Fantasy Book Club discussion

It's already July, I can hardly believe it. I feel like January was last month.
I'll probably try to catch up with group reads.

Share your readings as well and hope you'll have a nice month

yeah, finally a group read I have not yet read. I actually was the one nominating the black company, so I feel like it's a duty to read it.

I'm going to finish The Shadow of the Torturer and then Start The Black Company.

I have The Black Elfstone to read as it arrived in the library today and then I will begin The Black Compsny which I have saved for this month😀

Aside from The Black Company, I am finishing up The Well of Ascension. After I'm done with that I'm going read all my unread books alphabetically by author, because I have quite a few and can never decide what to read next.

I'm reading Blood Song and liking it a lot. I've heard that the series goes downhill with parts 2 & 3, does anyone know if that's really the case?

Jakke wrote: "I'm reading Blood Song and liking it a lot. I've heard that the series goes downhill with parts 2 & 3, does anyone know if that's really the case?"

I havn't read book 3, but the second is a nice enough book. Not as much as book 1, but it was a good enough for me.

I've just started The Last Unicorn.

I'm currently most of the way through The Blade Itself. I'm not entirely sure where it's going, but it's very compelling reading.

Finished Swords Against Darkness, which really was a first-rate anthology, and am revisiting my childhood with D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths.

Sam wrote: "I'm currently most of the way through The Blade Itself. I'm not entirely sure where it's going, but it's very compelling reading."

I'm waitlisted for that one at my library. Hope to get to it this month.

Sam wrote: "I'm currently most of the way through The Blade Itself. I'm not entirely sure where it's going, but it's very compelling reading."

I thought it was great and the second one was even better, which was a bit surprising, for with trilogies the middle one is sometimes the weakest one for me.

I agree. I think Before They Are Hanged is the best one in the First Law trilogy. I usually don't like quest stories where a bunch of characters are thrown together to travel to a certain place, but I really enjoy the interaction between the characters, as well as the growth of one particular character.

Finished D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths (it's not really all that long, by word count) and started Tad Williams' The Dragonbone Chair (which is really all that long by word count, and which I last read sometime around 1994).

Finally got a copy of Promise of Blood. Only a couple of chapters in but I'm intrigued...and hopeful for a good story.

I'm reading The Republic of Thieves. Looking forward to having a series up to date.

Finally got Norse Mythology from the library. Going to read that 2 months late.

Finished The Shadow of the Torturer. Here's my review. Started The Black Company.

Jakke wrote: "I'm reading Blood Song and liking it a lot. I've heard that the series goes downhill with parts 2 & 3, does anyone know if that's really the case?"

I enjoyed the whole series. I think most people wanted the series to focus on Vaelin and it focuses on multiple characters in the last 2 books

Have just started reading Heart of Granite by James Barclay. I loved the Raven books but this is a real change. I guess Science Fantasy would best describe it but it's really Science fiction with dragons. I love the future setting and the idea is fantastic. Not entirely gripped by the writing style though. The Raven books were really character led and I loved them all. The characters in this seem a lot more 2D at the moment

Helen wrote: "I've just started The Last Unicorn."

Oh I hope you like it. I really enjoyed it. :)

Tnkw01 wrote: "Finished The Shadow of the Torturer. Here's my review. Started The Black Company."

I just finished Shadow & Claw which is an omnibus of the first two of four? five? I wholeheartedly agree with your review. The second book piles on the trippy-ness with a great big helping of, um, adolescent male preoccupation... I believe the whole is greater than the sum of its parts though - and I don't think any of the books can be read as standalones. That said, I'm not sure how many people in the 21st century will get through the whole thing to extract the value that is there...

I had a 'family event' that derailed me at the end of May and from which I am finally, I think, recovering. I finished Shadow & Claw which I started in May if I recall correctly. AND I *FINALLY* finished Le Morte D'Arthur: The Winchester Manuscript. It's taken me almost half a year. Taking notes - trying to sort it out - understand family relationships, important places, etc. So... I am now rather behind on my self-challenge reading the Discworld series. So I'm reading #5 (Sourcery) and #6 (Wyrd Sisters) and hopefully maybe #7 (Pyramids) this month :)

Liam wrote: "Tnkw01 wrote: "Finished The Shadow of the Torturer. Here's my review. Started The Black Company."

I just finished Shadow & Claw which is an omnibus of the f..."

I am one who probably won't read anymore because there are way too many books that I do want to read. ; ) Love Prachett. Hope you're loving he's books also.

Finished up Jerusalem (5 stars); currently journeying in the Four Lands again with The Black Elfstone.

I enjoyed The Black Elfstone. Better than some of the more recent ones but none of them come close to being as good as the early books in my opinion.

Finished The Republic of Thieves which was okay. I liked the first two books more. Now moved onto Malice

Angela wrote: "Finished The Republic of Thieves which was okay. I liked the first two books more. Now moved onto Malice"

Wow! I love the entire series of Gwynne. One of the best I've read this year. Malice, though, is the weakest of the series for me. :)

When I finish The Black Company I'm going to read King of Thorns. Thought I read a little Mark Lawrence before we get into Red Sister.

