[Abyss]

 champ, on 20 October 2025 - 06:34 PM, said:

Rereading The God is Not Willing in preparation...

How did I forget how glorious of a character Stillwater is!!!!

SAME

....and also Spindle, Capt Gruff, Damisk, and I have a whole new appreciation for Rant.

[champ]

Abyss, on 20 October 2025 - 07:18 PM, said:

champ, on 20 October 2025 - 06:34 PM, said:

Rereading The God is Not Willing in preparation...

How did I forget how glorious of a character Stillwater is!!!!

SAME

....and also Spindle, Capt Gruff, Damisk, and I have a whole new appreciation for Rant.

I remember struggling with the heavy start of Rant's story last time but not this time, I am straight into it and loving it.

Every time I read Spindle I just get the feels having read about the Bridgeburners for nigh 20 years now. Pure nostalgia.

[QuickTidal]

I confess I have not yet read TGINW....so I feel like getting book 2 should trigger it.

[Abyss]

champ, on 21 October 2025 - 01:10 PM, said:

Abyss, on 20 October 2025 - 07:18 PM, said:

champ, on 20 October 2025 - 06:34 PM, said:

Rereading The God is Not Willing in preparation...

How did I forget how glorious of a character Stillwater is!!!!

SAME

....and also Spindle, Capt Gruff, Damisk, and I have a whole new appreciation for Rant.

I remember struggling with the heavy start of Rant's story last time but not this time, I am straight into it and loving it.

Every time I read Spindle I just get the feels having read about the Bridgeburners for nigh 20 years now. Pure nostalgia.

Moving this to my ded-thread....

[champ]

QuickTidal, on 21 October 2025 - 01:21 PM, said:

I confess I have not yet read TGINW....so I feel like getting book 2 should trigger it.

Sacrilege!!!!!

Honestly, QT, you are missing out, it is a pure return to form Malazan book of the fabulous order!!

[QuickTidal]

champ, on 21 October 2025 - 02:48 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 21 October 2025 - 01:21 PM, said:

I confess I have not yet read TGINW....so I feel like getting book 2 should trigger it.

Sacrilege!!!!!

Honestly, QT, you are missing out, it is a pure return to form Malazan book of the fabulous order!!

I grabbed it the day it came out (Always supporting the Malazan books) from a pre-order...took it to the cottage that summer for a vacay read, and got too busy with the kids and their cousins ect to read it, and it's just been languishing on my shelf since...I have no real excuse.

[Tiste Simeon]

Everyone boo this man!

You're in for a treat QT. I'll be rereading it myself shortly.

[QuickTidal]

Tiste Simeon, on 21 October 2025 - 03:41 PM, said:

Everyone boo this man!

You're in for a treat QT. I'll be rereading it myself shortly.

I accept your boos. I shall be fixing it as soon as I'm done the second War Arts Saga book, tonight or tomorrow.

[JPK]

QuickTidal, on 21 October 2025 - 04:19 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 21 October 2025 - 03:41 PM, said:

Everyone boo this man!

You're in for a treat QT. I'll be rereading it myself shortly.

I accept your boos. I shall be fixing it as soon as I'm done the second War Arts Saga book, tonight or tomorrow.

Looking over Abyss's ded-thread, I saw why you put it down the last time. I'm not going to lie, the opening to this book hurts. It's really worth the heartbreak through and it's not unearned or unrewarded. Without going into specific details, Sarlis and Rant deserve to be Witnessed and keep Malazan's overall theme of compassion close to your heart.

[QuickTidal]

JPK, on 21 October 2025 - 05:13 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 21 October 2025 - 04:19 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 21 October 2025 - 03:41 PM, said:

Everyone boo this man!

You're in for a treat QT. I'll be rereading it myself shortly.

I accept your boos. I shall be fixing it as soon as I'm done the second War Arts Saga book, tonight or tomorrow.

Looking over Abyss's ded-thread, I saw why you put it down the last time. I'm not going to lie, the opening to this book hurts. It's really worth the heartbreak through and it's not unearned or unrewarded. Without going into specific details, Sarlis and Rant deserve to be Witnessed and keep Malazan's overall theme of compassion close to your heart.

HOLY shit, I had completely forgotten that...Huh.

