I'm definitely in the minority here! I read Storm Front a few years ago, and it didn't grab me enough to pick up the next one. Do they get better?

rynning said:

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I'm definitely in the minority here! I read Storm Front a few years ago, and it didn't grab me enough to pick up the next one. Do they get better?

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Yes, they get awesome. The first handful of books, in hindsight, are tame in scope and they are his early works. The scope of those early books is logical though considering where Harry ends up by the end.

rynning said:

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I'm definitely in the minority here! I read Storm Front a few years ago, and it didn't grab me enough to pick up the next one. Do they get better?

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Right there with you. Made through 2 maybe 3 books but never hooked me despite the buzz here.

Chip War - Chris Miller
Afghanistan Papers - Craig Whitlock
The Devil's Hand - Jack Carr
In The Blood - Jack Carr
Gambler - Billy Walters
Only the Dead - Jack Carr
Killers of the Flower Moon - David Grann

Currently reading....

Cinema Speculation - Quentin Tarantino
American Assassin - Vince Flynn

Upcoming...

Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War
Blood Money: Peter Schweizer

How was Chip War?

AustinScubaAg said:

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rynning said:

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I'm definitely in the minority here! I read Storm Front a few years ago, and it didn't grab me enough to pick up the next one. Do they get better?

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Right there with you. Made through 2 maybe 3 books but never hooked me despite the buzz here.

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The first three really are very rough, each one gets more and more badass. I'm going to make DTAg blush, but when I do re-reads I usually skip the first two.

Sword of Kings(Saxon Stories Book 12) by Bernard Cornwell. Onto the last book in the series now; I'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys elite historical fiction.

cmk10 said:

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How was Chip War?

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I thought it was fantastic. Interesting that some of the resiliency/security questions we deal with today with the semi-conductor supply chain were issues back in the early stages of the semi-conductor era.

Seeing a memory fab operate is one of the coolest things I've seen in my career. Size of 6-7 soccer fields with 100s of pieces of equipment being managed by a handful of humans. Incredible operation.

I thought Clash of Kings was a long book…then I picked up Storm of Swords…they're so, so good though.

My watch continues…Winter is coming.

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

Up next:
A Storm of Swords - GRRM

A Storm of Swords is the best in the series, so you will probably fly through it.

Stormlight #3: Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson
Stormlight #4: Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
Invitation to the Game by Monica Hughes
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas in-progress

ACOTAR was surprisingly enjoyable. The romance wasn't over the top imo. It was still my least favorite part, but there was enough going on to help me get through it. The last 1/3 of the book was the best part.

About 1/4 of the way through book 2 right now. It's pretty good so far (apparently it's a favorite for most).

a couple of days ago, I was on this thread saying Ignatius has a new book, "Phantom Orbit"
While he has written several fine espionage books, this is not one of them.
Predictable, too much woke content, sprinkled with liberal snark.

Supernova in the East V - Dan Carlin
One left in this series. Several Pacific theater books I'm going to want to read out of this.


Completed YTD:

Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries #6)
Supernova in the East IV
Blood Rites (The Dresden Files #6)
Dead Beat (The Dresden Files #7)
Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files #8)
White Night (The Dresden Files #9)
Small Favor (The Dresden Files #10)
Turn Coat (The Dresden Files #11)
Changes (The Dresden Files #12)
Side Jobs (Stories from the Dresden Files #12.5)
Ghost Story (The Dresden Files #13)
Cold Days (The Dresden Files #14)
Skin Game (The Dresden Files #15)
Brief Cases (Stories from the Dresden Files #15.5)
Peace Talks (The Dresden Files #16)
Battleground (The Dresden Files #17)

Currently Reading:
Supernova in the East VI - Dan Carlin
Lives of the Stoics (The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius) - Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

I finally picked up "Lonesome Dove" a couple of weeks ago. I'm reading about ten pages a day, figure it will take me all summer.

YouBet said:

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Supernova in the East V - Dan Carlin
One left in this series. Several Pacific theater books I'm going to want to read out of this.


