[Aptorian]

New Dresden Files novella was released today:

https://forum.malaza...a/#entry1451417

[Abyss]

Aptorian, on 05 July 2022 - 07:54 PM, said:

New Dresden Files novella was released today:

https://forum.malaza...a/#entry1451417

Apparently Butcher narrates the earbook himself.

[Abyss]

Gwynn ap Nudd, on 04 July 2022 - 04:35 AM, said:

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.

Per above, twice now i have started this and sidelined it. People i trust have dropped all kinds of praise on the trilo, but... meh.

Quote

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.

3 isn't out til Nov, but 2 is entirely worth your time/money/eyes/brainz/tentacles.

Quote

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.

No secret i enjoyed this series muchly. Just responding to your point but will spoil for the unread....

Spoiler

The fallibility of the protags is part of it, they genuinely have a hard time and are ill equipped in brains or resources for the situations they find themselves in. Until they aren't.

[Abyss]

Currently reading something called THE TIDE, it's a books 1-4 earbook i picked up for $1 on a whim during an audible sale, author is Anthony Melchiorri, and apparently the series is ten books.
It's a zombie apocalypse thing. I don't really care for 'normal' zombie apocalypse books because TWD and WWZ pretty much nailed that genre and almost anything else has seemed weak by comparison. I enjoy the HELLDIVERS series because the 'zombies' were screeching flying mutant things plus nuclear war, airships, and skydiving. Amazon reco'd THE TIDE to me because i bought that.

Honestly, i started this expecting to DNF it out of the TRP and move along, but it grew on me (as zombie plagues do) and now 2/4 books in, i'm hooked. The author does two things that really worked for me... 1. his zombies are mutant rage zombies, somewhere between 28 DAYS LATER and HELLDIVERS, and they're changing as the story progresses. This was a thing i liked in the podcast series WE'RE ALIVE too, and Melchiorri does it better and more subtle. We're in the early days of the zombpocalype and the humans are adapting but so are the zombies and it adds a fun element to action scenes when the thing that worked last time doesn't, and 2. the supporting characters... the author does mixed POV, shifting between characters, but what he does really well is show the reader why the POV character cares about the other characters... who are really and genuinely in jeopardy from early on. Despite this being a zombpocalpse in the classic 'all world order has fallen billions are dead' sense, it's easy to be engaged by fairly minor characters, so when they're in danger, it's not 'expendable commando redshirt #12 is eaten to amp up the danger to protag', it's 'HOLY SHIT FRED JUST GOT EATEN'. Zombie stories are notoriously brutal to the supporting cast, it's nice to read one that doesn't just intro and kill them off to raise the appearance of danger.

So i'll be finishing books 3-4 and likely move on to the rest of the series or return to it after a break for something else.

[Mentalist]

Figured I need to read smth.


Since I bought "Dragon Republic" a bunch of months back, I'm now re-reading "The Poppy War" to get a refresher. Read Part I basically in a single sitting, it's still a fun little Asian-themed magic milfiction romp.

[Chance]

Finished up Never Dies and well it got more fun as it got going but I don't really see the point of jumping to the next one as presumably it is entirely standalone.

So started James Rollins The Starless Crown which is pretty typical fantasy these days, that most reminds me of Mark Lawrence. Perhaps the plot isn't exactly innovative but the setting feels like it has a lot of depth, I'm entertained and even a bit intrigued where this is going.

This post has been edited by Chance: 07 July 2022 - 08:35 PM

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

Abyss, on 07 July 2022 - 04:10 PM, said:

Quote

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.

No secret i enjoyed this series muchly. Just responding to your point but will spoil for the unread....

Spoiler

The fallibility of the protags is part of it, they genuinely have a hard time and are ill equipped in brains or resources for the situations they find themselves in. Until they aren't.

I'll likely pick up the rest of that series and Children of Ruin, but I need to whittle down my to read pile a bit first. Of course I say that knowing that Prime Day is next week and my to read pile will double in size or more.

