Tiamat's Wrath - 8th book of the Expanse. Was... good? I guess. The series feels really long in the tooth and so much is being crammed into each book, I am not sure it will have a satisfying ending.
Tiamat's Wrath suffers from the same thing the Xeelee Sequence will suffer from but it won't have the logical payoff either (Xeelees were right and humans were retards the whole time).
I just don't see how it plays out even if they use some kind of Humanity is Exceptional trope. I figure we can probably expect some kind of McGuffin with the diamond planet and a secret ultra weapon the precursor's invented but died before they could use. That or a total transition of humanity from our flesh and bone to the Amos type reconstruct analogs that are immune to the void weapons.
Just finished book 7 of Critical Failures. That is one quality series bros. The bard's rise to fame as a Neil Diamond cover artist just fucking cracks me up. Denise the over the top racist cop in a fantasy world is A++ and constantly delivers. Something about calling Drow, "american inventor elfs" is just too much.
After finishing it myself recently, I still maintain that the best character in the series is Katherine. It used to be Cooper, but he's fallen off hard the last few books. Katherine started really, really bad though, so I understand why a lot of people dislike her. She's a legitimate badass though, and actually gets shit done.
I'm on Book 6 of the Chaos Seeds: The Land series (what's with all these series having multiple fucking names??) and while I plow through them like a muslim with a rented van, I realize they aren't the greatest books ever by a long, long shot. I cringe constantly, particularly with his "Abrams and Whedon!" like they are his gods. But it is sort of like watching a Twitch streamer I guess? It's like I get to see someone play a game and not actually have to play it myself, but it is still somehow enjoyable. I tried to explain it to a friend, and even I had to admit that the way I was talking about it, it sounded terrible. But I still want to keep reading it.
It's like a faster, shittier version of Cradle, where the main character constantly powers up, and you know that's what the next book is about, yet somehow it is enthralling.
I’m on book 7 of critical failures and the series is honestly pretty bad, not sure what you guys see in it. World is generic (by design), characters are mostly shit and plot meanders and never really goes anywhere. Most of the humor sections are pretty funny, but it’s not enough to carry the books. There’s a tendency to make the same jokes again and again on some that weren’t really funny to begin with (“I’m totally not a racist I didn’t mean it like that!”)
I’m on book 7 of critical failures and the series is honestly pretty bad, not sure what you guys see in it. World is generic (by design), characters are mostly shit and plot meanders and never really goes anywhere. Most of the humor sections are pretty funny, but it’s not enough to carry the books. There’s a tendency to make the same jokes again and again on some that weren’t really funny to begin with (“I’m totally not a racist I didn’t mean it like that!”)
The attraction for me was way more because of the similarity to my gaming group of 20+ years ago. I swear that if our DM had had a velvet cape and some magic dice, he would have done the exact same thing to us, because we were assholes like that. My buddy even did the same, "I kill him then" that starts all of this series off.
I can admit that it has fallen off quite a bit from the start, but I guess it is one of those series that is super easy to blow through, and has enough nostalgia (bag of holding, magic rings, etc.) to keep me feeling moderately positive about it. Same with this Land series. The first several were shit in a multitude of ways, including editing/proofreading, but it had enough nostalgic similarity to starting a new character in an MMO that it was fun, you know? And suddenly now I'm on book 7 of that series too. Even though objectively it is pretty terrible.
I will say that in Critical Failures, "Horse!" is the single funniest thing I can think of in any book of this nature, ever. Stuff like that keeps me going even when it starts to sort of suck.
The attraction for me was way more because of the similarity to my gaming group of 20+ years ago. I swear that if our DM had had a velvet cape and some magic dice, he would have done the exact same thing to us, because we were assholes like that. My buddy even did the same, "I kill him then" that starts all of this series off.
I can admit that it has fallen off quite a bit from the start, but I guess it is one of those series that is super easy to blow through, and has enough nostalgia (bag of holding, magic rings, etc.) to keep me feeling moderately positive about it. Same with this Land series. The first several were shit in a multitude of ways, including editing/proofreading, but it had enough nostalgic similarity to starting a new character in an MMO that it was fun, you know? And suddenly now I'm on book 7 of that series too. Even though objectively it is pretty terrible.
I will say that in Critical Failures, "Horse!" is the single funniest thing I can think of in any book of this nature, ever. Stuff like that keeps me going even when it starts to sort of suck.
I like The Land quite a bit better. Even though the writing is kinda shit and the constant MMO portions are distracting (skill descriptions and selections, level ups, etc) to the story, there is at least a decent overall plot.
The humorous aspects of critical failures are really the only bright spot for me, and it was enough to keep reading. Like you said, easy to blow through. Realistically I’ll probapy finis book 7 and then not bother keeping up with the following releases
That was before I visited more of the litrpg genre.
