Fantasy Book Club discussion

Welcome to March, hope Februrary was a good one for you all.

I started reading A Darkness Forged in Fire and am really enjoying it so far.

Hi all,

I plan on finishing The Way of Shadows, Shadow's Edge and Beyond the Shadows. If I have time after that, Skullsworn.

Ill also be reading One Piece on the side.

I'm starting books faster than I'm finishing them. Will probably pick up our book of the month AND try to finish Lords And Ladies (very likely), the Good Omens audiobook (very possibly), and Princess Bride (why is this taking me so long).

I'm reading The Edge Chronicles 3: The Clash of the Sky Galleons: Third Book of Quint and Shaman's Crossing after that.
Listening to The Liar's Key. Will listen to our BOTM after that :D

I'm still rereading my through the Dragons of Pern. Have just finished All the Weyrs of Pern so only a couple more to go. It's lovely to revisit old favourites every so often

Currently reading Watership Down, and listening to the audio version of Ready Player One.

I agreed to buddy read Moon Called and its really good fun, well I'm at 10% and it is so far!

The cover is so bad though, click and see!

Bloodstone by Karl Edward Wagner is one of the Kane novels. Fantastic S&S. Imagine an amoral, immortal Conan who is great with both sword & sorcery. He's found some alien tech that butts heads with sorcery as the swords swing between men & monsters. I gave it 5 stars in my review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

This month will be a catch up month, I've been slowing down for some reason. Going to finish Good Omens and Words of Radiance. I also picked up the audio of Jurassic Park for super cheap, read the book a long time ago so thought I'd give it a re-read by listening to it during my work commute. I was never much of an audio book 'reader', but I'm starting to get into it by doing re-reads.

I finished The Edge Chronicles 3: The Clash of the Sky Galleons: Third Book of Quint. It's very predictable but... Well... It's a middle-grade series. I really like the sketches of the weird creatures.

My library is thwarting my reading plans yet again. I'm now juggling between Gemina, Shaman's Crossing and Arm of the Sphinx.
Still listening to The Liar's Key during my commute.

Helen wrote: "I agreed to buddy read Moon Called and its really good fun, well I'm at 10% and it is so far!

The cover is so bad though, click and see!"

Oooh, I heard good things about this one. The cover is atrocious indeed. Urban fantasy/paranormal romance books usually have terrible covers :'(

Jim wrote: "Bloodstone by Karl Edward Wagner is one of the Kane novels. Fantastic S&S. Imagine an amoral, immortal Conan who is great with both sword & sorcery. He's found some ali..."

I really like the Kane character and have been attempting to pick up the old paperback copies when I can find them for a decent price.

Ctgt wrote: "I really like the Kane character and have been attempting to pick up the old paperback copies when I can find them for a decent price. ..."

If you do eBooks, the series is also available electronically, in the US at least.

Ctgt wrote: "I really like the Kane character and have been attempting to pick up the old paperback copies when I can find them for a decent price."

The PB & ebooks of those are reasonable. Night Winds & Death Angel's Shadow get most of the short stories. Darkness Weaves, Bloodstone, & Dark Crusade are the novels.

If you look at the chronology of Kane in my review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
the above books will get all the stories save #1, "The Treasure of Lynortis", & from #15 up. Actually, #18 might be included. Can't recall off hand.

Anyway, you can get the bulk of the stories inexpensively & they're the best of the bunch. Most of the rest are only of interest to a die-hard fan like myself. They're fragments or written at either end of his career & not very good or meaningful to the series as a whole.

If you have any extra money to spend on a more expensive book, I'd suggest
- Exorcisms and Ecstasies which is biographical. It has a lot of his stories & essays by his friends between them after he died. I managed to find a copy for my son a few years back for $60. I picked up my copy for $5 at a remainder store. They had 2 other copies that were gone by the time I realized what I had & went back a week later.
- Where the Summer Ends: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner, Volume 1 is the first of a 2 book collection of his short stories (horror) by Centipede Press. It's super. He was a great horror author. They're in published order, so
- Walk on the Wild Side: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner, Volume 2 isn't nearly as good. The stories in it are from the later mid-80s on. Their declining quality mirrors his own decline from alcoholism until his death in the early 90s.

