[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

 Tiste Simeon, on 27 March 2024 - 11:59 AM, said:

Ah you'll love the Troy trilogy!

 Macros, on 27 March 2024 - 01:49 PM, said:

So much awesome in that trilogy.

I might reread after the wheel of slog

You two were entirely correct - almost finished Lord of the Silver Bow and I think I'm going to stick my neck out and say this is some of Gemmell's best stuff. Can't wait to read the others!

[Tiste Simeon]

 TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 09 April 2024 - 07:34 AM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 27 March 2024 - 11:59 AM, said:

Ah you'll love the Troy trilogy!

 Macros, on 27 March 2024 - 01:49 PM, said:

So much awesome in that trilogy.

I might reread after the wheel of slog

You two were entirely correct - almost finished Lord of the Silver Bow and I think I'm going to stick my neck out and say this is some of Gemmell's best stuff. Can't wait to read the others!

I might have to read it again! Currently loving the Rigante series like I did the first time I read it as a teenager. More Gemmell is always a good thing!

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

I'll add Rigante to my list too! It's mostly the Drenai series I've read and the odd stand alone until recently - it's great to have more to go at though

[Tiste Simeon]

Ah the Rigante is marvelous. As a history dork fan you'll love it as it's a fantasy world based on Scottish history with the first two books being a rough equivalent to the Romans getting ever from the South and then in books 3 and 4 it's a few hundred years later with the big enemy of the tribes being a version of the English. It's fabulous.

[Tsundoku]

 Tiste Simeon, on 08 April 2024 - 12:23 PM, said:

Finished Tender is the Flesh. Horrendous, uncomfortable, immensely disturbing. I wouldn't say I enjoyed it as such but I read it very quickly - it was very well written and wonderfully constructed.

Ok I don't get that. Sure, something can be well written. But why go through the experience if you don't enjoy it? It's not like it's a necessary medical procedure. Or a colonic for those inclined.
Life is too short to feel you have to endure "Horrendous, uncomfortable, immensely disturbing" works just because they might be well-written. Just DNF and move on I say.
I used to be a completionist until I decided some shit just wasn't worth my time because I didn't enjoy it. I do note there's a fair bit of that in the Michelle West threads.

Still, thanks for the warning.

Enjoy the Gemmell. I have the Troy trilogy on my bookshelf, should probably get around to it some day.
Ah, who am i kidding? Between my TRP and all the decent TV and movies, I probably won't get to it for years. I almost long for the days of much less choice (we elders call these times the pre-90s), when you hung out for the next book from one of maybe a few dozen authors. They could stop all new books, TV shows, movies and music from being produced and I'd still have to live a thousand years before I worked my way through all the good stuff (even among all the dross) that exists right now.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 09 April 2024 - 08:15 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

Ah see because it was well written it kept me hooked. It wasn't like WoT where I wasn't enjoying it because of sheer frustration and annoyance of almost every single character and plot.

It was "I'm not enjoying how uncomfortable this is making me because the situation they're describing is not too far from what I could potentially see happening!"

Side note, it's kind of an allegory against capitalism and consumerism which is why it feels believable.

So yeah, I wanted to know more despite how horrific the scenarios were. It's like people who watch scary films. The tension and horror and frights aren't enjoyable as such but they are thrilling.

[Abyss]

 Abyss, on 12 March 2024 - 04:10 AM, said:

 Abyss, on 26 February 2024 - 07:38 PM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 13 February 2024 - 07:00 PM, said:

 Abyss, on 13 February 2024 - 03:04 PM, said:

In brighter news, coming off the fantasy fun of MALEVOLENT SEVEN and not quite ready for the scifi deep dive of REVELATION SPACE, i decided to have a go at Seanan McGuire's short EVERY HEART A DOORWAY, bk 1 in her Wayward Children series that's been hanging in both my eTRP and TLP for a while now. The books average around 4-5hrs so this seemed like a good break between fantasy and massive sf epic... yeah, i should have known better.

1 hr into EVERY HEART and i'm pretty sure i'm going to marathon this series now. The entire concept of a boarding school for kids who were taken away to fantasy lands and thrown back to the real world, the 'system' of worlds, the variety of backstories... my brain is in exactly the right space for this.

Well now I have to get this too, thanks a bunch.

Got yo back, bruh.

Almost done book 7, one more in the queue. I have VERY enjoyed this. McGuire plays very cleverly w the tone, pace, and setting, so any time the reader starts to get complacent, she changes things up. The overall story weaving through these books is incredibly well planned, or thought-out, or improvised but if she improvised all this book by book i'm even more impressed.

Finished 7, grabbed 8 from the library, finished that, Audible'd 9 immediately. This is a brilliant series.

