[Abyss]

Feeling flighty, low commitment, go w Neverwhere.
Feeling dark but want a laugh... Harrow.
Want to start a giant fantasy epic, ok w knowing it's another year before the next novel which will allegedly bring the story to an end point but not an end... Way of Kings.
Want six forumites to tell you what to read next... Gaunt.

[Aptorian]

Maybe I should do it in that order then.

[Macros]

Gaunt.

But a strong throw for Neverwhere also, not his best, but still a lot of fun. It's dark in places but on the whole light, whimsical and quite clever

[JPK]

I accidently posted this in the wrong thread. Copy/pasted here and deleted elsewhere.

45 minutes left in The Labyrinth Index. Holy hell this book has some consequences. I've heard the next book is a side story and doesn't forward the main plot. I'm ok with that, but it does push it down the tlp a bit.

Next up I'm earbooking VanderMeer's Shriek: an Afterword. I adored this book when I read it the first time, but I do wonder how well the twisting footnotes will adapt to audio.

Edit: Realized I forgot to mention that VanderMeer's Ambergris trilogy got a rerelease in Dec. You can pick up all 3 in an omnibus form now. Ebook or Earbook. You should get it if you haven't read it yet.

[amphibian]

I got the omnibus version of Ambergris. It's a big stonking book, yet awesome to have all in one.

[Mentalist]

As the year draws to a close, and I have a bunch of free time, I managed to finish "Oathbringer". Yay, me.

The last part vindicates the slowdown in the pace in the middle (Kholinar spy mission was just.... bland , and that's not a good thing in a year where I don't have commute as designated reading time to keep me going everyday)... mostly.

It's not quite the MoI moment I was hoping for to get me actually invested in SLA in a similar fashion, but I like the plot threads. Still don't see 10 books of this, mind. Still, Sanderson seems to be getting the hang of "in order to make your book leave a REALLY good impression, start the awesome ending sequence early" bit.

Now, time to dig into the conclusion of "Game of Thrones on the Moon"-- a.k.a, Moon Rising the last volume of Ian McDonald's "Luna" trilogy.

[Macros]

Started The Trouble With Peace last night. Enjoying it so far.


I finished up the Two of Swords trilogy yesterday.
An overall "meh" to the trilogy.

Trying to be overly clever at times, and just plain ridiculous by the end

[QuickTidal]

110 pages into Bernard Cornwell’s HARLEQUIN book 1 of the Grail Quest series, and really enjoying it. I know eff all about the Hundred Years’ War, so this is all fresh to me.

[Cause]

Need help. Can’t remember the name of a book.

The greatest good for the greater number using the least resources. Humanity exists as brains in a jar, each one coming of age in a vr simulation where they are essentially the center of the world.

The main character in the story grows up as a fantasy king who conquers his world and all the people love him. Than once he is older he learns the truth of his world and is allowed to interact with other real people.

[Abyss]

Cause, on 29 December 2020 - 12:21 AM, said:

Need help. Can’t remember the name of a book.

The greatest good for the greater number using the least resources. Humanity exists as brains in a jar, each one coming of age in a vr simulation where they are essentially the center of the world.

The main character in the story grows up as a fantasy king who conquers his world and all the people love him. Than once he is older he learns the truth of his world and is allowed to interact with other real people.

WELCOME TO THE MATRIX, CHARLIE BROWN

[Malankazooie]

Link from a booktuber's channel. Thought it was pertinent to share here.

120 Sequels, Series Books, and Shared World Stories for 2021!

note - link is to reddit.

[Aptorian]

100 or so pages into Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

Gaiman writes great villains. I'm loving the two "fixers" for lack of a better word, Mr. Croup and Vandemar.

[Aptorian]

Finished Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. It was fine. The notion of another magical city behind, beneith, beyond the known reality has been done a lot, so have the various twists of the story.

I feel like Gaiman should have expanded more on the Under City and the lore. At least he could have explained why you can become forgotten.

Read a few Children's books.

Read Mio, My Son by Astrid Lindgren. It's funny that even in the 50s, they were writing straight forward chosen one, portal fiction. It has one of my favourite fantasy tropes, where mentioning the dark one's name causes people to cover in fear, make the plants wither and the birds fall from the sky.

Also read the first books in two of Lene Kaaberbøl's most popular fantasy series, the Wildfire series and the Shamer series. Both books have been made into movies here in Denmark.

