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RETIRED THREAD: Vagabond Treehouse Book Club
message 101:
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Soo
(new)
May 06, 2020 05:55PM
LoL - Did you enjoy the story? That one was popular a few years ago. It was interesting but failed to make a big impression on me. The author has potential so I'll look her up again in the future.
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I think part of it is how the tone of the book reminds me of Parasol Protectorate, with all the manners...
Tammie compared it to the politics of the Goblin Emperor...
We’re going to read True Queen at some point, a recent loose sequel (focuses on new characters it sounds like, with book 1 characters on the periphery...
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I think this is the thread where I mentioned them before... it's interesting how my opinion of the series swapped, with book 2...
I was relatively unhappy with The Cambion Cycle: Quincy Harker Year Two... it changed format quite drastically, going from an episodic anthology to 4 parts of a bigger story... on top of all that, the book almost immediately jumped to instalove between the 2 MC... instalove is bad enough, but I thought the first book made it clear they WOULDN'T be getting together... so much for that...
UFOs & Unpaid Taxes on the other hand, just got better and better... it had a bit of a slow start, but the Taxman was much more likeable from the get-go, and watching him become the crazy UFO believer and then UFO tour guide was just great... this one was kinda like a cross between Fred the Vampire Accountant and ET... I think later books go back to playing with time & dimensions...
I'm not a fan of Quincy Harker. On the upside, I put T-rexes & Tax Law on my KU TBR. =)
That one looks like it'll be stupid fun. =D Popcorn reads!
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On the upside, I put T-rexes & Tax Law on my KU TBR. =)
That one looks like it'll be stupid fun. =D Popcorn reads!"
That's exactly what it is... I jumped aboard just from the premise and titles, and while the MC was relatively unlikeable at the start of the first book, he's slowly been improving, as events keep happening to him...
OOo character development is good. It's a weird SF mix right? I'll probably put it into rotation when I want something different and low key.
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Yea... it's IRS-y stuff that runs up against corporations & govt agencies with sci-fi tech (Time Travel, Aliens, etc)
Looks like in the third book the MC dabbles in time travel again to solve his girlfriend's murder and save her...
4th book involves alternate dimensions/timeline...
From there, the series seems to really start mining other dimensions... at some point an Interdimentional Bureau of Temporal Investigations recruits him... I guess the timetravel is out of the bag then... early on in the series, time travel is dismantled, because of the risks involved...
The titles and late-series premises remind me of the Magic Treehouse series... a series that was in it's infancy, when I was the right age to read them, but now has dozens of books:
Dinosaurs Before Dark
Night of the Ninjas
Pirates Past Noon
Mummies in the Morning
That actually sounds like fun. =) Pushing it up the TBR. Haha
I tried the sample for the audio and it was not good. lol
Soo?? Do you think part of the problem with Nightblade is the narrator? He is pretty bland (to me) and makes the story seem choppy. I like parts of the book and characters (about half way through). The Nightblades story line and history is cool but the book seems a bit off. Still interested in it and will share thoughts when I finally finish.
The narrator was okay. He wasn't as engaged in making the story come to life like other narrators but I don't think that's the issue. Pretty sure I've listened to that guy before and it didn't sound like Nightblade. The story has cool ideas but the overall execution and how the author decided to pull the story together is not that great. The formula the author used to write the story is easy to see and I am not a fan of the author talking at the reader all the time. He does it with the characters.
You'll notice that there are a lot of statements made within the story. None of the main characters come across as stupid but neither Moriko or Takako push within the situations they end up in. I get it when they're smaller but it doesn't fit as they get older.
I can pull other examples when you're done. Yah, let's chat it up! I mean, part of the fun is to cheer the good and rant about the bad. lol
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Iain, I tried listening to Naked in Death and couldn't handle it. Eve sounds less than capable and kind of dumb. hahah
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I didn't start listening to the series until book 4 or 5, after reading the first couple... I think the series gets much better with book 2, once Eve picks up a rookie patrol cop, Peabody, to train and eventually partner up with, once she passes the Detective Exam...
The series grows to have many in-universe tropes I find annoying... I generally rate the books 3 stars these days, altho I loved some of the throughout the middle of the series, before I devoured too many of them...
