It's December 2020: What fantasy book are you reading?

Silvion Night

Silvion Night

Sir Readalot
Staff member
#1
#1
I just finished Tiamat's Wrath (The Expanse #8). This book was -yet again- a lot of fun. Cannot wait for book 9 -the conclusion to the series- to be published next year!

Totally bummed out by the news @Regula posted about the tv-series getting cancelled again after season 6. Really strange that they do not wait to see how season 5 will do. :(

In any case, I will now continue with The Witcher #2 (read the first book last year). I fully expect this one to be as exciting as the first instalment in the series.

What about you?
 
Jakyro

Jakyro

Journeyed there and back again
#2
#2
I finished Persepolis Rising (The Expanse #7) a couple of days ago. I liked it a lot, it's not the best in the series, but very solid. It brought a new direction to the series with the introduction of the Laconians. I'll be starting book 8 today or tomorrow.

and then the long wait will start for book 9 ... currently it's foreseen for 28/10/2021 :eek:
 
kenubrion

kenubrion

Journeyed there and back again
#3
#3
Man, I'm really glad I picked up Abaddon's Gate after letting it sit on my Kindle for years. Now I'm finishing up Babylon's Ashes and I think I will just go ahead and read 7 and 8 and join you all in the wait. And check out the show.
 
rudyjuly2

rudyjuly2

Journeyed there and back again
#5
#5
Roughly page 150 of Rhythm of War. Like it so far. Memory stretched on some of the characters though. Long gaps are getting harder for me, especially if you are reading a bunch of other stuff. My memory can’t keep up. Good thing there are Wiki pages but I’m worried about spoilers.
 
kenubrion

kenubrion

Journeyed there and back again
#6
#6
On to Persepolis Rising and this saga is getting even better. I like how we can discuss science fiction now, as there's plenty of space for those discussions. I bought Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie today as it is marked down to $2.99 and I might have to pause the Expanse for this.
 
ReguIa

ReguIa

Journeyed there and back again
#7
#7
Well, Ty and Daniel are pretty active on reddit and apparently they're happy with the way they're ending the show. The only way I can see there being a ''proper'' ending by season 6 is
If they cut the entire Laconia part and don't do the time jump. Then perhaps they can squeeze in a conclusion on the Romans/Goths.
Something like that will in no way be a satisfying ending for me personally considering PR and TW are among my top 3.

Jakyro said:
currently it's foreseen for 28/10/2021 :eek:
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Is this confirmed? Last I heard they were hoping to have it out by the summer at least..

@Silvion Night I don't understand it either. If it was profitable enough to get them to order season 6, before 5 even started airing.. why not continue.

By Witcher #2 do you mean Sword of Destiny or Time of Contempt? I got a third into Blood of Elves last summer but then got stuck with Wheel of Time and just couldn't stop. Thinking of continuing after I'm finished with Rhythm of War.
 
kenubrion

kenubrion

Journeyed there and back again
#8
#8
I'm just starting PR, 5% in, and I can see how it would be difficult to continue the show.
 
Cyphon

Cyphon

Journeyed there and back again
#10
#10
Finished my re-read of The Red Rising Trilogy. Holds up as well this second time around. This is exactly what I need for the old spark to come back. Looking through I made a list of some books I want to get coming up here around Christmas time to give some new authors and series a try. Until then it is time for the 2nd trilogy in the series.
 
ReguIa

ReguIa

Journeyed there and back again
#12
#12
kenubrion said:
Time passage. Have you read Persepolis? I don't want to spoil it.
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It's definitely not a reason to cancel the show imo. It's 30 years between BA and PR I think and with the anti aging medication they take it's more like a 10 year gap. Throw on a few gray hairs and they're good to go. I thought it could be due to the world being so different after that time, they couldn't use current sets/props and it would be like starting from scratch -> too much work.
 
kenubrion

kenubrion

Journeyed there and back again
#13
#13
ReguIa said:
It's definitely not a reason to cancel the show imo. It's 30 years between BA and PR I think and with the anti aging medication they take it's more like a 10 year gap. Throw on a few gray hairs and they're good to go. I thought it could be due to the world being so different after that time, they couldn't use current sets/props and it would be like starting from scratch -> too much work.
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Yes that's it. I'm thinking of all that as I'm reading PR. I guess I might change my mind when I've completed PR and TW though. Oh and maybe the decision rested on the finale not being done?
 
