What Are You Reading, Part 2

[Who Sharded?]

And you're only halfway through MT?  Man the second half of that book is so good.  I think of all the books in the series, MT is the one that continually gets better and better the farther you get.  I know they all have great endings, but MT has the best escalation throughout the book IMO.

[Ammanas]

20 minutes ago, Who Sharded? said:

And you're only halfway through MT?  Man the second half of that book is so good.  I think of all the books in the series, MT is the one that continually gets better and better the farther you get.  I know they all have great endings, but MT has the best escalation throughout the book IMO.

My personal favorite ending/convergence was Dust of Dreams. Partly bc the convergence was so epic and partly bc of the hard work to get there; of all the 10 books that one felt like most of a slog to me. Midnight Tides is usually my favorite of the 10 though; sometimes it is Bonehunters with Memories of Ice firmly at #3.

[Briar King]

8 hours ago, AngelEy3 said:

Managed to aquire Malazan books 9 & 10 at a local ish  garage sale for a grand total of $10 US. Sadly the owner was not familiar with them so I didn't get the chance to make a new Malazan friend. 

Update: I've made it about halfway through Midnight Tides and it's currently my #2 favorite so far. #1 being MOI. #3 DG, #4 Gardens of the Moon, and #5 House of Chains. House of Chains was still much better than a lot of other books I've read though. 

HoC is sooo much better on the reread.

[Sunbird she/her]

Plowed through the entirety of Nothing Left to Lose, the final John Cleaver book, yesterday. Dang. I'm very happy with the way Dan Wells ended the series, which I wasn't expecting. (Neither how he ended it nor my happiness with it)

[Ammanas]

About 2/3 done with The Dragonbone Chair and I am hooked now. I am a huge fan of the fantasy genre and can see how this series is a very important bridge between Tolkien (and his knockoffs) and the complex fantasy series of the late 90's through today. Once Simon leaves the castle is when it really started getting interesting for me.

[AngelEy3 he/him]

I have somewhere around under 50 pages to finish Midnight Tides, and then on to Bonehunters later tonight. I'll give an update when I finish after I get to work. 

[Briar King]

1 hour ago, AngelEy3 said:

I have somewhere around under 50 pages to finish Midnight Tides, and then on to Bonehunters later tonight. I'll give an update when I finish after I get to work. 

You decided against Night of Knives?

[AngelEy3 he/him]

1 hour ago, Briar King said:

You decided against Night of Knives?

It was more issues with availability than deciding against. None of my local libraries (4 within 30 miles) have anything Malazan related so I've had to purchase them all as I go. Found 9&10 at a garage sale last weekend though, so that was nice. My plan is to move onto the ICE books after I finish Crippled God.

OR.... since I just thought of it I could grab the digital version, but I'm a little partial to physical media. 

Update: just finished Midnight Tides. I had been hoping for more answers related to Trull's fate, but they never came they way I wanted them to. Overall very good though. I need more Rake though, lol. Something about him is the coolest ever. 

Edited June 30, 2017 by AngelEy3

[Briar King]

Get through Amazon? Night of Knives is technically a prequel set before Gardens so you won't be advancing but it is really short at maybe 300 pgs. Most of the rest of his take place (except Dancers Lament) take place during and after Crippled God. There is some stuff in between bk 7&8 that ICE covers where you could feel like your missing or just not remembering if you only do 1-10.

my Malazan read has fallen off a bit the last 5 days not because I haven't felt like reading but because I got back into FF15 and Safehold 8(finally only about 100 pgs left till end!) I'm only on pg 400 in HoC and it is SOOOO much better this 2nd time!

[AngelEy3 he/him]

3 hours ago, Briar King said:

Get through Amazon? Night of Knives is technically a prequel set before Gardens so you won't be advancing but it is really short at maybe 300 pgs. Most of the rest of his take place (except Dancers Lament) take place during and after Crippled God. There is some stuff in between bk 7&8 that ICE covers where you could feel like your missing or just not remembering if you only do 1-10.

my Malazan read has fallen off a bit the last 5 days not because I haven't felt like reading but because I got back into FF15 and Safehold 8(finally only about 100 pgs left till end!) I'm only on pg 400 in HoC and it is SOOOO much better this 2nd time!

Amazon has been my go to guy for books. Prime is your friend for sure. I'm definitely feeling like Night of Knives would give me a little Apsalar like insight into Kellanvad and Dancer right now though. It didn't take too long to understand why you wanted me to read it first. 

