Nearing the end of Oathbringer (Brandon Sanderson, Stormlight Archive #3).
There’s something about his world-building that’s just brilliant. Shame it takes me 6 months to read each one!
this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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Oathbringer took me from a Sanderson stan to a bit exhausted. It just felt like a very long slog and not much reward on the path. I've been really enjoying his kickstarter books, as they've been a bit more svelte, while maintaining his unique penchant for setting up a magical playground and always managing to surprise you with how his toys interact.
I know what you mean although, because I get so little time to read, I tend to put that down to me losing track of plots. Particularly with larger books.
Maybe my habit of alternating high fantasy with Discworld books maybe balances out more than I realise.
Good to know the kickstarter books are a bit different too. Will keep that in mind!
I think middle parts suffer in most long series. I don't recall much from the Oathbringer though, but I remember liking it when I read it. May notice the issues during re-read.
And yeah, loving the secret projects. I think we needed these from him as much as he needed to write these. 😀
Abercrombie-August has stretched into September. After finishing the First Law Trilogy, I started reading the copy of The Heroes I picked up from a bookstore over the summer. I don't know that I've ever seen someone create this very detailed examination of a wholly imaginary battle. It's like I picked up one of my dad's books on Gettysburg, except there's a scheming wizard hanging around.
After this, I'm eyeing something breezy like Dome City Blues by Jeff Edwards or A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. I read Babel last month, and I've come to terms with my weakness for: "London but with Magic." I also want to jump on More Perfect by Temi Oh. I saw Hadestown last winter, and I'm in for some reinterpretations of the Orpheus/Eurydice story.
I should get back to First Law Trilogy one of these days. The Heroes is the next book on list.
Haven't heard of the other books you mentioned, would love to hear your opinion once you have read them.
Welp, I tore through The Heroes in less than a week 😆 -- not only did I like it, but it's made me certain I'm going to read the other two "First Law World" books. Doing Darker Shade of Magic now it's... okay so far. Feels a bit young-adulty for my tastes right now.
Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say he's a fun POV character.
Luckily Abercrombie has a wide cast of bloody-handed northmen, scheming wizards, cringing nobles, and other fun miscreants after the Bloody Nine has left the stage. A big thing I loved about The Heroes is how it managed to bring me a whole new crop of characters to enjoy, and lose, just contained in that book. I'm excited about the "industrial revolution" sequel trilogy with a next generation of characters. It's like my father always said: Once you have a sequel trilogy, it's better to read it than live with the fear it.
After all, you have to be realistic about these things.
@cdipierr try Savage Dominion by Luke Chmilenko after you’re done with Abercrombie! I’m currently on Blood Song by Anthony Ryan which I would also recommend.
Baldur’s Gate 3 has me on a D&D kick so I’ve been making my way through The Cleric Quintet from R.A. Salvatore.
I have yet to read any of R. A. Salvatore's books. How are you liking them?
Salvatore's Drizzt series is what got me into reading like 20 years ago. I loved them then and now the CQ series is reminding me why. They are very easy reads with likable characters and I think his writing really shines when it comes to action/battle scenes.
Nice. I have got a huge backlog in last few months, but will check them out soon.
I'm slooowly reading Sharp Ends by Joe Abercrombie.
Nice. How are you liking it?
Quite good! Was one story where some people meet on a bridge that got me really smiling.
Finished "The Far Reaches", 6 scifi short stories on Kindle Unlimited by James S.A. Corey, Veronica Roth, Rebecca Roanhorse, Ann Leckie, Nnedi Okorafor, and John Scalzi. All were great, and for several of them I’d have loved it to expand into a full novel or series. Maybe some day ;)
Next up was another short story, Glynn Stewart’s "Mage-Queen's Thief", playing between the last two "Starship’s Mage" novels.
And now, after about a year, I’ve returned to LitRPG with Shattersoul, book 4 of "The Ripple System" by Kyle Kirrin which is a series I got recommended on Reddit.
On a related note, I accidentally found a site that I wanted for years, and several times started (but then abandoned) building myself: One where you can follow authors and series, and get notifications about new releases. And apparently it existed since 1999 and no one knows about it (or at least none of the people who saw my posts over the years, asking for exactly this): https://www.fantasticfiction.com
Thanks for mentioning fantasticfiction.com, I have seen it mentioned a couple of times, but always thought would check it later and then forgot.
Generally, I just use LibraryThing (and Wikipedia) and they usually have very uptodate information, but there is no way to subscribe to any author / series and get the updates, you have to manually look up the author / series. So a way to automatically get the update sounds nice.
The Far Reaches sounds great, I have heard great things about James S.A. Corey, Veronica Roth and John Scalzi. So, should look it up.
Yeah, looking up just makes me forget authors until I see them years later … So yeah, happy to finally have found it ;)
And considering the authors of far reaches you listed, you should really check out ann leckie and her ancillary justice series, probably one of my favorite series in the last 10 years
you should really check out ann leckie and her ancillary justice series, probably one of my favorite series in the last 10 years
Thanks for the recommendation, going to check it out.