What Are You Reading, Part 2

[StormingTexan he/him]

11 minutes ago, Dunkum said:

Well after seeing Lightbringer come up about a dozen times in this thread, I figured I would try it out...but its already checked out, so i put in a hold, and started on Ryria instead.  a few chapters in to Theft of Swords now

Hope you like Ryiria I enjoyed the series. 

 

Just finished my re-read of Mistborn Era 1. Its funny how much more I picked up on this time around. Man love those books as much now as I did the first time. Forgot how emotional the ending is!

Next up a Stormlight re-read before Oathbringer. 

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

I see a lot of talk about Lightbringer series here. And this is not the only place everyone praises this series. So I have this question: Is it much different (i.e. better) than Night Angel trilogy of the same author? Because I've read Night Angel years and years ago and I hated it with real passion. So with that in consideration, is there any chance that I could enjoy the Lightbringer series? 

[Briar King]

As I said a few post up the author improvement is huge. You can tell you are reading Weeks but you reading a much wiser Weeks. I'd even go so far as to say authors could take lessons in the LB Weeks in how to knock your head spinning with plot twist.

His next project is going back to Night Angel and I want to hurry up and have it in my hands already.

[Ammanas]

22 minutes ago, Pestis the Spider said:

I see a lot of talk about Lightbringer series here. And this is not the only place everyone praises this series. So I have this question: Is it much different (i.e. better) than Night Angel trilogy of the same author? Because I've read Night Angel years and years ago and I hated it with real passion. So with that in consideration, is there any chance that I could enjoy the Lightbringer series? 

@Pestis the Spider first thing to get out of the way. It was me that gave you a upvote and then a downvote. My phone and thumb were having some issues to make a long story short. Now thats out of the way to answer your question. I liked Night Angel, but it had a brutality and cruelty to that world that made me feel uncomfortable at times. Although lightbringer isn't all happy it is missing that element from the world. The world is richer, more imaginative and the writing is a vast improvement.

[StormingTexan he/him]

2 hours ago, Pestis the Spider said:

I see a lot of talk about Lightbringer series here. And this is not the only place everyone praises this series. So I have this question: Is it much different (i.e. better) than Night Angel trilogy of the same author? Because I've read Night Angel years and years ago and I hated it with real passion. So with that in consideration, is there any chance that I could enjoy the Lightbringer series? 

I am right there with you. I didn't even get past the first book. In fact I actually kept putting Lightbringer on the back burner even with all the great praise. Finally started it and read all the books back to back. It's night and day as far as I'm concerned.  

[AngelEy3 he/him]

Never read Night Angel, but Lightbringer is right up there with the high quality series. 

Just finished Republic of Thieves. Overall I thought it was good, but I really don't like Denna...sorry, I meant Sabetha... Or did I mean Denna? Not sure at this point, since they might as well be the same person. 

Spoiler

It's almost malevolent, the way that both Sabetha and Denna torture the men who love them. Particularly because there's no way they aren't aware of what they are actively doing to someone's heart. 

That being said, I look forward to The Thorn of Emberlain. If a story can get me this riled up, they must be doing something right. 

Edited September 23, 2017 by AngelEy3

[Steeldancer he/him]

I have to say, my favorite plot twist of all time is still Enders Game. Just that one book, by itself, is one of my favorite works of science fiction. 

[AngelEy3 he/him]

18 minutes ago, Steeldancer said:

I have to say, my favorite plot twist of all time is still Enders Game. Just that one book, by itself, is one of my favorite works of science fiction. 

Just picked up a used copy of that for $1. I'm interested to see if it's as good as everyone says. 

[Steeldancer he/him]

Just now, AngelEy3 said:

Just picked up a used copy of that for $1. I'm interested to see if it's as good as everyone says. 

It is. His other books aren't always great, but there's a reason Enders game is so well respected. Have fun!

[Briar King]

I say if you want something challenging and yet satisfying try Gene Wolfe. Book of the New Sun is great.

[Dunkum he/him]

8 hours ago, Steeldancer said:

It is. His other books aren't always great, but there's a reason Enders game is so well respected. Have fun!

i'll second this.  I read though the homecoming series which is pretty bad, and the alvin maker series, which I like the alternate history setting, but thats about it, especially later on.

[Draginon he/him]

I'm kind of hoping to finish HOA this week, have two workshop days that don't do anything for me so I spend the day reading, so that I can start my spooky reads for October.

In other news, I've been thinking the last couple days to do a sabbatical with my gf in a couple years and I'm trying to figure out how many books I would need for the trip since there would be planes, trains and buses trying to get everywhere. It's almost like I would need a whole suitcase just for books. I'm thinking this would be during August to November or December.

[AngelEy3 he/him]

2nd time in two days I've heard of this "sabbatical." Checked it out and that sounds amazing. I'd love to take time off for a road trip and have it last longer than a week. 

[Dunkum he/him]

17 minutes ago, AngelEy3 said:

2nd time in two days I've heard of this "sabbatical." Checked it out and that sounds amazing. I'd love to take time off for a road trip and have it last longer than a week. 

I'd be in favor of expanding them to professions other than academia, which is the only place I've seen that has it.  because you are right, sometimes a week is just not sufficient for everything you want to do.

[Ammanas]

I've been listening to the audiobook and reading The Blinding Knife for the past few days, but now that my books have come in from the library I will switch back to audio only for Weeks' book. 

