Cycle of the Scour #1-3 (October 2023)

[Ann-Marie]

I agree with the high fantasy long books but I need to get better with reading/listening to books I own, that whole FOMO thing when I see a sale lol

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Ann-Marie wrote: "I agree with the high fantasy long books but I need to get better with reading/listening to books I own, that whole FOMO thing when I see a sale lol"

That's why I stopped running around Goodreads adding books to my TBR willy-nilly...

90% of what I read these days is re-reads, things that hit my radar because of Buddy Reads schedule, new releases in the 100s of series I've already started / caught up on, and things I picked up on sale / own already... I still splurge on random books occasionally, but I've definitely put a hamper on just running wild in a candy / bookstore feeling...

I've got about 60-90 books on my Audible app I've never read, due to sales in the past few years... (Audible says 90ish, but since I have the app on multiple devices, there's some syncing issues and it doesn't register that I've finished all the books I've already read)... the ones that are just Kindle Unlimited checkouts can be easily erased, but I resist... my worst offense was some of the excessive Time Travel book purchases last year... the rest are recommendations and things I definitely plan to read eventually...

Now you got me wanting to doublecheck my Unfinished List, in case anything is Buddy Readable:

I have a few super old monthly freebies, when you could choose 1 of 6 Audible Originals each month: Carmilla, Camp Red Moon, Cut and Run

Then some super old KU checkouts:
Puatera Online: Books 1-8: dystopian LitRPG novella series from Kindle Unlimited
The Descent Series: Vol.1: low quality Urban Fantasy series I never made it very far in...

Then some super old Goodreads Friend Recommendations:
Aching God
The King's Henchmen
War of Gods (read the first 2... mythology mashup to the max)

Dose of FOMO: Extinction: The Complete Series (I think this was a Vagabond BR I missed)

Then my first round of impulse purchases on sale:
The Reincarnationist Papers
In Plain Sight
The Present
Time Salvager

Missing my days of reading all the Grace Draven Beauty & the Beast retellings: Phoenix Unbound

Splurging on Adrian Tchaikovsky: The Scarab Path, Heirs of the Blade, The Sea Watch (5-7... read 1-4 (first arc), still need to buy 8-10)...

Name recognition: Fugitive Telemetry, Nolyn, IQ

KU, Soo was reading it: Netherwings

Next round of randos: Make Me No Grave, What Big Teeth, Death Cultivator, Overlord, Vol. 1: The Undead King, Flametouched, Jake's Magical Market

Marla Mason splurge: Bride of Death, Lady of Misrule, Queen of Nothing (me & Choko need to Buddy Read the 2nd half of this series at some point... we did 1-5 last year, and this is a re-read for me)...

Another KU series, I think: Neon Redemption, Suicide Kings

Another round of name recognition on sale: The Black God's Drums, A Monster Calls, Nightshades, Artful

Another round of random: How to Pick Up Women with a Drunk Space Ninja, Spotless Series Boxed Set

Delayed Buddy Reads: White Trash Warlock (Vagabonds showed interest in Buddy Reading, so I set aside, and 2023 has been busy)... The Hungry Dreaming (will be a re-read for me, been saving for the audio release of the sequel... another Vagabond planned read)...

Malazan splurge: done in pieces... I think I have all of Book of the Fallen now, and a few of the side series books... first purchase was books 1-4, whcih I previously didn't own on Audible, but now I do... so I just marked them as finished...

