Books, Books?, Books!, Books...What are YOU reading? aka the WoT, GoT, Orson Scott Card thread

[Wulfgang]

I should probably start doing the same Zet.

And I'm generally on the same page as you Zealot (see my quote below from the last page). He also stepped in after Robert Jordan's death to finish the Wheel of Time series; mixed bag there and I was not a huge fan the final book. All that said...read the Stormlight Archive books (ongoing series right now); they are amongst my favorite fantasy books period. I may re-read them after I finish the final Dagger and Coin book. Unfortunately Sanderson is taking forever on Stormlight in favor of other projects (e.g. Reckoners young adult series).

I feel bad for not loving Mistborn. Not sure what it is exactly, but Sanderson is hit or miss with me. He needs to crank on the Stormlight Archive series; completely enraptured by the first two books. I may actually start re-reading those two for the heck of it after Morning Star comes out.

[Zetanio]

I liked the original Mistborn a little bit. Hate all the gunslinger garbage that he continued with.

[Moss]

Read the thread. The whole thing is an answer to that question.

it's 41 pages - was hoping for a few stand-out series recommendations

[Wulfgang]

It's basically lite version of A Song of Ice and Fire (GoT books). Roughly a half dozen main characters max through any one book with separate PoVs and the plot is heavy on political intrigue, violence, and other similar themes in a medieval / Renaissance-ish setting, just not quite as dense. There's some legit fantasy aspects nontheless as well; it really is a GoT copy, but it's still pretty enjoyable all-in. I would recommend as a top 15ish series in the genre over the past decade or so.

Frankly, I think ASoIaF is overrated to a certain extent; great world-building, but the sheer scope of the characters and individual plot lines has been untenable since the start of book 3. GRRM himself has admitted that the scope has been a major driving force behind killing off characters / truncating plotlines. You shouldn't need to read a 200-page set of cliffnotes to get up to speed for the next book in any series, but you kind of do here if you want to do it right. LotR is a good (best), basic example of a perfect balance. Also, I think GRRM is a pretension prick sometimes, but personal opinion there.

[Rulke]

Finished the Shadow of Self. I agree with the above sentiments of not really liking the gun slinger feel, but that's the world we're stuck with now. Can't say I like Wax all that much, especially compared to his companions. Decided to start Calamity over the Bands of Mourning. Always liked trying to figure out how the last boss will get defeated

[synistar]

Well after the 4th Wax & Wayne book (2018), we have at least 5 years away from Mistborn. Here's to hoping Scadrial does well in a world that's 1980s tech.

[Intrinsic]

I actually like the Gunslinger thing more than the Mistborn stuff. I really enjoyed Alloy of Law, while I just sorta tolerated the 3 Mistborn books. I'll get to the next 3 after they've hit paperback, on to other stuff. Picked up the Lotus War series by Jay Kristoff because Japanese Steampunk sounded amazing. Halfway through the first book now, it's an interesting world.

[shukudai]

I prefer the Mistborn books, but the Wax & Wayne ones are fun as hell, and he does truly just completely let loose in the third one with like ten million things happening at once. To be honest, while I enjoy Stormlight archive, Mistborn is just so, so, far preferred.

[Wulfgang]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ie=UTF8&btkr=1

Reading Shadow of Empire by Jay Allan right now and it's pretty damn awesome. Only about 25% into book 1, but reminiscent of the Red Rising trilogy in setting and tone. Omnipotent badass characters can be tiresome, but this is just a great romp with a story and character group that is reminiscent of the Firefly series. Has pirates, babes, sweet action, etc.; I would recommend as a low brow, fun space opera read.

[Zealot]

On to Hero of Ages. I guess his work is improving because I read Well of Ascension out of a sense of obligation since I had already powered through Mistborn. Hero of Ages I'm reading because Well left me genuinely curious as to what happens next.

