[QuickTidal]

QuickTidal, on 16 April 2020 - 02:57 PM, said:

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.

Just wanted to re-chime in here on my own silly comment that I made WAY too early...I went back to it after the above comment, settled into Michelle's style of prose, the pacing picked up, and I found myself fully immersed, Book 2 and 3 of House War went faster for me, and then I started Sun Sword (that's the series you read in the middle of the House War books) and they are if anything, FASTER and more enjoyable. I'm about 200 pages into Sun Sword 2 (THE UNCROWNED KING), and it's incredible.

Michelle West's Essaylieyan series is very much the inheritor of the depth and scope of Malazan for me. Without a shadow fo a doubt. Nothing I've found comes as close for me.

When I learned that DAW would not longer publish her stuff for the capping quadrilogy of the "End Times" books for this series (she has a Patreon for the final four books now, sign up link PG posted in the 'Reading' Thread), I worried about getting my hands on her existing stuff, so I grabbed all 5 of the remaining House War books and now I have everything of hers for this series. I don't know if DAW will cease printing physical copies now or not, but I wanted to make sure.

Anyways, Book 1 starts off slowly, but does pick up, and then book 2 is off to the races.

[Cyphon]

Cheers for coming back to correct the record QT. It's definitely come back on my watch list.

Edit: in fact the hidden city which I think is #1 is on for £1.50 so I've picked it up.

This post has been edited by Cyphon: 03 August 2021 - 06:26 PM

[QuickTidal]

Cyphon, on 03 August 2021 - 06:23 PM, said:

Cheers for coming back to correct the record QT. It's definitely come back on my watch list.

Edit: in fact the hidden city which I think is #1 is on for £1.50 so I've picked it up.

Cool stuff! Enjoy it. Hidden City is indeed #1.

Be aware that there is a reading order as there is a time jump in the middle of the House War series that is covered by the Sun Sword series, so it goes:


House War 1-3
Sun Sword 1-6
House War 4-8
Forthcoming End Times series

*Sacred Hunt Duology (Hunter's Oath, and Hunter's Death) can be read before or after the series as it covers a LOT of the same story as House War 3...So I've skipped it till the end. You don't need to read it first to get what's going on and House War 3 will cover anything important.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 03 August 2021 - 06:51 PM

[Macros]

God damnit Quick, I gots bills to pay

[Cyphon]

Turns out though that house war 2 & 3 isn't on Kobo though, even though the later ones are..

[QuickTidal]

Macros, on 03 August 2021 - 09:58 PM, said:

God damnit Quick, I gots bills to pay

Sorry man. It really is a cool series though.

Cyphon, on 04 August 2021 - 06:00 AM, said:

Turns out though that house war 2 & 3 isn't on Kobo though, even though the later ones are..

Huh, weird.

Looks into it...Here's the post she made about this back in 2011 when there were only 3 House War books.

Looks like most of them are on the Chapters/Indigo site...can you buy from a CDN site where you are?

https://www.chapters...facetIds=750051

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

Morgoth, on 03 August 2021 - 06:05 AM, said:

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

Working on it! I already When is Black Future Month, excellent short stories, and am currently reading the second book in the Broken Earth trilogy, I’ll eventually read everything she has I imagine.

[Mentalist]

Did we mention Dagger and Coin series? Because that's absolutely up there as well.


For some Sci-FI I would recommend Ian Mc Donald's "Luna" trilogy- which is basically ASOIAF in space; and Alastair Reynold's "Revelation Space" books.

Tom LLoyd's "Twilight Reign" is another one with a pretty awful beginning, that ends up being fairly epic and actually tackles a lot of the same themes as Malaz.

[Macros]

Tom Lloyds start was so bad, I finished the first book not sure I finished the second, worth bothering you reckon?

[champ]

Macros, on 22 August 2021 - 08:31 PM, said:

Tom Lloyds start was so bad, I finished the first book not sure I finished the second, worth bothering you reckon?

For me, no. I bailed in the middle of book 3 at a time when I hardly ever bailed on books. Wasn't interested in going back to it but may have got better

Edit

Maybe book 4 actually.