And Just Finished the WAYWARD CHILDREN series to date
Everything i said above applies right through. Brilliantly different and engaging. Not complex and very at the same time. Short but not too short. The characters are easy to empathize with and written with adult attention despite being children and teens. Low action, high drama/adventure. The nine stories so far are absolutely a work best read in order because even though the timing jumps around, the revelations and developments follow/build.

It's an inherently great/original concept... there are doors, and rare children around the world may, on purpose or by accident, fall through and find themselves in a fantasyland that can be anything from candyland to 'vampires vs werewolves vs mad scientists' to 'under the sea'. There's always a reason why a particular child might find a particular door, tho accidents and mistakes happen too, and if/when they depart the results can be anything from relieved escape to desperate-to-return, plus the occasional time dilation, (low grade) magic powers, weird bodmods, obsession or just sheer inability to cope w the 'real' world.


I thoroughly enjoyed it and i'll grab bk 10 if/whenever it appears. Worth your time/money.

[Abyss]

Also Just Finished RED SISTER by Mark Lawrence.

I enjoyed it. The setting is the nicely original element, a planet where (sort of) humans found themselves facing an impending ice age and fended it off with an orbital mirror/moon that keeps a bare little chunk, 200 miles or so, free of ice and liveable. There are fantasy elements with underlying sf hints and it's all very well constructed to be intrguing. The characters are familiar archetypes well written. The MC, Nona Grey, is not wildly original in her 'lost child who discovers she has powers and a natural tendency to kick butt', nor is the 'school for magic warrior nuns' setting, but it all comes together so nicely within the wider setting that i'm very drawn in and enjoying it. FInished RED SISTER quickly and am a little past half of the sequel GREY SISTER already.

[Mentalist]

powered thru a re-read of "The Emperor's Blades". Moving on to "The Providence of Fire" now.

[worry]

 Abyss, on 11 April 2024 - 03:18 PM, said:

Also Just Finished RED SISTER by Mark Lawrence.

I enjoyed it. The setting is the nicely original element, a planet where (sort of) humans found themselves facing an impending ice age and fended it off with an orbital mirror/moon that keeps a bare little chunk, 200 miles or so, free of ice and liveable. There are fantasy elements with underlying sf hints and it's all very well constructed to be intrguing. The characters are familiar archetypes well written. The MC, Nona Grey, is not wildly original in her 'lost child who discovers she has powers and a natural tendency to kick butt', nor is the 'school for magic warrior nuns' setting, but it all comes together so nicely within the wider setting that i'm very drawn in and enjoying it. FInished RED SISTER quickly and am a little past half of the sequel GREY SISTER already.

Yeah it's a different flavor than the Prince trilogies, but still great. Alls I got to say is Mr. Lawrence is one of the most reliably awesome finale writers around right now and this series is no exception.

[Tiste Simeon]

I'll say Mark Lawrence is one of the most consistently excellent author all around. Eah one of his books has a different vibe yet I love all of them. Struggled a little more with The Book That Wouldn't Burn for some reason - it's a slower pace and gets a little convoluted at times, but man I'm just over 75% and things are heating up. I know I'll be getting the next one.

As for me, I finished Sword in the Storm (Rigante book 1) and have already got about 100 pages into Midnight Falcon (Rigante book 2)! It's so great, Bane is a fantastic MC

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

I finished Richard Swan's Empire of the Wolf trilogy. I liked this a lot and have barely seen it mentioned. Highly recommend!

[JPK]

 Whisperzzzzzzz, on 11 April 2024 - 08:52 PM, said:

I finished Richard Swan's Empire of the Wolf trilogy. I liked this a lot and have barely seen it mentioned. Highly recommend!

Thanks for mentioning this. I grabbed the first book on sale a bit back and this just nudged it up a few spots on To-Read Mountain.

[JPK]

It's been a bit since I've really mentioned what I've been working on, so here comes another list! Yay!

THE GIRL AND THE STARS by Mark Lawrence - As many of us have had the pleasure of finding out by now, Mr Lawrence pretty much always delivers. I really enjoyed this one on it's own merits, though it's the implications involved in the larger story that takes this from good to fantastic.

CORALINE by Neil Gaiman - I read this one out loud to my 7yo daughter over the course of about a week. We both loved it, and it was a very special experience for me as it was the last Gaiman novel that I haven't read yet and getting to share it with her just made it that much more special. She's been begging me to read her THE GRAVEYARD BOOK soon, but I'm being mean and making her wait.

ANARCH by Dan Abnett - Can't really talk about this one without spoilers.

Spoiler

I enjoyed this one overall but I can see how people could be frustrated in it's execution. M'koll is clearly Abnett's favorite and I really enjoyed the way he took out Sek. I'm excited to see where the story goes when he revisits the setting down the line, especially with Brin coming back to the Ghosts.

