Books (General)

[quaint burrow]

Finished Golden Son

[royal carbon]

Very fair. People tend to gloss in over such things in their nostalgia (if they ever read them to begin with) but often a lot of the older scifi doesn't hold up very well. (There are also contemporaries reacting to these books at the time.)

[alpine drum]

shout out to old comicbook readers who were sending in death threats to the editors to be published with their home addresses listed

they don't make them like they used to

[wraith lynx]

Soooo what do you think???

[low hill]

I have finished Evocation, and I enjoyed it.
Ascension will easily make an entry on my Christmas list.

Probably move onto a #1404515195941945455 book next, unless something else catches my eye before bed.

[quaint burrow]

GS all ||still in shock, everyone is dead ||

[wraith lynx]

Yep! Now its time for morning star!! XD

Thats my favorite of the first triolgy

[long sorrel]

Howd you like that messssss haha.

I somehow love all of them despite... idk, everything

[low hill]

Obviously everyone involved is an idiot.

[long sorrel]

If you liked evocation i think you'll like Ascension quite a bit, it goes deeper into the magic and into the characters and just ... it just goes deeper

(This isnt a sex joke but it could be)

[long sorrel]

This is correct

[low hill]

I did enjoy all the real world occult references involved with basically every character that was on screen.

[long sorrel]

Did you get thrown off by the Evgeni name drop in it? cause I sure did a "wait what"

[low hill]

Nope. I don't have anyone in my mental rolodex for Evgeni.

[long sorrel]

Man, it got registered in like the 4 shardcasts ive watched and that was the only reference point

[low hill]

He is firmly filed under Argent.

[long sorrel]

Anyway, you should read Ascension and then sit down and wait with us (maybe suffer a little)

[low hill]

No one on the Internet has real names.

I mean, given how long it might take me to get around to Ascension there might be another book by then. :P

[long sorrel]

Are you saying Vecna isnt you're real name????

[low hill]

I am implying many things. nods sagely

[long sorrel]

Book 3 listed for 2027

[low hill]

I can meander through more of my To Read pile in that time.

[long sorrel]

I put "ascension" into the search bar and it gave me WoA and i was like "god no"

I think you might like what I'm currently reading too. The magic, A Marvelous Light ||is done by cradling threads? Sorta. Its interesting||

[tight kindle]

Pretty hard magic. I like it

[low hill]

Who is it by?

[long sorrel]

Freya Marske

I'm currently reading the second one

Which is quite different

[quaint burrow]

Borrowed already lol

[winter fern]

What does it mean to say that Dresden Files is very "milady"? 🤔

[wraith lynx]

TCP 18 ||Valerian dying POG, he needed to GO||

||now Jude you just have to kill the others and it'll all be great!||

[long sorrel]

I thought you had read this already but wasn't sure

[wraith lynx]

I literally stopped at the part where it happens, which is so funny 😭

No more though, I wanna knock these out before october ends like planned 😂

[random dome]

https://tenor.com/view/lord-of-the-rings-return-of-the-king-return-of-the-queen-queen-funny-gif-3620792671164381289

....or maybe the return of the "Prince"

[long sorrel]

so TCP 18 ||the other day you told me on VC it was getting good now that Jude was stabbing people and I thought you meant that but I wasn't sure so I was like 🤐 ||

good thing I didn't say anything lol

[wraith lynx]

Good thing indeed!

TCP 18 ||Me: god Jude needs to start killing people NOW.

also me, somehow: stops right before she starts doing the very thing I asked for||

[random dome]

this readthrough, colorized (TCP 18)

[snow vessel]

Cruel prince and Evocation discussion? Peak?!

[long sorrel]

Now we just need to get Vecna to read Cruel Prince

[snow vessel]

And cosmic to read Evocation?

I might be totally wrong but I feel like one of those book/reader pairs might be a better pick than the other

[little dock]

WotM XVIII ||hmm, Lanistia was the student Caeror thought he killed maybe? Or she also witnessed his death? And that’s why they blinded her ||

[tight kindle]

In what way?

[junior dew]

Audible deleted all of my credits last week from my account because they realized they mistakenly added a bunch. And they gave one consolation credit.

Thing is I’m pretty sure I lost out on some paid credits. Talked to a customer service rep and they kept assuring me I won’t lose my paid credits. And then they told me to call to talk to a customer service rep on the phone.

This was after a rep last week was like I’m restoring the credits you lost and you should see them within 24 hours

[remote hemlock]

hey everyone, have a question and based on your replies I'll decide:

So, I have finished Cosmere, and it feels surreal to be at the end of the Journey (so far, noy counting Taldain stories as I am waiting for the book), and was thinking to where go next. For re-read, I'll probably fetch audiobooks.

1. Finish Wheel of Time - I cut the series in the middle of the 11th book, as I was getting slightly burnt out of the series... switched to Mistborn and well, now we are here.

2. Dune - I realized there are similarities between these series. I know that books are more about the technological and teraforming advance of the planet, which checks with difference between Elantris and Isles of Emerdark

3. Malazan book of the fallen - bit afraid of this one, but headd from so many people it's sooooo goood I need to read it

[snow vessel]

Malazan is very good so far, imo

Same with wot

I've only read dune 1 and 2

Maybe finish wot though if you're that far through?

I'd probably recommend finishing wot before starting malazan, same for dune unless you're just doing book 1

[analog geode]

Malazan comes with heavy content warnings

For pretty much everything you can think of, plus some more

[snow vessel]

Malazan is a lot

[long sorrel]

I have to go to the book store today 👀

Ill try to be good bad and not but anything. I'm going to pick up some books I ordered for my aunt's bday

I ended up getting her Thornhedge by Kingfisher but in catalan 😌

[long sorrel]

A Restless Truth 27 ||idk why now but this sentence hit me today "Like Violet, those women hadn't consented to be small"||

I'm loving both mcs in this book so much

[long sorrel]

It is hard to say, general ||the magic is approached differently, the main plot continues but tells different stories, also this book is wlw and very about women's power at a time where it was not so, in every sense. ||

[low hill]

It hasn't sounded like a book that I'd be looking for...

[long sorrel]

Given how much you and cosmic read i think there's still a higher chance of you reading it before she does.

I think you'd enjoy certain aspects of Cruel Prince actually

But probably not the book in general

[long sorrel]

I didn't but anything at the book store 😌

[junior dew]

I need to figure out where I’m going to slot in WoTM before SoTF comes out. Maybe after cradle book 3. Still need to finish the troop as well, which has been really well written but also not something I want to listen to while eating

Would be nice to slot the shining in while it’s still spooky season though

Cradle has really gotten its hooks in me though

[quaint burrow]

I am listening to Tender is the Flesh.... The hell am I listening to....

Anyone read it?

[snow vessel]

Mm I've heard of it?

[long sorrel]

Aaah, I've heard things about it

I have The Unworthy by the same without in my tbr

I keep forgetting she's argentinian due to the name being so basque

Thornhedge catalan cover is so cute

I had already seen it online but damn

I kinda want it

[quaint burrow]

.... A chracter is called Tender is the Flesh super minor ||el gringo||....

[long sorrel]

Nothing surprising there

[junior dew]

Is that the cannibal book? Or am I thinking of something else?

[quaint burrow]

The cannibal book yeah

[junior dew]

How is it? I think I had it recommended to me by two different people IRL

[quaint burrow]

I am only an hour in, but it's.... Capitivating, and very dystopian, the translation is solid as well

[junior dew]

It’s definitely on my radar. Curious to hear how the read goes!

[light drum]

Light bringer reread ||Ok so im pretty sure Lyra still has the parasite cause she hasn't mentioned her brother and she mentioned him so much befote||

[ivory cypress]

I'm going to wait until the end to draw conclusions and set my opinion in stone but The Way of Edan is constantly making me go, "oh hmm which other book are you getting that from then" like it feels like it wears its influences on its sleeve

[long sorrel]

I've been anti-recommended it. But the person that did so and I only have about a 50% overlap

[north scaffold]

Finished Exordia.

I think overall it was good. As a Destiny fan this worldbuilding was very much what I wanted from Seth. The high concepts, everything related to the ||areteia, the 7 passions, damnation|| and all the themes about souls, choices, and free will vs destiny.

There's parts of their writing style that don't really work for me tho. Too many random pop culture references; even if I get all of them down to the vermicious knids, I don't feel like they needed to be there. I thought they were just going to be in Anna's PoVs as part of her specific characterization early on, but no, they just get thrown out everywhere, even in very serious late-book moments.

Seth also has a lot of White Man's Shame (or White Person's Shame in any case), which is part of their personality/background shining through, but it shines a little too bright for me. For some this is definitely going to be a bigger positive though.

Overall yeah, it's good sci fi and I look forward to the next book, but I'm not really really looking forward to it the way I am for eg. The Faith of Beasts.

[cloud socket]

I think if you're at book 11, you may as well finish WOT- the pace picks up in 11 and then Brandon takes over for the final 3 and I do think it sticks the landing (heavily biased because I adore wheel, but my husband read it all a few years ago and thinks the finale lands satisfactorily).

Dune is definitely worth reading, and you'll recognize how it's influenced so many things

[untold leaf]

WotM XV ||I'm calling it now, the Sextus that Vis beat up at the beginning of the book is going to come back into the story with a vengeance at some point. He's gonna barge in or pop up out of nowhere, recognize Vis, and be like "YOU!" I have no evidence for this, just vibes.||

[remote hemlock]

yeah heard about it, I'm fine with it

[remote hemlock]

yeah, I'll need to go through some summaries, but I remember the past chapter I read, it was badass, but gave up after that for some reason...

thanks for the recommendation, probably I'll go through Dune first, as it is shorter so I can definitely finish it before Era 3

[quaint burrow]

Check the tags before you read though the book, it's....disturbing to say the least, but the narrator is awesome if you're into audiobooks

[junior dew]

So I’ve heard. Good to know on the audiobook though!

[wraith lynx]

TCP 20 + Twilight saga ||if I had a nickle for every time the mc had a love interest associated with animals and described with russet hair/fur.... id have two nickles 😂||

[long sorrel]

Ch 20???

[wraith lynx]

Yep 20!

Had to double check 😂

-# I need to stop stopping mid chapter too

[long sorrel]

Noooooo

Finish!

