What Else Are You Reading - May 2017

[Lariela]

Louie wrote: "Lariela wrote: "Just started Ahsoka."

I am currently reading Star Wars: Darth Plagueis, planning on Ahsoka next. ;-)"

Still reading 'Darth Plagueis' too. And more Star Wars books keep following me home from the library. :) (Waiting for Thrawn.)

[Joseph]

I finished It (finally! liked it, but forgot how long that book was) and will be following up with something more bite-sized -- The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle.

[Rob, Roberator]

I was lucky enough to get an early review copy of the audiobook for Assassin's Fate a few weeks back. I only just finished today. It's 40 hours long.

I find myself emotionally drained and for that I gave it ★★★★★ - My Review

[Trike]

Just started Lightless this afternoon. So far this is the best debut novel I've read n the past couple years.

[Dara]

Assassin's Fate. Preparing to be emotionally wrecked.

[Iain]

Just Finished The Masked City ★★★☆☆ which gave us new Library worlds and The Infinity Engine★★★★☆which is a good (dark) twisty space opera. Now deciding what to read next (A close and Common Orbit may be my alternative read for the month as I have already read LWSAP).

[Silvana]

Same with Dara. Just 5% into Assassin's Fate and I feel I might have to call in sick tomorrow.

[Lariela]

Just started Thrawn by Timothy Zahn.

Will probably read all of his books with this character.

[Shad]

Just finished my reread of The Way of Kings. Starting on The Dragon Keeper after reading Rob's review of Assassin's Fate to get caught up on everything going on in the world before I read the end of the Fitz and Fool trilogy.

[Rob, Roberator]

Shad wrote: "Just finished my reread of The Way of Kings. Starting on The Dragon Keeper after reading Rob's review of Assassin's Fate to get caught up on everything..."

I hope you enjoy it. I think you'll appreciate stuff more than way.

[Joseph]

Finished The Ballad of Black Tom (it was short), read The Jewel and Her Lapidary (it was really short; considered a novelette by word count) and started Fritz Leiber's Swords in the Mist, the third Lankhmar collection.

[Callum]

I just finished Thrawn. Which I absolutely loved and is making me want to find all the other star wars novels and plough through them. A solid 4/5 stars for me.
I'm now onto assassin's fate, which I completely forgot I was waiting for and had to double check that I had read the first two. But I am only 5% in and am already hooked. Remembering the storyline and everything and really enjoying it.

[Shad]

Rob wrote: "Shad wrote: "Just finished my reread of The Way of Kings. Starting on The Dragon Keeper after reading Rob's review of Assassin's Fate to get caught up ..."
In addition to not having some of the backstory for characters that appear, I've noticed in both the Liveship Traders and now the Rain Wild books that there were spoilers in the Tawny Man trilogy (not an issue if you read the others first). It isn't a big enough issue to keep you from enjoying the books if you read the different series out of order, but the proper order would make the reading better.

[Rob, Roberator]

Yes. I've always recommended to people to read the Elderlings books in pub order:

Farseer Trilogy
Liveship Traders Trilogy
Tawny Man Trilogy
Rainwild Chronicles
Fitz & Fool

[Dara]

Rob wrote: "Yes. I've always recommended to people to read the Elderlings books in pub order:

Farseer Trilogy
Liveship Traders Trilogy
Tawny Man Trilogy
Rainwild Chronicles
Fitz & Fool"

I agree.

[Shad]

Dara wrote: "Rob wrote: "Yes. I've always recommended to people to read the Elderlings books in pub order:

Farseer Trilogy
Liveship Traders Trilogy
Tawny Man Trilogy
Rainwild Chronicles
Fitz & Fool"

I agree."
That is very interesting. In the world of the books, Dragon Keeper actually goes back before the end of Tawny Man (view spoiler)[before the dragons hatched not fully developed (hide spoiler)]. The way the beginning of Dragon Keeper is written, it feels spoiled if you read Tawny Man first.

[Rob, Roberator]

It's been awhile since I've read Dragon Keeper, but it was written after Tawny Man, so I don't see how it can feel like a spoiler. If anything I looked at the Rainwild as expanding on the characters, locations and ideas expressed in Liveship, and some of the events of Tawny Man.

By the time you get to Fitz and Fool the Fitz stuff and the Liveship/Rainwild stuff no longer feels like 2 series set in different parts of the same world, but a more complete story.

[Kristina]

Finished the pick, moving on to Ancillary Mercy... it's been quite the laser month for this sword!

[John (Taloni)]

I'm reading Eragon. Soooooo not my first choice, but I don't have anything else teed up, so I tagged it at the library and it came off hold fast.

Well, that's not totally true. I was reading one of those "mega collections" of older SF. The first story had a hardboiled lawman arresting three crooks on an asteroid, then due to shipwreck joining up with a professor and his hot daughter. There was a scene where he knocked over some stuff in the ship's pantry just so he could kiss the daughter, who promptly slapped him. Later on she said she'd been hoping he would kiss her again. Yeaaaaahhhh....no. And someone actually said "why, you dirty rat."

