[T77]

 QuickTidal, on 14 June 2022 - 12:13 PM, said:

Read a sample of THE JUSTICE OF KINGS by Richard Swan...it was fine. Well written, and I think I could have enjoyed it....but the plot was basically a detective story with no bells and whistles to impress me in a fantasy novel. I might give it a go sometime down the road, but for now. Meh.

I read it and feel the same way. I heard good things, but was not impressed.

[Chance]

Finished up Gunmetal Gods and I really enjoyed it. Not the best book ever but some very solid fantasy, its something like A Land Fit for Heroes add a bit of Lovecraft and quite a bit of 15-16th century arabian nights. Its grimdark fantasy that never really gets depressing because there are some good people around and even the really bad people aren't completly unrelatable. There is a bit of exposition at the end that I don't really think was necessary and shatters the mystery of eldritch horror a bit but except for that not much to complain about. It is also one of those book where you are able to unravel a few of the "reveals/twists" quite easily and satisfyingly before it becomes explicit. Gunmetal Gods is also a book that is self-contained, giving all characters satisfying endings with very few questionmarks left. All in all it wasn't very hard to decide upon the next book to read Conqueror's Blood book 2 of the Gunmetal Gods started.

This post has been edited by Chance: 15 June 2022 - 04:56 AM

[Abyss]

 Chance, on 13 June 2022 - 06:10 PM, said:

Think your completely right QT Jade City is really a fantasy books way after being an hongkong criminal/political thriller and occational kung fu action movie. It really has a turning point somewhere close to the middle after which it is a pretty good book but getting there was a bit of a chore.

 Abyss, on 13 June 2022 - 02:26 PM, said:

Just Finished Daniel Polansky's Lowtown bk 2, TOMORROW, THE KILLING. It was great great great. All the atmosphere and pacing i enjoyed from bk 1 with an amped up sence of stakes, pace, and character. The Warden is areally engaging character and Polansky does an excellent job of selling his good and bad elements as totally believable.
The earbook narrator is excellent, really nails the voices and pacing.
Great series, am annoyed the earbooks have taken so long to show up.

Go for the third one, the only thing I didn't like with it is that it ends the series. So **** great.

 Macros, on 13 June 2022 - 08:41 PM, said:

Agreeing with Chance, so much love for the low town trilogy

No can has earbook. Much lamenting.

[Tiste Simeon]

Finished reading A CLOSED AND COMMON ORBIT, the second book in Becky Chambers' Wayfarers series. Another delightful story and I think this series is very much a palate cleanser for me that I didn't know I needed. I thought I'd be annoyed that most of the main characters from book 1 weren't present but actually it didn't matter, and I loved the two protagonists in this one. Figure it'll be a similar story with the third, which I'm starting forthwith!

This post has been edited by Tiste Simeon: 23 June 2022 - 09:23 AM

[amphibian]

 Maark Abbott, on 07 January 2022 - 08:53 AM, said:

Maybe that's one reason I've enjoyed Licanius so much - it does hearken back to Ole Sandy's heyday of Mistborn level fun, whilst being fresh and engaging on its own merits. I will never say Licanius is the best I've rear, nor the most original, nor the most well written - but what Islington does very well is to do everything serviceably and then serve it up in a way that's pretty fuckin' good.

Yes, I said something popular is good. You can all chak pants now.

I went through the Licanius series on this recco. I feel kinda disappointed on the whole. The story pieces were ok, but Islington has a habit of turning big battles or moments of potentially high drama between hugely powerful beings into "not much" - besides the duel in the dead city.

There's not enough boom or heights of passion (almost all of the stuff that caused passionate things to happen are things that occurred long before the series takes place). There's characters that just plain drop out of the story halfway through and it feels intrusive or weird when some come back in.

I compare this somewhat to Master Assassins/Sidewinders due to the muddling main characters being dropped into very complex stuff and the Redick books are so much more fun, moving, humorous, and full of raw wonder at the stuff they see/do.

[Briar King]

Can’t get myself out of this reading funk. Pick up one of my 3 books I’m currently reading, read a few words then go foggy. Sucks.

