Fantasy Book Club discussion

Finished Discworld. Wow. Good work Bill. I just finished Maskerade. I think I've run out of gas. I'm not even half way.

Thanks Liam. It was an effort. A few months back I just decided to finish it and started reading them every other book. Once I committed to that schedule it was easier to stick to reading them even after the ones I didn’t like.

Bill wrote: "Thanks Liam. It was an effort. A few months back I just decided to finish it and started reading them every other book. Once I committed to that schedule it was easier to stick to reading them even..."

I've been winding up reading them back to back. It's probably wise to give each one a little space. :)

When I read them back to back I got tired of the humor faster.

Great job. I wanted to ask you this same question I asked Liam about Discworld.I know Pratchett has his sub-categories. Can they be read this way and if so in your opinion which one was the most enjoyable for you? Thanks.

My favorites were City Watch and Witches. You can read by sub-series but there is a progression to the world throughout the series as a whole. Mostly minor things.

Cleaned up my list. Removed series that have releases past the end of the year or that I don’t plan on continuing.

Nice! You don't have much open series now :)

Yep. Slowly shrinking. :)

I have the last book of Shattered Sigil to read too. I'd like to get to it before the end of 2018. Think we help each other tackle it? :D

Yes please. I need an extra push to get it done since it is only available in kindle and not audiobook. Can we do it sometime in November?

Yup, November's good :)
I'm the same, I keep pushing it aside for audiobooks and buddy-reads., and because "I've waited this long to read it, so another month is nothing, right?" xD

Exactly. I only have buddy reads on the 1st and 24th so whenever works best for you.

Heh. Buddy reads are the 1st and 23rd for me ;) Let's say the 10th?

Lol. 10th would be great.

I asked for the thread :)

Awesome. Thanks.

Finished 4 series in September:

Kate Daniels - fun and action packed urban fantasy. Ended up enjoying it more and more as the series went on.

Naamah’s trilogy - the weakest of the 3 Kushiel trilogies but still pretty good.

River of Teeth - quick novella duology. Really interesting concept and great characters. Story was pretty simple though.

Memory, Sorrow and Thorn - really classic fantasy. It was great. Looking forward to jumping into the follow up Osten Ard series.

Great job Bill. I want to give Kate Daniels a try. I think next year for sure.

Only finished one series in October Draconis Memoria by Anthony Ryan. Had a great mix of Magic and Technology which was fun but I never really got fully invested in it for some reason. Think it was the formal tone of the civilization. Made progress on 3 others. I got my eye on 7 series that I might have a chance on finishing before years end.

7 Series! That's great. I just have one more for this year (just two more books) and then I'm going to float around for the rest of this year.

I actually have 9 series with a total of 20 books I can maybe get done. I still have 8 books left to read for the sub-genre challenge with no overlap so probably can’t get everything done.

What’s your remaining series?

The Night Angel by Brent Weeks. It's pretty good but no where near his Lightbringer series.

Agreed. I thought it was pretty good but got a little chaotic towards the end.

Just realized I didn’t update last month. In November I finished 3 series.

Drenai saga by David Gemmell - the books are a little formulaic but are great if you just want a light read based around a bunch of old fashion heroes in crazy battles.

Heartstrikers by Rachel Aaron - cool twist with dragons/magic in the modern world. It always seems to be hidden from the main population but it was definitely not the case in this one.

Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist - I really enjoyed the first two but the 3rd and 4th were just ok. It felt like a classic fantasy but with some new elements mixed in. Although being from the 80’s most would probably consider it a classic.

For December I have 2 series done and should have a 3rd done today.

Emperor by Conn Iggulden - was disappointed with this series. I love Roman history but the author made some weird choices in the changes he made. He also added a lot of personal drama and didn’t have consistent characters. They would make some choices that were very contrary to how their character had been developed.

Traitor Son Saga by Miles Cameron - absolutely loved this series. It had all the elements I love in fantasy. The battles were amazing. It also had a little Wheel of time in it where the factions kind of merge and join to form new factions by the end.

Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe - kind of a strange blend of fantasy and science fiction but it works. Think this is a series that will have much more depth upon a reread.

Finished 36 series this year for the challenge. Very happy about that. I feel like I will be able to read much more freely this year because of it.

I moved my remaining 6 series to a new list for 2019 and added 6 more series. 5 of those have the remaining book releasing in 2019. Other than those I will be adding whichever series I decide to start during the year. I’m starting the Empire series by Feist/Wurts to start the year so the list will definitely be growing.

