Reading Scalzi's new book The Last Emperox. It has a mood:
Whenever selfish humans encountered a wrenching, life-altering crisis, they embarked on a journey of five distinct stages.
1. Denial.
2. Denial.
3. Denial. 4. Fucking Denial.
5. Oh shit everything is terrible grab what you can and run.
It was written last year but it is feeling way too appropriate to current events.
I don't know if Scalzi is purposefully writing an allegory for climate change but he's writing an allegory for climate change. Only less bleak because at least one person in power - even if their power is fairly nebulous and uncertain - actually gives a shit.
It is totally a climate change allegory. The way the oligarchy acted felt a little overdone in the first book back in like 2017 but among our current "Go save the economy by throwing your bodies into the COVID fire" situation I feel like I owe Scalzi an apology.
Right, well, thats one lockdown chore done: I finally re-arrange my bookshelf into not-piles. Well, some piles, less. But also, mostly by author! This has revealed that I have simultaneously, too much Pratchett, and also am missing some Pratchett novels. Also, 3 copies of American Gods - two of which I knew about.
Anyway, most of the way through Monster Baru - anyone have any recommendations on follow-ups? I'm trying to hit my reading goal for the year end of April, because I may as well have something good come out of this time in the house.
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Zavianuniversal peace sounds better than forever warRegistered Userregular
I'm not really a 40k guy beyond liking some of the video games, but Ciaphas Cain and Eisenhorn are pretty good pulp books on their own merits. Ciaphas Cain is a slightly more decent version of Flashman, and Eisenhorn is about an Inquisitor investigating Chaos cults and other conspiracies.
Phillishere on
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
I've really liked a lot of the Dan Abnett stuff I've read, he's got a couple of books in there. One of the strengths (and weaknesses) of 40k fiction is that everyone is just working off of a style guide or w/e, so you can get an author who just knocks it out of the park, and then follow it up with something super bland and samey. I'll probably go for it, since I've got the time to read anyways.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
Reading Scalzi's new book The Last Emperox. It has a mood:
Whenever selfish humans encountered a wrenching, life-altering crisis, they embarked on a journey of five distinct stages.
1. Denial.
2. Denial.
3. Denial. 4. Fucking Denial.
5. Oh shit everything is terrible grab what you can and run.
It was written last year but it is feeling way too appropriate to current events.
I don't know if Scalzi is purposefully writing an allegory for climate change but he's writing an allegory for climate change. Only less bleak because at least one person in power - even if their power is fairly nebulous and uncertain - actually gives a shit.
I think scalzi is pretty aware of how his work is an allegory for modern society. Hell in one point in the book a society is implied to have intentionally voted to cut itself off from a larger federation/international community and an economic and social disaster immediately resulted. A bit on the nose there...
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
Reading Scalzi's new book The Last Emperox. It has a mood:
Whenever selfish humans encountered a wrenching, life-altering crisis, they embarked on a journey of five distinct stages.
1. Denial.
2. Denial.
3. Denial. 4. Fucking Denial.
5. Oh shit everything is terrible grab what you can and run.
It was written last year but it is feeling way too appropriate to current events.
I don't know if Scalzi is purposefully writing an allegory for climate change but he's writing an allegory for climate change. Only less bleak because at least one person in power - even if their power is fairly nebulous and uncertain - actually gives a shit.
I think scalzi is pretty aware of how his work is an allegory for modern society. Hell in one point in the book a society is implied to have intentionally voted to cut itself off from a larger federation/international community and an economic and social disaster immediately resulted. A bit on the nose there...
It's one of the benefits of his writing regimen. He has the ability to really land some on the nose work.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
I just finished up the Last Emperox and while I like the book as a whole, it's obvious near the end he rushed it. It feels like it needed a few more chapters to wrap everything up. I could definitely use a collection of short stories in this universe to tie things together from where the ending leaves off.
VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
I finished "The Shadow Out of Time" and, with it, The Dreams in the Witch House. That was, without a doubt, the best story in the book, though it took some time to really get going but that ending, with the temporal distortion, and all of its implications definitely delivers.
