What Are You Reading, Part 2

[Briar King]

Finally finished SLA5 today at 4am. Been chipping at it since release date 6 months ago.

Onto Hamilton's video game time in book Exodus.

[Through the Living Questio he/him]

On 5/9/2025 at 1:51 AM, JDharmawan said:

I have just finished the entire Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski. I think CDPR's games raised the bar a lot for me, and I was kind of disappointed about the books especially with how it ends. Hmmm yea hot take kind of, I prefer the games...

Anyway, right now I'm reading Indie Author's books. It's titled The Lastest of Words by Louigi Verona.

Afterwards in my list will be the latest ACOTAR. I haven't continued the series after finishing the trilogy, I figured it's time to read Book 4.

I’m on attempt 4 to finish Lady of the Lake lol 

[Briar King]

Wow Exodus at only pg 30 is amazing. The lore is mind-blowing. Very epic in scope. I can tell this is from the true Bioware Mass Effect team. Its crazy reading Sci Fi after so much Fantasy. I can't wait to play this game and it's amazing that an author of Hamiltons caliber is writing a tie in book. I'm so here for it all!

[Use the Falchion]

Finished Isles of the Emberdark, The Pilot (The Last Horizon 4 by Will Wight), and Chains (Unbound 11 by Nicoli Gonnella). 

All three were some of my most anticipated releases for this year, so I've had a VERY good week reading. Honestly, my life has had an incredibly fun balance of social time, reading time, and video game time this summer! I've even started working out again some. Now, if only I can get some writing time in! (I can, I just need to be dedicated.) 

I have a few options on where to go next, but overall, the next major books I'm looking forward to won't come out until August. 

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

Alright, finished the Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy by Cixin Liu a few days ago. That is:

1. The Three-Body Problem
2. The Dark Forest
3. Death's End

A few things I have to say, in no specific order:

• First of all, this is 'hard' sci-fi. Everything that happens in these books is plausible, even if some of them are unlikely. This means that there are references to real science, especially physics. Things like string theory, some quantum mechanics, relativity, etc. Of course, it's not like you need a degree to read it, because I understood it and everything know about physics comes from YouTube videos.
• Next, this series is (initially) about an alien invasion. Can't say more, but there is a very interesting solutions to the Fermi Paradox presented in the second book.
• Next, time in this series is a little strange. There's a flashback sequence in the first book that, at least to me, felt abrupt at times. And I don't want to get into spoilers here, but the last book has a tendency to leap centuries like they're puddles of water. So... be warned.
• There's also a heavy philosophy aspect to this series. I can't give examples because they're all spoilers, but there are times you could question what it means to be human and things like that. Also the aforementioned Fermi Paradox solution has a lot to do with it.
• The characters aren't... alive like Sanderson characters are. Barely any get any character development.
• The ending to the series felt, in some ways, like a Sanderlanche. There was a lot of information dumped in the last part, but not so much it felt overwhelming. Well, it kind of did, but that's the point. There wasn't exactly a... 'happy' ending, but it was close enough. It left me really wanting to see what happened immediately after, because [spoilers]. It... really was something.
• The first books takes a while to get into, but it's worth it.

I enjoyed it a lot. The last book claimed the title of my 10th favourite book of all time (you can find my top 47 in my About Me). Even with 'dead' characters, everything else was really good.

Now, I can start properly reading The Black Prism. 

Edited August 12, 2025 by KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren
Typo

[Mags she/they]

I did finish fellowship of the ring at the end of June, I believe. Last night I reached the halfway point of Lotr, which I was really proud of because I'm a slow reader and I thought it would take me forever lol!

After I finish my lotr reread my brother and I are going to buddy read the Wheel of Time, which I'm excited about. I have been thinking about doing a reaction/reading thread for that over the wot forum, but I'm not fully decided yet. I don't know who would want to read that, I mostly just want to write it lol

At the same time I'm going to try and work on the list of YA stuff I've been wanting to read. Leigh Bardugo purgatory here I cooommeeee (I'm joking (I'm the one who insisted on reading SaB before SoC lol (I only have myself to blame))).

Until then o7

[Vielence She/Her]

Legendborn, by Tracy Deonn. 
Any of y’all read it?

[Briar King]

Finished Hamilton's Exodus. It was a fun one. I really cant wait for this game setting. Eagerly awaiting bk 2 for sure.

