The Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books Thread Book • Page 66

Finished The Dragonbone Chair today and loved it! More so than the first time. It's definitely a slow burn but the payoff at the end was brilliant and the story is just massive.

Going to have a little cleanser before starting book 2.

 

@Vivatoto I finished Children of Time! I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t that! Incredibly unique alien race. Did I recall correctly that you think the second is even better?

I also started Legends and Lattes. This is pretty damn charming.

 

No, I think the first is my favorite, and still probably my favorite Adrian Tchaikovsky book, but I think a lot of that was the pure joy in reading such an original story. The second is a worthy sequel though. The trilogy isn't really set up like a normal 3 act trilogy, each story is almost stand alone, but not really, it's tough to explain. Each book tells its own story but they build off one another. I just read the third recently, and I wasn't sure it was as good as the rest, but then a twist happened halfway that put everything into perspective and it became another completely wild ride.

Also I keep calling it a trilogy, but I don't think that's true, I think he might be setting up a 4th.

 

Also a pro tip for Adrian Tchaikovsky, put a bunch of his kindle books on your amazon wishlist, I think I've seen everyone (except for the newest, and his long series Shadows of the Apt) on sale at some point or another and it's basically how I've bought all of his books. Including sequels, like Children of Ruin, and sequels are way less common in sales for obvious reasons. In fact I'm pretty sure I first found Children of Time because I was looking at Kindle daily deals.

EDIT: Ok cool, to prove my point I checked amazon, and Doors of Eden is on sale for $3. That one was mid tier for me, but you get the point, his books go on sale a lot.

 

I have A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine out from the library, and I was planning on actively reading that right now and switching over to the audiobooks for The Wheel of Time in the car on my commute and before bed to help me relax / fall asleep, but I'm now on Chapter 20 of The Shadow Rising and the hot streak is still going strong. I can't put it down.

 

It’s because The Shadow Rising is one of the best fantasy books ever.

@Nick told me to read the Arkady books recently so let me know what you think @Brother Beck when you get to them.

 

Man I have Ruin of Kings on audiobook but due to the storytelling format I'm having trouble following along

 

To the stories detriment, that's the storytelling the entire time.

 

Also Arkady's series rules. It's not an easy read, pretty complex and dense and it's playing a long game, but it's great if you're willing to put a lil work in. I compare it to a sci fi, The Traitor Baru Cormorant

 

Ruin of Kings, for me, got worse with every book in the series. I finished it more out of obligation than anything. I wanted to give up entirely midway through book four.

So many cool ideas scattered throughout, though.

 

I need to give Traitor Baru another chance. The audiobook narrator was so bad I couldn’t handle it. Probably one for print.

 

Yeah and like I was saying with Arkady, you gotta be all in when you're reading it, so if something isn't working I can see that being a big problem. It's a very slow moving series, but so rewarding, and it also has the best social justice messages I've read in fantasy.

 

Book 4 made me so fucking mad, lol. There was still stuff I consistently loved but what really killed me was how sarcastic, and not-give-a-shit all the characters and narrators were by the end. I don't know how I'm suppose to take these supposedly apocalyptic events seriously if the characters in the story won't.

The controversy over that video game Forspoken that was released recently made me think of the series, it's the "Well THAT just happened" attitude.

(as if any more proof was needed I'm a grim/dark guy)

 

Hm so it seems like I might just pass on it given the talk here

 

Most of you may already know, but James Islington (Licanius Trilogy) has his new series coming. It was due in March but looks like ita delayed till end of May now. Its called the will of the many, and sounds pretty great.

At the elite Catenan Academy, a young fugitive uncovers layered mysteries and world-changing secrets in this new fantasy series by internationally bestselling author of The Licanius Trilogy, James Islington.

AUDI. VIDE. TACE.

The Catenan Republic—the Hierarchy—may rule the world now, but they do not know everything.

I tell them my name is Vis Telimus. I tell them I was orphaned after a tragic accident three years ago, and that good fortune alone has led to my acceptance into their most prestigious school. I tell them that once I graduate, I will gladly join the rest of civilised society in allowing my strength, my drive and my focus—what they call Will—to be leeched away and added to the power of those above me, as millions already do. As all must eventually do.