Overall, however, this collection was a bit of a mixed bag. I bought it for the amount of "Dream Cycle" stories it includes but some of the other things were underwhelming.
I did order The Thing on the Doorstep so once I go through that I will have finished the 3 Penguin Classics books.
If anyone's been sleeping on Stormlight Archive, here's a way to kill some quarantine time. I've encountered a lot of people who totally bounce off it, so your tastes might vary, but this is easily one of my favorite fantasy series and a lot of my friends feel the same way, I can't recommend at least trying it highly enough.
I'm not sure if I'd enjoy reading them but I'm hooked on the audiobooks. I've gone on hours long drive during quarantine just to listen to them.
They are also an incredibly slow burn cause God damn Sanderson likes his world building.
I definitely prefer the audiobooks myself. If I could make a genie wish, it'd be that all books, by everyone, get an audiobook version narrated by Michael Kramer & Kate Reading, they're my favorite narrators ever.
But hey, if this gets even one other person hooked on the series like I am, my work here is done.
Raiden333 on
There was a steam sig here. It's gone now.
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Powerpuppiesdrinking coffee in themountain cabinRegistered Userregular
finished broken earth book 1, did not like it all that much. thought the concept was fine, thought the story they were creating ok but it took too long to get interesting and there was no climax (well there was but it was terrible). 3/5 for effort but the author hopefully got a better editor for book 2 and 3 which i will not be reading.
I had a rough few starts with that book. I absolutely LOVED her Inheritance Trilogy and was eager to devour more of Jemisin's book after that. I didn't know about her other work when I started so I was excited when I learned about The Broke Cycle series and how it had gotten some high praise and awards. But it has been a struggle for me and I keep bouncing right off of it.
I felt like this and i read the whole trilogy and i still feel like this. Hated the second person in this and in the Raven Tower book. I absolutely love Jemison's other work and I sorta wish I'd bailed on broken earth
finished broken earth book 1, did not like it all that much. thought the concept was fine, thought the story they were creating ok but it took too long to get interesting and there was no climax (well there was but it was terrible). 3/5 for effort but the author hopefully got a better editor for book 2 and 3 which i will not be reading.
I had a rough few starts with that book. I absolutely LOVED her Inheritance Trilogy and was eager to devour more of Jemisin's book after that. I didn't know about her other work when I started so I was excited when I learned about The Broke Cycle series and how it had gotten some high praise and awards. But it has been a struggle for me and I keep bouncing right off of it.
I felt like this and i read the whole trilogy and i still feel like this. Hated the second person in this and in the Raven Tower book. I absolutely love Jemison's other work and I sorta wish I'd bailed on broken earth
That confirmation definitely makes me a lot less eager to try it again. I was just surprised considering the praise it received, not to mention just how much I loved the Inheritance Triology. It's quite rare to feel like a fantasy book does something new but I felt like that with the whole series so naturally I had high hopes for her first series.
Raiden - I like both of them, but they BOTH did Wheel of Time and it might feel weird to try an do Stormlight with them . I mean, I already read the series, but I like to audiobook things I've already read.
I think Marc Vitor is my personal favorite narrator, granted I've only ever heard him in The Black Company. Sadly, he rarely seems to narrate anything I'm interested in reading.
Kramer and Reading are pretty great. I'm a big fan of RC Bray. I listened to Solitude recently, which Bray read with Julia Whelan. It's one of only a handful of audiobooks I've listened to where they had different voice talent for different viewpoint characters and was odd in that Bray and Whelan had wildly different voices for the characters that the other person was narrating. I mean, the voices that, say, Kramer and Reading do for a given character are obviously different but I think Solitude is the only time where I've really noticed.
Gideon the Ninth, which I'm reading-reading instead of audiobook-reading (currently listening to Sanderson's Skyward, which is fine but I like his fantasy better) is a weird book. The voice of the writing feels very...current, I guess? which somehow makes the characters feel anachronistic without actually invoking anachronisms.
