Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

July 1st.

Anybody else going to read this? I just finished Shadow of the Scorpion and am planning to start this one this week.

I read this a while back, and really liked it. I remember finding the character Arian Pelter interesting.

Also, (view spoiler)[ Mr. Crane and the whole interface aug. (hide spoiler)]

Adrian wrote: "I read this a while back, and really liked it. I remember finding the character Arian Pelter interesting.

Also, [spoilers removed]"

I haven't really made much progress yet, but I've enjoyed what I've read so far. I'm looking forward to reading more in this series, and the others by Asher as well.

I might loop back around and join you, if I have time in the next few days... I didn't make it when the book was originally scheduled...

Iain wrote: "I might loop back around and join you, if I have time in the next few days... I didn't make it when the book was originally scheduled..."

Sounds good. I have another buddy read that I think I'll be finished with by the end of the week, and that's when I was going to get back to this one. I'd only just started and I'm definitely a slow reader!

I'm more of a book a day kind of person, so i have plenty of time to make it back, I think...

Iain wrote: "I'm more of a book a day kind of person, so i have plenty of time to make it back, I think..."

Wow, yeah, you'll have no trouble. I'll be more like a week or 10 days once I get back to this, so you'll have plenty of time.

I have started back into this one now. About a quarter of the way in. I agree Adrian, totally fascinated with Mr. Crane. Curious to see where it goes with him.

I was clearly talking out of my butt... but here I am, 18 months later, looking to give this series another go, most likely at a faster pace, as a sci-fi series to toss in between other reads...

Timelord Iain wrote: "I was clearly talking out of my butt... but here I am, 18 months later, looking to give this series another go, most likely at a faster pace, as a sci-fi series to toss in between other reads..."

Haha, I feel your pain, Iain! I finished this one but have never continued. It’s a great series so far and I look forward to reading more of them.

Terry wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "I was clearly talking out of my butt... but here I am, 18 months later, looking to give this series another go, most likely at a faster pace, as a sci-fi series to toss in bet..."

I can probably BR the 2nd Cormac book in the next few weeks, after I read this one... I manage more books now that I've sped up my audiobooks even more than I did back in 2018...

Not sure what your reading availability is...

I’m booked up for the next two weeks, and then I’d be open. Not sure I can keep up though as I’m generally 10 days to two weeks on books this size.

Terry wrote: "I’m booked up for the next two weeks, and then I’d be open. Not sure I can keep up though as I’m generally 10 days to two weeks on books this size."

That's why I only committed to getting you one book further in the series...

We can just use the archived thread if it exists, or this thread if future empty threads were deleted, and make it as far as possible together before I zoom ahead... I'll try to wait for you for book 3 and continue the BR like we never quit :)

Depends how much I want to rush, once I start reading again... I do alot of mood reading, these days, since even doing tons of BRs doesn't take up too much on my time...

On my 17th book of the year right now, 8th BR... but I've mostly stacked BRs onto the same days, and chained them together... 3x audio speed is about 90 pages/hr...

Wow, Iain, that is a lot of books and fast audio! I can do audio usually at 1.75 or 2.0, but 3 is lightning. I work a lot of hours off and on, so that hurts my reading overall. I don’t want to hold you back. I’ll certainly give the next one a shot though and post my comments even if you do move on.

Terry wrote: "Wow, Iain, that is a lot of books and fast audio! I can do audio usually at 1.75 or 2.0, but 3 is lightning. I work a lot of hours off and on, so that hurts my reading overall. I don’t want to hold..."

I drop some things to 2.5x, like I used to drop some things to 1.5x when I listened to everything at 2x... I only found an app to try doing 2.5-3x back in September... but now I do basically everything at 3x, and think I could do some things at 3.5x if I had a faster app...

Alot of it is has to do with story complexity, and others with narrator... it's easier to do 3x once I'm familiar with characters/worlds... we'll see how Malazan goes... I'm planning to push ahead on that series this year...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Terry wrote: "Wow, Iain, that is a lot of books and fast audio! I can do audio usually at 1.75 or 2.0, but 3 is lightning. I work a lot of hours off and on, so that hurts my reading overall. I don’..."