You will not regret reading 30 to 40 pages

[wraith lynx]

TCP 20 ||i.... I have no words.||

https://tenor.com/view/spongebob-patrick-shookt-gif-13706390

||the way it switched from "omg locke you two timer" to "actually the freak brother murdered his whole family" had me SAT up 😭||

[long sorrel]

yeeeeessss

[wraith lynx]

TCP 23 ||I feel so bad that im more mad at Taryn than I am at Locke because like..... thats youre whole sister, girl. And you are out here with this two timing pig KNOWING hes a two timing pig??? Outrageous behavior honeslty||

[long sorrel]

Lmaaaao

||Locke is best boy really||

Truly

I have impecable taste

I can make him worse 😈

[quaint tendon]

God this book has me stressed as hell

[quaint tendon]

Bedlam Bride 72 || princess posse action items approved||

https://tenor.com/view/bob's-burgers-bob-belcher-crazy-laugh-crazy-laugh-gif-5372583059345039234

[random dome]

TCP 23 ||I get why Taryn does it, because she tells herself this is the way Faerie works and she has to prove she can play along but, UGH it's so awfulllll||

[wraith lynx]

||and I like that Jude isnt fighting her for locke. Its because shes hurt that Taryn would ever do this and that is another point for the book||

||a basic ass story would have just said "I saw locke first" "no hes mine" and this didnt do that so major props||

[snow vessel]

TCP 23/whole series gen ||I really love how we see the two sisters adapt very differently to try to fit in. Taryn tries to submit and play along, while Jude sort of becomes the one causing problems||

[random dome]

There's SO many times when Black could have picked a more obvious trope for a situation and she picks something way more interesting instead and it's what makes the series so great

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/intrawebs/798170871668899840/search-results-that-make-me-laugh-so-hard-i-start

Joel's 2,345,789th Biggest Fan

search results that make me laugh so hard i start coughing

-# #harrow the ninth #the locked tomb #locked tomb #webs says #tlt

Tumblr · Oct 23, 2025, 4:51 AM

[light drum]

Light Bringer reread ||The duel agaist Faa has gotta be in the top 3 scenes ive ever read||

Lightbringer + Lord of Chaos ||Its just so vivid and epic, I think The Battle just Dumai's Welll is the only one that i can think of that comes close ||

[long sorrel]

Finished A Restless Truth it was great, I think imma, move to book 3 and just finish off the trilogy

Book 3 ||is about Hawthorn, that's gonna be funny. He's such an ass, he's grown on me a lot in book 2||

||And according to the synopsis Violet should still be there 😍 ||

[quaint tendon]

I started Inevitable Ruin, but after the roller coaster of the last book I’m gonna take a small breather

[quaint burrow]

MS 1 ||Darrow speaks Arabic, English, Chinese and German??? ||

[light drum]

||Darrow is smart and they have learning drugs, and brain stuff he did during his carving||

[light drum]

Light bringer ||And my honor remains . Lysandrt better dir a horrible death||

[tight kindle]

This is the gif that always, ALWAYS goes through my head whenever me or someone else talks about vibes

The Song of Achilles 21 ||That is quite possibly the funniest possible way for a man to reassure a girl that he's not going to assault her. Kissing his boyfriend right in front of her.
Foolproof? No. Funny? ...Yes||

22 ||So which of the suitors would you have picked?
It's so cute and wholesome and I know what's coming 😭||

[minor sleet]

I have a 3 hour flight and I’ve got The Dragonbone Chair all ready for it

1.000 pg fantasy novel + 3 hr flight + 3 hr flight back = good chunk of it it read

[tight kindle]

Ok finished The Song of Achilles
Very good book. I'm happy I bought it

[ripe tide]

Yeah it’s good

[minor sleet]

Now try the Iliad

https://tenor.com/view/homer-iliad-odyssey-greek-mythology-gif-2285395682172517960

[white pond]

I just read both Legends and Lattes and Bookshops and Bonedust. Gosh.

I somehow think they're both 9.5/10 reads.

Almost at 10, but it's not life changing, but I did cry at the last page of Bookshops and Bonedust.

At least the sequel's in two weeks.

[main wren]

I gave Legends and Lattes to the manager at the coffeeshop I used to work out of. I just said here it's a fantasy coffeeshop. She came back the next day like ||YOU DIDN'T TELL ME IT WAS A LESBIAN ROMANCE (she's lesbian :P)||

[white pond]

||Oh, yes, I was very excited for the lesbian romance, I had completely forgotten that part when I started and then I was like "OH MY GOD THEY'RE GAY."||

I'm hesitating on reading either The Devils, The Tainted Cup or something else.

Or continuing my Stormlight reread.

[ripe tide]

I picked up Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell at the library so maybe I can do some physical book reading for fun on the train down to London this week. I've been doing a lot of audio, not much traditional reading

[merry galleon]

I’ve got so many books to order but some don’t come out until December

[little dock]

WotM XXII ||ah, so it’s both!||

[minor sleet]

Fantasy authors love to lie to their publishers, their fans, and most of all themselves and say that their next novel will be shorter

[long sorrel]

@tight kindle I got the 3rd book 👀 gonna start it in a bit. I really liked the second one though i do wonder if the explicit sex will bother you

[analog geode]

I loved it!

Have fun!

[ripe tide]

Yeah it’s been staring at me fot a long time on my TBR and at libraries.

[tight kindle]

I'm going to read that next week because the author is coming here and a friend invited me to come to the book signing

[tight kindle]

||Is it explicit wlw sex?
Because I ain't gonna lie I'm more curious about that than anything else.
Straight sex doesn't bother me much I just don't enjoy it. I don't see why wlw sex would be different.||

[long sorrel]

Yeah. That's fine then, I recall you mentioning it did bother you but if not you can just ignore that

[tight kindle]

...Huh
I don't remember that

[long sorrel]

I might be misremembering or might have misinterpreted

No matter lol

[tight kindle]

I didn't realize there were three entire books

[long sorrel]

Lol

The plot thickens

A lot

[tight kindle]

Oooh the third one is about ||Lord Hawthorn?|| Very interesting

[long sorrel]

Yeeeeep

||well everyone seems involved now||

||but the pov, yes, Hawthorn and someone else you don't know||

[tight kindle]

Huh
Random Les Mis reference six pages into my new book

[long sorrel]

Being inside his mind is incredibly funny

[long sorrel]

A Power Unbound 16 ||I knew this plot twist was going to happen since 1.5 books ago! HAH||

[cloud socket]

Picked up Camp Half-Blood Confidential and Camp Jupiter Classified at the library this week. CHBC feels like an updated Demigod Files, which makes sense as it was released after Heroes of Olympus and between books 2 and 3 of Trials of Apollo, with a frame story of Percy & friends putting together an updated introduction after finding a 1950s video by Apollo (which you get transcribed clips of, throughout).

Camp Jupiter Classified surprised me because instead of a short story anthology like the others, it's a straight novella of a new probatio's journal as issues arise in camp. This one has a preview of Tyrant's Tomb in the back so maybe it's like book 3.5? Anyway, the attached photo is from the back of it and I thought it very funny that official Percy Jackson stuff includes ships on their character chart (this is circa 2020)

[quaint tendon]

||Not enough Jason Percy ship lines||

[quaint tendon]

These ships are wildly heavily hetero but whatever Rick

[analog geode]

Not really
||1 gay, 1 poly, + whatever you call Magnus and Alex||

[quaint tendon]

Fair enough I wasn’t seeing what the different lines meant

[long sorrel]

I finished my book by mistake, whoops

[swift flint]

Finished Katabisis 👀 ||That ending scene with Grimes was so satisfying||

|| @ripe tide I now see what you mean about how it could become a comfort book in a way xD Since it's Kuang I was expecting a sad depressing ending, so the happy end caught me off guard xD||

||Who knew that the key to beating the Cryptkeys was just snorting chalk all along ||

[light drum]

Yippee the Rose Feild came out just as I finished Light Bringer
His Dark Materials my belov

[light drum]

Also like look how pretty the cover art is

[vital ibex]

Wow that cover is really nice

[snow vessel]

Memnoch 12 ||whelp even angels aren't safe from the Anne rice freakpocalypse||

[craggy cargo]

Pleasantly surprised by Will of the Many. Mild spoilers about the broad tone of the book ||I was expecting something a bit like Red Rising which I got exhausted by towards the end in terms of tone. But it's significantly lighter and more pragmatic with its tone in my opinion while keeping the broader awfulness of the system intact. Only 70% of the way through so it may have a fairly morbid mood shift but either way it's done a much better job of being serious without being morbid to the point i stop taking it seriously.||

[wraith lynx]

WoTM + RR vibes ||Yeah a lot of people compare the two, and i personally also prefer WoTM's tone and prose. Imo theres not much in common outside of "oppressed child infiltrates the school of elite to topple the oppressive regime" but hey, as long as the comparison gets people in the door 😂||

I read WoTM first though, but after that I read the first RR triolgy

And now SoTF is sooooooo

So soon

[light drum]

When is it? I have nothing planned after my current book?

[wraith lynx]

November 11th!!! 🤩

[craggy cargo]

WoTM +RR vibes ||I'd say the heavy roman vibes and the ranking systems also align. The posse also has some broad similarities.||

Proper spoilers for both books and broad vibes for The Darkness that comes Before ||This school is so much more practical though. Red rising felt really silly to me. In general red rising and other books like the darkness that comes before, which really try to use excessively morbid material to somewhat add a sense of gravitas typically fall flat for me. Iirc Pierce Brown writes with a literal death quota for his characters and will use a lottery system to decide who he's going to kill. Which just makes me care a lot less about the side cast who don't have plot armour.

Also leaving behind extreme melodrama for something more solid was a great option. Vis definitely comes across as a much stronger and somehow more mature protagonist than Darrow.

I am a bit amused by the ages though. What would it really cost if they were 20 year olds instead other than making it a lot more relatable. Could be a publisher thing, i guess? Regardless, it's a bit amusing at times.||

[wraith lynx]

Same tags ||Yeah I keep forgetting about the roman inspo for BOTH series, idk how 😭 but youre right! RR is very.... edgy, especially the first one. Also yes, Vis being 17 is so funny, hes just a lil guy ||

[craggy cargo]

Same tags ||I'd say Will of the many is a lot more sincere about its roman-ness, if that makes sense. The system actually does resemble the empire. Red rising borrows the aesthetic and some cultural quirks but that's about it.||

[junior dew]

Please spoiler tag anything about the book and or characters

[long sorrel]

I have been wondering if Red Rising next, but probably will be Witch Roads next, so undecided, dammit.

[minor sleet]

Went home and took the comics I intend to sell

So many bad New52 titles

One mediocre New52 title which I’m getting rid of anyone because even Gail Simone couldn’t salvage what they did to batgirl

Some random marvel comics from forever ago I got as a bundle with my copy of Death In the Family and The Death of Superman

More Wonder Woman than I recall having (which I’m keeping), Battle For the Cowl and Batman and Son and the comic where Batman is lost in time before returning after his death (fake death?) and Batman Inc (all keeping)

Also Avwngers V X-men and Runaways (The X Men and Runaways and Young Avengers as the only marvel characters I care for, so keeping)

And some random DC comic adaption of The Ring of the Nibelung (getting rid of, why did I even have that???)

