What Are You Reading, Part 2

[NottTheBrave]

Finished the second Dresden book, and am now about 200 pages into Fires of Heaven!  All good stuff!

[aneonfoxtribute]

Finally finished Eye of the World after half a year. 

[Briar King]

I’m unfortunately still reading Expanse 6, Lightbringer 5 and Blood and Bone all these months later.

All of them are bringing me down but I’m stubborn as rust and will stick it out no matter how much I want to put all down and begin something else.

[DalinarTD]

I'm on book 3 of the Song of the Shattered Sands series by Bradley Beaulieu.  I love it so much!  5th book will be out later this year and the 6th and final book late 2021!  The story, characters, and world are all very different from Sanderson's books but the writing style is very similar.  I'm surprised this series isn't more popular.

I'm also halfway through Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy.  I love how she writes.

After these series I'm planning on jumping into either Malazan, or The Faithful and the Fallen Series by John Gwynne (I just heard from a friend that this series, 4 books, is awesome), or maybe try some Joe Abercrombie stuff.

[DalinarTD]

17 hours ago, Briar King said:

I’m unfortunately still reading Expanse 6, Lightbringer 5 and Blood and Bone all these months later.

All of them are bringing me down but I’m stubborn as rust and will stick it out no matter how much I want to put all down and begin something else.

Bummer to hear about the Lightbringer series.  I've only read the first book, and I liked it all the way through, not a ton but I was into it, but I thought the ending was awesome.  The giant wall,the battle, and the Lord Omnichrome was all pretty rad.

[StormingTexan]

42 minutes ago, DalinarTD said:

Bummer to hear about the Lightbringer series.  I've only read the first book, and I liked it all the way through, not a ton but I was into it, but I thought the ending was awesome.  The giant wall,the battle, and the Lord Omnichrome was all pretty rad.

I was ok with the first three books but the 4th and especially 5th left a lot to be desired. The books start to meander a lot and a few of the plot lines really fell short on top of some serious use of deus ex machina in the final books. The only good part of the last book in my opinion was the alternative ending posted on the authors website. 

[DalinarTD]

3 hours ago, StormingTexan said:

I was ok with the first three books but the 4th and especially 5th left a lot to be desired. The books start to meander a lot and a few of the plot lines really fell short on top of some serious use of deus ex machina in the final books. The only good part of the last book in my opinion was the alternative ending posted on the authors website. 

Interesting...this series is on the backburner for me right now, maybe I'll get through book 3 then throw it back on the backburner again.

[Briar King]

I loved Lightbringer 1-4, but this one is a struggle. Barely 400 pgs into it actually I just looked it up after typing that..I’m on ....... pg 401 and I started reading on 1/5/20.

[Benghis son son Kahn]

5 hours ago, DalinarTD said:

Bummer to hear about the Lightbringer series.  I've only read the first book, and I liked it all the way through, not a ton but I was into it, but I thought the ending was awesome.  The giant wall,the battle, and the Lord Omnichrome was all pretty rad.

I felt the EXACT same way about The Black Prism--given the solid and entertaining start to the series I gave it some slack as it slowed down in the next couple books, but when it slowed even further in book 4 and the writing quality seemed to drastically decline in that book and into book 5, I felt pissed off I had wasted so many hours on something that didn't deliver any payoffs or leave a lasting impression of any kind other than a sour taste for the squandered potential. By the end I barely cared about any of the main protagonists or antagonists and even less about every single one of the secondary characters, and nothing at all for the arc of the plot. My best advice, which I wish I would've done in retrospect: don't pick up any more of the books--pretend book 1 is a solid stand-alone novel and that the rest of the series doesn't even exist. 

[Ammanas]

Sorry for further derailing this thread, but just wanted to add my two cents on Lightbringer. I’m actually a big fan of the series and think the third one is my favorite and actually think The Burning White to be the second best one. I believe the “Deus ex Machina” was set up in the third one and really enjoyed the authors thoughts on God and faith. My personal beliefs and experiences factor into this because what the author talks a lot about reflects my own convictions. It is how to see God despite the ugliness of the world and I found it powerful and moving. Even though I really enjoyed it I understand why others do not. As long as the ending makes sense I am happy with it and I believe the author left plenty of breadcrumbs to get to the ending. Sorry I don’t want to argue with those who believed differently upthread but wanted to give a alternate opinion. 