[worry]

Finished Dave Grohl's memoir, The Storyteller. It's pretty good, if also pretty light and breezy. It doesn't ignore the darker moments, but it's also not a bleed-out-onto-the-page type of book either. Mostly it seems like he is who you think he is: congenial, a little cocksure without being up his own butt about it, and well-aware that his talent and work ethic are partnered with a lot of dumb luck to get him where he's been. He seems appreciative. The stories stick to music, family, and friends as the major components of his life, not surprisingly. So yah, nothing too deep, but a decent collection of anecdotes that each hit on a sensible theme or two (though many of those themes are repeated throughout).


Next, I'm starting the fourth and final Wayfarers book. Glad to hear you're liking them, Tiste. I was also surprised (and a little worried) that they actually don't follow the same people throughout, but it's actually led to some great diversity of perspective (while I think the bits of connective tissue she provides effectively tap into some simulacrum of light nostalgia, it's neat.). And I appreciate the good (while still thoughtful) vibes.

[QuickTidal]

I'm here to ruin BK's day and say I didn't hate STAR WARS: THE FALLEN STAR by Claudia Gray.

I didn't think it was the best of the High Republic Books either, but it was far from bad. It's just that we were told the main thing that happens in this book was GOING to happen when they announced the Era

Spoiler

Starlight Beacon crashing

...like I recall the first thing I heard about THR was that this event would happen. So you're kind just waiting for it to happen throughout the book and any of the in-book attempts to prevent it simply won't work. So that makes it a bit plodding overall. My only other real complaint is that there's too many characters and the focus jumps around too much. But I still absolutely felt the people we lost and the people who had trauma. It felt more like TESB ending than ROTJ....but I feel like that's because the 3rd arc/Era will be the ROTJ of this series.

Anyways, it was decent and I liked it. I wil concede that it's my least fave of the existing HR books...but I don't think that's Claudia's fault as I think she was mandated this story and had to try to make it work. This IS the biggest key event in the series that we know up front, so everything else in the series should be a surprise.

I'm sticking in the Star Wars vein and will be starting the most recent book, Mike Chen's BROTHERHOOD which is about Anakin and Obi-Wan's experiences on Cato Nemoida that they reference in ATOC.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 24 June 2022 - 01:00 PM

[Briar King]

How did it rank for you of all her other SW entries?

[QuickTidal]

 Down the shitter in the great flush, on 24 June 2022 - 05:25 PM, said:

How did it rank for you of all her other SW entries?

Oh well MASTER & APPRENTICE, then INTO THE DARK, then FALLEN STAR, then LOST STARS.

[Briar King]

Interesting. How bout the ()bomb? Is it excessive in this one compared to her others?

I wasn’t a fan of the short sections for sure but what really bugged me the most is having noticeable “read this other thing to find out what character X is doing” and the backwards character reveal for Ro after getting some good stuff for him in Rising Storm, there was just nothing other than the whole crew thing.

I was just unimpressed with this one but as you can tell I’ve been unimpressed with SW recently in general. Hopefully Bad Batch S2 will bring back some excitement for me. I need it for sure.

[Abyss]

Just finished Jack Cambell's GENESIS FLEET trilogy. It's a prequel to the LOST FLEET series, same setting, some characters are ancestors to Gerry and Dajani and others.


I was pleasantly surprised by this series - Campbell's always done space combat great, his 'system' is original and interesting and even riveting the way he does it, but i was curious whether he could go back in time, dumb down the tech, and make it work. He went one further, he went so far back that there are no fleets and most of the engagements are between less than four ships, and he STILL makes it work. Part of the way he does this is by laying out the stakes for the characters... LOST FLEET did a minimum of interpersonal plots, limited politics, and very little ground combat. All of that increased in the later sequel series', but always subservient to the fleet v fleet action. Here he puts the politics and ground pounders front and center w their own full plots and POVs, and his improvement in writing those plots really shines through. The politics make sense and don't get bogged down in theoretics, the ground combat is INTENSE, the pacing between the different plots very nicely done.

If you're a fan of the LOST FLEET stuff, this is totally worth the eyes and money.

[QuickTidal]

The latest Star Wars book is out today, SHADOW OF THE SITH by Adam Christopher and it apparently fills in a lot of the stuff that links to events in TROS (Alt title: Luke and Lando go a'Sithin) so I'm excited about it as the fill-in material for the ST has been some of the better content Disney has made with regards to that trilogy.

I think that will be my cottage book for our long weekend away.