Completed YTD:

Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries #6)
Supernova in the East IV
Blood Rites (The Dresden Files #6)
Dead Beat (The Dresden Files #7)
Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files #8)
White Night (The Dresden Files #9)
Small Favor (The Dresden Files #10)
Turn Coat (The Dresden Files #11)
Changes (The Dresden Files #12)
Side Jobs (Stories from the Dresden Files #12.5)
Ghost Story (The Dresden Files #13)
Cold Days (The Dresden Files #14)
Skin Game (The Dresden Files #15)
Brief Cases (Stories from the Dresden Files #15.5)
Peace Talks (The Dresden Files #16)
Battleground (The Dresden Files #17)

Currently Reading:
Supernova in the East VI - Dan Carlin
Lives of the Stoics (The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius) - Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

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What did you think about Battleground?

Incredible. Great wrap up of what I presume to be that Dresden arc.

I'm dying to know who Mab used to be. Based on a few snippets here and there, it seems like she could be Morgana Pendragon

YouBet said:

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Incredible. Great wrap up of what I presume to be that Dresden arc.

I'm dying to know who Mab used to be.

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Hmm! I hadn't thought of that. Intrigued by how his relationships with the Winter Lady and the Leader of the House of Raith will progress/develop.

Lives of the Stoics (The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius) - Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

I would call this book a historical survey course in Stoicism and an entry point to this topic, if it interests you. The book itself is ok and has some interesting historical value to it, if you know nothing about Stoicism. I randomly saw this book at the book store and picked it up because I had just read Admiral James Stockdale's paper "Master of My Fate" in which he described how his life philosophy steeped in Stocism gave him the strength and conviction to survive his 8 years in captivity as a Vietnam POW. He adopted this philosophy after reading Epictetus's Enchiridion. Highly recommend reading that and is free on the web. Incredible man.

I'm adding Enchiridon as well as Marcus Aurelius's Meditations to my reading list.

Completed YTD:

Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries #6)
Supernova in the East IV
Blood Rites (The Dresden Files #6)
Dead Beat (The Dresden Files #7)
Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files #8)
White Night (The Dresden Files #9)
Small Favor (The Dresden Files #10)
Turn Coat (The Dresden Files #11)
Changes (The Dresden Files #12)
Side Jobs (Stories from the Dresden Files #12.5)
Ghost Story (The Dresden Files #13)
Cold Days (The Dresden Files #14)
Skin Game (The Dresden Files #15)
Brief Cases (Stories from the Dresden Files #15.5)
Peace Talks (The Dresden Files #16)
Battleground (The Dresden Files #17)
Supernova in the East V - Dan Carlin

Currently Reading:
Supernova in the East VI - Dan Carlin

By pure coincidence I ordered Meditations this morning. Just a wild hair out of nowhere that was like yup, let's read the OG stoicism book. I have never dabbled in that topic nor thought of it much in my life.

Bill Clinton's favorite book!
Great book.

Eliminatus said:

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By pure coincidence I ordered Meditations this morning. Just a wild hair out of nowhere that was like yup, let's read the OG stoicism book. I have never dabbled in that topic nor thought of it much in my life.

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And I was literally (5 minutes ago) explaining what Warhammer 40K is to my wife because I just purchased The Eisenhorn Omnibus and I was considering making that my next read after finishing The Lives of the Stoics today. It would be my first dive into Warhammer.

Aren't you the self-proclaimed Warhammer expert resident?

Warlord(Saxon Stories Book 13) by Bernard Cornwell. Finished this series. This is the best historical fiction I've ever read and I highly recommend it to anyone who might be interested.

System Collapse (The Murderbot Diaries #7) - Martha Wells
I was confused as hell reading this book for about the first 30-40% of it and while I eventually surmised what had happened I confirmed after completing this book that it was published out of order. Utterly stupid by the author. So, if you are going to read the Murderbot Diaries, read books 1-5, then book 7 and I would just recommend skipping book 6 altogether. I didn't particularly enjoy book 6 as I've already reviewed.

This book is a direct sequel to book 5 and never left where they were in book 5, so I didn't know if this was a new place with eerily similar plot or what while I was reading it. I had forgotten just enough from book 5 that it took me far too long to finally realize what was happening. Pretty maddening the author did this. Based on what I've read in the reviews, people seem to think book 6 should actually be read before book 5, but again, I would skip it altogether.

And for that reason, I'm likely done reading the Murderbot Diaries at this point. I do highly recommend Books 1-5 and then read 7 to tie up 5. However, It just feels like Murderbot's evolution to an overly snarky, emotionally unstable female pushes me out of the target audience at this point.