I'll give it another go at some point but I half-listened to most of the book and neither Eve or Rourke made much of an impression. Besides, I gotta get my re-reads for Dresden in before the next books/ drop. =D
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Besides, I gotta get my re-reads for Dresden in before the next..."
I'm definitely not in the series for the romance... I remember fast forwarding through some of the sex scenes, throughout the series... but it's hard to skip much, cause it jump right back to the investigation after...
I did my Dresden re-read in March... all ready for Peace Talks...
Guys! Look at this cover! Hahahahha
I read some of the reviews. I tend to skip the 4-5 star variety for the 3 star and down because they're actually more likely to state why the story worked or not.
The library cover is different. It's this one:
I'm browsing the library and saw the book. The reviews have me cracking up!
I'm not sure if I want to read it or not. I mean, name dropping, wannabe hipster (author) that wrote a story with furry sex! LOL
Did you see that there are stars on her chest and crotch? HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA I may be dying. LOL
Soo wrote: "Guys! Look at this cover! HahahahhaI read some of the reviews. I tend to skip the 4-5 star variety for the 3 star and down because they're act..."
I have been stalking this thread and waiting for a read to appeal. Looks like I will be waiting a while longer. Rflol
Hahaha! I know right? LOLIf there's a book you wanna read on the fly, just post whatever is tickling your fancy. This is a good spot for that. =)
That time traveling tax man series is definitely looking interesting to me:-):-):-)
Choko, if you want to read that, I'm down! The ebooks are on KU. I'll be reading vs listening.
Give me just a bit of time to catch up - I am behind on everything...
Awesome! Thank you! I really want to read them:-)
I decided to take a break from books and watch Kdrama. I am laughing my butt off! AHhhhhh! If you like manga style humor-drama, totally watch A Korean Odyssey. It's on Netflix right now. The cast is great! Old school favs mixed with the current stars. Just the right mix of cool myths in modern setting, humor and love story. =D
You are killing me here, Soo! That sounds awesome, but how can I find the time for everything? I swear, you are a woodland sprite who fuels up from sunlight and is capable of perceiving information in all media through osmosis at the speed of light!!! I wish I could be like you!!! You do all that and are still a joy to be around, now that is what I call Magic❤️
Awww, you all are great too! Make books & hanging out at GR fun. =D
Choko wrote: "You are killing me here, Soo! That sounds awesome, but how can I find the time for everything? I swear, you are a woodland sprite who fuels up from sunlight and is capable of perceiving information..."Haha! Choko, both of you are book reading Ninjas!!! I can barely keep up.
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I'm a reading ninja, because lately I read in solitude, then suddenly decide to catch up on GR talking days later...
Timelord Iain wrote: "Brian wrote: "Choko wrote: "You are killing me here, Soo! That sounds awesome, but how can I find the time for everything? I swear, you are a woodland sprite who fuels up from sunlight and is capab..."Yeah your a beast too. I love trying to keep up though and you all have the best recommendations for new books.
Guys, totally loving Korean Odyssey. It has a mashup of Gods, spirits working on becoming gods, star crossed love, ghosts/zombies/etc, action and awesome themes.
It's funny. US shows like Lucifer are fun but corny story lines and I don't feel like the show is trying to convey a deeper meaning.
So this one has capricious gods/spirits, wacko bonds of friendship/family/love, hilarious comedy and sweet romantic moments. Plus, my Korean is coming back so I still know what's going on without reading subtitles. Always interesting to see how the translations are vs what's being said.
There's a part where they go into an old film to track down an evil spirit. In the film, one of the want to be gods finds his lost love. She was a goddess that committed terrible crimes and she has been condemned to live 100 lifetimes of torment. So a memory of her was caught in the film and he was able to help her for a little bit.
To what lengths would you go for the one you love?
There's several things like that. Whoever wrote the scripts did an amazing job. I love how details are used within the series.
Korean Odyssey was great! Now back to reading books. Thought I would start where I left off with City & the City but I'm not sure if it'll keep my attention. Hm.
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I know right! =D The variety of issues are cool. Predictable in a way but still fun to zoom around with the gang and action. Though, it can be emotionally hard sometimes.
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Most of the insanity tends to come from having 2-3 distinct but overlapping and similar villains at the same time, usually...