I finished The Glass Castle: A Memoir. Crazy childhood the author had, with just awful parents lol.

I'm moving on to the second novella of Seanan Mcguire's Wayward Children trilogy, Down Among the Sticks and Bones.

Loved Down Among the Sticks and Stones, hated Claw of the concilator which ever one is book two... I struggled to read one and abandoned two.

Helen wrote: "...hated Claw of the concilator which ever one is book two... I struggled to read one and abandoned two."

Yep, that's the second one. I completely understand your reaction. I'm going to keep going with the series because something about it claws at me so to speak ... but I'm not in any rush.

Rollie wrote: "Angela wrote: "Finished The Republic of Thieves which was okay. I liked the first two books more. Now moved onto Malice"

Wow! I love the entire series of Gwynne. One..."

Thanks Rollie. Hoping I'll enjoy it too. I've heard the first book can be a little slow.

I've been doing some really heavy duty reading but not spending much time on Goodreads : ( Finished The Black Company and King of Thorns and am now reading The Wayfarer Redemption.

I've bought only two books this year; Beren and Lúthien and The Fall of the Kings. I'm pretty much ok with myself for finishing only one book this whole year (The Privilege of the Sword) but I've liked The Privilege of the Sword so much (as the Swordspoint) so I couldn't make myself to read anything else except the ... sequal, if I can even call it like that at all.

I've disliked series in general for so long, I just can't ever get into them enough to blindly follow them (I do like some a lot but I often forget about the next book and simply just skip it) and Riverside offers a different type of "sequals". There are characters that appear in almost all books but none is main in two and that's just how I like it: appearing but not in the centre. It almost feels like there's no main, no plot, no ... demand. It's free for you to feel it like you want to. I just like it. It took me about a year to finish Swordspoint and then almost 2 years for The Privilege of the Sword but both are on my rare list of favourites and I'm listening to The Fall of the Kings right now :)

Angela wrote: "Rollie wrote: "Angela wrote: "Finished The Republic of Thieves which was okay. I liked the first two books more. Now moved onto Malice"

Wow! I love the entire series..."

I'm nearing the end of book three.

I'm reading Age of Myth. I'm loving it so far!

Femmy wrote: "I'm reading Age of Myth. I'm loving it so far!"
I liked this one, enjoy

I've been filing down on the Deathgate cycle (on the last book now) and the Frontlines series (book 5) both pretty good, though I almost gave up on the Deathgate series once or twice.

Femmy wrote: "I'm reading Age of Myth. I'm loving it so far!"
I liked this also. Maybe we can get Age of Swords for October.

I'm reading The Reborn King, a intriguing fantasy novel, full of twists, magic and action. I have few time for reading in these days, so I'm proceeding slowly.

Andrew wrote: "I'm reading The Reborn King, a intriguing fantasy novel, full of twists, magic and action. I have few time for reading in these days, so I'm proceeding slowly."

Good one

Finished Angels & Demons last night. It was pretty good. Moving on to The Lost Symbol. These books are kinda long.

At least until Age of Swords arrives in the mail. Then all bets will be off probably.

Awg! I'm really struggling with The Wayfarer Redemption. I'm very close to giving up but I'm about 75% through and think I will try and finish.

Reading The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories. A collection of short stories...just okay so far.

Also, listening to the audiobook NPCs. I don't usually listen to audiobooks (mind wanders) but my library only had that version of the book. It lends itself well to that format and it's very entertaining through the first 5 chapters.

Chris wrote: "Andrew wrote: "I'm reading The Reborn King, a intriguing fantasy novel, full of twists, magic and action. I have few time for reading in these days, so I'm proceeding slowly."

Good..."

I agree. Few pages for days is the best I can spend in this days, but I hope that will change for the better. :)

Monica wrote: "Reading The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories. A collection of short stories...just okay so far.

Also, listening to the audiobook NPCs. I don't usually listen to ..."

Mike will be pleased :)

Tnkw01 wrote: "Awg! I'm really struggling with The Wayfarer Redemption. I'm very close to giving up but I'm about 75% through and think I will try and finish."

I hate that. I abandoned my book group's book last month but at least I was at 10%.

Ruin ooooooooohhhhhhh, that ending!

I finished Malice and really enjoyed it by the end. It was a bit slow to start off with.

Finished House of the Rising Sun UF and it was okay, but not enough for me to want to continue on with the series. The ending was a little anticlimactic.

I'm now onto The Curse of Chalion.

Really enjoying the audio book NPCs, and have also started the ebook version of The Misenchanted Sword.

(Audiobooks with several characters and good pacing with interesting narration seem to hold my attention so I may look for more along those lines. The best one I've experienced is by a BBC cast performing The Hobbit)