The Vlad Taltos Series [Reading: Phoenix] (August 2024)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I can let go of BRs if 1) they're book 1-2 in a series so I'm not fully invested in sticking with it yet, 2) it's a re-read and I can just cheer on the first timers without doing a re-read, or 3) I'm REALLY not liking the story/series... #3 tends to have little to do with overbooking and just me getting tired of sticking with things I don't love... about half my books/BRs each year are re-reads...

[Chris]

I've pretty much dropped all the BR's I was signed up for or had started.

1, I can't keep up with group members on a read. Everyone is always finished before I read Chapter 2.

2. I wasn't reading any of it. Everything was stalled out completely and it took me an entire afternoon to get through a Dragonlance chapter. Between short naps lol....

3. Stephen King doesn't do this to me. I've been flying through his books that I've been reading. No, not 31 books a week flying, but for me and my schedule I've been pretty quick.

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

For me it’s not a satisfying read unless everyone is more or less equally paced. Otherwise it feels like a book club where you’re just reporting on how the book went when you’re finished with it. I made myself some BR rules this year too after having to show up for ones I volunteered for that I didn’t really want to read. People pleasing I think. I also am in the middle of 80 series.

1. No signing up for new series BRs unless it’s a new release one-and-done situation.

2. Only sign up for “hell-yes” reads or continuations to series that are 4 star +.

3. Only nominate books for book club that I was already valuing at high priority.

4. Don’t overlap commitments (unless it’s a short taltos book, apparently :)).

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I understand... I'm different, but I dunno that it's necessarily better... if I read a book purposely slowly, it's easier for me to abandon or lose interest... unless it's really good...

But then, trying to schedule around my speed works until my speed falters, and/or leads to everything being breakneck to keep up...

Damned if I do, damned if I don't...

I've definitely reached a level of burnout, where I'd prefer more flexibility, to either do 20 BRs and 20 solo reads or 20 BRs and TV/Movies/Music/etc, as the mood strikes... instead of 40-60 BRs...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I saw you attack me, Nirkatze and Ann-Marie on booktube Niki ;)

You might not notice, since you're not on here much, but we've become a bit of an echo chamber in the Book Sales thread this past year or 2, egging one another on to buy more books on every sale... pointing out good book, daily deals, and the fact that Chirp has a sale to compete with every Audible sale... double the saving, double the purchases (there's alot of overlap, so can find the better price)... also, alot of pre-buying already scheduled BRs you were hoping would end up on sale...

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Just picked up a couple Grady Hendrix horror stories from Chirp the other day, for $2 each:

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires
My Best Friend's Exorcism
Horrorstör

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I saw you attack me, Nirkatze and Ann-Marie on booktube Niki ;)

You might not notice, since you're not on here much, but we've become a bit of an echo chamber in the Book Sales thread this past ye..."

Haha, you know me, the Shadethrower! Usually support groups help people to stop enabling. ;P

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

Is anyone ready for Phoenix? I was thinking to start today.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Niki Hawkes wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "I saw you attack me, Nirkatze and Ann-Marie on booktube Niki ;)

You might not notice, since you're not on here much, but we've become a bit of an echo chamber in the Book Sal..."

I knew you'd see my comment eventually... I only saw part of the vid on a work break, randomly, in between my usual glut of youtube shorts to pass the time... I saw you lamenting sales (my bane), and starting a 3 for 1 challenge (your bread and butter, from old challenge threads)...

My and Ann-Marie's solution was to start a 2025 book club, to make more time for standalones we've collected from daily/weekly/monthly sales, and maybe try some first in series/omnibuses, before moving to more traditional threads if we like them...

We got some real eye-catchers awhile back, like Bacon Master of the Apocalypse for $2 on Chirp...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Niki Hawkes wrote: "Is anyone ready for Phoenix? I was thinking to start today."

I'll get to Vlad next week probably... I'm ALMOST caught up for the month, just a few books behind... better than last month, at least...

Been listening to books at 3.5x speed instead of 3x speed, more and more... saves me another 16% amount of time...

Feel free to start...

