[amphibian]

 Tiste Simeon, on 19 April 2025 - 01:37 PM, said:

Is the Dark Tower series actually good? They've got all 7 of them in my local library.

Some of the best lines in fantasy history, some very uneven moments, not a great ending. Still overall, the books are worth the time.

[worry]

Yeah pretty much my thoughts, though I'd say the ending is legitimately polarizing more than it is bad in the traditional "Stephen King flubs his endings" way.

Also: It's now 8 books, since he wrote and published another one that fits between 4 & 5 of the original. I guess it remains optional, but if you're wondering, it's not the kind of mid-quel that you're supposed to read after book 7 like it sheds a light on everything written before. You can read it last (or never read it) and be fine, but it genuinely slots in comfortably at 4.5 without messing anything up.

[pat5150]

 Tiste Simeon, on 19 April 2025 - 01:37 PM, said:

Is the Dark Tower series actually good? They've got all 7 of them in my local library.

When it's good, it's absolutely awesome. When it's not, it's still better than a lot of what's out there. The ending doesn't work for many people, but I didn't have that much of a problem with it. The series is quite a journey. Too bad the post-accident King wrote something that is totally different from what pre-accident King would have come up with.

Well worth your time, warts and all.

[Tiste Simeon]

amphibian, on 19 April 2025 - 01:43 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 19 April 2025 - 01:37 PM, said:

Is the Dark Tower series actually good? They've got all 7 of them in my local library.

Some of the best lines in fantasy history, some very uneven moments, not a great ending. Still overall, the books are worth the time.

Thanks Amph and everyone else I think when I get through my current crop of books I'll check it out!

[HoosierDaddy]

Tiste Simeon, on 21 April 2025 - 12:18 PM, said:

amphibian, on 19 April 2025 - 01:43 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 19 April 2025 - 01:37 PM, said:

Is the Dark Tower series actually good? They've got all 7 of them in my local library.

Some of the best lines in fantasy history, some very uneven moments, not a great ending. Still overall, the books are worth the time.

Thanks Amph and everyone else I think when I get through my current crop of books I'll check it out!

I found book 1 entertaining, but not great. Second book was better and it continues to build from there into being something really special. If you are even a casual fan of King, you need to read the series.

[Tiste Simeon]

HoosierDaddy, on 21 April 2025 - 12:21 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 21 April 2025 - 12:18 PM, said:

amphibian, on 19 April 2025 - 01:43 PM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 19 April 2025 - 01:37 PM, said:

Is the Dark Tower series actually good? They've got all 7 of them in my local library.

Some of the best lines in fantasy history, some very uneven moments, not a great ending. Still overall, the books are worth the time.

Thanks Amph and everyone else I think when I get through my current crop of books I'll check it out!

I found book 1 entertaining, but not great. Second book was better and it continues to build from there into being something really special. If you are even a casual fan of King, you need to read the series.

I've only ever read one before and that was The Stand - it was pretty good!

[polishgenius]

polishgenius, on 14 April 2025 - 07:25 PM, said:

About 200 pages into A Song of Legends lost by M.H. Ayinde, a debut epic fantasy that's just come out. So far, it's really good. Great combination of character, politics, forbidden magitech, spirit/ancestor magic, and all sorts of other things. It's a proper, multi-strand epic fantasy, of the sort we rarely get nowadays (funny, though not unwelcome, how as the traditional European-medieval epic fantasy has faded out, writers of other backgrounds in other settings are coming in instead- this is the third in the genre within a few years that's of African background, Nigerian I think, though she's from London and the setting here appears to be more of a mix of various cultures).


Good shit. And unlike Rogba Payne's The Dance of Shadows, which I understand didn't get a US pickup, this one appears to have, though not sure if it's out already.

Finished this now.

It's a sprawling fantasy in which a lot of information gets thrown at you, much of it unfamiliar new ideas that are not or barely explained, loads of characters go in all different direction, then things get kinda drawn together at the end for a big... coming together of clashing powers in which lots of shit goes down but many of the hanging questions are still left open. I think we know an author like that?




Okay, it's not quite Malazan. It's not as epic, plus while there are some cool big moments in here, Ayinde's not quite as good as Erikson at them. Exciting, but mostly not breathtaking- I think because she doesn't do the buildup part quite as well. Plus one character's plot in particular suffers a bit from repetitiveness, and in general she struggles a bit to manage actual character arcs under the constant deluge of new worldbuilding information. Tbh the book should probably have been a little longer.