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Jack Reacher reached that point around book 12-15, and it's kept going for nearly another dozen books now (with more and more prequels from his military years thrown in), and it's gotten harder and harder to keep doing all the action sequences from earlier books, with Reacher hitting 60+...
Yah, well, if you go into the zombie books, that's what happens to Joe. He becomes a slower, ass-kicking zombie killer. LOL Since Maberry started the new spin of Ledger stories, there will probably be a good chunk of books with Joe as the lead for a while yet.
I do think that the stories reflect on the changes and aging that happens to one and all.
I totally agree on the Jack Reacher series. I loved the first 10-12 books. Now I find it a chore to get through which is sad because I love the Jack Reacher character. I am only on book 2 of Joe Ledger so I am hoping it doesn't get to be the same as Child's series.
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I'm also seeing the kernals of the end of the original Joe Ledger series, with only 2 books left after this (view spoiler)
My suggestion is to space out the books between other reads. That way you can enjoy them.
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I think Jack Reacher suffers from the premise of the series, and the fact the author doesn't really have any other/new material to fall back on...
A great comparison is Michael Connelly's Bosch series... there are about 25 of them now, but he's managed to write a number of short spinoff series, and the Lincoln Lawyer and Renee Ballard side series are open... I think pairing Old Bosch with Young/Jaded Ballard has worked well in the newest books, too (now that Bosch is well into his 60s and his 3rd forced retirement)...
My least favorite Reacher book was the "Perfect Game" one... couple gets hunted for sport by a distant nephew of Reacher, and he spends the whole book at the library, shows up at the end, and saves the day...
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That's how I've done it... never really chained the books... I'll do a book, read some other things... read the short stories from the anthologies chronologically... go back to something else... read the next book...
The short stories come in 3 types... standalones, dealing with leftovers from previous book, or kinda setting up things for next book...
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Since Maberry started the new spin of Ledger stories, there will probab..."
I'm not sure what to think on Joe's age/endurance... he gets the crap beat out of him, and him and his main team are the normals in a world of supernatural entities (view spoiler)... but in this book, he's felt old after surviving The Gateway incident, then Harry Bolt is commenting on how he is "Harcourt Bolton Sr., 30 years ago"...
Maybe he's just feeling haggard from the 2 week coma...
I haven't gone into the shorts as much. Maberry is iffy on shorts. lol Are they good?
I tried several of Michael Connelly's books. I think a few on Harry and the one on Renee. I don't like the way the author makes his characters or the case procedures.
Charlie Parker and Lucas Davenport is done better on solid stories and police procedure. Even though Lucas is hardcore playboy.
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Treehouse is a good place to pretend to be other things right? LOL Yeah, we haven't started any of the BR's that we talked about starting yet.
I did read two of the books I had recommended & others said they were interested in them. I am just waiting for people to either read those or to start a BR in general. Haha
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Are they good?
I tried several of Michael Connelly's books. I think a few on Harry and the one on Renee. I don't like the w..."
Soo wrote: "I haven't gone into the shorts as much. Maberry is iffy on shorts. lol
Are they good?
I tried several of Michael Connelly's books. I think a few on Harry and the one on Renee. I don't like the w..."
I read 90% of Connelly pre-GR... so it's not much effort to continue with them... I read 1 Parker book and no Davenport so far...
I can agree on the Maberry shorts... I read Lullaby from the Audible originals selection, and I've liked a couple of the Ledger ones, but shorts aren't my favorite thing, either... they also create continuity questions... there's one called Artifact between books 6 & 8 (can't remember where) that involves (view spoiler)
I think one or 2 of the short stories also merge with Maberry's other series/trilogies...
On the subject of character aging, I have been really impressed by Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Tales. The Last Kingdom By book 12 Uhtred is 60 and while he is a very active 60 year old, it isn't unrealistic.
There's a good amount of crossover between Ledger, Dead of Night and Rot & Ruin. I think Ledger based stories are the best by Maberry. Followed by the Rot & Ruin series that has Joe playing a part but he's not necessarily the lead.
I was a bit bummed about not enjoying the Michael Connelly books because there are so many options to read if I did like them. He's a formula writer that enjoys throwing in his own popularity into his fictional story. That's the way it came across for me. Flat characters, predictable plot in unrealistic manner and roulette wheel of "what bad decision can I make now" game - I would not have the patience to get that far. lol
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