NETWORK EFFECT by Martha Wells - Murderbot is pretty much always a good time and this was no exception. I was worried about how it would translate to a full length novel over the usual novella format, but I really shouldn't have been. The story used the extra time well for characterization and allowing space to ponder and process all those irritating emotions that no one wants.

WACO by Jeff Guinn - this was an excellent book that really made me think a lot. There's no doubt in most people minds that Koresh was a fucking monster at the end of things, but I think this did a really good job of clarifying just how badly the government fucked up in how they handled the situation. I think this was a particularly important event in American History to read about and understand due to how it has really set a lot of the tone of the current political climate in this clusterfuck of a country.

GOLDEN SON by Pierce Brown - Holy fuckballs, you were all so so right about this. I shouldn't have doubted.

MATILDA by Roald Dahl - this was another one that I read aloud to my 7yo in the evenings. Still just absolutely magical, and it's nice to have a kid's book with a bit of an edge.

THE SUN SWORD by Michelle West - I've already touched upon this one elsewhere when I was getting towards the finish line. In the long run, this series is just chock full of wasted potential. There are so many cool stories in here, but ti just keeps getting in the way of itself over and over again. Upon finishing it, I decided to remove the House War books from my TRP and donate them. I'm not the pickiest reader by any means, but I really feel burned by this one.

TSALMOTH by Steven Brust - I mean, this is book 17 or so of the Vlad Taltos series. It's more of the same that has gone before it, but honestly that's exactly what I wanted out of it and it totally delivered.


Currently reading:

THE MALEVOLENT SEVEN by Sebastien de Castell - I'm about a third of the way into this in ebook and all I can really do is chime in with the love already shown for this book around here. I'm a bit surprised at how much I'm enjoying the rat mages.

BEEZUS AND RAMONA by Beverly Cleary - The current book I"m reading with the kid. I've been trying to get her to read this one on her own for awhile now, but it doesn't have dragons in it so she just can't be bothered. Now that she's listening to it though, she's really loving it. I think this one in particular is a good fit for us atm due to the fact that she can really relate with Beezus and the irritations of having a 4yo sister that can be a little monster constantly shadowing her.

THE DRAGON REVENANT - by Katherine Kerr. I'm just starting this one so I don't really have much to comment about it yet. I will say that I'm pretty excited to close out the first arc of the story with this one.

[champ]

 JPK, on 12 April 2024 - 02:42 AM, said:

THE GIRL AND THE STARS by Mark Lawrence - As many of us have had the pleasure of finding out by now, Mr Lawrence pretty much always delivers. I really enjoyed this one on it's own merits, though it's the implications involved in the larger story that takes this from good to fantastic.

Just wait until you read the next two books...

[Tiste Simeon]

I finished The Book that Wouldn't Burn and it finished stewing. Will obviously be getting the next one.

Have started Magician, the first book in the Riftwar Saga and I can't believe I've never read this before! Is this trilogy standalone? As in I have all three books so I'm going to read this three but I don't have any of the others in the same universe. Does book three finish as a completed story?

[Tsundoku]

 Tiste Simeon, on 13 April 2024 - 04:46 PM, said:

I finished The Book that Wouldn't Burn and it finished stewing. Will obviously be getting the next one.

Have started Magician, the first book in the Riftwar Saga and I can't believe I've never read this before! Is this trilogy standalone? As in I have all three books so I'm going to read this three but I don't have any of the others in the same universe. Does book three finish as a completed story?

I cast: Summon Macros

Yes, you can read only Magician, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon and finish there if you want. However, I would also recommend reading the Empire trilogy (Daughter, Servant, Mistress) which is a collaboration with Janny Wurts and probably the best stuff either did.
There are plenty more in that series but their quality is ... variable, and generally slowly diminishing returns IMHO. Even though I enjoyed them and have most of my collection signed by REF.

[Macros]

Don't you dare take my glory Sombra!

[Macros]

 Macros, on 07 July 2017 - 07:54 AM, said:

God dammit.
Big post.
Phone ate it.

Feist -

Disregard earlier advice, read, in this order:
Magician, Silverthorn, A darkness at Sethanon, Daughter of the Empire, Seventh of the empire, mistress of the empire, Honoured Enemy (his best book), Prince of the Blood, The Kings Buchaneer, Kronor the Betrayal, Kronor Assassins (the Kronor books order may be reversed), Shadow of a Dark Queen, Rise of a Merchant Prince, Rage of a Demon King.
Then stop and never return to Midkemia, unless it's for rereads.

There we go

This post has been edited by Macros: 14 April 2024 - 09:20 AM

[Gorefest]

I've heard about retcons. How do retreads work? You interpret big events differently?