Still, 'not Malazan' is barely a criticism. It's fun and I recommend it.

[Macros]

Dark Tower, books aren't too long?

[amphibian]

Macros, on 21 April 2025 - 06:32 PM, said:

Dark Tower, books aren't too long?

Some of them are door stoppers, yet the writing isn't usually as dense as Malazan for example.

[worry]

polishgenius, on 21 April 2025 - 05:01 PM, said:

then things get kinda drawn together at the end for a big... coming together of clashing powers in which lots of shit goes down but many of the hanging questions are still left open. I think we know an author like that?

I love when books have a...confluence!

[Abyss]

amphibian, on 21 April 2025 - 07:06 PM, said:

Macros, on 21 April 2025 - 06:32 PM, said:

Dark Tower, books aren't too long?

Some of them are door stoppers, yet the writing isn't usually as dense as Malazan for example.

I'd say generally the TDT books are as long as they need to be. Some allowance for King to be King is appropriate, but i can't point at any book and seriously say it would have benefitted from a serious edit.

The 'bigger' issue with DT is the wider arc that covers almost everything else King wrote between starting and ending that series, a small number of which are sort of important, most of which are barely easter eggs. The series reads just fine on its own tho, the rest is bonus for fans who were with him for the long haul.

SPOILERS
THE DARK TOWER
MAJOR END SPOILERS
SPOILERS
SPOILER

Spoiler

despite the conclusion against the big bad being dependent on a previously unseen character sideways introduced by a whole other book that only deals with his birth so that he can show up, do some fourth wall breaking meta-textual stuff, and disappear again ... weird weird choice by the author

[JPK]

I've finally emerged from DON QUIXOTE and will post an update over the ded-thread. Anyways, with that brick out of the way, I'm finding myself in need of something a bit now contemporary so I pulled something up that's been sitting in my trp for YEARS. Tregellis' THE COLDEST WAR. I bought this way back when the series was first getting buzz in this thread and have read BITTER SEEDS twice now, but had just never moved forward into the series. Happy to say that I'm one chapter into this and it's very much scratching an itch for me right now.

[polishgenius]

The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong, which as the title probably tells you is another cozy fantasy. Unlike many in this genre the cozy homestead is a wagon so it's a more mobile, almost-questy story than typical for the genre, but otherwise it hits all the developing genre tropes- finding family, solving problems, gentle humour. It's nice. I like this genre, it's a great palate cleanser between the other stuff.

[pat5150]

JPK, on 22 April 2025 - 03:33 PM, said:

I've finally emerged from DON QUIXOTE and will post an update over the ded-thread. Anyways, with that brick out of the way, I'm finding myself in need of something a bit now contemporary so I pulled something up that's been sitting in my trp for YEARS. Tregellis' THE COLDEST WAR. I bought this way back when the series was first getting buzz in this thread and have read BITTER SEEDS twice now, but had just never moved forward into the series. Happy to say that I'm one chapter into this and it's very much scratching an itch for me right now.

That Tregillis trilogy is awesome!

[Abyss]

pat5150, on 22 April 2025 - 10:05 PM, said:

JPK, on 22 April 2025 - 03:33 PM, said:

I've finally emerged from DON QUIXOTE and will post an update over the ded-thread. Anyways, with that brick out of the way, I'm finding myself in need of something a bit now contemporary so I pulled something up that's been sitting in my trp for YEARS. Tregellis' THE COLDEST WAR. I bought this way back when the series was first getting buzz in this thread and have read BITTER SEEDS twice now, but had just never moved forward into the series. Happy to say that I'm one chapter into this and it's very much scratching an itch for me right now.

That Tregillis trilogy is awesome!

seconded!

[QuickTidal]

Abyss, on 24 April 2025 - 07:06 PM, said:

pat5150, on 22 April 2025 - 10:05 PM, said:

JPK, on 22 April 2025 - 03:33 PM, said:

I've finally emerged from DON QUIXOTE and will post an update over the ded-thread. Anyways, with that brick out of the way, I'm finding myself in need of something a bit now contemporary so I pulled something up that's been sitting in my trp for YEARS. Tregellis' THE COLDEST WAR. I bought this way back when the series was first getting buzz in this thread and have read BITTER SEEDS twice now, but had just never moved forward into the series. Happy to say that I'm one chapter into this and it's very much scratching an itch for me right now.

