Eliminatus said:

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Knocked out Dungeon Crawler Carl books 2-5 last few days. Will start book six tomorrow. A great series so far and very invested in this world now. It's got some coarse language that may be off putting to some that may not be used to it but the overall character development and world building is legitimately top notch and something you'd expect from a triple A author and not a litrpg web series indie guy. A very clever writer who doesn't waste anything. EVERYTHING has a purpose and is tied in creatively. If it is mentioned, it matters. There is no meaningless fluff here. Love that so much.

I'm actually pretty mad I held out so long getting to this series. It has been on my radar for a very long time. Ugh.

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Ok. Sell me on this.

I read the summary and....WTH

The Martian by Andy Weir. Love the movie but never got around to reading the book until now. Excellent read, but I actually prefer Project Hail Mary actually. Curious if others share the same sentiment or disagree.

Enzomatic said:

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HawthornAggie said:

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Red Rising. Really enjoyed it and will start the second book on the series.

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Actually, I'm glad you mentioned that one. I read the original three, but waited on the follow up books. Are there currently 6 in the series? And for those who have read them, is it complete at this point? Or will it be yet another "I read 6 books, but have to wait a year for the next installment?"

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I stopped after five (six wasn't out yet) but I read enough to say, stick with three unless people praise seven or whatever he comes up with after.

AgGrad99 said:

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Eliminatus said:

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Knocked out Dungeon Crawler Carl books 2-5 last few days. Will start book six tomorrow. A great series so far and very invested in this world now. It's got some coarse language that may be off putting to some that may not be used to it but the overall character development and world building is legitimately top notch and something you'd expect from a triple A author and not a litrpg web series indie guy. A very clever writer who doesn't waste anything. EVERYTHING has a purpose and is tied in creatively. If it is mentioned, it matters. There is no meaningless fluff here. Love that so much.

I'm actually pretty mad I held out so long getting to this series. It has been on my radar for a very long time. Ugh.

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Ok. Sell me on this.

I read the summary and....WTH

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It follows a man and his cat after an alien invasion. The aliens force all the surviving humans to play a live version of Dungeons and Dragons versus each other as an intergalactic reality tv show.

Really funny, extremely well written, one of the best audiobook productions I've ever listened to.

Ok. Might need to give book 1 a try

I just started book 1 of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Hmm… interesting. Totally like reading a novelization of a first-person video game. You actually get a little excited when Carl levels up. As a FPS novel, it feels like it'll be lighter on dialogue than I like. Lots of descriptions of rooms Carl enters. So far, so good. I like the world building and humor.

First book is definitely lighter on the dialogue. Each book gets progressively better on that front.

Finally finished A Feast For Crows - This one takes you away from the HBO series completely. It's made it a bit harder to follow, as I don't have the show as a reference point for all the different storylines, but it was great reading last night and having my first "oh ****" moment (literally said it out loud and startled my wife).

He got a bit long winded in this one, I felt, but a very strong finish.

One book left…Winter is here.

Read in 2024:

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
Fairy Tale - Stephen King
The Shining - SK
A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara
Game of Thrones - GRRM
A Clash of Kings - GRRM
A Storm of Swords - GRRM
A Feast For Crows - GRRM

Up next:
A Dance with Dragons

A Dance with Dragons is a little slow in the first 1/3 to 1/2, then really starts cooking - that portion of the book is more similar to the first 3 books in terms of pacing & action.

Apache said:

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A Dance with Dragons is a little slow in the first 1/3 to 1/2, then really starts cooking - that portion of the book is more similar to the first 3 books in terms of pacing & action.

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I'm actually reading the series now too and about 10% into A Dance with Dragons. So far so good. Hopefully not a lot of "sand snake" plot left as it bored me as I read it as much as it bored me as I watched it.

rynning said:

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Apache said:

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A Dance with Dragons is a little slow in the first 1/3 to 1/2, then really starts cooking - that portion of the book is more similar to the first 3 books in terms of pacing & action.

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I'm actually reading the series now too and about 10% into A Dance with Dragons. So far so good. Hopefully not a lot of "sand snake" plot left as it bored me as I read it as much as it bored me as I watched it.

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I literally thought this last night. Completely uninterested in that storyline

Why don't you read something a little heavier?

Jeeeesus.

DCC B7 news for those who aren't following the other page and are invested in that series.

https://texags.com/forums/13/topics/3483915/last

Re: "The Martian by Andy Weir. Love the movie but never got around to reading the book until now. Excellent read, but I actually prefer Project Hail Mary actually. Curious if others share the same sentiment or disagree."

For The Martian... I really liked the book vs the movie. Book was able to go into all the detail of having to survive w/ limited resources on Mars

Thought Project Hail Mary was better than The Martian... and there's a movie in production w/a 2026 release... Ryan Gosling in the lead. Cannot wait to see how it plays out on the big screen

Lots here (self included) think PHM is the superior book. I really liked The Martian, it was a great read. But I absolutely loved PHM.

The Marksman said:

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The Martian by Andy Weir. Love the movie but never got around to reading the book until now. Excellent read, but I actually prefer Project Hail Mary actually. Curious if others share the same sentiment or disagree.

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PHM was a superior story IMO. More weight, more interesting characters, bigger ideas, and just more overall elements like suspense, mystery, danger, etc.