The thing that suprised me most is not actually owning Batman: No Man’s Land or Reign of the Supermen, which are two of my favorite arcs

[quaint tendon]

wild

gails recent xmen stuff has me very anti her

its like shes taken the years of cyclops memes and internalized it into thinking thats how he actually acts

[minor sleet]

Her Red Sonja novel was deeply ok

Would’ve been better as just another comic

[quaint tendon]

i used to have a pretty complete collection of superior spider-man

i was hunting down the original ultimate spider-man omnibuses back in high school

kinda hard to find even back then tbh

i had some kaine scarlet spider trades too

stuff was just expensive enough to be hard to reconsile when i was way less fluid in cash

[mild lance]

I feel like Gail’s X-Men has been solid outside of editorially mandated crossovers

[snow vessel]

Wotm/RR ||I think this is interesting because I think they're both doing different things with it. WotM feels like much more of a true Roman scifantasy setting, whereas the RR setting is a society borrowing Roman elements because they think it makes them more superior||

[minor sleet]

Highly recommend the novella “Audition for the Fox”

It’s a cute little debut about using mischief and trickery for good. Very new, only a few weeks old

Proper summary: a temple acolyte has been rejected by the majority of her pantheon after auditioning to be their disciples. Running out of time, she begs an audition from the fox, the pantheon’s trickster. He takes her up on it, and casts her into the past when her country was under occupation with nothing but her wits and his guidance

[craggy cargo]

WoTM/RR ||I'd say it's also because Islington is a more practical worldbuilder. The dystopia in red rising feels more like those irl regimes which lasted for a decade or so before badly collapsing rather than the generations long success it is. Meanwhile WotM does a lot to show the sustainability and logic of the system, which works better by tying it into real systems.||

[snow vessel]

WOTM/RR ||definitely agree with the point about sustainability- wotm kind of feels like a more subtle dystopia in some ways to me? Like a society where you can easily go "ok, just ignore this one bad thing, because the rest works!". Whereas RR feels like a more aggressive regime that's very upfront with the oppression and issues||

||definitely adds to the sustainability you mentioned, I think||

[craggy cargo]

Same tags ||WotM also has the regime invent concepts like Birthright which nominally extends even to it's enemies. They don't violate it too publicly either. Meanwhile in red rising they're like, "Ah yeah, here's my slaves which I'm very famous for torturing for fun." The regime in WotM is actually quite egalitarian in certain ways, such as the seeming lack of direct slavery, while being dystopian in a way that makes everyone very complicit and allows them to easily look away. It's a very direct analogy for the irl your time for their money concept done in a very visceral way. I got to the scene in will of the many where the restaurant owner kicks them out at Suus. I'm not sure where that goes eventually, but the fact that the owner could do that and not immediately, as in that very second and in broad daylight, get murdered and have his family enslaved like a gold would surely do says a lot. It's also not literally impossible to rise through the ranks unlike how stratified society is in RR.||

[low hill]

Yeeeesssss. Goood. Good.

[craggy cargo]

The will of the many spoilers (ending thoughts) ||Really mixed feelings on that ending. Not nearly enough falling action. We should probably have gotten some degree of resolution for all the personal stuff that started in the book, not saying that it should all have been resolved but at least addressed. The large number of twists made them a mixed bag. It went from so painfully predictable (emissa) to actually quite solid but not getting enough time to marinate at all(The other dimensions) to just mediocre(the Anguis attack). I read the book at a great time since I'll get more answers so soon but it's not that great of an ending as a whole, on top of a very solid book. Too much stuff just happened without making sense in a way that i found unsatisfying. Leaving major mysteries for the sequel is one thing but we essentially had a lot of questions in the book and all of them turned into even more questions by the end without a single satisfying resolution.||

[merry galleon]

Finally I finished Daindreth’s Assassin. And it was a rollercoaster of emotions

Onto reading Elantris. Wish me luck!

[little dock]

WotM XXXVII ||Relucia is Sedotia?! ||

[craggy cargo]

Same tag ||Yeah that was a pretty good twist.||

[craggy cargo]

WotM (another post because I apparently still have a lot of thoughts on it and my partner isn't interested in reading it yet, and if I don't theorize or give thoughts now i won't get the chance to as SotF is out so soon)

Full spoilers upto the ending and the preview chapter of SotF.

||I'm not sure about the two or three Vis concept. I hope that the narrative stays mainly with one for a long stretch instead of hopping three sides continuously. I'm also not sure about what that does for the pacing if it's split between two or three different plotlines which don't interact too much. Unless both sides are really directly important for each other's progression, the amount of movement we get plot wise may be halved at least. But it's definitely something new and I'm okay with letting it play out if it works well.

One thing I really don't want is all the three Vis' being different people entirely different characters to the extent that they all have conflicts, vastly different relationships with vastly different people and different love interests. I'd much rather they go in the direction of merging again into one eventually rather than have Vis be a three man band of one.||

[long sorrel]

Starting The Witch Roads 👀

[ivory cypress]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM

[long sorrel]

Indeed

I'm excited

[ivory cypress]

eeeeee

[long sorrel]

Witch Roads 2 ||this teen saying basically "but wouldn't doing the same thing every day for work be a grind" 😭 ||

[craggy cargo]

Same tags as the previous comment ||Seems like Veridus had multiple independent agents in the academy. Emissa and Belli seem like obvious candidates. Emissa and Indol seem to have been using will to cheat. Emissa seems to have assumed Vis was too far gone based on the wound. That whole scene doesn't make a ton of sense right now but it was almost certainly done intentionally. She seems to genuinely have feelings for Vis, but the "can't let us be separated" seems to be about something else. It seems like he's trying to get other people across to help Caeror.

Military also probably had people and it might be Emissa, I guess? But i really doubt it given how Veridus seems to be covering for her, unless he's a good enough person to do that which he might be, despite the whole sending kids to their deaths thing.||

||Callidus' dad could be a really interesting character in this book. I doubt he'll be very trustworthy but i think it's borderline guaranteed that there will be at least one character who figures out who Vis is and keeps the secret, earning Vis' trust. Either that's gonna be Emissa, Lanistia or Callidus' dad(him mainly because he does have access to basically all the data to figure out inconsistencies.||

[wraith lynx]

Very VERY tasty wotm theories from you~

[craggy cargo]

I feel like I'm thinking so much more about the book, for both better and worse because (WotM full spoilers) ||of the lack of closure lmao.||

[wraith lynx]

Theres a reason its infested my brain and hasnt left since march 😂

That + SoTF comes out 3 days after my birthday

[craggy cargo]

It's like if Words of radiance ||ended with Kaladin beating Szeth and the gates of Urithiru opening. That exact moment.||

||We never get to see Urithiru or have the characters all talk and see the large scale consequences of all that happened.||

[craggy cargo]

Happy birthday in advance!

[wraith lynx]

Thank you! SoTF is an amazing gift honesty

2 years ago, murtagh released the day before my birthday so its kinda amazing 😂

[craggy cargo]

In general I am a bit worried about SoTF.

I think he definitely can pull it off but it's going to be a much tougher task than book 1 was.

Book 1 imo is the tropiest fantasy book ever but done to near perfection.

Book 2 is ||Going to have to be a massive departure just because of the multi dimensional thing.||

My wish would be ||the main focus staying on Res Vis and the political side while that stuff gets a larger portion than book 1 but doesn't dominate it yet.||

[long sorrel]

I have opposite opinions

[craggy cargo]

I definitely get why, I'm not actually super worried about the ||magic being inferior as a topic to the politics personally, but I'm worried that for a series which is so heavily politically focused that the focus on the world ending threat and the magic will turn all the political conflict to just a minor side issue used entirely for character angst and both sides have to work together anyways and all that.||

[snow vessel]

My suspicion is that [wotm] ||the politics will be key to dealing with the world-ending threat||

But I haven't read the sotf chapters

[snow vessel]

Like, ||they need to deal with the political issues so they can organise work to deal with the magical issues||

[craggy cargo]

||The hierarchy should stay as the primary antagonistic force for at least a little bit more on page before we get to the "so evil that we can handwave working uneasily with the hierarchy and anguis" threat.||

[long sorrel]

See WoTM ||I'm worried about the magic because I didn't like what was presented in WotM, meanwhile the politics seem to be in the center so I've no worries about that. The dimensions is so far the most interesting thing so I hope it focus on that. So as I said, completely opposite opinions haha||

[snow vessel]

Wotm ||I definitely agree that the dimensions should be more focused on, even just because I feel like that was promised by the end of wotm||

[long sorrel]

You've read sof preview yeah?

[craggy cargo]

WotM ||Dimensions is definitely the most interesting thing but I think there's space for it in the last two books(assuming it'll be a quartet instead of a trilogy). Dimensions also lie in that same area for me with time travel and multiverses which really hit and miss at times.||

[long sorrel]

SoF preview ||I think the Hierarchy is the villain, like they already won, took over||

[craggy cargo]

Yeppers.

[craggy cargo]

||That could be interesting and a very good way to merge that, but I didn't read it like that. I can see them being unwitting pawns and the like but we see a lot of the hierarchy upper cadre and they really don't seem interested in wiping out as much as just getting ahead.||

[long sorrel]

||We see the upper, but we know nothing of the actual tip of the Hierarchy though. ||

[craggy cargo]

||Isn't Indol's dad one of the presumably three people at the very top?||

[marble sinew]

Ooh, we WotM+ theory posting now? Let's see what memories I can dredge up...
(WotM + SotF preview chapter)
||I think Caeror (I may be misassigning names, the long dead brother) is considerably less dead than most people believe, and is acting in the background in the first world. Straight up, I bet they threw one of the many corpses over a cliff, and when it washed up Veridus said "Oh no, my friend's corpse which has been mauled beyond recognition then floated back to shore, I am beyond distraught!".||

||I think there was a two-way portal, or at least some means of communication between the realms in Suus. The Hierarchy knew it was there, and so had to invade, but haven't found it yet (this is also how the dead Anguis boss got his magic). Also, some amount of Vis' family has copies living in the other realms, and they're working with Veridus. Vis' wooden boat was supposed to subtly assure him that he had friends, but kicked his paranoia into overdrive instead.||

[craggy cargo]

Same tags ||Caeror is definitely alive in the other world as we see in the preview, idk if Ulciscor wouldn't have explicitly been saying that his brother was mangled beyond recognition if that was the case, and iirc we never hear that detail.

I can see the portal thing being true on Suus and his dead family having copies. I doubt they're working with Veridus. Veridus tried to get him kicked out at the start, more or less which wouldn't line up since Veridus has to understand what getting kicked out would mean for him.||

[long sorrel]

||yep, I've various options on this, though i think most likely none will be true||

Unrelated, I was going to go to bed when, Witch Roads 4 ||they reached the spire and there's a Haunt 👀 Kate's prose is so ||

[craggy cargo]

||I think there's something still very important about not ceding will with the statues. And that the dimensions will help with this as our Vis will start ceding and recieving but other Vis' wont.||

[marble sinew]

WotM + SotF 1 ||I'd need to go back and check, but IIRC Caeror's official cause of death was killed by Alupi then his corpse washed up on a shore (IDR if river, or beach, or what), so it almost feels too easy for him to have faked his death. As for Veridus almost getting him kicked out, Veridus wouldn't necessarily know that Vis was Diago until after Vis walks through the Planar Xerox, and the boat scene doesn't happen until after some Coma Time.||

[long sorrel]

Witch Roads 5 ||I felt your presence because you are like me uuuuhhh... in what way||

[marble sinew]

WotM + SotF1 ||(the idea being that Veridus's contact thanks him for sending Vis through, and that Vis suggests using the boat to establish a little trust)||

[craggy cargo]

Same tags ||No, the official story is that he committed suicide because he was worried about going to the sappers for killing Lanistia. Considering how obsessed Ulciscor is with the death, if the body was unidentifiable he'd have mentioned that.

Him not knowing makes sense but in general I don't really buy the broad idea of him and the family working together in any sizable way. ||

[long sorrel]

Hmmmm I'm already so curious? But i must sleep 😔

[little dock]

So much WotM discussion I want to read but I’m only 55% through and I know Islington has big twists to come.

[craggy cargo]

Yeah definitely don't read it.

