Books (General)

[ivory cypress]

don't think so!

i'm just happy with my graphsssss

[brazen pilot]

i respect that

graphs good

[old bone]

I can just put discworld and Farseer and WaT and some Doestovsky to reach 50 Endnight

I moved to Hardcover

[vagrant torrent]

Got any series recs?

[old bone]

cuz one they are really appreciative of people's suggestions for the website

and its most feature rich and in active development

[snow vessel]

I dont like repeating authors in a top 10-20 if I can avoid it, though

Because then it just becomes like... my top favourite series in full + a few others

[old bone]

Not me. Good books good

[junior dew]

Yeah I should have put emphasis more on the “I think” part. As I know it’s very much an opinion and a contentious one haha

[vagrant torrent]

Love to hear someone appreciate WaT that highly. Not there yet but I hear lots of people rate it low compared to WoK and WoR

Or to OB

[old bone]

WoR is idk

Worse of Stormlight for me

lol

[snow vessel]

WoR was best for me and then was worst and now I dunno

[ivory cypress]

hmmmmm.... you're pretty brandon only right now, hm??? how about... temeraire, murderbot, and maybe the city of stairs trilogy by robert jackson bennett

[old bone]

murderbot good

[junior dew]

I will say Margins I do have a few very small gripes. But overall it’s definitely my favorite app I’ve used so far

[old bone]

show not as good tho :sad:

[ivory cypress]

these aren't necessarily my favourites of all time, but they are good and might be good places to branch out after brandon

[vagrant torrent]

Thanks! I’m trying to become well read in the near future 😭

[junior dew]

I still haven’t felt compelled at all to read more murderbot after the first :/ One day I’ll give it another shot

[ivory cypress]

i have to struggle MIGHTILY to just pretend it's a whole different universe 😅

[junior dew]

This is the part where I shill Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu

[old bone]

Read some Butler for Scifi

Read some Marques

And read some uhh idk Hobb or Pratchett

[snow vessel]

I keep getting caught up in big series so I've ended up in a place where I have series recs but they're like... The Series Recommendations I see in so many recommendation things

[old bone]

That's my rec

[ivory cypress]

some YA things that i still really like and reread are tamora pierce (like ANY series of hers) and the queen's thief by megan whalen turner, and they aren't as MASSIVE commitments as some of the huge or dense fantasy series that might be suggested to you right away

[old bone]

when The Stranger buggy

[vagrant torrent]

Anyone wanna add me on goodreads or storygraph? 😅

[old bone]

buddy*

[junior dew]

Also Tchaikovsky for sci-fi. Children of Time series is very good in particular

[snow vessel]

Like oh wow my recs are WOT, Red Rising, Malazan?? No one's ever recommended them before 😭

[snow vessel]

Soon!!

[old bone]

WoT good but that's like

[ivory cypress]

sure! feel free to dm if you don't want your username public

[old bone]

Recommending One Piece as starter anime

same for Malazan 😭

Red Rising I dnf'd so idk 😎

[snow vessel]

Theyre both not good starter series exactly and also, IMO, the ones you will see if you ask for epic fantasy recs

[ivory cypress]

unironically i think one piece is a great first manga, it's just long

[old bone]

Yeah I don't like recommending long stuff for starter ones

[lusty meteor]

Idk who reccs malazan as a starter. I think wot makes more sense. OP can absolutely be your first manga. It should be your never anime.

[ivory cypress]

i think length can be separate, as long the expectations are set correctly that like, don't worry about being caught up

[snow vessel]

I actually was discussing one time with a staff member at a local bookstore whether someone should read WOT or malazan first

[ivory cypress]

one piece anime is okay if you're watching the edit, but never ever watch it raw

IMAGINE malazan first

that's fantasy 401

[snow vessel]

He said Malazan because its challenging, but everything is relevant, whereas he feels like a lot of RJ's rambling in WOT isnt relevant

I was saying "but its malazan" basically

[junior dew]

I fully plan to read the remaining 9 Malazan books before WoT

[astral atlas]

One piece is practically my first manga, my earlier attempts to read manga all kinda fizzled but one piece stuck

[old bone]

I dunno if I would say Malazan as challenging

It's just smth you can't read as bursts of 10-20 mins

[snow vessel]

I think Malazan is at least more challenging than WOT

[junior dew]

Also N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy is a must read

[old bone]

you need to properly devote time in continuous reading

[vagrant torrent]

@ivory cypress
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/125379946

https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/starkun16

[snow vessel]

I have definitely found it to be a big energy commitment, especially the longer books

[lusty meteor]

I think malazan is a full step up in terms of challenge compared to wot

Wot isnt hard, just long

Malazan is far more experimental

[old bone]

I dunno. I won't call Malazan hard as well

maybe the community made my expectations of the hardness way higher

[snow vessel]

I mean, I would say it is comparatively more difficult than a decent number of the books I've read

[lusty meteor]

I dont think malazan is impossible. Also, anecdotally, people find it less hard the broader their tastes are

[junior dew]

I’ve only done book 1 of Malazan, but people made it sound way worse than it is in terms of difficulty

[snow vessel]

Whether its challenging or objectively difficult is another question, but I didnt find it as easy

[ivory cypress]

actually, to be more specific, i think malazan doesn't necessarily require oodles and oodles of fantasy reading experience, but reading experience in general. it does require some endurance and practice at holding onto information in your mental "clipboard", some development in reading the kind of stories where authors expect you to pick up things that aren't explicitly written out a bunch of times, which immediately makes it not the right fit for someone who's just getting back into reading with sanderson

[junior dew]

Like book 1 is super digestible and easy to follow

[snow vessel]

I actually think Locked Tomb is more confusing but thats part of the gimmick there

[old bone]

Yeah TLT is a difficult one

now that's a proper description

[lusty meteor]

GOTM has a weird reputation of people saying it is impossible to read that i dont think it earns at all

[snow vessel]

I didnt find GOTM difficult tbh

[vagrant torrent]

Okay wow, I will not be reading Malazan next

[snow vessel]

I think the biggest challenge I've had with Malazan is just the time/energy commitment and keeping track of things [premise] ||across settings/books||

[junior dew]

I should get back to Malazan soon

[snow vessel]

Though maybe the latter wouldnt be an issue if I hadnt gone 6 months between each of the first four

[brazen pilot]

Yeah, Malazan can sometimes be challenging to get into because it's ambitious in scale and scope and isn't going to necessarily give you easy hooks to grasp it, while (parts of) Locked Tomb is actively written to elicit confusion

[lusty meteor]

Locked tomb looks you in eye and says “i am going to confuse you now” and then yells deep friend internet memes. Malazan says “here is a story” and then starts a 10 part graduate lecture series in narrative theory.

Your choice on which is more “confusing”

[brazen pilot]

Malazan will give you the info that you need but not tell you that it's doing so, Locked Tomb will explicitly tell you it's not giving you the info you need god dammit Duck I was typing something similar

[alpine drum]

I think that a lot of the confusing stuff that Locked Tomb does is in service of the story and done well

[lusty meteor]

hehe

[brazen pilot]

Both are good stories!

[junior dew]

Yeah when I tried to start book 2 and it had been like two years since I read book 1 and I didn’t remember who anyone was or anything detailed really, that was the challenge for me that had me put it off for later

[vagrant torrent]

One sounds like intelligent brainrot, one sounds like fantasy PHD

[alpine drum]

Locked Tomb ||the biggest example being 2nd person in book 2||

[snow vessel]

Tbh right now Malazan & TLT are probably the two I would offer as my "favourite series" if asked

[lusty meteor]

People have written theses on malazan

[snow vessel]

TLT ||Also the whole "ortus" thing in book 2||

[ivory cypress]

the locked tomb has memes but the memes are not the part meant to be confusing. tamsyn muir has some CLASSIC english and classics major stuff going on, and has straight up literary allusions and will be experimentally written in quite a few ways

[brazen pilot]

||Just an absolutely nasty trick and I love it||

[ivory cypress]

i would say that the confusion aspect of TLT has nothing to do with the memes, and the memes are completely justifiable in context

[alpine drum]

TLT ||I clocked the Ortus thing early, the reason for the 2nd person (specifically the moment it was revealed that I was being talked to directly) took me by surprise||

[snow vessel]

I did not notice any memes in TLT myself

But I may just not be brainrotted enough

[junior dew]

Damn, now I once again want to get back to Malazan…

[vagrant torrent]

@ivory cypress You weren’t kidding about reading a lot

[lusty meteor]

Follow your dreams Grim

We have a channel waiting for you

[snow vessel]

TLT ||I think the only one I noticed was the "Hi __, I'm dad" from John in HTN||

[junior dew]

Do I reread book 1 first 🤔

[lusty meteor]

You dont need to

[ivory cypress]

i read this series of essays analyzing TLT in comparison to Lolita and it is... eerily chilling stuff, VERY good analysis

[alpine drum]

TLT ||I didn't like the memes that were being said by people other than John||

[lusty meteor]

You will get a lot out of rereading book 1

Nothing rewards rereads like malazan

[junior dew]

Hmm so I have only read book 1 mind you

Granted I just started Shroud today so I’m for sure reading that all first

And Pokopia is a thing now…

Also I started City of Brass and House of Leaves and I haven’t touched either in over a month oops

[old bone]

Oh yeah read One Day All This Will Be Yours by Tchaikovsky too

Great book

[junior dew]

Oh hmm I don’t think I’ve heard of that one

I adored Alien Clay by Tchaikovsky

[old bone]

It's very good

[ivory cypress]

also i just realized you probably said that in response to seeing my storygraph and my Jan and Feb reading were EXTREMELY influenced by the Winter Depression, this isn't a rate i can sustain year long

[junior dew]

I believe it. I’ve really enjoyed all of his stuff that I’ve read so far. Though Cage of Souls I was a bit lower on

Oh yeah hmm I may want to read the rest of Earthsea before I start back up on Malazan too 🤔

Too many things to do. Always too many things to do

[old bone]

Lucky

I have been falling off everything I have been reading recently

[snow vessel]

I have been reading Malazan #7 for... so long

I think I've been at this for a month now 😭

[junior dew]

I have been struggling with attention here and there while listening to books lately unfortunately. The book I just finished today I tore through with little issue but even though the books have been good I’ve just been struggling.

I think in part because I have a billion things my brain wants to do

[snow vessel]

But the end is in sight, only 240~ pages left 🙏

[long sorrel]

I don't know when I'll get back to DHG

[old bone]

More than attention, url making me very tired and me not enjoying stuff I read

[snow vessel]

yes that could be a full book in itself

[long sorrel]

the correct mood is approaching

[old bone]

even if it was reread of smth I enjoyed previously. Like BGE

[long sorrel]

I've had that, it was stressing me out to not read like I used to

but now I've embraced it and it's fine

I just don't have the mental space to devour as many plot/character intensive books as i used to so I'm reading books that are just, less

[lusty meteor]

Do not worry usha malazan will be there

[old bone]

The only media I have consumed have been very mid anime I picked for being mid which I watch while running on a treadmill :kekhands:

[junior dew]

Ahh. See I’ve been enjoying what I’ve been reading and feeling guilty because I feel like I’ve done a few recent books a disservice by rewinding and listening to the same 3 minute segment for an hour on repeat until my brain actually hears and processes the words

-# Glances at the climax of Wizard of Earthsea Why brain, WHY!?

