It was so good. I still think about how he describes scurvy and what it does to the body. Nightmare fuel
Is the Stormlight Archive worth a read? Collecting a running list of sci fi novels to dive into. Common consensus is yes.
Yes, it will probably end up being my favorite series ever (currently Malazan Book of the Fallen) two 5 book arcs, the 5th book and conclusion of the first arc is complete and comes out later this year.
Suggested balanced reading order, look good? Spoiler Mistborn: The Final Empire The Well of Ascension The Hero of Ages The Eleventh Metal Elantris The Hope of Elantris The Emperor's Soul Warbreaker Shadows for Silence Sixth of the Dusk White Sand Omnibus (Volumes 1-3) Arcanum Unbounded essays The Alloy of Law Allomancer Jak Shadows of Self The Bands of Mourning Mistborn: Secret History The Lost Metal The Way of Kings Words of Radiance Edgedancer Oathbringer Dawnshard Rhythm of War Knights of Wind and Truth The Sunlit Man Yumi and the Nightmare Painter Tress of the Emerald Sea
Just pre-ordered the new James S.A. Corey novel The Mercy of Gods (The Captive's War #1) (8/6/2024) Spoiler How humanity came to the planet called Anjiin is lost in the fog of history, but that history is about to end. The Carryx—part empire, part hive—have waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy. Now, they are facing a great and deathless enemy. The key to their survival may rest with the humans of Anjiin. Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team. Then the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them. They are dropped in the middle of a struggle they barely understand, set in a competition against the other captive species with extinction as the price of failure. Only Dafyd and a handful of his companions see past the Darwinian contest to the deeper game that they must play to survive: learning to understand—and manipulate—the Carryx themselves. With a noble but suicidal human rebellion on one hand and strange and murderous enemies on the other, the team pays a terrible price to become the trusted servants of their new rulers. Dafyd Alkhor is a simple man swept up in events that are beyond his control and more vast than his imagination. He will become the champion of humanity and its betrayer, the most hated man in history and the guardian of his people. This is where his story begins.
Returning book 3 of the expanse to the library later today and anticipating when my hold for book 4 comes through. In the meantime, picked up, at random, David Egger’s The Circle and then book 1 of NK Jemisin’s city duology, having enjoyed the Broken Earth series. Inter library hold showing up soon for The Will of the Many, which BookTok convinced me to give it a go.
I couldnt get into that Jemisin duology. Was pretty bummed about it because I loved Broken Earth. I want to come back to it as some point. Feel like it was a me problem. Was wasnt digging it at the time. Will of the Many is amazing.
Welp you convinced me to put this on my tbr. Plan on going through Dune 3 &4, Empire of silence series, then the red rising series before this though. Libby app and Kindle has been a blessing and a curse; I basically read Empire of silence months ago and really got hooked, but keep getting notices of all these books through Libby and feel rushed to read those before the 21 days run out
Reading You Like it Darker short story collection by Stephen King and really enjoyed Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream - novella length and I couldn’t put it down.
Red Rising, but fantasy instead of sci-fi. And Roman setting instead of the solar system. And it does it without feeling like a rip off of other stuff. It’s great
Starting sword of Kaigen. Has a green bone saga feel to it early with the old schools vs tech interweaving but I’m still early. anyone read the suneater series?
I've read the first book and first novella. Would recommend. Went ahead and bought the rest of the series after reading book 1.
Saw a guy on tick tok who likes a lot of the same Books as I do recommend it. I have a bunch of audible credits to spend and then I’m going to unsubscribe. Prolly going to grab that and preorder the Sanderson book well shit most of the are free with audible memberahip
through two books of this 20 book series. doubt anyone else will want to dive in, but these are outstanding. emailed the translator yesterday to let him know how much i was enjoying these https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Rougon-Macquart
Here's what Ive read #2 Warmth of Other Suns - Isabel Wilkerson #3 Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel #5 The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (hated it lol) #7 Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead #15 Pachinko - Min Jin Lee #19 Say Nothing - Patrick Radden Keefe #20 Erasure - Percival Everett #21 Evicted - Matthew Desmond #36 Between the World and Me - Ta-Neshi Coates #42 A Brief History of Seven Killings - Marlon James #44 The Fifth Season - NK Jemisin #50 Trust - Hernan Diaz #55 The Looming Tower - Lawrence Wright #61 Demon Copperhead - Barbara Kingsolver #65 The Plot Against America - Philip Roth #69 The New Jim Crow - Michelle Alexander #76 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin #77 An American Marriage - Tayari Jones #86 Fredrick Douglass - David W Blight #93 Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel
It was a chore for me at times but I liked it. But Ive been putting off reading the other two. It's all subjective anyway. But they did poll a shitload of authors and critics. There are others I ranked much higher. And only a few Id want to read but havent yet. (The Road, for one.).