Lots of twists coming.

[marble sinew]

WotM All, SotF 1 ||I found the line I was thinking of, "By the time they got to Caeror, the alupi had done their work". Which I concede could mean anything from "The body parts they found were the right size and the rags were probably his" to "Man, Alupi seem to exclusively eat limbs and torsos, the face was unambiguously Caeror". To me, though, it suggests the alleged Alupi had already wandered away, which would mean the body was thoroughly eaten (and probably unrecognisable).||

[craggy cargo]

WotM all ||It'd still be really weird for that to not be mentioned by Ulciscor though, imo. Either way idk if he's alive on that side because he wouldn't have had someone to save him probably like Vis just did.||

[craggy cargo]

||i wouldn't say his face was unambiguously Caeror or anything, but I can imagine there being enough left of his face to still be enough to identify.||

Also, from a doylist pov ||the double twist of him not being dead twice would be a bit.... Ehhh.||

[merry galleon]

I’m at 82 pages on Elantris. It seems okay so far. Got some humour I’m enjoying

[mild lance]

Just FYI, since that’s a Sanderson book, you can talk about it in #tagged-spoilers-only

[merry galleon]

Whoops

I’m sorry

[snow vessel]

I don't think it's a major issue

[merry galleon]

I didn’t think I was spoiling anything

But I think they’re informing me that I can talk about in one of the other channels

[wraith lynx]

Yeah its not a matter of spoilers, just organization is all~ #tagged-spoilers-only is for books by mr Brandon, and #1404493534282911805 is for everything else~

Same rules apply and everything~

[merry galleon]

Oh. Me stupid.

Thank your clarifying!

I was just calling myself stupid for not realising

[snow vessel]

Just makes it easy to sort the conversation between Brandon and non-brandon

[craggy cargo]

In hindsight i probably should've read the book even closer to the launch of the sequel lmao.

I'm in that weird mix of post read and pre launch hype that's got my brain whirring.

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/burins/798592129312112640/so-when-a-hot-woman-does-it-its-fine-but-when-i

a miscalculation has been made

so when a hot woman does it it's fine, but when i, your father figure,

-# #dcu #dick grayson #Barbara Gordon #batman

Tumblr · Oct 27, 2025, 8:26 PM

[snow vessel]

Can November come a bit slower please

I have too much I want to read

[low hill]

checks notes

Nope.

[long sorrel]

Have I mentioned I have four books listed for november 11th?

[snow vessel]

I really want to get in on the sotf release day hype but my brain just decided that I want to reread five more books

[ripe tide]

Fortunately, I have my lecture on Moby Dick today, so I can just DNF it sinve I've made as much progress as I can pre lecture. I didn't listen to as much as I wanted to because I did it in very small chunks, but the way the book is written kind of annoys me. Especially all the racism from the narrator I just can't stand.

[minor sleet]

Tl;dr: men on ships are homoerotic, 19th century mixed race whaling ships doesn’t mean racism isn’t present, whales can be used in many ways (let me, the author now pause the story to list them), revenge ruins everyone including randos who didn’t sign up for murder-suicide revenge, sometimes whales can be evil

[ripe tide]

Yeppp, I'm getting all of that (except the way whales are used because I am 4 hours in and the ship hasn't even left the harbor.) To be fair, that's 4 hours of the 24 the audiobook lasts

And yeah, with that inn passage near the beginning I was very surprised to find some homoeroticism considering when this was published. But it kind of does make sense because of the context.

[minor sleet]

Ishamael meets Queequeg and is immediately saying things liek “we should share our money like a married couple” and upon waking up in a shared bed “his arm was draped over me like a quilt from a married couple”

Buddy. You should do some introspection.

[ripe tide]

YEAH

And even with all of that there's so much rampant racism and comments against his religion. Paganophbia?

[long sorrel]

I will likely read kingfisher before sotf, such is live 😌

[snow vessel]

Dangit I really need to start those as well

At this rate I don't think I'll be done Midnight Tides before sotf release, but I'll probably go straight into sotf after I finish it

Which is unfortunate because I also want to reread dracula, the secret history, and ascension, so I guess those will go afterwards

[minor sleet]

You can sort of tell that Melville doesn’t really think he’s being racist. He’s doing the equivalent to my grandma saying that all black people are good at sports and thinking that’s a compliment

Obviously still not ok for either Meville or my grandma to say but a different sort of racism than normal for 19th century novel

[junior dew]

Oof y’all WoTM is 28 hours. 14 if the narrator is listenable at 2x speed, but adding a few hours for rewinding, I may have screwed up. Trying to slot it in in time for SoTF may be tricky but we shall see

I also have a cradle sized problem in that I have to decide whether I really want to put cradle aside temporarily to listen to WoTM, especially when Ghostwater is up next and people seem to have a lot to say about that book too

[versed agate]

ahh, The new Craft Wars book came out today and I had no idea!

now I'm confused.
It's out on Amazon (ebook, audio, paperback)
but Waterstones says the paperback won't be until december ☹️

[ripe tide]

Yeah clearly. It is very much of its time

[long sorrel]

i wanna not work and read more Witch Roads 👀

[lucid isle]

For anyone thats interested, this is my StoryGraph profile: https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/bloke

[untold leaf]

I'm running out of time on my Will of the Many hold and I'm only 25% of the way through it 😭

[analog geode]

Time to cancel your plans

[untold leaf]

Yesterday was supposed to be the day I locked into it, but I was too depressed to commit to anything that day.

I have no idea why I was depressed, I just was. It just happened and because of it I had no motivation to do anything. Not even read.

[tight kindle]

Yeah sometimes you just have days like that
They suck 😭

[hidden jolt]

the heroes ||it occurs to me that gorst has an internal monologue like glokta||

||the two people with speech impediments(?) are the ones with internal monologues||

[alpine drum]

The Heroes ||other characters have occasional internal monologue but yeah thats a good point, those two definitely have the most verbose internal monologues ||

[quaint tendon]

after i finish inevitable ruin i only have one more new book i can read before i may have to resort to continuing my rereads

gosh i havent been back to shadow rising in a long time

or words of radiance

hm

[ripe tide]

JS&MN 4 ||Lol gotta love Mr Norrell hearing the other people talk about him and then go and tell them who he is||

[tight kindle]

Which one is better?

[quaint tendon]

insane as it is i am a sucker for a dust jacket

[long sorrel]

okay, reading won, back to The Witch Roads, which I initially typed as The Road Witches so I guess that's a bad start

[quaint tendon]

the road witches sounds like a fantasy version of mad max

[long sorrel]

lmao

Witch Roads 8 ||oh this is creepy! Also a viper came out of her arm?? I'm confused (in like a positive way) 👀 👀 👀 ||

||is the viper a part of her or like basically a pet viper? (A special pet viper I guess) whats going on!||

[long sorrel]

11 ||“His Highness Gevulin, Prince-Warden of the Imperial Order of Wardens, Exalted General of the All-Seeing Eye, Captain of a Thousand, Adept of the Bow and the Spear, Conqueror of the Ten Peaks Race, Eloquent Grace of the Wind Dance, Artist of the Brush and Virtuoso of the Pen, Master of the Lyre and Preeminent Bard of the Twelve Cycles and the Three Hundred and Sixty Poems of the Glorious Founder, Prince of the Third Estate and Guardian of the Absinthe Grove, born into the Flower Court on the knees of the Elegant Consort in Whose Honor the Lily Emperor of Blessed Memory Instituted the Feast of Sweet Pipes and Contrapuntal Song—” ... This is only half!||

[alpine drum]

Which road is this?

[long sorrel]

I started reading and my brain went "happy for you" and glazed till the end of the page

[long sorrel]

The witch one ofc

Nooo ||“—Last of the Court-Born Princes Born of the Lily Emperor’s Resplendent Seed—” ||

The namings are giving me slight Dollmaker vibes in like, maybe opposite directions

12 ||jumping from that, to "sadly he didn't get an erection", yes, I'm loving Elen||

[long sorrel]

... Kate Elliot is too good at writing hateful men 🤮

16 ||I have met Duenn||

||He better be deaded, soon||

[tight kindle]

Today irl outside has the same... Vibe as the beginning of The Starless Sea and I'm mad that I'm most definitely not in the beginning of The Starless Sea

[long sorrel]

You could replicate the one story telling scene

[long sorrel]

Witch roads 21 ||ok the prince is an asshole, but seeing him putting Duenn in his place has given him a few points. ||

[long sorrel]

23 ||looks like ass-hat prince got possessed?||

Hmmmm

||what if he isn't and this is a ploy? Hmmmm, though he likely is||

26 ||he has to be he's just acting on whatever Elen tells him, lmao||

||I've no idea where this is going but I'm here for it 👀 ||

Hmmm, I can feel a migraine incoming

[long sorrel]

31 ||she's down bad for the haunt-prince ||

[long sorrel]

34 ||ok so the prince is possessed by a charming... dragon. Okay..., I need to get to know this man better||

[polar holly]

Finished The Poppy War. Anyone read it?

[ripe tide]

Yeah what did you think

And also book 1 or the whole series?

[cloud socket]

I've read it and the dragon war, but haven't gotten to the burning god yet

A very good debut, was familiar with the history referenced but not necessarily all the myth references, especially in the second.

I'm currently a quarter of the way through Mad Ship (second Liveship Traders), ||Althea just came home! Malta is the worst, even if she's so young. I keep thinking about ages, like if Wintrow is the eldest and was 14 at the start of the last one but it's almost been a year...||

[craggy cargo]

I've read it, not the biggest fan of grimdark and adjacent works in general though.

[polar holly]

The first book only so far

I liked it a lot as my undergraduate major was East Asian history

[ripe tide]

Ah nice

[ripe tide]

Im going to get one. Theres many more choices but I am disqualifying hardcovers and rereads for today.

[minor sleet]

Ken Liu never misses even when he’s only translating

[ripe tide]

A girl in the store also said Grace of Kings so I have two votes for that.

[long sorrel]

I'll vote for City of Brass of course

I have Mask of Mirrors on my tbr but I've not gotten to it yet

[alpine drum]

I'm not sure DC would go for it given what Batman is getting up to in the recent Annual
https://x.com/dcuworld/status/1982770612851655072

DCU Updates (@dcuworld)

Nick Dragotta wants to see a Studio Trigger anime of Absolute Batman

Via:(https://t.co/aNZ0TPfucO)

X · Oct 27, 2025, 11:25 AM

on the otherhand the fact that they published it means they support it to an extect at least

[quaint tendon]

wasnt trigger the one everyone talked about doing a stormlight adaptation too

[lusty meteor]

Define “everyone”

[marble sinew]

While they have the Western influence to make an anime SA Adaptation feel less "anime", I feel like their style isn't grounded enough and is too inconsistent for it.
They're probably at the bottom of the list of studios I remember the names and styles of that I'd think about approaching for an adaptation.

[random dome]

City of Brass gets my vote!

