[pat5150]

Finally read Elizabeth Moon's Sheepfarmer's Daughter, the first volume in the Deed of Paksenarrion series. Bought the paperback in the early 90s and somehow never read this series which is supposed to be the best paladin story around.

It's a good read. If you're into military fantasy, a strong female lead, and no romance, this might be right up your alley. Looking forward to reading the sequels!

[amphibian]

What Moon does with all those books is legit fantastic - as in creating a deep narrative in a world that centers women and has terrific conflicts plus tension. You'll enjoy the ride for sure, Pat.

[pat5150]

amphibian, on 10 March 2025 - 12:12 AM, said:

What Moon does with all those books is legit fantastic - as in creating a deep narrative in a world that centers women and has terrific conflicts plus tension. You'll enjoy the ride for sure, Pat.

Better late than never, I guess!!

[champ]

Well... Ready Player Two was a bit of a let down for sure...


I loved the first book and have reread it numerous times now so going into RP2 I was really looking forward to it but it's just a weird book...


You can pretty much skip the first 150 pages, it's all needless crap!


They totally destroy Halliday the character and Wade is a total jerk too... to me that tarnished the first book a bit which I didn't like.


All the friendships are fraught at the start but then suddenly back to best buds with no conflict resolution.


It is also very preachy and stumbles over the message. Rather than it seeming an organic part of the story it feels really forced and takes you out of the book, especially the sex planet descriptions where he just seemed to go on and on.


The only good parts of the book are when the characters get back to what they do best - Gunting. When this is a part of the story it really flows quickly and is a decent read... I just feel like they rushed through the challenges too quick this time so the goodness was lacking.


I think I am going to just ignore the fact that this book exists...

[Abyss]

champ, on 11 March 2025 - 04:01 PM, said:

Well... Ready Player Two was a bit of a let down for sure......

I think I am going to just ignore the fact that this book exists...

it was a really weak sequel to RP1, which was hardly brilliant but was far FAR more entertaining and better written.
...still better than ARMADA tho'.

[champ]

Abyss, on 11 March 2025 - 05:55 PM, said:

champ, on 11 March 2025 - 04:01 PM, said:

Well... Ready Player Two was a bit of a let down for sure......

I think I am going to just ignore the fact that this book exists...

it was a really weak sequel to RP1, which was hardly brilliant but was far FAR more entertaining and better written.
...still better than ARMADA tho'.

I'm glad you said that, I had considered Armada before I read RP2... safe to say I can scrap that now.

[QuickTidal]

About 80 pages in GALAPHILE by Terry Brooks (his final Shannara book) and while it's entertaining, you can feel the things he retired for. It's surfacy, and if not rushed, then speeding along. It feels like a descriptive Wiki entry on the first druid moreso than a cohesive narrative that you sink into like he normally does....now it's only 300 pages, so that's probably needed as it has to cover Galaphile's whole life. I'm not disliking it, but you can tell that this was definitely the time for Brooks to retire...I ALMOST want to say that he maybe should have let the FALL books be his final ones, and let Delilah take on the First Druid series herself from the first book? But perhaps the revelation about his faculties came after the book was done, so I get that.


I don't want to get too down on it, it's fun and I'm enjoying it...but the gap between what I felt during say SCIONS and what I feel here is wide. I'll weigh in when I'm done, but for now it's not anything close to his best work, but it's still enjoyable.

On another note, I feel like the other books in this sub-series will PROBABLY be about Brona (dissident Druid who becomes Warlock lord), and perhaps Bremen for the 3rd?

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 13 March 2025 - 12:39 PM

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

 QuickTidal, on 13 March 2025 - 12:37 PM, said:

About 80 pages in GALAPHILE by Terry Brooks (his final Shannara book) and while it's entertaining, you can feel the things he retired for. It's surfacy, and if not rushed, then speeding along. It feels like a descriptive Wiki entry on the first druid moreso than a cohesive narrative that you sink into like he normally does....now it's only 300 pages, so that's probably needed as it has to cover Galaphile's whole life. I'm not disliking it, but you can tell that this was definitely the time for Brooks to retire...I ALMOST want to say that he maybe should have let the FALL books be his final ones, and let Delilah take on the First Druid series herself from the first book? But perhaps the revelation about his faculties came after the book was done, so I get that.