I knew she was popular from reviews but I was surprised at how solid her fantasy storytelling is. Her books are for Children around the 10-15 year range but hold up well even for an adult fantasy fan. She cleverly avoids resorting to the typical tropes of young kids doing dumb stuff because they're childish or ignorant. I might actually read some more entries in the Wildfire and Shamer series.

Started up Harrow the Ninth, the second Locked Tomb book by Tamsin Muir. I bounced off it when it was released. Still not wild about the opening chapters.

Does the narration shift away from the "You" perspective at some point? It's driving me mad reading the story in this detached storytelling of the events before and after the first book.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 01 January 2021 - 07:22 PM

[Cyphon]

Aptorian, on 01 January 2021 - 07:20 PM, said:

Started up Harrow the Ninth, the second Locked Tomb book by Tamsin Muir. I bounced off it when it was released. Still not wild about the opening chapters.

Does the narration shift away from the "You" perspective at some point? It's driving me mad reading the story in this detached storytelling of the events before and after the first book.

RAFO its worth the investment beyond the more tricky early part of the book.

[Mentalist]

Finished "Luna: Moon Rising". Very good book, and a very good series.

Gonna take some time tomorrow to go through the lists and figure out what to read next.



EDIT: Gonna start the year with the thickest fantasy book I've got- "The Blackest Heart" by Brian Lee Durfee, the 2nd Five Warrior Angels book.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 03 January 2021 - 12:51 AM

[Aptorian]

Malankazooie, on 29 December 2020 - 09:45 PM, said:

Link from a booktuber's channel. Thought it was pertinent to share here.

120 Sequels, Series Books, and Shared World Stories for 2021!

note - link is to reddit.

Boy, there's a lot of interesting stuff on that list.


There's a 12th Kate Daniel's book on the list, reminding me I got distracted somewhere around book 2 or 3 despite really liking the series.

A new Peter Grant/River's of London book in March but it seems to be a novella.

There's a third entry into a series called Salonius by K.J. Parker in March. Looking at the first books title "Blue and Gold", I am now wondering if this series ties into the 16 ways to defend a walled city universe.

In may A master of Djinn by P. Djeli Clark is coming out - I'm growing fond of that Clock Punk Cairo universe.

There's a Kim Harrison Vampire book coming out in June. I had no idea that series was still going.

Inside Man, the sequel to Prosper's Demon by K.J. Parker is also coming out in June.

The God is not Willing by Erikson slated for Novemeber

The Seven Sister's by Neil Gaiman as a followup to Neverwhere from the 1990s.

[Aptorian]

Cyphon, on 01 January 2021 - 08:18 PM, said:

Aptorian, on 01 January 2021 - 07:20 PM, said:

Started up Harrow the Ninth, the second Locked Tomb book by Tamsin Muir. I bounced off it when it was released. Still not wild about the opening chapters.

Does the narration shift away from the "You" perspective at some point? It's driving me mad reading the story in this detached storytelling of the events before and after the first book.

RAFO its worth the investment beyond the more tricky early part of the book.

I'm around half-way through now. It's getting better and cooler - Planet monsters that are 50,000 kilometers wide, undead and hungry? Oh yeah.

I can sort of guess what the author is going for now but boy, is it a circuitous way to go about it. I don't know how new or young of a writer Tamsyn Muir is but I feel like she took a book writing course where somebody force fed her an old English synonym book and a medical text book and told her that exposition is a crime and you should only ever show, never tell the reader anything. It's peculiar to the point of tedium to read some of this stuff, despite the universe and magic being fascinating.

I'm also sort of resenting Muir for once again, confining the story to a murder mystery in a limited space - ensuring there's no sight seeing, no adventure to expand the scope of the universe or understanding of the reader. I haven't seen anything this tight lipped about the surrounding story universe since the Halo games.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 03 January 2021 - 08:19 PM

[Mentalist]

Malankazooie, on 29 December 2020 - 09:45 PM, said:

Link from a booktuber's channel. Thought it was pertinent to share here.

120 Sequels, Series Books, and Shared World Stories for 2021!

note - link is to reddit.

that's a lot of series I've never heard of.

Might be worth a day of browsing Goodreads at some point.

[Abyss]

Aptorian, on 03 January 2021 - 08:17 PM, said:

... no sight seeing, no adventure to expand the scope of the universe or understanding of the reader. I haven't seen anything this tight lipped about the surrounding story universe since the Halo games.

Keep reading.

[Tiste Simeon]

Hello all what are some non-Amazon decent book websites out there that deliver to the UK? It's my birthday coming up and I want to request some books but I don't want any more money going to the goblin poster boy of unfettered late stage capitalism if I can help it...