[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

One of my D&D group lent me The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. Just over three quarters of the way through and I'm really enjoying it. Based on Russian/Slavic folk stories, it's a tale of her own but it really captures the feel and beauty of fireside oral tradition stories. Highly recommend!

[champ]

QuickTidal, on 17 October 2019 - 07:39 PM, said:

Abyss, on 17 October 2019 - 07:27 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 17 October 2019 - 05:04 PM, said:

champ, on 17 October 2019 - 03:56 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 17 October 2019 - 02:45 PM, said:

I'm reading the 11th book about Uhtred. It's fucking fantastic, as usual.

Is that War of the Wolf? I've just realised I haven't read it yet... /hangs my head in shame.

EDIT

WTF just realised his new one is out too!! I need to get moving.

Yep. I had the same reaction as you. Mac posted that the 12th was out and I was like "Wait...have I read the 11th yet?"....LOL

The good thing is that 11 is as shortish as the rest have largely been, so I can likely be on the 12th soon.

What is this and should i be reading it?

The Saxon Stories tell the tale of Alfred the Great and his descendants through the eyes of Uhtred, an English boy born into the aristocracy of ninth-century Northumbria, captured by the Danes and taught the Viking ways.

And yes. You fucking SHOULD be reading it. It is incredible, and Uhtred is a "take no fucks, give no fucks, viking badass" Start here. It is also a TV show (on Netflix), but start with the books.

Pretty much this, Abyss. Uhtred is one of my all time favourite book characters and the series has so many epic moments, twists and turns in it, it's compulsive reading. Plus it is really interesting from a historical stand point.

The only part that I dislike about the series is that it is bound to come to an end soon which will be devastating.

And if you haven't read any more Bernard Cornwell, he has - for me - the best take on the King Arthur legend with his series The Warlord Chronicles.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

champ, on 18 October 2019 - 10:25 AM, said:

And if you haven't read any more Bernard Cornwell, he has - for me - the best take on the King Arthur legend with his series The Warlord Chronicles.

I've not long re-read those. They're his best work, hands down - but that takes nothing away from the Uhtred stories which are still compulsive fun.

[Tiste Simeon]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 18 October 2019 - 10:33 AM, said:

champ, on 18 October 2019 - 10:25 AM, said:

And if you haven't read any more Bernard Cornwell, he has - for me - the best take on the King Arthur legend with his series The Warlord Chronicles.

I've not long re-read those. They're his best work, hands down - but that takes nothing away from the Uhtred stories which are still compulsive fun.

That's... That's quite a claim to make! Not sure I've read them tbh so I'll definitely check them out!

[champ]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 18 October 2019 - 10:33 AM, said:

champ, on 18 October 2019 - 10:25 AM, said:

And if you haven't read any more Bernard Cornwell, he has - for me - the best take on the King Arthur legend with his series The Warlord Chronicles.

I've not long re-read those. They're his best work, hands down - but that takes nothing away from the Uhtred stories which are still compulsive fun.

I planned to reread these myself a couple of weeks ago but I have absolutely no idea where the books are, as usual my reprobate mates haven't returned the books I lent them.

This post has been edited by champ: 18 October 2019 - 10:47 AM

[champ]

Tiste Simeon, on 18 October 2019 - 10:42 AM, said:

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 18 October 2019 - 10:33 AM, said:

champ, on 18 October 2019 - 10:25 AM, said:

And if you haven't read any more Bernard Cornwell, he has - for me - the best take on the King Arthur legend with his series The Warlord Chronicles.

I've not long re-read those. They're his best work, hands down - but that takes nothing away from the Uhtred stories which are still compulsive fun.

That's... That's quite a claim to make! Not sure I've read them tbh so I'll definitely check them out!

I'd back up that bold claim too - give them a shot, Tiste, you won't be disappointed at all.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

champ, on 18 October 2019 - 10:47 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 18 October 2019 - 10:42 AM, said:

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 18 October 2019 - 10:33 AM, said:

champ, on 18 October 2019 - 10:25 AM, said:

And if you haven't read any more Bernard Cornwell, he has - for me - the best take on the King Arthur legend with his series The Warlord Chronicles.

I've not long re-read those. They're his best work, hands down - but that takes nothing away from the Uhtred stories which are still compulsive fun.

That's... That's quite a claim to make! Not sure I've read them tbh so I'll definitely check them out!

