[Aptorian]

I raised the suggestion in the one of the Re-read threads that I want to add the Esslemont books to the re-read and the unfinished Kharkanas trilogy.

The question is how to go about it. I've got two proposals, planned according to the recommended reading order.

Propsal 1 is hard and I personally do not think I can follow it.

Proposal 2 is easier but longer.

Those of you who only want to read the main 10 can of course just stick to that order.

---------------------------------------

Proposal 1

Quote

2020
January: Gardens of the Moon
February: Deadhouse Gates
March: Memories of Ice
April: House of Chains
May: Midnight Tides
May 15th: Night of Knives
June: The Bonehunters
June 15th: Return of the Crimson Guard
July: Reaper's Gale
July 15th: Stonewielder
August: Toll the Hounds
August 15th: Orb Sceptre Throne
September: Dust of Dreams
October: The Crippled God
November: Blood and Bone
December: Assail

2021
January: Forge of Darkness
February: Fall of Light

Proposal 2

Quote

2020
January: Gardens of the Moon
February: Deadhouse Gates
March: Memories of Ice
April: House of Chains
May: Midnight Tides
June Night of Knives & The Bonehunters
July: Return of the Crimson Guard
August: Reaper's Gale
September: Stonewielder
October: Toll the Hounds
November: Orb Sceptre Throne
December: Dust of Dreams

2021
January: The Crippled God
February: Blood and Bone
March: Assail
April: Forge of Darkness
May: Fall of Light

Proposal 3

We read the Sword of Truth series instead.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 20 February 2020 - 02:11 PM

[D'rek]

Either way (P1 or P2, NOT P3 nooooooo) is fine by me.

BUT I think it should be {{ BH > RG > RotCG > TtH }} publishing order aside, this is the better narrative order - Traveller's parts in each will be in proper order, Hood won't be telling Toc his father is alive when he's already died in RotCG, etc.

I'm also a big advocate of {{ DoD > OST > TCG }}. I know Ericsson talked a lot about DoD and TCG being "one book", but c'mon there's a lot of "back to marching and build-up" at the start of TCG and new characters/forces to be introduced, it's not like it *really* just picks right up from DoD and continues it like there's no separation. Plus OST does a lot of "something bigger is happening across the world" stuff which is kind of like it's hyping up TCG but anticlimactic if TCG is already over. As a compromise, maybe even reading TCG and OST simultaneously could work.

edit: and SW should definitely be after TtH, no? Weren't there big TtH-events references/spoilers in SW?

[champ]

Option 2 and I'm happy to roll with whatever order is desired.

[Aptorian]

D, on 20 February 2020 - 02:32 PM, said:

Either way (P1 or P2, NOT P3 nooooooo) is fine by me.

BUT I think it should be {{ BH > RG > RotCG > TtH }} publishing order aside, this is the better narrative order - Traveller's parts in each will be in proper order, Hood won't be telling Toc his father is alive when he's already died in RotCG, etc.

I'm also a big advocate of {{ DoD > OST > TCG }}. I know Ericsson talked a lot about DoD and TCG being "one book", but c'mon there's a lot of "back to marching and build-up" at the start of TCG and new characters/forces to be introduced, it's not like it *really* just picks right up from DoD and continues it like there's no separation. Plus OST does a lot of "something bigger is happening across the world" stuff which is kind of like it's hyping up TCG but anticlimactic if TCG is already over. As a compromise, maybe even reading TCG and OST simultaneously could work.

edit: and SW should definitely be after TtH, no? Weren't there big TtH-events references/spoilers in SW?

I just copy pasted a list from Wertheds zone.

Can't really remember the important events anyone oppose Dreks changes?

[Abyss]

1. Agreed w including the ICE books.

2. Published order except NoK w/TB, RCG before TtH, and DoD+TCG, then OST. Or whatever.

3. Terry Goodkind makes my eyes bleed.

[champ]

I do think DoD and tCG should be read together rather than throwing OST in the middle, it's just a better flow even though OST mentions shit hitting the fan across the globe.

[D'rek]

champ, on 20 February 2020 - 03:22 PM, said:

it's just a better flow

How so

[champ]

D, on 20 February 2020 - 05:24 PM, said:

champ, on 20 February 2020 - 03:22 PM, said:

it's just a better flow

How so

Mainly due to the fact that it is a direct continuation of the story... Yes I agree that tCG takes a slight detour at the start but it doesn't take long to pick back up from DoD and we aren't going to make ourselves suffer going from the ending of DoD to over a month to tCG.


That way we can get DoD-tCG finished and we can pick up with the remaining ICE books to finish his series running book to book. OST > B&B > Assail.


I've only read OST once but IIRC there are only a couple of references to trouble and strife happening elsewhere...


Happy to roll with it though, so the options are:


TtH > OST > DoD > tCG


or


TtH > DoD > OST > tCG

This post has been edited by champ: 20 February 2020 - 06:07 PM

[D'rek]

champ, on 20 February 2020 - 06:07 PM, said:

D, on 20 February 2020 - 05:24 PM, said:

champ, on 20 February 2020 - 03:22 PM, said:

it's just a better flow

How so

Mainly due to the fact that it is a direct continuation of the story... Yes I agree that tCG takes a slight detour at the start but it doesn't take long to pick back up from DoD and we aren't going to make ourselves suffer going from the ending of DoD to over a month to tCG.