More name recognition: The Empire's Ruin, In the Shadow of Lightning

More random: Mission Clockwork Complete Boxed Set, Dreadful Company

High Recommendation: To Steal the Sun

Ill-adviced splurge ;) : The 13th God, The Sealed Citadel, The Black Book, The Last Tomb

Cozy name recognition: Cape Grace, Finwell Bay, A Manor of Life & Death, The Princess of Potential

Goodreads Banner that was on KU: Meru

Name recognition / Ongoing series: The Observer Effect, The Quantum Chain

LitRPG spree: The Mayor of Noobtown, Dungeons and Noobs, Noob Game Plus, Dungeon Crawler Carl, Cinnamon Bun, Oh, Great! I Discovered How to Cultivate a Farmer in 52 Easy Steps

Random: Between, Galaxy Outlaws: The Complete Black Ocean Mobius Missions,

Last round of name recognition: Vigor Mortis: Volume 3Hive Minds Give Good Hugs, Fall of the Argosi, Differently Morphous, Milk Run

And Mages of the Wheel splurge using Whispersync: Reign & Ruin, Storm & Shield, Siren & Scion, Wind & Wildfire

Doing this on Audible let me mark a bunch of stuff as finished, and hopefully it syncs... and of what I actually haven't read, 1/2 of it I have plans for, I think... and it's 84 unread, including the newest stuff I wasn't counting in the old 93 number, since I've added like a dozen books in the past week, I think...

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "I agree with the high fantasy long books but I need to get better with reading/listening to books I own, that whole FOMO thing when I see a sale lol"

That's why I stopped running..."

There is no way I could go through and compile a list like that! Much admiration!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Audible's website lets you filter by unfinished, and date added... I did that and just started at oldest... had 2 windows open... background window that showed books, and front window sized so I could type and make book links while still seeing the back window... took about half an hour?

Also, a decent memory :D

I've done a decent job of clearing some of my oldest stuff on there... Puatera is years and years old, at this point (March 2020)... next oldest is May 2021... I bought alot of stuff, summer 2021...

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Audible's website lets you filter by unfinished, and date added... I did that and just started at oldest... had 2 windows open... background window that showed books, and front window sized so I co..."

I have over a thousand audiobooks on Audible, 144 finished and 190 started (I tend to listen and read whenever possible and I read faster than I am comfortable listening so that is why there are so many of those because I often NEED TO KNOW HOW IT ENDS). This is not counting the 171 on Chirp and 44 on Kobo, plus a few stragglers (maybe 20?) on Spotify since Authors Direct folded.

[Ann-Marie]

I will add in my defense some are as awesome as A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, clocking in at only 7 minutes but proceeds went to charity and I am counting it in my total!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I've only got 440 books in my Audible library... and I've read 350ish of them, apparently...

Ones I checkout through Kindle Unlimited come and go when I return the ebook... that accounts for another couple dozen, maybe 100 max?...

Then I've checked out 157 books on Hoopla in the past 4 years...

And recently I've added a dozen or 2 books through new audiobook sources (Speechify, Chirp, Audiobooks.com)...

In the past, I mostly got my audiobooks from alternative sources, and catalogued them on iTunes, but as I became more focused on 2.5-3.5x listening speeds and official apps like Audible and Hoopla that don't excessively drain my iPod battery, my patterns have changed...

I track audiobooks vs ebooks on a Goodreads shelf for my own statistics, and it says I've read over 2000 audiobooks now, of my 3000 catalogued books... and I'm 50-100 books behind since May/June (depends how many were re-reads, probably half)...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

My stats don't account for omnibuses and anthologies, that would be one entry on Audible & multiple on Goodreads...

[Ann-Marie]

I didn't even consider omnibuses, there are some of those in there for sure and I have also did the KU and listen included more than a few times and haven't tracked those in this or my old profile. I may add some shelves in My Books to track better going forward.