Finished Beneath the Rising by Premee Mohamed, which was a fun read. The Lovecraftian bits don't have the creepiness or spine tingling terror of other books that touch that content, but it was obvious that was intentional. Not really sure if I will pick up the follow up, as the later parts of the book made it seem like it should be a stand alone novel.

Probably on to Stephen Blackmore's Hungry Ghosts next before starting A Crown for Cold Silver by Alek Marshall.

[Aptorian]

Chance, on 07 July 2022 - 08:32 PM, said:

Finished up Never Dies and well it got more fun as it got going but I don't really see the point of jumping to the next one as presumably it is entirely standalone.

So started James Rollins The Starless Crown which is pretty typical fantasy these days, that most reminds me of Mark Lawrence. Perhaps the plot isn't exactly innovative but the setting feels like it has a lot of depth, I'm entertained and even a bit intrigued where this is going.

I jumped into Pawn's Gambit after Never Die.

I'm halfway into the the book and no where as entertained as the first book. It's centered around The Art of War and her wallowing in self loathing after the end of Never Die.

Interesting characters but the story is underwhelming.

[QuickTidal]

Finished SHADOW OF THE SITH by Adam Christopher. Solid, solid SW outing with Luke and Lando (and Ben Solo occasionally, and young Rey and her parents a LOT). Much enjoyed fast read.

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

INTO THE NARROWDARK (Last King of Osten And Vol. 3....and yes Mr. Incapable of writing JUST a trilogy has turned it into book 3 of a 4 books series now just like everything else he's written that started life as a trilogy....LOL!) by Tad Williams is out next week, so I am re-reading EMPIRE OF GRASS to prepare myself. This book is even better on a re-read.

[Chance]

Finished up The Starless Crown and it was fine, perhaps even a bit better than fine once it got going. Very much a classic young people and their allies meet up eventually and have a grand quest. The world however is fun with a lot of thought put into it and the enemies suitably malevolent without being completly mustash twirling idiots. Will read the next one when it appears.

Going to start In the Shadow of Lightning Glass Immortals next on the simply reasoning that I liked the Powder Mage books so it will be interesting to see where McClellan goes next.

This post has been edited by Chance: 08 July 2022 - 06:03 PM

[Mentalist]

Due to the Rogersocalypse yest, was able to spend the whole day reading.

Finished "Dragon Republic", the second Poppy War book. Fun, albeit Rin getting de-powered and working her way up is getting tedious.

Since I'll need to go out and buy the threequel, in the meantime figured I'll reread Kameron Hurley's Worldbreakers, since i picked up Book 3 recently. About 3/4 thru Mirror Empire already, and once again I hate like half the cast.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 09 July 2022 - 05:03 PM

[Aptorian]

Aptorian, on 08 July 2022 - 05:01 AM, said:

Chance, on 07 July 2022 - 08:32 PM, said:

Finished up Never Dies and well it got more fun as it got going but I don't really see the point of jumping to the next one as presumably it is entirely standalone.

So started James Rollins The Starless Crown which is pretty typical fantasy these days, that most reminds me of Mark Lawrence. Perhaps the plot isn't exactly innovative but the setting feels like it has a lot of depth, I'm entertained and even a bit intrigued where this is going.

I jumped into Pawn's Gambit after Never Die.

I'm halfway into the the book and no where as entertained as the first book. It's centered around The Art of War and her wallowing in self loathing after the end of Never Die.

Interesting characters but the story is underwhelming.

I take back my earlier judgement. Pawn's Gambit is slower and a different kind of story from Never Die but the second half picks up speed and I loved the last third of the book.

I feel like this books main problem is that the author is himself not clever enough to write a genius character convincingly. For a master tactician The Art of War sure spends a lot of time making mistakes and being several steps behind. But it paid off in the end.

The books are sort of stand alone but I'm very curious where the next book goes. I can see Spirits of Vengeance is 600 pages so I might give it a wait but I definitely need to read the short story about The Century Blade fighting dragons.

[Chance]

Aptorian, on 10 July 2022 - 04:26 PM, said:

I take back my earlier judgement. Pawn's Gambit is slower and a different kind of story from Never Die but the second half picks up speed and I loved the last third of the book.