The books that came in from the library, that I started today, are The Seven Forges series by James A. Moore. It is 4 books long and I had read the first two, but stopped because that was all that was out at the time. I recently found out that its all done so I want to see how it turns out. From what I remember it is a good series, but not a great one. Imagine a empire that has been living in peace for a long time accidently discovers inhabitants of a unknown land that are basically like the Aiel (from wheel of time). I won't reveal anymore for fear of spoilers.

[DSC01 he/him]

@Ammanas I read most of The Seven Forges, then gave up halfway through the fourth book. I just didn't care anymore. I read The books back to back and really tried to get invested, but I just couldn't.

[Ammanas]

56 minutes ago, DSC01 said:

@Ammanas I read most of The Seven Forges, then gave up halfway through the fourth book. I just didn't care anymore. I read The books back to back and really tried to get invested, but I just couldn't.

Was the fourth book a lesser quality installment of the series or was it just too much of a just o.k. series at once?

[Draginon he/him]

On 9/27/2017 at 5:05 PM, Dunkum said:

I'd be in favor of expanding them to professions other than academia, which is the only place I've seen that has it.  because you are right, sometimes a week is just not sufficient for everything you want to do.

There are jobs that give sabbatical leave, it depends whether it's paid leave or not, so it's not just school related.

My gf is currently in college in Copenhagen and she's told me she wants to do one to the states once she graduates since she wants to see the states so much. Doing this with her would also give me a chance to spend time with her since we're an online couple at this point.

[DSC01 he/him]

16 hours ago, Ammanas said:

Was the fourth book a lesser quality installment of the series or was it just too much of a just o.k. series at once?

More the latter, I suppose. I was well into the fourth book of a series, and I still didn't really care very much about any of the characters (in fact, I stopped caring about characters that I had started to become invested in because the story didn't really go anywhere interesting). There were a couple of mysteries built up and everything, but I just didn't care to find out what the answers were. The series also goes all grimdark in ways that just didn't seem to work, for me. And I've read R. Scott Bakker, so it wasn't the mere presence of grimdark elements that bothered me. Maybe that's the problem: if you're going to do grimdark, you'd better do it in a reasonably good book. If it's just okay, then it hardly seems worth it to wade through a bunch of doom and gloom and senseless, graphic violence. There's no real payoff, and personally, I am not interested in reading about gore and murder for its own sake.

[Stampede he/him]

I'm currently reading Ungrateful God by Gregory Little, it's the second book of the Unwilling Souls series. It's really good, and quite an interesting world.

[Left he/him]

Finished re-reading My Name is Asher Lev last night. It’s still a good story, but it didn’t mean as much to me this time reading it. 

I’m about halfway through Planet of Slums...it’s a hard depressing read. 

I did finish The Dragons Path last week, and I did really enjoy it. I’ll start on the second book sometime in October. 

I found an app that lets me access audio books from my home library, so I’ve started using that and it’s pretty lit. I have have about forty minutes each day walking to class and back home, so I’m going to start listening to Bluescreen by Dan Wells. 

[Ammanas]

14 minutes ago, Left said:

. 

I did finish The Dragons Path last week, and I did really enjoy it. I’ll start on the second book sometime in October. 

 

A great series thats only gets better!

[Ammanas]

2 hours ago, DSC01 said:

More the latter, I suppose. I was well into the fourth book of a series, and I still didn't really care very much about any of the characters (in fact, I stopped caring about characters that I had started to become invested in because the story didn't really go anywhere interesting). There were a couple of mysteries built up and everything, but I just didn't care to find out what the answers were. The series also goes all grimdark in ways that just didn't seem to work, for me. And I've read R. Scott Bakker, so it wasn't the mere presence of grimdark elements that bothered me. Maybe that's the problem: if you're going to do grimdark, you'd better do it in a reasonably good book. If it's just okay, then it hardly seems worth it to wade through a bunch of doom and gloom and senseless, graphic violence. There's no real payoff, and personally, I am not interested in reading about gore and murder for its own sake.

I think I have a higher opinion on Seven Forges than you, but even I admit this series is a bit like cotton candy; its tastes alright, but isn't necessarily very filling. Thanks for the detailed response!

[Draginon he/him]

Just finished HOA. I liked the book quite a bit, even the ending. I skimmed through the Arcanum since there wasn't much new entries and I didn't need book summaries of the first two.

My overall thoughts will be in spoiler tag just in case a newcomer reads this

Spoiler

I loved the epigraphs for all three books but this one did feel a bit info dumpy towards the end. One example is the chapter where Elend sees the Sliver of Preservation and the epigraph for the following chapter outright states that Preservation died right there. I literally said out loud "Are you kidding me?!" when I read that one.

It was awesome seeing the ballroom scenes again.

The scenes with Ruin himself were pretty interesting and fun to read.

The meetings with Yomen were interesting and had some awesome moments to them like the one where Vin is being 'interrogated' by him and he's all "I'm more than happy to trade you for the grain. Why don't you?" and Vin just says "You won't even talk to us!"

I immediately picked up the whole French Revolution vibe from The Citizen.

The deaths of Vin and Elend were sad but I loved how they are left lying in a field of flowers after Sazed tried to bring them back.

Now I'm going on a small break from my Sanderson-a-thon to read Five Nights at Freddy's The Silver Eyes in celebration of October.

[Dunkum he/him]

well, finished the first 2 Ryria books, only to find that the library doesn't have the third.  or rather, the only version they do have is audiobook, but I don't have the patience for audiobooks.  this is exceedingly frustrating.  I'd like to finish the trilogy before I move on to something else