Part Of The Narrative she/her Posted January 3 Report Share Posted January 3 I'm re-reading the Percy Jackson books and reading Harry Potter for the first time 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Sedai she/her Posted January 6 Report Share Posted January 6 The Inspector Chen series by Liz Williams 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zurvanight he/him Posted January 6 Report Share Posted January 6 I'm on the fourth Recluce novel, The Order War. This one takes place 200 years before the first novel and follows Justen, a young engineer. If you've read the first book you'll know who Justen is and what he does, but reading his story is quite interesting. There is a much bigger focus on magic in this book, unlike the others which were more low fantasy. A new faction gets introduced in this book, the Druids of Naclos. They are also known by their more common name, Gray Wizards, those who balance both the magics of Chaos and Order. Personally I find Justen to not be very interesting, but the story is probably my favorite next to Dorrin's in The Magic Engineer which was phenomenal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ookla she/her Posted January 6 Report Share Posted January 6 I spent my Christmas Break reading the Four Kingdoms multi-series from Melanie Cellier. Lots of fairy-tale retellings, lots of cheesy romance (who knew I'd find myself liking that sort of thing?!), a few Christian themes if you're into that sort of thing. There's like... eighteen books, and I have three left to read, which tells you about how much reading I've been doing over the last couple weeks. Melanie Cellier has a couple of other series that are also rather fun. I've read the Spoken Mage quartet, and I've been eyeing some of her other stuff because it looks interesting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treamayne Posted January 10 Report Share Posted January 10 FInally got around to Project: Hail Mary. Huge fan of The Martian (read it before the movie was released and found it to be in that rare category where the movie and book were both great, for different reasons), but did not care for Artimis much at all - so I was reticent to start this one. So far, I would put it below Martian and above Artemis, but I'm only half-way through. Spoilers: Spoiler The alien lifeforms are very imaginitive and interesting, so far - with a wonderful take on different biological mechanisms and how that may affect "life." Rocky is a great character and I like the postulations on alternate lifeforms, even if the "science" is a bit heavier in the Sci-Fan range. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StormingTexan he/him Posted January 10 Report Share Posted January 10 10 hours ago, Treamayne said: So far, I would put it below Martian and above Artemis, but I'm only half-way through. Spoilers: That is where I would put Hail Mary was way way better than Artemis (one of the most disappointing books from an author I really like). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Slowswift he/him Posted January 10 Report Share Posted January 10 I enjoyed Artemis, but would still rank it the least of the three. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zurvanight he/him Posted January 10 Report Share Posted January 10 (edited) I took a break from Recluce to start on the Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman. I'm on the first book, Black Sun Rising. I really like the mix of dark Gothic fantasy and sci-fi, and the "magic" of the planet that brings humanities deepest fears to life with just a stray thought. Edited January 10 by Zurvanight 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treamayne Posted January 13 Report Share Posted January 13 On 1/9/2024 at 10:23 PM, Treamayne said: So far, I would put it below Martian and above Artemis, but I'm only half-way through. On 1/10/2024 at 9:11 AM, StormingTexan said: That is where I would put Hail Mary was way way better than Artemis (one of the most disappointing books from an author I really like). Finished Hail Mary. Mostly good (for me) but there were a few things that really bugged me. It's a solid 3 on my personal book scale. Spoilers: Spoiler Amnesia trope was mostly well done and tied in the "memory" story in an interesting way. Overall concept was good and enjoyable. Language "use" was a bit too DEM for my preference (even with the magical "Rocky can assimilate English syntax in less than a week and we each speak in our native language and the other translates for themselves" concept which is a blanket DEM). It bothered me, but I can kind-of forgive that since the story cannot progress without it. The part that really bothered my was the unfniished