Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie starting December 27, 2017.

I'm probably going to start this one late (Jan 1) so I can include it in the team challenge.

I couldn’t wait. I missed Glotka!

I'm going to wait... I zoom through anyway once I start... Arcanum Unbounded has me contemplating a Mistborn relisten...

Iain wrote: "I'm going to wait... I zoom through anyway once I start... Arcanum Unbounded has me contemplating a Mistborn relisten..."

Ooh let me know when you get to Hero of Ages! It's on my read very soon list.

I'm waiting for Last Argument of Kings too :)

I need to do a Mistborn relisten, too. But it's probably going to wait a while before I have time.

I need to finish The Lies of Locke Lamora before I start this one so I'll be close to on schedule.

Knowing me, I'll come in tomorrow and say I re-listened to Final Empire, the next day Well of Ascension, and the day after that Hero of Ages :D

I'll need something to listen to by Thursday... I have this anthology for now... then i need something... then I can listen to more Vorkosigan at home on my "weekend"

Haha yeah that does sound like you! XD

This Secret History has been great... getting to see Well of Ascension and Hero of ages through (view spoiler)[Kelsier's (hide spoiler)] eyes in the cognitive realm... and all the world hoppers...

Iain wrote: "Knowing me, I'll come in tomorrow and say I re-listened to Final Empire, the next day Well of Ascension, and the day after that Hero of Ages :D

I'll need something to listen to by Thursday... I ha..."

Lol, I'm not that quick. But now that my husband has listened to them and is now doing Stormlight I'm super excited to refresh my memory and discuss with him. He's not a reader so this is very huge for me :-D

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Iain wrote: "Knowing me, I'll come in tomorrow and say I re-listened to Final Empire, the next day Well of Ascension, and the day after that Hero of Ages :D

I'll need something to listen to by Thu..."

You've really roped him in, if you have him invested in the entire Cosmere... by the time it's done, I think it's going to be one of the longest "series" out there... giving Malazan a run for it's money...

Iain wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Iain wrote: "Knowing me, I'll come in tomorrow and say I re-listened to Final Empire, the next day Well of Ascension, and the day after that Hero of Ages :D

I'll need so..."

I know! I'm so excited he's willing to share this with me. I'm such a huge Sanderson fan. I'm even trying to drag him to JordanCon with me this year so he can meet Sanderson.

How many books in Malazan? I'm now kind of scared to get sucked into another super long series. Is it done or is he still writting new books?

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Iain wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Iain wrote: "Knowing me, I'll come in tomorrow and say I re-listened to Final Empire, the next day Well of Ascension, and the day after that Hero of Ages :D
..."

Right now Malazan is at 10x Book of the Fallen + 6x Malazan Empire + 6x Bauchelain and Korbal Broach novellas + Goats of Glory... and Erikson and Esselmont are both in the middle of companion trilogies at the moment (2/3 Kharkanas and 2/3 Path of Ascendancy)... Kharkanas ending is on hiatus tho, and Erickson is starting a Karsa Orlong trilogy... so there are 20 books and 7 shorter stories right now, and at least 5 more planned, if not more...

Cosmere is:

Elantris (1/3) + Warbreaker (1/2) + Mistborn (6/13) + Stormlight (3/10) + Dragonsteel (0 of 3/7... there are conflicting answers to this series length... it's the origin story of the Cosmere) + White Sand (1/3)

So we're sitting at 11/31 or 11/35 for main books, and there are already a bunch of short stories collected in the first Anthology

Emperor's Soul + Hope of Elantris
Eleventh Metal + Allomancer Jak + Secret History
Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
Sixth of Dusk
Edgedancer

And he says in the anthology that he'd like to do Secret History vol. 2 & 3 if he can find the time... and that there will be more stories in the Threnody system that Shadows for Silence is set in (I haven't finished Sixth of Dusk yet, and heard his endnotes on it)

It's going to be quite big... especially if Stormlight keeps getting longer with each book...

Iain wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Iain wrote: "Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Iain wrote: "Knowing me, I'll come in tomorrow and say I re-listened to Final Empire, the next day Well of Ascension, and the day ..."

I've already read everything Sanderson: Cosmere, non Cosmere, short stories, unpublished, (except haven't finished Alcatraz and haven't read Liar of Partinel yet) so might as well start something else equally grand I guess. But wow Malazan is way bigger than I thought it was. A little intimidating when looking at it all at once like that.

