[Tiste Simeon]

Tiste Simeon, on 17 May 2025 - 11:49 AM, said:

So I've got through 9 books of the Cradle series by Will Wight and honestly I'm having a blast. This series keeps getting better and I'm now only 3 books from the end. Taking a break to read the non fiction book Jesus and John Wayne, which is a look at the white evangelical movement in the US and how it's gone against everything they claim to represent. Expecting to be fascinated and angered in equal measure.

After that I'll make a run to the end of Cradle with all 3 books in a row.

Finished Jesus and John Wayne and it was... Desperately sad I'll be honest. It was an excellent historical read and I enjoyed reading it but it left me feeling quite down, to see how twisted things have become. When it's set out as it is, the manipulation and malice becomes very clear. It's about power and nothing to do with Christ, IMO.

Might not be so new to a lot of you, but it was fairly eye opening for me.

On a lighter note I'm back to the Cradle series for the last 3 novels!

[QuickTidal]

Tiste Simeon, on 03 June 2025 - 11:53 AM, said:

On a lighter note I'm back to the Cradle series for the last 3 novels!

There is also a short story collection called THRESHOLD, so seek that out when you've done.

[Abyss]

QuickTidal, on 03 June 2025 - 11:26 AM, said:

Abyss, on 02 June 2025 - 06:41 PM, said:

I cannot explain in words how much i am enjoying this book.
It's taking this long because i keep rereading/listening to large sections multiple times as soon as i've finished them.

I'm taking my time for similar reasons, but also cause I'm re-reading Dresden at the same time and alternating, but yeah it's SO much fun!

Even the mild banter "I should have quit after Byzantium" "You always say that" or "The Kingdom of Naples is right out, obviously" "Obviously" both getting repeated as just rote blank banter between the group...it makes everything feel so lived in. I'm going to be sad when I'm done with this one.

Just Finished... i am blown away and devastated in equal parts. More once i relisten to the last few chapters.

[JPK]

Abyss, on 03 June 2025 - 04:01 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 03 June 2025 - 11:26 AM, said:

Abyss, on 02 June 2025 - 06:41 PM, said:

I cannot explain in words how much i am enjoying this book.
It's taking this long because i keep rereading/listening to large sections multiple times as soon as i've finished them.

I'm taking my time for similar reasons, but also cause I'm re-reading Dresden at the same time and alternating, but yeah it's SO much fun!

Even the mild banter "I should have quit after Byzantium" "You always say that" or "The Kingdom of Naples is right out, obviously" "Obviously" both getting repeated as just rote blank banter between the group...it makes everything feel so lived in. I'm going to be sad when I'm done with this one.

Just Finished... i am blown away and devastated in equal parts. More once i relisten to the last few chapters.

How well do you two think this will adapt to the big screen? I ask because... Reasons.

https://comicbook.co...ovie-confirmed/

[Abyss]

JPK, on 03 June 2025 - 07:20 PM, said:

Abyss, on 03 June 2025 - 04:01 PM, said:

QuickTidal, on 03 June 2025 - 11:26 AM, said:

Abyss, on 02 June 2025 - 06:41 PM, said:

I cannot explain in words how much i am enjoying this book.
It's taking this long because i keep rereading/listening to large sections multiple times as soon as i've finished them.

I'm taking my time for similar reasons, but also cause I'm re-reading Dresden at the same time and alternating, but yeah it's SO much fun!

Even the mild banter "I should have quit after Byzantium" "You always say that" or "The Kingdom of Naples is right out, obviously" "Obviously" both getting repeated as just rote blank banter between the group...it makes everything feel so lived in. I'm going to be sad when I'm done with this one.

Just Finished... i am blown away and devastated in equal parts. More once i relisten to the last few chapters.

How well do you two think this will adapt to the big screen? I ask because... Reasons.

https://comicbook.co...ovie-confirmed/

JA has i think even stated he wrote this w Hollywood in mind. It's absolutely a story that would work for film. The storyline is straightforward - heroes who are monstrs must get princess to throne, kill baddies - and any of the many, glorious action scenes could easily be cut/revised/skipped without damaging the end product.

[JPK]

Fine, I spent a credit and I'll follow you two as usual. It'll be a few weeks until I get to it though as I'm trying to finish up a few series I've been chipping away at first.

