What Are You Reading, Part 2

[+Extesian]

@Oversleep I agree with you but I also don't feel that's what @The Flash was implying, at least not to that extent. For sure you don't have to choose between edgy/BadWordy and worldbuilding though, Martin and Locke still write beautifully. Though maybe that's exactly what Flash meant, in which case I also disagree (though not quite as passionately )

[AngelEy3]

On 7/15/2017 at 4:01 PM, Briar King said:

Where are you in 7?

Just realized that this was probably for me. I just started Toll the Hounds. 

[AngelEy3]

3 hours ago, Extesian said:

@Oversleep I agree with you but I also don't feel that's what @The Flash was implying, at least not to that extent. For sure you don't have to choose between edgy/BadWordy and worldbuilding though, Martin and Locke still write beautifully. Though maybe that's exactly what Flash meant, in which case I also disagree (though not quite as passionately )

I think it might actually be what he meant. There's a post not too far back on this same thread where someone was excited to own a copy of a book so they could block out the Bad Words™ and therefore never have to see them again. My question is what's the difference between in-world Bad Words™ and real world Bad Words™? None so far as I can tell. Correct me if that's wrong. 

 

... And a double post for me... Sorry about that everyone. 

Edited July 17, 2017 by AngelEy3

[Ammanas]

So I don't want to presume what @The Flash meant by his statement but I will try to answer @AngelEy3 with my own opinion. Personally I agree with you angeleye3. But I am kind of a oddball in my own religion and look at some things very differently. I will tell you that most or at least many LDS people have closest relationships and hang out the mostly with other LDS people. It is a really tight knit group where there is no cursing involved. When you hear bad language it can be very jarring and shocking for some and makes them uncomfortable. If they hear it on television too much they usually find a new show. If somewhere else they leave or try to block it out. So while for many cursing is a huge part of everyday life; for others not so much.

[Orlion Blight]

5 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

So I don't want to presume what @The Flash meant by his statement but I will try to answer @AngelEy3 with my own opinion. Personally I agree with you angeleye3. But I am kind of a oddball in my own religion and look at some things very differently. I will tell you that most or at least many LDS people have closest relationships and hang out the mostly with other LDS people. It is a really tight knit group where there is no cursing involved. When you hear bad language it can be very jarring and shocking for some and makes them uncomfortable. If they hear it on television too much they usually find a new show. If somewhere else they leave or try to block it out. So while for many cursing is a huge part of everyday life; for others not so much.

Depends. In communities with a dense Mormon population, yes. There is a tendency towards a religious, conservative community that holds more strictly to official and seemingly official church guidance. 

Outside of such, say in Ohio, for example, it's a bit different. You have to get home schooled folk to get the same effect, since otherwise Mormon influence is not dominant. 

Also, how do you get "character depth" if you cut off huge swaths of human characteristic like profanities and sexuality? I'm fine if an author chooses not to write about such things, but that in no means makes them superior. Particularly if they then churn out romantic relationships akin to seventh graders trying to figure out if they "like-like" someone. 

[Ammanas]

@Orlion On a Cob Thank you for your counterpoint and I definitely see where you are coming from. It is hard to make generalizations when there is so many other factors involved. In my experience even when there are only "Branches" available in rural areas these religious ties still play a major role. I still find they spend most of there free time with other LDS members. Although they may have a looser interpretation on things then the more denser mormon populations. Of course you and many other people may have very different experiences. I can only speak from what I have seen and experienced. So if you want to end the conversation here thats fine. I at least feel it was productive and appreciated what you said. If you want to talk further perhaps it could be done by p.m. so we do not clutter this thread anymore?

[AngelEy3]

Just now, Ammanas said:

@Orlion On a Cob Thank you for your counterpoint and I definitely see where you are coming from. It is hard to make generalizations when there is so many other factors involved. In my experience even when there are only "Branches" available in rural areas these religious ties still play a major role. I still find they spend most of there free time with other LDS members. Although they may have a looser interpretation on things then the more denser mormon populations. Of course you and many other people may have very different experiences. I can only speak from what I have seen and experienced. So if you want to end the conversation here thats fine. I at least feel it was productive and appreciated what you said. If you want to talk further perhaps it could be done by p.m. so we do not clutter this thread anymore?

It's my fault... I started this mess I think. To that, I apologize. 

Has anyone yet read Skullsworn by Brian Stavely? 

[Orlion Blight]

 I'll clutter what I want! 