So, Eragon. I got it just after reading the second story from the mega collection, an excerpt from Weapon Shops of Isher, which I reread only a few years ago.

The amateur nature of Eragon is obvious from the way the author uses "was" to describe everything. Writing 101, show don't tell, and don't use "was," use more detailed description.

And then there's the opening line, which competes with bad-writing contests for awfulness: "Wind howled through the night, carrying a scent that would change the world."

That opener reminded me of an actual bad-writing contest winner: "A hot toddy would do us all good on a freezing, death-laden night like tonight."

Beyond that, the first few chapters seem like a country song:

Ah wuz walkin' in the woodlands,
when I saw a magic stone land,
I done lost my best arrow
Shootin' at a deer.
Winter gon' be hungry
'Cause the family got no vittles
But just then the Lord must'a
Reached out and touched someone
For the Smithy helped me out and bough-ought some feueueueueood...

I'll finish Eragon. It's not completely bad, and the author is stealing from some actually good works, so the elements are okay. Probably won't go on to the other works.

[Allison]

John, I love that whole post. I'm cracking up!

[Phil]

I consider Eragon one of my least favorite books of all time because of the terrible writing and stolen ideas.
When my wife and I split up, out of a couple thousand books it was the only fiction one that neither one of us wanted.

[John (Taloni)]

Allison wrote: "John, I love that whole post. I'm cracking up!"

Thanks! I had fun writing it.

[Trike]

John (Taloni) wrote: "I'll finish Eragon. It's not completely bad, and the author is stealing from some actually good works, so the elements are okay. Probably won't go on to the other works. "

A book written by a 17-year-old who stole the plot from Star Wars? It's baffling this did not become a towering work of genius.

[Brendan]

Read: City of Miracles. I think i'd rank it in third place out of the trilogy, but that's less a knock on it and more how good Stairs and Blades were. ★★★★☆

Borne. Will definitely be one of the best books of 2017, wouldn't be entirely surprised if it does end up being the best. I love Vandermeer's style of focusing on very small areas and a tiny cast of characters to really drive home the apocalypse. ★★★★★

Currently reading: Company Town. Because i needed some Canadian Content, i guess.

[Aaron]

John (Taloni) wrote: "I'm reading Eragon. Soooooo not my first choice, but I don't have anything else teed up, so I tagged it at the library and it came off hold fast.

Well, that's not totally true. I was reading one ..."

How do you feel when I tell you the first book is the best one.

I read the first book when it came out I was 13 and I liked it a good bit. I mean it was competing with starwars tie in fiction and the later Dragonlance books soo it didn't really have much competition. Book 2 is bipolar in quality where everything with the brother Rolan??? is actually pretty good and the high point of the series, too bad everything involving the main character was utterly awful, then it just kept getting worse. The finale felt way too much like LOOK GUYS I'M BEING DIFFERENT which while yeah it kind of was it wasn't satisfying at all and you don't really get points for having a different ending to something very generic.

[Aaron]

I'm reading Warmage. It's a pretty good sequel overall but the constant jumping back and forth between present and past is grating. I know you want to break up politics and action and if you play it straight it turns into politics for 300 pages then action for 300 pages but it's almost broken up in too small of points and it's jarring.

[Brendan]

I'm always amazed at the extent to which fantasy readers are willing to trade quality for volume.

[John (Taloni)]

Brendan wrote: "I'm always amazed at the extent to which fantasy readers are willing to trade quality for volume."

Or as I call it, the "Wheel of Time" issue. I met someone who absolutely adores Wheel of Time, and on that recommendation picked it up. On a similar recommendation I picked up Discworld, which was, well, fabulous. I've read all of them.

I never got into Wheel of Time. There are entire novels that take fewer pages than WoT takes to go from one village to another.

After a while I realized that some readers enjoy the "reading as tourism" aspect and really get into the world. So they will appreciate the volume. It's not for me, but whatever floats your boat.

[Brendan]

John (Taloni) wrote: Or as I call it, the "Wheel of Time" issue. I met someone who absolutely adores Wheel of Time..."

Reminds me of my brother, who has read the entire Wheel of Time series, the entire Sword of Truth series, and basically no other books. Very intelligent guy (engineer) but not the strongest reader. I tried to introduce him to Discworld but I don't know if it took.

[Soo]

was better than I thought it would be. It had really interesting elements for space travel. I wish there was more detail about that than there were in the book. It's a stand alone novel that predates the Universe Eventual series. Now I'm curious to see if I can find out more answers to my questions by reading the series.

was fun! I haven't read the series before but that didn't hinder me from getting into the story & characters. Dark setting like Hitchcock, felt like a game of Clue and left with just enough questions to want more.