Same thing supposedly applies to GotM > MoI

[Stalker]

Option two preferred here so that I’m able to read other things throughout the year. Happy to go with any reading order.

[champ]

D, on 20 February 2020 - 07:06 PM, said:

champ, on 20 February 2020 - 06:07 PM, said:

D, on 20 February 2020 - 05:24 PM, said:

champ, on 20 February 2020 - 03:22 PM, said:

it's just a better flow

How so

Mainly due to the fact that it is a direct continuation of the story... Yes I agree that tCG takes a slight detour at the start but it doesn't take long to pick back up from DoD and we aren't going to make ourselves suffer going from the ending of DoD to over a month to tCG.

Same thing supposedly applies to GotM > MoI

Touche haha but, but... at least with DG we have more plot progression relevance than OST so GotM > DG > MoI makes sense.


Actually with OST, I do not remember a great deal about the plot crossovers, what do we get? Karsa not mentioned in name outside, I know that and I remember talk of the fallout of Rake/Dragnipur destruction but that's about it. I cannot recall if the retired BB's give us anything.

[Abyss]

D, on 20 February 2020 - 07:06 PM, said:

champ, on 20 February 2020 - 06:07 PM, said:

D, on 20 February 2020 - 05:24 PM, said:

champ, on 20 February 2020 - 03:22 PM, said:

it's just a better flow

How so

Mainly due to the fact that it is a direct continuation of the story... Yes I agree that tCG takes a slight detour at the start but it doesn't take long to pick back up from DoD and we aren't going to make ourselves suffer going from the ending of DoD to over a month to tCG.

Same thing supposedly applies to GotM > MoI

Not nearly as cliffhangery, even on the reread.

[Zerv]

As I recall, the other concern regarding the placement of OST (aside from hyping up the convergence in TCG) is that Draconus makes a brief appearance, and it's often argued (rightly, I think) that his dramatic entrance in DoD should ideally be his first appearance after being freed from Dragnipur.
I agree that placing it between DoD and TCG is in a sense 'optimal', since it's the only way to address both concerns. They're fairly minor issues though, so I don't think it matters that much. On a first read I think the DoD cliffhanger is a fairly big factor (I read DoD and TCG back-to-back the first time and I remember still being a little impatient about having to wait 100-ish (or whatever it is) pages before getting back to the Bonehunters; can't imagine having been too pleased with the idea of reading an entire book in-between), but since we all know what happens I don't see it as much of a problem to leave it hanging for a bit personally.

[gandrin]

Aptorian, on 20 February 2020 - 02:08 PM, said:

Proposal 3

We read the Sword of Truth series instead.

Sword of Truth?! Really? This was a surprise. Have you already read it? I read them up to the end of the Richard and Kahlan series. I liked it...until I REALLY REALLY did NOT! The original group was good, I also liked Chainfire, but I'm not sure they are worth a re-read (12 books!?! I'd definitely choose to reread MBotF or WoT first). The R and K series was absolutely horrible. Just awful. Worst preschool level exposition and Deus ex machina I've ever seen. Please don't waste your time.

So if you are a new to it and interested, just read the first series and then maybe Chainfire trilogy--I thought Goodkind built a unique work and did a good job of filling in plot holes you never knew existed. Also interesting to see his political point of view manifest (seriously, I thought it was clever even if I don't agree with him--it's a similar idea to Atlas Shrugged).

Or was this just a joke...probably. Sorry if I was slow on the uptake. To my credit I read the entire first series before I found WoT or MBotF.

This post has been edited by gandrin: 24 February 2020 - 05:29 PM

[Aptorian]

It was a joke. The forum has a long history of hating on Goodkind. Still it could be done as an endurance test. Who can go the farthest? A gold 🌟 if you make it to the Evil Chicken.

[champ]

Heh Team Quick Ben even tried recruiting Apt into the Terry Goodkind fan club... bloody hell that was a long time ago...

[Aptorian]

That was a weird experience. They seemed so sincere.

[Aptorian]

I was thinking about Erikson's work and I'll admit I haven't read any of his space stuff.

Should we add the Willful Child books and Rejoice to the reading list in 2021? Don't know how many of the forum regulars have been keeping up with Erikson's publications.

I'm going to read them around then, one way or another.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 20 June 2020 - 06:10 PM

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Aptorian, on 20 June 2020 - 06:10 PM, said:

I was thinking about Erikson's work and I'll admit I haven't read any of his space stuff.

Should we add the Willful Child books and Rejoice to the reading list in 2021? Don't know how many of the forum regulars have been keeping up with Erikson's publications.

I'm going to read them around then, one way or another.

I'm having enough trouble catching up as it is — I'm only 700 pages into MT!

[Aptorian]

Tut, tut, Whisper. We all must make sacrifices. Just stop eating or sleeping until you've caught up.