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The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is 75% done with The Crown Conspiracy (The Riyria Revelations, #1)
This book is shockingly amateurish considering it was given a traditional publishing mark of approval under an imprint of Hachette.
May 24, 2024 03:05AM Add a comment
The Crown Conspiracy (The Riyria Revelations, #1)

The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is 22% done with The Crown Conspiracy (The Riyria Revelations, #1)
So far, this is "Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser" meets "The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings".
May 17, 2024 08:31PM Add a comment
The Crown Conspiracy (The Riyria Revelations, #1)

The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is 61% done with Baroness of Blood (Ravenloft, #12)
I groaned when upon finishing reading the textbook, the protagonist picked up *another* book and read it in its entirety, padding things out even more, but I changed my mind partway in, because that book turned out to be a short story that was much more of an actual *story* than the rest of this book. It had characters with motivations, a plot, a conflict, and a resolution. More like this, please.
May 14, 2024 12:29AM Add a comment
Baroness of Blood (Ravenloft, #12)

The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is 47% done with Baroness of Blood (Ravenloft, #12)
There have been several glimpses of the ghost sister and her werewolf lover/protector, and I really wish the story was about them instead of about the political ambitions of this evil poisoner.
May 11, 2024 01:16PM Add a comment
Baroness of Blood (Ravenloft, #12)

The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is 44% done with Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women
It's been getting more abstract and less a story, and in this chapter we've suddenly stopped following the main character and are instead reading the book that he's reading, which is a book of metaphysics, which is half textbook and half poetry.
May 11, 2024 01:14PM Add a comment
Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women

The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is 24% done with Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women
A lot of dream-logic and accepting things casually without any reaction, like the fact that he just met Sir Percival after reading one of his stories in a book.
May 08, 2024 01:55PM Add a comment
Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women

The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is finished with The Vanishing Tower (The Elric Saga #4)
As usual, I rate collections of short stories like this based on the best of the stories, not an average.
May 02, 2024 06:10PM Add a comment
The Vanishing Tower (The Elric Saga #4)

The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is 90% done with The Vanishing Tower (The Elric Saga #4)
This third story is the first one I've read where Moorcock introduces the idea that Elric has many alternate universe counterparts that are all incarnations of The Eternal Champion. Here, three of these "champions" team up against a dwarf. The banter between Champions feels rather silly:

Elric heard Corum cry: "My eye -- it will not see into the netherworld. I cannot summon help!"

I like Moonglum better.
May 02, 2024 02:04PM Add a comment
The Vanishing Tower (The Elric Saga #4)

The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is 40% done with The Vanishing Tower (The Elric Saga #4)
I was surprised that the plot was getting resolved so quickly, until it turned out that this is a collection of short stories that form a rough sequence, rather than a single novel.
Apr 29, 2024 02:44PM Add a comment
The Vanishing Tower (The Elric Saga #4)

The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is 18% done with The Vanishing Tower (The Elric Saga #4)
This is the way I like it. The characters are already established and competent in their abilities, and it starts out with Elric already on his quest, accompanied by Moonglum. No wasting time beginning with a dull everyday life and refusing a call to action before things actually start happening.
Apr 28, 2024 03:35AM Add a comment
The Vanishing Tower (The Elric Saga #4)

The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is 86% done with The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales
There are versions of a Cinderella in here, and a Beauty and the Beast, bits and pieces of a Snow White and a Rapunzel, and recognisable variants of The Brave Little Tailor, The Musicians of Bremen, The Youth Who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was, King of the Golden Mountain, King Lindworm, and some others I know, but a lot of these are very unfamiliar to me.
Apr 26, 2024 05:53AM Add a comment
The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales

The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is 17% done with The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales
Most of these stories are extremely terse synopses -- not unusual for oral folktales, but these are among the craziest I've seen. It's a parade of bizarre events without motivation, reason, or logic.
Apr 23, 2024 05:31AM Add a comment
The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales

The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is finished with Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Narnia, #4)
It's interesting that Lewis didn't mind including gods like Bacchus in these books, and even more so that they're good guys and allies!
Apr 22, 2024 08:28PM Add a comment
Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Narnia, #4)

The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is 30% done with Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Narnia, #4)
“And the feasts on the poop and the musicians.”

Phrasing!
Apr 20, 2024 07:52PM Add a comment
Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Narnia, #4)

The Joy of Erudition
The Joy of Erudition is 24% done with Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Narnia, #4)
In publication order, this is Book 2, and that's how I'm reading it. So far this is a story-within-a-story, with the familiar characters from Book 1 (publication order, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) returning to Narnia, but they quickly meet a dwarf who starts telling them the story of Prince Caspian.
Apr 20, 2024 06:31PM Add a comment
Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Narnia, #4)

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