My plan was to go straight to rereading his Commonwealth bks but I just found out Dresden 18 is hitting this January so so I've taken up that reread again starting bk 5 that I put down in 2021 to begin a reread of WoT right before WoP premiered.

[Use the Falchion]

Mostly rereading Cradle right now, but I just got another friend into the series! That makes four friends IIRC, with two more I'm working on. (One I KNOW will love the series once he starts it, as he's a big Shonen anime fan; the other I think will like it since she's a big anime fan too, but we'll see.) 

The first four friends are fans of Sanderson, while the latter two will be introduced to Sanderson after they finish Cradle. 

[Eluvianii he/him]

Halfway through the second volume of Sword Art Online cause I wanted to get back into this franchise and if I'm gonna do that, might as well do it properly. And good thing I did. Turns out I've been slightly unfair to this first arc. 

I've always disliked how Aincrad feels inconsistent. In the span of 14 episodes you get adventure, romance, a ghost story, tragedy, and two teenagers playing house. 

Variety is fine, but this is too much for such a short story, and throughout the thing it rarely feels like the show is focusing on a main plot. Only at the beginning and the end really. 

But with the books it makes so much more sense. If you read only the first volume, that's it, you have a complete story. It's largely self conclusive, and it reads like a simple and short romance story, that just happens to have an unnecessary amount of lore.

Second volume is a short story collection, all of which are dimilarly self contained, and spanning an array of tones. Which is fine because they're short stories. 

But then in the adaptation they just tacked them all together in chronological order, which I won't call a bad move but it certainly threw the pace out the window.

It all makes so much sense now. I'm seeing this all with new eyes. 

Also, it's fun to make fun of SAO and all, but going back to this story, I'm finding I'm still quite fond of these characters, and the simplicity of the world. It's just really fun to read. I'm really looking forward to catching up properly. 

[CoderDrag0n8 He/They]

ORV Sequel Series. Around Chapter 616

[Honors Spectral Image She/her]

Currently nothing I just finished The Poppy War, The Alloy of Law, and Small Angels. I highly recommend all three. I have a book named Mordew that I’m trying to get around too and I’m planning on getting Shadows of Self soon.

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

Finished the Black Prism by Brent Weeks about a week ago.

It was good, though I felt like it could be better. Some thoughts:

• The magic system, colour drafting or chromaturgy, is really cool and does feel quite Sanderson-esque. It involves harnessing light to 'draft' a substance called luxin, which has different properties depending on the colour drafted.
• The tension though... I feel like there isn't much build-up of tension over the course of the book. I don't know why, I just don't feel any more tense during the climax than during the early chapters. 
• The characterisation is also something that isn't that great. The characters by no means feel dead, but they aren't on par with Sanderson, or at least 'modern' Sanderson. Most feel like your Elantris characters, at least to me. Gavin is your slightly-more-nuanced Hrathen, and everyone else is a Raoden or a Sarene.
• It is... not a conclusive ending, no, a lot is left unresolved. It's kind of like the TWoK ending, which, spoilers!
  Spoiler

  Show the battle for the Tower, but does not have a conclusion to the War of Reckoning, the Shallan plotline or what happens to Kaladin after he's freed. Or Sadeas.

Yeah, that's all I can think of. It placed 27th on my list of books. 

I will definitely be reading the sequels, I want to know what happens next, but for now, I've begun Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett!

[Treamayne]

4 hours ago, KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren said:

It was good, though I felt like it could be better.

Glad you seemed to enjoy it, so far. 

4 hours ago, KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren said:

The characterisation is also something that isn't that great.

<snip>

I will definitely be reading the sequels, I want to know what happens next,

This improves as the series continues and reveals start happening. Hope you enjoy the remainder when you get around to them. 

You mention WoK. . . Minor Anticipatory Comparison/Spoiler:

Spoiler

Gavin's Arc is more like Vivenna in Warbreaker. . . 

 

Edited August 12, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG/Clarity

[The Unknown Medallion he/him]

10 hours ago, KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren said:

The characterisation is also something that isn't that great. The characters by no means feel dead, but they aren't on par with Sanderson, or at least 'modern' Sanderson. Most feel like your Elantris characters, at least to me. Gavin is your slightly-more-nuanced Hrathen, and everyone else is a Raoden or a Sarene

I'll second this with a more nuanced take, one character not withstanding, there will never be a super strong voice for any character. 

The character arcs however, across each book and especially the series, are beautiful. 

This is one of if not my favorite series, enjoy.

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

10 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Glad you seemed to enjoy it, so far. 