My last month of reading has actually been kinda stacked

Wizard of Earthsea, Fifth Season reread, Mercy of Gods, Livesuit, There is No Antimemetics Division, and The Housemaid

[vagrant torrent]

Why is everyone such a good reader but me??!! I just lay in bed or watch TV when depressed 😂😂😂

[old bone]

Antimemetics!

[junior dew]

It was so good!

Like I said! This past month has been cracked in terms of book quality

[snow vessel]

Hey I am not a massive reader (compared to this group)

[vagrant torrent]

May I introduce you to Hunter x Hunter 🥹

[old bone]

I find it super mediocre sorry

[long sorrel]

This isn't being a good or bad reader!

[vagrant torrent]

https://tenor.com/view/excuse-me-gasp-what-audacity-gif-22907411

[old bone]

For anime, all are either things already in my PTW or things I read or don't want to read

[vagrant torrent]

Stop giving horrible opinions they cause my soul pain

[vagrant torrent]

How about Steins Gate?

[junior dew]

Shall we try again?

[old bone]

Like it

[snow vessel]

PTW?

[ivory cypress]

it does take practice at reading to develop endurance for concentrating this long

[snow vessel]

...plan to watch?

[old bone]

planning to watch

[ivory cypress]

I don't have tiktok or insta or Reddit on my phone

[long sorrel]

Well, I'm not yet fully in the mood for it. You know I'm trying to get through CoT

[ivory cypress]

etc

[junior dew]

https://tenor.com/view/wow-fascinating-interesting-fake-sure-gif-4110253572494542171

[old bone]

Crossroads of Twilight Usha?

[vagrant torrent]

24 books since 2021 / 2022 sounds bad to me! That was when I started reading. Though tbf I only finished one book last year

[old bone]

How dare you not finish the absolute wonder of a book that is the end of slog /s

[junior dew]

DHG for me realistically won’t be until at least next month. Probably

[ivory cypress]

not at all! don't compare yourself. particularly when comparing circumstances. you stopped reading for a while and are getting back into it with these really long brandon novels. you're already working on it

[ivory cypress]

it's also completely normal and morally neutral for reading to be something that's less in priority than other things in your life

[junior dew]

I got back into reading through Sanderson back in 2016 or 2017 I think and I had years since then where I didn’t read or barely read. Wasn’t until a couple years ago that I started reading much more heavily

[old bone]

Ale I am not lying but with your thoughts on stuff that you write in #tagged-spoilers-only, you don't know how absolute amazing reader I think you to be

dude you pick up things people pick up in their 2nd rereads

Rather than speed, I appreciate a reader who engages deeply with a work

[vagrant torrent]

Awww thanks 🥹✌🏾

[vagrant torrent]

Yeahhh it can be hard as a student with ADHD. And books aren’t the only media I engage with

[vagrant torrent]

That makes me feel better, hope your journey has been fun

[vagrant torrent]

Thank you so much!!! Really happy to hear people like what I write.

[vagrant torrent]

That’s something I’ll try to carry over to my thoughts on other authors

[junior dew]

It has very much been so! Also you’re a student, so you’re still super young. Your priorities and what you choose to put your time towards will likely shift a bunch over time. Or perhaps not. Either way, that’s fine!

You may end up having heavy reading years, you may not. My suggestion would be to enjoy the present and take things at whatever pace is right for you now

[old bone]

You don't know how much I enjoy seeing them in that channel lol

[oblique zodiac]

Yeah. I didn't read anything since January because of my illness too

[oblique zodiac]

omg I couldn't agree more

[ivory cypress]

oh man you're a STUDENT???

even without having adhd, i barely read ANYTHING in college

i literally thought i would never read again, the desire was just burned out of me haha

[vagrant torrent]

I haven’t been reading much in the past month because of ramadan

[tight kindle]

If you're getting back into reading as a student, also expect it to vary a little bit!
I've barely read anything in over a week (a staggeringly long time for me) but I'm sure I'll get back to it in a bit.

[frozen glacier]

i had that feeling in college and then realized that I hadn't read any non fiction in 4 years. I decided to pick up a book I had intended to read but never did. Ended up reading the entire cosmere in a month during finals as a destresser

[oblique zodiac]

I'm back to my previous obsession where I panic whenever I read, and it is certainly annoying. A source says that it's because of my medication working. Apparently because my current symptoms are healing, my ocd is finding ways to attack differently? Anyways, I'm trying to be positive.

[vagrant torrent]

Yes and it’s so mid. But I’m on a gap year after some mental health stuff, will probably go back in the fall

[ivory cypress]

good luck 🫂

[vagrant torrent]

Thank you! 🫂

[vagrant torrent]

I’ll take that suggestion

[vagrant torrent]

Bruuuuh it sucks I have a hard time focusing on a book. Idk how I managed to finish Watchmen in 10 days

[ripe tide]

I really need to read the other books in that series

[ripe tide]

Oh I want to see that now.

[ripe tide]

Grey, do I have you on StoryGraph? If not, what’s your username?

[ripe tide]

Only reason I’m reading for fun atm is an audio reread. But it’s still been hard. Everything else has been for class and even that has been lower.

[low hill]

cackles in new bookcases

[low hill]

I feel like I've done this before, but...

cracks knuckles

Erin Morgenstern
Both of Erin's books are brilliant. The Night Circus (||two ancient wizards have a magical duel entirely carried out by their apprentices in a magical circus||) and The Starless Sea (||a man who would be me if he played TTRPGs instead of DragonAge finds a magical library beyond space that has something to do with bees, and meets the love of his life||).

V.E. Schwab
Modern mutant/superheroes: Vicious & Vengeful
More traditional fantasy: A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic 1)

Other general recommendations:
The Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman - book 1 is also The Invisible Library, and all 8 books are published. ||A woman working for an inter-dimensional library has to steal books to keep the fabric of reality stable, while dealing with the Lawful dragons and Chaotic fae||.
The Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka - book 1 is Fated, and all 12 books are published. Urban fantasy about ||a diviner who can pathwalk the future and has one of my favourite depictions of how that magic should probably work||.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. 19th century fantasy where ||magic is returning to England due to the activities of the titular characters and the problems this causes|| - wonderful annotated with almost 200 footnotes that outline much of the supernatural backstory and magical corpus.

Outside of fantasy, some of my favourite sci-fi books are The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi and Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee.

[snow vessel]

Merrick/Vecna's Starless Sea blurb ||if I had a nickel for every supernatural organisation(?) that had something to do with bees...||

[low hill]

chuckles

So let me tell you about a book I read this year that was also about bees...

[ivory cypress]

we have each other!

[ripe tide]

Ok great. I couldn’t remember

[long sorrel]

I've read something about bees recently too, I wonder what was it 🤔

[ivory cypress]

ALL other reading stopped, bereket just dropped via patreon 😍

[long sorrel]

What's that? Or who?

[ivory cypress]

the twelfth book in the tuyo series by rachel neumeier! and bereket is the protag

[long sorrel]

aaah

[low hill]

Oh, I thought it was entirely overhyped. I haven't read The Martian, so can't compare the two, but I doubt I'll get around to picking it up after reading Project Hail Mary.

[Project Hail Mary] ||I specifically read it because I was told the aliens were a good example of really alien aliens, and like you say I don't think enough of what they were doing, what their culture was, etc. was explored for it to meet the criteria I'd gone in for. Amnesia plotlines are hard to write, and he didn't succeed with this one. Overall, I just don't see what people were hyped about but nothing about it hit home for me.||
-# Some of my previous thoughts from when I finished it are here: #books-archive message, #books-archive message

[torpid kiln]

It’s kinda frustrating that my local library doesn’t separate by genre, all the adult fiction is in the same place so I can’t just look at fantasy

[marble sinew]

(politely) let them know! They may not realize there's a local desire for SFF to be split up.

[junior dew]

PHM || I think that’s fair. Going in with no expectations/knowing nothing about it ahead of time other than that people liked it made it a fun “guy befriends an alien in space” story for me. I didn’t really have qualms with the amnesia stuff. It wasn’t really what I cared about or focused on though. So I don’t think I can comment on whether that part was done well or not. I had a fun time with it and enjoyed the characters ultimately.

I didn’t know there were going to be aliens, so it was a fun and pleasant surprise for me ||

[ripe tide]

Yeah agreed. Its a story that functions best when you know nothing about it.

[low hill]

[Project Hail Mary] ||I don't think that not knowing it had aliens in it (the only thing I did know about it) before I went in would have changed any of my problems with the book. :)||

[forest sierra]

Red ASOIAF

The books are unfinished but what remains is great

Alternatively you could end on book 3/S4

Which is more understandable for the show

[potent linden]

PHM ||those are fair thoughts! I didn't have a problem with the amnesia plotline but I'll agree that it wasn't anything standout. I also didn't like all the calculating and going into the details but I figured that was just because I'm bad at this stuff and numbers break my brain - the Martian has even more of this iirc (maybe just more deep science in general but I think more science math too).||

I do think the high expectations hurt my reading experience a little but part of it was also just what the book was

[tight kindle]

Bookshelf pic! I was bored and it needed to be organized

I may have committed sacrilege by throwing away the dust jacket for Executive Orders, but I hated it and it was a disaster to put anywhere

[frozen glacier]

Fair warning I think one of those binders has a name on it

[tight kindle]

sighs
Thanks

there

[long sorrel]

Atrus...

[low hill]

I also spent some of today organising my new shelves.

[tight kindle]

I know, I know
It just keeps popping up places I don't expect it to.

[tight kindle]

What do the shelves look like?
Solid color or wood grain?

[low hill]

They are black Kalaxs.
-# Who knows if that's the right spelling. I didn't buy them.

-# Or if that's even how you pluralise Swedish words...

[tight kindle]

Nice
I like darker colored shelves a lot

White ones draw my eyes away from the books too much

[low hill]

Most of mine are light, and there's a couple of white Kalaxapodes as well.

My older ones are darker woods.

[tight kindle]

My big bookshelves (my beloveds I miss you) are the right shade of dark wood for me. My parents tried to convince me to get white ones and I was like no

[long sorrel]

Darker do make rooms look smaller

I can't really afford very dark shekves because my room is very thin

[tight kindle]

Exactly!
Cozy.

[long sorrel]

Not cozy if its small enough it feels like the walls will fall on you

And I do like small spaces

[low hill]

The black bookcases are in a room with four white and one wooden, so it probably cancels out and becomes a medium sized room again.