I still need to read Elantris, Hope of Elantris, Warbreaker, White Sand, most of his YA stuff...

I've read Stormlight, Mistborns, Reckoners, and this anthology...

Looking forward to Apocalypse Guard... have Wabreaker BR setup for January... and plan to read the rest in the near future...

I still need to read Elantris, Iain. Is there a buddy read set up for that or am I imagining it?
I think CP and I discussed possibly setting one up in the new year. Would you be up for it?

Siobhan wrote: "I still need to read Elantris, Iain. Is there a buddy read set up for that or am I imagining it?
I think CP and I discussed possibly setting one up in the new year. Would you be up for it?"

If there is I'll join. Elantris and Mistborn are the only books I've only read once so I refresher would be good.

Nice one, we shall sort it out. :) I really shouldn't be arranging any more buddy reads... But I reckon quite a few people will want to read Elantris!

I'll re-read and join the discussion.

Starting today. I have to many reads scheduled for January and I want to finish this one before the year's end.

I started it this weekend as well. I was originally going to wait on it till January but I really missed Logan and just wanted to finish the series. I'm around 18% in.

I'll start tonight or tomorrow... listening to a 3rd Nightside book... pretty short UF noir detective stories...

Just finished chapter 4 The New Man and boy - I sure didn't expect that. What is wrong with that woman!?

I'll catch up with you tonight Diana.

Laura wrote: "Just finished chapter 4 The New Man and boy - I sure didn't expect that. What is wrong with that woman!?

I'll catch up with you tonight Diana."

Is that the Ardee chapter? I think the whole family has anger issues.

yes the Ardee chapter. And it seemed a bit more than anger to me. I honestly don't like her anymore. How about you?

Laura wrote: "yes the Ardee chapter. And it seemed a bit more than anger to me. I honestly don't like her anymore. How about you?"

I never especially liked her. But in terms of female characters I still like her more than Ferro. While I understand that Ferro's untrusting and cold because of her very very troubled past, I like Logan too much to approve of what she's doing to him.

Same here. I wanted to trottle Ferro. And I feel so sorry for Logan. :(

I will spare this for January and the Team Challenge an start later... ok, to be honest it's more because I still need to finish the Well of Ascension. But I am getting used to being late :D

Anni wrote: "I will spare this for January and the Team Challenge an start later... ok, to be honest it's more because I still need to finish the Well of Ascension. But I am getting used to being late :D"

Lol, I'm late to most of my buddy reads. I'm still trying to finish one from November.

I'm making a start tonight :) will have a look for a chapter list for us.

Can't wait for this, just finished an awful book so this will be a breath of fresh air!

Siobhan wrote: "I'm making a start tonight :) will have a look for a chapter list for us."

Well apparently I can't find one! I defer to Iain and his amazing powers.

Laura, I just read The New Man - very uncomfortable! I have really gone off both female characters in this series!

Siobhan wrote: "Laura, I just read The New Man - very uncomfortable! I have really gone off both female characters in this series!"

I miss Cathil.

This doesn't sound promising at all :/

Diana Stormblessed wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "Laura, I just read The New Man - very uncomfortable! I have really gone off both female characters in this series!"

I miss Cathil."

(view spoiler)[ :'( (hide spoiler)]

Anni wrote: "This doesn't sound promising at all :/"

Don't worry sweetie, we're just drama queens xD

Good to know we're all thinking the same here Siobhan. :)

And don't worry Anni. The book is good. Just not what we expected. :)

Just finished chapter 14 - Best of Enemies and I don't like Glokta anymore either. 😔

And Crummock-i-Phail is ... memorable. He deffinitely gets the first place for Bat-shit-crazy characters in my book. I found his meeting with the crew hillarious.

I'll start soon and wash this thread in positivity... I'm a generous rater...

Laura wrote: "Good to know we're all thinking the same here Siobhan. :)

And don't worry Anni. The book is good. Just not what we expected. :)"

Oh, you're in for some great twists in this book. Not at all what I expected from Book #2.

Well I read up to Bad Debts last night, (can't remember what the chapter I just read was called and can't be bothered to flick back on the kindle) but it's about 13%. (view spoiler)[And I got what I've been waiting and hoping for!! It was glorious! Logen ran into West, West told him Dogman was there... I was squeeing with joy! Haha :) very happy he's reunited with friends, but I can see it's going to lead to some difficulties with the rest of the northmen fighting with them. Particularly the one whose brother he brutally murdered. (hide spoiler)]

EDIT: It was called Ghosts!

