Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion
Archive [Retired Book Clubs]
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RETIRED THREAD: Vagabond Treehouse Book Club
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Took some time to reel me in, but I’ve been liking it since the MC started experimenting and learning the rules and getting help from believer friend, college physicist buddy, and hypnotherapist...
OOO *goes to look it up*Title is cheese. Ray Porter is the narrator. Ok! Getting it. lol
Ah, wait. I gotta buy it? I'll wait for you to tell me what you think first. lol
Or just listen to #2. XD
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But if you don't want to spend a credit, half the reviewers of book 2's arc read without reading book 1 and didn't seem to have too much trouble, altho it obviously spoils how book 1 resolves... OR, the ebook is only $0.99... think that makes whispersync $8.48 total...
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Soo wrote: "=D I'd totally make an effort to chat! Cradle is one of my fav cultivation series. It's a nice mashup of martial arts, energy-fu and growing pains with super over-acheivers. lol Basically, anime st..."Thats too bad Soo. Not sure why Gwynn's books resonate with me. I really like how he writes characters. I am really Impressed that Gwynn's first attempt at writing was this first series. I find his books easy reads that I want to devour.
Another series of short stories I am reading now at the Hexecutioner by William Massa. The Hexecutioner Books 1-10: The Complete Series. They are free with Kindle Unlimited. They run 60-80 pages but they are entertaining and a little dark.
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Getting ahold of the audiobooks for Faithful and Fallen is hard, too, since they're only commercially available in the UK/EU...
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I read Sword of Kaigan and thought it was great... sounds cool that author has Cosmere-ish ideas for a megaverse there with Theonite... sad that the author has acknowledged they're not skilled enough as an author to pull it off... first 2 indie books apparently need heavy editing/etc probably, and the rest of the megaverse is on indefinite hiatus for now, while the author writes other things I think...
Sword of Kaigen is a clear step in the right direction, tho, so I'm curious to see what they write next...
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I read Cradle in the past year or so, and have skimmed the wiki a fair bit... no re-reading, but I'll be around if you chat... I loved the series, especially the deeper into it I got... I took longer breaks that I should between books 1-3... zoomed through most of the rest...
Iain, let me know when you read the second book that's on Audible Plus. If you enjoy it, I'll add to my reading spree. Though, I've slowed down on my reading/listening in general. Well, maybe not? I've been re-reading Wandering Inn and totally caught up on current releases. It's interesting to note how much has and has not happened in WI. The latest releases on Vol8 were hilaaaaaaarious! Brian, I think it's a matter of mood and when you get exposed to the author's writing. I would enjoy a lot of the newer authors more if I was 20 years younger. XD LOL
I think it's so weird and cool that I can legit say stuff like that! Hahahha
Yeah, I read Gwynne vs listening and I wasn't impressed. I know several friends continued and I dropped the series at book #3.
I'll probably give his work another try at some point. Maybe when the current series is complete. No waiting is best!
I added Hexecutioner to my KU list on Amazon. =D
Totally not sticking to any real schedule for anything. It works since I have to be super organized for other aspects of my life. I need that contrast of very organized and free spiriting.
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Most of my reading slowdown is from doing most of my reading at work these days, and watching more TV at home...
And only listening at 2x speed these days... sometimes I wonder if it's a covid thing, since I see all the news stories about long-term brain-fog... but brain-fog is a term that's easy to self-diagone, if you're ever forgetful :D
Wandering Inn's greatest strength and greatest weakness is the sheer scope of POVs/stories going on... always something interesting to jump to, but hard to resolve anything in a timely manner... having continued a BIT past the end of Flowers of Esthelm, I'm surprised how concisely that one was able to be split really, thanks to the focus on [Formerly Florist] and Toren and their humanity/monstrosity, for so many chapters in the middle of Volume 3...
The order you're exposed to certain story tropes definitely affects which books you love, and which feel derivative, and that doesn't even touch on tone/etc...
My biggest reading problem is starting a series, and then having no desire to continue any time soon... with some notable exceptions like Laundry Files and Orphan X... I'm stalled on so many ongoing series...
Ya'll know I'm a die hard Android user. HehehAnyways, a good chunk of the reason why I pick the phones I get are due to camera, sound & processing speed. Last year, I saw posts about people doing astrophotography with Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. I have S20U and the latest, S21U.
Here's my start of astrophotography with my phones S20U/S21U. I'm so excited! Woo! Also, I could see the Milkyway without any camera help! =D
Though, the falling stars/comets/etc were totally caught by camera and not by me cause I was too busy trying out camera specs to shoot. lol
I took these on Saturday late night, early Sunday morning. Whichever way you want to look at it.
