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

[Souj]

Not sure whatever it is you use to get books and how it’s done, but is your Black Company just the single book or the omnibus? The last time it got reprinted they just did Omnibuses for each trilogy

I love the artwork on all the reprinted books.
And if you do see similarities between black company and Malazan, it’s because Erickson has cited Black Company as his inspiration for Malazan.

[Tyrath]

I use the libby app and just my local library.

It's only the single book I believe

[Tyrath]

Finished Promise of Blood. That was dope. I think my only complaint was the level of macho manliness aka the lack of any substantial female character. We only have my girl Ka-Poel but she's mute and isn't seen all that often.

Started The Black Company. Not sure I like it so far. I'm not a huge fan of first person narration and the pacing seems really weird from what I'm used to. It keeps playing out in what I can only describe as quick skits rather than a fluid narrative. I will read it further and see if I can find a hook. Although in your defense it took me a while to actually get into Malazan too

[Souj]

The beginning of Black Company is probably the roughest. I don’t remember it much on a small scale basis since it’s been awhile, but looking up reviews, the consensus is that the beginning can be a little rough before it picks up in that same book. But if you don’t like it by then end, I probably wouldn’t move on with it. It’s got the “old fantasy book” problem where it basically has been overshadowed by better, more developed versions of it, Malazan being the most biggest, obvious one.

As for Powder Mage, don’t expect any better female characters in the first trilogy. 2nd series, the author does a little better job of them.

[Tyrath]

Yeah, I will stick through at least the first Black Company book and see. It's not super long

Unrelated, Stormlight 5 delayed to 2024. Looks like Brandon definitely has some adaptations coming soon, I'm guessing Mistborn movies. Links from his AMA video

[Tyrath]

Finished the Powder Mage trilogy. That was fantastic, thanks for the recommendation Souj. I'm gonna read up all the short stories and then move on to the 2nd trilogy

[Souj]

No problem. I’m assuming Black Company was a swing and a miss for you?

[Tyrath]

No problem. I’m assuming Black Company was a swing and a miss for you?

I haven't gotten much further. Powder Mage sucked me in too much lol I plan on finishing at least the first book and then going from there, it was already getting a bit better

[Souj]

I finished Equal Rites Discworld, which of the 8ish I’ve read so far, has been the weakest. I read They Mostly Come out at Night from indy author Benedict Patrick, which was better than I expected in its simplicity and fairy tale story telling, and halfway through Gideon the Ninth, which is way longer than I thought it was and while the worldbuilding is great, and the skeleton (pun intended) of the plot is good, too, the meat of the plot is relatively lacking for me.

[Tyrath]

Aw man after reading a couple of Powder Mage short stories with Erika and Tamas...

Spoiler: show

Makes me way sadder that she's dead before the start of the main trilogy, more so than the trilogy ever made me feel. She's such a good character

[Tyrath]

No problem. I’m assuming Black Company was a swing and a miss for you?

So actually I fucked up my timing of going on airplane mode on my Kindle so i lost my loan of it and back on the waitlist so its on hold for a few weeks. I'm back in line to borrow it lol I was like 25% in

[Souj]

Finished Gideon the Ninth and picked up the sequel right after. I’ve got a few complaints, mostly near the last few chapters, which wasn’t enough to ruin anything for me, but I did wish a few more things were fleshed out and elaborated on.

[Mayareira]

Has any of you read Richard Castle's Nikki series? I like the show (on S2) and am looking for a good airport paperback.

[Souj]

Never heard of it.


Gideon sequel: this book is doing a bunch risky stuff right off the bat. Let’s see if it pays off.

[Andalusian girls]

alright fuck got super distracted with school readings but today i begin the homestretch of MALAZAN @tyr

also needed some brain-off reading so went through the Eisenhorn Omnibus. p good p good. i do wonder for my 40K nerds does that writing ever get beyond Dan Abnett-level? like they're functional and fun, and the lore is a gay old time, but are there any actually great genre novels in the 40K universe that would stand up to, say, a Malazan or A Song of Ice & Fire?

[Bweigelt]

alright fuck got super distracted with school readings but today i begin the homestretch of MALAZAN @tyr

also needed some brain-off reading so went through the Eisenhorn Omnibus. p good p good. i do wonder for my 40K nerds does that writing ever get beyond Dan Abnett-level? like they're functional and fun, and the lore is a gay old time, but are there any actually great genre novels in the 40K universe that would stand up to, say, a Malazan or A Song of Ice & Fire?

