The Fantasy/Sci-Fi Books Thread Book • Page 83

Finished The Will of the Many a few days ago. Really enjoyed it. I thought the Licanius Trilogy was good but Will of the Many was a step up in my opinion.

 

So I’m definitely not nearly as high on Malazan as many of you, but Beak’s moment in Reaper’s Gale almost brought me to tears on my run this morning. Truly beautiful writing in that segment.

 

I know this is a older post, but I came to ask the same question just now. I have The Ninth Rain reserved at the library but I haven't heard or read much about the series. Did you ever end up reading it?

 

Haha nope. Still very keen to read it, because it seems like just the thing I'd love, but my TBR is wildly out of control lol.

I actually think that what I'll do is read her new book first. She has a book coming out this month, Talonsister, first in a new series. I might personally start with that one and then go back and read the Winnowing Flame. Seems more likely to happen, anyway.

Let me know when you read it! I've heard nothing but good things but it'd be nice to get more info.

 

Will do - I think I am going to be reading it next. I absolutely loved Blood Song by Anthony Ryan, but I ended up losing steam on the second book Tower Lord and find myself just not wanting to keep going.

 

The reviews for Blood Song are insane (one of the highest goodreads ratings I've seen), but I could NOT get through the Audiobook. Steven Brand is definitely the worst narrator for me. He does not do voices and has no inflections, and it makes the book not only less engaging, but confusing to know who is speaking the dialogue as it all sounds the same. This is definitely on my 'to read' list though.

A shameless plug for one of my favorite authors, but less than 2 weeks till the new Josiah Bancroft book! I will be reading this day 1 and hopefully be done by day 3 or 4. The ARC reviews are promising but I am glancing them over as I want no spoilers whatsoever.

The Hexologists (The Hexologists, #1)

 

The Hexologists might be another one I have to jump in with and then go back to finish Books of Babel. I read Senlin Ascends and really liked it, but it's been a long time at this point, I'd need a reread. Hexologists looks really good though, super fun.

 

I still would recommend reading Books of Babel to the end for the prose alone, but as a final book and conclusion, I was ultimately disappointed. Mainly because it wasn't a tight, neat ending, and it definitely feels a bit disingenuous to call it the final book. I get wrapping up a series with 'more to come in this world', but I felt it didn't even really wrap up the major arcs in a satisfying way. Still, I had a great time reading them all for the lyrical nature of the writing, and all the relatable and quotable passages, but I think he's a still a new writer in terms of wrapping up plot and structure and I hope the hexlogists proves to be a tighter arc. If i recall, it was a massive deal financially, and he also sold the rights along with it off the bat so Orbit obviously sees the potential in this new story.

 

I never got around to the final Books of Babel but really, really liked the first three. One day I'll finish it up despite seeing a fair bit of disappointment, just have to see it through.

I had no idea he had a new one out soon, will definitely grab it day 1.

 

Man I really enjoyed book 1 of Books of Babel but felt the series dropped considerably in book 2 and focused on stuff I really didn’t care about. Was really disappointed.

 

Just finished Reality Dysfunction and started The Neutronium Alchemist from Peter F Hamilton. I just love this guys stories and they are the peak of Space Operas for me. If you like your sci-fi with epic scale, really cool technology, great villains, and awesome action, I would highly recommend either Commonwealth Universe (7 THICC books) or Night’s Dawn trilogy.

 

Finishing Bonehunters soon then I'm diving into Guy Gavriel Kay for the first time with Lions of Al-Rassan. I hear a lot of authors talking about him all the time so I'm excited to see what it's all about.

 

Tigana is beautiful. I also really loved Under Heaven. I also tried really hard to like Fionavar Tapestry but the first two books just never clicked for me.

He's an insanely good writer, so it makes sense that other authors would be talking about him.

 

Any other fans of The Divine Cities trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett...? I searched for it in the thread and only found a few passing mentions in posts usually talking about other books. It is one of my favorite trilogies ever, and definitely my favorite modern / recent trilogy. I have started reading Foundryside (from a more recent series from him) a few times and put it down and never finished it though.

 

I have Foundryside for my post-Malazan stack.

 

I read the first book of Divine Cities and it didn't click for me. Seeing that kind of praise makes me curious to go back though. I love his horror work, American Elsewhere especially.

 

I mean, I don't really have a lot of friends that I talk about books with in real life, but even online I don't see a whole lot of talk about The Divine Cities, but I honestly think it is absolutely phenomenal, all 3 books. Some of my favorite characters that I have ever read. The only thing I can say though is that I completely love the first book and find it to be an extremely consistent trilogy across the 3 books, so if the first one wasn't really your cup of tea I don't see that really changing if you push a little further into the story.

 

I appreciate the heads up, though since you've mentioned it it did remind me that I always meant to go back because I do want to read Foundryside and I don't plan on starting that until I finish Divine Cities.

 

How many of you have waded into the dreaded waters of booktok? Seems like it's a non-stop recommendation of all the same stuff, but also that could just be my algorithm. All their bookshelves look the same. I constantly see the following recs:

Jade City
The Mask of Mirrors
Theft of Swords
The Jasmine Throne
Caraval
Fourth Wing
The Shadow of What Was Lost

Also there seems to be a resurgence of hype around Assassin's Apprentice? Did I miss the Robin Hobb wave that came out of nowhere for a book released in 1995?

 

I definitely get more Stormlight content than anything, but Booktok mostly seems to be fantasy romance centered so I’m always careful with the recs.

Jade City and Theft of Swords are fun reads/series.

 

Jade City is great and I really need to get to Jade War and Jade Legacy eventually. The Shadow of What Was Lost I really liked but I ultimately didn't finish Licanius due to feeling it was over-bloated by the end of book 2.

 

I loved Licanius. Heard his new one is even better.

 

I think ultimately the audiobook didn't help my enjoyment. I'm a staunch Michael Kramer hater.

BUT The Will of the Many is my current book of the year. To me it's so much tighter of a story in terms of plot and pacing. I think the world and characters are a lot more interesting, and how he ends the book opens up a lot of great possibilities moving forward. First time in awhile that I immediately went looking for fan theories after I finished.

 

Agreed (on the TWOTM stuff, I haven't read Licanius and I like Michael Kramer). Islington has mentioned in his blog that figuring out how to write the sequel has been kind of tricky, or at least was initially, and after finishing TWOTM I'm like... yeah, how exactly would you approach writing the next book now? haha. Excellent book and very tightly plotted.

 

The only thing I didn't like in this book, is what the fuck is a transvect and why is it shaped like it's described? I really struggled with the description and the practicality of that thing to a point where it actively annoyed me.

Also the usual fantasy trope of 'we have answers but you're not ready!' but that's less of an annoyance and more of a gimme the next book now.

Personally for me it wasn't. There are a lot of comments here (and other fantasy chat threads) that Licanius was rough around the edges, but I never felt that way at all. I really enjoyed this new one, but I think I enjoyed the first book in Licanius more. It's very much of the same cloth, and without spoiling anything, it's going to need to display some of the same foreshadowing, and tight plotting that brought licanius to a close to be a successful series.