I don't want to get too down on it, it's fun and I'm enjoying it...but the gap between what I felt during say SCIONS and what I feel here is wide. I'll weigh in when I'm done, but for now it's not anything close to his best work, but it's still enjoyable.

On another note, I feel like the other books in this sub-series will PROBABLY be about Brona (dissident Druid who becomes Warlock lord), and perhaps Bremen for the 3rd?

It's interesting that novels seem to rarely get substantial revisions---post-publication, that is.

Most would probably benefit (some much moreso than others...). With ebooks it's easy to have multiple versions (could even click on a line or sentence to see alternate revisions, etc.). And people who like to collect physical books would have more "first editions (of the kth revision)" to collect.

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 13 March 2025 - 01:13 PM

[Abyss]

 QuickTidal, on 13 March 2025 - 12:37 PM, said:

... I feel like the other books in this sub-series will PROBABLY be about Brona (dissident Druid who becomes Warlock lord), and perhaps Bremen for the 3rd?

Bremen seems appropriate for a shorter one shot.

Would not be stunned if Brona got a prequel trilogy. It would be very on brand.

[QuickTidal]

I’d love to see it as Brona very much was a product of his earliest days and this was a sort of copycat dark lord without much personality, so I’d be happy to see him get one.

[Abyss]

 Abyss, on 13 March 2025 - 05:24 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 13 March 2025 - 12:37 PM, said:

... I feel like the other books in this sub-series will PROBABLY be about Brona (dissident Druid who becomes Warlock lord), and perhaps Bremen for the 3rd?

Bremen seems appropriate for a shorter one shot.

Would not be stunned if Brona got a prequel trilogy. It would be very on brand.

 QuickTidal, on 13 March 2025 - 07:00 PM, said:

I'd love to see it as Brona very much was a product of his earliest days and this was a sort of copycat dark lord without much personality, so I'd be happy to see him get one.

and if Brookes were writing it i'd expect a very by-the-numbers (for him) quest/difficult-moral-dilemma/too-many-compromises/oops-you're-evil-now thing, but maybe w Dawson taking over there might be something interesting.

[Chance]

Finished up the latest two Harmony Black novels which where fun and simple popcorn urban fantasy. Craig Schaefer isn't a genius in any way but he delivers solid action several times a year.

Then I went through In a garden burning gold. This is a decently written book but it is also one I won't remember in a few weeks. Went in hoping for some nice fantasy but got a dysfunctional family drama with a lot of adult children that could have taken place anywhere with the fantasy setting being basically an afterthought. I'll skip the sequel which is unusual for me once I've started a series but only willpower keep my interest of the last quarter. The last part of the book is the strongest but not strong enough.

Re-started A Tide of Black Steel which I've started a few times but didn't get into before, I'm hoping for a new Blood Song but okay with it merely being good fantasy, Steven Brand is also one hell of a narrator so that is a big plus immediately.

This post has been edited by Chance: 14 March 2025 - 04:27 PM

[Abyss]

 QuickTidal, on 27 February 2025 - 02:40 PM, said:

 T77, on 27 February 2025 - 01:57 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 27 February 2025 - 01:16 PM, said:

THE DRAWING OF THREE by Stephen King

This is...really good.

Dark Tower is one of my favorite series. I almost didn't read it due to hearing the last three books are not good. I liked the last three books. I have been thinking of doing a reread for years now.

 HoosierDaddy, on 27 February 2025 - 01:59 PM, said:

 QuickTidal, on 27 February 2025 - 01:16 PM, said:

THE DRAWING OF THREE by Stephen King

This is...really good.

Books 3 and 4 are probably the best, but I loved them all as well.

My best friend is a diehard King and DT fan, and he's been harping on me for years to read them all, so I thought it might be time.

all are solid but the sheer novel weird of 1-2 is a massive hook for the rest of the series.

[worry]

Started The Spear Cuts Through Water, and finished the first section (~90 pgs). So far so good -- world and story are both fascinating, and the writing is great: elegant and coarse, lyrical and folksy and brutal, as the story dictates. Dictates is a funny word here. Right off the bat you can tell there's gonna be some very playful meta-fictional elements in there, as storytelling itself is a central concept.