Same way for speed and complexity. Good luck with the Malazan books - I know I’d have to slow those down for sure.

Terry wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Terry wrote: "Wow, Iain, that is a lot of books and fast audio! I can do audio usually at 1.75 or 2.0, but 3 is lightning. I work a lot of hours off and on, so that hurts my r..."

First readthrough of Gardens of the Moon, I mostly did at 1-1.25x speed... 2nd readthrough I did at 1.5-2x speed... I've only done the first 3 books before...

Planning to read faster this time... as in not follow a 6 week BR plan that made it too easy to fall off... just gonna do at my own pace, whenever I'm rested up for the next tome (pallette cleansing doesn't take too long when you read as fast as me... I can pop out a quick fun side read in 3-4hrs...)

Timelord Iain wrote: "Terry wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Terry wrote: "Wow, Iain, that is a lot of books and fast audio! I can do audio usually at 1.75 or 2.0, but 3 is lightning. I work a lot of hours off and on, so t..."

I've started the Malazan series twice now. Got through 3 on the first try and got through 6 on the second try. Figure third time will be a charm. They were taking me a bunch of time to get through. I never did try the audio though. Might try that the next time around.

Terry wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Terry wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Terry wrote: "Wow, Iain, that is a lot of books and fast audio! I can do audio usually at 1.75 or 2.0, but 3 is lightning. I work a lot of ..."

Not sure when you wanted to start Line of Polity, but for awhile I was confusing out Line of Polity BR with Gridlinked, so I finally started Gridlinked this morning... I'll be done with it later today, just went back and finished another book I started yesterday before bed...

I feel like I did myself a disservice, starting the Polity Universe with Prador Moon & Shadow of the Scorpion, then abandoning... I don't feel like they were a good indicator of what Gridlinked would be like... both were written later to fill in backstory, if I remember correctly...

Gridlinked has been pretty action heavy, reminding me of Minority Report and/or Fifth Element... and the transition from intro to main story, reminds me of some video games, where they give you a tutorial where the MC is overpowered, then something causes them to lose that power and have to relearn everything... this Gridlinking thing is very similar...

I'm glad I'm giving this series a second shot... should be open to do Line of Polity in a couple days...

Starting in a couple of days works good for me. I should finish up two of the books I’m reading by Wednesday I hope, so I could start on Thursday.

I was ok with both Prador Moon and Shadow of the Scorpion, but I did like Gridlinked better. I’d heard that they got better after that.

I was able to start on The Line Of Polity today. I’m expecting it will take me a week to get through.

I’m about 25% in now. Very interesting start. I’m especially interested in the scientist and the Jain technology. I know there are some books later in the series more involved with that.

I’m listening to the audio, but I’m tempted to switch over to reading it. I go faster with the audiobook, but feel like I miss portions that slip by unnoticed. If I read it, I go quite a bit slower but pick up the story better. Can’t decide.

Sometimes I look up wiki summaries to make sure I didn’t miss anything... I did that with the ending of Gridlinked... Neal Asher actually posted a simpler, more infodumpy ending to Gridlinked on his website at some point, that requires less inference...

Started... I think my favorite thing so far, is this Red Riding Hood book that keeps changing...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Started... I think my favorite thing so far, is this Red Riding Hood book that keeps changing..."

Yes! I’m curious where that is supposed to ultimately lead.

Terry wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Started... I think my favorite thing so far, is this Red Riding Hood book that keeps changing..."

Yes! I’m curious where that is supposed to ultimately lead."

I wonder if it's linked to that other plot thread, where someone thought a prank was being played on them, because real world threats matched fictional creatures from a childhood story / game manual...

I paused Line of Polity around 70% yesterday, went to sleep, started a Ranger's Apprentice book before work, then work didn't let me read much today...