[Ammanas]

I tried Skullsworn but couldn't get into it. I enjoyed, for the most part, his trilogy but didn't finish his standalone. I may of been in a odd mood at the time, but plan on giving it another try. Part of the problem is I thought the assassin girl Phyrr? was ok during the trilogy, but there were far more interesting characters for the the author to focus on. So once I found out she was the m.c. I entered the book with low expectations.

Edited July 17, 2017 by Ammanas

[AngelEy3]

12 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

I tried Skullsworn but couldn't get into it. I enjoyed, for the most part, his trilogy but didn't finish his standalone. I may of been in a odd mood at the time, but plan on giving it another try. Part of the problem is I thought the assassin girl Phyrr? was ok during the trilogy, but there were far more interesting characters for the the author to focus on. So once I found out she was the m.c. I entered the book with low expectations.

That's sort of where I was at too, except I haven't bothered starting it. If it was a standalone based on The Flea and his early years as Kettrel or whatever,  then that would be something pretty cool. 

[Dunkum]

I could see that.  working my way through the unhewn throne trilogy now, and Pyrre is definitely not the first person I would pick to focus on...though I imagine that it could be interesting to get a bit more insight into the worship of ananshael.

Edited July 17, 2017 by Dunkum

[Storming Radiant]

I've started reading the Farseer trilogy, and finshed The Assassin's apprentice and I really enjoyed it, so now I'm waiting to get back home so I can take the rest of the books. I hope to finish all of the Robin Hobb books until Oathvember. Hopefully I will, but I won't get my hopes up because I'm not a really fast reader. After that, I think I'll probably start the wheel of time, wich I've wanted too for a while now, it's just kinda tough for me to find all of its books...

[AngelEy3]

@Storming Radiant Oathvember. I love it. First I've noticed it used. 

[Storming Radiant]

5 minutes ago, AngelEy3 said:

@Storming Radiant Oathvember. I love it. First I've noticed it used. 

It's actually been called that here for quite a while, I think I first saw it from Ammanas...

[Briar King]

7 hours ago, Storming Radiant said:

I've started reading the Farseer trilogy, and finshed The Assassin's apprentice and I really enjoyed it, so now I'm waiting to get back home so I can take the rest of the books. I hope to finish all of the Robin Hobb books until Oathvember. Hopefully I will, but I won't get my hopes up because I'm not a really fast reader. After that, I think I'll probably start the wheel of time, wich I've wanted too for a while now, it's just kinda tough for me to find all of its books...

Loved the 6 Fitz I've read. Bk 2 is the best by far. I'm waiting till the 3 new ones are all in paperback before I buy them. 

[Hood]

15 hours ago, Briar King said:

Loved the 6 Fitz I've read. Bk 2 is the best by far. I'm waiting till the 3 new ones are all in paperback before I buy them. 

My favourite has always been The Farseer Trilogy book 2 'The Royal Assassin'. I found book 3 okay-ish. It had a LOT of travelling. Tbh, I am just waiting for Scott Lynch to give an update regarding Book 4 of Gentleman Bastards. He was expected to give one at the end of February. 

[Hood]

On 17/07/2017 at 8:42 AM, AngelEy3 said:

Just realized that this was probably for me. I just started Toll the Hounds. 

It is the second least favourite book in the series (after book 9) for me. Tho, the ending. That is amazing. This is my favourite quote:

“The soul knows no greater anguish than to take a breath that begins with love and ends with grief.”

[AngelEy3]

@Hood I've been hearing that elsewhere as well that #8 is low on a lot of people's lists. Personally I've enjoyed it so far, but I'm right around 350 pages so there is time for it to go sour still for sure.

I've really been liking this series as a whole. Either Memories of Ice or Bonehunters has been my favorite so far, but it's very hard to narrow down. I have a feeling that by the time it's done I'm going to end up viewing the whole series as one long book. 

Also, I've yet to read Gentlemen Bastards but have it in my library already. I hear good things. Are they mostly true in your opinion? 

Edited July 19, 2017 by AngelEy3

[Ammanas]

13 minutes ago, AngelEy3 said:

Also, I've yet to read Gentlemen Bastards but have it in my library already. I hear good things. Are they mostly true in your opinion? 

I am a big fan of the Gentleman Bastards. The first book (The Lies of Locke Lamora) is one of my all time favorites and can be read as a stand alone. Each book after is a little worse than the previous one (three so far) but they are still high quality books in my opinion. A concern about the author, which you might be aware of, is that he takes a long time to publish a book. I think the third took about 6 years and we are going on about 5 for the 4th one. I don't want to berate the author though bc it sounds like he's going through a lot.