That's great Bill!. I hope to complete some challenges in 2019.

Nice Bill! 36 is A LOT! :D

Thanks. Now back to 0.

Yeah! Achieved that a couple weeks ago!
*evil laughter*

I meant to say series not challenges.

I think I read it as 'series' anyway... :O

That is great!

I haven't been in the series threads as its so intimidating on a mobile, too many messages to scroll. You've done an amazing job.

I used to always read a series back to back until GR!

Thanks Helen. GR did the same to me. I’ve made a point of finishing as many series I could in the last two years. I’m down to just 8 series that I can finish. I have more that I’ve started but they are ongoing. I still don’t read series without breaks but trying to get them done within a month or two of starting them.

I'm trying hard not to start any, but it's much easier to say than do.

Yeah I still start a bunch too. I try to only start duologies or trilogies so I can get them done quickly. It scratches the itch without making my list grow too long.

That’s a good plan.

Knocked off 4 series in April. Sorcery Ascendant Sequence by Mitchell Hogan, Oxford Time Travel by Connie Willis, Path To Ascendancy by Ian C. Esslemont and The Giver by Lois Lowry.

Path to Ascendancy was definitely my favorite. It was a lot lighter than most Malazan novels and Esslemont has seemed to really find his own voice.

Sorcery Ascendant had some really good stuff in it but seemed to just be missing something that would have made it great for me. Still a really enjoyable read.

Oxford Time Travel had some varied tones to the different books. I’m not a big fan of time travel but thought these were pretty good if a bit repetitive at times.

The Giver was definitely my least favorite. The characters and world seemed really dumbed down by the author and it made it hard for to connect with it. Felt like she didn’t trust the reader to make the slightest connection by themselves. At least the books were fairly short.

Great job. I just knocked off 4 books. The plant I work at re-opened this week so it has been a chaotic circus all week long.

Oh well done. I’ve started the Esslemont twice. The first time I got diverted by another library loan coming in. Then it got recalled. Then it came back to me but I didn’t open the app and see it!

Tnkw01 wrote: "Great job. I just knocked off 4 books. The plant I work at re-opened this week so it has been a chaotic circus all week long."

Congrats on your plant re-opening that has to be a relief.

Helen wrote: "Oh well done. I’ve started the Esslemont twice. The first time I got diverted by another library loan coming in. Then it got recalled. Then it came back to me but I didn’t open the app and see it!"

That has happened with Oathbringer for me at least 3 times now. Seems like library loans always become available in bunches despite my best efforts to space them.

I'm half convinced that someone, somewhere, is having lots of fun disrupting our reading plans by making all the books available at the same time at the library.

(I also believe there's a portal in my washing machine and somewhere in Narnia, there's a huge pile of socks.)

Lol!

I had a cat that liked to sleep in the wardrobe in the spare room. I used to think she was visiting Narnia.

Bill wrote: "Tnkw01 wrote: "Great job. I just knocked off 4 books. The plant I work at re-opened this week so it has been a chaotic circus all week long."

Congrats on your plant re-opening that has to be a rel..."

The plant re-opening is killing me.

Virginie wrote: "I'm half convinced that someone, somewhere, is having lots of fun disrupting our reading plans by making all the books available at the same time at the library.

(I also believe there's a portal i..."

It infuriates me that only one sock from each pair goes missing. Why can’t I just lose matched pairs.

Tnkw01 wrote: "The plant re-opening is killing me."

Oh no sorry bud.

Oh no.

And I know exactly what you mean!

Bit late for this but I finished 3 series in May.

Takeshi Kovacs trilogy by Richard K. Morgan. Really graphic in terms of sex scenes and action. Interesting concept but cyberpunk isn’t really my thing. Still enjoyed the series but doubt I’ll be diving into the genre anytime soon.

The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron. Think the middle books suffered because of my expectations. The first book was really fun and lighthearted but the rest of the series went more epic and darker. It just wasn’t what I was looking for from the series. The last book was my 2nd favorite and was a great ending.

Bobiverse by Dennis E. Taylor. Really interesting concept where a human brain is turned into an AI in a spaceship who then goes out to explore the galaxy. Again not something I normally read but it was a nice change of pace.

Ended up finishing 30 series for the year. I only have 6 on my list so far this year but will grow it once I have more solid plans laid out.

I’m hoping to do more frequent updates this year.

I need to audit my series’ too.