It took several tries to figure out how camera timer, pointing camera and how to stand still for 30seconds for the shot. LOL
You can see the S21U on a tripod, me and part of the Milkyway. =D
Shooting star + Milkyway! =D
The moon rise started around 4:30am.
One of the cool things that didn't really hit me was how the Milkyway is more than just one part in the sky. It goes all the way across! I'm planning on getting into kayaking/etc but I may get new camera gear instead. I would loooooooooooove to get wide angle shots of the Milkyway.
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And funny that the Galaxy phone is good for astrophotography... punny...
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Such a great book/series...
There's more stuff on Audible Plus that I may want to read. =DI'll report if I get anything fun.
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I'll report if I get anything fun."
After finding the Nick Jones book, I feel like I should pay more attention to new additions, since I'm unclear how long they stay on there sometimes... could be missing out on short-term gems...
Have any of you read The Paternus Trilogy? They have the trilogy combined on Audible. Gets mixed reviews
Yes. They're pretty great. I reviewed them all. The first one starts out pretty rough so be sure to push through. If you're enjoying it by half way, you should enjoy the whole series.I had to speed up the narrator. His narration style bugged me at slower speeds and was fine when I went a bit higher than my regular listen rate. Your mileage may vary.
Books 1-3 of the Henchmen Chronicles by Craig Halloran is on Audible Plus. Light adventure series written in an episodic style. I have the bundled series by the author that's a UF. I'll probably start that sooner now because I'm having fun listening to this series. Depending on how #3 ends, I may either read the rest of the series (books are on KU) or buy the audios.
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I liked the first intro with Stieg and Max, I think... then it jumped to Zeke and Fiona and her uncle Edgar and the dog Mol... I wasn't as hot on that one just yet, altho I think they're supposed to be the normies that the reader empathizes with in learning the world?...
THEN is jumped the some asian named guy and Baphomet and I started getting lost...
THEN it jumped to a character I've already forgotten that sounded like Bigfoot/Yeti, but might be a Tanuki?... or that's the NEXT character it jumped to... like I said, alot is going on, but I want to tough it out, since it sounds like it settles in after awhile...
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Half the reason my iPhone broke was that I listened to books so much that I was charging it while listening, and it would get caught in my pocket or on other things in my furniture, and it made the lightning port loose and finicky...
Having 2 devices (I can listen on my motorola phone at home in a pinch), I can charge without using the device, and cause less issues... I hope... I picked up a protection plan just in case...
Why doesn't the earpods work with Motorola? Only apple products?Henchmen Chronicles suffers from the author writing in episodic style or maybe he doesn't know how to write mini-arcs? I like the characters. Plot is a bit like, how many different weird stuff can I throw into a story and make it float? Hahah
So far, it's a light adventure story with quirks.
I borrowed #4 on KU. I'll try to read it.
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Henchmen Chronicles suffers from the author writing in episodic style or maybe he doesn't know how to write mini-arcs? I like the c..."
Apple and Android use different sound control encoding... the pause/play button matches and works for the most part, but the sound buttons don't (something to do with pressure and resistances)... and since I do most of my listening at work, sound controls and 100% accurate pause/play is important, for when I have to deal with customers or walkie-talkie requests from coworkers/managers...
The internet says a skilled electrical engineer could take apart the earpod buttons and resolder them to work on Android, but it can just as easily be bricked... and I have no experience soldering electronics anyway...
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Henchmen Chronicles suffers from the author writing in episodic style or maybe he doesn't know how to write mini-arcs? I like the c..."
Sometimes episodic works, sometimes it doesn't... Alex Bledsoe's stuff feels like it could go on forever... both the Eddie LaCrosse series and the Tufa one... altho I wish the Dark Fae Haint that's haunting Junior would go away... the one that should have been dealt with at the end of book 3-4, but still lingers in book 5-6... I think I only have one Bledsoe book left, now, after reading Gather Her Round
Tufa feels like it WANTS to be a PNR series... each book has a romantic plot... but it also feels like it's becoming a smaller and smaller subplot with each book... book 5 had Bliss Overbay pair off with a Park Ranger, if I remember correctly... someone linked to the Big Boar Hunt, anyway... but the story was more about the kids the boar killed, and their tangled relationship...
I like how Tufa goes in directions that you don't really expect but it makes sense within the story and the series. =DEpisodic is ok as long as the author understands what they are doing. I kinda feel like the Henchmen author has a plan but doesn't know how to stick to it well.