I'm going to finish Line of Polity soon, then probably take another break from the series... something about the narration is just making me zone out... in one ear and out the other... I also just stopped playing Path of Exile, after 6 weeks, and went back to WoW, which just released a content patch, which has me paying attention to THAT story a little bit...

Converging issues, and I feel like I only grasped the broad strokes of the plot so far (and there doesn't seem to be a wiki/summary for books 2+ in the series, like there as for book 1)

I know: (view spoiler)[Polity is trying to destabilize this Theocracy from within, so they can swoop in and save the day and absorb them into the Polity... and Ian Cormac is fiddling around with Jain nanomycellium tech that is better than Polity tech, because it doesn't need oversight... and the space station blew up... and Stanton from book 1 is still a thorn with plots... and Dragon is involved...

That isn't enough salient memory for me to be reading a series like this, which sucks... maybe you can fill in the cracks for me? (hide spoiler)]

No worries, Iain. I just made it to the 50% mark. I won’t finish it until later in the week at best. I understand what you’re saying about missing something. I’m feeling that way too, but still enjoying.

Terry wrote: "No worries, Iain. I just made it to the 50% mark. I won’t finish it until later in the week at best. I understand what you’re saying about missing something. I’m feeling that way too, but still enj..."

Time to see if the Terry Summoning Trick works again... this is the thread I just keep necroing :D

I decided to give this series a 3rd try... or 4th try... I've lost count...

Over the past month, I've re-read Prador Moon & Shadow of the Scorpion, and think Shadow of the Scorpion is a solid story, but nothing like Gridlinked...

I've been having similar thoughts about Gridlinked as I did last time... Minority Report/etc... also really liking it more, and realizing how little I remember reading it... also definitely getting mild Iain M. Banks / Culture vibes... just the out-of-nowhere sci-fi throwaway characters/cultures that show up for a few pages and then disappear back into the ether...

Be reading Agent Cormac #2 in the next couple weeks, and then #3+ will be completely new reads, and not just feels like new reads...

Did you ever continue with the series alone?

Haha, good to see you picking it back up. I only ended up reading the next book after Gridlinked, The Line of Polity. Enjoyed it well enough, but just never did continue. I know I will eventually, just not sure when.

Terry wrote: "Haha, good to see you picking it back up. I only ended up reading the next book after Gridlinked, The Line of Polity. Enjoyed it well enough, but just never did continue. I know I will eventually, ..."

I finished Gridlinked... ending felt abrupt, altho clear that Dragon Bad, Maker/Master maybe good... need to find that website summary I mentioned above...

Probably be a week before I get to re-reading Line of Polity... I'm trying to make Polity one of my filler series at the moment, until I lose interest... I usually have space for 2-4 filler books a week, and am alternativing between 3-4 series in those slots, as mood reads...

Timelord Iain wrote: "Terry wrote: "Haha, good to see you picking it back up. I only ended up reading the next book after Gridlinked, The Line of Polity. Enjoyed it well enough, but just never did continue. I know I wil..."

Sounds good. I want to get up to the Spaterjay trilogy as I’ve always thought that sounded particularly interesting.

Been watching some TV this week, so less extra reads… I’ll let you know when I do my book 2 re-read and am ready for book 3, if you want to join…

Terry wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Terry wrote: "Haha, good to see you picking it back up. I only ended up reading the next book after Gridlinked, The Line of Polity. Enjoyed it well enough, but just never did ..."

So... 7 months passed... but I finally did my re-read of The Line of Polity this weekend... felt like a brand new read, to me, my first read so long ago is so hazy...

Reminded me a bit of Expanse... Terminator... the first Agent Cormac book... and probably a few other things I'm forgetting... like the Iain M. Banks series: Consider Phlebas (Culture)

Definitely planning to continue, this time around... don't seem to be any more retired BR threads to use, tho... or the search function is broken at the moment...

Sorry it took me so long... I kinda ramped up on Buddy Reads, especially in August/September/October/November, and only now hit a small lull, before things ramp back up in January/February/March... not 100% sure when I'll find time after New Years' either...