My current listen is TALES FROM THE CAFE by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. A friend of mine that knows how much I enjoy Murakami's works suggested this one to me, which was slightly misleading as they're really not very similar.
It's the second book in the series and starts with BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD. The premise is that there's a coffee shop that allows people to travel in time to save a conversation with another person that has visited that shop to have a conversation that lasts the length of time that it takes for a cup of coffee to get cold. The stories aren't always the most heartwarming, but they're an interesting portrayal of the concept of how a single conversation can entirely change one's perception of a scenario and usually and up leaving me with a feeling of hope. All that is to say that I'm enjoying these quite a lot.

[Briar King]

Finally finished SLA5. Took 6 months to chip that ass. I might have 1 more SLA left in me not 100 on that though just yet.

I’m now on pg 426 of Peter F Hamilton’s Exodus game tie in book and utterly loving it! Can’t wait for that game to come out if we are still alive then!

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

 Briar King, on 22 June 2025 - 03:53 AM, said:

Finally finished SLA5. Took 6 months to chip that ass. I might have 1 more SLA left in me not 100 on that though just yet.

I’m now on pg 426 of Peter F Hamilton’s Exodus game tie in book and utterly loving it! Can’t wait for that game to come out if we are still alive then!

Yep, fun book!

[Mentalist]

wrapped up "Against All Gods" last night.
Will be moving on to "Storming Heaven" this week.

[Briar King]

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 22 June 2025 - 05:47 PM, said:

Briar King, on 22 June 2025 - 03:53 AM, said:

Finally finished SLA5. Took 6 months to chip that ass. I might have 1 more SLA left in me not 100 on that though just yet.

I’m now on pg 426 of Peter F Hamilton’s Exodus game tie in book and utterly loving it! Can’t wait for that game to come out if we are still alive then!

Yep, fun book!

SLA 5 or Exodus?

Sure hope you mean Exodus! There are quite a few info dumps/game tutorial style segments within the 1st 100 pgs but once past that Hamilton is really bringing his umm Hamiltoness to the story. It’s so damn rich and really is bringing some unique content to humanity 40+K yrs into the future. Like we have become so alien but yet they aren’t “aliens”! The Crown Dominion is a fascinating cultural: females produce eggs and then give them to males to place in their marsupial pouches to bring offspring to term! BUT THEY AINT ALIENS!

This franchise is trying to go for the same thing Synder wanted for Rebel Moon but unlike it so far this one is on the right track. I just can’t wait to get my hands on this game. Day 1 buy for sure.

Speaking of Hamilton I recently just got the last Commonwealth duology I was missing. However it’s been quite a bit since I read the 5 I have so I plan on rereading Pandoras Star through The Void 3 before starting them. Soon as I finish Exodus.

Also got reread First Law-Red Country before starting the newest trilogy I got not long to.

Same for Red Rising. I tried to pick up the last book cold before determining I would be lost on who’s who.

My calendar is full for a bit. Gonna be awhile before I get back GGKs Jads World books.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

Briar King, on 23 June 2025 - 04:07 AM, said:

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 22 June 2025 - 05:47 PM, said:

Briar King, on 22 June 2025 - 03:53 AM, said:

Finally finished SLA5. Took 6 months to chip that ass. I might have 1 more SLA left in me not 100 on that though just yet.

I’m now on pg 426 of Peter F Hamilton’s Exodus game tie in book and utterly loving it! Can’t wait for that game to come out if we are still alive then!

Yep, fun book!

SLA 5 or Exodus?

Sure hope you mean Exodus! There are quite a few info dumps/game tutorial style segments within the 1st 100 pgs but once past that Hamilton is really bringing his umm Hamiltoness to the story. It’s so damn rich and really is bringing some unique content to humanity 40+K yrs into the future. Like we have become so alien but yet they aren’t “aliens”! The Crown Dominion is a fascinating cultural: females produce eggs and then give them to males to place in their marsupial pouches to bring offspring to term! BUT THEY AINT ALIENS!

This franchise is trying to go for the same thing Synder wanted for Rebel Moon but unlike it so far this one is on the right track. I just can’t wait to get my hands on this game. Day 1 buy for sure.

Speaking of Hamilton I recently just got the last Commonwealth duology I was missing. However it’s been quite a bit since I read the 5 I have so I plan on rereading Pandoras Star through The Void 3 before starting them. Soon as I finish Exodus.

Also got reread First Law-Red Country before starting the newest trilogy I got not long to.

Same for Red Rising. I tried to pick up the last book cold before determining I would be lost on who’s who.

My calendar is full for a bit. Gonna be awhile before I get back GGKs Jads World books.

Exodus! I also re-read the Commonwealth books after reading Exodus. Good choice!

[Chance]

Been trying to start the Devils but it seems I no longer can just read/listen to books all the time...got to get back into the habit.