Earphones: I did a poll with my friends and a bunch recommended Aftershokz. It costs more than I have been spending on my earphones but I also had to spend more on my earphones when they died. Basically, what I spent is more than what the Aftershokz cost. lol
I got a pair and wasn't a fan at first. I had to look up how to change the preset audio settings. There's one setting that works well for audiobook/music for me. After I got that worked out, I took it on lots of hikes. It works for me. The bone conduction can still make my head sore but it's not the same as having earbuds in my ears.
You can bluetooth to either Apple/Droid.
From the current Audible Sale, I'm getting series books to complete series I already have or plan to get. The selection is an odd mix and whoever did the lists made mistakes because some of the books are listed more than once. hahaLike, I picked up 2 of the Clines' Ex-Heroes series. I think I need one more to complete it.
Providence of Fire for Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne.
Picked up the anthology of shorts that was curated by Laurell K. Hamilton & William McCaskey. I recognized the authors that contributed. Figured I'll like it. Or so I hope. Haha
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Episodic is ok as long as the author understands what they are doing. I kinda..."
I've been pretty resistant to going wireless so far... I've also heard of bone conduction / Aftershokz, but never looked into them very far... what do you mean by head sore?... headaches?... I feel like I've become more prone to those, and bone conduction sounds like it would cause it more... maybe I just don't understand how they work...
Timelord Iain wrote: "Don't let me down, guys... I picked up both... started Paternus first, and the intro is DENSE...I liked the first intro with Stieg and Max, I think... then it jumped to Zeke and Fiona and her unc..."
I warned you the beginning is rough. The author is basically pulling from all the world's mythologies...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baphomet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteriu...
https://livejapan.com/en/article-a000...
And you've barely scratched the surface ;)
FWIW I love my wireless earphones. I can leave my phone anywhere in the house and still listen :) I think I get around 3 hours of continuous use if I don't take breaks and recharge between. That may be what you need most Iain, esp if you still listen at work.
I have the latest Aftershokz. Takes a few hours to charge & works for 8 hrs. You can pause, change volume, etc. In general, I try to stick with headphones that can last 8-12hrs minimum. I have a sensitive body. Which has pros/cons. The conduction/vibration part rests against your head. On most people, it's on/near your jaw & by your ear.
For me, it's above my ear or near my jaw. I do a thing where I rest the band on my ponytail to hold it up and have it not move. Turns out my head is smaller than I thought and the band is too big for it to stay on my head well. lol
If I wear them for a whole day, my head feels sore in the area that the vibrations press. It's a different variation of the issue I have from having earphones in my ears. The actual sound vibrations can make my ears/head sore.
Anyways, you probably won't have that issue. None of my friends have the issue and all of them wear the Aftershokz while doing usual stuff to running/bicycling/etc.
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Also, since I'm at work, I usually only listen in one ear, unless the book is super quiet or the narrator whispers alot... them bone conduction ones don't sound like they have much option for single ear, since you don't actually put them in your ear...
I can't wear regular headphones with a head band for more than a couple hours as it tends to give me a headache. I'm sure wireless ear buds will get better charge life in the future or possibly already do since mine are a few years old at this point. I've never tried bone conduction headphones. I need to look up the technology behind that.
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LoL I should have posted my overall thoughts on Aftershokz.- Min of 8 hr battery life. Holds charge without use for 2-3 weeks.
- They go over your ears and hang down. No pressure on top of your head. The vibrations work best against bone. That's how you'll "hear".
- At normal listening volume, no one else can hear what I'm listening to. If you turn the volume all the way up, others may hear a muffled to clear sound of what you're listening to.
- Normal to mid-volume, I can hear what's going on around me. That's one of the big bonuses when I'm hiking. I can still hear birds/people/etc over the audiobooks/music.
- Water resistant. They can hold up to my mega sweats and light rain.
- I am super picky about sound quality. Aftershokz have good quality for audiobooks & music. (After I fiddled with the sound presets.) If you want to hear clearer, you can use the earplugs & that makes the sound more clear + louder.
My go-to earphones were Samsung Level U. There was a generation of them that I could get between $21-30 on Amazon. They were great! I could wear one or both buds in my ears and the band was a neck rest. No pressure on top of my head. Battery life was 12 hrs.
Downside was that too much exposure to sweat/water would eventually mess up the charging port or wires inside. One would last me anywhere from 5 months to 2+yrs.
Pandemic (it looks like most companies stopped production on stuff) made the prices skyrocket on S Level U's. That's why I started to look around for other options.
The first time I looked into bone conduction headphones was like 7 years ago? Not much was known about them, no real reviews and poor battery life. They're much better now. =)
I may try a knock off brand from Amazon. There are options that are around $30-40 and have similar specs. Waiting a while before I do that because all prices are higher than usual for stuff due to the pause in production.
