Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion
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The Perfect Run
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Vagabond Treehouse ~ [Fall 2025: World of Chains #1-3 (Wayward Bard) | The Perfect Run 1-3 (alternating)]
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Timelord Iain, Tech Support
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Jan 31, 2025 06:32AM
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LOOK AT THIS TERRIBLE COVER!!!
LOL
I'm doing a last run on Audible's monthly sale to see if I wanna get something or put on Wish List for a better sale. XD
Purely on a cool cover. Doesn't have good reviews though.
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LOOK AT THIS TERRIBLE COVER!!!
LOL
I'm doing a last run on Audible's monthly sale to see if I wanna get something or put on Wish List for..."
I remember seeing that one... and it's a spinoff of another series...
So many of the Audible monthly sales deals feel like a joke... they're available year round for 7.49 with Whispersync pricing if you have KU already, and then they go on Audible sale for 7.99 or 6.99...
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Literally every rating/review of Dead & Horny seems positive... barely anything below 4 stars... it is late into a series tho, when the haters have quit...
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500+ in my filtered Audible Library of Unfinished books....
Dude, I have so many not finished books. I totally have to get my audiobooks down by a chunk this year. Not that I'm doing a good job on that since I'm focused on other things. XDLoL
Nothing wrong with a "seductive and thrilling" story, but this series I was going to look at totally lost me when I read that.
I ended up just getting a bundle by Harmon Cooper cause I'm familiar with his books and it won't suck. May not be the best, but it'll be an ok popcorn read at the worst. So, I did the KU borrow & discount.
Otherwise, I didn't get squat. I did add a few books to my library hold list.
Bwahahha
At most, I think Audible sales are a nice way to see stuff I may not on my own. It's the present day version of "book browsing". Something had to replace going to the bookstore and just looking around at stuff that may capture my eye. That's what this is for me for the most part. I generally will see or be reminded of something decent.
An ok time investment for a hobby I love. =D
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Book opens with MC getting gender affirmation surgery in a superhero fantasy world, using nanites to redesign her body. Nanites aren't disabled after the surgery (reminds me of Argeneau Vampires), and self-replicate, get smarter, and gain sentience...
In the meantime, the MC has a one night stand with a woman who manages superheroes, to build the courage to ask her neighbor/crush out, who happens to secretly be nephilim and her Grace is making one of her archangel uncles angry enough to try and kill her...
This leads to MC's apparent death only for nanites to save her and start communicating with her (and others, using bluetooth)... basically turning MC into a superhero with nanite-induced superpowers...
Slowly but surely, events/plot make it to where MC needs help of one night stand / superheroes, to protect herself and her girlfriend from an archangel, and they're hiding out in Los Angeles with Satan/Sammael (who isn't a fan of the shows Lucifer or Supernatural)...
So that's where I'm at, now :D...
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Timelord Iain wrote: "Trying to describe the plot of Transistor is wild...Book opens with MC getting gender affirmation surgery in a superhero fantasy world, using nanites to redesign her body. Nanites aren't disabled..."
I like your summary! It's (probably for me) way cooler than the story would be if I read it. 😆
Coincidentally saw this on FB. Several things to look forward to from Drew Hayes.https://www.drewhayesnovels.com/blog/...
re: Milk Run--aww but the smugglers and ne'er-do-wells need their cozy coffee time too! Must by why they're making a milk run...re: OMW--I don't have the same knee-jerk reaction to rehashing the same scenes @Narilka, but I will say that I've read a few books that do that, and don't like any of them except for Zoe's Tale--I thought the author actually did a really good job of essentially cutting scenes from book 3 and having them told only from Zoe's POV in book 4--so things that get one line in 3 are chapters in 4, and vice versa... they're more like one book than two books of the same thing. I don't know if that would make it worth a read for you though, unless you like, swapped book 3 for 4 out on alternating rereads or something. I think it'd also be possible to skip book 4 and just read a summary of the world status quo, and just go on and read 5&6... I think you'd probably be able to tell if you'd enjoy 5&6 from trying one episode--they're kind of like a TV series, in that there is a clear arc for the two books, but each chapter is well contained. They have the best humor in the series, I think. Don't know if that's helpful but that's my two cents!
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Ofc, sometimes I do the same
Thing with cozies I DO plan to recommend :D
Yah, like it's been a LONG time since I've super loved an LN and the last one I finished was way better than I expected it to be. Very well done character driven series with a handful of plot driven holes I could gloss over for story being told. It had a very satisfying & wholesome romance subplot. The kind where you can see them going from being in love or care to truly falling in love with each other or perhaps it's better to describe it as an evolving & deepening of love.