[Choko]

I have been dealing with a tremendous amount of pain (bad flare up of my arthritis), and have been having a hard time concentrating enough to read, but despite that, I am 90% , Ch. 31, in The 13th G-d ... (view spoiler)[ ... This is such a mess! Not only did they resurrect The Lich, now they are working with him in order to kill the 13th G-d, W!!! And I hear you, Ann-Marie, he is such a tragic character, I feel so sorry for him!!! They haven't as of yet, but I am pretty sure they are going to succeed in killing him, and the plan is to have the Lich go to the realm of the G-ds and with all the portals destroyed, theoretically they will never hear from him again, making him a problem for the G-ds... I still can't imagine how this will actually work... Just a little left, so I guess I will find out... (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

The end of The 13th G-d ... OMG!!! (view spoiler)[ That horrible, deliberate, slow and painful murder of the G-d was cruel and just too much!!! WTH???? !!! My heart was breaking for him, and I really wish they had chosen to look for another way!!!! At least the Lich is finally dead, they have his powers, and they are going to need them, since they stranded the Entity in their own world! What a complete failure, particularly after destroying a whole world full of people to achieve that... And yeah, how are they going to travel to all the people they promised to help, if or when they deal with the end of the world issue???

This was hard to read... (hide spoiler)]

I am still planning on reading the last book, whenever it comes out though...

[Choko]

I also have over a 1000 audible books and I haven't even made a dent in that pile... Hopefully, little by little, I will start getting through them too, hopefully with you guys as buddies:)))

[Ann-Marie]

Choko wrote: "The end of The 13th G-d ... OMG!!!

I am still planning on reading the last book, whenever it comes out though..."

Feel free to post spoilers about how it finally ends! (view spoiler)[I agree Wessen's death was awful and I hated it and it was basically for nothing since they are in just as bad shape as they were at the start of the book. (hide spoiler)]

[Choko]

Exactly!!! I wish they had found a way to work with him. He would have been a great ally...

[Ann-Marie]

Choko wrote: "Exactly!!! I wish they had found a way to work with him. He would have been a great ally..."

I think he was too far gone to be an asset but what ultimately happened was no good, hated it!

[Ann-Marie]

So as a result of this series I have now walked away entirely from 1 series and another is pending spoilers from the series finale that will be released soon. I am serious about Scour, if Robertson starts the dumb shit in that series I will be tapping out lol

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Ann-Marie wrote: "So as a result of this series I have now walked away entirely from 1 series and another is pending spoilers from the series finale that will be released soon. I am serious about Scour, if Robertson..."

You had a reading epiphany: Life is too short, to waste it reading bad books :D

I've read thousands of books, but there are literally 40 million or more books on goodreads I haven't read...

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "So as a result of this series I have now walked away entirely from 1 series and another is pending spoilers from the series finale that will be released soon. I am serious about S..."

I have actually DNF'd like 4 books this year so I am getting there!

[Nirkatze]

I'm still planning on bullying through... I'm very impressed with y'all's ability to keep going, despite all the low opinions I've been hearing... and take that as a support for that book epiphany!

Crappy books I find a bit useful when I have late late late nights getting ready for work... don't actually need to pay attention and don't really care...

[Ann-Marie]

Nirkatze wrote: "I'm still planning on bullying through... I'm very impressed with y'all's ability to keep going, despite all the low opinions I've been hearing... and take that as a support for that book epiphany!..."

I mean you may like it? Maybe? I can't imagine that will be the case but perhaps? lol

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Maybe you're standards are lower than ours ;)

In all seriousness, once you start feeling ambivalent about a book/series, and it morphs into love to hate it, it can be fun to hate on it together...

Years ago, I did that with Choko with Heart on Fire, I think... and when we kept going with all 18 Kurtherian Gambit books (the main problem was the 500 side novels by nobody co-authors, that became relevant to the main series over time)...

[Ann-Marie]

This year I did intend to stop reading something if I was hate reading and I will make an effort to do so more often going forward and I likely should have stopped this around when they summoned the Lich because that is around when the books stopped being fun for me. The character development not only stopped but regressed and I started disliking the characters plus the story was just one insurmountable task after another that they eventually overcome or complete. Plus the fact that Dante turned into an "any means necessary" guy regardless of the side deaths that result and caused most of the issues they were fighting.

[Nirkatze]

Mm... that does sound rather rant-worthy....

