Malazan Empire: Tatterdemalion - Viewing Profile - Malazan Empire

RACHEL, on 10 February 2020 - 05:15 PM, said:

Hey RACHEL,

Just wanted to say I finished Swarm & Steel recently and it was amazing as expected. I really find something special and unique in Fletcher's world and writing style. Most impressive to me is that the 'down time' parts where characters mull and machinate are my favourite parts - and then the action is great, too. Great combo.

I have Black Stone Heart and the City of Sacrifice books ahead of me now, but a break first.

I'm reading Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike right now, and it is plenty fun. Lots of sentences well-crafted to be clever, and a fun knock at capitalism and the world of business through a fantasy lens.
Next I'm doing some beta reading and will have to choose a new physical book, with lots to choose from:

The Hod King - Josiah Bancroft
The Liar's Key - Mark Lawrence
We Ride the Storm - Devin Madson
Court of Broken Knives - Anna Smith Spark
Traitor's Blade - Sebastien de Castell
The Gray Bastards - Jonathan French
Malice - John Gwynne
The 1,000 Names - Django Wexler
Stormblood by Jeremy Szal should be showing up sometime soon...

...and hey Rejoice! A Knife to the Heart by Steve to boot. Maybe more I'm forgetting.

I just started Paternus: War of Gods by Dyrk Ashton, which is huge and gonna derail my Goodreads challenge. I'm waiting for a physical copy to come by mail so I can switch to it and then I'm going to start Swarm and Steel by Michael R. Fletcher on my kindle.

I recently read and enjoyed:
Rage of Dragons - Evan Winter
Faithless - Graham Austin-King

This year, according to Goodreads, I read:

Prince of Fools - Mark Lawrence
Arm of the Sphinx - Josiah Bancroft
Bloody Rose - Nicholas Eames
Kellanved's Reach - ICE
The Wrath of Heroes - David Benem
Beyond Redemption - Michael R. Fletcher
The Mirror's Edge - Michael R. Fletcher
...and if I can finish 4-5 stories by January 1st, Sharp Ends - Joe Abercrombie

My favourites were Bloody Rose and Beyond Redemption (or maybe Mirror's Edge, I certainly read it a lot faster) - but all were either great or good and worth my time.

Mentalist, on 26 November 2019 - 05:56 PM, said:

Funny enough, I just popped in to say I just read the sequel and loved it pretty much as much as Beyond Redemption. I mean, I made this whole thread so guess I should. I can confirm it stays focused on our three leads, but with a handful of new characters. The ending is crazy horrendous and brings lots of threads together, some from Book 1. The next book, Swarm & Steel, is a closer for the trilogy - but takes place half a world away with brand new characters, so it's principally just set in the same world. I'm going to cleanse my pallet before giving it a go, but I certainly will.

Mirror's Truth gets more in depth with the central characters, and when it feels like it's going to fall apart at the seams, pulls it all in tight (or did for me).

See, the death wasn't the unique aspect to me: it was Konig and the play of the doppels. The premise of writing scenes where you have conspiring characters who are the same as their original self and ALSO must follow Konig's delusive trait that created them.... yikes. That's a knife edge to balance on. That was the part that shot it unique for me, rather than the main three. They're not so distant from, say, Monza Murcatto. I love the system of powers. I wish I had something so creative as to help sell my own work.