[QuickTidal]

Salt-Man Z, on 14 February 2018 - 05:40 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 14 February 2018 - 04:22 PM, said:

Easily the finest of the Star Wars novelizations, and actually makes viewing the movie a better experience. The poem bit from the beginning about a "lone candle being enough to keep the dark away" was read at my wedding. LOVE that book.

If any SW novel could be considered capital-L "Literature", it would be REVENGE OF THE SITH. The prologue always makes me tear up every time (I've reread that bit a lot): "Though this is the end of the age of heroes, it has saved its best for last."

Absolutely. It's also the only novelization of a film I've read more than once (three times actually).

[polishgenius]

Andorion, on 14 February 2018 - 03:26 PM, said:

Shadow in Summer - very mediocre - I did not understand the principal point of the plot

Spoiler

Why go through with the abortion rigmarole when you have just had the poet killed?

Spoiler

They were trying to avoid suspicion. If someone just assassinated the poet, the Galts would be the very first under suspicion and even without proof could find themselves under attack by the other poets, who they can't defend against. The plot was meant to make things look like an honest mistake.

[Fiddler Farstrider]

Reading Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy...nice breath of fresh air in the fantasy world, I'm really enjoying it so far.




Also in the middle of Brett's Demon cycle, I stopped at book 2 and I'm not sure if I should continue. I heard the next books take a strong downturn in quality. This would be the first series I have not completed one I started.

[End of Disc One]

Fiddler Farstrider, on 14 February 2018 - 07:50 PM, said:

Reading Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy...nice breath of fresh air in the fantasy world, I'm really enjoying it so far.




Also in the middle of Brett's Demon cycle, I stopped at book 2 and I'm not sure if I should continue. I heard the next books take a strong downturn in quality. This would be the first series I have not completed one I started.

Drop the Demon Cycle now while you can. And get used to dropping series you're in the middle of. I used to be like you, but you'll find there are way too many great books out there to waste time reading ones that you don't enjoy.

[QuickTidal]

End of Disc One, on 14 February 2018 - 08:18 PM, said:

Fiddler Farstrider, on 14 February 2018 - 07:50 PM, said:

Reading Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy...nice breath of fresh air in the fantasy world, I'm really enjoying it so far.




Also in the middle of Brett's Demon cycle, I stopped at book 2 and I'm not sure if I should continue. I heard the next books take a strong downturn in quality. This would be the first series I have not completed one I started.

Drop the Demon Cycle now while you can. And get used to dropping series you're in the middle of. I used to be like you, but you'll find there are way too many great books out there to waste time reading ones that you don't enjoy.

I second this sentiment.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 14 February 2018 - 08:20 PM, said:

End of Disc One, on 14 February 2018 - 08:18 PM, said:

Fiddler Farstrider, on 14 February 2018 - 07:50 PM, said:

Reading Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy...nice breath of fresh air in the fantasy world, I'm really enjoying it so far.




Also in the middle of Brett's Demon cycle, I stopped at book 2 and I'm not sure if I should continue. I heard the next books take a strong downturn in quality. This would be the first series I have not completed one I started.

Drop the Demon Cycle now while you can. And get used to dropping series you're in the middle of. I used to be like you, but you'll find there are way too many great books out there to waste time reading ones that you don't enjoy.

I second this sentiment.

Thirded. Life is too short to read bad books to get to a bad ending about which you have a bad feeling about time wasted badly and then there is all the good alcohol wasted to make the bad feelings go away and what were we talking about?

[Chance]

Currently re-reading Broken Angels mostly because second half of the Altered Carbon tv series made me angry. The original was simply more fun, better and much simpler understandable story and I enjoyed it so I'll probably go through all three.

After that I'll probably continue The Traitor Baru Comorant which I was enjoying half way in but didn't wow me.

Fiddler Farstrider, on 14 February 2018 - 07:50 PM, said:

Also in the middle of Brett's Demon cycle, I stopped at book 2 and I'm not sure if I should continue. I heard the next books take a strong downturn in quality. This would be the first series I have not completed one I started.

