Back Again!

Got my Degree!
Now i've got time to read before i start working next week.
Any interesting new books out there? Recommendations?

Probably gonna start Steven Erikson - Gardens of the Moon again since it's awesome and finally finished.

I'm back

Last book i read: Brandon Sanderson - Words of Radiance. 10/10

Long Time No See!

Yeah, I've been busy. Sorry!
I do still read though! So expect more reviews!

Right now I'm thinking about starting to write. I looked at a lot of stuff you can do to make money online. I like the idea to be my own boss and don't really wanna live a 9-5 life. Who wants that anyway?

There's a lot of stuff I really have no idea about. Marketing, building your own successful blog. Although I like to have that too!
I really think the only thing I actually could be really good in is writing. Sadly I probably have to write in German. My english just isn't good enough too write a book. Which actually makes me sad, because I love the english language and read most of the books in it. But I just don't have a good enough grasp on the fundamentals. It's also pretty hard to write a book if you need to look up words. Not a great flow!

Right now I'm still reading the Wheel of Time series. Fourth Book. The Shadow Rising.
It's great. Can hardly put it away. Why would I anyway? I'm on break, so I do have a lot of free time. 

After that I will read Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. My buddy reads it at the moment and can say nothing but great things about it. And Brandon Sanderson is a boss!

I can recommend listening to his podcast: writing excuses. It's great, funny and you actually learn something about writing. Which I really like. 
I'm also looking into self publishing right now. Kindle makes it so damn easy. Maybe get your feet wet with some self published books on kindle then try to get a "real" book out there? Not sure how I'm gonna tackle this. But I want to write, and actually do it for a living.

Let's see how it goes!

Greg.

Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games Trilogy Review

With the second movie coming up I decided to review this book series.
I really liked the first movie, although some characters are really not like I pictured them.

Let's go with the setting first. It's quite dark and unsettling in the beginning, but as soon as the games begin you kinda forget all about it, 'till it comes back in the later books.

The author wrote the book for a specific audience of teenage girls, I believe. So I can't really say I like the writing style too much. It's too simple for me.
Except for Haymitch I hardly liked any of the characters, considering there are quite a few that's a pretty low rate. Well I'm no teenage girl so what can I say.

The first book for me was clearly the best, second was still ok to read and third just got really painful. It kinda lost everything I liked about it.

If you are a teenage girl I can sincerely recommend this book, if not, I really can't.

‘The Hunger Games’ is set in our world, but in a post-apocalyptic time. The Capitol is the cruel Government of the twelve districts of Panem, which was once North America. As punishment for a revolution in the past, the Capitol created the Hunger Games. One boy and one girl (aged twelve to eighteen) are chosen from each district to fight on live television until only one child remains.

Joe Abercrombie - The Blade Itself (First Law Trilogy Book 1)

A relatively unknown book. But i was deeply impressed by the writing style, it's dark, it's gritty but can also be really funny at times.
It has a huge variety of different characters, there are witty inqusitors, battle-proven northmen and spoiled younglings.

And Joe Abercrombie makes it work beautifully. Every character perspective is a good read, there are no boring chapters. It's really hard to pick a favorite since all characters are just awesome. 

It's hard to say something about the magic system since not much is explained to the reader, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. What we know about it makes it seem pretty standard although there are some special elements.

The world is beautifully built the cities are well described and you have a definitive image of them if you read the book.

Character developement is one of the greatest things in the book. Every single character has a certain kind of developement. Some of them unexpected some of them expected but all of them help to engage the reader even more.

If you like dark fantasy, black humor and great characters this is a must-buy for you!

Synopsis taken from goodread.com:

Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he’s on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian – leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies. 

Nobleman, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, Captain Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules. 

Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it. 

Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glotka a whole lot more difficult. 

Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood. Unpredictable, compelling, wickedly funny, and packed with unforgettable characters, The Blade Itself is noir fantasy with a real cutting edge.

Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind (Kingkiller Chronicles, Day 1) Review

Today i've got a real hidden gem for you. Patrick Rothfuss' - The Name of the Wind. Spectacular book.
Loved it, went through it in three days. Same with the second day, took me four days since it was a little bigger than the first.

One of the best main characters of all time if you ask me. Present and past iterations.

Brilliant setting, it plays in the now where the main character is a innkeeper in a sleepy little town and the past where the main character is just awesome. 

It has magic system where we still don't know much about at the end of the second book, which is kinda annoying kinda intriguing. The world is beautifully built, although we don't know a lot so far.

The character developement is pretty great. And you even start to feel for the characters, which usually takes more than two books for me.

The setting is probably the most remarkable thing about the book. It plays in two different times, the present and the past. The main character tells his own story in the present. 
Something great are the interludes, small chapters in the present which are built between really exciting storys of the present. I initially thought that style would get annoying after a while, but that is not the case. Through all two books those chapters are very well placed and written.

I won't write a synopsis for this book because it's got the best one already written on the back cover.
Seriously! It's the best damn synopsis i've ever read. Instantly after reading it i bought the book.

My name is Kvothe.

I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep.

You may have heard of me.

What are your thoughts on the book? Write me in the comment section!

George R. R. Martin - A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire)

This is a big one. After hbo decided to make a TV show out of it, its popularity skyrocketed. Well deserved, the show is brilliant. So are the books for that matter.

My first attempt in reading it was when i was a long time ago when i was just 14 years old. Pretty young for this kind of book and, naturally, i couldn't really appreciate it all.
I skipped chapters, hated characters i now learned to love (Daenerys). Well i was young  and much of what happened in the book went right over my head.

But now let's get to the meat of it. The books are great. All of them. The storytelling is superb, it's dark and gloomy which is something i learned to love. Who likes to read about a happy-go-lucky world? No one. 
Characters die. That's so important for a good story if you ask me. If every important person seems invincible there is no way for me to feel any kind of suspense. How can i get emotionally involved if my favorite character is invincible? I can't.
It's a world much like our own, it's just not black and white everything is a shade of grey (not 50). Good people do bad things, bad people do good things. All this happens in this great series of books. I can only applaude George RR Martin, he wrote one of the best fantasy books of all time. And now with the TV show he gets the exposure he deserves.

Since most people know the story already i will skip giving a description, you can find that on amazon.

The only bad thing i can write about the series is how long it takes till a new book gets released. So read slow, if you are able to.

What do You think about Game of Thrones? Write Me something in the comments!