_ (in queue). I also recently re-read KSR's [RGB] _Mars_ trilogy.
My readings generally wander around science fiction (strong preference for non-fluffy works with only the occasional parody; _Stand on Zanzibar_ is more my taste than, oh, _Star Trek_), philosophy, strategy, history (in particular, espionage -- _The Sword and the Shield_ makes interesting reading), and the odd classic. ------------------ -- The thing that goes bump in the night |
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by pathfinder:
"In Death's Ground", Insurrection" and "Crusade" by Weber/White <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> You should try "Path of the Fury" by Weber, it's not the same setting, but pretty good. Haven't had a chance to do much reading for myself since I got into Comp Sci, but I like sci-fi and military fiction and historical. Used to read all the time though. So here are some of my favorite authors and books. "Hard Wired" and "Day of Atonement" Walter Jon Williams. "Code of the Lifemaker" and "The Immortality Option" by ... uh I can't remember. The Bolo series by Keith Laumer. "Red Phoenix" "Vortex" by Larry Bond. Plenty of other stuff too numerous to list. |
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Once, i used to read Sci-Fi, Sci-fi and sci-fi again.
Currently i am into fantasy books, and my favorite series are: Terry Pratchet - Disk World Raimond Feist - dont know hos the serie called Tolkien series - Hobbit & Lord of the Rings (Of course!) Terry Goodkind - again, dont know how the serie is called Piers Anthony - Ksanf (or however its written) serie Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman Chronicles, best books i ever read IMO Thomas Martin - Matter of Honour (serie name is translation from russian...i read books in russian) And many, many more. I know every single fantasy beast, its name, description and behavior. Same with fantasy races. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif ------------------ Emperor Klis't of the Taera Republic. Proud member of the League of Empires. E-Mail - Ora Planet - Taera Republic - League of Empires |
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I read whatever's lying around the flat, but recent literature includes:
Norse mythology (might one day do a "space vikings" shipset }=-) Daniel Pennac ("Scapegoat" series) Also a comic fan - recommend transmetropolitan, Astro City, Scud: Disposible Asassin (no more http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon9.gif , Marvel 2099 (no more http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon9.gif , Judge Dredd (old stuff). Also take a look at "Rising Stars" by Michael "Babylon" J. "5" Strazcinsky. Strasinzky... Straczincky... Strascinzky? ------------------ There is an exception to every rule. Including this one. |
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About the only thing I currently read that fits is "Heavy Metal".
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I get Heavy Metal, too, but it is not quite as good as it used to be. Too much porno. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif
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I like the "Babylon 5" series of books and books by Arthur C. Clarke...the whole "2001" series is pretty darned good. I am going to start reading some the "Dr. Who" books eventually, and some Jules Verne. Along with "The Hobbit" and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
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Any Star Wars book
lots of military history/tactics books ex "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu (if that's how you spell his name) "Left Behind" series (apocalyptic soap opera with religous twist) any sports magazine |
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Hmmm David Drake....Good
? Stine.............Good R Hienlin...........VGOOD ------------------ mottlee@gte.net "Kill em all let God sort em out" |
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I dig a lot of military sci-fi, David Weber (HH), Eric Flint (Belisarius series & 1632), SM Stirling (The General Series w/ Dave Drake).
If any of you want to try out the newest, most interesting fantasy series, check out George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones. It is into the third book now and it is amazing. The world he depicts is set in a time frame reminiscent of the War of the Roses. Magic exists but is often mysteriously intangible. The characters are quite dynamic and upredictable. The plots are quite byzantine and the fortunes of all ebb and flow as the tides. More importantly, I have no clue what is going to happen next. This series doesn't follow the normal "Fantasy" good guy fulfills prophecy and destroys unlitmate evil over three to ten books pattern. I don't even know what side some characters are on. Its fresh, new, and all very exciting. Give it a try. Oh, I like Jordan's stuff too. Later - Joe |
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Let's see ... Last few books I've read ...