[tight kindle]

Yeah that's fair
I just generally don't like white/super light colors in my spaces.
I dream of owning a house where I can paint almost every room a dark color.

[long sorrel]

No neither do I, there's a big range of tones, before its too dark

[tight kindle]

Hang on let me edit

I dream of owning a house where I can paint almost every room a dark color

[low hill]

I'm not overly fussed about the white ones, but most of them were free... Which is a great leveller.

[long sorrel]

😭

[ivory cypress]

i like one dark wall as an accent

and also dark shelves for my room but light shelves are fine out in the living room

[long sorrel]

My room is like a hallway, it has a lpt of space but only in one direction. I think if I didn't also work in my room I would care less

But I need something that feels lighter for work or it feels stressful

I do have a black desk though, all that said

[long sorrel]

Oh that's exactly my desk's material

Ugh, I really need shelves 😭

[low hill]

I assume it's the same as a lot of peoples', given it's Ikea. :)

[long sorrel]

Yes yes, I mentioned because I did just describe my desk as black

[low hill]

Ahh.

I have about six more of those glass shelves as well, but I might need to drill more holes for them...

[tight kindle]

Prettyyyyyy

[raw musk]

You know, I've never looked at the spines of the SPs. I just have them displayed at an angle to see the pretty covers

[raw musk]

@jagged owl @muted nebula so what do y'all think is going to happen in the next book?

It's titled A Parade of Horribles

[jagged owl]

Ah, I forgot this was here

[raw musk]

Yeah, #you-people was getting a bit too busy lol

[jagged owl]

[Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 7]
I did just catch in book 7 on of the Arbiters mentioning that ||Shi-Maria has a god contained inside herself as well as being a half spider demon half demigod contained in a Carl|| and the way that Samantha keeps dropping some very tantilizing details, along with ||Apito doing her best impression of Schrodinger's Diety|| has me wondering if the memorial crystal might have something to do with both of them.

Justice Light better know wtf he's doing.

[raw musk]

Hmm I like the idea. Dungeon Crawler Carl 7: ||I'm intrigued to see how Carl uses his 2 floor nukes of Shi Maria and Carl's Doomsday Scenario. I could see the doomsday bomb getting used on Gunter for a 1-2 punch||

[raw musk]

||Oh, we're going to see some non-Feral gods and/or demons become Feral. Not sure how Scolapendra's going to be affected though||

[junior dew]

Wait wtf children of strife comes out on the 17th!?

[muted nebula]

.....

so I'm in the patreon

and was reading it as it was written

you reallllllly don't want my thoughts

[raw musk]

Ah. Got it

[muted nebula]

but yes yes I loved book 7 and parade of horribles is very good

that is all you will get out of me until the book actually drops

[raw musk]

How many books do you think we'll get?

[muted nebula]

matt has said ~10

iirc

and from pacing it seems to be the case

[raw musk]

Yeah 10-11 seems reasonable

[hollow hedge]

Matt says he's writing the rest of the story in his mind as one 'book', but it will be at least double length and published in two volumes so it doesn't make much of a difference to us

Either way I suppose he's getting ready for this story to end, though idk if we could return to the crawlerverse later for one reason or another, or if he prefers to let it be done

[jagged owl]

DCC ||I can't see him letting Shi-Maria out unless someone more powerful than her was standing next to him||

[jagged owl]

Honestly, I could legit be talked into alternate POV's for the story. This is one of the few instances where that is the case for me.

[hollow hedge]

DCC All/General ||If I were going to want an alternate viewpoint DCC, it would be someone like Cascadia, someone doing the work behind the scenes and watching it all come crumbling down||

[jagged owl]

But honestly, I think he's going to finish it out and maybe come back for short stories to fill in the background.

[raw musk]

DCC predictions: ||Please let us see the kinder facility and more of the surface. How have crawl events effected the surface? I'm so intrigued!||

[jagged owl]

[DCC/all] ||Human form Cyber-Katia Mother-of-All Vs. Princess Formidible||

[raw musk]

||Let's make it a free for all brawl and introduce Eris. We know she's free||

[jagged owl]

That and ||she's outside the solar system.||

[junior dew]

Shroud is super interesting so far. Made it up to the second interlude. Spoilers up to then || It feels very alien ||

[uncut shoal]

Is there a way to link StoryGraph to Kindle?

[minor sleet]

I started the new Black Company book and I do not care for the narration style

[cloud socket]

My libby hold came in so I started Fool's Errand in the Tawny Man trilogy- it's typically taken me months to get through a Hobb so I'm going to try my best to get through this in two weeks...! I'm a quarter in, [Fool's Errand + Liveship Traders all] ||and I'm dying a lil bit over the Fool naming his horse Malta though I think after all her character development she'd find it funny. I'd kinda suspected the Amber/Fool connection, but I thought it was more like that they were the same type of being, not the actual same person||

[frozen glacier]

Who’s narrating it- in universe or irl

[long sorrel]

This book I'm reading is killing me

[ivory cypress]

in what way??

[long sorrel]

It starts with the MC at present (based in somewhat medieval europe), he's on the death row and gets accepted his request of a royal scribe to write his whole story. It reads relatively traditional fantasy though a lot more crass, so I was quite (positively?) surprised
(This book exists only in spanish but I'll spoiler just in case), Salitre y Cenizas 4 (TWs for ||body dysphoria||) || It goes back to when he's 13 and due to a various unfortunates happenings he kills his cousin when he's trying to stop him from raping some unconscious woman on the beach, the woman opens his eyes and goes "your sacrifice has been accepted" (note he is convicted from doing pacts with the devil, heresy, sodomy and i forgot how many more charges). Move forward a few days to the funeral of said cousin and our mc who is feeling pretty bad, for one because he thought his cousin was a piece of crap but also he was the only one in the entire town that didn't use homophobic slurs on him (he isn't into men). However halfway through the funeral he starts having a lot of pain in his stomach, goes pee and finds blood, and here there's like a horrible account of him having to accept the fact he was born into the wrong body (this is like 60 pages in). I don't generally like using the "reveal that someone is trans" as a shock scene but it was so well written along the scene of him having to deal with his first period on a psychological level, it was horrible (highly, good job author). Anyway, I think he might have sold his soul "to be fixed" I feel, we'll see, I'm having a great and horrible time because this is pretty well written on a psychological level 😭 ||

[long sorrel]

I was RANTING lol

I feel I've discovered a random jewel because I was expecting something far more... generic, just like some gritty slightly grimdark book

And it is those things! But not generic at all so far

[ivory cypress]

ooooh

fascinating....

[long sorrel]

Salitre y Cenizas 4 ||he's already killing people at 14, sweet 😍 ||

[minor sleet]

The girls from the very last book

They’re using a lot of teenage ish slang and Glen Cook is not very good at that

Also they keep insulting each other and the chapters are so short I can’t tell one narrator apart from the other

[ripe tide]

I can imagine he wouldn't be

[long sorrel]

Salitre y Cenizas 9 ||his grandfather who now has dementia has carved him a penis because he keeps remembering when he'd ask about it when he was 5 😭 ||

[minor sleet]

Since he was a teenager before the Vietnam war and all

[ripe tide]

Yeah

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/dailykafka/762860222594318336/saw-this

Daily Kafka

saw this

-# #lmaoo #submission #asks

Tumblr · Sep 28, 2024, 10:43 AM

[somber timber]

Reading some Agatha Christie for the first time (Mysterious affair at styles) and it’s really funny the way she writes the story through the eyes of Hastings who || is a giant idiot who leaps at whatever conclusion is in front of him and just randomly proposes to this woman who was crying. || through chapter 10

[potent linden]

I think I recognize some vials on those shelves 👀

[iron pond]

OMG
thank you for making me aware of this!

[junior dew]

Happily!

[tight kindle]

Yee :D
I love them

[torpid kiln]

I ended up dnfing the Captive Prince because I got really busy with midterms and had to turn the books in before break

I do want to read the series in full someday tho

[long sorrel]

I made a friend read Long Live Evil

I owe her a beer for emotional damage repairs, I've been told 😈

Long Live Evil

https://tenor.com/view/evil-smile-evil-evil-laugh-gif-10865501938883882879

[abstract kiln]

Primal Hunter v11 ||you ever catch a twist just moments before it's about to be revealed
I hadn't really thought much about the identity of the warmaster but as soon as Jake was about to challenge him I immediately guessed it was the battlemaster we've been seeing this whole time lol
Lo and behold 5 seconds later he reveals its him||

[little dock]

Two chapters into Paladin’s Grace and I’m sold on this whole concept of Stephen as a character. I’m a sucker for this. Not sure how I’ll feel about the romance part but Kingfisher convinced me with Snake-Eater that I have to try more of her books

[junior dew]

Oh yeah maybe I’ll do a kingfisher book after Shroud 🤔

Will need something short between the time I finish Shroud and the release of Children of Strife next week

What Moves the Dead perhaps?

[long sorrel]

Yeeeessssss

[ivory cypress]

woohoo!

[junior dew]

We shall see. There are also more Tchaikovsky novellas I could do, but a Kingfisher does sound like a nice choice next

[low hill]

-# Fans of Tchaikovsky who also likes games should take a look in #1404997600687689799. nods sagely

[warm leaf]

Am I at a crossroads of reading the first 3 books of ASOIAF or continuing to the 6th book of WOT (I'm going in 2) which do you recommend?

[velvet umbra]

recency bias at play here but I would say WoT

I took a break at book 6, I think it's a decent stopping point. Also finished series > unfinished and new read > re-read imo

[minor sleet]

I wanted to read Thomas Pynchon’s newest novel

However I wanted to read it significantly less when it turned out that it’s in dense 1920s noir slang and near to stream of consciousness

[warm leaf]

ty!

[hollow hedge]

the only problem with taking a break after WOT6 is that you have probably the worst four books in the series to pick up from, they're not terrible but they're basically two books of story stretched into four

[velvet umbra]

that's true, but I don't think you'll want to take a break before then, and I don't think there's any clear stopping point mid slog

technically stopping after 7 is the more accurate mid point but it has a much less satisfying climax and just doesn't feel as natural to stop with imo

personally I think I found the slog less bad because I let myself build up some longing for WoT before going back into it so I was just happy to be back in that world with those characters

it's like a meal tasting better cause you're hungry lol

[hollow hedge]

I had a friend who just read the first six, took a break, and then read the last four, accepting that they missed a few things in the middle and not worrying about it

I don't necessarily recommend it but they seemed satisfied enough

[velvet umbra]

I'm only really recommending it on "It's what I did and it seemed fine and I can't think of a better suggestion" lol

sorry misread that, I meant what I did not what you just described lol

I guess if you only read traditionally I get it but as an audiobook listener I never considered skipping them

[hollow hedge]

this is a person who read A Dance with Dragons immediately after AGOT because 'that's what the library had' so put their satisfaction in that context

but in the case of WOT I think they were genuinely getting bored of the series and needed that break

[velvet umbra]

alright yeah not going to attempt to relate to this reading experience lmao

[hollow hedge]

I always wanted to try it with something popular, just jump in at a random point

[velvet umbra]

I guess for WoT alternatively you could just keep chugging into 7 and just slog until you get sick of it

but like idk I feel like being intentional about it is probably better

[warm leaf]

Are they like the characters having a social life?

