Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Scott wrote: "Niki Hawkes wrote: "I think I'm going to need a lot of help keeping things straight on it too – I read half of the first one when it first came out and got really lost. "

I'm going to do it as a r..."
Scott you are going to be my go to guy on this one.
So we are doing all the other titles including Esselmont's in chronological order? As soon as we can get a list please put up, I will need to get some of those missing titles.
Thanks, all.

Frank wrote: "Scott wrote: "Niki Hawkes wrote: "I think I'm going to need a lot of help keeping things straight on it too – I read half of the first one when it first came out and got really lost. "

I'm going t..."

Yes, I'd like to read all of those extras - might as well commit to the whole shebang.

The extras are well worth reading. Samir and I have been doing the Ultimate Reading Order and I think it works better. You guys will all catch us up! Just letting you know if you are doing one book a month it's a pretty steep ask (unless you are a machine like Scott and Jenna ;-) ) for the longer books. Some of them are 1000+ pages. I find I'm quite drained after some of them to date as well, that you need a breather.

Angela wrote: "The extras are well worth reading. Samir and I have been doing the Ultimate Reading Order and I think it works better. You guys will all catch us up! Just letting you know if you are doing one book..."

Haha thanks! I definitely think I'm going to need some breathing room between a few. I was generous with the scheduling for some of the shorter ones as "breathers."

Frank wrote: "Scott wrote: "Niki Hawkes wrote: "I think I'm going to need a lot of help keeping things straight on it too – I read half of the first one when it first came out and got really lost. "

I'm going t..."

Here's the list:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Niki Hawkes wrote: "Frank wrote: "Scott wrote: "Niki Hawkes wrote: "I think I'm going to need a lot of help keeping things straight on it too – I read half of the first one when it first came out and got really lost. ..."
Niki, thanks so much, now time to get cracking on these other titles.

Seriously. I'm going to need a clean slate by 2018 lol.

Niki's Aug 2017 Progress Update:

Series Finished: 0

Series Brought UTD: 4
Firebrand - A.J. Hartley
Obsidian and Stars - Julie Eshbaugh
The Operator - Kim Harrison
Midnight Jewel - Richelle Mead

Series Progressed: 4
A Kingdom Besieged - Raymond E. Feist
Gunmetal Magic Ilona Andrews
The Rose Society - Marie Lu
Drive - James S.A. Corey

New Series Started: 2
Traitor's Blade - Sebastien de Castille [started in March, just finished]
Old Man's War - John Scalzi

Abandoned: 3
The Young Elites - Marie Lu
The Darkest Minds - Alexandra Bracken
Daughter of Smoke & Bone - Laini Taylor

YTD Totals:
Finished Series: 8
Up To Date Series: 16
Series Progressed: 32
New Series Started: 16
Abandoned: 4

I'm surprised I didn't actually finish anything... bringing a lot UTD feels good, though. :)

Great month Nikki. How do you like Feist? I'm think about his Riftwar stuff later this year.

Bill wrote: "Great month Nikki. How do you like Feist? I'm think about his Riftwar stuff later this year."

Thank you! :)
I love Feist... most of his stuff, anyway. The first Magician book was the one that got me into fantasy when I was a teen. The second Magician book is really slow for the first 100 pages or so, but then it gets good, then the next 10 or so books beyond that are fantastic!
This final trilogy is just okay so far... I'm enjoying it more out of nostalgia than anything haha.

Great progress Niki =].

Wow really chopped some wood there. There is no way I have the time to organize myself when it cones to the lists.
Amazing that you do this.

Liam wrote: "Great progress Niki =]."

Thanks Liam! :)

Frank wrote: "Wow really chopped some wood there. There is no way I have the time to organize myself when it cones to the lists.
Amazing that you do this."

::flexes super strong ax-swinging forearm:: booya!

I've done most of it while at work (don't tell my boss, lol). It has taken me 10 months of consistent 15 minute bursts to get to this point. I wouldn't recommend it, but I've loved putting it together. I'm a organization freak. Clearly, haha.

Not I won't tell, you have a nice boss!!
I used to be an organization freak, but now being so busy, I reserve my free time for reading.
At least I can fairly track myself on Goodreads and FactFic.

Niki Hawkes wrote: "Bill wrote: "Great month Nikki. How do you like Feist? I'm think about his Riftwar stuff later this year."

Thank you! :)
I love Feist... most of his stuff, anyway. The first Magician book was the ..."

Nice to know that it is good beyond the first series. Will have to move it up the tbr.

Great to be up to date on so many series Niki. You are making fantastic progress.

Great job, Niki!

Niki's August 2017 Progress Update:

Series Finished: 4
First Lord's Fury - Jim Butcher
The Stone Sky - N.K. Jemisin
Buried Heart - Kate Elliott
The Fall of the Dagger - Glenda Larke

Series Brought UTD: 1
An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors - Curtis Craddock

Series Progressed [book count]: 8
The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi
Magic Rises - Ilona Andrews
An Ill-Advised Rescue - Ilona Andrews
Rise of Empire - Michael J. Sullivan
The Churn - James S. A. Corey
The Last Colony - John Scalzi
In the Labyrinth of Drakes - Marie Brennan
The Butcher of Anderson Station - James S. A. Corey

New Series Started: 1
An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors - Curtis Craddock

Abandoned: 0

YTD Totals:
Finished Series: 12
Up To Date Series: 17
Series Progressed: 40
New Series Started: 17
Abandoned: 4

I am thrilled with this month's progress! I've been focusing on my high priority series since July, and finally am reaping the benefits. At this rate I should have no problem getting under 20 series by next year (down from 129 when I first started compiling this list).

