What Are You Reading, Part 2

[StormingTexan]

8 hours ago, Orlion the Platypus said:

M-O-O-N, that spells "suffices!" Laws, yes!

Haha Tom was one of my favorite characters. The characters were actually pretty good just felt like the ending was kinda meh. 

[The Awakened Salad]

Reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest right now, and it has a surprising amount of similarities with Mistborn. 

[Iarwainiel I]

I just finished TLotR last night (19th time through). To me, all of western civilization could have existed to produce this one book - that's how much I love it.

What I noticed new this time: the implied influence of Manwe (from The Silmarillion) at most or all points in the story where something important happened. (Manwe is an Ainu ((a step above Maiar like Gandalf and Sauron in power)), King of the Valar, and lord of air, wind, and clouds.)

Next time, I want to watch for the influence of the other Valar throughout the story - especially Varda (queen of stars) and Ulmo (lord of waters).

But that will be next year - right now, I need to begin my Stormlight re-read to get ready for Rhythm of War!

[Orlion Blight]

6 minutes ago, old aggie said:

I just finished TLotR last night (19th time through). To me, all of western civilization could have existed to produce this one book - that's how much I love it.

What I noticed new this time: the implied influence of Manwe (from The Silmarillion) at most or all points in the story where something important happened. (Manwe is an Ainu ((a step above Maiar like Gandalf and Sauron in power)), King of the Valar, and lord of air, wind, and clouds.)

Next time, I want to watch for the influence of the other Valar throughout the story - especially Varda (queen of stars) and Ulmo (lord of waters).

But that will be next year - right now, I need to begin my Stormlight re-read to get ready for Rhythm of War!

*Puts on nerd glasses* Actually, Manwe is distinguished from the Maiar by being Valar, since almost all the powerful beings; Valar, Maiar, Balorgs; were previously Ainu.

Strangely not Tom Bombadil. He's just a mystery. 

[Iarwainiel I]

17 hours ago, Orlion the Platypus said:

*Puts on nerd glasses* Actually, Manwe is distinguished from the Maiar by being Valar, since almost all the powerful beings; Valar, Maiar, Balorgs; were previously Ainu.

Strangely not Tom Bombadil. He's just a mystery. 

Per The Silmarillion, Manwe is one of the Ainur who are Valar - he is both those things, but not a Maia which is a lesser being. To keep them straight, I think of the Ainur as major-angels and the Maiar as minor-angels.

My theory has always been that Tom Bombadil and the River Woman (Goldberry's mother) were among the "many spirits both greater and less" who "came down into the fields of Arda [i.e., the Earth] and aided Manwe" (in my copy of The Silmarillion, this is on pg 21), but that's just a theory.

Also, I realize that there are multiple versions of the same stories in the many books of Tolkien's mythology that have been published posthumously, & admittedly my knowledge ends where I stopped at the first Unfinished Tales. Such rich worldbuilding!

[+ILuvHats]

Reading the Dresden Files right now, and just got to book 7. It's definitely gotten better and better as the series progresses, and I'm really excited for the two books coming out later this year. I should have caught up by then.

[Dunkum]

2 hours ago, old aggie said:

Per The Silmarillion, Manwe is one of the Ainur who are Valar - he is both those things, but not a Maia which is a lesser being. To keep them straight, I think of the Ainur as major-angels and the Maiar as minor-angels.

his point is that Valar and Maiar are both subsets of the Ainur.  so Gandalf, Saruman, and Sauron are all also Ainur, but not Valar, while Manwe is an Ainur and a Valar, but not a Maiar

[Orlion Blight]

@Dunkum Precisely! 

[Ammanas]

Legacy of Ash by Mathew Ward. I actually purchased this a while back but gave up on it after a while. I picked it up again today and am enjoying it now. It started to click for me and I’m already past the point where my first attempt ended I am still going strong!

