1. How many pages til you give up and 2. Paksenarrion opinions needed

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shadow9d9

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I have been following my friend's recommendations on books for the last 2 years and I agree with him 85% of the time. I breezed through 3 fantastic Vorkosigan books this past week when I decided to go back to a book I had given up a while ago. Ilium. I gave up again and finally shelved it. Then I tried another, Deed of Paksenarrion. I read to about page 60 tonight and I simply find the book unremarkeable. It seems to be a by the books standard fantasy... Do I give up here? How many pages do you generally give a book before giving up on it?

I will provide a list here(that I update as I read) for every book I have read in the last 2 years and their rating(5 being the best).

3 of Arthur C. Clarke's short stories Big Game hunter+ - 1.3
Murder on the Orient Express- 3.875
A Song of Fire and Ice Game of Thrones - 4.7
Dragonriders of Pern Dragonflight - 4.55
Dragonquest-4.55
The White Dragon- 4.25
Dragonsong- 3.6
Dragonsinger- 3.65
Dragondrums- 3.65
Vorkosigan Warrior's Apprentice- 4.35
Shards Of Honor- 3.2
Ethan of Athos- 3.6
Falling Free- 3.5
Barrayar- 4.3
The Vore Game- 4.0
Cetaganda- 4.3
Borders of Infinity 1- 3.8
2- 4.35
3- 4.25
Brothers in Arms- 4.35
Mirror Dance- 3.9
Good Omens-4.3
Discworld- A Colour of Magic- 3.1
A Light Fantastic- 3.2
Equal Rites- 2.9
Mort -3.75
Sourcery- 3.8
Wyrd Sisters- 3.4
Pyramids- 3.7
Eric- 3.5
Guards! Guards! -3.95
Moving Pictures- 3.4
Reaper Man- 4.0
Witches abroad- 4.25
Small Gods- 1
Fahrenheit 451- 3.6
Stranger in a Strange Land- 2
Neverwhere-3.7
Star Trek Unity- 2
Star Trek Avatar 1-2 -3.85
Star Trek A Stitch in Time a 4.25
Star Trek 34th rule- 3.8
Star Trek Abyss- 3.6
Star Trek Left Hand of Destiny 1-2 -3.2
Star Trek Legends of the Ferengi- 3.9
Star Trek Worlds Of Deep Space Nine Book 1 Cardassia- 2
Just a Geek- 4.2
The Hobbit- 2.5
Something Wicked this Way Comes- 3.2
Ilium- Unreadable
 
The Paksenarrion trilogy is one of my favorites, but if you don't like it you don't like it, and then there really is no need to waste your time reading it.
 
Interesting rating scale you use - this seems extremely precise. Scores such as 3.875 and 4.55 are quite remarkable as I would expect most people only to score to a precision of a half, as after getting through all those books it can be hard to recall just how much you enjoyed each one.
Maybe this says something about you - possibly you are a very precise person and enjoy a certain writing style & subject; maybe someone can offer a suggestion or two for authors to try.
As for the length of time to give a book before abandoning it as a lost cause, I feel it depends on several factors such as how many other books you have in the wings and how much of it you would like to get through in each session. Personally, I tend to use a fraction of the book as a guide to when to give up. I find that if the book is awful I will call it a day after about a quarter of it which gives a main plot and the characters a chance to get started. If the book is mediocre then I will probably try to get to halfway as if it hasn't picked up by then, there will not be much left to actually enjoy should the book unexpectedly improve near the end.

JW
 
Whatever you do, don't give up! The Deed of Paksenarrion rates in my top 5 all time best reads. Elizabeth Moon really knows her stuff when it comes to military detail (having been in the marines herself) and I found the storyline truly remarkable by the end.
 
steve12553 said:
As also illustrated by the Hobbit, Stanger in a Strange Land and Fahrenheit 451. Let us all agree to disagree.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I never understood how ANYONE could like stranger in a strange land.. the second half of the book completely dropped the relatively engaging story and reduced the main character to a pedestal for the author to preach his views on society and life...

The hobbit was very formulaic and repetitive...

Maybe significant in their time, but not mine : ).
 
Mark Robson said:
Whatever you do, don't give up! The Deed of Paksenarrion rates in my top 5 all time best reads. Elizabeth Moon really knows her stuff when it comes to military detail (having been in the marines herself) and I found the storyline truly remarkable by the end.
Click to expand...

People keep mentioning military detail in the reviews I've read... but to be honest, I couldn't care less about it. I read books for the characters and overall storylines.. for the first 50 pages, the book reminds me of every military movie ever made... starting off foolish and then slowly gaining progress... then the whole attack.. but that seemed just tacked on... as it was completely routine with no surprises... played out as I guessed from the start.. it was all so obvious.
 
