What Are You Reading, Part 2

[Who Sharded?]

Publication Order Always (in regards to WoT)

[AngelEy3 he/him]

I prefer publication order personally for a first read.

Anybody ever done one of the alternative Star Wars watch orders? I really like going 1-4-R1-2-5-3-6-7 (you are pretending that you've never ever seen or heard of it at this point)  So you watch Phantom Menace to set up Obi-Wan and Tattooine. New Hope comes next and we get another Skywalker, on Tattooine, and a familiar old Face in Ben Kenobi. Then you watch Rogue One as the proper prequel that it is. Next up is Attack of the Clones. At this point the Clone Wars have been eluded to more than once, so we get to see more of our friend, Obi-Wan, and how all that gets started. It also serves to explain just why the Sand People were so darn afraid of a Jedi in the desert during A New Hope. After that we get the glory that is Empire Strikes back, and WHOA, depending on your point of view... 

Spoiler

Darth Vader didn't kill Anakin Skywalker. He IS Anakin Skywalker. Oh yea, and Luke's father.

So now we go back to Revenge of the Sith to see were the chull things went wrong for good old, Darth. And wrong did they go. Return of the Jedi comes after that and it's all about reunion and redemption. The perfect ending to tie it all together. Oh yea, and Episode 7. 

The End. 

[rmmateus he/him]

11 hours ago, Briar King said:

If your doing WoT for the 1st time then yes New Spring is the way to go. Read it once then if you do a series reread don't bother with it. If you have read any of them before then New Spring will be hard to get into.

 

10 hours ago, Leiasqz said:

Funny, I'd say it's the complete other way around. For a first timer through WoT I wouldn't read New Spring until a bit into the series (or actually, not until it came out in publication order). At least for me it would spoil a lot of the mystery of what was going on in the first book.

Not to worry. I've read WoT twice and New Spring 6 times. But I can't let a year go by without reading New Spring. I remember when I read the series the first time I only read New Spring before Towers of Midnight and I have to say that the timing could not have been more perfect.

[Leiasqz she/her]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who would go publication order.

However, @AngelEy3, for watching SW out of order I always thought the machete order seemed like the most thought out version (4,5, 1 [optional], 2, 3, 6). Haven't seen an updated version of it after R1 & The Force Awakens though.. And I've never tried it myself.

SW spoilers:

Spoiler

The point being that you watch 5 before 2 to get the big shocking reveal of parentage as intended, then the whole backstory, and then the redemption. Ruins the "other Skywalker" thing though.

 

[Briar King]

No no no!

watch 1 but just fast foward to the Maul duel, put in 2..never mind take 2 back out because it doesn't actually exist(believe it), put in 3 and fast foward to the opera and go from there, watch R1 next in all its glory and repeat for 4 to 6, then put in 4.5 I mean 7 and lol/cringe/cry/scream at JJ.

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

Coming off of my binge of the available books in the Gentleman Bastards series (Scott Lynch), I returned to Farseer and now I'm on "Fool's Fate", third book of Robin Hobb's Tawny Man trilogy. With how often I'm completely frustrated with the main character, I love these books.

[Ammanas]

31 minutes ago, officiumdefunctorum said:

Coming off of my binge of the available books in the Gentleman Bastards series (Scott Lynch), I returned to Farseer and now I'm on "Fool's Fate", third book of Robin Hobb's Tawny Man trilogy. With how often I'm completely frustrated with the main character, I love these books.

Always cool to see another Lynch fan! Lies of Locke Lamora is one of my all time favorites! It's a shame that, in my opinion, this series is heading in the wrong direction and each book that comes after is a little worse than the preceding one. Still Lynch at his worst is better than many authors at their best. Really hoping that this is the year for Thorn of Emberlain!

[Sunbird she/her]

Finished my re-read of WoK tonight. Next on the list is A Dragon of a Different Color, the latest book in Rachel Aaron's Heartstrikers series! I'M SO EXCITED FOR THIS.

[Leiasqz she/her]

4 hours ago, Ammanas said:

Always cool to see another Lynch fan!

And another! Just one week left before we venture for Finland and Worldcon. Lynch will have a reading there so here's me hoping it's new material

[Ammanas]

9 minutes ago, Leiasqz said:

And another! Just one week left before we venture for Finland and Worldcon. Lynch will have a reading there so here's me hoping it's new material

Give me/us a update if he reads from Thorn of Emberlain please. I have heard mixed reaction from fans when he does readings from it (have not heard any myself) so I am interested in your take!

[Leiasqz she/her]

@Ammanas Will do! (If we get in...)

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

16 hours ago, Ammanas said:

Always cool to see another Lynch fan! Lies of Locke Lamora is one of my all time favorites! It's a shame that, in my opinion, this series is heading in the wrong direction and each book that comes after is a little worse than the preceding one. Still Lynch at his worst is better than many authors at their best. Really hoping that this is the year for Thorn of Emberlain!

According to Amazon it's now looking like late next year for ToE. I think I've enjoyed all the books pretty much equally, but that's because I've formed as emotional attachment to Locke and Jean. Also, Lynch's writing is delightfully profane, and I need it in my life.

[Ammanas]

13 minutes ago, officiumdefunctorum said:

Also, Lynch's writing is delightfully profane, and I need it in my life.

If you like delightfully profane you should give Joe Abercrombie a try if you haven't already. The first book in the series is The Blade Itself. 

[Briar King]

34 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

If you like delightfully profane you should give Joe Abercrombie a try if you haven't already. The first book in the series is The Blade Itself. 

Yes so fun. My thoughts on how horrible Republic was *shudders is already known so however long it takes for bk 4 it ll take me longer to wait for paperback to release.