Returning to the "present" (if that's even a thing with warrens) in Bonehunters was nice because so far I know everyone and haven't had to do any introductions yet. At the same time I really miss all those characters. The Beddict Bros/Bugg, but mostly Trull. Although Trull was listed in the characters list at the front of Bonehunters so I'm holding out hope for that. 

Spoiler

I knew Bugg was more than a man servant but I never pegged him for a fracking God! That was cool. 

I've been thinking about jumping back into FF15 as well with all the new dlc and Prompto coming out. Played through it all the way once, and started another that I stopped at chapter 9 to wait for updates and then never went back to as of yet. I'll probably end up starting over again, but it's a great game for replay and I've spent more hours fishing than doing probably anything else in game. I also enjoyed the Roman Latin naming scheme this time around. I feel like it added a certain amount of gravity and history to the world somehow. 

[Briar King]

Haha yeah. Also you can see who I was talking about when I said MT introduced 2 fan favorite characters!! Also BH is FANTASTIC! It also has my favorite line of the series in it..

 I'm only on my 1st play of FF15(only on ch 8 but I just hit 120 hrs game time...so much to do in this game!) and I'm going to get those episodes soon! I just got a monster truck Regalia with a jump function last night! Don't need a Chocobo as long as I have gas now..!!

Edited July 1, 2017 by Briar King

[AngelEy3 he/him]

On 7/1/2017 at 0:14 AM, Briar King said:

Haha yeah. Also you can see who I was talking about when I said MT introduced 2 fan favorite characters!! Also BH is FANTASTIC! It also has my favorite line of the series in it..

 I'm only on my 1st play of FF15(only on ch 8 but I just hit 120 hrs game time...so much to do in this game!) and I'm going to get those episodes soon! I just got a monster truck Regalia with a jump function last night! Don't need a Chocobo as long as I have gas now..!!

Whoa. Monster truck regalia was not a thing when I last played. Might have to get back on that soon. 

Update: Y'Ghatan. Witness. 

Edited July 2, 2017 by AngelEy3

[Ammanas]

I started Soul of the World by Mealing and it is a excellent start so far! The author on a AMA revealed the Sanderson has been a huge influence and it shows nor only in his writing style, but he even has three rotating main characters and interludes at the end of each "part" of the book. 

[Briar King]

Reading time on all 3 of my books ground to a halt thanks to the GoT marathon on hbo the last 3 days lol. It finally ended so I ll get back to it now.

[Left he/him]

I finished Sandman 6, basically finished Theft of Swords, and am almost a hundred pages into The Witchwood Crown, the latest Tad William's in Osten Ard. I'd forgotten how densely he writes I have to read a lot slower than I have during the last several...months of reading. 

[+Slowswift]

14 minutes ago, Left said:

basically finished Theft of Swords,

!!! Please tell me you liked it.  I'm in the middle of rereading the second book (well, technically it's the third) book now.

[Ammanas]

25 minutes ago, Left said:

 I have to read a lot slower than I have during the last several...months of reading. 

As much as I loved Dragonbones Chair I needed a break to read something with easier prose. After I finish Soul of the World I am excited to continue with Stone of Farewell.

[Left he/him]

32 minutes ago, Slowswift said:

!!! Please tell me you liked it.  I'm in the middle of rereading the second book (well, technically it's the third) book now.

It's actually a re-read. I liked it better the first time. It feels like a slightly grown up Rangers Apprentice this time around, and mehh. It's fine, it's still a fairly generic fantasy book. I'm planning on reading book 2 sometime after Witchwood Crown. 

[+Slowswift]

Just now, Left said:

It's actually a re-read. I liked it better the first time. It feels like a slightly grown up Rangers Apprentice this time around, and mehh. It's fine, it's still a fairly generic fantasy book. I'm planning on reading book 2 sometime after Witchwood Crown. 

Ah, okay. Yeah, the writing is fairly amateurish, but I adore those books.

[AngelEy3 he/him]

There's a good chance that I'll be able to finish Bonehunters tonight. Made it to part 4 last night. I haven't experienced any Malazan fatigue since House of Chains. Anyone ever tried to explain it to somebody before? Like what it's about? Trying to get my brother to read it, but I'm having a hard time describing it besides shape-shifting dragons and other creatures, undead dust and bone warriors, giant hive mind raptors with sword arms, assassins, gods, and demons. The inevitable question becomes, "but, what is it about?" and I don't know how to explain it. 