That Tregillis trilogy is awesome!

seconded!

Thirded. REALLY unique and well written.

[JPK]

 QuickTidal, on 25 April 2025 - 01:14 PM, said:

 Abyss, on 24 April 2025 - 07:06 PM, said:

 pat5150, on 22 April 2025 - 10:05 PM, said:

 JPK, on 22 April 2025 - 03:33 PM, said:

I've finally emerged from DON QUIXOTE and will post an update over the ded-thread. Anyways, with that brick out of the way, I'm finding myself in need of something a bit now contemporary so I pulled something up that's been sitting in my trp for YEARS. Tregellis' THE COLDEST WAR. I bought this way back when the series was first getting buzz in this thread and have read BITTER SEEDS twice now, but had just never moved forward into the series. Happy to say that I'm one chapter into this and it's very much scratching an itch for me right now.

That Tregillis trilogy is awesome!

seconded!

Thirded. REALLY unique and well written.

I'm pretty sure I picked this up back when QT and Abyss both started praising it several years back. But that's also how so many books landed on my trp back when I was even worse about lurking than these days.

I'm likely to be a bit slower with this one because I'm doubling it up with my current Classics read, but I'm into chapter 3 now and surprised how much darker this one got and how fast. Don't get me wrong, BITTER SEEDS wasn't exactly light but this one feels extremely heavy from the get go. It's just picking up from the end of book 1 and running with it full sprint.

[Gwynn ap Nudd]

Kind of stuck and looking for suggestions. I am looking for something lightish - thinking along the lines of the Rivers of London or Laundry Files. Most of what I have on my to read pile is heavier and with the whole active hearing thing, there are too many days where I am too mentally tired to really get into a heavier read in the evening. I just finished running a session of one of my D&D games and am realising the reason I am not reading as much is that I don't have the concentration left for something thinky at times like this.

Bonus if it is something out in paperback and/or likely at the used book store.

Edit again: It does not need to be about magic coppers/spies in London, just that level of thinkyness. Something like the True Bastards would be good too.

This post has been edited by Gwynn ap Nudd: 27 April 2025 - 05:01 AM

[Tsundoku]

Gwynn ap Nudd, on 27 April 2025 - 04:17 AM, said:

Kind of stuck and looking for suggestions. I am looking for something lightish - thinking along the lines of the Rivers of London or Laundry Files. Most of what I have on my to read pile is heavier and with the whole active hearing thing, there are too many days where I am too mentally tired to really get into a heavier read in the evening. I just finished running a session of one of my D&D games and am realising the reason I am not reading as much is that I don't have the concentration left for something thinky at times like this.

Bonus if it is something out in paperback and/or likely at the used book store.

Edit again: It does not need to be about magic coppers/spies in London, just that level of thinkyness. Something like the True Bastards would be good too.

Rogues of the Republic trilogy by Patrick Weekes. Think Oceans 11 meets D&D.

The Dark Profit Saga (trilogy) by J Zachary Pike. Think D&D meets modern economics with a very sarcastic twist.

Both mostly light but some heavier moments and quite fun.

[Chance]

Probably finishing the Raven Strategem today having taking a lot of time mostly because I haven't had any good reading time recently but it is pretty damn good when I get a few hours.

Gwynn ap Nudd, on 27 April 2025 - 04:17 AM, said:

Edit again: It does not need to be about magic coppers/spies in London, just that level of thinkyness. Something like the True Bastards would be good too.

Some fairly entertaining magic London can be found in either of Benedict Jacka's series Alex Verus is a bit more high magic dresden style, while Inheritence of Magic is unfinished and rather interesting take on a magic world perhaps a bit more low key like Rivers of London.

For something like True Bastards can never go wrong with A Crown for Cold Silver which is perhaps a bit grim but also a glorious actiony take on classic fantasy gone wholly wrong or Seven Blades in Black which is a revenge epic that very often get hillarious and awesome.

This post has been edited by Chance: 27 April 2025 - 10:03 AM