Edited May 19, 2020 by Ammanas

[Iarwainiel I]

4 hours ago, Dunkum said:

his point is that Valar and Maiar are both subsets of the Ainur.  so Gandalf, Saruman, and Sauron are all also Ainur, but not Valar, while Manwe is an Ainur and a Valar, but not a Maiar

Huh. I bought The Silmarillion (& read it, of course) when it was first published in 1977, and I had it open in front of me when I wrote my post. So maybe something got revised in a later edition, to align better with the numerous books published later? Because Sauron is clearly a Maia (equal to Gandalf and the balrog) in my copy, while Melkor and Manwe are Ainur and Valar. That made sense to me, since Sauron was "the lieutenant of Morgoth" - i.e., a lesser being. Not arguing with you - just describing my reasoning.

At any rate, I had fun observing Manwe's influence on the events in the Rings, & I still intend to look for the other Valar on my next read-through.

[Ammanas]

@old aggie I think the issue is that it’s just we are do not typically think of the Valar and Maia in these terms. But he is correct. In the Tolkien Gateway website it mentions under Maia that, “The Maiar were Ainur — technically, any Ainu that is not counted as a Vala is a Maia.”

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Maia

Another way to look at it is The Valar as the greater Ainur and the Maiar as the lesser Ainur. Even though some Maiar seems to be getting close in power to the Valar.

Hopefully I’m not beating a dead horse or making you feel bad. Just wanted to put my two cents in and give out a few links. The people at The Tolkien Gateway know more about this stuff than anyone in my opinion. It’s a great resource!

[StormingTexan]

Decided to listen Blood of Empire and this is the first audio book I am thinking of returning in a long time. I understand why Christian Rodska couldn't narrate it and I think the current narrator is not bad but the characters voices and inflections are so different it makes the story feel like it was written by a different author. 

[Orlion Blight]

12 hours ago, old aggie said:

Huh. I bought The Silmarillion (& read it, of course) when it was first published in 1977, and I had it open in front of me when I wrote my post. So maybe something got revised in a later edition, to align better with the numerous books published later? Because Sauron is clearly a Maia (equal to Gandalf and the balrog) in my copy, while Melkor and Manwe are Ainur and Valar. That made sense to me, since Sauron was "the lieutenant of Morgoth" - i.e., a lesser being. Not arguing with you - just describing my reasoning.

At any rate, I had fun observing Manwe's influence on the events in the Rings, & I still intend to look for the other Valar on my next read-through.

It would be very early on, as in the first mention of the Maiar in the second chapter of the Quenta? I'd have to see, but in very general terms I seem to recall that they were identified as "following" the Valar and that some Ainur did not leave for the world. 

I also use the second edition, so once I find my copy and passage, we can compare notes! 

Edit: Found it! There are two places of interest, the first is in the Valaquenta under the Maiar heading: "With the Valar came other spirits whose being also began before the World, of the same order as the Valar but of less degree."

Then, if you want to avoid cross referencing passages, in the index next to the Maiar entry: "Ainur of lesser degree than the Valar."

So, the Valar are like Archangels, the Maiar regular angels and Balrogs fallen angels. 

Edited May 19, 2020 by Orlion the Platypus
Found stuff!

[Iarwainiel I]

3 hours ago, StormingTexan said:

Decided to listen Blood of Empire and this is the first audio book I am thinking of returning in a long time. I understand why Christian Rodska couldn't narrate it and I think the current narrator is not bad but the characters voices and inflections are so different it makes the story feel like it was written by a different author. 

Oh that is horrible! The story deserves better - I really enjoyed all the Powder Mage books, and Mad Ben Styke is one of my heroes! I hope you can read the actual book (if you haven't already) - totally worthwhile & some great plot resolutions that were not what I expected but better!

[Iarwainiel I]

@Orlion the Platypus, @Dunkum, & @Ammanas  - - You are making me very happy because I have more confidence that, after my generation of Tolkien fans has passed beyond the confines of this world, the lore of Middle Earth will live on in good hands!

[Wyndlerunner]

1 hour ago, old aggie said:

@Orlion the Platypus, @Dunkum, & @Ammanas  - - You are making me very happy because I have more confidence that, after my generation of Tolkien fans has passed beyond the confines of this world, the lore of Middle Earth will live on in good hands!