Also I finished Dungeon Crawler Carl book 2 and... alright I'm convinced, this series is genuinely really good

I relent on my skepticism, even though I'm guessing I would not like other litrpgs much still. It's winning me over despite the genre, not because of it

[wet belfry]

Everyone who watched the Cyberpunk show

[hidden jolt]

first law: au where ||the closed council has lord brock's sons killed||

[lucid isle]

That’s some awful art work

[alpine drum]

I quite like absolute batman's style

[lucid isle]

That’s fair enough

It’s been a while since I read a graphic novel

[alpine drum]

to me it's a very conscious departure from the mainline batman art where the linework is much less emphasized

[lucid isle]

I can’t remember the last Batman book I read

[alpine drum]

I have not been keeping up with the mainline DC batman stuff but I have been following the Absolute stuff

[lucid isle]

I know it’s cliche but I love the Dark Knight Returns

I’m probably due a reread

My favourite graphic novel ever was Uncanny X-Force Vol 1 by Rick Remender

[minor sleet]

And yet DC claims these two are heterosexual

Fire on the left, Ice on the right

[ripe tide]

I’ll get it later, ended up going with Grace of Kings. Bit too late, I was on a timeline.

[junior dew]

GRACE OF KINGS

[hidden jolt]

first law bsc ||does monza ever reclaim her knife from shivers?||

[alpine drum]

||I dont think so no||

[hidden jolt]

||maybe while he's in prison?||

||thinking about the knife he uses to stab the prisoner and free finree in the heroes||

||there isnt really any evidence going for or against though||

[alpine drum]

The Heroes ||he has the knife with him during the final castle assault which is after being imprisoned, my assumption is he still has it in the scene where he tortures that prisoner||

[hidden jolt]

||no, where he's imprisoned after fontisarmo and waiting to be hanged, only to be spared||

||does monza collect the knife when he gets imprisoned||

[alpine drum]

||oh let me check||

Best Served Cold ||no she just gives him her ring, I forgot she didn't give him the knife||

[hidden jolt]

||so probably a different knife in the heroes, a little disappointing||

[untold leaf]

I put The Will of the Many, Six of Crows, and Tales of Newel and Doren on hold at my local library. If I have to wait months before I can access their ebooks, then I'll just get the physical copies instead. 😤

[wraith lynx]

Been seeing a lot of sudden love for The Raven Scholar on my timeline and it looks like a super fun read

[long sorrel]

This has reminded me I should read the last thing of King of Scars

err... I guess sometime this year

[long sorrel]

Witch Roads 46 ||Elen is like "damn its gross he just ate a full half-mutated live mouse with fur and all" and then "damn he's hot" all in the space of 2 minutes ||

[long sorrel]

This book is pretty light so far, despite how rich the prose is

Its kind of refreshing in a way

[ivory cypress]

yeah i enjoyed that

i kept going "yeah...grimsweet. huh."

[long sorrel]

55, this sounds like something id say ||“I shall now attempt to smooth over this awkward moment.||

[uncut shoal]

Is Dungeon Crawler Carl done?

[long sorrel]

Witch Roads 65 ||he's gone 😭 come back whatever named dragon ||

[long sorrel]

I'm done 👀

Damn

Nov 4th huh?

What a fascinating setting

And what a delightful set of characters

I've no idea where we're going though. Witch Roads all ||but I'm rioting if the Haunt doesnt appear again||

[ivory cypress]

yes. YES. yes

[uncut shoal]

How many books is Witch Roads supposed to be?

[untold leaf]

WotM XVI ||Ooh, Vis, you freaking genius! Turning a potential introduction to Aequa as a training partner into an opportunity to go to the Festival of Jovan, yesssss. I was actually wondering how he was going to make that work. The book did a good job of making me think there was no way he could possibly get to the Festival and then this opportunity serendipitously comes up because he sees the chance to kill two birds with one stone. I like it.||

[cloud socket]

Book 8 releases next spring. Diniman has previously said he expects it'll be about ten books or so

[lucid isle]

I've read the first 2 DCC but finding the 3rd hard to get into

[long sorrel]

Two, the one out and the one coming out next week

[uncut shoal]

Are there going to be more or is it just two?

[uncut shoal]

Thanks, so holding off for now

[long sorrel]

Just two i think

[low hill]

Only a day late, but I enjoyed Mask of Mirrors more than Grace of Kings.

[ripe tide]

Im reading both anyway because of the library.

[long sorrel]

Id notably be way more patience if i didn't know i finishd book 1 1 week away from book 2. As it is I'm like "aaaaaah, giv book 2"

[snow vessel]

Mmmm too much to read and not enough time...

[long sorrel]

I need 2 more lifetimes

at least

[snow vessel]

I need to pick up my pace with Memnoch so I can get to the other two audiobooks I want to do this year

And physical... well we'll see at this point

-# Do I want to delay reading sotf until some far future date? No. Will I? ......

[long sorrel]

Reminds me of you saying you'd read Bury Our Bones soon after release...

So I guess you'll read sotf for my bday instead (which is mid december)

OR th rest of us talking about it will propel you

[snow vessel]

Oh don't remind me of that

Haha. Funny story, actually.

I got given WOTM in 2023.

I read it this year

I got WOTM I think in the year it was published because it was getting some hype and it took me two years to read it 😭

[low hill]

The list of books I read in the same year I bought them is short...
The list of books I read in the same year they were published is even shorter.

[long sorrel]

Well, there are some books I buy and read because I try to buy the book as I'm about to read it

Which is very easy given digital

but I still have a chunk of books I've not read so

[untold leaf]

I've lost my hold on The Will of the Many. 😢

But at least I have a physical copy on hold at my local library. Better that than waiting months to get the ebook again.

[merry galleon]

I’m at page 216 on Murtagh

I’m making progress

[low hill]

There are some that I buy and interrupt what I'm currently reading.
There are others that go to the top of the Next Book pile as they are bought.

Then there are those I read like four years later when I remember.

Only book convention purchase.

So far...

[lucid isle]

What are some other epic fantasy series people are reading or get good reviews? I'm alreayd aware of the Wheel of Time and Malazan

[long sorrel]

I'm currently slowly going through the Farseer trilogy

I have a hard time deciding what is or isn't epic fantasy though, are you looking for any specific vibe?

[craggy cargo]

Robin Hobb frustrates me so much because I enjoy her writing and i appreciate what she's trying to do but i really hate the actual plots and particularly the character decisions.

[long sorrel]

I've loved what I've read so far

that is 1.2 books

[craggy cargo]

It's been a while so I won't risk giving spoilers but i stopped reading about two and a half books in, tried Liveship later and left that after a book too.

[long sorrel]

well feel free to post it in spoilers, i won't click but perhaps others will find it interesting

[craggy cargo]

Hmm, tempting but I feel like I'd just start ranting and calling the characters dumb a lot lmao, probably not worth the effort.

[craggy cargo]

A song of ice and fire would be a good option, but I assume you know it already. Abercrombie's works are fairly epic too in my opinion, but it varies from case by case.

The dark tower if you want something epic but different.

[proper silo]

Man, coming back to a book I haven't read in a month is an experience

Like who are these people? Where are we? Why is the main character getting arrested right now???

I can't believe past me apparently paused mid-scene

[cloud socket]

I'm a quarter into Mad Ship (liveship traders 2), and overall I like liveship traders more than farseer but I think that's because of multiple PoV characters instead fo just Fitz?

[long sorrel]

this sounds very like you for some reason

[cloud socket]

the writing is good, but Fitz makes some very boneheaded decisions sometimes

[long sorrel]

I still remember where you stopped in Cruel Prince, Rasarr

like, traumatizingly so

[random dome]

activation noise

[proper silo]

I'd say that's libel but then you brought up Cruel Prince and you know what

Fair enough

[long sorrel]

Not safe for Rasarr, Cruel Prince all ||I believe she stopped right at the beginning of the coronation ||

[random dome]

i don't even have a ping for cruel prince, i just feel it in the wind

[random dome]

oh god. oh no.

[long sorrel]

I was going to mention you

Because it's so traumatizing, I need you to suffer with me on this one

[proper silo]

Sorry, but I'm not going back to it

[random dome]

thank you i am also traumatized

[long sorrel]

well such is life

[proper silo]

Last book of Erha comes out mid-November, I need to finish books 8 and 9 beforehand

[random dome]

rasarr if you are not going back can i give you an equivalent

[proper silo]

👀

[long sorrel]

you made a meme for cosmic, it's sorta the same thing

[proper silo]

*not going back to it yet, I'd like to think

[random dome]

STORMLIGHT ||This is a "stopped right as Dalinar and Sadeas are headed out to do a cool dual assault on the Tower for the first time" kind of stopping place||

[long sorrel]

I saw that series tag

[random dome]

look i was gonna do something about kelsier, but then i had a different idea but i forgot to change the spoiler tag 😅

and then i saw it pop up and was like WAIT

[long sorrel]

understandable

[random dome]

panik

[proper silo]

Cruel Prince? ||Huh, they're about to have a coronation massacre, ain't they? Since iirc the love interest prince wasn't the one getting crowned, and I doubt the author would let him stay not-the-king...||

[random dome]

someday it will be there for you to know 🙏

[proper silo]

👍 Once my ongoing danmei obsession dies down, perhaps

[long sorrel]

Unrelated, I wonder what to read next

part of me is like "maybe I should close off some series that I've like 1-2 books pending"

the other part is like "but what if Red Rising"

which is the opposite of finishng series

[proper silo]

[somber timber]

~~Yes but you could finish red rising ~~

That’s a series

[long sorrel]

I doubt it's gonna hookme that much ngl, or if I'll be in the mood to read a lot of it even if it does

[random dome]

i forgot that books cost money and now im sitting here like, i don't know how to get the next DCC audiobook while not spending money b/c my local library does not have them 😔

[proper silo]

Anyway, Erha 256/Stormlight Archive ||Mo Ran is in competition with Shallan for having the most layers in their backstory matryoshka, lmao. Like what do you mean. What do you mean this moron did murders before he was even in the sect.||

[random dome]

they don't even have the book versions 😔 😔

[proper silo]

Erha/Stormlight ||oh gods, he is male Shallan he even had the murderous alternate self||

[random dome]

i got the first two gifted from friends who wanted to evangelize but i don't want to go back begging like "buy me the next one now"

[minor sleet]

The author didn’t have an editor and was paid by the chapter. And didn’t re-edit after the story was done

So yeah the story is bonkers

[proper silo]

Well, I am very much all aboard Ms Meatbun's wild ride

[long sorrel]

so i decided to count because why not

[minor sleet]

Same

[long sorrel]

And it seems I have 40 series started and not finished (and not dropped)

[minor sleet]

Just don’t think about the logic of anything too much

[long sorrel]

some because the next book isn't out but most because I've not gotten to the next book

[proper silo]

Nah, I wouldn't go as far as not thinking about the logic of everything. There is some pretty cool foreshadowing and "so that's how it all fits together!" moments

Though I'm unsure how much is genuine preplanning and how much is the author assembling something on the go

Erha 259 ||Locked in a dog kennel...? Miss author sir, your commitment to making Mo Ran like a dog on every level except physical is truly astounding.||

Erha 260 ||Goddamn Jiang Xi spitting facts I knew I liked you, you asshole.||

[minor sleet]

I meant more about the crazy backstories and the way that everything intertwines the most random of characters together

[proper silo]

Oh, yeah, fair enough

That much is true

[wraith lynx]

Was it worse than where I stopped?? 🤣

[random dome]

yes

yes it was

[wraith lynx]

🫢

I gotta figure out where that happened omg

Aka I NEED to keep reading

[long sorrel]

I think you already have?

