you all should've know that whoever got me was getting Sun Eater (unless you already had it of course)
wow - I absolutely loved the first trilogy, and I knew Grave Empire was out but I hadn't dove into it yet. that is very exciting to hear!! I hadn't heard much about it other than that it is out
basically explores how the world evolved after Empire of the Wolf and with technological advancements. Leans a little more into the horror elements with a little bit of flintlock added in he also has a sci-fi standalone coming out next year that I'm excited about called The Infinite State.
I can't remember the exact passage but I agree. I think Carl even goes on a rant to Donut about how helpful religion can be to individuals lifes (maybe regarding Sister Ines?) when Donut starts to complain about how awful religion is. I think Matt handled it tactfully like you said, and made it very clear that's not meant to be solely anti-religion (if at all) by inserting these things.
Am I remembering correctly in that book that there was a (DCC ALL) masturbating crab card? lmao for some reason I'm having vivid memories of reading that
if the second book is coming out soon I'll probably try to grab Grave Empire soon - just looking now on Goodreads it looks like he put out a novella at some point set before Justice with Vonvalt & Bressinger called The Scour
yep! waiting on my TBB copy before I read. I think audio comes out this month too. Friends read it and liked it. It's pretty short.
okay that's it! lmao. those books are so good. Jeff Hays really helps sell the absurdity of it all too.
Sorry to double quote you but damn, I've seen this in a few places and now I'm worried. I'm avoiding specific spoilers as I'm 40% through my reread of 6 but I hate seeing these opinions (even if maybe they're an outlier? maybe.. the good reads score is high). My least favorite series ending so far may be the Senlin Ascends books and I still absolutely LOVE that series so maybe I'll be able to deal with it here as well. My thoughts on the Senlin series ending poorly was that it was marketed as the last book, and the conclusion of it all, and it definitely didn't end the story whatsoever. There's no promises of more books in that world, and it created a bunch of questions / half answers etc and then is just like 'that's all'. I get an ending of 'and the characters lived on', but you still have to answer the burning questions you set forth. EDIT - I highly recommend the Senlin series to all still and I don't think I spoiled anything with my comments. It is one of my favorite books series simply for how gorgeous the prose is (infinitely quotable - I used it in my wedding as a passage for my officiant to read), and how creative the world is. My complaints of the ending are just mine, and are vague enough that I promise I'm not giving anything away.
in my experience, it feels like the minority opinion (not a bad thing!) on the ending. It's very fitting in my opinion. even if it didn't do everything that I wanted it to do, I really thought it was great, and basically everyone in my reading circle felt the same. they had other complaints throughout the book but the ending wasn't one of them.
also, dropped the Senlin series when book 2 turned into Looney Toons and didn't do any of the stuff that was kind of promised in book one (that I really loved).
not to beat a dead horse, but I thought Empire of the Wolf trilogy had an incredibly satisfying ending also Jen Williams' Winnowing Flame trilogy same thing
I amended my comment but to each their own. I really made my way through that series as I just enjoyed reading it from a 'literary' perspective (as corny and pretentious as that may sound). It's also why Robin Hobb is my favorite author. They both just have a beautiful way with words and writing character interactions.
totally fair, it just didn't do at all what I wanted it to do and thought it got way too silly for my liking, but it seems that's Bancroft's style, so maybe just not an author for me.
Have no idea what to read after Sun Eater finished. Thinking I might pick Osten Ard back up (on Empire of Grass). with the holidays I'm feeling pretty distracted, and also a bit of post series depression lmao
I think I'm doing the Silo trilogy next as an easy read before jumping into some longer works I've had on my list for a bit. Maybe finally start The Expanse.
Just to hop in here since the topic has come up recently, but I’m about 25% of the way through Empire of Silence. I like the prose. But so far the story is kinda meh. That said, this is the first new series I’ve started in a while where I made past the first few chapters. So I was planning on just continuing. Then I saw Garrett’s comment above about the ultimate conclusion of the series being unsatisfying. Bleh. I think I’ll finish book one and see where I stand.
I very much struggle with long series nowadays - a trilogy is the sweet spot for me, preferably one where all 3 books are out already
I hate to say this but I think book 2 is more indicative of the full series and would recommend at least reading that before giving up. EoS is easily the weakest and is almost always at the bottom of peoples rankings from what I've seen. I really feel it's a series to formulate your own opinion on because it has something for everyone, but book 2 really is where things take off. He wrote EoS pretty young and it went through a lot of edits from his first editor and wasn't fully what he wanted it to be. Kind of like what happened with Pierce Brown on book 1 of Red Rising.
Great choices on both. Silo is relatively short and sweet ,though the first book is a bit rough as it's slow and was originally published in arcs so it's a bit disjointed as a whole. The expanse while a 'long' series doesn't really feel it, as each book is sort of it's own 'adventure of the moment' type plot. Of course things converge, but at the beginning it very much feels like a stop and reset each book. It would be a great choice to weave in between other books without fear of getting lost. Each book is a different style too, detective story / military story etc.
Really trying not to be a Sun Eater stan, for what it's worth. I think it's one of the better sci-fi/fantasy series to come out in recent years and think if you even remotely like sci-fi/fantasy, it's worth a read. I've noticed people getting hung up on stuff that I didn't, so I think it'll hit different for everyone, and is worth a try. I hate that a chunk of book 1 isn't the best but once it gets to that like last 25% you get a peek into where it goes and book 2 kicks that into overdrive. anyways, that's just my 2 cents.
don't know if you're a Broken Binding subscriber but their next sci-fi sub is the Silo trilogy. pretty excited for it.
Checked my GoodReads and it looks like I gave 1, 4, 7 3 stars and 2, 3, 5, 6 4 stars. So it's not like I outright hated the series.