The Books/Reading Thread

[no country for old wainds]

Maybe now I'll actually read Malazan...

in fact, I really have no idea when I'll be able to finish that beast. I'm probably giving up on GRRM too, only fantasy author worth seeing it through with at this point (for me, at least) is Bakker.

finishing it isn't that important as they mostly satisfy as stand-alone stories, but i'd try to do the first five at least. i forget where you're up to, maybe you already have.

 

[Einherjar86]

I read the first two. I’ve been told the third is when it gets really good.

 

[no country for old wainds]

part of that is just that it's the first time you aren't starting from scratch with a mostly new set of characters tbh. the second one can be a bit of a slog first time around (not exactly unintentionally, it must be said--these characters' lives are a slog) but i found that rereading it after i was already familiar with the characters was quite a different experience. regardless, the third is much more of a page-turner i'd say, i hope you go back to it sometime.

 

[Blurry_Dreams]

tried to re-read DR Jekyl and MR Hyde
and OMFG the first page is the most annoying text ever

 

[Anom@nder Rake]

apparently erikson is writing a series centred around karsa orlong, yespls

and he won't appear in the first book. I started reading the Kharkanas books a few weeks ago. It took a bit to re-familiarize myself with all the characters but the quality didn't drop from the main series.

 

[no country for old wainds]

have you read any of the esslemont ones?

 

[Anom@nder Rake]

no. it's on my to-read list but isn't a priority. Night of Knives is a short novel so I might get around to it in the next year or so. Esslemont has been cranking them out. He has 9 books published with another trilogy on the way

 

[Dak]

One of the best books I think I've ever read.

 

[Manic Ferocity]

part of that is just that it's the first time you aren't starting from scratch with a mostly new set of characters tbh. the second one can be a bit of a slog first time around (not exactly unintentionally, it must be said--these characters' lives are a slog) but i found that rereading it after i was already familiar with the characters was quite a different experience. regardless, the third is much more of a page-turner i'd say, i hope you go back to it sometime.

I've probably said it before but I liked Deadhouse Gates right out of the gate (no pun intended) and didn't find it as much of a slog as I've seen some say about it. I even prefer it to Memories of Ice by a slight margin. I'll be starting House of Chains sometime in the near future.

 

[no country for old wainds]

house of chains is primarily a continuation of deadhouse gates so you’ll probably enjoy! and yeah i absolutely love dhg personally but i know some people seem to struggle with it. all the central plot strands are really strong imo.

 

[Vegard Pompey]

I've read the first three and I too like Deadhouse Gates the most. I was really invested in the chain of dogs stuff.

 

[Einherjar86]

I remember reading Deadhouse Gates and being within two hundred pages of the ending, and thinking to myself--What the fuck is going on? It was then that I put it down, and haven't picked it up since...

I'd like to give it a try again, because part of me thinks maybe too much other shit was going on in my life to really pay attention (this was over a decade ago, so I would've been finishing undergrad and trying to figure out what the hell I was doing next. And I'm really unimpressed with all other fantasy I've tried, other than Bakker. To hell with GRRM at this point.

 

[Dak]

I think Feist writes solid fantasy, but it's nothing groundbreaking.

 

[Blurry_Dreams]

I think Feist writes solid fantasy, but it's nothing groundbreaking.

make a list of books that can be called both "fantasy" and "groundbreaking"
not being sarcastic or snarky
actually asking for a list of "groundbreaking fantsy"

 

[EternalMetal]

make a list of books that can be called both "fantasy" and "groundbreaking"

lol

 

[Einherjar86]

Reading this, as soon as I graduate from Powers's The Overstory and Halliday's Asymmetry:

I think Feist writes solid fantasy, but it's nothing groundbreaking.

Yeah, I think I'm past "solid" fantasy. I read a short story by Feist in an anthology years ago, which I liked. I also think GRRM writes solid fantasy, but I just don't get anything out of it anymore. Bakker manages to infuse some semantic apocalypse and genre-bending stuff into his work, which I find interesting.

 

[Dak]

R
Yeah, I think I'm past "solid" fantasy. I read a short story by Feist in an anthology years ago, which I liked. I also think GRRM writes solid fantasy, but I just don't get anything out of it anymore. Bakker manages to infuse some semantic apocalypse and genre-bending stuff into his work, which I find interesting.

I like that Feist often mostly focuses on the human side of things in his books, with magic often either being in separate books or being treated as a rarer thing. I like Gemmell for the same reasons. Also liked A Song of Fire and Ice early on for that reason, before the series went to shit.

 

[no country for old wainds]

I remember reading Deadhouse Gates and being within two hundred pages of the ending, and thinking to myself--What the fuck is going on? It was then that I put it down, and haven't picked it up since...

I'd like to give it a try again, because part of me thinks maybe too much other shit was going on in my life to really pay attention (this was over a decade ago, so I would've been finishing undergrad and trying to figure out what the hell I was doing next. And I'm really unimpressed with all other fantasy I've tried, other than Bakker. To hell with GRRM at this point.

yeahhh i don't think erikson is great for stop-start reading with long hiatuses haha. they're pretty dense and self-referential as well as ridiculously huge in scope, so it's not that easy to follow, especially as he just kind of drops you in the middle of it and drip-feeds you the lore.

something else i'd recommend is richard k. morgan's a land fit for heroes series. you might've read or seen the adaptation of altered carbon which is his more well known sci-fi work, but his fantasy is quite interesting and unusual too IMO, i keep meaning to read the second book. i would strongly recommend mieville too, i tend to think of him as at least borderline 'fantasy', but i think you're already a fan. there's always stephen donaldson as well, i'm a big fan of everything he's ever written (except maybe his latest series which i didn't get into) but he tends to be pretty polarising.

i own a whole bunch of other fantasy books that i've been told are original and distinctive, i should probably get around to reading some of those. stover's heroes die looks cool for example.

 

[Einherjar86]

Yeah, I love Mieville--one of my favorites. I guess I don't usually classify him as fantasy; I usually describe him as spec-fic, mostly because he's all over the board generically speaking (sci-fi, fantasy, detective fiction, historical fiction, etc.) but always with a speculative flair.

Never read any Morgan, but I thought Altered Carbon (the show) was cool. Maybe I'll check him out when I have a chance.

 

[Sirjack]

oh my god Altered Carbon is the best sci-fi debut since...ever!