[Rulke]

Ok, so I just finished up the last Reckoners book by Sanderson. I liked it. Overall I really enjoyed the plot and setting of the series. David did have annoying moments and mannerisms and a couple characters were meh, but I don't hold that against the series. Even the first person account was a nice change (I'm usually not a fan of that). I'd be happy if the series is just left as it is, no need for any future installments or spin-offs.

Onto Bands of Mourning.

[Cleverness]

Hadn't read a book since 2007 so I started again recently since i kind of realized I can read whatever I want now. I finished The Divine Comedy last week, John Ciardi's translation, since I never read it before and its been referenced forever. Took awhile due to the length + getting through the poetry but I enjoyed it, did not enjoy Paradise as much as Inferno and Purgatory but that may be due to the difference in how they view the universe at that time and how we view it now.

Going through I, Robot by Isaac Asimov and i'm really loving the short stories involving the robots,

Spoiler: show

just got done with the 'Liar' story about the mind reading robot, Susan putting him in a infinite loop to fry the robots brain because she was mad at him for lying to her about the coworkers feelings for her was great. Kind of nice that the book starts off with her being described as cold and emotionless and yet she has a completely normal human response to the situation. She potentially ruined the opportunity for mankind to be able to read minds since the robot knew when the malfunction took place, because she was PISSED AT IT.

alittle over halfway done with that. I have Shogun by James Clavell sitting in my room to read after that, although considering that books length I might read Volume 1 of Gundam The Origin first.

[Zetanio]

Shogun and Tai-pan are must-reads in my opinion. Shogun over Tai-pan but they are both powerhouse books.

[synistar]

I'd be happy if the series is just left as it is, no need for any future installments or spin-offs.

Calamity Spoilers sort of:

Spoiler: show

Sanderson is going to reuse the Reckoners universe in a new series called the Apocalypse Guard. It will do more with the interdimensional stuff. More here http://brandonsanderson.com/the-apocalypse-guard/ He won't start it until after Stormight 3 and maybe Rithmitist #2.

[Rulke]

Welp, I finished Bands of Mourning and I am left with a conundrum. I really want to see where this story goes and how it ends, but I don't think I can stomach another book of this cast. /sigh. Every character took a major nose dive in appeal for me. I just don't give a damn what happens to them :/

Now time to decide what to read next.

[Wulfgang]

Finished The Spider's War finally after procrastinating to the nth degree and don't have anything on my reading docket for the first time in a while. Really want to go back and read the two Stormlight Archive books, but was hoping to wait until the third book was closer to release. On Dagger and the Coin series as a whole:

Spoiler: show

Ending felt somewhat simplistic / rushed after five lengthy books of pretty complex build-up: lock all the spiders in a room and convince the dragon to blast them all. Enjoyable nonetheless and I really appreciated the epilogue with Kit and Marcus' final goodbye. Good enough for me. Shared a hollow laugh for Geder after his demise; everyone was just kind of like "welp, good riddance."

Anyone have a good traditional fantasy or compelling sci-fi adventure hiding in their to-read docket that hasn't been discussed in the past few pages here?

[BaneTheBrawler]

Finally got around to Ender's Game, shit was baller. Also read The Algebraist, which was lots of fun. Went through all the Culture novels I could find that aren't on Kindle, they were also good.

Read the latest Foreigner book. Cherryh's casual excellence carries through, though I will admit that the latest books feel more like episodes or installments than books. Shit would make an excellent TV show.

Kinda between books at the moment. Only stuff I have that I haven't already read is this set of Magic: The Gathering books I got dirt cheap at the Salvation Army. Not too keen to delve into that just yet, so going through and looking for updates to old series I've read.

[Aksannyi]

Just finished reading War Crimes from the Warcraft universe and it hit me right in the feels. Yes I am a nerd FITE ME it was a good book.

[Aksannyi]

Finally got around to reading The Martian. Couldn't put it down.

[Intrinsic]

Just finished the Broken Empire series by Mark Lawrence. It was decent, didn't feel it was anything special. On to the Traitor Son Cycle by Miles Cameron.