Kramer and Reading are pretty great. I'm a big fan of RC Bray. I listened to Solitude recently, which Bray read with Julia Whelan. It's one of only a handful of audiobooks I've listened to where they had different voice talent for different viewpoint characters and was odd in that Bray and Whelan had wildly different voices for the characters that the other person was narrating. I mean, the voices that, say, Kramer and Reading do for a given character are obviously different but I think Solitude is the only time where I've really noticed.
Gideon the Ninth, which I'm reading-reading instead of audiobook-reading (currently listening to Sanderson's Skyward, which is fine but I like his fantasy better) is a weird book. The voice of the writing feels very...current, I guess? which somehow makes the characters feel anachronistic without actually invoking anachronisms.
I audiobooked Skyward as well and while it felt like sci-fi lite and I just found it "okay" (and I'm a huge Sanderson fan), I thought the narration was excellent and I enjoyed it. I need to read the second one.
I've been wanting to read Gideon the Ninth, I'll be curious of what you think of it as a whole. It might be my next book once I finish Mark Lawrence's Holy Sister.
Skywards follow up was not near as good. It moved the story forward some but the ending cliffhanger (because it was a planned trilogy i believe) was just enraging.
I've been doing audio book for Gideon the Ninth as well and am rather enjoying it. I bounced hard off of Ninth House after enjoying Crooked Kingdom so sometimes an author just tries something and it doesn't work the same /shrug
For other narrators, i really enjoy James Marsters Dresden stuff.
I really want to reread Dresden. And when I reread I usually go audio book so I can use my downtime in the car to 'read' stuff I've already read. But not having to drive to work and sit in a car for two hours has killed that, plus I'm sort of afraid to audiobook Dresden and mess up my mental image/mental voice I have for him.
So I've been forcing myself through the finale of Brent Weeks' Lightbringer series. I'm saying 'forcing' because I really love the world building, the magic system, the story going on... But I really, really can't stand how it feels like his writing quality has gone down in the later books. The main things that were annoying me are that it felt like all the characters are CONSTANTLY trying to one up each other to be the oh-so-wittiest guy in the room and failing miserably, and totally random sexual innuendos thrown in for what feels like an attempt at comedy or making the characters more relatable, which fails even more. It's like the biggest impediment to the story moving forward is every character thinking it's constantly open mic night. And never before have I had the things I dislike about a book so succinctly demonstrated on a single page at the start of a chapter.
Ugh Raiden. I freakin LOVED that series at the start. Book 1 and 2 pulled some stuff on me that just blew me away. And then 3 and onward it was downhill. I still haven't finished...4? Which ever book was the one where he would NOT shut up about that rare vagina disease/deformation/whatever. Sweet mercy I couldn't finish it.
EDIT - Also, I hate everything about that page you posted in the spoiler.
Ugh Raiden. I freakin LOVED that series at the start. Book 1 and 2 pulled some stuff on me that just blew me away. And then 3 and onward it was downhill. I still haven't finished...4? Which ever book was the one where he would NOT shut up about that rare vagina disease/deformation/whatever. Sweet mercy I couldn't finish it.
That was so fucking bizarre. I was like "Ok, this has to be something personal for the author"
Ugh Raiden. I freakin LOVED that series at the start. Book 1 and 2 pulled some stuff on me that just blew me away. And then 3 and onward it was downhill. I still haven't finished...4? Which ever book was the one where he would NOT shut up about that rare vagina disease/deformation/whatever. Sweet mercy I couldn't finish it.
That was so fucking bizarre. I was like "Ok, this has to be something personal for the author"
I thought the same and then I believe I recall seeing an "about this issue" page or two at the back of the book.
BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
I'm about halfway through the Voyage of Sable Keech, and I still find some of the stuff kind of annoying, but it's easier reading farther out from having just read Culture novels.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
I wish I could use audio books, but the sheer amount of time they take drives me up the wall
One thing that can help with that, for a lot of narrators and audiobook apps, you can set it to 1.2x-1.5x speed and arguably have it not affect the experience too badly. I personally don't like this for audiobook narrators I'm big fans of, sometimes for narrators I feel like are too slow, but a lot of my friends and coworkers who also audiobook do this for like every book.