Edited May 28, 2020 by Ammanas

[Benghis son son Kahn]

I just finished Abercrombie's First Law trilogy (all on audiobook), and I loved it--Steven Pacey's narration is gangbusters--just off-the charts engaging and entertaining. I loved the eclectic mix of main and secondary characters, especially how the viewpoints all had such drastically different voices and mindsets. Plot arcs and twists were never entirely predictable even with foreshadowing always there to alert you something had to be up, but after major things happened they had that sense of retrospective inevitability about them--a combination of authorly tricks I think the best are able to pull off.

I just started Best Served Cold, and I think I'm going to read straight through all the First Law world books to the current trilogy so I can be ready for the new book coming out later this year. 

Abercrombie has jumped up to I think a tie for my second favorite fantasy author with Jim Butcher (behind Sanderson).

With Rhythm of War, TWO new Dresdens, and a First Law book coming out later this year there is a veritable bounty of goodies coming our way!

[Benghis son son Kahn]

5 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

 Sorry I don’t want to argue with those who believed differently upthread but wanted to give a alternate opinion. 

Friendly argument is greatly enriching and always welcome, so no need to apologize for it! It's interesting that you are partial to books 3 and 5 while I'm partial to 1 and 2, which I think speaks to how different/inconsistent the series feels overall. Maybe that's not surprising given how books 1 and 2 were supposed to be the first 2/3 of a trilogy, but then Weeks got to book 3 and decided he needed to blow the plan up and expand it well beyond what he had originally had in mind. I really think it feels like 2 separate series almost in terms of the pacing and shift to more philosophical matters, which makes sense then that there would be major differences in which half of the series people prefer. If you were in my camp in loving the beginning but losing interest as it went, that's more demoralizing as a reader I think than if you're gaining steam with a series as it progresses.

The deus ex machina didn't bother me much, not nearly as much as the many meandering plotlines in the back half of the series that never resulted in any meaningful payoff, as well as the lack of character development and differentiation. I think he could have cut a lot out and maintained somewhat of a brisk pace even with getting more philosophical in a third book. I respect his wish to create the way he wanted to, though, especially after he said he felt so crushed by his publisher with his first series in not being able to include everything he wanted (however, sometimes expert editors and publishers know what they're talking about in terms of helping create better art and can do more than just nosying in with financial/commercial concerns--I'm worried his negative experience led to an over-correction on his part to take the reins and not kill off any of his darlings that may have needed to die as Sanderson would put it). That being said, I'm happy he wrote the books he wanted to and just have to accept that Weeks isn't going to be for me.

[Dunkum]

I'll chip in as another voice in the "later Lightbringer books are better than people are saying" camp.  I do think they have their problems, and I tend to think that there was a lot of backstory/revelations that didn't quite work or weren't well enough built up, but overall I still liked them.  I mostly liked the ending too, other than

Spoiler

the absolutely stupid bit with the airplane

 

[DalinarTD]

On 5/28/2020 at 4:57 PM, Ammanas said:

Sorry for further derailing this thread, but just wanted to add my two cents on Lightbringer. I’m actually a big fan of the series and think the third one is my favorite and actually think The Burning White to be the second best one. I believe the “Deus ex Machina” was set up in the third one and really enjoyed the authors thoughts on God and faith. My personal beliefs and experiences factor into this because what the author talks a lot about reflects my own convictions. It is how to see God despite the ugliness of the world and I found it powerful and moving. Even though I really enjoyed it I understand why others do not. As long as the ending makes sense I am happy with it and I believe the author left plenty of breadcrumbs to get to the ending. Sorry I don’t want to argue with those who believed differently upthread but wanted to give a alternate opinion. 

I wholeheartedly appreciate your insight, and actually I love when fantasy dives into real issues like faith.  At this point I definitely need to finish the series if only to have my own opinion on it too.  They hinted at this sort of faith at the end of the first book when

Spoiler

the Lord Omnichrome was talking to Liv, and how you see that he has great justification for his own faith on the opposite side of everything you've come to believe in the whole first 90% of the book.  It suddently stops necessarily being good vs. evil but just two forces with different views and faith against eachother (although Omnichrome obviously uses more brutal methods)

 

[aneonfoxtribute]

Just got The Great Hunt.

[DalinarTD]

Just finished Veil of Spears by Bradley Beaulieu...I love this series so much.  I really dig all of the 

Spoiler

blood magic business.

And now I start my Malazan journey.  I'm about 50 pages into Gardens of the moon!

Also this cracked me up so much when I looked it up on Google last night (There is actualy 690 characters)

 

[aneonfoxtribute]

Going through The Great Hunt, currently on chapter 17, and wow. If I'm right about this thought I have, this twist is insanely obvious. 

Spoiler

If Selene is evil, then wow, Jordan could not have made it more obvious if she wore a sign declaring herself evil.

 

[Vapor]

I'm reading Circle of Magic and Way of Kings!

[Vapor]

Also Keeper of the Lost Cities

[Boomerang Guy]

I am (finally) reading THE WAY OF KINGS!!!! I Barely started reading it and I instantly fell in love! IT"S JUST SOOOOOOO COOOOOOOL!!!!!

[NattyBo]

Back on a bit of a military history kick.  Been re-reading James McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom".  https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Cry-Freedom-Civil-War/dp/019516895X

Written in 1988, but still quite good. Just chock full of crazy facts. I especially like his examination of antebellum trends in America. Take this crazy fact/excerpt, for example:

 

 

Seven. Gallons. 200 Proof Alcohol. Annually. 

Edited June 14, 2020 by NattyBo

[Dunkum]

37 minutes ago, NattyBo said:

Back on a bit of a military history kick.  Been re-reading James McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom".  https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Cry-Freedom-Civil-War/dp/019516895X

Written in 1988, but still quite good. Just chock full of crazy facts. I especially like his examination of antebellum trends in America. Take this crazy fact/excerpt, for example:

 

 

Seven. Gallons. 200 Proof Alcohol. Annually. 

to be clear, they do say the equivalent, so it isnt like people were actually drinking pure alcohol by the gallon.  but its still a ton.  based on some rough math, its about the equivalent of drinking 4 entire bottles of wine every week, or 4 cans of beer every day. for every adult

[NattyBo]

13 minutes ago, Dunkum said:

to be clear, they do say the equivalent, so it isnt like people were actually drinking pure alcohol by the gallon.  but its still a ton.  based on some rough math, its about the equivalent of drinking 4 entire bottles of wine every week, or 4 cans of beer every day. for every adult

Absolutely. It's still a storming lot of booze, and...that's coming from someone who enjoys his booze!  Anyway, I love little factoids like that.

 

My only criticism of this book is that it goes a little too easy on the Confederate military leadership, specifically going out of its way to paint Robert E. Lee as a kindly man opposed to slavery as opposed to what the actual documentary history shows.

That said, I still think the 2 volumes are seminal reading on the US Civil War, McPherson keeps it moving, and the first volume especially is filled with wild factoids like that one!  The 2 volumes are part of the Encyclopedia Britannica's series on the history of the United States.

History is pretty full of booze. One of my best friends has a book about the history of punch type drinks, and once a year he makes Charles Dickens' own punch recipe, which is in the book, from a letter Dickens wrote to a friend who asked for the recipe after a party. A couple of glasses of that would put a Horneater out... I've also managed to get him into the Cosmere, so now I have someone IRL counting down to Rhythm of War with me  

Edited June 14, 2020 by NattyBo

[urrutiap]

books im reading this month

 

Stephen King's If It Bleeds

To Kill a Mockingbird

 

[Draginon]

I did Skyward and Starsight back to back. It’s interesting how different they felt in tone. Skyward felt like a resistance story but Starsight more like an espionage story.

Characters I liked that I want to see more of in the following books are Cuna, Vapor, Morriumer (even though they’re a baby I just want to see how the parents behave around Spensa) and more on the Delvers. I hope Winzik gets arrested or something in the next book since he’s insane! Hopefully his fall comes from Cuna and Cobb working together.

While reading Starsight it was interesting how topical it felt with what’s going on right now.

Honest question, how many people here don’t picture Spensa white? I just have a hard time picturing her as white. Even though the covers depict as such that’s not how I picture her looking at all. Most people say when a character is not described appearance wise that you always imagine them looking similar to yourself. The opposite happens with me no matter how much I identify with the character. The same thing happened with Reckoners and Rithmatist as well where I imagined the main characters of all three of these as not white. I guess it’s just me wanting a non-white hero to root for since 90% of media has the hero always being white.

Anyway my next read is going to be Uprooted by Naomi Novak.