[hollow hedge]

like when I was a kid I started watching DBZ at some random episodes in the Namek saga

[hollow hedge]

more like 40-ish, kids and family and such

[warm leaf]

fake namek?

[hollow hedge]

nah, somewhere around the time Vegeta was fighting Zarbon, I had no idea what was going on but I followed for a while and eventually they just started over

this was back in the day of the original dub, and there were only like 50-70 episodes, and it reset in the middle of the Ginyus for way too long

[warm leaf]

Oh, I see, I don't think I was alive back then

[vagrant torrent]

I’m thinking of reading other books at the same time as Stormlight. Got any recs?

[snow vessel]

Are there any particular genres/things you're looking for?

[zinc flicker]

Pick something light

I recommend something more on the short read / pulp side. So Discworld books, Star Wars books if that’s your thing, comics, manga, etc.

[vagrant torrent]

Hmm. Something light or standalone

[velvet umbra]

you're not wrong but also lmao you're not slick tossing Star Wars in there

[vagrant torrent]

I have been meaning to get into Discworld and Star Wars 👀

[zinc flicker]

SW is just my go to light read so it’s a good example. Others are like DnD books, Warhammer books, etc.

Stuff written to be lighter and more fun

[velvet umbra]

tbf if you pick the right ones that is actually a pretty good recommendation

[oblique zodiac]

Tree Girl is ok

[hushed kettle]

my mom just finished project hail mary and came into my room crying

[old bone]

Psalm for the Wild Built

It's half the length of Edgedancer

and is p good

[cloud socket]

When I juggle books, I like having different mediums and genres to reduce potentially mixing up parts of them, like a non-fiction library physical book with a fantasy ebook

[royal carbon]

Reading Under The Dome for the first time. I never did finish watching the show but it is already fairly different from what little I remember (which isn't all that much tbh.)

[snow vessel]

I can't tell if I'm looking for a light/easy next read or if I want to jump straight into the next malazan

[old bone]

you should have a light easy read

you should read A Psalm for the Wild Built

!

[snow vessel]

I don't think they have that at my library

[snow vessel]

Maybe ill read the new hunger games book

@old bone I did pick up the grand inquisitor by Dostoyevsky

[old bone]

oh nice

[snow vessel]

I looked for the stranger but they didnt have it either

[old bone]

It's like a story within Brother Karamazov btw

It's like somewhat misleading without context ig

okay basic context is || in that part two brothers are discussing faith and God. One is a believer, another is not ||

and that Dostoevsky doesn't necessarily agree with the viewpoints that he present in that story

[snow vessel]

Do you reckon its fine to read without context?

[old bone]

It's still worth reading without it

but I think it's best read within the overall book?

but yeah people recommend to read it as standalone so should be safe

with the above two sentence of context, it should be okay

[snow vessel]

If I wait five days I can read the book I bought on release day for the first time exactly a year after it came out...

[old bone]

Start now and finish it on the release day for the first time exactly a year after it came out...

https://tenor.com/view/big-brain-markiplier-gif-14835823

[snow vessel]

Ooh that's a good point. If I am to finish it on the 18th, I get the satisfaction without having to wait to read it

also is this counted as the 5th hunger games book or the 0.66th?

I think unless I for some reason change my mind (which I almost certainly will) I'll read sotr and maybe another short book and then go back to malazan

[frozen glacier]

I’ve been stalling on doing reading. Luckily rereading lotr has got the momentum back

[vagrant torrent]

Thanks

[vagrant torrent]

Thanks

[somber timber]

Finished Murder on the orient express. Awesome book. Might’ve called it. Spoilers all

[frozen glacier]

It’s one of the better ones. I do think it’s iconic nature hurts it to some regard but it’s a classic for a reason

[wraith lynx]

What's next on the list for you? 👀👀

[somber timber]

I really enjoyed it!

[frozen glacier]

Hyperion, the bleach Light novels and then witch king

[wraith lynx]

Oooo~

[vagrant torrent]

Ooo neat! Hope you’re liking it so far!

[minor sleet]

Comic book shop owner now knows me well enough to give me recs

He said “Wonder Woman historia seems like your vibe, we just got it in”. Read back cover. Yeah it’s my vibe

[potent linden]

I am! Helps that I've read fanfics and metas getting me reattached to the characters

Which made me want to read/reread the books (I haven't read most of them, but I did a few when I was a kid)

[vagrant torrent]

Sweet! What fanfics and metas have you read?

[potent linden]

Mostly stuff by thejakeformerlyknownasprince on Tumblr (SoloMoon on AO3)

A couple other shorter fics, and then started a long series by Poetry on AO3 before deciding I should finish the book series first

[minor sleet]

Absolute Hal Jordan is a|| toy collector and dealer??? Big change from cocky test pilot ||

(I’ve started Absolute Green Lantern v1 because I fried my brain with spreadsheets this week and I’ve decided that comic books are the opposite of excel)

Oh I see ||Ewing & Lindsay made Hal subject to Parallax early and let the newest Lantern (Jo Mullein, created by NK Jemisin) get the ring. Interesting. I also like that Guy Gardern and John Stewart are also their buddies. No mention of Kyle Raynor tho||

Truly Darkseid is evil. He stole Guy’s bowl cut

[analog geode]

Is he even Guy anymore??

[snow vessel]

I really like Absolute GL, even just for the colours and power system

I also just finished catching up on Absolute Martian manhunter

[minor sleet]

The variant covers for Absolute GL are gorgeous

I wanted absolute mm but the comic book shop didn’t have it

Absolute GL has been a good substitute

I’m not too interested in the other titles. I’ll probably read Absolute Batman and Superman via my library

Absolute GL covers are only approved if the characters are aura farming

[snow vessel]

Absolute GL ||yknow, I hadn't really thought of the black hand being also kind of Absolute-Hal's parallax moment, but that makes a lot of sense||

[mild lance]

Absolute MM is the best one, definitely get it if you can

[snow vessel]

Absolute MM is really good

(Re)read it this morning, everyone is right about it

[minor sleet]

https://tenor.com/view/it’s-complicated-working-on-it-i'm-working-on-it-thinking-about-it-gif-11340023082622931344

Me thinking about that plot

[ivory cypress]

oop there goes my reading streak wellllllll here we are

[iron pond]

@potent linden @vagrant torrent I did a complete read-through of Animorphs a few years ago. That series was a major formative part of my childhood, and I still love it and think about it frequently

[mild lance]

So I read Orconomics. Great book, hit just the right balance of “fun adventure” and touching on heavier topics

Orconomics ||the fact that the setup works and the entire Orc town gets genocided hit like a gut-punch. RIP Tibrin and Niln, they were real ones||

||also I’m guessing that Thane is the real Seventh Hero since Niln got the “your work is complete” message after Thane was recruited||

||very curious about Niln’s last words. It sounded like he was saying his prophecy didn’t actually come from the All-Mother. Maybe it’s the Death God then? Idk||

[snow vessel]

I'm not feeling super enthused to read any of the books I have on-hand rn

Maybe ill spend a few days working through my comics

[old bone]

Time for some mango

[light drum]

Twilight full review
||Ok so I didn't particularly have high expectations for this book but it had 4 books and 5 movies so I figured it probably was tolerable, and it mostly was just super boring. There is literally no tension in the relationship, like sure there is the omg hes so dangerous thing, but thats never really utilized, we and bella never actually fear the Edward will do her harm, he just is kinda a weird old man. Which brings up another thing like he is creepy and like not in a hot way, he is just mjnda toxic and a stalker and the whole relationship feels incredibly icky the whole time.

The plot of i can call it that since all the development happens in the first 3 hours of the 13 hour book feels more just likw backdrop, like things happen but it doesnt feel like we are moving in any direction. Again there is no tension. That brings up my final point. I feel this had all the elements of a good book, just it used them in the worst possible way.

I wanted to like this, several points where I was bored I wanted to DNF but continend cause I heard it was good, but at the end its jusy meh. Its not a bad book jusy not an intresting one. There are good romance and romance with supernatural books, this isnt one.|| ⭐ ⭐

[snow vessel]

Maybe, if my libraries have some

In other news: I was looking at buying some books and why does prince lestat literally have the most boring covers ever 😒

(90% of the covers for it are just red text on a completely black background )

[long sorrel]

The book I ordered at my local bookstore has arrived but I can't go pick it up because ✨ migraine ✨

[ripe tide]

Hope you get better soon!

[long sorrel]

Mhmmm book will have to wait til Monday

[cosmic sundial]

Thinking ASOIAF thoughts again and it's very funny (Not really) that (asoiaf all) ||the text talks a lot about Andals v First Men and Seven vs Old Gods and so forth, when there's a third ethnic and religious group that the text pretty much ignores when they have a lot in common with the themes GRRM touches on. In fact, that coupled with the age of a couple key characters makes me think he had a bigger plan for them in the time skip which got cut||

[long sorrel]

Since I'm sitting here doing about nothing except sip on coffee, the urge to go and rate my books on storygraph is uh... increasing, wildly

Please someone convince me this is a bad idea 😭

[junior dew]

Shroud is a really dark book

Shroud through 6.7 || This is probably one of the darkest and most grim views on human expansion into space I’ve read ||

[long sorrel]

I did all my 2023 reads 🤔 Now I should stop for today, right?

Since 2023 is when I read all Sanderson and 2024 is when I read some of my current fave authors, I'm curious to see the difference in average rating

surely 2025 should be the lowest of all 3 years

that I've logged onto storygraph

[long sorrel]

Well maybe Firstborn will drag down the entire rating

wasn't so different I guess 🤔

[ivory cypress]

do it

[minor sleet]

From Wonder Woman: Historia #2

[long sorrel]

Noooo bad grey!

Well now I only have 2025, left to do so might as well

[ivory cypress]

yayyy

yeah my unrated stuff is all the stuff i know i've read but can't tie it to a date or even a year

[long sorrel]

I've not added anything prior 2023

I wouldn't even know where to start

[quaint burrow]

Has anyone read RotE as audiobooks? Are they good?

[long sorrel]

facing this book just by putting the rate down is producing strong emotions, again

[ivory cypress]

[long sorrel]

Giving Treason's Shore a 5* because it broke me in half and I appreciate that

I really ought to get onto more Sherwood Smith stuff

I gave The Fox also 5* because... because... gestures, I just had to

Done with 2025! now 2026

[junior dew]

So I finished Shroud right before Hadestown started.

