Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion
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The Perfect Run
Book Clubs!
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Vagabond Treehouse ~ [Fall 2025: World of Chains #1-3 (Wayward Bard) | The Perfect Run 1-3 (alternating)]
Oh yeah, I'm totally down to ruthlessly DNF. No time for blah books during crunch time.
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Got pretty wordy with a few today... the ones I was most excited about having read...
Woo! Yah, ya should definitely get wordy for the good books. =D So the rest of us can know. XD
Iain, you're on fire... an inspiration... I really need to get started on my review backlog too... Can I get them done in the next 10 days? Probably not.
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I missed a few days and barely did 25 reviews before CAPTCHAs kicked in the other day... did 50 today with no CAPTCHAs...
If you're willing to deal with the CAPTCHAs, you could probably do a signature 10hr Nirkatze spree...
I hate CAPTCHAs tho... especially because so many are wrong... when it's one big image split into 16 parts, sometimes they don't want you to click sections that only contain a small part of a bike or bus or whatever... or, with streetlights, sometimes they only count the ones facing you, not the ones facing the other direction so no visible red/green... so annoying... I WAS RIGHT, DAMMIT...
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2023: 519 books
Urban Fantasy: 25%
Mystery: 20%
Fantasy: 17.5%
Science Fiction: 13%
Romance/PNR: 13%
LitRPG: 3%
Steampunk: 2%
2024: 546 books and counting
Urban Fantasy: 25%
Science Fiction: 25%
Fantasy: 16%
LitRPG: 12%
Mystery: 8%
Romance/PNR: 3%
Horror: 2%
Steampunk: 1%
Reasons:
2023: we read In Death mysteries every week... I stuck with the Dark Hunter re-read for like 40 weeks (PNR/Romance)....
2024: I abandoned Stephanie Plum pretty quick... Animorphs every week (sci-fi)... alot of sci-fi series added to the BR schedule (Foreigner, Academy, Honor Harrington, Warhammer 40k, Old Man's War, etc)... and I used pretty much ALL my spare time reading LitRPG and cultivation stories...
Also, the Horror genre tag is new this year, since I started doing Spooktober last year... Cozy is a genre, too, but I don't use it much since I tend to label it by it's other genres like mystery or LitRPG...
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Like, I used to track which books I got from Hoopla/Audible Plus/etc... but so much has left those services recently that they didn't feel that useful anymore for others that might be seeking the books...
I've often figured with CAPTCHAS--the ones that don't fade out forever, anyway--if you pick three, you're usually good....
Timelord Iain wrote: "Gotta love how Goodreads seems to work differently for different people... like when they roll out UI changes sporadically..."For sure.... I think figured it out. I logged in on a different device (a tablet), and switched to website mode onvit. That, or they passed a random fix.
Timelord Iain wrote: "25-50 reviews every 1-2 days is about the limit of what I can do before the bot detection kicks in... some days are more forgiving than others for some reason... I actually think it's more forgivin..."Me, when reading characters muse about what makes us humains in SF books: "Obviously, it's the ability to identify pictures of trains...."
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Virginie wrote: "Me, when reading characters muse about what makes us humains in SF books: "Obviously, it's the ability to identify pictures of trains...."LOL!! I need a meme of someone telling Murderbot that... or a novella...
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The momentum is real too... a reviewer in motion tends to stay in motion ;)
45 more reviews done (November), 34 remaining (December)... practically done, at this point...
Iain, which FBR Challenge Tracker should I ask for? I kinda want it simple for the most part.
I will be reading a mix of webnovels/LN, comix, audiobooks and other print/ebook.
I figure it's easier to copy someone else's tracker from 2024 & adjust to my colors, categories, etc.
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Adding rows is easy. Who's tracker should I look at? You don't read comix, so your tracker is out of the running. XD
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😆 Ok! Gonna take another look at people's tracker from this year later tonight. I forgot how everything takes longer to get done when it's just me doing it. 70% of my time has been on settling into new place.