[Ammanas]

11 minutes ago, Briar King said:

so however long it takes for bk 4 it ll take me longer to wait for paperback to release.

Do you you have a library where you are at? If the author is a huge name I usually try to be one of the first to reserve a copy and buy the paperback. I usually only buy books (on the day of release) if they are one of my favorites or I feel they are a less well known author (and needs all the help they can get with sales the the publisher will keep ordering more books).

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

3 hours ago, Briar King said:

Yes so fun. My thoughts on how horrible Republic was *shudders is already known so however long it takes for bk 4 it ll take me longer to wait for paperback to release.

Like I said, for the sake of good characters I put up with a lot. It's one of the reasons I'm so faithful to Supernatural. I will wait for the audiobook, because Michael Page narration all the "motherf**kers" is too good to resist.

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

4 hours ago, Ammanas said:

If you like delightfully profane you should give Joe Abercrombie a try if you haven't already. The first book in the series is The Blade Itself. 

It's now on my list. Thank you! I'm more or less always on the hunt for a good series, and nearly always read what comes highly recommended... Eventually. Took me half a year to give in to the wheel of time.

[Dunkum he/him]

2 minutes ago, officiumdefunctorum said:

Like I said, for the sake of good characters I put up with a lot. It's one of the reasons I'm so faithful to Supernatural. I will wait for the audiobook, because Michael Page narration all the "motherf**kers" is too good to resist.

Can't speak to supernatural, but i'm about the only person I know who defends Crossroads of Twilight, and it has a lot to do with how much Mat is in that book.  Republic of Thieves didn't bother me over much, probably for similar reasons.

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

6 minutes ago, Dunkum said:

Can't speak to supernatural, but i'm about the only person I know who defends Crossroads of Twilight, and it has a lot to do with how much Mat is in that book.  Republic of Thieves didn't bother me over much, probably for similar reasons.

I will join you in its defense on behalf of my beloved Matrim. I will concede that more or less everything going on with Perrin is ANGST ANGST ANGST MANLY SUFFERING, and I find Elayne to be endlessly annoying, but Mat with the menagerie is too much fun.

Edited August 1, 2017 by officiumdefunctorum
Typo

[Briar King]

14 minutes ago, officiumdefunctorum said:

It's now on my list. Thank you! I'm more or less always on the hunt for a good series, and nearly always read what comes highly recommended... Eventually. Took me half a year to give in to the wheel of time.

My "yes so fun" was about Abercrombie. It's 6 bks currently. Many plot twist and graphic content.

WoT 10 is severe yawn worthy barring Mat. I'm just glad on my 1st series read bk 11 was just a few months away from releasing by the time I had finished 10. 

[officiumdefunctorum she/her]

1 minute ago, Briar King said:

My "yes so fun" was about Abercrombie. It's 6 bks currently. Many plot twist and graphic content.

WoT 10 is severe yawn worthy barring Mat. I'm just glad on my 1st series read bk 11 was just a few months away from releasing by the time I had finished 10. 

I figured. I have the same overall qualm with 10, and I think maybe 9? I've only read the series twice and ploughed through it both times so where one book begins/ends in the story is still hard for me to to remember. I do know I skipped most of Perrin's manly suffering the second time through because there wasn't enough Gaul to offset it. The audiobook collection is in the ballpark of 455 hours ('bout 18 days) and I blew through it in less than two months. It was seriously like my second job.

[rmmateus he/him]

14 hours ago, Dunkum said:

Can't speak to supernatural, but i'm about the only person I know who defends Crossroads of Twilight, and it has a lot to do with how much Mat is in that book.  Republic of Thieves didn't bother me over much, probably for similar reasons.

I love Crossroads of Twilight for both Mat and Egwene. I really love what happens with the rebel Aes Sedai at this point. And I also like Elayne's part, too.

Edit: Started reading Elantris today and already loving it. I think my masters dissertation will suffer now.

Edited August 2, 2017 by rmmateus

[Dunkum he/him]

8 hours ago, rmmateus said:

I love Crossroads of Twilight for both Mat and Egwene. I really love what happens with the rebel Aes Sedai at this point. And I also like Elayne's part, too.

Edit: Started reading Elantris today and already loving it. I think my masters dissertation will suffer now.

I'd have to look back into it to see what exactly is going on with Egwene in that book.  I remember the arc of the series, but mostly don't recall what happens in which book.  As I recall, I generally like Mat throughout the series, Perrin at the beginning and end of the series, but less so in the middle, Egwene towards the end after her training with the wise ones, and Elayne for a brief bit towards the end before she drops back to being insuffereable.  It stands to reason that book 10 would be a good point for Mat and Egwene, and maybe one of the better points for Elayne before she drops back down, but i'd honestly have to check

[Ammanas]

Currently on Cold Iron by Leicht and I am puzzled how a book I enjoyed two years ago can be so "meh" on a reread. I will have to go the library route on the sequel now. I reread books all the time and cannot remember such a drastic change.

[Steeldancer he/him]

On 7/31/2017 at 3:28 PM, Briar King said:

No no no!

watch 1 but just fast foward to the Maul duel, put in 2..never mind take 2 back out because it doesn't actually exist(believe it), put in 3 and fast foward to the opera and go from there, watch R1 next in all its glory and repeat for 4 to 6, then put in 4.5 I mean 7 and lol/cringe/cry/scream at JJ.

Watch one skipping all Jar Jar. Watch two, skipping all whiny anakin. Thats how i deal with them. 2 is good when Obi-Wan is featured. He's awesome. 

Anyway i just finished reading Catch Me If You Can. About Frank the check criminal. It's fascinating and hilarious.