I feel like this books main problem is that the author is himself not clever enough to write a genius character convincingly. For a master tactician The Art of War sure spends a lot of time making mistakes and being several steps behind. But it paid off in the end.

The books are sort of stand alone but I'm very curious where the next book goes. I can see Spirits of Vengeance is 600 pages so I might give it a wait but I definitely need to read the short story about The Century Blade fighting dragons.

Maybe I'll try it sooner rather then later then.

Right now I'm going through In the Shadow of Lightning Glass Immortals and it is rather great, a kind of Imperial Rome mixed with gunpowder era and rather nice magic system. Probably going to end up my favorite book of the year so far, which was Gunmetal Gods up until now but this one is better probably because grimdark is less of my melody than playing with classic eras used for fantasy.

Wonder what I'll read next however got a pile of books that's been around a while maybe I'll re-read Library at Mount Char instead, haven't and I've been thinking of doing so for a while.

[Aptorian]

Read the The Century Blade short story. Short and sweet. Makes some interesting revelations about later events. Namely the connection between the creator of the Blood Engine and The Ticking Clock.

Next up Will Wright's first Cradle book, Unsouled. Heard great things about this series and I got the first eight books for free. Early impressions is that it's typical YA stuff but there's clearly some interesting World Building underneath.

[amphibian]

The first book is definitely too trope bound and occasionally stilted. However, he spikes it up into better and better writing fast.

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 11 July 2022 - 05:43 AM, said:

The first book is definitely too trope bound and occasionally stilted. However, he spikes it up into better and better writing fast.

Agreed. I'd say by book 3 (and they are QUICK reads) I was in for the long haul. Just got my download of DREADGOD, even though I'm still a few books behind.

[Abyss]

Aptorian, on 10 July 2022 - 06:41 PM, said:

...

Next up Will Wright's first Cradle book, Unsouled. Heard great things about this series and I got the first eight books for free. Early impressions is that it's typical YA stuff but there's clearly some interesting World Building underneath.

amphibian, on 11 July 2022 - 05:43 AM, said:

The first book is definitely too trope bound and occasionally stilted. However, he spikes it up into better and better writing fast.

QuickTidal, on 11 July 2022 - 01:47 PM, said:

amphibian, on 11 July 2022 - 05:43 AM, said:

The first book is definitely too trope bound and occasionally stilted. However, he spikes it up into better and better writing fast.

Agreed. I'd say by book 3 (and they are QUICK reads) I was in for the long haul. Just got my download of DREADGOD, even though I'm still a few books behind.

Picked these up in ebook back when they were free, per my usual existance low to zero chance of getting to them, but audible's offering me the earbooks at a whispersync rate of $2/each. Tempting.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 11 July 2022 - 05:44 PM, said:

but audible's offering me the earbooks at a whispersync rate of $2/each. Tempting.

Not to tempt you but Travis Baldree (who just wrote his own very well received debut fantasy novel LEGENDS & LATTES) apparently does an INCREDIBLE job of narrating them...I've heard nothing but great things from those who enjoy audiobooks.

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

Finished Hungry Ghosts, and just not feeling it with that series. I think that's the last I'll be reading (or at least spending money on).

A hundred pages into A Crown for Cold Silver and loving it so far. Looks like this Crimson Empire trilogy and the Lot Lands series by Jonathan French will be my next two reads.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 18 January 2021 - 02:32 PM, said:

[...

While I wait for that I've started Roshani Chokshi's THE GILDED WOLVES, which is cool so far but I'm not far in (it's like SIX OF CROWS, but in our world with Magic houses and in the 1800's) so far. Not a long book, and it turns out it's YA....but it doesn't read like YA so I was surprised to learn that. So it's a magic heist book with ancient families who can do crazy stuff and run the world sort of...I have the sequel too in the ToReadPile, so hopefully it's good. I've heard good things.

The YA vibe is really throwing me out of this book a few chapters in. It's very by the numbers so far.
Anyone have an opinion that might convince me to stick with it?