I basically annoyed myself by thinking I can put off doing certain things and then having to do them anyway. 🤣😅
I kept thinking that it can be done later.
Nahh, it's more like do it now or tomorrow.
Hoping some of the electronics I want will go on sale after Christmas or NYE. 🤞
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I forgot how everything takes longer to get done when it's just me doing it. 70% of my time has been on settling in..."
Good luck on sales... all the christmas themed stuff will definitely be marked down, at least, and on to weight loss season...
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533/365 books read, according to my reading challenge... spreadsheet says 550, but the spreadsheet includes each short story separately, where I might have just rated an anthology on Goodreads... also not sure if GR counts repeats once or twice...
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Timelord Iain wrote: "Cut it down to the wire, but it's Christmas Morning, and my reviews are 100% caught up for the first time since February/March...533/365 books read, according to my reading challenge... spreadshe..."
🎉🎉🎉 Yay! 🎉🎉🎉
I need to meet my reading goal for the year. 🙃😶🌫️🙃
Reading crunch time!
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My 2024 list was only 130 books, and that was after people contributed extra books over the first half of the year...
Luckily, I only personally care about about half of the books on the list... that's still quite a bit, tho...
I'll tidy it up and repost it in this group, when the January challenge thread is posted...
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Merry Christmas
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Looks like I hit 30k over in the Wandering Inn thread, when we were discussing reading 15 audiobooks in 6 weeks...
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https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Timelord Iain wrote: "Everything has book links and series/author info now, so it's ready to be copied to this group when the thread is ready:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/......"
Nice! LoL you have books for more than half the year coming out. XD
Timelord Iain wrote: "Everything has book links and series/author info now, so it's ready to be copied to this group when the thread is ready:https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/......"
OOh, I'm adding a link to this to my tracker!! Thanks for sharing!
And Merry Christmas folks!
Mod
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/......"
If I actually wanted to read all this stuff, I'd be slowly painting myself into a corner... same way my Incomplete Series tracker slowly grows to the point I might one day not have time for anything else, if I was to 100% focus on it...
Luckily, the list isn't just for my own interests, since it's meant to include anything of interest to people in the GG&G group, which means a fair bit of Paranormal Romance I no longer read...
Also, while some of those newer series look interesting to me, I've largely reached a point where I'm willing to wait for the series to be near completion, so I only need to read it once to remember everything all the way to the finale, after being burnt in the past by a bunch of delayed conclusions...
Such as how Witchlight should be coming out next year, and deserves a re-read before reading this finale, since reading book 4 without a re-read was rough and me & Narilka re-read 1-2 before book 3 came out...
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Pretty much all the Holding Pen stuff... new Peter Clines, Anne Bishop, Yoon Ha Lee sounds like a standalone, Sun Eater finale (altho reddit says the series is going the First Law route with some standalones and a sequel trilogy in the future), that cat shelter book in 2026... only reason I'm interested in Sherrilyn Kenyon is because Saar got me to re-read everything in that convoluted universe last year...
January = 4 = Laundry Files, Wayward Children, Cradle anthology, Demonic Tree (Old World story doesn't have audio scheduled yet)
February = 8 + extras = In Death, Great Silence, Emily Wilde, Orphan X, John Bierce, Dungeon Crawler Carl, Gray Man, Tear Down Heaven... I'm behind on Path of Ascension, would like to read Cat Lady Chronicles after my current Helen Harper plans, Cosmic Chaos is a funny title from the Mead Mishaps authoer, and I'd like to do more Adrian Tchaikovsky standalones in the future, maybe intermingled with Peter F. Hamilton... the new series starters could also wait for later, easily...
March = 9* = Rogue Team International, Tomb of Dragons, John Scalzi immediately... Tales of Aedrea, Unorthodox Chronicles, Star Kingdom, Tomes & Tea, InCryptid, and Skulduggery Pleasant need to wait for BRs later in the year, or for me to get back to the series and catch up on book in-between...