[random dome]

i didn't think cosmic was there yet... tho maybe i missed it

👀

ok no looking back i think it's still yet to come

[long sorrel]

Cruel Prince ALL (this is for Feather) ||The coronation (the first one!) happens on chapter 20, when everyone gets murdered, cosmic is on 23 by last message about TCP in this channel||

[random dome]

dang. i really thought that happened after

clearly i should reread

[long sorrel]

clearly, we should reread 👀

[random dome]

TCP 23 ||I could have sworn Jude found out about Taryn and Locke going into the coronation... I guess not??? dang i don't remember the ending as well as I thought||

[long sorrel]

||she does, but she only fights Taryn about it after||

[random dome]

ahhhh ok 23 ||I guess there's more time between the coronation and the rest of the ending than I thought, like I was remembering it as the very end, but it's not||

[long sorrel]

||you can see cosmic's TCP20 and TCP23 reacts||

||so I know chapter 20 by memory cause I've uhhhhh reread it a few times every time someone here (or outside of here) reads chapter 20 I'm like a child on the edge of my chair ||

[random dome]

i bought the books after i finished them (this is usually when i buy books) so i could definitely go back and look myself

[long sorrel]

I do want to buy the printed versions but if i do that might as well get some nice edition

so I'm just like... waiting til the day I decide to put money on that

[proper silo]

Erha 265 ||"Some time after he'd eaten his last disciple" excuse me what||

||author you can't just say that||

[lucid isle]

This is a great suggestion. I read the Liveship Trader trilogy years ago and loved it.

[long sorrel]

do you have any other specific vibe you're going for? Epic fantasy covers a broad amount of subgenres

[proper silo]

Erha vol. 9 beginning ||Given how vol. 8 ended, that is a surprisingly ominous cover ||

[minor sleet]

Don’t worry about it

[proper silo]

https://tenor.com/view/concern-concern-meme-40k-tech-priest-commissar-gif-19826274

[lucid isle]

I guess I'd not really thought about it in that much detail. I liked The Name of The Wind, some of David Gemmel's Drenai books, Discworld.

I guess I'm a sucker for knights and wizardly shenanigans

[proper silo]

Erha 274 ||"This venerable one has always admired scholars above all. How rude of me to barge in here and murder your whole family." lmao, I guess Taxian-jun has ran out of f's to give when he died. Honestly, he's kinda fun to watch when he's not moping about Chu Wanning||

[minor sleet]

Yeah he’s fun

In a “please stay fictional and far away from me” way

[proper silo]

That's more or less the whole cast

Except Xue Meng, he's just Going Through It

[junior dew]

👀

[long sorrel]

||Is he gay yet?||

[proper silo]

Erha general ||Nope, a bit too busy losing it over Mo Ran and unjust fate and The Horrors to be worrying about his obvious Mei Hanxue crush (and whatever situationship he's having with Jiang Xi, I swear there's something there||

[long sorrel]

aren't you on like book 9?

Surely that has to happen soon?

[proper silo]

ye, book 9 has just started, we are at the peak Pit of Despair segment of the book

I think

every time I think we've reached the bottom of the Pit of Despair, Ms Meatbun reveals she has dug a new Pit of Despair right below it and is currently shoving Mo Ran and Chu Wanning into it

so yeah Xue Meng's a bit too busy to be dealing with his situationships 😅

[minor sleet]

Book 10 is just the extras so you’re pretty much done with the story

[proper silo]

Book 11 is extras, iirc

Book 10 is the one coming out in a few weeks, 11 is the one they announced a few weeks back

[minor sleet]

Oops

[wraith lynx]

https://tenor.com/view/eevee-jumps-gif-2696845723667273642

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/berrystumpytail/665582044243443712/parents-please-check-your-kids-candy-this

Seattle's Coolest Quadruped.

Parents please check your kids candy this Halloween. I found the old warrior cats website in my kid’s candy bar...

Tumblr · Oct 20, 2021, 4:48 PM

[lucid isle]

I've had to DNF Terry Pratchetts Eric at 60%, it's only a short book but so so boring!

[ripe tide]

https://www.tumblr.com/bookcub/798921447650344960

I don't want a life lesson, I just want ice cream

leigh bardugo has massively edited and rewritten the six of crows books and no one has noticed

🔁 thereadingchallengechallenge

or has for some reason decided not to mention it at all or let anyone else know.

I just found out something insane today. in the new dregs editions that came out for the 10th anniversary, leigh bardugo has removed any and all mention of the crows being teenagers, cut out whole sentences and completely changed quotes that are classic and very well known by fans of the six of crows duology. she’s replaced any mention of words like ‘children’ ‘boy’ ‘girl’ and ‘kids’ with ‘man’ ‘woman’ ‘grown’ etc

this is concerning, bewildering and just feels wrong for so many reasons. but besides the obvious —which is that the six protagonists of the duology being young is essential to many aspects of the plot, seeing as their world weariness and competence is a result of their experiences as children and survivors who are victims of their environment—besides even that, editing a piece of literature that’s been published and on shelves for 10 years is objectively not a g...

-# #six of crows #i haven't verified this info yet #but WHAT #also i suspect its more about wanting to be new adult/romantasy #and distancing from ya #but i hate that so much

Tumblr · Oct 31, 2025, 11:41 AM

[ivory cypress]

I saw that 💀

[lusty meteor]

But like why tho

[hoary path]

Tbh, I love six of Crows but one of my biggest complaints was the fact that these characters were very clearly not acting like children. They definitely felt older than the book was implying

[long sorrel]

Yep

[hoary path]

I don't like her changing it subtly instead of just making an announcement and giving a reason, but I suspect that she probably wanted the characters to be a little older and publishing pressure made them more YA age

[long sorrel]

I don't agree with going and changing the entire book but it doesnt make any sense that they're children

They don't act like it, and theyve a level of skill that doesn't add up

[ivory cypress]

I think this is a worse option though

this is hinky and more uncomfortable, not less

let six of crows exist as the "lol but they can't be kids though" thing for some people

[hoary path]

Yeah I don't like them actually changing it, I just can understand why

Like, outside of minor mistakes rewrites like this give George Lucas Star wars vibes

[ivory cypress]

I don't understand, this is so weird to me

[lusty meteor]

somehow, this is brandon sanderson's fault

[ivory cypress]

if it's YA then by all means, just let them keep being 17 or whatever

[hoary path]

https://tenor.com/view/brandon-anderson-oh-yes-gif-15065859

[lusty meteor]

hypercompetent teenagers is a pretty well understood trope

[hoary path]

Tbh I know it technically is, but Six of Crows didn't feel super YA to me

It felt pretty much on par with Mistborn (at least the first book)

[long sorrel]

Yep

I do think it's super weird to change it

But I agree with everything Demonic is saying

[hoary path]

Definitely think it should've been like Elantris's ten year anniversary where it clearly states the change and has a blurb on why she wanted that

[long sorrel]

It doesn't feel like hypercompetent teenagers either... The previous trilogy has hypercompetent teens and it feels and reads like YA. Six of Crows reads too mature for all of that to click. But I just ignored it and read it anyway

And I thought "wow this would be so much better if they were adults"

HOWEVER

just changing the adress to the characters doesn't do it either so this is like, just really weird

[hoary path]

Thank you AI

[long sorrel]

what?

Well I guess we're not reading Benny and Omar

[hoary path]

I agree. A lot of their actions and the way they think definitely feels more mature, not just that they are good at everything.

I know I'm heartbroken

[long sorrel]

What shall we do without it 😩

[hoary path]

I really loved Six of Crows though. Found family of criminals in a fantasy setting is my vibe

[sleek jungle]

I haven't even read the books and I've seen that complaint online 🤣

[long sorrel]

I did quite enjoy it, not sure I loved it but it definitely enjoyed it a lot.

Also coming from reading the previous trilogy first which I found to be just really bad overall

[hoary path]

Tbh I have really bad taste so that tracks

[long sorrel]

Also the maturity of the characters was great

[hoary path]

Yeah SoC was my first book of hers and I don't really have an interest in her previous trilogy

[long sorrel]

It did stick with me Six of Crows series ALL ||When Inej was like "I'm not here to fix this idiot or waste my time waiting around for him" and then she just, doesn't. You know like someone that is healthy and mature, and this type of stuff is so missing in most YA||

[hoary path]

Is that safe if I haven't read Crooked Kingdom

[long sorrel]

nope!

don't click

[hoary path]

Ty 🙏

[long sorrel]

Oh, cosmic, I started Red Rising

last night

the beginning is... rough

[wraith lynx]

Yeahhhh from what ive talked about with other pals here, the first book (and first chapters) have.... they arent perfect 😂

I thought it was funny in a "why are you like this" kinda way 😂

[long sorrel]

It's more like

[wraith lynx]

Oh my 😭

What about it exactly has you all

[long sorrel]

lemme tell you where I'm at one second

Red Rising 6 ||just like the way he doesn't shut up for 5 chapters about his wife non-stop in extremely cheesy ways makes my skin crawl, also was the entire 5 chapters like "okay when is she dying" and then she died and I was like "okay we're done can we move on from this". Also I suppose this might be explained more later but she died just cause she felt like it and that feels extremely dumb. ||

I'm sure it'll get better

but Imma have to force myself a bit

[snow vessel]

Book 1 overall is definitely rough

[long sorrel]

that is fine ||I just need my guy to stop being cheesy, I can't take it, I find it so gross||

[ivory cypress]

mmm... yes, thank you

[hoary path]

I didn't like it either, but from his perspective ||He is a sixteen year old in love he has to be cheesy and dramatic.||

[long sorrel]

Yeah, and I don't care to read that

[hoary path]

Totally valid. It was Pierce Browns first book and it shows. The skill of his writing even in book two grows leaps and bounds each time

[main wren]

I ended up dnfing that book knowing that the series does get better, because I figure there are already other series out there that don't have as rough a start <_<

[wraith lynx]

The difference between RR and Golden Son is just insane honeslty

[hidden jolt]

Been thinking about a caul shivers cosplay

But how would you do his eye

[long sorrel]

I will continue reading RR for a while longer

but if i don't start enjoying it some time soon I will not continue, I'm fine with rough prose, and everything implied and not on page sounds interesting, but I'm not willing to read if I don't enjoy

There's the "bad luck" that I read this right after Witch Roads

[ivory cypress]

👀 Kate Elliott glazing? Kate Elliott glazing

[long sorrel]

https://tenor.com/view/bunny-nod-nodding-yeah-cute-gif-21922661

Kate Elliott glazing

[ivory cypress]

🎉

[placid crane]

Potroast!
https://bsky.app/profile/travisbaldree.bsky.social/post/3m4ixil53ns2y

Travis Baldree (@travisbaldree.bsky.social)

Comment for a chance to win a Potroast plushie dropping on November 3rd! We’ll pick a few winners from the comments!
youtooz.com

Bluesky · Oct 31, 2025, 5:04 PM

[minor sleet]

Potroast is blepping

[little dock]

WotM LXX ||Oh storms, Emissa is the other Angui spy, isn’t she?||

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/typhlonectes/765736136146550784

Rhamphotheca

-# #halloween #trick or treat #memes #lotr

Tumblr · Oct 30, 2024, 4:34 AM

[rare edge]

Shadow and Flame!