The above are all running about $80 used on AbeBooks.com. That might seem pricey, but they're good hardbacks packed with stories. In a Lonely Place costs that for a used paperback & Why Not You And I? is currently about half that. I spent years collecting his stories waiting for decent prices.

I think the only ones I'm missing are Why Not You and I and Night Winds. I picked up Summer Ends and Wild Side a few years ago when they were still reasonable.

@Joseph-I don't have a problem with Kindle and I have a few of the Kane titles on Kindle already, this is one of those weird things where I really wanted the old paperbacks. I still have some old Conan books he edited from back in the day I think they were book club editions.

Finished The Tower of Swallows and am moving on to Lady of the Lake, the final Witcher novel.

Ctgt wrote: "I think the only ones I'm missing are Why Not You and I and Night Winds. I picked up Summer Ends and Wild Side a few years ago when they were still reasonable.

@Joseph-I don't have a problem with..."

Yeah, those old paperbacks are great to have; good luck with your search.

If you haven't read them yet, I also recommend Conan: Road of Kings, his Conan novel, and Bran Mak Morn: Legion From The Shadows.

Ctgt wrote: "I think the only ones I'm missing are Why Not You and I and Night Winds. I picked up Summer Ends and Wild Side a few years ago when they were still reasonable...."

Wow! That's great, another KEW fan. There's really no reason for you to pick up Why Not You And I? if you have the two Centipede Press books with all his short stories. 'Wild Side' even contains a couple of the late Kane stories, I believe.

Night Winds is one you definitely want to get. The Centipede Press edition has 2 stories that the other versions don't have as I mentioned in the review I linked in my previous message. If you're really want all the Kane stories, I'd suggest trying to find their 5 book Kane set.

The only thing other books will get you are some forewords & introductions, I think. Oh, & cover art. I'm a real fan of Frazetta's cover art which the Kane books have, although I like his vision of Conan better. I'm not sure if that's worth it to you or not.

I agree with Joseph on the REH pastiches.

Yeah, been a fan since I first read Sticks many years ago. I don't think I've read his actual Conan novel. I'll check it out. Speaking of KEW, I just came upon a podcast, The Dark Crusade, a couple of guys talking about his stories. Only listened to part of the first podcast but it seems okay so far.

Link to the podcast? I normally don't listen to them, but I'd make an exception for KEW.

"Sticks" was one of the early ones that grabbed me, too. I think In a Lonely Place was the first of his horror collections I bought & it along with the title story made me realize I'd found one of the few horror writers I'd ever really like. Then I read the short story "Where the Summer Ends" & was a total fan.

Jim wrote: "Link to the podcast? I normally don't listen to them, but I'd make an exception for KEW.

"Sticks" was one of the early ones that grabbed me, too. I think In a Lonely Place was the fi..."

"Where the Summer Ends" was my first Wagner story, although at the time I had no idea who he was; I just picked up this horror anthology (Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror) because it had a big ol' Stephen King story at the front of it, and it turned out to have a bunch of great stuff in it, not least being the Wagner story.

Finished The Hammer of Thor. Now starting The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter.

Night Winds by Karl Edward Wagner is the first book in the Kane chronology, at least the first 3 short stories are & then Bloodstone should be read with the rest of the stories following. I did that & was blown away again by KEW's writing.

It was especially interesting to read "The Treasure of Lynortis", the first Kane story KEW wrote back when he was 16 & never published. He later rewrote it extensively into "Lynortis Reprise". A truly wonderful comparison.

The entire collection was fantastic with excellent illustrations, too. I gave it a 5 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit...

Thanks Jim. I may go back and try that reading sequence. Here's the link for the podcast The Dark Crusade There are some episodes available on iTunes but this is the link for their blog.
I finished the first episode, covering Sticks and it was pretty decent. The format was a little odd but there was some nice background on the story setting and an interesting tidbit about one of the characters mentioned.

The podcasts look really interesting. Listening at my desk at work isn't the best venue, but thanks.

I won't be joining in on the book read for March as I'm not that far into the series. However, I already read the book you're reading for April. :)

I am currently reading a new author for me in the book Heart's Blood.

