Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Great job, Niki! :D

Miche wrote: "Great job, Niki! :D"

Thank you! <3

Niki's April 2018 Progress Update:

Series Finished: 0

Series Brought UTD: 1
Nyxia Unleashed - Scott Reintgen

Series Progressed: 5
The Son of Neptune - Rick Riordan
Haunted - Kelley Armstrong
Knight's Shadow - Sebastien De Castell
Carpe Corpus - Rachel Caine
The Last Mortal Bond - Brian Staveley

New Series Started: 4
Burn for Me - Ilona Andrews
The Lost Hero - Rick Riordan
His Majesty's Dragon - Naomi Novik
An Accident of Stars - Foz Meadows

DNF/Abandoned: 0

I cashed in a bunch of new series "credits" and I have a few more to spend in May. Not a great stat month, but an awesome reading month. :)

Great job, Niki!

Miche wrote: "Great job, Niki!"

Thanks :)

Awesome job, Cap' !

Virginie wrote: "Awesome job, Cap' !"

Danke :)

Finished the first log in a while:
Niki's 5 for 1 Challenge Log [16]:
1. Perfected [3/3] [Finished]
2. Nyxia [2/2] [UTD]
3. The Emperor's Blades [4/4] [Finished]
4. The Demon Awakens [2/3] [Abandoned]
5. Unclean Spirits [1] [Abandoned]

I'm going to modify my challenge to a 3 for 1 because I only have 13 open at the moment.

Niki's May 2018 Progress Update:

Series Finished: 1
Skullsworn - Brian Staveley

Series Brought UTD: 3
Wizard for Hire - Obert Skye
Grey Sister - Mark Lawrence
Artificial Condition - Martha Wells

Series Progressed: 6
Saint's Blood - Sebastien de Castell
Fade Out - Rachel Caine
Broken - Kelley Armstrong
White Hot - Ilona Andrews
The Mark of Athena - Rick Riordan
All Systems Red - Martha Wells

New Series Started: 2
Wizard for Hire - Obert Skye
Unclean Spirits - M.L.N. Hanover

DNF/Abandoned: 1
Unclean Spirits - M.L.N. Hanover

I started 2 series but one went straight to UTD and the other was abandoned. I'm currently sitting at 12 open series. I have several I'm fixing to finish this month as well. Lookin good. :)

Great progress. Lots of people seem to be abandoning the series after reading unclean spirits. I've been planning to read it but haven't gotten to it. What made you not want to continue.

Woohoo, way to go Niki! You're amazing :O

Delitealex wrote: "Great progress. Lots of people seem to be abandoning the series after reading unclean spirits. I've been planning to read it but haven't gotten to it. What made you not want to continue."

Thank you. :) I let it go because there was almost zero character development, not enough time spent on the cool idea of unclean spirits, and it had a love story that was very YA feeling (instalovey). He's one of my favorite authors, mostly for his amazing characters, so I was shocked how truly subpar this was. Curiosity to see if it gets better might have me picking it up again eventually, but for now it's a no go.

Virginie wrote: "Woohoo, way to go Niki! You're amazing :O"

Thanks ^_^

Good job Niki! I would love to only have 13 open series. Maybe I will get there one day.

Tammie wrote: "Good job Niki! I would love to only have 13 open series. Maybe I will get there one day."

Thank you! Abandoning seemed to be the key, so there's hope. :)

Great job, Niki!

Miche wrote: "Great job, Niki!"

Danke. :)

Niki, a very good month. :)

I can’t believe you are down to 12 open series. You’ve had such an amazing run. Sad to see that Unclean Spirits wasn’t good but I guess he had to write a bad book sometime.

Mayim wrote: "Niki, a very good month. :)"

Thank you - it was one of those that felt good during, if that makes sense.

Bill wrote: "I can’t believe you are down to 12 open series. You’ve had such an amazing run. Sad to see that Unclean Spirits wasn’t good but I guess he had to write a bad book sometime."

Me neither! It's hard for me to wrap my brain around where I started. I will say that being down this low I'm enjoying everything I read a lot more (better recall because of less turnaround) and it makes it easier to abandon subpar (if there are only 12, it's immediately clear which series I'm avoiding). I'm a believer.

Finished a log:

Niki's 3 for 1 Challenge Log [17]:
1. Ancillary Justice [1/3] [Abandoned]
2. Red Sister [2/2] [UTD]
3. Hounded [4/9] [Abandoned]
-1 The Demon Awakens [2/3] [Unabandoned]
3. An Accident of Stars [2/2] [Finished]

I started Twelve Kings in Sharakhai but finished An Accident of Stars, so I'm still sitting at 12 open series. I also have two unredeemed credits for new series.

I also have plans to wrap up Greatcoats, Hidden Legacy, Demonwars, and Murderbot before the end of the month, so that should lighten the load even further.

Great job, Niki!

Miche wrote: "Great job, Niki!"

Thank you! ^_^

Great job. I think I'm gonna try read 5 for 1 new series.

What didnt you like about Ancillary justice. I've had it on kindle for a long time but haven't gotten to it yet.

I still have trouble abandoning series.

Delitealex wrote: "Great job. I think I'm gonna try read 5 for 1 new series.

What didnt you like about Ancillary justice. I've had it on kindle for a long time but haven't gotten to it yet.

I still have trouble aba..."

I thought the concept for the story was great and was really interested in the main character. However, it was a good 30% into the book before I felt like I could wrap my brain around what was going on and the book suffered from some pacing issues. Overall it wasn't a bad read, it just didn't live up to hype for me and I went into it with several cautionary tales that the second and third books aren't as "good" as the first.