Beatle arc. Grace briefly mentions "I should write up papers on X, Y, and Z." One month of travel passes and he then mentions "I want the Beatles ready to go at all times in case of an emergency" but they never close the loop on what, if any, information was uploaded to the drives on the Beatles and actually sent back. Seriously one sentance on "I told them this, but not that" could have closed the arc. . . but it's just left hanging. Martian Spoilers: Spoiler He did the same thing in Martian - implying that Mark brought back his Logs on USB - but never actually stating that the logs were uploaded or saved. Scale: Spoiler My personal book scale pretty much revolves around re-readability and recommendations: Didn't finish (or barely finished), would not re-read and would not recommend Finished, unlikely to re-read. Recommend only in specific circumstances For example: I would not be likely to recommend Farenheit 451 to just anybody, but if they were specifically looking for a dystopian classic (such as school project), I might (especially if better options are not an option) Enjoyed, with caveats. Unlikely to re-read more than once (after many years). Recommend in some circumstances Enjoyed. Likely to re-read at least once. Recommend to people who specifically like that type of story Enjoyed. Re-read regularly. Recommend to most people who enjoy that genre Stories/series in this category have been re-read anywhere from three times to over a dozen times 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Phantom he/him Posted January 14 Report Share Posted January 14 Currently rereading the Percy Jackson series 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XaliaStormblessed she/her Posted January 14 Report Share Posted January 14 Literally just finished reading the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. My cousin recommended them to me and I read them because I've been trying to get her to read Brandon Sanderson. So I devoured the whole series in ten days, which goes to show I really enjoyed them. They're modern retellings of Grimms fairy tales in a futuristic world with droids, cyborgs, and spaceships. One review about the first book, which is titled Cinder, said it was like a cross between Star Wars, the Terminator, and Cinderella. I thought that was funnily accurate. Some cheesy YA romance...cuz they're fairy tales. Overall a delightful short break. Now I'm off to reread Mistborn. On 12/5/2023 at 5:17 PM, Just-A-Stick said: I'm currently reading The Final Empire for the very first time. Reveal hidden contents Not gonna lie, I'm finding it a little hard to get into. so far, I like SA better Reveal hidden contents Y'all, don't hate me plz And I just finished Lunar Chronicles Highly recommended. I just finished the Lunar Chronicles too! I really loved them, read the whole series in ten days. Did you have a favorite character from those? I'm about to start re-reading Mistborn as well. Definitely stick with it, it will be worth it! Spoiler Though yeah, I liked SA better too! I got stuck in the middle of the Well of Ascension for a while cuz I had a harder time getting into it. But it is so worth it in the end! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bookwyrm he/him Posted January 15 Report Share Posted January 15 I'm attempting to read Empire of Silence in the Sun Eater series. Only like two chapters in. It's kind of slow right now, so I'm hoping it picks up. (I'm assuming it will; that's how these kinds of books go.) I'm also reading The Road for a class assignment. It's really interesting so far. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treamayne Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 23 hours ago, The Bookwyrm said: I'm also reading The Road for a class assignment. It's really interesting so far. Cormac McCarthy? It'll be interesting to hear your thoughts when you finish. In my experience, it's polarizing that way. Slight Spoilers Spoiler To me, it was the best depressing book I am happy to have read. . . once. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Use the Falchion Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 (edited) On 1/14/2024 at 7:56 AM, XaliaStormblessed said: Literally just finished reading the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. Great series! I reread them every 4-5 years. My last reread was late 2022, and I ended up reading all four books in one day. It's probably my favorite non-Sanderson YA series, next to the Lotus War trilogy by Jay Kristoff...which I'm admittedly afraid to reread in case it doesn't hold up to when I read it in college... Just finished Blade of the Realm by Ron C. Nieto (Book 4 of 5) on Friday I think, and I've got a few other books I've bought that I need to finish...but I also promised my friend I'd read 3-Body Problem, so that comes first...maybe. Edited January 16 by Use the Falchion 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XaliaStormblessed she/her Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 37 minutes ago, Use the Falchion said: Great series! I reread them every 4-5 years. My last reread was late 2022, and I ended up reading all four books in one day. It's probably my favorite non-Sanderson YA series, next to the Lotus War trilogy by Jay Kristoff...which I'm admittedly afraid to reread in case it doesn't hold up to when I read it in college... Ok that is impressive that you read all of them in one day! Did you sleep or eat? Cuz I still sacrificed a lot of sleep to read them in ten days haha. Have you read Fairest? And who's your favorite character/couple from Lunar? Spoiler I liked Scarlet's book best. I love her and Wolf 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NH2316 Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 (edited) 10 hours ago, Treamayne said: On 1/14/2024 at 10:24 PM, The Bookwyrm said: I'm also reading The Road for a class assignment. It's really interesting so far. Cormac McCarthy? It'll be interesting to hear your thoughts when you finish. In my experience, it's polarizing that way. Slight Spoilers Hide contents To me, it was the best depressing book I am happy to have read. . . once. "Truer words......" Etc, re: your feelings in the hidden content. I have similar feelings for Love in the Time of Cholera and The Stranger, which I read around the same time as The Road (very different genres...similar feelings). Alternatively, Spoiler The Plague, and Candide. I mention them here as novels that in my head have long felt like inversions of that "glad I read it but my god was that depressing and I don't want to read it again" feeling. Both are still profoundly tragic (comically so for Candide), but unlike The Road or the Stranger end with an optimistic take amid tragedy and absurdity. The Plague especially - in my mind its' Camus doing a much better job of communicating his vision for the possibility of Optimism within Absurdism, unlike The Stranger which just feels soul-crushing. You could also read Myth of Sisyphus for the same take more explicitly, but.....well....suffice it to say it's a thought experiment that's not for everyone. Anyway..... I'm looking for the next thing to read and would love suggestions. In the past 3ish years I've read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy series I've enjoyed - Foundation, The Expanse, Remembrance of Earth's Past, the Cosmere (all so far), Wheel of Time*, His Dark Materials. Also American Gods (as a single book), plus a ton amount of comics/graphic novels (Hickman's Avengers/FF/X-men, Saga, Invincible, Ewing's Immortal Hulk & Defenders, Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol & X-men, Gaiman's Eternals plus Sandman). Spoiler *WoT gets an asterisk for "enjoyed" because in reality it was very love-hate. Specifically....Jordan's writing on most of the female characters was a source of endless personal frustration....plus pacing issues in mid books ("the slog").....but I still love those books overall and especially Sanderson's finish (which is what led me to the cosmere). The politics and world building are incredible. With the above in mind as touchstones, does anyone have a single "best" next novel or series they'd recommend while I wait for SA5? Edited January 16 by NH2316 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The cheeseman Sola Scriptora Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 42 minutes ago, NH2316 said: With the above in mind as touchstones, does anyone have a single "best" next novel or series they'd recommend while I wait for SA5? I have two: The Witcher Saga and The First Law trilogy. The Witcher is my third-favorite series of all time, close behind WoT and just ahead of SA. If you read it, you should start with The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, then read the five main books. It is by Andrzej Sapkowski. The First Law is my fifth, maybe sixth favorite series. It is by Joe Abercrombie. If you read it, you should start with The Blade Itself. Once you've finished the trilogy, if you want more of Abercrombie's writing, I would suggest reading the novellas set in the same world as FL, and then reading the Age of Madness trilogy, which picks up about 20 years after the end of The First Law. Happy reading! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NH2316 Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 1 minute ago, The cheeseman said: I have two: The Witcher Saga and The First Law trilogy. The Witcher is my third-favorite series of all time, close behind WoT and just ahead of SA. If you read it, you should start with The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, then read the five main books. It is by Andrzej Sapkowski. The First Law is my fifth, maybe sixth favorite series. It is by Joe Abercrombie. If you read it, you should start with The Blade Itself. Once you've finished the trilogy, if you want more of Abercrombie's writing, I would suggest reading the novellas set in the same world as FL, and then reading the Age of Madness trilogy, which picks up about 20 years after the end of The First Law. Happy reading! Love it thanks! I've read The Witcher books, but not The First Law, so I'll try the latter! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Use the Falchion Posted January 16 Report Share Posted January 16 11 hours ago, XaliaStormblessed said: Ok that is impressive that you read all of them in one day! Did you sleep or eat? Cuz I still sacrificed a lot of sleep to read them in ten days haha. Have you read Fairest? And who's your favorite character/couple from Lunar? Reveal hidden contents I liked Scarlet's book best. I love her and Wolf I ate but I did give up some sleep lol! I haven't read Fairest. I can tell it's about fairytales, but is it like Cinder where there are no love triangles and it brings its own charms to the table? Honestly, my favorite couple was probably just Kai and Cinder. The couple from Cress was super sweet, but the other two were meh to me. Spoiler Wolf and Scarlet, while it did satisfy my "Team Jacob" self back in the day, now just reminds me a tad of Reylo-style romances that are all the rage, and I'm NOT a fan. I wasn't a fan of Reylo in the Star Wars movies, and I'm not a fan of that style of romance today. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treamayne Posted January 17 Report Share Posted January 17 10 hours ago, NH2316 said: With the above in mind as touchstones, does anyone have a single "best" next novel or series they'd recommend while I wait for SA5? You should check out the Recommended Reading thread. My suggestions, based on your list (not filtered for age and content - ask if you have questions): Spoiler Singles: Weapon X (novelization - Marc Cerasini) The Martian (Andy Weir) Wildside (Steven Gould) The Host (Stephanie Meyer) Sphere (Michael Crichton) Ready Player One (Ernest Cline) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Philip K. Dick) Street Freaks (Terry Brooks) Series: Fantasy Codex Alera (Jim Butcher) 6/6 Complete - Book 1: Furies of Calderon Seven Kennings (Kevin Hearne) 3/3 Complete - Book 1: Plague of Giants Lightbringer Series (Brent Weeks) 5/5 Complete - Book 1: The Black Prism Age of Fire (E. E. Knight) 6/6 Complete - Book 1: Dragon's Champion Urban Fantasy Dresden Files* (Jim Butcher) 17/25 - Book 1: Storm Front Iron Druid* (Kevin Hearne) 9/9 Complete - Book 1: Hounded Jumper Series (Steven Gould) 5/5 Complete - Book 1: Jumper Monster Hunter Int'l* (Larry Correia) 8/9 - Book 1: Monster Hunter Int'l Sci-Fan Enderverse* (Orson Scott Card) 1 or 2 or 5 or 10 or 13 or 15/16 (depends on how you count them and what "spinoffs" you want to consider - see link) - Book 1: Ender's Game . . . In Death* (J. D. Robb) 58 and counting - Book 1: Naked in Death Grey Angelus (Shawn Speakman) New Series - Book 1: Tempered Steel of Antiquity Grey * means I have a self-made reading guide I can share to organize the novels, short stories, novellas, etc. . . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Unknown Ajah he/him Posted January 17 Report Share Posted January 17 4 hours ago, NH2316 said: "Truer words......" Etc, re: your feelings in the hidden content. I have similar feelings for Love in the Time of Cholera and The Stranger, which I read around the same time as The Road (very different genres...similar feelings). Alternatively, Reveal hidden contents The Plague, and Candide. I mention them here as novels that in my head have long felt like inversions of that "glad I read it but my god was that depressing and I don't want to read it again" feeling. Both are still profoundly tragic (comically so for Candide), but unlike The Road or the Stranger end with an optimistic take amid tragedy and absurdity. The Plague especially - in my mind its' Camus doing a much better job of communicating his vision for the possibility of Optimism within Absurdism, unlike The Stranger which just feels soul-crushing. You could also read Myth of Sisyphus for the same take more explicitly, but.....well....suffice it to say it's a thought experiment that's not for everyone. Anyway..... I'm looking for the next thing to read and would love suggestions. In the past 3ish