(we're only talking fun books, right?) Alice in Wonderland The Plague Dogs (Richard Adams) Fireball (John Christopher) When the Tripods Came (also Christopher) The Lord of the Rings (read out loud to son) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea A Tale of Two Cities Pippi Longstocking Profiles in Courage Essays (Bacon) Moby Dick The Aeneid I've found that a lot of those "horrible" books on the required reading list are actually great books, if you don't have to write a bunch of stupid papers about them, and can skip parts you find boring. All-time favorite authors: Tolkien, C.S.Lewis, Asimov, Herriot [This message has been edited by dmm (edited 26 April 2001).] |
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This thread keeps reminding me that I've been playing too many games and Websurfing too much to keep up with my reading. <sigh>
The Last books I read for fun that I can remember finishing were Timothy Zahn's _Conqueror_ trilogy. The current top of the stack of unread books is the Magic: The Gathering novel _The Brother's War_ by Jeff Grubb, who was in my college Dungeons & Dragons group years ago. BTW, the Piers Anthony series is spelled Xanth; I've read the first 19, but have never been able to finish the 20th. I know there's a 21st that I haven't even bought; there may even be more by now. ------------------ Cap'n Q |
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Hmmm. Last few:
The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx Love in the Time of Cholera, by Marquez Battle for the Falklands, Hastings & Jenkins Gates of Fire (historical novel about the Spartans at Thermopylae) by Steven Pressfield But I normally read a lot more sci-fi and fantasy stuff. I like the George R. R. Martin series a lot, too. Love Orson Scott Card, especially his earlier stuff. I really like David Brin's Uplift series, even though the later few books got a bit unfocused. |
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Here goes:
Stephen R. Donaldson - both the Thomas Covenant series and the "Gap" series. Frank Herbert's Dune series (I'm working through "House Atreides" now; I own all but Chapterhouse: Dune, the weakest of the series IMHO). Older Asimov stuff (Robot, original Foundation trilogy, etc.) A little bit of Heinlein The entire "Known Universe" series by Niven (of course) "The God Particle" by Lederman (quantum physics) "Flatland" "A History of Time" by Hawking "The Existential Pleasures of Engineering" by Florman Couple different series of modern vampire books (Laurel Hamilton's series and another series by another author that begins with an "H" - Hahn or something like that) The Harry Potter series I stopped reading McCaffery's Pern series a while back, but I'll probably pick it up again soon. I've read a couple of her Crystal Singer books recently, and read a couple of her Dinosaur Planet books a long time ago. The "Phule" series by Robert Asprin (also read the "Myth" series by Asprin, very disappointed that he stopped writing them). The "Exiles" series by Melanie Rawn. And anything else that strikes my fancy. |
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I've been reading sci-fi books since late elementary/early middle school. THe ones I can remember are:
A.C. Clarkes Rama and 2001 series; Weber and White's three Starfire based books; most of the Aliens novels; most of the Robotech series; Berserkers: the Beginnig; SHerman and Craggs StarFIST series; many of the Star Wars books, Timothy Zahn's Conqueror series; Nivens Ringworld trilogy (the three that happne on the ringworls); Dohery's Area 51 series; all of the Wing Commander books (but not the ones based on the movie; the two ID4 novels not based on the movie; a bunch more I can't remember, and I am currently reading C.J. Cherryh's The Faded Sun trilogy. I do recomend many of these books. Many are good action stories. I've had lots of free time in my life. ------------------ Rules? What Rules? [This message has been edited by Maverick (edited 27 April 2001).] [This message has been edited by Maverick (edited 27 April 2001).] |
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>(also read the "Myth" series by Asprin, very disappointed that he stopped writing them)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>I agree; the the teaser blurb for _Something M.Y.T.H. Inc._ looked really promising. Has Asprin publically said he's not going to write more Myths, or is he just having another writer's block like the Last long gap in the series?
------------------ Cap'n Q [This message has been edited by capnq (edited 28 April 2001).] |
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Inspirations for SE4 games
The Culture novels by Iain M Banks (Consider Phlebas, Excession, Player of Games, Look to Windward) Lensmen series by EE Doc Smith. Other Just started Game of Thrones, GRR Martin. Jordan's Wheel of Time, got up to about vol 6 before it got too slow, slow, slow. Waiting for the final blow out and wrap up.... asuming he ever gets there! Eddings - first Belgariard books. Tad William's Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series. and many, many more.... I have been buying more books than I can read for 20 plus years now. |
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The Dune series (Frank Herbert) is still my personal fav.