Because I didn't expect it to be more than what it was showing, I was more than gleeful with the whole being 10x better than what I thought it was gonna be.
Timelord Iain wrote: "I think Milk Run is more in the vein of ski trail naming conventions.. milk=easy/safe"That makes sense. I still like my interpretation though!
My friend just started a kickstarter for a card game she made, connected to a fantasy series she wants to write, and I am so proud of her! It got funded in a day and got the "project we love" stamp. If I wanted to share a link and to tell y'all about it, would I need to put it in self-promotions?
Your friend would have to post it for it to be self-promoted. Throw it in Random thread?
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The immediate familiar/companion reminds me of my failed attempts at trying the The Mayor of Noobtown series...
The opening was very Truck-kun, but different, since events setup someone else to die by Truck/subway train, then time froze, and the grumpy MC and an otaku/weeb kid tried to save the girl (this was somewhere in Japan) while time was frozen, then they were chosen to be the Hero & Villain in their little wargames on another fantasy world... grumpy MC is very resistant, but kinda turning into a benevolent Dark Lord (which thus kinda reminds me of How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying or I Ran Away to Evil)... the Dark Lord MC mostly has healing magic, and is building an entourage of minions by saving the heroes, curing brothel workers, and trading with goblins... alot of socio-economic stuff, really... and THAT psychological aspect is reminding me of He Who Fights with Monsters... and a smidge of Cat Core...
I'm probably gonna continue with the sequels:
The Revolution Will Be Isekai'd: An Isekai Adventure
The Goblins Are Revolting: An Isekai Adventure
Also, the MC has started realizing this world is less of a LitRPG, and more of a Gacha Game, where the dungeons are loot boxes...
The MC's special skill is being able to merge spells together to create new spells, kinda like Orb of Creation (steam/itch.io game by Marple)... the Hero showed up for a second in the plot already, and it seems like his special skill is being able to craft artifacts, which is gonna be OP if he gets time to grow in power...
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😆 Definitely sounds like a weird game RP adventure!
Boo!!!My current LN has great characters and decent plot, but this author has ZERO UNDERSTANDING about geography or historical sea travel. A few days here and there and the characters are only a few days sea passage to UK. Based in historical time before Silk Road has been developed, etc.
Days. Days guys. That whole going around Africa can take months. That's when they have actual maps and experience. For reference, they went from southeastern China to Middle East in a matter of days.
🤣🤣🤣
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If I finish all that, then I'm only "behind" on The Drawing of the Three, Royal Tea Service, and Reborn as a Demonic Tree 2, which I added to my spreadsheet for February 1st... and I only have Gobbelino London and a Menace of Mermaids and Hell's Super through next Friday...
That's barely enough reading to last me to Tuesday/Wednesday ;)
I could start reading everything a week early, but I'm trying to avoid that, because then I'm basically just screaming/typing into the void...
And this is AFTER reading most of that list of books I posted the other day... the only ones I downloaded and haven't read yet are Mother of Learning: ARC 1 and Amelia the Level Zero Hero Book 3...
But after months of procrastinating, it's about time I also read Passions in Death, since Bonded in Death comes out on Tuesday, as well...
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Definitely... some of the reviewers call it a Base Building LitRPG, which is fair...
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My current LN has great characters and decent plot, but this author has ZERO UNDERSTANDING about geography or historical sea travel. A few days here and there and the characters are only a ..."
Skyrim Rules... you just open your map and Fast Travel ;)
Timelord Iain wrote: "Soo wrote: "Boo!!!My current LN has great characters and decent plot, but this author has ZERO UNDERSTANDING about geography or historical sea travel. A few days here and there and the characters..."
🤣🤣🤣
I threw the metaphysical table when the story time skipped and decided it only takes 2 months to go from UK to east of Hong Kong. That particular writer wrote about certain medical aspects well, but totally stupid about old school ship travels.
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@RachelG: Been awhile since I read book 1... I forgot Ashlock died and chose to continue to be a tree on being re-reborn, at the end of book 1...
The opening chapter of book 2, and the disbelief of the carpenter they're recruiting to build the sect's compound feels like a good way to ease back into the story tho :D
Yes, I'm a bit slow with listening to Reborn as a Demonic Tree 2. Currently I've finished Chapter 12 (15%) and not a ton to say yet but (view spoiler)
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For some reason I thought you were at chapter 15 not 12... I just reached that...
Things heat up right after where you're at, I think... (view spoiler)
Timelord Iain wrote: "Things heat up right after where you're at, I think."
You aren't kidding. The story really takes off after where I had left off. Between Chapter 15-17: (view spoiler) For some reason I keep on thinking that there must be a heck of a forest growing around Ashlock and it's hard for me to think of how much space there is for a town.
