[Abyss]

Aptorian, on 27 May 2022 - 04:35 PM, said:

I am very much looking forward to the fourth John Dies book. Like you mentioned, I don't think the third was mind blowing but I love the humor and weirdness.

I appreciate that the author dialed the humor back from the first book. It's funnier when it's less frequent, and John and Dave trying to play anything serious is inherently ridiculous to begin with, so adding slapstick on top of that is unnecessary (except for when it isn't and then i actually LOL'd a few times because butts). They are at once incredibly incompetent and unqualified to handle any of what they're dealing with, and also the best people for the job. Also, everyone else who tries to do the job dies horribly. Mostly.

...I'm laughing as i type this, these books are great...

[QuickTidal]

INTO THE DARK (High Republic YA #1) by Claudia Gray (more comments in Ded-thread)

[Chance]

Finished up Quantum of Nightmares which has been in my too read pile since it was released, shouldn't have waited. Liked it considerably more than the first book in the series and life under the New Management is delightfully bizarre.

Probably going for Jade City next but who knows.

[QuickTidal]

THE FORTUNE OF WAR by Patrick O'Brian (Aubreyad book 6) and goddamn this is one of the funnier books in the series!

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

Read through the first two Eric Carter Books. Bit of a light read. Nothing wrong with them, but not really what I was looking for. Seemed to me like he was almost trying to pull off noir at points, but the Garrett PI books do that so much better. Part of it might be that I was comparing it to both early Dresden and Garrett PI, and it didn't come close to either.

Got halfway through Tigana before that, but got stuck. Something about the way the female characters are written bothered me. I struggled to get through the first long Dionara sequence and put the book down with the second.

Currently reading Cold Iron by Miles Cameron and thoroughly enjoying it. I'm finding his writing has significantly improved since the Traitor Son Cycle. The first book since The Library at Mount Char that I can't seem to put down (The Furthest Station doesn't really count as novella's don't last long enough).

Jade City is next on my to read pile, but might binge read the rest of Cameron's Masters and Mages first.

This post has been edited by Gwynn ap Nudd: 07 June 2022 - 02:50 AM

[Tiste Simeon]

Finished LEVIATHAN WAKES the first Expanse book on audiobook, I'm really enjoying this series so far. I don't want to get burned out on it so will intersperse each novel with an episode of a podcast or something but I've already got Calibans War downloading.

[QuickTidal]

Tiste Simeon, on 07 June 2022 - 12:17 PM, said:

Finished LEVIATHAN WAKES the first Expanse book on audiobook, I'm really enjoying this series so far. I don't want to get burned out on it so will intersperse each novel with an episode of a podcast or something but I've already got Calibans War downloading.

They are broken up into arcs. 3 books each arc. 3 arcs. So you could always get through ABADDON'S GATE and then stop for a while before going onto Arc2.

[Tiste Simeon]

QuickTidal, on 07 June 2022 - 12:51 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 07 June 2022 - 12:17 PM, said:

Finished LEVIATHAN WAKES the first Expanse book on audiobook, I'm really enjoying this series so far. I don't want to get burned out on it so will intersperse each novel with an episode of a podcast or something but I've already got Calibans War downloading.

They are broken up into arcs. 3 books each arc. 3 arcs. So you could always get through ABADDON'S GATE and then stop for a while before going onto Arc2.

Ah that's good to know. I take it the whole thing ties together somehow though?

[QuickTidal]

Tiste Simeon, on 07 June 2022 - 01:51 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 07 June 2022 - 12:51 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 07 June 2022 - 12:17 PM, said:

Finished LEVIATHAN WAKES the first Expanse book on audiobook, I'm really enjoying this series so far. I don't want to get burned out on it so will intersperse each novel with an episode of a podcast or something but I've already got Calibans War downloading.

They are broken up into arcs. 3 books each arc. 3 arcs. So you could always get through ABADDON'S GATE and then stop for a while before going onto Arc2.

Ah that's good to know. I take it the whole thing ties together somehow though?

Oh yeah for sure. It's not like they are totally separate stories, it's just you'll have different new characters enter the fray and some different antagonists and plot progressions...but the arcs are like "breathing room" in the same longer story. It also covers a long time.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 07 June 2022 - 01:56 PM

[End of Disc One]

Tiste Simeon, on 07 June 2022 - 01:51 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 07 June 2022 - 12:51 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 07 June 2022 - 12:17 PM, said:

Finished LEVIATHAN WAKES the first Expanse book on audiobook, I'm really enjoying this series so far. I don't want to get burned out on it so will intersperse each novel with an episode of a podcast or something but I've already got Calibans War downloading.

They are broken up into arcs. 3 books each arc. 3 arcs. So you could always get through ABADDON'S GATE and then stop for a while before going onto Arc2.

Ah that's good to know. I take it the whole thing ties together somehow though?

I saw it as 4 arcs. 3 duologies, capped off by a trilogy.

[Chance]

Finished up Jade City and didn't really like it, can't put my finger on why maybe it was the narrator, maybe it was the lack of tension in the first half of the book, maybe it is the real world references which I find completely unnecessary. There are however some really good scenes later on in the book which are going to make me read the second one eventually, but I won't dive into it directly.

Thinking of taking something from my wildcard pile next maybe Never Die, Gunmetal Gods or The Starless Crown.

[worry]

Finished Crimson Empire book 2, which is called uhhhhh (had to look it up again) A Blade of Black Steel. Like the first book, it rules, and also confirms that Alex Marshall should hire someone else specifically to come up with better book titles. This fool's got imagination, a sense of humor, a way with words and character, and surprises galore, so there's gotta be some deliberate irony to these very generic titles and book covers. Well that's one joke that shoulda been cut. Call this thing A Possum of Black Doom or something else more accurate and eye-catching. Anyway, yah, it was good. This guy's real good at what he does.

