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

[Alucard]

It's already June. Oh boy.

I tried reading Traitor Baru Cormorant and DNF'ed it after a hundred pages. I didn't like the writing style or the naming conventions. After so many pages I couldn't remember a single name aside from the main character. Just a weird book overall. Not my thing.

I started reading Good Guys by Steven Brust. So far so good.

 

[rudyjuly2]

Reading the Desert Spear - book 2 of the Warded Man/Demon Cycle series. Just started.

TV Note: The wife and I really enjoyed "Defending Jacob" on Apple TV. It dragged a touch at times and the ending was a bit different than I expected (and also different from the book apparently). Has anyone else watched that show or read the book it's based off of?

 

[Peat]

Finished The Goblin Emperor. It's got many charms but, if I ever gull someone into letting me teach writing, I'm going to use it as a prime example of a) How Not To Plot A Book and b) The Value of Condensing Characters. I also suspect that what I'm pointing at as bugs are deliberate choices to demonstrate the chaotic, colossal and somewhat cruel nature of the court but nevertheless, they're pretty buggy if it's not your thing/you're not completely taken in by the charms.

 

[Derk of Derkholm]

Re-Reading the Dresden Files in order to get ready for Peace Talks arriving at the end of July.
Did "Storm Front" yesterday, now on "Fool Moon".

 

[Kevin O Donoghue]

I have started reading Blood Song by Anthony Ryan. I am really enjoying it and am looking forward to the rest of the series this month.

 

[Bill Door]

I started Daniel Abraham's The Long Price Quartet this morning.

 

[Silvion Night]

I'm in a terrible reading slump at the moment. Usually my commute is 2 hours per day. That is where I got most of my reading done. Now while working from home it's very difficult to pick up a book. When I want to blow off some steam I play with the kids or boot up a video game.

Oh well, maybe someday soon I will find my motivation again.

 

[Alucard]

I'm reading The Outsider by Stephen King and I'm almost done. Really enjoying it.
The book is great, don't know how the TV show is. I've only seen the trailer on YouTube, seems like they changed a lot.

 

[Alucard]

I started Bill Hodges trilogy because in The Outsider there was a character from it (Holly) whom I really liked so I was intrigued. Some events from it were described too, enough to peek my interest but hopefully not enough to spoil the books for me.

 

[rudyjuly2]

I finished the Desert Spear and I liked it. Solid 4/5. Still don't know much about why the world is or what happened over 300 years ago. Looking forward to seeing the mystery unfold. I don't think the author is particularly good at writing relationships. It's a weak point. But I enjoy the characters overall. The culture of the Krassians can be hard to read at times as well. Book 2 doesn't move the overall plot a great deal but I expected that in a 5 book series. Now the dreaded middle book coming up lol. The halfway book is almost always a bit of a disappointment. Will see.

 

[GreyMouser]

I just started A Plain-Dealing Villain.

These books are very entertaining and I'm still really liking them but do hope to see more character progression at some point.

 

[ReguIa]

@Alucard The show was solid. The first two episodes are just phenomenal television but sadly it goes downhill from there with a pretty disappointing ending. I tried getting into King with The Shining a while back but about 2/3 in a stopped and I haven't picked it up. I'll give him another try again soon but I'm not sure what to read. I don't want to start with either The Stand or It, which are the two books I really want to get to.

I'm 90% through A Crown of Swords.

 

[rudyjuly2]

I'm just over halfway through the Desert Spear - book 3 of the Demon Cycle/Warded Man and I'm enjoying it. Halfway through the series and I still don't know what has happened to this world to make it like it is.

(minor spoilers here regarding sex and male/female tropes ahead).
One thing is clear to me though - if you never knew who the author was you would certainly guess it was written by a man. Virtually every primary female character is very attractive and a sex goddess. While some can be attributed to an Iranian like, old school culture it's overdone. Sex is quick and used for many reasons. And it's a bit odd how the book has zero swearing and yet quite a bit of sex in it. In some ways it's a bit like Wheel of Time - lots of female nudity although WOT was always fade to black and never explicit. This is more. And rape is also a part of the culture that makes me uncomfortable with parts of the book.

I'd be curious as to how women readers feel about this series. I should add that more than a few female characters are very strong characters. They don't bow to many (if any) and aren't just window dressing by any means.

 

[Alucard]

@rudyjuly2
Most women here on BFB from what I remember didn't like this series. Including myself. Most people loved the first book and then the series went down.
Some relevant threads:
http://bestfantasybooks.com/forums/threads/why-the-hate-on-the-desert-spear.1977/

Desert Spear is also #28 on the Worst Fantasy Books List on the main site
http://bestfantasybooks.com/worst-fantasy-books.html#glance_cnt28

The consensus was as far as I remember is that the series just gets worse and worse, but there were some people here that liked or even loved it as well.

I gave The Warded Man 5 stars. Loved that book. Still do.
The Desert Spear 2 stars. The Daylight War 1 star. It just went so bad imo. I gave up on the author and the series.
But The Daylight War was the worst offender for sure.

 

[rudyjuly2]

I have some issues with stereotypes and the sex/rape culture in the book at times. But overall I do like the characters and overall good vs evil demon fight. At this point I plan on continuing with the series. I'd like to learn about what happened in this world.

 

[Alucard]

I hope you enjoy it @rudyjuly2 !

I've just finished the second book in Bill Hodges trilogy. Wasn't as good as the first because Bill shows up only in the second half.
King decided to introduce some new characters dealing again with similar themes like in Misery with an obsessed reader turned murderer.
It was ok but I'm reading this primarily for Bill and Holly so I found it not so enjoyable in the first half. 3 stars.

Off to the last book, End of Watch.

 

[GreyMouser]

I realized that we have drawers under our bed that I had kind of forgotten about and found a bunch of books that I purchased years ago. So I started reading Night Angel by Brent Weeks and 4 days later I'm already over 100 pages into the 2nd book!

I'd give book 1, A Way of Shadows 5 out of 5 stars.

 

[Silvion Night]

I finally picked up a book again! I'm now reading Jurassic Park by Crichton. I had never read it, but the book is actually great.

 

[afa]

I finally picked up a book again! I'm now reading Jurassic Park by Crichton. I had never read it, but the book is actually great.

Nice! I read Jurassic Park many years ago, and really liked it. The sequel (The Lost World) is a decent read, too, but pretty radically different from the movie. Understandable, though, because the book is heavy on exposition and wouldn't have worked as a film.

 

[Derk of Derkholm]

I am at "Dead Beat" now in my Dresden Files re-reread.