This improves as the series continues and reveals start happening. Hope you enjoy the remainder when you get around to them. 

You mention WoK. . . Minor Anticipatory Comparison/Spoiler:

  Hide contents

Gavin's Arc is more like Vivenna in Warbreaker. . . 

 

4 hours ago, The Unknown Order said:

I'll second this with a more nuanced take, one character not withstanding, there will never be a super strong voice for any character. 

The character arcs however, across each book and especially the series, are beautiful. 

This is one of if not my favorite series, enjoy.

Well then, I can't wait for the sequels 

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

Alright so a few days ago I finished Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett.

Some thoughts:

• The magic system, like The Black Prism, is very Sanderson. Scriving, it's called. This one has a lot of parallels to AonDor and Forgery.
• Also like The Black Prism, tension didn't build as much as I'd've liked. The climax was quite tense, but it took a bit to really get into. In my opinion, it's better than The Black Prism in this regard.
• The climax... felt like a proper Sanderlanche. Spectacular. Mysteries solved, epic stuff went down, crisis averted, and a dozen new mysteries appear.
• The characters are alright, they remind me a lot of Cytoverse characters, who are cool, but don't match the depth of, say, Stormlight characters. In fact, the main characters from Foundryside feel almost identical the the main Cytoverse characters. Spoilers for both Skyward and Foundryside: 
  Spoiler

  Clef is like...

  Exactly M-Bot!

   

• Now, the worldbuilding. It is really cool, the city of Tevanne, the campos, the shadow of the heirophants... Feels somewhat like post-Reod Elantris, or post-Recreance Roshar. 

This book placed 19th on my list. I'll definitely be reading the sequels after the Lightbringer series.

Speaking of which, onto the Blinding Knife!

[BenKenobi7333 He/Him/Mandalorian]

Hello everyone, I have been finished reading the Shining by Stephen King. I thought it was a really good book. I found the story to be surprisingly entertaining and interesting. 

I am currently reading Isles of the Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson. So far so good. I won’t spoil anything, but I’ve forgotten how good his books are. 

[Treamayne]

Just started The Blade Itself (Joe Abercrombie). I'm only on Ch 4, so we'll see if it improves - but despite the many recommendations I received for it, it's not my cup of tea so far. 

On 4/10/2025 at 7:25 AM, Treamayne said:

Started a Web Serial (complete) based on a coworker's recommendation and that it has an epub download option. It's looking to be more complex than I first thought (shared universe with other web serial books in the same canon sharing characters and affecting each other's storylines). Synopsis:

The Deathworlders
 

  Hide contents

https://deathworlders.com/

You may already be familiar with the concept of a Deathworld; planets so terribly inhospitable that any hapless explorer landing on one is likely to meet a swift and unpleasant end. Science Fiction is riddled with such worlds, beginning with the planet Pyrrus from Harry Harrison’s novel “Deathworld,” and from there to the Arrakis, Catachan, Z’ha’dum, Midworld, Pandora and many, many more…

Including, in this series, the Earth. Not that humanity knows any different, as we have never visited any other planet to make a comparison. But to the other species of the galaxy, humans are terrifying in our strength and intelligence. Our arrival on the galactic scene will change the course of history…and not necessarily always for the better.

- - - - - - -

The first chapter of what would eventually become “The Deathworlders,” was posted on 4chan some years ago now, as a self-contained story.

At first I thought it had received some pleasant comments and then sank without a trace. It was only after Reddit user “Guidosbestfriend” set his own story “Humans Don’t Make Good Pets” in the same universe and I confessed to having created the setting that I learned that “The Kevin Jenkins Experience” was considered a HFY classic.

Surprising as this was, I then decided to write a sequel, and from there the clamor for more has picked me up and swept me along.

For those who are upset by the strongly antitheistic content of part 0.2, I implore you to power on through it. You may be pleasantly surprised by the resolution to that content.

—Hambone

Only starting Chapter 6, but interesting so far (especially the exploration of evolution's impact on resiliency and how that may be different for xenobiology).

On 5/28/2025 at 8:47 PM, Treamayne said:

On 5/28/2025 at 7:38 PM, Dunkum said:

A friend of mine has been reading that, and told me he has read something like 17 novels' worth of Reddit Posts just in that overarching series

Most of it can also be found on the Website, including download links for epub versions (either by chapter, or all together - but the formatting leaves much to be desired, so I am fixing my copy). You can also offer, they are interested, I've taken some of the Reddit-only material and made epubs for that as well (and will offer them to Hambone for his site, if he wants).