Then, you start to appreciate more some of the gems you have. Be very, very wary of russian stuff.
Biggest litrpg saga so far I liked is Viridian Gate Online, by James Hunter. Setup is simple: asteroid coming and is going to wipe the entire biosphere. Everyone who can gets uploaded into the only functional VR, the Viridian Gate Online game. Mayhem ensues of course. The main series has 6 books so far, but it has spawned four different side series by other authors. His other litrpg/dungeon core series Rogue Dungeon is good as well.
I tend to like "light" litrpg. Too many UI interferences into the stories put me off, unless the story is very, very good.
At the moment, I'm mostly catching up on "mainstream" SFF:
- Walter Jon Williams' Accidental War (good as most of WJW's work. Not the best of the series, but not the best from him is better than most best from others)
- Ian Mc Donalds' Luna: Moon Rising, book 3 of the series
- Alastair Reynold's Revenger: Shadow Captain (book 2)
I thought I could rate my various Dungeon Core series. There's a lot of them, meaning a lot of bleh/copycat/not too good ones, and a few good ones.
(if you wonder what's Dungeon Core stories, it's stories where the main character is a Dungeon Keeper in the style of the old Bullfrog Game)
- 5/5: Divine Dungeon series (4 books, final expected "soon") by Dakota Krout
- 4/5: The Wraith's Haunt (3 books, main arc wrapped, ongoing) by Hugo Huesca
- 4/5: The Rogue Dungeon (2 books, ongoing) by James Hunter (see above)
- 4/5: Archeologist Warlord (3 books, ongoing), by E.M. Hardy
- 4/5: Dungeon World (1 book, series start), by Jonathan Brooks
- 3/5: Station Core (4 books, ongoing), by Jonathan Brooks
- 3/5: Living Dungeon (1 book, unfinished so far) by Allan Joyal
- 3/5: Opal Dungeon (1 book, unfinished/abandoned?) by Marty Myers
- 3/5: Ancient Dreams (3 books, plus side books), by Benjamin Medrano
- 2.5/5: The Slime Dungeon (4 books main series, 1 book next series) by Jeffrey Logue
Honorable mentions:
- 2/5: The Dungeon Traveler (1 book standalone), by Alston Sleet
- 2/5: Core Control (1 book? Haven't looked if any other) by Andrew Seiple
- 2/5: Hank Grave (1 book), Marty Myers (who should have continued the series mentioned above)
- 1.5/5: Glendaria Awakens (3 books complete), by Jonathan Brooks (first foray into writing, it feels)
- 1/5 Futuristic Dungeon Core (6 books, I think? Couldn't make past book 1) by Grant Skyler
- 1/5: Dark Dungeon (? books), by D.R. Rosier (a mistake, it's a foray into the Harem Litrpg genre, which is almost universally drek)
Guess I'm the ultimate nerd. Read mostly technical oriented books nowdays and no fiction. Ocassionally biographies. Found this the other day. Lot of technical books for free download.
Guess I'm the ultimate nerd. Read mostly technical oriented books nowdays and no fiction. Ocassionally biographies. Found this the other day. Lot of technical books for free download.
Guess I'm the ultimate nerd. Read mostly technical oriented books nowdays and no fiction. Ocassionally biographies. Found this the other day. Lot of technical books for free download.
I often wonder how much time Ukerric
spends reading a day or if he is just one of those types who can read a book a night like it was nothing. I read like 4 or 5 books a month and I thought I was pretty fast.
Bear in mind it's his attempt at the Young Adult shelf so it won't have the same grit as the rest, but what's left is really tight construction and arguably his best pacing.
Mark Lawrence's Broken Empire trilogy is what I imagine what that series might have looked like if Abercrombie could indulge his usual style, and I honestly think it benefitted from the restraint.
So I read Half a King while on vacation in Germany, and I really liked it. I was fine without the fucking and swearing in his other novels. I bought the third while also in Germany, and while I don't have the second I'll probably just read the third anyway.
I must agree with you though. The pacing was better than in the First Law Trilogy, but as far as single novels I'm not sure.
I often wonder how much time Ukerric
spends reading a day or if he is just one of those types who can read a book a night like it was nothing. I read like 4 or 5 books a month and I thought I was pretty fast.
Public transportation for the win. Gives me a minimum of 1h45 every day to read. Novels are usually quick reads; serious books take a few weeks or a month at least. I also tend to have 4 or 5 books "currently reading" at the same time.
My goodreads challenge for this year is 130 books, and I'm currently 6 ahead of the expected curve.
Public transportation for the win. Gives me a minimum of 1h45 every day to read. Novels are usually quick reads; serious books take a few weeks or a month at least. I also tend to have 4 or 5 books "currently reading" at the same time.