Really good book

[junior dew]

You have my attention

Oh this is a series and that’s seemingly the last book in the series? Rip

[ivory cypress]

i got usha into Inda and no regrets!!

[junior dew]

Wait. I’m confused. Is it 4 books or 31 books 🤨

[long sorrel]

There are MANY books inworld, but this series is 4 books

I'd say think cosmere but in one planet but I don't think it's the same

[junior dew]

-# (Realm of the Elderlings)

[junior dew]

Gotcha. Adding to the TBR!

[long sorrel]

Not quite, the books seem rather independant

[junior dew]

5* broke me in half book has me very very curious

[long sorrel]

More like Mistborn Era 1 and Era 2 where it probably has more historical influence over one another than anything else

[junior dew]

Ahhh gotcha haha

[long sorrel]

Like uh, after the series Inda comes Time of Daughters which is around 100 years after the end if Inda. I'm sure there will be historical mentions and some characters in Inda were relevant/influential enough that their names will appear for sure

[junior dew]

The TBR is growing faster than it’s shrinking

[long sorrel]

my tbr grows and doesn't shrink cause I keep reading things not in the tbr lol

[low hill]

Just free yourself from the concept of a To Read pile, and simply own many fine books.

[ivory cypress]

CONSTANTLY

the tbr isn't just an arbitrary "should do this", i don't want to lose track of books i've been sold on before i can read them 🤔

[long sorrel]

I do not say that as a bad thing, it'd be a sad day when my tbr gets smaller or runs out of books, I'm happy to have an out of control chaotic TBR

[junior dew]

Add them to your TBR right before you start reading them

https://tenor.com/view/big-brain-point-finger-at-forehead-forehead-tap-head-tap-tap-forehead-gif-18599618

[long sorrel]

I do that

lol

[junior dew]

So then it does shrink. It’s just arbitrary shrinkage

[long sorrel]

the total number doesn't go down

[junior dew]

Yeah exactly this. My “want to read” on margins is just books and series I both plan to read and may consider reading one day

[ivory cypress]

the purpose of my tbr isn't to be reduced

[junior dew]

That’s a very fair point

TBR always staying topped off means you never run out of stuff you want to read

Or I should say, means you never have to go far to decide on your next read

[ivory cypress]

the tbr is like a... wine cellar. i add things in and when it's time for trying out a new one, i have options ☺️

[junior dew]

Yeah I like that way of looking at it

[ivory cypress]

the many fine books i own are the ones i've already read and know i love

[junior dew]

Oh I have so many books on Audible I have yet to read Sales go brr

Pretty sure I got about 50 books during the last sale

Also rip what moves the dead has a 5 week wait on Libby

I could give murderbot 2 a try

I think I was so unimpressed by all systems red that that has pretty much no appeal to me though

How is A House With Good Bones?

[ivory cypress]

good! not my favourite but enjoyable!

[low hill]

Presumably it has good bones.

[junior dew]

Alright, might do that next then perhaps. Just looking for really short stuff over the next 3 days

Murderbot may still fit that bill best

[long sorrel]

from all of Kingfisher horror stuff that wouldn't be my first recc but it is like, good enough and representative enough that'll tell you if you like her style

I had fun reading it

[junior dew]

Gotcha. I may do Saturation Point for now

And if I finish that I may do hungry gods or artificial condition

[long sorrel]

There are other Kingfisher horrors that are the same length though 👀

tbh I'd not NOT recommend A House with Good Bones

[junior dew]

Libby is somewhat limited on kingfisher audiobooks

And when they’re short enough I want to get them on sale if I’m buying them + I won’t use a credit on them

[velvet umbra]

depends on the library

mine had a good amount no wait time

[junior dew]

Yeah I meant for my library of course haha

[uncut shoal]

Some of them are on Kindle Unlimited. I just read Snake-Eater

[long sorrel]

Did you like it?

It defs went into one of my top kingfisher horrors

Can't wait for Wolf Worm

[junior dew]

Oh yeah if I read a physical book right now it’s going to be house of leaves or city of brass. But I’ve been playing Pokemon lol

[uncut shoal]

It was pretty interesting but I don't think it really gave me an intrinsic horror vibe

[long sorrel]

Hmmm, I'm not sure any of Kingfisher books do that

For me

Except Hollow Places

[uncut shoal]

The Hollow Places and The Twisted Ones are the two others of them I've read, so 😄

[long sorrel]

Twisted Ones didn't really give me any horror vibe just like...creepy? Which I think most her work does

[little dock]

Yeah I also don’t really think Snake-Eater is horror. Especially compared to descriptions of her other work, but I haven’t read any of the other horror ones.

90% through Paladin’s Grace and will likely finish today
||Well written, but I didn’t realize this was a romance first and foremost. Just not my preferred primary genre. I love the idea behind Stephen and the concept of what happens to paladins when their god dies, but then the book isn’t really about that. So that was a bit disappointing and I likely won’t continue with the series just because romance isn’t really my thing. ||

[minor sleet]

Kingfisher’s haunted house book was horror

A House With Good Bones

It even has a vulture motif. I like vultures. They’re so silly

[spring turtle]

the plot-plot doesn't really pick up until book 3, and so far it's been full steam ahead since

[little dock]

Isn’t there only one book after 3?

[spring turtle]

yeah, but there will be seven total

[little dock]

Oh! I thought it was a finished series

Is the plot-plot related to the thing that interested me about the setup? And is each book still a romance?

[drifting bridge]

I'm starting Project Hail Mary.

[velvet umbra]

Yes and yes

[old bone]

people are telling they would have wanted to experience the movie first

so you might want to try that?

[velvet umbra]

I have no idea what the deal is on the rest of the books though I thought it was a completed 4 book series also until I finished 4 and ||the ending was very setup/cliffhangery and people here said there is another one coming ||

[drifting bridge]

I decided to do the book first, because if I watch the movie, I won't read the book.

[velvet umbra]

Same

[low hill]

Hmm. Now to decide what to read in-between another Malazan book. Or maybe two things.

Could finish the Godkiller trilogy, or just pluck something at semi-random from the shelves...

[spring turtle]

despite owning and reading the whole trilogy, I barely remember it

[old bone]

smth super light like Psalm for the Wild Built

🙂

[low hill]

Ah, well I don't own that, so it seems unlikely I'll pick it up this evening.

[drifting bridge]

I feel like I got tricked into taking a science class.

[north scaffold]

https://giphy.com/gifs/breaking-bad-aaron-paul-yeah-science-QC7UQbxq89MnL9r6AN

[raw musk]

You could try reading Dungeon Crawler Carl. It's a super fun (and disturbing at times) series

[drifting bridge]

I have it, but haven't read it yet.

Ive been slowly finishing Critical Role season 3, but because the movie is coming out I decided to read this book first.

[junior dew]

Oh yeah I need to pick out tickets for PHM tomorrow if there are any still available

Thanks for the reminder

[drifting bridge]

Your welcome

[minor sleet]

Anne Carson sure knows how to start a story

Autobiography of Red

[little dock]

Hmm, can some of the Paladin fans pitch it to me? I’m okay with minor/general spoilers. Just want to see if I’m actually interested enough in the big stuff to go through a bunch of romance too. @long sorrel and @ivory cypress ?

[ivory cypress]

well the romance was part of the sell for me so idk

i don't really try to sell romance to people who don't like it

there is a great world and a really interesting overaching plotline that is insepararable from the fact that they're all romance books

[little dock]

Oh fair enough. I appreciate it, knowing that it’s that much romance, I probably will be done but I may give the second a shot in the future. Like I don’t hate it, but I’m just not super interested in the romance parts but obviously that’s kinda the main deal

Is Swordheart (?) also a romance? I know there’s a sequel coming later this year and I was considering that as my next kingfisher

[ivory cypress]

yup

same world as the paladins

[little dock]

Oh interesting. Clocktaur boys is the other one in this world too, but it’s not a romance, right?

[ivory cypress]

there is romance

[long sorrel]

I don't particularly appreciate the romance in the series but I still liked it. I also think next books are better but it is ultimately romance books

[ivory cypress]

this world is a fantasy romance world

[little dock]

Oh I didn’t realize that was the whole world. I thought it was just the Paladin series.

[little dock]

Gotcha. Well, it was a quick and easy listen, so I’ll probably jump around a bit in this world/series after a few other books and see how it goes

[long sorrel]

Clocktaur is maybe a bit less focused on romance? But still a romance

[velvet umbra]

yeah that's what I was going to say, they're super easy to get through imo so I would be more inclined than usual to just be like "idk give another one a try"

[low hill]

I did not do that thing, and picked up another Dresden instead.

[iron pond]

How far into the series are you now?

[little dock]

Okay, now I’ve finished the rest of Paladin’s Grace and I am intrigued enough that I probably will continue on after a couple books to see how it goes.

[little dock]

Also, on a side note, I love the covers (not the ones with the couples in a frame). Idk if they’re the most accurate to the series vibe but they are gorgeous!

[warm leaf]

Sometimes I wish reading physical books wasn't so expensive, although it's worth it

Depending on how much The Wheel of Time Book 2 surprises me, I'll consider whether to read up to Book 4 or 6, or start with ASOIAF and Dune, but I don't know if I should put the Red Rising trilogy before all this.

And there's also the Jade trilogy

[versed agate]

For those older series, there's always used books

[mild lance]

And there’s always public libraries

[warm leaf]

Once I've tried to go to one although I think I might try again, last time I only found books from 1950 and back

[wise haven]

Sounds like an archive at that point 💀 You can download Libby as well, and check out ebooks through local libraries

[warm leaf]

Yes... Well, my country is not number 1 in reading for fun, books here come from Spain and I have to order them online

Besides, I don't dare to read them in ebooks, I use books to get away from technology for a moment as well

[low hill]

This is book 4, Summer Knight.

[uncut shoal]

Where it starts to actually get good

[snow vessel]

I cannot get into any books right now, nothing is holding my interest

[old bone]

Reread smth you liked previously

[long sorrel]

Take a break from reading?

[ivory cypress]

my thing is that it's hard to focus on books when dizzy nauseous and exhausted

but I did finish mask of mirrors last night while avoiding being horizontal

[ripe tide]

What did you think of the end?

[ripe tide]

https://locusmag.com/2026/03/2025-nebula-awards-ballot/

[raw musk]

Heretical fishing book 2 ch45: ||A reference to HWFWM? Alright then. If I had a nickel every time I listened to a book narrated by Heath Miller about an Australian who's good at cooking getting isekai'd I'd have 2 nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weirdly specific||

[ivory cypress]

it was really good! very enjoyable

[ripe tide]

Do let me know whenever you get to the rest of the trilogy.

[ivory cypress]

i have book 2 ready! just a matter of when my brain is good again

[mild lance]

I personally think Grave Peril is where the series gets good

[light drum]

Children of Strife releases tmr!