Dark Crusade by Karl Edward Wagner is my latest read. It was really good. I think KEW was a better short story author than novelist, but this was still a worthy addition to the Kane saga. I gave it a 4 star review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I have finished my rereading of the Anne Macaffery Dragon books. It's always a shame when you have to leave a world that you really love spending time in.
I'm now reading An Echo of Things to Come. I really enjoyed the first one but this one is heavier going. I think it's because of the increase in story lines which makes it very episodic and hard to follow individual stories. Sadly, the story line that I am least interested in is the one that has the most time spent on it.

Finished The Republic of Thieves. I love this series, can't wait for book 4
Starting His Majesty's Dragon following a recommendation....

Jason wrote: "Finished The Republic of Thieves. I love this series, can't wait for book 4
Starting His Majesty's Dragon following a recommendation...."

Woohoo! I hope you'll enjoy it :)

@Bruyere: Did you enjoy the Hearthstrikers series? I'm quite excited for this one :)

Jason wrote: "Finished The Republic of Thieves. I love this series, can't wait for book 4
Starting His Majesty's Dragon following a recommendation...."

Loved His Majesty's Dragon. Waiting on Throne of Jade from the library.

@Virginie I only read the first book. I really disliked the book. It's basically a "coming of age" book about a nice dragon who doesn't feel like he fits in but comes to accept himself. It's too simplistic for my tastes. But, with the high ratings, I'm obviously in the minority.

Finished Acceptance today. I liked it more than the second book, but it still wasn't great. First book was the best of the three.

Now I'm starting Iron Gold. Pumped for this one.

So, my next reads for March is The Blue Sword followed by The Hero and the Crown. With Throne of Jade mixed in because of me being next up at the library.

Bruyere wrote: "@Virginie I only read the first book. I really disliked the book. It's basically a "coming of age" book about a nice dragon who doesn't feel like he fits in but comes to accept himself. It's too si..."

I've only read raving reviews so I was a bit.. unsure? I'll consider it an easy and light read then. Thanks for the warning :)

Finished Lady of the Lake (the final Witcher novel) and started A Conversation in Blood, the third of Paul S. Kemp's Egil & Nix books.

Tnkw01 wrote: "So, my next reads for March is The Blue Sword followed by The Hero and the Crown. With Throne of Jade mixed in because of me being next up at the library."
Hope that you enjoy the Mckinley books. Hero in the Crown is one of my favourites.

Janette wrote: "Tnkw01 wrote: "So, my next reads for March is The Blue Sword followed by The Hero and the Crown. With Throne of Jade mixed in because of me being next up at ..."

The Blue Sword has started off a little slow but after reading Riyria my perspective might be a little off. It's still wonderfully written and I'm enjoying it.

Finished His Majesty's Dragon. I thought this was great. I love dragons so much! 5 stars for me and im glad there are a few more books in this series.
For now though onto The Way of Shadows

Thanks Virginie for the recommendation x

I just didn't like Majesty's Dragon, again, unlike everyone else. Maybe I'm not into dragons. :)

Each to their own.... there are a lot of dragons in it! I always enjoy a story which tells of a discovery of abilities and then the training of them.... this book had some of that for me. Throw in a character like Temeraire and I'm sold

I like dragons. Anyone else read the Dragon Champion by E.E. Knight? It's pretty good. First of a series.

Jason wrote: "Thanks Virginie for the recommendation x"

You're very welcome. I'm glad you liked it :)
I love dragons :p And Temeraire is a great character IMO. I'm waiting a bit to read the sequels 'cause I'm sure I'll have to read the series back-to-back :D

I need this :p

https://www.greenturtle.com/geek/come...

Jim wrote: "I like dragons. Anyone else read the Dragon Champion by E.E. Knight? It's pretty good. First of a series."

Added to the TBR!

Virginie wrote: "I need this :p

https://www.greenturtle.com/geek/come..."

I'm ordering this for me and as gifts! Thanks Virginie.

Jim wrote: "I like dragons. Anyone else read the Dragon Champion by E.E. Knight? It's pretty good. First of a series."

Thanks Jim, I also have added it to my TBR.

Dragons are my weakness. ;) I’m quick to snatch up a book with one on the cover.