[amphibian]

100% agreed that the titles are too generic to adequately encompass what silliness/coolness/meaningfulness is happening within the pages.

[Chance]

Started Gunmetal Gods on a whim from the pile of no clue what these books are about but the description sounds cool.

So far it is the reverse of Jade City; tension is sky high directly, engagement with the character which Jade City accomplished by the end this book does in no time at all, the narrator adds instead of detract from the experience. Very promising.

This post has been edited by Chance: 13 June 2022 - 11:27 AM

[QuickTidal]

Chance, on 13 June 2022 - 11:26 AM, said:

Started Gunmetal Gods on a whim from the pile of no clue what these books are about but the description sounds cool.

So far it is the reverse of Jade City; tension is sky high directly, engagement with the character which Jade City accomplished by the end this book does in no time at all, the narrator adds instead of detract from the experience. Very promising.

Never heard of it...

*googles*

Um....this sounds hella dope.

$5 on amazon...

Goddamit Chance I'm supposed to be CURBING my book buying tendencies, not magnifying them!

*clicks buy*

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 13 June 2022 - 01:23 PM, said:

Chance, on 13 June 2022 - 11:26 AM, said:

Started Gunmetal Gods on a whim from the pile of no clue what these books are about but the description sounds cool.

So far it is the reverse of Jade City; tension is sky high directly, engagement with the character which Jade City accomplished by the end this book does in no time at all, the narrator adds instead of detract from the experience. Very promising.

Never heard of it...

*googles*

Um....this sounds hella dope.

$5 on amazon...

Goddamit Chance I'm supposed to be CURBING my book buying tendencies, not magnifying them!

*clicks buy*

Audible keeps throwing this at me, and i hadn't realized book 2 was already out.
Will look fwd to your opinions.


JADE CITY.... i have started this book twice now and stopped a chapter or two in. So many people i trust have enjoyed it but it's not grabbing me.


Just Finished Daniel Polansky's Lowtown bk 2, TOMORROW, THE KILLING. It was great great great. All the atmosphere and pacing i enjoyed from bk 1 with an amped up sence of stakes, pace, and character. The Warden is areally engaging character and Polansky does an excellent job of selling his good and bad elements as totally believable.
The earbook narrator is excellent, really nails the voices and pacing.
Great series, am annoyed the earbooks have taken so long to show up.


Next up, a change of pace to sci fi, Campbell's GENESIS FLEET bk 1, VANGUARD. It's a prequel to the LOST FLEET series(es), same setting, ancestors of the Lost Fleet leads just as humanity is expanding into space. About halfway in, the ship to ship engagements aren't nearly as intricate, but still tense, and not having fleets of hundreds to work with means Campbell has to spend more time on politics and characters and it actually works for the most part. He's keeping it simple but that helps keep the pace moving. Enjoying it so far.

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 13 June 2022 - 02:26 PM, said:

JADE CITY.... i have started this book twice now and stopped a chapter or two in. So many people i trust have enjoyed it but it's not grabbing me.

It's definitely niche, and is very much a period-set (1970s) urban fantasy that happens to be set in another world that only kind of resembles ours with magic superhero stones (that you can get addicted to)...as an aside I often wonder if she had set it in Hong Kong in our world and just had it be this underground layer of UrbFant set there, it might ring truer overall? One thing that frustrates me about the series is figuring out the nationalities and countries in play and what their real world allegories are...even though Fonda claims that they aren't based on any one country...it's hard to really PLACE things then as the cultures are meant to be different and that alone affects Kekon's place in the world whether she wants it to or not...and the lack of explanation for that interaction between Kekon and the outside place mentions is definitely detrimental to the enjoyment of the world building...so I feel she cops out a little by saying that because it deprives the series of some of that real worldbulding we could see. Especially when characters like Shae spend so much time in like The Republic of Espenia, and that helped her be who she is when she comes back to Kekon...like we don't learn anything about Espenia...I did better with it imagining that the places in it do indeed stand in for real world places.

And you kind of have to be into the politics of the whole thing to really get hooked, and book 1 has a LOT of set-up for the other books.

I loved it, but only once I settled into the nature of the story which felt less like fantasy and more like Asian political thriller with a thing equally makes powerful people and addicts.

[Chance]

Think your completely right QT Jade City is really a fantasy books way after being an hongkong criminal/political thriller and occational kung fu action movie. It really has a turning point somewhere close to the middle after which it is a pretty good book but getting there was a bit of a chore.

Abyss, on 13 June 2022 - 02:26 PM, said:

Just Finished Daniel Polansky's Lowtown bk 2, TOMORROW, THE KILLING. It was great great great. All the atmosphere and pacing i enjoyed from bk 1 with an amped up sence of stakes, pace, and character. The Warden is areally engaging character and Polansky does an excellent job of selling his good and bad elements as totally believable.
The earbook narrator is excellent, really nails the voices and pacing.
Great series, am annoyed the earbooks have taken so long to show up.

Go for the third one, the only thing I didn't like with it is that it ends the series. So **** great.

This post has been edited by Chance: 13 June 2022 - 06:23 PM

[Macros]

Agreeing with Chance, so much love for the low town trilogy

[QuickTidal]

Read a sample of THE JUSTICE OF KINGS by Richard Swan...it was fine. Well written, and I think I could have enjoyed it....but the plot was basically a detective story with no bells and whistles to impress me in a fantasy novel. I might give it a go sometime down the road, but for now. Meh.

Back into THE TWELVE KINGS OF SHARAKHAI...I started it years ago and have never finished it, so I'm picking it back up to do that since like 5 books are out in the series so far. I liked it a lot, but got distracted by other stuff and forgot about it.