šŸ“– Journey before Destination: book thread

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Recent readings

  • A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett: Book 2 in a series that is essentially Watson and Holmes in a fantasy setting. Very good writing and world-building. A whodunit where you find out the who pretty early on but it stays interesting.
  • Jade War by Fonda Lee: Mafia-style drama but with martial arts/mystical powers. I really liked the first one, this second one hasnā€™t hit quite as well for me.
  • The Devils by Joe Abercrombie. The Suicide Squad but in a fantasy Europe setting that is winking a bit at the history of religion in our world. Witty, snappy, and typically grimdark for this author. I enjoyed it.

On deck:

  • Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gabriel Kay. Iā€™ve read one GGK (Tigana) but was looking to get more into his works.
  • The Strength of the Few by James Islington. Sequel to The Will of The Many which was my favorite book of 2024.
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I took a break from Sanderson and read Books 1 & 2 of Christopher Ruocchioā€™s Sun Eater saga (Empire of Silence and Howling Dark). Took a pause in that series and read R.J. Barkerā€™s Forsaken trilogy.

Stuck with Barker and started The Tide Child (finished The Bone Ships and halfway through Call of the Bone Ships). I much prefer The Tide Child series. Itā€™s a nautical fantasy that is well done. Heā€™s done an excellent job of building a nautical fantasy world where everything is familiar but also different. For instance ship Captains are ā€œShipwivesā€ and a spyglass is a ā€œnearglass.ā€ Iā€™ve enjoyed reading them so far.

@AdventiveQuasar the Jackson Bennett series is intriguing, Iā€™m adding it to my list. I am also very much looking forward to starting Islingtonā€™s titles as well. Thanks for the recommendations.

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I really enjoyed the Greenbone saga. The third book has a structure change, which some people bump up against though.

That Bennett series is on my TBR, as is the Islington one (I enjoyed his debut Licanius trilogy). I havenā€™t gotten to any Abercrombie yet, although itā€™s almost certainly in my wheelhouse. And GGK has been on my TBR for over a decade, but I never squeeze it in.

I was working my way through Dungeon Crawler Carl this summer, but my podcast consumption explodes every fall and crowds out my audiobook time. Iā€™ll have to start chipping away at the TBR again once fall sports slow down.

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Sun Eater is a top 3 ish series for me all time. Books 3 and 5 are both top 15 sci fi / fantasy books Iā€™ve ever read. The plot, the lore, the pacing are all incredible. World building is genuinely second to none in my opinion

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Iā€™ve been curious about Tainted Cup by RJB for awhile. Worthwhile?

Also had the same experience with Jade War. I liked Jade City a lot but kinda lost me in book 2. Side note donā€™t do the audio, itā€™s way too angsty lol

The devils I enjoyed but prefer his first law stuff. First law is second behind only red rising in series for me

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Yeah, thatā€™s the first in the series. Iā€™m really enjoying it. Different from his other books and a really fun take on the detective trope.

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