Silvion Night

Silvion Night

Sir Readalot
Staff member
#15
#15
ReguIa said:
Well, Ty and Daniel are pretty active on reddit and apparently they're happy with the way they're ending the show. The only way I can see there being a ''proper'' ending by season 6 is
If they cut the entire Laconia part and don't do the time jump. Then perhaps they can squeeze in a conclusion on the Romans/Goths.
Something like that will in no way be a satisfying ending for me personally considering PR and TW are among my top 3.



Is this confirmed? Last I heard they were hoping to have it out by the summer at least..

@Silvion Night I don't understand it either. If it was profitable enough to get them to order season 6, before 5 even started airing.. why not continue.

By Witcher #2 do you mean Sword of Destiny or Time of Contempt? I got a third into Blood of Elves last summer but then got stuck with Wheel of Time and just couldn't stop. Thinking of continuing after I'm finished with Rhythm of War.
Click to expand...
Sword of Destiny. I think it's sometimes called Witcher 0.7 or something like that, as it is the second set of short stories, but before the Witcher series proper. I'm really enjoying the short stories. They have a raw sense of frivolity to them, but with great dialogue. Really something special that I have not come across before.
 
afa

afa

Journeyed there and back again
#17
#17
Finished Rogue Protocol, the third novella in the The Murderbot Diaries.

The feedback is basically the same as what I said for the previous one. Murderbot is continuing its personal investigation and it's now very much evident that there is Something Big going on in the background which Murderbot has stumbled upon, though it has no idea what it is. There is another android this we meet this time around, who adds to the list of interesting characters. Like before, though, the human characters seem to just be there and fairly two-dimensional.

The book was fast-paced and interesting, with the danger level and stakes going up in every novella so far. Once again, I enjoyed it. I would give it a 4 out of 5. A good book, and a good series so far.

I am now moving on to the next novella, Exit Strategy. This is the fourth and last novella in the series before the full novel, Network Effect, that was released earlier this year. I'm guessing there will be plenty of open questions at the end of this novella that will be carried forward and explored in the novel.
 
GreyMouser

GreyMouser

Journeyed there and back again
#18
#18
Started The Broken Eye this week. Loving it so far.
 
Alucard

Alucard

In the name of the Pizza Lord. Charge!
Staff member
#19
#19
Khartun said:
Wow @Alucard, for you to have read all those books in your sig in a year and seven of them being Malazan...that's impressive!
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To be fair a lot of them were audiobooks. I breeze through audiobooks so fast. I really enjoyed Stephen King ones and Craig Schaefer's Daniel Faust books. Those are all 'normal sized' books, anywhere between 300 to 450 pages, which translates to anywhere between 8 to 13 hour audiobooks. They go by so fast!

Malazan is another story though lol
 
Silvion Night

Silvion Night

Sir Readalot
Staff member
#20
#20
Alucard said:
To be fair a lot of them were audiobooks. I breeze through audiobooks so fast. I really enjoyed Stephen King ones and Craig Schaefer's Daniel Faust books. Those are all 'normal sized' books, anywhere between 300 to 450 pages, which translates to anywhere between 8 to 13 hour audiobooks. They go by so fast!

Malazan is another story though lol
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Sounds really stupid perhaps, but I feel Stephen King is underrated. I mean: obviously he's been lauded as a great author, but to me it seems he's still regarded as "pulpy" by many. I must say though that in my view he's a literary genius. The ending of his books / series are not his strongest point, and yes occasionally he produces real stinkers (Cell anyone?), but he's one of the best character writers out there and his books have made a huge impression on a lot of people and played a big part in popularising the horror / thriller genre. And consider his contributions to the movie scene. The Green Mile, the Shawshank Redemption, the Shining (even though king reportedly didn't really care for the movie adaptation); all masterpieces based on king's books.

Are their greater contemporary writers out there currently? I'm not even sure.
 
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