[Salt-Man Z]

I mean, I enjoyed the second book well enough. Even if book three never materializes, I think the first book is still worth reading (and rereading) on its own.

[JPK]

I've had a busier week than expected and thus I haven't had the time to get as far into THE FALL OF BABEL as I had hoped. I'm coming up on the halfway point soon. I've got to give Bancroft some credit though, he knows how to slip a touch of comedy in when he needs to.

"Front to back, dab dab, finger under the pin"... Pure gold there.

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

I didn't enjoy Wise Mans Fear the first time I read it, but after seeing some other thread on here about the series I reread both books and thought the second one was decent then. The length of the sexy elf chick parts is kinda overblown on here too.

Spoiler

I think one of the issues was that book one sets it up as if Kvothe is going to do great huge things, and then in book two he doesn't. On reread there was no expectation that BIG things were going to happen.

[Abyss]

Abyss, on 18 December 2019 - 08:35 PM, said:

Damn you audible.com Big Sale... DAAMMMNNNN YOOUUUUUUUU.....
...
Shadow Police trilogy (based on good buzz, tho i may return as apparently it was supposed to be five books and the publisher dropped the series)

Abyss, on 31 October 2021 - 02:36 AM, said:

...
Starting THE SHADOW POLICE bk 1 LONDON FALLING.
Urban fantasy but wow, 30min in and it's pure cop story so far.

Just Finished the THE SHADOW POLICE trilo by Paul Cornell. AND I AM ANGRY THIS WILL NEVER BE MORE BOOKS.

Holy Hellfucks, this was a great series. Urban fantasy but very very grounded. The magic is low key and subtle (mostly), the protagonists just barely have any clue wtf is going on, the action is WILD, the characters are great, the villains effective and scary and genuinely challenging. Think Carey's FELIX CASTOR atmosphere with Aaronovich's PETER GRANT cop in London setting, and every so often a Jacka's ALEX VERUS level action scene.

In the first book LONDON FALLING the protagonists are a group of London police who are very loosely linked by a case they all work. By apparently sheer bad luck all four receive 'the sight' and become aware of London's magic, just in time to run up against a witch who makes Baba Yaga look like Sabrina. Seriously, this witch is scary and effective and borderline unstoppable and when they start to make any headway against her it is fucking rivetting. At one point i may have actualy shouted out loud when a plan went sideways.

The second book, THE SEVERED STREETS, involves a serial killer who may be a ghost, or Jack the Ripper, or something else entirely but is more or less unstoppable. Also, Neil Gaiman shows up.

The third, WHO KILLED SHERLOCK HOLMES, has some great twists as people who played the Great Detective keep dying.

Also, a devil, Hell, a conspiracy or two, police procedures, magic auctions... the setting is great fun and there is a lot of clever stuff going on. Also, no vampires, werewolves, wizards' guilds, councils, etc.

The characters are massively engaging, utterly out of their depth and just trying to cope and make police procedures fit with the impossible and having a way harder time of it than Peter Grant ever did. No kindly mentors, no explanations, they just have to figure it all out and when they get it wrong it is bad or worse and when they get it right the reader really feels the triumph.

Book three ends solid, there's a hook for book 4 which will never happen but it's barely an aside. If you're an urban fantasy fan and want a great change of pace i recommend.

Earbook narrator is brilliant.

[JPK]

I just finished THE FALL OF BABEL. Overall, I really liked it though I do have a couple small gripes. Bancroft did a good job wrapping up each character's storyline and I respect him for wrapping up each of them in a way that makes sense even if it isn't always how the reader hopes it's going to. I can hardly wait until a couple more of you get through this.

Next up is THE AIR WAR by Tchaikovsky. You've all managed to hype this up rather highly and I hope it can live up to it.

[Abyss]

JPK, on 23 November 2021 - 09:22 PM, said:

I just finished THE FALL OF BABEL. Overall, I really liked it though I do have a couple small gripes. Bancroft did a good job wrapping up each character's storyline and I respect him for wrapping up each of them in a way that makes sense even if it isn't always how the reader hopes it's going to. I can hardly wait until a couple more of you get through this.

...