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Resident ALien: I read the Memory, Sorrow, Thorn series too. Good stuff, but borrows too much from Tolkien. Ever read Tailchaser's song? Think "The Hobbit" but with cats. He has a new book out that looks more scifi than fantasy - can't remember the name of it.
Am also reading Dune (again.) Unortunately the only copy I have is in French so it's taking a little longer than it ought to... ------------------ "Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?" "Uh, I think so, Brain, but we'll never get a monkey to use dental floss!" |
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Tad William's current series is "Otherland" - 4 thick volumes based on virtual reality technology and worlds of the not so distant future. I read the first volume ("City of Golden Shadow") and found it interesting but I haven't got around to the rest of them yet.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dogscoff: Resident ALien: I read the Memory, Sorrow, Thorn series too. Good stuff, but borrows too much from Tolkien. Ever read Tailchaser's song? Think "The Hobbit" but with cats. He has a new book out that looks more scifi than fantasy - can't remember the name of it. Am also reading Dune (again.) Unortunately the only copy I have is in French so it's taking a little longer than it ought to... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> |
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Honor - the lady, has no equal, not Captain Kirk, not Luke Skywalker, none!!
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Can't argue with that. The Honor Harrington books by David Weber just rock HARD. Some of the best military fleet action stuff I've EVER read. He really knows his stuff, and his characters and story lines are great.
And since SE IV is about fleets of starships, it's the kind of stuff that gets one in the mood to play. Sadly, I don't think that there will ever be a game system that really captures the combat genre that Weber has created. Major John |
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I read a lot of sci-fi and military history,
but sci-fi my favorite, I have read a lot of sci fi but some of my Favorites are John Carter Warlord of Mars Series Lensman Series Tactics of Mistake by Dickson Weber's Death Ground, Insurrection Series The Fleet Series (like to see it finish out) Lost Regiment Series Fist Series General Series The Gor series until it got boring in the later books Scorpio Series with Dray Prescot just some ideas mac |
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Yeh the fleet series was cool, especially the two stories by Gary Gygax. Thanks for reminding me.
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by capnq:
Quote:
And mac5732: I read the first 5 books or so in the Gor series before I got tired of them. How far did you get? I think there was a Gor movie once upon a time too... |
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DirectorTsaarx:
And mac5732: I read the first 5 books or so in the Gor series before I got tired of them. How far did you get? I think there was a Gor movie once upon a time too...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Of Gor all I can remember is that I thought Nomads, Maurauders and Tribesmen were good. The rest varied from ok to total dross with the later stuff possibly worse than total dross. |
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D tsaarx, I finished i think up to #8-9, I found the story line to have become other then what it initially started out to be. I became bored with the series and packed them away and have them stored in my attic. It started out ok but after #5 or #6 started to go down hill and I lost interest. Its a shame, it started out to be a good series.
Have you ever read any of the Dray Prescot series? I think I have up to #24 or 25. Then the author apparently quit following up on the series. Its a shame, good series. Another good one is the Lost Regiment by Forschen, (I think I spelled it right) I highly recommend it. Excellent Series has a different twist as far as the bad guys go. There was a Movie a long time ago called Gor based on the series but like most movies didn't match up to the books. just some ideas mac [This message has been edited by mac5732 (edited 02 May 2001).] [This message has been edited by mac5732 (edited 02 May 2001).] |
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Books I read, and LIKED(no particular order and spelling):
Timothy Zahn - Conqurors series, Orion series David Weber - All series except fantasy Arthur C. Clark - Rama series Asaak Asimof - ALL(most of his books can fit into one series) Frank Herbet - Dune series Star Wars series ...there are more, but can't remember them from the top of my head. |
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mac5732:
D tsaarx, I finished i think up to #8-9, I found the story line to have become other then what it initially started out to be. I became bored with the series and packed them away and have them stored in my attic. It started out ok but after #5 or #6 started to go down hill and I lost interest. Its a shame, it started out to be a good series. Have you ever read any of the Dray Prescot series? I think I have up to #24 or 25. Then the author apparently quit following up on the series. Its a shame, good series. Another good one is the Lost Regiment by Forschen, (I think I spelled it right) I highly recommend it. Excellent Series has a different twist as far as the bad guys go. There was a Movie a long time ago called Gor based on the series but like most movies didn't match up to the books. just some ideas mac <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I pretty much have to agree on the Gor books. The story was pretty good at the beginning, but it turned into a weird philosophical woman-bashing male-supremacist S&M thing and I lost interest. And yeah, the movie was completely different (except that it was at least as bad as the later Gor books, maybe worse http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif ) Never heard of the Prescot or Lost Regiment series; I'll keep an eye out for them... |
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I completely agree about the MYTH series. Very clever, very enjoyable reads. I had never heard why the series stopped, but was disappointed that no more books were forthcoming.