[alpine drum]

I'm convinced that when hes writing about bugs or bug related people he gets a speed boost

[light drum]

His writing speed corresponding to the number of limbs a speices has

[alpine drum]

I included bug related because he wrote shadows of the apt really fast as well

[snow vessel]

That's sorta what I've been doing. I've been focusing on comics and just reading the starts of books before bed

[minor sleet]

titans together! To the pool!

[livid night]

smone recomend sci-fi books pls

[ivory cypress]

what have you read and liked/disliked already?

[livid night]

carl sagan, asimov, war of worlds, dune and ready player one

those one are my fav

[wraith lynx]

manifests

[ivory cypress]

you might like red rising series by pierce brown

based on that

[wraith lynx]

Did someone say- ah. Thanks Grey 🤣

[ivory cypress]

it seems in the wheelhouse!

[livid night]

i´ll check it out, thx man

[wraith lynx]

It does it does, I just wanted to shill my propaganda 😌

But yes yes seconding red rising, book 7 is coming Soon™️

[snow vessel]

...eventually

[ivory cypress]

suneater is also a popular series

[snow vessel]

For RR I will give a disclaimer that bk1 takes on a slightly different tone than the rest of the series (with the rest being more scifi)

[long sorrel]

I wonder if I'll ever have the drive to read the second red rising

[wraith lynx]

Maybe!! 🥰

[minor sleet]

bonk

[sharp steeple]

My scrambled brain read that as "Do you want some head..."

[minor sleet]

i'm pretty sure that knocking the person offering head out cold counts as a no

[minor sleet]

now you may think this is a Borg reference

but New Teen Titans #4 is from 1981

And the Borg debuted later

In fact….. Star Trek New Gen wasn’t on the air yet. How about that?

[sharp steeple]

Damn, wild to think that the Borg and Q, both integral pillars of TNG lore, didn't show up until half-way through the second season.

[minor sleet]

Q debuted in the premier

Q Who is the season 2 mid season finale

[sharp steeple]

I uh. Totally didn't completely forget that.

I'm gonna go hide in a box....

[quaint tendon]

Empress of forever is finished

Time to go back to HWFWM

[unique turret]

The Culture series by Iain Banks

[quaint tendon]

Empress of forever was really good

It’s a standalone but highly recommended

[royal carbon]

I should continue my Culture reading...

stares at the dozen series he is working on

[uncut shoal]

Vorkosigan Saga, A Long Way to a Small and Angry Planet, The Expanse are some good ones

Hyperion, too

Hyperion has certain similarities with Contact, I think

Red Rising isn't done yet. I think the last book is due out next year?

[analog geode]

Highly recommend Vorkosigan and Honor Harrington too

[uncut shoal]

Oh later this year maybe

[analog geode]

Oh and Republic of Cinnabar Navy

[uncut shoal]

Oh he wrote the Craft sequence. That was an interesting, complicated, read heh

[quaint tendon]

He’s half of this is how you lose the time war as well

Very similar levels of prose work in empress

Great stuff

[junior dew]

Just finished Saturation Point by Tchaikovsky. That was really good!

And now, Children of Strife may begin

[low hill]

It certainly ... escalated.

[junior dew]

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Xenogenesis series by Octavia Butler.

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky.

There is No Antimemetics Division by QNTM I think qualifies.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.

The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey.

Kindred by Octavia Butler technically can qualify as sci-fi

[low hill]

The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi.
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee.

[versed agate]

have you been following the sequel series, The Craft War?

I feel like there are several people here reading Max Gladstone, but none of us talk about it

[royal carbon]

I have the latest (last?) book on a shelf somewhere

[versed agate]

I bought it physical, because I enjoy the series that much
But ironically, forcing myself to take the time to read physical books is my worst skill, so I'm still only half way through despite getting it several months ago

[jagged owl]

Vorkosigan is one of the seminal series in disability spec fic.

[jagged owl]

I can second The Machineries of Empire (Ninefox Gambit).

[lofty glen]

OH MY GOD FINALLY https://x.com/dcuworld/status/2033939152136507849?s=20

DCU Updates (@dcuworld)

DC has announced Supergirl:Survive, a new elseworld title from Ethan S. Parker and Griffin Sheridan with art by Rod Reis!

"Teenage Kara Zor-El and baby Kal-El are sent off together in an experimental rocket, forced to navigate a universe that is anything but welcoming".

It

X · Mar 17, 2026, 4:10 PM

AN ELSEWORLDS WHERE KARA GOES IN THE ROCKET WITH HIM

This is literally all I’ve ever wanted

One of my most requested Elseworlds

[solid locust]

Is there any epic fantasy without horses? I genuinly can‘t think of a single example, even roshar has them, with it‘s otherwise completely different ecosystems

[rugged tartan]

Earthsea and Broken Earth both lack them, I'm fairly sure (although exactly how much those qualify for epic fantasy in particular is perhaps a matter of debate. I think Earthsea fits a bit better but I wouldn't disqualify either immediately)

[long sorrel]

Broken Earth has horses

I don't recall about Earthsea though

I do think both qualify as epic in my head

[analog geode]

Earthsea was an archipelago, would be weird if they did use horses

[long sorrel]

use != have

But I think I read Earthsea 20 years ago lol

all I remember from it is "I liked that"

[solid locust]

I didn‘t even remember mistborn having horses until my current reread lol

After seeing that i wondered that and hence why i asked

[long sorrel]

Era 1 all ||Vin's not a horse 😩 ||

jokes aside I do think it makes sense for Mistborn to have horses

[solid locust]

It does

[long sorrel]

there must be some thing that uses something like horses that aren't horses for sure though?

[solid locust]

I just didn‘t remember it because it is never really a big plotpoint

[long sorrel]

yeah

[solid locust]

Era 1 all ||At one point even tensoon turns into a horse||

||And straff is on horseback when he gets nuked by vin||

[long sorrel]

This I don't remember at all

[solid locust]

That‘s the only two major horse scenes

[long sorrel]

This I have purposely blocked in my memory, just like everything related to that character

[solid locust]

Relatable

Well i remembered that scene because it was satisfying af to see him there

[long sorrel]

the main reason I know horses are there is ||that Vin uses horseshoes to fly lol||

[solid locust]

Well not really see him, there wasn‘t much left

[solid locust]

True

[solid locust]

There‘s surprisingly few books that everyone agrees are epic fantasy

[long sorrel]

||With how ham Sanderson went about him being so gross I didn't find this very satisfying, someone should have cut off some of his parts and fed them to him. It was too fast||

[solid locust]

||I liked the finality of it, no way for him to survive or wiggle himself out. Also it was just a massive aura-farm from Vin.||

[mild lance]

MB Era 1 ||the presence of horses is memorable to me because of when Elend fought a koloss and explained by saying “He ate my horse” lol||

[junior dew]

I think dandelion dynasty may be devoid of horses

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/arianwells/811038118552731648

Go Into the Wild Pale Yonder. Go now.

-# #baru cormorant #tain hu #my lines #first baru of the year let's goooooo or something

Tumblr · Mar 14, 2026, 5:30 AM

[sharp steeple]

Baru Cormorant art????

[minor sleet]

And Tain Hu

[sharp steeple]

My favorite disaster lesbians

[drifting bridge]

Project Hail Mary 6 ||My kids ||

[junior dew]

Children of Strife through 2.4 || This is certainly an interesting start. Kern is such a strongly written character/voice. Being back with her is certainly interesting. Kern supposedly not being Kern is quite curious. Alis’ reaction to said fact was quite amusing. Fun dynamic with side effects of being in the simulation so long that she sees everything as not real/not permanent. Quite a dangerous thing that would be ||

Still can’t believe we got a fourth Children of Time book. Really thought it was a trilogy. Curious to see what this book brings and whether this means Tchaikovsky may keep writing in this universe after this one as well

Oh huh a quick search suggests it’s set to be 5 books 👀 That’s quite exciting if true. Not sure what the source is for the info though so I suppose time will tell if that’s accurate or not

[ivory cypress]

and I've finished a starless sea

man!

[long sorrel]

Oooh

[long sorrel]

What's this mean? 👀

[ivory cypress]

that it's an easy 5 stars

man!

[long sorrel]

Yaay

It is defs an easy 5 stars 😌

[ivory cypress]

i need to stare out into the night for a while

[long sorrel]

Gotta draw out the dream feel for a while out of that one

[ivory cypress]

extremely wistfully

[long sorrel]

Mhm!

I should read my Spanish copy one of these days

[uncut shoal]

They definitely had horses

And some of the islands were quite large

Some people found a key/scale and eyeballing it think the largest island is around the size of Great Britain

I'm not sure there are horses on Pern. They're mentioned twice but I feel like those might be editing errors

Martha Wells' Raksura might not have horses. I don't see the word in any of the books anyway

[mild lance]

Howl’s Moving Castle 11 ||well, that one chapter managed to upend everything I thought I knew about this book. So Howl- or Howell- is from the real world, apparently, although it seems that they have some idea that magic is real there. And Suliman the wizard is probably Sullivan from this world as well. It also seems like the poem somehow is the Witch’s curse on Howl?||

[tight kindle]

That is suuuuuuch a mood

[mild lance]

||also gonna get a prediction in writing: the “hint” to Calcifer’s contract had to do with Howl catching a shooting star, which may mean that Calcifer is a shooting star||

[tight kindle]

I've read it four times now and it does that to me every time

Also
I'm rereading my favorite middle grade book series and I still think it's CRIMINALLY underrated

[analog geode]

What series

[tight kindle]

The Keepers, by Ted Sanders
It's a four book series and despite being middle grade the magic system and the worldbuilding is so good.

It does being able to see the future and multiverse shenanigans like nothing else I've ever seen

[junior dew]

Sigh. Maybe I’ll try Starless Sea again after Children of Strife

[junior dew]

Children of Strife 3.1 || The world really wanted bugs huh?