[little dock]

WotM all ||ooh, I was wondering what was going on with the gate, I thought it was going to teleport him but then nothing seemed to happen. I suspected that maybe it was an alternate reality that Vis came out of but everything seemed so normal. But now it seems he did travel, just there’s 3 of him. ||

||What does Emissa know? How’d that boat get there, has Veridius known for a while?||

[tight kindle]

Boyfriend Material 34 ||HIS DAD IS SUCH AN ASSHOLE||

@ripe tide is this one you've read?
It feels up your alley

By Alexis Hall

[ripe tide]

I haven’t.

[tight kindle]

You might like it

It's reading a lot like RW&RB to me

[low hill]

@tight kindle I nearly got to meet TJ Klune yesterday, but he didn't make it to the signing.

[snow vessel]

Ugh why do I keep getting the urge to reread books at the moment

I'm already in the middle of MT and need time for SOTF

[tight kindle]

I find myself somewhat jealous, though not quite as jealous as I would have been if you actually got to meet him

[low hill]

Not knowing exactly what he looks like, I may even have been in his proximity at some point this week without knowing it.

[snow vessel]

I'm now having the random urge to give away a bunch of my books and reorganise my bookshelves

[snow vessel]

Memnoch 17 ||so this is jesus, I suppose||

[minor sleet]

Busy month. Job had us doing lots of tedious little tasks that don’t require complex thought

[long sorrel]

Damn

I think i read 13

[minor sleet]

Most of these are audiobooks I listened to at my 8 hr work day. If you set a 11 hour audiobook to 1.5 or 1.75 speed (depending on how slow the narrator is) you can do one book at day

[snow vessel]

I think the big spike must be the day I re-entered Vampire Hunter D because I'd been reading the wrong edition

I think this was a low read month for me (though that's because I'm still working through the books I started in late oct, I think) but the reads were fittingly spooky

[long sorrel]

Bury our Bones 😍

[snow vessel]

Yess

I've really gotta reread it sometime

I think a few of my reads around early october/late September haven't stuck in my mind as well as I'd want them to, so I want to reread them sometime soon

[long sorrel]

I've read a bunch of trash as usual

Started with What Stalks the Deep and ended with The Witch Roads and those 2 are probably my 2 best reads of October

Oh I read, Masters of Death which was really fun. Not like the best book but just so fun

And then I read the last 2 books of The Last Binding series which were pretty good too

So I guess half was good and half was [redacted]

[junior dew]

WoTM X || Standing theory for the big twist that I know will almost 100% not be it because I barely have any information and what information I do have doesn’t quite feel like it points in this direction at all is that Vis’ family’s ancestors are in some way responsible for the cataclysm/they were the real villains all along and it’ll rock his world ||

Also for the record I am going to butcher the absolute hell out of these names’ spellings, being an audiobook listener

[long sorrel]

so far you got it right for Vis

October

[wraith lynx]

its okay spooky, I had the book in my face with the pronunciation guide in the back and I still say the names wrong

[wraith lynx]

Lot of days with 400+ pages!

[long sorrel]

those are lies-ish

becuse I only mark the start and end of a book

[wraith lynx]

Ohhhhhh I see

[junior dew]

That’s the only one I had any chance on

[long sorrel]

so like, it counts 400 pages on the day I finish the book-kinda thing

[long sorrel]

get your latin straight!

[junior dew]

Same. That’s still wild though!

[junior dew]

Hell nah. Far too busy for that lol

Realized I need to finish The Troop still so I’m going to knock that out real quick today before continuing WoTM. Less than 2 hours remaining on that one

Spooky season reading fell to the wayside for Cradle

[long sorrel]

but... Spooky...

Isn't spooky reading all Spooky reading?

[low hill]

@long sorrel From Schwab's newsletter yesterday:

I turned in Victorious last night

[long sorrel]

https://tenor.com/view/hoecat-bunny-fast-zoom-gif-17159621360561728072

[long sorrel]

||What do you think the plot's going to be? It felt kinda done to me||

[merry galleon]

I just finished part 1 of Murtagh. About a chapter in, in part 2.

[little dock]

Also, hitting shelves next October she says.

[untold leaf]

I've started the final Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy book. 6 out of 3.

[ivory cypress]

slowed to a crawl at the end of the month cause the Way of Edan isn't really gripping me

[lusty meteor]

Philip Chase is too handsome to have written a mid book

I refuse to believe

[ivory cypress]

have you read it?

[idle trellis]

what is this paladin trilogy

wait, 4 paladin books

[merry galleon]

Has anyone read the Bound and the Broken series by Ryan Cahill?

[lusty meteor]

25% then dropped

Will return to it at somepoint

[drifting bridge]

Went to an old bookstore, yall don't know how hard it is for me to not reorganize all the books as a past librarian.

[merry galleon]

Think of it as an adventure for lost gold

[long sorrel]

you really went ham on Kingfisher

[long sorrel]

It's a fantasy romance series by T. Kingfisher, series is called The Saint of Steel. There are 3 series in the same world but only one is currently finished.

[idle trellis]

3 series ?

DAMN she wrote a lot

why do these authors keep writing so much, I will never be able to read everything I want

[long sorrel]

yeah, Clocktaur War (2 books), is completed, writing is the worse of the 3 imo but the story is good.
Saint of Steel (4 books but total will be 7), pretty good, the first book is great worldbuilding wise, however the stories are better starting in book 2 imo. And Swordheart (currently 1 book, will be 3, book 2 is coming out next year) is so far less related to the other 2 series but it shares some side/secondary/support characters

and yes Kingfisher is wonderfully prolific

[idle trellis]

My TBR keeps growing

I just cant keep up with it, they need to invent like a chip, where you can instantly read a book and have all that information

[long sorrel]

If you want specifically paladin stuff you can definitely just go for the first of the Paladin's books. Paladin's Grace and see if you like them.

[idle trellis]

I do like paladins in general

ever since warcraft 3 😭

Arthas my boy

Even tho he later changed class

What are you reading right now Usha

[long sorrel]

The setting of this series is that, minor/synopsis/covered in 1st chapter I guess ||These paladins are berserkers and then their god, who usually controls that they use the berserker in them for good, goes and dies. Only a few (7) survive and they have to live on like this. ||

[long sorrel]

I started Red Rising, but I'm mostly waiting for Witch Roads book 2 to come out in 3 days.

[idle trellis]

Ah red rising, heard a lot about that series

[ivory cypress]

yeah i was having a tough-ish month and all i wanted to read was Kingfisher, nothing else sounded good

[long sorrel]

It is currently not grabbing me

Kingfisher always sounds good, I hope November is a better month

[ivory cypress]

yeah it's a bit... new author

[long sorrel]

(November has more Kingfisher!)

[idle trellis]

I dont think ive ever read a fantasy book that had superb romance in it

[ivory cypress]

i might dnf way of edan, but honestly, it IS still going fast, it's just i'm not putting the 2 or 3 hours in that it would take to get me there

[ivory cypress]

i mean, putting the modern romantasy aside, HAVE you actually read any fantasy romance?

[idle trellis]

with romance being like one of the main subjects it tackles?

I dont think so?

does wheel of time counts xD?

theres a lot of romance in that one

[ivory cypress]

not a lot of people think Jordan was the greatest at writing romance

yeah there's oodles of fantasy that has romance more at the forefront, it's out there

[long sorrel]

I have read good romance in non-romance books, personally.
I say this not having read books that focus on romance in general. (I don't count smut romantasy because I'm not reading that for the romance lol)

[idle trellis]

I dont want smut either

[long sorrel]

Yeah that's just me. Grey isn't talking about those, just books that are just fantasy books and have romance as one of the main plot lines.

(Which is also not romantasy)

[low hill]

Genuinely no idea. It's been too long since I read them, and I can't remember where the graphic novel fits timelinewise.

[long sorrel]

I think the GN goes in between?

iirc the end of book 2 ||Is that Eli dies and then Victor goes his own way? Maybe this will be about Sydney? Or maybe Eli isn't actually dead? I'd love if Eli isn't dead but I feel that a bit cliché and not very Schwab, but we'll see. I'm happy either way!||

[junior dew]

Got me there

[long sorrel]

A part of me wants to see if I can reach 200

the other part knows if I do it just because funny number go up I will not enjoy doing it

😩

[royal carbon]

Do as you wish

[minor sleet]

From an in world history in Tad William’s novel “The Dragonbone Chair”

[tight kindle]

@long sorrel
I checked out A Darker Shade of Magic from the library

[long sorrel]

I hope you like my favourite broody mage

Also the best coat too 😌

[somber timber]

SMH I’m forgotten again

[long sorrel]

Yeah, @low hill will like to know too, probably, at least when you finally read

[tight kindle]

I don't know why but Usha is the one in my head that I associate most closely with Schwab

[little dock]

I just relistened to it last week. I think it’s probably the weakest Schwab for me, but still enjoyable! Though I learned I prefer to read her work instead of listening

[craggy cargo]

I'd say it's not worth it, that kind of pressure can ruin good books.

[long sorrel]

I agree

[light drum]

A memory called empire 9 || Oh thats not good||

[low hill]

shakes head slowly

[tight kindle]

I know I know
I fully acknowledge that it makes no sense

This is the first time in quite a while now that I'm reading a book I don't personally own

It's a little weird

No actually that's not true

I burned through Legends and Lattes in a couple of days and that was loaned to me by a friend

A Darker Shade of Magic 1.1 ||Already has me hooked from the first page. What do you mean he can keep turning his coat inside out? Three times?||

[low hill]

Best coat.

[tight kindle]

It's been a while since I read something by a worldbuilder this talented

Islington isn't bad but this just flows so smoothly

3.1 ||Ooh new character. She's got an interesting vibe.||

[long sorrel]

Best coat.

[snow vessel]

Okokok

This book is truly off the rails

Memnoch 18 ||so, lestat drank Jesus's blood.||

[long sorrel]

Of course he did

[snow vessel]

||and jesus/god moaned 😭??||

||and now he's been given the veil to keep? Which I suppose might help him with the Dora situation back on earth||

[long sorrel]

My mom's reading the back blurb of the book on my night stand and she just tried to scroll through it

[snow vessel]

Like. Scroll on a. Physical book????

[long sorrel]

Yes

[craggy cargo]

Islington isn't really a guy who reinvents things or does things too creatively, imo. He's just very good at mixing and executing established concepts and tropes.

[long sorrel]

Unsconcious hand movement

[craggy cargo]

I'd be lying if I said I hadn't done that once or twice.

Also my partner told me that codex alera wasn't as bad as Dresden in terms of constantly being horny, i open the book, and the very first paragraph is the most Dresden Files thing ever.

[snow vessel]

Ah, right

[lucid isle]

How did you get this view. I can’t find it

[minor sleet]

The default view is “summary”

[lucid isle]

Do I need the app?

[minor sleet]

I have never tried storygraph off the app so I don’t know

You’d look for the pie chart then “October 2025 wrap up graphics” in the app

[long sorrel]

You can get the same views on web an app

[lucid isle]

Maybe I do. I can’t find the wrap up on the website.