This post has been edited by champ: 22 August 2021 - 09:36 PM

[GardenGnome]

Mentalist, on 09 August 2021 - 06:10 PM, said:

Did we mention Dagger and Coin series? Because that's absolutely up there as well.

I've read it and... it's okay. Some interesting ideas, but I didn't really get dragget into it that much. Mainly I read it to space out the WoT books as I was reading through the entire series the past year.

I'd rather highly recomment the debut series of the same author (Daniel Abrams), the long price. It's quite different from many/most other series I can think of. It doesn't quite have the epic scale of MBoTF, but few series have, in my experience. Imagine a world where magic is really rare, but also nearly all-powerful. This magic exists in one nation, and because of their all-powerful magic no other nation can attack them. They don't have military, because they don't need it. It's a fascinating idea. Of course, it all comes crashing down. Also, same author is one of the two behind the expanse sci-fi series (as James S. A. Corey), which I think quite nicely fits the epic scale asked after here. I admit, I only watched the tv-series, which is good, the books are regarded as better.

Someone recommended Fifth Season, and I strongly second this. Loved the series and the characters.

Lastly, I'm about to finish the Traitor Son cycle, five books. Also highly recommended.

[Maark Abbott]

GardenGnome, on 24 August 2021 - 09:02 AM, said:

Mentalist, on 09 August 2021 - 06:10 PM, said:

Did we mention Dagger and Coin series? Because that's absolutely up there as well.

I've read it and... it's okay. Some interesting ideas, but I didn't really get dragget into it that much. Mainly I read it to space out the WoT books as I was reading through the entire series the past year.

I'd rather highly recomment the debut series of the same author (Daniel Abrams), the long price. It's quite different from many/most other series I can think of. It doesn't quite have the epic scale of MBoTF, but few series have, in my experience. Imagine a world where magic is really rare, but also nearly all-powerful. This magic exists in one nation, and because of their all-powerful magic no other nation can attack them. They don't have military, because they don't need it. It's a fascinating idea. Of course, it all comes crashing down. Also, same author is one of the two behind the expanse sci-fi series (as James S. A. Corey), which I think quite nicely fits the epic scale asked after here. I admit, I only watched the tv-series, which is good, the books are regarded as better.

Someone recommended Fifth Season, and I strongly second this. Loved the series and the characters.

Lastly, I'm about to finish the Traitor Son cycle, five books. Also highly recommended.

I've read it about ten years back and remember really enjoying it. Just to remind me is it the one where said magical nation has access to magic by way of godlike beings / djinn or something similar?

[HoosierDaddy]

Maark Abbott, on 25 August 2021 - 07:48 AM, said:

GardenGnome, on 24 August 2021 - 09:02 AM, said:

Mentalist, on 09 August 2021 - 06:10 PM, said:

Did we mention Dagger and Coin series? Because that's absolutely up there as well.

I've read it and... it's okay. Some interesting ideas, but I didn't really get dragget into it that much. Mainly I read it to space out the WoT books as I was reading through the entire series the past year.

I'd rather highly recomment the debut series of the same author (Daniel Abrams), the long price. It's quite different from many/most other series I can think of. It doesn't quite have the epic scale of MBoTF, but few series have, in my experience. Imagine a world where magic is really rare, but also nearly all-powerful. This magic exists in one nation, and because of their all-powerful magic no other nation can attack them. They don't have military, because they don't need it. It's a fascinating idea. Of course, it all comes crashing down. Also, same author is one of the two behind the expanse sci-fi series (as James S. A. Corey), which I think quite nicely fits the epic scale asked after here. I admit, I only watched the tv-series, which is good, the books are regarded as better.

Someone recommended Fifth Season, and I strongly second this. Loved the series and the characters.

Lastly, I'm about to finish the Traitor Son cycle, five books. Also highly recommended.

I've read it about ten years back and remember really enjoying it. Just to remind me is it the one where said magical nation has access to magic by way of godlike beings / djinn or something similar?

I think that is the Long Price Quartet you are referring to.

[polishgenius]

I really really love Daniel Abraham's books but I feel like if we're talking about that we've moved away a bit from the 'inheritors to the scope of Malazan' premise. Like yeah, both Long Price and Dagger and Coin do open up to a 'clash of nations' sort of scope but they're much smaller stories, no sprawl, the world focused on the one thing it's focusing on, battles are there but almost on the side, not the focus.

