The Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books Thread Book • Page 43

Yeah the part you spoiler-tagged really got me, I'm excited to see what happens with that later because the initial fallout was bleak and hilarious and also pretty concerning for the state of the world at large. I'll keep you posted when I'm getting ready for book two.

No mention of Swarm that I can recall, nor anything with a sword that I'd remember standing out like that.

 

@TomG If that sounds appealing to you at all you should check it out. Endlessly fascinating worldbuilding. Surprisingly funny, too. In the author's acknowledgements he thanks his agent and says "She called my novel viscerally disgusting, my characters repulsive, and then offered to represent me." So that's a pretty good endorsement, haha.

 

Oh okay, I remember when it came up I was like, well that's the coolest thing I've ever heard in my life. Prob book 2 then. I think it's just a throw away line when it comes up. (and it ends up being the plot of book 3 and being so much more than I could have wanted)

 

In more general fantasy reading updates, right now I'm almost done with Unsouled (should be done tonight, gonna start up the next one immediately, these books are fun) and I've just started The Swords of Mars (which is book....8 in the Barsoom series, I think?). Should also be a quick read, probably done this weekend. After that I'm going to read The Starless Crown, which I'm really excited for.

And then I get to dive back into Stormlight. I've got Edgedancer, Oathbringer, Dawnshard, and Rhythm of War left to read. I'll pretty much be tackling them straight through, though I can totally foresee interspersing them with the rest of the Barsoom books and more Cradle. That'll carry me into the spring. After that, I've got an alternating schedule where I roll the die for one book, then read one from my pending-series-to-finish list, then roll again, etc. That'll be most of the summer. At some point this year I want to read RF Kuang and Fonda Lee and some Stephen King. And then in the second half of the year I'm going to take some time for some bigger series. Get back into Malazan or WOT, start Janny Wurts or Michelle West or Tad Williams. And, of course, there are probably ~8 new releases this year that I want to make sure to read as soon as they're released, since I'm historically very bad about that.

Audiobook-wise, I'm doing The Saga of the Volsungs right now, then Purgatory Mount, then The Jungle Book, then the Expanse, then some Rick Riordan, then the Dying Earth, and then Empire of the Vampire. Kind of an eclectic lineup haha.

And, of course, all of this is subject to change at a moment's whim. Kinda fun to plot it out though. It's a good time to be a reader.

 

Age of Ash was pretty great. A lot of world building and character work. Bit of a slog at times but I understand that this is the first in a trilogy and it left me invested enough to continue since I LOVE The Expanse so I'm sure it will pay off. Akin to some pretty good heist books with a lot of thievery and discreet magic. Story was sorta lacking until about a 3rd of the way through then it really picked up.

Onto Justice of Kings next!

 

Have you read The Long Price Quartet?

 

Nope! First Abraham work.

Edit: outside of The Expanse.

 

It's a masterpiece and you can get the entire series in one affordable book.

 

Oh really?? I might have to take a look :)!

 

Anyone taking advantage of anything on the B&N preorder sale? I've got a couple things in mind I might pull the trigger on.

 

Tell me of this sale

 

I think it ends at midnight. Any pre-order is like 25% with a promo code.

 

I bought the 8 book bundle for Throne of Glass because it was super cheap. I know the author has come up in here before. Needed something to read while I wait for the next Wi'tch and Apt books to get here.

 

I’ll be interested to see your takes.

 

At my fellow Stateside Audible users... the entire store is having a monster sale and pretty much every fantasy book in my wishlist not published in the last five years is under $5... including the entire runs of Dragonlance, Malazan, etc. My cart is carnage on my credit card.

 

Is this only for certain Audible members...??? I checked the prices for Malazan and Dragonlance and a few others and they were still listed as full price for me...

 

It might just be for the $15/month and higher crowd? That's my membership level.

 

I bought 32 books. Help. But! I legit looked at most of them in the bookstore today, so it doesn't feel too bad. Broke down to $4.90 a book after tax.

 

Hot damn I might have to jump on some things

 

This is an insane sale. Adios paychecks!

 

I always forget that Audible has a cart limit of 50, haha. Okay, the sale's going on for a few more days, I've got time. Probably going to snap up a bunch of Dragonlance, Malazan, Michael Crichton, Bobiverse, Kel Kade, Pierce Brown ... honestly I'm going to need to really delve into it to figure out what to take advantage of. @Garrett what all did you grab?

 

The nine Malazan I didn’t have, the first two Kharkanas books, like 12 Dragonlance (I completed the “core” books involving Weiss; it’s been like 20 years since I read them all!), Robin Hobb’s series starter, a historical fiction from an author I like, Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, a book about depression, the third James Islington book, a series ender for a superhero series.

 

So I watched the The Wheel of Time show. Either it has been too long since I have read The Eye of The World, or they just ripped up the books and decided to make something based on the books. At first I was sure it was the latter but now I kinda don't know anymore.

 

It is a very heavily adapted version of EOTW with a fair amount cut.

 

Did they go to the eye of the world in that book? I don't remember that at all Though I guess the title would suggest that. Maybe it's time to go back to the books again.