[Abyss]

The 'YA' thing was derived from cover/back blurb/quick scan of goodreads... happy to be wrong.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 30 May 2019 - 06:13 PM, said:

The 'YA' thing was derived from cover/back blurb/quick scan of goodreads... happy to be wrong.

I'll let you know.

For what it's worth the series got a mention on the "Epic Fantasy Series that Stick the Landing" post made after GoT finale dropped, a list which also included MBOTF.

[Aptorian]

I bought House War book 1 on your recommendation. Another +700 page book. Sigh. Well at least my Fantasy book stamina is improving.

The book description certainly reads like generic YA material.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 30 May 2019 - 06:49 PM

[Puck]

QuickTidal, on 30 May 2019 - 06:21 PM, said:

Abyss, on 30 May 2019 - 06:13 PM, said:

The 'YA' thing was derived from cover/back blurb/quick scan of goodreads... happy to be wrong.

I'll let you know.

For what it's worth the series got a mention on the "Epic Fantasy Series that Stick the Landing" post made after GoT finale dropped, a list which also included MBOTF.

Wow, yet another blog post that manages to spell Erikson wrong while having an image of one of the books right next to the text I don't even know why this bugs me so much, but it does, especially when they have a cover right beside the text. Something something about respect.

This post has been edited by Puck: 30 May 2019 - 06:54 PM

[Abyss]

Puck, on 30 May 2019 - 06:49 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 30 May 2019 - 06:21 PM, said:

Abyss, on 30 May 2019 - 06:13 PM, said:

The 'YA' thing was derived from cover/back blurb/quick scan of goodreads... happy to be wrong.

I'll let you know.

For what it's worth the series got a mention on the "Epic Fantasy Series that Stick the Landing" post made after GoT finale dropped, a list which also included MBOTF.

Wow, yet another blog post that manages to spell Erikson wrong while having an image of one of the books right next to the text I don't even know why this bugs me so much, but it does, especially when they have a cover right beside the text. Something something about respect.

Just ridiculous.
It likely doesn't help that 'Steven Erickson' is another genre author .

[Karsa Orlong]

QuickTidal, on 30 May 2019 - 05:24 PM, said:

I'm starting this series soon (first book is wining its way to me from Amazon), but not starting with the Sun Sword portion...read on...

So this is interesting, Michelle (Sagara) West (who, coincidentally is a Torontonian, as is GGK) has three series that interweave time periods but all take place in the same universe (with a varying set of reading orders)...the Sacred Hunt Duology (which she wrote first), The Sun Sword Series (6 books), and The House War series (8 books when it's completed in June of this year).

The reading order (or at least the one I've chosen to follow) is:

House War 1-3 (Starting with THE HIDDEN CITY)
Sacred Hunt 1 & 2
The Sun Sword 1-6
House War 4-8

And Abyss, are you sure you're not thinking of her other Series the "Cast In" books which seem like Urban-Yet-Alt-World-Fantasy? Sun Sword, and the others don't seem very YA to me.

Anyways, I'll chime in once I've started, but I've heard this whole series/world is very in depth, so I can see Karsa recommending it.

Plus, it's always nice to support a local author.

This reading order is the in-world timeline. The events in chronological order, more or less.

BUT...there is something to be said to read series as "the author wrote it"! Just the pure fun of reading House War 1-3 when you already lived with some of those characters through some hard times is...honestly...priceless. YMMV, of course. But I'd recommend to read it like this (aka the publishing order) :

Sacred Hunt 1 & 2
Sun Sword 1 - 6
House War 1 - 8

And yes, let us know what you think! Although i might not be able to read on if you start spoiling House War because I'm still reading those (I am somewhere around book 3).

This post has been edited by Karsa Orlong: 08 June 2019 - 06:10 PM

[Cyphon]

Necroing the thread to ask if any further thoughts on Michelle West as House War N.1 is on sale for £1.90 at the moment.

[Mentalist]

I'm gonna repeat what I wrote elsewhere: everyone needs to buy Marc Turner's "Chronicles of the Exile" books so that he can find a publisher and get the series finished. Those books are really, really good.

And since Karsa liked Tchaikovsky, I'll hesitantly throw out his earlier series, "Shadows of the Apt". The series starts out really rough, and book 2 was... not good; but he manages to not only improve from there, but also manage to turn around one of the worst-written characters ever (imho) and come up with an incredibly satisfying ending for a 10 book series with several major arcs.
There's a lot of people here that really dislike it, and I can see why. But due to a series of circumstances, I read them up to Book 4, which managed to turn the series around for me, and from there it went from strength to strength.

