The Slab is done and I've moved onto Blackout. I really should have reread the last few chapters of Deadline before starting this as I don't recall.... Kinda a big thing to totally forget . Good to see that feed has been optioned as a movie. Hopefully a studio picks it up.

I finished The King's Blood, Abraham was on his game, it does take a little while to really get moving, but once it does WOW! I'm reading C.J Cutcliffe Hyne's The Lost Continent at present, but will be putting that aside to get into Blackout. I saw that about Feed, too. Seanan's a very happy girl. Being optioned is a long way from being a film, but with that one it would be a good idea to do what they can to make it happen while zombies are still monster du jour.

The last 8-9 months have been great for console RPGs, so I've haven't read a ton. In that time, however, I did read some Bakker, Erikson and Esslemont. Most recently, I put down the latter's Return of the Crimson Guard (as much as I like Malazan, I just don't like Esslemont's writing) in favor of Gemmell's The King Beyond the Gate.

I'm about halfway through it and it's just a simple, entertaining story much like Legend before it. I have a feeling that Gemmell's work will never be my favorite, but will always be worth reading.

I'm with you there about Gemmell. I have much the same opinion of his work. I put The Lost Continent aside to read Blackout. I couldn't resist the siren call of the zombies for any longer.

I finished Blackout over the weekend. Holy crap! Now that is how to end a trilogy. I really look forward to seeing what Mira produces next. She's working on a duology, and I believe it's in a different world and may also be a different concept. I'm bound and determined to finish The Lost Continent today, it's not what I thought it would be and it's really tedious.

Are those the only two Gemmell books you've read? I personally think his Waylander and Jon Shannow books are his best work along with the Troy trilogy.

I'm halfway and really enjoying it. Good to see I've got a great ending coming up.

Mira/Seanan is a little sad about it, the first thing she's had published that she's actually properly ended, so it's a bit of a career milestone, but she did it well. I started Hounded this morning, you have to like a book that refers to Thor as a major asshat and suggests that the Morrigan likes to hang out with Hecate and have drinking nights out together.

ChrisW wrote:


So far, yes, but I have a lot more Gemmell on my list; including Waylander. A while back I started reading Ghost King, the first of the duology that precedes the John Shannow books, and didn't care for it, so I hadn't planned on continuing with that story.

My memory is sketchy on those books but I think they were written years after Gemmell did the Shannow books. You really can't compare them as it's Shannow that makes the books. Same goes for Waylander. There just damn cool characters .

Well, they were published between volumes 1 and 2 of the Shannow trilogy, proper, but I don't know if that reflects when they were actually written. In any case, if it's Shannow that makes the books, then perhaps I'll put them back on my list. I already own Wolf in Shadow (and I think the other two volumes as well), so it won't hurt to give them a shot.

Speaking of Waylander, having finished The King Beyond the Gate last night, I started Waylander. I'm not quite 50 pages in, so I can't make a full judgement, but so far it's interesting, without being terribly original. Perhaps in 1986 the "scoundrel with a heart or gold" character wasn't so common, but now days it's everywhere. That said, I still have plenty of book to go, so we'll see how it turns out.