Yea, I do 1.25x speed which is enough to make progress a fair bit faster but not so fast that it feels distorted. I'd like to move to 1.5 but I just haven't been able to adjust. It gets too into chipmunk territory for me.
So I've been forcing myself through the finale of Brent Weeks' Lightbringer series. I'm saying 'forcing' because I really love the world building, the magic system, the story going on... But I really, really can't stand how it feels like his writing quality has gone down in the later books. The main things that were annoying me are that it felt like all the characters are CONSTANTLY trying to one up each other to be the oh-so-wittiest guy in the room and failing miserably, and totally random sexual innuendos thrown in for what feels like an attempt at comedy or making the characters more relatable, which fails even more. It's like the biggest impediment to the story moving forward is every character thinking it's constantly open mic night. And never before have I had the things I dislike about a book so succinctly demonstrated on a single page at the start of a chapter.
The wittiness competition was a bit tiresome but I thought the last book did an alright job of wrapping up the series. I had my doubts going in considering how many threads there were waving in the wind.
That said, the thing that bothered me most about the last book (spoilers for the whole thing, particularly the ending, so if you're still reading the book don't read this):
It was like he was doing shots of Brandon Sanderson juice and Christianity sauce back to back to back. Suddenly there are other universes with differing tech levels and some kind of pantheon of gods interacting with them and I guess we're supposed to be interested in who these gods are and what they're up to? But then also HERE COMES GOD! ISN'T GOD KEEN?! lightly paper-over christian symbolism and the only solution to problems is faith.
It was so weird. There were occasional bouts of pro-religious tone throughout the series and I'm given to understand Weeks is, himself, fairly religious so I guess that bit wasn't too surprising but, at the same time, the characters involved were very much not religious so the sudden Resolution Via Epiphany felt a tad forced.
There were also hints that there was some bigger world out there but they never went anywhere. And I'd argue that even in this last book they don't really go anywhere. I guess he's going to write other stuff and re-use these characters, maybe? I dunno. It felt like Weeks being the DCU to Sanderson's Cosmere MCU. He liked the idea so tried to jump straight to where Sanderson's gotten with it after a pile of books introducing shared concepts and characters.
I don't quite get the listening-to-audiobooks-on-fast-forward thing. I listen to them to give my brain something to do while I'm jogging, doing chores, cooking, etc. The longer it takes to get through one the longer before I have to buy more audible credits.
This is why I read the first way of kings, went that was fun, picked up the second, looked at the physical size of it, went this is book 2 of ten huh?
I got better things to do.
No did if you enjoy it mind. Personally, I've found that increasingly I just do not enjoy bookstooper fantasy (or sci fi). Give me self contained novels that tell a complete story. If they share characters or a world, bonus! But having a complete story in a single book is something I'm really coming to value.
(Some examples - Max Gladstone's craft sequence, Ann Leckies Providence, murderbot ofc, the superb Alpenia novels by heather rose Jones)
This is why I read the first way of kings, went that was fun, picked up the second, looked at the physical size of it, went this is book 2 of ten huh?
I got better things to do.
No did if you enjoy it mind. Personally, I've found that increasingly I just do not enjoy bookstooper fantasy (or sci fi). Give me self contained novels that tell a complete story. If they share characters or a world, bonus! But having a complete story in a single book is something I'm really coming to value.
(Some examples - Max Gladstone's craft sequence, Ann Leckies Providence, murderbot ofc, the superb Alpenia novels by heather rose Jones)
I love a good epic series, but I have to have faith in the author. I am VERY over people like Martin and Rothfuss (whose series I think is terrible, so I'd not be finishing it anyway) but Sanderson is so prolific that I don't worry about investing my time into Stormlight. Plus, I absolutely love the world he created, so that helps.
That said, I can only handle about 1 such series at a time. Especially these days as my memory seems to really be going downhill as far as retaining story details. Maybe due to getting older, who knows! But when I grew up on Wheel of Time, I had such an intimate knowledge of what was going on, every aspect of how channeling worked, and all these little details for 8 (at the time) huge books. Fast forward to today, I read all of Stormlight and loved it, but if you put a gun to my head, I probably couldn't recall anything but the VAGUEST of details about what happened in the last 2 books. Book 1 I remember slightly better since I read it twice.