I say that not to be some kind of grinch but if someone takes that recommendation expecting another Malazan they're more likely to be disappointed than if they know they're getting a deeply character-based political fantasy.

[worry]

Looking over my post about The Committee Head's Minor Gambit series and dejectedly tapping backspace.

[Maark Abbott]

HoosierDaddy, on 25 August 2021 - 01:49 PM, said:

Maark Abbott, on 25 August 2021 - 07:48 AM, said:

GardenGnome, on 24 August 2021 - 09:02 AM, said:

Mentalist, on 09 August 2021 - 06:10 PM, said:

Did we mention Dagger and Coin series? Because that's absolutely up there as well.

I've read it and... it's okay. Some interesting ideas, but I didn't really get dragget into it that much. Mainly I read it to space out the WoT books as I was reading through the entire series the past year.

I'd rather highly recomment the debut series of the same author (Daniel Abrams), the long price. It's quite different from many/most other series I can think of. It doesn't quite have the epic scale of MBoTF, but few series have, in my experience. Imagine a world where magic is really rare, but also nearly all-powerful. This magic exists in one nation, and because of their all-powerful magic no other nation can attack them. They don't have military, because they don't need it. It's a fascinating idea. Of course, it all comes crashing down. Also, same author is one of the two behind the expanse sci-fi series (as James S. A. Corey), which I think quite nicely fits the epic scale asked after here. I admit, I only watched the tv-series, which is good, the books are regarded as better.

Someone recommended Fifth Season, and I strongly second this. Loved the series and the characters.

Lastly, I'm about to finish the Traitor Son cycle, five books. Also highly recommended.

I've read it about ten years back and remember really enjoying it. Just to remind me is it the one where said magical nation has access to magic by way of godlike beings / djinn or something similar?

I think that is the Long Price Quartet you are referring to.

Yeah Long Price. I've not read Dagger and Coin but LP was really good, well worth a read.

[GardenGnome]

polishgenius, on 26 August 2021 - 05:37 AM, said:

I really really love Daniel Abraham's books but I feel like if we're talking about that we've moved away a bit from the 'inheritors to the scope of Malazan' premise. Like yeah, both Long Price and Dagger and Coin do open up to a 'clash of nations' sort of scope but they're much smaller stories, no sprawl, the world focused on the one thing it's focusing on, battles are there but almost on the side, not the focus.

I say that not to be some kind of grinch but if someone takes that recommendation expecting another Malazan they're more likely to be disappointed than if they know they're getting a deeply character-based political fantasy.

Fair enough, I agree. I think it`s hard to find something that matches Malazan in all aspects, but I actually think WoT isn`t that bad place to look. It has that feeling of a lived world, which ancient history and follows several plotlines, both things I love in a series. I know a lot of people were disatisfied or disgruntled as the boks were released, but I feel a lot of that is because of the lengthy wait between books. I finished the series this summer, after reading maybe five books as a teen, and felt a need to finish it. I liked it, and it touched several dimensions I generally miss. It has it`s flaws, and some parts are certainly dated, but it`s ok; besides, it`s not like MBotF is flaweless.

As I mentioned last post, I recommend the traitor son cycle. It starts with a small scope, but grows with every book. In the last book it almost feels a bit rushed, the scope is so big I`d like it to be paced over more books. Maybe introduce the greater threat earlier. Anyway, they are good. Not flawless, but decent entertainment. If it had

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

I actually agree about the WoT. In the regard that the overall scope and number of plotlines/characters is closer to Malazan than other series I am familiar with. I didn't bring it up here, as some of the flaws (the poor decision making by main characters and the stretches where I found only one of the main character's storylines interesting) bother me too much to highly recommend the series now.

[worry]

Robert Jordan inherited everything he ever knew from Steven Erikson. I'll die on that hill.

[Tsundoku]

worry, on 27 August 2021 - 03:38 AM, said:

Robert Jordan inherited everything he ever knew from Steven Erikson. I'll die on that hill.

Surrounded by itchy-nosed women wearing amazingly smoothed dresses, tugging their braids and drinking from incredible porcelain tea sets.

You would have wanted it that way.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 27 August 2021 - 03:43 AM