Mentalist, on 23 June 2025 - 01:10 AM, said:

wrapped up "Against All Gods" last night.
Will be moving on to "Storming Heaven" this week.

Some of the best stuff recently, its a glorious series.

[Tiste Simeon]

I finished the Cradle series by Will Wight and it was fantastic. Just a fast paced and entertaining read throughout (didn't require too much intense focus which I appreciated!)

I think I'm ready though. I think I'm going to give the Stormlight Archive a go. Probably read some other ones in between to balance it out.

[QuickTidal]

Tiste Simeon, on 24 June 2025 - 06:24 AM, said:

I finished the Cradle series by Will Wight and it was fantastic. Just a fast paced and entertaining read throughout (didn't require too much intense focus which I appreciated!)

I think I'm ready though. I think I'm going to give the Stormlight Archive a go. Probably read some other ones in between to balance it out.

For what it's worth, later on when you're ready for more Wight, his other series are also really good. Perhaps not quite as good as Cradle, but still very good.

[Tiste Simeon]

QuickTidal, on 24 June 2025 - 11:52 AM, said:

Tiste Simeon, on 24 June 2025 - 06:24 AM, said:

I finished the Cradle series by Will Wight and it was fantastic. Just a fast paced and entertaining read throughout (didn't require too much intense focus which I appreciated!)

I think I'm ready though. I think I'm going to give the Stormlight Archive a go. Probably read some other ones in between to balance it out.

For what it's worth, later on when you're ready for more Wight, his other series are also really good. Perhaps not quite as good as Cradle, but still very good.

Yeah I have a couple of other series by him I'll definitely check them out down the line.

[worry]

Dungeon Crawler Carl #3 -- pretty good. Cool dungeon idea for this one, and a big step up in terms of character interaction. Great finale.

The Poppy War (book 1, not the full series yet) -- also pretty good. A lot of you have probably read this one already. It has easy breezy prose and tone that is definitely a choice, and I thought it mostly worked. It's like older YA-friendly (Hunger Games and above). In terms of subject matter it also kind of starts there but eventually gets into even darker territory, with extremely ugly events pulled from real Sino-Japanese War stuff and described pretty unsparingly. I'll be continuing the series but needed a breather.

The Eyre Affair -- this is cute and goofy, and very much a popcorn book for lit nerds. Set in an England (and world) where literature basically has more cache than anything else, with corresponding mainstream culture as well as implications for fanatics, criminals, and law enforcement. And somehow there are people who can pop in and out of books, like Gumby. Delights in wordplay and references. Definitely written quite a while ago, as the tensions between UK and Russia presented here are more post-Cold War in attitude than Putinification of Russia. It's mostly backdrop but does stick out like a sore thumb nowadays.

Dungeon Crawler Carl #4 -- the best one so far imo. I don't know that the finale hit every note that the story was building up to, and I think in general Matt Dinniman is more meme-brained than I am, but still a high octane story with another interesting dungeon idea (multiple ideas in fact), and another ramp-up of action, humor, and heart. He's definitely not scared of adding new chainsaws to this goofball juggling act. The payoffs are pretty good too, and I'm assuming book five is like the first season finale, with all the build-up to that floor.

Now I'm gonna start one more thing before I get back to Poppy War -- a well-reviewed horror novel called The Troop by Nick Cutter. It's in the Kids vs. Evil vein, I think, in this case a Boy Scout troop out camping on a Canadian island near PEI.

This post has been edited by worry: 30 June 2025 - 06:25 PM

[Cyphon]

The Eyre affair and related books are gems. It's written in that different take on tensions partly as its explicitly an alternate reality.

[worry]

Oh for sure, I just meant writing even an alt-world version of that in 2000 or whenever had a lot more room for fun hypotheticals than if someone were to do it now. Just crazy how unpredictable things sometimes are.

[Tiste Simeon]

Finished the audiobook of The Malevolent Eight and it's just as funny and bonkers as the first one. I mean how can you not love an insane

Spoiler

vampire kangaroo??

The narrator is excellent and suits the text very well. I hope a third installment comes along.

My audiobook plan is to do Reaper's Gale and then the new Rivers of London book before hitting Stonewielder. I do have The Devils audiobook lined up after a couple of you raved about it a few pages back. I might slip that in somewhere along the way.

[Mentalist]

Finished "Storming Heaven" the second Age of Bronze book. Days off and rain are conducive to finishing books.

Gonna be in town next week so I'll have a chance to pick up Bk 3. In the meantime gonna start plugging away at my planned Wax & Wayne re-read.