I also appreciate a good one-off or trilogy. I also quite like when an author makes a trilogy (or similar short series) with a beginning-middle-end, but then does another book/series in the same world. I use Mark Lawrence as an example there, though Sanderson also did it with Mistborn.
There's certainly a lot to be said in favor of smaller tales that actually get completed in a decent amount of time and I absolutely understand where you're coming from.
This is why I read the first way of kings, went that was fun, picked up the second, looked at the physical size of it, went this is book 2 of ten huh?
I got better things to do.
No did if you enjoy it mind. Personally, I've found that increasingly I just do not enjoy bookstooper fantasy (or sci fi). Give me self contained novels that tell a complete story. If they share characters or a world, bonus! But having a complete story in a single book is something I'm really coming to value.
(Some examples - Max Gladstone's craft sequence, Ann Leckies Providence, murderbot ofc, the superb Alpenia novels by heather rose Jones)
I love a good epic series, but I have to have faith in the author. I am VERY over people like Martin and Rothfuss (whose series I think is terrible, so I'd not be finishing it anyway) but Sanderson is so prolific that I don't worry about investing my time into Stormlight. Plus, I absolutely love the world he created, so that helps.
That said, I can only handle about 1 such series at a time. Especially these days as my memory seems to really be going downhill as far as retaining story details. Maybe due to getting older, who knows! But when I grew up on Wheel of Time, I had such an intimate knowledge of what was going on, every aspect of how channeling worked, and all these little details for 8 (at the time) huge books. Fast forward to today, I read all of Stormlight and loved it, but if you put a gun to my head, I probably couldn't recall anything but the VAGUEST of details about what happened in the last 2 books. Book 1 I remember slightly better since I read it twice.
I also appreciate a good one-off or trilogy. I also quite like when an author makes a trilogy (or similar short series) with a beginning-middle-end, but then does another book/series in the same world. I use Mark Lawrence as an example there, though Sanderson also did it with Mistborn.
There's certainly a lot to be said in favor of smaller tales that actually get completed in a decent amount of time and I absolutely understand where you're coming from.
I've started trying to write down my own little synopsis when I finish books in a series so that I have some idea what happened when I finally get to the next one, since I can never seem to find good ones anywhere else.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
I also appreciate a good one-off or trilogy. I also quite like when an author makes a trilogy (or similar short series) with a beginning-middle-end, but then does another book/series in the same world. I use Mark Lawrence as an example there, though Sanderson also did it with Mistborn.
There's certainly a lot to be said in favor of smaller tales that actually get completed in a decent amount of time and I absolutely understand where you're coming from.
Have you read any Joe Abercrombie? His books sound a lot like what you like - self-contained trilogies and novels set in a the same world. He's my favorite fantasy author right now.
I also appreciate a good one-off or trilogy. I also quite like when an author makes a trilogy (or similar short series) with a beginning-middle-end, but then does another book/series in the same world. I use Mark Lawrence as an example there, though Sanderson also did it with Mistborn.
There's certainly a lot to be said in favor of smaller tales that actually get completed in a decent amount of time and I absolutely understand where you're coming from.
Have you read any Joe Abercrombie? His books sound a lot like what you like - self-contained trilogies and novels set in a the same world. He's my favorite fantasy author right now.
I have only read the First Law series. I struggled with it a little bit because I find it difficult to read from the POV of unlikable characters - which is funny to say since I love Mark Lawrence's first series so much - so I had a tough time getting through Glokta's parts. But I absolutely loved Logan and the world building.
That was also the first one with a character like that that I was able to finish. I've never managed to get through Thomas Covenant, for example. Maybe that helped me open up to those characters a little bit and that may be WHY I was able to enjoy The Broken Empire series. I plan to read more of his work in the future. In fact, I bought the first of his new series a while back, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Brody - That's not a bad idea. Even if I wrote a blurb after each chapter it might be helpful. A little more work, but I'm willing to put in a little extra effort if it makes for a richer experience.