I created a shelf [https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...] for all of my unread high-priority titles so I can more easily plan out my reading schedule. I especially like sorting it by date added. This new extra organizing give me happies -> I can see progress over time, tick off titles with a quick swipe, and see how many books I have remaining in this category without having to add them up. ^_^

I've abandoned more series than are represented in this list (over 30 this year), but was only using it to track how many I abandoned while actively reading. I should have been doing an overall count instead, but am too lazy to try and figure out which ones have gone since the beginning of the year.

That is all.

Well done Niki that is very impressive haha

That's terrific progress. I assume that's your biggest month since the challenge started for completed series. Huge.

Ahdam wrote: "Well done Niki that is very impressive haha"

Thank you! I felt like a reading machine this month lol.

Scott wrote: "That's terrific progress. I assume that's your biggest month since the challenge started for completed series. Huge."

Yes - definitely the single largest completion for a single month. I doubt I'll match that again before the end of the year, but you never know. Many of the series I have remaining have 10+ books, which I'm only a short way through. Ima UTD the shit out of everything else though. :)

That's impressive, Niki! Congratulations!

Miche wrote: "That's impressive, Niki! Congratulations!"

Thanks Miche! :)

Fantastic month Niki.

Wow that's amazing progress! Good job.

Thanks Bill and Tammie! :)

Fantastic month Niki. So much progress!

Thanks Angela! I feel really good about where I'm at. :)

Wow - that is a great month for reading! Congrats :)

Jenna wrote: "Wow - that is a great month for reading! Congrats :)"

Such a good month! Thanks Jenna. :)

While looking through my list, I discovered I had marked two separate series as a single one, and as it turns out, I'd finished the original. I'm totally taking credit even though it was technically completed a few years ago, lol.

Beautiful Disaster [2/2] [Finished]

I've decided to abandon The Warded Man [2/5] series, as I had a ton of issues with the second book and have consistently heard that there's a significant quality decline after that. It's hanging over my head because I'd like to know what happens, but I don't want to spend money on it and my library doesn't have it. I might revisit if they ever acquire a copy…

A lot of people seem to be abandoning that series at different points lately.

Also abandoned: Disappearing Nightly [1/7] - Laura Resnick. I'd never intended to read it as a full series, just as an occasional light read when nothing else strikes me.

Yeah doesn't sound good and I haven't read desert spear yet so that isn't good to hear but will read it to see what it's like

Also it's funny because Brett will be coming to a local bookstore here next Friday and I'm tempted to go there and get a cover to go on the humanity 😂😂😂

Scott wrote: "A lot of people seem to be abandoning that series at different points lately."

It's a difficult one to let go because there are a ton of positives to it. I would just rather focus on books with mostly positives lol.

Ahdam wrote: "Also it's funny because Brett will be coming to a local bookstore here next Friday and I'm tempted to go there and get a cover to go on the humanity 😂😂😂"

I just saw a really positive review from Petrik about the second one, so maybe you'll like it better than I did. lol you should totally go meet him. I'm still a fan of his first book and all of his concepts. :)

Today is my day for this challenge updates haha. I have a list in my challenge of 30 or so unresolved series called "Books I'd have to reread the first ones before continuing, so they might as well be marked Unread". Having so many just floating is driving me nuts, so I'm trying to go through today and see if I can either abandon them outright, decide to continue them without rereading the first book and reintegrate them into my challenge, or mark them as unread again and get them off the list totally. Most of them were started over 10 years ago. How would you guys handle these?

Maybe try to find some recaps for the books you've already read. There are a few sites out there that do recaps.

Niki Hawkes wrote: "Ahdam wrote: "Also it's funny because Brett will be coming to a local bookstore here next Friday and I'm tempted to go there and get a cover to go on the humanity 😂😂😂"

I just saw a really positive..."

Yeah I might do and fortunately I have a long break between my lectures then so I might pop down there to see what's up and hold my inner fangirl in as I try to pretend I read his other books

Yeah I've been interested in going to some of these events like a couple of weeks ago there was an event to meet RJ Barker Adrian Tchaikovsky and Genvieve Cogman but didn't go out of time and other things

Tammie wrote: "Maybe try to find some recaps for the books you've already read. There are a few sites out there that do recaps."

That's a good idea - thanks! Maybe I can even find a few spoiler reviews of the first books haha.

Ahdam wrote: "Niki Hawkes wrote: "Ahdam wrote: "Also it's funny because Brett will be coming to a local bookstore here next Friday and I'm tempted to go there and get a cover to go on the humanity 😂😂😂"

I just s..."

haha I tried to pretend I'd read the complete series for an author once... it didn't go well haha. For some reason they felt compelled to ask me a specific question about the later works. Awkward lmao.

This has not been an encouraging month for this challenge. Half the books I read this month towards it were total shit and I'm one more bad novel alway from saying eff-it and just starting a whole bunch of new series.

If you need me, I'll be throwing a tantrum.

Temeraire is calling you.......

In seriousness, sorry you're having a bad month of it. Feels like it's not worth it if you're not enjoying the books. If you start reading one and you can tell it's shit just abandon the whole series half way through that book!

Niki Hawkes wrote: "This has not been an encouraging month for this challenge. Half the books I read this month towards it were total shit and I'm one more bad novel alway from saying eff-it and just starting a whole ..."

If you look the book up on wikipedia, there's always a plot summary on the page somewhere. I used it to remind myself of the Stephen King Gunslinger story the other day so that I could read the next book.

Siobhan wrote: "Temeraire is calling you......."

I actually had this book in my hand yesterday, wondering if i should buy it and read it. So, if you're up for it Niki, I smell a potential buddy read!

I tried reading a plot summary for magician when I gave up on it and I was reading a part I didn't realise and felt really guilty and stopped reading the summary