I have a hard time with books that have long periods of dialogue that don't really relate to the story. Long descriptive periods of exposition that don't move the story forward etc. I get bored so quickly I just can't finish them.
What are some books that get to the point and stay on topic with the plot? Ideally scifi, fantasy, adventure books.
by sparksfly00
2 Comments
Cradle by Will Wight – fun, action packed progression fantasy
Red Rising by Pierce Brown – low sci-fi revolution story
Acts of Caine by Matthew Stover – gritty, violent sci-fi/fantasy blend
Seven Deadly Wonders (The first book in the Jack West Jr. series) by Matthew Reilly
Matthew Reilly, the New York Times bestselling author and “pedal-to-the-metal action novelist” (Publishers Weekly), is back in high gear on the greatest treasure hunt of all time — a headlong race to find the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
In ancient times, a Golden Capstone was placed atop the Great Pyramid at Giza during a rare solar event called the Tartarus Rotation. Once every 4,500 years, a superhot sunspot — the Tartarus Sunspot — aligned itself with Earth and caused immense worldwide flooding and sun-scorching. It is said that when the Capstone sat atop the Great Pyramid, no such flooding or solar damage occurred. And, according to legend, whosoever places the Capstone on the pyramid at the next Tartarus Rotation will gain absolute power over Earth for the next 1,000 years.
In 2006, the Tartarus Rotation will come again, but the Capstone is nowhere to be found.
With the fate of global dominance hanging in the balance, nearly every world power sends forth its troops to locate the Capstone. Among them are the United States, the European Union, Israel, ruthless terrorists, and one other unusual force: a coalition of seven smaller nations that have decided that the Capstone is too powerful for any one country to hold.
So they band together against all odds and send an eight-man team to take on all the great forces in the chase. Led by an Australian super-soldier named Jack West Jr., the team includes a Canadian professor, two crack Irish commandos (one of whom is female), a Spanish paratrooper, a Jamaican soldier, an Arab commando, and a daredevil New Zealand pilot. And with them always is a little girl named Lily, the ten-year-old daughter of the Oracle of Siwa — one of only two people in the world who can decode an ancient text that leads to the Capstone.
This stalwart group embarks on a global journey filled with booby-trapped mines, stupendous ancient wonders, gigantic evil forces, and adventure beyond imagination.
From the Colossus of Rhodes to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, from the Lighthouse at Alexandria to the Great Pyramid itself, fasten your seatbelts and hang on as the author of Ice Station and Scarecrow takes you on the adventure of your life!
The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly
The Chinese government has been keeping a secret for forty years: they have found a species of animal no one believed even existed that will amaze the world. Now the Chinese are ready to unveil their astonishing discovery within the greatest zoo ever constructed. A small group of VIPs and journalists has been brought to the zoo deep within China to see its fabulous creatures for the first time. Among them is Dr Cassandra Jane ‘CJ’ Cameron, a writer for NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and an expert on reptiles. The visitors are assured by their Chinese hosts that they will marvel at these beasts, that they are perfectly safe, that nothing can go wrong . . .
Leviathan James Byron Huggins
On an Icelandic Island, an illegal experiment intended to create the perfect biological weapon has transformed a once-innocent creature into the biblical Leviathan that once terrorized the world. Able to shatter steel and granite as easily as it can melt the strongest containment shields, Leviathan escapes from its pen and is loose in a vast underground chamber harboring soldiers and scientists.
The installation cannot allow Leviathan to reach the surface. For if Leviathan reaches the world, it could well be the end of the Earth. They must hold the line, here, and destroy it… even if they must detonate a last-chance nuclear failsafe built into the chamber itself. But, first, they must fight with every weapon at their disposal to discover if the beast can be killed at all.
It is a battle many will not survive.
As soldiers and scientists are vaporized by Leviathan’s hellish flame, or ripped apart by the dragon’s claws and fangs, a lone electrical engineer is forced to join the fight. And in the midst of what might well be the last battle for Mankind, Connor must find a way – any way – to save his family and kill this powerful, bloodthirsty Beast of Legend that has never been killed before.
Before it feasts upon the world.