April = 8 = Drop of Corruption, Direct Descendant, Faithbreaker, Garden of Sanctuary, Icarus Coda, Vera Wong 2, New Dawn, Sebastian St. Cyr 20... most immediately, few like St. Cyr and a few I didn't mention that look interesting, can be later.... not sure if audio is coming out on time for Direct Descrendant...
May = 8* = Isles of the Emberdark, Archangel's Ascension, Overgrowth, Demonic Tree again, Rip Through Time, Strange New World, Dead Draw, Dark Lord Davi 2
June = 4* = Mossa & Pleiti 3, Cat Lady Chronicles 2, Demonic Tree 5, Villains' Code 3... again most of these can wait, tho...
July = 4 = Midsolar Murder 3, Magical Innkeeping (if it's not delayed again), Psy-Changelin 24 (when I finish my re-read or after the Guild Hunter BR this year), Gunnie Rose 6 (finale BR, so immediately)
August = 6 = Tomes & Tea 4, Lucky Day (Spooktober), Hench 2 (if it releases), Hemlock & Silver (always with the Kingfisher), Massif, To Kill a Badger
September = 6 = In Death 61, Old Man's War 7, Amina al Sirafi 2 (not sure how set in stone this release it), Thursday Murder Club 5, October Daye 19, Sworn Soldier 3 (more Kingfisher)
October = 3 = Mouthful of Dust, Time Police 6, Stephen Oakwood 3
November = 5 = Dark Reading Matter (if this release date is real), Witchlight, Our Lady of Blades, Alpha & Omega 7, Brigands & Breadknives
December = 1* = but it's non-Cosmere, so whenever really...
So, that's 180+ listings trimmed to 72 more reasonable listings... like 10-15% of my yearly reading...
Mod
Eve Langlais has like 8 releases on that full list I made... Katie Reus has a bunch, Rebecca Zanetti, etc...
Since I'm mostly audio now, I don't like a lot of the genre stories that I used to devour in print. Most PNR, romances, some UF and YA end up having a negative connotation effect by being in audio format. I think I'm deep diving in LNs because it's different enough that I can gloss over flaws easier. Plus, it's been a way to get a mild romance fix with stories that focus more on emotional/psychological aspects than smexy times cause of Asian smackdowns on what it means to be "explicit". XD
I feel like there has been way more formula books written and tossed into the public. Like what I would consider fluff reading has become a vast ocean of choices vs a portion of the options.
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So I tend to read things like Paranormal Romance with plot, rather than Contemporary Romance where the point is generally the romance... or full-on erotica...
Altho, I do find it weird to think about narrators being paid to do this, especially if it's a multi-author production, where the female narrator mostly comes in to moan and do some dialogue...
That's probably why I didn't have too much problem with that Dungeon Cleaners book, that surprised me with the impending harem... the first book is just a single female, but it's gonna multiply, book to book... and harems definitely have a questionable connotation... altho reverse harems are just as common if not more common in the Paranormal Romance genre, especially with authors like Eve Langlais...
There are more books set with a harem vs reverse harem. Mostly due to reverse harem stories becoming more accepted as a genre in recent decades. XD
In good erotica romances, there's not a bunch of "moaning" in the audiobook narration. My issue with romances (honestly it's with any story but it happens more in romance) that I focus on different aspects when I listen to a story vs reading it. There's less of a story movie playing in my head. I'm always visualizing stories when I read them. It's not as vivid when I listen vs reading print.
Makes me think that we must insert our own words of interpretation when we read stories. Cause when I focus solely on words written & heard, it can become grating & details pop in ways that make it clear that it doesn't make sense. XD
Plus, many romance female narrators are super annoying to listen to! Makes everyone sound 10x dumber!
A lot of the newer (as in 15+ years) romance writers can weave a decent emotional story, but they aren't good about establishing setting, rich history, descriptions, etc. I took it for granted that these are things that authors dig into and integrate into their work. Nah, I don't feel like that's as much of a case now.