Don't like to say it I used to defend the Demon cycle up to the last book but it is likely not worth unless you have only mediocre alternatives, to many questionable choices in both story and continually adding narrators with their own storylines adding little to the whole.

This post has been edited by Chance: 14 February 2018 - 10:18 PM

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Abyss, on 14 February 2018 - 08:41 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 14 February 2018 - 08:20 PM, said:

End of Disc One, on 14 February 2018 - 08:18 PM, said:

Fiddler Farstrider, on 14 February 2018 - 07:50 PM, said:

Reading Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy...nice breath of fresh air in the fantasy world, I'm really enjoying it so far.




Also in the middle of Brett's Demon cycle, I stopped at book 2 and I'm not sure if I should continue. I heard the next books take a strong downturn in quality. This would be the first series I have not completed one I started.

Drop the Demon Cycle now while you can. And get used to dropping series you're in the middle of. I used to be like you, but you'll find there are way too many great books out there to waste time reading ones that you don't enjoy.

I second this sentiment.

Thirded. Life is too short to read bad books to get to a bad ending about which you have a bad feeling about time wasted badly and then there is all the good alcohol wasted to make the bad feelings go away and what were we talking about?

But there are some series that start out bad or have a decrease in quality, but then pull together for an awesome ending. How do you accommodate that?

[Abyss]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 15 February 2018 - 03:30 AM, said:

Abyss, on 14 February 2018 - 08:41 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 14 February 2018 - 08:20 PM, said:

End of Disc One, on 14 February 2018 - 08:18 PM, said:

Fiddler Farstrider, on 14 February 2018 - 07:50 PM, said:

Reading Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy...nice breath of fresh air in the fantasy world, I'm really enjoying it so far.




Also in the middle of Brett's Demon cycle, I stopped at book 2 and I'm not sure if I should continue. I heard the next books take a strong downturn in quality. This would be the first series I have not completed one I started.

Drop the Demon Cycle now while you can. And get used to dropping series you're in the middle of. I used to be like you, but you'll find there are way too many great books out there to waste time reading ones that you don't enjoy.

I second this sentiment.

Thirded. Life is too short to read bad books to get to a bad ending about which you have a bad feeling about time wasted badly and then there is all the good alcohol wasted to make the bad feelings go away and what were we talking about?

But there are some series that start out bad or have a decrease in quality, but then pull together for an awesome ending. How do you accommodate that?

It’s all relative.
Also subjective.
Also, alcohol.

[Maark Abbott]

And yet so many push forward with Stormlight... *eyes emoji*

[End of Disc One]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 15 February 2018 - 03:30 AM, said:

Abyss, on 14 February 2018 - 08:41 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 14 February 2018 - 08:20 PM, said:

End of Disc One, on 14 February 2018 - 08:18 PM, said:

Fiddler Farstrider, on 14 February 2018 - 07:50 PM, said:

Reading Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy...nice breath of fresh air in the fantasy world, I'm really enjoying it so far.




Also in the middle of Brett's Demon cycle, I stopped at book 2 and I'm not sure if I should continue. I heard the next books take a strong downturn in quality. This would be the first series I have not completed one I started.

Drop the Demon Cycle now while you can. And get used to dropping series you're in the middle of. I used to be like you, but you'll find there are way too many great books out there to waste time reading ones that you don't enjoy.

I second this sentiment.

Thirded. Life is too short to read bad books to get to a bad ending about which you have a bad feeling about time wasted badly and then there is all the good alcohol wasted to make the bad feelings go away and what were we talking about?

But there are some series that start out bad or have a decrease in quality, but then pull together for an awesome ending. How do you accommodate that?

I go by reviews and what other people are saying on the forums. If I loved the early book enough (WoT) I may be willing to push through.

