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Post by Shan on May 20, 2005 4:48:31 GMT
I haven't read that one either Jags. Sorry but I am not a very big reader well except for children's books. I read alot of those. Have you read any of the Harry Potter books? Are you into reading fantasy at all? Shan
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Post by Dark Phoenix Rising on May 20, 2005 8:22:13 GMT
I tend to read fantasy and Sci-Fi. However currently my favorite books are the Anita blake series by Laurell K Hamilton and the Merry gentry series by the same author.
As for why, I'm not sure, both series are done in a first person view, and while the main character is going to survive to the next book (hopefully) there is plenty of danger, and things that are more powerful than the MC.
I would highly recommend both series.
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Post by philster on May 20, 2005 8:45:27 GMT
It helps if you read the Musketeer quintology in order. Only The Three Musketeers is really a standalone. The rest are one story spread over the four books. If you tried to read The Man In The Iron Mask on its own, Phil, you'd be utterly lost right from the start... That explains it, maybe. I never read The Three Muskeeters. I mean, I knew Man in Iron Mask had former Musketeers in it, but didn't really concern myself with it overly. I guess I should have known. Just for future reference, since it is a quintology, what are the titles in order?
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Post by Elliot Kane on May 20, 2005 9:50:14 GMT
Off the top of my head, the order is: The Three Musketeers Twenty Years On The Vicomte De Bragelonne Louise De La Valliere The Man In The Iron Mask I might have Vicomte & Louise the wrong way around, though... Twenty Years On takes place, as you would guess, twenty years after the end of Three Musketeers, but the other three books follow on in direct sequence one after the other and with no let up. They are all part of the same story, and have to be read as such. They are all very good indeed, IMO
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Post by Tsel on May 20, 2005 13:31:18 GMT
Some of my most favorite books all written by Author: Eliphas Levi Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (Transcendental Magic) La Clef des Grandes Mystères (The Key to the Great Mysteries) Fables et Symboles (Stories and Images) La Science des Esprits (The Science of Spirits) Le Grand Arcane, ou l'Occultisme Dévoilé<br>(The Great Secret, or Occultism Unveiled) Tsel
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Post by Shan on May 20, 2005 17:39:28 GMT
DragonLord, have far have you read in her vampire series? I have read through Obsidian Butterfly. As for the Mederith Gentry series, I'm not sure it it is book one or two that I last read. It was A Kiss of Shadows I think. I thought they were very good especially her vampire series. Shan
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Post by Glance A'Lot on May 20, 2005 19:01:00 GMT
The Code of the Lifemaker, by James P. Hogan The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Crichton The Robot Short Stories, by Isaac Asimov for SCIENCE fiction
The Physician, by Noah Gordon The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett The Source, by James A. Michener Shogun, by James Clavell for historical fiction
The Day of The Jackal, by Frederic Forsyth for suspense
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Post by Dark Phoenix Rising on May 21, 2005 11:04:44 GMT
upto and including Incubus Dreams. I have read the entire series 3 times not (I got the first book in Janurary, and had finished the re-reads by March).
One word of warning though, a lot of people thought Cerulean Sins and Incubus Dreams changed Anita in a bad way. However I think that you need to look past the surface to how Anita is dealing with what she has been lumped with. As IMO the series isn't really about the various plots (although they are there to keep the book intresting) but rather how Anita copes with her life and changes as a person.
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Post by philster on May 21, 2005 12:33:08 GMT
Off the top of my head, the order is: The Three Musketeers Twenty Years On The Vicomte De Bragelonne Louise De La Valliere The Man In The Iron Mask I might have Vicomte & Louise the wrong way around, though... Twenty Years On takes place, as you would guess, twenty years after the end of Three Musketeers, but the other three books follow on in direct sequence one after the other and with no let up. They are all part of the same story, and have to be read as such. They are all very good indeed, IMO Thanks, Elliot. So I started with the last book in the whole quintology! Figures! I guess Three Musketeers will make for my next "classic" reading, then...
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Post by Elliot Kane on May 21, 2005 12:47:35 GMT
That would be a good choice, Phil
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Post by Shan on May 21, 2005 15:12:48 GMT
DragonLord, are Cerulean Sins and Incubus Dreams the next two books after Obsidian Butterfly? Also I am thinking from what you said that Anita's life drastically changes with these two book, right? If that is the case then I can see why some readers would be disappointed if what I am suspecting actually does take place. How many books are out now in the Meredith series? One other question, were you as impressed with this series as much as you were with the vampire series? I am still thinking about that one. Maybe I was just to tied into Anita and what was happening in her life to really get into Merideth's at the time. Shan
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Post by Shan on May 21, 2005 15:16:45 GMT
I have only read two of the books that you and Phil are talking about Elliot, The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask. I didn't care for The Three Musketeers at all, but I loved the Man in the Iron Mask. I think there was just something about the Man in the Iron Mask that pulled me into it more. Maybe it was the sadness I felt. I'm not sure. Shan
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Post by Elliot Kane on May 21, 2005 16:41:14 GMT
Shan... Unless you read an abridged version, I'm impressed that you even understood The Man In The Iron Mask! Reading it as a standalone is darn hard
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Post by Shan on May 22, 2005 1:15:28 GMT
Elliot, I read it about 5 years ago and I couldn't tell you now whether it was an abridged version or not. I had read the Three Musketeers the year before and I didn't like it at all, so I wasn't to keen on reading The Man in the Iron Mask. The more I got into it the more I liked it though. Shan
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Post by Shan on May 22, 2005 14:47:42 GMT
Update to the above. I asked my husband if he remembered about the book of the Man in the Iron Mask since I couldn't remember. He said it had to have been an abridged version, because there was no way I would have ever read the unabridged. So I guess the abridged version is what made the story so good to me. I had never thought about that. In fact I didn't even think about it being that much of an easier read. It was still good though and better than the Three Musketeers. Shan
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Post by philster on May 22, 2005 18:34:42 GMT
Guess I need the abridged version then, lol.
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Post by Dark Phoenix Rising on May 23, 2005 8:33:18 GMT
The book after Obsidian Butterfly is Narcissus in Chains. The ones I listed are the last 2 so far, however the current title for the next book is Danse Macabre.
As for the Meredith series, I am actually really enjoying the series, it is very different from the Anita blake series in a few ways, not least that it is a closed series (i.e. there will be an end, while Anita is an open series). However I don't think the series has the instant drag you in quality that Anita had. However I think that Merry is a, ..., more sensible(?), worldly(?) person than Anita. The other thing is that the Anita series is about Anita's life, while the Merry series is about Merry's fight for the throne and what she needs to do to survive.
That's just the way that I see them as I never got the impression from Merry that this was her life that she was trying to live, rather this is what she needs to do to survive.
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Post by Shan on May 23, 2005 20:21:45 GMT
OK, next question since Narcissus in Chains is the book after Obsidian Butterfly are Cerulean Sins and Incubus Dreams the two books after it? I didn't realize that I had missed that many since Obsidian Butterfly. I agree that the Mederith series is very different. Merry has a purpose to fulfil and must fight for it. Anita's is more just day to day living. They both face dangers and must fight their way through them, but their reasons are entirely different. I think for me I will be drawn more into Merry's story the more I read and begin to enjoy it more. How many books in this series are there after a Kiss of Shadows. (I need to reread this one before picking up and going on though)? I can tell you one reason I was drawn so into Anita's story and why I liked them so much from the first and that is because I have always enjoyed vampire and werewolf stories and movies. Hamilton has given a different twist to hers from what I have been use to, and that has made them even more intriguing to me. Shan
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