Shoutout @jphat007 @StLouHoo @HolidayHoo @AdventiveQuasar @Jwhelan33 for catching the Dalinar reference…. Made my day seeing the Hoos x Sanderson crossover land
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Would love any commentary, recs, or thoughts. Eagerly awaiting Stormlight 5, just started Mistborn Well of Ascension (cannot believe I had not read any Mistborn yet the sanderlanche was insane)
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I am very proud of myself for still having zero clue of this reference
Want a great book? Read The Moors Last Sigh by Rushdie
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Love Mistborn; make sure you read the Wax and Wayne books too after you finish the first three Mistborn books, which is same world, but in the future (starts with Alloy of Law).
If we can talk general book stuff here too, I just plowed through the Murderbot series by Martha Wells, which are mostly novellas, so very readable. Very fun, snappy sci fi action, with a just the right touch of ruminating about humanity and its nature.
Other recent books I enjoyed:
- The Blacktongue Thief: classic “we’re a party on an adventure fantasy” with a great wit
- The Tainted Cup: I’m fully in the tank for Robert Jackson Bennett, and this was a really enjoyable fantasy detective tale
- The Justice of Kings: I’m a sucker for “stoic, terrifyingly competent” hero character as well as the political Europe-ish machinations going on in the story.
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Murderbot is great, I used them as a palette cleanser between Stormlight books actually hahah
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Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie is a good book. It’s the first part of a trilogy and a bit different than your typical Sci-Fi. Something destroyed the massive space ship Justice of Toren and only one of its ancillaries survived (sort of like a cyborg drone). It has the memories and abilities of a thousand year old AI ship and it’s pissed off and looking to find out who killed it.
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Read Blacktongue, reminded me of Kings of the Wyld. Have thought about Justice of Kings.
Things on TBR (no order):
Tress of the emerald sea (and Sunlit man)
Kingkiller Chronichles
ASOIAF (want to forget game of thrones show some first)
The Expanse
Farseer or any Robin Hobb
Dark Tower
Powder Mage
Book of the New Sun
Any Tadd Williams
The Joe Abercrombie standalones (read first law and age of madness)
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Things I can’t recommend enough in sci fi or fantasy:
Red rising
Sun Eater
Dune (gets so weird during 3)
Wheel of Time (currently on 7)
A Scanner Darkly
First Law (any Abercrombie)
Hyperion
Gentleman Bastards
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From your TBR list @JoeBoxley
- Robin Hobb is excellent, foundational fantasy kind of stuff.
- Kingkiller is worth reading, even if you’re gonna end up mad that Rothfuss is never gonna finish it.
Gentlemen Bastards and WoT are on my Rushmore list of fantasy. WoT is a little sentimental more than pure quality (it kinda stretches on a bit), but Sanderson cleans it up real nicely.
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GB rules. Locke and Jean are two of my favorite characters ever, so funny in a genre that’s often either cheesy humor or too serious.
WoT I needed a break. Can only read but so many descriptions of lace embroidery on cuffs and jackets lol
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I love Rothfuss’ sing-song writing flow. His style I favor over Sanderson and GRR. But geeze am I so frustrated that he’ll never finish the series. Don’t even get started on the whole “the trilogy is just the beginning of a much larger world”…
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My hope for a song of ice and fire and Kingkiller is that they let someone else finish it one day, like Sanderson and WoT. Abercrombie for ASOIAF, Christopher Ruocchio (Sun Eater) for Kingkiller
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Empire of Silence is next on my list.
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First Hyperion book was absolutely extraordinary, rest were ok, imo. I know some disagree. It’s rare the explanation to a really good mystery is good enough to be worth ending the mystery. It’s why the Joker canonically has no backstory. Explaining the Shrike was a mistake, imo.
The first six books of The Expanse are probably my favorite works of Sci-fi, ever. The last 3 are also good, but a step down. The TV show was that very rare event where the show was just as good as the books. Probably my favorite TV show of all time.
Also very good, the Dagger and Coin books by Daniel Abraham (one of Expanses’
co-writers). Similar style, but fantasy. China Mieville is also good, his Perdido Street Station is amazing, but his style won’t be to everyone’s taste and it’s a very dense book. Kraken is a better starting point, more accessible and just a fun read.
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I hope for this as well, but I can see them both not allowing that. I can’t believe that GRR will actually leave coherent notes. Rothfuss, who even knows. GRR recently talked about wanting to write another script for a currently not in production GOT show.
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I like the City and the City.
On Rothfuss, GRRM: I assume Sanderson will just finish everyone’s series haha.
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Agreed. First is incredible, I’ve recommended people just read Father Dure’s story. The elements of horror there are perfection. Second book was okay, third I flat didn’t like, and fourth was solid
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I go thru phases reading. A few years back I read Malazan Book of the Fallen (I think it was a 10 book series or so) by Steven Erikson and also The Black Company series by Glen Cook. I did read all of ASOIAF well before the series and after a few seasons stopped watching.
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Malazan is one of those I’ve been meaning to read for forever, but haven’t gotten started yet.
I read the whole Black Company series recently, Cook’s tendency to elide over enormous swathes of combat and time (more often earlier in the series) kinda bothers me, but I enjoyed the overall storytelling.
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We need regular Boxley book of the month threads. Class up the joint some.
He’s a worm. Never gets any of my popular movie references. I keep a running list for him, occasionally he’ll watch one. He had never seen Friday until recently. Blows my mind.
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