Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

What were your three favourites this month?

1. The Poppy War (Kuang)
2. The Ember Blade (Wooding)
3. Theft of Swords (Sullivan)

1. Den of Wolves Blackthorn & Grim #3 by Juliet Marillier
2. Flashmob John Smith #2 by Christopher Farnsworth
3. Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

I really only have two that I liked enough to add.

The Ember Blade
The Bride of Ivy Green

I reread the Fever series for the 3rd time, so I'll put all 5 books on my list (though FaeFever and DreamFever are the best in that series), and add Skyward cuz that was just a fun YA.

All are from my already favorite authors:
The Truth one of the best Discworld novels I read in a long time
The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling Ted Chiang always delivers.
Monsters Do Not Die Quietly Noone can write badass women as good as Hurley.

Just one for me in November

A Ladder to the Sky

I had one 5 star read this month: One Fell Sweep

Of the several 4 star reads, I'm going with Spinning Silver and Minimum Wage Magic.

I have three 5 stars read, so they are my favorite read in November automatically.

The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
Boy's Life by Robert McCammon
Never Die by Rob Hayes.

I HIGHLY recommend them.

I had a good month. :)

1. The Poppy War
2. Swarm and Steel
3. Wrath

Jenna wrote: "I had a good month. :)

1. The Poppy War
2. Swarm and Steel
3. Wrath"

Oh yessssss!!! I love thisss! I loved all three books! Especially The Poppy War and Wrath! :D

1. The Dread Wyrm by Miles Cameron - my only 5* novel this month.
2. Deadly Class #1 by Rick Remender - I read everything that is out so far this month and really enjoyed it.
3. Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold - took me so long to finally get back into this series and it was another great entry.

The Bonehunters Beyond 5*'s book 6 of BotF was as a reread possibly even better then the first time.

Veil of the Deserters book 2 of Bloodsounder's Arc was 4.5*'s. I'm finishing book 3 now and unless something really goes badly at the end it will be 5*'s.

War of the Wolf book 11 of Saxon Stories was 4*'s and the best Uhtred in a while.

Hidden Warrior

Swarm and Steel

The Emperor's Blades

November felt like another month of obligation reads. I didn't have anything 5 stars...

My two 4 stars:
Kings Blood - Abraham
Return to Honor - McClellan

Scott wrote: "Veil of the Deserters book 2 of Bloodsounder's Arc was 4.5*'s. I'm finishing book 3 now and unless something really goes badly at the end it will be 5*'s. "

Yay! So glad you are enjoying this series. The first book is a lot of set up and intro, but it grows and grows so much.

Jenna wrote: "Scott wrote: "Veil of the Deserters book 2 of Bloodsounder's Arc was 4.5*'s. I'm finishing book 3 now and unless something really goes badly at the end it will be 5*'s. "

Yay! So g..."

Man... I really love this trilogy, it was awesome!!! It's a shame that so few people are reading the trilogy :/

Jenna wrote: "Yay! So glad you are enjoying this series. The first book is a lot of set up and intro, but it grows and grows so much.."

Unless something ruins book 3 at the end it will end up being 3.5, 4.5 and 5*'s for the respective books. Really the three books are one massive book that just keeps getting better.

Petrik wrote: "Man... I really love this trilogy, it was awesome!!! It's a shame that so few people are reading the trilogy :/..."

I think it's twofold. One a lot of people were sensitive to the language in our BR. Obviously that doesn't bother me at all. The second thing is book one is a little slow. Unlike other slow first books I could already see the outline of things to come so going on was never in doubt for me.

I do agree it's a shame more people don't read this start to finish. It's a unique story and I really like JS's writing.

Mmmmh. Didn't have 'great' reads but plenty of very good ones in November.

1. Skyward
2. Minimum Wage Magic
3. Tie between Victory of Eagles and Trail of Lightning

Virginie wrote: "Mmmmh. Didn't have 'great' reads but plenty of very good ones in November.