I'll probably have more to say once I'm done, but for now I'll mention how cool one particular storytelling device is in this book: Basically at any time, the voice (or voices) of anyone in the story -- major, minor, living, dead, past, present -- may interject some thoughts, ideas, or feelings about what's mentioned in the narrative. It's not disruptive like footnotes or anything, it's just italicized sentences here and there that punctuate the main storytelling. I don't know that I've ever seen this done before, and I am loving it in both concept and execution.

[Abyss]

Just finished Rachel Aaron's LEGEND OF ELI MONPRESS bk 2 SPIRIT EATER. This went surprisingly dark at moments, had a great escape story, and did wonders w the supporting cast. Went directly into/finished bk 3, SPIRIT REBELLION, which set up a heist again but also serious gamechangers for the supporting cast who by this point are effectively protagonists as much as the titular Eli, and honestly, great fun to read. None of this is 'sophisticated', but it's well written, fast paced, the magic and fantasy elements are well thought through and if not quite original, definitely engaging. The aftermath of 3 propelled me directly into bk 4, SPIRIT WAR... credit where due, the author restrained her worldbuilding to this point, and now, after 3 books building up the characters, when the rest of the events around them start to tie together it REALLY works well on pulling the reader along for the ride. Everything is escalating and it utterly works.

Also, the author's action writing has steadily levelled up... bk 4 has a sequence i had to listen to thrice in a row, once to be sure i hadn't missed anything, then again for the sheer ott joy of what i was ear'ing. In Malazan terms... imagine Cutter breaking into a K'chain mountain to bust Apsalar out, imagine them running for their lives while a pissed off Kchain matron detonates chunks of mountain trying to get them, and imagine when all seems lost Cutter calls in Blind for help and then Apsalar shadowdances just for a little extra holyfuckdidijustreadthat? moment. It was like that. Very enjoying this series.

[Macros]

Just finished Enemy of God

Fuck Lancelot

[Tiste Simeon]

Macros, on 19 March 2025 - 04:52 PM, said:

Just finished Enemy of God

Fuck Lancelot

Indeed.

[JPK]

Tiste Simeon, on 19 March 2025 - 07:12 PM, said:

Macros, on 19 March 2025 - 04:52 PM, said:

Just finished Enemy of God

Fuck Lancelot

Indeed.

So much hate.

[QuickTidal]

JPK, on 19 March 2025 - 10:17 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 19 March 2025 - 07:12 PM, said:

Macros, on 19 March 2025 - 04:52 PM, said:

Just finished Enemy of God

Fuck Lancelot

Indeed.

So much hate.

I recall reading that not that long after reading CLOTHAR THE FRANK and THE EAGLE by Jack Whyte where Lancelot was a really good dude, who actually refuses to act on his feelings for Guinevere.....so I got whiplash to how evil Cornwell made him. LOL

[polishgenius]

The Warden, by Daniel M. Ford, first in the likewise-named series. About a necromancer guardian type who is sent to what seems to be a quiet posting in the middle of nowhere on what seems to be a quiet, nothing posting but of course turns out not to be.


It's a funny one coz it sets up like a cozy fantasy- in fact the opening is nearly identical to Emily Wilde's Enyclopedia of Faeries- but (as the profession implies) proves to be much more of an adventure-fantasy of the swords-and-sorcery stripe (not that Emily Wilde is action free). With a sideline in recovering from post-war trauma, since the area is in the aftermath of one. But it still keeps those cozy-fantasy genes too- there's a lot about friendship, and earning trust, and all that kind of thing. Honestly, it's one of the most charming things I've read in ages. Only slightly put out that Ford felt the need to end it on a cliffhanger- but since the second book is already out and the third due in a month, it's not that big of a deal.


Really excellent, highly recommended.



In the last couple days while laid up sick I've also read Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which is fine as you'd expect from him but not among his best for me, and Lord of the Empty Isles by Jules Arbeaux, a science-fantasy debut involving pirates, revolution, grief, and an unfortunate curse, which was good enough that I'll keep an eye out for more from the author without blowing my mind in its own right.

This post has been edited by polishgenius: 21 March 2025 - 07:46 PM