I was trying to finish up Malazan after being 7 books deep but taking a 5 year break. I found a 'reread' of the series which has great information, but it feels like the reread articles are almost as long as the book!
I also appreciate a good one-off or trilogy. I also quite like when an author makes a trilogy (or similar short series) with a beginning-middle-end, but then does another book/series in the same world. I use Mark Lawrence as an example there, though Sanderson also did it with Mistborn.
There's certainly a lot to be said in favor of smaller tales that actually get completed in a decent amount of time and I absolutely understand where you're coming from.
Have you read any Joe Abercrombie? His books sound a lot like what you like - self-contained trilogies and novels set in a the same world. He's my favorite fantasy author right now.
I have only read the First Law series. I struggled with it a little bit because I find it difficult to read from the POV of unlikable characters - which is funny to say since I love Mark Lawrence's first series so much - so I had a tough time getting through Glokta's parts. But I absolutely loved Logan and the world building.
That was also the first one with a character like that that I was able to finish. I've never managed to get through Thomas Covenant, for example. Maybe that helped me open up to those characters a little bit and that may be WHY I was able to enjoy The Broken Empire series. I plan to read more of his work in the future. In fact, I bought the first of his new series a while back, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Brody - That's not a bad idea. Even if I wrote a blurb after each chapter it might be helpful. A little more work, but I'm willing to put in a little extra effort if it makes for a richer experience.
I was trying to finish up Malazan after being 7 books deep but taking a 5 year break. I found a 'reread' of the series which has great information, but it feels like the reread articles are almost as long as the book!
The First Law trilogy is by far my least favorite of his books.
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BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
I also appreciate a good one-off or trilogy. I also quite like when an author makes a trilogy (or similar short series) with a beginning-middle-end, but then does another book/series in the same world. I use Mark Lawrence as an example there, though Sanderson also did it with Mistborn.
There's certainly a lot to be said in favor of smaller tales that actually get completed in a decent amount of time and I absolutely understand where you're coming from.
Have you read any Joe Abercrombie? His books sound a lot like what you like - self-contained trilogies and novels set in a the same world. He's my favorite fantasy author right now.
I have only read the First Law series. I struggled with it a little bit because I find it difficult to read from the POV of unlikable characters - which is funny to say since I love Mark Lawrence's first series so much - so I had a tough time getting through Glokta's parts. But I absolutely loved Logan and the world building.
That was also the first one with a character like that that I was able to finish. I've never managed to get through Thomas Covenant, for example. Maybe that helped me open up to those characters a little bit and that may be WHY I was able to enjoy The Broken Empire series. I plan to read more of his work in the future. In fact, I bought the first of his new series a while back, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Brody - That's not a bad idea. Even if I wrote a blurb after each chapter it might be helpful. A little more work, but I'm willing to put in a little extra effort if it makes for a richer experience.
I was trying to finish up Malazan after being 7 books deep but taking a 5 year break. I found a 'reread' of the series which has great information, but it feels like the reread articles are almost as long as the book!
Yeah, I really need to work harder at it, because it'd be nice for a lot of reasons. I'd like to take a more critical look at the things I'm reading, and I'd like to have an easier time looking back at what I've read and actually being able to remember what happened with them.
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
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"Dear Mr Scalzi..."
Anyway, most of the way through Monster Baru - anyone have any recommendations on follow-ups? I'm trying to hit my reading goal for the year end of April, because I may as well have something good come out of this time in the house.
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/warhammer-40000-series-starters-black-library-books
I'm not really a 40k guy beyond liking some of the video games, but Ciaphas Cain and Eisenhorn are pretty good pulp books on their own merits. Ciaphas Cain is a slightly more decent version of Flashman, and Eisenhorn is about an Inquisitor investigating Chaos cults and other conspiracies.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
I think scalzi is pretty aware of how his work is an allegory for modern society. Hell in one point in the book a society is implied to have intentionally voted to cut itself off from a larger federation/international community and an economic and social disaster immediately resulted. A bit on the nose there...