Pulling off the mask of the world who do we get cosplaying as a planet? None other than Adrian Tchaikovsky. Man sure seems to love bugs ||

I do recognize that me reacting to this book is probably of little value as I imagine the number of people here reading this book on release are quite few 😅

Children of Strife 3.1 || So we’re jumping between first and third age. Guess we may see this terraforming project evolve and Alis is perhaps on this world and the stories will converge ||

[minor sleet]

https://www.tumblr.com/waitingforthet/811425357744996352/this-comic-is-as-is-usual-for-wednesdays-comics

waiting for the trade

This comic is, as is usual for Wednesday’s comics, chosen by my Patrons. Speaking of…

Check my Patreon out if you’d like to support the comic, even a little bit helps. Or just to check out the reward tiers, there’s some neat bonus stuff and I tried to make them fun: https://www.patreon.com/waitingforthet

-# #sophie cuckoo #kitty pryde

Tumblr · Mar 18, 2026, 12:05 PM

[junior dew]

CoS 3.2 || Yes, repeatedly playing exterminator on planet bug is going to work oh so well for team “Screw Kern” ||

[snow vessel]

Ugh reading hasn't been getting easier over the last few days

A book will excite me for a day, I'll start it, and then I'll have almost absolutely zero motivation to keep going the next day

I think I need to pick up some "finish it in a day or two" sorta reads

[junior dew]

Yeah best to give yourself grace for the moment and remind yourself that this will pass. I think I may be climbing out of my weird reading funk a bit

[old bone]

Pick up smth that is short and you can finish in one setting

if you want short stories, novella, short manga, oneshots, I can write you a lidt

Short Novella:

• One Day All This Will be Yours
• Elric of Melnibone
• A Psalm for the Wild Built
• Murderbot
• I don't remember the length but I think it was a Novella? The Way Station

Short Stories:

• Any Lovecraft stories
• The Egg
• Ken Liu has his short stories available for free in Tor's website
• Small Changes by Adrian Tchaikovsky is collection of his short stories

I'll write up a manga list in anime channel

[ivory cypress]

I'm really surprised Uncanny Magazine isn't on this list

https://www.uncannymagazine.com/

[old bone]

is it free?

[ivory cypress]

lots of it is, right there on the website

[old bone]

Grey you could like copy that message and write it with the addition of Uncanny Mag so it can be in pins?

would be like a good resource for people I think

[ivory cypress]

sure, can do

[old bone]

appreciated

[ivory cypress]

I should get the nitro that has a bigger character limit...

[old bone]

maybe some other Mod or staff that has Nitro

like why would you waste money on discord just for it

[ivory cypress]

haha

Reactor.com - https://reactormag.com/fiction/ Formerly Tor.com but now renamed, although still affiliated. Mainly used to publish free short fic on Tor's website but has recently got into longer, paid, releases.

Clarkesworld - https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/ One of the leading sci-fi/fantasy magazines around. Prints loads of high quality stories that they release for free each month, both in print and as audiobooks. Still maintains an open door submissions policy.

Strange Horizons - http://strangehorizons.com/ Aims to publish fiction from various diverse backgrounds across the world.

Apex Magazine - https://apex-magazine.com/ Mainly horror and fantasy with a focus on weird stuff. One of the best produced magazines in terms of pure style factor.

Uncanny Magazine - https://www.uncannymagazine.com/ Science fiction and fantasy, a magazine of short stories, poetry, and essays with a huge range of contributers from all over the speculative fiction world

The Deadlands - https://psychopomp.com/deadlands/ stories focused around death, dying, and what comes next. Not as morbid as it sounds but sometimes quite uplifting

3am Magazine - https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/fiction/ Does weird experimental short/micro fiction. Usually somewhat horror focused and a little... up itself at times. Quite solid though.

Famous (and forgotten) Fiction - http://famous-and-forgotten-fiction.com/index.html Out of copyright fiction from around the late 19th century and early 20th century. Mainly American or British fiction.

An Authorized Incomplete Archive of Tom Maddox's Fiction - https://web.archive.org/web/20070515203140/http://www.dthomasmaddox.com/Fiction.html Short fiction from one of the early Cyberpunk writers, Tom Maddox.

Fantastic Metropolis - https://web.archive.org/web/20130113085141/http://www.fantasticmetropolis.com/ Old website created by Michael Moorcock and contains fiction from him, Ted Chiang, China Mieville, and Matthew Stover and many others.

[ivory cypress]

had to finagle a little bit with the word count

and fixed some links

note: most of the text belongs to user Marth (frankenfem) #1404497733108236318 message

[old bone]

Just a note, she probably wouldn't like to be associated with that place nowadays

[ivory cypress]

it's less the server and more i don't want to take credit for the wording of the recs

[cunning pivot]

If you like/can do audio StarShipSofa has hundreds of episodes of narrated short fiction too. Used to listen a lot on long walks https://starshipsofa.com/

[old bone]

Yeah I understand. Just adding that clarification

[junior dew]

Plugging Elder Race by Tchaikovsky as another great novella

[old bone]

Isn't that close to Novel length?

[junior dew]

It’s 4 hours and 14 minutes at 1x speed on audible.

So 2x speed it’s a 2 hour listen. Or I assume a 2-3 hour read physically

[old bone]

Ah okay

[minor sleet]

It pairs well with Rocannon’s World by Ursula K LeGuin

[minor sleet]

New pettiest reason to drop a book ever. Author spelled the spice cardamum as “cardamom”, which I’ve never seen before

[ripe tide]

https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-designates-medellin-world-book-capital-2027
This is cool!

[minor sleet]

It’s apparently a correct variant spelling but i don’t like it

[small bloom]

I thought cardamom was the main one

[minor sleet]

Not in my experience

My family recipes have always used the U

[old bone]

I always used and read Cardamom

in the recipe books and articles

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardamom

[minor sleet]

Apparently I’m from an alternate universe

And so is my family line

[low hill]

Cardamon is the one I'd have gone for based on sound.

[ripe tide]

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/orbit-books/cover-launch-the-eye-of-leviathan-by-m-a-carrick/

[low hill]

Interesting.

[long sorrel]

I didn't know the spelling cardamum

[low hill]

-# I actually don't spell it at all, because I never need to use the word.

[minor sleet]

It’s a good baking spice irregardless of spelling. Makes delicious cookies & other desserts

[long sorrel]

I like it, though I don't use it much

[velvet umbra]

I have heard it pronounced as cardamum, but rarely if ever spelled that way

[marble sinew]

You're missing "Carda<down arrow key, enter>"

[long sorrel]

I finished the first book and now I'm into the second

[long sorrel]

I love the rep it has, and the women writing

And this is written by a 45 yo white cis dude, wild

[lusty meteor]

men can write women!

it does happen!

[ripe tide]

Whats the pitch?

[long sorrel]

Perdí mi alma cuando tenía trece años, sin ni siquiera haber desayunado. Era una mañana fría y neblinosa en la villa, y los ecos de las campanas que marcaban las seis flotaban sobre la bahía.A pesar de los años transcurridos, recuerdo con nitidez cada detalle de la suma de decisiones que me llevaron a comenzar mi andadura por la senda que finaliza en el infierno. Cada suspiro, cada palabra, cada cadáver, convertidos en un monumento a mis muchas estupideces y pocos aciertos. En el penal de El Cabracho, mientras aguarda cuatro ejecuciones consecutivas a manos de la Inquisición, Leo Vicar se dispone a dictar su infame pasado a un escriba real. Empezando por su adolescencia, narrará cómo condenó su alma una mañana de invierno sin ni siquiera haber desayunado, cómo rompió cada uno de los trece mandamientos del Cristo Ahogado y cómo su primer amor desencadenó un brutal descenso al abismo. Leo Vicar desgranará una historia de brujas reencarnadas y demonios de las profundidades, de inocencia perdida y rabia incombustible, de lágrimas y quemaduras. De salitre y cenizas.

[ripe tide]

Ok that's really interesting and different

[long sorrel]

Salitre y Cenizas early ||most of the plot hinges on the fact that Leo is a trans man in middle ages alternate Spain and gets condemned initially for being "lesbian" (as he is into women) as well as refusing to conform to stupid women social rules aswell||

||There is a lot of transphobia in it, as you'd expect, but he does slowly get lead into witchraft and and all that stuff||

[ripe tide]

OH

[long sorrel]

It is a very crass book, it is this author's first book and it kinda shows but it's pretty well written, plotted and paced, regardless

[ripe tide]

I did not get that aspect from the blurb

[long sorrel]

It is a "reveal" very early in the book

I actually quite like that the blurb isn't about that

[ripe tide]

ahhhh ok

[long sorrel]

you know?

[ripe tide]

Yeah for sure

[ripe tide]

interesting interesting

[old bone]

spanish?

[long sorrel]

Yes?

[old bone]

ah

[long sorrel]

Much like what happened with Empire of the Vampire I do love the scribe

However unlike with that one, I do love the mc of this one

[iron pond]

perhaps, but it gives the rest of us something to come back to once we get around to reading it

[junior dew]

Fair!

[junior dew]

Children of Strife 6.3 || Curious being on earth. I wonder where this is going exactly. Is this going to be the set of colonists aimed for planet bug? ||

[quaint burrow]

Virginia Woolf’s diary entries on James Joyce’s Ulysses:

“An illiterate, underbred book it seems to me; the book of a self taught working man, and we all know how distressing they are, how egotistic, insistent, raw, striking, and ultimately nauseating. …
I finished ‘Ulysses’ and think it is a misfire. Genius it has, I think; but of the inferior water. The book is diffuse. It is brackish. It is pretentious. It is underbred, not only in the obvious sense, but in the literary sense. A first-rate writer, I mean, respects writing too much to be tricky; startling; doing stunts.”

[minor sleet]

Classism from Virginia Woolf? What a shock

[tight kindle]

Finished my Keepers book 2 reread (this one is called The Harp and the Ravenvine) and I still maintain that these books are very underrated

[warm leaf]

One question: which trilogy do you recommend I buy?
Red Rising or the Joe Abercrombie trilogy?

[long sorrel]

which

[warm leaf]

oh, the first law

Both are trilogies, so I don't know which one to choose

[long sorrel]

I didn't like Red Rising but you probably would so idk

I haven't read First Law but I'd recommend that one

[ivory cypress]

can you try them out before buying?

[low hill]

I've not read either, but the one Joe Abercrombie book I've read was good, so that one?

[warm leaf]

Well, yes, but I've heard very good things about both of them

I'll eventually buy both (obviously), but I want to see what I'll buy first

[buoyant whale]

Isn't red rising more than three books

[long sorrel]

so is First Law

[warm leaf]

Yes, in fact one of the reasons I'm curious is that 6th book has the highest rating on Goodreads

[alpine drum]

well technically there is a First Law trilogy and then other books in the First Law universe

the trilogy works fine standalone though

[buoyant whale]

This isn't that surprising to me, books tend to rank higher the deeper into a series they are

[velvet umbra]

I've only read Red Rising the book 1 not the series but imo The Blade Itself is a much better book

[long sorrel]

Tbf Red Rising (book 1) is bad enough that if the things after don't rate higher... idk...