Earbook dl completed, engaging.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

JPK, on 23 November 2021 - 09:22 PM, said:

I just finished THE FALL OF BABEL. Overall, I really liked it though I do have a couple small gripes. Bancroft did a good job wrapping up each character's storyline and I respect him for wrapping up each of them in a way that makes sense even if it isn't always how the reader hopes it's going to. I can hardly wait until a couple more of you get through this.

Next up is THE AIR WAR by Tchaikovsky. You've all managed to hype this up rather highly and I hope it can live up to it.

Agreed. I'm hoping he'll revisit this universe again. While the ending was satisfying in how it wrapped up each character's story, I really want to know more about the final journey!

[Maark Abbott]

Morgoth, on 19 November 2021 - 09:38 AM, said:

The second book was frustratingly mediocre anyways, a massive drop in quality from the first, and packed full of teenage wish fulfilment cliches.

Considering the first book is absolutely bang average 5/10 fare, I never bothered with the second. Everyone kept banging on about the prose and the fact that there was nothing particularly great about it, coupled with an unlikable main POV character meant it was not a series for me.

[Macros]

oh my, a book review from Maark I agree with!

[Slow Ben]

Finally. Finally getting to start The God is Not Willing.

Finally.

[Tiste Simeon]

Maark Abbott, on 24 November 2021 - 08:40 AM, said:

Morgoth, on 19 November 2021 - 09:38 AM, said:

The second book was frustratingly mediocre anyways, a massive drop in quality from the first, and packed full of teenage wish fulfilment cliches.

Considering the first book is absolutely bang average 5/10 fare, I never bothered with the second. Everyone kept banging on about the prose and the fact that there was nothing particularly great about it, coupled with an unlikable main POV character meant it was not a series for me.

It is slightly sloggy and Rothfuss seems to like to describe everything, which is mildly irritating. However, compared to the utter snoozefest that was Memory, Sorrow, Thorn, this feels like it is racing through everything so I can cope. Honestly, it's not the most taxing book ever and I am enjoying the story of Kvothe. I finally got past the "woe is me, an urchin on the streets for a few years" Scarpy seems pretty cool (despite being arrested) and he is finally leaving and heading to the university. Hasn't really felt like a drag so I am continuing, happily.

No Dragoncows yet.

[Zeto Demerzel]

Tiste Simeon, on 26 November 2021 - 04:48 PM, said:

It is slightly sloggy and Rothfuss seems to like to describe everything, which is mildly irritating. However, compared to the utter snoozefest that was Memory, Sorrow, Thorn, this feels like it is racing through everything so I can cope. Honestly, it's not the most taxing book ever and I am enjoying the story of Kvothe. I finally got past the "woe is me, an urchin on the streets for a few years" Scarpy seems pretty cool (despite being arrested) and he is finally leaving and heading to the university. Hasn't really felt like a drag so I am continuing, happily.

No Dragoncows yet.

Dragoncows ... interesting way of putting it. My brain was calling it an extended chickenhunt back when I read the book.
MST book 3 (or 4 if you like), goes on a long slog, but atleast wraps things up at the end, albeit hurriedly. This book's end, if I remember right, went nowhere beyond the bloody hunt. I won't spoil you any further
I never was tempted to read book 2.

[Tiste Simeon]

Zeto Demerzel, on 27 November 2021 - 06:02 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 26 November 2021 - 04:48 PM, said:

It is slightly sloggy and Rothfuss seems to like to describe everything, which is mildly irritating. However, compared to the utter snoozefest that was Memory, Sorrow, Thorn, this feels like it is racing through everything so I can cope. Honestly, it's not the most taxing book ever and I am enjoying the story of Kvothe. I finally got past the "woe is me, an urchin on the streets for a few years" Scarpy seems pretty cool (despite being arrested) and he is finally leaving and heading to the university. Hasn't really felt like a drag so I am continuing, happily.

No Dragoncows yet.

Dragoncows ... interesting way of putting it. My brain was calling it an extended chickenhunt back when I read the book.
MST book 3 (or 4 if you like), goes on a long slog, but atleast wraps things up at the end, albeit hurriedly. This book's end, if I remember right, went nowhere beyond the bloody hunt. I won't spoil you any further
I never was tempted to read book 2.

MST was just one arduous journey over about 2000 pages that ends with "surprise, he's actually royalty and the bad guys are defeated somehow! Huzzah everything is perfect now!" I hated it so much by the end that no wrapping up could really do it justice IMO.