I'd back up that bold claim too - give them a shot, Tiste, you won't be disappointed at all.

I don't make it lightly - if you've enjoyed the Uhtred books I think you'll honestly love The Warlord Chronicles. Derfel is a brilliant protagonist, what Cornwell does with the standard "legends" of the characters is brilliant and his Guinevere is, for me at least, one of the best realised complex women in a lot of literature, not just Cornwell's work.

[Macros]

Sounds like I'm gonna have to give them another bash, I dropped book 1 a quarter in!!

[Maark Abbott]

Stuff that I wrote for Manifest 3 1/2 years ago. Jesus.

[worry]

Finished Gideon the Ninth. In terms of the hype, which I guess I gotta address first, is it the next out of left field must-read? I dunno. It's not nearly as good as Library at Mount Char, which has been the recent gold standard for these things. I'd put it on par with the first Red Rising book, with more originality but less momentum. I didn't fall in love with any of the characters, including Gideon who's a little too quippy, but I certainly liked some of them. Overall it's still pretty good, and gets better as it goes (though tbh it was pretty slow going for me at first). In terms of genre mashup, it works. It's scifi, fantasy, chamber mystery (a la Clue or And Then There Were None), urban fantasy (in attitude if nothing else), and high stakes competition -- all run through with halfway tongue in cheek Misfits-shirt-from-Hot-Topic teenage goth theatrics. It's really good with the grossout stuff, and taught me the word "skeletonize". It's also book one in a trilogy, and manages to be both satisfyingly self-contained AND a hook for the bigger picture story. I'd give it 3 out of 5 skulls.

[QuickTidal]

champ, on 18 October 2019 - 10:47 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 18 October 2019 - 10:42 AM, said:

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 18 October 2019 - 10:33 AM, said:

champ, on 18 October 2019 - 10:25 AM, said:

And if you haven't read any more Bernard Cornwell, he has - for me - the best take on the King Arthur legend with his series The Warlord Chronicles.

I've not long re-read those. They're his best work, hands down - but that takes nothing away from the Uhtred stories which are still compulsive fun.

That's... That's quite a claim to make! Not sure I've read them tbh so I'll definitely check them out!

I'd back up that bold claim too - give them a shot, Tiste, you won't be disappointed at all.

Thirded. They are easily the best Cornwell!

[polishgenius]

worry, on 18 October 2019 - 07:17 PM, said:

Finished Gideon the Ninth. is it the next out of left field must-read? I dunno. It's not nearly as good as Library at Mount Char, which has been the recent gold standard for these things.

Well that's just coz y'all won't listen to my suggestions* so hardly anyone's bothered reading Ninefox Gambit.


*Okay this isn't actually true.

[Andorion]

Coming off a bit of a horror read.

Finished the Bill Hodges trilogy by Stephen King. Not really horror except the last book though quite macabre
Also finished Salem's Lot. Its a good book. But not really as scary as I expected.

Did anyone find Salem's Lot scary? To be honest I found the short stories Jerusalem's Lot and One For the Road far scarier.

[worry]

I bought Ninefox Gambit, I just didn't read it. That's gotta count for somethin!

[worry]

Salem's Lot was one of my earliest SK reads so it probably did scare me, but I don't remember. The SK books with scares that stayed with me long term are IT and The Shining (and a short story called The Boogeyman).

[Andorion]

worry, on 19 October 2019 - 03:07 AM, said:

Salem's Lot was one of my earliest SK reads so it probably did scare me, but I don't remember. The SK books with scares that stayed with me long term are IT and The Shining (and a short story called The Boogeyman).

IT was really scary
Shining is my next King read.

Also Worry, I have found his short stories to be far scarier. Night Shift and Skeleton Crew have some real jewels

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Lawrence's Prince Of Fools. He has a real knack for writing characters I hate to love.

[Mentalist]

Bout 70 pages into the 6th book of "Godsdoom-2". I missed Perumov's labyrinthine plots about magical metaphysics of the multiverse.

Still no clue where any of it is really going, because he just keeps building stuff up, but there's still most of 2 books to go figure it out.

[worry]

As always when you bring up untranslated Godsdoom:

[Mentalist]

worry, on 19 October 2019 - 08:37 PM, said:

As always when you bring up untranslated Godsdoom:

I should start a crowdfunding campaign to get people to pay my salary for the several years it would take me to make and release a non-profit fan translation of the entire series.