boy09 said:

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boy09 said:

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BenFiasco14 said:

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Philo B 93 said:

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I finished "Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson. This is the longest book I've ever read, with 1137 pages or 45 hours of audible.

I've read three Brandon Sanderson books recently, and I'm done with his books. They're good, but world-building just isn't my thing. I liked Way of Kings, and if he could do it in half the pages I'd continue with the series. The story is epic. Does this sound familiar: young warrior/slave boy finds out he may have special powers that can defeat evil and save the world with the help of an old Jedi warrior? I love the idea, but when I read real-world news feeds and start wondering how the Parshendi and Alethi are reacting to Trumps tarifs, its time to move on. Hmmm, I dunno, maybe I'm in too deep already. Just typing this makes me want to move on to the next million page book in the series.

Anyway.... "Way of Kings" - very good book, just very long for those of us with attention deficit disor...

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I recently finished this and then dove straight into Words of Radiance and now I'm on Oathbringer lol… I got straight up addicted. About halfway through Oathbringer and finally taking a breather.

I suggest sticking with it. You got through way of kings which had a ton of the early world building.

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I got some pretty heavy Stormlight burnout about halfway through Oathbringer. The ending was great though. Wanted to get through Dawnshard before taking a break from Stormlight, i had a VERY tough time getting through it..

Since then i've read The Will of the Many and Piranesi, both were fantastic. Can't wait for the Strength of the Few later this year.

2025 so far:
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages
Mistborn: Secret History
Oathbringer
Dawnshard
The Will of the Many
Piranesi

Current: The Alloy of Law

Probably read the Sword of Kaigen next. Then i don't know where to go from there, my TBR just keeps growing. Really want to ready the Green Bone Saga and the Poppy War Trilogy. But after finishing The Will of the Many, i also really want to check out the Licanius Trilogy.

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I didn't read any of those next…

Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, The Bands of Mourning - Mistborn Era 2 is fine. Just not as gripping as Era 1 imo. From what I've heard, The Lost Metal is the best of Era 2, but I don't know how soon I'll get around to it. Feeling pretty burned out on it.

Dark Matter, Recursion - Both were great. I'll give the slight edge to Recursion.

Dungeon Crawler Carl - Got through it. Did not enjoy it. Won't be continuing.

Razorblade Tears - Finished it today, thought it was great. Will be checking out more S.A. Cosby.

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Glad to see I'm not the only one who didn't love DCC. Thought the first was original and a little funny, but quickly got bored through the second and stopped.

The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization - Peter Zeihan

This is Zeihan's latest book of which I've read three of them. For those of you who have read his stuff or are familiar with him you can think of this book as the next steps of what could happen as deglobalization and the unwinding of Bretton Woods continues. There is definitely some overlap with his prior books because all of his books follow this same theme.

For those not familiar, he's a geopolitical expert that focuses on geography and demographics. I find his stuff to be pretty fascinating to read, generally. His biggest detractors scoff at him because he's quite deterministic in what he says will happen. My biggest gripe with him is that he largely ignores ideology and politics and its influence on the natural order of things that he holds sacrosanct. Thus, I do not take everything he says as gospel, but he certainly has been directionally accurate since his first book in 2014.

In summary for this book, if even half of what he says comes true from this book then a whole lot of the global population is royally f'ed. On the positive front, the USA should be relatively good, according to him and, of course, assuming our own politics don't kill us all. If anything, you will likely learn a lot about demographics and the interplay of global supply chains and now utterly fragile they are. Not depressing at all!!

If you are going to read one of his books, I would start with his first one from 2014. It would be pretty interesting to go back and read that and see all of the things he predicted that have actually now happened and what has not or is still baking.


Edit: back to Licanius 2. I put that down to read above because I was traveling a lot and didn't want to carry this tome. On that note, do not read Zeihan on Kindle. I broke my own rule and did that forgetting how many charts and maps he uses. Read it in physical format.

You might enjoy Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall if you haven't read it.

bagger05 said:

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You might enjoy Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall if you haven't read it.

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I'll take a look. Thanks.