[long sorrel]

You need to create it

[lucid isle]

It’s 100% me being stupid

[long sorrel]

Where it says Stats

Select the month

After doing that it'll say below "view month wrap up"

[lucid isle]

Thanks. Got it

Their UI needs some work

[long sorrel]

Mhm

Some of it they've improved yeah

But it still needs some QoL

[minor sleet]

Who is is this Brandon Sanderson fellow? Some obscure indie author?

[long sorrel]

Hemlock & Silver 😌

[wraith lynx]

Guys its november 2

Only NINE more days until peak graces my eyes once again

[long sorrel]

only 2 more days til Nameless Land!

[wraith lynx]

Nameless land?? Oh wait is that the book 2 you were excited about? 👀

[small bloom]

https://tenor.com/view/hype-train-activated-bowser-hype-train-gif-14185403

[long sorrel]

After that Snake Eater!

[wraith lynx]

Oooooo 👀

suppresses the urge to sing the song

[low hill]

The Tainted Cup won the Novel award at the World Fantasy Awards.

Sadly RJB is not here to collect it, so I don't get to brag about meeting him.

[small bloom]

I should get to that, currently reading the Founders trilogy and it’s really good so far

[wraith lynx]

Omg same

My friends are taking me to birthday lunch on the 11th and I have 75 bucks of Barnes and Nobel money 👀👀

Yes the plan is to make them take me to the bookstore 🤩

Well not force them but you get it 😌

[long sorrel]

I do need to finish Divine Cities...

[long sorrel]

At least we can't ask you to ask him what is 6 span

since we already know

[somber timber]

Tainted cup

[wraith lynx]

Like clockwork

[merry galleon]

Good on you!

I’m going to a different state next year for a relative’s birthday, and me and my family are going to explore. I warned that if there is bookstore within my eyesight, do not hold me back.

[analog geode]

Bookstores are the best

[merry galleon]

Well. I’m about to start Lightlark after finishing one of my other books (It was a gift so…)

[quaint burrow]

Libby do your thing

[wraith lynx]

Someone chose to give lightlark to you? Thats... im speechless 😂

[minor sleet]

It’s a little mean

[small bloom]

Oh nice, where are you at?

[wraith lynx]

I havent read TTC yet but I keep getting yelled at to do so soooo I gotta get it when I can 😂

Ill probably read it after the broken earth triolgy

[small bloom]

Ohh I thought you meant same as in reading the Founders trilogy not as in getting to TTC

[wraith lynx]

Ohhhh no... I need to read that too tbf

Too many books so little time

[small bloom]

Real

[somber timber]

Tainted cup

[wraith lynx]

See

[long sorrel]

@wraith lynx Tainted Cup

[wraith lynx]

Omg 🤣

[long sorrel]

cosmic cosmic

[somber timber]

I even have will of the many now

[long sorrel]

Tainted Cup

[wraith lynx]

You know what Usha, ill do it, just for you queen 🥰

[long sorrel]

It's really good and I think you'll like it

[somber timber]

You think this is hurting me but the end result is the same

[long sorrel]

wow, mc complex, that was about me not you 😭

[somber timber]

~~Well I am a man and therefore the center of the universe ~~

[alpine drum]

Din is cosmic bait I fear

[wraith lynx]

Oh no, theres cosmic bait?? 🫢

[random dome]

Cosmic bait is what they use to catch space whales

[long sorrel]

He absolutely is

[ivory cypress]

ahahaa can't wait

[long sorrel]

She hasn't even finished TCP yet

despite how good the ending of that book is aaahhh....

[wet belfry]

https://tenor.com/view/spacewhale-gif-5450064968425605898

[lucid isle]

Some of you can read a LOT!

[zinc flicker]

Pulpy SW is always fun

[junior dew]

WoTM XX || The book has officially truly begun booking dayumm ||

WoTM XX || Estevan exploding entire sections of people in the stadium is wild ||

[wraith lynx]

https://tenor.com/view/eevee-jumps-gif-2696845723667273642

[wraith lynx]

WoTM XX ||Its so visceral its great 🤩||

[junior dew]

WoTM XX || Strengthens some of my suspicions about the twist. That at the end of the book we find out some wild stuff that shakes the foundations of everything Vis thinks he knows about his culture/family/history and the hierarchy. Still have doubt that that’ll be what the twist is because there’s a lot of book to go, but it’s my running guess rn - that book 2 is going to see him have to deal with some serious recontextualization of everything he knew and believed.

All I know is that this book has had my gf ravenous for book 2 and that book 1 is supposed to be absolutely nutty ||

10 hours to go

[junior dew]

Same tags || Told my gf where I was and she didn’t even remember that part and she was like “that should tell you what you’re in for. The cakes haven’t even gotten crazy yet”

BRUH ||

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/monarchetype/762109033850257408

Monarchetype | Goose

-# #memory sorrow and thorn #the wheel of time #rand al'thor #simon snowlock #seoman snowlock #memory sorrow and thorn spoilers #fantasy shitpost #fantasy memes #fantasy book memes #everyone compares MS&T and ASoIaF b/c GRRM cites MS&T as an inspiration #but to me MS&T and WoT seems like the obvious comparison to make #I couldn't go more than 2 chapters reading MS&T without going “ohhhh that's where RJ got that from”

Tumblr · Sep 20, 2024, 3:43 AM

I love when authors borrow from one another like this

Anyway I just finished book 1 and I have a new Sad Boi protagonist having a Bad Time to enjoy

[quaint tendon]

I do love a sad boi

I love the movie holes

Makes me wanna read the book again

Did you guys know there was this weird companion novella sachar released just before the movie came out

“It sucks. Done read it bruh”

Is the kind of review I respond to

[mild lance]

If you want to dive deeper into the rabbit-Hole (heh)

Read about the old film script for Holes that the writer put weird religious nonsense in

[quaint tendon]

Yeesh

[junior dew]

WOTM XXII || Estevan just straight up took the needle thing from Vis and killed himself with it!? Whaaaattt????????? ||

[craggy cargo]

WOTM XXII ||I like this reading so much for some reason. The image this gives me is less what happened and moreso him just thinking, "You know what, this is bs, I'm out" and just stabbing himself with the stylus.||

[merry galleon]

I have heard of the good and bad things about the series. So I was surprised upon receiving it as a Christmas present last year. But I’m always up for reading what people have said about it and make my own decisions.

[snow vessel]

I keep seeing a really nice looking edition of the new lightlark book and it makes me want to read the series

The like... reversible sun/moon looking book??

Looks so cool. I have no clue what the series is about but that looks like a nice book

I think it's lightlark

[merry galleon]

I thinks that the new novella, focussing on the two main male characters.

But there’s an illustrated edition of Lightlark. I know I have this edition

[minor sleet]

When it came out it had several YouTube essays about how it’s bad

Very entertaining YouTube essays

[snow vessel]

Yess that sounds right

[minor sleet]

But make your own judgement because it mostly seemed like a poorly thought out ya novel with unfortunate world building implications

[ripe tide]

They might not have known about all the internet discourse

[merry galleon]

I assume so

[snow vessel]

Out of curiosity, what's the discourse around?

[merry galleon]

But I have been surprised by a good a series is by my own judgment before

[snow vessel]

(I know literally nothing about this series)

(All I know is that I'm guessing there's some sort of light theme maybe)

[merry galleon]

How bad, like it doesn’t make sense plot wise and such

That’s my extension of my knowledge on this discourse is

[snow vessel]

sounds like the discourse around most popular YA series

At least in my experience

[ripe tide]

No, this goes further than that

To actual writing issues and massive worldbuilding holes

Lynn D. Jung has a video on it, give me a sec

[snow vessel]

Oh her!

I think I've watched a bunch of her stuff, but not this

[ripe tide]

Looks like she might have taken it down

[wraith lynx]

Yeah ive experienced that first hand, so I get it 😂 (a friends mom knew i liked dragons... gifted ne Fourth Wing)

But anyway Fantasy, Im glad you're giving lightlark a go, I read tbe first few chapters with a friend and its an experience for sure

[merry galleon]

I’ll let you know my thoughts on after reading the book

[junior dew]

Wotm XXII || Part of me still wants to register to that section because I feel like I must have missed something ||

[craggy cargo]

WotM XXII ||Just from what he says, i think we can surmise that he wants to raise Vis up through the hierarchy, like they already stated was their plan. This is obviously a massive bump up for him.||

[craggy cargo]

My wife read the whole thing out to me.

10/10 book, no notes.

(I have stockholm syndrome)

[junior dew]

Wotm XXIII || That has definitely been my running theory, particularly given the following chapter so far ||

Wotm XXIII || Hmm, another planet? Parallel universe? Another place within the planet of this book? 🤔 ||

[junior dew]

WOTM XXV || I really like that currently we know Vis hates the hierarchy and that they’re doing some awful stuff and are responsible for his family’s death and Estevan had a point in that the hierarchy only works because the Octavi all literally give them their power. But also Estevan’s actions and Vis’ recollections of seeing the city desecrated by the rebel group creates sympathy for the people of Keten too. The attack on the colosseum was effectively a terrorist attack. It was terrible and tragic and seeing the physician on the island where the school is so candid and thankful to Vis after relaying that his sister was there really tugs at the heartstrings.

I’ve definitely mentioned before how I love when things aren’t just black and white good and evil in stories. And I love how this is handling that all so far. Curious to see how this goes. Could see a path where this book is intentionally written to build sympathy for the hierarchy over time despite knowing that we’re in Vis’ viewpoint, and then pull the rug out from under us. Though we’ll see. Still wary about his family background and whether they hid atrocious stuff from him ||

Wotm XXV || Also every mention of togas has me like ||

[wraith lynx]

||Me, who hasnt stopped thinking of Ulciscor in his toga since march: 🥴💖||

[craggy cargo]

||DON'T FORGET THE SHADES.||

||Lanistia with the toga and shades hits somewhere deep in my soul.||

It's such a dumb thing on paper but it works so well somehow.

WoTM general ||Ulscisor is such an interesting character to me. He's so well done because he's both this fairly charismatic and easygoing father figure but he's also very obviously a monster at some level, and neither side is really contradictory.||

[junior dew]

WOTM part 1 || THAT’S how you spell Al conquistador’s name? ||

[wraith lynx]

Yep 😂

[junior dew]

WOTM part 1 || This was my running name for the character because the actual name I still didn’t have nailed down and I thought this failed attempt to recall his name early on was amusing, so I stuck with this lol ||

[wraith lynx]

WoTM part 1 ||tbf you arent wrong 😂 but spooky you werent here when I wanted that man BAD 🥴||

||also you know the girl Vis was with during the terrorist attack? Yeah her name is spelled Aequa :3||

[craggy cargo]

The friend who recommended the book to me has it bad for WoTM ||Veridus.||

||I had to always remind myself he's Lanistia aged and not Dumbledore.||

[wraith lynx]

Honeslty? I can see it 🤔

[craggy cargo]

After seeing some fanart? Yeah for sure.

Not safe for spooky Will of the many full ||Him being a fairly normal dude, all things considered, and not a megalomaniacal villain was actually a great twist to me. It was like a plausible version of meme twists from other series'.||

My favourite ASOIAF theory ever just because it's so stupid is the ||Robert Strong is just a dude who's big|| theory.

And it had shades of that.