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

[Souj]

Finished chapter 27 of Fire Sea:

Spoiler: show

My own expectations keep making me super surprised. Thought in this book we’d run into another world of dwarves/elves/humans in a different status quo and instead they’re all dead and we get Sartans instead.

And I wasn’t expecting the Death Gate universe to be just a far-flung future Earth post-apocalypse.

I feel like the book is pushing me to believe that necromancy is what pushed the Sartans into near-extinction, but I wonder if that’s true.

And I didn’t believe Dog was dead for a second. Just waiting for the dragon to make another appearance at some point.

[Tyrath]

Finished chapter 27 of Fire Sea:

Spoiler: show

My own expectations keep making me super surprised. Thought in this book we’d run into another world of dwarves/elves/humans in a different status quo and instead they’re all dead and we get Sartans instead.

And I wasn’t expecting the Death Gate universe to be just a far-flung future Earth post-apocalypse.

I feel like the book is pushing me to believe that necromancy is what pushed the Sartans into near-extinction, but I wonder if that’s true.

And I didn’t believe Dog was dead for a second. Just waiting for the dragon to make another appearance at some point.

Did not expect Edmund to die so unceremoniously. I guess his cadaver will have some work to do still.

Funny enough, end of ch 27 is where I stopped last night

Spoiler: show

Yeah I like that we're seeing weakened Sartans as the focus of this world. It seems like Sartans are just humans who evolved magic powers anyway

I kinda figured it was post apocalpyse Earth with some of the references Fiznab wizard guy kept making. The one that really stood out was his description of planes and stewardesses.

They're definitely trying to tell us Necromancy is what killed off Sartans but who knows..

No chance Dog was dead. I wonder what is up with him though. Alfred seems to have an idea. Some kind of link to the partner Haplo had in the Labyrinth??

[Souj]

Funny enough, end of ch 27 is where I stopped last night

Spoiler: show

Yeah I like that we're seeing weakened Sartans as the focus of this world. It seems like Sartans are just humans who evolved magic powers anyway

I kinda figured it was post apocalpyse Earth with some of the references Fiznab wizard guy kept making. The one that really stood out was his description of planes and stewardesses.

They're definitely trying to tell us Necromancy is what killed off Sartans but who knows..

No chance Dog was dead. I wonder what is up with him though. Alfred seems to have an idea. Some kind of link to the partner Haplo had in the Labyrinth??

Spoiler: show

managed to forget about Fizban while writing that post. Yeah, I was just assuming 4th wall break shenanigans, but being a super-ancient being really does narratively make it fit retrospectively while still retaining the comedy when you first meet him. Or maybe he’s just got access to Wi-Fi and Wikipedia.

[Rulke]

Alright my fellows the time has come for me to start a new series. I am eyeing the Cradle series by Will Wright. Its complete (a requirement of mine) and looks pretty interesting. Anyone read it and would encourage me not to start it?

[Bweigelt]

It's very anime and very YA but overall I've enjoyed it a lot. If you are into progression fantasy though it does that extremely well.

[revida]

I can suggest a few well-known book series that you might like. Check out The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan or A Song of Ice and Fire (also known as Game of Thrones) by George R.R. Martin if you enjoy epic fantasy. In terms of science fiction, Jim Butcher's "Princep's Fury" should keep you interested until you receive your copy from Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series. Happy reading!

[Tyrath]

Yes you should definitely start Codex Alera with the 5th book Princep's Fury.

[Cantih]

Alright my fellows the time has come for me to start a new series. I am eyeing the Cradle series by Will Wright. Its complete (a requirement of mine) and looks pretty interesting. Anyone read it and would encourage me not to start it?

I've read it as well.
It's fun. No critical merit, but fun.

[Rulke]

It's very anime and very YA but overall I've enjoyed it a lot. If you are into progression fantasy though it does that extremely well.

I've read it as well.
It's fun. No critical merit, but fun.

Alright, thanks for the insight. I'm just coming off a sci-fi war genre and wanted to keep the next series fun and engaging. I can only do so much "dark and gritty" fantasy. As a bonus the series starts off super cheap on Kindle so even if I don't like it I'm not out much.

[Bweigelt]

If you have kindle unlimited they are all on that including the last book which came out on monday so that's nice. It was one of the the reasons I even bothered to pick it up and I'm glad I did.

[Tyrath]

Finished Fire Sea

Spoiler: show

Oh man, that went off the rails by the end. Probably my favorite of the series so far

It's weird to me that they automatically jump to this higher power being gods. But i guess it's also weird to me that the Sartan/Patryns considered themselves to be gods in the first place.

I don't really get how the lazar was able to imbue all the dead with intelligence and lead them to kill the living. Or how Jonathan really worked as the savior in the prophecy.

And this is another world that has mostly been ravaged now, out of the 3 they have visited.

Also fuck yeah at Haplo leaving that letter in the epilogue

I started prologue of Serpent Mage right after just to see what happened

Spoiler: show

And well the Haplo rebellion didn't last long...for now.

[Souj]

Finished Fire Sea

Spoiler: show

Oh man, that went off the rails by the end. Probably my favorite of the series so far

It's weird to me that they automatically jump to this higher power being gods. But i guess it's also weird to me that the Sartan/Patryns considered themselves to be gods in the first place.

I don't really get how the lazar was able to imbue all the dead with intelligence and lead them to kill the living. Or how Jonathan really worked as the savior in the prophecy.

