Operation Bounce House certainly doesn't feel like it was written pre-Minnesota/ICE, but hot damn is it relevant.
It's taken me a minute to fully get going on Shadows Upon Time but now I'm on a roll and about 25% in, I can say I'm enjoying it so far. More for my own sake, but I'll probably post some spoiler free thoughts 3 or 4 times throughout the read. - By far the best beginning section of the series which has been a typical weak spot for me. Empire of Silence turned a lot of people off the series as it's a pretty weak, generic beginning to the series overall, but each book individually, has had a rough first section. Continuing the momentum from Disquiet Gods, this is the first one that's started with impetus and as a direct continuation of prior events and it's been working for me from almost page 1. Normally I've found the first 15-20% a slog at worst, or interesting, but confusing at best. - Some cool narrative structuring to convey the in between book events. I remember reading Howling Dark and thinking I'd skipped a book with all the references to off page events, so the way this was handled was pretty neat, clear, and unexpected. -Cassandra better do something important later in the book. I really don't like her role so far and she's so under utilized in the plot that it's one of the weaker aspects. I disliked her in 6 (not her, but her lack of impact on the story) and am hoping that it turns out to be set up. I mean all the signs are there... So far though she just exists for Hadrian to to protect and baby and as a cheap emotional ploy for everyone to threaten
really?? my wife read those, and I think she liked them enough... I think I remember her saying they were a little cheesy with the romance / sex stuff, and it definitely didn't sound like something I wanted to read for me, not not awful or anything
I think romantasy is a perfectly fine genre with a wide spectrum of quality. I love a good romance from time to time. But it's probably also one of the genres where the dross has risen to the top of the top (outside of Sarah J Maas, who I actually really respect as a writer/worldbuilder -- ACOTAR is just wildly not for me; Throne of Glass series was great). It's also led to a trove of booktokkers who say things like "If Game of Thrones was written by a woman, they'd call it romantasy" and they're wildly not even the same thing.
I simply will never read a word of those books but I'm glad that people enjoy them. Reading is great.
I've also found that comparisons in recent years since the explosion of booktube have just gotten insanely bad, to the point where I can't say I'd take recommendations from most if not all reviewers who do it for a job. It all feels just so tailored to working the algorithm. Mike's Book Reviews championing Sun Eater by comparing it to Red Rising being one of the most egregious I've seen. He certainly helped bring exposure to my favorite series of all time, but he's horrible at this point when talking about it (because he doesn't actually like the series and says Empire of Silence is the best in the series lmao).
My only book recommendations are finding old mass market paperbacks with Darrell Sweet covers buried in a pile of dust at the local library. I will not be changing this approach.
Quick off the rip rankings: 1. Sun Eater by Christopher Ruocchio 2. Second Apocalypse by R. Scott Bakker 3. Memory Sorrow & Thorn by Tad Williams (will most likely just be the entirety of Osten Ard but I need to finish LKoOA) 4. Dresden Files by Jim Butcher 5. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman 6. Commonwealth Universe by Peter F. Hamilton 7. Gotrek and Felix 8. Gap Cycle by Stephen R. Donaldson 9. Expanse by Jame S.A. Corey 10. Empire of the Wolf by Richard Swan Unfortunately I'm a habitual series non-finisher so have a lot in progress that'll most likely replace stuff in this list when I finally finish them. Everything after Dresden is changeable ranking wise.
1. Lord of the Rings 2. Wheel of Time 3. Dungeon Crawler Carl 4. The Stormlight Archive (gap) 5. Mistborn 6. The Magicians 7. Red Rising 8. Game of Thrones 9. The Dark Tower 10. Lightbringer I don't know how to rank nostalgia things like Narnia and Dragonlance, or a bunch of connected trilogies like Mark Sullivan or Brian McClellan. I typed all of this before remembering Harry Potter, which even despite everything I still love. (It feels weird to just do "Cosmere" so separated Stormlight and Mistborn.)
Gap Cycle (and Second Apocalypse) is excellent. But yeah very hard to recommend Gap Cycle, needs some strong content warnings. Same with Thomas Covenant
thankfully it's mostly only an issue in the first 2 books which are relatively short, but yeah, hard reads. Still has the hardest book titles for books 3-5
I added three book ones from your list (of the ones I didn't already have/already read) so that I have them on my "want to read" list once I clear my TBR (2026 goal; I've got 46 books to read that I own so it's totally possible, haha).