No need to fear, there are plenty of us younger folks who still hold to the old stories, and intend to pass them down, with the knowledge of lore and everything.

[StormingTexan]

4 hours ago, old aggie said:

Oh that is horrible! The story deserves better - I really enjoyed all the Powder Mage books, and Mad Ben Styke is one of my heroes! I hope you can read the actual book (if you haven't already) - totally worthwhile & some great plot resolutions that were not what I expected but better!

Yes I read the book first! There was a delay on the audio book. Thought it was great and I actually liked these books better than the first ones. 
 

The original narrator just did a fantastic job. Actually Styke voice is the one that drives me the craziest with the new narrator. Completely different. All good. 

[NottTheBrave]

I did it!  Finally finished The Shadow Rising.  An excellent ending.  Great book too.  Didn't love it as much as Dragon Reborn, but it was still really good.  Probably my second favorite of the four so far.

[Wyndlerunner]

3 hours ago, NottTheBrave said:

 Didn't love it as much as Dragon Reborn

Well color me surprised. I loved the Dragon Reborn, but The Shadow Rising blew it out of the water for me.

[aneonfoxtribute]

Meanwhile I'm still on Eye of the World almost half a year later. Though now I'm focusing on reading it and getting through a chapter most every night. I really should sit down one of these days and just start binge reading. I need to stop buying new games :/

[NottTheBrave]

7 hours ago, Wyndlerunner said:

Well color me surprised. I loved the Dragon Reborn, but The Shadow Rising blew it out of the water for me.

The Shadow Rising has a real nasty habit of cutting to a different character just as things started getting interesting.  Then it'd cut back, and those interesting things were resolved.  Only to spend time building up to an event, and cutting again.  It took me from September 2019 to May 2020 to finish lol.  There's a lot of amazing stuff in the book, but the pacing started to grind on me and I'd have to put it down for long periods.  Especially with the avalanche of new character names and backstory with Rand in the Aiel wastes.  

 

Mat also barely did anything after the mid-way point except complain about wanting to leave.  That was a major downer.  He really felt like he was in a holding pattern after completing this books arc for himself halfway through.  He just needed to wait out the rest of the story.  

[Ammanas]

An anthology Fearsome Journeys edited by Strahan. Pretty good so far. Scott Lynch has a contribution and it is outstanding. He needs to give up on writing books (evidently can’t figure out how to finish them and gets stuck writing) and stick to short stories. All of them have been fantastic. In this one it’s The Effigy Engine but has also published, in other anthologies, In the Stacks, A Year and a Day in Old Theradane, The Smoke of Gold is Glory, and The Fall and Rise of the House of the Wizard Malkuril. I believe he always has the best short story in each anthology he appears in.

[Dunkum]

17 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

An anthology Fearsome Journeys edited by Strahan. Pretty good so far. Scott Lynch has a contribution and it is outstanding. He needs to give up on writing books (evidently can’t figure out how to finish them and gets stuck writing) and stick to short stories. All of them have been fantastic. In this one it’s The Effigy Engine but has also published, in other anthologies, In the Stacks, A Year and a Day in Old Theradane, The Smoke of Gold is Glory, and The Fall and Rise of the House of the Wizard Malkuril. I believe he always has the best short story in each anthology he appears in.

A year and a Day in Old Theradane is the only one of those that i've read and it is fantastic.  but I imagine novels pay better.  wouldnt surprise me if even the worst selling among his novels has made him more money than all those short story contributions

[Ammanas]

18 minutes ago, Dunkum said:

but I imagine novels pay better. 

Yes, it’s perhaps more wishful thinking on my part than for the authors own welfare. I also think his books (while all very good) have gotten a little weaker with each one that follows. 

Edited May 25, 2020 by Ammanas

[Dunkum]

2 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

Yes, it’s perhaps more wishful thinking on my part than for the authors own welfare. I also think his books (while all very good) have gotten a little weaker with each one that follows. 

maybe if he can leverage one or more of the short stories into a movie deal or something.  Old Theradane is basically a Fantasy Heist story, its ripe for adaptation, the biggest issue being that youd probably blow your budget on special effects