I'm a little worried about tackling Malazan even with a group read - I tried to read the Prince of Nothing trilogy last year and didn't even make it more than ⅓ of the way thru The Darkness That Comes Before. I was confused as all hell and constantly referencing online guides and reddit posts to try to keep track of what was going on. I really wish I tried them when they first came out when I was younger and read as much as I wanted to.
I did… 22?… Malazan books in ‘23. All audio. If you’re all in by the end of Memories of Ice, stay in. My advice, though, if you’re not all in is to tap out.
I’ll read Malazan someday and wouldn’t mind doing it with a group, but I definitely won’t get to it this year.
I'd stay away from any Bakker discussions online until you've read the books tbh. Absolute landmine of spoilers. There are some decent videos that do book recaps, but in general Bakker does some of the best recaps at the beginning of each book that tell you everything you need to know. I'd encourage going back at some point. The Darkness That Comes Before is almost a textbook, so don't feel like you need to remember absolutely everything. Bakker kind of just drops you into the action a lot to show scale and the overall conflict. One of my favorite series (The full 7 Second Apocalypse books) ever.
I do want to try it again at some point. I own a copy of Darkness. my plan is to try to tackle it the next time I take a vacation from work.
Seems like there’s enough interest so I created a Discord group for people here if they’d like to discuss. Figured we can break up the discussions based on each book in the series: https://discord.gg/rXWd43xh Feel free to join at your leisure when you’re ready to read, or join now to follow along. I’m currently on Chapter 4 of Gardens of the Moon, so I’m early. Figured it could be more of a Malazan discussion board and when enough people finish a book, we could answer some discussion prompts
might join the discord just chill and talk generally about books. I'll admit I'm probably a ways away from reading Malazan.
Finished piranesi lol. Really enjoyed it. I have a goal of ten books this year which is nothing to most of you but I gotta get a bunch in before I start Oathbringer since that will take a while.
Finished Witchwood Crown last night. That last 20% was incredible. Went ahead and started Empire of Grass, and thank you Tad for great recaps. Also started Aurora Rising from Alastair Reynolds. I barely read any sci-fi last year and want to get back on track this year.
Sword of Kaigen definitely doesn’t end like it’s going to be a standalone. But the author says it’s one.
**Walks into room.** **Pulls out soapbox.** **Mounts soapbox.** "Piranesi!!!!!!!" **Dismounts soapbox.** **Takes soapbox and strolls out of the room.**
I don't actually know if this would go here but just finished reading Fahrenheit 451. What an absolutely bleak and brilliant piece of work.
What is everyone's average reading speed? I feel like a page a minute (so 60 an hour) is pretty fast and anything more is almost venturing into speed reading. I know listening to an audio book for an hour doesn't even get you close to 60 pages. So an hour a day for reading means at the best, a 1000 page book is like a 2 week experience.