One of my coworkers stopped watching Breaking Bad after the Fly episode. She enjoyed the rest of the series, and quit because of one bottle episode. I don't advocate dropping series that easily.

[QuickTidal]

Diving in for an ICE re-read, and started with ROTCG, which is still awesome.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 15 February 2018 - 04:14 AM, said:

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 15 February 2018 - 03:30 AM, said:

But there are some series that start out bad or have a decrease in quality, but then pull together for an awesome ending. How do you accommodate that?

It's all relative.
Also subjective.
Also, alcohol.

Maark Abbott, on 15 February 2018 - 08:36 AM, said:

And yet so many push forward with Stormlight... *eyes emoji*

Point.
Made.


...look at the notion of a series that 'starts out bad'... two come to mind... Butcher's ALERA and Barclay's RAVEN.
I picked up both of these based on pos reviews and comments elseforum, and can acknowledge that both start out 'bad'.
Thankfully not so bad that i tossed the books and didn't keep reading... there was enough there to hold my thinkymeatz attention through a weak first book.

So while i consider the first books 'bad', i really enjoyed both of those series. Subjectively, to me, bad wasn't bad enough to bail.

Contrast with Brett's DEMON CYCLE. I read the first book. It was 'bad'. Not bad enough to make me stop reading at any point, but i skimmed a chunk, and based on neg reviews and comments elseforum, never bothered with book 2 and likely won't. Bad was bad enough for me not to want to spend time on that series when there were others i wanted to read more. KINGKILLER too... i skimmed massive amounts of WIND and have never touched anything in the series since, even when some forumites i trust love them. Also, dragoncow.

Bad in the middle is harder to deal with, especially when a series starts strong... WoT and SIF come to mind. All i can say is that the good is good enough to hold my attention, tho with WoT i stopped buying the books upon release and waited for clearance sales for much of the series before Sanderson took over.

[Macros]

I would say Alera starts and finishes bad, with its strength in the middle books

[Mentalist]

Macros, on 15 February 2018 - 05:43 PM, said:

I would say Alera starts and finishes bad, with its strength in the middle books

The ending isn't bad.
It's formulaic, over-the-top and predictable, but not particularly bad, as long as you temper your expectations regarding Tavi.

Which isn't hard to do, given Tavi stops being interesting by the end of Book 4 when the Butcher-isms are in full swing.

[acesn8s]

I finished Half a King - not bad.

I picked up Morgan's Thirteen on Kindle for $2.00. I'll probably start that next.

[polishgenius]

Mentalist, on 15 February 2018 - 07:18 PM, said:

Which isn't hard to do, given Tavi stops being interesting by the end of Book 4 when the Butcher-isms are in full swing.

When did Tavi start being interesting? He is the crippling flaw in that series.

[Slow Ben]

Finished up TCG on my 4th re-read, but only my 2nd time with this book.

Fuck me, what a way to finish a series.


Only leaves GotM, MoI, MT, and Toll.

Yes, I know.

[QuickTidal]

The Swampfather, on 15 February 2018 - 10:27 PM, said:

I liked Tavi all the way through myself.

Me too.

[Mentalist]

polishgenius, on 15 February 2018 - 10:13 PM, said:

Mentalist, on 15 February 2018 - 07:18 PM, said:

Which isn't hard to do, given Tavi stops being interesting by the end of Book 4 when the Butcher-isms are in full swing.

When did Tavi start being interesting? He is the crippling flaw in that series.

Books 2-3 he was good-ish. Book 4 he was okay until the end.

to avoid double-posting: I finished Moon over Soho today.

Peter finally got some supernatural tail. it was kinda predictable how that'd turn out, but I like the idea of an evil villain myth arc, so I think Aaronovitch'll be my new UrbF fix for a while.

I'm planning to buy Maark's book this weekend when I get paid, so to avoid starting a new commute book, I might just take "World War Z" for commute tomorrow- and ideally i'll have that wrapped up this weekend (i'm about half-way through, but it's pretty short)