[Tammie]

I'll be ready to start Phoenix in a few days. Iain, I'm behind as well. I'm going to try to squeeze the other mystery book club read in before the end of the month. I wish I could listen at that kind of speed, but 2x is as fast as I can go.

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

The 3 for 1 really is my go-to. So organized lol. I am also swamped, so waiting a few days would be just fine. :) I’ll check in soon.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Tammie wrote: "I'll be ready to start Phoenix in a few days. Iain, I'm behind as well. I'm going to try to squeeze the other mystery book club read in before the end of the month. I wish I could listen at that ki..."

Beyond a certain point, I dunno how I do it, either... last time I made it up to 3x speed in 2020, pre-covid, I couldn't go any faster really... this time, after doing 3x for awhile, it doesn't feel much harder... slower narrators and re-reads help as usual... I did The Eyes of the Dragon a bit slower, because it was faster that other narration, it seemed like...

Audible and Hoopla's granular playback speeds help, too... Hoopla has a hard to control slider that can be any 0.01 variation, and Audible moves in 0.05 segments when you use the +/- buttons...

I read the end of Twilight's Dawn and most of House Atreides yesterday... need to finished House Atreides today, and hopefully read most of A Traitor in Skyhold / Pariah / Witches Abroad (shorter books)

My work books for the week are Dragonfly Falling & Distress Signals, with room for 1-2 more, most likely...

And that leaves The Thursday Murder Club / Phoenix / The End of All Things / Queenslayer for my days off next week, or work before then...

If I read all that by September 4th, that'll be 10 days faster than I finished all my July books this month (but I also read some August books I was more interested in, so it's not 100% accurate)...

[Tammie]

I started this yesterday and really pleased that this one wasted no time before it got interesting.

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

That's great! I'll crack the spine today or tomorrow.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started a bit ago...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Steven Brust has a way of paring a story down to the bare necessities... so much happens, for such a short audiobook... I wonder if he writes out detailed scenes, or always intended to just say "hours of searching condensed to a sentence", or edited it to that when editing between drafts, when he decided there was no need for more... sometimes he DOES like to take Vlad on walks of the city after all, usually when he's gonna get mugged or something...

[Tammie]

Yes, he is good at that, and I've come to expect Vlad to get attacked when he's walking around the city, lol.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

That and Kragar can just appear at any moment, without warning or foreshadowing, because he's functionally/narratively invisible, until he appears and says something, and then acts offended because he's "been here the whole time"...

Love it...

[Tammie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "That and Kragar can just appear at any moment, without warning or foreshadowing, because he's functionally/narratively invisible, until he appears and says something, and then acts offended because..."

Haha, yes I love that too!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

This is the book that sneaks up on you... it's one of the books I knew was coming, but couldn't talk about because big spoilers...

Also... I didn't realize this is the book I was thinking of, until 50-75%, because things tend to escalate in surprising ways in these books...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

And finished... Vlad has good friends...

[Tammie]

I'm reading the print version so I'll be reading for a few days.

[Tammie]

I finished it and enjoyed it. I think this one was one of the best ones so far, even though I thought the relationship issues were a bit of a drag. (view spoiler)[I really liked the way Vlad has taken a look at himself and is reevaluating some things. It felt deeper than the other books. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Tammie wrote: "I finished it and enjoyed it. I think this one was one of the best ones so far, even though I thought the relationship issues were a bit of a drag. [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[well... Vlad & Cawti's relationship is a non-issue for awhile after this... Vlad is on the run from the Jhereg/Empire, and traveling around the rest of the country getting into plots... Vlad only returns to the capital in the most recent entries of the series, leading up to the finale... with Lyorn out now, there's only 2 books left to go: (#18) Chreotha, and (#19) The Final Contract... 1 book named each of the 17 Houses, Taltos, and The Final Contract... (hide spoiler)]

[Tammie]

Yes, I'm glad it will be a nonissue. I did like everything else about the book.

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

I missed my window to start (whoops). I need to finish up a read I want to have all attention on and then I’ll pick this up. It’s an audio so it shouldn’t take me too long.

[Tammie]

I planned on this read being drawn out for several more days since it was a print copy but I got caught up in it last night and couldn't put it down.

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

That bodes well! Nice