Suttree by Cormac McCarthy (physical)

Letters from a Stoic by Seneca (audiobook)

Old Testament through 2 Chronicles

Has anyone read the Poppy War trilogy? I see it's available for one credit right now on audible. I keep having it pop up in recommendations - I just finished all of Red Rising and The Will of the Many.

Didn't know if anyone could recommend this series or had any feedback on it

Reviews / recs that I've seen are VERY divided; people either love it or it puts them to sleep.

713nervy said:

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You've read a lot this year for the little spare time you have! That's awesome!

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Thanks!! I had a goal to hit 40 this year…but we (read: my wife) just had a baby last week, so what little time is now spent changing diapers. I'm hoping I can still knock out a couple of books a month once things settle down.

For the Poppy War, I like the narrator and thought she did a good job with the material. The content of the book is very uneven. Some great moments, some what the heck moments, and some times just dull. But I generally speaking liked the characters. So overall, it is very borderline on recommending.

I bought it because three books for 1 credit is such a great deal and I like the narrator. I would say get it if you like fantasy, like the idea of figuring out what events in the book correspond to what events in history, and willing to overlook flawed execution on what is a pretty interesting premise. For me, I listen to a lot of audiobooks so it was worth it.

But if your audiobook time is limited and you don't like the things I mentioned, it is skippable.

Lastly, I don't think you are suppose to root for the main character. The book is really about all the flaws of the main character and the circumstances that lead to her actions. She is very much an anti-hero. That can bother people.

Appreciate the honesty. I have an hour commute each way so I usually am cruising through books pretty quick - thought he same thing in 3 books for 1 credit.

I'll probably give it a shot - thanks!

htownag08 said:

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Has anyone read the Poppy War trilogy? I see it's available for one credit right now on audible. I keep having it pop up in recommendations - I just finished all of Red Rising and The Will of the Many.

Didn't know if anyone could recommend this series or had any feedback on it

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Can't speak to the audio but the story itself is very, very on the nose. If you have any sense/love of history, you will quickly see that it is a painted over Second Sino-Japanese war. Which is whatever to most people I would think, but the author uses it to club you over the head over and over and over. It doesn't feel inspired. It feels lazy and very ranty IMO. It was the first series I read by her and the following ones confirmed the vibes I got from the Poppy War. That being, she has an axe to grind and does so so glaringly it took me away from the actual story she was trying to weave. at multiple points. The ultimate sin for me for any fantasy author.

That aside, the main character starts off unlikable and ends up supremely unlikable. No real character growth and the opportunities for such are myriad. I think the premise is strong but the overall execution is lacking enough that I would never recommend it, personally. Opinions are pretty extreme on the series though, I tend to lean towards the "Not Like At All" side. I DNF'ed the last book with about a third of a left. Literally could not finish that last chunk I was so over it.

ETA: That being said, the first book was ok. Enough that I picked up the second with no issues. It just devolved super quick from there for me. So the series as a whole is a miss for me, but the individual books vary.

B1 - 6.5/10
B2 - 3.5/10
B3 - Trending towards a 2 before I DNF'ed

Reread the Kenzie and Gennaro series by Dennis Lehane. Still one of my favorites of all time. Few series I can say that put me through the full gamut of emotions. This is one of them. If anyone has not partook, I would say you are sleeping on them.

Not sure what to start up next. Might have to walk over to my library and actually pick something out I own and read it. Read my own books, pffft. Weird.

Eliminatus said:

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htownag08 said:

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Has anyone read the Poppy War trilogy? I see it's available for one credit right now on audible. I keep having it pop up in recommendations - I just finished all of Red Rising and The Will of the Many.

Didn't know if anyone could recommend this series or had any feedback on it

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Can't speak to the audio but the story itself is very, very on the nose. If you have any sense/love of history, you will quickly see that it is a painted over Second Sino-Japanese war. Which is whatever to most people I would think, but the author uses it to club you over the head over and over and over. It doesn't feel inspired. It feels lazy and very ranty IMO. It was the first series I read by her and the following ones confirmed the vibes I got from the Poppy War. That being, she has an axe to grind and does so so glaringly it took me away from the actual story she was trying to weave. at multiple points. The ultimate sin for me for any fantasy author.