[velvet umbra]

it took me forever to finish in initially cause I started it back before I got fully back into reading but in hindsight I really liked it

[wet belfry]

I find Joe Abercrombie to be kind of yes/no where you like him or you don't with people being split on him being fairly rare

[buoyant whale]

I'm not the biggest fan of first law world but the original trilogy was a decent read while I tried RR and it wasn't my jam at all

[long sorrel]

RR is my jam, I think except the book was just really bad

so it isn't my jam idk

[buoyant whale]

Potato potato

Abercrombie for me was like, the more I read of his side books the less I liked him

[long sorrel]

RR book 1 ||To be fair the "sci fi book" that had kids fighting like medieval idiots for 80% of the book in a fantasy setting might not be my jam at all, since it had just about nothing of sci fi||

[warm leaf]

And what would you recommend? Malazan? That's also a series I want to buy later

[velvet umbra]

RR just felt kind of idk sloppy to me, and once it actually got into the meat of the book a lot of it felt repetitive and uninteresting

[long sorrel]

For you specifically I'd recommend First Law over Malazan

[alpine drum]

I would recommend the First Law trilogy, although I think going book by book is good in general unless you get a big discount

[velvet umbra]

I still thought it was ok and saw potential for later though

[long sorrel]

And I think you'd enjoy RR

[junior dew]

Manifests to rave about Dandelion Dynasty

[warm leaf]

I heard that the first book is the most normal of all, and then in the following ones the world expands

[long sorrel]

I did see the potential for later! In so much as "oh god we're finally done with this part thank F-"

But that also doesn't give me any motivation to pick up book 2

when I have 400 boosk on my tbr that seem more appealing

[buoyant whale]

Yeah there aren't many trilogies I would recommend to outright buy all together, book by book is safer

[wet belfry]

Malazan also has a pretty binary filter

[velvet umbra]

yeah kind of same like it was a "I will get to this at some point this year" than a "hot damn gotta get on the next book asap"

[junior dew]

First Law imo has great character work and basically no plot (hyperbole, but yeah if you are a plot reader avoid First Law)

[velvet umbra]

I think the no plot thing is pretty frontloaded on book 1

[warm leaf]

I'm actually a completionist (is that the right word?), meaning that if I start something, I finish it (and because books look nice together)

[velvet umbra]

book 1 is extreme no plot, the other two are a much more normal mix

[junior dew]

Actually yeah I guess that’s fair. I still think the plot is like… tertiary even in the subsequent books

[wet belfry]

I am too, which is why I finished First Law at all (which I did not like) but I did not get through the first Malazan book and never will

[buoyant whale]

Shrug, you do you with your books lol

[velvet umbra]

Aren’t you already mid several other series?

[warm leaf]

Well, lately I only see three authors who are theoretically comparable to Tolkien, or who come close to what he was: GRRM, Robert Jordan, and Steve Erickson. That's why I'm curious to read the latter

[warm leaf]

Oh, yes, of course, but I read a lot

It's a habit I've had since I was little

Although I have to be careful about what I read, because I can't read on an e-book, I use physical books to avoid distractions, even though they are more expensive

[alpine drum]

in terms of "trained academic who writes fantasy" I could see the comparison (although Tolkien was a much more academically focused person than Erikson), but I think Erikson writes fantasy for different reasons to Tolkien and has a very different style

[long sorrel]

@warm leaf (some less known stuff that I think you might like)
Shades of Magic might be your jam, trilogy.
Ryria Revelations is a very traditional type of fantasy with a pretty fun plot and characters (though the first book is rough)Ç
God Fragments (magic guns) might be your thing? Not sure
You'd probably like Will of the Many tbh but this isn't completed

I'd also any of the RJB trilogy but this is less traditional fantasy and I'm not sure I've heard you talk about less traditional stuff

Shades of Magic does have a second trilogy coming though

[wet belfry]

I do think we're beyond the era where fantasy authors are writing to try and recapture the Spirit of Tolkien and that's overwhelmingly for the best

[long sorrel]

Like this would stop anyone 😌

[wet belfry]

Nobody writes like Tolkien, and now nobody really tries to anymore, and thank god

[long sorrel]

I'm like mid 20 series or so lol

[junior dew]

-# Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Liu

[long sorrel]

Yeah, I think I appreciate that he has left his mark and some of it has been fully integrated into some writing but now it's not trying to be like Tolkien

[wet belfry]

I need to read actual Ken Liu. Only interaction I've read of his is reading his translations of Three Body Problem

[warm leaf]

Hmm, that's interesting. I need to read a lot because I'm studying to be a writer and teacher, so thanks for those recommendations

[long sorrel]

Do read what they're about and all that first

[junior dew]

His series is so good. With the caveat that book 1 is basically a prequel to a trilogy in which he’s setting up the world and history for the rest of the series

[long sorrel]

Most of those are just fun adventures and not super deep but I liked different aspects of how each was written

[warm leaf]

I also read because I like it, obviously haha

[lusty meteor]

The issue with tolkien clones is that they tried to copy what he did without having the same expertise or background

Although i do need to read tad williams at some point

[wet belfry]

Green Bone Saga is also very good and seems down the line of books you seem interested in, only I actually liked it so I feel good about recommending it

[wet belfry]

I wouldn't even lump him in with the Tolkien clones

[warm leaf]

Oh, right, this one's on my shopping list too

[lusty meteor]

Grrm and erikson are both very pointedly not writing the way tolkien is, although you can argue grrm is comparable in terms of influence

[wet belfry]

He comes from that era (kind of) but it really isn't the same thing

[lusty meteor]

My understanding is that tad is just a good writer and so the clone moniker loses cohesion

He has talked in interviews of his stuff being very tolkien inspired

[warm leaf]

My shopping list would be TFL Trilogy, RR Trilogy, Green Bone Saga and finally Malaza

[lusty meteor]

Although less so as it went on

[cunning pivot]

GRRM actually points to Tad Williams as inspiration for GoT

[wet belfry]

I hadn't heard that but it makes a lot of sense to me

[lusty meteor]

Is brandon the third most influential fantasy author? Behind george and tolkien

[wet belfry]

When I think Tolkien clone I think more like Goodkind or whats-his-Shannara guy whose name I can't remember

[junior dew]

May I recommend Broken Earth by N.K. Jemisin as well

[lusty meteor]

I cant think of anyone else

[wet belfry]

Too early to say

[cunning pivot]

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/17/tropes-trolls-and-trump-meet-one-of-george-rr-martins-favourite-fantasy-writers-tad-williams

Some politics but from January 2017, a different time ...

[warm leaf]

Yes, I've seen that too and I'm looking forward to reading it, but maybe I'll buy it next year

[lusty meteor]

I dont think it is kon

Brandon’s era is 20 years old

[wet belfry]

Tolkien's career is over and GRRM's is functionally over, Brandon's still going and very much has opportunity to scuttle his own legacy in the next 40 years or so

[warm leaf]

I don't think BS is that influential

[junior dew]

For what it’s worth, I would recommend it much more than Green Bone.

Granted I haven’t read Green Bone book 3

[lusty meteor]

There are multiple completed series you can point to and say are directly brandon inspired

Not even jordan has that to the same extent

[buoyant whale]

Brandon certainly has a following, we will see what comes out from it in some years though, not that many high profile books i can point to and go "yeah that's a brandon clone"

[junior dew]

One day perhaps I’ll finish Green Bone. Like it’s solid and all but ehh

[buoyant whale]

there are???

[brazen pilot]

i feel like there are clear things that are brandon inspired, but it also doesn't feel to me like the current wave of what fantasy is is inspired by brandon

[alpine drum]

Moorcock would be ahead of Brandon

[warm leaf]

I think Brandon is prolific, but I don't think that means he has the same influence

[brazen pilot]

like it feels more like brandon has created a subgenre of brandon-likes which appeal to people, but he hasn't changed the fantasy default

[long sorrel]

Having something Brandon inspired doesnt mean he's influential

[alpine drum]

Moorcock -> Warhammer -> Warcraft
That alone (i.e. ignoring all the other authors Moorcock influenced) puts him ahead of Brandon

[buoyant whale]

and i hope it never is 🙏

[wet belfry]

I do feel like this is a hard sell when Brandon is very specifically downstream of RJ

[warm leaf]

I don't think Sanderson invented shared universes like the Cosmere where everyone takes their own path; I think Rick Jordan did the same thing with his mythological sagas

[junior dew]

Yeah I feel like the big thing with Brandon that I’ve seen isn’t an influence on the greater fantasy sphere, but rather that he’s one big entry point for people getting back into reading.

I think SJM and Yarros may be more influential than Brandon

[long sorrel]

Also I feel, I know the comparisson is absurd but Tolkien didn't just produce Tolkien clones, Tolkien influenced how books must be written even outside of Tolkien-like books.

[buoyant whale]

fantasyfantasy as it ought to be written fr fr

[junior dew]

Was SJM the start of the massive romantasy wave?

[long sorrel]

And Brandon has never influenced anyone past "i really like that guy, this is a copy/love letter to his work"

[brazen pilot]

i don't think brandon isn't influential, i think he does have influence on how people write plots and settings, and magic systems of course, but i think it's a normal amount of influence for an author that popular and not a top 3 of all time level of influence

[alpine drum]

Suzanne Collins is probably also more influential than Brandon tbh

[lusty meteor]

I think brandon is about as influential as you can get with the decentralized nature of fantasy now

[wet belfry]

Yeah Tolkien dictated how fantasy books had to be written for like 50 years. GRRM got multiple studios to spend a combined billions of dollars chasing the high of his series. Brandon has...?

[long sorrel]

I think influential is too wide of a word so yeah

[warm leaf]

JK Rowling?, I can't think of anyone as influential as her in recent times

[long sorrel]

Popularity != influential

Imo

[wet belfry]

I do think for the purposes of this discussion romantasy is best considered as having mostly mitosis'd off into a separate genre

[long sorrel]

Or not in the way Im thinking of

[buoyant whale]

most influential authors are the ones i like and the least influential ones are the ones i dislike

[long sorrel]

Through SJM, admitedly, I do think she's more influential than Sanderson. It has dictated a way of writing

[versed agate]

Brandon has a sold out writing class
I have to assume some of those will go on to be successful authors

[warm leaf]

I think you're partly right; being popular gives you some influence (that's why certain people are called influencers), but leaving a new mark in that field makes you surpass that popularity, you transcend it

[junior dew]

But I think that exactly goes to show just how influential SJM has been

[versed agate]

hell, there are already published authors who were in his classes

[alpine drum]

Yes, I assumed someone had mentioned her already

[wet belfry]

On the one hand, some of them already have (eg Brian McClellan). On the other he takes like 20 students at a time for the "real" class where he directly mentors the students as opposed to just his lecture series

[warm leaf]

In other words, I think the most influential authors are those who managed to do something new in their genre that fit like a glove

[junior dew]

Has she been influential really? In terms of moving the needle of fantasy in any way?

[alpine drum]

Imo every middle grade -> YA series is influenced by HP

[wet belfry]

A lot of the early-modern YA was defined by trying to capture the Harry Potter audience, yes

[alpine drum]

Also the hogwarts house system thing is an influence on a bunch of stuff as well

[lusty meteor]

I consider YA a different stream

[somber timber]

RJB HIVE

[velvet umbra]

as I've said before I think HP's influence is more felt in like the marketing/publishing side of things than the actual contents of the books though obviously with things like the house-type stuff that bleeds into the actual book content

[junior dew]

I think this raises a good point in nailing down what we are defining influential as. Because I think multiple of us are all holding different meanings for the word when approaching this topic