My goodreads challenge for this year is 130 books, and I'm currently 6 ahead of the expected curve.
I only recently started taking the train due to a new job. Trains and shit ain't the norm in USA as you know but for my situation it's convenient and I like it. As opposed to sitting in gridlock traffic here in Austin I get 45 minutes of uninterrupted reading. Very pleasant.
Just out of curiosity do you read most things in French or does it really not matter to you?
I only recently started taking the train due to a new job. Trains and shit ain't the norm in USA as you know but for my situation it's convenient and I like it. As opposed to sitting in gridlock traffic here in Austin I get 45 minutes of uninterrupted reading. Very pleasant.
Just out of curiosity do you read most things in French or does it really not matter to you?
I haven't read a book in French for at least 15 years or so. I'm highly anglophile (despite being French) and the only thing I read in French are internet news/newspapers.
b]Holy Sister ( Book of the Ancestor 3 ) - Mark Lawrence[/b]
This one was pretty good, and wraps up the series nicely. I appreciated having no idea where anything was going and it cleared up some questions I had from previous books*. I am not sure I share their optimism for uses of the mirror though - it's been a while since physics classes, but I am pretty sure they are still fucked. Abbess Glass is also clearly the most devious person who ever lived - Littlefinger wishes he was half this good.
Like the shiphearts activating alien tech - them not actually being part of the ships at all made a lot more sense. All the inconsistent ancient legends and prophecies basically being completely made up was pretty lol worthy too.
Dark Forge ( Masters & Mages 2 )- Miles Cameron
Most of the student characters get drafted for what appears to be an inexplicably stupid war, but like with the first book, a lot more is going on that first meets the eye. The main character actually makes some strides toward becoming a legitimate badass in this one, but the bad guys make some pretty big strides too. The secret conspiracy to defend the realm gets a bit more uncomfortable too, with the increasingly mounting evidence that the bad guys are actually wholly correct with their claims of what's going on.
This was a lot better than the first book, Cold Iron, and I thought that one was good. I've put the author on my watchlist and will definitely grab any new books that come out.
The Gutter Prayer - Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
Superficially this is about what I would think were the worst gang of thieves ever if I hadn't read 'The Afterward' recently ;p
For me it was actually more about the setting and world-building - it reminded me of Max Gladstone's stuff. It's about a city that's becoming a burgeoning merchant power on the backs of what's basically mad bioscience, courtesy of their powerful alchemists guild. Examples like a lot of city guard duty has been outsourced to the wax men - basically automatons made from wax, infused with magic and made using the spines and brainstems of convicted criminals. They still make an attractive alternative to most other countries, which are typically run by Gods, who are all basically involved in pointless wars against each other that can't end because the Gods continue to exist until noone believes in them, and it's hard to not believe in something that just performed horrifyingly destructive miracles on your country.
I liked this one a lot and will probably pick up any sequels.
The Afterward - E.K. Johnston
The story of what happened to the intrepid band of adventurers who saved the world once the world was saved and all the fuss died down. Includes the most horrifyingly inept thief I can think of - she wasn't actually any good before saving the world, and afterwards, the position of most famous thief in the world makes it kind of hard to actually get away with stealing anything. The book starts with what has to be her low point, where she gets caught by a pair of 8 year old girls who talk her into telling them stories until the guards get there.
I am a bit torn on this one - it's original and the story has some good points, but it has a bit too much fluffy romance for my liking, particularly given as far as I can tell, the only barrier to the 'doomed' love of two of the heroes is their own stubborness and stupidity.
King of Scars - Leigh Bardugo
I really liked Bardugo's previous series, Six of Crows, but while this one was good, I spent a lot of it really confused because I didn't remember who any of these characters were, or why I should care about them. As it turns out, this book is a sequel to a trilogy of books she wrote BEFORE six of crows, and that I recognised some of the characters was only because they were carried over to Six of Crows from that series.
I suspect it would be a lot better if you had read the previous trilogy and had some idea of what was going on, and why you should care about any of these characters, so I've put that on the backlog to do before reading any further books in this series.
Kingdom of Needle and Bone - Mira Grant
A novella, rather than a full novel. At first I thought this was basically a rant about how stupid anti-vaxxers are, and how they are going to fuck everything up, but this was not actually what is happening here at all. It's hard to go into too much detail without spoilers given how short it is - it's basically about people reacting to a wide-scale disease outbreak that destroys the body's immune response to previously exposed diseases.
I thought it was really good, and got a laugh out of the ending ;p
Wayward Children 1-4 - Seanan McGuire
A collection of novellas that are basically fairy tales or about the survivors of children who were pulled into fairy tale adventures. It's partly kid books, and partly very dark. I found them fun and entertaining - will probably read any others that she writes.
