[Macros]

What you talking bout Willis??

[Tiste Simeon]

 Macros, on 14 April 2024 - 07:23 AM, said:

 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 retreads.

There we go

Thanks to you and Sombra. I'm really enjoying this at the moment and hey! I now know where your username came from (just got to the bit where they have to beach at Sorcerer's Isle).

Until this point I assumed that Macros was Irish Gaelic for "mammoth hands" or something.

[worry]

Thought he just loved spreadsheets.

[polishgenius]

I'd been reading The Principle of Moments, by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, a recent debut I'd had high hopes for. Time travelling space opera crossing far future with Georgian London, epic prophecies and all sorts. It's certainly fun enough and I'd recommend anyone to whom it sounds interesting to check it out, but something about it hasn't quite clicked with me. Not sure what, I'm enjoying all the individual pieces but, about halfway in, I'm not finding myself rushing back to read it each time.

So I've put it aside temporarily because of the release of Max Gladstone's latest, Wicked Problems. It's the second in the Craft War trilogy and the eighth in the overall Craft sequence, and frankly it's a liberty that more of y'all haven't picked this series up yet, it's so good. Some of the most inventive, engaging high-magic fantasy out there, combining epic awesomeness with a knowingly silly side and some frankly fantastic writing. Just really one of the best series going right now. Good start to this one- the Craft War being basically trilogy working as a culmination of what had been set up in the more standalone first six books (well, first five- you could almost read them in any order and indeed they're not told chronologically, but the sixth is really where the five stories came together and brought the threads that set up this).

Anyway, great stuff.

[Macros]

I need to catch u0 with this.
I enjoyed the craft books

[Abyss]

 polishgenius, on 14 April 2024 - 10:01 PM, said:

I'd been reading The Principle of Moments, by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson, a recent debut I'd had high hopes for. Time travelling space opera crossing far future with Georgian London, epic prophecies and all sorts. It's certainly fun enough and I'd recommend anyone to whom it sounds interesting to check it out, but something about it hasn't quite clicked with me. Not sure what, I'm enjoying all the individual pieces but, about halfway in, I'm not finding myself rushing back to read it each time.

So I've put it aside temporarily because of the release of Max Gladstone's latest, Wicked Problems. It's the second in the Craft War trilogy and the eighth in the overall Craft sequence, and frankly it's a liberty that more of y'all haven't picked this series up yet, it's so good. Some of the most inventive, engaging high-magic fantasy out there, combining epic awesomeness with a knowingly silly side and some frankly fantastic writing. Just really one of the best series going right now. Good start to this one- the Craft War being basically trilogy working as a culmination of what had been set up in the more standalone first six books (well, first five- you could almost read them in any order and indeed they're not told chronologically, but the sixth is really where the five stories came together and brought the threads that set up this).

Anyway, great stuff.

 Macros, on 15 April 2024 - 05:27 PM, said:

I need to catch u0 with this.
I enjoyed the craft books

same same, only read bk 1, need to get on to more.

[JPK]

I've got a bit more time before the final book in Janny Wurts' Wars of Light and Shadow comes out, so I've decided to take something off the trp that's been buried there for several years, Ian Tregellis' BITTER SEEDS. I remember picking this up years ago after the recommendation of someone around here (let's face it, it was probably Abyss because it usually is). So yeah, anyways, Nazi X-Men it is.

[Tiste Simeon]

I have quite a few audiobooks lined up but I really don't fancy any of them at the moment. So I downloaded Gardens of the Moon. I've read MBotF multiple times but never listened to them. Already loving this decision! Will probably get all 10!

[JPK]

 Tiste Simeon, on 19 April 2024 - 04:31 PM, said:

I have quite a few audiobooks lined up but I really don't fancy any of them at the moment. So I downloaded Gardens of the Moon. I've read MBotF multiple times but never listened to them. Already loving this decision! Will probably get all 10!

It's a good listen but I'll warn you that the narrator changes mid series and both narrators have a habit of having some interesting pronunciation choices.

[worry]

Finished Malice by John Gwynne. Found it enjoyable and certainly readable, without it ever transcending its influences, if that makes sense. Like what Sword of Shannara is to Tolkien, this book is to RJ & GRRM, in a PG-13 spot right in between them. I liked it, but I'm hoping the next books get better in the same way the Shannara books did after the first one.

[Tiste Simeon]

 JPK, on 19 April 2024 - 05:27 PM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 19 April 2024 - 04:31 PM, said:

I have quite a few audiobooks lined up but I really don't fancy any of them at the moment. So I downloaded Gardens of the Moon. I've read MBotF multiple times but never listened to them. Already loving this decision! Will probably get all 10!

It's a good listen but I'll warn you that the narrator changes mid series and both narrators have a habit of having some interesting pronunciation choices.

Yeah I heard that switch narrators a few books in which is weird. SE said on a podcast that no one bothered to ask him about pronunciation at all so it's a bit over the place.

[Abyss]

 JPK, on 19 April 2024 - 03:22 PM, said:

I've got a bit more time before the final book in Janny Wurts' Wars of Light and Shadow comes out, so I've decided to take something off the trp that's been buried there for several years, Ian Tregellis' BITTER SEEDS. I remember picking this up years ago after the recommendation of someone around here (let's face it, it was probably Abyss because it usually is). So yeah, anyways, Nazi X-Men it is.

