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Hello everybody,
this is my first entry to this community and I hope this is an acceptable form. If some of the formatting or information is not up to par, please let me know and I'll correct it. :)
Briefest intro: I'm a German physicist in the final stage of her doctorate. I'm writing and reading English most of the time to improve my language skills. Discounting reading matters related to my profession (otherwise most of this would be something like Derek A. Long, The RAMAN effect - a Unified Treatment of the Theory of... and so on), I read mostly fantasy, dark and urban fantasy, and science fiction books, mixed with historical settings and the occasional paranormal romance (if it has a twist; the standard plot of the genre has been abused enough).
I try to give short summaries of the books that don't go past the content of the cover text. Books marked with a * were read in German (original or translation).
My all time favorites are
+ The Dreaming Tree, the Fortress in the Eye of Time series, the Morgaine* quadrology, The Fading Suns* trilogy, and Yeager*, all by C. J. Cherryh. I just love her wording and the intricacies of her plots. The Foreigner books are about the only writing of her that never gripped me. The German version of The Dreaming Tree was about the first fantasy book I ever read (and it founded my fascination of the Sidhe as creatures of power).
+ Leslie Downer's The Last Concubine, which is a superb book about Japan at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, told from the perspective of a woman rooted equally in peasantry and palace life.
+ Die Mächte des Feuers* by Markus Heitz (title approx. "The powers of fire") is a German historical alternate universe fic, playing in a subtly changed Europe of the 1920s, secretly controlled by manipulative dragons and defended by rather corrupt dragon fighters descended from the dragon-fighting saints of the catholic church (such as St. George). Heitz is more known for his Lord of the Rings creature books (Dwarves, etc.), but those are a flat, monotonous read in comparison to his dark fantasy and historical AU books. For me Die Mächte des Feuers is probably his best book yet. There's also a sequel to it, which continues the tale.
I typically read several books at a time. Right now that are
+ Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth, a rapid moving, imaginative combination of terror thriller and paranormal (vampire & co) action novel that proved to be a very delightful read after years and years of the vampire genre being repeated and soft-rinsed, creme-colored (and finally sparkly!) vampire books. This is tough, fast paced, breathless and decidedly unsparkly! I'm at page 130 and already wish there were a sequel (yet).
+ Jade Man's Skin by Daniel Fox, the sequel to Dragon in Chains, which I finished last month and mentioned in this comment to this post by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sweet_sparrow.
+ Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh, about as close to schmaltzy novels as I get. A really steamy take on archangels, angels, vampires, and vampire hunters in a wild, head-over-heels plot that ignores a lot of angel lore (like proclaimed asexuality...) to form a surprisingly captivating tale. This is the 2nd book in a series that starts with Angel's Blood, a book I got by chance that nevertheless had me firmly hooked from the start.
this is my first entry to this community and I hope this is an acceptable form. If some of the formatting or information is not up to par, please let me know and I'll correct it. :)
Briefest intro: I'm a German physicist in the final stage of her doctorate. I'm writing and reading English most of the time to improve my language skills. Discounting reading matters related to my profession (otherwise most of this would be something like Derek A. Long, The RAMAN effect - a Unified Treatment of the Theory of... and so on), I read mostly fantasy, dark and urban fantasy, and science fiction books, mixed with historical settings and the occasional paranormal romance (if it has a twist; the standard plot of the genre has been abused enough).
I try to give short summaries of the books that don't go past the content of the cover text. Books marked with a * were read in German (original or translation).
My all time favorites are
+ The Dreaming Tree, the Fortress in the Eye of Time series, the Morgaine* quadrology, The Fading Suns* trilogy, and Yeager*, all by C. J. Cherryh. I just love her wording and the intricacies of her plots. The Foreigner books are about the only writing of her that never gripped me. The German version of The Dreaming Tree was about the first fantasy book I ever read (and it founded my fascination of the Sidhe as creatures of power).
+ Leslie Downer's The Last Concubine, which is a superb book about Japan at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, told from the perspective of a woman rooted equally in peasantry and palace life.
+ Die Mächte des Feuers* by Markus Heitz (title approx. "The powers of fire") is a German historical alternate universe fic, playing in a subtly changed Europe of the 1920s, secretly controlled by manipulative dragons and defended by rather corrupt dragon fighters descended from the dragon-fighting saints of the catholic church (such as St. George). Heitz is more known for his Lord of the Rings creature books (Dwarves, etc.), but those are a flat, monotonous read in comparison to his dark fantasy and historical AU books. For me Die Mächte des Feuers is probably his best book yet. There's also a sequel to it, which continues the tale.
I typically read several books at a time. Right now that are
+ Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth, a rapid moving, imaginative combination of terror thriller and paranormal (vampire & co) action novel that proved to be a very delightful read after years and years of the vampire genre being repeated and soft-rinsed, creme-colored (and finally sparkly!) vampire books. This is tough, fast paced, breathless and decidedly unsparkly! I'm at page 130 and already wish there were a sequel (yet).
+ Jade Man's Skin by Daniel Fox, the sequel to Dragon in Chains, which I finished last month and mentioned in this comment to this post by
sweet_sparrow.+ Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh, about as close to schmaltzy novels as I get. A really steamy take on archangels, angels, vampires, and vampire hunters in a wild, head-over-heels plot that ignores a lot of angel lore (like proclaimed asexuality...) to form a surprisingly captivating tale. This is the 2nd book in a series that starts with Angel's Blood, a book I got by chance that nevertheless had me firmly hooked from the start.