Working on , started and trying to keep my greedy hands off .

[Diogenes]

I'm currently working through Norse Mythology.
Is somebody else reading Gaiman at the moment?

[Jordan]

Finished Foundation and Empire. I ended up not liking it as much as the first. The overall story was still good, but the characters were terrible.

Finished Strange the Dreamer, which did indeed in a literal "to be continued". I loved the book right up until that point and then I was betrayed.

Currently reading The Book of Joan, which is kind of meh so far. Not really my thing, despite the fact that the book jacket sounded interesting.

[Ryne]

I read Pilot X, wasn't really a fan of it, but I'm not really a fan of time travel stories in general. I was glad I gave it a try though. I'm not sure what to read next. I might try to finish Mass Effect: Nexus Uprising since I'm a little over halfway through, though it's super boring.

[Rob, Roberator]

I finished listening to Fight and Flight. It was fun, but not as good as some of the past volumes: ★★★½☆ - (My Review)

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Diogenes wrote: "I'm currently working through Norse Mythology.
Is somebody else reading Gaiman at the moment?"

I'm reading American Gods and Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances.

[Joseph]

Finished Swords in the Mist and am remaining in Lanhkmar with Swords Against Wizardry.

[HeyT]

I've already read this month's selection so I started to read The Last Adventure of Constance Verity by A. Lee Martinez. I love the tone of his works.

[Diogenes]

Randy wrote: "Diogenes wrote: "I'm currently working through Norse Mythology.
Is somebody else reading Gaiman at the moment?"

I'm reading American Gods and [book:Trigger Warning:..."

I loved the "Comming to America" chapters of American Gods.

[Iain]

Just finished Tor's free book of the month for January. The Bloodline Feud (The Merchant Princes, #1-2) ★★★☆☆, which is a fun mash up of a book A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court with some Vaginal Fantasy worked in for good measure. A fair bit of trope inversion as well. Fun with little depth, I may read the other books in the series.

Now reading A Closed and Common Orbit as my alt read for May. A good read so far.

[Soo]

Aw man. All this talk about Assassin's Fate is making me want to ditch my reading plans and dive into that instead. It's one of my favorite series.

Still working on Sorcerer to the Crown. It has interesting characters & setting. The writing is overdone and sometimes hard to get past.

Finished Dreamer's Pool & I really enjoyed it! It wasn't what I thought it would be. I had this idea that it would be an epic revenge themed adventure but it's not. Great characters & draws strong emotions. It's more like an old school, dark fairy tale.

Next: Dark Matter and Slaughterhouse-Five - Or I'll ditch and read up on Fitz & Fool.

[Dara]

Ryne wrote: "I read Pilot X, wasn't really a fan of it, but I'm not really a fan of time travel stories in general. I was glad I gave it a try though. I'm not sure what to read next. I might try..."

Good to know about Mass Effect: Nexus Uprising. I really enjoyed the Drew Karpyshyn ME books so that's a bit disappointing.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Diogenes wrote: "I loved the "Comming to America" chapters of American Gods."

I like some of them. They always derail the plot though. I'm interested to see what's going to happen to Shadow and then all of a sudden we're reading about totally new people. I like the book pretty well overall though. I'll finish it in a couple weeks probably.

[Minsta]

Silvana wrote: "City of Miracles

Don't read the synopsis if you don't want to get spoiled.

[spoilers removed]"

I agree, I would have preferred not to know this!! I am halfway through the book and enjoying it. I hope there will be more books in this world, even if this is the end of the trilogy. Maybe a prequel?

[Trike]

Finished Lightless. Man oh man, I have never experienced a book go from 100 to 0 so quickly. Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I hate dumb books so much. One damn star.

My review ripping it up here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Walter]

Currently making my way through The Well, which reads like a haunted house novel written by William Faulkner. Also added a commute audiobook after completing the one on classic Russian novelists, The Darwin Economy: Liberty, Competition, and the Common Good.

[Rick]

Dammit Trike, quit holding back.

[Lariela]

Just started Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence.

[Joseph]

Finished Swords Against Wizardry and started some different old-school sword & sorcery with Michael Moorcock's Elric in the Dream Realms.

[John (Taloni)]

Rick wrote: "Dammit Trike, quit holding back."

This is why we need a "like" button...

[Shad]

Finished The Dragon Keeper. I liked it, but it wasn't as good as some of the other Robin Hobb books I've read. There is a part at the beginning that is a little hard to get into if you've read all of Tawny Man because you know the characters will be disappointed, but you should still read Tawny Man first. I think that part is there for character development.

I know I should finish up the Rainwild Chronicles before starting Assassin's Fate, but my library just got the ebook and I just wasn't as into Dragon Keeper as some of her other books. Fitz is calling to me!

The Rainwild books might be better than Dragon Keeper because things got better near the end of the book once the characters started having stuff to do more. It looks like the next one starts where Dragon Keeper ended.