Well, my *Oath of gold" was bound with 138 pages missing, and the preceding 138 duplicated, (you'd expect a rounder number, somehow) and I still managed to read and enjoy it (though one day I would like to know what happened in those missing pages). I generally buy Moon sight unseen (from the man who sold…no, never mind) and have rarely been disappointed.
 
Wow! I have never seen such a focussed book rating system.

We had a thread once about giving up half way through books if I recall. There seemed to be 2 polls:

A) life is too short to read rubbish - give it up if it's not doing anything for you

or

B) Never give up it might get better.

I have never given up on a single book and believe me I have read some real dross. So I say stay with it. After all what would it do to your ratings system if you don't finish it?
 
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I am a perfectionist and slightly obsessive and giving up and failing to complete a series was very stressful for me but Goodkind was trash of the lowest order and forced me to it. In the later books there was not even a shadow of a redeeming quality. I washed my hands of him.
 
I don't often give up, but when I do, it's usually after about thirty pages.

Like you, I'm a great fan of Bujold's Vorkosigan books. And like you, I'm not as much a fan of Moon's military fiction, mainly because I'm more interested in characters than in military precision.

Have you read Elizabeth Bear's Hammered series? (Hammered is the title of the first book.) They aren't as charming as the Vorkosigan books, but they have intriguing characters doing military things.
 
I don't read huge amounts of any one particular genre of novel, but "The Deed of Paksenarrion" is one of my favourite reads of all time. I also loved "Surrender None", the first book of the duology prequel "The Legacy of Gird". I was neither here, nor there about the second book in the duology, "Liar's Oath", it seemed too reliant on backstory from the rest of the books, and had a bit of a 'non-ending' about it.

Getting back to "Deed", the military detail was quite impressive, but maybe a little overdone at times. I really didn't need to read all about every single time they had to dig a new Jacks when they set up camp somewhere else. But I did totally love some of the unique fantasy creatures that are written up in it. I've often thought it would make a terrific movie trilogy, maybe with Kristanna Loken (TX from "Terminator 3: Judgement Day), as Pakse.

I even bought a second copy of the trilogy omnibus that I found at a thrift store, in the event that I wear out the first copy I bought of it. But, as others have already said - to each his/or her own.
 
Brown Rat said:
I don't often give up, but when I do, it's usually after about thirty pages.

Like you, I'm a great fan of Bujold's Vorkosigan books. And like you, I'm not as much a fan of Moon's military fiction, mainly because I'm more interested in characters than in military precision.

Have you read Elizabeth Bear's Hammered series? (Hammered is the title of the first book.) They aren't as charming as the Vorkosigan books, but they have intriguing characters doing military things.
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Ah, good to know I'm not crazy then. No, I have not tried that series, but I will look into it.

I own and plan to read the following still:
Rest of Vorkosigan/curse of chalion
Next 3 published dragonriders of pern books
The Rowan
Watership Down
Rest of song of ice and fire series
Rest of discworld series
Crystal Singer
Left Hand of Darkness

In case anyone is wondering, the reason I have kept such a list with ratings is to help my friend give recommendations in the future.. he needs to know what I like and don't like in order to give recommendations better.

Thanks for all the responses!
 
I find that book recommendations are really individual. I loved the Paks books myself and have read them several times. I generally give up on books when I lose interest, be it page 5 or 500. Life's too short!
 
Killashandra (1986) and Crystal Line (1992) continue the story of Crystal Singer.

Deeds is a special read for special people. I agree with the posters that have said if you don't like it, don't waste time on it. However, having read extensively in both SF and Fantasy, I feel that some books are worth going through just to understand the underlying trends of the genre. Deeds minus the prequels (I hate prequels although I do own an awful lot of them) is such a collection of work. The first in the series does start slow, but the clash of darkness and light throughout the series is as old as mankind and was specifically germane to the culture of the time frame when it was written. If you can empathize with the protagonist, it will make you cry before you get through it. It is both depressing and uplifting. So well worth the pittance that is asked for it, be that crass specie or time slogging through the plot lines to the "GOOD" parts.

But, most of all, if it doesn't echo for you, then don't waste your time. Unless you are a voracious reader, there is more than enough out there that will keep you busy for the next 40 years.

I'll do one recommendation also: Foreigner Series, C. J. Cherryh
 
Cloud is right - life is too short to read something you are not interested in. And it usually doesn't take me long to determine that - 10 to 30 pages in, I know whether I want to continue.
Sometimes I give books a second chance, but rarely do I find myself completing them. First impressions are hard to get over for me.

As for Paks' story, I really enjoyed it. I read it ages ago and it was something different for me at the time, thus it struck a chord of interest.

One of the many great things about literature is that there is something for everyone and we don't have to all like the same books/authors/genres.

Peace!
-g-
 
If you were put off by all the military detail in Paksennarion, try the Serrano Legacy series by the same author - not quite as militaristic, and full of characters you can believe in. Or there's also the Vatta's War series, also by Ms Moon - all good stuff.:)
 
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