It's one of the benefits of his writing regimen. He has the ability to really land some on the nose work.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Overall, however, this collection was a bit of a mixed bag. I bought it for the amount of "Dream Cycle" stories it includes but some of the other things were underwhelming.
I did order The Thing on the Doorstep so once I go through that I will have finished the 3 Penguin Classics books.
If anyone's been sleeping on Stormlight Archive, here's a way to kill some quarantine time. I've encountered a lot of people who totally bounce off it, so your tastes might vary, but this is easily one of my favorite fantasy series and a lot of my friends feel the same way, I can't recommend at least trying it highly enough.
They are also an incredibly slow burn cause God damn Sanderson likes his world building.
I definitely prefer the audiobooks myself. If I could make a genie wish, it'd be that all books, by everyone, get an audiobook version narrated by Michael Kramer & Kate Reading, they're my favorite narrators ever.
But hey, if this gets even one other person hooked on the series like I am, my work here is done.
I felt like this and i read the whole trilogy and i still feel like this. Hated the second person in this and in the Raven Tower book. I absolutely love Jemison's other work and I sorta wish I'd bailed on broken earth
That confirmation definitely makes me a lot less eager to try it again. I was just surprised considering the praise it received, not to mention just how much I loved the Inheritance Triology. It's quite rare to feel like a fantasy book does something new but I felt like that with the whole series so naturally I had high hopes for her first series.
Raiden - I like both of them, but they BOTH did Wheel of Time and it might feel weird to try an do Stormlight with them
I think Marc Vitor is my personal favorite narrator, granted I've only ever heard him in The Black Company. Sadly, he rarely seems to narrate anything I'm interested in reading.
Gideon the Ninth, which I'm reading-reading instead of audiobook-reading (currently listening to Sanderson's Skyward, which is fine but I like his fantasy better) is a weird book. The voice of the writing feels very...current, I guess? which somehow makes the characters feel anachronistic without actually invoking anachronisms.
I audiobooked Skyward as well and while it felt like sci-fi lite and I just found it "okay" (and I'm a huge Sanderson fan), I thought the narration was excellent and I enjoyed it. I need to read the second one.
I've been wanting to read Gideon the Ninth, I'll be curious of what you think of it as a whole. It might be my next book once I finish Mark Lawrence's Holy Sister.
I've been doing audio book for Gideon the Ninth as well and am rather enjoying it. I bounced hard off of Ninth House after enjoying Crooked Kingdom so sometimes an author just tries something and it doesn't work the same /shrug
For other narrators, i really enjoy James Marsters Dresden stuff.
Blizzard: Pailryder#1101
GoG: https://www.gog.com/u/pailryder
Yeah. Read that biz
Steam - Talon Valdez :Blizz - Talonious#1860 : Xbox Live & LoL - Talonious Monk @TaloniousMonk Hail Satan
EDIT - Also, I hate everything about that page you posted in the spoiler.
That was so fucking bizarre. I was like "Ok, this has to be something personal for the author"
I thought the same and then I believe I recall seeing an "about this issue" page or two at the back of the book.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
One thing that can help with that, for a lot of narrators and audiobook apps, you can set it to 1.2x-1.5x speed and arguably have it not affect the experience too badly. I personally don't like this for audiobook narrators I'm big fans of, sometimes for narrators I feel like are too slow, but a lot of my friends and coworkers who also audiobook do this for like every book.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
The wittiness competition was a bit tiresome but I thought the last book did an alright job of wrapping up the series. I had my doubts going in considering how many threads there were waving in the wind.
That said, the thing that bothered me most about the last book (spoilers for the whole thing, particularly the ending, so if you're still reading the book don't read this):
It was so weird. There were occasional bouts of pro-religious tone throughout the series and I'm given to understand Weeks is, himself, fairly religious so I guess that bit wasn't too surprising but, at the same time, the characters involved were very much not religious so the sudden Resolution Via Epiphany felt a tad forced.