I personally would rate PHM an 8.5/10 while giving The Martian a 6/10. Pretty sure I've mentioned it elsewhere on this thread, but I really did not care for the main character in it. A little too edgelord for my tastes and from everything I have seen so far, Weir takes that to 11 in Artemis to all out cringe. Not exactly in a rush to read it at this point...

Ha! Just a little light reading…

I'll be honest, as much as I've loved this series I'm glad this is the last book. I'm so ready to pick up something that's like 350 pages and mindless.

Last year I finished Harry Potter and immediately picked up Verity by Colleen Hoover and it was amazing to read something with absolutely no depth

We Are Legion. (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse #1) - Dennis E. Taylor

Meh. Liked the concept of this book but just don't think it's executed all that well. I frankly found it a bit boring and considering everyone's hard on for Dungeon Crawler Carl I'm going to switch over to that for my Kindle reading and not finish this series.

I just finished a book which is a compilation of short stories by an author named Harold Lamb. it's available on Kindle, and it is called The Harold Lamb Megapack. He was an American historian and seems to have focused on the middle east, southeastern Europe and western Asia, from the works in this book.

If you like historical fiction in a sort of pulp style, you should try this out. I found the stories enjoyable and consistent in their narratives. It was probably recommended to me since I've read H. Rider Haggard (Allen Quatermain books) and Sax Rohmer (Fu Manchu).

There are quite a few of these Megapacks available and I will probably look into more of them.

Read two great series this year

Cradle by Will Wright is basically an anime in book form. 12 books, young man is recognized as powerless in his village. He soon realizes due to intervention of a goddess that reversed his death. From this he changes his life path and has a vision of destruction of his village. He goes out to discover a new power to change date. Progression fantasy where the main character goes through distinct levels of power to face greater and greater threats. There is even a three book tournament arc so it wears the anime influence on their sleeve but it is great


The other is the 6 book series Rryia Revelations by Michael Sullivan. Good ole rogue and the muscle getting caught up in political intrigue in a world post magic with rumblings of its return

Read the latter last year. Really good series.

Just finished my reread of The Lost Metal. Now on to The Way of Kings

News of the World by Paulette Jiles. I saw the film back when it came out and just now got around to reading the novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was an easy, quick read.

Well After Recursion, I felt it only fitting to follow up with Dark Matter also by Blake Crouch.

It was ok. It just didn't quite click with for me like I thought it would tbh. Cool premise and the character work and emotion building and description was top notch but did find the MC frustrating a few times, a couple of loose ends I didn't see get resolved and the overall ending felt a tad flat for my tastes. Nitpicky perhaps but enough to keep it on that ok/good border and not on the good/great border like Recursion was for me.

6.5/10

ETA: Will also add I DNF'ed a book a couple days ago. This is like my 10th book maybe ever doing that. Fight Club. Wow. That book is ass, my dudes. I don't think I even made it halfway through.

AgGrad99 said:

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Eliminatus said:

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Knocked out Dungeon Crawler Carl books 2-5 last few days. Will start book six tomorrow. A great series so far and very invested in this world now. It's got some coarse language that may be off putting to some that may not be used to it but the overall character development and world building is legitimately top notch and something you'd expect from a triple A author and not a litrpg web series indie guy. A very clever writer who doesn't waste anything. EVERYTHING has a purpose and is tied in creatively. If it is mentioned, it matters. There is no meaningless fluff here. Love that so much.

I'm actually pretty mad I held out so long getting to this series. It has been on my radar for a very long time. Ugh.

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Ok. Sell me on this.

I read the summary and....WTH

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Haha, I totally get it. I thought the same thing, and I love videogames, but that summery, WTF, for real?! I though hell, for $3 I will give book one a shot. Bought the rest, just finished book three and starting four. I'm ALL ABOARD the hype train!!! Even wearing my cheesy cheap conductor's hat... WHOOO WHOOO!!!

Where did you pick up the book for $3?

I figured I'd give it a shot, but it was $20+ everywhere I looked

AgGrad99 said:

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Where did you pick up the book for $3?

I figured I'd give it a shot, but it was $20+ everywhere I looked

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Kindle, not the new released hardback

Ah. Gotcha.

I need paper when I read

Tabasco said:

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AgGrad99 said:

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Where did you pick up the book for $3?

I figured I'd give it a shot, but it was $20+ everywhere I looked

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Kindle, not the new released hardback

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Ok, correction. Just looked. Kindle is $4.99.

also free with Kindle Unlimited...

AgGrad99 said:

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Where did you pick up the book for $3?

I figured I'd give it a shot, but it was $20+ everywhere I looked

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You can buy the paperbacks for much cheaper. The hard covers are new releases by a new publisher. I went ahead and went the hard cover route because they're cool jackets and I love the books. Just do it man.....

I normally read history and non-fiction. But I was caught without a book ready to go after finishing a recent book, so the wife handed be The Thursday Murder Club - a book by Richard Osman. It was a fun read - so fun in fact that I'm now reading the second in the series which to me is better than the first. The first book is about to be made into a movie (or maybe series) by Netflix with Hellen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, and Ben Kingsley in three of the four main roles.

Sword of Kaigen - 8.5/10

Very good Asian inspired fantasy (with hints of modern outside influence) of stern, traditional Japanese-ish values pushed to the limits. This is a better Poppy Wars IMO. And I liked Poppy Wars. Character development is much deeper and more nuanced than I had expected and frankly, surprised me.

Chonky book too, clocking in at 650 pages.