Madmarttigan said:

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Rage of Dragons was great, 2nd book was ok, I'm interested to see where the series goes.

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Freely admit I got Rage simply because the cover looked awesome. It looks great on a bookshelf.

Might even read it someday!

13B said:

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M.C. Swag said:

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I unfortunately spent too much time reading a book that I would recommend people AVOID..."The First Binding" by R.R. Virdi. This man should be sued for plagiarism because it is almost a carbon copy rip off of Name of the Wind. I don't mean in some vague "every story has already been told" trope style similarity, I mean a beat for beat rip off. I'll spoiler tag this next part for anyone who hasn't read Name of the Wind yet, but this book features

And the worst part is...even in copying Name of the Wind (which is really good), this book sucked. It wasn't just a ripoff, it was a bad ripoff. I wish I could get a refund on the time I spent with this book.

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Maybe this guy will actually finish it?

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Honestly, I hope not. It's literally a Bollywood knockoff of NotW.

13B said:

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M.C. Swag said:

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I unfortunately spent too much time reading a book that I would recommend people AVOID..."The First Binding" by R.R. Virdi. This man should be sued for plagiarism because it is almost a carbon copy rip off of Name of the Wind. I don't mean in some vague "every story has already been told" trope style similarity, I mean a beat for beat rip off. I'll spoiler tag this next part for anyone who hasn't read Name of the Wind yet, but this book features

And the worst part is...even in copying Name of the Wind (which is really good), this book sucked. It wasn't just a ripoff, it was a bad ripoff. I wish I could get a refund on the time I spent with this book.

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Maybe this guy will actually finish it?

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Read Malice by John Gwynne, 50-60% of first book felt kinda bland and generic but then started picking up steam towards the end. Give it a 3.5-4/5 stars.

Second book has been more interesting from the start.

Just finished 1 through 4 of the Red Rising series (1 - 3 were a reread - amazing how much I forgot). What a great series! Iron gold was very good.

Gonna give myself a little pallette cleanse and read Scalzi's new book - Starter Villain, before reading 5 and 6.

I loved 1-3 of red rising but couldn't finish 4.

I will say 6 is really more old school Darrow and pretty cool. I think 4 is the weakest of the entire series followed by 5 (thought it was dark and one really dumb villain reveal) but 6 is much much better.

I'm rereading 4-6 again and just finished dark ages for the second time . Grown on me since the first time through. 6th is incredible .

Maybe I'll do a reread at some point. I just started a long series (expeditionary Force), so we'll see.

What is weird to me is that I started 4 when it came out and immediately put it down, like in a chapter or two. My memory says it was very different. But this time, it felt completely different. I would agree it isn't the best of the series, but it was still good and obviously setting up the next 3.

It is pretty rare that a book can stimulate real emotion in me. There were points in 1 - 3 that did. And there were a couple in 4 that did. Whatever else might be said, that takes some writing talent.

Iron Gold was hard to get through. Dark Age was rough the first time through. I didn't realize there was a 7th book planned before starting Lightbringer so I was really disappointed towards the end thinking the story was done. I've reread the series with every subsequent book release. Dark Age actually has some of my favorite scenes upon second read through.

Peter Hamilton readers....

I read the Salvation series this summer thoroughly enjoyed it, read Light Chaser over about 4 days, wanting to know if I should finish out his books or what else there is in the same vein.

Same for me. Feels like an epic in a single book. Really enjoyed it the second time through.


Just started "the pariah " by Anthony Ryan. First time reading his work I'll report back when finished .

Most folks think of the commonwealth saga as his best work. It starts with the duology of Pandoras Star and Judas Unchained.

Thanks.

Anyone else follow the Hugos? I try to read the nominees every year for best novel. I've read all the winners going back to the beginning. These are the ones for this year:

Best Novel

• The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)
• The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi (Tor Books)
• Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree (Tor Books)
• Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
• Nettle & Bone, by T. Kingfisher (Tor Books)
• The Spare Man, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books)

I've read all of them except The Spare Man, and I'm getting into it now. Anyone else read these?

Reading the Sunlit Man by Brando Sando and whoo boy does this have implications for the future of the cosmere

I'm sitting here everyday pressing refresh on Spotify to see if the audiobook has dropped yet.

There's a 10 day delay for non kickstarter folks I believe.

ramblin_ag02 said:

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Anyone else follow the Hugos? I try to read the nominees every year for best novel. I've read all the winners going back to the beginning. These are the ones for this year:

Best Novel

• The Daughter of Doctor Moreau, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)
• The Kaiju Preservation Society, by John Scalzi (Tor Books)
• Legends & Lattes, by Travis Baldree (Tor Books)
• Nona the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
• Nettle & Bone, by T. Kingfisher (Tor Books)
• The Spare Man, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books)

I've read all of them except The Spare Man, and I'm getting into it now. Anyone else read these?

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I don't pay particular attention to the awards themselves but Legends and Lattes was a quick but cute read. I have the Kaiju Preservation on the way now and looking forward to that. I'll look into the rest now.

Legends and Lattes was ok. I didn't really click with me, which is fine. I'm definitely not the target audience for a coffee shop based fantasy story. I just can't believe it was nominated for a Hugo. It wasn't particularly groundbreaking, insightful or compelling. It was just sort of there.

ramblin_ag02 said:

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Legends and Lattes was ok. I didn't really click with me, which is fine. I'm definitely not the target audience for a coffee shop based fantasy story. I just can't believe it was nominated for a Hugo. It wasn't particularly groundbreaking, insightful or compelling. It was just sort of there.

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Yeah. I used cute because I didn't feel like sounding negative about it. It's a good story I think but nothing close to great. Maybe even a little mundane as you say. But it was harmless and for some reason captured the "new thing everyone hypes" status. Always happy to see a little niche book catch fire though so not going to doodoo it.

The backstory is cool. The author is a long time voice actor for audiobooks and he basically self-funded the book. So I'm with you. It's good to see a normal person have success and live their dream

Fantasy;

Steven R. Donaldson - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (Lord Foul's Bane, The Illearth War, The Power that Preserves)

Sci-Fi:

Dan Abnett - Gaunt's Ghosts (multiple books in the Warhammer 40k universe)

DCPD158 said:

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Fantasy;

Steven R. Donaldson - The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (Lord Foul's Bane, The Illearth War, The Power that Preserves)

Sci-Fi:

Dan Abnett - Gaunt's Ghosts (multiple books in the Warhammer 40k universe)

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Ohh, I haven't read the the unbeliever in 20 years. I might have to bust them out sometime soon. I only really liked the first trilogy but saw that he released 4 more in the 2000's.

StinkyPinky said:

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Just read that The Thorn of Emberlain (Book 4 of Gentleman *******s) is planned to release February 23, 2024. Glad to see that it didn't end up being another The Doors of Stone...

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That's awesome. Scott Lynch has been pretty open about how his struggles with mental health have affected his writing, so I'm willing to give him a pretty big pass on delays between books.

maverick2076 said:

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StinkyPinky said:

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Just read that The Thorn of Emberlain (Book 4 of Gentleman *******s) is planned to release February 23, 2024. Glad to see that it didn't end up being another The Doors of Stone...

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That's awesome. Scott Lynch has been pretty open about how his struggles with mental health have affected his writing, so I'm willing to give him a pretty big pass on delays between books.

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After some further investigating I don't think its real. Can't find it repeated anywhere else so treat it as a false alarm

Been struggling to get through Gwynnes faithful and fallen series. He likes to kick your protagonists in the nuts repeatedly so hard to keep the motivation going. On beginning of book 4/4. Book 3 had some great stuff at the end but had a downer ending.

Finishing up book 3 of The First Law after seeing it recommended all over the place. Was a sci-fi guy and could never get into fantasy but picked up First Law in October and have been blowing through it. I think I am going to read the standalones and the second trilogy before moving onto my next book/series.

Trying to decide what it will be. I want to pick between Malazan, Mistborn, Realm of the Elderlings or R Scott Bakker but I would prefer not to send myself into a depression with Bakker (love dark fantasy though). Any suggestions? TIA

RoofingAg said:

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Finishing up book 3 of The First Law after seeing it recommended all over the place. Was a sci-fi guy and could never get into fantasy but picked up First Law in October and have been blowing through it. I think I am going to read the standalones and the second trilogy before moving onto my next book/series.

Trying to decide what it will be. I want to pick between Malazan, Mistborn, Realm of the Elderlings or R Scott Bakker but I would prefer not to send myself into a depression with Bakker (love dark fantasy though). Any suggestions? TIA

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Mistborn is light enough to commit easily. Malazan is a monster of a commitment. Reading is my top most passion and even I am struggling to settle down with it and slog through. On book four now but the thought of another couple months of nothing but Malazan is off putting as it has not sucked me in quite enough to dedicate to it solely. But I also don't have the memory to take frequent breaks and come back not completely lost. I think I finally met my match story wise.

Mistborn gets my vote. Tbf though I have not read Bakker.

I'm kind of with you on that. Just the thought of finishing First Law World books is a little intimidating I don't know if my ADD will let me do Malazan.

Eliminatus said:

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RoofingAg said:

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Finishing up book 3 of The First Law after seeing it recommended all over the place. Was a sci-fi guy and could never get into fantasy but picked up First Law in October and have been blowing through it. I think I am going to read the standalones and the second trilogy before moving onto my next book/series.

Trying to decide what it will be. I want to pick between Malazan, Mistborn, Realm of the Elderlings or R Scott Bakker but I would prefer not to send myself into a depression with Bakker (love dark fantasy though). Any suggestions? TIA

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Mistborn is light enough to commit easily. Malazan is a monster of a commitment. Reading is my top most passion and even I am struggling to settle down with it and slog through. On book four now but the thought of another couple months of nothing but Malazan is off putting as it has not sucked me in quite enough to dedicate to it solely. But I also don't have the memory to take frequent breaks and come back not completely lost. I think I finally met my match story wise.

Mistborn gets my vote. Tbf though I have not read Bakker.

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I'd say give Scott Lynch's Locke Lamora Gentlemen Bstard Series a try. Pretty light and entertaining. If you were ok with Grimdark then I would say Lawrence's Broken Kingdom trilogy is an awesome read.

Edit, misread your post, since you like dark I would absolutely say read the Broken Kingdom trilogy.

Sounds pretty awesome maybe that's what will be next. I have been told multiple times that Gentlemen Bstrds is the closest thing to scratch the Abercrombie itch but I am not sure I'm into the whole thief/heist plot. Which I hear Mistborn kind of is too.

That being said, it's always ranked high up there so I'm sure I will get around to it one day. So many good things out there.