[Abyss]

Tiste Simeon, on 27 November 2021 - 12:41 PM, said:

Zeto Demerzel, on 27 November 2021 - 06:02 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 26 November 2021 - 04:48 PM, said:

It is slightly sloggy and Rothfuss seems to like to describe everything, which is mildly irritating. However, compared to the utter snoozefest that was Memory, Sorrow, Thorn, this feels like it is racing through everything so I can cope. Honestly, it's not the most taxing book ever and I am enjoying the story of Kvothe. I finally got past the "woe is me, an urchin on the streets for a few years" Scarpy seems pretty cool (despite being arrested) and he is finally leaving and heading to the university. Hasn't really felt like a drag so I am continuing, happily.

No Dragoncows yet.

Dragoncows ... interesting way of putting it. My brain was calling it an extended chickenhunt back when I read the book.
MST book 3 (or 4 if you like), goes on a long slog, but atleast wraps things up at the end, albeit hurriedly. This book's end, if I remember right, went nowhere beyond the bloody hunt. I won't spoil you any further
I never was tempted to read book 2.

MST was just one arduous journey over about 2000 pages that ends with "surprise, he's actually royalty and the bad guys are defeated somehow! Huzzah everything is perfect now!" I hated it so much by the end that no wrapping up could really do it justice IMO.

Four books the size of an apartment building, thousands of pages of slogging thru every bad weather possible, so many characters whose primary motivation appears to be to have things to angst and complain about, barely one half decent action scene per book, and I almost bailed in the last 100 pages because the fucking elves started fucking singing at each other.

[amphibian]

So I have pretty much finished everything in Will Wight's catalog. I didn't like anything other than the cradle series.

Each of his books always starts with an impoverished kid grubbing their way in the world with bullies around. This isn't a terrible beginning, but it gets old fast and it's only in the cradle series that he is able to get narratives to cohere, storylines to move into deeper stuff, and turn the action scenes into fun, meaningful scenes rather than bashing of dolls together. He's made a name for himself in the progression fantasy genre and I was curious to see what else was happening - much like I did with Erikson and Lundin.

I'm sorry to give the other books such a harsh review, but I do highly recommend the cradle series - all of it.

[amphibian]

I'm 20% into The Fall of Babel and it is unfuckingbelievably good so far.

Bancroft is absolutely scorching the story.

[Macros]

about the same, and the same

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 28 November 2021 - 04:39 AM, said:

So I have pretty much finished everything in Will Wight's catalog. I didn't like anything other than the cradle series.

Each of his books always starts with an impoverished kid grubbing their way in the world with bullies around. This isn't a terrible beginning, but it gets old fast and it's only in the cradle series that he is able to get narratives to cohere, storylines to move into deeper stuff, and turn the action scenes into fun, meaningful scenes rather than bashing of dolls together. He's made a name for himself in the progression fantasy genre and I was curious to see what else was happening - much like I did with Erikson and Lundin.

I'm sorry to give the other books such a harsh review, but I do highly recommend the cradle series - all of it.

Just like to add in that Will himself is a really genuine dude who is always willing to engage fans and be really humble and down to earth.

I always come back to this story about him:

https://medium.com/@...ero-45a01546cc9

[Abyss]

amphibian, on 28 November 2021 - 05:38 AM, said:

I'm 20% into The Fall of Babel and it is unfuckingbelievably good so far.

Bancroft is absolutely scorching the story.

Macros, on 28 November 2021 - 11:02 AM, said:

about the same, and the same

Thirded.

[Aptorian]

Just finished P. Djeli Clark's "A Master of Djinn". The first full length novel in his Clockpunk Cairo universe.

Really good story. Great mix of urban fantasy and police mystery. A bit too predictable perhaps and I'd have liked more exploration of the setting but very enjoyable overall. Surprisingly woke too, for an early 1900s Cairo, with out getting obnoxious.

I'd say the biggest weakness the book has is that the story telegraphs a lot of the plot, through the efficient way it uses the characters and elements. There's a school of thought in writing that you shouldn't introduce a character or object unless you plan on using it directly in your story. That's a smart way of keeping your story lean but not a great tactic when you're writing detective fiction and not including red herrings.

I'd say this series has the potential to be a new and better rival to Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant/Rivers of London books.

This post has been edited by Aptorian: 29 November 2021 - 07:31 AM