There were also hints that there was some bigger world out there but they never went anywhere. And I'd argue that even in this last book they don't really go anywhere. I guess he's going to write other stuff and re-use these characters, maybe? I dunno. It felt like Weeks being the DCU to Sanderson's Cosmere MCU. He liked the idea so tried to jump straight to where Sanderson's gotten with it after a pile of books introducing shared concepts and characters.
I don't quite get the listening-to-audiobooks-on-fast-forward thing. I listen to them to give my brain something to do while I'm jogging, doing chores, cooking, etc. The longer it takes to get through one the longer before I have to buy more audible credits.
I would like Murderbot Book 6 please!
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
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Which I will finish some time next decade.
This is why I read the first way of kings, went that was fun, picked up the second, looked at the physical size of it, went this is book 2 of ten huh?
I got better things to do.
No did if you enjoy it mind. Personally, I've found that increasingly I just do not enjoy bookstooper fantasy (or sci fi). Give me self contained novels that tell a complete story. If they share characters or a world, bonus! But having a complete story in a single book is something I'm really coming to value.
(Some examples - Max Gladstone's craft sequence, Ann Leckies Providence, murderbot ofc, the superb Alpenia novels by heather rose Jones)
Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/id/TheZombiePenguin
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I love a good epic series, but I have to have faith in the author. I am VERY over people like Martin and Rothfuss (whose series I think is terrible, so I'd not be finishing it anyway) but Sanderson is so prolific that I don't worry about investing my time into Stormlight. Plus, I absolutely love the world he created, so that helps.
That said, I can only handle about 1 such series at a time. Especially these days as my memory seems to really be going downhill as far as retaining story details. Maybe due to getting older, who knows! But when I grew up on Wheel of Time, I had such an intimate knowledge of what was going on, every aspect of how channeling worked, and all these little details for 8 (at the time) huge books. Fast forward to today, I read all of Stormlight and loved it, but if you put a gun to my head, I probably couldn't recall anything but the VAGUEST of details about what happened in the last 2 books. Book 1 I remember slightly better since I read it twice.
I also appreciate a good one-off or trilogy. I also quite like when an author makes a trilogy (or similar short series) with a beginning-middle-end, but then does another book/series in the same world. I use Mark Lawrence as an example there, though Sanderson also did it with Mistborn.
There's certainly a lot to be said in favor of smaller tales that actually get completed in a decent amount of time and I absolutely understand where you're coming from.
I've started trying to write down my own little synopsis when I finish books in a series so that I have some idea what happened when I finally get to the next one, since I can never seem to find good ones anywhere else.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
Have you read any Joe Abercrombie? His books sound a lot like what you like - self-contained trilogies and novels set in a the same world. He's my favorite fantasy author right now.
Part 1 of this trilogy is currently 99 pence on the uk kindle store.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soldier-Rise-Jain-Book-ebook/dp/B077MRPGJL/ref=sr_1_3?crid=T7QHC3727OP1&dchild=1&keywords=neil+asher&qid=1588885918&s=books&sprefix=Neil+as,digital-text,143&sr=1-3
I have only read the First Law series. I struggled with it a little bit because I find it difficult to read from the POV of unlikable characters - which is funny to say since I love Mark Lawrence's first series so much - so I had a tough time getting through Glokta's parts. But I absolutely loved Logan and the world building.
That was also the first one with a character like that that I was able to finish. I've never managed to get through Thomas Covenant, for example. Maybe that helped me open up to those characters a little bit and that may be WHY I was able to enjoy The Broken Empire series. I plan to read more of his work in the future. In fact, I bought the first of his new series a while back, just haven't gotten around to it yet.
Brody - That's not a bad idea. Even if I wrote a blurb after each chapter it might be helpful. A little more work, but I'm willing to put in a little extra effort if it makes for a richer experience.
I was trying to finish up Malazan after being 7 books deep but taking a 5 year break. I found a 'reread' of the series which has great information, but it feels like the reread articles are almost as long as the book!
The First Law trilogy is by far my least favorite of his books.
Yeah, I really need to work harder at it, because it'd be nice for a lot of reasons. I'd like to take a more critical look at the things I'm reading, and I'd like to have an easier time looking back at what I've read and actually being able to remember what happened with them.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain