What Are You Reading, Part 2

[+Slowswift]

I just finished A Civil Campaign, the first Lois McMaster Bujold book I've read. I enjoyed it immensely.

Probably going to read The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard next.

[Dunkum]

picked up the first 3 Thomas Covenant books at a used book sale this morning: $3 for all 3 together, cheap enough that even if I absolutely hate them I don't mind the cost. they had some of the later books too, but I figured I'd start with the first Trilogy an decide on the others afterwards.  will get to reading those once I finish Lords and Ladies - have been doing a Dsicworld reread, but after this one there is a huge gap in the books I own so pausing here for now.

[The Unknown Ajah]

Read Red Rising. Go.

Oh my storming goodness. I highly recommend the Graphic Audio as the main narrator fits so well.

But if you can't or won't listen to the GA, just read it. So amazing. Would probably recommend reading it blind, without looking at the blurb. It's not necessary, but it adds a lot of weight to the beginning. 

Edit: Sevro is so amazing. I hope he isn't gone forever. Howwwwooooowww

Edited July 17, 2023 by The Known Novel

[The Stormfather]

I recently read the tethering colection and it was AWESOME

Rereading many cosmere books at the same time.

[Spren of Kindness]

Working on The Blighted Stars, which is, among many things, large, easily digestible, and also maybe I should have guessed at this (Series title, The Devoured Worlds), but significantly creepier than I expected.  This being the SoK scale, it is rather cockeyed at a strange angle relative to the norm.  Not offputting, but unexpected.

Next up: Lonely Castle In The Mirror, a novel translated from Japanese that I have high hopes for, and Spine Of The Dragon, which will either be quite good, or will quickly lose me.

But after that, it's finally time for my Brando Sando double feature of Tress and Frugal Wizard, as both are finally ready!

[The Sibling]

I just finished Shadow and Bone. Taking a break from new books to re-read RoW, then I'll move on to Six of Crows. I keep hearing that Cradle is really good although I don't really know what it is. I'm going on a camping trip so I'll probably read the first one as an ebook. If I can finish RoW in time...

[Spren of Kindness]

Lonely Castle In The Mirror turned out to be quite good.  I did cotton on to the twist fairly early, but it didn't ruin it for me.

Tress was delightful, Frugal Wizard as well.  

I found the first three Shannara books in one binding, so I figure I might as well give that a go next.

Edited July 27, 2023 by Spren of Kindness

[The Unknown Ajah]

Finished A Crown of Swords. Decent book, but the ending was quite underwhelming. 

Started Prince of Thorns by... someone. Forgot and don't have the book on me, book one the Broken Empire trilogy. I'm about three chapters in and I love it. Some quotes that I found delightful:

Spoiler

"I hate getting angry. It makes me angry."

(Paraphrased) "Can't be more than fifteen years old"

"Fifteen? I wouldn't be raiding villages at fifteen. No, by the time I'm fifteen, I'm going to be king."

Also reading Golden Son by Pierce Brown. Had a bit of a dull start, partly because I switched from Graphic Audio to the standard audiobook, going from the perfect possible narrator to a decent one. Very good so far, 'there's always another secret' is a decent, if not quite accurate description. 

Edit: Nevermind. Golden Son is absolutely storming amazing. Go read Red Rising, just go do it.

Edited July 30, 2023 by The Known Novel

[Spren of Kindness]

Just finished Savage Legion, and while I did not feel like it was the length that it was, I don't think I'm going to contine.

Currently I'm reading The Empire's Ghost by Isabelle Steiger and while it seems to be a slow start, I'm tentatively saying I like it.  After that, I'm gonna try the Horatio Hornblower series.

[The Unknown Ajah]

Finished Prince of Thorns, it was pretty good, though the middle and part of the end didn't quite catch me like the beginning did. I'll probably read b2 but I'm hesitant.

Started Wrath of Empire, liking it and looking forward to it. 

Started listening to the Lightbringer Graphic Audio, pretty good, the main narrator is about average but Graphic Audio is always pretty good.

[Treamayne]

6 hours ago, The Known Novel said:

Started listening to the Lightbringer Graphic Audio

Do you mean the Lightbringer series? The Black Prism (Book 1) by Brent Weeks?

[The Unknown Ajah]

1 hour ago, Treamayne said:

Do you mean the Lightbringer series? The Black Prism (Book 1) by Brent Weeks?

Yes, I can never remember book one's name, but yeah, it's the Black Prism. 

Edited August 3, 2023 by The Known Novel

[Treamayne]

16 minutes ago, The Known Novel said:

Yes, I can never remember book one's name, but yeah, it's the Black Prism. 

Awesome. If this is your first read through - you are in for a wild ride. LMK if you have questions.

PS: Do you like, or have you played Magic: the Gathering? If so, watch for an expy. . . 

[The Unknown Ajah]

2 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Awesome. If this is your first read through - you are in for a wild ride. LMK if you have questions.

PS: Do you like, or have you played Magic: the Gathering? If so, watch for an expy. . . 

Oh this is like my third ish read through. Can't wait for those parts though.

What are your thoughts on the ending? Everyone seems to hate it, but I thought it was fine, if a little confusing. 

[Treamayne]

1 minute ago, The Known Novel said:

Oh this is like my third ish read through. Can't wait for those parts though.

What are your thoughts on the ending? Everyone seems to hate it, but I thought it was fine, if a little confusing. 

I'll admit I disliked it the first time, mostly because (as you note) it was confusing. I liked it more by the second read-through because I had parsed the information better and noticed more of the foreshadowing that helped to clarify things. Then I read the trope analysis (spoilers) and that really helped me make sense the last two books and I enjoyed my most-recent read-though the most. Pretty much the only thing I still hate (spoilers)

Spoiler

That Andross Guile was such a Karma Houdini.

Even with a better understanding of his motivations I wanted him to suffer and die before the end - and instead he's "rewarded" in the end. 

 

[Spren of Kindness]

I read Good Morning, Midnight, which was good, but left me with a few unanswered questions.  Next is Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri.

[ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ]

I’m reading wheel of time.

[The cheeseman]

9 hours ago, ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ said:

I’m reading wheel of time.

YEEEAAAAHHHH!!!

[Spren of Kindness]

I read all of Set The Stars Alight by Amanda Dykes today.  It's not the end-all be-all, but I really like her work.

Next is a book called The Wolf Den.

[The Sibling]

I'm on book 8 of Cradle. Really liking it so far although I feel that it's getting slightly repetitive. I suggested it to my friend and now she's on book 3, so the race is on.

[solarcat]

The Singularity Is Near, by Ray Kurzweil

[Draginon]

I finally got around to finishing House of Leaves. Interesting book but a very hard and infuriating read at times, enough that I would go a couple months inbetween chapters.

The portions pertaining to The Navidson Record were fun to read, Zampano’s ramblings got way too academical at times that I would space out and skip sentences, Truant’s footnotes were a chore since they tended to be nonsensical ramblings and were way too run-on in the beginning to be fun. The letters by Truant’s mother were fun as well.

TBH I’m not sure how an accurate movie of this would work since the different stories are very different style wise, tone and even font so maybe having multiple directors would help but the Zampanò ramblings would be cut since it would be so forced if included while Truant’s story would need to be a framing device while the letters… I don’t have a clue.

I’m glad to be done so that I can finally get onto something else since I wanted to finish this book before starting something else.

Not quite sure what’s next but I think I’ll head into my Brandon backlog.

[Treamayne]

Re-reading Plague of Giants (Book 1 of Seven Kennings Trilogy) since we finally have a release date for the last book. . .

Nov 7th is still too far away. At least I have time to take my time on the re-reads (also - free flash fiction for my pre-order)

From the recommendation thread:
 

Spoiler

 

• Seven Kennings
  • Book One: A Plague of Giants
  • 3 Books - Book three releases 7 Nov 2023, 1 short story (free for book three pre-orders here)
• Author: Kevin Hearne
• In Teldwen, Kennings are a form of elemental magic open to anybody, if you are willing to risk your life for the chance to be blessed with a kenning (for example, you can dive into Bryn's Lung, a coastal corel well. Swim to the bottom and you will either be blessed with the Kenning of Water - or drown. There's about a 60% survival rate). The continent has been invaded. . . twice. Following a volcanic eruption at the site of the First Kenning (Fire), the survivors of that island escape to invade the west coast under the guise of refugees (with no intention of leaving - ever). A few months later, a previously unseen race of giants (nicknamed Bone Giants by the invaded) become the first to ever cross the ocean to the East (their west) and survive the krakens that fiercly guard those waters. They are searching for something. Can the denizens of the nations where the Five Kennings are found survive? Is the Sixth Kenning a myth, as long beleived? And what is the Seventh Kenning these Bone Giants are searching for?
  • The story is also a great example of what "right" looks like - where issues of description and demographics (race, orientation, etc) are just that - descriptors. People are judged for themselves, not some label applied to them because of their physical traits, beliefs or orientation (except the Big Bad - the Bone Giants are a more traditional "kill everything that isn't us" types - so far). 
• From the author's blog post:
  • And what, pray tell, is the Seven Kennings all about? Quite a bit. How we endure and rebuild when the world crashes around us. How a nation’s priorities are reflected in who prospers and who doesn’t, whose stories are told and whose aren’t. How we can coexist with nature and each other. But the kennings themselves are deep magical ties to elemental forces that anyone can tap into if they’re willing to risk their life for it. The first kenning is fire; the second is air; the third is earth; the fourth is water; and the fifth is plant life. When A Plague of Giants opens, the world knows of five kennings and assumes there is a sixth, an affinity with animals, that hasn’t been discovered yet. A seventh isn’t even dreamed of.

 

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Treamayne

[The Unknown Ajah]

1 hour ago, Treamayne said:

Re-reading Plague of Giants (Book 1 of Seven Kennings Trilogy) since we finally have a releae date for the last book. . .

Nov 7th is still too far away. At least I have time to take my time on the re-reads (also - free flash fiction for my pre-order)

From the recommendation thread:
 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

• Seven Kennings
  • Book One: A Plague of Giants
  • 3 Books - Book three releases 7 Nov 2023, 1 short story (free for book three pre-orders here)
• Author: Kevin Hearne
• In Teldwen, Kennings are a form of elemental magic open to anybody, if you are willing to risk your life for the chance to be blessed with a kenning (for example, you can dive into Bryn's Lung, a coastal corel well. Swim to the bottom and you will either be blessed with the Kenning of Water - or drown. There's about a 60% survival rate). The continent has been invaded. . . twice. Following a volcanic eruption at the site of the First Kenning (Fire), the survivors of that island escape to invade the west coast under the guise of refugees (with no intention of leaving - ever). A few months later, a previously unseen race of giants (nicknamed Bone Giants by the invaded) become the first to ever cross the ocean to the East (their west) and survive the krakens that fiercly guard those waters. They are searching for something. Can the denizens of the nations where the Five Kennings are found survive? Is the Sixth Kenning a myth, as long beleived? And what is the Seventh Kenning these Bone Giants are searching for?
  • The story is also a great example of what "right" looks like - where issues of description and demographics (race, orientation, etc) are just that - descriptors. People are judged for themselves, not some label applied to them because of their physical traits, beliefs or orientation (except the Big Bad - the Bone Giants are a more traditional "kill everything that isn't us" types - so far). 
• From the author's blog post:
  • And what, pray tell, is the Seven Kennings all about? Quite a bit. How we endure and rebuild when the world crashes around us. How a nation’s priorities are reflected in who prospers and who doesn’t, whose stories are told and whose aren’t. How we can coexist with nature and each other. But the kennings themselves are deep magical ties to elemental forces that anyone can tap into if they’re willing to risk their life for it. The first kenning is fire; the second is air; the third is earth; the fourth is water; and the fifth is plant life. When A Plague of Giants opens, the world knows of five kennings and assumes there is a sixth, an affinity with animals, that hasn’t been discovered yet. A seventh isn’t even dreamed of.

 

 

Oh, I kept trying to read that serious, but I would keep stalling on the second book. Can't even remember if I ever finished it. Always enjoyed it, just circumstances came up.

Edit: I'm currently reading Jade City by Fonda Lee, it is a delight. I forgot that people kept talking about "the thing" midway through the book, and was absolutely stunned. 

Also listening to the Graphic Audio of the Blinding Knife, I'm so in love with Graphic Audio, and I keep getting reminded of how how much I love the Lightbringer series.

Edited September 14, 2023 by The Known Novel

[TheRavenHasLanded]

trying to slog my way through lord of the rings.