It was me, i admit it, guilty guilty guilty... tho i vaguely recall i was following up someone else's reco... maybe QT, i dnr...

[stone monkey]

Cuurently reading Max Gladstone's new Craft Sequence novel Wicked Problems. Are the antagonists from some of the previous books going to save the world? I guess we'll have to see. Fun so far, if a little disjointed. I'm only 1/3 of the way through, so it may come together later.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

More Troy! Finished Shield of Thunder.

If I didn't go and come over all emotional about:

Spoiler

Halysia. It was one of his very much more telegraphed deaths, sure, but her ending really choked me up. And the fact she goes out in a blaze of glory to save the child she'd finally found it in her heart to love and protect. Where's all this sand come from?!

On with City of Kings. So much fun!

[Abyss]

Just Finished Mark Lawrence's BOOK OF THE ANCESTOR trilo, comments in the ded-thread and launching right into the sequel series BOOK OF THE ICE bcs it was just that good.



Also just finished the late Anthony Bourdain's KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL (ANNOTATED/UPDATED EDITION)... this one's been rolling for a while... how long you ask? well according to a quick search....

 Abyss, on 02 January 2020 - 04:00 PM, said:

My turn...

So the magic number for 2019 is 40 books (not counting comics which i'll get to below). Of the 40, 37 were entirely earbooks. ... In dead tree i continue to read, the late Anthony Bourdian's 'Annotated' KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL, which is a terrific read that suffers from my current/ongoing inability to actually sit and read things for any serious length of time. There is an earbook but the handwritten notes - added by Bourdain a decade after the original publication - are so much fun that i would rather just move it along slowly.

...so yeah, 5ish years. Amazing on multiple fronts, but i did enjoy the hell out of it.


Also spent some time on THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES, a podcast horror series that is entirely too clever for its own good. Each episode is under 20min, and more or less self-contained. I'm maybe 25 eps in and a couple of wider plotlines are starting to lurk in the shadows. I cannot say enough good about this pod... it's mostly one guy reading a transcript of someone else's purported encounter w the supernatural. The author is also the narrator (for the most part) and his delivery is so damn good that w the slightest background music soundtrack he absolutely nails the creepy elements, no jump scares, just very well done build to reveal/climax, usually with a clever dénouement at the end that either pulls back the curtain, or changes everything you think you just heard. Worth a listen.

(i ack podcasts aren't 'reading' but in the same vein (pun intended) as earbooks it's a story being delivered and it seems to fit here vs elsethread, if this deeply offends anyone let me know and i'll reprogram your brain to my way of thinking reconsider)

[worry]

Read a new-ish YA standalone fantasy called Dragonfruit by Makiia Lucier -- secondary world but largely sourced from Pacific Island lore. Sea dragons, living tattoos, seafaring along island chains, stuff like that. Anyway, I thought this was really good -- cool world building, cool magic, really good character writing for YA, and it draws the stakes well while still being age appropriate. It's only about 350 pages, so nothing super deep, but it does some good stuff really efficiently. Anyone who can read the Narnia books could read this imo -- though I'd note the two protagonists are young adults around 18, not kids. It might not be a rec for everyone here, unless it specifically appeals to you, but it would be a good gift for tweens and above.

Now onto Valor by John Gwynne. This one has a Dramatis Personae, so I already think I'm gonna like it more than Malice.

[Traveller]

Just finished The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman.
Someone at work recommended it, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it - it somehow brings a fantasy rpg setting into vivid reality, in a pleasingly convincing way.

I was listening to it on Audible too, and the author is reading it, so there's no weird discrepancies with names and places like with the malazan audiobooks, and I could (and have) listened to this guy all day.

(Pairs well with Dragons Dogma 2 which I'm playing at the moment, as they seem to have a good few things in common if you like to read and game things that complement each other as I do)

[Abyss]

 Traveller, on 26 April 2024 - 07:18 PM, said:

Just finished The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman.
Someone at work recommended it, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it - it somehow brings a fantasy rpg setting into vivid reality, in a pleasingly convincing way.

I was listening to it on Audible too, and the author is reading it, so there's no weird discrepancies with names and places like with the malazan audiobooks, and I could (and have) listened to this guy all day....

I'm usually wary of authors who aren't Neal Gaiman reading their own work, but Buehlman absolutely nails this.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

I decided to dive in to the pit and am currently reading Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass. So far, it's boring. Does this actually get good or is the hype from people who have never read fantasy and are just enjoying the romance aspects? I am currently feeling like this will be a DNF.

This post has been edited by Whisperzzzzzzz: 02 May 2024 - 11:58 PM

[Abyss]

 Whisperzzzzzzz, on 02 May 2024 - 11:55 PM, said:

I decided to dive in to the pit and am currently reading Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass. So far, it's boring. Does this actually get good or is the hype from people who have never read fantasy and are just enjoying the romance aspects? I am currently feeling like this will be a DNF.

haven't tried her books, but everything i have heard suggests the latter.