[Ann-Marie]

Nirkatze wrote: "Mm... that does sound rather rant-worthy...."

I definitely have opinions lol

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

13th God:

Chapter 1: Dante says Taim bad for genocide… Dante never do genocide…

Chapter 5: Dante blames Taim for having to do genocide to stop genocide…

/facepalm

GRRRRRRR!!!!!

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "13th God:

Chapter 1: Dante says Taim bad for genocide… Dante never do genocide…

Chapter 5: Dante blames Taim for having to do genocide to stop genocide…

/facepalm

GRRRRRRR!!!!!"

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

The hypocrisy never ends

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

On chapter 11 now… his double standards just keep piling up…

Pretty much agree with everything you said weeks ago…

Trying to finish this in a single day and be done… 4.5hrs left at 3.5x speed… out of nearly 7 to start…

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "The hypocrisy never ends"

agreed!

Timelord Iain wrote: "On chapter 11 now… his double standards just keep piling up…

Pretty much agree with everything you said weeks ago…

Trying to finish this in a single day and be done… 4.5hrs left at 3.5x speed… ou..."

I wish, this thing dragged what felt like forever for me....

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I picked my day carefully... Sunday is a work day I can generally manage more work listening than other days of the week... I've also been getting alot of home listening done lately, with my gaming choice of Melvor Idle (idle version of Runescape, basically, with mod support)...

I'm up to chapter 18 now, about halfway... (view spoiler)[that whole drugged interlude feels kind of pointless... it was over so fast, and Dante has literally not mentioned those people he killed while drugged...

Wessen has been interesting... for some reason, I didn't realize Wessen and Nolost were gonna be 2 different gods/entities from the blurbs...

And now they're off to become a Lich in 9 days or less... feels like it's been awhile since Dante checked in with humanity... and if Rale is 9 days from ending, I doubt there'll be anyone left on that last day, really?... I feel like every minute that passes, more people are dying...

Also, it seems like the multiverse can be split into 2 groups... those that Dante can browbeat into following his lead... and those he can't and gives up on super quick... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Ann-Marie wrote: "Finished..."

Finished... honestly, I thought the cheaty solution at the end was the most clever aspect of the book... otherwise, I just hate-read it... can't decide if I want to give it one star or two stars... I'm very stingy with single star ratings, and generally give two stars to anything I stubbornly continue reading, deep into a series...

If not for that last paragraph reveal that (view spoiler)[with the realms severed, Nether/Ether is a limited resource that can run dry (hide spoiler)], I'd say there's a serious chance the next book ISN'T the final book... how many final books have there been already?... Robertson is great at writing a book, only to realize he hasn't reached the end yet... this next book sounds like book 4 all over again, where they spend the whole book hunting for an artifact, only to spend the next book actually getting and using it, and/or stirring up a whole other hornets nest... time to enter the multiverse, or use Odo Sein to go back in time and screw with history, find out THEY are actually the gods they hate, or the White Lich & his "brother"... I could come up with so many cheesy twists :D

Either way, it looks like they screwed with Nolost enough to remove the 9 day time limit...

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Ann-Marie wrote: "Finished..."

Finished... honestly, I thought the cheaty solution at the end was the most clever aspect of the book... otherwise, I just hate-read it... can't decide if I want to ..."

I have reached the final book! I will lurk if anyone reads the next/last book to find out what terrible things Dante & Blays do lol

[Nirkatze]

Oh yay! I am glad there is lurking!