Paul Kearney has a couple books with a third coming that are apparently very good, but they are relatively small scale and largely stand alone. I know Calgar's Siege and Calgar's Fury are both out, and the third book which I think has been done for a long time is still in publishing limbo.

[Salodin]

Wifey reads like 40 books a year, and I feel like I need to step up but it's hard cause I'm one of those people who read two really bad books back to back many years ago and just stopped reading heavily all together. Now, I just finished The Three-Body Problem, and am into The Dark Forest now. Any other books y'all can recommend along the scifi genre that a salad might enjoy? History books also tickle me

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[mallister]

Most 40k fiction is hot garbage. A lot of it is bad fanfic-tier.

There are some gems though. Eisenhorn you've already read, check out the Ravenor omnibus next. There is also another trilogy in the works, first book Pariah has been out a few years now and word round the campfire is that #2 is soon.

Also check out Aaron dembski-bowden's Night Lords trilogy (there is an omnibus available with the short stories included). Very good.

The Horus Heresy series is where some of the best writing is; unfortunately its 50 novels and it's also where some of the worst writing is as well. This is the galaxy-spanning civil war in the 30,xxx's that sets up modern 40k, culminating with the siege of Terra and the Big E's internment on the Golden Throne.

There are some really good books (First Heretic and Master of Mankind are standouts, as is Legion though that one's polarizing) but just because there are so many different authors the entire work is inconsistent at best.

[Andalusian girls]

Paul Kearney has a couple books with a third coming that are apparently very good, but they are relatively small scale and largely stand alone. I know Calgar's Siege and Calgar's Fury are both out, and the third book which I think has been done for a long time is still in publishing limbo.

Most 40k fiction is hot garbage. A lot of it is bad fanfic-tier.

There are some gems though. Eisenhorn you've already read, check out the Ravenor omnibus next. There is also another trilogy in the works, first book Pariah has been out a few years now and word round the campfire is that #2 is soon.

Also check out Aaron dembski-bowden's Night Lords trilogy (there is an omnibus available with the short stories included). Very good.

The Horus Heresy series is where some of the best writing is; unfortunately its 50 novels and it's also where some of the worst writing is as well. This is the galaxy-spanning civil war in the 30,xxx's that sets up modern 40k, culminating with the siege of Terra and the Big E's internment on the Golden Throne.

There are some really good books (First Heretic and Master of Mankind are standouts, as is Legion though that one's polarizing) but just because there are so many different authors the entire work is inconsistent at best.

ye i read the first 4 books of the Horus Heresy. hard pressed to go through the whole thing if that's as good as they get and there are a mess that are weaker. but mb. space pulp is my jam now with my brain friend daily through academics and there's nothing like the pulp of neurotic god-children throwing violent temper tantrums across the galaxy with legions of super soldiers because of unresolved daddy issues

and bet i'll check out the Night Lords business (always had a soft spot for Curze's crazy ass and his now orphaned crazy sons) and Kearney's business. also heard Adrian Tchaikovsky dipped his toes in the 40K waters with a Genestealer Cult book.

[Andalusian girls]

Wifey reads like 40 books a year, and I feel like I need to step up but it's hard cause I'm one of those people who read two really bad books back to back many years ago and just stopped reading heavily all together. Now, I just finished The Three-Body Problem, and am into The Dark Forest now. Any other books y'all can recommend along the scifi genre that a salad might enjoy? History books also tickle me

Children of Time, The Expanse series, Dune, The Forever War, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Foundation Trilogy, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris, Hyperion Cantos, Frankenstein, Flowers for Algernon, The Handmaid's Tale, Starship Troopers

depends on what you're going for out of all that business. Algernon is the saddest, Dune is the weirdest, the Expanse is the best ride, Solaris and 2001 are the most thoughtful, Hyperion is just so damn good at everything it does, Starship Troopers is the most fuck ya war, The Forever War is the most oh no war.

re history i find it really depends on what kind of history you're interested in. i have a million recs but we talking World War II or Rome, military, biographies, political / economic / social / art. what kind of dead nerds we learning about