Completed YTD:

Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries #6)
Supernova in the East IV
Blood Rites (The Dresden Files #6)
Dead Beat (The Dresden Files #7)
Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files #8)
White Night (The Dresden Files #9)
Small Favor (The Dresden Files #10)
Turn Coat (The Dresden Files #11)
Changes (The Dresden Files #12)
Side Jobs (Stories from the Dresden Files #12.5)
Ghost Story (The Dresden Files #13)
Cold Days (The Dresden Files #14)
Skin Game (The Dresden Files #15)
Brief Cases (Stories from the Dresden Files #15.5)
Peace Talks (The Dresden Files #16)
Battleground (The Dresden Files #17)
Supernova in the East V - Dan Carlin
Lives of the Stoics (The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius) - Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman

Currently Reading:
Supernova in the East VI - Dan Carlin

Stormlight #3: Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson
Stormlight #4: Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
Invitation to the Game by Monica Hughes
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas in-progress

The second ACOTAR book was very entertaining. The pace for most of the book was closer to the last 1/3 of book 1 (which is good). It was "spicier" than book 1, but those kinds of scenes are a very small part of the book. It just feels like a fantasy book that has those elements rather than it being a romance book.

Completed:
The Bible
12 More Rules for Life - Jordan Peterson
The Screwtape Letters - CS Lewis
Leviathan Wakes (Expanse #1) - James SA Corey
Caliban's War (Expanse #2) - James SA Corey

In Progress:
Abaddon's Gate (Expanse #3) - James SA Corey

I watched The Expanse on Prime, and I'm finally getting around to the book series. Really enjoying it. Thinking of keeping the Sci Fi going after this series and jumping into the first couple of Dune books.

BQRyno said:

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Completed:
The Bible
12 More Rules for Life - Jordan Peterson
The Screwtape Letters - CS Lewis
Leviathan Wakes (Expanse #1) - James SA Corey
Caliban's War (Expanse #2) - James SA Corey

In Progress:
Abaddon's Gate (Expanse #3) - James SA Corey

I watched The Expanse on Prime, and I'm finally getting around to the book series. Really enjoying it. Thinking of keeping the Sci Fi going after this series and jumping into the first couple of Dune books.

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Currently on season 3 of the Expanse on Prime and really enjoying it. Once I'm done watching (and get through my current series I'm reading) I think that's up next! Curious to know how you like it and how you think it compares to the show!

I read The Expanse series, as much as was published, before the Prime series aired, and was excited to watch it. I stopped in season 3 because it didn't meet my expectations from the book. I really enjoyed the books much better than the shows. With that being said, what I watched was entertaining and well done. I hope you do enjoy it before starting the books.

I'm about halfway through Dust of Dreams, the penultimate book in the Malazan series. Things are converging as we near the end, but I feel like a theme of "humans bad, we kill everything due to fear and ignorance" has really been shoehorned into this book.

Finished Dune Messiah. Definitely enjoyed Dune more.

Stormlight #3: Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson
Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson
Stormlight #4: Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson
The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson
Invitation to the Game by Monica Hughes
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
A Court of Frost and Starlight by Sarah J. Maas in-progress

Enjoyed the third ACOTAR book as well. Maybe slightly below book 2, but still good.

Billy Summers by Stephen King. I don't even know what to say about this novel. It was incredible, easily a top 3 King novel for me personally. The characters are so well written and the themes of the story so powerful that it was honestly a very emotional read. I highly recommend it. I thought I was just going to be reading a book about a hitman(which would have been enough for me) but Billy Summers was so much more. Bonus points for references to Faulkner's The Sound and The Fury.

Thanks for the rec. I'll check it out.

The Marksman said:

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Billy Summers by Stephen King. I don't even know what to say about this novel. It was incredible, easily a top 3 King novel for me personally. The characters are so well written and the themes of the story so powerful that it was honestly a very emotional read. I highly recommend it. I thought I was just going to be reading a book about a hitman(which would have been enough for me) but Billy Summers was so much more. Bonus points for references to Faulkner's The Sound and The Fury.

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I'll second this. Read it early last year and really enjoyed it. King is hit or miss for me these days…this one was definitely a hit.

Wanted to read the Dungeon Crawler Series and you literally can not find it anywhere. Looks like new hardcovers to be released on Aug 27th. Amazing that I can't find anything (and not interested in the audio or digital). Looking for paper