[Choko]

Hahaha! I felt so many of those same frustrations, but I am still willing to be patient and hopefully we get a closure in the next book!!! Please!!!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Finally reading Sealed Citadel… Cycle of Scour #1:

1) Surprisingly, I’m liking it…

2) Going super fast… half done already, and I dunno how there’s time to resolve the plot… too used to tomes…

3) Bit worried about Robertson writing himself into a corner… he can’t go inventing new magic every other book here, without breaking continuity, or being like “Cally just kept this secret from everyone”…

I think the sealed citadel is the tower in Norashtovik… weird seeing Cally so young…

From blurbs, I think book 3 is the previous war in the Collen Basin…

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

There was a Matrix-y Deus Ex Machina element to the end of Sealed Citadel, (view spoiler)[but it definitely explained alot about the pacifist Nethermancers, having the guy that created it alive in the citadel...

And everything he said definitely rang true, given all the trouble Galand has caused, in 8-11 books...

Nethermancers, the Council of Narashtovik, and the pursuit of power, are a real threat to the realms, in this setting... (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

I started this last week then Black River Orchard sucked me in. It took me a minute to figure out that they had different rules back in Cally's time (view spoiler)[you can't use blood to call the nether? Ummm, Dante has cut himself so much! They got robbed by the norran, made it to the meeting and they are going to head to the Citadel now. I wasn't hating it which was a good thing, will try to get it done this week sometime. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Started Black Book… liking how much these subvert expectations…

Cally has basicallu (view spoiler)[joined the Mallish Inquisition, as a way of finding the real Book of Arawn… (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Started Black Book… liking how much these subvert expectations…

Cally has basicallu [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[So the book he got in the first book was not genuine? (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

No... I think he found a typo?...

I finished book 2... took me a bit... paused a bunch after getting home...

The twists were simultaneously surprising, and not surprising at all really, given everything we know from Galand series...

[Ann-Marie]

I still plan on reading these this month, not sure if I am going to read the BRs I have planned the rest of the month and then these or alternate BR > Cally > BR > Cally...Leaning towards alternating in case these get tedious lol

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Tomorrow is SUNDAY... AKA, Cycle Day... gonna read The Last Tomb... and then... WE'RE DONE!!!

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Tomorrow is SUNDAY... AKA, Cycle Day... gonna read The Last Tomb... and then... WE'RE DONE!!!"

I'll catch up with you, not in this month though lol

[Nirkatze]

And I am still dragging far behind... at this rate, I think it'll be December...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I’m just better at forcing myself to maintain whatever schedule I set… weekly, every 10 days, etc… ;)

A bit into Last Tomb now, and I just realized… (view spoiler)[is Myla the oracle in Cycle of Galand, that messes with the temple prophecy? (hide spoiler)]

Makes a fair amount of sense, the second I thought of it…

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I think I meant the Keeper earlier, not the Oracle... similar, but not the same...

Around 70% now: (view spoiler)[I knew something was going to happen... can't have Cally getting too many artifacts / any artifacts, that complicated the logistics/continuity of the Galand Cycle, later on...

Sad to see the simpleton was a villain, tho... I liked him / his persona... (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

SIGH... Last Tomb was the most Cycle of Galandest of the Cycle of Scour books...

3 stars for me, after a couple 4 star entries...

Multi-book Collen Basin plot? CHECK
Largely focused on hunting an artifact? CHECK
Not resolved at the end, with more to come in the next book? CHECK

Best part about this book is knowing I'm done for awhile (until the author pops up and says the next book in either series is out tomorrow...

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "I’m just better at forcing myself to maintain whatever schedule I set… weekly, every 10 days, etc… ;)

A bit into Last Tomb now, and I just realized… [spoilers removed]

Makes a fair amount of sens..."

(view spoiler)[That woman was the one that had a relationship with Cally so I was expecting to have her show up in these books for sure. Has she been up to no good this entire time? (hide spoiler)]

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "SIGH... Last Tomb was the most Cycle of Galandest of the Cycle of Scour books...

3 stars for me, after a couple 4 star entries...

Multi-book Collen Basin plot? CHECK
Largely focused on hunting an..."

So would you say these were better than the last 3 of Galand, similar or worse?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I’d say 1-2 were better, and 2-3 shared alot of locales/plot with Galand 2-3