[Hood]

2 hours ago, AngelEy3 said:

@Hood

Also, I've yet to read Gentlemen Bastards but have it in my library already. I hear good things. Are they mostly true in your opinion? 

One of the things that I had heard a lot was that the audiobook version is awesome. And I agree with that. I highly recommend getting the audiobook of The Gentlemen Bastard series. Michael Page is the narrator, and he is AWESOME. Seriously, it is one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to. My favourite part is the interlude where he mentions Jean Tannen's training. 

Some people get distracted by the many interludes. But I didn't find that to be the case. Personally, it made the book even more enjoyable. These interludes are placed at their proper positions. They are every bit entertaining (like when they get a job by their mentor) and quotable (the most quoted line of the author is from the last interlude). 

Next, people say that the quality of books decrease as their numbers increase. It is so, but not that significant, to be honest. Book 2 is slightly inferior in comparison to book 1. But that is because book 1 is just so amazing. Like Brandon (or Wit) said in the last part of Words of Radiance, by then the expectation of people have risen so much, that the better art is in their heads. 

In regards to book 3, it is not upto that mark (tho it is certainly very good) because the author had been dealing with various personal issues. I think that is also the reason why book 4 is being delayed so much.

[Briar King]

I would say that bk 3 is a waste of the trees that  it was printed on. One of the worst if not the worst books I've ever read. Heartbreaking really as 1 & 2 were such strong books.

[Draginon]

I'm currently reading Scarlet, book 2 of the Lunar Chronicles. I had read Cinder earlier in the year and loved it. When I'm done I'm going to be doing my Sanderson Read, which I had started back in May with Elantris, by reading all of his library in order of release. I can go straight from Mistborn 1.1 through Alcatraz 4 before needing to buy one of the 7 I don't own just yet.

Don't know if I'll take a break, even a one book break, to refresh myself but I'm going to try going all the way through without reading anything else from Mistborn to Oathbringer since I think I won't be getting to most of the later stuff until that one, but I'm not sure yet.

[Ammanas]

2 hours ago, Briar King said:

I would say that bk 3 is a waste of the trees that  it was printed on. One of the worst if not the worst books I've ever read. Heartbreaking really as 1 & 2 were such strong books.

Apologies if asked you this already. I can't remember if it was you or some ones else. Out of curiosity did you have to wait a long time for book 3? My idea on the fans that hate the book is: they waiting a long time and it couldn't live up to their lofty expectations. The fans, like me, that consider it a drop in quality, but still worthwhile are the ones that had a minimal or no wait.

Either way I still respect your opinion to feel however you want about any book.

[AngelEy3]

2 hours ago, Draginon said:

I'm currently reading Scarlet, book 2 of the Lunar Chronicles. I had read Cinder earlier in the year and loved it. When I'm done I'm going to be doing my Sanderson Read, which I had started back in May with Elantris, by reading all of his library in order of release. I can go straight from Mistborn 1.1 through Alcatraz 4 before needing to buy one of the 7 I don't own just yet.

Don't know if I'll take a break, even a one book break, to refresh myself but I'm going to try going all the way through without reading anything else from Mistborn to Oathbringer since I think I won't be getting to most of the later stuff until that one, but I'm not sure yet.

I think you'll find once you start Mistborn that you really won't be interested in much else. The Cosmere devoured me whole last September when I discovered Way of Kings. I kind of did it backwards though as I started with Stormlight Archive and pretty much went in order from newest to oldest. 

As soon as I finish Malazan, I'm going to read Way of Kings again for the first time since knowing the Cosmere existed. I picked it up at B&N based on the cover art. 

[Draginon]

1 hour ago, AngelEy3 said:

I think you'll find once you start Mistborn that you really won't be interested in much else. The Cosmere devoured me whole last September when I discovered Way of Kings. I kind of did it backwards though as I started with Stormlight Archive and pretty much went in order from newest to oldest. 

As soon as I finish Malazan, I'm going to read Way of Kings again for the first time since knowing the Cosmere existed. I picked it up at B&N based on the cover art. 

I'm one of those readers that loves reading interesting and different stories and I'm interested in knowing more about Roshar, Scadrial, Sel, Nathis and the other Cosmere worlds. I'm kind of interested in doing a chronological read once things get more complete just to see the history unfold. But anyway, I became invested in a different way than the Mistborn way by being introduced and interested with WOT, getting excited after White Sand and becoming a lifelong Sanderfan after Elantris so I'll enjoy anything Brandon writes at this point.