The Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books Thread Book • Page 56

For anyone that hasn’t read them - The Cradle collections are free on Amazon for the next 5 days. That’s 9 brilliant books by Will Wight!

 

Just finished Speaking Bones. Epic and fucking great end to the series. Absolutely loved most of it. My only complaint was it was like the longest come down I have ever read, the last 200 pages are conflictless paperwork. Which sounds damning, but the book is 1050 pages long, and 850 of those made for a totally satisfy conclusion.

 

Finished it! That was definitely a fun, nostalgic read! VERY Pokemon-esque but i think it differed enough.

Always hearing such great things about Ken Liu' series, i really need to start it!

 

Everything from Adrian Tchaikovsky is so fucking good, and he has sooooooo many books, both Sci Fi and Fantasy. Been reading the start of his fantasy series The Tiger and the Wolf and I'm already in love.

 

Well that's about the most beautiful cover ever

 

Holy shit I didn't know thing was happening. I guess Priory is no longer my favorite stand alone fantasy novel...

Hey I'm reading Wi'tch Star!

 

This one is a prequel, I'm pretty sure, so I'm not sure if that invalidates the standalone part, haha. I need to read Priory still. This will give me the incentive to do so.

Hooray! Keep me posted. I found it a very satisfying conclusion. It's been years though, so I don't remember a ton of the details.

 

Hm I wasn't super sold on Priory but yeah I'll give that a go

 

Another cool cover for another author I haven't read.

Looks great though. More books need to have rocs in them, and I don't think I've read a fantasy with a manticore, so this is going on my list for sure. Comes out in April.

 

Priory of the Orange Tree is one of my favorite books ever. I think I read that this is a prequel? I'm so in!

 

Priory is just a perfect epic.

 

I am currently reading Priory of the Orange Tree, and it is absolutely f---ing fantastic on all levels. Stunningly good. It is a big book, and it is so good that I'm already getting bummed out about being ⅓ of the way through it.

 

At first I was thinking, obviously it's not a stand alone anymore, but the more I think about it, the more I think it makes sense to group things as a series as apposed to a world. Like I consider Elantris a stand alone novel, but there's also a sequel coming, and there's the novella, and there's the greater cosmere, so it really isn't stand alone like at all, haha.

I think what's most important to get across about Priory is that it does what entire series do in only one book. Similarly, Gemmell did that constantly, but even then, the scope of Priory is astounding.

 

After the Jade trilogy, almost an instant buy this

 

Speaking of trilogies and instant buy, Babel by RF Kuang is out soon!

 

Hm maybe I need to revisit Priory

 

Following up on this, I still haven't read the first book haha, but the trilogy is on sale on US Kindle for $1 each today.

 

I finished Wit'ch Star a few days ago. Fucking loved it. Great end to the series. The final book was definitely the most complex and lore driven, kinda makes me sad there wasn't one or two more books, haha. I was curious if they would do anything with the framing story, and they tied that together nicely.

One of the more interesting things about the series, something Malazan does as well, is every single book adds a new character(s) that take about as much focus as the main characters. It's an interesting gamble to do with a final book, where generally the pieces have all been set. There's also the negative of taking focus away from the characters you love, I feel like this book had the least Elena, but I think it worked in every book of the series.

By the end I didn't really feel the Shannara comparison anymore and they changed to major Thomas Covenant vibes, but I can't explain why.

I think Runelords might be next for me. I grabbed another series on sale that I might try first but either way it's on the docket.

 

I'm really happy to hear that dude. That series has been one of my favorites for years, and a huge influence on my writing and on my taste in fantasy. I especially loved how he managed to keep up the complexity, as you mentioned, without it feeling like bloat. And he threw in some really inventive stuff as the series progressed, especially with fantasy races and the weirgates and everything.

He wrote two other fantasy books a couple years later, the Godslayer Chronicles, that were meant to be part of another 4- or 5-book series. In an interview a few years back he said he was still working on the rest of the series and was planning a reprint of the first two when the rest come out, but no news on that and it's been a while. Still, I really enjoyed those two books as well, I remember them having a bit darker of a slant than the Banned and the Banished, and still plenty of body horror–type stuff.

Anyway, his latest, The Starless Crown, was fantastic, and I recently learned that the sequel is expected early next year, so I'm stoked for that. Worth keeping on your radar. Hard to go wrong with Runelords in the meantime though haha.

 

Just finished In the Shadow of Lightning by Brian McClellan. This was my first foray into his work, and I really, really liked it. Overall I thought it was a very fun ride with great characters and interesting conflicts. Any quibbles I have are minor, and there are a couple really cool aspects that are super spoilery but have made me insanely excited for the next book.

 

If you’re missing more books in the vein of the Name of the Wind; a reminder that the First Binding by RR Virdi releases tomorrow:

 

I'm excited to read this one for sure. I saw it in a bookstore a few days ago, and man, that thing is hefty. It looks really nice too.

 

@Vivatoto you gotta read Ed McDonald. I just finished his first book, Blackwing, and it was great. Like a mix of Beyond Redemption with, I dunno, maybe David Gemmell a little bit? Right up your alley I think.

 

i just got an email today that the kindle version is 5 dollars off on amazon so I’ll probably grab it

 

Currently reading John Langan's newest short story collection, Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies, and it's just fucking spectacular. No one is doing horror like him.

There's a story that follows Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, which made me finally decide that I need to read that fucking thing. Kind of insane that I haven't.

There's a lot of Fisherman and House of Windows connections too, as he points out in the story notes. He's making his own universe, with the Black Ocean and the Watchers. I'm overjoyed.