That aside, the main character starts off unlikable and ends up supremely unlikable. No real character growth and the opportunities for such are myriad. I think the premise is strong but the overall execution is lacking enough that I would never recommend it, personally. Opinions are pretty extreme on the series though, I tend to lean towards the "Not Like At All" side. I DNF'ed the last book with about a third of a left. Literally could not finish that last chunk I was so over it.

ETA: That being said, the first book was ok. Enough that I picked up the second with no issues. It just devolved super quick from there for me. So the series as a whole is a miss for me, but the individual books vary.

B1 - 6.5/10
B2 - 3.5/10
B3 - Trending towards a 2 before I DNF'ed

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I didn't read The Poppy Wars but I did read Babel which has a really neat concept but evidently follows the same formula. She seems to have a chip on her shoulder or something.

Between my physical book library and my Steam library, I really should never have to buy anything again.

But I'll keep on doing it.

I would say my wife is as bad as me, but her reading pace is so absurd that I can't. She read 85 last year and is at 73 so far this year.

Eliminatus said:

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YouBet said:

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Between my physical book library and my Steam library, I really should never have to buy anything again.

But I'll keep on doing it.

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Quote:

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Tsundoku () is the phenomenon of acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in a home without reading them

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I got this bad.

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Me too! So much stuff lost down the list on my Kindle.

I can see this perspective as well. That is what makes the Poppy War such a hard series to describe. I kinda embraced the loathing you get for the main character and came to believe you are suppose to realize the main character is unreliable and then started trying to dissect some of what was happening behind the scenes and piecing together what I thought was actually happening. I also started really rooting for some of the side characters.

I am not sure that was 100% the author's intent. But for me it kept the books in the 6.5-7 range. But getting 3 books for one credit is such a steal. And I do think the narrator added a lot to this book. Without some of the inflection, I could see how the written word could be a dry experience.

Edit: One last thought, for me, I accepted the main character would have been a villain in any another fantasy book. I did wonder briefly, what would have happened if Anakin Skywalker or Kylo Ren's stories were told in a similar fashion.

The Alienist by Caleb Carr. One of the most interesting novels I've ever read. Highly recommend if you enjoy mysteries or psychology.

I'm about 2/3 through The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman and I like it alot! It's the first book I decided to read after the Suneater series and it's a great fantasy palette cleanser. There's nothing particularly unique about the plot mechanics or world building (it has goblins, witches, trolls, & magic), but the author has a VERY stylized voice and fantastic humor. Laughed out loud numerous times reading this one. It's about a band of people (a thief, a witch, and a soldier) thrust together through circumstance to accomplish a common goal. The single sentence review would be: "Imagine if Lord of the Rings was condensed into a single novel with lower stakes and rated R."

I wanted to wait until i finished before posting a recommendation, but I think it's safe to throw out there. I'll update this post if the ending completely ruins the rest of the journey but for now I give it a solid rec for anyone looking for a breezy, yet highly entertaining, fantasy story.

That's awesome to hear, over the weekend I was searching for the best audio book recommendations and that book was highly recommended. What are your thoughts on the Sun Eater series? I have 7 credits to use and I'm debating between Sun Eater, Red Rising (I've read the first 3), The Dark Tower or more Dresden Files. I'll be getting the blacktongue thief too.

Read that one. Liked it as well and would recommend.

There is a second one that is actually a prequel focused on the Raven Warrior girl ( sorry don't remember her name and know it isn't actually a Raven.) I got it but haven't read it yet.

Pac1698 said:

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That's awesome to hear, over the weekend I was searching for the best audio book recommendations and that book was highly recommended. What are your thoughts on the Sun Eater series? I have 7 credits to use and I'm debating between Sun Eater, Red Rising (I've read the first 3), The Dark Tower or more Dresden Files. I'll be getting the blacktongue thief too.

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I LOVE the Suneater series (I've basically been proselytizing anywhere I can to get people to read it lol) with the giant caveat that book 1 and 2 are slow burns. The payoff (which is 100000% worth it) doesn't really happen until book 3 and then it's straight gas, but I understand people who aren't willing to read ~1k pages before getting satisfaction.