years I've read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy series I've enjoyed - Foundation, The Expanse, Remembrance of Earth's Past, the Cosmere (all so far), Wheel of Time*, His Dark Materials. Also American Gods (as a single book), plus a ton amount of comics/graphic novels (Hickman's Avengers/FF/X-men, Saga, Invincible, Ewing's Immortal Hulk & Defenders, Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol & X-men, Gaiman's Eternals plus Sandman). Reveal hidden contents *WoT gets an asterisk for "enjoyed" because in reality it was very love-hate. Specifically....Jordan's writing on most of the female characters was a source of endless personal frustration....plus pacing issues in mid books ("the slog").....but I still love those books overall and especially Sanderson's finish (which is what led me to the cosmere). The politics and world building are incredible. With the above in mind as touchstones, does anyone have a single "best" next novel or series they'd recommend while I wait for SA5? I've been looking a lot into Guy Gavriel Kay recently, and Tigana might be a good fit with those ones you've mentioned. Really amazing book and an excellent starting point to Kay from what I've seen and heard. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XaliaStormblessed she/her Posted January 17 Report Share Posted January 17 8 hours ago, Use the Falchion said: I ate but I did give up some sleep lol! I haven't read Fairest. I can tell it's about fairytales, but is it like Cinder where there are no love triangles and it brings its own charms to the table? Honestly, my favorite couple was probably just Kai and Cinder. The couple from Cress was super sweet, but the other two were meh to me. Hide contents Wolf and Scarlet, while it did satisfy my "Team Jacob" self back in the day, now just reminds me a tad of Reylo-style romances that are all the rage, and I'm NOT a fan. I wasn't a fan of Reylo in the Star Wars movies, and I'm not a fan of that style of romance today. You should read it! It's a novella about Levana- her story before the rest of the books. Basically a prequel. I actually read it first. Since it was about her, I liked it the least, but would still recommend it cuz it's part of the story. Spoiler I liked Kai and Cinder too, I just think Cinder's character and personality was the most bland of the four heroines. I still liked her though! Kai was great. Cress and Thorne were adorable. And yeah I get it. I didn't like Reylo either, but honestly didn't like Rey or the last three Star Wars movies... don't hate me lol. I never read Twilight, never thought I was missing anything. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zurvanight he/him Posted January 18 Report Share Posted January 18 (edited) I'm on the second Coldfire book, When True Night Falls. In it the warrior priest Damien Vryce, the Rakh woman Hesseth, and the undead sorcerer Gerald Tarrant with whom Damien shares a rocky partnership with, must travel eastward across the sea to unknown lands that the West has supposedly never made contact with, to confront the source of the evil they witnessed in the Rakhlands in Black Sun Rising. What they find in these new lands is surprising and terrifying in equal measure. Man this series is so good. Edited January 18 by Zurvanight 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Use the Falchion Posted January 20 Report Share Posted January 20 On 1/16/2024 at 5:46 PM, XaliaStormblessed said: the last three Star Wars movies... don't hate me lol. I would never! I'm all over the place with them personally. I find The Force Awakens a great fun movie. TLJ is the best best of the three in terms of how it actually carries on the OT stuff, has the best acting, and the best tension. But I fundamentally disagree with several things within the movie as well. (Mostly that Finn and Poe's plots should have been switched; Finn should have learned the differences between the Resistance and the F.O. by seeing how they sacrifice and what for, while Poe should have learned that his place isn't in the cockpit or on crazy adventures anymore but leading his people and being WITH them.) The Luke and Rey stuff was perfect. TROS is one of my least favorite movies ever. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunkum he/him Posted January 20 Report Share Posted January 20 27 minutes ago, Use the Falchion said: TROS is one of my least favorite movies ever. I'm firmly of the opinion that any time anyone suggests hiring J.J. Abrams for anything, they should just play the "somehow Palpatine returned" scene to remind them why that is a bad idea. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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