[QuickTidal]

Change of plans...Continuing on from two years ago at this time, I've dived back into DRAGONS OF A LOST STAR as I feel I should finish my re-read of War of the Souls before the new DL book drops in August....and I am still surprised how readable this series is and how much I enjoy it....and I forgot how much Conundrum gives Tas a run for his money on the comic relief aspect. Anyways, good stuff as always.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

 QuickTidal, on 30 June 2022 - 11:44 AM, said:

Change of plans...Continuing on from two years ago at this time, I've dived back into DRAGONS OF A LOST STAR as I feel I should finish my re-read of War of the Souls before the new DL book drops in August....and I am still surprised how readable this series is and how much I enjoy it....and I forgot how much Conundrum gives Tas a run for his money on the comic relief aspect. Anyways, good stuff as always.

I re-read the War of Souls trilogy a couple of years ago, having not read them since I was a teenager. I was pleasantly surprised how much I still enjoyed them!

[QuickTidal]

 TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 30 June 2022 - 03:37 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 30 June 2022 - 11:44 AM, said:

Change of plans...Continuing on from two years ago at this time, I've dived back into DRAGONS OF A LOST STAR as I feel I should finish my re-read of War of the Souls before the new DL book drops in August....and I am still surprised how readable this series is and how much I enjoy it....and I forgot how much Conundrum gives Tas a run for his money on the comic relief aspect. Anyways, good stuff as always.

I re-read the War of Souls trilogy a couple of years ago, having not read them since I was a teenager. I was pleasantly surprised how much I still enjoyed them!

Really fun series, filed with lots of new and interesting characters.

[Aptorian]

 Abyss, on 10 May 2022 - 03:43 AM, said:

 Aptorian, on 09 May 2022 - 02:41 PM, said:

...

Started Never Die by Rob J. Hays. Now this is my kind of book. Fantastical Asian Samurai setting, with cool characters, over the top action and mountains of people getting chopped to death.

I very enjoyed this, looking fwd to your thoughts.

Almost two months later I finally got around to finishing Never Die. No fault of the the book, I've just been swamped with work that turns my brain to mush.

Anyway read the last two thirds and loved every bit of it. This is everything you want from a asian mystical fantasy. Noble samurai, villainous bandits, epic sword fights and weird magic and superpowered fighting techniques.

Jumping straight into the next one, Pawn's Gambit.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 02 July 2022 - 03:59 PM

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

I got halfway through Jade City and found myself stuck with too many other things on my to read pile looking more appealing. I didn't mind that there weren't very may fantasy elements too it, more that I didn't like the way the plot was developing and there was that one final incident that just came off as too contrived for me. I'll get back to it someday, but letting it sit for now.

Finished Children of Time, which was I found a more engrossing read. A bit more use of the thinkymeats than I prefer for an after work read though. Think I'll pick up the next two prior to my next vacation.

Also finished The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French. Enjoyed it overall, especially some of the humour. Two thoughts kept coming up throughout

Spoiler

I don't think I've ever seen a protagonist be wrong so many times and still survive, or have more plans that change as soon as they start pursuing them. Second, is that if the hoofs actually were successful, by the rules laid out in the book they would also become extinct.

[QuickTidal]

Finished DRAGONS OF A LOST STAR. Still great fun, and I'll roll into VANISHED MOON before the new book drops in Aug.

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

Started STAR WARS: SHADOWS OF THE SITH by Adam Christopher. I'm only about 4 chapters in but I'm already REALLY enjoying it! Tonnes of connective tissue not just for Luke, and Lando, but the events that lead to TROS and the ST in general, and even young Rey and her parents Dathan and Miramir. This is the kind of stuff that I know I'm going to love that will really give the ST more oomph to exist as it does. Stuff that seems like leaps in logic in the ST, get fleshed out here almost like what the Clone Wars did for the Prequels, if that makes sense?

Anyways. great so far. Really well written.

[Chance]

Couldn't get into Conquerors Blood the second Gunmetal God book, will get back to it but too much court politics at the start for me, right now at least.

Went through Resolute tha latest Lost Fleet book and it was enjoyable but more in a familiar and comforting way than any real excitment, new aliens are always fun however.

Currently on Never Die which I had started a while back but never got finished. I'm not sure I really like it but it is growing on me slowly.