What Are You Reading, Part 2

[mattig89ch he/him]

I am reading:

Book 3, in the empire of bones saga.  Its...interesting.  Not a huge fan of how they handle human implantation of technology, and slavery.  Its very clear the author doesn't quite know how to write.  But I'm definitely seeing improvements as he writes.

Not sure I'm going to continue with the series after this novel though.  Entirely because of the narrator.  She doesn't have this wide range of voices to draw on, and can't quite emote with those voices.  The princess sounds enternally happy, or miserable.  With no in-between.  But...we'll see.  The story has me here since the beginning, so I might try.

[StrikerEZ he/him]

On 7/6/2018 at 1:37 AM, Sunbird said:

Just finished my Oathbringer reread. Still emotionally traumatized.

That's a mood.

I did a full SA reread a couple months ago and it helped remind me why I love it so much. 

[Silva]

Finished the awful book, and now I’m reading TWOK.

[Sunbird she/her]

1 hour ago, Silva said:

Finished the awful book, and now I’m reading TWOK.

Is this your first time with TWOK, or a re-read?

[+Ark1002]

I am reading Elantris.

[+Sorana she/her]

I'm rereading Mistborn and reading Age of War by Michael J Sullivan.

[StrikerEZ he/him]

3 hours ago, Ark1002 said:

I am reading Elantris.

Is this your first time reading it?

[Silva]

10 hours ago, Sunbird said:

Is this your first time with TWOK, or a re-read?

First time. I was scared Sanderson would let me down after Mistborn. So far so good. 

[StrikerEZ he/him]

7 hours ago, Silva said:

First time. I was scared Sanderson would let me down after Mistborn. So far so good. 

I remember starting WoK for the first time. I wasn't worried so much about being disappointed (Mistborn was one of Brandon's first books, so surely the rest just kept getting better), but I was scared of how big the books are. Now, I'm disappointed when other books aren't as long .

[Sunbird she/her]

8 hours ago, Silva said:

First time. I was scared Sanderson would let me down after Mistborn. So far so good. 

Oh man. You are in for such a treat. IMO the ends of Stormlight books are possibly the most emotionally rewarding things I've ever experienced.

[Orlion Blight he/him]

2 hours ago, Sunbird said:

Oh man. You are in for such a treat. IMO the ends of Stormlight books are possibly the most emotionally rewarding things I've ever experienced.

More emotionally rewarding than the end of Paths of Glory directed by Stanley Kubrick?! 

I am simply scandalized! 

[Sunbird she/her]

2 minutes ago, TheOrlionThatComesBefore said:

More emotionally rewarding than the end of Paths of Glory directed by Stanley Kubrick?! 

I am simply scandalized! 

Yes, because I haven't experienced that.

[Orlion Blight he/him]

1 minute ago, Sunbird said:

Yes, because I haven't experienced that.

Touché!

[Briar King]

Finished Fitz 8 last night. It really reminded me a lot of bk 3 in which it had really boring beginning and mid sections but one hell of an ending(though I give bk 3 the better of the two) I must say. Started Fitz 9 the final Fitz book.

[goody153]

Finished The Warded Man by  Peter V. Brett (first book of the five books) it was mostly good actually. Kinda looking forward on it's sequels

The concept where people had to lock up during the night and paint wards outside their homes cause there are literal demons who literally devours people was quite interesting. The concept was well-executed(first time i read a story like this) and the characters, details and the emotion about the society/courtship/people in the world where demons devour the living and they really can't do anything about it was quite fleshed out. 

Usually when reading fiction bad things happening to people, even the most horrible things are fine with me. So long as it's executed well, it has a significance in the story, it adds the horror levels of the story and it's dealt with properly. So here's the problem(BIG SPOILER AHEAD)

Spoiler

Unlike other readers i don't see rape different from murder or torture in storytelling. It's simply another horrible event for a person that adds a flair to the story if done well and i don't have some gender bias disgust about rape in fiction. 

So long as it was actually significant and has a contribution to the story. 

So it wasn't that particularly useful in The Warded Man. I can understand the implications about the female protagonist getting raped later because of her confidence about her security when she dealt with all the violence problem herself through her blinding dust(basically a version of pepper spray that she also knows cause she's a herbalist) and the lack of carefulness and heroic bravado the other main character suddenly has even tho he was never "that kind of hero" in the first place. Those things matter not in the real event where you meet a group of violent bandits who are armed to a teeth and well you two aren't. 

So he delivered the message that "that being a smartass and having confidence actually doesn't matter in the real event if you aren't equipped to deal with it" which well both character really weren't ready at any sort of violent confrontations.  And maybe the female protagonist being mostly celibate in the story provides some irony about the horrible thing that happened to her.