I would say that 2021 was still maybe really close to COVID and the collective trauma of that event probably made it hard to get through in my entertainment space. I don't even remember getting to Chapter 4...hahah.

[QuickTidal]

Finished Book 2 War Arts Saga (Man I love this series, it's like someone took all the cool ass Wuxia movies I love and made a fantasy series filtered through that lens)...I'm going to save the final book for a little while before I read it.

------

Re-started THE GOD IS NOT WILLING, and yeah I'm starting to recall the bits I read...I'm only one chapter in, but it's settling in this time a bit better.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Finished Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi last night. I enjoyed it - it's a very quiet read and quite slow, though not in a bad way. Little oddities noticeable that I assume arise from translation. We've got the sequel which I definitely look forward to reading, I think it's just the sort of slow I need to be in the mood for.

Moving on to To Kill a Mockingbird which I've somehow got to just shy of 36 having not read. It's Mr NAB's favourite book, and I read the first 20 pages or so last night and was instantly charmed by the writing.

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 23 October 2025 - 09:11 AM

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 22 October 2025 - 03:47 PM, said:

Finished Book 2 War Arts Saga (Man I love this series, it's like someone took all the cool ass Wuxia movies I love and made a fantasy series filtered through that lens)...I'm going to save the final book for a little while before I read it.

------

Re-started THE GOD IS NOT WILLING, and yeah I'm starting to recall the bits I read...I'm only one chapter in, but it's settling in this time a bit better.

Obvs the Malazan goodness is front and center w NLF incoming, but let me tell you, WAR ARTS bk 3 does NOT disappoint.

[Primateus]

I have both of them, The God is Not Willing and No Life Forsaken, on audiobook. Emma Gregory is simply amazing. And I will be listening to TGINW again before I listen to NLF.

[Abyss]

 Primateus, on 26 October 2025 - 06:01 PM, said:

I have both of them, The God is Not Willing and No Life Forsaken, on audiobook. Emma Gregory is simply amazing. And I will be listening to TGINW again before I listen to NLF.

Just Finished a TGINW reread and now 4 chapters into NLF.... Emma Gregory is rapidly overtaking Ray Porter and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as my favoritest earbook narrator. Her talent for voices and pacing is STUNNING.

[Tiste Simeon]

 Abyss, on 27 October 2025 - 01:33 PM, said:

 Primateus, on 26 October 2025 - 06:01 PM, said:

I have both of them, The God is Not Willing and No Life Forsaken, on audiobook. Emma Gregory is simply amazing. And I will be listening to TGINW again before I listen to NLF.

Just Finished a TGINW reread and now 4 chapters into NLF.... Emma Gregory is rapidly overtaking Ray Porter and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith as my favoritest earbook narrator. Her talent for voices and pacing is STUNNING.

Now THAT is quite the endorsement! Wow

[Primateus]

I can only speak as highly as I do of her about R.C. Bray. There are many amazing audiobook narrators out there, but R.C. Bray would have been the best, in my opinion, if not for Emma Gregory.

Fun fact, The God is Not Willing is also the very first audiobook I ever listened to. And I did NOT expect such a performance as what Emma delivered.

This post has been edited by Primateus: 27 October 2025 - 04:22 PM

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Finished To Kill a Mockingbird. I loved it. Severe book hangover incoming I think.

[Abyss]

Primateus, on 27 October 2025 - 04:20 PM, said:

I can only speak as highly as I do of her about R.C. Bray. There are many amazing audiobook narrators out there, but R.C. Bray would have been the best, in my opinion, if not for Emma Gregory.

Fun fact, The God is Not Willing is also the very first audiobook I ever listened to. And I did NOT expect such a performance as what Emma delivered.

I like Bray, but for me Porter and Smith are top tier followed closely by Kramer and Reading. Gregory... is next level, sometimes it's hard to believe one narrator is delivering all of this.

[worry]

I finished Dungeon Crawler Carl book 5, which is called The Butcher's Masquerade. Best of the bunch so far imo. Books 3 & 4 had more creative game settings, but it's good to have familiar ones like this too. Paid off several ongoing story threads and had a brutal climax plus a cool epilogue. If I had any complaints it's that Mordecai got somewhat sidelined in this one.

Now I'm re-reading The God Is Not Willing, if you can believe it.