• Xiu Saga - 90% complete
• Good Training - 90% complete (includes Champions and Champions 2, plus Interludes)
• MIA - 80 % complete
• Waters of Babylon - 60% Complete
• Humans Don't Make Good Pets - 20% complete
• Salvage 10% complete

Not sure if I will finish the last two. HDMGP I may just do season one, since that's the only relevant part so far. Salvage I have not started reading (just converted from Reddit to Word - which is my first step to crafting an ePub version) and since it is so big, I'll have to see if I like it enough to invest the time. The top three and Deathworlders through Ch 41 should be sharable shortly - which is all integrated into one book, with those three integrated in timeline order.

Finally finished Deathworlders (and most of the Related Canon Stories in the Jenkinsverse). Still making some edits to the various ePubs I converted the Canon "Essential Reading list" stories

BLUF: Not bad, I've already recommended it to a few people (but that was before I finished) and I can see why some like it. I may read parts of it again, but probably not the whole thing. It starts out Sci Fi (not particularly hard or soft, but kind of a mix - some elements more "defined" than others) but transitions more into Sci Fan/Space Fantasy for the last third or so (97 Chapters in the main Deathworlders story alone, and some of those chapters are Novella length). On the side stories, some are better than others (to be expected) with Xiu Saga being my favorite by-far. 

More detail:

Spoiler

The Good:

The worldbuilding is rather well-done, especially for starting as a shared univers with multiple people all having added Primary elements. I especially liked how some of the early "silliness" (those crazy Xenos) that seemed to have been added for the gag, turned out to be much more connected and nefarious and it flet like a well-executed plot arc, rather than DEM or shoe-horned retcon. The variety of Aliens, and at least the attempt to portray how evolving on different planets with differnt challenged affted and shaped their culture and outlook was very interesting.

I was also happy that, despite the way the stories start, humanity isn't shown to be just a race of Sociopathic killers - much of what Humans naviaging the Galaxy for the first time do is about showing compassion, teamwork and helping allies improve themselves. It's actually a good thing (for the story, not the characters) that Humans accidentally help their enemies improve too (one of the "big bad" races excel in learning from how they are beaten, and coming back far worse for having survived the challenge of defeat).

It's also a fairly "inclusive" story by the middle-last third - in which healthy relationships are shown for straight, bi, queer, poly, and questioning characters. Also a good mix of religions and faiths with a strong component on focusing on the common good of all faiths, not the devisive differnces amongst them (despite the prologue chapter - which the Author calls out in his forward). 

The Bad:

There were very few characters (human or xeno) with a spine. What i mean by that is nearly everybody folds to peer pressure. Quickly too. And they all also realize they were wrong to disagree in the first place, and it really is better to just do as everybody else. Some of the character arcs had this so blatent, it really just seemed like the author forced the characters into situations to get them where they needed them - even when it made no sense with any of the characters backstory or motivations prior to that point. If a character states a belief or motivation early that sets them apart, it almost always ends in a 180 shift to the opposite. . . because?! 

Because this started as "by post" serial writing, there is also a lot of repeated description (more than you think "a lot" should mean). It's understandable to some degree - serial stories need to repeat descriptions because they cannot be certain that a new reader didn;t just start with the most-recent chapter. It's not as much of a factor in the first third with shorter chapter lengths, but by the last third, I bet you could lose 1000+ words per chapter just by trimming down the descriptions of who has extreme-bodybuilt themselves to outraggeous proportions (combinations of alien medical treatment and graviry-based training)

The Ugly:

By the last third of the story, everybody uses Brit Bodybuilding slang. Alien races who are just learning English are thinking in terms like "Hench" and "swollbro" - which might make sense as a spoken word/translater thing, but does not make sense as shown. I'll list Salvage in this section as well. I'm sure there are people who like that story, but it just seemed to jump the shark early, the MC had no real redeeming qualities and I DNFed and stopped reading once I go to the last Canon scene (and only some Scenes before that chapter are really Canon anyway - I'm trimming a lot of fluff from the combined ePub, so only the important canon parts will remain and only so we have context for other parts of the main story or better side stories). 

 

[The cheeseman Don't you dare go Hollow!]

17 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Just started The Blade Itself (Joe Abercrombie). I'm only on Ch 4, so we'll see if it improves - but despite the many recommendations I received for it, it's not my cup of tea so far. 