As for other titles/authors: Larry Niven, Ringworld, Ringworld Engineers, etc. Niven/Pournelle, Mote in God's Eyes (an absolute classic), Lucifer's Hammer, Inferno, Footfall, etc. Kim Stanley Robinson, Red/Green/Blue Mars series, utterly brilliant Piers Anthony, Xanth series Arthur C Clarke, pretty well everything he's written Stephen Donaldson, Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series, Tolkien, of course And, just for a fun change of pace, the original Ian Fleming Bond books (so much cooler than the movies) Just my 0.02$ |
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More non-rambling science fiction/fantasy book meandering/stuff.........bump!! http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif
------------------ "And what the hell would you know about sanity?" demanded Beatrice. "There are depressed lemmings on the edge of cliffs who've got a better grasp on reality than you have. And more common sense."--Simon R. Green 'Deathstalker Rebellion'. "We are all...the sum of our scars"....(paraphrased) Matt. R. Stover-'Blade of Tyshalle'. |
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has anyone read the world war in the balance books by turtledove ??
I love reading books. About 1 a week. Mostly history ( military ), scifi and fantasy. |
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A series I highly recommend is by
David Wingrove the Chung Kuo series. 8 books. Would make a great movie series. Has anyone else read it ?? |
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I'm probably being a little eggheaded here, but anyone here ever read the Iliad by Homer? It's kind of neat to see where some of the heroic tradition which our culture has inherited originally comes from.
Besides, the Iliad is plain fun to read. It's like a greek Version of pro-wrestling, only with better costumes and sharp instruments. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif In a good translation its also some of the best damn poetry you'll ever read (it actually manages to maintain the poetry in translation from a different language, no less... amazing when you think about it), so I'd highly recommend it. Anyway, just another egghead moment from an idealistic english student http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif |
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I started the Iiliad once, and just like Tolkiens Simarillion I just could not get into it, but hey, that was about 8 years ago, think I might try it again( the Iiliad that is). Reading Michelle West's SunSword books right now, that and just bought the new Star Wars book, that and I have the new Robert Jordan/George R. Martin/Terry Brooks books, but havn't started them yet (really....). Have the first two Chung Kuo books but can't find the rest, will start once I have.
------------------ "And what the hell would you know about sanity?" demanded Beatrice. "There are depressed lemmings on the edge of cliffs who've got a better grasp on reality than you have. And more common sense."--Simon R. Green 'Deathstalker Rebellion'. "We are all...the sum of our scars"....(paraphrased) Matt. R. Stover-'Blade of Tyshalle'. |
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mad_Lear:
I'm probably being a little eggheaded here, but anyone here ever read the Iliad by Homer?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yep, it's pretty good. But not great. Worth reading but not worth writing a term paper on. Too formalized and unrealistic for my tastes. Homer's Favorites go around killing dozens at a time, and no one on either side has the brains/guts to gang up on them. Of course, that's a stock device in fantasy/myth stories, but authors like Tolkien do a better job of describing how the hero/villian strikes terror into the hearts of his foes, so that no one can stand before him except a comparable villain/hero. The other problem with the Iliad is that almost always the guys getting killed are described briefly (to establish that the hero isn't just killing a bunch of nobodies), and that gets tiresome after a while. It doesn't impress me after 3 or 4 millenia that the guy Achilles is about to spear is the son of some king of a dinky island in the Aegean and some tree sprite. I think it's more like a martial arts movie than pro wrestling, but poetically done. Although come to think of it, there's a lot of childish boasting and ego stuff, and fighting over women, and managers/refs (gods) fixing the matches. The fight scenes are suitably gory, but too brief. You read a whole paragraph about Leomates and then his fight with Achilles is just "brave Achilles's mighty arm shoved a broad spear into his stomach and his intestines spilled out, like thick spaghetti with chunky Ragu." However, if you skim the boring stuff, the overall effect of the work is very moving. |
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