Even in genres where I would expect it to be rich in varied details, writing has become streamlined and gloss over stuff that I'd call "rich visuals". I don't need Lord of the Rings 10 pages of that field and path descriptions, but it's nice to have a page or two here and there.
Stuff I added to Audible Wishlist from Audible's 2025 The Stories We Can't Wait to Hear blog. Some of them were already in my Wishlist, like Gray Man, Orphan X, Scazli.
Link: (view spoiler)
Debut
- Mask of the Deer Woman 01/25/25 - Mystery/Suspense
Horror
- Badlands 06/03/25 - Agent Corrie Swanson & Nora Kelly (No idea why this is in horror and not Mystery. XD)
- The Staircase in the Woods - 04/29/25
- The Buffalo Hunter Hunter - 03/18/25
- Their Monstrous Hearts - 04/08/25
- Whistle: A Novel - 06/10/25
- Overgrowth - 05/06/25
- Old Soul - 01/28/25
- Rose of Jericho - 03/11/25
- Never Flinch - 05/27/25
Mystery
- The Queens of Crime - 02/11/25
- Nobody’s Fool - 03/25/25
- Midnight Black #14 Gray Man - 02/18/25
- Nemesis #10 Orphan X - 02/11/25
Romantasy
- Immortal - 01/17/26
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
- When the Moon Hits Your Eye - 03/25/25
- Breath of the Dragon - 01/07/25
- The River Has Roots - 03/04/25
- A Language of Dragons - 01/07/25
- This Inevitable Ruin #7 DDC - 02/11/25
- When We Were Real - 04/01/25
- Once Was Willem - 03/04/25
- The Devils - 05/13/25
YA
- All Better Now - 02/04/25
Mandarin Beef Stir-fry with Sweet Jalepano Slices 
I feel like that photo is vengeance for uploading a link of kindle sales.
Nirkatze wrote: "I feel like that photo is vengeance for uploading a link of kindle sales."Bwahahahahha~
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I really like the Warhammer covers. Totally my kind of yay fantasy art for books. Well, one style. But I have no interest in reading the stories. XD
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Elizabeth is good at coming in strong for a few months, setting up some BRs, then disappearing for 6-12 months...
She started the Eisenhorn and Weirkey Chronicles BRs, and disappeared around April... me and Choko have since read all 9 Inquisition books in the Warhammer universe, I read a standalone I'm unsure if Choko read, and I'm starting Horus Heresy, the longest Warhammer series, with Choko & Felina and a few others in January...
Weirkey has been on pause at book 5 since May, since there's no audio for 6-8/9 yet... Sarah Lin is at the whims of Travis Baldree on those audiobooks... he squeezes her in whenever he finishes another contract early, rather than making her wait like 2 years for his waiting list for recording slots, so there's not much pre-announcement on new releases...
I remember similar BR things happening in the past with Riftwar Saga and some other series....
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I'll do my best... almost done with HWFWM1, and can zoom through some shorter books... Wind & Truth is lagging behind, still on day 4 of 10...
Remaining Books for the Year:
Wind and Truth
Miss Percy's Definitive Guide to the Restoration of Dragons
BuyMort: Bull Market Mayhem
He Who Fights With Monsters 1
He Who Fights With Monsters 2
Icarus Needle
Tea Set and Match
Road Trip
I'm doing pretty good with my audio lineup, but since I finally finished the chonker eyebook I'd been reading since Sept, I started swapping more books to my eyebook lineup and that's lagging behind... Still, the eyebooks I chose should go faster since I'm on break...Eye:
White Sand 2&3
Iron Widow
Blood Over Bright Haven
Wind and Truth
Audio:
HWFWM2
Tea Set and Match
Sanctuary--just realized I had one more IA to go, yay!
I think I have about a week on eye-reads and a day on Audio... so I might try to squeeze in a Wandering Inn or two before the end of the year to get caught up with folks--how far have people read?
Fantasy Buddy Reads
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Nathan Lowell (other topics)Nathan Lowell (other topics)
Nina Bangs (other topics)
For you, I mean trying alot of books and DNF most if they aren't worth your time...