[Ammanas]

1 minute ago, AngelEy3 said:

There's a good chance that I'll be able to finish Bonehunters tonight. Made it to part 4 last night. I haven't experienced any Malazan fatigue since House of Chains. Anyone ever tried to explain it to somebody before? Like what it's about? Trying to get my brother to read it, but I'm having a hard time describing it besides shape-shifting dragons and other creatures, undead dust and bone warriors, giant hive mind raptors with sword arms, assassins, gods, and demons. The inevitable question becomes, "but, what is it about?" and I don't know how to explain it. 

It's a problem amongst malazan fans trying to explain this series. My explanation isn't very good but I say something along the lines of, "It's about the expansion of a empire and the problems that it brings. It's a story about Gods (some free some bound), magic, and all sorts of different mortals. It takes place over several continents, timelines and has hundreds if not upwards of a thousand characters.

[AngelEy3 he/him]

39 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

It's a problem amongst malazan fans trying to explain this series. My explanation isn't very good but I say something along the lines of, "It's about the expansion of a empire and the problems that it brings. It's a story about Gods (some free some bound), magic, and all sorts of different mortals. It takes place over several continents, timelines and has hundreds if not upwards of a thousand characters.

I'm going to try that one out. It's what I've been searching for,  but I couldn't quite come up with it.

Even reading at the speed of standard speech, this series is much more time consuming than most others I've read. It took a month to read the Song of Ice and Fire, and 2 months to read the entire published Cosmere sans White Sands. I've been working on Malazan since Mid-April and still have 4 books to go after this one. Not complaining, I just find it interesting that the time it takes to get through one Malazan book is almost twice that of most other fantasy books of comparable size. The really interesting part, to me, is that I didn't really realize it until I started looking at the date I started. 

Edit: I've outpaced myself... I'm going to finish Bonehunters at least 4 days before Reaper's Gale arrives unless the post office suddenly decides to get super awesome at actually moving along a package. Been tracking it since Thursday and it has yet to leave the original carrier facility... Sigh... 

Edited July 4, 2017 by AngelEy3

[Briar King]

That's probably going to drive you insane.

 I'm also willing to bet almost anything that whatever you read next after Malazan is going to leave a bitter taste in your mouth since Erikson is such a master.

 

Have you ever read Gene Wolfe?

[AngelEy3 he/him]

12 minutes ago, Briar King said:

That's probably going to drive you insane.

 I'm also willing to bet almost anything that whatever you read next after Malazan is going to leave a bitter taste in your mouth since Erikson is such a master.

 

Have you ever read Gene Wolfe?

I'll probably end up doing what I did with Blood Mirror and grab the digital version to sate me while I wait for the book to finally arrive. Amazon is amazing as long as whatever you order qualifies for Prime shipping. Otherwise, in my area at least, I can count off the days that a package doesn't move from one city to the next each day like it should be doing.

I had been having the same thought just a few hours ago about what I should read after this. "Who can I read that isn't going to seem like going from LOTR to Sword of Shannara?"  Still quite a ways out though. If I keep my current pace (barring the rough time I had with HoC) I should have time to get a title or 2 in before I start my re-read of Stormlight in early October. 

I've never read Gene Wolfe before, no. Do you have a suggestion from his works? 

Who wants to start an over/under on Winds of Winter with me? Starting tomorrow, at one chapter a day, do you think someone could read Wheel of Time before Winds of Winter is released? At a rough estimate, I believe it works out to about 14 months. I'm tempted to try it out. We could alternately swap Winds of Winter with Kingkiller Chronicles Day 3 if one seems like a better chance than the other, lol. 

[Briar King]

Oh yeah I can name a few of his. He can make Erikson seem like an amateur with words. I love this old man. He writes in all genres. His best known work is theBook of the New Sun. Set in the dying days of our sun when it a red giant Sci-fi but with fantasy aspects or Latro in the Mist set in Anicent Greece about a soldier who suffered a head wound and can no longer have long term memory so writes his life each day in journal that reads on waking up. His wound lets him tap into mystical realm. Or The Wizard Knight which is pretty much exactly what the title says and yet not..

All EXTREMELY good choices. He is very old now and still active. I will literally cry when he leaves this world.

Edited July 4, 2017 by Briar King