That said, it's one of the few I abandoned that I may revisit at some point (because the library always has them available on audio). I haven't decided yet. :) I find I can abandon series if I give myself permission to pull them back out if I change my mind (so far 95% of what I've put in the abandoned category I've no desire to revisit).

I also make unabandoning something come at the cost of one of the "credits" I earn doing the 5 for 1 challenge. So far it's keeping me reading only the amazing stuff, so I'm glad you're giving it a try. Hopefully it will be fun and motivating. :)

Finished Traitor's Blade [4/4] - Sebastien De Castell

Down to 11 open series. :D

Nice! Way to go, Cap'

Virginie wrote: "Nice! Way to go, Cap'"

Thanks! ^_^

How did you like the series? I’m going to continue it next week.

Bill wrote: "How did you like the series? I’m going to continue it next week."

I liked it 10 times better than I thought I would, and this last book was my favorite of the series. It's definitely worth continuing. :) Looking forwards to seeing your thoughts.

Finished: All Systems Red (Murderbot Diaries) [4/4] - Martha Wells. A new favorite for sure! I did some research on the series and there's a good chance the story will continue beyond this first arc, but I'm happy to put it in the finished category until there's more concrete news.

I'm starting a new series, but it's one that will immediately go to UTD, so for all intents and purposes, I'm now sitting at 10 open series with another Finished coming in the next few days. Booya! :D

Niki Hawkes wrote: "Bill wrote: "How did you like the series? I’m going to continue it next week."

I liked it 10 times better than I thought I would, and this last book was my favorite of the series. It's definitely ..."

That’s good to hear. I wasn’t crazy about the first one but am really excited to continue.

I really want to get to Murderbot Diaries sometime soon too.

Can’t believe you are going to be under 10 series. Really amazing. Congrats!

Great job, Niki!

Bill wrote: "Niki Hawkes wrote: "Bill wrote: "How did you like the series? I’m going to continue it next week."

I liked it 10 times better than I thought I would, and this last book was my favorite of the seri..."

Thank you! :)

I had mixed feelings on the first one. I wasn't a fan of the first half, but the end half won me over. Each book from here out were much stronger.

I'd definitely recommend bumping Murderbot up in the priority list. They're short and fantastic!

Miche wrote: "Great job, Niki!"

Thanks ^_^

Finished a log:
Niki's 3 for 1 Challenge Log [18]:
1. Traitor's Blade [4/4] [Finished]
2. All Systems Red [4/4] [Finished]
3. Burn for Me [3/3] [Finished]

I'm now down to 9. :) With plans to start 2 using my credits.

I have to say the series are really fun to manage when you get down to just a handful.

Great job, Niki!

Ty! :)

Way to go, Cap'!
I've got 13 open series right now (with 8 I'm focusing on). I really want to get under 10 like you did :D

Btw, I saw pics of your bookshelves on your blog! Just... 😍😍😍

This is so impressive, Niki! :)

Virginie wrote: "Way to go, Cap'!
I've got 13 open series right now (with 8 I'm focusing on). I really want to get under 10 like you did :D

Btw, I saw pics of your bookshelves on your blog! Just... 😍😍😍"

Thank you!! Ooh 13 is still really good though. :)

And thank you x2 - I love those shelves, it took a loooong time to get all my stuff to that point. It's like a nook of heaven lol.

Jenna wrote: "This is so impressive, Niki! :)"

Thanks! :) the hard work is finally paying off!

I'm changing my 3 for 1 into a 2 for 1 mini challenge because I'm finishing available titles faster than my library holds are coming in and when you're only down to 10 open series (non UTD) 3 for 1 seems a little excessive. :) Log finished:

Niki's 2 for 1 Challenge Log [19]:
1. Iron and Magic [1/1] [UTD]
2. The Grey Bastards [1/1] [UTD]
Started: Song in the Silence - Elizabeth Kerner

I just noticed I hit my goal -> Goal: To focus only on Top-Priority titles. I'd also like to be under 20 series (not counting UTD) by July 1, 2018.

Cool! :)

Niki Hawkes wrote: "I just noticed I hit my goal -> Goal: To focus only on Top-Priority titles. I'd also like to be under 20 series (not counting UTD) by July 1, 2018.

Cool! :)"

Congratulations! :D

Miche wrote: "Niki Hawkes wrote: "I just noticed I hit my goal -> Goal: To focus only on Top-Priority titles. I'd also like to be under 20 series (not counting UTD) by July 1, 2018.

Cool! :)"

Congratulations! :D"

Thank you! <3

New Log:
Niki's 2 for 1 Challenge Log [20]:
1. The Waking Fire [3/3] [Finished]
2. Song in the Silence [1/3] [Abandoned]
Started: Promise of Blood

I set a little schedule/challenge to keep UTD with new releases through July 2018, and I'm pleased to say I completed all but one (pending for the audio release).

UTD Titles to be brought back UTD or Finished before 7.1.2018:
[Finished] To Guard Against the Dark - Julie Czerneda
[Finished] Walk on Earth a Stranger - Rae Carson
[Finished] The Way of Kings [2/3] - Brandon Sanderson
[Finished] City of Light [2/2] – Keri Arthur
[Finished] Leviathan Wakes [6/6] - James S.A. Corey [Short Stories 6/6]
[Finished] Zeroes [2/2] - Scott Westerfeld
[Finished] Nice Dragons Finish Last [5/5] – Rachel Aaron
[Finished] Perfected [2/2] - Kate Jarvik Birch
[Finished] Cry Wolf [5/5] - Patricia Briggs
[Finished] Red Sister [1/1] - Mark Lawrence
Steeplejack [2/2] - A.J. Hartley

Total: 11/12

Woot woot! Way to go, Captain :D