Artificial Wisdom by Thomas R Weaver. Just finished and it was excellent. SciFi technological thriller / murder mystery in a futuristic climate disaster dystopia. It has a lot of things going on that are very good in terms of plot/ pace and larger themes/ social commentary. And bonus points for being a stand alone
It's very dense but I really enjoyed it. It's odd the juxtaposition of "Elves in LOTR/Hobbit" as these wise ethereal beings and "Elves in The Silmarillion" as asshats. Keeping the various tribes of Elves straight in my head was impossible though - I needed a cheat sheet.
Yeah, this is me too. I'm going to blame it on I always try to read it at midnight to wind down after the swing shift and find it hard to focus. Or kids during the day. Might have to wait until school starts back up
I read the silmarillion in high school just to say I’d done it but I remember zilch. Not that I retain much now either. Hashtag Swiss cheese memory.
The first third is the toughest though indispensable for understanding the rest. It’s worth it when you get to the narrower narrative focuses like Beren and Luthien and The Hurin family arc
Just finished the ending of the Will of the Many, even as I could feel the remaining pages left dwindle with my fingers, know that it was wrapping… the only equivalent experience I can compare it to is the ending of the last Spider-verse movie. Like, NO you can’t just leave it at that, give me the next installment now, James, you fuck. I’m not gonna be capable of waiting on the library on this one.
lol just saw Sanderson rated it 5* on Goodreads and said a few things in his review that piqued my interest.
edit: Actually he rated it 5* and it was the book summary that piqued my interest "A touch cozy fantasy and a touch horror, The Dollmakers is perfect for fans of Studio Ghibli films,"
I don't know who Lynn Buchanan is but she must have some connection to Brandon because this is the first book he's reviewed on GR in 6 years. He's infinitely more famous now than he was 6 years ago so many people like me are going to be aware of it just because of this review. edit: this explains it "She’s a 2019 graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop and holds an MFA in fiction from Brigham Young University, where she taught creative writing. "
I go back and forth between non-fiction (business, personal improvement, etc.) and fiction (often sci-fi.) Like the balance of heavier stuff, then brain potato chip alien/dystopian future reads. Think I’m going to work through some of the “classic” authors for a bit, some widely celebrated authors like Woolf, Thoreau, Vonnegut, and Faulkner. Downloaded Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men last night, should be about a 3hr read. Also got The Talented Mr. Ripley. Think I may do Moby Dick. (Basically revisiting lots of shit I read in high school and freshman year.) I know it’s a broad net, but anyone have any standouts from the greatest authors? Disclaimer: I don’t have the bandwidth for Tolstoy or Dostoevsky at the moment: just started in a new business unit.
Cat’s Cradle is my favorite Vonnegut David Copperfield is my favorite Dickens but you should read all of Dickens, he’s so good. Middlemarch by George Eliot East of Eden by Steinbeck Emma - Jane Austen (I still need to red P&P and S&S) Counte of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas Les Mis - Victor Hugo I would highly recommend rethinking at least Tolstoy. I found Anna Karenina and War and Peace to be much more page turners than Moby Dick. If you decide to read Ulysses then grab a companion to help you decipher what you’re reading and why it’s great.
Grapes of wrath is my favorite Steinbeck. Cannery row is great among his shorter ones. “Sister Carrie” by Theodore Dreiser “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair. (“Oil!” Is also good, basis for movie there will be blood.) “Dharma Bums” by Jack Kerouac — classicish?
Thoreau — prob read it to say you read it. That’s what I did, eventually. Walden is a slog though. Took me years to get past the beginning. You’ve read mark Twain presumably?