I tell them that I belong, and they believe me.

But the truth is that I have been sent to the Academy to find answers. To solve a murder. To search for an ancient weapon. To uncover secrets that may tear the Republic apart.

And that I will never, ever cede my Will to the empire that executed my family.

To survive, though, I will still have to rise through the Academy’s ranks. I will have to smile, and make friends, and pretend to be one of them and win. Because if I cannot, then those who want to control me, who know my real name, will no longer have any use for me.

And if the Hierarchy finds out who I truly am, they will kill me.

 

Is it gonna be in the same world as Licanius?

 

No... apparently there's a rushed/unexplained section of licanius that he plans to go back to (that got cut for time/pacing), but this is a brand new world. He's a huge sanderson fan, so maybe he'll try his own cosmere that's not been announced, but i expect a standalone world off of what his blogs have shared over the years. Im excited and hope it shares what i liked with licanius though (direct prose, tight plotting, fast paced, and to the point).

Not sure if its a trilogy or unnanounced number of books either.

 

It's going to be at least two books (The Strength of the Few will be the second book, and he expects to be done with the first draft of that shortly after the publication of book one), and his latest mention of series plans just says that it's been listed as "The Hierarchy Trilogy" even though it "may or may not be a trilogy" and is just called "Hierarchy".

Super excited for this, even though I haven't read Licanius—feels like this will be a good jumping-off point for me on his writing.

 

I decided to read about Gemmell's death today, since I'll be finishing his final book soon. It was something I avoided, since it was easy enough to avoid, and I just want to put that sort of stuff out of my head when I'm reading an authors work, I get to depressed thinking about all the untold stories and mortality whatnot.

Anyway I'm glad I did while reading this book, because it's a horribly sad, but beautiful story. He died at his computer while writing the final Troy story, and his wife decided within hours that she was going to finish it. Like Robert Jordan, it does give me some joy in the sadness that these people had partners/ people in their lives that would not allow their stories to die* and knew the exact right way to handle an unimaginable situation.

And so far, Stella Gemmell has done an incredible job of writing exactly like David would have, I haven't noticed any difference. That's unlike Jordan, where I would say Sanderson brought his own flavor into the mix, but that also worked out.

To add to all of that, there's a heartbreaking scene between Odysseus and Penelope where Odysseus rescues Penelope and Odysseus talks about how he couldn't go on in a world without her. I'm having trouble reading it, can't imagine writing it.

*I assume most people already know that Robert Jordan's wife, Harriet McDougal, chose Sanderson, among her other instrumental roles in publishing and editing of the final trilogy.

 

I honestly thought this had to be hyperbole, but I got a bad case of norovirus and had to take three days off from work, and as such I am currently on Chapter 42 and I'll be damned if this isn't one of the best fantasy books I have ever read.

I did not remember at all that Perrin's entire family is brutally slaughtered and I was completely caught off guard and utterly devastated when Bran tells him. It was such a gut punch just when I thought Perrin / me were in for a tiny bit of nostalgic hominess of being back in The Winespring Inn. But him and Faile's story during this part is so good at the same time.

 

4/5/6 is such a great stretch of the series with 4 being the best out of the whole lot. I have no idea how they are going to adapt the whole story for TV with how long it is, but if we get a quality season that covers 4 (which I think we will) then at least we're getting the best parts. The only thing that will be a struggle form 4 is what the shadow rising means with the bubbles of evil. I'm worried it could be so corny on screen.

 

Finally finished The Shadow Rising just now and had to run out to Barnes & Noble to grab a copy of The Fires of Heaven. None of the local libraries had a copy and I'm too impatient to wait like 3 or 4 days to get started reading.

 

Got my ARC of Mark Lawrence's The Book that Wouldn't Burn! I've fell off with reading, things have just been so busy so i'm hoping to get to that soon.

 

I actually took an additional sick day off from work where I wasn't really sick anymore so I could finish The Shadow Rising. Don't tell my boss.

 

The more Wheel of Time fans, the merrier! Take all the sick days!