I think in book 1 I was thinking about how The Wandering Inn (book 1) was described with it's surroundings and transferred those ideas to this one.
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My interpretation of this world is that the Ashfallen sect is at the top of a hill/mountain, the town is at the base (like Sword of Kaigen), and there’s a forest of trees a bit further out that builds a perimeter with the sect at the center…
With all the demonic villainy, the world feels very Dragonball Z to me…
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I thought I might have managed a few more than 1, if only because I read a couple of the romance nominees for GCA a few years ago, and those are generally the most shelved books of the genre...
Timelord Iain wrote: "Top 100 Romances of the last 3 years banner article: only book I read was The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, and the early commenters note there is only 1 queer romance i..."What a weird list. The primary focus for most of those books is not romance.
Meanwhile, my current LN went nutso drama for the drama conflict angle. The core family relationships are cool and writer knows how to write situational comedy. I laughed a good bit for certain scenes.
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Brian wrote: "Is anyone wanting to read the next Hunger Games book Sunrise on the Reaping in March?"Slightly tempted, but I think I'd rather wait a little on that one until I can library it... though if you get more people on board I might try to swing it anyway. Have you asked in the Invite thread yet?
N not yet. Just putting out some feelers.
Brian wrote: "Is anyone wanting to read the next Hunger Games book Sunrise on the Reaping in March?"If I can get it from my library, I'm down to a casual BR.
Timelord Iain wrote: "Finished Reborn as a Demonic Tree... enjoyed it alot... plenty of great new characters, character growth for existing characters (especially the main "daughter"), and satisfying climax setting up t..."I am only on Chapter 35 but am really enjoying Elaine "joining" the Ashfallen sect. I hope to get a chance to listen again tomorrow when my son is in school because he disrupts me too much when I try to concentrate on anything.
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Her trying to escape, (view spoiler)... great stuff...
Not sure if any of that is a spoiler for you, but it's obvious plot trajectory, and the beginnings of everything is there from the start...
In general, the world is Ash's oyster, since like 99% of the rest of the world just takes advantage of everyone... cultivation is treated like a license to be a self-centered asshole...
Current LN: Farmer's Wife Has Magic SkillsThis title is sorta right and mostly wrong. Just like the last one I read. 😆
I think it's interesting to note my personal tolerance levels for different stories and how that range can be very different per story/plot read.
The level of forgiveness range is higher when the author does a good job to establish characters, setting and active plot progression. Character consistency, story mechanics making sense within story bounds, etc.
In the last LN about Stepmom family relationship with step kids and romance, I was entertained by the characters & setting intro and establishment. Writer had a great sense for writing situational comic moments and scenes that had me laughing out loud. I also enjoyed the way the writer incorporated reality show commentary as a way to push the plot in a variety of ways. It was good! Until it jumped the shark too many times. 😆
Back to Farmer's Wife Has Magic Skills:
Right off the bat, level of realism is thrown out of the window cause the MC is a cultivator who was thrown into the historical times to experience Love Tribulations. She's on the path of immortality, but lacking experiences of the 7 senses and 6 emotions.
Like LitRPG, you give the story a lot of room to sketch out the Story Rules and then make more judgy faces. 🧐
I like Quig Zhi, the MC. She's smart, hardworking and lazy. 😆 She'll go all Mary Sue out with her abilities to do well and then lounge as others take up the process to get stuff done.
Thus far, I'm enjoying the active plot progression and rolling my eyes at some of the plot armor hijinx. Most of it is done in a way to forgive and the writer has a nice way of blending poetic phrases into normal moments. Good handle of popular Chinese history, scholarly literature, etc.
The story plays out like a goofy comic in my head and I'm enjoying the huge cast. Gotta enjoy the kitchen sink story with little subplot arcs and smart twists.
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Timelord Iain wrote: "Finished Reborn as a Demonic Tree... enjoyed it alot... plenty of great new characters, character growth for existing characters (especially the main "daughter"), and satisfying climax setting up t..."Agree with you here. I like seeing how everyone is growing as the story continues. I have book 3 and 4 on hold but I am way down the line for both so it will be awhile until I get them.
Fantasy Buddy Reads
Books mentioned in this topic
The Perfect Run (other topics)Beware of Chicken 5: A Xianxia Cultivation Novel (other topics)
The Wayward Bard (other topics)
Beware of Chicken 5: A Xianxia Cultivation Novel (other topics)
The Wayward Bard (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Nathan Lowell (other topics)Nathan Lowell (other topics)
Nina Bangs (other topics)