I feel like I missed some details in Line of Polity, towards the end... there were so many threads, all coming together, and then getting resolved in some form or another, but then other threads were left dangling for the next book, or just never really explained at all:

Examples:

(view spoiler)[ 1) Main-ish plot, revolved around Ian Cormac and his continuing dealings with Dragon, the big Dyson Sun orb thing...

2) The side plot revolved around a theocratic planet that kept it's people enslaved with breather devices on their chests and alot of complicated things...

2b) there was a rebellion plot on this planet, and communications with Dragon and/or Strahl-something (a Jain-infected character from Gridlinked, I think, out to get Ian Cormac and take over his dreadnought... this could have been listed as a 1b plot)

Everything was heading towards the theocracy planet... Dragon was hurt... teamed up with Cormac, then saved him when his ship was corrupted, then went off to break apart and make an army of draconids...

Rebellion happened, Jain-infected ship showed up, played subterfuge, wiped out half the planet and the religious leadership...

Cormac did something, maybe with the laser gun, Ragnarok, to destroy the Jain-ship?... but the ship was also being subborned by one of the religious leaders he thought he dealt with already a few chapters ago...

Dragon/draconids went off to be saved for the next book...

But I forgot to mention the most confusing aspect of the book... the C plot, involving a mother reading fairy tales to her kid... started off reading standard fairytales like the 3 little pigs and goldilocks... the kid had fun making the stories more gory... then we learned the book had moving images... then the story started changing and was on memory paper?... then the stories started mirroring the plot of the book on the theocracy planet and with Ian Cormac... then at the end, I think the mom ended up dead/floating away in space, and the kid was with a man/dad now?... no idea, honestly... (hide spoiler)]

Glad to see you’re still going on these. I’ve slacked and not read any more of it. I did feel that Line of Polity was a bit confusing as well (I did the audiobook, and I think I would have enjoyed reading it more). I feel like I need to go back and read it and Gridlinked again to see if I can pick it all back up. I’m kicking myself for not having gotten through these books or The Culture books yet.

Culture is another series I abandoned... I really liked the first Culture book... loved the board game aspect of the 2nd book, and then they kinda went downhill for me... the 4th book was more of an anthology audio drama with sound effects, and that just really wasn't what I was looking for... I think it was a recording of an actual stage play at some parts... otherwise, the existence of present day Earth in the story doesn't make much sense from what I remember...

Re: Polity: from here on, everything will be new to me... I'm not 100% sure of the order to read in, but until I decide otherwise, I'll just stick with chronological, and finish Ian Cormac, then either do a bunch of standalones, or jump to Spatterjay, I guess...

You’ll have to let me know what you think of the rest. I really want to get to Spatterjay!

So if not the Culture, what other sci-fi would you recommend? I read the Expanse last year and loved that. Looking for something that would be alien first contact too.

I'm tempted to give Culture another chance...

For SF I like, I really like John Scalzi: Old Man's War, Redshirts, The Collapsing Empire

Also like Elliott Kay: Poor Man's Fight, Rich Man's War, Dead Man's Debt

And Michael Mammay: Planetside, The Misfit Soldier, The Weight of Command, Generation Ship

Timothy Zahn: The Icarus Hunt, The Icarus Plot, The Icarus Twin

Ann Leckie: Ancillary Justice, Ancillary Sword, Provenance, Translation State

Expanse was good... Kim Harrison is trying her hand at some SF/Fantasy hybrid next year: First Contact

I'd need to dig through my SF/Fantasy bookshelf to think of more...

Terry wrote: "Glad to see you’re still going on these. I’ve slacked and not read any more of it. I did feel that Line of Polity was a bit confusing as well (I did the audiobook, and I think I would have enjoyed ..."

Now's your chance :D

I've been swamped in BRs all year, so far, but am slowly quitting on ones that haven't been particularly fun, and now I have some time to continue with Brass Man... you could join me, or you could go back and read Gridlinked, Line of Polity, etc... keep using this thread as a necro discussion point, since I've done it off and on for the past year already...