And this is another world that has mostly been ravaged now, out of the 3 they have visited.

Also fuck yeah at Haplo leaving that letter in the epilogue

I started prologue of Serpent Mage right after just to see what happened

Spoiler: show

And well the Haplo rebellion didn't last long...for now.

Spoiler: show

I was feeling a bit of a lull in the middle of the book, but yeah, it really starts going insane once the lazar thing happens.

The lazar, as I figured it, is just a person who was brought back from the dead before they could fully separate from the body, which was why there was a rule about waiting 3 days. It’s also stated something can be dead long enough so it can’t be brought back. This presumes that there is a necromatic sweetspot where the spirit is separated from the body just long enough for it to loose it’s human intelligence/sentience, but retain enough instinct and muscle memory to allow it to function is specific ways. So raising someone from the dead immediately would give the person their same intelligence and function.

I fully understand why someone whose been an undead slave for a very long time would hate the living Sartans, especially since being trapped between living and dead was stated to suck a whole lot, so seeing them getting sentience and wanted to kill all the living makes sense. Being part of the dead also seems to grant you certain knowledge and power, most just don’t have the intelligence to use it, so perhaps whatever force supplies that is what twists a very recently revived person such as Jarda into seeming like a completely different person who actively acts against their former living self’s interests. That’s the only way I can see that aspect making sense. Why Jonathon is the exception to that, I can only assume is because of the vision he saw in the chamber, and whatever Other it was the table was able to communicate with.

And I was confused about the gods thing too and why this book Alfred was talking about Sartans being gods when I think last book he was referring to their being no gods and that they were the highest power in charge of everything, not gods. (am I remembering that correctly?)

Now I can’t help but wonder how everything’s going to play out in the end. Narritively, I’m figuring it’s going to be Nexus Lord, Bane, the Tytans, and Lazar, against Haplo, Alfred, Zifnab, but I really can’t figure where the other come in to play. I would say all the other “non-evil” survivors side with Haplo/Alfred, but most of them aren’t exactly on good terms with Haplo; Bane’s mother and the rest of the sky wizards, the mench survivors of the citadel, and now Balthazar and the other Necropolis survivors. Really looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.

Edit: Oh. And the dragons. They fit in somewhere too. And this “higher power.”

Double edit: I read the epilogue journal thing; time does play a part in how they are resurrected, but so do runes. Without runes, the dead always come back as puppets. Not just like the ones we see in the book, but ones that need all their movements dictated by the necromancer. With the right tunes you can bring back undead with a level of intelligence, but time dictates how much. All my questions and the uncertainty of it remain, though the people did apparently use the table to communicate beyond the Death Gate and they found something that wasn’t one of the other worlds, but something else entirely. They leave it very vague.

[AnnaFrost]

I can suggest a few well-known book series that you might like. Check out The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan or A Song of Ice and Fire (also known as Game of Thrones) by George R.R. Martin if you enjoy epic fantasy. In terms of science fiction, Jim Butcher's "Princep's Fury" should keep you interested until you receive your copy from Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series. Happy reading!

Thanks for advice)

[Souj]

Lol

[Tyrath]

Up to ch 16 in Serpent Mage. I think this is my fav book of the series so far. It has definitely been picking up after the 2nd book

Spoiler: show

Finally we found Sartans (not counting the weakened ones from last book). And it's the head Sartan who did the Sundering no less

Was not expecting the Serpents to bow down to Patryns or supposedly having been made by them. But then the serpents also said "you made us" to the Sartans. And their story about the war doesn't line up with what Samah said. So something weird is going on here.

Samah is sus AF himself though. And this last chapter about him zealously guarding the library only further confirms he's up to no good. Can't wait to find out what stuff has been omitted from history so far

Also wtf is a Serpent Mage and why do the serpents thing Alfred is it..

[Tyrath]

Okay finished Serpent Mage. I loved that one

Spoiler: show

I love how Samah, the head of the Sartans, is a petty POS when Sartans are supposed to be above all the normal squabbling.

He's been sending the ones who disagreed about them being gods to the Labyrinth? Haplo wonders if this means Patryns and Sartan blood has mingled. But I'm still starting to think they're the same people with different ways of doing magic lol. The serpents said to both Sartan and Patryns that they created them so that would track

Also Alfred being Serpent Mage meant he can become a motherfucking dragon?! I'm a little over him doing something crazy and then immediately forgetting how to lol. Him going to the Labyrinth is an interesting turn that I didn't expect yet because its the 6th book thats called "Into the Labyrinth" not the next one. I hope this doesnt mean we have a whole book without Alfred again

Anyway immediately starting the Hands of Chaos.

[Souj]

Damn. I didn’t even start the book yet lol. I took a short reading reading break. I’ll pick it up today or tomorrow.

Edit: picked it up five minutes from my last statement while I took a shit after clocking in. You know, without any context these beginning maps don’t make a lot of sense, and in ebook, it’s a lot harder to just go back and forth once you do have the context. /ebook problems

[Tyrath]

Really? Found it pretty easy to use in ebooks because in my kindle you just jump to the "Maps" chapter and then at the bottom it gives you the "go back to page X" option.

But yeah, those maps will make a little more sense after you read about the world. Still kinda confusing though lol

[Souj]

Well, harder compared to a paperback that you could just hold your finger on your page and flip to the beginning of the book.

[Tyrath]

I suppose. I love all the extra bonuses of a kindle too much to be too concerned by it haha. But images in general are tough on kindle.