What Are You Reading, Part 2

[the Gleeman he/him]

Brandon Mull's "Beyonders" series, aka the darkest YA series I've ever read. It's very well written, and though it is YA. It has a deep and well-written story. Mull is an amazing author and has even appeared on WE. That means he has to be good right?

[Redbird he/him]

I just started eye of the world.

 

Brandon Mull's "Beyonders" series, aka the darkest YA series I've ever read. It's very well written, and though it is YA. It has a deep and well-written story. Mull is an amazing author and has even appeared on WE. That means he has to be good right?

Again?

[Jit he/him]

It's the last?? I thought it was gonna be 4-5.

The Shadow Campaign is 5 books

But the Anthony Ryan's is 3 books

[Briar King]

Finally finished Ceasar bk 5. Going to The October Horse bk 6.

[Iron Council he/him]

I'm about a third of the was through Lies of Locke Lamora and I'm loving it so much that I went ahead and bought the rest of the series that's out already. Hope they're all this good.

[Argent he/him]

I'm about a third of the was through Lies of Locke Lamora and I'm loving it so much that I went ahead and bought the rest of the series that's out already. Hope they're all this good.

 

Some - myself included - find the second one a bit of a letdown, but the third one is definitely at least as good as the first.

 

I finished The Liar's Key, the second book in Mark Lawrence's The Red Queen's War series. It might be my favorite Lawrence book so far. I wasn't too big of a fan of his Broken Empire series, the protagonist was just such an unlikeable person to begin with. But these, these are more more solid - both in terms of the protagonist (who is still kind of not a very good person), but also in terms of the writing. It's been improving since the very first book Mark wrote, and that's a very good thing. 

 

I am reading Django Wexler's The Shadow of Elysium now. I'll probably jump in a standalone or two after it, I don't want to start new series for a couple of weeks, since both The Price of Valor and Queen of Fire come out in the beginning of July and I would like to get them out of the way before I go back to, for example, Pratchett.

Edited June 19, 2015 by Argent

[Briar King]

I enjoyed Lamora 2 a lot but it's not on the epic lvl 1 was. Now 3... I hated it so much for the most part. I was bummed paying HC price for it and won't do that again on this series unless the reviews are beyond stellar. I ll gladly wait a yr for PB after the let down of 3.

[Wolven he/him]

Orange is the New Black, by Piper Kerman.  Like the show, so wanted to read the book.  Not a bad read.

[Argent he/him]

Orange is the New Black, by Piper Kerman.  Like the show, so wanted to read the book.  Not a bad read.

 

Which one is made after the other?

 

I started and finished The Shadow of Elysium this weekend in an attempt to refresh myself on Django Wexler's Shadow Campaigns series universe, since the third one is coming out soon. I thought it was alright, not exceptional, but not bad either. It's starting to look like the these between-books novellas will tell a story of their own, and that's exciting to me.

 

Now I am reading Naomi Novik's Uprooted. I've heard a lot of good things about it, and with only a few chapters in, I am not surprised. It's still a little heavier on exposition than what I would call ideal, but the writing is enthralling and compelling, the characters - engaging. 

[DanTheSeamonster he/him]

I am now about halfway through The Desert Spear by Brett and The Necromancer by Scott. Also finishing up The Innocent Mage by Miller and just finished Thief of Time by Pratchett earlier today. 

[Argent he/him]

Finished Uprooted. Absolutely amazing book. I could gush about it at length, but instead I am just going to say that I liked it more than some of Brandon's books. Which, given my near-religious zeal about him and his works, should speak volumes.

 

As for my current read, I am about halfway through Pratchett's Equal Rites. I am going to try to finish the Witches subseries in the next few weeks, and then jump on The Price of Valor (Django Wexler's third book in The Shadow Campaigns series) and Queen of Fire (Anthony Ryan's third book in the Raven's Shadow series), both of which come out early in July.

[AerionBFII he/him]

The providence of fire by Brian Staveley.

[StormingTexan he/him]

Finished Uprooted. Absolutely amazing book. I could gush about it at length, but instead I am just going to say that I liked it more than some of Brandon's books. Which, given my near-religious zeal about him and his works, should speak volumes.

