The Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books Thread Book • Page 110

If this rate of growth continues, 1.5 will be 1,500 pages!

But for real, it *does* look nice in that stack of books. I wish Leafdust had spine text, but alas. The rest of the novellas should be long enough to merit it though.

 

Her next comes out next month. It’s kinda wild. We met on FictionPress in 2003. One of my best friends ever since.

I’m 20% through the second!

 

I hope it’s going well!
that is a long long time to know somebody and their writing, that’s awesome

 

Assassins Apprentice is now finished and i'm moving straight onto Royal Assassin. I loved the character work here and the tidbits of lore that we got. Poor Fitz though...

 

I own the first one and have never read Hobb. Good place to start?

 

It’s book 1 in a trilogy that kicks of realm of the elderlings so yeah, assassin’s apprentice is the place to start

 

I'll start it after Tangleweed, which just came in today!!

 

I stayed up way past my bedtime last night finishing Tangleweed & Waterbloom. Absolutely incredible, beautiful story. I purposely slowed myself down and really read for enjoyment because I realized I was flying through and getting too close to the end I did not want to leave this world and these characters.

I have been in somewhat of a reading funk lately where I am very much struggling to find the time to even read at all, and then when I do manage to squeeze some time in I haven't really been enjoying the books I've been attempting. The book that snapped me out of that was The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, and I think I can safely say after that one and how I feel about The Divine Cities trilogy that he is one of my favorite living authors. And it's not that I don't have faith in your writing, but it did cross my mind that that book could maybe be a hard act to follow. There was absolutely nothing to worry about though.

I left a review on Goodreads that summed it up for me, and it's not that this story or the writing particularly reminded me of The Hobbit at all, but reading this brought me back to that feeling I had as a kid when my dad first gave me his green hardcover Hobbit book and I cracked it open and fell in love with reading for the first time.

Well done, Justin. Absolutely amazing. Needless to say I will be trying again next time to beat the actual author himself and get the first hard copy I can as soon as the next Garden Knight story comes out.

 

These are all incredibly kind things to say, man. I loved reading your Goodreads review. I’m gonna frame that on my wall haha. Seriously, I am flattered and honored that you enjoyed it so much.

I’m going to do my best to make sure future stories live up.

FWIW, I declare officially that you have the first Tangleweed copy. I ordered mine on the 18th, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t print & ship until well after yours - I didn’t get shipping confirmation until after you’d posted your photo. So you’ve still got the #1 spot!

 

been in a bit of a slump the last couple of months due to personal stuff, but am listening to Book That Broke The World from Mark Lawrence and this series kicks ass. It's like 200 pages shorter than Book That Wouldn't Burn but man every chapter is just full to the brim with good mystery and character work.

 

Just finished The Way of Kings That twist about the Parshmen/Parshendi was so well done. I was on the edge of my seat during the last battle thinking, “surely Kaladin wouldn’t just leave Dalinar, this must be where they meet!” So good.
Glad that it seems as though we may get a little more stuff about Jasnah and Shallan in book two. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Szeth sections, as they felt somewhat crowbarred in until the end reveal. Curious to see where his journey goes from here. I didn’t think I’d be able to finish this one on this trip, so I left The Words of Radiance at home, and am furious with myself. Will have to wait until next week to start.

I was also under the impression this was Sanderson’s first saga of books, I did not realize Mistborn came first, so I’m excited to dive into those once I wrap up The Stormlight Archive.

 

Guess who just got his first non-5-star rating for Tangleweed! That's how you know you've made it.

 

I think there is actually truth to that.

 

Yeah, I mean, my gut reaction to a three-star rating on Amazon is ... blinding hot rage, haha. Not really, but like, a little. (Obviously it's fine.)

But in truth - whoever did it probably isn't someone I know? I don't think people I know are just giving nice reviews because they know me, I think they're genuinely enjoying the story, but a three-star response is more likely that it's just some person who found the book and tried it out and that's their response.

Which is kind of cool, honestly: the idea that people I don't actually know might pick up the book and read it.

 

Yeah, this is exactly what I meant. And it's a positive because of your point, this is probably someone finding your book without a narrow channel to do so (they know you, they frequent this forum, etc). How you receive it is the only metric that matters, and it's absolutely a positive; people are finding (and reading) your hard work.

Disclaimer: It wasn't me, i've only finished the prequel, and it takes me FOREVER to formulate what I think are fair reviews.

Now I need an edit: I realized that there could be an implication here that you were only getting 5 stars because people knew you and then read your work. From what I've read in the prequel, and the actual reviews, I'm thinking this is just an original, REFRESHIING story; and it should stand on merit to friends and strangers alike. But, full thoughts when I'm finished. .