Iain wrote: "I'll start soon and wash this thread in positivity... I'm a generous rater..."

I'm still feeling positive Iain! Abercrombie giveth and he may taketh away. I will love him anyway! XD

I got the chapter list from the wiki this time, so I didn't have to type it out... the wiki could have probably helped last time, as well... doh:

▪ 1. The Poison Trade
▪ 2. Being Chief
▪ 3. This Noble Business
▪ 4. The New Man
▪ 5. Feeding Time
▪ 6. So Much In Common
▪ 7. Honesty
▪ 8. Ghosts
▪ 9. Bad Debts
▪ 10. A Ragged Multitude
▪ 11. Beloved Of The Moon
▪ 12. Flowers And Plaudits
▪ 13. Too Many Knives
▪ 14. Best Of Enemies
▪ 15. Fortunes Of War
▪ 16. The Kingmaker
▪ 17. The Trap
▪ 18. Horrible Old Men
▪ 19. Prepared For The Worst
▪ 20. The Habit Of Command
▪ 21. The First Day
▪ 22. Such Sweet Sorrow
▪ 23. Picked Up A Shadow
▪ 24. Questions
▪ 25. The Fourth Day
▪ 26. The Perfect Couple
▪ 27. The Seventh Day
▪ 28. Too Many Masters
▪ 29. Sweet Victory
▪ 30. Rude Awakenings

Part 2

▪ 31. The Number Of The Dead
▪ 32. Leaves On The Water
▪ 33. Authority
▪ 34. The Circle
▪ 35. Greater Good
▪ 36. Skarling’s Chair
▪ 37. Leadership
▪ 38. A Rock And A Hard Place
▪ 39. Charity
▪ 40. Better Left Buried
▪ 41. Tomorrow’s Hero
▪ 42. Nightfall
▪ 43. Questions
▪ 44. The Day Of Judgement
▪ 45. Sacrifices
▪ 46. Open The Box
▪ 47. Dark Paths
▪ 48. Reckoning
▪ 49. After The Rains
▪ 50. Answers
▪ 51. The Wounded
▪ 52. Patriotic Duties
▪ 53. The First Law
▪ 54. Tea And Threats
▪ 55. Behind The Throne
▪ 56. Good Men, Evil Men
▪ 57. Not What You Wanted
▪ 58. Loose Ends
▪ 59. The Beginning

Thanks Iain! I couldn't find it on my phone at all!

You're great Iain! Thanks.

I'm at chapter 21 now and I have to admit there are lots of twist and turns.
I do love the book! It's just that the characters seem to be so very different from one book to another in this series. Those I liked the most in the previous books don't seem so nice anymore and those I resented or didn't really care for back then seem to gain the field.

I loved chapter 18 - especially the use of the goblet. It was so unexpected that it made me burst out laughing.

And I'll give a break to this for now till you guys catch up.

I started this book now... on Chapter 4/5... what Laura said is pretty accurate... Jezal is so changed that he kinda baffles Glokta... lol...

Siobhan wrote: "Well I read up to Bad Debts last night, (can't remember what the chapter I just read was called and can't be bothered to flick back on the kindle) but it's about 13%. [spoilers removed]

EDIT: It w..."

I somehow felt that something was missing in that (view spoiler)[ reunion. Perhaps I was expecting too much. :( I also knew that the Bloody Nine had done some bad stuff before but the description of what he did with that guy's brother .... I think I liked Logen too much to really think about his past setting everything bad on the shoulders of the Bloody Nine. But now it seems that Ninefingers wasn't that innocent himself. (hide spoiler)]

Laura wrote: "Siobhan wrote: "Well I read up to Bad Debts last night, (can't remember what the chapter I just read was called and can't be bothered to flick back on the kindle) but it's about 13%. [spoilers remo..."

I don't think Logen (view spoiler)[has ever hid his awful past (and present really, he'd do it all again if he had to). I just love him anyway. I hadn't forgotten the brutal things he and his friends have done I don't think.

The reunion made me really happy, I think I must just be easily pleased!! 😂 (hide spoiler)]

I'm with Siobhan here... Logen pretty freely admits to his issues...

Chapter 16: Kingmaker -- I was laughing right along with Ferro here: (view spoiler)[it was clear SOMETHING was coming... this book has really been building Bayaz's Machiavellian vibes... that farce of a revolt... etc...

But it does bare the question... how did Bayaz know a new King would be needed?... (hide spoiler)]