But the problem was the aftermath. The stigma of the event was there but barely it was like she suddenly didn't experience a traumatic event in her life and something that she saw was important wasn't taken from her. Her confident attitude later and the same foolish attitude was still there instead of being tempered by the event.

In None-spoiler terms the aftermath damage of the horrible event that happened to one of the main characters didn't seem to have any effect at all later. It was as if the traumatic event wasn't actually traumatic cause she didn't act like one.

That's just really a small problem in the book but everything else was mostly splendid.  

[Kramerfarve]

James Islington’s A Shadow of what was Lost and An Echo of Things to Come

 

Excellent fantasy

2/3 of a trilogy 

Author inspired by Brandon

[StormingTexan he/him]

 

22 hours ago, Kramerfarve said:

James Islington’s A Shadow of what was Lost and An Echo of Things to Come

 

Excellent fantasy

2/3 of a trilogy 

Author inspired by Brandon

Absolutely love these two books and cannot wait for the last one. I've read both 3 times now and it gets better each time. I'll admit the time travel stuff gets a little confusing I feel like I need to write out a timeline but it is a great story. 

 

About half way through Wrath of Empire and loving it so far. I re-read Sins of Empire right before which I liked even more this time around. I think this will be better than the original Powder Mage books. You can certainly see Brandon's influence in his writing. 

[+Sorana she/her]

Quote

About half way through Wrath of Empire and loving it so far. I re-read Sins of Empire right before which I liked even more this time around. I think this will be better than the original Powder Mage books. You can certainly see Brandon's influence in his writing. 

They are so great. I'm also in the middle of Wrath of Empire right now. And yesterday Empire of ashes (by Anthony Ryan) arrived. I'm really looking forward to reading it.

[StormingTexan he/him]

14 minutes ago, Sorana said:

They are so great. I'm also in the middle of Wrath of Empire right now. And yesterday Empire of ashes (by Anthony Ryan) arrived. I'm really looking forward to reading it.

I recently had a friend plead with me to read the Raven's Shadow books. He gave me the books and raved about how good they are. I read a little of the first one a week or so ago and it just didn't grab a hold of me. I will give them another shot though because we have very similar taste in books. 

[+Sorana she/her]

11 hours ago, StormingTexan said:

I recently had a friend plead with me to read the Raven's Shadow books. He gave me the books and raved about how good they are. I read a little of the first one a week or so ago and it just didn't grab a hold of me. I will give them another shot though because we have very similar taste in books. 

I like his draconis memories a lot more than the raven's shadow. The characters are more diversed and the Story evolves  faster. The raven's Shadow was all right but the draconis memoirie really got me hooked on.

Edited July 13, 2018 by Sorana

[Sunbird she/her]

Holy Stormfather.

I just finished reading the webcomic The Carpet Merchant of Konstantiniyya (roughly 650-ish pages, and the final update was just posted TODAY), and I cannot recommend it enough. It's not much like Brandon's books in the sense that it's not epic fantasy and doesn't have the flashy magic fight scenes of Mistborn or Stormlight, but it's a LOT like Brandon's books in the sense that it does NOT pull any emotional punches. And the art!! It's storming gorgeous. In comparison, every other graphic novel will probably seem like a letdown for me now.

Just...

Dang.

So wholesome I have run out of words.

[StrikerEZ he/him]

I finished book 4 of WoT last night, and I started book 5 today. I'm really enjoying this series so far and I'm pretty hooked to it now.

[The Harlem Worldhoppers he/him]

11 hours ago, StrikerEZ said:

I finished book 4 of WoT last night, and I started book 5 today. I'm really enjoying this series so far and I'm pretty hooked to it now.

That's the spirit  

I read the entire Lightbringer series (so far) in the space of 5 days this past week. Nothing quite like binging a good series.

[Ammanas]

On 6/29/2018 at 7:24 PM, Zellyia said:

3) The Traitor God by Cameron Johnston

Did you ever get to this book? If you have what did you like and dislike about it?

[Zelly]

16 hours ago, Ammanas said:

Did you ever get to this book? If you have what did you like and dislike about it?

I'd give it 3/5.   It's interesting and easy enough to read, though slow at times.  Also super grim.  Everyone's angry and bitter while living in a city that has fallen on hard times.

There was a dual mystery at it's core regarding the death of the MC's friend and the earlier death of a god.  This was my initial interest and what kept me reading, but.....well the end reveals regarding the two deaths were a little disappointing.