 

It wasn't me, I'm only on page 222!!

 

I appreciate all this! I think you're spot on. I'm mostly joking about the "how dare I get a three-star rating" thing, of course, but it genuinely is a milestone and an indication that the book is getting out there a little.

Thank you for the kind words. That's my impression as well, that the people who've read it have genuinely liked it, and it's not just that they're friends and family.

Either way: I'm glad I've got this little corner of the internet to post about writing fantasy books. I appreciate you guys letting me chat about Garden Knight stuff here.

 

So I was curious and it's really annoying that it's just a star rating with no actual feedback. With all the support you've gotten so far, I'd just assume Kristi noem somehow got ahold of it and doesn't like that the dog is still (presumably) alive, and it's not a genuine review. (Jokes)

 

Poor Fitz indeed. There's a reason so many Hobb fans have a love / hate relationship with her. She puts her characters through a lot.

There are 3 Fitz trilogies with a separate series in between. The 'Fitz' books, are all 1st person contained from his perspective. They are 'The Farseer Trilogy' / 'The Tawny Man Trilogy' and the 'Fitz and the Fool Trilogy'.

In between the first 2 trilogies is the Liveship traders Trilogy and in between 2 and 3, there is the Rain wild Chronicles. Both are 3rd person featuring a large cast of characters, and ultimately the events of those books, become part of the final trilogy (no spoilers, I promise - it's all evident that they're in the same world and connected with the threads becoming more obvious as the story goes).

Rain wild chronicles is the only series I don't really like as it's overlong and its themes repetitive but I'm still glad I didn't skip it. I LOVE the Liveship traders series and think the character growth in that series is second to none.

I would read in order as for example, the 2nd Fitz trilogy will recap some events from the Liveship Traders that would be better experienced directly from those novels. People have just gone from Fitz to Fitz book though and it's not like you'd be lost, you'd just rob yourself of the story unfolding the way it was intended.

 

Also... back to Suneater Talk and specifically Disquiet Gods.

I'm 75% done and Wow, wow, wow. I am going to try to blitz through the last 200 pages or so in the next day or two and then I'll share my full thoughts with all the other Suneater fans in here.

Unless it absolutely tanks at the end here, this is my series ranking.

6 / 3 - Pretty much interchangeable for my favorite and an argument could be made for either one. I'll solidify when 100% done.
2 / 5 - Solidly in the middle in this order.
1 / 4 - Same as the top. Depending on the day, either one of these could be my least favorite but none is bad.

My main thoughts on DG so far are Chapter 40.... trippy / weird, still confusing on who to trust and who the quiet / watchers are and who is good / bad and chapter 50 I knew Calen was going to be someone but I expected a new character who had also visited the howling dark and returned but Khan Sagara was a shock and the subsequent chapters with him have been great
Again so far:
- First 25% was a little slow and not my favorite and to be honest, my only critique of the series is that the action scenes can be too long and I'm just not a huge battle fan in general.
- The next 50% though... chefs kiss - political intrigue, scheming and fantastic characters interactions abound. I feel like it's been 500 pages of some of the most gripping / realistic dialogue and character development that I've ever read.
- Final 25? Lets find out!

 

also, not sure if you saw this yesterday but DAW caved finally and did a hardcover reprint of EoS and it sold out within a couple of hours on Amazon

 

I did but then I saw an update this morning from Christopher that Amazon only purchased a small amount of the stock from the publisher, and then Barnes and Noble had some too. He said that there were 'plenty to go around', just temporary sell outs as Amazon didn't buy everything available (which is good I guess? leave some for others stores?). Luckily I have been on board and been pre-ordering the hardcovers as they've gone up. It's not often at all that I am in on a series as it's coming out as I'm a late bloomer to the sci-fi / fantasy scene but somehow I gave this one a chance early on.

I just want to finish up now so I can jump on the discord thread for the latest book and the next book and start reading theories / reactions. I have remained unspoiled 100% so far.

 

yeah, sounds like the smaller bookstores just need to be able to order them at this point. really cool that people can get these. I'm looking forward to my like 5 different editions on my shelf lmao

 

You mway want to read Warbreaker before book 2. It's a standalone but it's part of the cosmere universe. I don't want to spoil why, but there are things in there that will click and add enjoyment in stormlight 2 and you won't have that same aha feeling if you do it the other way around (in my opinion). Also enjoy stormlight 2. I haven't read 4 but out of the first 3, 2 was my favorite by far and is one of my favorite fantasy books.

I am a relative Sanderson noob and about to do a reread for Stormlight 5 and that will include Mistborn second trilogy (I read the 1st) before stormlight 4 (which as I said above, I didn't read yet).