1. Skyward
2. Minimum Wage Magic
3. Tie between Victory of Eagles and [book..."

I've been on the fence about burning an audible credit on Skyward.

Scott wrote: "Virginie wrote: "Mmmmh. Didn't have 'great' reads but plenty of very good ones in November.

1. Skyward
2. Minimum Wage Magic
3. Tie between [book:Victory of Eagles|..."

It's no Stormlight but I thought it was pretty good, in an easy YA kind of way.

Are you wondering whether to read it, or rather if you should go audiobook or written?
If it's the former, then what Diana said. Well done for a YA light read; it's quite fun.
If it's the later.... I listened to it, and wasn't blown away. The narrator isn't bad per se, but... Well... I think the audio doesn't bring much.

Skyward - I don't feel like I missed out by listening to it vs reading it. I had the US Audible version. Right now, I'm listening to the Red Knight and I plan on speed reading the book cause the tone is very different when I read it vs listening.

I'm so happy with the books I read in November. My top one, both in ratings and enjoyment, was without a doubt The Secret History. Still speechless about this one.

Then my other two favorite new reads (I'm not counting my re-reads of Harry Potter, because they're always a favorite for me) were probably A Conjuring of Light and Ruin and Rising – both are solid endings to great trilogies, but I might've enjoyed ACoL a tiny bit more, so my final list is:

1. The Secret History
2. A Conjuring of Light
3. Ruin and Rising

Scott wrote: "Petrik wrote: "Man... I really love this trilogy, it was awesome!!! It's a shame that so few people are reading the trilogy :/..."

I think it's twofold. One a lot of people were sensitive to the l..."

That's true. I talked to Jeff Salyards about it for a while. He took a gamble by doing a different kind of storytelling than the norm (withholding a lot of information in the first book to be revealed in the second) and then there was also a problem with publication of the sequel back then. These two ends up pushing a lot of readers away from giving the series a try up til the second book, which is a shame because the trilogy is pretty much en entire book separated into three books.

I did alpha read his newest work for a few chapters and it was incredible. I hope he'll continue writing it. There hasn't been any news for now.

Petrik, you have UF that he's working on? I skimmed the sample chapters on his website.

Bloodsounder's Arc was good but not great. To be clear, I wanted the trilogy to end up as awesome but it didn't get there for me. I loved parts of it and got really aggravated by the elements that made the books rough. Then I got irked for another reason. Which is why I waited a month before reading the last book.

Soo wrote: "Petrik, you have UF that he's working on? I skimmed the sample chapters on his website.

Bloodsounder's Arc was good but not great. To be clear, I wanted the trilogy to end up as awesome but it di..."

Ah no no, this is a different work, the title was "Sheather", no idea if he has changed it or not. I really love what I've read so far (around 100 pages) and I hope he'll polish it more.

Oops! That's too bad! :/ I actually thought it was really great. I really love the third book especially. :D

1) Poppy War -- thanks for the reminder... I was struggling for a 3rd book to include on this list, and this was a great book...

2) Death of Dulgath -- best Riyria Chronicle to date... more Royce/Hadrian, and great Easter Eggs for people who have read Legend of the First Empire already...

3) Lost Plot -- I've had a lot of fun reading the Invisible Library books, with it's multiverse and meta reading references...

Petrik, my frustrations with the trilogy has to do with the fact that it is good. The first book was the most polished piece and my fav for that. The other books had parts that were amazing but the books were not as together and had elements that needed more work in my opinion. I love the world JS created. I got upset because the whole didn't meet the potential I read in the books.

Lods of good books around.

For me, typically this year another Malazan conquest: The Bonehunters. But aside Malazan, The Dagger and the Coin series by Daniel Abraham won the month. I binge read three volumes even though there is a buddy read schedule. I simply couldn't stop reading. It is a fantasy classic and I hardly recommend it.