Good to know that's next on my list. I'm reading the 5th book in the Temeraire and really enjoying the books.

[Erai Sedai he/him]

Finished Uprooted. Absolutely amazing book. I could gush about it at length, but instead I am just going to say that I liked it more than some of Brandon's books. Which, given my near-religious zeal about him and his works, should speak volumes.

I just finished Uprooted last week and i loved it as well! Best book i've read this year i think. Very well done in my opinion.

[ljósmóður she/her]

I've just finished Philippa Gregory's The King's curse and have just started The Miniaturist. I love the Philippa Gregory historical fiction but not her original stuff so much. Not completely sure what I make of The Miniaturist yet - it's beautifully written but I haven't got completely absorbed in it yet - the characters haven't grabbed me and I need that to happen for me to stay with a book.

 

Oh, and I fitted in Elantris  in between. I know, I'm late to the cosmere party but nevermind. I'm getting there. As with all the Brandon Sanderson books I've read, I read it far too quickly! The plot cracks on at such a pace. So, at some point, I'll do a re-read where I pick up on all the foreshadowing and cosmere stuff that I miss when I speed-read!

[Argent he/him]

Equal Rites down. Onto Wyrd Sisters. I wouldn't mind if all the Witches subseries is this quick and light to read. I felt that the second half of the Wizards subseries went downhill  for the most part.

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

I just finished Uprooted last week and i loved it as well! Best book i've read this year i think. Very well done in my opinion.

Can someone please tell me, what's so amazing about this book? I started it last week, and read barely 8 chapters, and really I have my doubts if it's worth continuing. Am I missing something? 

Edited June 30, 2015 by Pestis the Spider

[Erai Sedai he/him]

Can someone please tell me, what's so amazing about this book? I started it last week, and read barely 8 chapters, and really I have my doubts if it's worth continuing. Am I missing something? 

if you don't like it you don't like it i guess. It's basically just fairytale-esque and there's magic. plus a good story.

[sanderfuss he/him]

I take it you guys aren't talking about 'Uprooted' a Canadian war story?

[sanderfuss he/him]

I've just started 'The shadow of what was lost'

It's not amazing, so far, but it is interesting. Very readable. I'll have a full report soon enough.

[Argent he/him]

Can someone please tell me, what's so amazing about this book? I started it last week, and read barely 8 chapters, and really I have my doubts if it's worth continuing. Am I missing something? 

 

It does start off slowly. Very little happens in the first few chapters. 

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

It does start off slowly. Very little happens in the first few chapters. 

I actually had the feeling it was way to fast-paced with no space for world descriptions and chcaracter development. Though I have to say that I am very (very) biased towards this book, because the book states that it's based on Polish culture and Kingdom of Poland, which I find totally laughable, so my opinion might not be accurate. 

 

I take it you guys aren't talking about 'Uprooted' a Canadian war story?

Nope. And we're also not talking about: "Uprooted. How Breslau Became Wrocław during the Century of Expulsions". Interestingly, goodreads shows that there are quite a lot of books with the same title, though most of them have less than 10 ratings. O.o

 

Edited June 30, 2015 by Pestis the Spider

[sanderfuss he/him]

Haha

[Argent he/him]

 

I actually had the feeling it was way to fast-paced with no space for world descriptions and chcaracter development. Though I have to say that I am very (very) biased towards this book, because the book states that it's based on Polish culture and Kingdom of Poland, which I find totally laughable, so my opinion might not be accurate. 

 

The similarity to Poland is intentional, I believe. Naomi is Polish herself (though born in the US), and one of the things she wanted to do with Uprooted is to tell a fairy tale. I felt a little bit the same way, but I imagine all of or familiar with Slavic culture will. It doesn't really take away from the story.

 

As for the worldbuilding and character development... There isn't much in the way of worldbuilding, it's a world very similar to ours, sans the magic. Character development you will see a ton of, however. It might be what I liked the most about the book, actually. Either that or the plot itself. I maintain that it's a slow burn - some characters change literally until the last page. 

[StormingTexan he/him]

Haha