[Maark Abbott]

Did I comment on this before? If not, Bakker.

[Macros]

What ment said, shadows of the apt goes from strength to strength after a rocky start.

There's a few foibles that carry throughout due to the nature of the world's magic system and the hardlines it draws abilities wise. But book 7/8 (war waters gate and the air war) are just flat out excellent

[End of Disc One]

I’m on the last book of Shadows of the Apt right now and I honestly think book 2 is one of the best. 5 is my favorite. The books get longer and better in some ways, but they don’t reach the heights of my absolute favorites.

Now Children of Time, that was one of the best books I’ve ever read.

[Macros]

I must read the sequel, children was good, preferred guns of the dawn though

[Mentalist]

End of Disc One, on 16 April 2020 - 12:35 PM, said:

I’m on the last book of Shadows of the Apt right now and I honestly think book 2 is one of the best. 5 is my favorite. The books get longer and better in some ways, but they don’t reach the heights of my absolute favorites.

Now Children of Time, that was one of the best books I’ve ever read.

I absolutely hated 2 and was lukewarm on 3 (except for the Exaltsea bits); Book 4 was mind-blowingly good by comparison.

Tchaikovsky's skills at writing characters clearly progressed throughout the series, but the beginning was just a pileup of angsty love triangles, and I couldn't stand the moping and teenage idiocy. Book 1 had a lot of epic awesome to make up for it, but 2 only really had Salma to carry it, and the angst to action ratio was terrible.

Up to Book 5 Cheerwell was one of my most hated characters. The Mhybe's got nothing on her. Her turnaround Book 5-onwards is nothing short of remarkable.

[Mentalist]

End of Disc One, on 16 April 2020 - 12:35 PM, said:

I’m on the last book of Shadows of the Apt right now and I honestly think book 2 is one of the best. 5 is my favorite. The books get longer and better in some ways, but they don’t reach the heights of my absolute favorites.

Now Children of Time, that was one of the best books I’ve ever read.

I absolutely hated 2 and was lukewarm on 3 (except for the Exaltsea bits); Book 4 was mind-blowingly good by comparison.

Tchaikovsky's skills at writing characters clearly progressed throughout the series, but the beginning was just a pileup of angsty love triangles, and I couldn't stand the moping and teenage idiocy. Book 1 had a lot of epic awesome to make up for it, but 2 only really had Salma to carry it, and the angst to action ratio was terrible.

Up to Book 5 Cheerwell was one of my most hated characters. The Mhybe's got nothing on her. Her turnaround Book 5-onwards is nothing short of remarkable.

[QuickTidal]

Cyphon, on 15 April 2020 - 01:31 PM, said:

Necroing the thread to ask if any further thoughts on Michelle West as House War N.1 is on sale for £1.90 at the moment.

I gave up about midway through book 2. It was just overwrought. There's about 250 pages of actual story in books that exceed like 600 pages. The pacing is glacial.

[Cyphon]

Ta! I might well pass and remove from my wishlist then.

[End of Disc One]

Mentalist, on 16 April 2020 - 02:16 PM, said:

End of Disc One, on 16 April 2020 - 12:35 PM, said:

I’m on the last book of Shadows of the Apt right now and I honestly think book 2 is one of the best. 5 is my favorite. The books get longer and better in some ways, but they don’t reach the heights of my absolute favorites.

Now Children of Time, that was one of the best books I’ve ever read.

I absolutely hated 2 and was lukewarm on 3 (except for the Exaltsea bits); Book 4 was mind-blowingly good by comparison.

Tchaikovsky's skills at writing characters clearly progressed throughout the series, but the beginning was just a pileup of angsty love triangles, and I couldn't stand the moping and teenage idiocy. Book 1 had a lot of epic awesome to make up for it, but 2 only really had Salma to carry it, and the angst to action ratio was terrible.

Up to Book 5 Cheerwell was one of my most hated characters. The Mhybe's got nothing on her. Her turnaround Book 5-onwards is nothing short of remarkable.

Book 2 was the one with the two big sieges. Much more epic action than book 1 which was a bunch of minor skirmishes.

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

I just read the fifth season and it reminded me of SE in some ways. The info comes in a slow drip and you don’t know what is going on, until suddenly the pieces come together and you see what has been building. I really enjoyed it. It’s only a trilogy so not as epic as malazan, but it was damn good.

[Morgoth]

You should read her other books too, RLY, they're all spectacular though in different ways.

[Maark Abbott]

Friendly reminder that by virtue of the author living in Leeds, it's actually Shadow'O't'Apt, and the T is implied but not spoken.

I'm here to help.