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I'm about 20% into Stuff & Nonsense. Fascinating how the world morphed from D&D to MMO style and Celia's daddy was there for the change. I wonder if that was the author's commentary on how RPGs have evolved over the years. Given the scheming lady apparently making a play to kidnap Celia, I imagine the story isn't going to stay light hearted for long :( I'm sad. I think I would enjoy a slice of life book with Threadbare and Celia.Also vastly different from other LitRPG's I've read in that the world is based around levels and what not vs a player logging into the world to play a character. At least so far.
Did you all notice the author released a 4th book in May? You might want to check it out.
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There are actually 3 series set in this world... a sequel series and prequel series that is to be a bit of an origin story...
The sequel series wasn't as good, but had it's high points... I haven't read the prequels yet, since the releases have been long in coming... for the longest time there was only 1 book and no audio... last I checked there were 2 books and 1 on audio...
I found the MMO backstory and ways the character break the game world in meta ways quite interesting... I like Andrew Seiple in general... I wish he wrote more, and released audio faster...
I read all 6 of the DIRE SAGA books as well, a supervillain series where by the end the MC has to escape a Dante's Inferno style hell...
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2nd audio just came out, and the 3rd book... 3rd audio next month... so I can finally listen... and THEN hopefully Threadbare 4... altho I'm tempted to do a re-read...
I was hoping Mr Seiple had a website. Too bad he doesn't. He seems to use the blog feature of GRs though so can hopefully get some book updates that way.I am loving Tim Gerard Reynolds' narration. This is my first listen of his. I can tell he's going to be in my favorites list after this.
Assuming this doesn't end too dark, I'm pretty sure Threadbare is going into my audio rotation. I'm due for a Joe Ledger next though I'm sorely tempted by The Martian being in the Audible Plus catalog :D
Thanks, Narilka! I'll have to buy Friends With Bunny Feets. I have all the ebooks. Hm. Not sure if I'll wait for audio to "read" it but I may. lol I do prefer the audios to the book for this series.
Totally going to re-listen to #1-3! lol
OH! Totally listen to the Martian! It's great!
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I just finished The Ridge. The author had a book on the Audible sale and I found out my library has a bunch of his books. I would say his books are horror light/thriller mix? Sort of like Dean Koontz. I enjoyed the story and really loved how well he researched lion habitats. It's well done and adds a cool flare to the story. I'll be borrowing more of his books from the library. =D
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Brian, yay! Glad you're enjoying Deathstalker! It's a great mix of characters and just complex enough world/politics to keep you on your toes. Also, weird. Green does weird really well.
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Sunset at Hawksbill Summit
These shots are from yesterday. I crossed my fingers & asked nature to give me clear spots to get sunset pix. LOL It worked! Clouds cleared just enough for me to get some great views. I basically jumped around the edge to get shots from different vantage points. lol
Cloud Eclipse
=D Yeah~ I want to travel all over and go hiking to other places, but I'm pretty stoked to have a part of the Appalachian Trail & Blue Ridge mountains within driving distance.
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I'll probably check out Deathstalker at some point soon... I've been wary of Simon R. Green since finishing the Nightside books... they were short and repetitive in their phrasing... I'm hoping to see a different side to SRG with longer books... I see the first Deathstalker is nearly 600 pages... that's like 3 Nightside books...
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More importantly though, Secret Histories recently had a true crossover with Nightside... Secret Histories seems to be about a family/organization that protects humanity from supernatural threats... and they've decided Nightside needs to go... so it's the Secret Histories characters vs John Taylor and Shotgun Suzie, et al: Night Fall
Fantasy Buddy Reads
Books mentioned in this topic
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Terms of Enlistment (other topics)
The Palace Job (other topics)
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Charlie N. Holmberg (other topics)
Brian, what have you enjoyed about John Gwynne? I started reading one of his series and lost interest. I looked it up. I read the first two books of the Faithful and the Fallen and stalled on reading the next book. I read those as part of a buddy read. This was before I started listening to audiobooks.
From what I remember, the things that bugged me in the books were apparent in the opening of Ruin #3. That discouraged me from finishing the series. lol
I may give it another go. Maybe. It'll be print reading vs listening. So.. hm. Hazy maybe.
Though, I did finally listen to Sword of Kaigen. Hahhaha! Audio for the win! That narrator was very talented, but it TOTALLY bugged me when he said Japanese words with an American accent! AhhhhhhhhhH!!!
Now that I finished the book, I can understand why people love the book. I'll be the dork on the outlier and say that it was good but not great. It needed more work to be awesome for me. Cool setting and fun characters. Asian wire-fu story with a lot of political hammers.