Thoughts on it? I highly enjoyed the trilogy. Though I do tend to enjoy gritty/dark fantasy.

[Treamayne]

14 hours ago, The cheeseman said:

Thoughts on it? I highly enjoyed the trilogy. Though I do tend to enjoy gritty/dark fantasy.

Those were my thoughts, though I have made a few more chapters now (too bad they aren't numbered). 

Spoiler

I just got to the Chapter where Col (former) Glokta wakes up and has to be carried to his bath

@The cheeseman, may i ask what you liked about the trilogy?

Edited September 5, 2025 by Treamayne
Query

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

Right.

I finished The Blinding Knife a few days a go, and I feel like rambling.

Spoilers for both The Black Prism and The Blinding Knife

Spoiler

1. Zyum. Massive plot twist. I thought it would be Kip.
2. The Blinder's Knife, as Andross called it... it seems to have properties somewhere between Nightblood and Raysium. It... absorbed Gavin's (Dazen's) power and healed Andross' halo.
3. The Lightbringer. Is it Kip? Foreshadowing says yes. Don't know 'bout it.
4. The old gods seem to work a little like Shards, with a Vessel.
5. The stuff that went down at the end... oh storms. Gavin is stuck with Gunner. Andross has a white luxin knife. Kip is trapped with his half-brother. A cliffhanger indeed. Feels like the ending to Golden Son by Pierce Brown. Everything goes right, and then turns upside down.
6. Now, everything points to the fact that drafting ability does depend on genealogy, at least partially. Andross is a polychrome and Felia was a monochrome. Two of their sons were Prisms, one of 'em a superchromat. Their grandchildren are both full-spectrum polychromes and at least one is a superchromat.
7. Now that Gavin's death came abruptly, who's the next Prism going to be? Will there even be a Prism for 5 years?
8. Gavin, err, Dazen losing his colours as soon as Gavin left the associated prison... what was going on there? Because the other 4 prisons don't exist, what would've happened if Gavin escaped? Would Dazen lose all his colours? Or would he keep the 4 he had? 
9. Paryl. I'm assuming this is microwave or radiowaves. It kind of makes sense, colour blindness in paryl drafters, as paryl's wavelength is orders of magnitude longer than sub-red. This means that it would be more difficult to distinguish between the shorter wavelength colours. If, of course, human colour vision worked that way, as the only colours we actually see are red, blue and green, but maybe it doesn't work like that in this world.
10. Chi. I'm assuming this is going to be x-ray or gamma-ray. Actually, not gamma-ray, there's not of that that makes it through the sun's outer layers to draft. 

Might ramble s'more later.

[Treamayne]

3 hours ago, KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren said:

Might ramble s'more later.

I hope the rambles mean you enjoyed it. 

9/10 - minor spoilers (your decision to look):

Spoiler

Rough location for Heretical Drafting:

RAFO the rest; but, be advised, Law of Kelsier applies (there's always another secret). 

[KaladinsSenseOfHumourSpren He/Him]

6 hours ago, Treamayne said:

I hope the rambles mean you enjoyed it. 

9/10 - minor spoilers (your decision to look):

  Hide contents

Rough location for Heretical Drafting:

RAFO the rest; but, be advised, Law of Kelsier applies (there's always another secret). 

Yes, I do enjoy it.

Thanks!

Spoiler

I do think that chi drafters are more likely to be superchromats.

 

[The Unknown Medallion he/him]

29 minutes ago, KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren said:

Yes, I do enjoy it.

Thanks!

  Hide contents

I do think that chi drafters are more likely to be superchromats.

 

Spoiler

You know, I don't think we ever get told one way or another, but that's a cool theory. 

10 hours ago, KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren said:

Now, everything points to the fact that drafting ability does depend on genealogy, at least partially. Andross is a polychrome and Felia was a monochrome. Two of their sons were Prisms, one of 'em a superchromat. Their grandchildren are both full-spectrum polychromes and at least one is a superchromat.

It was stated early on that it's genetic enough to be noticeable, but complex enough to be unpredictable. Which is about how everything genetic should seem to people of that time period. 

10 hours ago, KaladinsSenseOfHumorSpren said:

Chi. I'm assuming this is going to be x-ray or gamma-ray. Actually, not gamma-ray, there's not of that that makes it through the sun's outer layers to draft.

There's actually a hint as to which one it is in the name. 

Most of your questions are nearly immediately answered next book, so you shouldn't have to wait long for answers.