My personal opinion is while I think Suneater is the 'better' series, Red Rising is definitely the more fun. It's essentially an epic space revenge story that comes out of the gate on full cylinders. I don't think you could go wrong with either, it just depends on what you're looking for.

Now that I think about it, it would be kinda fun to alternate between SE and RR. Both series has 6 books with conclusive 7th novels being published soon. I think that would be a fun combo. Appropriately by happy accident, I have both of them next to each other on my bookshelf lol

I haven't read Dresden or Dark Tower, so can't help there. Blacktongue Thief though is perfect though if you want something with a lower level of commitment!

Have you read The Expanse? If so, how does Sun Eater compare?

I have been listening to the Suneater series (on #2.) As MC said, one and two are a little slow. But the prose, while verbose, is really good and I am getting into the story.

The reader on the audio books is REALLY good. I would recommend going the audio route on them.

I may be an exception, but I don't see much similarity to Red Rising. I definitely see some Dune influences, but for the most part, it seems pretty original and unique. Just like Red Rising is.

BQRyno said:

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Have you read The Expanse? If so, how does Sun Eater compare?

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No, I haven't and it's a huge blindspot for me! For whatever reason, my reading diet definitely tilts towards Fantasy over Sci Fi, and The Expanse is 100% a casualty of that. Something I hope to remedy soon (that and Malazan's Book of the Fallen are mocking me for not having read them).

I need to get on Red Rising. I have it on Ebook and it keeps getting lost on my kindle library. And hard agree on SE. Great series. Cool to see someone else is also a fan of Broken Binding as well.

Eliminatus said:

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I need to get on Red Rising. I have it on Ebook and it keeps getting lost on my kindle library. And hard agree on SE. Great series. Cool to see someone else is also a fan of Broken Binding as well.

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To my wife's chagrin! lol They're beautiful editions but hotdamn they are pricey!! lol

Allllmost put down "violated by" instead of "fan of".

I hate how all the best boutique book stores/makers seem to be offshore. BB actually is not bad at all price wise comparatively speaking. Downright almost fantastic when looking at bang to buck in the world of special editions....until you get that damn international shipping. Still worth it to me for select volumes but it definitely puts it up there after it's all said and done.

Don't know why more American companies are not doing this. Sanderson has proven there is a market for it here and I think it is starting to emerge somewhat but still. Going to ***** about it regardless since I need instant gratification. I'm an American, damnit!

Preach brother!

I'm really happy to hear that the Sun Eater books get better after book 2. I'm about 25% finished with it and have seriously considered just dropping it. Every time I'm almost there, it picks up and grabs me again. I'll plod through to get to the rest of the books. It has been a slog so far. As to audio books, I normally don't listen, because it takes too much attention to really get the gist of the story for me.

Thanks to all of you that mentioned it was worth continuing.

Just finished Stephen King's "Fairy Tale". I'd probably give it 4 out of 5 stars today. I'll have to let it ruminate to see if it stays there and not down a notch.

The first 1/3 of the book were EXTREMELY good (The part of the book on Earth) It dealt with losing a parent, alcoholism, an old dog, an enigmatic crotchety old man and a high school kid. This part is 5 stars.

When the book turned into the "Fairy Tale" part, to me the quality dropped. The relationships in the first 1/3 of the book were developed completely, the ones in the last 2/3 were not. Perhaps there were too many characters to do so properly.

I'm glad I read it, but of the King books I've read this year (Salem's Lot, The Shining and Pet Semetary) it is a distant 4th.

Apache said:

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Just finished Stephen King's "Fairy Tale". I'd probably give it 4 out of 5 stars today. I'll have to let it ruminate to see if it stays there and not down a notch.

The first 1/3 of the book were EXTREMELY good (The part of the book on Earth) It dealt with losing a parent, alcoholism, an old dog, an enigmatic crotchety old man and a high school kid. This part is 5 stars.

When the book turned into the "Fairy Tale" part, to me the quality dropped. The relationships in the first 1/3 of the book were developed completely, the ones in the last 2/3 were not. Perhaps there were too many characters to do so properly.

I'm glad I read it, but of the King books I've read this year (Salem's Lot, The Shining and Pet Semetary) it is a distant 4th.

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agreed. kind of the point of the book....but I didn't love it.